Set 3 updates and changes
Community
Hello, Gate Rulers!
My name is Vladimir and I am part of the Russian community of Gate Ruler. Today I want to talk about the changes that the third Gate Ruler Set Aces of the Cosmos, Assemble! brings into the game. There will be a lot of new strategies, updates to the old ones, a whole new Superior rarity, but with those there are also a bunch of quite important rule changes. Those changes include Ruler updates to rebalance the power levels of certain cards, changes in comprehensive rules remaking some card interactions and a big list of erratas to the cards in set 3 and also to a few cards from set 1. This is going to be a really large article, so let’s get into it!
Ruler updates
Starting hand: 2 → Starting hand: 4
When comparing 11. K – Knight vs other Rulers in previous format, 11. K – Knight was more or less like 1. A – Apprentice, but had to pay the costs of its cards. Even though 11. K – Knight had one or two more cards at the beginning of the game, in two or three turns 1. A – Apprentice was able to generate much more card advantage as that Ruler doesn’t need to manage its resources. Plus, 1. A – Apprentice has higher stats, making it very easy to destroy the defenses of 11. K – Knight, while 11. K – Knight struggled a lot to do the same with 1. A – Apprentice. Also, being a Ruler with no unique traits in comparison to other Rulers, other Rulers simply felt like an improved 11. K – Knight. After the change, this is the only Ruler that has a starting hand of 4 cards, making it a really good option for resource decks that want to be able to build its strategy around playing certain cards.
Level cap: 80 → Level cap: 120
There have been a lot of players concerned of this buff, but on practice is a really fair change. 2. B – Berserker now has the potential of ending the game in one powerful turn, but at the same time it’s pretty inconsistent, as this ruler can play onlye one card per turn. 2. B – Berserker literally has no ways of generating card advantage, but at the same time, every card this Ruler plays is an impactful one, which is a big difference from when it had to play a big number of low-level cards.
Starting hand: 2 → 3
New ability: ¦ "Resource Channeling": At the end of your turn, ready this and 1 of your resources.
23. W – Wizard was an underplayed Ruler during the past metagame. Being able to use the Ruler as a resource wasn’t enough compared to its low starting hand and stats. After the changes, 23. W – Wizard is like a 2. B – Berserker that draws cards and has the capability of being able to play a level 3 or 4 card every turn. However, it still has low stats and is not as explosive as 2. B – Berserker can be. But as the new playstyle of 23. W – Wizard is playing units or high cost events during the opponent’s turn, this Ruler is able to compete now against other powerful Rulers.
8. H – Highlander and 12. L – Legion
Both: Number of CNT: 16 → 20
Both: Number of Legends: 2 → 3
12. L – Legion specifically – Starting hand: 2 → Starting hand: 3
This is an interesting change. 8. H – Highlander and 12. L – Legion are the only Rulers able to have more than 16 Counters in their deck. After the change, these singleton rulers have a much longer durability than anyone else. The idea of 8. H – Highlander having three Legends was removed from the original printing of the game, probably because that could have made 8. H – Highlander too powerful with only one set. Right now, after three sets being released and with a lot of Ruler options, it is time to 8. H – Highlander to shine as it had to.
These changes have modified the metagame severly. Now every Ruler is unique and powerful, and can focus on its special traits much better than before. This is what makes the Ruler System really beautiful: the rulers can be adjusted instead of being banned. I'm excited to see what future sets brings and how the Ruler System will keep adjusting the game!
Relevant Comprehensive Rules Changes
As at the time this article is being published the translation of the Comprehensive Rules and the Floor Rules are not yet updated, I'll be refering to the Japanese ones. Every update shown in this article is official and should be applied at any tournament played in Europe. There are more minor changes, but these two are the most relevant:
1 - There is no destruction process anymore.
With the old CR there was a "destruction process". That meant that if a card has fulfilled the destruction condition, its destruction process is added to the gate and has to be resolved before that card is sent to the graveyard. This led to the situation where a card is being destroyed but is still on the field, and as is on the field it could activate its abilities or being played (in the case of events) in response to its own destruction process.
