Welcome back Champions! It is I,Tommy of Titan, back again after a bit of a hiatus to babble on about this wonderful game. This time I wanted to take some big swings, and make some big statements about the game. I want to talk about the single most busted card in the entire game to date. I’m talking about the Seven Rings of Raggadorr.
Now, I know that it’s a card that comes from the good Doctor’s Invocation deck, and that does complicate how the card is both played, and valued. It’s definitely not a straight forward evaluation, but I think if we go through the process of comparing the cost of cards to the effects of cards, I can illustrate just how powerful this card truly is.
First, let’s look at what it takes to play the Seven Rings of Raggadorr and what it actually does. It cost a single card from hand, or any one resource from the table along with a Hero exhaustion. In Doctor Strange’s case a hero exhaust is worth 2 THW, 1 ATK, 2 DEF, or 3 REC if in Alter-ego. The actual card effect allows you to place 3 tough status cards on characters around table. So having 3 characters is kind of important. Admittedly, this effect is somewhat situational in solo play, unless you play a large amount of allies (and I hope you do because allies are amazing). You also need to have them out on the table though. Where this card really starts to be an incredible value is at 2-4 players. This is where you start to have the potential to shut down entire segments of the Villain phase. With just one card from hand, and a single hero exhaust, you have the ability to effectively cancel 3 attacks. Wow, thank goodness for piercing on the horizon.
So let’s take a quick look at what other cards have comparable effects. How about Invulnerability? Just kidding, I won’t waste anymore text on this card.
I think of all the other cards in the game the most similar card to the Seven Rings is Webbed Up. Webbed Up is an extremely useful and playable card. I think it’s also a great comparison because it’s part of a hero’s 15 card kit. This affords the card a little more wiggle room to move up the power scale since it can be controlled within the vacuum that is the hero of Spider-Man. This is one of the only other single cards in the game that has the ability to by itself shutdown multiple layers of the Villain attacking. The main difference is it costs 4 and comes from your hand. That’s a total of 5 cards or resources to play this card. That’s basically your entire turn.
So just to reiterate, Webbed Up will cost you 5 cards essentially, while the Seven Rings will cost you one and an exhaust. Not to mention you get one more mitigated attack out of the exchange.
The only other card that I can think of that could compare, is the ally Mokingbird. This card is interesting because it’s available for all decks to include. She ends up having a very similar impact on the board as Webbed Up. The main difference is that she can attack or thwart for at least one before leaving the table. So more often than not she will grant you one attack or thwart, and two canceled attacks for the low price of 3. Since she too is a card from your hand the true card cast is 4 though. While I think Mokingbird is an incredible value, and one of the best solo cards in the game, it still falls significantly short of the Seven Rings from a value perspective.
Hopefully by this point I’ve been able to paint you a pretty good picture of just how much value is packed into a little spell called the Seven Rings of Raggaddorr. If you have any thoughts of your own on this card I’d love to hear them. Again, if you are interested in more content please stay tuned here for more articles, as well as checking out The Side Scheme on FB, YouTube, Twitch, Patreon, and wherever you listen to Podcasts. I’m Tommy of Titan ominously drifting into the shadows.