UPDATED Frosthaven Blinkblade full review

[@Daily_lotr_meme_shorts]

Love this one MQ!! Congratulations on finishing the series. We love your content so much!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awww shucks

[@JRBissett]

Found your channel as my friends and I have recently started our own Gloomhaven campaign and retired our first set of characters. I think I've watched over 10 hours of videos in the last day and a half - Getting hyped for Frosthaven, thanks for the amazing content!

[@MandatoryQuest]

That’s awesome man thanks for the nice comment, and I’m happy your and your friends are enjoying Gloomhaven.

[@casimirlawnicki8990]

What did you guys end up playing for your first set of characters?

[@blubblubwhat]

have fun on your journey it will be an amazing one. we had no clue what would await us and how addicted we would get. when we sit down, we play the hole day.

[@MandatoryQuest]

So with this being the last of the starting characters I've covered who are you now planning on playing? Become a Patron for early access to videos - www.patreon.com/mandatoryquest Grab some sweet merch - www.mandatoryquest.com

[@miav7817]

Me and a friend are going to be running two each, Bannerspear and Boneshaper for me, Deathwalker and Blinkblade for my friend. Can't wait for it to arrive!

[@mineraldo]

Blinkblade for sure

[@jfseguin4005]

He was the character that interested me the most out of the starting 6 when the class where first show a year ago. But I liked the first version better. The new one has better slow action, which is good for balance, but I don't like the way he manage his time counters. Now it's on a lost, drive recharge, and on a clunky 7 card. It think it could be fine tuned. I really prefered the older Drive recharge. And so many persistent lost that seem mandatory offset its shortcoming.. don't know I aslo think its initiative are really bad in general. It's fast initative should be faster, and slow, be slower, especially for a Time manipulator type of character Also, after analysing the new starting 6, theres a lot of mandatory first turn in which the caracter does nothing . See the Drifter, Deathwalker, now the blinkblade with Overdrive, imagine with a Boneshaper in your team that use his first turn to summon. He still one of my first choice, either he or the Boneshaper ( since we gonna have a Bannerspear)

[@mineraldo]

First version Blinkblade was a bit overpowered, on my point of view. I'd not say Overdrive is mandatory a first turn card though

[@georgestromberg9295]

I play 4-handed solo Itl for sure be Boneshaper Drifter Bannerspear But 4th is undecided

[@keineangabe8993]

15:07. The reason why it is designed this way is probably the card you showed before that, which allows you to ignore the -2 move ;-)

[@scottcarmichael3972]

Another well done character review. Thanks! In talking about elements created you missed mentioning the wind on Twin Strike (level 1 card).

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks glad you liked it! I actually cut that section a bit because I went off on a bit of a tangent again about the character having no elemental affinity's. I'm still not entirely sure why there are none because this character could be the perfect buddy for a character like the geminate with its generation but little consumption.

[@bobspalding2477]

You’re one of the few start to finish great sources of high quality gloomhaven info.

[@Alex_Martin_]

Just retired Blink Blade at level 9 and they're a real contender for my favorite class across all of GH JotL or FH. So much fun.

[@toeletsgo69]

I like that the bottom of sand in the hourglass says top or bottom. It would be kind of a waste if you used it to play another bottom action

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah 99% of the time its going to be two tops unless maybe the board state changes and you now need to run away :p

[@05weasel]

Anyone know if we’re going to be getting a Frosthaven digital at any point?

[@rigdigwus]

just got my copy and pretty sure i’m starting with blinkblade. he sounds so fun! but skeleton army with corpse explosion also is quite cool 😄

[@tbone9474]

I want to watch all the frosthaven vids but I am only on digital gloomhaven:) I hope they make digital frosthaven eventually

[@MandatoryQuest]

Fingers crossed they do!

[@adowens0004]

So the top of quantum uncertainty (fast) is not about trying to draw the null to turn it into a 2x, it is about guaranteeing you do damage.

[@neiderhauser77]

I've thoroughly enjoyed this series altogether. This is my 2nd time watching through the entire mercenary reviews for Frosthaven as I gear up for a Gloomhaven Digital Campaign. Incredible commentary, despite an inclined bias towards damage, damage, damage haha. Great coverage of the Kickstarter updates as well - your efforts toward this game are remarkable, thanks MQ. Do you think is the FINAL version of these cards, or do you suspect some tweaks & tinkering before they sent them off to print? I read Isaac's KS update but not sure if you knew more.

[@MandatoryQuest]

That's awesome thanks for watching! I'm just a big fan of the game, I backed the game just like everyone else. I rarely get any extra insight, but to be honest I kinda prefer it that way as I can just report on things as they happen and how I feel about them. You're right about my damage preferences, and from the little things I have heard heal is going to be much more important in FH over GH.

