Ashes Preview: The Sacred Lands
Archasaurus Mount, Law of Domination and Sacred Ground
Welcome back, Ashes players! We have another week of previews for The King of Titans and The Ghost Guardian expansion decks! Last week, we introduced the mount mechanic to Ashes through two unique and powerful summon spells. Let’s begin today’s preview with another mount!
Archasaurus Mount
This mount has another twist to it in that it is an action spell that costs both a main AND a side action to play. When compared to the cost of a Cerasaurus Mount, the Archasaurus is a bit more unwieldy and expensive, but the effort is worth it! The Archasaurus is an absolute powerhouse of a unit, boasting a 4/5/0 statline. The Archasaurus puts this huge attack value to good use with the Gigantic 2 ability! This prevents units with two or less life value from defending against this mount, so you can count on rampaging past Gilders and most Butterfly Monks to hit the opposing Phoenixborn for massive damage! As with all the other mounts, the Archasaurs lets you dismount the ally on it, to bring out another warrior to press into the fight!
Law of Domination
Here we have another ready spell to add to the suite of divine laws. Law of Domination is a very aggressive law that encourages breaking past tough defenses. When Law of Domination enters play, each player offers up one of their units to a duel, with each unit dealing damage to each other, equal to their attack! A well-timed law can force your opponent to preemptively send their best ally to their own demise, or force an important defensive unit out of their comfort zone to face your best threat! In addition, Law of Domination ensures that your battles go as planned by disallowing damage prevention effects like Particle Shield!
Sacred Ground
Divine magic is home to some of the greatest defensive tools in the game, and Sacred Ground is no exception. This ready spell preemptively sets up protection against some of the most game-swinging spells like Meteor or Kneel. Choosing to fight your battles on the Sacred Ground will help aggressive, swarm-based strategies keep their footing against control strategies looking to eliminate your forces in one swoop! Sacred Ground has additional utility when the threat of board-wiping spells is not present. At a moment’s notice in battle, you can exhaust Sacred Ground to give all units on the battlefield, including your opponent’s units, the Armored 1 ability. This can soften the blow of a strong push from your opponent, giving you the option to block and not counter attack, all while keeping your units alive and ready to launch their own charge next turn!
Thanks for reading today’s preview! Stay tuned later this week as we return to Rimea’s deck to see the new ways sympathy magic will be manipulating our very understanding of magic!
Until next time,
Nick Conley