Is no-one going to talk about how obviously good this card is? Osbera's versatility is top-notch, and she is always able to provide. I like to think about her as a 2/3/2/5 for 10 threat, because that's essentially what she is. I tend to think the front side is better because its effect is top notch; it just makes it feel like she quests for much higher. The ability on the back serves as an added bonus to give you more questing power when she flips, too, so whatever what side she's on, she is incredible. The flavor, power, and quality of this card are all bordering on the verge of perfection.
I would contend that while I see the intent behind this card, I think the community overshot the mark a made her quite OP. While her abilities obviously have a few inherent restrictions, they are negligible because she directly circumvents them with more of her own abilities. In effect, not dissimilar to Splorindol and Light of Valinor. The result is something obviously good, as you say, but also very much OP
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
In which specific ways would you say she is OP? Triggering consistently her ability is not easy nor cheap, it takes quite a lot to setup her.
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Alonewolf87
2376
I would say triggering her ability is not nearly as important as her first static ability; the rest of the card just helps her fit with Beornings. Questing can be hard in such a combat focused deck, so I think she is exactly what the archetype needs.
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BloodVigilante
123
@Alonewolf87 Let’s look at another bonkers card: booming ent. What if instead of saying “Booming ent gets plus one attack for each damaged ent character” it said “Booming ent gets plus one attack for each damaged ent character. Action: deal one damage to an ent character to cancel two damage just dealt to a character “ The ability to deal damage to any ent character would make Booming ent more OP than it already is. Well that’s what this hero does
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
True but making the most of all her ability is not so immediate or easy Her static ability is definitely quite good and helpful in a full Beorning lineup which might struggle questing, but you have to either keep playing Beorning allies (which besides the crazy good Skinchanger and the Beorning Pony are not so cheap) or keep damaging your Beorning heroes through her Tactics side (which still costs 1 resource to flip onto). The fact that you have to manage carefully her two sides makes her not so immediately OP as she might appear at a first glance IMHO. Also of note that her Lore passive ability cannot reduce threat in the staging area under 0, so placing progress can still be a struggle in solo.
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Alonewolf87
2376
To put it into perspective, best case scenario, to get that 5 threat reduction you need to spend at least 2-3 rounds (assuming you get your Beorning heroes damaged), 1 resource, find and keep an enemy engaged then kill it at the best time. Maybe you could have used another Lore hero, played a couple of allies and taken advantage of some other ability. It doesn't seem such a huge trade off to call her OP. She is definitely strong and meant to patch Beorning weaknesses, that's for sure.
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Alonewolf87
2376
You might be overselling the difficulty of setting her up a bit. She’s definitely easier to set up than the closest comp Booming Ent, and her ability is way better. The whole point of the skinchanger is to make it easy to get beorning allies into play, that shouldn’t really be a problem. And to get damage on them? Defend with a Beorning hero for a round or two which you would have been doing anyway, and transfer the damage to your allies. Honestly not nearly as hard as you make it sound, when with booming ent you need to defend just the right type of enemy, with three or four different ent Allie’s since nobody runs ent heroes in an ent deck, not to mention paying for those allies and waiting a round to even use them. The result is still a borderline OP card, and it’s easy to see how Osbera is even more so
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
Osbera also doesn’t need to exhaust to reduce the threat, giving her build in action advantage.
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
Since her Tactics side ability is limited to once per round you really need at least a couple of rounds of drawing and playing the right allies (the skinchanger is good but you still have to have the right allies in hand) make the Beorning and perfectly handling combat to be able to really max out her ability. Still I would be curious to see a deck and some game replays where you "break" her.
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Alonewolf87
2376
It’s not clear you actually understand the card, since her tactics ability ensures that you DON’T have to handle combat perfectly. Too much damage? Just get rid of it with her ability. Need to take an attack undefended? Again, move it with her ability. And keep in mind that each of these instances will also set up her ability even further. Regardless, it seems you have a particular affection for this card for some reason (maybe just all ALeP) and can’t take criticism of it
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
The "handle perfectly combat" was more about finding the right enemies, avoiding shadow effects etc. but okay. I am fine taking criticism about ALeP stuff, I think there are some really OP cards among those, simply not Osbera, who is a nice strong hero, but definitely not bonkers good. And I say that after having tried a few decks with her during playtest. You can do some nifty things in multiplayer with say her/Grimbeorn/MotK Birna, especially with Thengel around, but nothing that really qualifies for OP. I think we simply have different opinions on what is OP in this game, which is fine, lot of people consider different official FFG card OP and other no
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Alonewolf87
2376
Every deck has to “handle combat perfectly” in the sense that they need to deal with shadows and can’t tank a mumak turn one, not just Osbera. But I agree that “overpowered” might be a bit strong; “Unbalanced” is a better fit.
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Swordthatwasbroke
734
I appreciate when AleP fixes problems in certain archetypes that need it. Osbera is a perfect example. She makes a Beorning deck actually functional and fun to play. However, she does remove some of the challenge in figuring out how to make a Beorning deck quest. In this regard, she is similar to Ingold. He excellently solves Gondor's card draw problem. However, he completely outshines intended alternatives like Pillars of the Kings and Rod of the Steward. I think that is fine. If you want a challenge, simply don't play fan cards. However, I like how AleP is raising the power level of everything. Because of how overpowered Thengel is, Rohan can compete with Elrond. Plus, if you want to complain, complain about Bond of Friendship. With that said, I still dislike Seasoned Forager. Fan cards should boost archetypes, not remove the challenge of playing a certain sphere.
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NERD
859