Right, well we’ve a lot of Summoner Wars content to cover and… well a lot of time to cover it. However, while I’m happy to belabour this project, I’m certain Kait would want me to post something that isn’t baseless speculation on a game that’s been delayed to August. 

But then again, we can’t always get what we want. 

I don’t really feel like doing a disclaimer at the start of all my posts on these faction previews so I’m just going to do this once. These are my initial impressions based on very little information and are most likely to be wildly inaccurate as I’m examining them from a Summoner Wars 1.0 lens rather than this relaunch. Granted, unlike the Breakers and Cave Goblins, I’ve actually been able to give the factions a little bit of a whirl with their online beta. So it’s a little less baseless but still going to be my wild opinions. Don’t take them as gospel.

Or do. I mean, I’m not you. Whatever floats your boat and what you like. 

Today, we’re going to look at the Savannah Elves. I’m going to try and squish faction previews down to two posts so one will be the summoner and his or her events and the other will be their commons and champions. And what better way to start this format than doing it backwards with the Savannah Elves common units!

Of the six base decks, I actually think that the Savannah Elves are the third worst. 

Now, hear me out. I know that they seem very strong. And I know when you pick them up, you’ll probably get your first few wins. And I do think they’re good. This is more a commendation to the seemingly close balance of the starting decks rather than a poor reflection of the Savannah Elves’ roster. 

On the other hand, we can always frame it as them being fourth best and things just feel all nice and cosy.

But let’s get into why I think they’re on the lower end by talking about what makes them strong. 

Here’s the Lioness. You may remember her from Summoner Wars 1.0. There, she was a pet favourite of Kait’s but her effectiveness was… well… ultimately questionable. Before, she granted extra unit movement in your turn (and the corresponding car pile-up as your units tripped over themselves trying to herd the unruly cats). Now, she grants health. And she comes in with a meaty 3 strength melee attack. 

This is a bargain. It’s trivially easy to get an attack off your summon turn so the lioness is really a 3 strength, 3 health unit for 2 magic. That’s pretty gangbusters for its price. In comparison, the Cave Goblins are paying an additional magic for that benefit. And this is ignoring that the lioness has a number of tricks to boost her health on the first turn with a little support. But even more than that, the lioness demands attention. Your opponent wants to kill this thing because each turn she goes unmolested, she gets harder to kill later. And yet, failing to kill her allows her to recuperate those wounds while snacking on your face. On average, you can expect her to live two rounds and deal on average 5 damage. 

Which is great. 

But it’s not even the Savannah Elves best unit.

That distinction goes to the Border Archer. 

Here’s a unit which is essentially 4 strength ranged, 4 health for 2 magic! That’s even better than the lioness, depending on how lucky you get with that 75% chance to hit, of course. Granted, if she has to move, then she loses half her attack – ignoring all the support from other cards of course (which is a big point to ignore). And she will eat a move with her Prepare ability that can drag on an assault. But on the other hand, swift shot means the border archer can attack two separate units. She can kill a blocker and hit a wounded unit or enemy summoner behind. And since she’s a ranged attacker, with even more health than the lioness, odds are that enemy retaliation won’t be able to finish her off in one go. So she can really hold down a lane of fire for you too. 

These two units alone would make any faction respectable. As such, it’s not surprising that the last two are less impressive only because they couldn’t hope to compare to these all stars. 

The Spirit Mage, however, is a respectable unit on his own. He holds the distinction of being the only affordable option in the Savannah Elves roster at 1 magic. And with that, you get a rather impressive 3 ranged strength. Furthermore, he can ease pressure on your preparedness by giving a border archer a single swift shot while allowing both to get into position. Alternatively, he can allow a rhinoceros a longer charge or more health on your lioness if necessary. His two health, however, means he won’t be lasting long especially given that respectable attack strength.

Finally, the humble rhino may not look like much compared to the rest of the herd. Two melee strength is rather disappointing when the rest of the cast hit like freight trains. However, the rhinoceros provides unprecedented levels of pressure. Commons, which are very common on the field now, cannot block as getting two or three boost tokens onto the rhinoceros is remarkably easy. And while its punch is lower, it’s still enough that charging a rhinoceros onto an enemy summoner demands attention. And there’s really no summoner that can reliably deal with the rhinoceros on their own. 

The trample damage is just a cherry on the cake, as they say. But a respectable one at that when they’re bulldozing over little Cave Goblin Slingers.

As for the champions, I think you can probably start predicting the issue here. 

Let’s start with the big showstopper: Miti Mumway. There’s no way we can ignore that 8 magic cost. It’s steep, especially for a 1 strength attack. Yes, Miti can grow and the Savannah Elves specialize in growing quickly, but it’s hard to ignore the opportunity cost in putting big Mumway to the board. For the same price in magic, you could have your entire suite of archers or lionesses. Best case scenario, you get him in the late game when your opponent has few opportunities to surround Miti Mumway and chop him into mulch. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Miti Kyru is a far more affordable 5 magic. He’s largely a support, providing another source of boosts for your squad. Though his stats are respectable for his cost as well. Downside is that he’s… well… two and a half border archers to play. He’s nice to have but he doesn’t fill a niche uncovered by your strong commons. And for what he’s normally going to be doing, do you really want to spend five times the cost of a spirit mage? 

I don’t. 

Not to mention, there’s no inherent addressing the problem of support commons in Summoner Wars. They’re very reliant on draw order and timing to work effectively. You want Miti Kyru to come up when you have several commons on the board already that need boosting. Early draws of Kyru and you can’t afford him or him and his commons. Late in the game, most of your commons might already be dead. And if you’re cycling through commons constantly, you’ll likely be pressed for magic anyway. 

At last we have Makeinda Ru.

And there’s not much to say about Makeinda Ru. She’s border archer #6. Coming in at Kyru’s cost, Makeinda brings two additional health at the sacrifice of accuracy compared to the king of cats. If I’m going to slap one of these pricey characters to the board, it’s probably going to be Makeinda. Not because she’s amazing but just because she’s essentially two border archers that only turn over half the magic to your opponent when killed. 

So there you have it. The Savannah Elves bring a terrifyingly powerful force to the battlefield. Their game plan is simple, smash your opponent’s face with your incredibly strong animals and archers. If they don’t die, they get stronger. If they do die, you replace them with more. Then, laugh all the way to victory over the summoning stone wars or whatever it is these kids fight over nowadays.