“War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity…any scourge is preferable to it.”
-- Martin Luther

Martin Luther imagined all manner of spiritual and physical evils, but he couldn’t imagine the horrors of the dreamscape. First, Baxar the Soulstitcher brought his Stitched to bear against the Bloodcut forces arrayed to stop him, but now an even more diabolical threat presents itself. Queen Chrysota and her Hiveling minions look to succeed where Baxar could not—in taking ultimate control of the dreamscape. Chrysotic Plague features a horde of disturbing creatures scuttling into the minds of dream lords everywhere, and with a feeling like static on the brain they demand to be spawned, even by dream lords that do not wish to contribute to the swarm.

But, where evil dwells the righteous always stand to fight against them, and the newest Dreamblade expansion is no exception. In this first preview I’m going to take a look at a few of the Valor creatures that appear opposite the Hiveling menace.

Wonder Twin Powers…
Chrysotic Plague is the first Dreamblade expansion to use the Twin ability. Creatures that are Twins can be exchanged between the dreamscape and a player’s reserves during the spawn phase, usually for cost 0. The ability to have either one of two creatures in play presents several problems for one’s opponents, especially those who like to ponder all possibilities before making their play. Twin is just one more thing for them to keep track of, and the potential for combining it with other abilities, such as Charge, makes it likely that we’re going to see much more Twinning in the future. The first set of Twins to make its way out of Chrysotic Plague is the Akiza Champion and Akiza Guardian.

Click here to see their stats.

…Activate!
I think the sculpts on these two creatures are fantastic. They’re reminiscent of an order of monk assassins, and have influences from both the Orient as well as the Middle East. These creatures just ooze backstory, making them enjoyable to look at and see in action on the dreamscape. The Twin ability marks an additional incentive to play them together, of course. In the case of these two creatures, Twin allows you to substitute offense for defense, and vice versa. Both of them have low-average defense and life stats for their cost, meaning they likely have some good abilities to make them effective.

The Akiza Champion is the offensive half of this dynamic duo, although her effectiveness is dependent on the number of local enemies. Well, situational abilities seem to be made for Twins, since you can substitute them in and out as your need dictates. She has yet another new ability: Rejoinder. Like Thanatomancy, Rejoinder gives the creature a variable power stat, but this time it’s based on the number of enemies in the local cell. In the case of the Akiza Champion, it’s twice the number of local enemies. So, with a power ranging from 0 to 8 and a modest (read: not very good) defense/life, she’s best reserved for when she can do the most damage.

The Akiza Guardian makes a good twin for the Champion, as he has a slightly higher life and can therefore get involved in combats where the Champion might be useful without risking life and limb. His power is subpar even for a Valor creature, but that’s tied into his ability—Bodyguard. All of the bodyguard creatures we’ve seen so far have been afflicted with low power, and the Akiza Guardian is no exception. What you really want to do is get the Guardian into combat and then spring a Champion on your opponent when he’s massed a large combat force. And of course, get that bodyguard back into play whenever it looks like one of your key pieces might be about to take a brutal blow.

The Akiza Guardian is useful without its companion because of the Bodyguard ability. In fact, its mid-range cost and reasonable Valor stats probably mark it as the most playable bodyguard creature to date. You can bring it in with a Scarab Warcharm or even use it to protect key pieces like Baxar or the Unsated Ragedrake without losing too much. Using it to protect creatures with blade abilities is doubly good if you do have a Champion, since that piece can swap in and use its high power to fuel the blade abilities on turns on which you have won initiative.

The Akiza Champion isn’t as good on its own, in my opinion. Its variable power may never be utilized, and its stats are subpar for a creature of its cost without any blade abilities or Reinforce. The fact that it’s a rare means that it won’t be sought after unless it’s being used in combination with the Guardian.

What Does A Sasquatch Wear Under Its Kilt?
I probably shouldn’t pry too closely, as this next miniature has a penchant for flying into berserker rage, and I’m not really interested in being his next target. We’ve seen warriors, mages, and insatiable dragons, but never before has something with such a love of death and destruction been unleashed on the dreamscape.

Click here to hide from the Mujina.

Well, we all knew this day was coming, and it’s finally here. The Mujina has the ability to Skirmish Self, which means as long as you’re rolling blades, he’s moving from one combat to the next, or perhaps even claimjumping a high scoring cell at the end of a bloody rampage. He can also use the ability to avoid deathblows, by moving himself out of a combat before the retaliatory strike takes place. It’s going to be interesting to see how this opens up strategies, since one of Skirmish’s primary limitations up to this point is that it couldn’t be used on the creature with the ability. This often meant that the skirmished creature was a subpar early unit such as a Runetagged Brawler or Cannibal Pariah. Now, however, you can relatively cheaply put a 3-power unit in play that can contribute to multiple combats without the aid of any other creature. On a crowded board, it’s easy to see how this can be abused for maximum effect. Two of these creatures in the same cell can take a 6-power attack on the road, visiting multiple cells and leaving a bloody trail of opponents who have no ability to retaliate against them.

Of course, this cuts both ways, as the Mujina cannot be used in double-Skirmish combos such as that of a Scarab Warcharm-Clawclan Scout pairing or the even more powerful Knight of Strife and Joy combo. He’s of limited utility when paired with large creatures, as well, since he can’t move them across the board. The Mujina falls down a bit when it comes to his stats, however. His meager stat line is weak compared to his cost, which means that the Skirmish Self ability must be worth quite a bit.

Lastly, he’s a Bloodcut, as if we haven’t seen enough of those recently! The Bloodcut army just continues to pick up creatures with great blade abilities (although a certain Kitsune’s spawn ability turned out to not be so shabby either!). Speaking of the Kitsune, it’s sitting firmly in the Bloodcut’s 7-slot, making it difficult to fit too many of them in with a warband using Mujinas. Several of the top Kitsune warbands are utilizing Heartsblood Temple to push their warband’s spawn curve up, so perhaps it’s not so crazy to suggest having 4 or more creatures in the 7 slot, since they can so easily be put into play.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the proper terminology to be used when discussing Dreamblade warband archetypes, and “control” is one word that continues to generate discussion. Well, in my next preview I’m going to bring you a creature that’s reminiscent of the old-school Magic control decks. He’s got a couple of buddies that will keep you crazy, as well.. Until then, keep dreaming the good dream!

Editor's Note: The next preview article will be on January 1st, 2007, featuring the creatures found below. Until then, discuss this preview on our message boards.