“I strip aside this petty facade so that we might revel in the essence of what is truly you.” - Leo Sunshadow

Ready to be charmed? Good, because today we look at Leo Sunshadow, the most charming of all Phoenixborn. From the bouquet of flowers he summons forth, to the way his personality threatens to control your very thoughts, this Phoenixborn is sure to delight all who see him. And now, for Leo...

The Stats:

Life Value 19: An above average Life Value allows Leo to protect his delicate flowers more often than some other Phoenixborn, but 19 isn't so far above the curve that he can be reckless.

Battlefield Value 6: With a battlefield of 6 Leo will be more adept at leveraging battlefield advantage than many opposing Phoenixborn.

Spellboard Value 3: Running only 3 ready spells can limit the types of strategies you can employ. You'll need to focus your deck's strategy when playing Leo.

Ability: Summon Glow Finch

Just as you'd expect, the Summon Glow Finch ability allows you to... summon a Glow Finch. But before we get into what the Glow Finch does, I'd like to point out that this summoning ability is a bit special

First of all it only costs 1 , very cheap and easy to put into play!

Secondly, it only takes a side action! This brings huge versatility to Leo's strategy. You can attack and wait to see if you need to summon the finch to protect yourself, or summon the finch to help protect your units before the attack. Or heck, summon 2 units in one turn to protect yourself from an opponent whose battlefield is swarming with units.

And thirdly, hey, was that a bird?

Don't panic, I'm here to break down what all this guy does for ya.

This glowing dynamo has 4 abilities! The first is Unit Guard, which basically lets the Glow Finch step in the way when an opponent attacks a unit directly.

Similarly, the Decoy ability allows the glow finch to get in the way of a spell, ability, or dice power that is targeting another unit. Guess your opponent just can't ignore this glowing lightning rod!

The next ability discards a card from the top of a player's draw pile (most likely an opponent's) when the finch is destroyed. Just a bit of a deterrent for messing with your stuff. Serves 'em right, eh?

And finally, Magic Rejuvenation allows you to turn an alteration spell attached to the finch into the card Refresh if you're willing to remove that alteration from the game. Handy if you think the opponent wants to mess around with the other units you're trying to protect!



This pint-sized glowing songbird is exactly what you need if you really want to protect your other awesome units, and the conjuration limit of 1 should clue you in to the impact this little guy will have on your game.

Now we come to the final piece of the Leo package. Anguish is the perfect name for this card. Your opponent will definitely feel anguish over the choices he or she must make when you play this card. Or if you can play it at the perfect moment, they will BE in anguish from the results!

Basically, this card forces the opponent to discard a card at random or take 2 damage, and they must allow you to exhaust 2 dice from their active dice pool or take 2 damage.

If you play this card when your opponent has no cards in hand and 1 or fewer dice in their active pool, they just take 4 damage for 2 ! That's pretty efficient damage!

The Strategy of The Roaring Rose

Leo's deck, The Roaring Rose, specializes in making attacks against you less effective and more costly for your opponent. Through scrappy conjurations and a few dominating presences on your battlefield, The Roaring Rose seeks to make your opponent feel like attacking is a fruitless endeavor. All the while Leo's other spells are ripping cards away from your opponent that could disassemble your wall of anti-aggression. Eventually your opponent will have no options left!

Come back next week to see more cards from Leo's pre-built deck! But first, on Monday (yep I said Monday), Callin Flores is going to present a few cards from Victoria's deck. I'm not sure what he's writing about yet, but maybe it will concern the darkness that surrounds her? Guess you'll have to come back to find out. I know I'm eagerly anticipating his article!

Thanks for reading!

Bob

Click here to pre-order The Duchess of Deception, The Roaring Rose, Ashes dice, and more at the PlaidHatGames.com store! Ashes pre-orders come with a FREE exclusive Phoenixborn; Orrick Gilstream now available with Victoria and Leo orders!

Previous Victoria and Leo Previews:

Victoria Glassfire and Illusionary Cycle