B · Engine & Sequencing · §13
Shuriken Flip is a movement card, Not So Fast is not a second Defy, and Thermo Beam kills your own Gear.
Do not classify it as a two-damage spell. Its hierarchy of uses is movement that wins or preserves a point, movement that triggers Herder, Silent or Deadly Weapon, damage that changes combat, and only then incidental damage. The zero-target option means you should never hold it merely because there is no enemy unit worth damaging.
Hourglass preserves card economy, not battlefield tempo. Use it when the saved unit is worth conceding the current location, returning exhausted, losing a Gear, and missing movement triggers. It is strongest on Silent, Herder, Irelia, an already-empowered Witness, or a unit the opponent spent multiple cards trying to kill.
Defy counters only spells within its cost restrictions. It does not answer every activated ability or every expensive spell. Its strongest use is often not countering the first legal card — it is preserving uncertainty and making the opponent sequence around one open Calm Power.
It is primarily protection from targeted interaction, not a second generic Defy.
Before bringing it in, plan which Masks will leave the deck, whether you intend to consume Hourglass first, whether the opponent’s Gear engine justifies a five-Energy double-Fury spell, and whether destroying one Gear is enough value.
Against the Odds gives +2 Might for every enemy unit at the battlefield. It is excellent against a battlefield containing several enemies and mediocre against a single tall defender. Measure its value by opposing unit count at the location, not by the opponent’s overall archetype.◆src