Top 50 Cards of Wanderer (1-25)
Hello
again, rulers! It’s Stephanie Shaw, back
with Part II of my Top 50 Cards in Wanderer article! I hope you enjoy, and know that I plan on
continuing coverage of the Wanderer format as it begins to kick off this
weekend with three worldwide events, so keep tuned for information on those as
well. I’m very excited for the
kickoff of the format in Season 3, and I hope this article helps prepare all of
you for the upcoming events.
Without further ado, here are the top 25 cards in Wanderer!
#25:
Horn of Sacred Beasts
We kick off the top 25 with a very nuanced card, Horn of Sacred Beasts. The card, at first glance, does not seem incredibly strong. It’s 0-cost, which is obviously great, but its first two abilities are not super-useful in Wanderer (though they come into play occasionally in New Frontiers), as Laevateinn’s ban lowered the predominance of damage-dealing J-ruler decks and Four Sacred Beasts are not really played in the format.
Its
real strength, though, lies in the shuffle ability. There are quite a few ways this ability
becomes relevant in-game, and all of them together make this card
worthwhile. For example, if you are
playing against a graveyard-recursion deck, you can shuffle in the player’s
graveyard in response to your opponent attempting to put a resonator into play from
it. You can respond to Monkey Trapped in
Life/Rasputin’s graveyard triggers by shuffling them into the deck, ensuring
they don’t return to your opponent’s hand.
You can shuffle in your own deck (including the Horn you used to
activate the ability!!) to recover your resources in a grindy control or
midrange mirror or to avoid losing by decking out. You can shuffle your opponent’s deck after a
Hydromonica/Nostradamus search to essentially negate the search. You can even use Horn in some odd corner
cases, such as shuffling your opponent’s stone deck when you go first across
from Liberator of Wind, as a means to completely negate her beginning-of-game
stone-stacking ability.
In
short, the card has quite a lot of play to it, and it requires constant
attention from the opponent to avoid walking into a disastrous shuffle.
#24:
Glinda, the Fairy
For
newer players, this is one of four non-Ruler cards that have been a staple in
the competitive environment since the game was brought to the US in 2015. However, of those four (#24, #13, #3, and #2
on this list so as not to spoil the card names!), Glinda is easily the
most-overlooked. While the 500/500 body is slightly low for your average 2-cost
resonator, Glinda more than makes up for it with both of her abilities. In Grimm, as a Fairy Tale, she singlehandedly
makes Wendy & Rapunzel dominating in mid-game, helping them push damage through
a field full of Gwibers, Chimeras, Cheshire Cats, or other opposing bulky or
hard-to-deal-with J/resonators.
However, she is also playable in other decks as well, considering Wind is a
strong attribute and forcing damage over blockers is relevant in almost every
deck. Her secondary ability is
additional icing on the cake, allowing her to absorb one Thunder from a burn
opponent, one removal chant from a control opponent, etc. In many cases, she ends up causing somewhat
of a two-for-one where she acts as both a pseudo-damage-dealing spell and a
mini-cancel or mini-discard effect, all while serving as a 500/500 body in
between.
#23:
Feethsing, the Holy Wind Stone
Finally,
we finish the TAT true magic stone series with Feethsing, the best of the TAT
true stones by far. The card is
splashable in any Wind deck, even some Fiethsing’s World lists, and it provides
a strong way to fight back against basically any control variant. The only spells it can’t protect against are
Flame of Outer World and Black Moonbeam, but as J-ruler play isn’t as strong in
Wanderer outside the indestructible Nine-Tailed Fox, Flame is really the only
major concern. In addition, you can use
Feethsing to prevent your opponent from targeting their *own* J/resonators with
beneficial chants such as Breath of the God or Rapid Growth or even non-Field
additions with subtypes.
Years ago, this card was used to protect against Bind of Gravity or Stoning to
Death. While the removal spells have
since changed, Feethsing has retained the same effectiveness.
