2025-01-12

turn 1 victories on east board

section 1: intro

after thinking about sunshine on board east, i thought "hmm, what else can you do with dahan counterattacks on board east?"

section 2: the process of figuring this out

so saltsburg 1 is something that i've used in my previous post to cause ravages on turn 1 in east3. however, there are 3 dahan in east4, and also no disease, so we can also try to cause a ravage there.

if we also use haunts and embers, we can push stuff from east3 to east4. if we push just the town, then the east4 counterattack will destroy it. however, that leaves the east3 city and the east2 town for the spirit and 1 fear card and 1 blight card to deal with, and destroying all those buildings would only be 9 fear in total. adding prussia would only add 1 town, and prussia 4 or higher would need 16 fear generated.

so we should try to cause a ravage in east3. the disease is preventing that, but there's a way to remove it: thriving crops. it could build in east2 and east3 since they already have disease, and it could also add more invaders to destroy in east4.

in that case, we want the fear card to be daunted by the dahan, so the dahan survive to deal damage in the counterattacks. that has the bonus of also generating 1 more fear.

also, saltsburg ravages upgrade instead of cascade, which is a good thing since upgrading invaders means more fear for destroying them. however, it also means that the two ravages are only going to add 2 blight. prussia 6 can cause more, but none of the other lands besides east7 can be made a mining land easily, and east7 ravaging will mean that east8 builds.

instead, we can use strong earth to add a blight that can actually cascade, and repeatedly cascade between east3 and east4, flipping thriving crops and then a blighted card like aid.

now all we need is to deal 2 damage in east3 and destroy the town in east2 in the slow phase. we still need to reach terror 2, so we also count the fear generated:
4 from haunts and embers
1 from daunted by the dahan
4 from east4 (it starts with explorer explorer town, builds a city from thriving crops, then the town can be upgraded before it gets destroyed)
4 from east3 (it starts with explorer town city, then something is upgraded)
1 from the east2 town
for a total of 14. so destroying everything will just win against lower levels of prussia, and for higher levels, you just need to generate 2 extra fear while doing that.

section 3: the 3 relevant levels of prussia

low level prussia: prussia 1-3

explore wetlands
gain and play haunts and embers (plus maybe another card)
haunts and embers pushes strifed town from east3 to east4, cascade to east4 (4 fear total)
daunted by the dahan generates 1 fear, invaders deal 6 less damage to dahan (5 fear total)
build wetlands, start with east4
flip strong earth, add blight to east3, cascade to east4
flip thriving crops, build in east2 east3 east4, continue cascading to east3 then either east2 or east7, whichever one doesn't have presence
flip border
east4 upgrades town before counterattack destroying both cities (9 fear total)
east3 ravages, either upgrade town before counterattack dealing 2 damage to both cities, or upgrade explorer before counterattack destroying city and dealing 1 damage to a town
ravage east3 flips aid

to finish off low level prussia, you need to finish off east2 and east3. east2 has a town, and east3 has either 2 cities that have taken 2 damage or 2 towns, one of which has taken 1 damage. destroying all of this will generate 14 fear in total, which is already enough to reach terror 2.

mid level prussia: prussia 4-5

explore wetlands
gain and play haunts and embers (plus maybe another card)
haunts and embers pushes strifed town from east3 to east4, cascade to east4 (4 fear total)
daunted by the dahan generates 1 fear, invaders deal 6 less damage to dahan (5 fear total)
build wetlands, start with east4
flip strong earth, add blight to east3, cascade to east4
flip thriving crops, build in east2 east3 east4, continue cascading to east3 then either east2 or east7, whichever one doesn't have presence
flip border
east4 upgrades town before counterattack destroying both cities (9 fear total)
east3 ravages, either upgrade town before counterattack dealing 2 damage to both cities, or upgrade explorer before counterattack destroying city and dealing 1 damage to a town
ravage east3 flips aid

to finish off mid level prussia, you need to finish off east2 and east3, plus generate 2 fear to reach terror 2, which is at 16 fear. you can get 1 out of the 2 fear from destroying a town that escalated.

high level prussia: prussia 6

explore either swetlands or jwetlands
gain and play haunts and embers (plus maybe another card)
haunts and embers pushes strifed town from east3 to east4, cascade to east4 (4 fear total)
daunted by the dahan generates 1 fear, invaders deal 6 less damage to dahan (5 fear total)
build swetlands or jwetlands, start with east4
flip strong earth, add blight to east3, cascade to east4
flip thriving crops, build in east2 east3 east4, continue cascading to east3 then either east2 or east7, whichever one doesn't have presence
flip border
east4 upgrades town before counterattack destroying both cities (9 fear total)
east3 ravages, either upgrade town before counterattack dealing 2 damage to both cities, or upgrade explorer before counterattack destroying city and dealing 1 damage to a town
ravage east3 flips aid
explore either coastal or something with prussia escalation

to finish off high level prussia, you need to finish off east2 and east3, plus dealing with either east1 or east5 by preventing the build or destroying the town, plus generating 2 more fear to get to terror 2, some of which can come from dealing with east1 or east5.

