Arlinn Kord

Shadow-Mage

Topic locked. To discuss Arlin, head to the official thread: https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=56858 // Alve

So, yet another new Planeswalker has entered the scene. Arlinn Kord is a Werewolf Planeswalker who transforms herself into a wokf form with a set of abilities for itself. I have not leveled her fullyas I am a newer player trying to level all my current planeswalkers as it is but I have her unlocked up to level 19 so I can show the first level of her abilities.

First level of each ability:

Strength of the Wolf (Cost 6): Target creature you control gets +1/+1. Haste, Trample and Berserker until the end of your turn.

Call the Pack (Cost 9): Fetch the next Werewolf in your deck

Touch of the Moon (Cost 12): Each Werewolf you control gets +1/+1. Arlinn Kord Transforms


Her Transformed form is named Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon. Her first level abilities are as follows:

Moon's Embrace (Cost 3): Target werewolf transforms

Hunt with the Pack (Cost 12): Summon a 2/2 Werewolf token with Berserker and Trample

Lycanthropic Frenzy (Cost 18): Each Werewolf you control gets +4/+4. Arlinn Kord Transforms


This is the best I can provide. Somebody else will have to provide her fully unlocked skill set.

Hope this helps!

jimilinho_

Shadow-Mage wrote:

So, yet another new Planeswalker has entered the scene. Arlinn Kord is a Werewolf Planeswalker who transforms herself into a wokf form with a set of abilities for itself. I have not leveled her fullyas I am a newer player trying to level all my current planeswalkers as it is but I have her unlocked up to level 19 so I can show the first level of her abilities.

First level of each ability:

Strength of the Wolf (Cost 6): Target creature you control gets +1/+1. Haste, Trample and Berserker until the end of your turn.

Call the Pack (Cost 9): Fetch the next Werewolf in your deck

Touch of the Moon (Cost 12): Each Werewolf you control gets +1/+1. Arlinn Kord Transforms


Her Transformed form is named Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon. Her first level abilities are as follows:

Moon's Embrace (Cost 3): Target werewolf transforms

Hunt with the Pack (Cost 12): Summon a 2/2 Werewolf token with Berserker and Trample

Lycanthropic Frenzy (Cost 18): Each Werewolf you control gets +4/+4. Arlinn Kord Transforms


This is the best I can provide. Somebody else will have to provide her fully unlocked skill set.

Hope this helps!

Summoning tokens, Transforming, fetching werewolves... This thing is gonna have more bugs than my garden!

Mcjordan

Arlinn Kord at 60:

Health 114

Strength of Wolf (6): Target creature you control gets +4/+4, haste, trample, and berserker until end of turn
Call the Pack (9): Fetch next werewolf in your deck. It gains 9 mana (!!!! nerf inc)
Touch of the moon (12): Each werewolf you control gets +4/+4, and Arlinn Transforms

Transformed skills:
Moon's Embrace (3): target werewolf transforms and gains +3/+3
Hunt with the Pack (12): Summon 4 2/2 werewolves tokens with Berserker and Trample
Lycanthropic Frenzy (18): Each werewolf you control gets +10/+10. Arlinn Transforms

Her deck is 7 creatures, 5 supports, 5 spells

Mana is:


+3
+3

Corn_Noodles

I feel Arlinn is overpowered. I don't find her abilities overpowered but because of her potential card pool. R/G combines some of the most powerful cards in the game right now. I would feel better about her balance if her mana gains were lowered.

Shadow-Mage

Mcjordan wrote:

Arlinn Kord at 60:

Health 114

Strength of Wolf (6): Target creature you control gets +4/+4, haste, trample, and berserker until end of turn
Call the Pack (9): Fetch next werewolf in your deck. It gains 9 mana (!!!! nerf inc)
Touch of the moon (12): Each werewolf you control gets +4/+4, and Arlinn Transforms

Transformed skills:
Moon's Embrace (3): target werewolf transforms and gains +3/+3
Hunt with the Pack (12): Summon 4 2/2 werewolves tokens with Berserker and Trample
Lycanthropic Frenzy (18): Each werewolf you control gets +10/+10. Arlinn Transforms

Her deck is 7 creatures, 5 supports, 5 spells

Mana is:


+3
+3

Thank you for filling in the details. I appreciate it since I am still struggling to level up a number of planeswalkers I wasn't able to level her up all the way.

jimilinho_

Corn Noodles wrote:

I feel Arlinn is overpowered. I don't find her abilities overpowered but because of her potential card pool. R/G combines some of the most powerful cards in the game right now. I would feel better about her balance if her mana gains were lowered.