[@neiderhauser77]

@@MandatoryQuest I imagine with different scenario goals from the typical "Kill All Enemies" backs up that theory of support builds or other situational cards you may not usually play. Call me intrigued. And I failed to back the game on KS, so that's gonna cost me in the end. Trying to stay vigilant on trades or people who backed who simply can't play it.

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@neiderhauser77 you might get lucky finding a FLGS who backed and has some extra copies maybe?

[@bigstupidgrin]

I am hyped to play Blinkblade

[@Mechalibur]

I'm not sure you're correct on how strengthen/muddle works with Uncertainty Principle. I believe the null/crit gets converted before the better card is selected. That's how it works with Iron Helmet anyway - for example if a monster with strengthen draws a x2 and a +1 against a character with iron helmet, the +1 will be chosen (that's how it works in digital, at least). So if you have strengthen and draw a x0 and a +1 while fast with Uncertainty Principle, you get the crit on that attack.

[@jfseguin4005]

I think potential energy is a card you add to your hand with the intent to play it when you're slow. At 2 time token, its a move 4 or a attack 4 and 1 xp. Up to level 4, it's the highest non-lost move or attack you got without any drawbacks. And it it's the only attack you get 1 xp on when your slow. I also think it will be important to plan your levels and your hand according to the fact that you're going to be slow roughly half the time. And the card we choose should reflect that, and not pick only the one that are good when you're fast.

[@thehussiteking]

I was quite skeptical of who to play as initially, but wow it's definitely Blinkblade. He looks so fun. I'd still prefer if we had one or two simpler starting classes for new players. Closest thing we have is Drifter and maybe Banner, but both are still way more complex than the Brute or Scoundrel.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah Drifter is quite clearly the easiest then its close between Bannerspear and Boneshaper I think. Deathwalker and Blinkblade are quite similar IMO too considering they both have their own token games going on.

[@ATXnomad698]

Honestly I just played my first ever game tonight and Blinkblade was still super fun. Fast/Slow seems complex but ironically it ended up really helping me learn the game. If I'm Fast then it's big damage or utility time, and if I'm Slow then it's chill and hide time. Plus, having the combo of Drive Recharge top and Hit & Run bottom to set up Time and an XP farm/movement bonus made it easier to know how to approach early setup.

[@amansparekh]

Drive recharge top only gives you one extra turn of fast since slow vs fast is a two time swing

[@mineraldo]

Reverse the flow, then recover borrowed time to steal movement to your allies and attack bonus points if you get double time

[@MandatoryQuest]

Good way to end your Frosthaven campaign early 😂

[@mineraldo]

Loved the video, btw!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks buddy appreciate ya

[@tomthowe4178]

To your point about the confusion describing whether you’re going fast or slow (“Wait, do you mean your blink blade class feature, or your general initiative?”), I think I’m going to start referring to the blink blade class feature as set on “high gear” or “low gear.” Hopefully, that will help dispel confusion with table talk.

[@tomthowe4178]

Or another option, if you tend to roleplay during these games - using different voices when describing your actions.

[@blubblubwhat]

ill say i have green light or im on orang light.. which corresponds to the colors on the cards so i dont confuse them and my playbuddys will understand since is a traffic light analogy;)

[@Flamingcloud083]

I wonder how many scenarios you can break by taking 2 move from all of your allies and gaining double that.. Move 20-30 becoming very easy. So many sick cards.. It has many multi and bottom attacks.. So you would think it is weak against shield.. but it has multiple ways to deal true damage or wound to go through shield. Then at level 7.. add pierce 3 to all your attacks.. My favorite I think..

[@gametopus]

Please correct me if I am wrong, the drive recharge ability by declare slow you gain 1 time token, and this card give you 2 extra. So it should be potentially 3 fast turn enable. Based on my experience after trying this character in gloomhaven scenario I think it is pretty last room card where you try to burn thru yourself and take down the nasty enemy to enabling for your party member

[@justinmaynard8305]

Just wondering with the bottom of double time does it says trigger fast effects twice. Does that mean it trigger the xp twice since it part of the fast effects?

