Paths of Prophecy

Welcome to our rundown of Paths of Prophecies!

Delays in the US are still impacting this release, so although we’re unsure when the prophesied deck will arrive into your hands, we can give you a glimpse into the future. If you’re from one of those future-forward regions that already have access, let us know how this deck is going for you! There’s a link at the top of this page to our Discord where discussion is hopping!

What was that? A new episode of the WTH podcast has arrived as well?! Check that out here:

WTH Episode 112 - The Lowdown on the Throwdown

As always, thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.

INTRODUCTION

[D]avy, [P]hil, [B]rian, & [S]kyler

S: This deck’s primary focus is Hold Objective (HO) tech. We see iterations on some previous HO designs in the game and an exploration of objective value as a scoring condition. To compliment that, there’s some interesting objective manipulation tech in here as well as tools to get you on objectives and those pesky enemy fighters off of them.

S: Phenomenal art across the entire deck too. You’re in for a visual treat.

P: Small observation to this deck, there are a LOT of dual and Hybrid objectives. Always something to pay attention to for Stalkers getting a boost…

S: “Place of power. Gotta be.”

S: I continue to enjoy that universal rivals decks have opened the game up to explore narrative themes in their own self-contained releases. Cosmic influences appearing within the dense and unforgiving Wyrdhollow is an otherworldly hook I can get behind. Some memorable character quotes await you in the flava text of this deck as well!

Objectives

D: Very close to the old "Hold X" objectives. Situational 1 glory end phases don't typically make the cut in constructed play.

B: More achievable than the simple "Hold X" cards with the Hybrid condition, but still not interested unless you have a faction objective that wants the same numbers. Even then probably need Championship format to get access to Dark Inversion. Too much investment for 1 glory here.

P: The rider of needing the second condition to be 5 exactly kills this card. I think it would have been fine to be five or more just because it is only one glory. Completely going to pass on this just like the normal hold X cards, so close but not quite!

D: Samesies. These get a hair easier with some number manipulation (see the power deck and commentary there).

B: What he said.

P: Worse than the first because the second condition is more restrictive. Maybe they will hit the sweet spot next time we see this design space.

D: I could be tempted on this one. It won't light the world on fire and has some luck of the draw with which objectives go where, but I think there's a few builds that wouldn't mind a surge for holding the right stuff.

B: Dependent on running an elite warband and hoping your opponent is elite too, just to make that count threshold easier. Stronger late game due to fatalities, but late game is not where you want Surges scoring.

P: I like the concept on this one but I think you will really be struggling to score this most of the time.

D: If someone gets a build going with flip and objective destruction tech, they'll be my hero forever.

B: 5 glory. *Falls out of chair* WOWowow! Ludicrous. Almost always a bad idea. But(!) my Gitz are Infested with bad ideas.

P: Very much a power card dependent score. If you have the right setup this is a game breaking score but I think it will be too inconsistent most games.

D: Yowza. We've seen this exist as just the first half. Having a reasonable second option on your hybrid is super-gravy. If restricting cards still exists, this is my lead candidate for restriction.

B: Yes please and thank you. Strong contender for any style deck (except Illusion builds that sacrifice Ploy cards). And I love me some draw tech too. Like Davy said, likely restricted in the future.

P: Probably the strongest surge we have seen in a while. This asks almost nothing of you for a glory. Needs an R just so it doesn't go in every single deck ever. Also you can't do anything to counter this so that's something. Wow.

S: Word. No plot-lock has this surging into every Champs deck.

D: Weird! This looks good in Sepulchral Guard and maybe Da Kunnin Krew who can hand out move tokens like candy. Also could go nicely with some of the Voidcursed "refashioned" upgrades.

B: Hold Objective tech is my old comfort zone and Gitz's Scurry move shenanigans make this a piece of cake. And look at that, they're pictured in the art!

P: This would be crazy if it scored in the normal surge window. Because it makes you wait it is far less powerful. This will be telegraphed that it's coming to your opponent so be ready to defend this score with things like power cards.

S: Noticed that scoring window is present on all of the Surges in this deck.

D: Love this one. Feels very scoreable. And you can nudge it along with things like Corrupted Companion and the like- or just a lethal, and do it deep in your own territory.

B: Abasoth's Screaming Idols just made it's way into my deck along with this.

