Gods Unchained - Why is Necronomics played while other, similar cards are not?

In this post, I will try and look at, and compare some cards that do a similar thing. This is in order to try and better understand why one of them sees frequent play while the other does not. Hopefully, you will find this post useful. If you already are familiar with the cards in question, then feel free to help me out as I am most likely sure to slip up or make a mistake or two. As this is my first post of this type.

The cards

First I thought it fitting if I simply break down what the cards are in order for you and me to familiarise ourselves with the cards and what they do. The effect I am looking at is the ability to get "more" mana during your turn. And thus you would be able to play more cards than your opponent. Hopefully, you will then be able to use that advantage in order to win the game.

The first card is the card that I would call the reigning champion. Based on the fact that this is the only card of this type that I know sees frequent play. The card in question is Necronomics, which is a Death card. The card has a cost of 1 mana and you also take 5 damage. For this, you get to refresh 5 mana. This allows you to now play cards for 4 mana extra this turn.

Meet the contenders

The majority of the challenger cards belong to Nature. That means I have only specified the domain for the card if it is not a Nature card.

First out is Pack Stalk, this is also a 1 mana card. After it is played it will refresh 1 mana for every creature you control. This has the potential of refreshing 6 mana at its maximum. And of course 0 mana if you play it and do not control any creatures.

The second contender is Crescent Werewolf. This is a 2 mana 2/2 Wild creature. It refreshes 1 mana after every Wild creature you summon.

Moonbeam is the third card I will add to the list. It is a 3 mana spell that does 3 damage to a random enemy creature. If you are frenzied it also refreshes 3 mana. This means you can play the spell for free.

Sip from the Spring is a spell that buffs your weakest creature, giving it +2/+2. And if you are frenzied it also refreshes 2 mana.

Now we have the legendary Managarmr, Moon Hound. This is a 3 mana 3/4 Wild creature that is confused. After this creature attacks refresh 1 mana. If you managed to get twinstrike on the creature you could be able to refresh 2 mana every turn.

The next is also a legendary creature, the 3 mana Revenant Lynx, This is a confused 4/2 wild creature with a roar that refreshes 2 mana.

Beast Speaker is a 4 mana 3/3 Mystic creature. It has a roar that allows you to refresh 3 mana if you control a wild creature.

The next card is a 5 mana spell, Great Eye's Blessing. It adds a base copy of each friendly creature to your hand. For every creature added it also refreshes 1 mana.

The Archimea, Arithmancer is another legendary card. This one belongs to the Magic domain. It is a 5 mana 3/5 with ward that lets you refresh 1 mana after you cast a spell that cost a maximum of 3 mana.

Dralamar, Breaker of Crystals a legendary creature that also belongs to the Magic domain. This one cost 6 mana and is a 4/5 Mystic. After you play a spell, refresh mana equal to its cost.

Next up is a legendary spell, Nature, Overgrown. It is a 7 mana spell that changes your God Power to "Cultivate" and refreshes 2 mana.

Another spell, Photogenesis also a 7 mana spell. It adds 4 random Nature cards to your hand and refreshes 6 mana.

Now comes the legendary creature Sothek, a 7 mana 4/5 Anubian. Whenever you play a Nature card, refresh 2 mana. Afterlife: summon a Shrin of Sothek.

And the final contender on the list is the Sage of Renewal, a 7 mana 6/6 Mystick with Ward. Its roar refreshes 2 mana and lets you delve Nature spells worth a total of 2 mana.

The challenge

Right of the batt there is only a handful of challenge cards that allow you to generate a surplus of mana. Both Pack Stalk and Great Eye's Blessing both have a chance to generate a surplus of mana. Meaning more mana than they cost. With Pack Stalk this can obviously be higher as the casting cost is much lower. Great Eye's Blessing can only give you 1 mana more, and that is if you have 6 creatures on board.

This leaves Pack Stalk as the only real contender as it is the only card that can generate the same amount of mana, it even has the potential to generate more mana than Necronomics, as it can generate 6 mana. The downside tho is that you have to have at least 5 creatures on board in order for it to be comparable to Necronomics. This downside is pretty big if we compare it to losing 5 life. You either have to play 5 creatures on the same turn or have them live from the previous turn.

There is also the fact that Nature does not have any spell that lets you do damage to the enemy God, extra attacks, or things of that nature. This also severely limits the use of the extra mana. Unlike Death who has several cards that fit in the slot of a "finisher".

There is one other card, Managarmr, Moon Hound, that technically has an infinite upside of refreshing mana. This however is limited by the number of attacks the card can make on a turn. And I find that using the card, you are more likely only getting 0-2 mana refreshed in a game. And sure it is a nice bonus. It is however not something you would want to build a deck around.

I can't really say that any of these three cards come anywhere close to Necronomics with regards to its ability to let you refresh a lot of mana consistently. Sure Great Eye's Blessing and Managarmr, Moon Hound have additional things going for them. And the mana refresh here I would argue is more of a bonus to their primary uses. Filling your hand with creatures and being a creature.

