Let's see if you like my new math:

7 factions, 1 neutral "pack", 6 sets of 60 cards.

In the first set we got 5 factions that got 9 cards (Warlord + 8 Signature, 4 factions with 3 cards each), 2 factions that got 6 cards (Orks and Chaos wth 2 cards each) and 3 Neutral cards (3 copies of Calamity). That makes 45 + 12 + 3 = 60 Cards.

I think that, as you commented before, we'll get something like that in each set. I think each faction will get:

- A Warlord plus 8 signature cards

- 3 times 3 cards (3 copies of each)

- 2 times 2 cards (3 copies of each)

This would make: 9 + 27 + 12 = 48 cards per faction, this is, 336 cards, leaving 24 for 8 different Neutrals, as you stated.

This being said, I think that giving us 3 copies of each is a bit mean, since, in case you want to have 4 copies of some card you would have to get 2 units of one pack, meaning you will have a lot of spare cards. On the other hand, there are very few units/events/whatever that you really want to have 4 in your deck, so I think we'll be fine with 3 copies of each.

Relating this with deck building, once you have the whole first set you will have 60 cards per faction (21 from the Core and 39 from the expansion) apart from your 2 Warlords, so single faction lovers will have enough possibilities to test. In some cases, taking out 18 cards out of 60 to make a 50 cards deck (I'm not counting the neutrals here) will be a hard time XD

Man, I really want to get my hands in the whole Warlord Cycle =D

On the other hand, there are very few units/events/whatever that you really want to have 4 in your deck, so I think we'll be fine with 3 copies of each.

=D

Three copies of a card is the maximum allowed. That is why we get three copies per card in a pack. Signature squad composition is unique.

On the other hand, there are very few units/events/whatever that you really want to have 4 in your deck, so I think we'll be fine with 3 copies of each.

=D

Three copies of a card is the maximum allowed. That is why we get three copies per card in a pack. Signature squad composition is unique.

Really? Woops... I thought it was 4 =S

Hope you didn't get 4 Core sets

Nope, only two

Btw, about the number of cards for each factions plus Neutrals, we are not counting on the possibility that we could get new planets in this Cycle. I know it's not very likely, but, who knows?

Also, in case someone didn't know, you can see all the cards at CardgameDb as a regular card if you filter the cards for Warlord Cycle.

I doubt we'll see planets in battle packs. Those are more likely to be part of the deluxe expansions where an entire "sector" might be elaborated on. /speculation.

I doubt we'll see planets in battle packs. Those are more likely to be part of the deluxe expansions where an entire "sector" might be elaborated on. /speculation.

An entire new sector... interesting...... I would love to have that for this game. (additional planets)

You have to think the cycle as a set divided in "easier-to-buy" packs. We will have 360 cards as a whole, and my guess goes for 10 Neutrals, 7 Warlords with their signature cards (9) and another 41 cards for each faction.

I think this is a really reasonable approach on what we will be seeing. Apart from that I also feel there is a huge internal balance with the card Calamity. In special the games Ive had with the core set for now favour a multitude of 1-2 drops in order to go to the big guys afterwards, basicly play your hand empty and gain a whole bucket of cards and resources to work with while only losing 1 to 2 small guys (often just 1).

Calamity....

Yeah, that's bound to make it's way into a few decks.

Yep! New staple for sure. Love the card.

So, does Calamity sound like a way to balance out resource struggles?

Seems like it for me. Apart from that I also think that certain factions like Tau and Eldar now have superior 2 drops, not that this perse makes them better but they are much harder to beat for certain factions. I feel that Eldar, Orks and Chaos can really make great use of Calamity.

We've been talking about this card a tonne on cardgamedb:

http://www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php?/topic/18488-calamity/

The general consensus is this looks like a command balancer at first glance, but its timing as an HQ action means its not really. If you are behind on command struggle that turn, you'll struggle to pay for this card, and will leave your opponent in a decent position for the next turn. If you're ahead on command struggle, then why play it?

