Pre-Mission Briefing: Training Missions

by **Anansi** Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:09 am

training cats and dogs..

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ''Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.''”

- Muhammad Ali

Before doing ladder matches, it is a must for new players to play the missions first in order to build up their collections. In the start of the campaign, there are 10 training missions that give away preset cards depending on what you faced on a mission. The mission rewards are neat but of utmost importance is the knowledge gained through these training missions. Knowing every bit of detail taught here is an important factor in surviving the entire campaign.

To those who didn't pay attention to the mission descriptions, here's a recap of infos in missions #4 to #10 with some notes to help out new players.

"'Type' is important because there are special abilities that cause more damage to cards of particular types. The Archery ability deals double damage to Infantry. Trample deals double damage to Archers, and Pikeman deals double damage to Cavalry."

This basic knowledge is sometimes overlooked by new players, choosing to play cards by color (tier) rather than countering an opponent's squad. Having a higher tier doesn't necessarily mean that a card is strong. In the campaign, orcs mostly run infantry, elves archers with occasional cavalry, and humans mixed infantry and cavalry. Knowing to counter unit types is essential in most battles as the winner is mostly determined by card advantage and having the most number of units on board, especially in the campaign. It is impossible to tell what will come out as units are randomly drawn, but having the right amount of counter-units can easily turn the tides in your favor. Also, remember that archery deals double damage not only to infantry units but flying units as well. In some of the missions, Dragons and Beasts can also be encountered. These units don't have natural weaknesses and sometimes may require utilization of specialized squads in order to be countered.

"When a card with Retaliate is attacked, it deals damage back to its attacker."

Pertinent facts:
- Retaliate is a special so it doesn't work against units with Immune.
- Retaliate, being a "static/passive" ability, still works even if the unit is trapped or frozen.
- Retaliate doesn't trigger berserk.
- Retaliate deals damage to flying units, making them one of the Human faction's way of dealing with flying units (the other one being zap/'bolt).

Units with Retaliate are good against sap and disease as they can still deal damage even with zero attack. Also, since Retaliate is a special, it can wreak havoc to squads that rely on Block ability as Retaliate damage ignores it. Because Retaliate requires an enemy unit to attack first in order to trigger, units with Retaliate don't function well against most casters, however, (zap and bolt specials) as these units usually have zero power.

"Block is a critical defensive ability for Human squads. Most cards with Block ignore the first point of damage that the card receives when it is attacked."

Pertinent facts:
- Block works with normal damage.
- Block doesn't reduce damage from specials.
- The ability stacks with existing Block ability.
- Block cancels out Ice Armor.
- Block, being a "static/passive" ability, still works even if the unit is trapped or frozen.
- Unit-type damage bonus is applied first before Block.

Block works well with Heal and Regenerate as the unit with this ability can soak huge amounts of damage with enough support. Still, Block tends to be weak when against specials like Retaliate and Zap as they can go through Block.

"Regenerate is an important special ability for several factions, including Elves. A card that Regenerates recovers lost Health during its action."

Pertinent facts:
- Regenerate is an "active" ability, meaning, this is triggered by action, so a Regenerating unit that is trapped or frozen will not regenerate on the turn it is disabled.
- Regenerate stacks with existing Regenerate ability.

Regenerate is good for tanking too and if mixed with Block, a unit will be able to shrug off most blows that can easily destroy normal units. Alone, Regenerate is as good as Block and may even be better in some situations especially when facing squads that revolve around Retaliate and Zap/'bolt.

"Trap is a powerful ability shared by Humans and Elves. When a card with Trap targets an enemy, that enemy has a 75% chance of losing its next action. The enemy can still be damaged by attacks and other special abilities."

Pertinent facts:
- Trap disables only "active" (triggers on action i.e. Heal, Zap, Bolts, Blast, etc.) abilities.
- "Static/passive" (i.e. Retaliate, Block, Ice Armor, Flaming, etc.) abilities are not affected by Trap.
- The Entangle spell traps all units 100% of the time.

Trap used to be 100% disable, but with the "smart trappers" fix, it became too overpowered as Mesmerizing Imps can easily render opposing units useless. Now, it's still a viable theme but needs to be mixed with other abilities like Icebolt to work better. Trap and Zap used to be rampant and can be pretty devastating if able to setup early.

"Poison is an important offensive ability for Elves and other factions. If a card with Poison attacks and damages an enemy, that enemy takes additional damage at the end of its next turn. This damage happens even if the enemy loses an action to trap or recovers Health from a Heal ability."

Pertinent facts:
- The unit must deal damage in order to inflict Poison status. Therefore, having zero attack or facing units with Block may render this ability useless.
- Poison damage only takes effect after the inflicted unit makes an action.

Poison used to be powerful as it can pierce through Block. After the nerf though, it became a little underused. Still, Poison is good as it can soften even large units. Mixed with Trap, this can be pretty useful as it still takes effect even though the inflicted unit is disabled. Poison can be a good counter too against beasts, especially against the Silverback with its low health. Using Poison against Block and Sap/Disease is not a good idea, however, as Poison units with zero power become "dead cards" in the field.

"Zap is a powerful magical ability. A card with Zap targets a random enemy each action and does damage to that enemy. There are several variations of Zap, including Chain Zap. When Chain Zap hits an enemy, every copy of that card on the enemy's side takes damage!"

Pertinent facts:
- Zap is a special and does not trigger Berserk and cannot be reduced by Block or Ice Armor.
- Zap is a good counter against flyers, especially for the archerless Human faction, and can be useful too against Sap and Disease as its damage cannot be reduced by attack-reducing skills.

Of all the abilities in the Basic/Novice set, this one is the most abused and effective. Since the early Warstorm days, Zap has proven itself to be viable theme, giving the Humans and Elves a chance against Orcs and Undead. Zap is used mainly for card advantage as its aim is to eliminate opposing units and to clear the board. Because of this, running into Immunes can be a problem as most Zappers have zero attack.

This is by no means a direct guide. Watching battles is still the best way to learn and apply the the knowledge that you've gained, so this is just a supplementary guide to those doing the campaign. Keeping the unit's weaknesses and ability details in mind is the key to an excellent counter.

Also, when doing missions, there are times when you don't have sufficient cards for a theme that you want to try. You can use fewer squads than the required number for such. Of course, you will start out with lesser morale (number of squads used determines the starting morale), but you can draw the cards that you need the most. That is a good trade off in my opinion as a thinner deck allows you to get the cards that you need. This is a concept in Magic: The Gathering that can be applied here too. Another thing, putting "fillers" in the deck just to get to the max squads allowed puts the entire deck at risk. Just as King Leonidas declined Ephialtes in 300, it is better to fight with fewer good cards than to add more that will ruin the integrity of the deck.

Well, that's all I can say for now. I hope you learned something from this.

Goodluck, lil grasshopper.. affraid

BTW, if you got any problems regarding the SPCs, you can reply to this post and specify your WS name and put battle links so I can try to help. Anyway, guides by levels are on the works now and I'll be posting them in this section once I finish them.