UPDATED 4/8/2023 Earth Tower Meta Predictions: 2 Cost Beasties
Yesterday’s post focused on 1 Cost Beasties, which was a relatively short list when compared to other Aura types. Below is a summary of 2 cost Earth Beasties, with brief thoughts on what will have the most impact on the Earth Tower meta.
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Upcoming Native Beasties
Loowit has an absurd amount of LP with 3x Terra bonuses, for a total of 205 LP. Its ARENA effect is quite powerful, in that it states 1 cost Earth and Flame Beasties cannot be targeted by attacks. In the Earth Tower format, this would give this advantage to your opponent as well, meaning it is definitely a double edged sword for this event. But in a Spellbook with Boulder Bash, you could still take out your opponent’s Teihiihan while using Loowit to keep yours alive. Its Power also allows you to Index until you find an Earth or Flame Artifact, which if you have a way to shuffle after, could be very useful to pull out a Giant’s Blood or other Artifact
Jogah, Drum Dancers has no terra bonuses, which puts it at a serious disadvantage in terms of playability at the Earth Tower. However, its Power, if ruled to be legal in tournament settings, could save you from losing a game by recovering as much as 360 LP depending on a die roll. I see this Beastie putting in a lot of work in an open format. Lightning is a go to choice for many Casters in open format tournaments, and this Beastie can deal 90 damage to a Lightning page since its attack effect is dealing 10 damage three times, and type advantage would apply to each instance of 10 damage.
In the Earth Tower format, Mannegishi does not deal enough damage or have enough LP to be considered as an attacker or defender. However, its Power, which deals 50 damage to an artifact, could come in handy to take out your opponent’s aurafacts.
I may not have things exactly right given the image quality, but this Spirit/Earth Beastie has 65 LP and deals 90 attack damage in Earth Tower format. It also has a Power that lets you return an Earth or Spirit spell to your Chapter in exchange for destroying itself. I believe it says 1 cost spell, but cannot say for certain. Its attack effect also appears to allow you to give one of your Beasties an attack boost for a turn, and it looks to be +50. I will update this when a better photo is available.
This two cost Beastie has 135 LP in the Earth Tower format, and it can swallow up a Teihiihan to gain +10/+10. It would need to use its Power multiple times before it could start attacking anything, and the 135 LP does not keep it out of range of many attackers in the format, so this would be a marginal inclusion for Earth Tower. Forest Tower is another story, however.
Beasties Currently in Print
Tuttle Bottoms Monster has a few key elements that work in its favour: traits, damage, neutral cost and paralysis. It can burrow to avoid Teihiihan’s wrath, and cannot be blocked by defenders. It deals 80 damage, which is enough to destroy most low cost beasties in this format. It has a one Earth, one Neutral aura cost, meaning it can be contracted efficiently with Petrified Wood or Glistening Beach Rock. And, if it is targeting Beasties with more than 80 LP, it still has the chance to paralyze and slow down your opponent.
Peninsula Python is a Teihiihan killer. For two Earth Aura, you have a Beastie with 50 damage and First Strike against Beasties with an aura cost of 1, aka Teihiihan. Leave it up as a defender and prevent 145 damage from your opponent, simple as that. 60 LP also keeps it out of range of Boulder Bash, and paralyze allows it to threaten higher LP beasties, albeit with a coin flip.
In the Earth Tower Format, Giraffe Possum has 100 LP and deals 75 damage with its attack. While it has the Trap trait, 100 LP is not enough to viably use this page as a trap. With Teihiihan hitting for 145, if Giraffe Possum was placed under a Teihiihan and flipped in combat, both the defending possum and the original Teihiihan target would be destroyed by the opposing Teihiihan. Tribal Boost would alter this, but I just don’t see Tribal Boost offering enough of a boost since Earth Fearsome Critters cost a minimum of 2 aura.
Compared to other options, such as Tuttle Bottoms Monster, Crocodingo just simply doesn’t do enough damage or have enough LP to be a likely meta contender at the Earth Tower.
Cement Worm has a lot working for it in general, but even more so when factoring in the Earth Tower Format rules. The combination of Stoneskin and Burrow mean it does not take damage from an Earthquake, plus the Ground LP bonus means it can still survive an Earthquake even if Stoneskin is removed or nullified. It can remove Stoneskin from an opponent’s Beastie, such as an opposing Cement Worm or a Slide Rock Bolter. And its attack effect allows you to slow down your opponent by preventing one of their aura from awakening for a turn (or longer if you can continually target the Caster with Cement Worm’s attack).
Tommyknocker has a lot working for it, and a few things working against it. It has the evasive Spirit trait, deals 100 damage and has 80 LP in the Tower format. This page also has a useful Power that lets the owner detach an Equipment page in the Arena and re-attach it to another page. This will come in handy if your opponent is playing Armadillo Man since it becomes an equipment when destroyed. However, keep in mind that Powerup Red is not an Equipment page and is unaffected by this Power! The dual Earth/Spirit cost will make this harder to get in to the Arena, and as such is more of an Archive option in my opinion.
Gowrow has a unique 4th Wall Effect that lets you place it back in the Arena when destroyed. However, its damage output is not enough to take the place of other options.
Cactus Cat outputs more damage than any other 2 cost Earth Beastie within the Tower format at 210 base damage, and can add to that with Tribal Boost. Stoneskin protects it from Boulder Bash or Rock Rain, but its low LP means it will be destroyed by most meta relevant Beasties’ attacks.
Stone-Eating Gyascutas does not output much damage on its own, but its Power does allow it to use the attack of a Beastie from your LImbo, albeit with a one turn delay. Its 50 LP and Burrow trait leaves it vulnerable to a single Earthquake, which is not ideal. But Burrow in combination with Convert could come in handy if you are not bookmarking enough aura.
Rocky Mountain Barking Spider is one of few Earth Beasties currently with the Fleet trait. While it is frail at 30 LP, the 70 damage plus 2 poison with Fleet could come in clutch in late game scenarios where you just an extra attack or two to defeat your opponent. Dual aura, as with Tommyknocker, will require careful Spellbook construction to ensure it can be contracted consistently in your matches.
San Pedro’s Power could come in handy as it would allow you to pull aura out of your Spellbook or just get pages you don’t need to the bottom. Stoneskin is a plus, but it suffers from low LP.