#22: Stoning to Death // Endless Night
Stoning
to Death remains the most efficient removal chant ever printed in the game,
often still occupying a playset in control lists, years after it was first
released in TAT. Its Darkness attribute
is highly-played in the format, being a strong or even 10-stone focus in
Valentina LEL, Lilias Petal, and other control/midrange decks.
I
kept Endless Night in the same ranking with Stoning to Death as it has
sideboard usages over Stoning in the cases of Fiethsing’s World or Lilias
Petal, as the -200/-200 continuous effect can literally steal a turn from your
opponent while getting rid of their biggest threat. However, usually the 3rd will cost is too
prohibitive to maindeck the card in the Wanderer format when 2-cost removal is
so strong.
#21:
Cthugha, the Living Flame
Cthugha
is the best aggro resonator in the game in my opinion, and its ranking reflects
it. Unfortunately, resonator-based burn
has fallen off in favor of more chant-based burn, so Cthugha has slipped
somewhat from its former top-10 position, but it remains a powerhouse of a
card, especially when paired with Rukh Egg.
Even when banishing a non-replaceable Fire resonator, though, Cthugha is
essentially a 0-cost Thunder, and chaining Cthughas early can put your opponent
in such a poor position life total-wise that they have difficulty stabilizing
before you can get their life all the way to zero. It has little downside, as paying the full 3
cost can feasibly be done if necessary, and the odds of clogging your hand with
multiple Cthughas and no banishable resonators are very low if you build your
deck correctly. If resonator-based burn
picks up again, this card will go back in the top 15 cards, if not the top 10.
#20:
Xeex, the Ancient Magic
Xeex
was a 3-4 card staple in all control decks during Grimm Cluster play, though
it’s fallen off a bit in play since then.
The card remains very strong, though, and I typically recommend at least
1-2 copies in any Wind-based deck for the modal options of the card. While its “cancel target resonator spell”
mode is easily the most-chosen option, Xeex can also protect your resonators,
invalidate an opponent’s pump spell or non-Field addition with a subtype,
provide a finisher if you have a wide board, or do everything that Horn can do,
albeit for a cost. In addition, the
Crimson Girl swarm deck gets to have all 4 modes every time the spell is
played, which is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
Overall, the card remains very strong, even though it is no longer the
most-dominant cancel spell.
#19:
Zero, the Magus of Null
Notice
a pattern with the list? The fourth card
on this list to have a -X/-200 effect and the third to have it as a continuous
effect on your opponent’s entire field, Zero shares many of the same strengths
as those other cards (Grusbalesta, the Sealing Stone, Alice’s World of Madness,
Endless Night) against Fiethsing’s World and Lilias Petal, preventing them from
playing their small resonators for a turn.
However, Zero has a secondary effect, also removing [Flying] from all of
your opponent’s resonators. This means
that you can essentially nullify half of Pumpkin Witch’s effect and
significantly dull the finishing capability of the card, if you play Zero after
Witch’s automatic ability has resolved.
Zero also has strong counter-play to Grimm, as you can Quickcast her in
response to an attack by the opponent.
The -200/-200 effect will destroy all of your opponent’s Cheshire Cats,
and you can sometimes create blowout turns, where you destroy Cheshires with
her ability, block Wendy and deal lethal damage to Wendy, then destroy Tinker
Bell, the Spirit if its the only remaining resonator on their field.
In addition to all of this, Zero is still a Quickcast 700 ATK body, meaning it
trades well with other resonators (trading up to 900 DEF because of its
ability) or deals strong back-swing damage if held on the field until your next
turn.
#18:
Seal of Wind and Light
A 2-4
card maindeck staple of Fiethsing’s World, Seal ranges from strong to
absolutely dominating when paired with Interdimensional Vessel, Apollo. Its versatility allows the card to be useful
in virtually any matchup, as it can counter burn or removal spells or be held
in hand to deal with your opponent’s biggest threats. Its dual-attribute cost can make it tricky to
play sometimes, but the main stone build of Fiethsing’s World is Wind-base with
4 Moon Shades and 2-3 Gusting Skies, so Seal is typically online by Turn 3 (96%
for 2 Gusting Skies and 99% for 3).
