Preamble
Hey everybody, long time no see! I went on hiatus following BN’s expulsion of a number of Duelyst players which caused me to divest from Duelyst. It also happened to sync up with my dislike of the game as it had developed following the Unearthed Prophecy expansion (Flawless, Azure, Vet & Abyss Aggro). A few weeks ago I decided to pop back in and have a look around here, only to discover that legacy players affected by the BN purge had received a settlement that seems to have worked out well enough. I’m sad that countries remain locked out but it seems to me that BN has tried to at least curtail the risk of people (like me) turning away from the game out of worry that our payment into the game is suddenly voided without warning or clarity. With all that said, I decided to read up on the current topics of discussion and dip my toes back into the actual game. A few days later the announcement for Immortal Vanguard dropped so it seems my timing is on point! Obviously I’d advise everyone against pre-ordering until we actually find out if the expansion is going to be worth any investment but for me personally it’ll at least serve as a litmus test to see if Duelyst is a game I can get back into again! I want to thank everyone who was so kind to me when I took my break, it really warmed my heart. What actually pushed me over the edge to post something here again was running into two forum friends (you know who you are) who noticed I was back online and decided to shoot me a message!
I really missed chatting and discussing with you guys and gals.
So, about this “Brome” Character
Immortal Vanguard is bringing new Generals and while I share @Smash_the_Hamster’s worries about CPG’s ability to balance 18 of them (what happened to your Channel by the way?), I can’t help but be at least interested and curious to see how they play out. CPG seems to be embracing a kind of anti-meta approach where cards interact in such volatile ways that it becomes difficult for a few fixed decks to come out on top, so more Generals might actually be good for the game if judged on those terms. Sadly, the consensus here seems to be that Lyonar and Vetruvian are both getting another underpowered, underused General. Both fair and interesting, but not cheesy enough to see competitive play at least. Of course we can’t judge these things before the expansion actually arrives and settles but I really wanted to share some insights on Brome that I think a lot of people might be missing because they’re not that apparent on a surface level. Shidai’s utility is obvious, Maehv’s utility is obvious, but Brome just seems kind of weak. Don’t get me wrong: I agree he’s likely to be too fair to see top-tier play, but I think there’s evidence that he might be a lot better than people give him credit for, even based on cards we have access to today. I’m going to stick to discussing Brome (and not Ciphyron) because Lyonar is just what I know best. So let’s go.
More than a Zealot
Obviously Brome has built-in synergy with a Zeal-based combat style. The Crestfallen are weak and you’re limited in their placement (although in many cases you can place and move or vice versa to be more flexible than you might initially think, based on my trials). You can run the stereotypical deck with Windblade Adepts and Silverguard Knights to capitalise on the excellent Afterblaze spell. Afterblaze’s problem is that it could be a dead card on occasion, but with Brome it becomes a (dispel-weak) Primus Shieldmaster with Opening Gambit: Draw a card every other turn. Not amazing, but pretty damn good and it gives you the flexibility to play it on your other Zeal minions as usual. Zeal decks are relatively high skill and interesting to play (because you’re constantly at risk of messing up your own formations): the synergy is there, it’s strong, but there’s a lot more going on under the hood.
What I think people are actually missing is Brome’s potential with Artifacts. The recently revealed Lore Artificer might be smiling at Sajj and Vaath but we shouldn’t forget that Lyonar’s no slouch in the Artifact department either. Discounted Glaives, Regalia, Bulwark and Dawn’s Eye are all items of interest for a General that is more intrinsically able than any other General to hold onto Durability points and has access to two Artifacts that reward you for having their minions nearby. Is it dawning on you yet? Think of how turns typically play out: how many ways can an enemy General typically ping down your Artifacts? Are they going to have enough burst to both take out that accursed Crestfallen and your Artifact in the same turn? What if that Crestfallen were hiding behind a Bulwark? What if your General could buff a whole formation of minions safely behind that Crestfallen? What if that Crestfallen were Afterblazed? Until Rasha’s Curse is changed Vetruvian players are going to punish you for investing too heavily but I hope you can see my reasoning here. Regalia guards against pings, Dawn’s Eye recovers your Artifacts, Crestfallen jams big threats and traps Songhai Generals. There is potential here waiting to be tapped, we might see Lyonar’s first General truly tying Artifact, Zeal and Bond decks together into a cohesive whole. Maybe we’ll finally see Silverguard Knights dropping from the sky! Maybe not, but it’s at least interesting!
And wait, there’s more! That Crestfallen + Afterblaze combo was pretty cool right? How about Cresftallen + Ironcliffe Heart? Yet another card that suffers from lacking opportune targets now gets a General that can either spawn 3 more Guardians at no additional Mana cost (and while only costing one card from your action bar) or Rush them in for 13 damage at 7 Mana (only if you can keep a minion of course) without the risk of being a dead card. What about a nice 5-Mana Crestfallen + Holy Immolation play costing only 1 card? The almost forgotten Elyx Stormblade speeds your entire formation up to catch slippery foes and there’s the trusty Magnetize and Decimate to back you up (Sky Burial might see play if its cost were lowered). I even considered the synergy between Radiant Dragoon and the Crestfallen but that’s probably painting over cracks a little too much. I could go on talking about Lasting Judgment’s and Arclyte Sentinel’s interactions with high-Health friendly minions and low-Health enemy ones but I hope you get the picture of the potential.
We haven’t even touched on the potential synergy with swarm decks Brome might have. You flood the board, put on your Glaives, unleash your Auroara and beat down harder than the other Generals could. Until Thunderhorn and Grapnel Paradigm get nerfed this play style (and everything else I’ve mentioned for that matter) are unlikely to actually do well though, but at least there’s potential.
Finally, I have a note on card draw. Lyonar relies on Trinity Oath quite a bit (although I’d argue it’s only really good in Heal and maybe Swarm decks) and for good reason. I’m not going to bring up Solarius (maybe as a one-of for drawn-out matches?) though but instead emphasize that between Sun Wisp (great with Ironcliffe Heart), Afterblaze and the mentioned cards’ tendency towards higher Mana costs make it seem likely to me that a Brome deck is probably way less likely to need (a lot of) additional card draw beyond those two. Brome seems likely to have a grindy, efficient play style that doesn’t burn up cards as fast as other archetypes do and might instead be able to keep up consistent pressure over time rather than burst.
Concluding, Finally
In my own wordy way I hope I’ve touched on some dimensions to Brome that might not have been apparent to a significant portion of you. To me he seems like a skill-intensive, fair and interesting General that is going to delight Johnnies and Timmies and disappoint Spikes around the Duelyst-playing world. I really hope he gets the tools he needs to do well enough to the point it doesn’t feel like a handicap playing him. I don’t need top-tier CPG, I really don’t, but maybe make him playable? Artifacts are cool, Zeal is cool, Bulk is cool, Provoke is cool, I’d love to play some viable Lyonar decks that make use of these concepts. I’m curious to see if we get them.
I hope you enjoyed reading this little diatribe of mine, I guess I got carried away again. Cheers.
