Advice for new players, add yours

[bmwrider]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for advice to new players.

I'm still kinda new myself and know how this could be helpful.

Please add shomething here to help the game grow, the better new players do the better they will like it and the better the game will do.

[killercactus]

Build commons as magic!!!!!

[bmwrider]

New players should consider starting with a more straight forward faction, some of the factions events and abilities require alot more planning to make them work, I made this mistake with the goblins and lost so much in the beginning that I felt discouraged, so using an eaiser faction could be very helpful to the learning process.

Have a look here.
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/sum_forums/showthread.php?t=794&highlight=faction+easy

I found this to be a good place to start and hopefully more will be added here.

I hope this helps someone here

[iglew]

I suppose my advice would be: Find someone else whose experience level is similar to your own. Play most of your games with that person so that you can each learn strategy on your own from playing the game.

Don't get me wrong, I love all the strategy threads on the forum, and I get a great deal of enjoyment from them. But only because I already know the game. When I see new players come on with the attitude of "I've just started and don't know what's good, so please tell me everything you know so that I don't have to waste my time figuring it out" that boggles my mind. To each his own, I suppose, but for me a great deal of the joy of the game was discovering strategy for myself, trying things out to see what works and what doesn't. I can understand that if your only opponents are much better than you it would be depressing to lose all the time, but that's why I suggest finding opponents who aren't too far out of your experience level.

(I feel the same way about the new factions. Any threads about the new factions I don't even look at. I don't know if you guys are trying out strategy with proxy cards, but if you are, then I don't want to hear about it. I want to learn them on my own. I won't even look at the card previews until I get the real thing in front of me.)

[bmwrider]

I suppose my advice would be: Find someone else whose experience level is similar to your own. Play most of your games with that person so that you can each learn strategy on your own from playing the game.

Don't get me wrong, I love all the strategy threads on the forum, and I get a great deal of enjoyment from them. But only because I already know the game. When I see new players come on with the attitude of "I've just started and don't know what's good, so please tell me everything you know so that I don't have to waste my time figuring it out" that boggles my mind. To each his own, I suppose, but for me a great deal of the joy of the game was discovering strategy for myself, trying things out to see what works and what doesn't. I can understand that if your only opponents are much better than you it would be depressing to lose all the time, but that's why I suggest finding opponents who aren't too far out of your experience level.

(I feel the same way about the new factions. Any threads about the new factions I don't even look at. I don't know if you guys are trying out strategy with proxy cards, but if you are, then I don't want to hear about it. I want to learn them on my own. I won't even look at the card previews until I get the real thing in front of me.)

I do agree with you, but I think some people are the last to get started in the game and need help or are forever learning from behind other players, not having very good chance of catching up to those with a head start, this is game sorta like chess you can continue to learn for a long time.

[Setharillius]

Do not get too attached to a certain strategy, you have to adapt to whatever the cards give you sometimes.

[Sera Eldwyn's boyfriend]

I would start with the PE and TO starter set, it's what I began playing with. Also, go with what KC said, dump commons for magic, although not to many becaue the core of a deck are the commons. I didn't start playing with someone new, I played a veteran the first time. It allowed me to learn better and see how to really "play" a deck if you know what I mean.

[Codeman]

Build commons as magic!!!!!

If at the end of your turn your having trouble with what to keep... then that means those cards should go to the magic pile. I think I heard one great player say " when in doubt ... build magic ".

Only tip I got.

[esper88]

Know your deck. Play a few games until you basically memorize the contents of your deck. Then you can anticipate the cards you will draw and prepare to summon your champions. On that note...

Make it a priority to summon all 3 champions. With the magic system the way it is, champs are key.

[thenightsshadow]

(I'm assuming that the decks new players have aren't modified from their base form.)

All Factions:
- When there are less than 5 cards in your deck and you will draw them all next turn, build enough Magic to have 5 cards in your hand.
- If you draw a weaker Champion very early, sometimes the best thing is just to dump it. Kalon Lightbringer, Gror, and Mook are examples of Champions that should never be dropped.


