Hall of Fame - Shub
In this article I will explore the best cards that the Shub-Niggurath faction has had to offer, why they were good, and why they might not be anymore. So without further ado, here we go...
AE R181 •Shub-Niggurath, Black Goat - Then: 10, Now: 6The best GOO ever made, and definitely the most likely to see play in the first set (without the Sepulchre). She was a bomb as soon as she hit the table, and usually meant you would eventually win the game just with her. Unless your opponent had a Short Fuse, which was pretty much the only solution. Eventually, more and more solutions have been brought into the game, and that combined with the increase in speed have pretty much relegated Shub to the sidelines. But oh what fun she was.
AE C184 Daughter of the Goat - Then: 8, Now: 6
A great 2-cost character with both Terror and Combat. She was one of several Shub characters like that which drew a lot of players toward it for the general "combat-ready-ness" of the faction. Winning lots of struggles is fun. She's still a great character for two-faction decks, but in a mono-faction deck she was completely overshadowed by Watkin's Boarder a couple sets later.
AE C185 Degenerate Ghoul - Then: 8, Now: 5
One of the best 1-drop characters out there, even without the skill. Terror and combat for 1-cost is huge, and allows you more time to set up your big characters. With the combination of Altar of the Blessed, all of a sudden this guy is amazing. Sadly, he just doesn't see play anymore because the cost-reduction possibilities are huge and the only 1-drops you're likely to see will be the Priestess or something in another faction.
AE C187 Hungry Dark Young - Now: 10
One of the best all-around characters ever created in the game, and a great example of early Shub acceleration. The power of getting two characters for 1 can't be understated, and this guy goes a step further by allowing you to recycle out of the graveyard. Sacrifice characters in your first turn at stories, because you'll be able to get them back later. This guy has moved on to be a major component of several different combo decks, still helps get Nyarlathotep into play, and sees regular play.
AE U190 Mi-Go Warrior - Then: 8, Now: 7
A great reusable source of wound prevention which was invaluable in the Agency wounding dominated Meta after Unspeakable Tales was released. This was a huge help to the Shub strategy, and is still just as successful today. Unfortunately, it doesn't see much play anymore because there usually isn't room in a deck for utility cards, and there's a lot more character removal than just wounding, so people will look for recursion more often than prevention.
AE C191 Mi-Go Worker - Now: 9
Another great example of Shub acceleration, and a great character for Shub. Not only does it give you early acceleration if you need it, but it also gave Shub some Investigation which is almost entirely absent. At a cost of 2, this card could also fuel Hungry Dark Young and Birthing a Thousand Young. This card has lost almost none of its power, and still works out very well with many deck strategies.
AE R192 Rampaging Dark Young - Then: 7, Now: 4
Combo-ing this card with Dimensional Rift gave birth to a fearsome deck-type known as Red Tide. Get a couple of these guys into play and then trigger the Rift to bring HDYs back, which will then bring something else back and run at stories unopposed. However, the huge character advantage possibilities, just couldn't keep up with the increase in the speed of the game, and these guys aren't worth much now.
AE R193 Slavering Gug - Then: 7, Now: 4
Their high cost and high ability cost never made them a first choice, but I always kept a couple in my decks in order to break any character stalls that would occur in the mid-game. They are still some of the only character removal that Shub has to offer, and they do it pretty effectively, if expensively. You're unlikely to use them now though, because Shub has enough icon manipulation that they generally don't need character removal. And if they do, Crackdown is a much more cost-effective solution than these guys.
AE U194 Slithering Formless Spawn - Then: 8, Now: 6
In a mono-faction deck, you couldn't get better stats for 3-cost. Terror, 2 combat, and tons of skill made these guys total powerhouses. They're still great cards, but there just isn't room anymore for characters that don't do anything to specifically forward your strategy. Therefore, they are casualties of a lack of card slots.
