Hello! Michael here. Today I wanted to start a new series, Misrecarded, where Ben and I will be talking about misregarded cards in Warhammer Underworlds and why you should be using them.
I have recently seen a rise in complaints regarding the ‘staleness’ of deckbuilding in this edition compared to last edition, so today I will be trying to bring light onto an underutilized card in one of the best decks in the game right now – Countdown to Cataclysm. Please give it up for ‘The End is Nigh’!
Before we get started, since this is the first article in this series I wanted to give a general structure. First, I will go over the card text in pretty significant detail. I will then go over the important parts of the card texts. Obviously, I will attempt to justify to you why this card shouldn’t be misregarded and should be included in every deck. Then I will include some decks you want to play this card in and I will end with an overall summary.
One more thing – this is the 50th post on this blog! Thanks a lot to everyone for your continued support, it means a lot to me :). Here’s to at least another 50 great articles!
With that, we can get started.
CARD TEXT ANALYSIS
Here is the star of the show today. In this section I will go over each part of the card in pretty extreme detail.
First of all, the very first word of the card is vital to us – it is a Domain. We will go over why this is significant in a later section but the fact that it is a Domain can affect it’s power level significantly.
Next, we will notice that the effect happens after EACH Action Step. A quick read ahead will yield that some cunning card timings can actually make this card affect you a lot more than your opponent, and vice-verse. In order to properly utilize this card, you have to be wary of when you play it to maximimze the benefit and minimize the risk.
Now we get to the amount of dice rolled. We notice that the card is actually pretty accurate in rounds with high Cataclysm. We also notice that the card is pretty inaccurate in rounds with low Cataclysm AND if your opponent has no Cataclysm value. This makes the card in it’s nature favour you more than your opponent, however, it also makes it pretty matchup dependent – against an enemy CtC, you might hinder yourself.
The actual effect of the card is pretty strong where you and your opponent will be forced to discard power cards. It’s the only card in the game of it’s kind, which is kind of cool.
And the last part of the text will just be linked back to the Domain part, so no need to go over it.
DISCARD CARDS OR DISCARD HOPES?
Let’s quickly talk about just how busted the effect of this card is. For the sake of this section, we are in a magical fairytale wonderland where you will succeed in 100% of the rolls you take for this card.
First of all, as a general trend card quality actually went up by a lot this edition. Even potentially useless cards have uses, and the best cards are often game changing. There is a reason it is so annoying to play against Krushas, who can shut down cards for pretty much no cost. The cards they can shut down are so good! This card has a similar effect. It can force you to discard that Sidestep you were holding till the last Action Step to score Supremacy, for example. Overall, discarding cards this edition is a LOT better than last edition.
If looked at from an opponent’s perspective, this card is SUPER good. I don’t know if anyone ever played into this card, but I had the ‘pleasure’ of doing so last year at Worlds where I played vs. Moongob. He was playing an ES/CtC Zarbags into my ES/CtC Cyreni. And let me tell you, the sheer fear I experienced when he played this card forced me to BURN my cards. It definitely caused some misplays from my part, while I don’t remember the game in excruciating detail, my main takeaway from that one specific game that I still recall today is the urge to just play my entire hand for it not to go to waste. My logic was that if my Sidestep or Confusion got discarded, my entire plan could go to waste. And that’s true! The psychological pressure on your opponent to play all their cards is definitely a bonus for this card. It leads to hasty and often serious decisions that cause misplays.
If we exit magical fairytale wonderland, we will notice that the card doesn’t work ALWAYS and can sometimes even be a net negative to you. Cataclysm as a deck has pretty strong power cards as I discussed earlier on this year. This means you are risking losing a Violent Blast (for example) that is necessary to stop an opponent. While the chance for losing a clutch card like that is quite low against a non-CtC opponent (around 33%), against an enemy CtC the chance goes up significantly. Which could suck, but since you guys are likely playing the same power cards, you should in theory both be hurt in a similar fashion. But it is possible to shift the tides in your favor so you get hurt less.
So, we can conclude that the effect of the card (namely discarding cards) is pretty strong. The in game as well as psychological effect alone make this card a decent choice already.
