The Radiant Queen

  “I point and they will see it dead.” – Dimona Odinstar

Are you ready to talk Dimona? Me too! It’s Dimona week here at PlaidHatGames.com, and that means I get to go over this fantastic Phoenixborn and her unique card, the Rayward Knight. Dimona doesn’t come in the base game, but you can get her simply by pre-ordering Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn and get a $15 off the retail price while you’re at it. From her exceptional art, to her unique game stats, this is a Phoenixborn you’ll want to have at your disposal! But enough preamble, let’s take a look at Dimona!

What You Need To Know About Dimona

The Stats:

Like all other Phoenixborn, Dimona possesses 3 stats that guide your strategy when playing and building decks featuring her as the Phoenixborn. Below we’ll look at Dimona’s stats and her special ability, Order, examining how these unique features encourage certain styles of play.

Life Value 17: A life value of 17 is a touch below average when compared to the Phoenixborn found in the base game, but only a touch. While playing games with Dimona as your Phoenixborn, you won’t often have to worry about her life value impacting your play, but you do have to be a bit more careful about preserving your life total than you do with some other Phoenixborn.

Battlefield Value 5: Dimona’s battlefield value of 5 is average, providing you with plenty of options for attack when playing a deck featuring her. As you’ll see below, her special ability, Order, can make her battlefield even more potent than this stat would imply!

Spellboard Value 5: No Phoenixborn in the base game has a spellboard value higher than Dimona’s, so you need not worry about maintaining enough ready spells to enact your devious plots! A spellboard value of 5 will allow you to build whatever strategy you wish, and carry through some contingency plans should plan A be thwarted.

Ability: Order

What’s better than attacking with a unit your opponent isn’t ready to deal with? Attacking with that unit twice! For 2 you can remove an exhaustion token from a unit, making it ready to attack or counter again!

But that’s not the only way to exploit her ability. Some units must receive an exhaustion token in order to use their ability, and Order allows those units to use that ability twice in a round! Since Order is a side action, you will often be able to surprise your opponent with a main action they didn’t expect, or at least an action that they didn’t expect to be as effective as her ability allows it to be!

In addition, Order allows you to have a virtual extra unit. Dimona’s battlefield value of 5 is average, but many times you will be able to act as though you had a superior battlefield stat by removing an exhaustion token from a unit you have already used in the round. This can allow Dimona to effectively use 6 units, often even cheaper than if you played another unit to begin with! It seems really efficient to me to play a unit for 4 or 6 magic, then use Order to get the use of that unit again after attacking with it for only 2 magic. That’s a savings of up to 4 magic in the base game, and with expansions that magic saving can only climb!

Rayward's Finest

Rayward Knights are all about the 3s. You can play 3 of them in Dimona’s deck, it has a life value of 3, a recovery value of 3, and it can attack for 3 damage as well! That’s pretty good stats for only 3!

But that’s not the most exciting 3 when playing with this unit! At the end of the round you can remove 3 (or more) exhaustion tokens from this unit! This implacable knight can be ready for the next round regardless of what your opponent does due of its ability, Endurance, which removes any number of exhaustion tokens from the knight during the recovery phase.

Hard hitting, hard to kill, and nearly impossible to lock down, this warrior is sure to carry out whatever orders Dimona issues!

The Strategy of …

Dimona has no listed pre-built deck in the Ashes rulebook, so we’ve decided to provide one for you during Dimona’s preview week. But you all already knew that, didn’t you? The participation for the polls we used to determine what kind of deck to make was phenomenal! I would like to give a hearty thanks to everyone that took the time to vote!

Tomorrow I will devote a whole article to what I’m calling Rayward’s March and the purpose of each card built into Dimona’s deck. 

Thanks for reading!

Bob

Game Overview Previews: Phases of Play, Attacking/Defending, Placement, Card Types, Dice Powers, Multiplayer and Drafting
Maeoni Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Coal Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Saria Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Noah Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Jessa Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Aradel Previews: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Click here to pre-order Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn and get a $15 pre-order discount as well as the Dimona Odinstar Promo Pack.

Written by Bob Klotz.
Bob Klotz is the lead playtester for Ashes