So last week I showed off the second summoner for my custom Summoner Wars faction: the Sylvan Vargath. There were several design goals I hoped to achieve with this deck. I wanted to make a melee focused force that were hyper aggressive but did not rely on free units to score an economy advantage over their opponents. Instead, I wanted to try and create a more expensive troupe that was too tough to kill before they got across the board. Furthermore, I wanted them to balance on a very thin edge by getting a number of bonuses for being wounded even though that brought them closer to death. My final challenge was to wrap all these mechanics in a flavour that gave a wild and dark impression as though the force were fashioned from the rejects and outcasts of a fantasy society.

Andrasteia and her events represented the hard to arrange but powerful if you did concept. A number of her events require very specific triggers before they can occur with, perhaps, the Child of Nyx stealing the show as a powerful one attack, four wound conjuration that has the potential to do up to three wounds every Sylvan Vargath round.

Now we’ll cover the forces that work beneath Andrasteia. Here, the concept of fringe society is really pushed to its limits. And we’ll see the question brought up again and again: what is the price one is willing to pay for power?

Satyr Drinking from Grapes by David de Haen (1597-1622).

Barbaros (1M-2W-2M-Untamed Heart) – 6

Untamed Hearth – When moving this Barbaros, you may move up to 1 additional space. If this Barbaros moved through 3 different spaces this turn, increase its Attack Value by 1.

Ah, the Barbaros. I thought this guy was going to be super underwhelming. It almost falls into the Plaid Hat “one card must be trash in every deck” design. However, the first game my sister played with the Sylvan Vargath abused the hell out of these guys. They are designed to be a 2 melee, 2 wound common for 2 magic. At six in a deck, you’ll be able to reliably find them in any decent amount of draws. But in order for them to be worth their price, these guys have to run otherwise you’re overspending two magic for some rather lackluster stats. In comparison, the Shadow Elf Swordsman is a 2 melee, 1 wound for one magic that can move an additional space. So how are these guys suppose to be any good?

Well, for one you will make them run and having multiple three space moving units hitting for two melee can get bewildering. They can block lanes or threaten summoners are just a slightly larger range. Most importantly, they’re fantastic targets for Andrasteia’s Shroud of the Mother since this can increase their movement by a really impossible to predict amount. Best case scenario is you summon a fresh Barbaros, play Shroud to hop that Barbaros to a unit two spaces in front of a mid-board Andrasteia then run him three more spaces to strike some backliner–preferably the opponent’s summoner. That’s five plus squares that can be achieved by as many Barbaros which qualify for the maneuver.

While I was rather unimpressed with them when creating them, I don’t think I would buff the Barbaros either. Sure, you have to work in order to make him not be an overpriced Guardian Knight but his unassuming stats make him easy for the enemy to ignore. He also needs, on average, three dice to statistically bring down and if you leave him wounded he can threaten a Retribution on his turn before running off and punching some sucker or a wall in the face. Or blocking for Andrasteia and turning into a Child.

Vates (1M-3W-2M-Blasphemous Rites) – 7

Blasphemous Rites – This Vates may move through other Units but must end its turn on an unoccupied space. If wounded, move 1 extra space and roll a die every time this Vates moves through a unit. On a result of 3 or higher, place 1 wound on the passed unit. Otherwise, place 1 wound on this Vates.

Yerp, that’s movement. Here’s two commons at two magic for one attack. But both focus on turning out extra dice through other means. I like the Vates myself, though they have a tendency for blowing themselves up on me than actually throwing out three wounds. Truthfully, it took a long time to create this common and it wasn’t until I decided that I wanted a deck that turned on abilities as its units drew closer to death that I settled on this design. The moving through units was important so a defensive player couldn’t easily block off their summoner from the Sylvan Vargath charge. At three movement, you have to stack your defenders quite deep to keep them out.

