I’ve already had a look at all the realmless cards revealed so far from Rise of the Realm Runners. Now I’m going to look at the realm-locked cards released so far. Before we get into the cards though, a reminder that these cards are sneak peek cards published publicly by Realm Runner, but may be subject to change before official release.

First up, I realised I missed a realm runner and relic from my last article, which is ironic given she was the realm runner from the cover art of my last article. Here she is:

Yana represents incredible value for 1 shard. Mid-game you’re easily looking at 10 shards on your canvas, making Yana literally game winning. It doesn’t matter really that she’s easy to erase given you’ll win, or as good as win, the turn you play her so long as you draw her at the right time. If your opponent isn’t trying to control your boardstate and instead is rushing solitaire-style into a chroma victory, Yana will win you games.

Serpent’s Ring mirrors the Double Trouble effect from Spirata Planum but requires you to play it on an existing character. A solid effect to copy your opponent’s big character, but my favourite play is going to be playing it on the opponent’s big character to turn them into a more insignificant character. Copper Joss will not be happy when she suddenly discovers she’s a Trainee Painter again.

Now, on to 8 cards (of the 28) Salum Planum (Curdle Hill):

Apprehend continues the restrain theme in this realm, and for 2 shards is a bit of a bargain. Otrix’s Conjuring is amazing, and I’m definitely going to try to find room for this uncommon in my decks. Obviously you want to be playing 4 shard characters for the discount, which gives us a list of Sorrono, Arabella von Ruthro, Gunnar of Brisgavi, Mortius Drake, and Umbra Igneus, of which only Arabella can come from your deck, and she’d be an unusual choice in an achrom deck. This could be a nice play with the Occultist Shaman, for a double character deploy.

Corrupted Muon Trap is 100% my favourite card here, and it’s uncommon! More claiming for the occultists will make this archetype even more powerful. Jarvis’ Satchel is an odd one, as yes, you can steal an object of power, but then the opponent can just steal it back on their turn unless you immediately attack and erase the satchel, which is pretty situational. If this was an ACTION, I could see it being much more playable, but at the moment I just can’t see it, unless we get a big object of power with a strong “after attached character attacks” ability.

I love Mandrake not least of all because it reminds me of how amazing Pan’s Labyrinth is. Poisonous is a rare ability, and the Achilles heel of protection, though since this is in Salum Planum which already has claim and restrain to deal with protection, it probably won’t see as much play as if it were in another realm like Draco. It still has steal 1 for 2 shards, meaning it does pay for itself the turn its played, and for that it’s worth an include, plus it boosts the power of a character who now is poisonous, meaning you’re more likely to get the kill if you’re facing down characters with objects of power attached. Muon Sphere is a nice little holding pen for a problem character on the opponent’s canvas, essentially neutering that character for 2 shards.

Boline is a another steal 1, 2 shard object, but without poisonous unlike Mandrake. A bit of a head scratcher therefore, and unless you’re playing Hex Clunker and its engineer, I can’t see why you’d want this in your deck as well as Mandrake. This isn’t like Rabid Dog/Occultist Shaman, where the occultist type on the Shaman gives it something over the Dog.

Elixir uses the DISPOSE keyword, which means it can save a damaged character from later erasure if you discard the Elixir. However, it’s only going to be effective if that character is being attacked by 2 separate attacks, as you can’t use this in response to the opponent completely draining a character in one attack. As such, I think it’s a bit too situational to see play.

Now, on to 8 cards from Draco Planum:

Sacrifice has just gone from not that great to amazing. Dark Toli is one thing the sacrifice keyword needs. If you are playing sacrifice, suddenly the massive downside of the keyword is mitigated, as you don’t lose the character, so you can “sacrifice” the same character again and again. Stolen Dragon Egg is another huge card for sacrifice. I’m trying to imagine how extremely effective this is going to be if you play this, resolve it for steal 1, then play Ritualistic Notion to sacrifice it and steal 3 more AND erase an opponent’s card. And finally, we get Bathed in Achrom, which is the ultimate having your cake and eating it for sacrifice.

I like Meditation, and I think it’s mostly going to be used to target the opponent’s characters. 3 shards for a delayed risky 3 draw is acceptably good, but it’s made better by the fact that this is Draco Planum, which thrives on draw and still has Vast Volitarus at its disposal.

Invictus Charm has, I think, quite a weak effect for disposing of 3 shards’ worth of card, especially as it’s probably worse than protection as the character can still be erased with an action. Ornithopter (etymologically a ornis-pteron, or bird-fly) has a nice shard-to-gain ratio (4:3), with the added bonus that you can use it to attack a character and if it gets erased instead you move it to a location and use it to +3 again next round. Of course, if that location gets erased, or worse, claimed, you could be in serious trouble, so probably best not to deploy this against a deck that might be running Hostile Takeover.

Dragon Tooth Kunai is miles above curve for a 4-cost, as you get 2 drain AND you get an erase a character with it even during the opponent’s turn. Normally decks can play a character and be confident in the knowledge they can resolve that character, but not with this on the table. Absolutely an auto-include for me from now on. Crown of Claws has a nice effect, though for 4 shards it’s more expensive and far riskier than just erasing that character with an action AND they only get erased after the resolve phase. Compare this to the Kunai, and I just can’t see why you’d ever play it unless you were really desparate for ways to erase characters in a location heavy deck.

Now, 3 (only 3) from Spirata Planum:

Awaken the Guardians is a huge event. Forcing you to play locations in a paradigm that is otherwise fairly character heavy, with notable exceptions, this card will win games, as it ramps AND kills the opponent’s drain/steal.

Pixie enlisting is a 2-cost tutor for any pixie AND it’s common. I’ve got assume the realm logo on this card is incorrect. Anyway, this card means that you can pretty much guarantee getting King Craven or Carmella Traitorious, or at a pinch, Spiral or Sorrono in most games. That level of consistency is exactly what pixies need, and this is definitely going in my pixie deck. Even if you pull a Craven just to trade him, you’ve netted 4 shards.

Wincey’s Spectacles is another common with an effect to clean your deck and get to the cards you want. I can’t really see myself playing it, but I can imagine combo decks liking this card. I just wish it had a +1 or even Splat 1, just to guarantee getting some value from it. Or if it worked every time you drew a card, it would have natural synergy with Wincey herself (though you would of course have to have her spectacles on another character before you played her).

And finally, 2 from Norso Planum:

Samr Drums just isn’t going to see play in cross-realm games, and even in realm locked games its going to struggle to make the cut due its high specificity. Reforge on the other hand is a great way of upgrading an object of power for a discount. Object heavy decks are likely to be a fan of this card, and we’re going to see many more objects for Norso in this set, given this set is all about objects and actions.

That’s all we’ve seen so far. 41 cards in total of the 136 new cards, so lots still to go.