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And that concludes the pre-Community Dev YMMV stuff.
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** 4-delay cards with Emberhide and Backlash (Viofire Deathmoth, Boilfin Punisher, and Blazing Ragecrow) were another oppressive force in the metagame, since they dealt Emberhide damage to Empower decks and Backlash damage to Hexbolt decks. Not only was it difficult to play against them, they're all Premium cards, so the majority of players couldn't use [[SpamAttack large numbers of them]] without spending large sums. Thanks to that Emberhide, they could also easily be mixed in with Unchained Seraphim, adding Vengeance damage along with all the burn damage and Backlash for an even more frustrating experience. They still appear from time to time, but they were eventually {{nerf}}ed in 2023, decreasing their Emberhide damage and base HP to a more reasonable level.
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** 4-delay cards with Emberhide and Backlash (Viofire Deathmoth, Boilfin Punisher, ('''Viofire Deathmoth''', '''Boilfin Punisher''', and Blazing Ragecrow) '''Blazing Ragecrow''') were another oppressive force in the metagame, since they dealt Emberhide damage to Empower decks and Backlash damage to Hexbolt decks. Not only was it difficult to play against them, they're all Premium cards, so the majority of players couldn't use [[SpamAttack large numbers of them]] without spending large sums. Thanks to that Emberhide, they could also easily be mixed in with Unchained Seraphim, adding Vengeance damage along with all the burn damage and Backlash for an even more frustrating experience. They still appear from time to time, but they were eventually {{nerf}}ed in 2023, decreasing their Emberhide damage and base HP to a more reasonable level.
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** Cards that can [[StatusInflictionAttack apply Hex]], the game's DamageIncreasingDebuff. This applies to direct attacks ''and'' offensive skills like Bolt and Frostbreath. As a result, a common strategy for skilled players is "Hexbolt": setting up for big damage with cards that can Hex everything on the field, then [[ShootEverythingThatMoves spamming Hex-boosted Bolts and Frostbreaths]] until all the opponent's cards are destroyed.
** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]] is one of the strongest skills in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back.
** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]] is one of the strongest skills in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back.
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** Cards that can [[StatusInflictionAttack apply Hex]], the game's DamageIncreasingDebuff. This applies to direct attacks ''and'' offensive skills like Bolt and Frostbreath. As a result, a common strategy for skilled players is "Hexbolt": "'''Hexbolt'''": setting up for big damage with cards that can Hex everything on the field, then [[ShootEverythingThatMoves spamming Hex-boosted Bolts and Frostbreaths]] until all the opponent's cards are destroyed.
**[[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]] '''[[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]]''' is one of the strongest skills in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back.
**
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* MemeticBadass:
** Scorgon Ambusher, a rather unassuming 0-delay Epic who makes up for his extremely low stats and weak skills with poison damage comparable to powerful Legendary cards like Plyn Poisontrek and Venomtouch Siren, is jokingly referred to as one of the strongest cards in the game and a MasterPoisoner that can sting cards like [[GameBreaker Kensho]] and [[TheJuggernaut Lok'thor]] to death with ease.
** The Raven became one of these in early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
** Scorgon Ambusher, a rather unassuming 0-delay Epic who makes up for his extremely low stats and weak skills with poison damage comparable to powerful Legendary cards like Plyn Poisontrek and Venomtouch Siren, is jokingly referred to as one of the strongest cards in the game and a MasterPoisoner that can sting cards like [[GameBreaker Kensho]] and [[TheJuggernaut Lok'thor]] to death with ease.
** The Raven became one of these in early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
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* MemeticBadass:
**MemeticBadass: Scorgon Ambusher, a rather unassuming 0-delay Epic who makes up for his extremely low stats and weak skills with poison damage comparable to powerful Legendary cards like Plyn Poisontrek and Venomtouch Siren, is jokingly referred to as one of the strongest cards in the game and a MasterPoisoner that can sting cards like [[GameBreaker Kensho]] and [[TheJuggernaut Lok'thor]] to death with ease.
** The Raven became one of these in early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.ease.
**
** The Raven became one of these in early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
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* MemeticTroll: The Raven became one of these in early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into a capricious, unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
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* AntiMetagameCharacter: With how powerful and commonly used Hexbolt can be as a strategy (as explained under GameBreaker below), a useful counter-strategy to it is to use Backlash, which deals damage to an enemy that targets the card with a skill. Faced with multiple Backlash cards, using Hex All or Bolt All will quickly rack up damage against your deck, if not an outright TotalPartyKill. Cards that combine both Backlash and [[CounterAttack Vengeance or Emberhide]] can prove very frustrating in enemy hands.
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* AntiMetagameCharacter: With how powerful and commonly used Hexbolt can be as a strategy (as explained under GameBreaker below), a useful counter-strategy to it is to use Backlash, which deals damage to an enemy that targets the card with a skill. Faced with multiple Backlash cards, using Hex All or Bolt All will quickly rack up damage against your deck, if not an outright TotalPartyKill. Cards that combine both Backlash and [[CounterAttack Vengeance or Emberhide]] can prove very frustrating in enemy hands.
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** The '''[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Rogue Seraphim]]'''. While this card has a delay of 4 (meaning it takes [[MightyGlacier 4 turns to activate]]), it makes up for this with a greater health pool than similarly slow cards (as the max-level [[TieredByName Unchained Seraphim]], it has a whopping 60 HP), and it [[RegeneratingHealth passively regenerates]] 20% of that health ''every turn''. While this alone would be problematic, Seraphim gets two CounterAttack skills on top of that: Vengeance, which deals 12 damage to anything that attacks it directly, and Emberhide, which applies [[StatusInflictionAttack 10 HP's worth of burns]] to anything that attacks it directly. Worse, Emberhide ''stacks'', which means that any card unlucky enough to [[SpamAttack Dualstrike]] Seraphim will take 24 damage from Vengeance and ''another'' 20 from burns! Also note that in ''Spellstone'' regeneration, Vengeance, and Emberhide are all passive skills, which completely bypasses the [[MightyGlacier speed issue]] of being a 4-delay card, so the only thing it ''can't'' do out of the gate is attack directly. It has an attack stat of ''17'', to boot: more than capable of dishing out serious damage. It isn't even a [[PowerEqualsRarity Champion card]][[note]]Champion cards are special cards, sometimes with [[NominalImportance plot relevance]], that are PurposelyOverpowered. Because of this, a player can only ever own one copy of a Champion card, no matter what[[/note]], so it's possible to find decks that [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer use nothing but Seraphim]]. This card is so powerful, in fact, that "Seraphim spam" (filling an entire 15-card deck with these) is enough to ruin pretty much anyone, whether their cards are bolstered by [[FieldPowerEffect tribe-specific Battleground Events]] or not. Tellingly, it's still a solid defensive card ''after'' its much-needed {{nerf}} in early 2022, which lowered its Attack to 15, its HP to 57, its Vengeance to 10, its Emberhide to 8 and its Regenerate to 11.
