Welcome to our quick review of the new cards revealed for the upcoming Altered TCG expansion Trial by Frost. This article focuses on the Yzmir faction, the themes developed in this set and the overall synergies.
Prepare yourself well, young mage. Body and Mind. For exhaustion can precipitate you into the abyss at any moment, in this trial to the summit.
Characters
88. Moth Larva
Card revealed here by Equinox.
Moth Larva is a beautiful card, and a new cheap character for Yzmir. It has the same statistics as Moonlight Jellyfish.
The ability mentions exhausted cards in reserve, which is a new mechanic from this set, Trial by Frost. When a card in a reserve is exhausted by an effect, it cannot be played on this turn and its support ability cannot be used. You ready your exhausted cards in reserve at the same time you ready your mana, at the beginning of your turn.
When it is played from hand, Moth Larva checks the number of exhausted cards in all reserves, and gains a boost if there are two or more.
As you can guess, the theme for Yzmir in this set revolves around exhausing cards in reserve, whether it is your reserve or our opponent’s. In the right deck, Moth Larva will easily be a 2/1/2 for only one mana.
The rare version allows you to benefit from the boost when you play it from reserve as well, and adds a support ability which can be used to freeze a card in your opponent’s reserve if you do not want to see it played this turn.
89. Chrysalis
Card revealed here by Kawa.
Chrysalis is the stage 1 evolution of Moth Larva…
Wait, wrong card game…
Chrysalis is a new defender character for the Yzmir faction. But unlike Monolith Archivist from Beyond the Gates, it is not overstated. Instead, it hatches a 2/2/2 Mana Moth token when it leaves the expedition.
Chrysalis can be sacrificed (in a Lindiwe deck, for example), without causing any loss of statistics.
As we will see later in this article, Chrysalis is not the only card in this set that cares about defender, so it is maybe the beginning of a synergy not quite used in this faction before.
The rare version gets the same support ability as Moth Larva, which makes sense. They are the same species after all.
90. Pamola
Card revealed here by Arkaster TV.
Pamola has, again, the same support ability as the two previous cards, Moth Larva and Chrysalis (is it the final form??). It is a rather simple card with uneven statistics (these are the statistics of Lyra Cloth Dancer, for one mana less, but with no effect from hand or reserve). Maybe the card will fill a hole in some decks where its support ability is relevant.
The rare version has more statistics, with a nice 1/3/3 for two mana. It is a good body for an Yzmir character, and we saw with Baba Yaga from Beyond the Gates that a simple increase in statistics can sometimes be enough to convince us that running the rare is a good option.
91. Belasenka
Card revealed here by Altered Lore.
Belasenka is the true final form of the “Mana Moth” family. Like with Moth Larva and Chrysalis, there are some “exhaust a card in reserve” shenanigans involved.
Here, the ability is straightforward: Belasenka exhausts a card in reserve when played from hand, while bringing 3/0/3 on the board, which is correct for the effect (beware of Avalanche, though!). In addition, 3/0/3 for two mana from reserve is really good.
The rare version offers bigger statistics on the condition that there is at least an exhausted card in a reserve at the time you play Belasenka. This will not be hard to do, except if you intend to play the big moth right at the beginning of your turn, to prevent a play from your opponent.
92. Aroro, Savior of Asgartha
Card revealed here by Claedeus.
Aroro, Savior of Asgartha may seem awkward card at first glance. If there is a lesson Yzmir mages learned with Beyond the Gates, it is that discarding a card from your reserve, for any reason, is costly.
Especially when you are asked to discard a Spell just to get a boost.
Usually, Yzmir builds are focused on returning spells from reserve to get multiple uses out of them. With Trial by Frost, this strategy will probably still be effective. Indeed, a good way to counter the fact that your opponent exhausted a spell in your reserve is to return said spell to your hand to use it later in the turn anyways. So it is difficult to see yet why you would want to discard the spell instead.
In builds where you end up with a ton of exhausted cards in your reserve naturally, the drawback of Aroro could be minimal.
The rare version loses one statistic in water, but gives you two boosts at the cost of one spell from your reserve. She also gets the same support ability as Flamel and Studious Disciple, which are cards that are played in many Yzmir decks.
