The Destiny cards in the new Shadow of War expansion introduce six cards unique to each Overlord. These powerful events and bosses are shuffled into the destiny deck and appear randomly throughout the game.
Each Overlord was designed with a theme in mind which will dramatically affect the feel of the game and requires players to make different strategic decisions. This design article will explain each of the Overlord’s strengths and weaknesses in greater detail. If you prefer to explore the power of the destiny cards as you play, you should stop reading now!
NEFARIAN
Nefarian’s most powerful ability is to determine the pace of the game. If he moves too quickly, the players are forced to fight the end game before they are prepared. Nefarian’s Destiny cards can further increase the speed of his movements if they are left unchecked. Fortunately the players have the option to destroy the cards before they expire but this is far from easy since some of these are the most powerful bosses in the game!
Nefarian also has another trick up his sleeve. All of the overlords use independent (blue) creatures to hinder the advance of your hero. “Feral Hunger” forces players to confront independent creatures in their region, so hopefully you have plenty of health and energy. If you attack an independent creature while the “Hive of Villainy” card is in play any adjacent creatures of the same type joins in on the combat. “Feral Hunger” and “Hive of Villainy” become even more dreaded since several new events and destiny cards either spawn more independent creatures or increase their combat prowess.
KEL’THUZAD
Kel’Thuzad’s special ability is to sow pestilence throughout the land, damaging any players in the corrupted regions. So why would players even want to venture into this land of death and decay? The answer is that there are three bosses lurking in the Plaguelands which can cause the heroes several problems if they are not defeated by the time their card expires.
The Shadow Assassin is contracted to kill a random player from each faction. If he is not defeated in time, he will automatically assassinate the players and collect his bounty. This can be devastating if your group is depending on that healer or tank. Hed’mush the Rotting advances the turn marker which speeds up the end game and Augustus the Touched spawns a Doom Guard on Pestilent Scar’s flight path.
LORD KAZZAK
Lord Kazzak can gain or lose power through the boss cards in play. If there are 3 or more bosses in play when “the Gathering Storm” is drawn, he receives a permanent bonus to his attack and health values. The “Harbinger of Doom” card combos with “the Gathering Storm” by adding another boss card to the board. The players do have an option to use Lord Kazzak’s minions against him. If a faction defeats Vilebranch Soul Eater or Balnazzar they gain a permanent bonus during the epic combat with Lord Kazzak.
If your courageous heroes are looking for an even greater challenge, you can try the following variant:
- Separate the destiny card deck into two equal stacks.
- Shuffle all of the appropriate overlord specific destiny cards into ONE of the stacks.
- Place the stack with the shuffled overlord cards on top of the other stack. This now forms the destiny deck.
This will dramatically increase the chances of players drawing Overlord cards early in the game.
Stay tuned for the next design article where we will explore the new quests and the bonus item deck.
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