It's no surprise they've waited this long to release a second dual colour green walker, Greens ramp ability with any other colour is gonna be pretty insane.

Don't think she's anywhere near the level of Kiora yet, but feel all it would take is some kind of Hexproof mythic werewolf and who knows how good she could be

angelzpanik

She sounds good, and I was initially excited about a new planeswalker, but the cost is astronomical. $40? Can't bring myself to do it.

VKH

Hi there, as a supporter of the game and favoured girl pws, I jumped at the first chance and purchased Arlinn Kord! Here are my honest feedbacks after playing her today and reached Lv 60.

Likes:

- Only pw able to transform in the game thus far

- Acceptable abilities after transformation

- Have great red and green combo.

Dislikes:

- After playing Arlinn but only average hardly 1 transformation out of 10 pvp, it's hard not to be disappointed! Without able to easily getting to her transformed abilities, Arlinn is a less than adequate pw! Feeling $$$ and effort wasted big time buying and getting to Lv 60!

- Although only 12 lpts needed, very difficult to transform as it requires a werewolf creature in play to activate Touch of the Moon. Other good pws can easily set up creature/spell/support combos to prevent Arlinn to transform.

DrDooM

yeah i was gonna snap buy this but the $40 tag is just way overboard.

I can get a couple very decent games for that price. I have happily/stupidly sunk more than most into this game but this price is kinda insulting.

greenlantern81

VKH wrote:

Hi there, as a supporter of the game and favoured girl pws, I jumped at the first chance and purchased Arlinn Kord! Here are my honest feedbacks after playing her today and reached Lv 60.

Likes:

- Only pw able to transform in the game thus far

- Acceptable abilities after transformation

- Have great red and green combo.

Dislikes:

- After playing Arlinn but only average hardly 1 transformation out of 10 pvp, it's hard not to be disappointed! Without able to easily getting to her transformed abilities, Arlinn is a less than adequate pw! Feeling $$$ and effort wasted big time buying and getting to Lv 60!

- Although only 12 lpts needed, very difficult to transform as it requires a werewolf creature in play to activate Touch of the Moon. Other good pws can easily set up creature/spell/support combos to prevent Arlinn to transform.

After a bunch of playtesting with her I agree. She's okay but I really feel her abilities should play off of wolves AND werewolves. It'd give her more deck options and she'd greatly benefit from that as there are really good wolf cards that would be great in her deck.

Zubiti

DrDooM wrote:

yeah i was gonna snap buy this but the $40 tag is just way overboard.

I can get a couple very decent games for that price. I have happily/stupidly sunk more than most into this game but this price is kinda insulting.

I had to jump on Jace2 for $15, that was quite fair in my opinion. $40 is just too much

Rogan_Josh

Putting price aside I think she's very balanced, roughly on par with Kiora. The RG combo isn't as bad as some other potential combinations and it's going to be fun seeing what people can do with her.

shame she was released so close to the god-king Jace 2.0. it's not fair to be overshadowed by such a mighty being.

aesith

$40? Im in Canada and mine says $51.99.

Come on now......prices seem insane

Demsu

650 crystals for Arlinn ? That is very steep.
With that price you should be able to have atleast few rares with the deck.

Steeme

I've been using Arlinn during the Emrakul event.

I have to say, if you get your hands on the current exclusive Ulrich of the Krallenhorde and combine with Geier Reach Bandit.. it's a combo that I would put in the same ballpark as Olivia + anything else. (Except the Olivia + Akoum combo because that's just off the charts)

I find Arlinn's first two abilities are absolutely golden.

I only have her to level 57, so my Call the Pack only fills 6 mana into the fetched werewolf, but it basically removes all the luck out of card draw. If you don't have any wolves in play, save the loyalty to pull one out. Or if you're looking to combo two werewolves, it gives impeccable timing that cannot be replicated simply by card draw.

The first ability to give +4/+4 haste, trample, and berserker is a magnificent cantrip that the AI cannot prepare for. It serves as a removal that can also breach hexproof, which is incredibly useful.

Skidoo

greenlantern81 wrote:

After a bunch of playtesting with her I agree. She's okay but I really feel her abilities should play off of wolves AND werewolves. It'd give her more deck options and she'd greatly benefit from that as there are really good wolf cards that would be great in her deck.