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** The '''[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Rogue Seraphim]]'''. Seraphim]]''' was infamous for this when it was first released. While this card has a delay of 4 (meaning it takes [[MightyGlacier 4 turns to activate]]), it makes made up for this with a greater health pool than similarly slow cards (as the max-level [[TieredByName Unchained Seraphim]], it has a whopping had 60 HP), HP, which was a lot at the time), and it [[RegeneratingHealth passively regenerates]] 20% of that health ''every turn''. While this alone would be problematic, Regenerated]] 12 HP (later 11, and then 9) every turn. Not bad on its own, but Seraphim gets has two CounterAttack skills on top of that: Vengeance, which deals 12 damage (later 10, and then 9) to anything that attacks it directly, and Emberhide, which applies [[StatusInflictionAttack 10 HP's worth of burns]] (later 8) to anything that attacks it directly. Worse, Emberhide ''stacks'', which means that any Any card unlucky enough to [[SpamAttack Dualstrike]] Seraphim will would take 24 damage from Vengeance and ''another'' another 20 from burns! Also note burns. Note that in ''Spellstone'' regeneration, ''Spellstone'', Regenerate, Vengeance, and Emberhide are all passive skills, which completely bypasses the [[MightyGlacier speed issue]] of being a 4-delay card, so card -- the only thing it ''can't'' Seraphim can't do out of the gate is attack directly. It has had an attack stat of ''17'', 17 (later 15), to boot: more than capable of dishing out serious damage. It isn't even It's not a [[PowerEqualsRarity Champion card]][[note]]Champion Champion]][[note]]Champion cards are special cards, sometimes with [[NominalImportance plot relevance]], that are PurposelyOverpowered. Because of this, a player can only ever own one copy of a Champion card, no matter what[[/note]], either, so it's possible to find decks that [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer use used nothing but Seraphim]]. This card is so powerful, in fact, that "Seraphim spam" (filling an entire 15-card deck with these) is Seraphim]] were not only commonplace, but enough to ruin pretty much anyone, whether their cards are bolstered by [[FieldPowerEffect tribe-specific Battleground Events]] in or not. Tellingly, it's out of BGE. It was still a solid one of the best defensive card ''after'' its cards in the game after a much-needed {{nerf}} in early 2022, which lowered its Attack later prompted a ''second'' nerf along with...
** 4-delay cards with Emberhide and Backlash (Viofire Deathmoth, Boilfin Punisher, and Blazing Ragecrow) were another oppressive force in the metagame, since they dealt Emberhide damage to15, its HP Empower decks and Backlash damage to 57, its Hexbolt decks. Not only was it difficult to play against them, they're all Premium cards, so the majority of players couldn't use [[SpamAttack large numbers of them]] without spending large sums. Thanks to that Emberhide, they could also easily be mixed in with Unchained Seraphim, adding Vengeance damage along with all the burn damage and Backlash for an even more frustrating experience. They still appear from time to 10, its time, but they were eventually {{nerf}}ed in 2023, decreasing their Emberhide to 8 damage and its Regenerate base HP to 11.a more reasonable level.
** 4-delay cards with Emberhide and Backlash (Viofire Deathmoth, Boilfin Punisher, and Blazing Ragecrow) were another oppressive force in the metagame, since they dealt Emberhide damage to
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*** '''Lok'thor, the Reborn'''. In much the same vein as Seraphim above, [[FanNickname Lok]] is a 4-delay Champion with the infamously annoying combination of Emberhide and Regenerate, allowing it to deal tons of passive damage while it waits to activate. With Legendary Health equipped, it's an outright NighInvulnerable monster without a way to deal lots of damage to it quickly. Plus, its ease of use means it can find a home in tons of decks, even outside of its own BGE. Unlike Seraphim, Lok'thor isn't a premium card, so since any player can get Champion Stones for it, it's ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome damn near everywhere]]'' as the premier defensive pick for free-to-play players, whether you've reached endgame or are totally new. And once it activates, it starts going on the offensive with Bolt All, which helps it synergize with high-level hexbolt decks.
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, a solid defensive skill in Ward that makes him pretty much immune to DamageOverTime without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2". That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, a solid defensive skill in Ward that makes him pretty much immune to DamageOverTime without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2". That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
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*** '''Lok'thor, the Reborn'''. In much the same vein as Seraphim above, [[FanNickname Lok]] is a 4-delay Champion with the infamously an annoying combination of Emberhide and Regenerate, allowing it to deal tons of passive damage and heal off its injuries while it waits to activate. With Legendary Health equipped, it's an outright NighInvulnerable monster without a way to deal lots of damage to it quickly. Plus, its ease of use means it can find a home in tons of decks, even outside of its own BGE. Unlike Seraphim, Lok'thor isn't a premium card, so since any player can get Champion Stones for it, it's ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome damn near everywhere]]'' as the [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome a staple in many decks]] and considered a premier defensive pick for free-to-play players, whether you've reached endgame or are totally new. And once it activates, it starts going on the offensive with Bolt All, which helps it synergize with high-level hexbolt decks.
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, a solid defensive skill in Ward that makes him pretty much immune to DamageOverTime without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2". That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect,''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, a solid defensive skill in Ward that makes him pretty much immune to DamageOverTime without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2". That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect,
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*** '''R3-M1, the Channeller'''. When the developers started increasing Armor values in 2022, they went much too far when they designed R3-M1, who combines Armor 11 (unheard of on 1-delay cards, which typically have Armor 7 at most) with two already-solid skills in [[StatusBuff Empower Void 12]] and [[StatusInflictionAttack Confuse]]. Void cards are few and far between, so [[FanNickname R3]] usually appears as the only Void card in a deck to power itself up in a similar vein to Nuvis. In fact, with an Empower rune, a max-level R3-M1 deals 30 damage with each attack, which matches Nuvis. All of this adds up to a LightningBruiser who can dish out loads of damage, take ScratchDamage from attacks in return, and then Confuse you at the most inopportune time. Its only saving grace is that it lacks Invisibility, making it vulnerable to Hexbolt and Freeze.
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* AntiMetagameCharacter: With how powerful and commonly used Hexbolt can be as a strategy (as explained under GameBreaker below), a useful counter-strategy to it is to use Backlash, which deals damage to an enemy that targets the card with a skill. Faced with multiple Backlash cards, using Hex All or Bolt All will quickly rack up damage against your deck, if not an outright TotalPartyKill. Cards that combine both Backlash and [[CounterAttack Vengeance or Emberhide]] can prove very frustrating in enemy hands.
