First, let\u2019s look at his final promotion, it\u2019s a 5-cost\/4-promote base 80 with two effects. The first is \u201cEckesachs,\u201d the mighty blade of the king of Bern. For the cost of one bond, Zephiel can increase his own power and the power of another unit the player controls by 10 until the end of the turn. This effect is not once per-turn, and can be used even if Zephiel is the only unit the player controls.<\/p>\n

His second ability is a once per-turn \u201cLegendary Skill,\u201d that requires having used Eckesachs at least twice first: “Hartmut.” Hartmut forces the opponent to discard a card at random, and if that card shares a name with any unit they control, it destroys that unit on the field as well.<\/p>\n

Indiscriminate destruction effects are incredibly powerful in Cipher, and Zephiel is one of the few units to have one. Hartmut is one of the primary reasons Zephiel is so strong, as the ability is antithetical to how Cipher is meant to be played. Players often want ways to dodge attacks as their orb counts gets lower over time. Zephiel punishes this by simply forcing the card out of the opponent\u2019s hand and destroying them for it anyways. If your opponent happens to lack any copies of their main character, then Zephiel can simply swing instead. His base-80 body pretty much guarantees he\u2019ll trade even, if not over, the majority of other MC options. The only true downside to Zephiel is that his gimmick is a 2-bond investment, meaning that the timing and uses for Hartmut need to be done properly to ensure Zephiel keeps the momentum to push for game. Even if Zephiel fails to grab a copy of the main character through Hartmut though, simply denying resources by discard is incredibly powerful against a lot of decks, and can set them back even when he fails at his main game plan.<\/p>\n

His set 9 that we already touched on, also has two different abilities. The first one triggers when he attacks. By paying 2 bonds, Zephiel forces the opponent to discard 2 copies of their targeted unit to dodge his attack. His second ability is a follow up, that forces the opponent to discard a card from their hand when Zephiel destroys a unit.<\/p>\n

Neither of these effects are once per-turn, but the second ability, named \u201cLiberate the World,\u201d only care that the first ability was activated at least once. You could theoretically force your opponent to discard their entire hand this way with the right number of ways to refresh Zephiel, and also assuming your opponent has enough destructible units on the field. A lot of decks tend to skip this promotion. The base 70 power makes it easier for him to be destroyed by an enemy, and the 10-support power he provides mucks up the deck\u2019s combat potential. If one really feels compelled to use this version of the king in their build, they should probably restrict themselves to 1 or 2 copies unless they are focusing exclusively on using it as their final promotion.<\/p>\n

Zephiel has no bridge promotion, but he does have two different 1 cost variants. His set 17 is a base 40 with 10 support that gains +10 on the player\u2019s turns as long as he is the only unit the player controls in his line. This specific version of Zephiel doesn\u2019t mix well with his general strategy, so it\u2019s often skipped over, and not even run as a dodge option.<\/p>\n