I have played this game only once at a friend's and have a couple of beginner's questions about this video. 1) Why are there 2 identical birds with different names (the Bluebirds shown in the beginning)? It makes it harder to get familiar with all the different cards for no reason at all, no? Wouldn't it be easier to have the same bird twice in the deck if the intention was to have a bigger chance of getting this food/ nest/ brown power combination? 2) Is it mandatory to use the power of a bird (for example the power of the Green Heron shown at 15:39) or can you choose to skip it when it gets activated?
I think that was an intentional design to make every bird card distinct, since they are based on real birds in the world. You would notice that similar birds would have similar or same power, like the bluebirds, crows, terns etc. brown power activation is always optional. So you can always skip any brown power activation. Any ‘benefits’ are also optional, means you can always decline gaining egg/card/food/cache/tuck etc when that happens.
It was touched on briefly, but I find the Brant underrated. If I have a lot of tucking birds it gives me a bunch of options very quickly. On the other hand, if there are at least 2 cards in the tray that I like it is very nice to be able to swipe them while playing a bird. I have had games where there were I had Brant in my opening hand and there were 2 great birds in the tray (1 OP + 1 A Tier or 2 A Tier) and my opponent kept stuff based on getting an A tier bird. However, since I was going first I played the Brant and swiped both.
I like the sparrow pick. my first 100 point game came from a double migration strat. especially good for the "birds in a certain habitat" end round goal.
I like the horned lark when I play a game that has five players if I can get it in early game. I've had one tuck 16 cards and provide nice filler in my grassland before because other people are going to be trying to fill up their grasslands as well for the late game. I might not intentionally try to grab it out of the tray if there's other better options, but if it gets put in my hand I feel like it's just a good freebie
Condor is a fine early game bird. Ive played games where I drop a Vultute early and dont get a single food. At least with Condor you have a bonus card that you can play towards no matter what.
Great video! My pick for most underrated in the base game is the American white pelican. Now, the ability is not great at all and it's definitely not an early game option, but I generally find myself playing it in high bonus card games since it hits so many bonus card goals. Its name alone hits photographer and cartographer, and being a big bird that eats fish in the wetlands while also hitting bird counter, it hits an absurd amount of bonus cards. Definitely not a high tiered bird by any means, just not as bad people think it is.
Thanks for the video! This type of information really helps with deeper game thought. As a fairly new player, I think my eyes have been recently opened to the oystercatcher and crossbill. As I have dug deeper into the game, I have found use for these in situations. I had a strong player use the white crowned sparrow as their only wetland bird to start the game and I was amazed at how well that worked for them. I still have yet to play the horned lark in a game, but I can see how in early round 2 if I have drawn some cards I don't like and have no other option for them, it could be a strong bird (hmmm. drooling over the idea now of laying it early in a full tuck situation...esp 3 player game! BUT...I wonder what you think of the Brown Pelican. This would be (situationally) one of my under rated birds. In early game I've used it in situations where the three fish has helped me toss three birds in the wetlands rather quickly, but you do need the right cards for it. In middle game, there are a lot of large point wetland birds that the three fish you gain can really help you to lay down. It's not quite as quick as playing a double bird, but it spares you the turn to gain the food, and you can often play a large point bird immediately after gaining the fish from playing the pelican. Combined with a wetland or fish eating bonus card, the pelican can be quite useful. What do you both think?
I would add brown pelican to the underrated list as well. In one game, I played pelican into the green heron, and used green heron power to exchange additional fishes into food that I needed to play my forest birds. Worked out quite well!
I absolutely love the birds with pink powers which give you a food when another player's predator power succeeds. A food is much more valuable than a single point. I had a recent game where an opponent activated his predator powers enough to give me enough food for a point bomb. I won the game because of it, gaining 7 points or so for the 2 points my opponent got from the predators. The black-billed magpie is perhaps the best, with its two of any food cost and star nest. As long as an opponent plays one predator of any sort, if I have an option to I'm going to play one of these birds. I've had a terrible time playing the indigo bunting in the grasslands. It's expensive and I've had a couple games where the bird feeder wouldn't behave. For birds which allow for gaining a specific food type from the feeder, I generally avoid them but prefer them in the forest where I can actively work with the feeder to allow for an activation.
Great videos, I watch them and enjoy them a lot Just a small suggestion: use the mouse to search cards, or have them ready with an edit or something, it sometimes takes 20+ seconds to find the card
Great video, and some really helpful and useful aspects! I just wonder what is the ONE bird missing in your collection? it must be a horrible bird, when you have never played it before 😯😅
@@tuckNcache I find migratory birds overpriced, but I still have not found any case where the Loggerhead Shrike is ever useful. If someone really wants to maximize Rodentologist or Falconer they will do it with a card like Raven because bird feeder is too unwieldy to gamble on gaining rats consistently.
I kinda disagree about the condor (or any other bird that gives you bonus cards) being impractical in the late game. Of course it takes a little bit of luck, but I like picking a new bonus card that might give me 6, 8, maybe even 10 additional points as one of my last moves...
I have played this game only once at a friend's and have a couple of beginner's questions about this video.
1) Why are there 2 identical birds with different names (the Bluebirds shown in the beginning)? It makes it harder to get familiar with all the different cards for no reason at all, no? Wouldn't it be easier to have the same bird twice in the deck if the intention was to have a bigger chance of getting this food/ nest/ brown power combination?
