DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
Moonlit Savior Spoilers Article #1
Article Written by Chase Madrie
Hello everyone and welcome to the first of many articles going over Force of Will spoilers. Yesterday we got our second look at what's ahead to come in Moonlit Savior and needless to say there is a bit a hype about the big reveal. The Primogenitor has finally stepped from the shadows and brought with him much controversy but we aren't going to just jump on the bandwagon just yet! A comprehensive break down is in order.
The Ruler Side: First off, nothing too crazy about the judgement save the moon will cost. Nice to see a mechanic that was once so niche get some more lovin'. Primo's second ability is definitely worth some hype in my opinion. This obviously shuts down the Valentina 2.0 or 28 regalia decks but its also a constant issue that any deck running any regalia has to deal with. In the mirror match his own regalia will be boarded to prevent having a dead card in hand. Regalia is so heavily used in most decks these days that this ability severely cripples a lot of decks. This slows Reflect even further which most likely there intent. Will we see more decks cut out regalia all together, or at least all the regalia moved to the sideboard, to prevent having dead cards in the main when your opponent flips over this guy in front of you? Its very possible that it will impact the meta in a drastic way. Only time will tell.
The J-Ruler Side: Here comes the meat. Sweet mother of card text! Anymore abilities and the card might as well had no art, but I digress. Right off the bat lets talk about his base attack and defense stats. Base stats of 12/12 make him quite a force to be reckoned with regardless of what abilities he has. It get's worse when you stack a Pitch Black Moon on top of that but we will get to that in a minute. Extremely solid and scary base stats. On to the abilities. His enter the field ability is nice. Search your deck for Pitch Black Moon might as well read "When this card enters your field it becomes a 14/14." Nothing mind blowing and a bit "more win"-ish but nice to have. Even just putting 1 copy in the main makes this a nice bump. Onto the second ability- Pay 1 Moon: Cancel target activate ability. Need I say more? Built in, unlimited, Glimpse of Kaguya just a tap of a stone away. The fact that it stops so much is crazy. Perfect for all those darkness control players. I would be pretty salty having to deal with this while playing my Melgis rush deck. Silencing my Lances would be frustrating enough much less being able to shut down Unleash the Demon Sword. The potential of this ability is outrageous in my opinion. The third ability is more standard for darkness. Two will to -2/-2 is great. This puts most J-rulers into Flames range and also combos quite nicely with other blanket field effects like Dark Arthur's continuous ability. Its great utility for a darkness ruler to have. Lastly we arrive at his God's Art. I conclude that this is his most inconsistent ability, but I am not however condemning it at all. For 4 will you can search out a resonator, a regalia, AND a field addition. At first glimpse this ability does seem overpowered but lets think on this a bit. Stealing a resonator is guaranteed. That's good. Stealing a regalia and a field addition? Not so guaranteed. We've already established that regalia might be more scarce in the new meta so that's a bummer if they have none at all for you to steal. More field additions could see more play depending on what is released in this new set, but we have no reason so far to think they will have more presence in main decks than they currently do. So 4 cost for at least a resonator is not that amazing. Now, that being said its not a useless ability and getting all 3 from your opponent could certainly turn the tide in your favor. Yamata combo decks will have to watch out for this for sure! I personally would't feel bad at all taking a Yamata and a Realm of Pure Spirits and whatever regalia I choose away from my opponent and putting it straight into my field.
The Verdict: Very solid darkness ruler for many reasons. Kicks poor Dark Alice to the sideboard. Easily Tier 1 in my opinion. I expect to see him quite a lot when the set drops. Is he as broke as the the community would lead us to believe? Will this be another Reflect? No, I don't think so.