AE R195 Birthing a Thousand Young - Then: 9, Now: 6
HUGE amounts of character acceleration are the name of the game with this card. During Arkham Block, it often wasn't cost-effective to play cards over 3-cost, but Shub was a definite exception. Building your domain up to get this out was usually worth it, and then a turn later you could probably play Shub. Sadly, there's just so much other cheap acceleration out there that it often isn't worth playing this anymore. But this was a serious board-position changer.
AE U196 Bound by the Black Mother
AE U198 Caught in the Dreamlands - Then: 7, Now: 4
These two were the best of icon removal uncommons from this set, and were very powerful cards. They clearly set up Shub's dominance of the story phase, and were a pretty mean surprise for an opponent who didn't see them coming. They took a big hit with the introduction of Ezbekiyah Gardens, which was (arguably) more effective, and reusable. In addition, the Ghoul Khanum put more of a premium on gaining icons, rather than taking them from your opponent, so these events see little play today.
AE C197 Burrowing Beneath - Then: 10, Now: 9
The standard in support card destruction. There isn't a Shub deck out there that should get built without this, and it should only be removed if absolutely necessary. Few cards have had such faction-defining power and seen play in so many diverse decks. It has taken a recent hit in power with the introduction of Thunder in the East, but the ability to be played during any phase should not be undervalued.
AE R205 Altar of the Blessed - Then: 7, Now: 5
Extra skill for everyone, just because its awesome. This card was amazingly helpful for Shub, and continued the pattern of story phase domination. It also made Agency wounding that much harder to pull off, and gave Degenerate Ghouls the ability to go offensive.
AE C209 The Witch House - Then: 8, Now: 2
Great cost-reduction for its time, this was a must have for a good mono-faction deck, or even a deck that just played a majority of Shub characters. Unfortunately, just about every cost-reducer that has come out since has made this one irrelevant to play. Priestess of Bubastis is a much better choice, despite the added weakness of being vulnerable to character removal, simply because you can use it first turn.
UT U110 Albino Goat-spawn - Then: 7, Now: 6
2 combat icons and Toughness makes for a really nice 2-cost character. The Day drawback really wasn't too bad unless your meta had the Crimson Dawn deck running around. She got reinvigorated after Eldritch came out since the Khanum loves anything that can win an icon struggle by two all by itself.
UT C111 Forest Sister - Now: 9
Very hard to kill, and it has terror to slow down the rush. This character is the very essence of stalling, and makes a great wall. Any Shub combo deck is going to benefit from this one slowing the game down until their deck comes together.
UT C116 A Time to Reap - Then: 8, Now: 7
This is the kind of card that looks really cool at first but then loses a bit of prestige the longer you play with it. It doesn't really help your strategy, so it becomes a useless card very quickly in your deck. The best it will do for you is get out a couple characters from your big domain instead of just one. But it does earn a place in this list simply for being integral in a devastating infinite discard combo deck. There are a lot of possibilities when you combine this card with Shining Trap, and so this deserves to be on the list.
UT U121 Shocking Transformation - Now: 10
One of the best acceleration cards ever devised, and this card alone gave birth to a number of nasty surprise style decks, the most famous of which was the Shocking Ravager. This card allowed you to begin splashing in any character you wanted without worrying about being in-faction. Not to mention that this card practically guarentees that if you play with a particular character critical to your strategy, you'll get it into play. Instead of 4 copies of that character, you essentially have 8. Every Shub deck should at least consider using this card.
UT C122 Boarding House - Then: 7, Now: 5
Having a constant extra terror icon is always nice. The fact that you can run at stories and then choose afterward who gets the terror icon is even better. This was never a "necessary" card in your deck, but if you don't have a lot of terror, it really helps. This card also helps the Mi-Go subtype quite a lot since they are generally pretty lacking in terror.
