Having already done Skyrim and Clockwork City, The Elder Scrolls: Legends is ticking off another stop on the tour guide by heading Vvardenfell for its next expansion: Houses of Morrowind. The new set was announced earlier today and is scheduled for release on March 29. It will add 149 cards to the game based on the mystical realm of the Dunmer, and also make some big changes to the core mechanics of the game, foremost of which are the addition of new three-attribute cards and an increase to the already voluminous deck size limit.
Legends decks are normally limited to two attributes, or "colors": Agility, endurance, intelligence, strength, and willpower, plus "neutral" cards that can be played in any deck. Houses of Morrowind will introduce cards that feature three attributes, and which when included in your deck will enable you to pick from all three of those colors. Check out Dagoth Ur at the top of this page, which is a Strength/Intelligence/Agility card. He also has the new 'God' tribal tag, and just about every basic keyword crammed into his card text.
There is, as always, a catch. In order to use three-attribute cards, you must have at least 75 cards in your deck. Those of you who play TESL will likely be aware that the maximum deck size is currently 70, but the expansion will also increase that limit to 100 cards, for all decks. To the uninitiated this might sound like a good thing—more is better and all that—but as players of almost any collectible card game will tell you, running more cards is almost always sub-optimal because it dilutes the overall quality and means you're less likely to draw your most important cards.
Not that that's stopped players from experimenting with 70-card decks already, so I'd expect plenty of fun to be had with the potentially powerful and versatile tri-colored decks. Just bear in mind that they're also likely to be less consistent. However sweet Mr Ur might look, it's not so much fun if you never draw him.
The Houses of Morrowind set will include cards that enable five of the ten possible three-attribute sets, one from each of the factions in Vvardenfell:
House Redoran: Strength/Willpower/Endurance – Redoran cards can also take advantage of the new "Rally" keyword, which adds +1/+1 to a random creature in your hand whenever a Rally creature attacks.
House Telvanni: Intelligence/Agility/Endurance – The Telvanni have a new "Betray" mechanic: After playing a Betray card, players can sacrifice a creature in their hand in order to play it again.
House Hlaalu: Strength/Willpower/Agility – The new Hlaalu keyword is "Plot," which triggers special abilities on a card if you've played another card in the same turn.
Tribunal Temple: Intelligence/Willpower/Endurance – The home of Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil offers "Exalt," which grants bonuses to creatures when they're played for higher-than-normal magicka costs. Exalt can have an even bigger impact when the gods come into play, as seen on the Vivec card:
House Dagoth: Strength/Intelligence/Agility – The Morrowind bad guys offer special bonuses for having creatures of 5 power or higher in your hand.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends – Houses of Morrowind is set to go live on March 28. Full details are up at bethesda.net, and you can also read our review of the base game here.