The real niche for it seems to be on cards with leave and enter play effects. Murder of Razorwings seems to be the card most worth recursing, though only if you can recurse a couple at once. Its a lot of play and resource commitment to ditch 2 cards over 2 different turns, otherwise.

I personally see that Calamity more than anything allows for more expensive cards to be played where with the initial core set you have no real reason to go beyond the cost of 4-5 cards by much. Mainly because there was no real way of dealing with a multitude of units comming from HQ anyway.

As such I see it being great for the following factions:

1. Eldar, mainly because they really like the lategame games

2. Chaos, mainly because they allready packed some great removal

3. Orks (to a degree...) mainly because they are a bit to straight forward otherwise

I was looking at it to heal. At first I thought something like pairing it with Fire Warrior Elite. Take damage, pull it back. But it's 3 cost

Maybe some 0/4 cost 2 drops in the future could draw in some damage.

Edit: sanctioned psyker lol. Seems pretty good if you've got the resources.

I was looking at it to heal. At first I thought something like pairing it with Fire Warrior Elite. Take damage, pull it back. But it's 3 cost

Maybe some 0/4 cost 2 drops in the future could draw in some damage.

Edit: sanctioned psyker lol. Seems pretty good if you've got the resources.

Yeah I feel Tau gains the least from it and in fact it might also feel like a direct hard counter against Tau as it more and more seems they have the need for attachments that will now drop off. In special combined with their insane Attachments you'd often end up losing the eary command struggels and combats against Tau with anything but Orks (still lose the CMD struggle for the Ork player), Chaos (still lose the CMD struggle), Dark Eldar and Space Marines.

At the same time I also feel that Dark Eldar can gain an incredible boost from Calamity if they end up with having loads of Resources. Cards like Kyth's Kymeramastes, Sybarite Marksman and Coliseum Fighters can be used to totally change the combat set up in a profitable way for the Dark Eldar in the lategame.

I was looking at it to heal. At first I thought something like pairing it with Fire Warrior Elite. Take damage, pull it back. But it's 3 cost

Maybe some 0/4 cost 2 drops in the future could draw in some damage.

Edit: sanctioned psyker lol. Seems pretty good if you've got the resources.

Yeah I feel Tau gains the least from it and in fact it might also feel like a direct hard counter against Tau as it more and more seems they have the need for attachments that will now drop off. In special combined with their insane Attachments you'd often end up losing the eary command struggels and combats against Tau with anything but Orks (still lose the CMD struggle for the Ork player), Chaos (still lose the CMD struggle), Dark Eldar and Space Marines.

At the same time I also feel that Dark Eldar can gain an incredible boost from Calamity if they end up with having loads of Resources. Cards like Kyth's Kymeramastes, Sybarite Marksman and Coliseum Fighters can be used to totally change the combat set up in a profitable way for the Dark Eldar in the lategame.

I agree. Kabalite Halfborn , as previewed in The Threat Beyond is clearly designed for this purpose.

Three of them, three Murders of Razorwings, three Calamities. Thats looking pretty good for a start.

Not sure if I missed this as I only skimmed the posts.

I believe this is the best way to break it down:

6 packs with 60 cards = 360 cards

9 X 7 = 63 of these cards are reserved for Warlords and their respective squads.

Therefore 297 of these cards are regular player cards.

297/3 = 99 unique regular player cards to be released this cycle (ie because they will all be triplicate)

So how many of these 99 will be neutral?

Likely 8, because when you subtract 99 - 8 you get 91 cards, which divided by 7 is a real number at 13.

So I would guess in this cycle, assuming 1 warlord and squad of 8 for each faction, we get 8 neutral cards and 13X7 = 13 regular player cards per faction.

I agree. Kabalite Halfborn , as previewed in The Threat Beyond is clearly designed for this purpose.

Three of them, three Murders of Razorwings, three Calamities. Thats looking pretty good for a start.

