Character Profile
- Best Attack: Amulet of the Elder Gods
- Best Team Support: Mistbound
- Best Personal Support: Starshield Necklace
- Primary Damage Type: Infernal
- Secondary Damage Type: None
- Nemesis: Gloomweaver
- Worst Card: Scouring Mists
The enigmatic Nightmist traffics in mystifying arcane arts that require great willpower. So it is with playing her. You have to be willing to take risks if you’re going to succeed with Nightmist. She uses her hit points and hand size as resources more than any other hero. Her cards are capable of absorbing, deflecting, or recovering a dizzying amount of damage. Her utility spells are top-notch, making her a terrifying force for good… but at what cost?
Attack
Nightmist’s attack methods are far from straightforward. We’ll start with the Amulet of the Elder Gods, the linchpin of her offensive line. This card allows you to deflect the first attack that comes your way each turn, at the expense of your cards. Turns out, this is fantastic. If the attack is big, send it to something you want to hurt. If the attack is small, save your cards and heal it later. This combines with most of your spells to redirect damage that would normally affect you. If you don’t play a self-damaging spell, it combines with Investigation to give you a damaging base power. Often, it will be best to take small amounts of damage to stock up on cards, rather then deflect it all away, but the potential is something to keep in mind.
Once you understand that she inflicts damage primarily by redirecting it, Elder Ring comes into its own. This boosts all of Nightmist’s damage, which is very useful IF she’s not hurting herself as much. If you don’t need it anymore, the power is worth using.
Three spells belt out damage, based to some extent on the nature of the top cards of Nightmist’s deck. These can be fantastic if you have access to the Amulet, but they are risky if you don’t.
Heedless Lash hits Nightmist and one target, and also lets you put into play the card you draw, if you want. Sans Amulet, the 1:1 damage ratio is undesirable, but survivable. With the Amulet, it’s very good. The action economy is superb all the time. I love this card.
If you have the Amulet, Scouring Mists can spread out more damage than Heedless Lash. This spell is perhaps most vulnerable to the vagaries of chance, however. Since the spellcasting number affects the number of targets, drawing a one is just sad if you were hoping to kill a bunch of stuff, and drawing a four is often overkill.
Finally, Oblivion draws similarities to Haka’s Rampage, and is a terrifying, board-clearing double-attack, subject to the numbers you draw. Make very sure your allies are ready for it.
Utility Casting
Mistbound can stop any deck from playing cards, which is great. You’ll usually use it on the villain, but don’t forget you can Mistbind the environment deck, if the villain deck is already under control. (Thanks to Visionary or Wraith, perhaps.) The same benefits apply to Astral Premonition, though the discard cost on that one means you can’t use it every turn.
Enlightenment is straightforward enough – casting it on yourself gives you more fuel for your game, but you can usually find a hero that needs it more than you do. This is best when you know the decks involved. If you have to stop damage this turn, for instance, it helps to know Haka has a card called Ground Pound.
Planar Banishment is nuts. It is overkill if you’re going after one thing, but perfect for the (fairly frequent) times when there are two or three environments in play that you could really do without. Zaps ongoings, too!
Immortality
Nightmist is the best survivor in the game. Her extensive recovery options can more than negate the damage she deals to herself. The Amulet of the Elder Gods is as much a defensive option as it is a weapon, and that usually goes a long way towards keeping your hit points up.
Starshield Necklace and Master of Magic knit your bones back together with little investment on your part, making them very good early plays. I like the Necklace better because you get an immediate return on your investment, and you’ll have plenty to discard. Master of Magic has the advantage of not having to pay anything else for it. If you don’t get those early, then a late-game Mist-Fueled Recovery can restore you to excellent health from the edge of death. If you have the Necklace, I find Mist-Fueled Recovery a little redundant, and it’s usually easier to discard them.
Nightmist’s defensive star is Mistform. It’s like Visionary’s Cocoon, but with two distinct advantages. First, Nightmist loves the extra card, making this a fine play for any turn she doesn’t have anything particularly relevant. Second, if she had a Starshield Necklace already, she can heal while immune to damage.
Tactics
My first rule of thumb is Always Investigate. Nightmist needs cards badly, and her base power gives her so many. In general, set aside your worry about the cost in hit points, and rake in the cards. You have a lot of ways to mitigate the damage. This is especially important early in the game to build up a hand of cards to abuse. Mistbound and the Amulet require a ton of cards. Nightmist can get them, and the best way to do it is to Investigate as much as possible.
The equation changes if damage is boosted. (Thanks, Legacy.) The damage becomes a potent missile if you are using the Amulet, though you lose the extra card benefit. You might look towards your other power options. Astral Premonition gives a strong ability, while Tome of Elder Magic can give you good cards without so much pain.
Mists of Time is a tricky card, with very conditional uses. I've excelled with Nightmist for a long time without giving a thought to it at all. Recent experimentation, however, has seen it be very effective at retrieving cards from a small trash pile. Multiple copies of Mistbound, for instance, or some other card you want, can be retrieved very quickly with Investigation if you have the hit points to spare. This can also be used for tricks like putting a full deck into your trash for Mist-Fueled Recovery. I'm wary of the card because it means a turn with no board impact, but there is strength there.
Finally, Call Forth has two functions. Of course, it’s a good way to get your relics, most importantly the Amulet and the Necklace. If you pitch a 4 to it, however, it reads “Draw three cards.” In other words, this is great for grabbing cards, as long as you haven’t already sucked all the relics out of your deck. There are only nine of them - 3 Rings, and 2 each of Amulet, Necklace, and Tome. You might to pay attention to which ones are still in your deck so you don’t look silly.
Weaknesses
At least Nightmist is upfront about her weaknesses. It’s a constant struggle for her to get enough cards to do everything she wants to do. She also makes a point of dealing a bunch of damage to herself. If that goes unmitigated by her life-gaining cards or the Amulet, she quickly finds herself unable to act without killing herself. If damage is boosted, she reaches the inability to act much quicker.
The good news is, because of her unfettered card drawing, she has swift access to most of the cards from her deck. The Necklace or the Amulet are never very far away, and cards are swiftly recovered by Investigation. It can sometimes feel circular, like you’re losing life to gain life, or discarding cards to draw cards.
If Nightmist can’t draw cards, she’s not entirely screwed. Tome of Elder Magic, Call Forth, and Heedless Lash do a good job of pretending. Make sure to Banish the impediment quickly, though.
Teamups
Nightmist offers fantastic aid to her team in the form of her utility spells. In turn, Nightmist can use any healing or cards they can grant her. She loves heroes that can reduce damage dealt to her, like Argent Adept, or make her immune to damage, like Legacy or Ra. A problem with that is Legacy and Ra are also fond of increasing damage, and don’t always want to spend their time protecting the caster. AA’s selective buffing, on the other hand, can be far better than Legacy’s group buffing if Nightmist is present. At the same time, if Nightmist is ready to attack, buffing her to the hilt can be very effective - all of her attacks have the potential to be double attacks!
Nightmist on a team with the likes of Wraith, Tempest, or Visionary offers splendid control over the effects of the villain and environment deck. Finally, Nightmist can get a lot of mileage out of hero cards that let you stack your deck. Tempest’s Reclaim from the Deep or Argent Adept’s Inventive Preparation allow you to know what number is on top of your deck, and plan accordingly.