#17:
Susanowo, the Ten-Fist Sword
Almost
an exclusively-sideboard card, Susanowo is a direct counter to Gwiber/Draig, as
he gets reduced to (3) cost (as they are Dragons) and deals 1200 damage to them
on entry, usually destroying them. In
addition, he provides a huge burst of damage, swinging in for another 1200
damage. If Ame-no-Habakiri is run in the
deck, you can potentially do 3200 damage to your opponent in this turn as well.
In
fact, a combo deck also exists in Wanderer with Liberator of Wind, Moojdart,
the Fantasy Stone, and Susanowo/Ame where you use Moojdart’s effect to turn an
opponent’s resonator into a Dragon on your Turn 3 draw phase, then play
Susanowo with Ame during your main phase to deal 3200 to your opponent and
destroy their best resonator. The deck
is fairly janky, but it showcases the sheer power of Susanowo when it is able
to be played for its reduced cost. Even
at six cost, the card is still well-costed for the strength of its impact when
it enters the field.
#16:
Magic Stone of Moon Shade
I
didn’t want to include dual stones in this list, but I feel an obligation to
include this stone due to its ubiquity in Fiethsing’s World lists. Any list that previously ran Ruler’s Memoria
in New Frontiers has had to choose whether to take a worse Burn matchup and
stay five-attributes with Moon Shade, or trade off worse consistency instead,
since Ruler’s Memoria is banned. As
Fiethsing’s World requires four-to-five attributes (Cheshire, Morgiana, Gwiber,
Pumpkin Witch, and more-than-occasionally Guinevere), they have had to choose
the worse Burn matchup.
In
most cases, restricting decks to their two to three most dominant colors has
proven much more effective in the format than taking the huge hit to burn with
a high Moon Shade count. However, this stone
remains the only consistent way to run a five-attribute deck, whether a 1-of in
Liberator of Wind with four Moon Lights or as a 3-4-of inclusion in the stone
base of other decks, and it is the best stone in the format that only has will
abilities.
#15:
Interdimensional Vessel, Apollo
Another
playset in Fiethsing’s World, Apollo sees wide play in the format. Any deck that relies heavily on certain
resonators has a usage for this card, as its protection ability is a strong
answer against any removal spell other than Flame of Outer World, especially uncancellable
chants such as Alhama’at’s Black Lightning.
However, unlike Horn, its main usage is not its only usage. Its moon-producing will ability makes Seal of
Wind and Light absolutely incredible and can even be used with lesser-used
cards like Tsukuyomi Noble, Angel of Wisdom, Cherudim (out of the sideboard),
or Planting Beans to increase their efficiency.
Finally, it’s also used in decks that have J-ruler battle play, as the
[Flying] ability is the second-best keyword a J-ruler can have.
#14:
Little Red, the Pure Stone
Did
you know this card used to be the second-most-expensive non-Ruler card in New
Frontiers? The best stone in the game in
my opinion, Little Red’s biggest advantage comes with its ability to be used in
literally any non-Gretel/Sol VIN deck.
It never messes up your attributes, in fact increasing your consistency
as you can call whatever attribute you absolutely need at that time based on
your hand, and you usually have the freedom to call the attribute of your
most-aggressive resonator. While the
card is slightly low on the list due to most decks not utilizing it out of a
lack of need, the card used to be in almost every deck in New Frontiers, and
it’s still an auto-inclusion in mono-Fire resonator-based burn decks, despite
running four maindecked Split Heaven and Earth, due to the increased damage
output.
