Top 15 Best Cards in Force of Will Origin Format
Hello everyone! welcome to my Force of Will Origin format blog. I was having a hard time finding any information on the Origin format online, so I decided to create some information of my own. I started playing this game pretty recently, but I come from a Magic: the Gathering background, specifically the Modern and Commander formats. Because of this, I wanted to play with the most cards possible and the cards with the highest power possible. Anyways, this is a list of the individual cards I have found to be the most powerful. I decided to start this blog this way since a similar list related to Wanderer format was one of the ways I was able to learn really anything about Eternal Force of WIll.
This list consists of the cards I feel have the most impact on game-play, have the strongest abilities, and are the most difficult to deal with at any stage of the game, and how they perform at the point in a game where they are the most relevant.
Ruined Story is rather powerful even outside of decks that utilize the Story mechanic. It is highly versatile, it both protects your important plays and disrupts your opponent’s plays. More specifically, It is an excellent way to put a bump in the road for any Resonator-based Pricia combo decks, and it can punish greedy Adombrali plays in Fiethsing decks.
This card is simply another excellent way to manage powerful combo in a will-efficient way. A player who is slow-rolling their OTK combos will be punished for holding pieces. SInce the game begins with only 5 cards in hand, it is highly probable that getting rid of one combo piece is the end for the opponent’s game plan. A player that is unable to improvise will fold soon after, and any combo decks that win only when they get a very specific draw will likely have a difficult time getting back up to speed before you have enough ways to protect yourself.
#13: Alice’s World of Madness
One thing that is very important in Origin is keeping tiny resonators that power up combos in check. While AWOM doesn’t get everything on it’s own, what it does get is rather significant. Resonators such as Flames of Nyarlothep, Cheshire Cat, and Tama all die to this Addition. The tokens generated by the Fiethsing Ruler side die to it as well. A few important resonators do not die to AWOM, such as Sacred Elf and Guinevere, but once AWOM is on the field, they will certainly die to something like Zero, the Magus of Null or second AWOM.
This card, like all the previous cards, provides a means of stopping combos in their tracks. More specifically, this card is great against Gwiber based strategies. It “feels” the most like a catch-all out of all the previously mentioned cards, and so it deserves a spot on this list.
While this card is certainly a sideboard piece before anything else, it is another amazing answer to one of the most powerful rulers in the game, Pricia. It has answers to both Pricia strategies, the ones that cheat in Umr and the ones that deal 4000 damage with Pricia using regalia. It is similar to Ruined Story in the way that it has several possible effects, however the biggest plus this card has is that it draws you a card upon resolution of the effect. It is also a great piece against decks that don’t necessarily combo off with regalia but are very reliant on regalia to win the game.
This is the first Resonator on the list, and for good reason. Simply put, Umr is a blatantly obvious combo enabler. It is an excellent target for Pricia, A Heroic Epic for the Thousandth Night, or Book of Eibon. There will only be more cards that work well with Umr as time goes on, but for now the ways you can play with Umr are fairly consistent and can end the game when they resolve, which is really all you need from a combo.
#9 Laevateinn, the Demon Sword
In short, this card is very flexible and enables a lot of powerful plays in the game overall. It can make will, it can fizzle removal spells, it can pump or protect J-Rulers. It also enables a few combos, but it’s greatest strength lies in it’s ability to open so many new possibilities when compared to the other 0 cost regalia.
This is one of the most powerful counter-spell effects in the history of all card games. It likely would not be nearly as strong if games began with more cards in hand, or if energize wasn’t a mechanic, but I digress. While it does require some luck, it can sometimes stop combos dead in their tracks, simply because the opponent did not find or keep duplicates of cards. This card has single-handedly rendered a lot of otherwise powerful spells nearly unplayable. It is not because other cards are bad per-se, but because they get hosed so easily by this one-will counter-spell. Some spells like The Final Battle or Valentina’s Reach would be stupidly good in Origin if it wasn’t so hard to get the maximum effect AND have the will available to protect your spell from a card like this.
