Northernlion Rates Every Ironclad Card in Slay the Spire! 

Highest POSSIBLE tier of thumbnail imaginable.

Okay, the thumbnail is magnificent

Now rate every Isaac item

He actually did it. The absolue madman

I gotta be honest, I didn’t expect to see this video in my feed

Skipped cleave and heavy blade, what a misplay.

Your thumbnail game has ascended.

Review every single block in mine craft please

skipping cleave was great

While we love to meme on you, Ryan, all the damage done to your self-esteem is a little harrowing to see. Be more confident. We love your content. Even if you fail, the courage it takes to post your failure is leagues above my courage to watch. Keep going dude. Happy new year.

Hello fellow Eggheads! If you're interested here's each card that Big Daddy Egglord rated, listed in chronological order along with the time of appearance, for convenience. Enjoy. Bash- 2:15 Defend- 3:04 Strike- 3:33 Anger- 4:12 Armaments- 5:34 Body Slam- 6:06 Clash- 7:39 Clothesline- 9:13 Flex- 10:40 Havoc- 12:14 Headbutt- 14:41 Iron Wave-15:55 Perfected Strike- 16:50 Pommel Strike- 18:37 Shrug It Off- 19:34 Sword Boomerang- 20:51 Thunderclap- 21:54 True Grit- 22:38 Twin Strike- 23:48 Warcry- 24:13 Wild Strike- 25:40 -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Battle Trance- 26:52 Blood For Blood- 28:30 Bloodletting- 30:13 Carnage- 31:42 Combust- 32:32 Corruption- 33:14 Disarm- 34:50 Dropkick- 36:01 Dual Wield- 36:28 Entrench- 38:04 Evolve- 39:41 Feel No Pain- 40:48 Fire Breathing- 41:37 Flame Barrier- 43:09 Ghostly Armor- 43:51 Hemokinesis- 44:21 Infernal Blade- 45:07 Inflame- 46:19 Intimidate- 46:39 Metallicize- 47:14 Power Through- 48:38 Pummel- 49:14 Rage- 50:12 Rampage- 51:13 Reckless Charge- 51:58 Rupture- 52:10 Searing Blow- 53:05 Second Wind- 54:07 Seeing Red- 54:48 Sentinel- 55:38 Sever Soul- 56:09 Shockwave- 56:28 -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Cleave- 57:31 Spot Weakness- 57:52 Uppercut- 58:26 Whirlwind- 59:24 Barricade- 1:00:07 Berserk- 1:00:40 Bludgeon- 1:01:29 Brutality- 1:02:03 Dark Embrace- 1:02:19 Demon Form- 1:02:30 Double Tap- 1:03:17 Exhume- 1:03:47 Feed- 1:04:36 Fiend Fire- 1:04:44 Immolate- 1:05:06 Impervious- 1:06:05 Juggernaut- 1:06:34 Limit Break- 1:07:18 Offering- 1:08:07 Reaper- 1:08:45 And that's all folks! Hope this makes things a bit easier! Special Thanks to Northernlion for making this vid. Being a Slayer myself, I like hearing opinions on cards, so this was a pleasant surprise. As my favorite internet personality, I hope you continue to provide us with such quality entertainment. You maintain a genuine sense of humility and self-awareness with humor, wit and honesty; All the while keeping fluid, engaging conversation that very few have managed to accomplish to the extent I expect from having listened to your ramblings over the years. I guess the bottom line is: Thanks Northernlion, you've made a difference in my life, kept me sane through hard times... I can't even quantify how much I appreciate the loyalty you show towards the community that has amassed, even through the many unique (and unorthodox) methods of showing their acknowledgement. As far as I'm concerned, you're an invaluable asset to your respective communities, and you stand as the purest example I have found of a person with the proverbial "Gift of gab". Truly, the only egg of his kind. The Egglord. Cheers, mate.

oh no baby what is you doing

Alright now do this but with a game you've never played.