As the Phoenix Elves:

- Don't be afraid to hold your Burn and Greater Burn. Use it only when you need to, not because you can.
- Threaten to use Kaeseeall's ability but don't push to actually use it. More often than not, it gets her into serious trouble Wound-wise.
- Warriors' Blaze Step can be used in a number of ways. Try them out. (Hint: You can move them to block a key Unit from being damaged, or you can deploy them off to the other side of your Units to either be a distraction or a constant Wall-killer. There's more.)
- Protect Prince Elien. He's frail on purpose: to teach positioning.


As the Tundra Orcs:

- Unless you're facing an immediate threat, the best play of the event Freeze is on the opposing Summoner, especially if they have an offensive ability.
- Ice Walls are Walls with lower health. Don't be afraid to build these cards as Magic if you're winning and/or mainly in the opponent's side.
- Tundra Orcs specialize in being tougher. Don't be afraid to run only a few but key commons forward.
- Almost always place your walls in an offensive position. Reinforcements is a card that wants you to attack, not defend.
- Grognack can come out any time to start striking, especially against an enemy Champion, as long as you're careful.


As the Guild Dwarves:

- Your summoner is defensive, so you should be too. Defenders are a good key to your strategem, and Spearmen behind them are good for flanking your opponent.
- Your use of Engineers should be mainly when you can summon one, move it right next to a Wall, attack it, and you can afford the move/attack room.
- Holding Besiege the Walls might not be the right move if you draw both very early. Dropping them for Magic once you've gotten accustomed to using them is also a nice surprise strategem (they'll hold one Wall in hand, waiting for a BtW that'll never come).
- Oldin's defense works with your opponent's Wall, so it is possible to chain your Walls with your opponent's to the point where Oldin can move 1 or 2 spaces and always be beside a Wall.
- Heroic Feat isn't always meant to be used on Gror. Sometimes, the best time to use it on a Spearman or Engineer.


As the Cave Goblins:

- Rarely do you want to use an Event singularly. Try to position your Units and keep your hand clean to run chained Events.
- You should run out of deck faster than your opponent if you are being aggressive. Your speed and flashes of power are advantages.
- You can run multiple commons and all three Champions regularly in this deck because of their efficiency. But you also lose commons easily because of their low life. Don't throw away attacks unless you can back it up with more power.
- Just because you can attack up to 5 times in a turn doesn't mean you should, especially if you'll leave them vulnerable.
- Goblin Invincibility is your only way to keep as many Units as possible alive.
- Don't be afraid to try to keep Units on as many sides of a Wall as you can, as long as you can replace them at a moment's notice for sure.

(contd.)

[thenightsshadow]

As the Vanguards:

- Ignore the mantra. Vanguards do not want as many Units on the board as possible. You want the Summoning Surge Events to activate.
- Guardian Knights are usually Units to build, not play, unless you don't have at least 1 on the board.
- Stalwart Archers are great if you draw multiples, but build them if you only have 0 or 1 in your hand.
- Priests are the only Units you want to summon all the time.
- Raechel Loveguard is an interesting early option that should help trigger Summoning Surge. Sera Eldwyn attached to her or Kalon Lightbringer is a good idea, as long as you don't open Sera to attack.
- Use Archangel as a way to take out common Units that annoy you positionally. Don't go head-to-head against a Champion.
- Divine Strength is very useful if you don't want to waste an attack of the Priests. Hold them when you're about to get attacked, and build them if it's a stalemate.
- Intercession is hard to use effectively if you aren't winning. Needless to say, only use it on a Champion unless you need a Priest to survive the next turn.


As the Fallen Kingdom:

- Like the Cave Goblins, chaining Dark Sacrifice with Legions of the Dead is a great strategy.
- If you can, avoid using Legions of the Dead with Ret-Talus in your back row. That is your strongest one-shot offensive push, and you should push back with it.
- Elut-Bal is horrible if there are between 8 and 20 cards left in your opponent's deck, while Skhull is best when you have more than 18 in your own deck. Your Champion are key, but ultimately potentially not necessary to win.
- Try building your Zombie Warriors until you're ready to go on the offensive. Using them as Magic helps Infect and your other Units, like Reapers. Hardcasting Elut-Bal can also have dangerous repercussions for your opponent.
- Dark Sacrifice says Destroy. Don't risk the die roll on the Skeletal Archers, keep them on the board. If you can use it to heal 3 Wound Markers from a Champ, all the more better.
- Magic Drain is best used if you get at least one of your own Units back from their Magic Pile, since that is just one more target for your Raise the Dead ability.


