News from the Front: Thorns grows wild!

These dev blogs include not only lore on each of the factions, but faction specific tips and tricks from our battle tested QA team!! Read on to learn more. Without further ado, you know them, you love them, you will eventually be made into mulch by one of them...

Thorns

As powerful and unyielding as Mother Nature herself, the forces of Thorns venerate nature and the primal. The Beasts and Bark Druids of Thorns had been content to protect the forests and wildlands they call home until the forces of Strife and Scales invaded, polluting and plundering their lands for biofuel. Since then, they have begun to push outwards into the “civilized” world, seeking to protect their home by returning all to an older, natural order. Bolstered by the Faerie Kin and Hollow folk who are happy to salvage the war machines of the outside world and turn them against their former masters in defense of the Forest, these woodland defenders are a formidable fighting force, bringing even their most fearsome foes to their knees.

Champions

• The Eidolon of Earth is available after you have increased your Champions’ Power Stat 40 Times, such as through Spell effects like Nature’s Bounty or with units like Shadow of the Forest. Eidolon’s Champion Ability targets a Unit, increasing Eidolon’s Power by 1 and then dealing damage to the target Unit equal to Eidolon’s new Power stat. In addition to clearing out potentially dangerous Units, the increase that this ability grants to Eidolon’s Power pairs nicely with both Eidolon’s Overkill Gem, which causes excess damage from an attack to spill over to subsequent units; and the fact that Eidolon’s deck starts out with two copies of the Charge Spell, which triggers your Champion to attack even outside of combat. When paired with other effects that increase Champion Power, such as those mentioned above, this can potentially result in a devastating snowball effect.

• Completing 40 battles with active Battle Mutators unlocks Tamas Dow, a master of battlefield control and guerilla warfare. His ability grants the player a unique Unit: the Hollow Trap. The Hollow Trap has 3 Power and 1 Health, as well as a Respite Gem that allows it to be played on a spot already occupied by a Unit, returning that Unit to your Hand. Furthermore, the Hollow Trap will instantly destroy any Unit it deals damage to, regardless of the opposing Unit’s remaining health. Not only does this Unit’s Respite Gem enable better battlefield positioning, it also pairs well with Units that have Spawn Effects or Units with Rush, allowing them to reap the benefits of their Abilities multiple times.

• Unlocking 15 Spy Routes on the Region Map will reveal Bran’Duir of the Bark, a master Druid with exceptional knowledge on how to forage for the resources of the land. His ability is a thing of simple beauty, allowing the caster to Search their Draw Pile and add any one card of their choosing to their Hand. The winds of fate can be fickle when they blow across the battlefield, so having guaranteed access to whatever card you desire in that moment is a great boon – either for rescuing yourself from a dire situation, or to make a good position in battle even better.

• Draw the attention of the Master of the Hunt by deploying Beast Units to the Battlefield 150 times. She is a mounted huntress who understands the denizens of the wild inside and out. If there are Ally Beast Units deployed the Battlefield, her ability will grant all of them a +1 Boon to both their Power and Health. If you have no Beasts deployed, her ability will grant you one at random, with a chance that they’ll not even be from the Thorns faction. While the Thorns faction has a great many animals that fight for it, Beast Units can be found in the ranks of several different factions, such as the Dogs of War used by Scales or the Sonic Feeders of Eclipse, so battle rewards have an even greater chance of providing Units that synergize with the Master of the Hunt.

  

Promotion Gems of Thorns

Thorns has four unique gems that set them apart from the other factions.

• REGEN – This Unit heals 1 and removes all Status Effects at the End of Turn. Whether you want to keep a defensive Unit alive to take hits for its frailer allies, or you want to keep a powerful Unit alive longer to lay waste to the enemy, this Gem is invaluable for any Units you may want to ensure stay in the fight.

• RUSH – This Unit gains +1/+1 for the rest of this battle whenever it is the first card its Owner plays on a turn. If you’re expecting a prolonged battle, especially once your conquest reaches later regions of Terrene Gall, the ability to acquire stacking buffs on a Unit opens up many long-term strategies. If you build around Rush, you may want to cull your deck to see your buffed Rush Units more often, or invest towards finding or making Respite Units to allow a Rush Units to gain multiple Rush buffs before being cycled through the Discard and Draw piles.

• OVERKILL – Whenever this Unit attacks, excess damage is dealt to the Enemy behind the destroyed Unit. On high-power Units, this Gem can be immeasurably valuable when paired alongside buffs like Rush or buffing cards like Cultivation or Blazing Cutlass. Additionally, this cascading damage can carry other Unit effects through to the last Unit it reaches, such as those of Poison or Explosive Gems. Combining this Gem with Delirium’s Corrupt Gem can also provide great synergy to ensure you’re never wanting for Units to fill your frontlines.

• AMBUSH – A Unit with this gem will spawn from the Draw Pile whenever your Champion takes 2 or more damage. Having several Units with Ambush in your Draw Pile can be a lifesaver to ensure your Champion doesn’t get taken out of the fight, which will result in your defeat. This Gem is best equipped to any units you may recruit with strong Spawn Effects, like Scales’ B70 Bomber (which deals damage to all Enemy Units on Spawn) or Essence’s Terrene Artificer (which fills your side of the field with Golems for extra defense). Also consider pairing with Gems that activate on Spawn, such as Silence’s Echo Gem to summon further reinforcements; or Gems like Burn, Sabotage, or Chaos that inflict statuses on the cards in the Enemy’s Hand. To better ensure you always have an Ambush unit in your back pocket, try to recruit the Screaming Firehawk, which will shuffle any Ambush Units in your Discard Pile back into the Draw Pile.

Units of Note

• Hollow Rangers are the basic unit for this faction. They possess the Exhaust trait, meaning they don’t get shuffled back into your Draw Pile after they’re discarded – but, in exchange, they Heal your Champion by 1 when they fall in battle.

• Hollow Steamwing possesses the Ambush Gem, and has the ability to create a copy of itself in your Draw Pile every time it Spawns. The copies will produce copies as well, so just recruiting one means your Champion will always have a fleet of Steamwings in their back pocket should they need them.

• The Bio-drenched Wolf returns to the Draw Pile when it dies, instead of proceeding to the Discard Pile. Attaching an Ambush Gem to one means having a Unit that’s constantly ready to jump to your Champion’s defense, though playing one normally will require you to potentially sacrifice another card in your Hand due to it’s Rash conditional.

• If you’re building a Beast-centric Deck, try to pick up Mutated Mongrels and Divebomb Griffins. Both Units have the capacity to buff the power of allied Beasts – Mongrels when they fall in battle; and Griffins by being present when any Beast-tribe Unit attacks, including themselves.

• The Rainforest Defender is an excellent unit to start an attacking turn with. It may heal the Enemy Champion when played, but that’s more than made up for by possessing both Rush and Overkill alongside naturally high Power, as well as being immune to damage on the first turn it’s played.

  

Wrap Up

With a powerful slate of Units and the ability to stack buffs over the course of a battle, Thorns players have a wide range of options between going for a quick all-out offensive or playing the long game. The faction’s emphasis on Beast Units mean that its own cards have the potential to synergize very well with Units that can be obtained from other factions, and having Units, Spells, and Champions that allow you to gather cards of your choice to your Hand mean much better chances at molding the flow of battle to your favor. Survey the land and keep track of what you hold in reserve, and you’ll be a true guerilla fighter in no time, with precious few who could hope to stand in your way.