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Review of Tash-Kalar: Everfrost Expansion Deck / Nethervoid Expansion Deck / Etherweave Expansion Deck
Blurb from the publisher: 'From the frozen lands of never-ending winter, from the snowy plains and glacier-capped mountains of the North, from splendid palaces of crystalline ice comes Tash-Kalar's newest school: Everfrost! This expansion brings new tactics to the arena of Tash-Kalar. Some beings have frozen effects that can be saved and used long after the being was summoned. To get the most from this deck, you'll need a cool head and a keen sense of timing. Master Everfrost and you will take your place among the masters of Tash-Kalar.
The Gateway opens, revealing a land of shadow and fire. Demonic forms wielding strange powers clamber into the arena. Tash-Kalar is now open to the extra-dimensional realm of Nethervoid. Nethervoid is a new player deck for Tash-Kalar. In addition to the usual cards and pieces, Nethervoid also includes a token for marking the Gateway, a trans-dimensional portal through which Nethervoid practitioners draw energy. The position of the Gateway becomes critical to your tactics. You will realize the full power of the deck once you have mastered this extra dimension.
Arcane beings transform the arena, intertwining space and time, bringing visions of things yet to come. You play with the threads of causality itself when you embrace the tactics of Etherweave! In the third expansion to Tash-Kalar, you will discover beings with effects that can travel backwards through time. These warp effects can be played even before the being's pattern is formed. But beware! Leaving loose threads does have its consequences. You must summon the being to fulfill the fate that your tactics have foreseen.'
What you get: Your EUR 10 or equivalent will buy one of the expansions for Tash-Kalar: Arena Of Legends, the lauded game that started the highly successful Tash-Kalar game line. The present review examines the three expansions that are available up to now: Everfrost, Nethervoid, and Etherweave.
Each expansion contains almost identical, but not identical components: one rules sheet (different each time), 18 being cards, 17 double-sided cardboard pieces, 3 Legendary cardboard pieces, and one Score board. Nethervoid additionally contains one Gateway glass piece.
Gameplay: Each deck introduces a new School with its own intricacies, both when it comes to gameplay as well as theme.
Everfrost is a deck about ice, snow and the frigid wastes. It brings forth Frozen Effects: effects that you can keep for later usage in the game, but only one at a time. Cards like the Frostweave Illusionist appear to drain your resources and giving the edge to your opponent, this however is only momentary until you strike back.
Nethervoid is the demonic School of Tash-Kalar. The School creates (or moves) a Gateway in the Arena, through careful placement of its beings. Many of the School's effects depend on the position of that Gateway, instead of the position of the summoned beings, which is the other schools' more usual approach.
Etherweave introduces time-travelling into the game. Warp effects allow the effect to be played before the being that causes it has been summoned. The being then rests open in front of you until its final summoning, but not without repercussions. Until it sees some board action, it penalizes you with a -2 on your overall score.
The strong points: In the Tash-Kalar review I called the basic game one of moderate difficulty. All three of these expansions violently readjusted my perception of what this game is and what it can do. Even though I cannot claim mastery in any of these decks, it is evident from the very first play that they are not for the gamer that has played a couple of games and is bored already. These are targeting the Tash-Kalar enthusiast who has appreciated the game for what it is, understands its principles and idiosyncratic character and is looking for more. That, they provide aplenty.
I would be hard-pressed to choose a favourite amongst them. Warps are cool, the setup however that they require is expectedly hard. Prepared effects (or Frozen effects, if you prefer) are also great. My first impression is that their influence on the board is purposefully subdued and not extravagant, as if small things are happening here and there, yet they leave their footprint steadily. The Gateway is a game-changer. Nethervoid comes out guns blazing, with some truly devious tactics, including self-immolation and sacrifices. Moving your pieces was one thing already. Moving the Gateway too? The results can be as devastating as you can imagine. No wonder it is a prime target by all your opponents.
If you are thinking 'but at the end of the day, and even with new rules, there are limitations based on the patterns each School requires', you'd be actually wrong. As an example, Everfrost favours vertical and horizontal formations, Nethervoid appears to prefer diagonals, while Sylvan from the basic game likes blocks of pieces tightly packed together. Of course there is some repetition here and there, the cards, effects, and most importantly the tactics however are not a reskinning of a tired theme. Schools play so differently that even a novice can notice it.
Incredibly enough, this all comes out as ultimately balanced. I am very happy that Czech Games Edition didn't fall for the very usual 'the newer must be shinier' trap, and took great care in keeping the replayability of the old Schools at a very high level against the new ones. My statistically non-representative number of plays didn't make me feel at any point that I am playing with the 'wrong' School, that one needs to be buffed while another needs to be nerfed. They all have strong points, they all have weak points, they all demand a particular style. Try to play the Nethervoid without heavy movement, and you are bound to lose. Don't blame however the game's balance for your poor tactical choices.
Each expansion is as easy to learn rules-wise as the basic game is. The mini rulebooks are concise, and offer clarifications about the new keywords. In one case they even provide tactical tips.
The price is extremely friendly to the devoted gamer's pocket. No need to buy them all together if on a budget, on the other hand together, if you want to do it, they cost what they should have, compared to the basic game.
The weak points: The main character of Tash-Kalar doesn't change. In fact, with these three factions it feels even more abstract than before. I personally have no problem with it, but if you already did, you'd better stay with the basic game only.
This also encompasses the number of players. Two continues to be the ideal configuration. Just because you can choose amongst seven schools, if you buy all the expansions, does not mean that the multi-player problems go away. Not only they don't, in fact they get aggravated due to the increased difficulty of the new Schools.
I wouldn't go as far as to call these Schools 'advanced' in comparison to the ones included in the basic game, be forewarned however that they require even more involvement and practice to play thoughtfully and successfully. I wouldn't be as surprised if a confident novice with one of these decks gets plastered by an experienced player playing with the humble Imperial School. Practice, patience and understanding of what each deck can do are paramount towards achieving victory.
Unfortunately the art continues to be sort of average for such a game. Even though at the end of the day it doesn't matter, I can't but wonder how much better the game could fare commercially if it was just a bit more pleasing to the eye.
Conclusion: Tash-Kalar ups the ante with three expansions each of which is more impressive than the other. Not only there is no disappointment here whatsoever, the game games enormously through the new, more impressive and more demanding tactics that they introduce. If you like Tash-Kalar, they are a must. If you are unsure as to whether you like Tash-Kalar or not, try a few games with one of them. This should set the record straight.
To find out more about the three different expansions for Tash-Kalar, namely Everfrost, Nethervoid and Etherweave, as well as Czech Games Edition overall, take a look at http://czechgames.com.
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