It wasn’t until I settled on the design I realized I’d just created a common Satara. And I love Satara and think she’s bonkers. So I added the self wounding for the failed attacks they get when they pass through units. It’s a gamble but one that can be quite painful if you’re lucky. Since the majority of units in Andrasteia’s army are melee, it means that the opponent generally gets to focus their attention at killing each unit one by one and the Vates being incredibly unthreatening without wounds makes them perfect targets for a Child’s range attack. Their three health makes them far harder to focus down in one turn if they’re fresh too. With seven in the deck, they’re kind of the bread and butter of Andrasteia’s forces though, despite my love for them, I find I don’t summon that many in a game.

Allegory of Virtue and Vice by Lorenzo Lotto (1505).

Hamadryas (3M-3W-4M-Deep Roots) – 5

Deep Roots – Abilities and Events may not exchange or place this Hamadryas or enemy Units adjacent to this Hamadryas. When moving adjacent enemy units, they must move at least 2 clear straight line spaces away from this Hamadryas or they may not move.

This is the reason you don’t see many Vates. There is but one other common with the same stat and that’s the Swamp Orc Savager. Which is a pity because I really like the three attack, three wound line. It makes them hit hard but fall fast. Hamadryas having a confusing ability (sorry about that) which is designed specifically to feed of Andrasteia’s Inescapable Night. So what does it mean? Any enemy beside a Hamadryas gets caught in the tree spirit’s entangling clutches and must spend all of their movement escaping them or face that terrible three melee attack. These are the bodyguards for Andrasteia. Enemy forces trying to skirt around your army to strike your summoner get stuck against these tree spirits and in order to break free have to move out of position from hitting Andrasteia. Even worse, if they’re on the wrong side of the Hamadryas and within Andrasteia’s Night they can’t move at all because they lack the number of movement points to run away.

And this triggers on enemy units. That includes conjurations and summoners! Yes, Andrasteia can lock down an enemy summoner with a Hamadryas and Night. This doesn’t happen that frequently, that 3 wound stat coming in strong here. But given that these spirits are almost always beside Andrasteia, they’re the motivation the Sylvan Vargath outcast needs in order to have souls to entice those Children onto the field. A Hamadryas at one health is still a terrible foe and obstacle and your opponent will rather have the Child flinging wounds on the board than deal with this very effective blocker.

So what’s the downside? Hamadryas can not move with Shroud. Which is for the best as they could have had some crazy combo turns if I had not put this restriction in. However, it’s also a boon as it prevents tricky plays through Silts Cunning, Woeful Brother’s Swift Maneuver or anything else that shifts opponents. However, not all is lost as Hamadryas can be moved by Controllers, Brutes and the like. So Andrasteia has to be mindful that her defence isn’t impenetrable. It’s just very tough. And kind of scary.

Apollo and Marsyas by Giovanni Batista Langetti (1660).

Lycaon (3M-6W-8M-Cursed Blood) – 1

Cursed Blood – Once per turn, after attacking with Lycaon you may place 2 wounds on an adjacent Sylvan Vargath Unit you control and immediately attack with Lycaon one additional time.

So… yeah. This is a thing.

One of the original weaknesses of the Sylvan Vargath was I intentionally designed them to be poor against enemy champions. The first summoner produced so many wounds against commons that they could cleave through other common focused forces with great ease but a strong, tanky champion like Gror or Krung could really do some damage. I didn’t want to create a silver bullet with the second summoner but since Andrasteia doesn’t create nearly the same attack bonuses as the original summoner, I felt like there should be an option to deal with a single, massive target.

Lycaon is that answer. Six attack is pretty unprecedented. Lycaon can, with some luck, one shot the majority of the game’s summoners. But to do this, you have to maim a unit. Also, eight magic is a massive sink on par with the aforementioned Krung. Only Hellfire Drake is more expensive but there’s no way to reduce the cost of champions in the Sylvan Vargath like there are in the Fallen Kingdom. And you’re only getting six health for that investment as well. He’s probably the most fragile of the highest priced champions. I feel like he’d be rarely played and often for Hail Mary situations.

