The 7th Faction: Kharix Dominion

[RyanH]

7th Faction: Kharix Dominion

The Kharix “Dominion”, if it can really be called that, is basically a collection of rogues, criminals and exiles. Pirates, buccaneers, thieves, the scum of Aestaria can all be found here. They are ruled by one King, who is only known as “the Faceless King”, for he always wears a helmet to obscure his features.

Surprisingly, despite their population, the Dominion has the lowest rate of crime out of all the kingdoms. This is because here, the motto “honour amongst thieves” is truly realised. To entertain themselves, they’ve started pit fights, resulting in excellent warriors that work stronger when placed against overwhelming odds.

However, what is a thief is he does not steal every once in a while? What is a pirate if he doesn’t plunder the shores? The Dominion has arisen, ready once again to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

Faction Ability: Bravado (X).
Bravado (X) is triggered when there is an enemy adjacent to this minion. The bonuses increase as the amount of enemies increase. For example, if a minion with Bravado is surrounded by 9 enemies, he will receive the buff 9 times.

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Generals:

The Faceless King. BBS: Summon a 0/1 Enemy Bodyguard for the enemy in a chosen space.

This general fills the enemy’s board with useless minions, all while enabling your Bravado minions.

“I won the throne while the entire kingdom tried to kill me. What chance do you have?”

Duke Heron. BBS: Your General gains “Bravado: +1 Attack” this turn.

This general likes to get down to business, and is not afraid to get his hands wet.

“There is no greater victory than the one attained against overwhelming odds.”

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Faction Minions:

1 Mana
Grimduke Bouncer
2/1
Bravado: Gain +1 Health
"You wanna get in? You gotta get past me."

2 Mana
Veteran Gladiator
2/3
Bravado: Gain +2 Attack.
“I’ve been raised in the arena. You do not scare me.”

3 Mana
Drunken Brawler
2/4
Provoke, Bravado: Gain +1/+1.
“Yer mother looks like the monster from the fairy tales she told ye! hic”

4 Mana
Heron’s Enforcer
4/5
Bravado: Gain Frenzy.
“Honour amongst thieves.”

5 Mana
B-8 Battle Tank
3/7
Provoke, Bravado: Gain Forcefield.
“GR-8-B8(M8) PROTOCOLS ENGAGED.”

6 Mana
Admiral Grimduke
5/5
Opening Gambit: For every adjacent enemy, summon a 2/1 Ranged Warship next to your General.
“Bring all weapons to bear.”

1 Mana
Warship
2/1
Ranged. At the end of your turn, attack a random enemy.
“Roger that. FIRE!”

7 Mana
Baron Tyrax
3/3
Rush. Opening Gambit: Summon and surround this minion with 1/1 Bodyguards for the opponent.
Bravado: Gain +2/+1 for every enemy Bodyguard.
“Open these doors! I demand to see the king!”

1 Mana
Bodyguard
X/X
Cannot move.
“I don’t get paid enough.”

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Faction Spells

2 Mana
Overwhelming Odds
Give a friendly minion “Bravado: Gain +1 Attack”. Summon an 0/2 Bodyguard for the enemy.
“I decree a challenge.” “To whom?” “All of you.”

3 Mana
Last Stand
Activate a Bravado minion and give it Frenzy. At the end of your turn, it dies.
“This is easy. I just swing my sword and it hits something no matter what.”

3 Mana
Drain Morale
All enemy minions gain +1/-1.
“I’m pretty sure no one enjoys working for that guy. Long hours, low pay…hell, no paid holidays either!”

4 Mana
Adrenaline Rush
Select a friendly unit. Restore 3 health to it per enemy unit surrounding it.
“Plenty more where that came from.”

4 Mana
Demotion
Turn an enemy minion into a 0/4 Bodyguard.
“You’re fired.”

5 Mana
Surge of Courage
Draw cards equal to the amount of enemy units on board. Deal 4 damage to the enemy General.
“Fear not, the cavalry is here!”

