Druids

## Overview

*Druids draw energy from the earth and sun, then use it to fuel their powerful magic. Whether these folk are nature spirits bound to the forest or mortals who protect it by choice, they’ll teach interlopers not to mess with their territory.*

Play mind games by burying cards at different locations. With the variety of different effects your cards have, opponents will have to guess which card you bury at each point. Additionally, use Energy to scale your cards' effects, such as by gaining more power, playing extra minions, or drawing cards.

### Details

#### General

* Name: Druids
* Author: Berryl
* Complexity: 4/5
* Version: 1.3
* Last updated: June 8, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Burying
* Energy

### Breakdown

Most factions have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions (but you may describe any deviations from that here). Most factions have a standard 30 total minion power or an average minion power of 3 (again, describe any deviations here). Among their actions, they have:

* 2 play-on-minion actions: 2x Wildshape
* 2 play-on-base actions: Wall of Thorns, Druidic Circle
* 3 self-burying actions: 2x Thorn Whip, Withering
* 3 standard actions, 2 of which directly affect one or minions (in **bold**): **Tree Stride,** Goodberry, **Sunburst**

### Minions (10)

* **1x Wild Guardian (5):** Place an Energy on up to two of your cards OR uncover one of your cards. Talent: Bury this card here.
* **2x Dryad (4):** Special: When this card is uncovered, take control of another player’s minion of power 4 or less here until the start of your next turn. Special: At the start of your turn, you may remove three Energy from your cards to play this as an extra minion.
* **3x Wood Elf (3):** You may bury a card from your hand here. Talent: If you have uncovered a card here this turn, move one of your minions to here.
* **4x Ent (2):** Ongoing: After you play any card outside your Play Cards phase, place an Energy on this minion. At the start of your turn, you may either transfer any number of Energy on this minion to your other cards here OR remove an Energy from this minion to give it +2 power until the end of the turn.

### Actions (10)

* **2x Wildshape:** Play on a minion. Place three Energy on this card. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, give this minion +1 power until the end of the turn for each Energy on this card.
* **2x Thorn Whip:** Bury this card. Special: When this card is uncovered, move any minion from another base to here.
* **1x Tree Stride:** Move or transfer one of your cards to another suitable card. Play an extra action.
* **1x Goodberry:** Bury a minion from your discard pile on a base where you have a minion. Shuffle this card into your deck.
* **1x Wall of Thorns:** Play on a base. Place four Energy on this card. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, remove an Energy from this card and you may play an extra minion of power 3 or less here. After another player plays or moves a minion to here, remove an Energy from this card and give it -1 power until the end of the turn. If this card ever has no Energy, destroy it.
* **1x Withering:** Bury this card. Special: When this card is uncovered, return a minion here to its owner’s hand.
* **1x Druidic Circle:** Play on a base. Ongoing: After you play a card here, place an Energy on one of your cards here. At the start of your turn, remove any number of Energy from this card to draw an equal number of cards.
* **1x Sunburst:** Remove any number of Energy from your cards. For each one removed, gain +1 power at that card’s base until the end of the turn. Special: Before a base scores, you may play this to instead uncover one of your cards there.

### Bases

* **(20) Enchanted Forest (4 2 1):** At the start of your turn, you may play an extra minion here. If you do so, you cannot play your regular minion on your next turn.
* **(16) Moonlit Clearing (3 1 1):** Once per turn, after you play a card here, you may place a +1 power counter on one of your minions at another base.

## Clarifications

* **Wild Guardian:** If this is buried with attachments on it, discard the attachments.
* **Ent:** Due to the witness rule, if Ent is played outside your Play Cards phase it cannot gain an Energy from its own ability.
* **Sunburst:** If you play it before a base scores, do not remove Energy.

## Strategy

### General

Druids make many of their moves at the start of their turn, often using their regular plays to set up for the next turn. Without partner terminal cards, this can sometimes mean they have a hard time closing things out while they continuously look ahead. If you play them right, though, this can be converted into an extreme tempo advantage.