P: Doable with a slight drawback. I think we will see this a bit but only in bands where the wound doesn't really cost you. Death raise mechanics synergize here pretty nicely as well.

S: Voidcursed fighters can help you hold your positioning down for the scoring window.

B: Goes hand in hand with Nine Fates from Pandaemonium for 6 glory on two cards. Otherwise interesting for any swarmy Hold Objective warband. Gitz are pleased.

P: This is universal Nine Fates exactly which is weird to me. Still a solid HO card though so I'm not upset to see it. Not an auto include but solid if you can manipulate objectives or have high movement.

D: Aw, if it was 2 glory, I'm there. It's Dominant Position but with a very modest extra caveat.

B: With so many 2-3 glory HO objectives out there, this wont find a spot in Champs. Nemesis though? Probably.

P: I think this asks too much for one glory. I don't even know if I touch this in Nemesis.

S: Much like Davy, this card was 1 glory away from filling the Dominant Position shaped hole in my heart. So close! (Also that art- good snarly boy!)

D: This actually seems pretty doable. Against elites, the kill is tougher but they're less likely to be holding a bunch. Against hordes, there's plenty of extra guys to kill. And killing a target *on* an objective pulls double duty towards achieving this one.

B: Counter HO in the objectives arms race. A great pickup if you're likely to be the aggressor HO warband. Storm of Celestus comes to mind.

P: Seems solid. I think this auto scores later in the game so it is only something you have to actively work towards in round one. If you are not playing into HO it becomes get one kill and score. Like this a lot.

D: This one will make very little sense until you read the power cards. And then it will make just a little bit more.

B: Nah thanks, I'm good. Lot of work for 1 glory, and the "value of 0" condition invites a card inclusion combo. Yea-Nah.

P: Similar to the other two hold X objectives I don't like it. You need either a lot of luck or do a lot of work to score one glory which isn't really what you want to be doing.

S: That art though! 😍

D: It's surge Path to Victory but needs specific objectives. Too much to ask for in my opinion, but a cool idea.

B: Lemme build a deck and see how greedy I feel. Probably silly inclusion, but 2 glory surges always inspire the brain to try and make it work. If I'm including any "X precisely" objectives I want them all to be the same value. Don't recall many also being 7. Storm of Celestus could score their surges with this too. Feeling them as a strong pairing.

P: Again that precisely clause... Having exactly 7 is going to be the downfall of this objective because it will likely get in the way of your other objectives. There was a time way back when the tactical supremacy type cards meant you could build your deck around two or three specific objectives to hold but the risk was always too high to make a real go of it. Not a terrible surge but you really have to work for it.

Gambits

D: Draw three? Now there's an ability I haven't heard in many years. Many years. Works in concert with Held in a Bloody Fist!

B: *Add to cart* Cannot imagine a world where this doesn't get restricted... and I still take it every time. May finally supplant Duel of Wits!

P: A very flexible card if you don’t care about having wounded fighters. Love this for my lizards so much, but draw three feels busted.

D: 50/50, but with splash potential and unlimited range. I might mess with it a little...

B: Also can cause damage to friendlies. Use with caution.

P: An interesting effect. If you need another ping it will do the trick but we have so many options these days I'd be reaching for other things first.

B: Excellent setup for a scything attack action.

P: Weird card. If you care about stagger this is kind of nice, however since it can't be an objective the enemy band holds, this will be harder to use than I'd like. Not bad though.

S: Has counterpunch vibes to me. And anytime I see Stagger effects, the Clawpack aren’t far from my mind.

D: Great idea. I think you're probably giving up too much to your opponent though.

B: As a connoisseur of Push tech, this likely will not be a positive exchange.

P: If it was push one for push one it might be okay but giving an opponent a push two is rough. You could play around this with anti-push upgrades but I think you are better off just getting a different push in that case.

D: Finally, the Godsworn Hunt support we've been hoping for.

B: Cute. A neat boon, but not sure I'll spend a slot in champs. Nemesis? Yeah absolutely.

P: A ploy for an upgrade is rarely a good trade. The upgrade quality has to be very high. Also, this only has value when you have no glory to spend. I'd say this could be gas in an opening hand of a very aggressive deck and that's about it. Getting to replace this card after playing it is nice but probably doesn't actually come up that much. To Davy's point, this is probably good for Godsworn...