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** Legendary runes, which typically [[RareCandy increase the power of one skill by 1.5 times]], are incredibly useful, but one takes the cake: the '''Rune of Greater Health''' (aka '''[[FanNickname Leg. HP]]'''), which increases a card's max HP by 30 percent rounded up. In a game where HP is the OneStatToRuleThemAll, the Rune of Greater Health is just about the only Rune you'll ever see used in high-level play, as it can turn otherwise weak cards into bulky defensive titans. About the only downside to using this rune is that 1-delay cards don't have enough HP to get the full mileage out of it... but you can easily alleviate this by giving these {{Fragile Speedster}}s the +10 HP runes from Dungeons. It's a ''godsend'' on pretty much everything else, and is best used on the most overpowered Champions to really milk them for all they're worth.
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** Legendary runes, which typically [[RareCandy increase the power of one skill by 1.5 times]], are incredibly useful, but one takes the cake: the '''Rune of Greater Health''' (aka '''[[FanNickname Leg. HP]]'''), which increases a card's max HP by 30 percent rounded up. In a game where HP is the OneStatToRuleThemAll, the Rune of Greater Health is just about the only Rune you'll ever see used in high-level play, as it can turn otherwise weak cards into bulky defensive titans. About the only downside to using this rune is that 1-delay cards don't have enough HP to get the full mileage out of it... but you can easily alleviate this by giving these {{Fragile Speedster}}s the +10 HP runes from Dungeons. It's a ''godsend'' on pretty much everything else, and is best used on the most overpowered Champions to really milk them for all they're worth. To alleviate this, Legendary runes other than Greater Health got a BalanceBuff in 2023, adding a 15 percent maximum HP increase on top of improving skills.
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** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], by far the most overpowered skill in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back with any skill whatsoever.
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** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], by far Freeze]] is one of the most overpowered skill strongest skills in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back with any skill whatsoever.back.
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*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, solid defenses that make him pretty much immune to dying from Poison or Scorch without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2", which is absolutely ''obscene'' on a 2-delay card. That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
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*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, a solid defenses defensive skill in Ward that make makes him pretty much immune to dying from Poison or Scorch DamageOverTime without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2", which is absolutely ''obscene'' on a 2-delay card.2". That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
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*** '''Nuvis, the Eye Collector'''. On paper, Nuvis's skillset of Invisibility, Empower Goblin, and Empower Mecha is offset by his low base Attack and FragileSpeedster nature, and he looks like he could be a decent fast support for Goblin and Mecha decks. In practice, Nuvis is perhaps the ''only'' Goblin or Mecha you'll ever want to use outside of a Mecha or Goblin BGE, since without other Goblins or Mechas, he's guaranteed to use both of those Empowers on ''himself''. With only 1 turn of delay before Nuvis activates, that means you had better think fast or risk losing a few cards to what amounts to a 30-damage nuke on whatever's in front of Nuvis, ''every single turn''. Even Leroux has a brief {{cooldown}} on its Dualstrikes -- Nuvis has no such limitation. Oh, and in case you missed his description above, it has Invisibility, so he's difficult to defeat with the conventional hexbolt strategy. Your best bet against Nuvis is to pray you draw a card with Nullify, a highly situational skill which pretty much cripples him outright.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to ''4'' skills aimed at her. In what is perhaps the most unfair strategy in the entire game, placing Alyel next to '''Razi the Fallen Light''', who can Empower an Angel card by ''18'' with the proper rune, opens the possibility of getting your Hero '''''[[OneHitKill wiped out in the span of a single turn with no warning]]''''', thanks to Alyel Dualstriking with her souped-up Attack.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to ''4'' skills aimed at her. In what is perhaps the most unfair strategy in the entire game, placing Alyel next to '''Razi the Fallen Light''', who can Empower an Angel card by ''18'' with the proper rune, opens the possibility of getting your Hero '''''[[OneHitKill wiped out in the span of a single turn with no warning]]''''', thanks to Alyel Dualstriking with her souped-up Attack.
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*** '''Nuvis, the Eye Collector'''. On paper, Nuvis's skillset of Invisibility, Empower Goblin, and Empower Mecha is offset by his low base Attack and FragileSpeedster nature, and he looks like he could be a decent fast support for Goblin and Mecha decks. In practice, Nuvis is perhaps the ''only'' Goblin or Mecha you'll ever want to use outside of a Mecha or Goblin BGE, since without other Goblins or Mechas, he's guaranteed to use both of those Empowers on ''himself''. With only 1 turn of delay before Nuvis activates, that means you had better think fast or risk losing a few cards to what amounts to a 30-damage nuke on whatever's in front of Nuvis, ''every single turn''. Even Leroux has a brief {{cooldown}} on its Dualstrikes -- Nuvis has no such limitation. Oh, and in case you missed his description above, it he has Invisibility, so he's difficult to defeat with the conventional hexbolt strategy. Your best bet against Nuvis is to pray you draw a card with Nullify, a highly situational skill which pretty much cripples him outright.
outright, or try to kill him with CounterAttack skills like Vengeance and Emberhide.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to''4'' 4 skills aimed at her. In what is perhaps the most unfair strategy in the entire game, placing Alyel next to '''Razi the Fallen Light''', who can Empower an Angel card by ''18'' with the proper rune, opens the possibility of getting your Hero '''''[[OneHitKill wiped out in the span of a single turn with no warning]]''''', thanks to Alyel Dualstriking with her souped-up Attack. However, this was addressed in 2023, where she was {{nerf}}ed into a 1-delay card. While still powerful, she's now far from the unstoppable force she once was.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to
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* LowTierLetdown: [[EvilPuppeteer Froggit, the Puppeteer]] was derided as the worst Champion in the game for years due to his weak skillset, which tried to fill many roles but [[MasterOfNone couldn't do any of them well]] -- namely, [[LifeDrain Siphon]], [[DamageOverTime Scorch]], and most infamously, ''single-target'' [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Hex]] in a game where a common strategy is to cast layers of Hex All across the entire enemy deck. However, Froggit's reputation as this disappeared after he received a BalanceBuff in 2023. This replaced his Hex with Confusion, a much rarer and more useful skill that allowed him to fill a niche once exclusively occupied by premium card [[GameBreaker R3-M1]].
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* MemeticMutation: "Ooops! Something unexpected happened." This message shows up when a player is disconnected from the game, which can happen at inopportune times. As a result, players have started referring to being disconnected as "getting oopsed".
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* ScrappyMechanic: The crafting table. Some cards (many Legendary Reward cards and [[OlympusMons Mythics]]), as well as all Runes, require you to go to the crafting table and combine items found during gameplay. Crafting cards is annoying because there are so many of them that just filtering to "Cards" is still a list that's multiple screens long, and you have to scroll down and find the one you're specifically looking for. Crafting Runes is easier, but your choice of three (later four) Runes is entirely up to the RandomNumberGod, so there's no guarantee you can get the one you need -- and when Legendary Health was [[GameBreaker better than every other rune in the game]], saving up your resources only for the RNG to offer other runes was a disappointment much more often than not.