The rest of the challengers

I will do a more general overview of the cards, as I find that many of them are similar in nature. Let us start with some of the Nature cards. Just like Pack Stalk, Moonbeam, Sip from the Spring, and Beast Speaker. These three cards come with a prerequisite for the mana refresh to happen. And therein lies the problem. The cards in themselves are not what I would call "good". The only thing that makes them ok is the fact that you can get mana back, reducing their cost. But most often I would rather have the better card that does the same thing only better.

This Is what I feel is the main detractor, at least for these three cards, and I would argue Pack Stalk as well. If the prerequisite is not filled the cards are bad. Let us take Moonbeam as an example. Sure it would be awesome to be able to cast a spell that does 3 damage for free. But I have to be frenzied in order for that to happen. This means if I do not have a board percent I have to pay 3 mana to do this. And I would argue that in 99%, if not 100%, of the cases I would rather have Canopy Barage in hand.

I have however been experimenting with Sip from the Spring in my aggro deck. As there more often than not becoming frenzied is not that much of a problem, or the +2/+2 buff would allow me to trade in a favorable manner, making it with the 3 mana cost. But the final judgment is still some games away.

The next type of card is what I would call "discount cards". And some of the cards mentioned previously would also technically fall into this category. These cards are cards that either discount their own cost or the cost of other cards. A few example of this is Revenant Lynx which is a 3 mana 4/2 confused wild creature. But have a roar that refreshes 2 mana. Meaning it will only ever cost you 1 mana to play. But the fact is you still need 3 mana limits when, or how early, you can play it.

Another example is Dralamar, Breaker of Crystals a 6 mana 4/5 Mystic. This card has the effect that refreshes the cost of any spell you cast. Meaning as long as you have the initial mana required you can cast as many spells as you like on the same turn. This also is why the card is needed in one of the Magic combo decks that can do an infinite amount of damage on one turn.

The last category of cards is what I would call "bonus cards", by that I mean they have a primary use and refreshes some mana as a bonus for you. And yes, there is some overlap here with the other category as well. =) Some examples of cards here are Sage of Renewal, a 7 mana 6/6 Mystick with Ward. Its roar refreshes 2 mana and lets you delve Nature spells worth a total of 2 mana. The main thing here is you're getting a 6/6 creature, and you get a spell or two you can cast as well as a bonus along with the mana to do so, or to do other things with.

Another example of this is Nature, Overgrown. It is a 7 mana spell that changes your God Power to "Cultivate" and refreshes 2 mana. Here the main feature is swapping your God Power to a new one, and it gives you 2 mana back so you also can use the new God Power.

Conclusion

I will repeat what I said above, that with regard to refreshing mana Necronomics is in a class of its own. I do not see any other card that is close to as reliable or useful as it is for their god, Death. Sure to some extent that is because of the companion cards that Death has access to. This does not however mean that all other cards are more or less useless. As it is I have only found Nature and Magic cards that have this ability. And it does sort of fit with both of those archetypes. And to some extent Death too.

As an example, the Revenant Lynx can most likely find a home in many agro decks. As a 4/2 for 1 mana is a lot of stats. And Dralamar, Breaker of Crystals as I said is used in a Magic combo deck.

There are also some cards that can have potential, like the previously mentioned Sip from the Spring. But Crescent Werewolf can also have potential. It provides a discount for wild animals. And while you do not necessarily want to play and fill your board, you can easily run out of steam that way if they are able to clear it. Saving mana will allow you to use your God Power more often. And that can have potential and be with exploring in some decks.

Sadly I do think that this section of the game is a bit murky. As it is often reliant on extenuating factors. Like having a card to combo with. I am willing to bet money that if Nature had a card similar to Over The Line, Pack Satlk would see a lot more play. There are also other factors that severely limit the viability of a card, consistency. Take Sage of Renewal as an example. Here you get to delv Nature spells worth a total of 2 mana. This allows you some degree of control. But the amount of spells to pick from means that what little control you have still only adds up to what is inconsistent. With 9 spells that cost 1 mana your best bet for consistency is to pick one of these, if you get the option among the first picks that is. Then you limit the pool to only those 9 cars. Eliminating the 13 spells that cost 2 mana. But you still have to have a spell that is "helpful" among the spells available. And that is not always the case.

I do get the randomness feeling they are going for with Nature. But it also means there are some drawbacks that come with it. Too much variety means too much inconsistency, and thus players will not want to use the card. Well unless the upside is so tremendous you more or less automatically win if you get lucky.

There is also a combo that I do not think has been used in a deck, probably because it would be too hard to set up, and the payoff would not be worth it. But if you combine both Dralamar, Breaker of Crystals, and Archimea, Arithmancer you technically will generate a surplus of 1 mana with every spell you cast that cost a maximum of 3 mana. But who knows, maybe this will become the new combo deck with the next expansion? If so you heard about it here first folks. =)

I do hope that you found this post to be interesting and hopefully useful to you. Maybe you learned about a new card that can fit in your deck or have seen a possibility or combination I have missed. Pleas share that or any other thoughts you have regarding this topic in the comment section below.

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Picture provided by: Gods Unchained Media