Given there are now 9 races, it doesn't surprise me that they wouldn't put a warlord for each in the cycle since there wouldn't be any space left for other cards. My guess is that the plan is to spread the 9 warlords over 2 cycles so that when rotation kicks in each race would only lose 1 warlord, meaning that next cycle should have 5 warlords as you've implied. I don't think they ever intended on making any more deluxe boxes beyond those released, however, since they would mess up the rotation cycle

 

You are assuming we'll get another cycle lol

That's irrelevant until there's official confirmation.

Whilst I don't expect to see another deluxe, a deluxe box doesn't have to contain warlords so having it evergreen isn't such an issue.

It's more the fact that extra cards would be within rotation rather than what those cards are. Given there are ~20 unique cards in each pack (on the conversion that a warlord + sig squad = 3 unique cards since they take up 9 cards worth of space) each cycle will have ~120 unique cards, with the 6 cycles in rotation having ~720. Add that onto the core set (~160) and the deluxe boxes (~60) already out and you're already getting close to 1000 unique cards, which is huge. To add in more would just alienate new players that try to join in the later cycles, regardless of the type of card that they are.

Well with Games workshop pulling the licence plug, thats all we have... This game will end with the release of the last jungles card set. Unbalanced commander count is something that this game will have to end with, the elite meta is something this game will end with. 

GW played Backlash on us

Well with Games workshop pulling the licence plug, thats all we have... This game will end with the release of the last jungles card set. Unbalanced commander count is something that this game will have to end with, the elite meta is something this game will end with. 

Sounds about right, though I'm a firm believer in the fact that the meta takes a lot longer to explore than the usual month or two between card pool changing.

I think there's permutations and deckshapes we haven't even started considering yet: probably enough to keep us going for another 7 months or so.

- The cancel part of Backlash does not say anything about limiting itself to abilities that are triggered off of army units. Any ability your opponent triggers that targets an Elite unit you control can be canceled. The rest of the ability ("Then, if...") will only do something if the ability was triggered off of an army unit, but the "cancel" itself is over and done with at that point. So "only works on Army units" is not true.

- The cancel part of Backlash also says nothing about limiting itself to abilities that only target an Elite unit. So it doesn't matter how many other targets there are, who controls them, or whether or not they are Elite. It is pretty hard to argue that Kraktoof Hall "doesn't really target" since it's part of the basic definitions of the game that when an ability says "target X," it is targeting X. So long as an Elite unit controlled by the person playing Backlash is among the targets of an ability triggered by an opponent, it can be canceled by Backlash. It is pretty hard to argue that Kraktoof Hall "doesn't really target" since it's part of the basic definitions of the game that when an ability says "target X," it is targeting X. This means that Kraktoof Hall targets two units - the one that the damage is moved from and one that the damage is moved to. If one of those is an Elite, the person controlling it can cancel Kraktoof with Backlash.

Sorry to say, the arguments against being able to cancel Kraktoof with Backlash are not very solid. Canceling Kraktoof, so that the last point of damage was not moved to the Space Wolves Predator, with Backlash is a permissible, legal play.

Kraktoof Hall's ability reads, "Combat Action: Exhaust this support to move 1 damage from a target unit you control to another target unit at the same planet."  Since it targets an unit you control, Backlash which cancels a trigger ability targeting one of your Elite units, should be able to nullify it.  

Hi
I have a question.
Battle: Space Marines vs Necrons.

SMs card on the planet X: Deathwing Guard (Elite)
Necrons cards on the planet X: Lychguard Sentinel and Immortal Vanguard

SM Attack Phase.
Deathwing Guard attack Immortal Vanguard, but Lychguard Sentinels text sound "Your opponent must declare a ready unit named “Lychguard Sentinel” as a defender, if able."
So Deathwing Guard must attack Lychguard Sentinels.
The Ability of Lychguard Sentinels is activated autoaticaly against Deathwing Guard.
Then SM Player plays Backlash (" When your opponent triggers an ability that targets an Elite unit you control, cancel its effects. Then, if that ability was triggered from an army unit, destroy it.").

Question:
Deathwing Guard can destroy Lychguard Sentinels using Backlash card or not?

To me it seems you cannot use Backlash.

Backlash reads "When your opponent triggers an ability that targets an Elite unit you control, cancel its effects. Then, if that ability was triggered from an army unit, destroy it."

According to the Rules and Reference Guide (pg. 15) the term "target" indicates that a game element (such as a card) must be chosen as the subject or recipient of an effect.

The Lychguards' ability simply states that "Your opponent must declare a ready unit named 'Lychguard Sentinel' as a defender, if able", so, in this case, it seems that the recipient of the effect is the opponent player himself, considering that the ability doesn't specifically target any of his cards.

At least that's my interpretation according to the RRG.

@leo987 It cannot. Backlash can only be used to cancel an effect that targets an Elite unit you control. This means that the effect must have the specific word target in the text. Since the Lychguard's ability doesn't target the Deathwing Guard, Backlash cannot be used to cancel its ability nor to destroy the Lychguard.

Moreover, the Lychguard's ability is a constant effect and as such it isn't triggered at any point, but merely becomes active when the Lychguard enters play. By contrast, triggered abilities, whether voluntary or forced, have a specified timing followed by a colon printed in bold on the card, e.g. Reaction:, Action:, Forced Reaction:​ etc. See also RRG p. 15.

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