Many of Druids' cards are meant to be traps. In particular, the burying-focused cards Dryad, Withering, and Thorn Whip create many mind games whether buried with their own abilities or with the lynchpin Wood Elf. If opponents see a Thorn Whip coming, they know there's a chance they get dragged over, so they might secure presence there and break the base, or avoid it entirely in the hopes that you don't want to give them easy points. If they see Withering, they have to decide whether to commit multiple minions to ensure they get VP, but you might pivot and just waste those minions for their power. Either have a different dynamic when uncovered as a surprise, because opponents can't know how they should act when they don't know what a buried card is.

At the same time, Wood Elves can just bury cards like Wildshape if you don't have the traps available. On the surface, Wildshape reads a lot like a modifier that just gives three power to its minion at the start of your turn. However, with the inclusion of Energy, it has a chance to do a lot more. Cards like Wild Guardian and Ent can quickly stack Energy on it and increase the effectiveness of its power boost, and the capstone action Sunburst can double dip on that Energy to make the power even more effective. Energy has a lot of flexible uses within the faction: Ents build it up like a battery, gaining Energy when you play cards outside your Play Cards phase (such as when you uncover) and then converting it into power for themselves or extra juice for your other cards. Druidic Circle gains Energy when you play cards at its base (also including when you uncover, although not when you bury Thorn Whip or Withering at its base) and place it flexibly on any of your cards there; if it receives the Energy itself, it can later convert it into card draw. Wall of Thorns converts it into extra plays and area control, starting with a moderate reserve to grab opponents' attention. Sunburst and Dryad can cash in leftover Energy for big surges of power. Since a lot of the things Energy does happen at the start of your turn, Druids' Energy use is very burying-friendly.

Druids have few ways to speed up their uncovers outside Wild Guardian and Sunburst, but generally the rate at which cards are buried isn't impossible to keep up with; in fact, leaving multiple traps buried can be a good idea to really force opponents to play carefully. With all of the waste and/or solo potential, you can quickly adapt to your opponents' moves with the appropriate response to maximize your efficiency. Uncovering a card previously seeded by Wood Elf can lead to some massive convergences, since any further Wood Elves pulled in can use their own talents to pull more minions in, leaving their own buried traps behind to be used later. Wall of Thorns is perfect to play a surprise Wood Elf, immediately uncover a Dryad or Thorn Whip it buries, and pull another of your minions in to score a quick solo or efficient victory.

### Partner Suggestions

Partners who have good terminal plays will go a long way in filling Druids' biggest weakness. Additionally, factions with some protection for the vulnerable Ents can make stringing it with Wildshape much easier. Factions which play a lot of cards out of turn can perform well, but it's not completely necessary for success.

#### Published

* **Ninjas:** With the new Invisible Ninja offering another way to play Wood Elves at the start of your turn, you can pull a surprisingly large amount of power out with little prior setup. You will lack good things to do with your regular plays sometimes, especially if your hands fill with Dryads and Shinobis, but the swing potential of Ninjas also helps for when Druids' setup bases are broken.
* **Superheroes:** All nine of Superheroes minions' are good to bury with Goodberry or Wood Elf, and Superheroes have a good collection of protection and terminal actions.
* **Wizards:** The ability to burn through your deck to get a good Druid board state is unparalleled in this deck. Tree Stride is excellent for moving Arcane Protector.
* **Killer Plants:** Overgrowth is one of the best cards to bury with Wood Elf, and the opportunity exists to turn Sprout into an instant Overgrowth if it turns into Wood Elf. Tree Stride can also move Overgrowth to hit a second base on the following turn. Water Lilies are good draw to consistently fuel Druids' tendencies to dump cards from hand in the midgame.
* **Anansi Tales:** Ents combo perfectly with Hornets to make Anansi's usual traps even more potent. Sunburst is also a great card to sling with Anansi if you don't think you need the uncover half since most opponents will not have Burying or Energy.

## Author Notes

This faction was conceived in an effort to replicate the dynamics of the Ancient Egyptians card Tomb Trap, which plays a lot of mind games in different ways depending on whether you buried it using your own ability or you buried it from another source such as Pyramid Engineers. Early drafts of Druids didn't include Energy, and I found them lacking a wow factor to really tie in their theming. An idea for Energy was implemented in an intermediate form of Sunburst, and from there I found more and more ways Energy could be useful, and all of a sudden I had an extremely fun, thematic faction on my hands. Druids coalesced very well, and I'm glad I was able to hybridize two really cool mechanics in such a unique way.

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