Greetings! Welcome to the final Ashes card preview article for this reveal season. It has been an exciting time to see all of the new additions the the Ashes card pool over the past few weeks. Last week we finish looking at the last few cards in Koji’s deck, and today we will finish Astrea’s deck. Let’s get right to it!

Royal Charm

Royal Charm is the last ready spell of Astrea’s spellboard suite, and it is a very intriguing value generating card. Royal Charm uniquely lets you use your spent and dice as if you used their respective dice powers! Whether you want a steady stream of +1/+1 dice on your units as you use charm activations, or opt for some board resilience with divine dice protection, Royal Charm will slowly but surely pay off, providing you with a strong, protected battlefield. With a couple copies of Royal Charm spells out, you can even spend 2 dice when activating Hypnotize to place those dice right onto the unit you plan to Bypass with!

Sun Sister

Next we have a new Divine ally; the Sun Sister. This unit has a fair statline of 2/2/2 for 2 dice, but boasts a significant ability in Resurrect. Resurrect can give you all the advantages of the Ceremonial dice power without the risk of taking damage from returning an ally to your hand! This is great both in and out of Astrea’s deck, whether you want to keep the pressure on with Imperial Ninjas, or keep your hand stocked with cheap damage effects from Fire Archer and Anchornaut. You may also find the Sun Sister advantageous for recurring Holy Knights or other high attack allies where using the Ceremonial dice power is too risky to consider. This ally is just the beginning of Divine magic exploring the possibilities of ally recursion, so look forward to many more exciting pieces to this strategy!

Call to Action

I had to save my favorite for last! Call to Action is an absolute powerhouse of a reaction spell! Charm has always been home to powerful reaction spells like Sympathy Pain, Remorse, and Redirect, and this card is no exception. Not only is this the cheapest unexhaust effect in the game, but it happens off of a reaction instead of an action! Any time an opponent is preparing for an attack while you are showing a die, they will have to stop and consider the ramifications of a surprise Call to Action. Getting a beefy blocker or guarder after an opponent commits to their attack gives you a massive say in how the battle will resolve. Alternatively, you don’t even have to use the unit you unexhaust to defend! Instead, you may unexhaust your Hammer Knight or Battle Mage to prepare a crushing counter-attack! Keep your eye out for this card in your games, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how Call to Action changes the way players do battle in Ashes.

Thank you all so much for checking out this preview article series. Your support is very much appreciated and mean a lot to see our passionate community excited for more Ashes! Again, a big thank you to Robert Klotz for his incredible work in designing this deck, as well as the Boy Among Wolves expansion deck. Thanks again for reading! Now, let’s play some Ashes!

Until next time!

-Nick Conley

Art by Fernanda Suarez