93. The Snow Queen
Card revealed here by Anna Margaret.
What a flashy card! The Snow Queen, like Hydracaena from Muna, costs seven mana. Like Hydracaena, she is eternal. Both rare versions protect themselves: Hydracaena is tough x, where x is the number of plants you have, The Snow Queen is tough x, where x is the number of exhausted cards in both reserves.
The Queen does not get bigger by herself, but effectively freezes all characters who happen to be exhausted in reserve. The rare version even helps you exhaust a character in your opponent’s reserve.
This card can effectively transform all your “exhaust a card in reserve” effects applied to characters into sabotage. If your opponent does not have an answer quickly, he/she will play as if every character they play is fleeting.
Note that the effect is symmetrical, so prepare to avoid exhaustion yourself and do not play The Snow Queen recklessly if your opponent also has the ability to exhaust a lot of your cards in reserve.
04. Rocket Puffin
Card revealed here by Kill Team Granada.
What a joyful little guy! If you happen to have an exhausted card in reserve, Rocket Puffin will be happy to help you ready it, gaining a boost in the process. This will make him a 3/1/4 for only two mana, which is really good.
Rocket Puffin could be especially good in a meta where exhausting cards in reserve becomes very common, turning this disruption from the opponent into something positive for you.
05. Vaike, Energy Pioneer
Card revealed here by Red Zone Rogue.
Vaike, Energy Pioneer, is another good counter to your opponents exhaustingcards in your reserve. The card allows you to play exhausted cards from your reserve as if nothing happened to them, and even (exhausted) resupplies you a card when played from reserve.
08. Daring Porter
Card revealed by ?
Daring Porter is another way to exhausted resupply, when she is played from hand and reserve. Her statistics are not that good, but in a deck where you want to effectively exhaust as many cards in reserve as possible (yours and your opponent’s), she could see play.
27. Amarok
Card revealed here by The Fishou.
Amarok is a nasty dog who bites everything that comes too close to him. You will always play him alone in his expedition, so 4/3/3 worth of statistics for (effectively) three mana is strong for Yzmir.
If you happen to play a character like Moonlight Jellyfish in his expedition in a Lindiwe deck, you could have a “free” sacrifice and thus grow Maw, or trigger any other effect requiring the sacrifice of a character.
39. Snowball Commando
Card revealed here by Val & PL.
Snowball Commando has the exact same statistics as Pamola we saw earlier. She can exhaust a card from your opponent’s reserve, at the risk of him being able to make you exhaust one of your own cards in return.
Throw a snowball, get hit by a snowball.
Note that even if your opponent chooses the card in your reserve, it is yours to exhaust. It could be relevant, as Snowball Commando is effectively a card that can allow you to exhaust two cards at once.
41. Nyala, Gifted Conjurer
Card revealed here by Altered Lore.
Nyala, Gifted Conjurer has a very cool effect. Yzmir mages play a good amount of cards that are very powerful from hand but really hard to play from reserve, notably spells like Off You Go! or Magical Training (among others). Nyala offers you to return those cards you really want to play from hand with cards that you don’t mind playing from the reserve, like fleeting spells or cards with good support (or reserve) abilities.
72. Ordis Overseer
Card revealed here by Le Renard Ludique.
Ordis Overseer is a character you will always try to play in an expeditions where you are behind. If your deck typically tends to “trade” expaditions in the beginning of your games (you advance on one side and your opponent on the other side), it will not be hard to do.
To me, the utility of Ordis Overseer is to provide a recruit to sacrifice later in a Lindiwe deck.
The support ability which creates an Ordis recruit for free is also very interesting in a sacrifice deck.
74. Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign
Card revealed here by Hyruama.
Sunisa is another defender character for Yzmir. Her stats are really good and her effect suppresses her downside if your expedition is behind. Keep in mind that it is not hard to be behind in one expedition: if you advance only your Hero expedition for a couple of turns and your opponent does the same with the Companion expedition, you are in a position to have a Sunisa who can help advance your Companion expedition easily.
Spells
94. Rime Frost
Card revealed here by Just For Fun.