I absolutely agree that Kord's transformation ability should also trigger on Wolves, not just Werewolves, like other similar abilities that include both creature types. There aren't a ton of Wolf creatures, but there are a couple good ones.

For instance Silverfur Partisan - it's a rare Wolf Warrior creature whose +4/+4 ability triggers on either/both Wolf and Werewolf creatures. Silverfur is a perfect fit for a Kord deck, if only Kord's transformation worked on it.

Ap00calypse

Corn Noodles wrote:

I feel Arlinn is overpowered. I don't find her abilities overpowered but because of her potential card pool. R/G combines some of the most powerful cards in the game right now. I would feel better about her balance if her mana gains were lowered.

Here's how a typical match with Arlinn goes. Good opening with Breakneck Rider, Altered Ego and Joraga Invocation, favourable gems. 1st turn, Breakneck gets on the board. AI cascades and casts Suppression Bonds. Luckily, I kill it the next turn and cast Altered Ego. AI cascades again, casts Moorland Drifter and Murder Investigation. I draw Sage of the Ancient Lore, kill the Drifter. AI acquires the token, cascades again, casts Smite the Monstrous, kills Breakneck. I pull Animist's Awakening (success), cast it. AI puts it on the board lined up with the only 2 green gems. Sure as hell it gets killed the moment I pass the turn. Ok, let's try Sylvan Scrying. The end result ? Nothing except 5 gems perfectly lined up for a combo, which the AI gladly uses. From then on, the suffering continues as the AI keeps cascading, casting cheap creatures and alternating between getting me blasted with Smite and Humble the Brute. End result - predictable.

This is how 75% of the matches go these days. I don't know whether it's some flaw in the code or something else, but I refuse to believe that it's 'just RNG'.

Skidoo

Ap00calypse wrote:

Here's how a typical match with Arlinn goes. Good opening with Breakneck Rider, Altered Ego and Joraga Invocation, favourable gems. 1st turn, Breakneck gets on the board. AI cascades and casts Suppression Bonds. Luckily, I kill it the next turn and cast Altered Ego. AI cascades again, casts Moorland Drifter and Murder Investigation. I draw Sage of the Ancient Lore, kill the Drifter. AI acquires the token, cascades again, casts Smite the Monstrous, kills Breakneck. I pull Animist's Awakening (success), cast it. AI puts it on the board lined up with the only 2 green gems. Sure as hell it gets killed the moment I pass the turn. Ok, let's try Sylvan Scrying. The end result ? Nothing except 5 gems perfectly lined up for a combo, which the AI gladly uses. From then on, the suffering continues as the AI keeps cascading, casting cheap creatures and alternating between getting me blasted with Smite and Humble the Brute. End result - predictable.

This is how 75% of the matches go these days. I don't know whether it's some flaw in the code or something else, but I refuse to believe that it's 'just RNG'.

I do not claim to be a pro, but maybe you can tweak your deck a bit. You didn't post a complete deck list, so I identified the 6 you mention in your example.

For starters, cascades are painful for decks that rely on Supports.

So let's start w your Mana Ramp. Animist's Awakening and Sylvan Scrying are good, but your example pointed out their biggest drawbacks - sometimes they don't generate mana for you, or worse, they can even generate mana for your opponent instead. This is less of a problem if you use the common Nissa's Pilgrimage or rare Graf Stone because they convert colored gems at the beginning of your turn rather than as the card is played (Animist's Awakening) or delayed a turn so it could be matched (Sylvan Scrying).

I'd suggest switching your ramp cards to those listed above or, better yet, forego color-conversion altogether. If you have these rares, Shrine of the Forsaken Gods or Drownyard Temple, they both give you 3 mana every turn without relying on color conversions or matches. The downside is they never have the chance to trigger a cascade, they just reliably produce 3 mana per turn. But that's a small price for dependable mana every turn.

On a related note, if you love your own cascades and don't plan to use many Supports, I'd suggest the rare Sword of the Animist support. It regularly generates cascades in your favor.

Regarding your Spells, the two you list are a little pricey, which slows down your deck, especially if your mana ramp is fizzling. And Joraga's effect is only temporary. Consider using the uncommon support, Neglected Heirloom. It's cheap and gives a permanent +2/+2 every time a creature transforms. Every time, both directions. Creatures like the Sage and Village Messenger transform back and forth several times during a game, and they could be growing by an additional +2/+2 every time.