8 Mana
Ultimatum
Move your General to the space in front of the enemy General. Surround your General with 2/2 Bodyguards.
“Now this is my kind of challenge.”

8 Mana
Betrayal
Give all enemy Bodyguards +2 attack and control them.
“Come, serve your true king.”

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Artifacts:

3 Mana
Captain’s Cutlass
+1 Attack. Your Counterattacks deal double damage.
“An elegant weapon in an uncivilised age.”

4 Mana
Zweihander
+2 attack. Your attacks strike all enemy units in front of you.
“The scars of the blade can still be seen on the throne, from when the old king was decapitated.”

6 Mana
Blunderbuss
Your General gains +2 Attack. At the end of your turn, deal damage to all enemies (except Bodyguards) based on the amount of Bodyguards present.
“Why doesn’t anyone use guns around here?”

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Thoughts? Suggestions? Let me know!

[xvkratos]

Wow you really put effort into this A+ for time and effort this was a interesting read indeed nice

[BlaqT3mpo]

Really interesting mechanic - obviously using BBS against archetypes like Swarm Abyssian and Argeon running Afterblaze is risky, but Skorn is a card so it’s not that bad. Plus the class cards are innately strong against battle pets, so it evens out

All in all pretty unique cards - love the thinking behind Heron’s Enforcer and B-8 Battle Tank. One question - does the effect of Warship trigger independently from exhaustion?

[arcticlion]

Wow you have put so much effort into this and it looks like it could actually be a thing. Would a warship be a structure because that would make more sense that being able to move attack then at the end of your turn attack again. What about the minions that have bravado: gain a keyword ability, because that would just mean that they always have one (when in attacking range).
Really cool idea though.

[RyanH]

Absolutely. The point is that it has an immediate board impact.

[oranos]

You know… it’s literally impossible to be surrounded with 9 enemies in this game. The max is 8.

On a more constructive note, the 3 mana spell above drain morale has no name. I recommend something like “final stand” or “blood burst elixir”

[shatteredskys]

Hey! First of all nice job! I had a good time reading up your ideas. Anyway here were my thoughts on the Kharix Dominion. I apologize if I get a bit rough at times, I take fan creations fairly seriously. Anyway on to the review!

But at the same time I can’t see this being a real faction in Duelsyt. It’s plays fairly similar to Lynor, both are minion based factions who rely on winning the board with their over statted cheap minions. Both have effects that boost their minions stats/value(Zeal/Bravado) and have generals to bolsters this style(Roar/ Faceless King BBS). But Lynor(I’m comparing only to the base set since you didn’t make too many cards) is just more streamlined and powerful in general. Their mechanics are less conditional and their spells provide powerful utility when compared to the Kharix.

Also it’s fairly weird to build an entire faction around a single keyword. No faction in Duelyst does that, only a handful of minions have the faction keyword.

Here were a few cards that I found questionable:

The Facless King: While it’s cool to use it to activate Bravado is it really worth it? If we’re comparing it to Roar than with nearly every Kharix minion except Drunken Brawler, Veteran Gladiator, and Admiral Grimduke, Roar provides more or equal “value”(stats for the BBS) and Roar works on Neutral minions as well so you don’t have to run a deck full of Bravado to capitalise on it. The other Bravados like the Tank and Enforcer automatically have activate Bravado when they’re attacking and really easily so the BBS doesn’t help them much. Also unlike Roar this BBS is giving your opponent stuff for free which is huge for decks like Tempo Lynor and Swarm while also providing a free summoning platform for all other decks. And as for the part about blocking enemy movement, can’t I just move the bodyguards on my turn and mov them out of the way? I’m just saying imagine playing Argeon but your BBS also said give your opponent a free 0/1, that’s kind of the vibe I’m getting from this BBS.

Duke Heron: His BBS is sort of a mix between Vaath and Sajj’s BBS but doesn’t have the same support as the other two. Heron has no healing nor damage mitigation which is crucial if he’s going to keep going face or use his BBS to remove minions. And his BBS is fairly conditional, if the enemy plays correctly he can nullify the Bravado so it only gives +1 or +2 fairly easily. Most decks outside of swarm, walls, and obelisk don’t usually have that many minions on the board at a time so his BBS is further limited. Pretty much his BBS is a bit clunky and he lacks support outside of maybe Tyrax and certain artifacts to do something impactful with it.