As the Cloaks:

- A very risky but effective style of playing can be to use Vlox immediately in the beginning, taking out Units, and aiming to hit the summoner. When he's injured to the point of almost dying, Steal him forward or Greater Sneak him back.
- Another strategy is to use Gunners and Thieves as sacrificial tools to hit the opponent's summoner bit by bit.
- If you choose not to do either of those, Scrappers are your measure of offense against anything with 2-life or more.
- Scam's ability helps the Cloaks in lining up. Dagger's helps in fighting on their turf. Violet is just awesome overall. Each Champion is necessary, so you should fight to have all three out, preferably around the same time.
- You only have 3 Thieves in the deck. If you're holding your last Thief, try to keep a Raid in hand and wait until you can use them both to steal something.


As the Jungle Elves:

- Lioneer's ability does not read "Charge headlong into a fray". Be prepared to back each of those Units up.
- Your events are best for driving your force into their territory. You have no catch-up events, so use each of them as offensively as you can.
- Archers are just the thing to prevent a line-up of Units, after which you can charge in with Miti Mumway and decimate formations (via Chant of Deception)
- Lionesses are great in multiples. If you can get all 8 out, moving 11 Units can be very rewarding.
- Don't immediately get rid of Chant of Life. It is good for the long game, something the Jungle Elves normally are bad at.

[bmwrider]

Wow this is great, so far this mostly stuff I have never even thought of.

I didn't know you folks would have so many tricks.

I loosely refered to SW as being a bit like chess, but the more things I read in this post the more I think it is.
I'll bet most people do not see the depth of this great game by only giving it a try, posts like this should make a difference perhaps it should be on BGG where more eyes would see it.

[Sauam]

Nightshadow basically hit each nail on to the point, hard!

I totally concur with it, even down to VG divine strength as I see many player ignore often time, the only line out of the dozens that I have to question is the usage of VG's GK, they are 1 cost, they are the cheapest and most reliable unit VG got atm, I would value them much higher than simply magic bait

Here is some point I would like to add for the general tips:

- dice roll will fail much often than one might thinks, 33% is quite a bit, always plan you attack with "missing" in mind if possible, having range unit help this because they are easier to attack as back up if your first attack fails or easier to find another target if first attack gets a clean hit.. this is more true when you throwing multiple dice (ie: attack with a 3av champ, you will almost guarantee to get 1 miss, so plan not to get a full clean hit)

- Some time, if you just cannot avoid being hit by a CUE (catch up event), just go ahead and summon everything, no point to hover around the same amount of unit as your opp, go big or go home! summoning everything will allow you to counter-punish them for holding back thinking they can use CUE... also this will allow you to use up all your magic so they cannot Magic Drain you

- count cards! seriously count them good, if you know you're facing a tough match and/or tough unit such as Defender, count them so you have good guess on how many more are coming up... at the same time, pay strong attention which card are going in the discard pile when they spend magic, it will tell you many thing about their hands... for example, if you see that they build an important card early game, you can bet they had a "bad" draw since they are force to build such important card, punish them for it

[sitnam90]

Here is some of my my advice for SW:

Unless your CG or FK, building commons is a risk and a reward at the same time. On one hand you got magic, but on the other hand your eating away at your draw pile. Games can be won on a simple strategy of attrition, who gets to the bottom of their deck first. As CG, I'd not build that many commons as their champs are cheap and their commons are the core of their strategy. As FK I'd build every non-skelly or merc that you can, because you can summon them later from discard
If you choose to use mercs be aware that many faction abilities, such as CG events, wont work on them. Use mercs when they can add a real asset to your force, or they can make up for a weakness your army presents.
Speaking of mercs, I highly recommend 2 or 3 vermin in many different decks. Their a cheap way to get wounds on multiple units. Their ability only has a 1/3 chance to enable, but if you get them adjacent to multiple units then you have a great chance of getting at least one wound.
If you have an offensive summoner, be aware of what your getting him into if you throw him into the fray. Grognack and Sneeks can take a few hits and give some back, but dont take unnecessary risks. Always have backup for them. The best way to use Sneeks offensively is to wait until you can get an open shot at the summoner, making full use of sly. Grognack doesnt have the advantage of such a ability, so when you use him you have no escape when things go bad. A good rule of thumb for Grognack would be to attack with him when you have a strong champ or two champs on the board. Can't exactly go after Grognack if Krung or Rukar are rampaging around.
Know your opponent. Dont summon ice walls vs GD. Baldar isn't great vs PE. Little things like that are good to remember

