Raging Slayers

Welcome to our rundown of Raging Slayers. Make sure you catch our podcast coverage of the release. For everything out with this release window, follow these links:

Thanks go to GW for providing a review copy to make this content possible.

Introduction

[D]AVY & [S]KYLER - w/ [P]hil on the intro & Outro

P: Those who reside in the realm of fire are often fiery and impulsive themselves, relying on strength and fury more than cunning and skill. Let’s see if the Raging Slayers fit that moniker!

S: Summarizing
- Charging permits you a Rage token. (Received before moving)
- Rage tokens = Enraged
- While enraged, that fighter's attacks gain 1 re-roll.
- After an enraged fighter is attacked, they WILL be pushed by their opponent (but not if drive back or grapple was used).
- Rage tokens are removed at the end of the battle round.

Noteworthy: There is no other way to gain a Rage token.

D: Right. Easy to think that the presence of a charge token is equivalent to a rage token, but not so.

Poor footing is a weird one. The instinct is to assume this is bad for you - and it is - in the sense that it overrides things like guard tokens, Hold the Line, and Brute Momentum. But... it means your opponent never gets to choose to *not* push your fighter away, which can sometimes be a benefit, because at baseline it removes options from your opponent.

Raging Strike is really, really powerful. Built in free re-roll. We'll have to see how that power level is kept in check with the rest of the deck.

Let's not overlook: Plot card. This is the ninth deck released for 2nd edition, and the fourth with a plot card. We're really starting to limit the pairing options at this point. Part of the reason we see so much P&P and C2C is because... there's just not that many options remaining once you've picked up a plot card deck.

 

Objectives

S: Early game? Not bad, not great. Late game? Bit of a clunker. I wonder what warbands entertain this.

D: This is an objective that says "hey, I'm more useful in high fighter count warbands". i.e. those that are more likely to have enough fighters to score this in R2 and R3 after casualties. But those high fighter count warbands are also often pretty killable, which makes it more challenging to keep enraged fighters alive.

S: Solid surge. Inline with what this deck is asking you to do. Although it is a reprint from Reckless Fury, so it reduces your overall surge options with that pairing.

D: No question, solid choice. Even better with super cool ranged fighters like the pictured Ollo who can fire back into friendly or neutral territory.

S: Ewww, a kill surge that is asking you to get a kill with someone that has already Charged. Squeezing worthwhile attacks out of a fighter that has already charged can often be a task onto itself, this adds the need for it to be a killing blow too.

D: And this one desperately wants you to achieve the charged out status. Or have a way to generate additional attacks with a fighter who has charged (Improvised Attack, Scream of Anger, Push Through). It's a tall order, and I agree with Skyler, you're only grabbing for this if you're kinda desperate for surges already.

S: A surge with pros and cons to weigh. Primed for elite aggro. At times, it will be a simple task, but a good opponent will tax your power cards to get enough reach, and there's always risk as the game runs into later rounds that there may not be enough targets in enemy territory.

D: Much easier one for elite aggro. Looking ahead, I think this probably makes the cut, because pickings are gonna be real slim.

S: What I was going to write...
"Totally fine 1-Glory End Phase. You'll know it if you like this one. Generally looking for a leader hardy enough to be in the scrap. I dig that the objective counts both friendly and enemy fighters."

Then this horrible thought hit me...
Is that *exactly* "2 other fighters"? Yup, it would need to say "2 or more other fighters" to allow for more. Sigh. I take it back, this one's dog water.

D: This is why we pay you the big bucks, Skyler. I would have read this as "2 or more" even though that's not what it says. Might get FAQed to say that 2 or more still meets, but pretty lackluster 1 glory EP even so.

S: Neat. That's a tough ask. I appreciate the 2-glory payout for that... oh wait...

D: Got ‘em.

S: Gross. All friendly fighters need to charge, be positioned exclusively in enemy territory, AND no enemy fighters can be in your territory? What a wild ask.

D: Ugh. I don't know if it's quite as terrible as it seems at first glance... but it's not good.

S: Potentially pretty tough, but I'd still test this card out - especially with warbands that have ranged options. Remember: Fighters only become Enraged by Charging.