[@MKro1984]

Nice review! I have a short question concerning Drive recharge: why are the colors different on self? Our interpretation is that the heal on the bottom applies only when one is slow, while the ward and bless only applies when fast. Other texts like the range, number of targets, etc. are all in blue shading... Thanks in advance

[@MandatoryQuest]

So on my physical copy I have now the 'self' is just in the regular blue background. I guess either the card was changed in the last year, or that was an error on the card I showed. The regenerate is in the slow yellow/orange box though, so if you are not slow you still get the heal but not regenerate. Hope that helps :)

[@jerryharris876]

3:57. Nope... 5 in complexity is the hardest it gets. 4:39. There is A LOT you can do with that melee & mobility. In the matter of one turn, going fast, I was able to move over 15 hexes & make 4 melee attacks. 4:58. A blinkblade in a 2 person party works because of the mobility and the initiative manipulation. It is better in a 3 person party, but still works relatively well in one that has 2. 6:53. The blinkblade will later be able to go at 02 initiative, which is the fastest in all of FH. 13:57. The main tactic for this character is to go slow one round, then almost always go fast the next round. 16:19. It is because even though the Blinkblade may produce some elements here and there, they NEVER can use them by their cards alone. 16:54. The designers designated Elemental Affinity as their use and not just their production. 20:28. I usually go slow 1st round to set my character up using two level 1 persistents & then usually go fast rounds 2 & 3. 20:39 is one of the persistents I use & 28:58 is the other one; 30:00 it is DEFINITELY worth the burn (see my comment for 4:39). 34:20. Good God this card is awesome, especially when you pair it with the persistents. 36:24. This is a card that I almost never use in the scenarios. 37:48. That card will not scale up, but it is still a great card... direct damage & turn self invisible is strong. 45:18. Even though ignoring the slow effects is great, the additional move 3 after doing a melee attack while fast is AMAZING & much better than this card in my opinion. However, I do bring this card in most scenarios due to the 02 initiative. 47:08. These are cards from one of the starting classes, therefore nothing is considered spoilers. 1:15:30. Again, there is NO "miss" in this game (just like in GH or JOTL)... It is NULL. 1:25:10. I would treat this as a summon, except it uses the monster ability deck & my attack modifier deck. I haven't reached level 9 yet for this character & haven't checked the FAQ about it either.

[@kevinbrown2438]

also really disappointing to see that certain crucial mistakes made in gloomhaven's design will persist in frosthaven heal burn is always awful. it doesn't matter how good the heal is; burning a card for a heal completely defeats the purpose of the regained hp due to the nature of exhaustion every single action in the game that is heal + burn is just a beginner trap, end of story it wouldn't matter if the action was 'heal x for you and every ally, where x is their maximum hp' - burn heals are unplayable

[@MandatoryQuest]

Well yes and no, if you are at 1 HP and would have to burn a card to damage and in theory you could burn a card to heal up to prevent burning 2/3 cards to damage you could argue that’s worth it. A good player would never get themselves into that situation though, and I might be able to count on a single hand how many times I’ve used one in the thousands of hours I’ve now played. It also depends on the availability of other heals through items or non burn actions. One of the reasons why burn heals in GH were so bad was because you had so many better value options instead. The balance may be different in FH. I agree that in 99% of cases they are awful, but they have a place in the game even if it is to just rescue beginner mistakes or deal with very niche situations. Not every card can be an attack or move otherwise the game would be boring for those who like to support, and if there’s big attack burns it makes sense that there would be big heal burns. Healing might just be one of those things that can never be balanced very well because of the exhaustion mechanic. Players have stamina and enemies don’t so delaying can only be useful to a point. Its a lose lose situation with burn heals unfortunately on that front.

[@jrock-hk7rm]

How often can you use fast over slow? And what is the time ability on the character card?

[@ndpassey]

Great, comprehensive review. What does the ward ability do again?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Glad you liked it! Ward halves the next instance of damage you receive then you remove the token.

[@mineraldo]

Actually, strenghten has been buffed, as you may now choose the card if it is ambiguous

[@MandatoryQuest]

When I say nerfed I mean it’s presence has been nerfed (made more rare) It’s unlikely all characters will get it with such as ease as before so snap it up when you can I think!

[@mineraldo]

What I understood was that invisible had been nerfed and strenghten remained the same (I may have hear wrong), but strenghten has been buffed, both regarding ambiguity and rolling mods. That, and the fact that it is much less present, I also think its value will increase drastically

[@kikukusanagi]

Has the official release date been set yet for Frosthaven? The Upkeep Games website has it listed for March 04, 2022. That's less than a month away. But I don't know whether that's the official target date.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Probably Q4 this year for most people

[@sphyre1196]

Drifter or Boneshaper for me. I am not a huge fan of overly complex characters just for the sake of it. If I get hit by analyzation paralysis I am not having a good time.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Very fair comments. I think the Blinkblade walks that line pretty well for me whereas Geminate went a little too far.