I love Sage of the Ancient Lore. He's so great they had to nerf him. But you might want to reconsider Breakneck Rider for the simple reason that in his transformed state he and every other creature you have in play gets Berserker every turn. Do you really want Berserker on every creature every turn? If your Sage just came out, he's probably only 2/2 or 3/3 and is very likely to die if he Berserks, which completely negates the Sage's massive growth potential.

And consider adding the rare support, Tamiyo's Journal, to further speed the Sage's growth and to draw an extra card every turn.

Instead of the Breakneck berserker, I prefer the uncommon Village Messenger or Gastaf Arsonists because they're cheap and, like the Sage, they transform many times during the game so they grow from the Heirloom. I like the new Eldritch Moon uncommon, Kessig Prowler, also because it's cheap.

I'm no pro, but I do wonder if you're complaint about frequent cascades by your opponent could have to do with your card choice. Best luck.

Ap00calypse

Skidoo wrote:

Ap00calypse wrote:

Here's how a typical match with Arlinn goes. Good opening with Breakneck Rider, Altered Ego and Joraga Invocation, favourable gems. 1st turn, Breakneck gets on the board. AI cascades and casts Suppression Bonds. Luckily, I kill it the next turn and cast Altered Ego. AI cascades again, casts Moorland Drifter and Murder Investigation. I draw Sage of the Ancient Lore, kill the Drifter. AI acquires the token, cascades again, casts Smite the Monstrous, kills Breakneck. I pull Animist's Awakening (success), cast it. AI puts it on the board lined up with the only 2 green gems. Sure as hell it gets killed the moment I pass the turn. Ok, let's try Sylvan Scrying. The end result ? Nothing except 5 gems perfectly lined up for a combo, which the AI gladly uses. From then on, the suffering continues as the AI keeps cascading, casting cheap creatures and alternating between getting me blasted with Smite and Humble the Brute. End result - predictable.

This is how 75% of the matches go these days. I don't know whether it's some flaw in the code or something else, but I refuse to believe that it's 'just RNG'.

I do not claim to be a pro, but maybe you can tweak your deck a bit. You didn't post a complete deck list, so I identified the 6 you mention in your example.

For starters, cascades are painful for decks that rely on Supports.

So let's start w your Mana Ramp. Animist's Awakening and Sylvan Scrying are good, but your example pointed out their biggest drawbacks - sometimes they don't generate mana for you, or worse, they can even generate mana for your opponent instead. This is less of a problem if you use the common Nissa's Pilgrimage or rare Graf Stone because they convert colored gems at the beginning of your turn rather than as the card is played (Animist's Awakening) or delayed a turn so it could be matched (Sylvan Scrying).

I'd suggest switching your ramp cards to those listed above or, better yet, forego color-conversion altogether. If you have these rares, Shrine of the Forsaken Gods or Drownyard Temple, they both give you 3 mana every turn without relying on color conversions or matches. The downside is they never have the chance to trigger a cascade, they just reliably produce 3 mana per turn. But that's a small price for dependable mana every turn.

On a related note, if you love your own cascades and don't plan to use many Supports, I'd suggest the rare Sword of the Animist support. It regularly generates cascades in your favor.

Regarding your Spells, the two you list are a little pricey, which slows down your deck, especially if your mana ramp is fizzling. And Joraga's effect is only temporary. Consider using the uncommon support, Neglected Heirloom. It's cheap and gives a permanent +2/+2 every time a creature transforms. Every time, both directions. Creatures like the Sage and Village Messenger transform back and forth several times during a game, and they could be growing by an additional +2/+2 every time.

I love Sage of the Ancient Lore. He's so great they had to nerf him. But you might want to reconsider Breakneck Rider for the simple reason that in his transformed state he and every other creature you have in play gets Berserker every turn. Do you really want Berserker on every creature every turn? If your Sage just came out, he's probably only 2/2 or 3/3 and is very likely to die if he Berserks, which completely negates the Sage's massive growth potential.

And consider adding the rare support, Tamiyo's Journal, to further speed the Sage's growth and to draw an extra card every turn.

Instead of the Breakneck berserker, I prefer the uncommon Village Messenger or Gastaf Arsonists because they're cheap and, like the Sage, they transform many times during the game so they grow from the Heirloom. I like the new Eldritch Moon uncommon, Kessig Prowler, also because it's cheap.

I'm no pro, but I do wonder if you're complaint about frequent cascades by your opponent could have to do with your card choice. Best luck.