The J-Ruler Side: Here comes the meat. Sweet mother of card text! Anymore abilities and the card might as well had no art, but I digress. Right off the bat lets talk about his base attack and defense stats. Base stats of 12/12 make him quite a force to be reckoned with regardless of what abilities he has. It get's worse when you stack a Pitch Black Moon on top of that but we will get to that in a minute. Extremely solid and scary base stats. On to the abilities. His enter the field ability is nice. Search your deck for Pitch Black Moon might as well read "When this card enters your field it becomes a 14/14." Nothing mind blowing and a bit "more win"-ish but nice to have. Even just putting 1 copy in the main makes this a nice bump. Onto the second ability- Pay 1 Moon: Cancel target activate ability. Need I say more? Built in, unlimited, Glimpse of Kaguya just a tap of a stone away. The fact that it stops so much is crazy. Perfect for all those darkness control players. I would be pretty salty having to deal with this while playing my Melgis rush deck. Silencing my Lances would be frustrating enough much less being able to shut down Unleash the Demon Sword. The potential of this ability is outrageous in my opinion. The third ability is more standard for darkness. Two will to -2/-2 is great. This puts most J-rulers into Flames range and also combos quite nicely with other blanket field effects like Dark Arthur's continuous ability. Its great utility for a darkness ruler to have. Lastly we arrive at his God's Art. I conclude that this is his most inconsistent ability, but I am not however condemning it at all. For 4 will you can search out a resonator, a regalia, AND a field addition. At first glimpse this ability does seem overpowered but lets think on this a bit. Stealing a resonator is guaranteed. That's good. Stealing a regalia and a field addition? Not so guaranteed. We've already established that regalia might be more scarce in the new meta so that's a bummer if they have none at all for you to steal. More field additions could see more play depending on what is released in this new set, but we have no reason so far to think they will have more presence in main decks than they currently do. So 4 cost for at least a resonator is not that amazing. Now, that being said its not a useless ability and getting all 3 from your opponent could certainly turn the tide in your favor. Yamata combo decks will have to watch out for this for sure! I personally would't feel bad at all taking a Yamata and a Realm of Pure Spirits and whatever regalia I choose away from my opponent and putting it straight into my field.
The Verdict: Very solid darkness ruler for many reasons. Kicks poor Dark Alice to the sideboard. Easily Tier 1 in my opinion. I expect to see him quite a lot when the set drops. Is he as broke as the the community would lead us to believe? Will this be another Reflect? No, I don't think so.
The Regailia: Alrighty! First ability on the card has some good uses. Producing a moon will for activate abilities is quite nice. Remember you can use it to pay for void on any abilities on cards previous to this set including other J-rulers not just Primo. As far as what has been spoiled for this set you can use The Globe to pay for the Witch of the Night resonator and on Primo's J-ruler cancel activate ability making them essentially free making those abilities even scarier. I would assume that more cards with moon will activate abilities are not too far off and I am curious to see what comes after this as the set is spoiled more. The second part extra free ramping for Primo himself. If you have it available and are free to use it being able to judgment and god's art a turn earlier excellent. The second ability lets you bounce back to your ruler side. This is useful not only for keeping him safe but also to re-apply the regalia hate and if you judgment again you can search out another moon.
The Verdict: On its own this card is value town. Free activates and quicker Judgment and God's Arts plus the ability to bounce back when needed or wanted. Unfortunately there is a high risk that you have Primo as your opponents ruler or barrier of shadows to deal with which utterly destroys this cards usefulness.
The Field Addition: Pitch Black Moons first ability like I stated before is a bit "More Win" than anything else, but who doesn't want 2/2 on their J-Ruler? The second ability to discard a resonator to put another from your graveyard into your hand plays very nice with mill decks and combo decks. Also works well with cthulhu decks and of course moon decks like wererabbits or werewolves. I expect to see this card get some play in a variety of decks. The fact that you can retrieve it for free and put it in your field with Primo is of course great.
The Verdict: Great field addition card that has many uses.
The Verdict: Great field addition card that has many uses.
The Spell Chant-Instant: A 1 cost instant that can move a resonator from your graveyard to your hand is pretty solid for most darkness deck and like the moon it plays well with mill and combo decks. Also has usefulness retrieving cards like a Xeex'd Blazer Eater of Dimensions. Not paying 2 more will to search a resonator from your main deck seems unwise.
The Verdict: Paying 3 will to retrieve 2 resonators is good. The fact that its an instant makes it even better.
The Verdict: Paying 3 will to retrieve 2 resonators is good. The fact that its an instant makes it even better.
The Spell Chant: On its own this card is pretty lack luster. Stoning is better outright for the first part and paying 2 will to destroy a 0 cost regalia is not a fair trade. When combined with Primo it becomes less mediocre. Being able to do both is nice removal and worth the 2 will. The only thing really holding this card back is that it is a Chant. Which I feel hurts it even more.
The Verdict: On its own it is terrible but coupled with Primo its a decent, but not great, removal spell.
The Resonator: I really like this card. Its early game rush hate. It even gimps Lance. Being a 1 cost 800 wall makes it quite good. The activate hurts early game rush even more. Combined with the regalia it can be a free neg to a resonator which increases its value.
The Verdict: Efficient early game rush hate resonator with the potential to be more troublesome for free. I give it two thumbs up.
The Memoria: To wrap this up we finally have the new darkness/moon stone. Not really much to say other than it goes with Primo like macaroni and cheese.
Well that sums up all that I have to say about the new darkness spoilers. I hope you enjoyed reading the article and if you have any comments or suggestions you can message me or comment below. Follow us on Facebook. Be on the look out for Videos on Youtube and streaming coming soon. Until next time happy gaming.
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