Rime Frost is a new cheap spell that interacts with the reserve. It can be played from hand and reserve in the same turn, to exhaust two cards in reserve for a total of three mana. It is a great opener for a turn, as it reduces the possibilities of your opponent right away.
The rare version also allows you to sabotage an exhausted card from a reserve, so you could effectively pay a total of three mana to exhaust a card, then discard the card.
Keep in mind that in Afanas decks, a spell equals a boost. So the card instantly becomes more interesting. Sure, compared with a rare Magical Training or a Helping Hand, it can seem a bit weak, but for a common? Sign me up!
In decks that actively want to exhaust cards in reserve, this will obviously be played.
95. Moth to a Flame
Card revealed by ???
This spell creates a 2/2/2 Mana Moth token for three mana from hand, which may seem to be a bad rate at first glance. But the card is much more interesting than a 2/2/2 for three mana.
Moth to a Flame is a spell that produces a character, which is a first in Altered. Afanas players know very well how important it is to balance your deck to never run out of both spells and characters. This card fills the two roles, so even if it does not have some sort of crazy effect, it brings some kind of stability.
It has a new keyword: cooldown. Even if it does not have fleeting written on it, you will not be able to play this spell twice in a turn. But on the other hand, you get an “exhaust a card in reserve” effect by just playing this card, which could be relevant if you include some other cards from this set in your deck.
The fact that it costs two from reserve is cool too. This is actually one of the rare Yzmic cards that you prefer to play from the reserve.
Consider this card in your opening hand in an Afanas deck: you can play Moth to a Flame on turn one, getting a 2/2/2 with the boost of Afanas, so effectively 3/3/3 (same statistics as a Kadigiran Alchemist, for example). Then on turn two, you can play a small character with an anchor ability (Spindle Harvester or Sneezer Shroom), then Moth to a Flame from reserve and put the boost of Afanas on the anchored character. This is only an example, but it shows that this simple spell offers a lot of possibilities.
The rare version gives you two Mana Moths, one in each expedition. The statistics (4/4/4 in total) you get for four mana from hand and three mana from reserve are good, even more so in Afanas decks.
96. Freeze
Card revealed here by The Kelon Guy.
For the high cost of four mana, Freeze is less flexible than Banishing Gate, as it does not hit permanents.
It has the advantage of not being fleeting, so it can be used again from reserve on a later turn or returned back to hand.
In a vacuum, Banishing Gate seems better for the same mana cost, except if you are looking specifically for synergies with the action of exhausting cards in reserve.
The rare version costs one mana less from hand, so it has the same costs as the rare Off You Go! but can hit any character. Maybe some decks will want three copies of common Off You Go! and three copies of rare Freeze?
97. Blizzard
Card revealed here by Isis.
With Blizzard, we are slowly entering the big spells territory.
Blizzard can be compared to another Yzmir spell with a cost of five mana: Kraken’s Wrath. Both spells are used to send to reserve several characters at once.
The problems of Kraken’s Wrath are (apart than the fact that it costs five mana, so it is difficult to place in a turn):
- It only hits a maximum of three characters (four in the rare version). Against decks that generate a lot of tokens, it is not even that effective.
- The total mana cost of the targets is limited to five (six in the rare version), so you can easily end up removing one or two characters only, leaving other annoying threats on the board.
- The spell specifically targets the characters. So cards like The Spindle, Muna Bastion completely counter a Kraken’s Wrath.
Blizzard does not have these issues. Granted, the spell hits only one expedition, but you are sure to remove everything on this side, no matter the amount or the cost. If a unique Foundry Armourer created 50 brassbugs token on this side, they are now gone.
On top of that, Blizzard exhausts all the cards you removed that did not happen to be fleeting. Another way to synergize with the other Yzmir cards of the set.
The rare version does the exact same thing as the common, and for a reduced cost if there are two cards exhausted in reserve. In the right deck, removing an entire expedition for the cost of a Banishing Gate could be one of your strongest possible plays.
98. Flutter of Moths
Card revealed here by Pascalune.
Flutter of Moths is a big spell that creates three 2/2/2 Mana Moths for six mana, so an ok rate of one statistic for one mana.