Decided to break this up into sections. Common, Uncommon and Rare, that way it will post in the RU-vid Comments. I had over 10,000 Characters all together, which isn't postable. Uncommon Cards Battle Trance- 26:52 Rating- 5/5 NL Summary- "Best used after playing your other draw cards. Will kill an Artifact. Gets exponentially worse when you have more than 1." Blood for Blood- 28:29 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Garbage if drawn on first turn. Offering, Blue Candle, Rupture, Hemokinesis makes the card amazing. Awesome damage dealer on long fights." Bloodletting- 30:12 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Dicey. Doesn't like using cards that cause you to lose HP and don't exhaust. Prefers Seeing Red. Burning Pact- 31:08 Rating- 1/5 NL Summary- "The previous exhaust cards are better. Underates draw." Carnage- 31:41 Rating- 3/5 bordering 4/5 NL Summary- "Likes the card. Amazing early game, great at taking out Lagavulin, obelisks, and good on bosses. Combust- 32:32 Rating- 1/5 without Rupture, 2/5 with Rupture. NL Summary- "Situational. Rupture makes it better. Good for the Obelisks, and birds on the second floor." Corruption- 33:14 Rating- 2/5 or 5/5 NL Summary- Upside much of your deck will cost 0. If you can get benefit for exhausting even better. Downside it takes up a whole turn to play it. With Dead Branch obvious take. Rarely takes Corruption without Dead Branch." Disarm- 34:50 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Bodies Guardian and Hexaghost. As well as the Book of Stabbing. Dropkick- 36:01 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "You never want it if you don't have Vulnerability. Dual Wield- 36:28 Rating- 2/5, or 4/5 if you have 0 cost attacks or a staggering amount of energy. NL Summary- "Situational. Is a 2 most of the time." Entrench- 38:04 Rating- 1/5, or 5/5 if you are rolling barricade, or good blocks and calipers. NL Summary- "Early, since it costs 2 it is horrible. At 1 energy it is good enough. Evolve- 39:40 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Great on 1st Floor, makes Obelisks a joke. Works great against the Hexaghost. Great with Immolate. Feel No Pain- 40:48 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "Free win against the Obelisk. Likes it a little worse than Evolve. Works well with Corruption, and Juggernaut." Fire Breathing- 41:36 Rating- 0/5 NL Summary- "Never takes it. Complete Trash." :LUL: Flame Barrier- 43:09 Rating- 4/5, might even be a 5/5 NL Summary- "Takes it every time it pops up, especially early. Upgraded it is insanely great. Block of 2 Shrugs, and the damage of 2x basic Caltrops or Bronze Scales. Bodies the birds." Ghostly Armor- 43:50 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Reliable source of cheap block. Good early." Hemokinesis- 44:20 Rating- 2/5 without Rupture, 3/5 with Rupture possible 4/5 NL Summary- "Wouldn't be his first choice, but it isn't bad." Infernal Blade- 45:07 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Takes it often times. Ability to get an attack for 0 is good. Upgraded insanely good. Bad if you draw, Drop Kick, or Wild Strike. Great if you draw Immolate, Bludgeon, Perfected Strike, or Heavy Blade. Can make your deck better for the rest of the fight." Inflame- 46:17 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Maybe a little better if you building a strength focused deck." Intimidate- 46:38 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "Worst case scenario you purge all artifacts from enemies, would rather have a trip." Metallicize- 47:14 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Doesn't really like it. Tends to not have good success with Metallicize. Better with Juggernaut." Power Through- 48:38 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "A little better with Evolve. Fiend Fire or Sever Soul will help remove the wounds. Sometimes the block is needed." Pummel- 49:15 Rating- 3/5, 4/5 with Strength, 5/5 with Demon Form NL Summary- "Not really taken early, however if it is take a Flex or Inflame or something. More of a late game enabler." Rage- 50:12 Rating- 5/5, possible 6/5 if you have 0 cost attacks NL Summary- "With