The other thing to keep in mind is that nothing in this deck is cheap. All the commons cost two or more magic and now they have one of the most expensive champions? There’s some tough magic management built into the Sylvan Vargath which adds an extra layer of complexity to an already complex faction. This is not a beginner deck and Lycaon is perhaps the most straightforward of the three champions.

Still… you can one shot summoners…

Diactoros (1M-6W-6M-Tranquil Envoy) – 1

Tranquil Envoy – When Diactoros is not adjacent to any Unit you control, reduce the Attack Value of all enemy Commons and Champions within 2 spaces of Diactoros by 1. A Unit’s Attack Value may not go below 0 from this ability. 

Alright, I really struggled with pricing this champion. His wording is designed specifically so he doesn’t make the first Sylvan Vargath summoner stupid broken. But since Andrasteia has a bunch of single units running all across the board on their own, keeping them away from the Envoy is pretty easy. So what does Diactoros do? He adds toughness to your army without actually adding health to your units. He shuts down sections of the board, stripping units of their ability to wound your forces.

I won’t lie, I have no idea of this guy is incredibly broken or not. He has a big question mark over him in terms of balance. He almost all but shuts down common play where I feel the majority only have one attack value. At six health, he’s incredibly difficult to bring down as well. The only saving grace is that he has but one attack value so if he does get into a fight with a tough opponent, he’ll probably fold… eventually. The range on his ability is also very strict because, once again, I’m unsure if it is even suitable for Summoner Wars or not. I think he hit the table once during our few playtests which is why I’m so unsure of him.

I do like the theme I built around him, however. He’s like the Sylvan Vargath peace ambassador that just happens to be bombing around the area when Andrasteia attacks. He’s not really part of her forces (he loses his ability if beside an ally) but all he wants to do is spread peace and tranquility so he doesn’t really interfere either. Just another outcast of society trying to change the world the best he can.

Satyr and Bacchant by Henri Gervex (1852-1929).

The Horned Priest (2M-4W-4M-Presence of Cernunnos) – 1

Presence of Cernunnos – Instead of attacking with The Horned Priest you may target an adjacent wounded Common Sylvan Vargath Unit you control. The target Unit may move up to 2 spaces and attack with an additional 1 Attack Value. If it fails to kill an enemy unit, place 1 wound on it.

So we’ve gone from one of the most expensive champions to one of the cheapest. This is my idea of a hard “support” champion. Despite being a champion, The Horned Priest has statistics akin to a common unit. So what does he offer?

Well quite a bit, actually. And that’s partly because I discovered he was super over-priced the first iteration I did. Originally, he just let another common attack a second time with a free move but to give up his attack to do this proved to be incredibly useless. But with the additional 1 to the attack value, things get more interesting. First, he can push those Barbaros into their Untamed Heart territory through that extra movement. They can then be three attacks at over five spaces! He can make those Hamadryas suddenly hit for four dice. Wounded Vates can pass through even more enemies. He does something for every single common that he shouldn’t ever be a bad choice no matter what your board state is. Furthermore, he can hang in the back, constantly propelling units forward with two additional movement, encouraging them again and again to draw more and more blood for his mysterious unspoken deity.

Oh, and did I mention that he turns Vates Rites on if they fail to get kills so even if your target whiffs you’re still getting a bonus? And he opens up that boosted Barbaros or Hamadryas for a Retribution if they’re not killed on the opponent’s turn?

Suddenly, spending the four magic on him doesn’t seem so bad.

The one downside is that he only triggers adjacent enemies so placement does get tricky. But you aren’t forced to move his target so Vates and Barbaros can still hit for a decent two attack and protect the priest at the same time. And he turns Hamadryas bodyguards into little murder machines. He’s not really a game changer like most champions are, however, but I feel that plays better into a common focused deck. Your commons are suppose to steal the show and the Horned Priest gives them all the spotlight to shine.