Its interest lies in the fact that you can reduce its cost by one if there are two or more cards exhausted in reserve, which can be easy to do in the right deck.
To me, the rare version is much more exciting: it costs one more mana on paper, but as soon as there are two cards exhausted in reserve, its cost will actually be the same as if it were the common. Then, the more exhausted cards there are in reserve, the less it costs.
This is a great payoff to the reserve exhaust strategies. The card begs to be broken, as theoretically, it could cost zero mana.
99. Winter Nova
Card revealed here by Ellio.
Winter Nova is THE big spell of this set. For a total of eight mana, you get multiple modes to choose from (by the way, this card will remind some Magic players of the famous “modal spells“). The fact that you can choose three options among four that are all powerful is exciting.
As an expensive spell, Winter Nova enters directly into the category of spells you would want to play with the Kadigir, Yzmir Bastion.
On the rare version, nothing changes except the fact that you can pick the same option multiple times. But this is already a big upgrade in flexibility: being able to put 4/4/4 worth of Mana Moths tokens on each expedition, while removing something on your opponent’s side, or exhausting his cards in reserve… it is easier to be in a position where Winter Nova is great when playing the rare version.
30. Mana Flare
Card revealed here by Tales of End.
At first glance, Mana Flare seems to be just a big disaster in terms of card advantage. Playing a fleeting spell just to increase your mana by one ? Can it really be worth it ? Especially in a world where you can just use the support ability of a character you already played once to reduce the cost of the next spell you play.
BUT there is more. For example, you can use Mana Flare to play – let’s say – a Winter Nova for a total of seven mana. In an Afanas deck, this means you will activate the hero’s power twice, getting to distribute two boosts on the Mana Moth tokens you just created. You can also use Mana Flare to play a Conjuring Seal from your reserve for four mana, drawing two cards and putting two boosts on your character in the process. And so on…
45. Sleight of Hand
Card revealed at PAX U by Lokinox.
Yzmir mages love to return spells to their hand from their reserve. For the low cost of one mana, you effectively do many things: you trigger Afanas’s power, you can put a card with a good support ability in reserve (like a Muna Caregiver, for example), you return your best spell to your hand (Off You Go!? Nice to see you again!), you exhaust a card in a reserve (the spell itself has cooldown) and you give the turn back to your opponent.
This is amazing on paper. I want to try the card so badly.
46. Joyride
Card revealed here by PiPoCoeur.
I am so sorry to talk this much about my favorite old man (after my Grandpa), but this card in an Afanas deck is three boosts for one mana.
The fact that Joyride needs you to discard a card from your reserve in order to get the two boosts is ok if your deck is good in the card advantage department (which Yzmir decks tend to be anyways). Some cards like Conjuring Seal that are very difficult to play from reserve could be used to feed Joyride, for example.
Joyride is another spell that exhausts itself in your reserve, which could be relevant, we’ll see. Maybe we will witness the birth of “exhaust” Afanas builds.
82. Field Reinforcements
Card revealed here by Imperia86.
To be okay, this card needs to be played when you are in a position to get both the effects. On turn one in an Akesha deck, for example, you can play on the side your opponent did not and draw a card. But you can achieve the same results with a Baba Yaga, and on top of that it gives you a character to play from reserve on the next turn.
In Afanas, this is a 2/2/2 fleeting which draws a card and triggers your other spell effects (like the one of Kadigiran Mage Dancer). But only if you are tied or behind on both expeditions.
Will this card make the cut in the 15 rares?
Permanents – Gear
100. Moth Lantern
Card revealed here by Trickster.
Finally a card clearly made for Lindiwe! Moth Lantern is a card that brings a lot of sacrifice synergy: it is both an enabler and a big payoff.
When played in an expedition, it gets you to sacrifice a character (note that you can play it in an empty expedition if you don’t want to sacrifice… yet). It has the ability to generate 2/2/2 worth of statistics in its expedition each time you sacrifice a character (anywhere!), so it can enable itself the first time.
Ideally, you want to play Moth Lantern in the Hero expedition in a Lindiwe deck: after this point, if you already summoned Maw, each sacrifice you make generates 2/2/2 on each side, which is pretty good.