2) Is it mandatory to use the power of a bird (for example the power of the Green Heron shown at 15:39) or can you choose to skip it when it gets activated?
I think that was an intentional design to make every bird card distinct, since they are based on real birds in the world. You would notice that similar birds would have similar or same power, like the bluebirds, crows, terns etc.
brown power activation is always optional. So you can always skip any brown power activation. Any ‘benefits’ are also optional, means you can always decline gaining egg/card/food/cache/tuck etc when that happens.
It was touched on briefly, but I find the Brant underrated. If I have a lot of tucking birds it gives me a bunch of options very quickly. On the other hand, if there are at least 2 cards in the tray that I like it is very nice to be able to swipe them while playing a bird. I have had games where there were I had Brant in my opening hand and there were 2 great birds in the tray (1 OP + 1 A Tier or 2 A Tier) and my opponent kept stuff based on getting an A tier bird. However, since I was going first I played the Brant and swiped both.
Brant is..... divisive....
I like the sparrow pick. my first 100 point game came from a double migration strat. especially good for the "birds in a certain habitat" end round goal.
Very nice!
I like the horned lark when I play a game that has five players if I can get it in early game. I've had one tuck 16 cards and provide nice filler in my grassland before because other people are going to be trying to fill up their grasslands as well for the late game. I might not intentionally try to grab it out of the tray if there's other better options, but if it gets put in my hand I feel like it's just a good freebie
Condor is a fine early game bird. Ive played games where I drop a Vultute early and dont get a single food. At least with Condor you have a bonus card that you can play towards no matter what.
+1 for condor!
Great video! My pick for most underrated in the base game is the American white pelican. Now, the ability is not great at all and it's definitely not an early game option, but I generally find myself playing it in high bonus card games since it hits so many bonus card goals. Its name alone hits photographer and cartographer, and being a big bird that eats fish in the wetlands while also hitting bird counter, it hits an absurd amount of bonus cards. Definitely not a high tiered bird by any means, just not as bad people think it is.
Good points!
Thanks for the video! This type of information really helps with deeper game thought. As a fairly new player, I think my eyes have been recently opened to the oystercatcher and crossbill. As I have dug deeper into the game, I have found use for these in situations. I had a strong player use the white crowned sparrow as their only wetland bird to start the game and I was amazed at how well that worked for them. I still have yet to play the horned lark in a game, but I can see how in early round 2 if I have drawn some cards I don't like and have no other option for them, it could be a strong bird (hmmm. drooling over the idea now of laying it early in a full tuck situation...esp 3 player game! BUT...I wonder what you think of the Brown Pelican. This would be (situationally) one of my under rated birds. In early game I've used it in situations where the three fish has helped me toss three birds in the wetlands rather quickly, but you do need the right cards for it. In middle game, there are a lot of large point wetland birds that the three fish you gain can really help you to lay down. It's not quite as quick as playing a double bird, but it spares you the turn to gain the food, and you can often play a large point bird immediately after gaining the fish from playing the pelican. Combined with a wetland or fish eating bonus card, the pelican can be quite useful. What do you both think?
I would add brown pelican to the underrated list as well. In one game, I played pelican into the green heron, and used green heron power to exchange additional fishes into food that I needed to play my forest birds. Worked out quite well!
I absolutely love the birds with pink powers which give you a food when another player's predator power succeeds. A food is much more valuable than a single point. I had a recent game where an opponent activated his predator powers enough to give me enough food for a point bomb. I won the game because of it, gaining 7 points or so for the 2 points my opponent got from the predators. The black-billed magpie is perhaps the best, with its two of any food cost and star nest. As long as an opponent plays one predator of any sort, if I have an option to I'm going to play one of these birds.
I've had a terrible time playing the indigo bunting in the grasslands. It's expensive and I've had a couple games where the bird feeder wouldn't behave. For birds which allow for gaining a specific food type from the feeder, I generally avoid them but prefer them in the forest where I can actively work with the feeder to allow for an activation.
Indigo bunting can be a hit or miss sometimes
I'm a big fan of the black vulture. Great list, thanks!
Thanks for checking out the list!
Great videos, I watch them and enjoy them a lot
Just a small suggestion: use the mouse to search cards, or have them ready with an edit or something, it sometimes takes 20+ seconds to find the card
Thanks for the support!
These tournaments sound like fun! Anyone know where to find such a server?
We have a discord server for organizing tournament: discord.gg/GHpNFr9KuP
Great video, and some really helpful and useful aspects! I just wonder what is the ONE bird missing in your collection? it must be a horrible bird, when you have never played it before 😯😅
Thanks! I believe it’s the Bewick’s wren. Still couldn’t find a good use for it after close to 1000 hr gameplay. Hahaha
@@tuckNcache I find migratory birds overpriced, but I still have not found any case where the Loggerhead Shrike is ever useful. If someone really wants to maximize Rodentologist or Falconer they will do it with a card like Raven because bird feeder is too unwieldy to gamble on gaining rats consistently.
I once played loggerhead shrike to win eggs in bowl nest EOR goal. But yea, I can count the number of times I played the shrike.
I kinda disagree about the condor (or any other bird that gives you bonus cards) being impractical in the late game. Of course it takes a little bit of luck, but I like picking a new bonus card that might give me 6, 8, maybe even 10 additional points as one of my last moves...
You have to be quite lucky to get 6 pts or more considering the egg cost. While grassland typically give you solid 4 pts or more.
no great crested flycatcher?
That’s an interesting one to think about
First?
You got it!