Hi everyone ! This week, we'll go back to cards & deck-building !
Mischievous Spirits is a very strong Season 1 Ploy, that became quite popular since it has been re-released with the recent Gift Pack.
Hold Objective warbands use it to win more glory and to steal some from their fellow treasure hunters, Aggro warbands use it to counter them, and Control warbands to mess up with everything else.
For many Chosen Axes players like myself, using Mischievous Spirits can be very tempting... because we're at the meeting point of all these playstyles !
However, at the same time, as it's really complex, this double-edged powerfull tool can be a hell of a trap... so I thought we needed a closer look at it.
To begin, let's read the card again :
"Starting with you and going clockwise, each player does the following : pick one Objective that has not been move with this ploy, and move that objective in an adjacent hex. Do this until each Objective has been moved once."
This leads us to some very obvious statements :
What you have to expect when you play Mischievous Spirits :
- Any fighter sitting on an Objective will lose it (including yours...),
- Any fighter sitting next to an Objective will have a chance to grab it, depending on who moves it, you or your opponent,
- Your opponent will try to make the best possible use of it too...
What are your advantages over your opponent in that case :
- You know that it will happen, so you can set up things to make the best possible use of it,
- You'll be able to make 3 moves, and your opponent only 2,
- You'll have the 1st move, which has great chance to be the most important, provided you understand what's really at stake...
These are only reminders, but one can already feel how dangerous this card can be...
If we want to avoid its unwanted effects and to limit most of its risks, we need to go a bit further.
When you play it, always pay attention to these 3 things :
1/ Follow simple strategic guidelines :
- Before anything else, always consider the possibility that your opponent may have Mischievous Spirits in hand himself (if he uses it, Round 1 it's a 25% chance with no Mulligan), or that he may get it later during the game,
- Before triggering the Armageddon, always consider all the other possible counters : in particular, ploys like Restless Prize, Two Steps Forward or strong faction specifics Gambits like Howling Vortex (Thorns of the Briar Queen), Hunt In Concert (The Wild Hunt), Vile Invaders (Grashrak's Despoilers), Pack Advance (The Grymwatch),
- In general, avoid moving Objective tokens on Starting Hexes (in particular when you face Sepulchral Guard / Spiteclaw's Swarm / Thorn of the Briar Queen / Eyes of the Nine, because of their respawn & teleport mechanics, or when you face Mollog's Mob, because of his immoderate love for Commanding Stride),
- If possible, always try to move the Objective tokens your opponent wants the most on Lethal Hexes (unless you face Ghosts of course, and provided you don't think that you will need them later, for a Treasure Lust trick for instance...),
- Also consider the distance between the Objectives themselves : in general, when you move those that are in your opponent side of the board, the more distance, the best. In particular, when you face Lady Harrow's Mournflight...
2/ Seek the best possible timing
- Never forget what are your main goals in the precise match-up you play, and keep focused on what you are trying to achieve, whether it is helping you inspire your own fighters early to try to table your opponent before Round 3, countering his end-phase goals, breaking his snwoballing dynamic or nullifying his third end-phase scoring tools (like keys),
- In many games, if you pay attention to it, you'll notice that you have opportunities of making "2 birds, 1 stone" moves, where you gain a lot (with inspiration for instance) while your opponent suffers huge losses. Always try to set-up this kind of move !
- In general, Round 1, if your opponent tries to reach Objectives, you'll make a better use of Mischievous Spirits after his Activation 2, because unless he has push Ploys, respawn Ploys or Restless Prize, he won't be able to fully recover from it (at that time, there's only one dreadful exception : Thorns of the Briar Queen, because of Varclav's pushing ability)...
- Round 1 again, if you let your opponent play freely until his Activation 3, there's a risk he might score things like Coveted Spoils... you have to deal with this risk and to try to make the best possible choice (disrupting or not his formation when he already holds 2 Objectives...), think well !
- Later during the game, Round 2 & 3, things will get much more complex, because you'll have to find the balance between a lot of stuff : the number of Objectives your opponents holds, the ones he has already scored or discarded (Supremacy, Coveted Spoils, Path to Glory), the ones he may have, the Ploys he has used, your own remaning tools... Don't let Mischievous Spirits pressure yourself : keep calm, don't panic and try to avoid making big mistakes...
- Finally, also note this : if you think that your opponent has Mischievous Spirits in his own deck, a defensive use (your own Mischievous Spirits being a counter) can be very strong : first, as you'll have the final word on the overall trade, second, as your opponent morale has great chance to instantly drop...
3/ Trust the numbers
- In any case, always compare these numbers :
- As your main (and obvious) rule of thumb, make sure that A1 < A2 : you must have less fighters that are holding Objectives than your opponent, or you have great chance to stand on the losing side of that trade,
- As your secondary rule of thumb, try to make sure that B1 > B2 : having more adjacent fighters than your opponent ensures you more potential benefit,
- But beware, the more you win in your Mischievous Spirits trade, the more you'll probably lose if your opponent plays his own version right after that : for this reason, sometimes, a slightly suboptimal 2nd or 3rd move can be relevant...
- So always try to read the hints : if your opponent's moves look strange to you, maybe it's because he's about to play it himself,
- And if you face Aggro warbands, who don't really care about Objectives, unless 3 of your fighters stand near Objectives, there's a great chance that you don't win much from Mischievous Spirits : you'll manage to move the 1st Objective under one of your fighters, your opponent will drive away the 2nd from you, and the 3rd will depend on the set up...
- Of course, if it gives you a paramount local advantage and if you think that your opponent won't win too much glory with it, forget what's written above, and use Mischievous Spirits even if you have more fighters holding Objectives than your opponent - but remember that it can be very risky...
- ... so again, never play Mischievous Spirits too early or without a good reason !
This leads us to my final advice : if you chose to add Mischievous Spirits in your deck, you'll have to accept the fact that, in some games, there will be no good moment to play it.
Above all, don't play it at all cost !
Have a nice week in Beastgrave !