Building a good deck with Sunderved and his Mountain Vargath isn’t very hard as all his commons are good to use. Playing it well however is much harder. Key is knowing when to be aggressive, when to use your champions and using events and positioning well to make use of his Command ability. This guide will be in-depth about how to build a deck closest to strongest for Sunderved. This will include reinforcements. Mercenaries will probably be added in an update to this post. Summoner Wars is a game by Plaid Hat Games. It’s available on android / iOS (2022-01-07: Link broken) / Vassal.
Basic idea
Sunderved’s special ability makes the basic idea pretty straightforward. Heavy common play! High health and one more attack dice per common means you can destroy enemy units and walls with ease as long as you keep your units close. That also helps protect Sunderved, although he’s pretty strong for a summoner. A weakness is their lack of ranged units and that most of the abilities and events are relatively predictable. Another thing which can hurt them is that the Mountain Vargath lack a mechanism to outlast opponents. Note: The Mountain Vargath aren’t too dependent on their draw, most draws will work out fine for them.
In terms of style of play, I’d recommend going very offensive against most factions. Your events can help you get units quickly to the front and if necessary reposition. These events and most of your abilities are all related to and dependent on positioning. Because of that I’d say the Mountain Vargath are probably one of the factions in which positioning is most important. Champion wise they have a few very decent champs although you might not end up summoning any some games due to being too busy with commons. Competitively I’d rate the Mountain Vargath mid tier somewhere, simply because they don’t have too much advanced trickery. They can get outlasted by some other factions and you tend to give away a decent amount of magic because you’re being offensive with commons.
Deck build (19 / 23 magic for the champions / commons)
– 1 Luka
– 1 Growden
– 1 Torodin
– 4 Warrior (2 initially)
– 4 Brute (1 initially)
– 4 Rusher
– 3 Warden (to pressure enemy walls)
– 3 Storm Mage (for the nuke damage)
Luka is a must have as there are a few factions against which his ability is invaluable. The other two are a bit harder to choose. Right now I’ve decided on Torodin and Growden. Growden because he’s got three attack dice and he fits the early pressure idea perfectly. Torodin because of the situationally very useful trample which counter acts some of the weaknesses of the Mountain Vargath. I might switch him for Quen eventually though because of the ranged and four attack dice option. Varn and Bellor are in my opinion slightly worse in most situations although I feel the champions are well-balanced in general.
Common wise this faction is extremely well-balanced. All commons have their uses. Personally I find Brute’s the best as they allow some very nice movement shenanigans and are excellent counters for mêlée champions. Warriors are exceptional against common heavy factions while rushers have great threat potential. Wardens are excellent at blocking off part of the battlefield against high attack value champions. And storm mage’s give some very much-needed guaranteed damage. If I’d change anything I might go a bit lower on the rushers and higher on the warriors.
Some tactic and combo suggestions:
– Brute’s can set up all kinds of combo’s. You can knock around your own units, so you can knock around Sunderved, a champion or even a storm mage. Or hit an enemy unit to a few of your other heavy hitters so that they can finish him off. Or knock away a blocker.
– Muster and Fall Back are exceptional for repositioning your units. With Muster in example you can get two freshly summoned units into the fray or you can move a storm mage in so it can blow up against something. Plan ahead to prevent needing to use events where possible!
– Putting Sunderved in front of a wall and two commons to both sides of that same wall is good positioning. You can muster in troops and you’re often pretty good protected.
– Be aggressive and think ahead. I sometimes tend to over focus on in example taking all summoning spots instead of cutting off escape routes. Another thing to consider is that you can be aggressive with units like Sunderved and Storm mage’s if there are even bigger threats to attack.
– An interesting idea is to summon more commons immediately if you are being very aggressive and facing magic drain factions. Because of Muster the units you are not using don’t hurt you as much. It is more predictable though and makes it harder to summon champions.
Playing the faction
I generally play this faction very aggressively, moving Sunderved and his first commons forward to start clogging their initial wall without leaving too many easy openings. This also means I might use Muster for small advantages as momentum is very important. If any of my units get hurt I might move them back or finish them off myself to cut the magic given away. I’ll also build some initial events, commons and even champions to have enough magic to be flexible. Having said all that: Take into consideration who you are facing. In some match ups you should just build most commons and go champion heavy. Benders being a prime example.
In the mid game I’ll ideally be all over their initial wall and their summoner. If Growden came around early he’s perfect to summon here for the extra pressure. Also, make sure to prioritize what you’re doing. It’s a bit sad if you prioritize blocking their wall completely if their summoner is alone and can be surrounded. Generally it’s better to only attack the wall if you can’t hit units of the summoner. Keeping Sunderved on the fifth row near the center is a good place as your retreat can’t get wall blocked and you have a huge range. I tend to place my commons two squares from him so you can still use Muster and have some moving space. Depending on the opposition I’ll keep certain champions or build them.
