Bravos Rundown

Okay I’m going to start my reviews of with Bravos (what else?) and I am going to give each card a tier rating and then further based on the hero you are playing as this could make a big difference. My table below shows how I see the tiers.

Issun-boshi is a fine card. It’s a one casting cost card that can give you a cheap advance on the early turns as all the starting regions definitely have water. When providing a boost from reserve it can really help Basira provide the boost on another character, whether that is through casting him or activating his support ability. This makes this version a bit better in Basira. I’m not convinced he’s strong in Atsadi, but generally it’s a fine playable card.

Bravos Bladedancer is my first S tier card in Bravos, but only for the rare version. The common is okay but weaker out of the reserve. Without any other enhancements, you are paying 3 mana for a 2/2/2 worth of stats. Now with Basira you’ll be getting a 4/4/4 for 3, but that’s only as good as a Haven Warrior. The rare is astonishingly good and you can get outstanding stats on it from reserve if you keep it managed at the right level. This will end up a target for sabotage or removal no doubt.

Bravos’s squirrel God was going to be rated a little lower on Kojo, but the recent spoiling of another card has upped my view on him. I think there’s a build where he’ll end up quite strong here and whilst he’s a fine allrounder card you’ll be happy to have in the deck, you are largely getting what you are paying for here and he’s a fine one drop / ‘After You’ substitute card. T1 Axiom Bastion in Kojo followed by T2 Ratatoskr is very strong with Booda out T1. 

Next up is my favourite card. It may not be the strongest card but as you’ll see it has very good specific uses. Plus, I love the art for this card ?. The card really shines at rare and the common is only really a draft card (in my view). I think the rare is playable in Kojo (but will probably get cut for numbers) but really shines with Basira. It’s not the best card in Basira but the 2-mana ability from Hand allows it to be able to get Basira’s boost as well, making her a 2/5/5 from hand and potentially a 4/7/7 from reserve all for 2 mana. So yeah, that ability on it is really good but you need to set it up.

Bravos Tracer is a solid card that provides really good stats for a card disadvantage. I’m not 100% sold on the common version, but it can do a solid job in Kojo I feel, particularly if you have Helping Hand and/or Bravos Vanguard to help to negate his innate disadvantage. I’m not sure its where Atsadi wants to be, but as a staple card it will be fine with Atsadi as he can provide a cheap boost for the other side. His disadvantage there is not so bad as Atsadi is drawing your cards. 

Chiron to me is the poster child of a fine playable card, but not one I ever get excited about. I kind of prefer him in Basira as the boosts are really handy to go on seasoned characters. He’s slightly better than average and playable as an enabler, but nothing exciting to me.

Red is about on a par with Bravos Pathfinder but in a different build. Whereas the Pathfinder can get big herself very easily in Basira (by spending the added mana), red needs outside help. The common is better than the Bravos Pathfinder common but needs help to get boosted. I don’t think red is terrible in either Kojo or Atsadi, but she will often get cut due to there being better cards. I feel she is strong enough to earn a place with Basira though.

I really quite like Tiny Jinn as it’s a nice low-cost play that penalizes the other player for trying to remove them as you get instant extra mana. The rare is the better of the two as it is cheaper and has a very nice T1 combo with the Axiom Bastion, especially with Kojo. I think it does what Kojo wants better than Issun-boshi and I think there is definitely something here that I may explore. Tis a shame they come into play exhausted though.

I was going to rate the Trainee far worse than this until the Axiom Bastion showed up. I think there’s a really good combo here with the Axiom Bastion, giving you a 5/3/3 from hand for 2 mana, so my rating for Kojo has shot up. Basira can use the Trainee, but I feel that other cards will be better so the rating is pretty average, and I don’t think that Atsadi wants the Trainee at all. I don’t think the rare version is worth the small power boost either.

I’m a bit higher on the Bravos Vanguard, but this is a card that really might end up on the deck cutting room floor when push comes to shove. The thing is that the card can effectively give you two more bites at the cherry for that powerful character that you want to keep around. Basira might want to keep that mega boosted up Bravos Bladedancer around one more turn. Atsadi might want another use of Kaibara, though I think that Atsadi doesn’t need the extra boost and can use the rare slot better elsewhere. Kojo can use her to make your Bravos Tracer stay around longer. So, the card is useful in all builds, I just can’t make it A tier and I think it will suffer from cutting down decks.

