Post by jamesmcmurray on Jan 20, 2007 16:23:59 GMT -5
Persona Profile: Slan Quince
by James McMurray
You do not need to make an Exertion to make your attacks Power Blows.
5
2
8
8
2
5
Overview
Slan Quince has been called the strongest of immortals, and his gems and persona power definitely reflect that. Although he only had a single episode, many people pick him as a favorite thanks to the charismatic performance of Richard Moll (aka Bull from Night Court).
First and foremost Slan is a swordfighter. His free power blows and lack of finesse cards practically ensures that. His gems focus on both strength and toughness, while leaving him destitute on agility and empathy.
Persona Specific Cards
Berserk: A dangerous card to play, as losing one ability when you're already at five or less can be your death. However, it's also increibly powerful if you draw a few attacks that scatter around the grid. Hopefully by this point in the game your opponent is also already very weak and this may be the finishing blow. Dodges don't carry, so the only thing to be truly afraid of is a master block. One nine grid power block will cancel this card and leave you bleeding from the exertion.
Ciao Baby! Digging a location out of your discard pile can be useful, but I personally don't care for this card very much. Except in decks where the gems force it, I'd rather include another copy of the location than a Cia Baby! to retrieve one I've lost. The problem is that CB cannot be played until you've already played and lost a location. After you exhaust or before you've drawn a location it's a dead card.
Evade: Back Away: It's his only dodge, and his low agility means he won't have a lot of them (at least not until gem migration). Still, you'll want as many in your deck as you can get, partly because of all the hidden attacks you'll be seeing after power blows.
Face Mask Taking less damage is almost always a good thing (see Berserk and Follow Up for why you might want to take more damage). Face Mask's great selling point is its usefulness against the rapier and slashes. Any attack that covers a part of the upper grid will do one less damage. Attacks which would normally do one damge will do zero. Currently this means you are immune to a lot of the slashes and the rapier's slice.
Follow Up One of slan's most useful cards, the extra attack helps him play attacks even after blocking and if you're at low ability undodgability will at the very least force your opponent to exert for a power block, bring them closer to exhaustion.
Master's Attack: Definitely Slan's Shining Glory right now. His cards and style mean you should have a lot of strength cards in your deck, so the exertion should usually net at least two extra damage. Combining it with Run Through (see below) will mean it is both unblockable and undodgeable. Keep in mind that the attack must be successful, which means it must not be avoided by a special card or have a defense played against it. This means that if they manage to block but cannot power block, they will only take two points of power attack overflow damage.
Over-Extended Attack I personally don't like this card. It does let him attack after backing away, but pistols can do that. As a middle center attack that can't be a power blow, there will be a lot of times when its dodge discarding function will never come into play.
Run Through You've got to take damage to use Follow Up and Berserk, so you may as well get some benefit out of it. Run Through lets you take some damage and follow up with an unblockable attack. Against many personas (especially a Slan mirror match) that unblockability can be a beast. Combined with Master's Attack you get unblockability and undodgeability for that power blow.
Shooting Blade an old classic comes back unchanged. 4 point ranged attack is nothing to scoff at, and it gives him another trick in his arsenal for after he backs away.
Taunt A string of taunts can shut some personas (like Xavier) down quickly. Even against others it means their hand is clogged with specials they can't play that turn, slowing down their ability to run through their deck and reach the cards they need.
The Cat One of Slan's only non-combat cards, this can still be a great addition to any deck. Against people like Hugh and Duncan you can do some serious damage if you pull off two of these on one turn. In addition, Police are an card, and so Slan may find himself running short of them. The Cat can somewhat support that lack by giving some ally defense. Don't forget that even though it's best use might be to get rid of situation allies, you can still play it on any other kind of ally (like James Horton or Detective Bledsoe). Those allies would be leaving play anyway, but you may as well send them off with a little ability loss instead.
The Gathering: Currently there aren't a lot of ways to avoid attacks, and even Holy Ground has a built in damage mechanism. But as the game grows so too will the attack avoiders, and the Gathering shuts them all down.
Trip: Losing Defenses hurts, and losing dodges against a power blow fiend hurts even more. Trip is an excellent addition to the arsenal. Even if you're focusing on undodgeables with Follow Up instead of hand destruction with Trip, keeping a couple of these around to get rid of gaurds and other standing defenses (like Two-Handed Stance for the katana) is a good idea.
Weapon of a Blacksmith: Extra damage is great, although it remains to be seen what surprises the Great Sword will bring in set 2.
Blotting Out the Sun: Gaurds (especially combined with 0-card exertion power blocks) can be a major pain for Slan. This puppy helps him out majorly.
Master's Strength: With this and a mask you could negate damage from most upper attacks. Very nice!
Overpower: Knocking your for prone is nice, as is unblockability. I can see this quickly becoming a favorite to combo with Follow Up.
Weapon of Choice
The Great Sword is Slan's chosen weapon, and he uses it like nobody's business. It gives him extra attacks to play after his backaway, helps him avoid hidden attacks, and brings the all important Weapon of the Blacksmith into play.
