The Rares - Part I

While I think most of the commons, especially in lower levels, are open to debate, most of the rares are being used more often – and are of a lot higher value.

Exploding Rats

Let’s start with fire again. The Exploding Rats is one of the three cards of the rares, that I haven’t frequently played. And it has had the same reason, like one of the two others: I did rent out this card and forgot to buy another copy – and since I got my first copy of it, it was constantly rented out.
At level 1 this card has 2 Melee, 4 Speed and 1 HP, with Blast. Blast Cards are usually pretty great, since it is always nice, if you can attack more than one card. And two melee plus one melee and four speed at four mana is even at level one a solid option. It gets another speed at level 2 and another melee attack at level 3, making it even better. And at maxed level it gets also true strike – so in the rare cases, that a 7 speed monster is missing, this will be helpful.
My main use for this card is probably equal health battles. Because the only limiting factor to this card is its low health. One – especially magic – attack and the card is gone. When it gets to a decent amount of health it can be really painful. Also if it is in combination with Kitty, Flame Monkey or Flame Imp and gets even more speed, it can be pretty nasty. While for Flame Monkey this is a endgame ability, the Flame Imp gets it already at Gold level, when the Exploding Rats already has 6-7 speed. With one more from Flame Imp and two more from Kitty it is at 9-10 Speed, making it almost untouchable. Just think what this can do when enraged (in an equal health match): At 15 Speed with 5 Attack, this can completely destroy your enemies complete deck, especially when only filled with Melee an Ranged attackers.
At Level 5 it gets Redemption, hurting all opponent monsters with one melee attack. This might be great in low mana, low health scenarios, but can be avoided when shielded. But when dealt to a low HP enemy line up, it can even lead to complete annihilation. Shouldn’t be ignored.

Venari Wavesmith

One of my first rewards, this card is probably the best known reward card. And it is one of the reward cards, I almost didn’t use. I did rent it out, since I didn’t use it a lot, because I focused more on Oshannus, when using water, and it was never returned, but always continued or rented from another person.
The main selling point: Protect. Giving two Shield to all of your monsters, is pretty awesome. Especially with weak magic. Except for Crusteacean King, who gets Protect at level 6, making it only available at Gold and above, the only other water card is Jini Guise, a legendary Gladius card, being only available in Brawls. So it is a really rare ability. Also Spirit of the Forest, a few Life monsters and Gloridax Guardian (legendary get it at level 4) and Tower Griffin (Neutral, Rare level 5). So yes, it is a rare skill and very useful.
At level 4 – Silver cap – it gets another magic attack. With Gold it starts to get Dispel, another quite rare ability, removing all positive status effects from the enemy hit. Only Goblin Firemage, Venari Crystalsmith, Temple Priest, Venari Bonesmith, Dark Ferryman and two Gladiators have this ability. So yes, the Wavesmith is again the only Water card, with this ability. Being the only one, is usually a bonus, that adds value. At max level the Wavesmith has 3 Magic Attack, 4 Speed and 4 HP, plus Protect and Dispel.
I never used a Gold Level Wavesmith, so I am not sure about Dispel. But it is clearly the Bronze and Silver meta to use a Wavesmith. And this is probably the reason why this card is the most expensive reward card, aside from the legendary being priced at $6-7 most of the time.
I think there is still some potential for future price appreciation. But I don’t think this will go 10x very soon.

Venari Seedsmith

Another Venari. The Seedsmith is one of the cards I used a lot. Main selling point: Scavenger. It gains one max Health each time a monster dies. Since Screeching Vulture has this ability as well, but gains it starting at Gold level, the Seedsmith is a cheaper, attacking version of the Gelatinous Cube. It is a bit limited by its starting HP of only 2 at level 1, which gets to 3 HP at level 2-5 and to 4 at level 6 and above. But as long as there are no Opportunity users or other low HP cards in the deck, it will do well. Especially in poison rule sets the Seedsmith is useful. And if there is no poison rule set, starting from Gold, the Seedsmith will create one, getting poison at level 5. Getting another ranged attack at level 4 and 8, it gets up to a total of 4 Ranged attack. Nothing too special, but still something that helps to kill. Still it has a 5 mana cost, which isn’t too cheap. And you cannot get a level 2 Seedsmith for a 1 BCX Cube – with the later being more useful since it is a neutral card.
I still think that the Seedsmith is a useful card, but it isn’t meta breaking.

Venari Crystalsmith

This could probably be a new meta card. The Venari Crystalsmith. At leaving the Wavesmith out of consideration, this is right now the most expensive rare card. Priced at around $1 to $1,5 it is still cheap compared to its direct competition: The Divine Healer. A Beta version starts at around $10-11, getting an Alpha will cost $17 and above. So it is possible to get two level 2 Wavesmiths for a Beta version or more than a level 3 version in exchange for an Alpha Divine Healer right now. But at only one mana more, the Crystalsmith is giving you one ranged attack additional to the tank heal, starting from level 1, whereas the Divine Healer gets its first – and only – magic attack at level 3 (4 BCX at alpha / 5 BCX Beta), which would be already around $50 for a Beta or $ 64 for an Alpha version. This would be enough for a level 5 or 6 Crystalsmith.
At level 4 (25 BCX) the Crystalsmith is getting another ranged attack, which makes it even more valuable to Silver players and above. The last of its 3 max ranged is at maxed level. Dispel is added at level 6, so it will be available at Gold cap.
And for modern format the Crystalsmith is the only available low level Life tank heal, since Divine Healer an Angel of the Light are both Alpha / Beta cards and Sola Ranjell is a Gladius Card. Truthspeaker also gets tank heal at level 8, but being a rare card this is only available for Diamond and Champion players.
I really think, that there will be a lot of price appreciation here in the future.

Daily Quests

Today I got some nice cards as well!

Cheers,
@andy-plays