Have only played the Perlae Imperii expansion a few times but noticed this right away. It's funny how an artefact can go from one of the worst to one of the best.
Yes, apologies. I never outright say it in the video. All of these strategies (and many others not in this video) aim to finish the game by the end of the 4th round at the latest. That is my expectation when starting a game, depending on the Places of Power and artefacts of course.
My group just started playing this game. Dragon's Lair won the games 2/3 times with one victory coming in the 3rd round which pissed me off because I layed down 4 cards in the first round to build my engine resource which allowed me to buy two places of power by the 3rd round. Then all of a sudden Dragon's Lair strike. So for now on I'll just aim for the Lair, Sacrificial Dagger, and Philosopher Stone as my strategy.
It's probably the most annoying way to lose because of how easy it is to pull off, although winning with it in round 3 is uncommon. Don't know how big your group is but denying reanimate is pretty important to slow the Lair player down. It's a solid choice to go for if you are first player. If you're just playing the base game the paths to a quick victory are quite limited so your group may consider playing with the flipped side of it instead (Sorcerer's Beastiary).
Obviously will depend on your artefacts and mage but this would be approx how often I go for each. S Tier: Catacombs, Dragon's Lair, Temple of the Abyss, Alchemist's Tower A Tier: Gate of Hell, Crystal Keep B Tier: Sorcerer's Bestiary, Sacrificial Pit, Coral Castle, Sunken Reef C Tier: Sacred Grove, Dwarven Mines Trash Tier: Cursed Forge, Dragon Aerie
I wouldn't say over-powered, getting the Dragon's Lair won't guarantee a victory. There are certainly stronger combinations that can win faster. It's more the ease of victory that frustrates a lot of people. The gameplan is very straightforward and strong, a first gamer could stumble their way to 10 points in 4-5 rounds which is not the case with most other Places of Power.
In a weird way this kind of killed the spirit of the game for me. Just don't even bother building stuff just discard discard discard so you can race for places of power. Maybe they should've made the places of power a little more expensive so you actually have to build up an engine to get there.
It's a tough balance for sure. If you make Places of Power too expensive then Philosopher's Stone or "big gold" strategies would be even more powerful. You could consider house-ruling that the game ends at 15 or 20 points for a different experience that would reward actual engines much more.
@@NoWondersTV I play with my other friends who are new and dont know all the strategies and whatnot so the wincon for me is 15 or 20 if I need to up the difficulty even more but rest of them still only need 10. It makes it more interesting than me just rushing and they're not like wtf just happened.
I think there's enough replayability in the game that I wouldn't worry too much. It took me ~300 games before I'd had enough, and even now I wouldn't mind playing it again after a 6-month break. And we have the 2nd expansion to look forward to! It sounds like it's coming to BGA early 2024. There are probably 10 strategies you can use to reliably win with. The differences in your starting cards and mage keep the game interesting enough for me (most of the time).
The Diviner draws 3 and discards 3 which allows you to cycle through your deck quickly. By the 3rd round you can already see every card in your deck twice.
@@Airballshooterdiscarded and destroyed cards both go to the discard pile. Discarding a card is discarding it from your hand to get two essences (or 1 gold). Destroying a card is destroying it from your board. You need to have already played this card beforehand to do so. It can be done with some cards like Corrupt Altar or Vortex of Destruction, or with the scroll Destruction. Once the card is destroyed, it goes back to your discard pile. You technically can end up redrawing it if you draw a lot.
@@Airballshooter any card that is discarded or destroyed goes to your discard pile. When you run out of cards in your draw pile you shuffle the discard pile and make a new draw pile. (No you do not get 2 essences when you discard cards with the Diviner @guudys)
@@NoWondersTV I never said you got two essences from discarding with Diviner in particular. I'm talking about discarding as an action which is how you generally discard cards in this game. Yes discarding with Diviner doesn't give essences, it just allows you to cycle through your deck with more ease. I didn't see the main post was about the Diviner in particular as I receive many emails and saw only the question regarding "discard VS. destroy" so the email doesn't show the rest of the messages 😛
With the 2nd expansion comes a 5th strategy everyone should know: Wind-Up Man (which is devastatingly efficient when pearls are in play).
Have only played the Perlae Imperii expansion a few times but noticed this right away. It's funny how an artefact can go from one of the worst to one of the best.
please do more Res Arcana videos.
Please :)
Great video. I know you hint at the video a couple of times, but what I missed was stating that a player should expect the game to last 4 rounds.
Yes, apologies. I never outright say it in the video. All of these strategies (and many others not in this video) aim to finish the game by the end of the 4th round at the latest. That is my expectation when starting a game, depending on the Places of Power and artefacts of course.
new to this game, good introduction
THIS IS GOLD! THANK YOU!