D: The fighter in neutral is the most precarious, so hopefully the last charge. Just asks so much from your opponent's positioning. Maybe someone like Thundrik likes this? I'd have been fine if this was after any action step.

S: Would have been alright with that too.

D: Love that quote. Is that the first direct quote we've had from the Gardeners? I think this is pretty darn tough.

S: The calm, uncaring inevitably of it is delightful. "Loam is soil - rich soil - that is a mix of sand, clay, and various organic materials." Had to look that up, so I'm sharing the definition to feel like there are others out there in the same boat. (Maybe even dozens of us!)

S: Hmmm... this one's hard to gauge. I think elite aggro reasonably like it, but your opponent will know this has the potential to be in your deck and will therefore be more inclined to hold treasure to block you.
(And holding treasure for denial purposes is already common in the current meta.)

D: I think if you're running this deck, it's going in just to force positioning choices by your opponent. That's not to say I think it's great, but you're hard up for workable objectives in this one, and so I think it probably sneaks in.

S: Thinking so too.

S: A surge that asks you to kill their leader is not a good surge, but has been printed several times throughout WHU's editions.
Why is it bad? The leader is often a critical piece that should be removed as quickly as you can reasonably manage. Critical in capability, damage output, and bounty payout. You do not want to put yourself in a position where you feel pressured to leave them alive (granting your opponent more actions with this key piece) because you have not drawn this surge yet.

D: Boooooooooo.

S: Reasonable ask if this card was looking to be in your hand when your leader secures any kill, but shifts to "tall order" once it asks for it to be a second kill. Yeesh. This deck is hurting for surges.

D: Again, Skyler saves me with his command of the English language. You could get tempted with warbands that are going to be doing a lot of work with the leader, but still not great.

S: Another crossover with Reckless Fury. Both decks featuring this card as their big payout. On one hand, I find it uninspiring this deck does not feature its own unique, big payout. On the other, I'm kinda intrigued by the design decision to keep aggro scoring reigned in through it.

D: I actually love the mini-game this introduces to the game. I think this makes the cut most of the time for that reason alone.

 

Gambits

S: Hmmm... sure.

D: Even with some cards we see later, I think this is too corner case to make the cut in a Nemesis build. It has a role in a few interactions with this deck as a Rivals set up.

S: That's a great domain! What's not to like about defensive re-rolls on your charged fighters?

D: Holy moly. That's high grade power card right there.

S: Bleh. I appreciate conditions on pings, but in this case I think the card's been over-hampered. Your fighter needs to have Charged and be adjacent, the target has to not be vulnerable, and you have to give up scoring fuel that you will not be able to get back on this fighter this round (without using Push Through from Reckless Fury).

D: I think hampering your scoring almost feels like the most punishing here.

S: Same.

S: Fun. I like it. Not great, not bad either. Splendid if you whiff on the first attack of the round.

D: It gives a little more incentive for the early low accuracy attack from a "dangelbro". Not setting my hair on fire over here, but not the worst thing in the world.

S: Tough. I would just grab other +Move offerings from your pairing. To that point, at 0-Glory "Great Speed" is practically a Ploy disguised as an upgrade.

D: Ew. Do not like. The corner case where you have more than one fighter moving during the next turn seems awfully corner-case.

S: There we go! This one's fantastic. Opportunity to get in or out in a big way, and it being contingent on your leader is a nice balancing act.

D: Quite a few applications, but not a great charge range extender because of the need for the fighter to be enraged before the push. I'm a little colder on this than Skyler, but should be fun to mess around with.

S: Ope. I missed "enraged" on my read. 😅 Much less good. Was nearly an every warband pick for me for a moment there. So, best for warbands that anticipate managing a Charged Out state fairly early.

S: Ah, this is what Adrenaline Rush is for. Got it. This card will likely punish you more often than help. I'd personally pass on it.

D: The Raging Slayers player has the potential to be *less* punished since they'll have access to the Plot card reroll. But not white hot on this one. And it'll disrupt your other tasty domain.

S: 6 objectives in this deck require fighter's to maintain Rage tokens. That puts strain on any card that asks for them as a cost, especially since Charging is the only way to get Rage tokens. This card would be welcome outside of that though.

D: If you can find a pairing that can ignore most of those Rage token objectives, the value on this card and its ilk really goes up.