THE END IS NIGH FOR DOMAIN CARDS
The End is Nigh is also a Domain. This is both good and bad. For starters, several decks (only three of them) have actually game swinging Domains. Raging Slayers has Honed Reflexes for re-rolls, Pillage and Plunder has Explosive Charges, and Realmstone Raiders has Raider’s Rapture. Is it worth taking The End is Nigh just to stop those three?
Well, you can argue that since you are playing this card for discard enemy cards, the domain ‘kick out’ is a guaranteed discard. So yes, if your local meta is for some reason Domain ridden, The End is Nigh may be a valid card pick. Just for the Domain aspect. And for more card discards.
However, being a Domain also means that enemies can kick your Domain out with their own, and this is very severe in the case of The End is Nigh. It forces you to be very careful with when you play it, as a misplayed timing can actually let your opponent discard one of your cards and then drop their Domain in order to block you from doing the same to them. This mainly happens if you play it in your own power step, then let your opponent activate, roll, and then in their power step, they play a Domain. However, this isn’t really a problem if you spend more than 1.5 seconds thinking about when to play this card.
If we quickly go over each Domain in the game, we get:
– Explosive Charges (PnP)
– The End is Nigh (CtC)
– Raider’s Rapture (RR)
– Honed Reflexes (RS)
– Slayer’s Arena (RS)
– Wrong-footed Stance (RS)
Against Explosive Charges, a domain block could be fatal. The main issue is people often play it during your power step, so you cannot immediately block it without giving your opponent a first chance to discard one of your cards (since the discard roll triggers each action step!)
The effects of the End is Nigh stay exactly the same no matter who plays it so it is pointless blocking it. I’d even go as far to say that you shouldn’t block it, because it gives you one extra card for ‘ballast’ in case you have to discard something.
Raider’s Rapture is VERY important to several RR decks, so it is a vital card to block, even if it means losing several key cards. Raiding is very important to like 80% of Realmstone decks.
Honed Reflexes is arguably the best card to block, as enemies often play it in their power step, meaning you get to not only block it but also get first chance at discarding your opponent’s cards. The funniest part is opponents often send a fighter into stupid positions and count on the re-roll, so it’s always funny to see their faces when they lose access to it.
Slayer’s Arena is in a similar situation to Honed Reflexes, but it’s not as good of a card.
And the same can be said for Wrong-footed Stance. Though there are cases where an enemy will play it in your power step (in order to drive you into a stagger) so be wary of blocking it then, as your opponent gets the first discard roll.
One thing that is super important to consider is if you pair this card with another Domain. That way, you can kick your own The End is Nigh out with your own Explosive Charges (for example) before your opponent gets to roll to discard.
Overall, we can see that as a Domain denier, the End is Nigh is fine. There are some cards it excels against (namely RS cards) but the strongest cards to block often also get ‘first discard roll advantage’.
GAMING THE ROLL
The dice roll is arguably the worst part of this card, as well as losing cards potentially. However, it is possible to swing the odds in your favor when rolling for the card. There are three main ways: playing the card when your Cataclysm is high, playing the card when you have no good cards, and playing the card when the situation feels right. To reduce the odds of you losing your cards you can also experiment with the timing.
The most obvious way to get better mileage out of The End is Nigh is just playing it when you get to roll so much dice that it is unlikely to miss. Cataclysm 3 is ideal, but it’s only reachable in Round 3 usually, by which point it may be a little late. Still, the odds will be in your favor! If your opponent is playing Cataclysm, then you must be wary of their tracker as well (obviously). But you do have more control over your opponent’s tracker than your own by stepping on and off of tokens, so make sure to leverage this. Keep their value low if you intend to mess them up with this card.
Next, playing The End is Nigh hurts less when your hand is awful. Let’s say it’s Round 1, and you drew into The End is Nigh, Growing Concerns, Tightening Grasp, Deadly Aim, and Twist the Knife (for example), and your opponent is a high move warband who relies on Shields. Here, the even if your opponent on their one dice does force you to discard a card, Tightening Grasp and Deadly Aim are both pointless in your matchup as your opponent has no dodges! This makes you ‘immune’ for two rolls. And since your opponent will at most get 4, and will usually only get 3 if you play the card properly. This swings the odds a lot in your favor.
