“I do like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”

~ Anakin Skywalker, on the Sand Cloaks

The Sand Cloaks are everything that the Tundra Guild is not in the Summoner Wars Alliances master box. They’re fun. They’re fast. They’re aggressive and scary. They’re also terrible, so I suppose they have one point of commonality.

I’m a little sad by the Sand Cloaks performance. I had high expectations for them, mostly because I drank the kool-aid from the playtesters who trumpeted how they were the next best thing since sliced bread. I’ve mentioned before how the “accepted meta” in the game is to hard turtle and drag the game out to boring stalemates. Well, the Sand Cloaks break that handedly. Or, at least, they presumably break that meta handedly. I don’t know because my sister and I don’t play like that. We’re fun. We’re fast. We’re aggressive and scary. Ironically, this is the very thing the Sand Cloaks are weak against.

However, they are the Yin to the Tundra Guild Yang. I don’t keep drawing this comparison for no reason (other than to continue to harp on how much I hate the northern dwarves). The core mechanic of the Sand Cloaks–and the unique addition the alliance brings to the Summoner Wars table–is near identical to the rune system. There is a very distinct difference between the implementation, however. Marek’s works.

Called Event Abilities, Marek’s entire event suite is composed of nine abilities which represent all the unique traits that make the sand goblins and cloaks the tricky, maneuverable and highly unpredictable factions that they are. However, unlike Vlox, Marek does not learn all the abilities of her peoples but spreads that knowledge around. She flings truths. She tosses knowledge. She is the most effective short term memory focused teacher the world has ever seen. And she demonstrates that reading can be both cool and deadly. So why do Even Abilities work wherein runes do not?

For one, opponents can do nothing to displace event abilities. There is not a two magic dispel tax associated with them. You want an event ability off the board then you’re going to have to work for it.

Second, Marek has nine of the suckers. She isn’t stuck with getting them all in her hand in the first draw or having the game end before she ever has a chance to put one to the field. They’re not balanced as some events are better than others but they all have some use no matter the game state thanks to clever design of her commons. Marek’s Hunters and Scholars are the real highlights for the deck but even more than that, their design is such that they won’t unbalance either the Sand Goblins or the Cloaks either. They’re necessary tools in Marek’s arsenal and though this cuts into her deck-building options, it doesn’t feel overly restrictive because the style of play they encourage is so entertaining that you don’t really feel like you want to replace them.

In many ways, Marek reminds me of MaxX from Netrunner. MaxX is a new anarchist runner whose style is so very different from others. She encourages the player to go aggressive on their opponent from the word “Go” and to only ever let up in short instances to refuel the next barrage. More than that, however, there’s no grand design to the runner. You basically play the cards you draw and Marek is very much in the same boat. You can’t compose an overarching strategy the moment you realize who your opponent is because you have no way to insure that your pieces will ever come together to pull it off. But that’s ok. You’re not trying to build awkward combos like Ret-Talus or Rallul. You’re simply going to apply whatever you draw to solving the issue at hand. If that fails, you’re getting a new hand to pull new tricks against your opponent. You aren’t forced into the ridiculous misdirection of Vlox and are more a magician holding your opponent enthralled with the question of what you’ll do next.

Unfortunately, because you are so aggressive, you have no way to properly defend against a strong push into your territory. That very same unpredictability makes properly holding off the tides near impossible. Marek is quite capable of throwing off consistent multiple cheap two-three dice attacks a round but nothing she has is strong enough to survive the retaliation. All her units are fragile as glass. Marek wins quick or loses quick in our games. Don’t expect to do wall assaults much or even to see all the walls hit the battlefield when she deploys. And woe to anyone foolish enough who thinks they can turtle and effectively defend against her. You can not so stop sulking in your backlines and strap some armour on–this is going to be a wild one.

And more than anything else, that’s what makes Marek so great. She’s the most effective assassin in the game and while this makes wildly swingy games, it also means they’re always incredibly close. Of all Marek’s losses only one was a true stomp due to a once in a lifetime draw set-up. Outside of that, all of her matches have been decided upon a die roll and you can’t get more exciting than that.

Marek (2R-5W-Master Teacher)

Marek is not a fighter herself and she isn’t meant to be one either. Her whole goal is to stand back with her scholars, pouring over books and shouting commands like a royal general-strategist. Master Teacher is incredible as it means your units will always have the ability they need no matter where they are. More than that, Master Teacher makes it so that your key unit has more than one ability each turn. Remember, Hogar is capable of doing this but at the very real and significant risk of losing both those abilities the moment it becomes his opponent’s turn. Marek pitches powers like it’s a sunny afternoon in the backyard and she’s teaching her kid to play fetch. Note, this doesn’t trigger the attack boost of the hunter’s Pack Mentality but that’s fine since it still counts as an ability to share with the rest of the hunters (thus spreading Marek’s teaching even further).