* StressRelievingGameplay: Wiping the enemy deck with Bolt/Frostbreath, watching enemy hexers and bolters die to your Backlash, and having enemy cards [[StopHittingYourself kill each other]] under Confusion can all be very satisfying.
* StressRelievingGameplay: Wiping the enemy deck with Bolt/Frostbreath, watching enemy hexers and bolters die to your Backlash, and having enemy cards [[StopHittingYourself kill each other]] under Confusion can all be very satisfying.
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* MemeticLoser: Zamriel the Vengeful. While his combination of high Invisibility, Hex, and Bolt sound extremely scary on paper, he has a notorious reputation among the fanbase as a LowTierLetdown because he only becomes powerful at maximum level -- and since he's premium, that pretty much ''requires'' spending in excess of 10,000 shards. As a result, any new card with an uneven skill progression will inevitably get compared to Zamriel.
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** The Raven became one of these in February 2022 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
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** The Raven became one of these in February 2022 early 2023 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
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* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: The Raven. He's not so bad in the tutorial, but afterwards his squawking presence is never pleasant to see, since he's usually telling you you're prohibited to take a certain action.
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* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: The Raven. He's not so bad in the tutorial, but afterwards his squawking presence is never pleasant to see, since he's usually telling you you're prohibited to take a certain action. After February 2023, the Raven also became associated with the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", making him even less welcome in the game proper -- though this had the [[MemeticBadass exact opposite effect]] on his reputation with the fanbase.
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* MemeticBadass:
** Scorgon Ambusher, a rather unassuming 0-delay Epic who makes up for his extremely low stats and weak skills with poison damage comparable to powerful Legendary cards like Plyn Poisontrek and Venomtouch Siren, is jokingly referred to as one of the strongest cards in the game and a MasterPoisoner that can sting cards like [[GameBreaker Kensho]] and [[TheJuggernaut Lok'thor]] to death with ease.
** The Raven became one of these in February 2022 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
* MemeticLoser: Zamriel the Vengeful. While his combination of high Invisibility, Hex, and Bolt sound extremely scary on paper, he has a notorious reputation among the fanbase as a LowTierLetdown because he only becomes powerful at maximum level -- and since he's premium, that pretty much ''requires'' spending in excess of 10,000 shards. As a result, any new card with an uneven skill progression will inevitably get compared to Zamriel.
** Scorgon Ambusher, a rather unassuming 0-delay Epic who makes up for his extremely low stats and weak skills with poison damage comparable to powerful Legendary cards like Plyn Poisontrek and Venomtouch Siren, is jokingly referred to as one of the strongest cards in the game and a MasterPoisoner that can sting cards like [[GameBreaker Kensho]] and [[TheJuggernaut Lok'thor]] to death with ease.
** The Raven became one of these in February 2022 after he became the face of the "[[GameBreakingBug 11 glitch]]", where players were unable to get past the title screen because the Raven's dialogue portrait would appear out of nowhere, saying only "[[NonSequitur 11]]". Since then, fans have exaggerated him into an unstoppable force with the power to destroy the entire game by uttering one simple ArcNumber.
* MemeticLoser: Zamriel the Vengeful. While his combination of high Invisibility, Hex, and Bolt sound extremely scary on paper, he has a notorious reputation among the fanbase as a LowTierLetdown because he only becomes powerful at maximum level -- and since he's premium, that pretty much ''requires'' spending in excess of 10,000 shards. As a result, any new card with an uneven skill progression will inevitably get compared to Zamriel.
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* AntiClimaxBoss: The BigBad of the postgame, [[spoiler:Remi the Banished]], is built up as an extremely powerful threat who plans to bring back the Void at all costs, with no limit to his [[EvilIsPetty pettiness]], [[ManipulativeBastard cunning]], and [[GadgeteerGenius technological skill]]. Yet as of January 2023, his most recent appearance, he is captured and imprisoned without much fanfare [[spoiler:once the Angels sic [[GoldColoredSuperiority Midas]] on him]]. He doesn't even get a much-anticipated Lightning Boss rematch, nor does he try to escape prison like his lackey Caesar did. If you weren't paying attention to the story, you might not have even realized you beat him at all.
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** '''Lightning Boss Ashanti'''. Though [[TemporaryOnlineContent only available for three days]], this boss quickly developed an [[SNKBoss infamous reputation]] for his highly frustrating cocktail of skills. To counteract the high physical damage of fast Dualstriking Angels and the high magical damage of [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Evil Eye-casting]] Avians, Ashanti protected his deck with Barrier All ''13'' -- for reference, even lategame bosses like Kensho had Barrier All 5, with [[{{Superboss}} Mythic Master Bluefire]]'s Barrier All 10 being the only boss that even came close. This would all be well and good if Ashanti didn't have a blatantly overpowered offensive skill to go with it: Freeze All, a skill only the FinalBoss previously had access to. This was made unnecessarily difficult by a glitch -- if the Freeze All failed to freeze even ''one'' of the player's cards, Ashanti was coded to think the entire move had failed, and he'd start [[SpamAttack spamming Freeze All again and again and again]]. And if you think you could avoid this with {{Invisibility}}, you'd be wrong, as Ashanti also had Barrage 8 to strip that away and practically ''guarantee'' his Freeze All would hit. Players were essentially forced into one of two strategies: a full-Invisibility deck that could weather the immense Barrage, or a deck with no Invisibility at all, so as not to trigger the Freeze-spam glitch.
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** '''Lightning Boss Ashanti'''. Though [[TemporaryOnlineContent only available for three days]], this boss quickly developed an [[SNKBoss infamous reputation]] for his highly frustrating cocktail of skills. To counteract the high physical damage of fast Dualstriking Angels and the high magical damage of [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Evil Eye-casting]] Avians, Ashanti protected his deck with Barrier All ''13'' -- for reference, even lategame bosses like Kensho had Barrier All 5, with [[{{Superboss}} Mythic Master Bluefire]]'s Barrier All 10 being the only boss that even came close. This would all be well and good if Ashanti didn't have a blatantly overpowered offensive skill to go with it: Freeze All, a skill only the FinalBoss previously had access to. This The skill was made unnecessarily bugged, making it even more difficult by a glitch -- if the Freeze All failed to freeze even ''one'' of the player's cards, Ashanti was coded to think treat the entire move as though it had failed, and he'd start [[SpamAttack spamming Freeze All again and again and again]]. And if you think thought you could avoid this with {{Invisibility}}, you'd be wrong, as Ashanti also had Barrage 8 to strip that away and practically ''guarantee'' his Freeze All would hit. Players were essentially forced into one of two strategies: a full-Invisibility full Invisibility deck that could weather the immense Barrage, or a deck with no Invisibility at all, so as not to trigger the Freeze-spam glitch.glitch. Many could not defeat the boss in time, potentially missing out on valuable Champion Stones and the powerful "Aikido Master" reward.
