by Maureen Berho 06/08/2019

Powers and Archetypes: The basics for deck-building in Causa

Welcome!

I’m Sebastián “Wildspeaker” once again, in a new entry of the Dev Blog of Causa, Voices of the Dusk. This time, we’ll go deep into the different Powers, and the Archetypes presented within them. I hope that after reading this entry, you’re able to achieve a better strategic balance in your decks!

The Powers, are the means you’ll use to have your Cause prevail in the universe of Causa, Voices of the Dusk. Each power has various tools to achieve this, which can be seen in its Method and the Archetype Strategies:

Glory

With the first power, Glory , we get access to direct damage cards, naturally aggressive cards, but also cards that can benefit from unfavorable situations. This is its Method, which presents three Archetypes:

Warriors seek victory based on direct damage . They’re efficient characters in their Level, and generate pressure against your opponent as long as you keep the initiative. Its objective is to reduce the resistance of the enemy leader and their characters to 0.

As you might guess from their name, Survivors are resilient characters, and though they’re also looking to generate aggression by damage, by doing so in a less efficient manner than Warriors, they seek to wear down the opponent’s deck . In this archetype you’ll find units that wear down the rival deck when attacking or being attacked, and to achieve this they’re helped by skills such as Vigilance or Furtive . They can reach victory by damage to the rival leader, or by exhausting their deck and reducing their resources.

Laborers take their time to win or come back; however, they do so in a very solid manner. These characters’ livelihood come from Support Cards , generating and benefiting from cards such as Provisions and Weapons , which buff your units, adding to their attack or resistance. Playing around your Supports grants you an advantage in damage exchanges, place you in an initiative situation, and even come back from difficult positions.

Wealth

The second Power, Wealth , has a clear Method : it focuses on Card Flow . We’ll find many cards that draw, exhaust, or recover , both in your deck as well as your rival’s. The Wealth Archetypes are:

The Mercenaries , who’ll loan out their skills so long as you pay their price. Cards of this archetypes have stats or skills that are very efficient for their Level; however, when you play them, they’ll discard cards from your deck! If you can manage your resources well, you’ll gain board presence or answers to your rivals that no other archetype has. Look for a direct damage victory, but beware of your own fatigue .

Aristocrats see cards as goods to be accumulated. The main mechanic of these characters is to gain benefits from having 3 or more cards in your hand. Of course, hoarding cards makes it hard to play efficiently in the early turns, but the rewards in the mid to late turns will be huge, with effects that can overcome the effort of holding on to those early resources.

Traders acquire and spend cards. Their main mechanic is to play around Activatable Supports : these characters generate and benefit from Supports in play. The way you manage these supports, such as Soulember, Organite, Resources, or Supplies , will determine the advantages in your game. Squeeze out the value of these cards. With these, you’ll seek victory based on playing and drawing many cards per turn, and having more resources than your rival to reduce their resistance.

Influence

Influence has only one Method to win, and it’s to place your own reputation above your opponent’s. This is reflected in the cards offered by this Power, thanks to which we can take advantage of any situation . Regarding its Archetypes:

Rogues take care of the dirty work, they seek victory by direct damage. Although their aggressive power isn’t the highest, they count on tools to reach your rival in an evasive manner, with skills such as Furtive or Hidden , using Weapons as supports, or by exhausting the opponent’s deck .

Schemers are characters who prefer badmouth their opponents, which they achieve by directly exhausting their deck. They’re more of a defensive unit, bu as they come into play, they’ll discard cards from your opponents deck, or allow you to draw to grant you more options. In the long run, you’ll win by Fatigue , while your characters control opponent’s aggression.

Intellectuals prefer to acquire knowledge, and make this their best weapon. At the start of the game, their characters are not strong: they stand out for their defensive nature, boasting high health but low attack. However, they generate and benefit from Supports, chief among them are the Manuscripts, which allow you to regain resources and play more cards per turn. Furthermore, some cards grant you offensive power whenever you play Intellectuals.

Spirit

Those who use the Power of Spirit know that they play with the power of Life. Their Method is to play with Life Flow , both your characters’ as your own. Benefiting from this essence will lead you to victory thanks to its three Archetypes :

Priests, while having small stats, bring forth their potential from the crowd , with a board full of units that benefit from one another . Don’t fear trading damage, since you may count on many cards that heal your characters, or that gain power from those that are damaged. They seek victory by damage while they control the board with efficient trades.

Warlocks gain their power from sacrifice. These characters are empowered when you or they are damaged , invoking powerful resources such as Soulember, Magical Creatures , or by greatly buffing your stats as they take damage or are destroyed. They seek to win by direct damage, with aggressive strategies in exchange for considerable damage, or sacrificing resistance to cast powerful spells.

Mentalists prefer to strengthen their spirit by meditation, mulling over their actions, and benefiting from their clairvoyance. We find cards that are stronger by being in Solitary , improving their stats or gaining powerful spells such as Reach or Protection , but also others that make use of Events cards , with solid spells to heal, or rather to subdue their opponents.

If you'd like to take a look into the starter decks that were available during the Closed Beta period, check out this complete video by the amazing content creator That Resolves:

I hope this guide about strategies associated to each of the different Powers has been of use to you, and that you can get more out of your favorite Archetypes. Remember: experimenting and having fun with your decks is the most entertaining. Take advantage of the card diversity offered by this Closed Beta. I hope we can talk about it in our official Discord server!

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