And this is why I’m reluctant to improve the Barbaros even further. The deck really needs to take together all its pieces and, while on a card-to-card basis it may be weaker to similar offerings in other factions, as a whole it brings a whole lot more to the table. I think this is the direction to design a faction. Fill it with pieces that all work together so that a player is reluctant to deck build them out. While I have a reinforcement pack designed, I don’t know what I would replace. I would certainly experiment with some of the new pieces but it does leave a difficult question of what I remove for the new toys. This is in stark contrast to other factions like the Sand Goblins where you’re more than happy to drop all those useless Scavengers from your list as soon as possible.

So how does this deck fare? Honestly, it has lost more games in testing than it’s won. Granted, it has a small sample size and, more importantly, its facing decks that we’re far more familiar playing. It has a rather high skill ceiling for the game, however. More importantly, it’s fun and I can’t help but grin every time I pull off a new trick even if it doesn’t win me the match.

Late post because Rogers Internet is awful and was down all weekend. What can you do?

I was cleaning up some things and stumbled across my old Summoner Wars Alliances box. Yes, this is a Summoner Wars post but the rest of my work is rather disinteresting so deal with it.

I’ve been pretty quiet on this little board game despite spending quite a number of posts covering my thoughts and feelings on it. As it turns out, I was gifted a whole bunch of Netrunner for my birthday and, as such, I’ve been transitioning to picking up that little hobby. I suppose you can expect more discussions on that game design in the future… once I start wrapping my head around it. Alas, Netrunner is a lot more complicated than Summoner Wars so it might take some time before I feel I have any input to make on that game. But between Netrunner and the day-to-day business of life, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to focus on the Summoner Wars. As such, it has started to gather dust quite a bit sooner than I would have anticipated. Thus, imagine my surprise when I opened it up and recalled that I had been busy tinkering away on the little thing.

Thus to the title of this article–I’ve made a thing. Specifically, I’ve created a custom faction for the game.

This started with my misguided attempts to tweak some of the shipped products I wasn’t particularly happy with. Primarily, I was trying to adjust the Tundra Guild so they weren’t quite so disappointing out of the box nor as reliant on cards that I didn’t own in order to stand a chance. As I’ve mentioned before, Summoner Wars is a rather simple game with straight forward systems which makes comparisons between factions and mechanics a lot easier to analyse than in something like Dota 2. Speaking of which, that’s coming up…

Anyway, after coming up with my own variant of the Tundra Guild, my sister was quite eager for me to take a stab at one of her favourite factions–the Mountain Vargath. I don’t know why she likes the little blighters but their performance in our games had always been underwhelming. I wasn’t originally going to tackle the challenge but once I started tweaking the Tundra Guild I struck a wellspring of ideas and couldn’t resist toying with her request.

I’m not going to post the products of either of those, however. They ended up being sufficiently different that I felt it was more appropriate to simply go ahead and treat them like unique factions all on their own. So, I created a “reinforcement pack” for my newly christened Sylvan Vargath and even went so far as to make a second summoner. It is this deck that I wish to post because I feel that it has the freshest ideas as I was unshackled from trying to tweak existing mechanics and concepts. I was free to explore any design space I cared for and after playing with them a little, I think there’s something valuable in what I produced.

Do note, I have not sufficiently tested these cards to say they’re balanced. As mentioned, our interest in Summoner Wars has waned to the point that we don’t really play it anymore. Which is a pity because I think there’s quite a lot of opportunity available now that we’ve broken the gate on personal modifications and house rules that could take the game into really fascinating areas. Anyway, this is my disclaimer that I wouldn’t try and sell this deck in the state it’s in. There’s probably a bit more number tweaking left to truly align it with the rest of the game. But here’s what I made and my thoughts behind it.

Landscape with Satyr Family by Albrecht Altdorfer (1507).
Obviously, as a custom creation, I don’t have any art to go along with these cards so you’ll have to use your imagination. I did find art for the cards but that’s obviously under copyright so here’s more classic paintings!

Andrasteia (2R-6W-Inescapable Night)

Inescapable Night – Enemy Units that start their turn within 2 spaces of Andrasteia can only move up to 1 space on their turn.