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** '''Ebonclaw, Silencer'''. Normally {{superboss}} fights don't make the cut for this trope, but Formos manages to be much more annoying than the other two Crimsonwing Champions combined, to the point where he is widely considered the hardest boss in the game. Why is this? Well, unlike most bosses, Formos uses a [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] deck with ''every tribe'' represented (besides Mechas and Goblins). This means that there's no safe time to approach him, as the odds are that at least ''one'' thing in his deck will benefit from a BGE just like you. More frustrating than this is his skillset, which includes ''[[HeartContainer Invigorate All 16]]'' -- a skill that not only heals his entire deck by 16 points every single turn, but ''permanently increases their maximum HP by that amount''. With his deck mainly consisting of extremely fast 1 and 0-delay cards that couldn't even benefit that much from a [[GameBreaker Legendary HP rune]], this essentially means a ZergRush of enemies that activate nearly instantly, have a huge HealingFactor, regularly have ''40 or more HP'' in spite of their speed, ''and'' have boosted damage thanks to the boss casting [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Hex All 4]] every turn. Even veterans of the game quake in their boots against this boss, and for good reason.
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** '''Ebonclaw, Silencer'''. Normally {{superboss}} fights don't make the cut for this trope, but Formos manages to be much more annoying than the other two Crimsonwing Champions combined, to the point where he is widely considered the hardest boss in the game. Why is this? Well, unlike most bosses, Formos uses a [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] deck with ''every tribe'' represented (besides Mechas and Goblins). This means that there's no safe time to approach him, as the odds are that at least ''one'' thing in his deck will benefit from a BGE just like you. More frustrating than this is his skillset, which includes ''[[HeartContainer Invigorate All 16]]'' -- a skill that not only heals his entire deck by 16 points every single turn, but ''permanently increases their maximum HP by that amount''. With his deck mainly consisting of extremely fast 1 and 0-delay cards that couldn't even benefit that much from a [[GameBreaker Legendary HP rune]], this essentially means a ZergRush of enemies that activate nearly instantly, have a huge HealingFactor, regularly have ''40 or more HP'' in spite of their speed, ''and'' have boosted damage thanks to the boss casting [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Hex All 4]] every turn. Even veterans of the game quake in their boots against this boss, and for good reason.reason.
** '''Lightning Boss Ashanti'''. Though [[TemporaryOnlineContent only available for three days]], this boss quickly developed an [[SNKBoss infamous reputation]] for his highly frustrating cocktail of skills. To counteract the high physical damage of fast Dualstriking Angels and the high magical damage of [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Evil Eye-casting]] Avians, Ashanti protected his deck with Barrier All ''13'' -- for reference, even lategame bosses like Kensho had Barrier All 5, with [[{{Superboss}} Mythic Master Bluefire]]'s Barrier All 10 being the only boss that even came close. This would all be well and good if Ashanti didn't have a blatantly overpowered offensive skill to go with it: Freeze All, a skill only the FinalBoss previously had access to. This was made unnecessarily difficult by a glitch -- if the Freeze All failed to freeze even ''one'' of the player's cards, Ashanti was coded to think the entire move had failed, and he'd start [[SpamAttack spamming Freeze All again and again and again]]. And if you think you could avoid this with {{Invisibility}}, you'd be wrong, as Ashanti also had Barrage 8 to strip that away and practically ''guarantee'' his Freeze All would hit. Players were essentially forced into one of two strategies: a full-Invisibility deck that could weather the immense Barrage, or a deck with no Invisibility at all, so as not to trigger the Freeze-spam glitch.
** '''Lightning Boss Ashanti'''. Though [[TemporaryOnlineContent only available for three days]], this boss quickly developed an [[SNKBoss infamous reputation]] for his highly frustrating cocktail of skills. To counteract the high physical damage of fast Dualstriking Angels and the high magical damage of [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Evil Eye-casting]] Avians, Ashanti protected his deck with Barrier All ''13'' -- for reference, even lategame bosses like Kensho had Barrier All 5, with [[{{Superboss}} Mythic Master Bluefire]]'s Barrier All 10 being the only boss that even came close. This would all be well and good if Ashanti didn't have a blatantly overpowered offensive skill to go with it: Freeze All, a skill only the FinalBoss previously had access to. This was made unnecessarily difficult by a glitch -- if the Freeze All failed to freeze even ''one'' of the player's cards, Ashanti was coded to think the entire move had failed, and he'd start [[SpamAttack spamming Freeze All again and again and again]]. And if you think you could avoid this with {{Invisibility}}, you'd be wrong, as Ashanti also had Barrage 8 to strip that away and practically ''guarantee'' his Freeze All would hit. Players were essentially forced into one of two strategies: a full-Invisibility deck that could weather the immense Barrage, or a deck with no Invisibility at all, so as not to trigger the Freeze-spam glitch.
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* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Compared to more in-depth {{Card Battle Game}}s like ''Magic the Gathering'', ''Spellstone'' is a lot easier to pick up and understand, with simple mechanics and addictive gameplay. The way the plot is shown off, through FlavorText in the levels rather than cutscenes, may make you wonder what the point is to having a plot at all. However, for some players, instead [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame it's the reverse]].
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* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Compared to more in-depth {{Card Battle Game}}s like ''Magic the Gathering'', ''Spellstone'' is a lot easier to pick up and understand, with simple mechanics and addictive gameplay. The way the plot is shown off, through FlavorText in the levels rather than cutscenes, may make you wonder what the point is to having a plot at all. However, for some players, instead [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame it's the reverse]].reverse]].
* ThatOneBoss:
** '''Dyrnwyn's Spirit''', the boss of "Dyrnwyn's Test" in [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Frigore]], is a huge obstacle for the relatively early point it appears in the game. No matter what phase of the boss fight you're on, Dyrnwyn has a huge amount of LightningBruiser Legendary Angels to throw your way, such as [[HarmlessFreezing Brilliant Bennu]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Fatal Betrayal]], and [[MoreDakka Everstorm Ace]] -- and all at a point where you're not likely to own more than a few Legendaries yourself and still rely on your very first [[OlympusMons Mythic Titan]] as a CrutchCharacter. Dyrnwyn's boss-exclusive cards make this fight even worse, particularly "Dyrnwyn's Wisdom", which heals her entire deck by ''30 points'' every turn and can't be hurt with conventional attacks thanks to a whopping ''23'' Armor. Add in the boss's Imbue All Scorch, which essentially puts the entire thing on a time limit, and you have a recipe for a VERY frustrating fight.