section 4: the spirits, ordered by prussia level, then complexity, then alphabetically

4.1: against low level prussia

tfw the range from sunlit air is actually useful

g3, add bottom track presence to east5
second play is sunlit air
in fast, sunlit air yourself
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives purifying flame
innate pushes east2 town to east3 (10 fear total)
purifying flame east3 destroys 2 cities and 1 town (15 fear total)

g1 reclaim
second play is shatter homesteads
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives bats scout
bats scout east3 destroys both cities (13 fear total)
shatter destroys east2 town

there are plenty of damage minors with fire, but none deal 2 damage at range 2, so you can't both use panda's innate for fear and clear the buildings from east3

g3, add bottom track presence to east2
second play is wash away
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (11 fear total)
aid gives drought
wash away pushes both east3 towns to east2
drought destroys 3 towns in east2 (14 fear total)

contrast this with eyes, who does the exact same thing except that its version of wash away generates fear

g2 g4, add bottom track presence to east5
second play is swallowed
in fast, swallowed east5 (+2 fear)
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives bats scout
bats scout east3 destroys both cities (15 fear total)
left innate replaces east2 town

swallowed generates 2 fear, but you lose a fear because you don't actually destroy the east2 town (and you can't hit your right innate to make up that 1 fear while still being able to destroy east3 and reach east2). playing perils lets you hit your right innate, but perils itself only generates 1 fear, so you still can't reach 16 fear.

g2, add bottom track presence to east2
second play is study
during fast, study east2 (2 fear)
right innate observes east4
land of haunts and embers pushes an explorer instead of a town, gain sun marker (6 fear total)
fear card is instead angry mobs replacing east2 town with 2 explorers (7 fear total)
during ravage, do not flip either still healthy card
in east4, upgrade explorer before dahan counterattack, gain sun marker (8 fear total)
aid gives drought
spend 2 sun markers to threshold drought on east3, destroying town town city (12 fear total), but blights out

this is a sacrifice victory. memory can't deal with both east2 and east3 but can threshold drought to take out the east3 city without the ravage happening.

g2, add bottom track presence to east2
second play is teachings
right innate gives fire marker
teachings yourself, prepare earth, give yourself 1 earth
left innate spends earth marker to defend 5 in east3
fear card is instead angry mobs replacing east2 town with 2 explorers (5 fear total)
border destroys east2 presence, discard study for 1 energy
in east4, upgrade town before dahan counterattack dealing 2 damage to both cities
in east3, destroy the town and deal 2 damage to the city (6 fear total)
aid gives sunset's fire
sunset's fire spends fire marker to finish off 2 cities in east4 and 1 city in east3 (13 fear total)

mentor can reach east4 with a sacred site much more easily and can straight up defend the dahan in east3, so the fear card clears east2 instead of saving the east4 dahan.

thunder's reclaim is special in that it gains 2 power cards

second presence in east9
g1 reclaim, also gain spur on
first play spur on, spur on yourself to play haunts and embers
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives call to bloodshed
left innate gathers both east9 dahan into east4, pushes them into east2 bringing the presence
call to bloodshed east3 destroys both cities (13 fear total)
right innate destroys east2 town (14 fear total)

g3, add top track presence to east2
during ravage, do not flip border
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives voracious growth
voracious growth destroys east3 cities (13 fear total)
repeated voracious growth destroys east2 town (14 fear total)

unfortunately the minors that deal 2 damage while also generating fear don't work. sunsets fire is too expensive to repeat (flipping border would prevent downpour from having a sacred site), devouring and pull beneath can't deal 2 damage in east3, and savage mawbeasts requires 3 animal.

g2 g3, add bottom track presence to east1
second play is infesting spores
thriving crops builds in east10 instead of east2
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives bats scout
infesting spores deals 2 damage to east2 town (10 fear total)
bats scout destroys both east3 cities (14 fear total)

to deal the extra damage with infesting spores, we need to not use up both disease in east2. fortunately, we get an extra disease in east10 from setup that we can use to save a disease in east2.

g2, add top track presence to east6, move it to east1
second play is exaltation
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives drought
exaltation moves east1 presence to east2 then east3, bring the town in east2
drought destroys east3 towns (14 fear total), but blights out