S: This card still works at odds with the decks self-contained scoring, but healing is often quite valuable so it may be worth the juggle. Timing is a bit touchy with needing to have Charged and be willing to take on a Stagger token (making it easier to take a subsequent hit).
That all said, it would be a worthwhile inclusion in a pairing that's providing majority of the scoring.

D: I can see the stagger being worked around by dropping this in the last power step. Feels like a well balanced card. Sometimes the stagger is worth pushing yourself out of kill range. Two heals is a lot.

S: A third domain. And an odd one at that. The idea is to push an opponent into a Stagger hex forcing a Move token onto them before they've Charged, but that's bound to be rather unlikely.
I checked to see if there's a pairing synergy out there that benefits from the ability to Charge through a Stagger token and gain a Move token. Not really. Certainly not anything worth a whole card slot.

D: A way to punish those Canny Sappers from Pillage & Plunder, but despite the allure of that option, a little too corner case.

 

Upgrades

S: Hello Agile. Previously found in Emberstone Sentinels. A goodie for sure, and one that aggro will enjoy the easy access to.

D: Can't complain with this staple.

S: Hidden Aid staring dreamily at this one.

D: Ooo, wow, good call. That's a sweet combo. Interesting design- but needing enraged and flanked/surrounded is maybe just a little too much to ask, despite the flexibility of getting to choose between Cleave *or* Ensnare.

S: I like this weapon design through and through. Can only be used while Charging or by someone that has already Charged AND it's all or nothing on the re-roll. This is a fun one!

D: Rerolling *all* dice is a little bit of a side-grade I think? Sometimes better, sometimes worse? But a respectable enough weapon. I'm just not sure if the warbands that could most use weapon upgrades are going to reach for this deck in the first place.

S: Who is reaching for this deck is a solid point. With that answer most definitely being Elite Aggro, this weapon may not find much use indeed.

S: I like seeing Grapple and Brutal together here as they both offer lighter, more niche benefits. That said, I'm not sure it's enough to stand out above most other upgrade offerings.

D: If it makes it, it's a 10th upgrade. This one feels more attractive for a warband with access to range 2 melee attacks, letting you have more options for Grapple, and more likely to be attacking over the front line fighters and thus granting flanked to your opponent (which you can then snatch away with Brutal).

S: Interesting! That heal means nothing in Round 3, so this is best in-hand early game, but 2-Glory will occasionally be too steep a price in Round 1. And to round it out, I imagine it's pretty reliable in Round 2 for a heal going into Round 3. I like it!

D: Weird timing on this. I think these mostly do their thing at the end of the combat phase? I guess this means that it won't mess with things that are looking for specific wounded statuses as it doesn't mess with board state until after end phase scoring. Oh, also: you can apply it in Round 1 and still get the heal, so that's boss.

S: OH! Good callout on being able to play it in End Phase for a same round benefit!

S: Boom goes the dynamite! Hello Dhoraz!

D: Suuuuuper interesting. Totally worth it, in my opinion, and real scary on something like Condemnors that come out of the gate with great accuracy.

S: Making it's fifth deck debut! I feel there's not much more to be said about this card.

D: Aggro deck gets aggro upgrade card. News at 11.

S: An interesting Great Strength alternative. A bit surprised to see melee upgrades excluded here, but also don't mind it.

D: Quite the restriction on core abilities. I want to give this to someone via Vile Temptations.

S: Monster.

S: This type of upgrade sings to me. I love when a Plot Card introduces an idea and then an upgrade within the deck opens it up. (I miss you Walking Wall.)

D: Yeah, real left turn here all of a sudden. Makes the deck a consideration for other play patterns and pairings? Maybe?

S: And to round it out, some good solid fun. I like this card quite a bit. There will be times where the positioning choices matter very little, but there will be times where they matter significantly.

D: Yeah, big fan of this one. Reminiscent of say... Beastcaller?

 

Summary

P: Slaying? Most likely. Raging? Absolutely, no question. Either because of the unchecked charging or completely checked scoring! This deck offers some serious aggro potential paired with a pretty hefty anchor of an objective deck. If the right pairing can be found to truly take advantage of those innate rerolls the Underworlds will have to watch out.

The Mortal RealmsComment