This was also meant to expand deck-building options for those that want to customize the experience further, but I much prefer to stick with the faction decks as-is so that the game works well out of the box with others that don’t own their own copy. There’s actually a very nice post on the publisher’s website discussing the differences between first and second summoners. The only thing that would remain the same would be the faction name and the thematic elements.
The summoner would be new, as well as the common units, champion units, and event cards. The idea is essentially to make an entirely new deck of 35 cards for each of the 16 different factions. Those shenanigans are now known as “second summoners.” I was very skeptical at first. It’s a nice round number (for a single elimination tournament), although as you’ll see, we’re looking at 40 unique faction decks now due to some clever shenanigans. These expansions brought us up to a total of 16 different factions in the Summoner Wars universe, which appears to be the grand total for the foreseeable future. Two more faction decks were released: The Demagogue of The Filth and Rallul of the Mercenaries. The precision of the wording on the cards, the functional nature of the thematic ability descriptions, and the even-handedness of the diverse matchups make for a game that showcases the designer’s incredible attention to detail in a way that makes playing the game even easier and more enjoyable than almost anything comparable out there.Ģ012 was a lean year for Summoner Wars, but we still got one of my favorite factions ever that year. I loved Stratego as a kid, and I enjoy games with a lot of setup variability, so it’s no surprise that I see Summoner Wars as a huge achievement in game design. There are three distinct kinds of elves (Phoenix, Jungle, and Shadow) each with their own feel and style, and the same goes for orcs (Tundra and Swamp), dwarves (Guild and Deep), and goblins (Cave and Sand).Īt its essence, Summoner Wars is essentially what would happen if the classic 1940s board game Stratego grew up in a post-D&D, post-Magic world. I love how the descriptor in the faction name is not just window dressing. The Master Set included Selundar of the Shadow Elves, Tacullu of the Benders, Sunderved of the Mountain Vargath, Krusk of the Sand Goblins, Tundle of the Deep Dwarves, and Mugglug of the Swamp Orcs.
#PHOENIX POINT BEST FACTION SERIES#
It’s a fantastic entry point for the series despite its somewhat misleading name. The game finally got the beautiful (and still very functional) mounted board that it always deserved, but more importantly, the designer Colby Dauch worked up six great new factions and put them all in this set. Summoner Wars really hit its stride in 2011 when the Master Set was released. These were not my favorite decks as I’ll discuss later, but they do contribute nicely to the incredible variety of the possible match-ups.
This is when we were introduced to Ret-Talus of the Fallen Kingdom, Sera Eldwyn of the Vanguards, Vlox of the Cloaks, and Abua Shi of the Jungle Elves.
These decks required a base set to play the game, but could be matched up against each other or any of the earlier factions in any combination. The game was first expanded through a series of faction decks in 20. The game has come a long way since then, in both intricate mechanisms and quality components, so it very much deserves a second look. Many of you probably played the game back then and never gave it a second thought. The original base sets featured Prince Elien of the Phoenix Elves squaring off against Grognack of the Tundra Orcs, and Oldin of the Guild Dwarves lined up against Sneeks of the Cave Goblins. The game is a two-player card-based combat game where your goal is to eliminate your opponent’s leader using your faction deck’s unique unit and event cards. Each came with 2 faction decks, a plain paper mat, dice, and wound markers - everything you need to play. The journey started in 2009 with the release of two simple, unassuming base sets.
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