Ashes Preview: A Frosty Future

Click here to pre-order Brennen and Rin, and other new Ashes products! And be sure to try out these new cards in our Ashes deck builder!

I've saved today's card until last for a specific reason. Many cards' impacts on Ashes are immediately are easy to see. What they do in the game is obvious right from the start. But in any expandable card game, some cards will be forward looking. The impact they will have on the game will only be realized in the future. Freezing Blast is just such a card; let's see how.

2 magic for 2 damage is average damage output for Ashes, and a little low considering this requires 2 . After all, natural magic is the magic of direct damage! But the effect of Freezing Blast isn't just 2 damage, it also removes 2 status tokens from the unit you targeted.

Only Transfer can remove status tokens at the moment and to do that you have to pay 2 magic for the status token just to get transferred to another card rather than going away. Freezing Blast removes them altogether!

With only 2 units in the game using status tokens at the moment, it's easy to see why there haven't been many effects released that have this effect. Even still, it's very difficult to deal with Silver Snakes with just one action, and Freezing Blast can mean the difference between winning and losing, giving you an extra action to take out the Snake that would have otherwise attacked you for lethal damage during your opponent's next turn.

The other unit, Iron Worker, can also set up some pretty sweet interactions if status tokens pile up on it, allowing its controller to take several side actions in one turn. If this is important to your opponent, they are likely to buff the Iron Worker, putting it out of range to simply be destroyed with Freezing Blast. As more side actions are printed, this interaction will inevitably become more important. The likelihood of seeing buffed Iron Workers will increase as the game grows.

And that's just one way Freezing Blast becomes more effective as Ashes grows. Keep in mind that the Gilder exists, and its Inheritance ability implies more cards that have a use for status tokens will be released. That means status token removal can only become more important in the future.

And that's the story of Freezing Blast, a serviceable card that looks pretty good in some situations, and that looks to the future and says “I will be great!”

Welp, that's it for previews for now... What's that? You want to read about the Promo Phoenixborn Lulu? Well ok, I'll see if I can talk Isaac into saying a thing or 2 about her in the upcoming weeks. Anyways, it's been great showing you all of Rin's and Brennen's cards. I hope you all enjoy The Children of Blackcloud and The Frostdale Giants, as well as using the cards found in these new and exciting decks in your own creative builds. I can't wait 'till the previews start for the next releases!

Thanks for reading!
Bob

Click here to pre-order The Children of Blackcloud, The Frostdale Giants, and even extra dice! Get Lulu Firststone or Dimona Odinstar FREE with each Ashes deck purchase, or buy them separately!

Rin/Brennen Previews:
Brennen: Blackcloud Ninja, Crimson Bomber and Poison, Chant of Protection and Chant of the Dead, Fire Archer, Blood Chains and Regress, Dread Wraith, Choke
Rin: Rin's Fury, Frost Fang and Frostback Bear, Crystal Shield and Frozen Crown, Deep Freeze and Ice Trap, Summon Ice Golem, Frost Bite

Written by Bob Klotz Bob Klotz is the lead playtester of Ashes. Follow @phuzzworthy