#13:
Elvish Priest // Sacred Elf
These cards are the quintessential will dorks, helping Wind decks accelerate your will capability quickly past your opponent’s capability to effectively deal with your strategy. A turn 1 Elf usually reads as “destroy your opponent’s Energize coin,” as Elf → Wall of Wind is the strongest Turn 1 play in the game and opponents need to respect it every time. The cards can see play in any Wind-based deck, including Lilias Petal, the Wind-base variant of Fiethsing’s World, Crimson Girl, and even Wind-based Grimm, due to their strong early game play. It is strongest, though, in decks like Fiethsing’s World that can easily remove it from hand late game with Cheshire Cat or Guinevere to avoid dead draws.
Personally,
I prefer Elvish Priest because it doesn’t get destroyed by Familiar of Holy
Wind, but some people swear by the extra 100 damage that Sacred Elf can
do. It’s up to user preference, though,
as those are usually the only relevant differences between the two cards.
#12:
Rukh Egg // Monkey Trapped in Life // Rasputin // Messenger Familiar
Although
Rukh Egg has a much different function in New Frontiers than Monkey Trapped in
Life, all four of these cards are used essentially the same way in Wanderer, so
I paired them together. Together, they
form the “will” base of the Incarnation-based decks, allowing any of the good
[Incarnation] resonators to be played for free while either recurring
themselves or Adombrali (in Messenger’s case).
They also provide incredible value with Guinevere, as they become
repeatable draw and filter engines with her.
Rukh
Egg is likely the best resonator due to its ability to search out Hastur,
Guinevere, or other Fire resonator, but it does not have the semi-infinite
usage that Monkey or Rasputin do, since you’ll eventually run out of Eggs
without Horn of Sacred Beasts. A
sideboard Messenger Familiar can pull out Adombrali against the Yggdrasil/The
First Lie deck in order to win the game around the Excalibur X/Alice combo.
#11:
Nyarlathotep, the Usurper
Yet
another [Incarnation] resonator to grace this list, Nyarl is the strongest such
card in the Incarnate decks, giving you an 8/8 body and stripping a card from
your opponent. Unless your opponent has
Abdul on the field or Prison in their hand, she will always provide a 1-for-0
or 2-for-1, stripping the best card from their hand, even if they kill it in
response. This underscores the
importance of Abdul/Prison in control decks, as Nyarl negates the card
advantage they get from cards like Lapis’ Dark Storm. She also provides you the opportunity to
choose between stripping removal (if up on board) or threats/cancels (if down
on board), gives you hand advantage on your opponent, and poses a significant
battle threat, as she deals 20% of your opponent’s life total in damage.
Nyarlathotep is the core of the deck and the main reason it functions. Her value cannot be overstated, and she is,
in my opinion, the most valuable card in the format relative to importance to
her specific deck.
#10:
Morgiana, the Wise Servant
I
fully expect placing Morgiana at the very bottom of the top ten cards to be my
most controversial placement, but to be honest, I actually contemplated dropped
her below Nyarlathotep for a long time, ultimately choosing not to based on the
relative usage of Fiethsing’s World vs. Incarnate in the current competitive
environment. Morgiana has always been
much weaker than publicly-viewed (though the card is obviously powerful, just
not ridiculous). When the card sticks
around for awhile, it can provide a huge consistency boost to the player of the
card, but, after testing her extensively since MPR’s release, she is mostly
underwhelming without Quickcast-speed draw.
She doesn’t replace herself when she comes in, she provides no battle
value, she is bad in multiples, and she is easily destroyed in response to
chant-speed draw, such as Cheshire Cat or Tama/Familiar.
The
reason Morgiana was as ridiculous as she was during the R/R Alice’s World days
was because R/R provided a way both to draw at Quickcast-speed consistently
*and* to filter extra copies to the bottom of the deck. Thus, you could play Morgiana, hold priority
to play Cheshire Cat, then use R/R’s filter ability in response to any removal
(unless Flame of Outer World) and still get her filter ability. Her worst usage in R/R World was as a
slightly worse Summon to Memoria that drew out a removal spell from your
opponent, and her best usage was essentially picking your hand.
