As you may have noticed if you read this column regularly, I like my creatures to be as mobile as possible. You'll understand my shock, then, that my favorite piece in the new set is an inanimate box with a Speed of 0.

Yep, zero. As in not moving at all … until you read further down the card. The Deathgrasp Sarcophagus can teleport to any occupied victory area. It doesn't matter if it's occupied by an enemy or ally; the Sarcophagus just fears loneliness (though the rumor is that it fears commitment even more, so it's destined to be unhappy).

So you have a magic box that can teleport to certain areas of the map under certain conditions. Awesome. What, pray tell, will it do when it gets there? Mostly it'll lock some dude inside itself and throw away the metaphorical key.

As I see it, there are two basic strategies with the DGS. First, you can use it against creatures with Scout or other "tile-grabbers." Entombed creatures count as off the map, so they can't score any victory points from inside the box. In a shared victory area, the Sarcophagus can immediately start scoring points for you, though a savvy opponent won't have chosen a shared victory area for exactly this reason.

The other major strategy with my new favorite box (sorry, Weighted Companion Cube) is a simple divide and conquer. Pick an important enemy creature (ideally one whose basic attack isn't its strong suit, like an artillery or support piece) and, provided that it can't dodge a +15 attack aimed at its Reflex Defense, it's out of the game for at least a while. If you can teleport to a victory area far away from any of its allies, the victim will probably have to fight its own way out, then hoof it back to the real battle. Meanwhile, you're (we hope) running roughshod over the rest of your opponent's understaffed warband.

As an entertaining side note, if one Deathgrasp Sarcophagus Entombs another one, that's it for the victim. As a creature without a basic attack, it just has to hope for rescue from the outside. Huh. Maybe that's why it fears loneliness so much ...

Synergies

First, for maximum mobility, you probably want fast ways of getting to victory areas. Besides the Scout ability, there's also just old-fashioned units with high Speed (which are doubly good because they allow interesting teleports in the mid- and late game, not just the beginning).

You might also want to look into ways of pushing, pulling, or sliding enemies so you can get potential Entombment victims within the Sarcophagus's Reach 4. I hear the Hook Horror is looking for work.

500-point Play

The DGS is easily worth its points if you think you'll be up against cheap Scouts or other tile-grabbers that it can hit. It won't be able to capture real threats, but 31 points to prevent 50 or 75 from going to the opponent is a good trade.

About the Author

Rob Heiret has been a card-sleeve-carrying geek for over 20 years. Through base trickery, he managed to marry a beautiful (and tolerant) woman and lives happily in Seattle with his wife and baby son.