Her play style is pretty straightforward so let’s talk about those events in greater detail. Marek is the prime candidate for some key powers. She’s incredible with Marked Target. This way you can be assured all your hunters will have that extra die against champions and the summoner without worrying about losing it to the assault. Camouflage is wonderful against ranged opponents as it makes Marek incredibly hard to target and Swift sees her able to position to safer quarters when the opponent rushes to get her. Flee and Escape can be wielded to decent effect when you are being hunted as well.

Save the Greater Sneak, however, for someone else. Far shot is particularly useless as well as it only extends range to four squares. Blitz is incredibly niche especially since most of your units are ranged and you’re not looking to throw your scholars into the fray in the first place. And, of course, Retribution is one hundred percent useless in the deck and only exists for Marek’s deck building options. And what deck building options she has! While Marek isn’t particularly strong with her base deck, both her parent factions boast some incredibly powerful champions. The Sand Goblins have strong and cheap options aplenty and the Cloaks can make their tricky but difficult to trigger abilities almost effortless. I can’t wait to try a Swift/Greater Sneak Dagger to finally give that champion some fangs. And, of course, Spider is downright scary with all the movement capabilities in her little red book.

Hunter (1R-1W-1M-Pack Mentality)

I was whelmed when these cards were first revealed. I thought they might have potential but their one health makes them incredibly vulnerable. And that’s exactly what they are.

Able to create two range for one magic is a strong trade-off but these little guys will never survive a counter attack. You must realize that when you play them. The moment they hit the board, you’re looking to apply their dice in the most effective place immediately. They’re a scalpel. You slice short and fast and then they’re gone. Don’t hold illusions of mega-hunters stalking the board and winning you the game. I tried it and, while having three hunters with camouflage, far shot, swift and marked target is terrifying, there is a lot of common killers out there. This tactic lost me the game from a very timely play of Unholy Sacrifice which wiped me of all those attackers, positioning and abilities in one fell swoop. It might be tempting to look at sand goblin shamans as tempting alternatives, but I don’t want to underplay the power of getting three or more abilities on your hunters. They can stack up so many powers to create a very real threat.

Granted, the most common use will be summoning one with Greater Sneak, having Marek teach him Marked Target and flinging him at the opponent’s summoner but that’s fine as well. At five movement, they become impossible to block. And if you turtle up and try and hide from them, they can strike from camouflage with far shot and take the enemy forces apart piecemeal without much concern for retaliation. You’ll quickly learn that there are simply not enough hunters in the pack. Period.

Scholar (1M-1W-0M-Archive)

It is simply cruel that the Scholar exists for Marek and not Hogar. They are everything scribes wish they could be. Scholars allow you the ever vital ability to shuffle around your event abilities on the field. And this is a vital gear in Marek’s machine. You will be throwing down unoptimized abilities on less than desired targets. Whether this is Flee on Marek to get her out of trouble, Blitz on a Scholar going in to nobly hold off a pressing wave or Far Shot on a Tinkerer to get that extra dice out, you will want to swap these abilities back to your hand. You can then pitch them for some extra little magic on your next turn or put them on their primary target; it’s all up to you! However, I find these guys are Greater Sneak diggers more than anything else. Those scampering hunters that are crawling across the field to terrify your opponent are going to die and if you’re going to keep throwing bodies into that deadly meat grinder, you need one of these guys to pull that sneak from the graveyard. But be careful, that one magic tax can add up so only do it when you know you can pull of those important blows. But they do it during the event phase so you’ll know whether you can do it or not.

Tinkerer (1R-2W-2M-Null Machine)

The horribly underrated Tinkerer needs far more love. These guys are game changers and it’s important you don’t make the mistake I did and build them all for magic. Sure, you’re not throwing them all to the field like hunters but you shouldn’t have a single game go by where you don’t have more than one kicking around (and no, your starter Tinkerer does not count). Three range on their null machine is incredibly and it can’t be blocked by walls or other units. This allows you to kill Hogar’s forces while laughing at the thought of having to spend money to get rid of runes. It also nullifies champions and makes them all over-priced meatbags so long as your tinkerer is flicking his fingers. They will become high priority targets the moment Satara is reduced to a bumbling one attack klutz. Don’t let their cost fool you–this is a good thing. Every attack thrown towards the tinkerers is an attack that isn’t at your hunters or champions. Their two health isn’t there for nothing. This unit is key to keeping you afloat in the mid-game while you search for that final opening to land your killing blow.