However,
in the current Wanderer format, it is fairly rare that your opponent has zero
ability to deal with your Morgiana at Quickcast-speed. Familiar of Holy Wind, Ancient Heartfelt
Fire, Unseen Pressure, Thunder/Lightning Strike, Space-Time Anomaly, Stoning to
Death, and Flame of Outer World all kill her for one or two will, and
Charlotte’s Water Transformation Magic is an acceptable desperation tactic if
you really can’t get into a real answer.
In order to deal with plays like this as Fiethsing’s World, you usually
need a very strong hand (for example, Cheshire, Morg, Adombrali, Apollo to
bounce Morg, and another draw resonator) or multiple Morgs, which you can’t
rely on.
That
being said, I obviously have the card this high for a reason. When Morgiana works, you basically pick up
your deck and search what cards you want in your hand. The consistency difference of having her vs.
not having her in Fiethsing’s World is drastic, to the point that she is the
2nd-highest target for removal from your opponent after your 12/12 flier
package. She just isn’t broken, which is
demonstrated by the fact that she struggles to find a home in any other
Wanderer deck, including other decks that run high counts of some mix of
Tama/Familiar/Guinevere/Cheshire.
#9.
Sign to the Future
*The*
answer to Fiethsing’s World, Sign to the Future single handedly prevents World
from dominating the board with multiple fliers against almost any deck. A resolved Sign can decimate a World player’s
entire board, removing the 12/12 fliers and/or Morgiana from the game and
preventing any possible recursion.
Apollo can help mitigate the damage to a degree, but the World player
will still get 2-for-1’d and likely lose at least one of their best resonators.
Even
the threat of a Sign to the Future can cause a World player to play
hyper-conservatively, and bluffing other chants with [Trigger] or cards like
Deathscythe or Charlotte’s Water Transformation Magic in the standby area is a
strong way to buy time against the deck, even if you don’t run Sign
yourself. This showcases the sheer power
of the card.
Ultimately,
the card is very undercosted, removing two resonators from the game for two
will. For comparison, its effect is
better than two Zero’s Magic Light cards *as* Zero, even if they were counted
as the same card in your hand! While its
condition is only occasionally fulfilled against most decks, it hits the
most-played deck in format easily, as they are forced to put out tokens and low-drops
to get out their fliers. Without
Laevateinn, they can’t even play around the card very well, unless they play
Cinderella, the Ashen Maiden, which is double attribute in the worst attribute
for the deck (Darkness).
In
fact, World players often have to make sub-optimal plays like playing a
regalia, a Cheshire Cat, producing an Elf token, banishing the Cheshire and
token to Adombrali, playing Gwiber, then banishing the Adombrali to Guinevere,
just to be safe and prevent your opponent from having priority to trigger Sign
[static-based chants with [Trigger] require priority, per CR 1416.2b]. In fact, the only way to get double Gwiber
out safely is to do this, play the second Gwiber before banishing Adombrali,
then hold priority to banish Adombrali to Guinevere, then banish Apollo to
return Guinevere to your hand while the second Gwiber is on the chase, so that
the two Gwiber are the only two resonators on your field when it resolves. Titania is impossible to play without walking
into a Sign play, and Draig is less-played in Wanderer, making the card even
stronger.
In
short, this card is easily the best removal spell in the current competitive
format, and it is the second-best removal card in the game, after the following
card.
#8:
Flame of Outer World
Flame
of Outer World is an incredibly important card to Wanderer, and one that will
always be relevant to the competitive format.
Not only is the card unchaseable, but it also hits J-rulers, allowing
Thundering a J-ruler to be a legitimate bait for cancel spells if you can pay
Fire/Darkness will on the same turn.
Plus, 800 damage is large enough to hit almost every relevant resonator
in the format (Abdul, Nyarlathotep, Hastur, Adombrali, Guinevere, Morgiana,
Lancelot, Pumpkin Witch, etc.) except for Gwiber, Hook, and Chimeras, and
hitting a Guinevere with Flame prevents them from gaining card advantage on you
in response. It also is lethal to
Fiethsing’s J-ruler side.