Ideally you’ll have enough of an advantage that you’ll have an end game which is overwhelmingly won. Sometimes you can prevent such an end game all together by going for assassination plays with Brute’s. If not and if you don’t have a unit advantage in the end game then you could be in trouble. Take into account that Sunderved by himself is a beast though and make use of his three attack dice where necessary. Especially if there are other more pressing targets enemies will often hit those instead of your summoner.
Match up analysis (work in progress)
Fallen Kingdom can outlast you, so pressure them hard and take out their commons where ever possible. Vanguard can also outlast you, so the same applies there. Against the Benders you are in trouble; best is to go champion heavy and pray.
First summoner specific cards
| Card | Deck | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Sunderved's ability makes his use pretty straight forward. Keep him close to any commons that are involved in battle at all times. He has pretty good stats, so it can be useful to have him do (wall) attacks and take some risks at times. |
 | Base (x3) | I'm leaning towards this being the best event the Mountain Vargath have. It can be used to get reinforcements straight to the front. And it can be used to reposition your units slightly so you can get that last attack in on a summoner. Finally it can be built if you're not in need of it as you have three of them. |
 | Base (x2) | Situationally useful. I'd only use this if I really need two or three attacks at that range. I'd rather make sure Sunderved is close enough to not need this event. So I generally build these. |
 | Base (x2) | Very, very useful event as it basically means you can play one of the other four events again. And you have two of these. This means you can in example safely build other events because you can use this event to play them later. Note that you should only be using this to pick events from your discard pile even though it allows you to pick from your draw pile. |
 | Base | Another situational event that can be very useful. I prefer to use this to get two or three attacks in that amount to overextending Sunderved and then teleporting him and some commons back to the safety of a wall. It can also be used to get Sunderved out of trouble if things don't go as you were expecting. |
 | Base | Build if you are not using Torodin. If you are using Torodin I'd still build this if you haven't brought him out yet. If you have Torodin on field then it can be interesting to use. All in all, very situational event. |
Generic cards
| Card | Deck | SSCF* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Base | 0 | Wall killer specialist. Aside from that he has the best base attack value of all Mountain Vargath champions and decent health for his cost. Great all around champion especially if you're going aggressive. |
 | Base | -1 | Her special is pretty good as it makes her into a four attack value champion for one magic. And her two attacks are separate and can thus hit different targets. Do be careful of her very low life though. |
 | Base | 0 | Torodin can be combo'ed with two superior plannings and a Torodin's advance to get eight (!) movement in one turn (and seven or so trample's ;)). Aside from that he's pretty average for his cost. Seven health though, so a good unit to soak up damage. |
 | Base (x7) | 0 | Rushers are great for threatening enemy summoners that are low on life. I wouldn't recommend using them against full life summoners unless Sunderved is close enough to give a bonus die. They can also reposition very fast on your side of the battlefield. Often the threat of these is the most important thing as the enemy is forced to reposition inefficiently. |
 | Base (x6) | 0 | Probably the best anti-common unit in the game. For one magic you get a three attack value unit if it's on the opponent's side of the board and in range of Sunderved. |
 | Base (x5) | 0 | Their special ability is really versatile. It can be used to reposition your own units (ouch) or to hit enemy units in disadvantageous positions. Most effective use is to throw two dice on a melee unit and then bounce it three squares away. It won't be able to retaliate and it forces the enemy to waste movement getting back. |
 | Base (x3) | W | |
 | Reinf | 0 | His ability gives him a 66% chance to deal one damage back to each adjacent unit that attacks him. I'm not that big a fan of his ability as it only works against melee units and good enemies will either work around him or use high dice attackers to take him out. He can be good to pressure the enemy. |
 | Reinf | -1 | Utterly invaluable against many factions that have all kinds of great abilities and she's even ranged! Luka can negate abilities and because it's three spaces no unit with melee attacks can use their ability against her. Do be aware that units freshly summoned or moving towards her from out of range are not negated and that she will be a prime target. Positioning is crucial with her. Note: Against some factions her ability is a liability. |
 | Reinf | -1 | Interesting champion that can get up to five dice if surrounded by three other mountain vargath units. Realistically I think you'll generally be rolling three dice as your opponent generally won't let you position so you can throw five dice. |
 | Reinf (x5) | 0 | These need to be used aggressively as their ability only works for enemy walls. They are excellent against champions and summoners as they only take one damage regardless of how hard the enemy hits. Which can allow you to focus on the other side of the wall ;). A possible unit to use with Moyra. |
 | Reinf (x5) | -1 | Interesting unit, but a bit situational. A good opponent will be on the watch for these. Still, I generally include a few as the two guaranteed damage can be very useful against champions or summoners. They are excellent to Muster in for the lightning. Do note if they have one health you can suicide them and get the magic for them as well. |
References
– All Mountain Vargath cards (especially strategy section and comments are useful)
– Mythacle Battleplan for Summoner Wars (deck builder and I got the images from there)
– Summoner Wars on iOS by Playdek