S: I’d toy with this. I like that it has the potential to replace itself. If you can reliably meet that condition, then it makes your card draw more consistent.

D: Pretty boss in small warbands. If you're down to two fighters, this is all upside!

B: Yeah not a bad idea to protect those forwards objective holders. Invites your opponent to dive your territory/backfield. IMO likely not worth it, except maybe ghosty warbands? Arenai?

P: Any warband that really cares about guard loves this. I think this is a pretty strong card and will make some elite bands truly hard to deal with.

D: This has got to exist in someone's mad scientist build...

S: His hero forever.

B: Potentially brutal to counter opponent's HO end phase scoring. Insurance to secure your own scoring in case some flipping goes amiss.

S: Delving.

B: Ah, right.

P: If delve didn't exist I'd be excited for this, but because it does I don't think there is much play here. This is probably best for situations where you want to remove your own objectives to try to do a hold all in one territory thing but even that isn't a very strong strategy most of the time.

D: Sidestep but better?! Get in mah deck!

B: *Dunks it into my cart* (Why do we keep seeing that red potion bottle?)

D: I'm guessing it's art on the Wyrdhollow objective tokens?

P: I think it is. We had this effect in the Ulgu seasons and it was everywhere. Expect to see this card A LOT.

S: Instant staple. Sidestep meets Cover of Darkness (in its Ulgu prime).

D: Iiiiiinteresting. My instinct is that the warbands that want the healing the most would often struggle to hold 3. But I might be overlooking something.

B: WOW. Lets just get Celestus over here pronto. They'll want this early, so maybe even consider mulligan opening power hand for them. Combined with all the draw tech, this gets more reliable.

P: Eh, as Davy says the bands that want healing tend to have fewer bodies so getting to hold three becomes hard. Healing is pretty strong though so I'd just think of this as ping prevention with upside. Not bad but not amazing.

D: Another odd ball. Making a short move feels like a push, but in some cases isn't quite as good as it'll prevent a charge with that fighter. But you won't trigger an opponent's Mirror Move... so there's that.

B: (Love the art.) Very intriguing. Can see a combo with the objective Hanging On from earlier. Also some move help for the stunty Chosen Axes.

P: Any band that holds should make good use of this. A power step repositioning effect can almost always be good. Just don't expect this to be more than two hexes very often. I thoroughly plan to experiment with this in my stalkers decks.

S: Intriguing indeed. I’d have to play with this one to feel it out. First impression is favorable though.

Upgrades

D: Very niche tech that might have been nice to have back in Beastgrave!

P: Niche indeed. I think this will rarely be useful but when it is it might win you a game. Swingy and meta dependent for sure.

S: Dictionary assist on “incredulity” for me, haha. Underworlds constantly expanding my vocabulary by one or more words at a time. (Get it? It’s an objective phrasing joke.)

D: I like this on a big guy warband like maybe Dromm's? Mollog too...

B: Dread Pageant's Vasillac or Slakeslash would love this having the ability to heal back damage. The reactions don't occupy the same windows. *gears turning*

P: Best in bands that can take damage well for sure. I think most of the time I just prefer duelist speed. However, if you can manufacturer taking damage in an opponents activation you could get some cheeky extra pushes... An odd ball for sure.

D: Waaaooow. This is great for ranged fighters who can get multiple uses out of this.

B: Wooooftah, any range!?! Strong, strong accuracy card. Impending restriction, possibly even forsaken if Lurking Horror and Ferocious Bite are any indication. Celestus will be loving this while they can.

P: I love this effect but the spell slingers will ruin it for everyone right now and probably get it restricted if not forsaken. Which is too bad because a band like Thundriks could really use a card like this. Unlimited range accuracy boosts are almost always busted. The caveat of standing on an objective just doesn't limit this enough to be meaningful. Any fighters with range two or more got a significant boost.

S: Like the other three, my jaw is dropped.

D: I can definitely see slotting this into a deck that's really going for big end phase scores for holding objectives. Well... maybe. The attacker not being adjacent might be too specific.

B: Strong urge to put this onto my backfield sorcerer holding down Shape the Realm for me. Will it make the cut? I think the odds go way up in a best-of-3 tournament actually.

P: Tough to say if this is good enough. We know reducing dice is powerful but the restrictions for this are also pretty high so I don't know how it will play out. My gut says this is pretty good though and will be good anti-ranged tech.