[PePe QuiCoSE]

Freeze works better on defensive abilities, not offensive.
Cloaks don't need their 3 champions, Scam and Violet are enough (though Scam can count as 2 of them).

[sitnam90]

Cloaks don't need their 3 champions, Scam and Violet are enough (though Scam can count as 2 of them).

I think Dagger is worthwhile, depending on the opponent. If the opponents gets just a bit to aggresive with their summoner, having dagger available is a great idea. Especially because you can get Vlox in deep behind the enmy with cloak of shadows and raid/greater sneak

[OnlyWonderBoy]

I think Dagger is worthwhile, depending on the opponent. If the opponents gets just a bit to aggresive with their summoner, having dagger available is a great idea. Especially because you can get Vlox in deep behind the enmy with cloak of shadows and raid/greater sneak
There's nothing like an overaggressive opponent pushing a champion onto my side of the board only to have me summon Dagger right behind him. That's when Dagger is at his best. Once he's on the board he's just alright.

[thenightsshadow]

There's nothing like an overaggressive opponent pushing a champion onto my side of the board only to have me summon Dagger right behind him. That's when Dagger is at his best. Once he's on the board he's just alright.

That's what usually happens if you try to summon all three champions at once, as I suggested up there.


Freeze works better on defensive abilities, not offensive.

I think we know that, but keep in mind that's when you're winning. New players should focus on surviving to the end game first, hence the lock on the offensive abilities (that statement, btw, was intended for people like Gror on the Guild Dwarves).

[Jexik]

Most of my main advice was in the podcast #9. Build Magic. Know what the events do.

I've been working on some longer articles off and on.

[KCU Master 2007]

As the Vanguards:

- Ignore the mantra. Vanguards do not want as many Units on the board as possible. You want the Summoning Surge Events to activate.
- Guardian Knights are usually Units to build, not play, unless you don't have at least 1 on the board.
- Stalwart Archers are great if you draw multiples, but build them if you only have 0 or 1 in your hand.
- Priests are the only Units you want to summon all the time.
- Raechel Loveguard is an interesting early option that should help trigger Summoning Surge. Sera Eldwyn attached to her or Kalon Lightbringer is a good idea, as long as you don't open Sera to attack.
- Use Archangel as a way to take out common Units that annoy you positionally. Don't go head-to-head against a Champion.
- Divine Strength is very useful if you don't want to waste an attack of the Priests. Hold them when you're about to get attacked, and build them if it's a stalemate.
- Intercession is hard to use effectively if you aren't winning. Needless to say, only use it on a Champion unless you need a Priest to survive the next turn.


I agree that is one way to play them, if you're going for a champion based play style. There are other ways to play the Vanguards you know. (http://www.plaidhatgames.com/sum_forums/showthread.php?t=894)

[PePe QuiCoSE]

I think we know that, but keep in mind that's when you're winning. New players should focus on surviving to the end game first, hence the lock on the offensive abilities (that statement, btw, was intended for people like Gror on the Guild Dwarves).Freeze is a lot stronger on Baldar and Thorkur than Gror. Once Gror was summoned and wiped the map (stupid smashers) Freezing him might not matter or help you kill him, it definitely helps you in every way against Baldar and Thorkur (did too against O.Thorkur). So i disagree with the "when you're winning" thing, it helps equally or even more when you are on the ropes. When you have Baldar on Grognack's face Freeze will probably be the difference between life and death for him.

[Sauam]

The most correct use of Freeze is on whichever unit is giving you problem currently on the field, or even a turn down the road

Using on both off/def unit is both correct but telling new player to just focus on only one of those spectrum is not the most ideal... they might hold on to it and lose doing so

I froze a PE warrior once and it help me to my victory that game

in fact, using Freeze is more strategic than just plugging it on a champ/summoner, no need to go in depth here but sometime using on common actually yield much bigger result

[airdroppers]

The only thing you can really say to a new player is; BUILD MAGIC.

