Can we do anything to improve giants?

[marcos]

Giants were one of my favourites creatures when i started playing meccg, but to be honest, they suck nowadays.
Any of the virtual boyz have a neat idea to improve giants a bit? I've thought on mix them with "earth" attacks like, earth tremors, cruel caradhras, the black enemy's wrath, wich don't see much play either...

here are my suggestions:

Giant V
MP: 2

P/B: 13/-
Giant. One strike. Unless Giant is cancelled, search your play deck for earth tremors, cruel caradhras or the black enemy's wrath and put it into your hand.

Thunder's Companion V
MP: 1

P/B: 10/-
Giant. Two strikes. Any attack caused by earth tremors, cruel caradhras or the black enemy's wrath against a company that has faced Thunder's Companion this turn receive +2 prowess.

Awaken the Earth's Fire V
Permanent Event
Environment. Any Giant attack receives +1 strike (+1 strike and +1 prowess if Doors of night is in play). Additionally, at the end of each player's turn they may take earth tremors, cruel caradhras or the black enemy's wrath from discard pile and put it into hand. Cannot be duplicated.

I gave them more keyability with thunder's companion because before they could only be played at [w] and the hability to combine themselves with "earth" attacks, c'mon, won't a giant's step cause some earthqueakes?
didn't make an impressive helper because they already have one (rank upon rank). This new 2 giants still give the option of using the old ones because:
Giant: gives 1 more MP if defeated
Thunder's companion: different keyability and less strikes

hope you like them
thoughts?

[Jambo]

Interesting ideas!

I may have decided to do it the other way round, however - targeting The Black Enemy's Wrath, Earth Tremors and Cruel Caradhras, whilst leaving the creatures relatively untouched. Both Giant and Thunder's Companion can be ok as far as creatures go, and if boosted can give a serious headache. You've been careful not make the originals worthless which is good.

Cruel Caradhras is quite a cool card but its playability is hurt by the rather unnecessary "(and not stopping at a site therein)" part. Here's a quick alternative:

Cruel Caradhras [v]
Short-event
Playable on a company moving in one of the following regions: High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Imlad Morgul. Each character in target company must face one strike (not an attack) of 8 prowess which cannot be cancelled. Any resulting body check is modified by +1. If a company has already faced Cruel Caradhras this turn it must return to its site of origin.

Awaken the Earth's Fire [v]
Permanent event
Environment. The prowess of strikes created by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Cruel Caradhras and Earth-tremors is modified by +2 (+4 if Doors of Night is in play). At the end of each turn, each player may search their discard pile and take one of the aforementioned cards or a Giant hazard creature to hand. Discard when any play deck is exhausted. Cannot be duplicated.

Trouble on all Borders[v]
Long-event
All Giant attacks receive +1 prowess and Giant creatures may be keyed to High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Imlad Morgul. If Doors of Night is in play all body checks resulting from Giant attacks are modified by +1. Cannot be duplicated.

[Nerdmeetsyou]

what do these cards you could search with the new giants in original... because I don't have the muse to search them...
maybe you post it... because it seems like got them at hand...

[marcos]

Cruel Caradhras [v]
Short-event
Playable on a company moving in one of the following regions: High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Imlad Morgul. Each character in target company must face one strike (not an attack) of 8 prowess which cannot be cancelled. Any resulting body check is modified by +1. If a company has already faced Cruel Caradhras this turn it must return to its site of origin.

Awaken the Earth's Fire [v]
Permanent event
Environment. The prowess of strikes created by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Cruel Caradhras and Earth-tremors is modified by +2 (+4 if Doors of Night is in play). At the end of each turn, each player may search their discard pile and take one of the aforementioned cards or a Giant hazard creature to hand. Discard when any play deck is exhausted. Cannot be duplicated.

Trouble on all Borders[v]
Long-event
All Giant attacks receive +1 prowess and Giant creatures may be keyed to High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Imlad Morgul. If Doors of Night is in play all body checks resulting from Giant attacks are modified by +1. Cannot be duplicated.

your cruel caradhras makes the original one worthless. Your awaken the earth's fire is cool, but might make the "earth" attacks too powerfull, imagine a cruel caradhras's strike at 12 or a The Black Enemy's Wrath's strike at 10 ??? they will be too powerfull IMHO
about your trouble on all borders, it is a very cool suggestion, maybe it will fit better on other card than in "trouble on all borders"

this are the cards i mentioned:

Cruel Caradhras
Playable on a company using region movement to move through one of the following regions (and not stopping at a site therein): High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Minas Morgul. Each character in target company must face one strike (not an attack) of 8 prowess which cannot be cancelled. Any resulting body check is modified by +1.

The Black Enemy's Wrath
Each Under-deep site, Dark-hold, and Shadow-hold has an additional automatic-attack (cannot be canceled): Lava Flows - 1 strike against each character with 6 prowess (weapons do not modify prowess against these strikes). The penalty for an untapped character not tapping against one of these strikes is -5. Cannot be duplicated.