This destruction process was pretty complicated and not intuitive. Now, after the changes, if a card becomes destroyed, it is placed into the graveyard as the rules says. The new rule 12-4b says that “Units that fulfil the destruction condition are put to the graveyard by the destruction rules effect”, with no extra paragraphs. Because of that, previously issued erratas for Solar System Backpacker, Kami's Vessel and Volatile Space Mimic are no longer needed. Their texts are back to being the original ones as they now work as intended.
There is one card that receives an errata due to this change: Just a Flesh Wound. Since damage was a process that was added to the gate, you could play Just a Flesh Wound in response to the destruction process, and before it resolves, you could heal the damage and make your unit survive. Now, as units are sent to the graveyard right after becoming destroyed, there is no window to play Just a Flesh Wound if that damage is lethal. So, its text has being changed to “Reduce that damage to 0”, which makes the card much weaker than before.
2. You can prevent any damage process on the gate, not limited to the latest one
With the old CR, cards like Rite of Kami's Scorn could only prevent the last damage resolution process of the gate (the last played card or ability that deals damage of the gate), as written in 13-3c-1. This have been used to deal high damage with having no risks.
For example, with the old CR the turn player could play ZAPZAPZAP! on an enemy unit to deal 6 damage to it, keep the priority and play Suppressive Fire to deal only 2 damages to any enemy unit, and its opponent could only choose to prevent the the last damage on the gate (which is the damage dealt with Suppressive Fire), while the 6 damage from ZAPZAPZAP! would resolve for sure.
The new rule 13-3c-1 says “If this damage prevention effect prevents the “next” damage, choose 1 appropriate damage resolution process on the gate that fulfills the conditions of that damage prevention effect.”. Now you can choose any damage resolution process on the gate, not only the last one.
Erratas
There are cards from third Gate Ruler Set Aces of the Cosmos, Assemble! that have received erratas due to mistakes in their syntax that don't match the comprehensive rules. There are three major categories of these erratas: improper use of the word “choose”, inappropriate syntax for multiple choice effects, and wrong wording for summoning from hand as an instant action.
Improper use of “Choose”
When a card or ability chooses something, it happens right when you play that card / ability. You need to choose targets when playing something, and not during resolution, so your opponent can react to it. In Aces of the Cosmos, Assemble! some texts ask you to choose targets in the middle of resolution, which contradicts CR. There are other ones that asks your opponent to choose targets when you play your card or ability, which is also wrong. There are other less common cases, so check the list of errated cards and compare their text in the database with what is written on the card.
Shinno Akugoro, King of the Renegades
Rite of Ophidian Reincarnation
Nyarlathotep of the Thousand Masks
Inappropriate syntax for multiple choice effects
In Dawn of the Multiverse Alliance and Onslaught of the Eldritch Gods, when there were a multiple choice, a dash ( “–“ ) was used to differentiate the effects with each other. But some cards in Aces of the Cosmos, Assemble! use “either… or…” clause instead, making multiple choice texts inconsistent not only with previous sets, but with cards in the same set as well. Those cards are errated to be written as every other card.
Draconoid Dreadnaught "Fuse-ikazuchi"
Megidos the Damned, Draconic Abomination
Wrong use of “Instant Action: Normal summon this”
As per general rule, abilities of units are only active while they are in play. The exception is when the ability text clearly specifies a non-play zone, like Solar System Backpacker or Dark Knight Vamel. All of the cards that are worded with this: “Instant Action: Normal summon this.”, are now errated to: “This unit can be normal summoned as an instant action.” similar to how Alice, Wonderland's Champion is worded.
Other text fixings
Similar to the above, there needs to be a clarification that this card is removed from play if sent to the graveyard from anywhere, and not only from play. Oni of the Tatari can never hit the graveyard.
Paula, Prodigy of the Wizard Academy
Thiere is a mistranslation in the English version of the card. She can choose a level 1 or less unit for her [TD].
And that's all! There are so many changes, but this changes are for good. The developers have been working hard to provide the community the best play experience as possible, and we are thankful for that. I wanna thank Gate Ruler Europe for this opportunity and also I wanna do a big shout out to the Gate Ruler Rules Manager, that does a great job editing the card texts so they work as intended, and also clarifies a lot of complicated questions.
Hope you liked this article! We will meet again soon!
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