“Let us cast aside the earthly concerns that stifle you.”

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!

There comes a time in every game where you have to consider attacking. Or do you? What was I just thinking? The beauty and brilliance is breathtaking! What was I so angry about? Why would I want to harm Leo? I'm sure I'd regret it. Perhaps I should just rest and enjoy my surroundings.

I can only imagine this is what opposing Phoenixborn experience when dueling with Leo. After having read your mind, Leo is sure to know how best to discourage any act of aggression against him, or at least make you pay for those actions you've taken! Today we look at the cards that Leo uses to influence the decisions your opponents make when choosing to attack.

We've seen cards with similar effects before, but never this versatile and effective at once. For 2 dice you can exhaust the opponent's scariest unit or unexhaust your own unit. Sometimes your opponent will be left wide open if you can occupy their last unit; other times an attack against you will seem pointless once you unexhaust one of your own.

Of course, my favorite option is to ready a unit to attack after the opponent thought they were safe. But what unit do you unexhaust to make the opponent pay for overextending? Why not the Glow Finch all amped up?

I know some of you were disappointed that the Glow Finch had so many awesome rules that there was little room left for it's art. So, here you go! I don't even know how Fernanda made the art actually glow, but this is stunning!

And the best part? You'll really want to play this card for its rules, which means you get to look at that art even more often! For a single you get to double the bonus of every charms power die you place on the attached unit, plus get some recovery to boot!

Just to clear up a rules question that has come up a bit while testing this card, when you play Amplify you don't place any charms dice on the unit. The only way to place a charms die on a unit that is currently in the game is to use the charms dice power ability.

Of course, there are even more units to attach this alteration to in Leo's deck. Check out the Beast Tamer below for another great option!

What a Unit! For 1 , 1 , and 1 , you get a 3 attack, 3 life , 2 recovery power house with an amazing ability! Diminish 1 might just make your opponent feel like there is no point in attacking. And this will often be absolutely true!

Diminish is not inexhaustible though, so after attacking to take advantage of the strong attack of this unit (particularly when he's all amped up), Diminish 1 will shut off. Why not use that spiffy new Change Psyche to ready him again? After all, your opponent probably just attacked to take advantage of the fact that you couldn't activate Diminish 1 anymore, and subsequently left themselves wide open for an enormous crack back!

That's all for today, but next week we'll show off the rest of the cards found in The Roaring Rose, and Victoria's deck The Duchess of Deception as well. Don't miss 'em (though Victoria sure does make it hard to see what you're up against at times)!

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, Vanish, Particle Shield, and Secret Door

Leo Sunshadow, Glow Finch, and Anguish, Memory Theft, Mind Probe, and Dispel