You didn't really understand what I was saying. My point is that the AI doesn't give you a chance to get anything on board. The moment you think that the tide turns, the 'RNG' either sets you up with lousy trigger gems (as is the case with Animist's Awakening and Sylvan Scrying) or a messed up deck. And since it happens suspiciously too often, I tend to believe that it's a code flaw. Last time I've seen this level of **** was back before the Chandra nerf.

span_argoman

Ap00calypse wrote:

You didn't really understand what I was saying. My point is that the AI doesn't give you a chance to get anything on board. The moment you think that the tide turns, the 'RNG' either sets you up with lousy trigger gems (as is the case with Animist's Awakening and Sylvan Scrying) or a messed up deck. And since it happens suspiciously too often, I tend to believe that it's a code flaw. Last time I've seen this level of **** was back before the Chandra nerf.

I believe he understood your post just fine. His advice definitely would have helped reduce "those crazy cascades".

Nissa's Pilgrimage, Corrupted Grafstone and Fertile Thicket (the start of turn part) convert gems before you make your match, which make them much better than Sylvan Scrying and Animist's Awakening, which convert gems after you make your match, in reducing the crazy cascades your opponent can get. Likewise Sword of the Animist can give you free matches/cascades but it can also help set your opponent up for a cascade. If you want to face these issues less frequently, stop using it.

Regardless whether there really is a glitch in the code, you have the tools to minimise the occurrences of those "glitches" and Skidoo has pointed them out to you. If you choose to play with the same configuration and expect a different outcome, I think you can expect to be disappointed. We know that the developers take quite a while to fix bugs which they are focusing on. Whether there is a bug in the gem generation and whether they working on doing anything about it is unknown so you might as well start tailoring your deck and behaviour towards mitigating the bad effects to get a better experience.

The rest of his post was also pretty good advice, though I disagree with using Gastaf Arsonists cause I think it's a bad card regardless. Ignore it at your own loss.

Also from the scenario you described, the Animist Awakening gem line up was your fault. AA's gem will always be put on a Green gem as long as there is a Green gem on the board. If you can see that there will be only one Green match and no other Green gems on the board, you can be 100% sure the AA gem will be one of those three gems.

Ap00calypse

span_argoman wrote:

I believe he understood your post just fine. His advice definitely would have helped reduce "those crazy cascades".

Nissa's Pilgrimage, Corrupted Grafstone and Fertile Thicket (the start of turn part) convert gems before you make your match, which make them much better than Sylvan Scrying and Animist's Awakening, which convert gems after you make your match, in reducing the crazy cascades your opponent can get. Likewise Sword of the Animist can give you free matches/cascades but it can also help set your opponent up for a cascade. If you want to face these issues less frequently, stop using it.

Regardless whether there really is a glitch in the code, you have the tools to minimise the occurrences of those "glitches" and Skidoo has pointed them out to you. If you choose to play with the same configuration and expect a different outcome, I think you can expect to be disappointed. We know that the developers take quite a while to fix bugs which they are focusing on. Whether there is a bug in the gem generation and whether they working on doing anything about it is unknown so you might as well start tailoring your deck and behaviour towards mitigating the bad effects to get a better experience.

The rest of his post was also pretty good advice, though I disagree with using Gastaf Arsonists cause I think it's a bad card regardless. Ignore it at your own loss.

Also from the scenario you described, the Animist Awakening gem line up was your fault. AA's gem will always be put on a Green gem as long as there is a Green gem on the board. If you can see that there will be only one Green match and no other Green gems on the board, you can be 100% sure the AA gem will be one of those three gems.

I thought about ignoring your patronizing post, but decided to respond, even though I'll probably regret doing so. Not mentioning it specifically notwithstanding, I actually took the time reading Skidoo's post and revising the deck, and it is a good advice for someone who's looking for it. Regardless, it ultimately isn't about the deck but is about the ability of the AI to ramp up mana multitude of times faster than the player, with no consideration of the deck it is using. "+3 mana at the beginning of the turn" supports are good as long as you manage to get them on the board and keep them there. And please, there's no need to tell me how hard the devs are working on fixing the bugs - I've been playing the game since it hit Google Store (that is, more or less 2 years, innit ?) and can offer you a broad 1st hand experience with various bugs and glitches that plagued (and keep doing so) it since day one. There's a thread next door, maybe you could tell the rest of the people there what they've been doing wrong.