This
would already make Flame extremely-powerful, but when you combine it with
Valentina LEL, the card becomes completely busted. Because of the way automatic abilities work,
Valentina’s -0/-200 trigger is *also* unchaseable on top of Flame, bringing the
total combined “damage” up to 1000 for a resonator or a split of 800 and 200 to
two different resonators or a J-ruler and resonator. To give you some examples of what this kills
*unchaseable,* consider:
u
Guinevere
+ Tama/Familiar, and they can’t use either’s ability in response
u
Gwiber,
Draig, or Titania in combination with Alice’s World of Madness or a similar
effect
u
Captain
Hook
u
The
Manticore
u Pumpkin Witch and another
potential Adombrali banish option in response to Witch’s ability, drastically
lowering your opponent’s capability to combo off that turn
Very
few cards in the game have ever had the unchaseable ability, and for good
reason. The ability is very, very
strong, rendering Flame unstoppable except by Wind-Secluded Refuge and
preventative cards like The Queen’s Butler.
#7:
Pumpkin Witch
Another
card whose relatively-low placement I expect to be controversial, Pumpkin Witch
is easily the best finisher in the game.
It can only be played in decks where resonators can be played without
paying their will cost or for drastically reduced costs, as the initial 3-will
investment is large for the format, but in the decks it is run in, it always
poses a threat to close out the game by itself.
For example, Fiethsing’s World can play a regalia and Pumpkin Witch with
four stones, make an Elf token, swing with Witch + Elf (400 combined damage),
play Gwiber with the fourth stone, swing for 1200 damage, banish the Witch and
Elf to Adombrali, producing a Light will and making your opponent lose 400
life, swing for 600 with Adombrali, then play Gwiber with the Light will and
swing for another 1200. All of this
combines for 3800 life loss in one turn for your opponent, which is almost a
one-turn-kill by itself. Plus, if you
have Apollo out, you can actually deal 4400 with this method without ever
walking into a Sign to the Future play if you creatively play your resonators.
Its
obvious power level, repeatable usage with Apollo, and inclusion in multiple
Tier 1 decks (Fiethsing’s World + Incarnate decks) justify a Top-10 placement,
but its hard to place Pumpkin Witch above the cards that make it as devastating
as it is. Witch was printed in Force of
Will’s very first set, but she saw no competitive play until Adombrali was
printed, which is why I placed Adombrali over her.
#6:
Adombrali, the Unfathomable
Adombrali
closes out the [Incarnation] resonators on this list, although it ironically
sees little-to-no mainboard play in the actual Incarnate decks, as its main
usage is as a key playset in all versions of Fiethsing’s World. I decided to bullet this card as I did Flame
of Outer World, as its usages are incredibly diverse. Adombrali can do all of the following for the
deck:
u If it banishes a Wind
resonator, it provides a cost reduction for Gwiber, the White Dragon while also
producing a will to help pay for him, often allowing you to play 1-2 Gwibers a
turn in the early game.
u If it banishes a Water
resonator, it replaces itself and can utilize Morgiana’s ability.
u If it banishes a Fire
resonator, it can destroy a Turn 1 Elvish Priest or Sacred Elf unless your
opponent has Rapid Growth in hand and always destroys a Turn 1 Morgiana.
u If it banishes a Darkness
resonator, it can help accelerate life loss during a Pumpkin Witch combo to try
to defeat your opponent in one turn. The
life loss also does not target your opponent and can win the game against
Yggdrasil without its replacement effect ever happening.
u You can use Triton, Emperor of
the Seven Seas to take control of one of your opponent’s resonators, then use
it as Incarnation fodder for Adombrali so that they never get it back.
u Its [Incarnation] ability
lowers Draig, the Red Dragon’s cost by (2) and can be used in combination with
Rukh Egg to search out Draig, which is important in a format where Laevateinn
is banned.
u It is the key core of the
Pumpkin Witch combo in Fiethsing’s World, as it provides 600 damage in the air
and can produce more will with which to play more resonators to continue
swinging with the [Swiftness]/[Flying] continuous effect of Pumpkin Witch.
