Welcome to this focus on one of the 18 heroes from Altered’s core set (Beyond the Gates). We will review the hero power of this Lyra Exalt. I will then present the different types of deck we can build around it.
If you haven’t read it yet, you might be interested to know more about the Lyra Faction and their overall mechanic with the Leaping into Lyra article. Nevenka is the typical Lyra Hero with her dice creating surprise on the board. That’s probably why she is the starter hero for her Faction.
Hero Power
Nevenka’s hero power is :
: Target a Character you control, then roll a die. On a:
• 6+, it gains Anchored. (During Rest, it doesn’t go to Reserve and it loses Anchored.)
• 2-5, it gains 1 boost. (A boost is a +1/+1/+1 counter. Remove it when it leaves the Expedition zone.)
• 1, send it to Reserve.”
Nevenka’s power is clearly based on randomness, with most outcomes (2 or more) generally good and one bad (the 1). With her power, you usually end up with two questions: should I take the risk or not and which character should I target?
This question isn’t that easy to answer as you want to minimize the risk and increase the reward. A first rule could be go target your best character in a losing expedition :
- If you roll a 6, you get a good body for next turn.
- If you roll 2-5, depending the situation it could be useful or doesn’t change a thing.
- If you roll a 1, you still loose so the situation hasn’t evolved.
Cards that fit well with this playstyle
You can roll a die every turn with Nevenka, so obviously cards that improve your results are good like Rare Martengale or The Ouroboros, Lyra Bastion.
Because you can easily give a boost, cards with anchored are also good options to get value out of the +1 given.
Archetypes around Nevenka
An improved starter deck
The Nevenka starter deck doesn’t seem that good compared to the others and you might have found it hard to win against them using it.
This reworked deck is more focused on dice rolling while giving tools to monitor your luck. With Martengale and the Ouroboros, you will now be able to roll an All In without fearing a 1 or you’ll be able to chose whether you anchor or boost Asmodeus!
This deck also has some control tools with Cloth Dancer, Tanuki and 4 removal spells. Their diversity should help you handle various situations.
Hero
Character
Spell
Permanent
Anchor and Boost
The goal here is to get as much value as possible out of Nevenka’s boost. This deck therefore contains a lot of anchoring options with Asmodeus and Aloe Vera. You also have support effects to anchor your characters with cost 3 or less via The Hatter and Kodama. Hathor, Ouroboros Inkcaster and Lyra Chronicler are all high-statted characters to anchor with this effect.
Nevenka is also a good option to anchor a character if you have an Ouroboros and Martengale : that’s why I put them into the deck. (You could also exchange the Ouroboros with Coniferal Coneman for exemple to have more “guaranteed” anchor).
Hero
Character
Spell
Permanent
Aggro Nevenka
For this last deck, I wanted to build a more aggressive decklist with high statted characters. The goal here is to use Nevenka’s power as a free boost every turn to increase the raw power of your characters. As you just want to guarantee a boost, the Martengale is sufficient for the +1 to the results (and you save 3 rare spots by not playing the Ouroboros).
Your goal is to win as soon as possible and finish with a Small Step the last turn. You have other finishers like Asmodeus with his huge stats, All In, or The Sandman who can asleep a powerful opponent character like an Hydracaena, Shenlong or a boosted Mage Dancer.
Hero
Character
Spell
Thank you for reading this focus on this Exalt. We hope you read some stuff that might interest you and you’ve found some lists that enhance your will to play this awesome game.
We remind you that these lists are just hands on and are not optimized, we really encourage you to try things on your own with what you have and want to play. That way you’ll find some interesting stuff that suits you great!
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