Well, no better place to start the preview than the summoner herself. I designed Andrasteia with all the tweaks that I made to the original Mountain Vargath in mind. She was, from inception, a second summoner so a number of her design elements take into account the abilities and play style of that first faction. It may make explanations a little more difficult but I’ll try to be as clear as possible when explaining my thought process.

First thing to notice is that Andrasteia has the standard summoner statistics. If I had taken a census, I don’t remember it now but I wouldn’t be surprised to find the majority of the summoners in the game to have six health and two ranged attack. Normally, this wouldn’t be noteworthy except I want to draw specific attention to Andrasteia’s ranged attack. Since I was trying to create a faction that my sister would like, I was restricted into trying to create a deck whose primary strategy would align with her preferred play style. Which is to say, the Sylvan Vargath have to be a rush down deck. My sister likes moving pieces across the board and pummeling her enemy’s face. Unfortunately, this strategy is one of the weakest in the game. One of the more successful implementations of it is the Cave Goblin Frick. But he relies on zero cost commons and extra attacks to overcome the inherent advantage a defensive player gets with instantaneous reinforcement and superior positioning. I couldn’t just copy the same formula but I also had to make sure that I didn’t inadvertently make something that would be better at defence than offence.

Thus, I focused on the Vargath design of goats and came up with the idea of ‘The Herd.’ The way the original summoner works is by making a very tight, compact phalanx of troops that are so robust they can weather a passive enemy’s defence but were near entirely melee focused so had to rush towards them if they stood any chance of winning. In the original deck, there is but a single card with the bow symbol and it’s an overpriced champion. In this deck, I decided I’d give the sole ranged option to the summoner herself. Part of this bled from a thematic perspective. The original Sylvan Vargath are all about camaraderie and cooperation. Andrasteia, I knew, was going to be the faction’s dark half. She was the outcast and, as such, she would eschew all the noble ideals of her society. Whereas the first summoner wants honourable man-to-man combat, Andrasteia was all about pitiless results and brutal efficiency. Thus, she didn’t want to be in the thick of the battle like her predecessor but nor did I want her hiding in a corner either. I wanted her to be in the middle of the board, a design space wholly neglected at that point.

So how do I balance that? Well, giving her a ranged attack will keep her from the very front lines. But I needed something that would encourage her to creep out of the furthest row. Enter the Inescapable Night.

Phew, what an ability. To be honest, I’m not one hundred percent satisfied with it. The purpose behind it is to lend some sort of superiority when the Sylvan Vargath get into their desired board state. Specifically, once they’ve locked their opponents down in melee combat, they need some sort of bonus that puts things more in their favour. Typically, melee units have far greater attack power and health, so they’re more likely to win one-on-one engagements. Unfortunately, it’s rare that combat is ever one card against one. Part of the difficulty of a rush down faction is that ranged units will add extra dice against melee targets. Especially when you’re taking the fight on their side of the board and giving them more territory to maneuver in. This is compounded further by events and card abilities.

Inescapable Night toys with that. Units caught within that short bubble around Andrasteia aren’t going anywhere.  With properly positioned bodyguards, it makes it really difficult for opponents to flank or surround Andrasteia. It also–as the name implies–makes fleeing from her very difficult. In some instances, it becomes impossible. This is to play up the design idea of Andrasteia’s cruelty. So it’s trying to hit both flavour and design goals. Only issue is, I’m not certain it really makes it. The problem is, extend the radius on the ability and it will be too powerful. Make it too short and it’s nigh useless. I’m not certain there are enough spaces in Summoner Wars for Inescapable Night to hit that sweet spot. I erred on the side of making it too short otherwise the ability could win games all on its own.

This is certainly one aspect I’d like to re-examine and tinker with before I declared it final. But as a design concept–hindering the opponent’s movement in order to grant yourself an advantage–I kind of like. It also means that in certain late game match-ups, Andrasteia can be a titan on her own as weakened summoners will be unable to run away or attack from a distance in order to achieve victory.

But what good is a summoner without some events?