B-8 Battle Tank: I’m absolutely certain this is broken. The only way you remove this efficiently is with a spell, a dispel leaves behind a 4/7 body which is insanely good and trading in minions is incredibly inefficient due to the high health and forcefield. This is an answer or die card, I was thinking it was similar to Ironcliff since they’re similar in the anwer or die way but forcefield makes the tank so much more threatening and do or die.

Baron Tyrax: If I’m reading this correctly isn’t this potentially 17 out of hand damage? You use a minion to put this next to the enemy general and if nothing is between them Tyrax should gain Bravado 7 times so potential 17/10 rush? I know Duelyst is fast but isn’t this a bit much?

Drain Morale: I don’t really get this cards? You’re spending mana to kill a bunch of 0/1s you gave to your opponent using your mana? It just seems like a massive tempo loss. Also it has anti synergy with Demotion and Betrayal.

Betrayal: I’ll admit I think think card is an interesting win con idea, but at the same the same time what exactly are you going to do with maybe 3-4 2/1 and maybe a 2/4 minion scattered across the board? It’s fairly slow and doesn’t give a fairly mediocre payoff. I don’t really see why this card should be played over ultimatum, which is unconditional and puts your minions in range of the enemy general.

OD1N Armour: I don’t think this needs a nerf… Maybe a buff truth be told. You’re spending 6 mana to get 3 attack which is a massive tmpo loss and a delayed AOE which your opponent almost always gets the opportunity to play around or choose when it goes off.

[RyanH]

Regarding your similarity with Lyonar, the way the keyword is supposed to play is you’re charging your minions into the hornet’s nest, wrapping it around as much minions as possible. IMO Lyonar is rather bland, so maybe this can be an alternate method? Of course, I only made some ideas that revolve heavily around the Keyword, of course there can be more cards that are more powerful, but when I built this faction I only had the keyword in mind.

I’d probably make Bodyguards unable to move and then just rename them to Stone Statue, but good point. The Bodyguards / Statues can be turned against their masters however with Betrayal, and weakened with Drain Morale. I’m also planning to add an Artifact or Spell that lets you gain an effect per enemy bodyguard.

With Duke Heron, it had support originally in the form of the OD1N Mech Armour (before it was reworked). Personally, I’d add a Forcefield Artifact. Otherwise, Adrenaline Rush gives Heron a nice healing boost.

Regarding your point about the B-8 Battle Tank, maybe it needs a stat nerf, but the Forcefield / Bravado is the main theme there.

Baron can only get a max of 13 / 11, but maybe I’ll change the effect to be “Bravado: Gain +2/+1 for every Bodyguard surrounding it.”

Drain Morale would probably be give +1 / -1 to EVERY enemy minion.

Betrayal would probably be reworked to: “Bodyguards can now move. Give them +2/+2 and take control of them”, maybe even add on “Give them all Ranged”?

OD1N used to be Forcefield, Frenzy and +3 Attack. I’m trying to rework it as we go, but it would probably be “Forcefield and +3 Attack” only.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up! It means a lot to me. If you think you have any cards to add on, I’m all ears.

(P.S.: I’m not good with numbers in Duelyst, only concepts. This is why CPG won’t hire me.)

[persona0]

Let me just say I love the work you put in this… But giving your enemy free minions is a recipe for disaster. But I’m curious how does forcefield bravado work does he get a force field for each enemy present??

[RyanH]

No, he just gets forcefield when there are enemies adjacent to him.

Let’s clarify on the Bodyguards: they can’t move.

[BlaqT3mpo]

Nice, so if the Warships survive they can technically attack twice a turn - once actively and once passively at the end of your turn

[stixa]

Great job! I really like this idea!

[longshot405]

There’s a lot of flavor and creativity in this, well done!