Conversely, I think that the Haven bouncer will not suffer in the same way. She is the best sabotage that Bravos has, and all build probably will want her, with perhaps Atsadi wanting her the least. The Axiom Bastion combo might push her up a bit more in that Kojo build. You need sabotage and she has boosts out of the reserve and she is stronger than cost out of the reserve. All these things make her a solid B tier include in a lot of decks. Even if you don’t take the rare, the common is pretty solid.

Haven Warrior is another solid card. The common is more of a draft card I think as its stats are a little below par, but the rare is solid and playable. I feel it will always get cut from Atsadi (as they want Mighty Jinn at 4 mana) so his rating for the card is down. It’s solid but unexciting.

I’m had a really hard time rating Hua Mulan. Sun Wukong is a great card with stats from reserve that really shine and the fact that you can keep recasting him makes him really shine. Hua Mulan is like a mini version of Sun Wukong with worse stats and no boost to kick off Basira. She doesn’t trigger Atsadi either, so the best use I can see for her might be in Kojo to offset the card disadvantage from Bravos Tracer. All in all, I can’t see what deck wants her. She’s a fine card as she recurs, but she just doesn’t seem to bring enough other than Playable and good in draft, but I can’t see anyone wanting her.

Tomoe Gozen is fine in a deck with a fair bit of ramp. That deck is most likely to be an Atsadi deck. The stats are very good for the cost and the skewed stats mean that for 3 mana you are more than likely to win a side. So, I think Atsadi wants Tomoe, but Basira really doesn’t. Fast Kojo decks with a Tiny Jinn combo could use Tomoe, though I could also see him getting cut for numbers.

Sun Wukong is a very strong card. It is so strong it is the second most likely card to want to be sabotaged by the opponent. The fact is that out of the reserve the rare Sun Wukong is very strong and can keep coming back for more turn after turn. Basira will get her extra boost every time, making Sun Wukong low S tier for her and he gives Kojo a recurring card advantage and really strong stats. With Axiom Bastion he is even stronger with Kojo as he gets the boosts even from the hand.  He is so strong that Atsadi could play the rare, but I feel that he will more likely get cut there.

The Mighty Jinn is mighty indeed and is perhaps the best mana ramp in the set. He comes with a skewed 4/4/0 stats which could easily win a side. However, beyond that he has an inbuilt advantage over removal that means (at rare) he either ramps mana or draws you a card. If they don’t remove the Jinn though you get that choice after the expeditions are resolved and (should you not put him in mana the first time) you get that choice again. Obviously Mighty Jinn is a star in Atsadi but more than solid in any other Bravos deck.

Kappa on the other hand is probably the second worse Bravos card. It’s not bad, but it really just doesn’t do enough for the cost. His stats are just above par, but for a 4-mana card you’d expect far more than that. To even get Seasoned you need to go to the rare, but when I played with him, I frequently found myself using him for mana as he was too expensive to work with the other cards I had in hand. An okay draft card but not much better than that I feel.

Achilles is another card who on the face of it looks like he is on par for his cost. The Tough 1 certainly helps him stay around a bit more as a common (since he is at a level that most removal could kill him), but I think that realistically the rare Tough 2 version is the one to play in Atsadi who I think needs the Muna Bastion as well. This makes him very difficult to remove and since he costs five an option for Atsadi’s deck. I’m not sure he makes the cut in Kojo or Basira, but he’s a solid draft pick. 

I’ve never rated Atlas highly because he’s a combo card that really needs the boosts to be effective. I think he’s okay in Atsadi, but it’s likely that he may be the third best five drop for the deck and its probable he’ll end up on the deck cutting room floor. 

Shenlong is card that begs to be included, but only the rare seriously has a claim for 3 copies and only in Atsadi. I think the rare could be a role player as an odd singleton inclusion in Kojo but he’s really a card Atsadi wants. Since Tough stacks, I think you need the rare version with the Muna Bastion.