Pitiless Retribution (3) – Add 1 wound to every enemy Unit adjacent to a wounded Sylvan Vargath Unit that you control.

I feel that the most successful melee factions are ones that out wound their opponents. I suppose that could be said about every faction since wounds are the only way to win a game of Summoner Wars. More specifically, to overcome the positional advantage of ranged units, melee units should be able to wound on average more often than their ranged counterparts. The power of ranged units is that they get to–essentially–make a free attack against their enemy. If both cards are throwing equal number of dice, the ranged unit will win through greater successes because they’ll get more attacks to make. This arises because there’s no penalty to a ranged unit engaging a card in melee distance. Typically, ranged units have lower attack than their melee counterparts but with the numerous different cards released, there’s a number of factions that shore this weakness up rather handedly. Fallen Kingdom Warlocks, Sand Goblin Shamans and Javelineers are examples where this “balance” doesn’t hold. This wouldn’t be an issue if melee units had more tools and that’s where Pitiless Retribution comes in.

The Sylvan Vargath hold to the Vargath design of having hardier commons than normal. There’s not a single one health unit amongst the lot of them. This means they’re more apt to get into melee range (especially if you start to consider the reinforcement cards I created). Pitiless Retribution punishes every failed wound from the enemy. With three in the deck, you’re apt to draw one and, depending on timing and positioning, it can be quite a lot of free wounds. In practice, it’s closer to Greater Burn. You’re most likely to play it when you can achieve two wounds. Unlike Greater Burn, however, you can’t place them on the same target. Alas but another design goal was to push more towards common focus gameplay.

There’s a second element I want to draw attention to and that’s the wounded Sylvan Vargath trigger. Keep an eye on this as it’s a central theme to the Andrasteia deck.

Shroud of the Mother (2) – Any Common Sylvan Vargath Unit you control which is not adjacent to an enemy Unit may be placed adjacent to a Unit within 2 spaces of Andrasteia. 

Positioning, positioning, positioning. The first Sylvan Vargath summoner looked at being a good rush down faction by granting units extra movements over their opponents. I think every melee faction is going to need extra help in getting their forces into the enemy’s faces if they want to succeed. Shroud I wanted to tie into Andrasteia’s darkness and give some thematic idea that she’s pulling her forces through this malevolent night and attacking from all angles to confuse and disorient her prey. I also wanted to grant this ability as much flexibility as possible. It can be great for reinforcing a forward push with freshly summoned units (assuming Andrasteia is in that sweet middle board spot) or it can save stranded members of The Herd that may have been isolated–assuming they aren’t already engaging their opponent in mortal combat. Finally, it needed the added flexibility of transporting units right beside Andrasteia in case she does get surrounded by being in that dangerous territory close to her enemy’s walls.

With only two in the deck, however, it’s not really a card you can rely on. It’s tempting to carrying it in your hand but it can also doom you to stuffing your draw while you wait for the most opportune moment to play. I think this finicky aspect of it keeps it balanced despite it being a super charged Fall Back.

Outcast’s Mercy (1) – Do not play this Event during your Event Phase. Instead, when Andrasteia wounds an enemy Unit, you may play this event to remove up to 2 wounds from Andrasteia and place them on her target.

Yikes!

What I always wanted from Summoner Wars was for one off events to feel really “ultimate.” I wanted these cards which you can only ever have one of to really impact the game like your opponent just lay down his trump card. That’s not what we have, though. Instead, things like A Hero is Born are the sort of standard for single events. They’re basically auto builds since they’re so niche in their application that the one magic far outweighs whatever ability is lost from not playing.

Thus, Mercy is meant to bring that wow factor. This card is an auto two wounds (so a Greater Burn) plus a heal wrapped in one. I knew I needed some sort of healing, otherwise frontline summoners simply don’t stand a chance without a huge health pool. I do like that Summoner Wars is very strict about its healing options for summoners, though. Essentially, this is a game whose economy is in wounds. You have to have hard restrictions on who can abuse that. Most discourse circles around the game’s costs in magic but really, all magic is funneled towards creating wounds. Mercy gives you a four wound swing on the most valuable unit. It also, once again, strengthens Andrasteia’s late game potential. If the match comes down to a slug fest as Mercy hasn’t come out, you’ll probably lose the showdown.