The rare version of this gear is cheaper from hand, which makes it less clunky. We will see in the future if the one mana reduction from hand is worth a rare slot or not.
15. Kelonic Heater
Card revealed here by Puente 3.
The Axiom tend to share a lot of cards with Yzmir in this set, and Kelonic Heater is in the same vein as the others: it cares about exhausted cards in reserve.
This little expedition permanent gives you an “Exhausted Resupply” both from hand and reserve, so you effectively exhaust a card in reserve while digging a little into your deck, twice. Two mana is expensive for this kind of effect, especially when you compare it to other card advantage sources in the faction (looking at you, Baba Yaga and Magical Training…).
You can play the exhausted cards in your reserve only if they are characters and only if you play them in the expedition where the Kelonic Heater is, so it is quite restrictive.
To me, this is a tech card that could be useful in a meta where a majority of decks tend to exhaust the entirety of your reserve. Other than that, I do not see this card being played a lot in Yzmir.
84. Mobile Armory
Card revealed here by Blue.
With Mobile Armory, Yzmir gets a new card that cares about defender characters. Maybe one day, we will see the rise of a young Shied Mage as a new hero of the faction? I am only speculating here…
Each time it is played, this very cheap permanent gives you a 1/1/1 token for one mana that you can sacrifice without thinking too much about it.
Permanents – Landmark
101. Icebound Pass
Card revealed at PAX U.
Icebound Pass is the only icebound landmark that costs four mana in common. To me, this indicates that a cost of three mana was considered too strong for a common.
Four mana (three in the rare version) for a 5/5/5 dragon token that draws you a card (so it effectively replaces itself) seems very strong on paper.
As we have already seen, exhausting cards in reserve(s) is easy in the Yzmir faction, so much so that you can end up playing Icebound Pass and sacrificing it during the same turn without too much trouble.
The problem is, this is a card you need to setup at the right time and that can be a terrible topdeck in situations where you don’t have the means to trigger it. To me, decks that will run Icebound Pass will go heavy on the “exhaust in reserve” theme.
102. The Nilam, Withered Tree
Card revealed here by Pavel Kolev.
The Nilham, Withered Tree belongs in the small and strange category of cards where the common is easier to play than the rare. Granted, the rare version can be played on turn one, but the tree loses the ability to trigger itself right away by exhausting a card in reserve on play.
Having to exhaust the Nilham to summon the 2/2/2 mana moth limits its use to once per turn, which prevents the card from being absolutely broken.
In fact, getting one 2/2/2 per turn, if you put some work in, is rather tame. But it is a nice addition to decks that would want to play very few characters and generate board presence while disrupting the opponent’s reserve.
51. Icebound Tundra
Card revealed at PAX U.
Icebound Tundra has one of the currently most seeked after lines of text written on it: “return a card from your reserve to your hand”.
The problem is that, to trigger it (and get a 5/5/5 dragon, by the way), you need to play characters with base statistics of 0 in the regions where they have this 0.
For now, Bravos Bladedancer is the most serious candidate, but we need more characters like her! For now, there are only 14 characters with at least one 0 statistic (the Kraken does not count, as it will always be played in water only). Only two characters have two statistics of 0: Muna Caregiver and Spindle Harvester.
85. Icebound Lake
Card revealed at PAX U.
Icebound Lake is easy to trigger: you can play the early turns to advance only one expedition, keeping the other one behind your opponent’s. Then you play Icebound Lake and after this point, you only have to play three characters in the expedition which is behind to profit.
You can use the ability to give “asleep” to a character as a removal to advance on this day, or as a setup for future turns by giving it to one of your characters.
Conclusion
No need to see the future to know that the ascent of Cais Adara will be a constant fight against exhaustion. As soon as they saw the mountain in the distance, the Yzmir mages prepared their spells and called the eidolons, gathering all the mana they could in preparation of the trials ahead. When the expeditions will be lost in the blizzard or in despair, those who strengthened their minds during all these years will be the ones standing on their feet. Only moving forward.
Unleash your magic on January 24.
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