Kaibara is the top end card that Atsadi’s deck needs. Since the rare is a nine cost, he will trigger Atsadi twice (once from hand and one from reserve). He has built in Tough and has 16/16/16 points worth of stats even without any boosts. A helping hand or a bit of physical training could see that get even higher. I’m really not sure Kojo or Basira needs him though he’ll be fine in draft if not spectacular.

Helping Hand is one of the strongest Bravos cards, particularly at rare. It’s one of the few true S tier cards that I think Bravos has alongside Mana Eruption, Haven and Bravos Bladedancer. Giving a card an extra life after the reserve is equivalent to drawing the card you want to next turn. The boost(s) are great for Basira and make it particularly good for her. Being able to reuse a powerful high-cost card an extra time (and boost gigantic creatures) make it excellent for Atsadi and being able to negate Bravos Tracer’s disadvantage make it great for Kojo. It’s an all-round great card for a low mana cost.

Conversely, I’ve never been that high on Intimidation. The opponent will either get to replay the thing this turn or next. Since your spell is fleeting, you can’t repeat the trick. It’s a tempo play, but the common doesn’t really get the things you want and the rare though slightly better misses some as well. Average draft card in my view and I don’t think it belongs in any deck. The best chance is in a fast Kojo deck, but even then, I’m doubtful.

I like Mana Channeling a lot, but only at common. I think the 5 mana cost for ramping up two mana is a bit much. If the Mana orbs went into play untapped, then it may be worth it, but to spend a whole five mana ramping twice is only really worth it in Atsadi’s deck I feel. I think I’d have to play with them both, but my gut feel is that alongside the other ramping creatures that the rare Mana Channeling is just not needed. The common one is cheap enough to go in any Bravos deck and quite playable.

Physical Training is just a good solid card that is nearly always going to have a say in most Bravos decks. Its not top tier but its always going to be useful. I kind of almost like the common more as the one mana fewer cost from hand makes it playable for more easily earlier on in the game. The card draw is nice though as well and I think the choice will ultimately come to the mana costs in your deck and how much card draw you have.

Play this. There are things out there that you need to remove permanently, and this does the job. Mana orbs are easy for a Bravos deck to get. Use them to stop your opponent winning. You’ll be glad you did.

Haven is great for both Kojo and Basira. You can play Haven in Atsadi, but I suspect that you want Spindle, the Muna Bastion more in that deck (though you can of course play both). That’s the only reason for not running this in Bravos.

The Axiom Salvager is one of only two cards in Bravos that has a resupply effect (the other being the rare Haven). Now it isn’t terrible value for what it does and may help a Basira deck early on get things into the reserve to utilise with Haven, but I’m not 100% convinced that this taking up a rare slot is going to prove that cost effective. A good draft card, but not necessarily what Bravos needs.

The other Axiom card though I like a lot more. The ability to create two bodies out of the reserve is far less susceptible to most (but not all) removal) and also the card will benefit from either the Bravos or the Axiom bastions, so it has good synergy. I think it may play occasional roles in Kojo and Baira decks.

The Three Little Pigs may have been working their socks off, but they are working themselves to a bone just to be as good as the rare Haven Warrior, which always is a 4/4/4. The pigs need a landmark in play to achieve that status and they also get turned off by ‘The Council’ from their boost. I think a 3 cost 4/4/4 is good, but these will not always be that in Bravos. They get a bit of a boost in Basira though as she needs the boost from hand plays as well as from the reserve, so I think the pigs might be better in that deck.

There were times when there were very few cards spoiled when I would run this in Basira to gain the boosts from hand. There are better cards than this now and I can’t see any Bravos deck running this now. Even Basira I don’t think won’t want this card as she has better options than just to get lucky to get better than on par stats. So alas the Trickster gets relegated to the D tier despite having great art.