Minor nitpick, but Heron’s Enforcer may as well just have vanilla frenzy, since it only comes into play when making an attack against an adjacent enemy and bravado activates when they are next to an enemy. There’s essentially no difference.

Maybe is Bravado was reworded to something like “Bravado(2)” representing “If this minion is adjacent to 2 or more enemies.” Doing this could open the door to putting really powerful effects on a minion that have a higher requirement to fulfill before it can be activated. Here’s some terrible examples I came up with:

3 Mana
Wild Demolitionist
2/2
Bravado(3): Gains “Dying Wish: deal 5 damage to all adjacent minions and generals”

3 Mana
Clever Scoundrel
3/3
Ranged, Bravado(2): Can move an additional 2 spaces.

[unluckyvetruvian]

Sorry for the bad english.
Very good faction concept is so functional and strong, but I must say it needs card that give healing effect/mitigation/immunity to damage to make the duke heron more viable.

[shatteredskys]

In my opinion, if you want to keep moving forward with this project I would say both BBS and much of the faction could use a rework or at least adjustments.

The thing about having an entire faction around one mechanic is that it makes the faction clunky. Imagine if everything in Songhai had Backstab, people would just do the conga all the time and all of a sudden your plays are limitted. or in Bravado’s case everyone plays in diagonal or spreads out and. Also the keyword by nature is fairly…in my opinion awkward. For some of these minions like heron’s enforcer and the tank you might as well add their respective keyword to them and remove Bravado becasue they are always in effect(Or in the tank’s case, it has provoke so if you place it next to something it always has forcefield.). Also it relies on your opponent messing up and doesn’t even punish that harshly out of a very few cards. As the Kharix you’re relying more on your opponent misplaying into Bravado with cards like Grimduke just as much as you playing well.

My problem with the Nameless king is that his BBS essentially locks him into only playing Bravado cards. There is very little you can do with him, in order to do anything with his BBS you NEED good Bravado minions to capitalize on it otherwise you have a dead BBS. You need to add a ton of really good Bravado minions becasue BBS is so weak by itself(It gives your opponent something) you need to print an incredible amount of support to justify it, the BBS doesn’t do anything for anything BUT Bravado so if you want to optimize the Faceless King you want to run something a long the line of an entire deck full of good Bravado cards. My suggestion would be instead of giving your opponent a 0/1 bodyguard summon for your self a 3/1 Mercenary that counts as an enemy minion. This means not all your power is in Bravado cards and you don’t need to invest as much into them becasue your BBS is decent by itself which opens up deck building. Yeah, it doesn’t work with cards like Rebellion but it isn’t as clunky and is a relatively powerful BBS.

As for suggestions, my opinion is that it would best to go back to the drawing board and adjust somethings in the faction. My suggestion would be to change Bravado to affect allied minions instead enemy minions and turn the Kharix into a zoo/token spamming faction that specializes in flooding the board and capitalizing on that board state with bravado. This would make Bravdo less clunky becasue it’s based less on what your opponent does but what you do. It would also make hem more distinct from Lynor(In my opinion, Lynor is a faction is a board focused faction focused on controlling the board with overstatted minions. I’s pretty general, but it is there thing. Also similar faction is Vetruvian, which focuses on winning though controlling the board via powerful effect minions and a bit of token spam). But if you want to keep with the current iteration my recommendation is that you really need to print out a lot more support to make it worth it.

[Burvjradzite]

[quote=“RyanH, post:1, topic:7300”]
surrounded by 9 enemies [/quote]
Enough

Bravado: Gain +1 Health

If the enemy moved away, your minion makes ritual suicide? Because it’s not hearthstone mechanic, you know. If buff gets off, damage taken calculated on vanilla stats.

[seraphicreaper]

(P.S.: I’m not good with numbers in Duelyst, only concepts. This is why CPG won’t hire me.)

This. You and I need to get on a discord channel sometime. I struggle on concepts, but numbers come naturally to me I recently put up my own faction ideas as well, so seeing this does indeed make me actually smile haha