Crack the Earth is broken.

Discussion in 'Shattered Peaks' started by Xinde, Dec 21, 2015.

  1. Xinde

    Xinde Devotee of the Blood Owl

    How is no one running this rune? I just came back a few days ago (after a very long break from playing), and saw that it is now 20 nora when I was going through the list of SP runes to see what changed.

    This spell can literally win games for cheap.

    Use cases:
    • Cage a unit by casting 2 of them.
    • Separate an enemy unit from its allies so that they may not reinforce him (Nora Glades bottom font comes to mind).
    • Continuously block passage of a single area indefinitely. It's especially broken on Shattered Peaks map as a stall tactic if you want to build up for mid-late game.
    • Font rush and block an enemy from contesting a middle font, or even getting to their own font on some maps while you get yours.
    • Trap an enemy ranged unit against one of your melee units (and a relic or another unit).
    An extremely funny tactic is to use the infinite blocking to prevent an opponent from attacking a relic you use to contest their font on certain maps.

    It needs a cost hike and/or needs to have the duration end on your opponents turn (increasing the duration to 5 turns might actually stop alot of the more abusive cases, assuming that it blocks itself from being cast).
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2015
  2. narvoxx

    narvoxx I need me some PIE!

    Yeah thx for reminding me of this... 20 Nora for 4 turn force barrier is kinda stupid, saw it and forgot about it cause I don't rly play SP

    it is force barrier though right? so even flying can't get through?
     
  3. Xinde

    Xinde Devotee of the Blood Owl

    Not quite Force Barrier, since it can be prevented with good unit spacing, but as it is currently once the opponent claims an area with it they retain control since the effect runs out when it is the caster's turn.
     
  4. Xinde

    Xinde Devotee of the Blood Owl

    It's inaccessible terrain, but if there is a unit, relic, or font node inside the AoE then it can't be cast.
     
  5. Bellagion

    Bellagion I need me some PIE!

    It's still pretty situational. You can't cast it if there's anything in the AoE. Yeah, you can use it now and it can win some games off the surprise factor, but if it became common it'd never see competitive play because it's easy to play around.
     
  6. narvoxx

    narvoxx I need me some PIE!

    Simply that it can secure you mid font on some maps while going first should be enough to be competitive
     
  7. Bellagion

    Bellagion I need me some PIE!

    It could draw win some games, but the best decks strive not only for power but for power with consistency. It just would never warrant the rune slots once people got used to playing against it.
     
    IMAGIRL likes this.
  8. Xinde

    Xinde Devotee of the Blood Owl

    Yeah you can play around the whole mid font grabs in some cases, but mid/late game when your opponent spaces their units out to prevent you from walling them in, it's still pretty simple to delay and stall their progress. Honestly the draw-win aspect is just icing on the cake for everything else it already does.

    I've been playing against another player that ran an SP/FW death-ben deck, and the amount of stalling he had just by spamming 2x Crack the Earth enabled him to get his deck up and running to a pretty strong degree most of the time.

    The only direct counters/workarounds I know of are Dimension Door, Teleport/Leap, and Consecrate the Earth (actually removes the terrain).
     
  9. Sirius

    Sirius I need me some PIE!

    Doesn't Flying bypass it? Asking because I play Flying.dek.
     
  10. narvoxx

    narvoxx I need me some PIE!

    it does not
     
  11. Ballballer

    Ballballer Chief Antagonist

    hahahahahaha @Gutsa
    Edit:I just saw this thread after my game with gutsa. Funnily enough, i was giving this spell a try and wrecked him with it
     
  12. Alakhami

    Alakhami I need me some PIE!

    It should be banned. Discussion ended. @Sokolov
     

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