It’s also an ability that does nothing if Andrasteia isn’t wounded. You need to be hurt in order to give hurt, reinforcing that theme again and again. This is a card that will stuff your hand because its potential only increases as the game goes on. Statistically speaking, you need nine dice in order to drop Andrasteia in one turn and those scenarios are very hard to create. But leaving a wounded Andrasteia is asking yourself to get a large blow back on the following round. I love when things can create hard decisions for players.

Two Satyrs but Peter Paul Rubens (1618-1619).
I don’t like anthropomorphic creatures but I didn’t want to completely remove the connection to the Mountain Vargath either. I settled for a middle ground, creating my Sylvan Vargath as satyrs. This, naturally, necessitated naming them all with Ancient Greek names.

Glimpsed Fate (3) – Do not play this Event during your Event Phase. Instead, when a Sylvan Vargath Common you control adjacent to Andrasteia is placed in the opponent’s magic pile, you may place a Child of Nyx from your Conjuration Pile on that space if able.

Child of Nyx (1M-4W-Being of Night)

Being of Night – At the end of each player’s turn, place 1 wound on a Unit up to 3 clear straight line spaces from this Child of Nyx. If you cannot, place 1 wound on this Child of Nyx.

Yes, Andrasteia has a conjuration pile. Yes, I lied about Andrasteia being the only ranged unit in the game. Yes, the Child is amazing.

Honestly, this card seems bananas. Even looking at it now I still think it’s ludicrous. But I wouldn’t change it. It’s the strongest conjuration with four health but that is a hefty challenge to get it on the board. Just take a moment to appreciate all the triggers that are needed:

1. Friendly Sylvan Vargath Common – restricts mercenary usage and champions

2. Adjacency – only playable if you’re getting swamped or you’re playing with bodyguards thus positioning needs to be exact.

3. Opponent’s Magic Pile – this only occurs at your enemy’s behest.

Point three is really key here. Anyone that’s played against the faction before will have the prior knowledge to know that any wounded unit hugging the outcast is looking to summon in a baby. This can be played around. And since Andrasteia has no ranged units, the onus is on the Sylvan Vargath player to make the scenario too drastic for the enemy to not want the child to be summoned. However, since its ability triggers at the end of both player’s turns, you have that double edged sword effect. You can get two wounds from this guy on your turn–one of which can’t be avoided–but your opponent can arrange his units so you get hurt at the end of his turn. This guy is a wound spitter but he’s indiscriminate about who he spits on.

Also, since the unit has to die beside Andrasteia, there are a number of scenarios that can arise where Andrasteia takes the first wound from his appearance.

Obviously, it’s not all bad, however. Four wounds for no magic is a steal (well, one magic from playing the event I suppose). As I mentioned, he’s a potential three wounds per the Sylvan Vargath player’s rounds too (one for each end of turn and his own attack). A 3/4 for 0 is silly good. Also, those auto-wounds can really benefit you as well. Remember Mercy needs Andrasteia to be injured, so soaking a few of the Child’s hits is fine. You can also set up Retributions from units the opponent wasn’t wounding. We’ll also see another beneficial interaction in the commons where self wounds add more benefits.

Really, the Child brings home the whole deck’s design. It plays with the economy of wounds like no other and it generates those wounds at a ludicrous pace. But those trigger conditions are not to be underestimated. It is tricky getting them out on the board. And you really need to bury any delusions you have of three of these guys dominating the field. The event will clog your hand, especially if you’re trying to set up the other tricky to trigger events in the deck. Plus, these things do nothing against walls and will kill themselves after a certain number of rounds. They feel so strong when you pull them off but it doesn’t take long for you to realize the downsides of the card and how it can be abused by both you and your enemy.

Tune in next week to see the meat of the deck: the champions and commons!