I think it's really notable that the aspect makes the 1 energy from your g3 a lot more valuable. base keeper tends to spend this energy on using its g4, so it can be easy to miss that the tracks secretly have +1 on them with the aspect since you're pretty much always taking g3
One big thing about the aspect is it makes it much easier to interact with blighted lands. As the right innate can’t add wilds to blighted lands, and the regular G4 cannot add to them either. With the aspect you can move directly in and immediately start clearing invaders.
This spirit, when I first got branch and claw I also got the promo pack. Wildfire, Serpent, Sharp Fangs were being played by my group. I finally gave him a try, and it was so easy what a power house. When I bring this game to my hobby shop's board game night, I play this spirit to ensure a win for the group.
6:40, on moderate-high difficulty I've found great success in halting 3 plays and instead greeding for more energy. With 7/turn i can play whatever, always grow G4 and still have some leftover for events, and 2 card plays can make do for a few turns. After reaching 2/7, you're completely busted, growing twice and gaining cards all the time. With only 2 plays, you also halt the reclaim for a while. The aspect seems like a good nerf.
@@RedReVenge007 No, you don't need it - maybe even I don't need it. But at moderate-high difficulty (say, diff 7), and at a skill level ever so slightly below yours, it is less punishing to play high energy Keeper. In practice it results in underplaying, traded for extra energy and proliferation. I think of it adds an extra layer of greed, and greed is good.
Keeper is one of my favorites and I agree with a lot of what you said. Regarding the defense rating on the back, the impression I got was that the wilds tokens were being considered a defensive ability since they prevent bad things from happening. I do agree that this is a weird way to evaluate them but it seemed that’s what the idea was. Plus as you mentioned the defend cards with plant are an easy pick up to work with the kit. That said I don’t know that id consider them a dahan spirit strictly still. The growth paths are pretty flexible allowing either more plays or more energy depending on the majors you see and want to use. On top of that the fire needed for your first innate isn’t found on most defense cards so you will likely draft more offensive cards containing fire for that. Sure the defend 6 with plant and the defend 4 with sun and plant (the names escape me) are no brainer pick ups. That said, if you draft mostly offense cards with fire for your innate you won’t have any lands you actually need to defend anyway thus lowering your interaction with dahan besides just wiping them out if you aren’t careful. I’m guessing you’d touch on most of this (such as the flexibility past the first couple turns) in the guide you mentioned possibly making so this isn’t really a criticism so much as adding other options for people who don’t like going 5 plays. Also having played the aspect, while it does weaken your late game, it makes your early game a lot stronger. Cleared my board out so quickly with it that I was able to help out oceans board as well while they just munches a single coastal land for energy. Still a great video introducing the spirit to those who may not have tried it yet.
Yeah, that's probably what they meant, but it often doesn't work out that way when you consider higher-level adversaries and all the ways they bypass the need for explorers.
@@iang0th oh definitely. England, Hapsburg, Scotland, and ironically even Russia sometimes don’t care about your wilds for some or all of the lands being actually safe. Granted at least against Russia it stops one of their super explorers.
Wilds is considered Utility, but the devs have stated that the bar graph on the standard and JE game is not accurate, or is not how they would rewrite the bars with the knowledge they have now. With 5 plays and plenty of drafts you should be able to find a Fire card for your innate and a defend card for Dahan usability. Unfortunately, I think the only way to play Keeper is going to 5 plays. Yes, many players go for the energy, but that isn't needed since you get energy on both presence placement and reclaim. 3/3 is all you need to reliably play majors and Keeper is a pseudo 6/2 starting on turn 3!
@@RedReVenge007 oh if they always considered the wilds to be utility then I really don’t know where the defense rating came from. Finding fire with all that is easy enough yeah, my only point was sometimes you won’t even need the defends because of how strong keepers offense can be. I do go down the plays track typically as I like getting full thresholds for innates and do agree it’s the more consistent path. However I’m guessing when you say the only way to play them you’re mean the best way in high difficulty games? The energy and fewer plays route seems to work fine consistently on lower complexity games but those don’t really need much discussion hence why I’m assuming you meant for harder games
I think it's really notable that the aspect makes the 1 energy from your g3 a lot more valuable. base keeper tends to spend this energy on using its g4, so it can be easy to miss that the tracks secretly have +1 on them with the aspect since you're pretty much always taking g3
One big thing about the aspect is it makes it much easier to interact with blighted lands. As the right innate can’t add wilds to blighted lands, and the regular G4 cannot add to them either. With the aspect you can move directly in and immediately start clearing invaders.