Bravos does not want this card. I don’t know who in Bravos asked for it, but it should have been rejected on sailing in to the harbour. As a rare you want it to actually do something. 3/8 of the time it will do nothing and for 2 mana I’d rather have the common Bravos Pathfinder and I’m not even going to want to play that. This is only marginally better than playing a mana orb token, and that’s because it has nice art with a Bravos symbol on it.

Bravos is not doing well from Lyra really. Tanuki is fine. However, in the list of things with sabotage to play it comes a distant fourth behind Haven Bouncer, Ordis Spy, and Tooth Fairy. The card is fine in draft, I just don’t think many Bravos decks will play this in constructed.

The Hatter is the best card we’ve seen from Lyra so far. It’s sort of fine but not astounding. I have a nagging feeling that there might be a use for The Hatter with Kojo (as the deck wants low-cost characters to stay around) and could be used to anchor a rare Bravos Tracer, so I’ve been a little higher on that rating. The Hatter is solid and has uses, which is more than we can say for some other cards.

Asmodeus is a contender for the 5 mana slot for Atsadi, but I think as it doesn’t have Tough built in that it might be a harder sell. Potentially you are getting more stats that Atlas (8/8/8 rather than 6/6/6) and an anchored 5/5/5 will effectively give you double that. So, if you have The Spindle around you probably are not too badly off with Atsadi. Basira will enjoy the boosts, but you will only get those 50% of the time and I’m not sure Kojo wants Asmodeus at all.

Kitsune is fine. Some Bravos decks will be lacking in card draw and this might be the answer for it. Kojo is probably the most susceptible to it and may be the main beneficially here. There are other options though (such as rare Physical Training) and this card may well get cut for numbers / rarity.

Draecena is cute (and I don’t just mean the picture, which undeniably is). Basira can play the card and although it doesn’t have seasoned, you are getting 3 and 2/3 mana’s worth of stats for your 3 mana. With boosts here and there and helping hands this can be extended quite a lot. I think that this is surprisingly good, though I’m not sure that Atsadi really wants this card.

Parvati I feel is going to be one of these strange cards for Bravos. It has a very Uniqu ability but there is no obvious place for her. The best I can come up with is a role player for Atsadi to anchor those large characters to get much more use out of your mana, however as she is 4 mana herself, you will need to have ramped really hard to make it work. I think you’ll see her in decks, but not as 3 copies and more likely as one or two copies.

I actually like Aja a bit more than the ratings shows. She has good stats for her cost both from the hand and reserve and the ability to ramp is useful (especially in a ramp deck). Okay so we give a mana orb to the opponent as well, but the extra orb will let use ramp more and use our Mana Eruption. I think she’s an inclusion that you may want and I’m bordering on giving her a B- instead of C+.

Conversely, I’m not sure Bravos really wants Yggdrasil’s son. It’s good stats for a gigantic creature, but it doesn’t have stats to protect itself. Atsadi could use it if they were playing Muna Bastion, but I think that they might play Shenlong in the six slot instead. Maybe the odd one or two might get played in Atsadi, but other than that I doubt we’ll see Bravos playing this card a lot.

Ozma is a good card but needs a bit of setup. This is why I think its mainly a card that could go into Basira as with Haven you should be able to get the required two other boosted characters easier.  The stats are on par for the cost and drawing a card is worth another 2 mana if you can achieve the quest. Kojo might also be able to do this, and I can see this going in some (but not all) Kojo builds. I’m not sure Atsadi wants this card.

The Ordis Spy is the second-best sabotage card in Bravos behind Haven Bouncer. There is a cost to playing more sabotage than just the Bouncer and that is it will hit your rare slots. Because it creates an extra body from reserve, I think the Spy works best in Kojo and I’m not convinced that Atsadi really wants the spy as it needs so many spots for ramp cards. 

 I have a confession. I just don’t know where ‘The Council’ belongs in a Bravos deck. Objectively it’s a pretty good card, but the opponent can just play their big thing in the other expedition instead. I guess if you have one expedition already locked up this might be good, but to do that you’d need to be playing this early, which means you’d need anchored characters in play. It kind of goes against what you’d want to do playing this early as it would be subject to removal too. So an interesting card without a good use in Bravos.