Juggernaut it is perfect. Disgustingly good. Only downside is if you draw it when the enemy is not attacking. It costs 0 regardless though." Rampage- 51:14 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Can't really make his deck thin enough, and draw enough to make it work. Would prefer to take another option." Reckless Charge- 51:57 Rating- 1/5 NL Summary- "Better with Feel No Pain or Evolve. Never takes it." Rupture- 52:10 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "Enables Offering, JAX, Hemokinesis, some Curses like Pain. Try to get something that gives you HP back. (Reaper)" Searing Blow- 53:05 Rating- 2/5, sometimes a 1/5, sometimes a 3/5 NL Summary- "Requires too many upgrades on high ascensions to make it viable. Searing Blow on Nonascensions is fun." Second Wind- 54:06 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Confused about it. Doesn't take it often." Seeing Red- 54:48 Rating- 5/5 NL Summary- "Downside takes up a spot in your hand. Helps getting high cost Powers out." Sentinel- 55:37 Rating- 1/5 NL Summary- "Sucks. 4*/5 with Corruption it is insanely good, or a True Grit." Sever Soul- 56:09 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "Early on reliable damage source." Shockwave- 56:28 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "Blown out by 2 or more artifact enemies. Buys a lot of time on elites. Valuable AoE." Spot Weakness- 57:51 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "If you can reuse it with Headbutt and draw, but usually a bit too slow." Uppercut- 58:26 Rating- 4/5 Unupgraded, 5/5 Upgraded NL Summary- "Gets better with Necronomicon, damage a little underwhelming. Better Bash. Takes it almost every time it shows up." Whirlwind- 59:24 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "AoE is very important, would at least take one everytime it shows up. Downside it is an X card, which can be good and bad. Good against weak first floor enemies and birds, not so great at bosses." Rare Cards Barricade- 1:00:07 Rating- 1/5, or 5/5 NL Summary- "Is enabled with good blocks and Entrench." Berserk- 1:00:39 Rating- 1/5 NL Summary- "Terrible power, especially on Ascension. Never takes it." Bludgeon- 1:01:29 Rating- 3/5 borders 4/5 NL Summary- "Take it everytime if it shows up early game." Brutality- 1:02:03 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Works very well with Rupture. Not normally worth the HP cost." Dark Embrace- 1:02:19 Rating- 2/5 NL Summary- "Really only works in an exhaust and corruption deck." Demon Form- 1:02:30 Rating- 2/5 or 4/5 NL Summary- "Must take, most of the time a must have in strength decks." Double Tap- 1:03:17 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Benefits from being upgraded, almost always takes when it shows up." Exhume- 1:03:47 Rating- ?/5 He didn't rate it. Classic Egg. NL Summary- "Early it is horrible. Reaper, Pummel, Offering makes it good. Great with Feed. Works insanely well with Ritual Dagger." Feed- 1:04:36 Rating- 4/5 NL Summary- "Almost always takes it. Good regardless of when it shows up." Fiend Fire- 1:04:44 Rating- 3/5 bordering 2/5 NL Summary- "Reliable source of damage. Makes it a tough decision whether or not you want to exhaust your current hand for that extra damage." Immolate- 1:05:06 Rating- 5/5 or even 6/5 NL Summary- "Favorite card to see early game. You will probably cruise through the first floor. Bodies most of the first floor. You won't see the downside unless it becomes a long fight, even then the burns are not too bad to deal with. Immolate + Headbutt = Beaten 1st Floor." Impervious- 1:06:06 Rating- 3/5, 5/5 with Barricade NL Summary- "Good enough." Juggernaut- 1:06:34 Rating- 2/5 or 3/5 NL Summary- "Too expensive to work in a nonblock deck. With Rage it becomes disgusting." Limit Break- 1:07:18 Rating- 0/5, 3/5, or a 5/5 NL Summary- "Getting it as a reward when you start your run, it is a dead card. Offering- 1:08:08 Rating- 3/5 NL Summary- "On higher level ascensions it isn't as good since HP is precious." Reaper- 1:08:46 Rating- 3/5, sometimes 4/5, sometimes 5/5 NL Summary- "Not great against single targets. Great against groups, even better with Strength."

