Eh, they aren't bad per say, but there is no real incentive to play them together (aside from the very odd bit of synergy here and there and flavour reasons). Are they playable in ranked? Sure. Would I recommend them? No (also due to they're cost). Trick is to stealth up loads of hard hitters then just powerturn (possibly using an aoe to hurt your own guys if they're still pacified and your opponent thinks he's safe).
Not really, but I've found Swiftwind to be nice for garu. Definitely not necessary, but at 25 nora it's not much of a risk to include either.
I've been having fun with Garu lately though I did put them on the shelf after a 5 game losing streak with them. I find they work best when backed up by a few support fairies. Nectar Fairy and Fae Dreamers can really help (and both have Divert now). The recent changes to Elder Garu and Garu Chosen have helped, too (Fellowship is pretty darn decent in a dedicated deck). They really need Horn of Order or Slipstream Fulcrum to get into position and smash faces if the stealth mechanics are countered. Also, as said already, being able to cheaply stealth your champs is a great boon, especially paired with AP Gen. Edit: Also, Balacing Act is quite useful on the Garu and the newly reduced Shield of Thorns is sometimes quite effective as well, so I've discovered.
One thing we could do is come up some kind of outline for how we'd like to see the theme developed. What should the theme's flavor be? What racial synergy should they have? What things should be common among Garu? An angle that could be refined to improve synergy while ensuring uniqueness is Enraged: #1 - Modify the Enraged condition to be a cumulative +2 (up to +6) Enraged: This champion has +2 Damage for two turns (cumulative up to +6 Damage). #2 - Change the Enrage ability to a single rank that accumulates the revised Enraged condition Enrage: When this champion is attacked, it becomes further Enraged . (2 Nora) #3 - Change the Protective ability to accumulate the revised Enraged condition. Protective: When a champion you own with the same race as this one is attacked, this champion becomes further Enraged. (4 Nora) #4 - Spread these very liberally among Garu... give them one, the other, or both as appropriate. Several have Protective now, but serve up an even bigger helping of outrage when the cubs are attacked. #5 - Create a new ability to compliment Hibernate Rude Awakening: When a Garu within 5 spaces is destealthed it becomes further Enraged. (5 Nora) Result: Garu will have numerous, complimentary ways to achieve +2, +4, or +6 Damage. Not the only synergy they would or should have, but a pretty good start. Another mostly flavor thing is that mystic Garu tend to be Shaman, as opposed to Druids surrounding Treefolk and Wizard heavy elves (though Elves are pretty diverse because they reside in numerous themes). Regardless, we should probably keep things this way and think about some Shaman synergy as well.
Sleeping yeti has somthing like rude awakening. Sokolov was talking about giving boththemes the same passive but different. Or somthing like that.
There's a lot of good things about garu, but there are a lot of gaps as well. They need shatter, they also don't have the spell and relic support that elves, vashal, and trees do. They could also use an extra source or two of magic damage, preferably one that has a max range of 6 or 7. Even another 4-5 would be nice. Right now they're a close to medium range theme without any real advantage for being one. They don't have the damage of minos or the survivability of draksars/lonx/dwarves. They're really good, but I wouldn't go as far as perfect.
They're on par with them as a theme, yes. They don't have the amount of surivability (damage reduction/hit points) that those themes do though. Lonx is also missing a fair bit though. Draksars though I'd rate as a better overall theme than garu. It has more options, better range, and more support. The only thing that holds them back is the initial damage and that can be easily compensated for.
They were playable before. They are a lot better now with the changes. They were very expensive before.
Garu racial is a stealth. With another 2 ap per round, these can move even more and regen for great attack.