There are way too many strategies to this game to just say "do this" or "do that".

Your strategy changes from game to game even with the same faction. It depends on your match up and what you draw. If someone gets all their Events in two hands, obviously their strategy is going to differ than a guy who got his events mixed up evenly.

Building magic is good for every faction though.

[Freddy Finger]

For someone still kinda new like me. This thread helps bc I don't want to wad through so many pages of thread and I don't come here often enough to be doin that anyways.

[Cleon]

Do not get discouraged if a faction you like is losing you games. This goes the same with units; if a unit you want to include in your deck isn't working too well don't label it as it sucks and avoid it. Every faction in SW has a fair shot at winning and I don't think there's any unit that is even close to unplayable. Everything has its place and nothing is at that critical of a disadvantage (that's one reason why I love this game).

[bmwrider]

The general game advice rather than just faction stuff.

[bmwrider]

you know, where should my commons or others be to make events work

[Kaiser Cat]

Don't instantly try to become a pro player; it won't really work out. Before you build magic everywhere learn which cards are good against which factions. If you don't, then you'll build all the wrong cards for magic and lose just as badly, or maybe even worse.

[Mookinizer]

Hello, Im also a new player of SW and I'm been having trouble understanding the wall usage. I tend to think of walls a summoning spots, and I place them so I can get the most summoned units from it, however I have a friend who says that they should be thought of as defensive first then summoning spots second. So, I will ask this of the Cave Goblins, how do you place walls with them?? Im also a visual learner, so if anyone could provide examples, I would greatly appreciate it.

[prometheuslkr]

I often find myself placing walls like this:

[_ ][W][W]
[W][_ ][_ ]
[_ ][S ][_ ]

Your Summoner is safe at S from Rider units and most ranged attack, and you still get 8 summoning points. (As opposed to the optimal 12). However, against certain opponents or certain factions (such as against the CG), you may want to place them further apart to maximize summoning and prevent wall clogging by the goblin hordes.

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: This is general wall usage. I don't really have any ideas that change on wall placement from faction to faction, but if you are a high-life summoner like Sneeks protecting him might not be as important, and you may want to try to maximize where you can summon offensively. Really it's a personal choice though between offensive or defensive playstyle. As the cloaks, for example, I want to try to place my walls so I can easily summon, go around my opponent's walls, and get at their summoner and back row.

[Infection Reflection]

Haha, when I went up and saw bmwrider's avatar, I was like, "What in the name of all things weird is THAT!?:eek:" I had a hard time reading the posts because I was so busy looking at the avatar and trying to figure out what the heck it is!:D

On subject, it does really depend of faction and playstyle. The TOs have thousands of ways you could place their walls, and that would depend on your level of aggression, for example. When playing a faction, decide whether you will go aggro or defensive, and place accordingly. Any potential decisions that involve a different strategy, then you'll have to discover your preference through trial and error.

[killercactus]

Walls are an interesting strategic piece of the game. There are tons of different ways to use them.

I like to use this spot for my first wall if at all possible (flip this around if your starting wall is at C3 instead of D4 as below):

[x][2][x][x][x][x]
[x][x][x][1][x][x]

Where 1 is the starting wall and 2 is the next wall. I like to do that because then I can place wall number 3 just to the right of 2 to create a little fortress like prometheuslkr suggests, or put it in another strategic location and keep my 4 summoning spots open on Wall 2 or use it defensively. Unless it's the only way to avert a summoner assault, I almost always put both of my walls in row 4 (the row where I have Wall 2), as that helps with pushes into the opponent's territory. With CG, I focus a lot on opening up summoning spots and using those spots to aid my push because Sneeks is so mobile and I usually have him bouncing around everywhere - not hiding behind a wall fortress. Elien and Ret-Talus though are different, and I like to wall them in. It can get even more complicated for other factions (such as Cloaks, where I want my walls in such a place that I can Steal with Vlox and move him behind one to be protected).