Hey Northern, do you offer esports coaching for Slay the Spire?

the mean laser eyes knowledge is very useful

LITTLE BIT OF A BACKLOG

Thanks for this video! I've been struggling to beat the heart on Ascension 5 and this has helped me think about the relative values of a bunch of cards differently.

I never imagined NL as a talk with your hands kinda guy but he definitely talks with his mouse

If he actually did this, now we can expect that might actually do the Evangelion podcast thing

i love this man so much

honestly more reasoned than i thought it be, and you have the chops to comment at this point so nice vid egg!

How does NL, reviewing cards by himself, have better banter than most podcasts do?

NL I fucking love this, please make more videos like this in the future. Not necessarily card rating videos, just videos about games that aren't necessarily a single or multiple rouge-like runs in a video, very fun content.

i love the different video format! would love to see more videos like these but potentially for other series (not sure what that would look like but i'm excited nonetheless)

I loved this video! I have watched a lot of your slay the spire runs and I think it's great to see your reasoning behind certain card-picks. It also helps a lot as a player that isn't that great in this game! I also really don't mind the length of the video - the opposite even: I enjoy the more more deeper look into the combinations and uses of these cards and when or when not to take them. I am looking forward to see this kind of video for the other classes/ cards as well and really hope you don't get turned down due to the time it takes to make these.

Rate all the curses, eggman pls

MAKE A TIER LIST FOR THE ITEMS IN BINDING OF ISSAC AFTERBIRTH +++ NEXT EGGHEAD!

The only good synergy for Fire Breathing is the Boot. That does make it pretty decent.

I see he remembered how to make the meme laser eyes from the ABS Smash Bros video

USE THE ARROWS YOU MADMAN!

Havoc is a card best used with Headbutt. Use the Headbutt to put a Power or card that needs to be exhausted (curse/status/etc) on top the deck(the next card to be drawn). Makes it much easier to play Demon Form or Barricade.

every time nl takes metallicize: "wow this is incredible. why do i never take this" nl rating metallicize: "never take this card. ever" edit: "is there a relic that makes it so you cant be vulnerable?" how many times do you have to ask this question?!?

I’d actually be VERY interested to see an analysis of the colorless/curse cards. If you actually feel up to it, I really think people would absolutely love it

This is incredible, the thumbnail and the video together are just the greatest

This is absolutely one of the most hilarious gaming videos i've ever seen

I think his evaluations were surprisingly good except for a choice few.

Great video, I hope that we see the power ratings for the other characters too.

I never expected to see this but oh boy am I so fucking glad of seeing it. Also top tier thumbnail

You must be crazy man, i really appreciate your work

I'm so glad I can get a look into slay the spire so I can start watching

He skipped the legendary Cleave

NL: "Zero cost attacks are the best!" Also NL: "I think I'm gonna give Reckless Charge a 1..."

Wow it's amazing that even though we've both beaten A20 with Ironclad, we have completely different opinions on a lot of these cards. That really shows how much depth is actually behind this game. (Btw I give thunderclap a 4 minimum, I think its one of Ironclads best AoE card.)

Headbutt is a 5/5 because it can be used to get Entrench or Limit Break every turn, driving your defense and strength up to absurd levels. And even without that combo it retains a stunning level of versatility, with the damage just being a bonus. In particular its good witg Barricade/Entrench at which point it makes you basically invincible.

Such an out of character video for Ryan to make, I am keen to see the other videos in the series.

Thoroughly enjoy NL going in depth into a game he loves.

THIS is the kind of content i subscribed for

I think the disparity between his rating of pommel strike and shrug it off illustrate the whole StS series so well. "I love this card, and I hate this card, I can't tell you why but that's how I feel"

Please, metalizice is amazing. Is clearly 5 star card

I was super excited when I saw the smash thumbnail. Now I’m realizing he only knows one effect. I’m still very excited. One step at a time egg.

Loved this! But I'm gonna make another case for Power Through. I think it's so dope.

Solid ratings. I wanna see you rate the relics too

lmao the lensflare eyes are killing me

Damn dude you were actually exactly right about every card. Well done 👍

You know it’s a good video when dad googled how to do the laser beam meme eyes

Happy, 11,000, my, dude!

you're going ham with the eye glow effects now that you know how to do it

Glad to see that Egg is embracing his Eggness. That thumbnail is S+ Tier

This is the quality content I subscribe for.

Love this content, can you do for the other 2 charscters?

