“Your death will have purpose.”- Brennen Blackcloud

We're back! It's time to start the previews for the first Ashes expansion! Click here to pre-order Brennen and Rin, and other new Ashes products! We'll start off with Brennen, the last scion of the failing house of Blackclouds. Can this young Noble return the House of Blackcloud to its former glory? After looking at this exciting new Phoenixborn, I'm sure you'll agree the answer is a resounding yes!

The Stats:

Life Value 20: A Life Value of 20 allows you the luxury of protecting units when it is necessary, making any battle in which your opponent wishes to trade you blow for blow a losing proposition... for your opponent!

Battlefield Value 5: Brennen's Battlefield Value of 5 is average when compared to other Phoenixborn released to date, but woo-boy, that's the only average thing about Brennen!

Spellboard Value 3: 3 Ready Spells is plenty when you have a ton of powerful allies to back you up. Just keep in mind that your other spells and allies need to cover whatever those spellboard slots can't plan for.

Ability: Spirit Burn

Yes, you read that ability correctly. Spirit Burn allows you to deal 2 damage to a unit or a Phoenixborn, and it only costs you 1 and a side action! Well, you have to exhaust Brennen too, but Spirit Burn would be craaazy if you could use it multiple times in one round.

For this power and versatility you are required to destroy a unit you control, but this bug can be turned into a feature in a well-constructed deck. From clearing away an exhausted unit to allow you to play a new one, to putting an ally into your discard pile so you can use the ceremonial dice power ability to return it to your hand (and trigger that ally's enter play ability again), there are plenty of ways to turn this ability's “downside” into a key component of your deck!

The Strategy of The Children of Blackcloud

The Children of Blackcloud is all about taking advantage of your own units' destruction. Using the ceremonial dice power ability to re-use your allies allows you to build an engine your opponent will find difficult to reign in. Of course, if your opponent doesn't want to destroy your units for you, you get to smash face with them first before destroying them yourself for extra benefits!

Man, it's great to be back. Over the next several weeks we'll take a look at all of The Children of Blackcloud's cards. If you're interested in Rin Northfell and his deck, The Frostdale Giants, come back at the end of the week. You'll get to see Rin and his unique Conjured Alteration, Ice Buff! What is a Conjured Alteration? How does it work? You'll just have to wait till Friday to find out!

Thanks for reading!

Bob



Click here to pre-order The Children of Blackcloud, The Frostdale Giants, and even extra dice! Get Lulu Firststone or Dimona Odinstar FREE with each Ashes deck purchase, or buy them separately!