

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

While Leo turns heads all on his own, and his unique conjuration, the Glow Finch is sure to catch your eye, there is more going on behind his dark eyes than you might realize! He's calculating (though no one would ever say he's cold) and manipulative, and Leo always seems to know exactly what you're thinking. Today we look at the cards included in The Roaring Rose that allow you to know every move your opponent will make, before they even make it.

With a simple thought, all your opponent's plans will be laid bare before you. For 1 you get to know exactly what's in your opponent's hand. Now that's a strong effect all on its own, but Memory Theft doesn't stop there! After perusing every option your opponent has for this round, you get to pick the card that is most likely to cause you trouble, and give your opponent a choice. They can lose access to that card or have a wound token placed on their Phoenixborn for the privilege of keeping that option available to them.

It may seem like you are giving all of the choices to your opponent here, but keep in mind that once they have no cards remaining in their hand, they just place a wound token on their Phoenixborn, and you can do this more often once you focus Memory Theft. If they do discard the card, well, removing your opponent's options will eventually leave them with no options at all.

And now that you've seen everything your opponent can do this turn, why don't we delve into their deeper thoughts...

...with Mind Probe! Again for the very affordable cost of 1 you get to see what your opponent will be up to in the next round. Plus you can remove a card from the game. Your opponent doesn't even get a choice on this one! You know that one card that gives you fits, and whenever the opponent draws it, it seems to spell your demise? Well, The Roaring Rose comes to your rescue, providing you the means to deal with that one card, before your opponent can even draw it!

And it has another great effect. You get to place the rest of the cards revealed back on top of your opponents deck in the order you choose. So basically, you can choose the second most devastating card to your strategy, place it on top, and now if your opponent meditates, they lose another great option! In addition, killing your Glow Finch suddenly seems like a very bad idea for your opponent thanks to Glow Finch's Last Request 1 ability!

Outside of The Roaring Rose, this card combos nicely with Purge , and you can play this card in a different way as well. If you're using Abundance, you can set up the opponent's draw to give them a bunch of cards that you don't mind them having. Or combined with Three-Eyed Owl you can make them draw great cards that they can't play right now, and then make them discard those cards... the list of great combos goes on and on. Can you tell I really like this card?

There are very few cards in Ashes as easy to play as Dispel. For 1 there will be very few instances that you can't play it. At first glance it may appear that this card can be kinda low impact, but lets take a moment and analyze exactly what this card can do...

Sometimes it reads “Deal 2 damage to an opponent's Phoenixborn.” That is, when an opponent has played a Chant of Protection. Pretty efficient for 1 basic, huh?

Other times it will read “My Hammer Knight can attack again.” Regress been getting you down, making all your super cool units less cool? Dispel takes care of that, and for half the cost your opponent paid to keep the Hammer down!

And of course there are many more cards and effects that Dispel can have an impact on! This card has real utility, and at its super affordable cost, it may be just the card your looking for!

And that's just the start of Leo's deck, The Roaring Rose. Next week we'll take a look at how Leo manipulates units and even his opponents to take advantage of all the knowledge today's cards gained for him. But first, next Monday, Callin's comin' at ya with a bunch of new cards from Victoria's deck The Duchess of Deception. I'm sure your reactions will be spectacular! Er... reaction, because you only get one, it's the rules. (Or is it?) ;)

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, Shadow Spirit, Shadow Hound and Body Inversion

Leo Sunshadow, Glow Finch, and Anguish