This spirit, when I first got branch and claw I also got the promo pack. Wildfire, Serpent, Sharp Fangs were being played by my group. I finally gave him a try, and it was so easy what a power house. When I bring this game to my hobby shop's board game night, I play this spirit to ensure a win for the group.
6:40, on moderate-high difficulty I've found great success in halting 3 plays and instead greeding for more energy. With 7/turn i can play whatever, always grow G4 and still have some leftover for events, and 2 card plays can make do for a few turns.
After reaching 2/7, you're completely busted, growing twice and gaining cards all the time.
With only 2 plays, you also halt the reclaim for a while.
The aspect seems like a good nerf.
I don't think you need 7 energy consistently to play Keeper.
I'm sure the build works, but I think it's always worst than going 4/3.
@@RedReVenge007 No, you don't need it - maybe even I don't need it. But at moderate-high difficulty (say, diff 7), and at a skill level ever so slightly below yours, it is less punishing to play high energy Keeper. In practice it results in underplaying, traded for extra energy and proliferation. I think of it adds an extra layer of greed, and greed is good.
Imo one of the easiest spirits to play into random 6 adversary. He just gets big so fast
Keeper is one of my favorites and I agree with a lot of what you said.
Regarding the defense rating on the back, the impression I got was that the wilds tokens were being considered a defensive ability since they prevent bad things from happening. I do agree that this is a weird way to evaluate them but it seemed that’s what the idea was. Plus as you mentioned the defend cards with plant are an easy pick up to work with the kit.
That said I don’t know that id consider them a dahan spirit strictly still. The growth paths are pretty flexible allowing either more plays or more energy depending on the majors you see and want to use. On top of that the fire needed for your first innate isn’t found on most defense cards so you will likely draft more offensive cards containing fire for that.
Sure the defend 6 with plant and the defend 4 with sun and plant (the names escape me) are no brainer pick ups. That said, if you draft mostly offense cards with fire for your innate you won’t have any lands you actually need to defend anyway thus lowering your interaction with dahan besides just wiping them out if you aren’t careful.
I’m guessing you’d touch on most of this (such as the flexibility past the first couple turns) in the guide you mentioned possibly making so this isn’t really a criticism so much as adding other options for people who don’t like going 5 plays.
Also having played the aspect, while it does weaken your late game, it makes your early game a lot stronger. Cleared my board out so quickly with it that I was able to help out oceans board as well while they just munches a single coastal land for energy.
Still a great video introducing the spirit to those who may not have tried it yet.
Yeah, that's probably what they meant, but it often doesn't work out that way when you consider higher-level adversaries and all the ways they bypass the need for explorers.
@@iang0th oh definitely. England, Hapsburg, Scotland, and ironically even Russia sometimes don’t care about your wilds for some or all of the lands being actually safe. Granted at least against Russia it stops one of their super explorers.
Wilds is considered Utility, but the devs have stated that the bar graph on the standard and JE game is not accurate, or is not how they would rewrite the bars with the knowledge they have now.
With 5 plays and plenty of drafts you should be able to find a Fire card for your innate and a defend card for Dahan usability.
Unfortunately, I think the only way to play Keeper is going to 5 plays. Yes, many players go for the energy, but that isn't needed since you get energy on both presence placement and reclaim. 3/3 is all you need to reliably play majors and Keeper is a pseudo 6/2 starting on turn 3!
@@RedReVenge007 oh if they always considered the wilds to be utility then I really don’t know where the defense rating came from.
Finding fire with all that is easy enough yeah, my only point was sometimes you won’t even need the defends because of how strong keepers offense can be.
I do go down the plays track typically as I like getting full thresholds for innates and do agree it’s the more consistent path. However I’m guessing when you say the only way to play them you’re mean the best way in high difficulty games? The energy and fewer plays route seems to work fine consistently on lower complexity games but those don’t really need much discussion hence why I’m assuming you meant for harder games