** '''Ebonclaw, Silencer'''. Normally {{superboss}} fights don't make the cut for this trope, but Formos manages to be much more annoying than the other two Crimsonwing Champions combined, to the point where he is widely considered the hardest boss in the game. Why is this? Well, unlike most bosses, Formos uses a [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] deck with ''every tribe'' represented (besides Mechas and Goblins). This means that there's no safe time to approach him, as the odds are that at least ''one'' thing in his deck will benefit from a BGE just like you. More frustrating than this is his skillset, which includes ''[[HeartContainer Invigorate All 16]]'' -- a skill that not only heals his entire deck by 16 points every single turn, but ''permanently increases their maximum HP by that amount''. With his deck mainly consisting of extremely fast 1 and 0-delay cards that couldn't even benefit that much from a [[GameBreaker Legendary HP rune]], this essentially means a ZergRush of enemies that activate nearly instantly, have a huge HealingFactor, regularly have ''40 or more HP'' in spite of their speed, ''and'' have boosted damage thanks to the boss casting [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Hex All 4]] every turn. Even veterans of the game quake in their boots against this boss, and for good reason.
* ThatOneBoss:
** '''Dyrnwyn's Spirit''', the boss of "Dyrnwyn's Test" in [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Frigore]], is a huge obstacle for the relatively early point it appears in the game. No matter what phase of the boss fight you're on, Dyrnwyn has a huge amount of LightningBruiser Legendary Angels to throw your way, such as [[HarmlessFreezing Brilliant Bennu]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Fatal Betrayal]], and [[MoreDakka Everstorm Ace]] -- and all at a point where you're not likely to own more than a few Legendaries yourself and still rely on your very first [[OlympusMons Mythic Titan]] as a CrutchCharacter. Dyrnwyn's boss-exclusive cards make this fight even worse, particularly "Dyrnwyn's Wisdom", which heals her entire deck by ''30 points'' every turn and can't be hurt with conventional attacks thanks to a whopping ''23'' Armor. Add in the boss's Imbue All Scorch, which essentially puts the entire thing on a time limit, and you have a recipe for a VERY frustrating fight.
** '''Ebonclaw, Silencer'''. Normally {{superboss}} fights don't make the cut for this trope, but Formos manages to be much more annoying than the other two Crimsonwing Champions combined, to the point where he is widely considered the hardest boss in the game. Why is this? Well, unlike most bosses, Formos uses a [[ConfusionFu highly variable]] deck with ''every tribe'' represented (besides Mechas and Goblins). This means that there's no safe time to approach him, as the odds are that at least ''one'' thing in his deck will benefit from a BGE just like you. More frustrating than this is his skillset, which includes ''[[HeartContainer Invigorate All 16]]'' -- a skill that not only heals his entire deck by 16 points every single turn, but ''permanently increases their maximum HP by that amount''. With his deck mainly consisting of extremely fast 1 and 0-delay cards that couldn't even benefit that much from a [[GameBreaker Legendary HP rune]], this essentially means a ZergRush of enemies that activate nearly instantly, have a huge HealingFactor, regularly have ''40 or more HP'' in spite of their speed, ''and'' have boosted damage thanks to the boss casting [[DamageIncreasingDebuff Hex All 4]] every turn. Even veterans of the game quake in their boots against this boss, and for good reason.
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* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: The Raven. He's not so bad in the tutorial, but afterwards his squawking presence is never pleasant to see, since he's usually telling you you're prohibited to take a certain action.
* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: A story about a war between JerkassGods and a {{cult}} worshipping a Forgotten Hero makes for a pretty interesting fantasy tale, particularly once it seems like ''anyone'' can be a part of the Crimsonwing conspiracy. Too bad it's wasted on a mediocre CardBattleGame with lots of {{microtransactions}}. However, for some players, instead [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory it's the reverse]].
* GameBreaker:
** The '''[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Rogue Seraphim]]'''. While this card has a delay of 4 (meaning it takes [[MightyGlacier 4 turns to activate]]), it makes up for this with a greater health pool than similarly slow cards (as the max-level [[TieredByName Unchained Seraphim]], it has a whopping 60 HP), and it [[RegeneratingHealth passively regenerates]] 20% of that health ''every turn''. While this alone would be problematic, Seraphim gets two CounterAttack skills on top of that: Vengeance, which deals 12 damage to anything that attacks it directly, and Emberhide, which applies [[StatusInflictionAttack 10 HP's worth of burns]] to anything that attacks it directly. Worse, Emberhide ''stacks'', which means that any card unlucky enough to [[SpamAttack Dualstrike]] Seraphim will take 24 damage from Vengeance and ''another'' 20 from burns! Also note that in ''Spellstone'' regeneration, Vengeance, and Emberhide are all passive skills, which completely bypasses the [[MightyGlacier speed issue]] of being a 4-delay card, so the only thing it ''can't'' do out of the gate is attack directly. It has an attack stat of ''17'', to boot: more than capable of dishing out serious damage. It isn't even a [[PowerEqualsRarity Champion card]][[note]]Champion cards are special cards, sometimes with [[NominalImportance plot relevance]], that are PurposelyOverpowered. Because of this, a player can only ever own one copy of a Champion card, no matter what[[/note]], so it's possible to find decks that [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer use nothing but Seraphim]]. This card is so powerful, in fact, that "Seraphim spam" (filling an entire 15-card deck with these) is enough to ruin pretty much anyone, whether their cards are bolstered by [[FieldPowerEffect tribe-specific Battleground Events]] or not. Tellingly, it's still a solid defensive card ''after'' its much-needed {{nerf}} in early 2022, which lowered its Attack to 15, its HP to 57, its Vengeance to 10, its Emberhide to 8 and its Regenerate to 11.
** Legendary runes, which typically [[RareCandy increase the power of one skill by 1.5 times]], are incredibly useful, but one takes the cake: the '''Rune of Greater Health''' (aka '''[[FanNickname Leg. HP]]'''), which increases a card's max HP by 30 percent rounded up. In a game where HP is the OneStatToRuleThemAll, the Rune of Greater Health is just about the only Rune you'll ever see used in high-level play, as it can turn otherwise weak cards into bulky defensive titans. About the only downside to using this rune is that 1-delay cards don't have enough HP to get the full mileage out of it... but you can easily alleviate this by giving these {{Fragile Speedster}}s the +10 HP runes from Dungeons. It's a ''godsend'' on pretty much everything else, and is best used on the most overpowered Champions to really milk them for all they're worth.
** Cards that can [[StatusInflictionAttack apply Hex]], the game's DamageIncreasingDebuff. This applies to direct attacks ''and'' offensive skills like Bolt and Frostbreath. As a result, a common strategy for skilled players is "Hexbolt": setting up for big damage with cards that can Hex everything on the field, then [[ShootEverythingThatMoves spamming Hex-boosted Bolts and Frostbreaths]] until all the opponent's cards are destroyed.
** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], by far the most overpowered skill in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back with any skill whatsoever.
