Last time, we saw how Sera Eldwyn of the new Vanguards in Summoner Wars relaunch had a slick coat of sparkling paint. With some very nice looking events and an ability that lets her command additional troops from her mighty Citadel, she’s become quite a terrific battlefield commander. 

But returning lost Citadel units is only useful if those units themselves are good, right?

Well, why don’t we take a gander at them.

First up is the Citadel Knight. This guy has one of the greatest transformations in the jump from old to new Summoner Wars. I’m sure most people don’t even remember the old Guardian Knight. And I wouldn’t blame them. Here he’s a hefty 5 health and two strength. I mentioned before with Svara how this is a pretty threatening unit in its own right. Better yet, Sera’s knights have the engage ability which appears fairly common now on units meant to hold the front of a battleline. One damage for moving past the knight isn’t terrible if you need to wiggle through but it does nettle. Furthermore, their protect ability means that simple worming around isn’t good enough to strike Sera behind as they must be the target of any adjacent attack. 

Thus, these knights end up being supplementary health pools for Sera thereby trivializing the danger of her being at the forefront of the battle so long as she has access to her bodyguards. And since she can pull them from the graveyard anytime they’re sent packing dirt, you can pretty effectively make a rather large roadblock to trying an assassination attempt against Sera. And they’re absolute walls to break too, so it’s no easy feat to simply remove the knight and attack with ranged units.

But though he sports great defence, if you’re wanting to lay on some hurt, you’ll turn to the Citadel Paladin. This guys… is mostly bought for his stats. He comes with a little less health for that seemingly coveted 3 strength attack. Drawing cards on a special results is nice and all, made more reliable with his high strength but it doesn’t really do much if you draw through your deck. He’s largely a beat stick and you’ll pull him back to simply apply the beating. Everything else is a cute bonus.

Rounding out the last of Sera’s Citadel options is the humble archer. The best part of this guy is his large health pool equaling that of the knight. Unfortunately, that’s about it. His attack is too weak to effectively trade and using arrows of light to compensate can get pretty expensive. He’s more of an emergency play than anything else. This is a unit that can only work in new Summoner Wars, however, since you do get the magic for the archer’s discards and you can then use Sera’s Citadel Might to pull back a card to play later (or build for an additional magic).

As I mentioned before, Sera’s ability only triggers if there is a Citadel unit on the board. And all three of these units are pretty healthy, making it a difficult feat to negate her power through common slaughter. As such, it’s always handy to keep at least one Citadel in hand to summon on your next turn should the tides turn unexpectedly against you. 

But to help keep these soldiers going is the humble Priest. I mentioned before that Sera has a healing option and these ladies are far better than the Mass Heal event. First, they’re a body so can, in a pinch, be two strength attack or a body to block. Their healing requires you to discard a card, which is a little worse than using a magic (ignoring that Sera recycles cards endlessly) and uses up an attack. However, you have the potential to heal upwards of 4 health in one swing if you get specials on both those rolls. Plus, Holy Judgement makes this heal even more. Not to mention you can be healing units away from Sera.

Healing is fairly niche in the first place so I’d rather have a flexible card that can attack and block as well. The Priest is the only common that’s costless too which is appreciated compared to all those two cost Citadel units.

Sera’s champions, much like Abua’s, do end up leaving something to be desired. They’re not bad, per se, it’s just that they don’t compare to the commons anywhere near as well. With priest support, you can get some more mileage out of them rather than Abua’s, mind you. 

The worst, personally, has to be Coleen. Her greatest use is her attack but at three times the cost of a paladin, it’s hard to justify her use. I’ve notoriously bad luck and the few times I play her I can’t ever seem to get her to trigger her shield. She’s also a support champion who you really want on the field with a bunch of other Citadel commons to get the benefit from her. I just think it’s too much hoping for the stars to align. Late game, if I’m sitting on a pile of magic, I may consider it but generally I just pitch her for ease and convenience.

Brother Jacob Eldwyn at least brings something unique to the Vanguard roster. His two strength ranged attack can give you that desperately missing long range power. Even better, his strength grows with every two magic you accumulate in your pool. The obvious synergy is with the archers but then you’d need to play the archers. I find just timing him to attack third during your turn is generally enough to get a bonus strength or two. Six health on a champion isn’t a whole lot, mind you, so don’t expect him to make a huge impact. But he’s more affordable than your other options.

Last is Valna who slots in perfectly with Sera’s gameplan. Her nine health is good for leading a charge. That she gets stronger the more knights, paladins and archers are supporting her places your opponent in a tight bind. They can try to winnow your forces to reduce her attack, though you can always summon more and that leaves her on the field longer. Focussing her, however, and her large health pool lets your paladins and knights run free. She offers no good options. And, if you happen to get her early, the additional two card draw is nice to get more options and keep Citadel commons in your hand. If I had a choice between the three champions, I’d choose Valna each time. In fact, if I could, I’d just choose three Valna’s. 

As you can see, Sera sports a pretty strong collection of common units and events that synergize well with an incredibly powerful ability. It’s really no wonder that she’s so powerful. Your general game plan will be to bring the aggressive fast and hard. You’ll be burning through your deck, getting those delicious Citadel units into your discard to recycle them with Citadel’s Might. And the more pressure you apply to your opponent, the more resources they need to burn to deal with you. Sera’s end goal is to reach the late game where her endless magic generation and card recycling gives her a clear advantage.

However, you don’t need to recklessly use Citadel’s Might either. Even two or three uses can give you the edge needed to claim victory. And you benefit from a methodical approach. Much like Abua Shi, Sera’s life points are a resource too. You can afford to take quite a few hits to win the economy war. The plan is to end with neither you nor your opponent with any draw pile and for you to outnumber your enemy’s forces decisively. The more your opponent summons units to take stray shots at you, only to die to your force’s retaliation, the sooner you reach those overwhelming numbers.

That you’ve got units and events to make the exchanges even less efficient for your enemy between blocking and healing damage is merely a handful of additional nails in their coffin. 

Certainly, the Citadel’s strength knows no bounds.