So I'm playing the Sentinels in a PBF and in general I really like this deck - fun combos, great powers and the collection of lowest HP means it's usually an exciting ride. The one big hole is Writhe's signature card. It seems really, really lame whereas the rest of the signature cards feel pretty solid. For signature cards we have:
Dr. Medico - "Hippocratic Oath" - converts damage against villains to healing for friends + a per turn trickle heal. This can be some amazing healing if set up properly.
Mainstay - "Durasteel Chains" - -1 damage taken, +1 damage dealt. Only the fact that he is a "mini" character keeps this from being the best buff in the whole game (-1 damage is the whole deal for a whole host of cards for other characters). And getting the +1 damage is fairly easy as a lot of the cards are of the "one of your heroes deals" variety. Coupled with his base power and the card that redirects damage to him and he becomes a nigh inpenitrable shield for a turn.
Idealist - "Aura of Vision" - one player may draw a card. Who doesn't like more cards? This card makes Idealist Expatriette's best friend in the whole wide game. And it's free, no card play necessary.
And finally
Writhe - "Caliginous Form" - reduce damage to Writhe by 2, if any remains, redirect it. The dam red is nice, but I find that villain cards that target "the third lowest" hero target are rather rare, meaning you have to wait until reasonably deep in the game for this to be usefull and even then you have to do a fair amount of creative damage assigning to get this set up. Also, the dam red is significant enough that instances of damage that can be redirected are rare, making this card even less useful. (Although taking the dam red back off after redirect does make that redirect potentially very nice). I dunno, perhaps it's a balancing issue since so many of the deck cards are better with Writhe, but compared to the other signature cards this one seems very circumstantial.
It's a very effective card if facing "damage all targets" ennemies/environments, as it protects Writhe, and may lead him to "highest" HP fast - or keep him alive when an electropulse explosive goes full bang.
As you, I didn't like it at first, but I tend to use it more and more. It was the key card of end game in a lot of my recent games,especially in Vengeance settings, and in a memorable Matriarch fight. Most of the time it just is a DR 2 for Writhe, the Wraith's base power-like, but it often can be a very effective tool in end-game, if you manage to have him be the target of the most powerful attacks each turn. (Edit : especially with villains/envir that do retaliation damage during hero turns)
Interestingly, Cliginous Form is usually the second Signature I get out (with Durasteel Chains as the first).
The damage reduction is huge, in general, helping to manage global damage. You are correct that, later in the game, this is far more effective, but it when it works it's really great. I've had more than a couple games in which Writhe was the highest-HP hero and was throwing the villain's damage back in their face - on the rare occasion when it got through the -3 reduction (adding Mainstay's power to the mix).
Honestly, Aura of Vision is often not very effective for me - for some reason, whenever I get it out, ongoing destruction immediately takes it away. Just my luck, I know, but - with one exception - that's been how it's played out.
And Hippocratic Oath has usually (with the exception of Plague Rat) not worked out for me just due to cards not allowing him to do damage.
The other time CF is really effective is when damage is being dealt to “the hero with the most cards in play,” which is almost always the sentinels early game (because they start out with 4 more than anyone else) and you choose which of the 4 takes the damage.
Actually the card says to redirect, then reduce by 2. So if 2 damage comes to him and he redirects it to something that has +1 damage taken then it will still do damage.
It's actually my favourite signature and if a villain keeps picking on lowest hp I've preemptively punched writhed in lowest hp before playing it. It also allows wraith to double up on throwing knives in one card.