** High-level [[PurposelyOverpowered Champions]] tend to have more health and stronger skills than most Legendary cards of the same speed tier, as a sort of reward for [[MagikarpPower grinding 4,000 Champion Stones]] or simply BribingYourWayToVictory. The result is that Champions absolutely dominate the upper levels of the {{metagame}}, particularly [[DamageIncreasingDebuff hexers]], [[HarmlessFreezing freezers]], [[MoreDakka bolters]], or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs some unholy combination of those three]]. This trend doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, either, as three new Champions release every four weeks. Even among these, a few stand out above the rest.
*** '''Lok'thor, the Reborn'''. In much the same vein as Seraphim above, [[FanNickname Lok]] is a 4-delay Champion with the infamously annoying combination of Emberhide and Regenerate, allowing it to deal tons of passive damage while it waits to activate. With Legendary Health equipped, it's an outright NighInvulnerable monster without a way to deal lots of damage to it quickly. Plus, its ease of use means it can find a home in tons of decks, even outside of its own BGE. Unlike Seraphim, Lok'thor isn't a premium card, so since any player can get Champion Stones for it, it's ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome damn near everywhere]]'' as the premier defensive pick for free-to-play players, whether you've reached endgame or are totally new. And once it activates, it starts going on the offensive with Bolt All, which helps it synergize with high-level hexbolt decks.
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, solid defenses that make him pretty much immune to dying from Poison or Scorch without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2", which is absolutely ''obscene'' on a 2-delay card. That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
*** '''Leroux, the Macabre'''. Leroux's skills (Valour, Siphon, and Dualstrike) result in a card that reaches an extremely high Attack stat right off the bat, strike whatever card is in front of it ''twice'' for that amount, and then heal off whatever damage it may have taken. At higher levels, particularly once it hits level 7 and gets Dualstrike every 2 (read: ''[[OhCrap every other turn]]''), it's very easy for an unchecked Leroux to blitz through anything and everything foolish enough to come near it. Combine his toolkit with Aria, who gives every card Berserk, and you make him into an IncreasinglyLethalEnemy on top of that.
*** '''Nuvis, the Eye Collector'''. On paper, Nuvis's skillset of Invisibility, Empower Goblin, and Empower Mecha is offset by his low base Attack and FragileSpeedster nature, and he looks like he could be a decent fast support for Goblin and Mecha decks. In practice, Nuvis is perhaps the ''only'' Goblin or Mecha you'll ever want to use outside of a Mecha or Goblin BGE, since without other Goblins or Mechas, he's guaranteed to use both of those Empowers on ''himself''. With only 1 turn of delay before Nuvis activates, that means you had better think fast or risk losing a few cards to what amounts to a 30-damage nuke on whatever's in front of Nuvis, ''every single turn''. Even Leroux has a brief {{cooldown}} on its Dualstrikes -- Nuvis has no such limitation. Oh, and in case you missed his description above, it has Invisibility, so he's difficult to defeat with the conventional hexbolt strategy. Your best bet against Nuvis is to pray you draw a card with Nullify, a highly situational skill which pretty much cripples him outright.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to ''4'' skills aimed at her. In what is perhaps the most unfair strategy in the entire game, placing Alyel next to '''Razi the Fallen Light''', who can Empower an Angel card by ''18'' with the proper rune, opens the possibility of getting your Hero '''''[[OneHitKill wiped out in the span of a single turn with no warning]]''''', thanks to Alyel Dualstriking with her souped-up Attack.
* InferredHolocaust: This happens a lot thanks to the lack of real cutscenes, but we're never really told how the once-beautiful Red Feather Valley was obliterated by the Void, and we only get to see it through the aftermath. Same with towns like Beetleton Bunker and Duskwillow, which both seem to get destroyed OncePerEpisode.
* {{Padding}}: Most of the postgame can feel like this, what with the ExcusePlot in each level and the lack of real dialogue as compared to the main story. However, the devs have gotten better with this as of 2022, introducing a new overarching plot involving the return of the Void and a new, mysterious antagonist.
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Compared to more in-depth {{Card Battle Game}}s like ''Magic the Gathering'', ''Spellstone'' is a lot easier to pick up and understand, with simple mechanics and addictive gameplay. The way the plot is shown off, through FlavorText in the levels rather than cutscenes, may make you wonder what the point is to having a plot at all. However, for some players, instead [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame it's the reverse]].
* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: A story about a war between JerkassGods and a {{cult}} worshipping a Forgotten Hero makes for a pretty interesting fantasy tale, particularly once it seems like ''anyone'' can be a part of the Crimsonwing conspiracy. Too bad it's wasted on a mediocre CardBattleGame with lots of {{microtransactions}}. However, for some players, instead [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory it's the reverse]].
* GameBreaker:
** The '''[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Rogue Seraphim]]'''. While this card has a delay of 4 (meaning it takes [[MightyGlacier 4 turns to activate]]), it makes up for this with a greater health pool than similarly slow cards (as the max-level [[TieredByName Unchained Seraphim]], it has a whopping 60 HP), and it [[RegeneratingHealth passively regenerates]] 20% of that health ''every turn''. While this alone would be problematic, Seraphim gets two CounterAttack skills on top of that: Vengeance, which deals 12 damage to anything that attacks it directly, and Emberhide, which applies [[StatusInflictionAttack 10 HP's worth of burns]] to anything that attacks it directly. Worse, Emberhide ''stacks'', which means that any card unlucky enough to [[SpamAttack Dualstrike]] Seraphim will take 24 damage from Vengeance and ''another'' 20 from burns! Also note that in ''Spellstone'' regeneration, Vengeance, and Emberhide are all passive skills, which completely bypasses the [[MightyGlacier speed issue]] of being a 4-delay card, so the only thing it ''can't'' do out of the gate is attack directly. It has an attack stat of ''17'', to boot: more than capable of dishing out serious damage. It isn't even a [[PowerEqualsRarity Champion card]][[note]]Champion cards are special cards, sometimes with [[NominalImportance plot relevance]], that are PurposelyOverpowered. Because of this, a player can only ever own one copy of a Champion card, no matter what[[/note]], so it's possible to find decks that [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer use nothing but Seraphim]]. This card is so powerful, in fact, that "Seraphim spam" (filling an entire 15-card deck with these) is enough to ruin pretty much anyone, whether their cards are bolstered by [[FieldPowerEffect tribe-specific Battleground Events]] or not. Tellingly, it's still a solid defensive card ''after'' its much-needed {{nerf}} in early 2022, which lowered its Attack to 15, its HP to 57, its Vengeance to 10, its Emberhide to 8 and its Regenerate to 11.
** Legendary runes, which typically [[RareCandy increase the power of one skill by 1.5 times]], are incredibly useful, but one takes the cake: the '''Rune of Greater Health''' (aka '''[[FanNickname Leg. HP]]'''), which increases a card's max HP by 30 percent rounded up. In a game where HP is the OneStatToRuleThemAll, the Rune of Greater Health is just about the only Rune you'll ever see used in high-level play, as it can turn otherwise weak cards into bulky defensive titans. About the only downside to using this rune is that 1-delay cards don't have enough HP to get the full mileage out of it... but you can easily alleviate this by giving these {{Fragile Speedster}}s the +10 HP runes from Dungeons. It's a ''godsend'' on pretty much everything else, and is best used on the most overpowered Champions to really milk them for all they're worth.