Generic Cards
Slan is one of the few immortals that might actually find himself wanting to holy ground when he isn't even attacked. The 2 ability loss can help set him up for a follow Up or Berserk, and the attack avoidance can save his head against the likes of Duncan and his Master Headshot.
Pistols work well for Slan as they let him continue the offense even when he is forced to dodge. They also get dodges out of your opponent's hand, forcing more blocks and more exertions.
Darius is currently not too useful to Slan because of his low empathy, but with rystal migration he'll get more slots. Three Darius + three Amanda Seduce take all of your but gives three unblockable/undodgeable power blows in return. Coupled with the Master Attack combo that's five on each pass through your deck.
With the need to take damage but not die, Quality Blade can be a savior, at least until the Great Sword makes his personal hilt useful.
Location
Sulphur Plant, Sulphur Plant, Sulphur Plant. With all the power blows and dodge removal you have, exertions will be happening frequently on your opponent's side of the table. If you can knock them prone they'll be forced to decide whether to power block against or go for the increased chance to stand of a hard exertion. It's also a great equalizer against Slan's bane: Katana Two-Handed Stance and its 0-card exertion power blocks. If they make a 0-card power block, there are automatically no in the exertion, and they're automatically prone.
How To Win
You have to keep up the assault. Get yourself slightly lower than your opponent and then throw Follow Up after Follow Up. Run Through and Master Attack is lots of nice damage. Slan's biggest problem is health management, as he likes to stay lower than his opponent, but if you flirt too close with the edge you can find an unexpected attack slipping past and ending the game.
Your toughest match is likely to be Amanda. Her hand destruction can tear apart your offense, leaving her dodging attacks left and right while she slowly whittles your hand away. Follow Up and Master Attack are your friends here, but you'll have to get a little bit lucky to even have a chance to play them against her. Buckle down and prepare for a grueling match.
How To Defeat
Alertnesses are key in getting around his unavoidable attacks. The Katana's Two-Handed Stance plus a location of your own (to remove Sulphur Plant) can ruin Slan's day, leaving him bouncing wasted attacks off of your blocks trying to cycle his way to a trip or police.
Overall
Slan is a beast, make no mistake. He's also harder to play than he looks on the surface because of the health management issues. Definitely a fun guy if you like to sword fight, and what Highlander doesn't? I'd give him a 7.5. After the crystals migrate and give him more flexibility for Back Aways and Darius he'll jump higher.
Decks
Slan Deck
Russ's Slan
by James McMurray
You do not need to make an Exertion to make your attacks Power Blows.
5
2 8 8 2 5Overview
Slan Quince has been called the strongest of immortals, and his gems and persona power definitely reflect that. Although he only had a single episode, many people pick him as a favorite thanks to the charismatic performance of Richard Moll (aka Bull from Night Court).
First and foremost Slan is a swordfighter. His free power blows and lack of finesse cards practically ensures that. His gems focus on both strength and toughness, while leaving him destitute on agility and empathy.
Persona Specific Cards
Berserk
: A dangerous card to play, as losing one ability when you're already at five or less can be your death. However, it's also increibly powerful if you draw a few attacks that scatter around the grid. Hopefully by this point in the game your opponent is also already very weak and this may be the finishing blow. Dodges don't carry, so the only thing to be truly afraid of is a master block. One nine grid power block will cancel this card and leave you bleeding from the exertion.Ciao Baby!
Digging a location out of your discard pile can be useful, but I personally don't care for this card very much. Except in decks where the gems force it, I'd rather include another copy of the location than a Cia Baby! to retrieve one I've lost. The problem is that CB cannot be played until you've already played and lost a location. After you exhaust or before you've drawn a location it's a dead card.Evade: Back Away
: It's his only dodge, and his low agility means he won't have a lot of them (at least not until gem migration). Still, you'll want as many in your deck as you can get, partly because of all the hidden attacks you'll be seeing after power blows.Face Mask
Taking less damage is almost always a good thing (see Berserk and Follow Up for why you might want to take more damage). Face Mask's great selling point is its usefulness against the rapier and slashes. Any attack that covers a part of the upper grid will do one less damage. Attacks which would normally do one damge will do zero. Currently this means you are immune to a lot of the slashes and the rapier's slice. Follow Up
One of slan's most useful cards, the extra attack helps him play attacks even after blocking and if you're at low ability undodgability will at the very least force your opponent to exert for a power block, bring them closer to exhaustion.Master's Attack
: Definitely Slan's Shining Glory right now. His cards and style mean you should have a lot of strength cards in your deck, so the exertion should usually net at least two extra damage. Combining it with Run Through (see below) will mean it is both unblockable and undodgeable. Keep in mind that the attack must be successful, which means it must not be avoided by a special card or have a defense played against it. This means that if they manage to block but cannot power block, they will only take two points of power attack overflow damage.Over-Extended Attack