0:43 For anyone wanting to skip the spoiler :)

I thought this was some random fan compiling clips of whenever you said how much you liked a card

I'll be sure to come back to this video once I buy slay the spire when it's out of early access(which is pretty soon I hear).

He should do the same with The Binding of Isaac: active items, passive items and maybe trinkets; or maybe after the Repentance DLC launches.

Yoooo. Ya boy NL servin' Stone cold 1 h of his sweet sweet voice. This time no missplays. Inb4 must be a speedrun or quintuple loss.

the comeback of top 10 isaac items in its beautiful 2019 face

Yo, if you do all the cards and want to keep doing these videos, you should rate the boss relics as well.

Oh this is gonna be fun. BTW since when does NL does this kind of videos? X'D

spot weakness is very good, its cheap and re-playable scale. some situations are more common then others, exhaust is part of many iron clad cards, that's why some of those cards are better than you think

Warcry and/or Headbutt make Havoc so much better because they both allow you to choose the card that Havoc hits so it's just a really good way to play those expensive powers like Demon Form, Corruption, Blockade, and Juggernaut

The new Fire Breath is a lot of fun. I just got the game a week ago and had no idea that card used to be so terrible 😆

GOD TIER THUMBNAIL I think NL rates the majority of cards pretty accurately, but he does seem to underrate some cards such as Pommel Strike, Thunderclap, Metallicize and Offering. I don't think he overrates that many cards although Clash comes to mind, any enemies that gives you a status card, or any curse, or even some of the Ironclads own cards can severely impact cleave and at best make it inconsistent. Clash is only really good in very specific decks that build around it and have a good way to deal with status effects.

My first run ever I got Barricade, Panic Button and Body Slam very early, and I was like "people think this game is hard?"

I had this on in the background and heard him rating Fire Breathing a 1 and I was like "wait, WHAT?" then I looked and saw the effect....guess they retooled that one somewhere along the line, huh.

He ignores the fact that Dual Wield can duplicate powers too. Imagine tripling your Metalicize, or your Demon Form. It works better with Mummified Hand or Madness but regardless it can singlehandedly be your win condition

Nice video. Due to length, i played it at 1.5 speed and it still was very coherent.

I feel like NL undervalues discard and exhaust. They enable some insane decks for high ascension play and it's how you enable infinites, especially exhaust. I might edit this as I continue watching, but so far this is my impression.

It’s funny seeing him shit on metalicize so much now that he’s fallen in love with Wish’s plated armor, which is basically just more expensive metalicize

AHAHAH NL THIS VIDEO IS GORGEOUS Also: This fucking thumbnail you amazing human being Also also: Lets go

Legit thought this was a fan edit for a second

As someone who lives for watching new hearthstone card review, this was a blessing.

Cards like Iron Wave and Dash are great against anyone that gets buffed, or causes a debuff when you play a Skill, because it's an Attack. It deals damage but also provides block without playing a Skill.

Now this is the quality content I signed up for

Won two ascension 20 act 4 runs in a row today with corruption barricade and no dead branch in either. It’s a pretty good combo.

Great content.

This is the quality content I love

Metalicize works for me in pairs or triples with orichalcum or disarm. You have decent block every turn without any defense card.

Fire breathing in my oppinion is a 5 star for one reason upgrade and play any attacks and add more crowd control over time it's like playing the defect with lightning orbs

I thought it was gonna be a fanvid of all the clips of NL judging cards in his episodes

Draw exhaust and status he underrates.I better understand why he is struggling this much now.

I wish there was a "zane" mode where you could change the game values yourself (similar to modding I guess). I feel like people could create some really interesting setups.

This is my kind of content. You magnificent egg.

How does he underrate strength so much, I literally cleared ascension 15 to ascension 20 really easily and reliably using only aggresive strength decks.

Weird flex, but ok.

*Now do this with every Item in Isaac*

This video is love, this video is life.

2 for burning blood? Wow. That 2 energy could let you kill an enemy 1 turn sooner and prevent 20 damage. That is easily worth 3hp

Havoc is good with a high cost deck as well with war cry and or headbutt. At least from my experience. I've also noticed that when ppl discuss searing blow they forget armaments exists.

This is the content i love