Earth-tremors
Any company moving to or from an Under-deep sites faces an attack (cannot be canceled): Rock Fall - 1 strike with 7 prowess against each character (weapons do not modify prowess against these strikes). In addition, cancels the effects of Into Dark Tunnels, Old Road, Great Road, and Bridge. Cannot be duplicated.

[Jambo]

Indeed my Cruel Caradhras isn't worth it as it makes the original useless.

For AtEF, you're right, +4 would probably make the stated cards too strong. Maybe just removing the DoN +4 bonus would be enough?

Re ToaB, yes there might be a better card suggestion for this. Maybe Earth-tremors? I had originally thought of Like the Crash of Battering Rams, but the picture is of a Dragon...

[marcos]

i like your AtEF but i'd like to see a combination of both, somethiing like:

Awaken the Earth's fire [V]
Environment. Any Giant attack receives +1 strike and the prowess of strikes created by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Cruel Caradhras and Earth-tremors is modified by +2. Additionally, if Doors of night is in play, at the end of each turn, each player may search their discard pile and take one of the aforementioned cards or a Giant hazard creature to hand. Discard when any play deck is exhausted. Cannot be duplicated.

I can't find a card that matches with your ToaB. The picture of Lost in dark domains is awesome, but the tittle doesn't fit at all inverse to what happen with Like the Crash of Battering Rams, the tittle is perfect but the picture is not... What do you think about Awaken denizens (LE picture) or Arouse denizens (TW picture)?

About my suggested giants, with a new AtEF a new "giant" won't be worth it but a new thunder's companion that can be keyed to anything else other than just wilderness is something to keep in mind to give this big boyz a little boost... What about

Thunder's Companion V
MP: 1

P/B: 10/-
Giant. Two strikes. If any strike caused by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Earth Tremors and/or Cruel Caradhras against a company that faced Thunder's companion this turn is succeful, the defending company must return to it's site of origin.

[marcos]

this are my new suggestion about this, i wanted to make a new version of Lost in dark domains because its picture is just awesome for this thematic, so:

Lost in dark domains [V]
Long event
Giant attacks receives +1 strike and the prowess of strikes created by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Cruel Caradhras and Earth-tremors is modified by +2. Additionally, if a company moves through a , opponent can reveal and discard from hand one of the aforementioned cards (each card discarded counts 1 against the hazard limit) and opponent has to face it's associated attack. Giant attacks can be keyed to . Cannot be duplicated.

Awaken the Earth's fire [V]
Permanent Event
Environment. Giant creatures may be keyed to High Pass, Redhorn Gate, Angmar, Gundabad, Grey Mountain Narrows, or Imlad Morgul. Additionally, if Doors of Night is in play; all body checks resulting from Giant attacks are modified by +1 and at the end of each turn, each player may search their discard pile and put a Giant hazard creature to hand. Discard when any play deck is exhausted. Cannot be duplicated.

Balrog of Moria [V]
Permanent event.
Unique. Spawn. Moria has an additional automatic-attack: Balrog 1 strike with 18/8. In addition, at the end of each turn, each player may search their discard pile and put The Black Enemy's Wrath, Cruel Caradhras orEarth-tremors and put it into hand.

and the already suggested Thunder's companion with a little modification to his keyability:

Thunder's Companion V
MP: 1

P/B: 10/-
Giant. Two strikes. If any strike caused by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Earth Tremors and/or Cruel Caradhras against a company that faced Thunder's companion this turn is succeful, the defending company must return to it's site of origin.

[Leon]

The Thunders Companion as it is on gccg is only playable with Awaken the Earths Fire V or after another giant or one of the other cards in the strategy. I would prefer to leave out the part about other giants and make it keyable to triple wilderness.

Can somebody put the texts of the second and third virtual set available, so it is easier for discussion?

[marcos]

The Thunders Companion as it is on gccg is only playable with Awaken the Earths Fire V or after another giant or one of the other cards in the strategy. I would prefer to leave out the part about other giants and make it keyable to triple wilderness.

Can somebody put the texts of the second and third virtual set available, so it is easier for discussion?

they are here

[Leon]

" Thunder's Companion"
"text= Giants. Two strikes. May be played following a Giant attack or an attack from The Black Enemy's Wrath, Earth Tremors and/or Cruel Caradhras against the same company. If any strike caused by The Black Enemy's Wrath, Earth Tremors and/or Cruel Caradhras against a company that faced Thunder's companion this turn is succeful, the defending company must return to it's site of origin."
"strikes= 3"
"mp= 1"
"prowess= 10"
"class= Creature"
"type= Hazard"

Could this card be improved to include playability keyed to triple wilderness? As it is I would not prefer it to the original.

There is only one other Giant creature and the other 3 cards are quite limited in range, and I would love to use these with Doors of Night, Withered Lands (and Rank Upon Rank of course)

[marcos]

i dont see any problem to make it playable at 3 wilderness

[Leon]

Now I only have to find some time to actually play games and test these. (and not run into tournaments, fallen sealed league etc)