FR U110 Ancient Guardian - Now: 9
Amazing icons and an amazing ability. This 4-cost character was definitely worth including in your deck, despite the "diminishing returns" nature of Arkham edition. He was a critical component of the infinite discard deck, and got renewed life in the Khanum deck since he can win two struggles by himself. And the best part about him is that your opponent often forgets. More than once I have won games because my opponent committed to stories thinking I couldn't. Then I ready the characters, and surprise, you lost.
FR U111 Mrs. Watkin's Boarder - Now: 9
The best thing to happen to the mono-Shub deck up until that point. She was in every way better than Daughter of the Goat, with more skill and the most amazing ability ever. She was the beginning of the end for Short Fuse, and I couldn't have been happier. In a two-faction deck, the Loyal can hurt a lot, so I'd probably go with the Daughter. But in a mono deck, there's nothing better for 2-cost.
FR C119 Hands of Colubra - Then: 7, Now: 4
This revisited Shub's theme of surprise icons, and did it amazingly well. You get so many great icons, you can use this card for practically anything. Eventually, The New Flesh came along and made this one obsolete, but it was a fun card at the time.
FR C120 The Reaping - Now: 9
More Shub acceleration at its best. If you want extra resources down in a turn, there is nothing better than this card. So many decks with high-cost stuff benefit from this card, that I find it hard to believe its not in more decks. If you haven't used this before, it deserves a chance.
FR R121 •Everlasting Chalice, Fecund Grail - Now: 8
Not all that spectacular by itself, but when you combine this with more Artifacts, it gets crazy. This is also one of several key components to the Artifact deck which steals all your characters, all the time, for free.
FR C122 Mi-Go Brain Case - Then: 8, Now: 6
The bane of Science of Destruction, or pretty much any good wounding strategy. Not to mention the fact that you can kill it yourself by smart story commitments and a good loss of the combat struggle. It doesn't see a lot of play anymore largely because people are looking toward recursion instead of protection, but it still has a place in the right deck. Just don't play this one in a highlander format.
FR R125 Watkins Family Plot - Then: 5, Now: 8
This card was generally pretty bad when it came out, mostly because there weren't enough good triggered abilities that you could overpay for and use to trigger this card. The deck types weren't strong enough, and so this cycle of cards really suffered. But with three more sets and some Asylum packs, these cards have really come into their own. Pulp Writer, Mentor to Vaughn, and others make this cycle dangerous and worth looking at again.
EE R181 •Shub-Niggurath, Thousand Young - Now: a very fun 6
There have been too great uses for this card that I've seen. First was a Wolrds Torn Asunder deck that discarded this and the Eldritch Yog and then played this one with Even Death May Die in order to play Yog as well. All this could be accomplished on first turn pretty easily. The other is the Wilbur Whateley infinite discard deck which decks yourself and then plays Shub to bring all your characters into play.
EE U184 Black Spawn from Below - Then: 9, Now: 7
Part of the now defunct Rainbow deck, which decimated Worlds 2005. This character remains worth playing even after the errata mostly because of the crazy amount of icons he has. And to top it all off, he's got toughness as well. I don't know what they were thinking when they were balancing this guy, but I'm glad we got him.
EE C187 Ghoul Khanum - Now: 10
This was the next in a line of very powerful, meta-changing commons which included Forced Entry, Fetch Stick, and Pulp Writer. It was definitely broken in its original form, and even now its a power to be reckoned with. When combined with Shocking Transformation or Mother's Seed, this girl is devastating. A first turn Khanum is pretty easy to accomplish, and painful for your opponent.
EE C191 Priestess of Bubastis - Now: 9
Generally much better cost reduction than their Arkham Edition support card counterparts. This is a must in a mono-faction deck, and worth considering if you have a majority of Shub characters. Its the only 1-drop you really need to play these days.
EE R193 Tomb-Herd - Now: 6
Not the best character removal in the game, but very helpful for a faction that desperately needs it. Add to that the fact that you can Shock it into play and surprise your opponent, and you've got a card worth considering.