#7 Fiethsing, the Magus of Holy Wind
Fiethsing has historically been a pretty good card from my little understanding of older Force of Will gameplay, but I believe that she has a lot of potential to shine brightest in Origin. The fact that her stats make her a much more difficult to kill will dork than Sacred Elf and company, and the fact she has an unconditional single-target Fog effect, make her an awesome choice in any deck that likes playing at Instant speed. Fiethsing is a very functional catch-all in any deck looking to slow the game down to a comfortable pace, and is overall a solid contender for any deck that seeks to win a little more, but doesn’t mind doing it less quickly.
This card, although limited to one, is one of the strongest regalia for a number of reasons. I think it is very important that this card exists in the format, since it is one of the few reasonably costed ways to keep the stupidly good reanimation cards in this game in check. it offers any deck an easy and free way to handle all sorts of reanimation strategies. secondly, it is one of the two regalia that is able to pump your J-Ruler or counteract your opponent’s plays, the other being Deathscythe. Although the Cheshire Cat’s Assistance based combos have all but been banned from the format, Horn is still not a card to be messed with.
#5 Deathscythe, the Life Reaper
Deathscythe’s major plus is it’s versatility when compared to Horn. I am placing Deathscythe just above it in this list due to it’s ability to interact with any opponent’s J-Ruler based win condition. In the Origin format, a single turn of avoiding a hit from a beefed up J-Ruler can be enough time to find an answer. It can also make some cards barely functional, such as Laevateinn. I believe that anyone running a J-Ruler with combat stats can comfortably play a Deathscythe or two in their main deck and never really feel super bad about it.
#4 Whisper from the Abyss
It goes without saying that this card is simply an overpowered mistake. The life loss is negligible when there are certain J-Rulers like Aimul that have no trouble regaining the life, and other Rulers such as Yggdrasil that actively want their life total to be as low as possible. It is one of those cards, like so many others on this list, that can only become better and better with time. Even outside of those decks, any deck with access to Darkness can play one and never feel too bad about it. Did I mention it is an instant?
#3 Morgiana, the Wise Servant
Morgiana is on the list because she is the key enabler of powerful draw engines. As time progresses and more cards with the words “draw a card” are printed, she will become stronger. Her stats are solid for a one drop, she narrowly avoids being killed by Tama, getting removed by Zero, the Magus of Null and dying to a single AWOM. It is hard to deny that Morgiana’s ability to filter each and every draw is one of the strongest effects in the game.
#2 Guinevere, the Jealous Queen
Guinevere’s power is undeniable. She can do so many things in so many decks, and is just a solid resonator to play at really any point of the game. Similar to Morgiana (which she happens to work wonders with) Guinevere is an enabler for countless powerful strategies. She can make a lot of deck ideas more functional simply by existing. She doesn’t do much besides draw cards, but she is good at drawing cards.
#1 Heavenly Instrument, Hydromonica
Hydromonica is the absolute best regalia in Origin. It is not hard to find two extra will at the end of an opponent’s turn when considering how the game can be slowed down dramatically thanks to the insane counter magic running around. It’s simple: If your opponent decides to play a threat, answer it. If they decide not to, then enjoy your “free” tutor. The icing on the cake is that this card can discard other copies of itself in order to draw a card. You can technically place abilities onto the chase area in the order that would let you put any desired card in your hand: discard a Hydromonica to draw, but then immediately pay two before the effect resolves. Your tutor effect resolves first, and then you immediately draw the card you just looked for when the ability you activated first resolves last. It seems that the more decks that I look at the more times I see Hydromonica as a path to victory. Sometimes it is putting an Umr on the top of a deck to be flipped onto the field by Pricia, sometimes it’s filtering draws with Cheshire Cat, sometimes it’s just your first spell of the turn and is enabling Fiethsing’s continuous ability to trigger. It is hard to not try to make room for three or four in just about any deck.
If you are consciously aware of any card while playing Origin, regardless of the deck you are facing, it is this one. Severing WInds is the most centralizing spells in Origin, but that is not a bad thing. It can stop early OTKs, It can keep aggressive decks down to a reasonable pace, and it keeps opposing counter magic in check. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is necessary in every deck. it is certainly a nice splash piece to have in any deck running ways to search it out at instant speed (like Hydromonica). The card rarely feels dead in your hand, it is sometimes frustrating when an opponent plays around the spell perfectly, though.
