Holy cow! I hardly know what to say. Panic but for Agency strengths. This is hands down the best reset in the game. Toughness and Invulnerability are really going to be key now. Time will tell if this turns out to need a restriction, but for the moment, my mind is churning with possibilities.

This could put a significant hurt on rush decks. I'm not sure, but this might be good for the competitive scene requiring more finesse than just get characters out as fast as possible...

How long are games supposed to take to resolve?

Agency can control the flow of opponent's Characters with Invulnerability and Toughness with this:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=35&efcid=4&efidt=482570

Do they still need Hastur or are they better off with Yog cards like Polyps, recursion, and trigger into play tech?

Hi,

IMHO it's time to take some action to balance out factions. My idea, to start with, is to put "a small price to pay" within the restricted list. It took only few months after birth to hammer down the lodge by restricting Farrington and nerfing "the silver twilight lodge". Right now it is quite unplayable. Nothing is being done against agency, but on the opposite, they consistently get good cards (see New Recruit).

And if you ever manage to squeeze in an invulnerable character 'cos you have it from start it only takes a couple of government exorcists to clear the table.

Come on! You didn't play that card yet and you are already speaking of new restricted cards. I didn't see any good agency decks since 2009 and invulnerable and toughness characters were already important since the core set, so why this rufus?

It wounds your characters too, on your operation phase, it's loyal and target PRINTED skill characters. What does that change of a dimensional rift or a living mummy? I personnaly prefer those two in fact.

Haha, I didn't make it seem like I was calling for a restriction at least. I'm just acknowledging that it's quite powerful. (And looking to generate discussion)

Though it's quite restrictive in its play requirements as you said, I think the X cost and the ability to scale nicely to any level you need in the game is going to be great. With a good bit of deck design, you'll be able to mitigate the drawback of hitting your own characters as much as possible. Though obviously I haven't had the chance to test it, I'm looking at having some key 3 skill characters and a touch of toughness in play, then playing Explosion for 2 to clear out the chaff.

B_P said:

This is a joke right?

B_P said:

Hi,

this is just another powerful removal card in the hand of a faction that has already driven the metagame to a game of merely removal. Since I don't find particularly interesting a game where everything you cleverly construct get removed, I don't think FFG is going in the right direction to make this game interesting and enjoyable to play.

Why print Ancient Ones that will never get played 'cos after 4 turns you have nothing on the table and your opponent has won with cost 1 characters (see new recruit) ?.Did you have fun ? Did he have fun ?

What is the point in designing a complex, intricate and unpredictable game when the solution is so simple, predictable and boring ?

Tokhuah said:

Yup I'm so a funny guy

No, that's not a joke. Agency decks are really predictable. So, it's "easy" to counter them.

msommi said:

I don't understand. It's not funny to win/lose with/against a rush deck. Ok, I'm with you on that one. So the explosion can help you. So where is the problem?

Furthermore, now, I begin to choose my cards. With the number of different cards increasing, I am now hesitating. Wich card may I use? 6 Months ago, it was just obvious. So it's cool for me. And I think this card will "maybe" take the place of small price to pay or a prize pistol. It will be fun and new. It will not increase the destruction part of the agency, it will just change it. We just have 50 deck cards. I don't know if I explain myself correctly.

But, I agree with you, this card is, in terms of strategy, a bit boring.

msommi said:

This is the crux of the matter. All the elegance of a sledgehammer. Hell, even the sledgehammer card has more elegance.

Loyal or not, this card is a snoozefest. "A bit boring" is an understatement of hyperbolic proportions.

B_P said:

I don't see this card helping counter rush decks... quite the opposite.

1st of all to counter an agency rush you need to play agency too which is the point I'm making.

let's say for example: turn 1 you play some agency medics, some new recruits, maybe some exorcists, maybe a plane to start scouting opponents cards. You got aready a few investigation lenses on the stories.By turn 3 you play the "kaboom !!!", save some of your good characters with medics, new recruits will go back in the deck and you can seal with a 70 steps. Eibon can come to the rescue in case something slips out. Is this scenario unlikely ?

B_P said:

I don't see this happening either: the more removals , the better. it will be a mayem.

One card that should have been restricted a long time ago is "a small price to pay".

Agency may be predictable but they were 1/2 of the faction choice for all of the top GenCon decks.

Agency gets a card that allows them to bury opponent's cards to get rid of anything that would give them trouble and then another card that clears the board. The combo at the very least makes for NFE in casual gaming because they create an environment where some deck types will be unplayable. For me the recent developments have reshaped what I wil be bringing to the table for the West Coast Regional. Hint: it will NOT be an investigator evasion deck...

1st opinion was ''What the fcuking imba!".

2nd opinion is not so fcukin...not so imba... coz of "play during operation phase" and coz of "wound".

imba it will be instant event with "destroy"))))

p.s. i'm not fan of the agency and think that this faction a bit overpowered, but the card is ok for me.current card development goes to the anti-rush decks and a long-time playing

Ok, I like to think that I'm with all the internets sp34k but I have no clue what imba means.

Kennon said:

)))

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=imba

Weird. I've played a lot of MMOs in my day and never ran across that before.

Dutch Courage + Catastrophic Explosion = Ouch.

Yes, sir, that's one of the things that I was thinking about. Dutch Courage is really one of my favorite cards.

Ahzrab said:

something from the coming pack of support breakers and u got kaboom one more time espessialy for your wounded kamikadze

keaSanya said:

May I get that translated into a cogent, coherent and complete sentence?

In case people mistake that question as snark. I am completely serious. I have absolutely no idea what that post means. None whatsoever.

Translation: Opponent uses Support destruction on Dutch Courage then all of your wounded characters die.

Sure, that can happen, but then I've made them spend an extra card to remove my characters and still at least gotten the benefit of wiping theirs. I see it as worth the risk most of the time.

Kennon said:

but u spend whisky that give u permanent profit for ur chars. and by the spended cards there is a tie.

kaboom+bred to survive = ouch))

When I first saw it, I thought: "Wow, this is better than Panic!"

Then I figured it really isn't. Panic has the "commit, then Panic" trick. Also, it has problems against toughness and invulnerability. While the effect is more permanent than Panic, it goes both ways.

All in all I think it's pretty well balanced against other cards, like Panic. That is, a card at the top end of the curve, but ultimately not something that is more broken than other stuff.