It’s not every day you pull two Robin Hoods alongside three other solid bureaucrats in a sealed pool. I’m going to try not to play a ton of Waru & Mack in constructed, so I figured this might be my best chance to test them out! Uniques My rating system Ganesha - 3/7 While the cost of a card from your hand limits some of the more fun combos you can achieve with Mechanical Training (F), Parvati (R), and another Ganesha (F), the reduction in cost by from 7 to 5 makes it substantially easier to fairly reanchor your characters....

After my first draft, I can confirm that even without any of its headline-grabbing innovations, Altered would still deserve to be a hit: the core gameplay is phenomenal. Where Altered exceeded my expectations was in just how tense some of the decisions were. I went into the tank on several occasions as to whether this was the target I needed to spend my one removal spell on. Do I need to advance this turn, or would I be better off saving my resources to make a push later?...

One of Altered’s strengths is that its world allows it to draw from and reimagine various cultural, fictional, and mythological touchstones. As I read through the cards and characters from Beyond the Gates, I realized I was unfamiliar with quite a few pronunciations, so I figured I’d compile the results from my investigation in case anyone else wanted to start where I left off. These are my best attempts and not an official pronunciation guide....

Today’s the day I’ve been waiting for since January! It’s been seven months since the Altered Kickstarter launched, and it felt amazing to finally hold the pledge rewards in my hands.

Score Summary Description 1 Very weak Severely understatted with abilities that will rarely be realized. 2 Weak Slightly understatted with abilities that usually won’t compensate. No stronger than an average common. 3 Solid On-rate stats, or understatted but its ability often compensates. Also includes cards with high ceilings but excessive requirements. Distinctly stronger than an average common, but no stronger than an average rare. 4 Strong Above-rate stats, or having abilities that push it well above-rate when its conditions are met....

When I’m introducing someone to Altered, I try to get as quickly as possible to the heart of what made Altered so compelling to me in the first place. I’ve settled on three main aspects of the game that I can cover in just a sentence or two each (though I have more to say in case someone is interested). This post is an attempt to flesh out my “Altered sales pitch”, so to speak....

I opened another display today that ended up being a great one all-around. It had an above-average seven uniques, including a strong Red for Afanas & Senka, a stunning alt-art Shenlong in foil, and a Gulrang & Tocsin 2023 promo (not pictured since I’m leaving it unscanned for now). The only thing it was missing is Lyra uniques! I’ve looked over cards from the set more closely since my last writeup, so hopefully that helps with my evaluation of uniques:...

My local game store started selling their shipment of Altered today, so I splurged and picked up one more Kickstarter display while I was there. When I got to the second pack and flipped the cards around, I knew what was happening the moment I spotted the first unique. Equinox really delivered on making opening a golden booster a special experience. As someone who loves trying to figure out each card’s potential, getting to do that ten times in a row for cards no one has ever seen before was an absolute thrill....

Today I got to crack my first ever Altered booster display! This was an order from a retailer; I’m still waiting for my Kickstarter order, Gamegenic accessories and all. Some thoughts after opening the box: I found opening a unique to be the most fun booster pack experience I’ve had across any card game I’ve played. On the other hand, unique-less packs are less exciting than the average pack from another TCG....