Lastly, it's worth a mention that walls can be used for an immediate offensive threat with Events like Summoning Surge, Reinforcements and Forced Summon that allow you to summon units during the Event phase, as you can place a wall and then immediately summon from it. I love getting the drop on an opponent's summoner with Archangel using this strategy, or a Forced FK champion. I normally won't hold cards for the combo though unless I'm intentionally trying to slow my burn rate, as I usually like to be drawing cards fast.

[Mookinizer]

Oh, ok thanks for the advice. So, if I understand it right, defensive placement would be like a 'fortress' around your summoner and offensive placement would be walls staggered around your front row (does staggering it help your summoning spot count?)?? Using the CG, I will probably be using aggressive placement alot.

[prometheuslkr]

Also, if your opponent gets all his walls before you and creates the J-shaped wall fortress, you may want to place your own walls like this(you are the blue):


[_ ][_ ][W][_ ][_ ][_ ]
[W][_ ][_ ][_ ][W][_ ]
[_ ][W][W][_ ][_ ][_ ]
[_ ][_ ][_ ][W][_ ][_ ]


This kind of formation is what I would generally use as aggressive wall placement. Your walls are far enough forward to summon onto your opponent's half of the board, they are far enough apart that they maximize summoning capacity by not sharing or blocking each other's summoning spots, and you can summon units around your opponent's defenses and mob the enemy summoner. Also, with a mix of slingers and climbers, you now have access to three ways you can immediately summon a unit and get at the enemy summoner, which will be hard for him to block.

[bmwrider]

Ok, I have become far better at this game now and have a suggestion for new players.
I think it is more important play quick games allowing you to play more games than it is to dwell on each turn and only get in half the games, I believe you learn faster this way.
When we started out we were talking a long time to think about each turn and it seemed to take for ever to learn.
One day we tried to just make quick choices and live with it if we messed up, we doubled the number of games played in a session and made a very large leap forward in understanding the game, it seemed that not over thinking the events and abilities helped use learn how to use them faster by understanding the over all game play better through more plays, learning things like position for units and wall placement for summon spots, learnig how to move the units together and setup for best use of the events is a huge step foward.

So try playing a few sessions faster by fighting the urge to over think each move and card played and I'll bet you will see a difference.

I hope my words help you improve your game.

[r0gershrubber]

Walls are an interesting strategic piece of the game. There are tons of different ways to use them.

Two more points that I didn't see mentioned:
If playing the Guild Dwarves (and possibly the Cave Goblins), consider not putting all of your walls so far forward or holding one to protect it from Besiege the Walls and crowding.

If you are playing a range heavy deck, consider placing your additional walls further back to open the center of the board up for ranged attacks.

[Elcor13]

Speaking of wall placement, make sure you try to maximize your summoning spots. You should rarely if ever put a wall directly behind another wall (if they're both yours) unless its literally the difference between life and death for your summoner, and even then there might be a better place.

Also, although it may be tempting, its not always the best idea to put a wall in the top corner (on either side) of the board (its on the front line and in one of the corners.) This not only blocks you from having a summoning square but can be easily blocked by your opponent if they put a wall one space towards the center and a unit in the front space of your wall.

[w][u]
[_][w]

w = wall
u = unit

With just that unit and wall that wall only has two summoning spots left, so its a lot less useful than if you just shifted it one spot closer to the center, where its easier to get rid of units blocking that space. Yay wall theory!

[Tisroero]

Strategy is to war in the similar manner as prostitution is to trades. It's existed since the beginning of the very concept.

You will never win a game by being "brilliant." You will win games because your opponent makes a mistake. It's up to you to take advantage of that.

Predict, and gamble. Scout possible outcomes during your opponent's next turn. After that, shape those outcomes into favorable ones for you instead. When attacking, have a main objective, with back-ups plans in the advent of missing the target or other unforeseen events. It's rarely a good idea to invest too heavily into one goal, as you cannot ensure it's success.
In short, let your first announced attack decide all others after it, based on your ability to recover from potential failures.

Don't play with the mindset of trying to beat your opponent's moves. Play under the thought process of defining their moves for the next turn, or if possible, as many turns as you can. Make your opponent do things they wouldn't want to, don't try to make a plan that will crush your opponent, as such a plan has too much room for error. Instead, force responses that you want or can accept from your opponent.