If this card was being judged on artwork it would get a far higher rating. Its stats are below par for the cost, so what we are paying for here is the support ability. Now this is fine, but we tend to want to play that on something big that we want to keep in play. Problem is we won’t be playing those biggies until later in the game, so either we’re going to need to play the Lady before our biggie late on and then use her support ability on the biggie or we need a smaller target. I think that target could be Bravos Tracer rare, so there is potential here for use in Kojo’s deck, however we have Bravos Vanguard as well which I think is better.

Tooth Fairy is the third best sabotage card, mainly as it only costs 2 rather than 3 to play. It’s fine, but when push comes to shove it will most likely be shoved out of the deck.

Dorothy Gale brings something to Bravos that no other Bravos card has. A built-in ability to remove an opponent’s character. This is pretty good as it ups the creature count in the deck whilst maintaining a good degree of removal. Atsadi benefits the most as it also gets the card draw as it costs 5 and if (somehow) the card is sent to reserve (through there is a card that forces hand discard) you could activate Atsadi’s ability for 3 mana. She’s strong all round and I expect to see her in in multiple builds across all three Bravos heroes.

I don’t expect to see Sakarabru in any Bravos decks except Atsadi. He’s our only 7 mana card, so he will show up in Atsadi builds and will help Atsadi catch back up after ramping. I can’t see Kojo or Basira wanting him really at all.

Twinkle, Twinkle gives Bravos the only way of accessing Asleep to date, which is unique. This allows us, for 2 mana, to keep a character on the board and not counting for 2 whole turns. The main target for this is the rare Jeanne d’Arc which can be a real pain, and this will really prevent the annoying Ordis player from getting their 4 soldier tokens either this turn or the next. In a rush deck like Kojo’s I think this can be pretty good and I would certainly be more in favour of this than Intimidation. Its not our best spell, but it has a roll to play. Plus the discount for the support ability is any card and not just a character.

All-in is not as good as Physical Training as it is subject to the RNG of the Lyra faction. The average roll though is 3.5, so on average it is a better boost spell. With Lyra other effects of course it is better, but if you need a wild and wacky boost spell for Bravos then this could be your baby. I think we might see odd copies of this in builds but never a three of in a deck.

Mind Apotheosis is probably one of the most skewed cards in the set of Bravos cards. It is clear that it is only really playable in a ramp deck and therefore with Atsadi. In Atsadi I think this pretty darn good. The only thing stopping it going into S tier is that I don’t believe that it triggers Atsadi’s ability as you are putting the characters into play rather than playing them (clarification will be needed on this). The chance of pulling two biggies with this spell in an Atsadi deck is high and I think this would be a really fun play. You only need to get more than 9 cost worth of characters to actually win with this card.

Another cracking removal spell that will be able to target anything. Okay so we give them a mana orb, but would you rather have an ever-increasing Hydracaena or a stupid Kraken in play of let them have an extra mana. This doesn’t send the character to the reserve so they can’t play the card again.  The only things keeping it from S tier is that it doesn’t target a permanent and it’s a fleeting spell.

I actually quite like the Kelon Cylinder. Its free boosts all game if you can get it out early. For Basira this means free boosts from hand, which means that you can activate Basira as well. Alas you have to charge it up every three turns but for the low cost of 1 mana this is great. Play this T1 and then Tiny Jinn T2 to get instant ramp at the end of that turn. It’s just generally useful that in Kojo it is never bad. Atsadi can use the extra boosts on its gigantic creatures, so all heroes can get good use out of this. You just need to time it appropriately.

I think there might be a Kojo build that can use this. When I originally thought about it, I thought this was a two-mana card, but I think it might be possible at 3 mana too as you have Booda to take one side on T1. Then you get all your reserve effects when you play from hand. Rare Ratatoskr is now 1 mana for a 4/4/4 on T2. I want to explore this build a bit more. I don’t think its great in Basira or Atsadi to be honest, but it could be a role-player.

Let’s face it, Atsadi needs the Spindle to make the deck work. There is just so much removal out there that his large creatures need defence. The more you have the harder its going to be for the opponent to take your big creatures off their game. Play 3 in Atsadi.