The first time I played against Ret-Talus and his Fallen Kingdom units I got the impression his deck is the worst in the game. Now that I’ve played him myself I don’t think so anymore. Mainly because he has some superb champions you can make use of early, cheaply and very effectively if you play him well. This guide won’t include mercenaries and second summoner units yet. The deck build I’m looking to create here is the one closest to strongest for this summoner and his events. Summoner Wars is a game by Plaid Hat Games. It’s available on android / iOS / Vassal.
Basic idea
Ret-Talus’s deck has a several weaknesses. One is that his commons are pretty much worthless at actually killing anything but one health units (cultists being an exception) and he has almost no ranged. Secondly Ret-Talus is very weak to assassination and he has no events or abilities to do movement tricks or to dislodge enemy blockers. Finally his deck is pretty draw dependent, especially if you don’t get your events or champions at the right time. So what are his strengths? Mostly his champions. If you can keep them alive!
They can be summoned very cheaply (2 magic for 3 champions with forced summons) so you can use Legions of the Dead and his summoner’s ability to outlast a lot of factions in an economic war for magic. And he can have a crazy amount of momentum especially if you also use legions of the dead in combination with the forced summons. I basically play Ret-Talus very similar to Sera. This means: A defensive, careful style of play. Naturally this shouldn’t stop you from going offensive or wall hogging where there’s room for it. Just as long as you protect him / and flank his champions carefully. So wall placement, positioning and keeping Ret-Talus protected is essential.
Deck build (19 / 22 magic for the champions / commons)
– 1 Elut-Bal (the hard hitter, keep safe)
– 1 Anica (magic denial)
– 1 Skhull (anti-common and hard to defend against)
– 3 Skeletal Archer (2 initially)
– 1 Reaper (1 initially)
– 4 Zombie Warrior (1 initially)
– 5 Phantom
– 4 Cultist (the only two dice common)
– 1 Reaver
Champion wise the choice is pretty simple. There are only four champions and Dragos is easily the worst of the four. I’d say Anica is the best. Common wise it’s harder. My most important consideration is that this deck is more about champion play, so the commons are here to be bodyguards, extra attack dice and sacrificing. For that purpose cultists are in and skeletal archers are out. Phantoms I really like, because they are only one magic, so you can summon them cheaply for dark sacrifice (or hitting a champ and then killing it from behind). Reaper or Reaver is a toss-up in which I went for reaver. The zombie warriors are in for their ability; but I feel four is enough to make the most of it.
Some tactic and combo suggestions:
– Dark Sacrifice or summoning Elut-Bal can be combo’ed with Magic Drain and Legions of the Dead very effectively. Another combo is Legions of the Dead followed the next turn by Dark Sacrifice or summoning Elut-Bal. Another interesting one is a wall followed by a forced summon.
– Flanking champions with units or walls is even more important with Elut-Bal then with other factions due to dark sacrifice and the low health and high attack value they have.
– If you have the magic and don’t need the three attacks you should be using Ret-Talus’s ability instead of summoning two cost commons. This can also give you extra units to sacrifice if necessary. Do remember that if you want a unit not next to Ret-talus, you’ll have to summon it normally.
– Your commons are your sacrificial lambs. Killing them after they attack (phantoms) can be good. Also, I tend to use them most of the time as meat shields for champions or Ret-Talus.
Playing the faction
My start depends very heavily on my first draw. If I get Elut-Bal and / or a forced summon with a champion I’ll probably go pretty aggressive. Otherwise it will be much more defensive with both skeletal archers being suicided against enemy units. In both situations I’ll be building almost every common I get to get to the good stuff and get my discard pile going. An early dark sacrifice or legions of the dead can be annoying to get as you don’t want to clog your hand too much. I take next to no risk with Ret-Talus as you really need him to stay full health. I do prefer keeping him on the third row if possible.
When going towards the mid game you’ll probably have a feel of whether you’ll need to outlast the enemy or that he’ll buckle under pressure. In the first situation I’ll try to play very magic efficient. Using the forced summons, dark sacrifice, not losing commons unnecessarily, etcetera. I like placing walls in a pattern that resembles how a knight moves in chess. This allows for the creation of choke points while still having many summoning spots. Assassination is generally not on my mind too much unless their summoner is in the fray or is low health. It’s about creating the magic advantage.
In the end game you should have more magic then your opponent. This should mean you can outlast them by summoning as many commons as you need. Still your commons are not that strong against ranged, so ideally you’ll have a champion left here. Good stuff to do can be to use a phantom for champion take over; that’s a huge swing right there. And using Anica can be devastating at any time in the game if you can get two or three spirit drains off. Finally zombie warriors and reavers can be situationally good as they can easily give the enemy too many targets (who just won’t die).
Match up analysis
I might do a faction by faction analysis eventually, but I’ll start this off with a few general observations. Take into consideration which factions have units or events can deal out a great amount of damage in one turn. Those are the worst to play against. Phoenix elves in example can kill Elut-Bal in one turn without any luck needed. Another consideration is that I don’t feel Fallen Kingdom is the best in outlasting other factions. Be more aggressive against factions that either have much ranged or better outlasting mechanisms.
First summoner specific cards
Generic cards
References
– All Fallen Kingdom cards (especially strategy section and comments are useful)
– A Doug’s Guide To Summoner Wars podcast (strategy discussion and community news)
– Mythacle Battleplan for Summoner Wars (deck builder and I got the images from there)
– Summoner Wars on iOS by Playdek (I played some test games here)
Still consider Ret Talus to be on the bottom compared to the other first summoners. He definitely gets a push by the Second Summoner of the FK, especially by Warlocks.
On a side note: Really like the format of your SW articles and enjoying reading them!
Thanks again. I’ll probably get some new one’s out in the coming month. Once I update this post with second summoner units I’m sure Warlocks will be in the optimal deck, incredible units for Ret-Talus indeed.