Has some future potential with the Space Wolves Blood Claw Pact unit.

Currently however comes in at a way too heavy cost for it to be extremely functional however as mentioned Cato can climb up to the cost in some scenario's and with Primal Howl it isn't extremely hard to find either. Long story short it's the SM Events and Units that make this unit quite possible playable despite it's cost.

3/5

Worth a 1x just as a game-ender on the critical planet. Will really annoy whoever ends up on the receiving end of such a move though.

1x sounds right, but I wonder if it may suffer the same flaw as Doom.

That is, you deny them a load of stuff coming in from HQ, but its so expensive that they end up deploying way more stuff than you to that Planet, and win the battle anyway.

Not to say the card is purposeless, but the potential for it to close a game in one move is smaller than might be expected.

Another more interesting use might be to force an enemy Warlord to commit to a planet where he can be assassinated.

I have actually been playing three of these successfully and quite enjoy the utility of it. It is pricey however I've been holding them in hand for a blood claw place in play usually. When I've had the opportunity I've stolen the first planet that my opponent planed on winning. Also just the threat of it in my hand has kept warlords from committing to a planet where a blood claw is camping because they don't want a predator dropping in. Overall I've adopted a wolf pack style of play by "herding" the warlord to locations I want with a combo of sentinels, blood packs, rattling dead-eyes down planet and usually a predator on first planet. By eliminating safe places to commit it becomes easier to predict where the opponent is going. If they do land on a blood claw or dead-eye you can make them pay with the outpost and/or war camp. One thing that I've noticed is that there is always a major threat to a warlord and often a warlord will go to HQ after commitment because of the threat thus giving you a free swing on a unit. After seeing this pattern of warlord behavior the synergy of Space Wolves becomes apparent. Eliminate all good options, give your prey only bad options. Spook the warlord home then shred the remaining units. The Predator is a big body, so is the Morkai rune priest and this puzzle starts to make since when you add in a Hallow Librarium or two. Once the warlord flees activate the Librarium  and a few units can mop up whats left even if it takes a couple of rounds. If they run to HQ then the Rune Priest hits them on they way home. Even a lone Predator can easily take on 2-3 units on planet one with the Librarium if you have initiative. I guess it goes without saying that I think the Predator and Librarium are under rated cards.

Can Blackmane's Hunt or Foresight be used to get around this?  My inclination is no since both say you "commit" to a new planet.  Seems like only option to circumvent is Kauyon Strike or Orbital City (if Predator isn't on 1st planet).

Based on this thread: http://www.cardgamed...maining-planet/

I would think they cannot recommit around it, since they must go to a legal planet first.

Also, Since Hunt is to adjacent planets, if both planets (or the only adjancent planet) has a predator, then Hunt couldn't be played since the game state would not be changed in doing so. 

A small question about his reaction:

can it only be used in the round it was played? Because "deployed" refers to "put into play and payed its cost"

So round 1 -> predator is deployed to planet 2, warlord cannot commit there this round by any means neccessary.

Round 2 -> predator is now on the first planet, but the oponents warlord can commit there now because the reaction time window is over ?

That's right. Basically, the Predator's reaction only lasts for the turn in which it was deployed.

It's obviously pricey so needs a build of tailoring, for I'd say it seems like a great 1-of finisher in a Ragnar deck to narrow down your opponent's options - hang on to this until the game is down to 3 planets (or 2 if it looks like it'll go that far) and you can force your opponent's warlord to go where you want him, i.e. right in Ragnar's face.

Paying 7 resources when it will probably win you the game = great if you have 7 resources.

Dropping a 3/5/5 for free with a Blood Claw Pack = great.  It's a savings of probably 4 or 5 resources (because Pred isn't worth 7 if not deployed normally) by exhausting one guy.

Knowing that your opponent won't commit where your Blood Claw Pack is because you might drop a 3/5/5 for free = almost as good, especially for Ragnar.

Granted, you can get the last part without even including the Predator in your deck, but then you're annoyed if he calls your bluff, and if you play multiple games, he might catch on.

I've recently played this card with my SM and Ragnar against Shadowsun. Opponent's deck was built on lots of attachments and he was banking on getting to the 1st planet in play because it was the 3rd planet I needed to win the game. I saved 3 resources from previous turn, then bam- dropped the Space Wolves Predator and luckily he didn't have any removal effects, so I was able to win the game by not letting his warlord go to that planet, and with it- 1 attachment as well.

Mind you we were not competitive and did not have 3 core sets, just 2, but the card was effective on that last planet I needed. Alternatively I had blackmane Sentinel and Land Raider in my hand as well, but chose the Predator instead. It seemed like a lot better choice.

So what was bugging me about this card was that Ragnar is a warlord hunter and if he had Ragnar's War Camp and this predator tank here, he would be able to swing for double damage, so 10 points attack on the Space Wolves Predator. Not being able to have your opponent's warlord go to the planet where this tank is seemed a bit weird.

But then I thought of the fact that if the warlord cannot commit to this specific planet, you can then lessen the options of your opponent to choose which planet to go to. Thus, Ragnar would have easier time to guess where your opponent's warlord might go.

Kind of cool, but definitely expensive. Anyone had any luck with hunting by using this card and sending Ragnar to other planets? 

Well, you can use Blood Claw Pack to put this unit into play for 0 cost and swing at opposing WL for 10 damages with the Warcamp in play.  

Of course Ragnar has to be there too.... grumble 

The whole thing with Ragnar is to make it damn hard for the opponent to decide where to commit to.

So you put threats on every planet and lower the choices.

I find the tank's best played in Shadowsun since you get a whole bunch of cost reducers for it