The Book of PE Warriors

[Quintaton16]

The Book of Warriors (PE)
Common of the Phoenix Elves - Starter Set 1: Phoenix Elves vs. Tundra Orcs

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/cards/warrior.gif

Character Bio: The warriors of the Phoenix Elves strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. They attack with deadly force and then vanish from the heat of battle.

Rulings and Clarifications
Is Blaze Step negated by the Guild Dwarf Defenders' Engage ability?
No. Although Blaze Step results in the Warrior being in a different place, it is not considered "moving," so it is not affected by Engage

Community Contributions
-N/A

[matdav]

If the guardians are already adjacent to a wall at the end of the turn, can they be moved to another position adjacent to the same or another wall using blaze step?

[PePe QuiCoSE]

I guess you meant warriors. Yes, blaze step can be done from any position of the board to an empty space adjacent to a wall.

[matdav]

Thanks, I meant warriors. Got it in the correct forum, but referenced the wrong unit. Thanks for the quick clarification.

[The Wall]

I just played my first game. PE vs. TO. Warriors were my favorite unit of the game. Their price and attack made them much easier to use then the guardians.

[Klaxas]

for the most part i agree but ive seen the PE guardians converge on a target before..... shivers

[WOOKIE]

I consider these guys ninjas. Easy to bring out, solid attack & then they quickly go into hiding.

[esper88]

I've taken to the strategy of summoning a Warrior, rushing him out to attack, pulling him back to the space in front of Elien, and then burning the Warrior the next turn.

What this does is sacrifice attack efficiency a bit (not being able to attack the enemy 3 times) in favor of magic efficiency, as you're basically getting 2 dice of damage for no magic cost. This strategy allows me to play the Drake and 4 Fire Beast, and get everything out fairly often.

In fact, I dare say the PE have become my best faction because of this strategy, edging out the previous champ, FK.

[Quintaton16]

It's not no Magic cost. You still end up with the same number in your Magic pile, but you have one fewer in your hand and one more in your Discard pile.

How do your opponents try to counter that strategy? My gut feeling is that although it is very efficient Magic-wise, it's less efficient in other ways. While you win a two-Magic swing each time you do that, you also cede a two-attack or more swing to your opponent, when you kill a Unit yourself that otherwise he would have to attack one or more times. Also, you're getting zero forward pressure, you're hurting yourself movement-wise by continually having to move different Units to the same spaces over and over again, and you're possibly blocking off Wall spaces as well. It seems like that would leave it vulnerable to a swarming strategy, looking to block off and attack your Walls and make three or more (Goblins) attacks every turn. Of course, Phoenix Elves are perhaps the strongest faction there is at shutting down a big horde of attacking weenies, as long as you can hold them short of Elien. Interesting.

[esper88]

The in depth analysis is very interesting, but the bottom line is that it works very well. Having Champions and Fire Beasts (and an occasional Fencer) as the only available targets makes for a magic depriving environment for the opponent. And although this may seem to make them weak to swarm, as you said, we are talking about the Phoenix Elves versus Goblins.

It's also a very adaptable strategy. It began because I didn't want my Warriors exposed, but also didn't want a mass of warriors preventing me from activating magic drain. So basically, if it ends up not being useful to cycle out your warriors, then you just build them as magic and get on with winning another way.

Getting magic drain off has actually affected my PE play style a fair amount. I don't use archers because, although they win attrition easily, they don't get killed quick enough. So I end up with a bunch of archers that are too stealthy to die preventing me from using Magic Drain. That's why nowadays I use Elien to burn both of the starting archers as soon as I can.

[Elcor13]

The in depth analysis is very interesting, but the bottom line is that it works very well. Having Champions and Fire Beasts (and an occasional Fencer) as the only available targets makes for a magic depriving environment for the opponent. And although this may seem to make them weak to swarm, as you said, we are talking about the Phoenix Elves versus Goblins.

It's also a very adaptable strategy. It began because I didn't want my Warriors exposed, but also didn't want a mass of warriors preventing me from activating magic drain. So basically, if it ends up not being useful to cycle out your warriors, then you just build them as magic and get on with winning another way.

Getting magic drain off has actually affected my PE play style a fair amount. I don't use archers because, although they win attrition easily, they don't get killed quick enough. So I end up with a bunch of archers that are too stealthy to die preventing me from using Magic Drain. That's why nowadays I use Elien to burn both of the starting archers as soon as I can.

One thing you could try doing, depending on how your walls are placed, is try to put the Warrior somewhere that it can easily attack but not be easily attacked. Obviously this is easier said than done but I know that a lot of the people I play with are good at doing this. Worst case scenario your opponent wastes magic to attack it, thereby still allowing you to use magic drain and (ideally) spending more than 1 magic to kill that unit. Not that I'm against killing your own units, and it obviously works for you, but it just seems a little excessive. If you have a mass of warriors you might be able to place them in different places rather then continuing to summon them every turn? You might still get the same amount of attacks of but use some of those warriors for magic instead of summoning. Idk, food for though.

But yeah, archers ain't that great, I like killing them :D

[PePe QuiCoSE]

Since we can't thumb, i'll just say that i endorse what esper has said here. I use it a lot against factions that can't pressure you. Playing only (ranged) champions and 1 warrior is way too annoying. This is why i think Vanguards vs Elves is the hardest MU yet (VK reinforcement will change that though).
The putting them in a forward position is good when the opponent can't summon (besides can't hit them), just after a magic drain and no reinforcement activation in sight.

[Kaiser Cat]

It might be worth noting in the OP that Warriors can Blaze Step off of Vine Walls unimpeded.

[chardris77]

Good point, I hadn't thought of that The same with gem mages I suppose.