4.2: mid-level prussia

g3, add bottom track presence to east2
second play is eerie noises
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (11 fear total)
aid gives drought
eerie noises pushes both east3 towns to east2 (13 fear total)
drought destroys 3 towns in east2 (16 fear total)

this is the most "standard" of the victories in this subsection

g1 reclaim
second play is shatter
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (11 fear total)
aid gives unquenchable flames
unquenchable east3 destroys damaged town, generates 1 fear (13 fear total)
shatter destroys east3 town, generates 1 fear (15 fear total)
thundering destruction destroys east2 town (16 fear total)

unlike panda innate, base lightning's innate actually clears buildings off the board, so the card from aid only needs to deal 1 damage at range 2 which allows minors with fire to be useful.

tactician does better than base because it can add a presence, so instead of playing spur on as an extra card for the elements, it can play voice of thunder which generates fear

start in east9
g3, add bottom track presence to east9, gain sun
second play is voice of thunder
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives bats scout
bats scout destroys both east3 cities (13 fear total)
left innate moves 2 dahan from east9 to east2
voice of thunder generates 2 fear in east2 (15 fear total)
right innate destroys east2 town (16 fear total)

deeps can take advantage of more minors than other spirits, as invaders in the coast can be pushed instead of damaged to destroy them.

start in east2
g3, add bottom track presence to east1, push presence to east2
second play is swallow
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (11 fear total)
aid gives weep for what is lost
weep east3 generates 2 fear, push both towns into the ocean (15 fear total)
swallow east2 drowns explorer+town (16 fear total)

g3, add bottom track presence to east4
second play is flowing and silent forms
in fast, flowing and silent forms east4 generates 2 fear, gather a presence from east8 (+2 fear)
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
during ravage, kick both east4 presence to east2
instead of aid, flip all things weaken
left innate deals 1 damage to east2 town, gather a presence into east3
during time passes, damaged invaders in east2 and east3 all die (18 fear total)

i guess this is maybe not turn 1 but it's before anything happens in turn 2

4.3: high-level prussia

initial explore jwetlands
g2, add bottom track presence to east2
second play is terrifying rampage
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives dire meta
explore coastal
terrifying rampage destroys east2 town, 1 fear (11 fear total)
innate moves east2 presence to east3, destroys both east3 cities (15 fear total)
dire meta destroys east1 town, 1 fear (17 fear total)

the +1 damage makes aid a lot stronger since a 1-damage minor can now take out a town

replace east3 presence with dahan+incarna
initial explore jwetlands
g1 reclaim, also gain spur on
first play spur on, spur on yourself to play haunts and embers
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3. east3 counterattack deals 2 extra damage to destroy both cities (13 fear total)
aid gives bats scout
explore coastal
left innate gathers 2 dahan from east3 and 1 from east4 into east2, push 1 dahan to east1, incarna damages east1 town
warrior innate deals 1 damage to east1 town, generates 1 fear (15 fear total)
bats scout destroys east2 town (16 fear total)

thunder gaining a second card on reclaim is still useful for the extra dahan movement from spur elements

initial explore jwetlands
g2, bottom track to east2, push incarna to east2
explorer escapes to east1
second play is emerge
during ravage, upgrade a town in east3 (9 fear total)
aid gives drought
escalation adds a town to east3
emerge moves incarna to east2, pushes town to east3 (10 fear total)
drought destroys city city town town in east3 (16 fear total), but blights out

stopping the build by making the land ravage instead

initial explore jwetlands
start in east2
g3, add bottom track presence to east1, push presence to east2
second play is swallow
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (11 fear total)
aid gives weep for what is lost
explore coastal
weep east3 generates 2 fear, push both towns into the ocean (15 fear total)
swallow east2 drowns explorer+town (16 fear total)
right innate drowns a town in east1 (17 fear total)

unlike deeps, base ocean has innates that are actually useful on turn 1

initial explore swetlands
g3, add bottom track presence to east7
second play is exhale
in fast, push incarna to east5 then east2, push east5 explorer to east1, east2 town to east3
in fast, exhale east3, 2 strifed towns don't participate in ravage, 2 fear
haunts and embers instead pushes non-strifed town
during ravage, strong earth cascades into east2 and destroys the incarna (so the dahan in east3 participate in ravage)
during ravage, upgrade an explorer in east3 (13 fear total)
aid gives twilight fog
explore coastal
twilight fog strifes unstrifed east3 town
right innate with 3 moon 2 sun destroys 3 towns in east3, 3 fear (19 fear total)

classic voice tactic of "get rid of your incarna so dahan actually fight back"

4.4: sus

river/travel/haven can't reach east2 with its presence placement

section 5: the full tier list

(spreading rot artwork is from here)

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