** Cards that can [[StatusInflictionAttack apply Hex]], the game's DamageIncreasingDebuff. This applies to direct attacks ''and'' offensive skills like Bolt and Frostbreath. As a result, a common strategy for skilled players is "Hexbolt": setting up for big damage with cards that can Hex everything on the field, then [[ShootEverythingThatMoves spamming Hex-boosted Bolts and Frostbreaths]] until all the opponent's cards are destroyed.
** [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], by far the most overpowered skill in the game. Unless your card has Invisibility left, Freeze will render it completely unusable for a turn, allowing your opponent to gain a tempo advantage over you. While this skill is normally balanced out by a {{cooldown}} of 2 or 3 turns, there are a few Champions that can use this skill ''every other turn'', making them incredibly frightening to deal with. With enough Freeze cards, it can usually render any deck completely useless, as the cards are too busy being frozen to fight back with any skill whatsoever.
** High-level [[PurposelyOverpowered Champions]] tend to have more health and stronger skills than most Legendary cards of the same speed tier, as a sort of reward for [[MagikarpPower grinding 4,000 Champion Stones]] or simply BribingYourWayToVictory. The result is that Champions absolutely dominate the upper levels of the {{metagame}}, particularly [[DamageIncreasingDebuff hexers]], [[HarmlessFreezing freezers]], [[MoreDakka bolters]], or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs some unholy combination of those three]]. This trend doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, either, as three new Champions release every four weeks. Even among these, a few stand out above the rest.
*** '''Lok'thor, the Reborn'''. In much the same vein as Seraphim above, [[FanNickname Lok]] is a 4-delay Champion with the infamously annoying combination of Emberhide and Regenerate, allowing it to deal tons of passive damage while it waits to activate. With Legendary Health equipped, it's an outright NighInvulnerable monster without a way to deal lots of damage to it quickly. Plus, its ease of use means it can find a home in tons of decks, even outside of its own BGE. Unlike Seraphim, Lok'thor isn't a premium card, so since any player can get Champion Stones for it, it's ''[[ComplacentGamingSyndrome damn near everywhere]]'' as the premier defensive pick for free-to-play players, whether you've reached endgame or are totally new. And once it activates, it starts going on the offensive with Bolt All, which helps it synergize with high-level hexbolt decks.
*** '''Kensho, the Aeromaster''' is a foe to fear. Boasting a nasty mix of high [[ResistantToMagic Ward]], [[AnIcePerson Frostbreath]], and [[HarmlessFreezing Freeze]], Kensho is an incredibly versatile choice that can be put to good use pretty much from the get-go. He has a little of everything: a surprisingly strong Attack stat for a wizened old monk, solid defenses that make him pretty much immune to dying from Poison or Scorch without lots of concerted effort, and the dreaded "Freeze every 2", which is absolutely ''obscene'' on a 2-delay card. That's right -- in spite of only being a mid-speed card, a high-level Kensho can cast Freeze ''every other turn!'' The devs have taken note of this and created premium champions with the same gamebreaking ingredients: 2-delay, Ward, Freeze every 2. Have enough Shards to collect them all? Congratulations, your Kensho is now, in effect, ''[[FromBadToWorse spammable!]]''
*** '''Leroux, the Macabre'''. Leroux's skills (Valour, Siphon, and Dualstrike) result in a card that reaches an extremely high Attack stat right off the bat, strike whatever card is in front of it ''twice'' for that amount, and then heal off whatever damage it may have taken. At higher levels, particularly once it hits level 7 and gets Dualstrike every 2 (read: ''[[OhCrap every other turn]]''), it's very easy for an unchecked Leroux to blitz through anything and everything foolish enough to come near it. Combine his toolkit with Aria, who gives every card Berserk, and you make him into an IncreasinglyLethalEnemy on top of that.
*** '''Nuvis, the Eye Collector'''. On paper, Nuvis's skillset of Invisibility, Empower Goblin, and Empower Mecha is offset by his low base Attack and FragileSpeedster nature, and he looks like he could be a decent fast support for Goblin and Mecha decks. In practice, Nuvis is perhaps the ''only'' Goblin or Mecha you'll ever want to use outside of a Mecha or Goblin BGE, since without other Goblins or Mechas, he's guaranteed to use both of those Empowers on ''himself''. With only 1 turn of delay before Nuvis activates, that means you had better think fast or risk losing a few cards to what amounts to a 30-damage nuke on whatever's in front of Nuvis, ''every single turn''. Even Leroux has a brief {{cooldown}} on its Dualstrikes -- Nuvis has no such limitation. Oh, and in case you missed his description above, it has Invisibility, so he's difficult to defeat with the conventional hexbolt strategy. Your best bet against Nuvis is to pray you draw a card with Nullify, a highly situational skill which pretty much cripples him outright.
*** '''Alyel, Rush of Fury'''. What else can be said about a [[InfinityMinusOneSword Champion]] that activates ''instantly''? Just by ''existing'', Alyel can bypass killing anything else and soften up the [[StraightForTheCommander Hero]] a bit, which becomes quite a problem when her [[GatheringSteam Berserk]] increases her Attack from a measly 6 by at least 8 points (with a Berserk rune) on non-Dualstrike turns. Once Alyel gets going, she's quite difficult to stop: she has a solid defensive skill in Invisibility, letting her dodge up to ''4'' skills aimed at her. In what is perhaps the most unfair strategy in the entire game, placing Alyel next to '''Razi the Fallen Light''', who can Empower an Angel card by ''18'' with the proper rune, opens the possibility of getting your Hero '''''[[OneHitKill wiped out in the span of a single turn with no warning]]''''', thanks to Alyel Dualstriking with her souped-up Attack.
* InferredHolocaust: This happens a lot thanks to the lack of real cutscenes, but we're never really told how the once-beautiful Red Feather Valley was obliterated by the Void, and we only get to see it through the aftermath. Same with towns like Beetleton Bunker and Duskwillow, which both seem to get destroyed OncePerEpisode.
* {{Padding}}: Most of the postgame can feel like this, what with the ExcusePlot in each level and the lack of real dialogue as compared to the main story. However, the devs have gotten better with this as of 2022, introducing a new overarching plot involving the return of the Void and a new, mysterious antagonist.
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Compared to more in-depth {{Card Battle Game}}s like ''Magic the Gathering'', ''Spellstone'' is a lot easier to pick up and understand, with simple mechanics and addictive gameplay. The way the plot is shown off, through FlavorText in the levels rather than cutscenes, may make you wonder what the point is to having a plot at all. However, for some players, instead [[EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame it's the reverse]].