EE R194 Veneration of Apis - Now: 10
Do I really need to talk about this card? This whole cycle had a massive effect on the meta and the game in general as soon as it appeared. The mono-Shub deck got a huge boost and the game has never been the same.
EE U197 Cannot Be Stopped - Then: 5, Now: 8
A replacement event for Watkin's Boarder, but still not quite as good since you have to leave a domain open for it. Still, the card draw is awesome, and it has recently come into the spotlight when you combo it with Nodens for a lot of fun.
EE C203 The Mother's Seed - Now: 10
One of the most dangerous cards in the game because it completely avoids costs. At the expense of sacrificing a cheap character, you can bring in any non-Ancient One character you like. It doesn't even need to be in-faction. And the steadfast is usually easy enough to generate. This card drives the Khanum deck, and opens up a lot of splash possibilities as well.
EE R208 Ezbekiyeh Gardens - Then: 10, Now: 9
The penultimate card in the icon manipulation strategy. It lost a little bit of power when the FAQ declared that it can only choose icons the character doesn't already have. Even still, that's usually not a problem, and this can be a huge factor in almost any deck. Your opponent will be very wary of almost any story commitment, and with good reason. This card wins games.
There really wasn't much worth mentioning for Shub in Masks of Nyarlathotep, but here's the best from that set...
MN R114 Interstellar Visitor - Then: 9, Now: 1
Part of a cycle of really overpowered cards dubbed the "ritualists" since that's what they were powered off of. Thankfully, they got nerfed, but probably too much because they're useless now.
MN C123 Triune Mask - Now: 7
Toughness for free, but more importantly than that, this is good card in the nasty Nyarlathotep deck, and so it gets a little recognition.
MN R125 Fungal Colony - Now: 8
One of the best of the undrained domain cycle, and helpful in any number of decks. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't done so already. This is one of the handful of rare cards worth getting from Masks.
FC C115 Swaying Branches - Now: 9
An evil, evil card which has only been made worse by the ruling that "moving" wounds does not constitute "wounding" and therefore can affect Invulnerable characters. These guys are horrible when combined with the Ravagar from the Deep or Nodens.
FC C116 A Noxious Birth - Now: 9
Character recursion for nothing more than exhaustion. This card is even more insane because of the fact that it doesn't have to be a Shub character, or even a non-Ancient One. Why, hello there Nodens!
FC C118 Change of Seasons - Now: 8
Another great recursion card, of course this one requires a sacrifice. Of course, sometimes that can be to your advantage. This card is critical in Azathoth and Nodens decks, and worth taking a look at in general.
FC U120 The New Flesh - Now: 9
Like I mentioned earlier, this card blew the roof off of Hands of Colubra. A little bit of terror, combat, and arcane for three (?!?!) characters is amazing. Add to that the synergy it has with Ghoul Khanum and you have a powerhouse of an event.
FC R124 Still Life
FC U125 Temple of Haon-Dor - Now: 8
These two cards have breathed much needed life into the insanity strategy, and made that deck a real contender. Shub and Hastur haven't always been the best pairing, but there are more and more reasons, and a lot of those reasons start with these cards.
SM F13 Dreamlands Messenger - Now: 7
No surprises here. This guy gives you some Investigation which is almost entirely missing from Shub, and makes sure that you're opponent won't be pulling anything funny once he's committed. He drastically changes certain deck strategies when he hits the table. He does however lose some points since he doesn't really belong to any strategy by himself, and therefore is hard to always find a place for him in the deck.
SM F14 Glimpse of the Void - Now: 9
No single card has helped out combo decks more than this since the introduction of Shining Trap. The stalling this card provides is so huge it can't be understated. Yet another reason why if you are playing combo, you need to seriously look at Shub.
KD F14 Thunder in the East - Now: 8
The best new support destruction since Burrowing Beneath. It only costs 1 and it gives you a card on top of that. It does have one major drawback though, since it needs to be played in the operations phase. Because of that, it only gets an 8 instead of a 10.