Universal Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer [Dreamscape expansion]

One of my favorites too. I always pick it if I can. The choice of banish is fantastic. You can banish apprentices to get that extra boost, or banish militia. It whittles down your hand extremely fast, is worth a lot of end game honor, and is just all round awesome. Pair with Black Watches for an extremely aggressive, fast, deadly hand.

You don't know how often it is you come up with a 3 - 3 draw with 4 monsters on the field. A black hole changes it to 2 - 4 which allows you to kill a monster.

Lots of situational benefits you wouldn't know of unless you use it often.

 

Pretty much what Camzy said, it will take practice to see what cards work together and watching what your opponents play will provide some lessons. I find the game log to be a valuable tool; whenever I log back into a game I always look thru my deck then check my opponents log to see their last several moves. The ability to improvise based on the board is essential, there is no one set strategy. If there is one constant, it's the need to banish your apprentice and militia cards fairly early so your more powerful cards get drawn more often. If I hit round 10-12 and I still have my 8 app & 2 mil I know I'm in trouble

I also invested some time and read thru the forums in the official Ascension site, picked up some tips there. I'll have to check out the boardgamegeek forum also...

 

One of the early dilemmas I get faced with is what to pick in the 4 and 5 rune categories. I'm sometimes unsure where to go, and I have preferences, which I find land me in trouble sometimes. What do you guys take?

4 runes - I like Arbiter P, Reactor Monk, Twofold Askara
5 runes - Snapdragon, Watchmaker's Altar, Black Watch Elite

Reactor Monk I feel is my biggest weakness. I love that unit. I pick it whenever, and it gets me in trouble sometimes with monster rows. I just love the thought of getting a 6 or 7 construct in turn 3.

Snapdragon I still maintain is the best early game unit to pick up. One extra rune is invaluable and over multiple turns can make a big difference. Add on the lifebound bonuses which stack up surprisingly fast, makes it pretty deadly. It's even better in the expansion with the new units.

 

That's actually not true. Sometimes, you just can't get your hands on banishing units. It's certainly preferable, but you can make do without. You need movement though 100%. Ascetics, Scribes, Librarians.

I played an amazing game once against a construct collector who amassed 4 or 5 heavy constructs including Hedron Cannon at the end and beat him using Stone Circle and no banishers. The ability to move useful heroes to the top of your deck made all the difference. Arha Templars won me the match.

 

This was in the only game you did not win by 1 point (btw 1-point or 2-points win/loss are for me a draw). So it did not matter.

Anyhow, let's keep playing ... I still have to understand what sort of player you are. Once I do, the fun will start

 

So true!
there is no single way to win, but sure way to loose. That is why i find impossible to stet a card is better than another. But for sure some cards are always useful (snapdragon, stone circle, etc.)

Or maybe it is me who plays differently and like to experiment

 

Heh I would have liked to see that game! Yeah, if I'm in a game where I simply can't get to banish my weak cards having cards that let you draw more is invaluable. I should revise my statement to "Deck Stagnation is your Enemy" and to come up with a method to prevent that from happening.

 

Those are all good choices, I think I would give a slight edge to Aribitar of Fate, yes you only draw one card but then have the OPTION to banish. I've been in situations mid to late-game where I'm nervous to play Arbitar of P because I don't want to bansh an excellent card. Doesn't come up too often but I screwed up once and two Mecha constructs were pulled, had to get rid of one of them

Re your Reactor Monk if I have a weakness for Lifebound cards to the point of being detrimental, ie I will be sorely tempted to use 5 honor to acquire two green cards instead of a good 5 cost card. All the more so if I pull an early Snapdragon!

Riddle me this: you have the ability to acquire Snapdragon, Black Hole or Aesetic of the Lidless Eye on turn one, which one do you choose and why? Let's assume a high honor Mecha construct, a Mecha initiate and a Fire Tyrant in the other slots.

 

everyone talking so much about this game here is making me want to spend those $5 D:

 

I agree with these choices, although I'm not in love with Watchmaker early in the game. I would prefer to take Reactor Monk and then grab a Void Initiate with the 5th rune if I have one. I would add Arbiter of Fate to the 4 runes list. I like being able to have discretion on whether to banish or not, depending on whether I need the extra Militia or Apprentice to buy something I really want.

I would also add Black Hole to the 5 runes list. It is great to get early in the game. Even when it has outlived its usefulness, it's still worth 4 points in the end game.

 

That's a good question. I would probably vote for Black Hole, only because I think thinning your deck starting with the first turn gives you the best chance of maximizing your deck down the road. I would vote Snapdragon a close second, although I know Camzy will argue Snapdragon is best. Aesetic's usefullness later in the game depends in part on how successful you have been in getting rid of Militia and Apprentices and how otherwise clogged your deck has become.

 

Wow - glad to see all the enthusiasm going on about the best way to build your deck

I was also under trying to get rid of my weaker cards early in the game, but one thing I still don't usually do is to banish cards in the center row - unless it's a card that I have few chances of needing/getting, and it's a clear help for my opponent.

Eager to delve more into the game - thanks everyone for the enthusiasm contagion

And for Drexiel: you should

 

I think not banishing things in the center row is one of the surest ways to lose to some of the better players like Camzy and Celeric. I do not put myself in that category. When you are playing an expert, I think it's really important to do what you can to control the center row by using Seer of the Forked Path if you have one.

 

Since we've had so much Round 1 talk, what would you take if you had four runes and the only choices were an Arha Sensei, 2 Heavy Infantry or Deathseeker and a Heavy Infantry? I really hate getting 4 the first round. I greatly prefer the 5/3.

 

Snapdragon. I've never lost a game after getting Snapdragon and a 3 rune lifebound hero in the first two turns.

Black Hole a close second though. I'd definitely rue giving my opponent that.

Also, Arbiter F isn't that great. I find you often pick it top of your deck, and then its banish ability goes to waste. Arbiter P is a far better card. It moves and banishes your hand. There's a reason it's the most inefficient card for end game honor. Worse come to the worst, banish it with something else towards the end game. I've never had to banish any worse than a heavy infantry or mystic with it. Just draw cards before it to maximize your chances of getting an apprentice or militia on the next draw.

 

I couldn't resist any longer... Finally bought this game plus the new deck. So far it has been pretty nice, but it has been years since I played a card game like this.

 

I would take the Arha Sensai over the 2 heavies or DS + HI. I love the early game ability to transform apps and mils into more powerful cards and it's even versitial later in the game if you need to swap a mystic for a heavy (or vice versa) and sometimes I'll banish cards like Void Initiate once they outlasted their usefulness. Quite often picking the 3 cost Sensai seems to open up a nice 1 cost card like Void, Lifebound or Arha Initiate...but it's a crapshoot.

 

That's actually what I went with, but I never feel good about leaving "unspent money" on the table.