The ES/CTC ‘God Hand’
Now about the ‘feels right’: some rounds you just know will be crucial. If you are playing against an ES/CtC players and it’s Round 3 and they haven’t scored Supremacy, Iron Grasp, OR Set Explosives yet and they haven’t played Sidestep or Confusion or Settle In, I would absolutely just send the End is Nigh instantly. ANY cards your opponent discards would be crucial. Even if your opponent’s Cataclysm Value is 3, there are few cards in the game that losing would hurt more than the three I mentioned above. This is also the case in Round 1. If a singular Confusion or Violent Blast will mess you up, play your End is Nigh early on to get rid of the strong cards from your opponent!
So overall, you can swing the odds in your favor with this card by playing it when your Cataclysm Value is high, playing it when discarding cards won’t hurt, and playing it when it will mess your opponent up big-time.
TIMING THE END
Something that I think is obvious but will state anyway is don’t play this card if your opponent gets to roll first. There is 0 reason to usually (unless you block a Domain). Make sure you always get first roll, as that means you get one more chance than your opponent to get a discard off. At the very least it means you will be equal.
Another important point is that you aren’t legally obligated to play this card instantly like with other Domains, since it can harm you. While you do get the most value out of it by playing it turn 1, you also can minimze the risk that your opponent will make you discard a card by just playing it when they have no action steps left! Imagine this: if your opponent is a ES player, and they have one card in their hand which you suspect is Sidestep, you can the End is Nigh even with a low Cataclysm value. That way, pushing your opponent off a token AND rolling the discard will leave your opponent with no options to get back on. They also won’t be able to force you to discard anything! Pretty neat.
Cases where you want to send this card instantly (like in your first power step) is when you have a high Cataclysm and your opponent has a low one, such as in Round 3. Another case to play this card fast is when you notice your opponent burn many of their power cards in their first power step. This makes them more scared about keeping their last cards, but it also means they have less ‘ballast’ to block discards with bad cards.
Cases where I would hold onto this card is when your opponent has a higher Cataclysm Value than you. This means that it’s more harm than good to you. I would hold onto it until the last action step, where you get a chance to force your opponent to discard a card without giving your opponent a dice roll.
Overall, this is one of the more complex Domains to time properly, since it is one of the few that affects both players. You have to consider several factors, such as dice odds for both players as well as card quality, to decide if you send it early for maximum chances at a discard vs. later in the round, to minimise the risk of losing a card.
DEXAMPLES FOR THIS CARD
While power cards don’t typically have a deck revolve around them, we can set up the End is Nigh to a decent extent. There are two ways to go about this. Here they are:
With the Reckless Fury special, you might be thinking, “Wow, that deck sucks. Extinction’s Edge AND Furious Might? Wow, Staggerers really is lacking in the deckbuilding department.” You’d be right in one thing for sure – this deck does suck! But that’s the secret. We are leveraging our atrocity of a power deck in order to make sure The End is Nigh gets as much support as possible. Pretty neat, am I right? (no, I am not. this is a really bad deck and there are better strategies to make The End is Nigh a playstyle).
This deck is a) actually playable and b) makes Emberstone Sentinels literally invalid. It focuses a lot on making your Cataclysm value as high as physically possible, which means I am throwing by not putting in both Edge of Extinction and Bringer of Doom, which means that it tries to keep opponent’s OFF of tokens as much as possible. Barge, Confusion, Damned if you Do, Growing Concerns, Improvised Attack, Violent Blast and your warscroll abilities (Enrage and Call of Blood) all make holding tokens a living hell. On top of that, since you have The End is Nigh, your opponent will struggle to get off a good Sidestep or a counter-Confusion. If you despise Emberstone Sentinels with every ounce of your being, do try this deck out! 🙂
MISREGARDED OR BETTER DISCARDED?
Overall, I would say the End is Nigh is misregarded. Every card in Underworlds has a niche use case (except for Frenzy of Greed). The End is Nigh is very good at throwing spanners into enemy works. It turns up the pressure when played, which leads to mistakes from players who are scared of losing a precious card. It can also be ‘mastered’ by increasing the odds that you roll, reducing the odds your opponent hurts you, and figuring out the best time to play it. So if you feel like deckbuilding is stale, I challenge you to slot this card into your deck and see how it turns out!
Now, thanks a lot to you for reading! Since this is a new series, we appreciate any and all feedback – you can find Ben and myself on the Staggerers discord server where we are happy to chat. With that, thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you again soon! 🙂
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