Adombrali
also sees sideboard play in the Yggdrasil/The First Lie combo deck and
occasionally sees sideboard play with Messenger Familiar in some Incarnate
builds, but its dominance with the Fiethsing’s World list really contributes to
its high ranking.
#5:
Gwiber, the White Dragon
Compared
to the past few cards, Gwiber needs much less explanation. He is simply a 1-will 12/12 flier, the most
efficient attacking resonator in the game along with Draig/Titania, depending
on deck build. However, compared to the
other two, he is the fastest, coming out as early as Turn 2 on the play and
Turn 1 on the draw. There are even
double Gwiber plays on the draw on Turn 1 with Fiethsing. He can be played in literally any deck that
has the ability to produce Light will and that has a high quantity of one-cost
resonators. The only reason more Gwiber
decks don’t exist is because Fiethsing’s World has already been tested to be
the most efficient Gwiber list. However,
lower-tier lists like Fairies or Elves also tend to run Gwiber for the quick
threat, especially since Fiethsing’s ability still helps accelerate him out.
I
debated for awhile whether to rank Gwiber or Adombrali higher, but ultimately,
they’re both usable in multiple decks, so it came down to their importance to
Fiethsing’s World. Since the deck
wouldn’t exist without Gwiber, whereas losing Adombrali would just lower the
deck’s tier, not kill it off entirely, I ranked Gwiber in the #5 slot.
#4:
Guinevere, the Jealous Queen
The
best anti-control card in the game, Guinevere’s initial strength is her ability
to 1-for-0 your opponent against any non-Flame of Outer World removal they play
on any of your resonators if she sticks around until your opponent’s turn. However, she also provides static card
advantage on your opponent when combined with any resonator that does not use a
card, such as Tama, Cheshire Cat, Rukh Egg, an Elf token, etc. Letting your opponent have a Guinevere for
several turns can lose the game for you by itself, based on the card
disadvantage you get put at alone. Not
to mention, her 400 DEF means she escapes Tama, Familiar, and all of the
aforementioned -200/-200 removal.
In
addition, she has an oft-overlooked ability to give a resonator +400/+400,
which allows them to either escape single-turn -X/-X effects (since those
effects don’t count as damage) or push through extra damage to close out a
game. This especially becomes relevant
if you use her ability both before and after recovering, which would make a
single Gwiber a 2000/2000, to give an example.
#3:
Gretel
Each
of the three cards on this list has drastically altered the competitive
environment in the form of stone attribute bases, directly carving decks around
their existence, and they stand in a tier of their own as a result. Starting us off at 3rd, Gretel was used
during her entire existence in the New Frontiers format, even leading some R/R
World lists to play Wind dual stones over Ruler’s Memoria (!) for the will
acceleration she provides.
By
providing her controller with a recovered Wind magic stone, Gretel effectively
only costs one void will, rapidly increases your magic stone advantage on your
opponent, and singlehandedly powered several lists, including the
Fire/Wind/Darkness control lists (Liberator of Wind, Abdul, and Pandora of
Dark) big during the Grimm Cluster era, all of which ran nine Wind dual stones
+ a 1-of Feethsing (Liberator) or Grusbalesta (Pandora/Abdul).
Even
further, she now provides additional [Resonance] triggers with the introduction
of the mechanic in VIN003 and RDE, she triggers Wendy’s recovery ability as a
Fairy Tale, she speeds up Lilias Petal and Pricia RDE’s searches for their
specific stones and keeps them relevant in the Wanderer format, etc. So she continues to get even better the more
sets that are released.
