Ashgerdy

* Affinity: Mind

Ashgerdy is the mind Hero players start unlocked with. Her initial deck is Ashgerdy Starter.

Ashgerdy's current hero art is illustrated by ???. Her level up rewards are all illustrated by Vladimir Baranov.

# Background and Lore

Federation commander Ashgerdy didn't grow up in the military. She began by working in corporate espionage, and invested her money in a private clone battalion, which was acquired by the Imperial army. But she's never been marooned before, especially not somewhere out of the range of communication with her home systems.

# Mechanics

## Level Up Rewards

### Level 2

* EXP Requirement: 4

Create Courier Knight.

### Level 3

* EXP Requirement: 13

Create Give the Order.

### Level 4

* EXP Requirement: 25

Create Aurora Gate.

# Cosmetics

## Original Ashgerdy

Ashgerdy's original hero art exists as an unlockable cosmetic Hero skin called "Original Ashgerdy." It's illustrated by Vladimir Baranov similarly to how the current Ashgerdy level up rewards still are.

## Potentially upcoming skins

A set of illustrations for a "Pirate Ashgerdy" hero skin were commissioned for Collective but haven't yet officially been revealed. It's currently not known when or whether this cosmetic skin might be added to the game.

All the pictures of this skin have been illustrated by Nathan Porto.

* Pirate skin
* "Pirate Ashgerdy"
* "Pirate Courier Knight"
* "Pirate Give the Order"
* "Pirate Aurora Gate"

The arts were posted somewhere late 2020 *(December possibly)* by the artist on their artstation page. Given that there is no specific art for Personal Touch, it could be speculated that it was commission after Patch v1.1.0. However, given that the art of default Ashgerdy skin's Personal Touch is currently just the main hero art cropped, it might also not be deemed necessary to commission a specific piece of art for it.

# Changelog

* In Patch v1.1.0, Ashgerdy's passive was changed to give 4 EXP instead of 6. Also, Aurora Gate was changed into 6-cost 0/5 mind unit with **Immortal** and "At the end of each turn, your opponent loses HP equal to the EXP you gained this turn."
* Prior to Patch v1.1.0, Ashgerdy used to have a level 5 reward in the form of Personal Touch.
* In Patch v0.12, Ashgerdy's passive was changed to give 5 EXP instead of 6.
* Courier Knight used to cost 3 mana, have the "Imperial" tribe, and its **Entomb** was "+2 Max Mana next turn."
* Aurora Gate used to be a 8-cost 0/5 mind Place unit with "Can't attack" and "At the end of each turn, create a random unit with cost equal to the EXP you gained this turn."

## Outdated Playstyle and Strategy description

Ashgerdy's abilities lends to an variety of playstyles that utilize her XP and mana ramp abilities to produce strong burst turns. Her passive's condition can be met by any kind of damage, and gives 5 EXP in a single turn if the condition is met, which can easily let her reach her level 2 and 3 rewards in the first few turns. Ash decks thus run a variety of ways to trigger the damage, from simply running an abundance of small evasive units like Spookiest Boi, Baby Diver, and Bullfrog Trainer, to other direct damage sources such as Stranded Sailor, Spicy Meatball Surprise, and Rainbow Breath Whelp. Her level 2 and 3 rewards both provide strong ramp, with her level 3 Give the Order being her powerful signature card, enabling both go wide aggro and ramp strategies while helping to trigger her passive. Her level 4 rewards high EXP gains, synergizing very well with her passive and any EXP-focused deck, providing continuous high-value board presence. Her level 5 fits right into the go-wide gameplan to trigger her passive, synergizing with cards like Tunneler Worm to take the win. Since all of her rewards put increasing amounts of units in play and a common strategy for her passive is to flood the board with units, it's important to recognize when to stop playing and/or trade off units to make space for her reward's unit generation.