My group just started playing this game. Dragon's Lair won the games 2/3 times with one victory coming in the 3rd round which pissed me off because I layed down 4 cards in the first round to build my engine resource which allowed me to buy two places of power by the 3rd round. Then all of a sudden Dragon's Lair strike. So for now on I'll just aim for the Lair, Sacrificial Dagger, and Philosopher Stone as my strategy.
It's probably the most annoying way to lose because of how easy it is to pull off, although winning with it in round 3 is uncommon. Don't know how big your group is but denying reanimate is pretty important to slow the Lair player down. It's a solid choice to go for if you are first player. If you're just playing the base game the paths to a quick victory are quite limited so your group may consider playing with the flipped side of it instead (Sorcerer's Beastiary).
I find these videos so so useful and helpful. It had helped me with my games.
great video...but don'T forget that an elven bow or a cheap dragon via saddle or golden egg..can easily torpedo any rushing strategy
What do you think about making a Tier list of all the places of power ? Nice vidéo 😊
Obviously will depend on your artefacts and mage but this would be approx how often I go for each.
S Tier: Catacombs, Dragon's Lair, Temple of the Abyss, Alchemist's Tower
A Tier: Gate of Hell, Crystal Keep
B Tier: Sorcerer's Bestiary, Sacrificial Pit, Coral Castle, Sunken Reef
C Tier: Sacred Grove, Dwarven Mines
Trash Tier: Cursed Forge, Dragon Aerie
Cool
Nice vidéo
Merci! 😊
Thanks for this! I'm a new player. From the video I conclude that Dragons Lair is over-powered? Is that true?
I wouldn't say over-powered, getting the Dragon's Lair won't guarantee a victory. There are certainly stronger combinations that can win faster. It's more the ease of victory that frustrates a lot of people. The gameplan is very straightforward and strong, a first gamer could stumble their way to 10 points in 4-5 rounds which is not the case with most other Places of Power.
In a weird way this kind of killed the spirit of the game for me. Just don't even bother building stuff just discard discard discard so you can race for places of power. Maybe they should've made the places of power a little more expensive so you actually have to build up an engine to get there.
It's a tough balance for sure. If you make Places of Power too expensive then Philosopher's Stone or "big gold" strategies would be even more powerful. You could consider house-ruling that the game ends at 15 or 20 points for a different experience that would reward actual engines much more.
@@NoWondersTV I play with my other friends who are new and dont know all the strategies and whatnot so the wincon for me is 15 or 20 if I need to up the difficulty even more but rest of them still only need 10. It makes it more interesting than me just rushing and they're not like wtf just happened.
I'm worried about this game becoming real repetitive real fast. I keep trying to find new ways to win, but the old standards are just too strong.
I think there's enough replayability in the game that I wouldn't worry too much. It took me ~300 games before I'd had enough, and even now I wouldn't mind playing it again after a 6-month break. And we have the 2nd expansion to look forward to! It sounds like it's coming to BGA early 2024.
There are probably 10 strategies you can use to reliably win with. The differences in your starting cards and mage keep the game interesting enough for me (most of the time).
I'm so bad at this game, lol, but I'm trying, damnit.
Why does the diviner allow me to get back the stone later?
The Diviner draws 3 and discards 3 which allows you to cycle through your deck quickly. By the 3rd round you can already see every card in your deck twice.
@@NoWondersTV wait so discarding is not the same as destroying cards? discarded cards are shuffled again to build a new deck?
@@Airballshooterdiscarded and destroyed cards both go to the discard pile. Discarding a card is discarding it from your hand to get two essences (or 1 gold). Destroying a card is destroying it from your board. You need to have already played this card beforehand to do so. It can be done with some cards like Corrupt Altar or Vortex of Destruction, or with the scroll Destruction. Once the card is destroyed, it goes back to your discard pile. You technically can end up redrawing it if you draw a lot.
@@Airballshooter any card that is discarded or destroyed goes to your discard pile. When you run out of cards in your draw pile you shuffle the discard pile and make a new draw pile. (No you do not get 2 essences when you discard cards with the Diviner @guudys)
@@NoWondersTV I never said you got two essences from discarding with Diviner in particular. I'm talking about discarding as an action which is how you generally discard cards in this game. Yes discarding with Diviner doesn't give essences, it just allows you to cycle through your deck with more ease.
I didn't see the main post was about the Diviner in particular as I receive many emails and saw only the question regarding "discard VS. destroy" so the email doesn't show the rest of the messages 😛