In
addition to all of this, she also provides a 200/200 body, either eating a
Tama/Familiar/Adombrali trigger/Grusbalesta usage or providing additional
damage prevention as a blocker. She is
an incredible card.
#2:
Cheshire Cat, the Grinning Remnant
At
the time of Cheshire Cat’s release in the United States, the card was $40/copy
(USD), easily the most expensive card in the first two sets. Cheshire Cat is the core engine for Grimm decks,
constantly being searchable and filtering your hand, but any deck that could
splash Water for her did during the Grimm Cluster era. There were literally Fire/Wind/Darkness
Liberator of Wind or Abdul lists that splashed two Deep Woods just so they could
play a playset of Cheshire Cat (for example, Brandon Noland’s 1st place WGP
Chicago Liberator of Wind list).
This
card has been in a Tier 1 deck during every format of its existence, ranging
from every Grimm variant (Bloody Grimm, Oddgro, Rapunzel Combo, etc.), some
Abdul/Liberator lists, every variant of Alice’s World (Liberator of Wind, R/R,
Shion, Yggdrasil, Fiethsing), BlazBlue (Water Blazer), etc. It replaces itself, filters your hand,
provides an almost unremovable blocker, then shuffles away the worst card in
your hand that you previously placed on top, all for one Water will. Even if Cheshire doesn’t get destroyed, you
can combine her with Hydromonica to place the card on the bottom of your deck. In addition, it contributes to multiple combo
strategies that place cards into play from the top of your main deck, whether
from Pricia RDE, Humpty Dumpty, Shion, etc.
I
can’t imagine Cheshire Cat ever not being relevant in the Wanderer format,
considering how desperate some lists work their stone decks to be able to
squeeze her in. She and Guinevere
provide the only legal hand-filter in the game for 1 will or less, and, unlike
Guinevere, Cheshire does not need to survive for the hand-filter ability to be
online. For most of the time working on
this article, I had Cheshire at the very top of this list for this reason. However, I had to give that spot to the most
format-warping card in Wanderer:
#1:
Split Heaven and Earth
As I
said in the Gretel description, all three cards at the top of this list
drastically altered stone bases.
However, unlike the previous two, Split Heaven and Earth alters the
stone bases of *all* decks, not just its own player. Split singlehandedly makes Burn decks
relevant, as Fire would be very weak without the card in format, and it
punishes greedy stone bases. Every deck
in format must consider whether they want to play a low count of duals, be
playable on a low curve to avoid having to call many magic stones against Burn,
play Wind for cancels, or accept a Burn loss to take better matchups elsewhere.
Because
of this, Split actually makes other non-Burn decks that run no special magic
stones more playable, pushing Wendy decks significantly up the tier list, for
example. This is because other decks
often choose to sacrifice consistency to not lose to Burn, allowing mono-attribute
decks to thrive as they do not need to do the same. With Ruler’s Memoria banned, decks would have
to run Moon Shade to be able to splash the Wind for cancels, harming their Burn
matchup in a different way. With the
exception of Fiethsing’s World, which runs four Moon Shade for the five
attributes the deck needs to operate and has a high Wind base anyway, most
decks wouldn’t dare to run enough Moon Shades where they would risk paying
1,000 life or more in some games just producing their colored attributes.
While
the card on the surface seems unfair, it actually makes the format more fair as
a whole, driving the speed of the format down, punishing greed, and keeping
Burn relevant in a format where anti-Fire strategies and sideboard cards are
very easy-to-run, such as The Last Drop, Gathering of Fairies, Excalibur X, Sha
Wujing, Barrier Field, Ancient Barrier, etc.
Whether you think Split is fair or unfair, I don’t think it can be argued that it is the most format-defining card in Wanderer, and thus it is my #1 card on the list!
That’s
it for my top 50, rulers! Do you agree
or disagree with my list? If you
disagree, please comment and let me know what rankings you feel you would
change!
Until
next time, rulers, and good luck to all those playing in the big events this
weekend!
~
Stephanie