I personally don't like this card. It does let him attack after backing away, but pistols can do that. As a middle center attack that can't be a power blow, there will be a lot of times when its dodge discarding function will never come into play.Run Through
You've got to take damage to use Follow Up and Berserk, so you may as well get some benefit out of it. Run Through lets you take some damage and follow up with an unblockable attack. Against many personas (especially a Slan mirror match) that unblockability can be a beast. Combined with Master's Attack you get unblockability and undodgeability for that power blow.Shooting Blade
an old classic comes back unchanged. 4 point ranged attack is nothing to scoff at, and it gives him another trick in his arsenal for after he backs away.Taunt
A string of taunts can shut some personas (like Xavier) down quickly. Even against others it means their hand is clogged with specials they can't play that turn, slowing down their ability to run through their deck and reach the cards they need.The Cat
One of Slan's only non-combat cards, this can still be a great addition to any deck. Against people like Hugh and Duncan you can do some serious damage if you pull off two of these on one turn. In addition, Police are an card, and so Slan may find himself running short of them. The Cat can somewhat support that lack by giving some ally defense. Don't forget that even though it's best use might be to get rid of situation allies, you can still play it on any other kind of ally (like James Horton or Detective Bledsoe). Those allies would be leaving play anyway, but you may as well send them off with a little ability loss instead.The Gathering
: Currently there aren't a lot of ways to avoid attacks, and even Holy Ground has a built in damage mechanism. But as the game grows so too will the attack avoiders, and the Gathering shuts them all down.Trip
: Losing Defenses hurts, and losing dodges against a power blow fiend hurts even more. Trip is an excellent addition to the arsenal. Even if you're focusing on undodgeables with Follow Up instead of hand destruction with Trip, keeping a couple of these around to get rid of gaurds and other standing defenses (like Two-Handed Stance for the katana) is a good idea.Weapon of a Blacksmith
: Extra damage is great, although it remains to be seen what surprises the Great Sword will bring in set 2.Blotting Out the Sun
: Gaurds (especially combined with 0-card exertion power blocks) can be a major pain for Slan. This puppy helps him out majorly.Master's Strength
: With this and a mask you could negate damage from most upper attacks. Very nice!Overpower
: Knocking your for prone is nice, as is unblockability. I can see this quickly becoming a favorite to combo with Follow Up.Weapon of Choice
The Great Sword is Slan's chosen weapon, and he uses it like nobody's business. It gives him extra attacks to play after his backaway, helps him avoid hidden attacks, and brings the all important Weapon of the Blacksmith into play.
Generic Cards
Slan is one of the few immortals that might actually find himself wanting to holy ground when he isn't even attacked. The 2 ability loss can help set him up for a follow Up or Berserk, and the attack avoidance can save his head against the likes of Duncan and his Master Headshot.
Pistols work well for Slan as they let him continue the offense even when he is forced to dodge. They also get dodges out of your opponent's hand, forcing more blocks and more exertions.
Darius is currently not too useful to Slan because of his low empathy, but with rystal migration he'll get more
slots. Three Darius + three Amanda Seduce take all of your but gives three unblockable/undodgeable power blows in return. Coupled with the Master Attack combo that's five on each pass through your deck. With the need to take damage but not die, Quality Blade can be a savior, at least until the Great Sword makes his personal hilt useful.
Location
Sulphur Plant, Sulphur Plant, Sulphur Plant. With all the power blows and dodge removal you have, exertions will be happening frequently on your opponent's side of the table. If you can knock them prone they'll be forced to decide whether to power block against or go for the increased chance to stand of a hard exertion. It's also a great equalizer against Slan's bane: Katana Two-Handed Stance and its 0-card exertion power blocks. If they make a 0-card power block, there are automatically no
in the exertion, and they're automatically prone.How To Win
You have to keep up the assault. Get yourself slightly lower than your opponent and then throw Follow Up after Follow Up. Run Through and Master Attack is lots of nice damage. Slan's biggest problem is health management, as he likes to stay lower than his opponent, but if you flirt too close with the edge you can find an unexpected attack slipping past and ending the game.
Your toughest match is likely to be Amanda. Her hand destruction can tear apart your offense, leaving her dodging attacks left and right while she slowly whittles your hand away. Follow Up and Master Attack are your friends here, but you'll have to get a little bit lucky to even have a chance to play them against her. Buckle down and prepare for a grueling match.
How To Defeat
Alertnesses are key in getting around his unavoidable attacks. The Katana's Two-Handed Stance plus a location of your own (to remove Sulphur Plant) can ruin Slan's day, leaving him bouncing wasted attacks off of your blocks trying to cycle his way to a trip or police.
Overall
Slan is a beast, make no mistake. He's also harder to play than he looks on the surface because of the health management issues. Definitely a fun guy if you like to sword fight, and what Highlander doesn't? I'd give him a 7.5. After the crystals migrate and give him more flexibility for Back Aways and Darius he'll jump higher.
Decks
Slan Deck
Russ's Slan
