I'll be taking a look at Dawn of Perim (DoP) in this post. It's the first set from the original Chaotic TCG series. If we break down the contents of the 232-card set, we get this:
Types Rarities
-28 Overworlders 67 Uncommon
-28 Underworlders 38 Rare
-15 Danians 32 Super Rare
-15 Mipedians 12 Ultra Rare
49 Attacks
29 Battlegear
38 Mugic
30 Locations
Shown here is the best creature in the entire game: Gespedan.
Look how strong and fast he is. He has style, he has grace, he is Miss United States.
Actually I just chose him at random. Notice the black icon in the top right corner. That symbol signifies that the card is part of the DoP set, and the color classifies Gespedan as Common. So he's actually not Miss United States, he's a peasant. A commoner.
If you notice the breakdown of creature tribes, you'll see DoP dramatically favors Over- and Underworlders. Why was this choice made? Why were Danians and Mipedians hot trash? The answer is that they got their "own" sets following DoP. I disagree that this really justifies leaving two tribes fairly useless for the opening era of the game, but that's neither here nor there. It was 2007, a more simple time full of more simple people.
DoP introduces the world to Chaotic. It comes with many of the mechanics that stick with Chaotic throughout its history, such as Support, Swift, Range, Element X, Intimidate, etc. Overtime, many of the cards from DoP have fallen by the wayside, as power creep in newer sets leaves them in the dust.
Some cards have withstood the test of time, and have even been reprinted in later sets. For example, many of the DoP attack cards, like Torrent of Flame, Iron Balls, and Riptide, still offer enough damage or utility to stay relevant.
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| For only 1 build point, you can shut down that dumb Mugic shit |
While the uses for DoP cards may be niche, the should never be discounted when building a deck. Especially if you don't have access to cards from later sets, DoP cards can still offer quite a bit.
Lord Van Bloot, Chaor, and Maxxor still bring enough damage, stats, energy, and ATTITUDE to make into a contemporary top-tier team.
What do those cards have in common?
The fact that they aren't common. They're Ultra Rare (UR). Of course the UR cards are going to be the best. Here are the UR cards in DoP:
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| Actually super spooky |
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| Small but feisty. Ball shaped |
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| Honestly not a fan. Why the hair? |
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| BAMF |
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| For the Bodal bois out there |
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| Actually is more useful in later sets |
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| Looks good on a warbeast, very slimming |
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| I can't imagine this has seen much use |
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| Everyone needs more Fortissimo |
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| Is the Underworld known for its backup plans? |
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| Why sideways? |
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| Like, honestly. Why are Locations like this. |