[@sphyre1196]

@@MandatoryQuest As a tabletop player it's extra annoying when you are making others wait because you are trying to figure out how to approach an upcoming turn. This character I can forsee struggling immensely with late initiative turn where your plans get completely ruined by faster chars because let's face it not even his fast moves are particularly fast compared to sth like a scoundrel or mindthief.

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@sphyre1196Possibly but also once you get that play order sequence down I think it will be similar to most of the combo heavy characters from GH like Eclipse, Triangles etc. A few play testers have commented that often you are forced into a slow turn which limits the AP somewhat. The danger with this class though is that you might be forced into taking a slow turn in a bad spot, which may lead to do nothing (or very little) type turns. Experienced players should be able to plan for that I think, but yeah could be a bit frustrating and get the brain melting a bit especially early on at low levels.

[@joshlevins]

@@MandatoryQuest Personally I think its quite the opposite. I've found blinkblade much more daunting to play compared to geminate which I found surprisingly very easy to play, Essentially I found blinkblade harder to play than it looks, whereas geminate much easier to play than it looks.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Hmmm that’s interesting perhaps it’s just the way some people’s brain works! I will say though that I think the Blinkblade power level feels more worthy of the work it asks you to put in. The Geminate looks a bit underwhelming even when piloted well for a complicated class.

[@sandys6553]

I'm not a fan of the new card design. It is also confusing for melee and ranged attacks or melee attacks at range. For example, Kinetic Transfer, top half, slow ability. +1 range. Is this a melee attack, ranged attack, or melee attack at range? Will going slow give you disadvantage? Also affects interactions with other abilities and items.

[@adastra3147]

Stab them All (lev 6) + invisibility = let's open the door and turn it into "the Door of Attack of Opportunity" :P

[@MandatoryQuest]

That’s actually pretty sweet

[@blubblubwhat]

haha i didnt even think about that thats amazing!

[@kevinerskine3299]

Thanks for this series. So I like playing 3 character solo. What would you suggest for two fairly even 3 character parties?

[@MandatoryQuest]

So i like either using the Drifter or the Bannerspear as your core to build around. So maybe party 1 would be Drifter, Death walker, Geminate and party 2 would be Bannerspear, Boneshaper, Blinkblade.

[@kevinerskine3299]

@@MandatoryQuest After looking at them some more, that's exactly the combination I was thinking. Thanks!

[@Floranox123]

Blinkblade all the way 😁

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yesss Team Sonic :)

[@aylingfam5733]

Blink-Tank!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Haha maybe one for a Weird Bud Wednesday stream if we ever get Frosthaven Digital 😉

[@amansparekh]

When is frosthaven slated for retail release?

[@MandatoryQuest]

We don't officially know, but my guess would be Christmas this year at the earliest. it would be best to talk to your FLGS to see if they can pre-order you a copy if you want one as it will be in demand.

[@amansparekh]

@@MandatoryQuest if it wasn’t so far away I might have considered jumping straight to frosthaven (instead of gloomhaven) but 6 months is too long to wait

[@imbaba1976]

In hype order 1 geminate 2 blinkblade 3 boneshaper 4 deathwaker 5 banner 6 drifter

[@MandatoryQuest]

Interesting not many people seem to be going Geminate as their top pick.

[@alifant1944]

quantum uncertainty gives you double chance to crit though

[@MandatoryQuest]

full greed :)

[@S1mpski]

it feels like the choises are pretty clear, there are clear optimal and unoptimal cards, if you're just trying to play a classic dps rogue. like there are certain cards i would never pick, unless im doing a meme build

[@chaslyndrilling7380]

Avoids spoilers but then brings up the cure potions.... Nice attempt MQ

[@MandatoryQuest]

Sorry I spoiled the worst potion in the game for you Chas 😉

[@chaslyndrilling7380]

@@MandatoryQuest This is unforgivable! :P

[@MandatoryQuest]

Contact KZbin for a refund

[@thehussiteking]

Personally if I was new to the game, I'd love to be warned of the horror of how bad the cure potions are. By the time we got them, we were like 40 scenarios in and we were all like "wow this is bad lol"

[@blubblubwhat]

@@thehussiteking saved my mele characters so many times. we play with no healers on max difficutly (7) and any stun, imobalzie is realy bad for u and wound practly forces u to longrest because there is no heal available. so i disagreee completly with the general opinion on this youtoub chanel that the cure potions are bad, they are a must have for a tank (to get rid of poison, befor the SPOILER: max heal ring) and absolutly competitiv for mele chars.

[@kronosDking]

Level 4 cards seem... Not great.

[@kevinbrown2438]

this character feels incredibly gimped by their terrible initiative values

[@MandatoryQuest]

Boots of speed or equivalent will be crucial.