Also, if you aren't having fun while you're playing, you're doing it wrong.

[esper88]

Because of the system of getting magic for each kill, quality generally rules over quantity. Getting out your 3 champions is pretty much always a better idea than getting out all 18 commons instead. Balance this with getting in 3 attacks a turn and you'll be at maximum efficiency.

[darkbladecb]

Because of the system of getting magic for each kill, quality generally rules over quantity. Getting out your 3 champions is pretty much always a better idea than getting out all 18 commons instead. Balance this with getting in 3 attacks a turn and you'll be at maximum efficiency.

I also heavily advocate playing all three Champions, but an important notion in doing so is also being efficient in your Magic building. You want to build consistently, but also only as necessary. It's heart breaking to end the game with 5 or 6 Magic and no cards left. Build a lot of Magic, but build it smart.

[r0gershrubber]

I also heavily advocate playing all three Champions, but an important notion in doing so is also being efficient in your Magic building. You want to build consistently, but also only as necessary. It's heart breaking to end the game with 5 or 6 Magic and no cards left. Build a lot of Magic, but build it smart.

This is especially true for factions that don't have magic sinks* to make use of leftover magic at the end of the game. Factions that do, like the Vanguards and Fallen Kingdom, can be more forgiving of overbuilding.

*A magic sink is a unit ability that allows you to spend magic for a useful effect, like Greater Healing on Sera Eldwyn.

[bmwrider]

Also try playing with the faction that give you the most trouble to play against, learning how they work can teach you how to stop them.

[Sauam]

Build commons as magic!!!!!

You'll miss your attacks!!!!!


I think this is a very good follow-up to that line lol
I find way too often new player expects to kill on every attack and lose as the game goes on, especially those player coming from Magic:tg, they're just not use to concept of the die.

[316Conman]

I'm a beginner to SW, and I've played a game recently as the guild dwarves, and I won in a clear-from-the-come-behind victory. I'm not ashamed to say that my mid-game was rather lacking. Does anyone have any tips on how to continue an early lead?

[champrjk]

The guild dwarves are more of a defensive let your opponent come to you sort of faction.

[Clarissimus]

I'm a beginner to SW, and I've played a game recently as the guild dwarves, and I won in a clear-from-the-come-behind victory. I'm not ashamed to say that my mid-game was rather lacking. Does anyone have any tips on how to continue an early lead?

The best way to is destroy walls. Try to position your guys all around the wall so your opponent has limited summoning options. Place your champion or your summoner in between your commons so that your opponent cannot hurt your valuable champion or all-important summoner.

Destroying walls doesn't get you magic very fast (on average you'll throw 14-15 dice for just 1 magic, a terrible ratio), but it does put the pressure on your opponent. Often he'll put his summoner at risk or some other costly countermove, and if he fails to draw a wall soon enough you can easily close in for the win.

[iglew]

If you're a beginner, then my guess is that your "come-from-behind" victory wasn't really as come-from-behind as you think it was.

I find that novice players who don't yet have a real feel for the true economy of Summoner Wars tend to misjudge who is winning a game. If player A has a bunch of units storming the board, while player B can't seem to draw any good cards so his summoner is running for its life just barely keeping away ... then typically both players think that A is winning and B is losing.

But most likely, that's wrong. If both players are beginners and A seems to be dominating the board it probably means he's used up his good event cards early, spent a bunch of magic and burned through half his deck. Unless A converts that into a summoner kill, he's actually put himself behind, so that if B can just weather the storm B will have a clear advantage for the rest of the game.

So yeah, it creates the illusion of dramatic come-from-behind victories, but once you get a feel for the game and see the big picture, you'll recognize that it wasn't really from behind at all.

The lesson to take from this: Any time you launch an attack, if you do not come out of it with a concrete and lasting advantage (eg, hits on the summoner, wall destruction, or forcing your opponent to use up good cards), then assume your attack hurts you more than it hurts your opponent.

[Sauam]

Yes, it is very hard to gauge who is winning and who is not until late game where each player has only >7 cards in their draw pile.

There is only so few game where it is a blow out and you can already tell who is winning during the mid game, don't get me wrong, you still can have a good idea 75% of the time... but like iglew mentioned, it's very easy for new players to get mixed up whos actually winning.