For sure, the Razorwings whern't on my mind instantly but that synergy is really sick when you think about it.

Considering that, it seems that FFG/GW has a favour for the Dark Eldar, so far they have not gained anything that's totally useless. Again the combination of opponents discarding cards and Dark Eldar able to gain tokens like there is no tomorrow is quite the dangerous combination.

I think Urien Rakarth's ability is way too good. I mean, it not only saves you a lot of Resources, but it also makes your opponent wonder when will you hit him with a Torture even if you don't have tokens.

If it was me, I would have limited the Ability with something in the lines of "While you still have at least 1 Resource Token".

Anyway, there are still a lot of cards in this cycle to be shown in order to start whining about imbalancing and such =P

Still, I think Urien Rakarth's will be one of those decks you end up "hating" =P

I agree. Kabalite Halfborn , as previewed in The Threat Beyond is clearly designed for this purpose.

Three of them, three Murders of Razorwings, three Calamities. Thats looking pretty good for a start.

For sure, the Razorwings whern't on my mind instantly but that synergy is really sick when you think about it.

Considering that, it seems that FFG/GW has a favour for the Dark Eldar, so far they have not gained anything that's totally useless. Again the combination of opponents discarding cards and Dark Eldar able to gain tokens like there is no tomorrow is quite the dangerous combination.

Better still is that Calamity doesn't hit token units.

A Kith Calamity deck could look quite strong by end of cycle. There are stronger options at present, however.

Cross posted from my cardgamedb posts, I said this of Rakarth:

I think a Rakarth deck will be something like this:

1) Weak at winning Command Struggle

2 signature units with no command icon means weaker command already. Add in that we need lots of Torture events to make use of the economy feature, and we're not left with much room for command struggle play.

Superiority is uneconomical with +1 cost.

Best way to mitigate this, I feel, is going to be Archon's Palace shutting down one zone, Rakarth sniping another (he doesn't need to be at a planet to use his ability), and othewise piling on one planet.

2) Good at applying pressure

The way to play the four Experimentations, I think, is to give the opponent no choice. If you pick a card type they have, they can either ditch a card they don't want or take a damage: whichever hurts less. On the other hand, if you can pick a card type they don't have, thats 1 damage locked in. Why try and give them the choice? Aim for the damage, every time, and play it in combat phase to Hypex untap and to trigger the Beastmaster Wyches. Thats 0 resources for 1 Warlord damage, or 1 for that and a Khymera.

If we build the deck with the aggro plan in mind rather than the control/choke game, I think they'll look stronger.

Main problem here is loss of Archon's Terror as an effective option to remove dreaded AoE attackers. I'd say the way to deal with this is to play heavy ranged: 3 Marksmen, 3 Mandrakes and maybe 3 Altansar Rangers too. Eldar ally also lets us deal with the fact that we don't want to be completely lacking in Command - I reckon anything that does have Command, let it have 2+ command. Make negating their command wins a higher priority than winning our own.

Rest of the units? Well, we'll want 3 Kabalite Half-Bloods for sure, though I don't think Calamity is going to work for this deck. We'll want Syren Zylthex (2), Incubus Warriors, Beasthunter Wyches, Coliseum Fighters, Murder of Razorwings. Thats 28 units so far and add a couple of Archon's Palaces. Add the 2 other sig cards and the 3 Hypexes, I hope we can get in about 17 Torture Events in. Power From Pain suddenly looks really good when it only costs 1, so three of those. We got 4 Experimentations. 2-3 Visions of Agony. 7-8 more tortures to go and there's a deck. It'll choke light and weaker on command than standard Kith, but it'll be good at dishing out diffuse pressure: a discard here and there, a sacrifice here and there, a ranged strike or three up front. The nature of its command plays will be around negation of opposing command struggles more than winning command struggles, which should keep the board small and increase the relative power of key cards like Power from Pain, Beasthunter Wyches and Mandrakes.

It'll be hard to pilot, but I think it could be eminently playable.