| May 26, 1999 | |
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| Type: Rite | |
| Keywords: | |
| Requires: Red Talon or Lupus. | Gnosis Cost: 2 |
| Turns to Activate: 2 | |
| Text: Main: Discard to give target Garou 2 Rage. Target Garou must be chosen as alpha and can't be set to regenerate. These effects last until target Garou kills either a Garou of greater Renown or a human. | |
| Quote: | |
| Phase:2 | Artist: Craig Maher |
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Power: 16
Not a bad card, this one. Pretty much a Gnosis-free boon of Rage that lasts pretty much as long as you want it to. Toss it on someone who's already got a decent Rage, and it's a free Quick Slash. Even better, toss it on a Cub, and you're building yourself a little kamikaze Alpha. The key to getting the most out of this card is to use it on someone you were going to use as your primary Alpha anyway.
Usability: 20
About the only deck that would have no use for this card would be a deck built around avoiding combat. Otherwise, every tribe card can include at least one Red Talon or Lupus with 2 Gnosis.
Limitations: 19
Well, the big limitation is the all-Alpha, all-the-time stipulation. This can backfire on you if you aren't careful. The limitation on not regenerating can be trouble if you don't plan for it. If you plan to use this card, make sure to include some card effect healing to be on the safe side. The Gnosis cost and number of turns to activate are appropriate, especially since the Gnosis cost vanishes once the card activates. Otherwise, the card is easy to deactivate, especially if you go after a low-Health, low-Rage human target, or get Monica McGivern to attack you when you're done with the Alpha phase.
Decks: 20
First off, this card works well in a Red Talon deck, especially with Fireclaw and Howls-Like-Thunder. Howls won't get tied up with the rite, and Fireclaw gets some free Rage for both Alpha actions, provided the first action does not cancel the Rite. This card would also be useful in a Get of Fenris monster deck, since they have quite a few non-regeneration healing methods, like The Blessing of Freya and the Great Oak Spirit.
Toss this in a Lupus deck with the various Lupus-form gifts (most notably, Lupine Fury!), and you'll be able to stay in Lupus form longer without having to switch to Crinos to gain more Rage for cards. Use this in the Cub Wars environment, and you can get a significant edge in Rage. With the low enough Gnosis, most Cubs could perform the Rite (if they meet the requirements, of course), and you could effectively double the Rage of most of the Cubs.
Flavor: 13
Like most of Craig Maher's work, the art looks very polished and usually captures the essence of the Garou. Sometimes I don't like his take on Crinos form, with the elongated hind claws, but this is a piece where I think it works well, considering the slight crouch of the figure. The floating cotton and the gigantic trees (either that, or that's one puny Garou) gives a very mystical edge to the forest setting. This is a place where the hands of humans have not spoiled. Definitely fits the name of the card and card effects. Unfortunately, points off for quote. I would have liked to see a tie-in with the storyline on this card, and there's room for a one-liner. Which leads into the appropriateness of the card. I'm not really sure how this fits into the Las Vegas story. However, it fits in theme with the Red Talons and their lupine allies. So, for the Red Talon release, it fits in enough to include for card effects. Since Phase 2 was rich in storyline on other cards, I suppose it's forgivable.