S: I think to Brian’s point, this is another tool to stop attacks from reaching a fighter waaay in the back. Otherwise I think the adjacency is too specific to see this into most decks.

D: Another weird one, but it opens up some hold 3 possibilities if you're rocking beasts. Or if you want to turn those extra features from Daring Delvers or Fearsome Fortress into moneymakers.

B: Lighaen has purpose! A very cute idea to give warbands more play in HO. I don't hate this at all.

P: I think this is actually crazy strong. Being able to turn any feature token into an objective makes getting to hold three much easier. I think this can unlock a lot of tech once it is on the board and that should make for some really interesting builds. Not for all bands, but the ones that can use it suddenly get a lot more interesting.

S: Couldn’t have picked a better fighter for this banger.

D: Feels too situational for constructed formats, but will have some nice moments in rivals?

B: *inhales deeply thinking about Glissete* I'm more a fan of this than Davy. I'm very interested in Nemesis. Champs depends on your warband. Turning an inspired Celestus into 3 block, no driveback. Oof!

P: There are definitely ways to take advantage of this but you are probably investing too much to make this reliable. I like the thought on this one though, strong effect that isn't automatic.

S: I dig it! Feels akin to upgrades that require you to be in enemy territory to apply them. (And I am NOT looking forward to you putting this on Glissete Brian!)

D: Saucy. That's friendly pushes too, so stuff like the Anchor is going to be better for now. But you could double down some with this.

B: Neat. Paths of Prophecy is the HO deck I would've loved during Gnarlwood.

P: If you absolutely need to stay put this will be a good include. Very situational but solid when you need it.

S: Hey, we were just talking about Glissete!

D: Definitely necessary if you're running this thing as a cohesive whole. I wonder if there's a mad science build that can really work with this in a stand-off situation.

B: Goes hand in hand with Dark Inversion, more versatile as Dark Inversion requires they be empty.

S: Well, unlike Dark Inversion, this is costing you a glory and an action. Given how impactful this could be, I think that’s pretty fair though.

P: Probably action inefficient but a nice one for some counter play if you want to steal an objective away from someone while there is an extra feature on the board.

D: Purely for unlocking some of the objectives in this deck. That said, I want someone to win a end of game tiebreaker with this card just for the glory of it.

B: Niche if you're playing in Nemesis and really playing into number manipulation or Complete Harmony.

P: This can make a couple of things go off easily. Not entirely sure why it has to break after one round though... I don't think this effect is that strong unless it is future proofed.

S: Securing Stockpile for you with a single objective token. Interesting that it comes with the ability to self-break in case you find you need an objective’s original value instead.

D: More in-house tech that probably doesn't see play in the more constructed variants.

B: *Ctrl V* Niche if you're playing in Nemesis and really playing into number manipulation or Complete Harmony.

P: Yup, hard to see this get much use. Maybe Celestus can bend this a bit? They actually care about numbers more than most. Actually Grymwatch might be able to use this too... There might be more play here than I thought.

S: If you lean into any precise value objectives, you’re taking this. Easily the best tech thus far for them.

Summary

Championship
S: This deck is an escalation event. A major shakeup and a must pickup for the format. No plot card means you do not have to forgo other options to pick up your favorites from the strong picks found here. Expect Devoted Offerings, Slinking In There, and Guided By Fate to become ubiquitous as those are some universally beneficial standouts. From the existing pool, Lethal Ward is side-eyeing you once more with renewed fervor.

Nemesis
S: We’re happy to see the Hold Objective space in Nemesis being fleshed out with more options! This is the second HO release, Fearsome Fortress being the first. Fearsome Fortress pulled players to No One’s Territory and leaned more Flex/Counterpunch. Paths of Prophecy is the first “true” HO deck in that it solely focuses on objective tokens regardless of where they are located. It is not without a pull though, the pull here is to unique objective values and with objectives deployed facedown during setup you cannot guarantee the values you desire will be within easy reach. As you consider this deck as a pairing option the less you can lean into holding precise values, the more reliable your scoring will be. With that in mind, I’d look to pair with warbands that can bring a good ratio of their own end phases to the build. (Or you could always double down on precise values with the Storm of Celestus. I see you @sleeksbowl. Do it. We both know you want to.)

Nemesis pairing recommendations: Starblood Stalkers, Storm of Celestus, Dread Pageant