Barston (2R-5W-6M-Cover Fire)

Barston is overpriced and too fragile for my taste. I don’t know if cover fire is really worth the extra magic that makes him cost more than 5 magic to summon. I didn’t really get much use from him since, by the time I had six magic accumulated, I had too few units to really benefit from his extra move. Honestly, I’d rather funnel that magic to hunters and all the tricks they can do. If he was perhaps one more health I might consider him. If there exists one thing with which Marek struggles it’s her economy. I find that I’m almost always running a pretty tight ship and two ranged attack is simply too little for the price since he doesn’t even grant another attack. And Greater Sneak is more effective than his cover. He can be a surprise the moment he hits the battlefield, however, so I won’t say he’s without value.

Bauble (2R-3W-5M-Survivalist)

Bauble is the exact same problem I have with Barston but with even less health. Three wounds is far too little for me. And he’s even more overpriced than Barston. You’re getting six magic worth of stats for eight. Even worse, his ability is a drain on your resources if you have to pull events from your discard to keep him bubbled. Thus, either you’re relying on luck draws, stuffing your hand, or leaving five magic on the board with only three wounds to cover it. I especially don’t like that you have to choose to discard your event before dice are rolled.

That said, he is ranged so you can probably position him so he’ll only receive one attack a round. Just remember that Satara will eat him for breakfast and things like Burn and Greater Burn will roast him immediately. So watch out for factions that do wounds without attacking as you’re then paying lots of your precious economy in order to paint a very lovely crater on the field.

Fink (3R-3W-4M-Copy)

I like Fink. He’s the cheapest of the bunch, the strongest of the bunch and can be the most surprising of the champions. This guy can grab an obscene amount of abilities (of course he’ll have to survive a round to do it) but remember he can copy a hunter and gain all their shared events. Because of awkward timing windows, you will have to decide whether to then teach Fink or the hunters which seems like a silly restriction but presumably someone is still fuming over a super-Fink summon turn where he appeared out of nowhere and ruined a tester’s parade.

But really, the biggest selling point is his cost. You’ll be hard pressed to find a greater deal and you won’t have to cut into your hunter allowance to get it. Marek’s champions are underwhelming in general, however, and we had far more games where not a single hit the board than ones where they turned the tide. So don’t feel bad about building them all for magic. They’re not the stars of the show anyway.

Granted, most of Marek’s deck is unlikely to be exported beyond her control. Only two of them aren’t ability-less when working for the cloaks or sand goblins. And of the two, I feel only Tinkerers will see consistent borrowing. However, Marek is very interested in the options that her alliance brings. Because she isn’t restricted at all in her teachings, everything works beneath her. She simply makes things that are good even better. And there’s a staggering number of combos that are available. She can give Hawk a way to trigger multiple aerial strikes in a single turn. She can make Dagger able to trigger his backstab more than once in a match. She can turn Spider into an unending terror that will destroy hesitant opponents and force them into unfavourable positions. Then there is the Admiral which simply enhances the basics of her deck, Sin-Sin which makes her assassination abilities even more terrifying and Kreep can have his negative completely compensated making him the best value champion. And this is without considering the uses of marked target slashers, swift bruisers, camouflaged snipers or retaliating renegades. There’s just so many options available that it’s really hard to consider all the potentials.

Sure, Marek had few wins in our tournament but there’s nothing really in her deck that drags her down. Had her champions been a bit better priced, I think she might be able to bump her wins up to a more acceptable level. As I mentioned before, she was always so very close to victory. The real issue is that her style is very boom or bust. Assassination is an all-in strategy. You expend an inefficient number of resources in order to bypass the back and forth slugfest of most match-ups in order to deal damage directly to the opponent’s summoner. If you succeed, you win. If you fail, you’re down economy, board position and units. It makes recovery difficult and certainly swings tempo heavily in your enemy’s favour. This usually prompts her to be even more aggressive on Marek and pushes Marek to commit to even greater long-shot plays.

Thus, matches tend to snowball into one-sided and quick affairs. For us, it put Marek on the losing end more often than not. But at the very least, those loses are fun. It’s almost a Zen-like effect where you’re focused on the moment to the exclusion of everything else. And when you’re done, you want to go again.