The Deepwood Groaks is an Earth/Control deck that leverages the economic strengths of the Earth element while employing control tools to survive.
The deck’s core strategy revolves around the generation and distribution of boosts to units and potions, while using various tools to slow down the opponent's game or punish aggressive maneuvers.
Like many Earth decks, the Deepwood Groaks prioritize boost generation. The early game focuses on finding ways to generate boosts through its Summoner and Mind Wardens, the faction’s most efficient boost generators. However, all units in the faction contribute to boost production in some way. Hekatia, their Summoner, can use Arcane Brew to recover these boosts before the units die, allowing them to be reused to empower other units or create potions with various powerful effects. This dynamic is the foundation of the Deepwood Groak economy.
As a Deepwood Groak player, mastering the management of boosts—knowing when to leave boosts on a unit, when to recover them, and when to brew a Potion—is key to success.
Due to their strong economic gameplay, the Deepwood Groaks generally adopt a defensive approach. A common early-game tactic is to poke enemy units with their multiple ranged options, forcing them to engage. When on the defensive, Mind Wardens are crucial for protecting your units and generating boosts. If the opponent becomes overly aggressive, Bloom Warriors, enhanced by boosts, can deliver significant damage.
A standout feature of this faction is the Sightless Seer, a unit that, when stacked with boosts, boasts virtually the longest range in the game. This, combined with the deck’s strong economic play, exerts significant pressure on opponents, compelling them to act quickly.
Hekateia serves primarily as a support summoner, anchoring the Deepwood Groaks’ economy and exerting significant timing pressure on opposing factions. The longer she remains active, the more effectively she can distribute boosts, giving you a strategic advantage.
Each turn, the decision of where to allocate your boosts is critical and often involves calculated risks. Should you leave those boosts on a Bloom Warrior, hoping it survives another turn, or should you retrieve them for a safer use? These are the tough decisions you'll face regularly.
Despite her support role, Hekateia is also a capable damage dealer. In the early turns, most of your boost generation will come from Hekateia attacks, typically protected by a Mind Warden. It's often advantageous to position her aggressively early on to secure those vital early boosts. Even if she takes damage, her most important contributions can be made safely from the backlines as the game progresses.
The Mind Warden is the faction’s tank and one of its most frequently used units. Not only do they excel at protecting key units like Bloom Warriors, Hekatia, and Bloom Mystics in the early game, but their protection also comes with the added benefit of boost generation. Their defensive capabilities alone justify their summoning, but the boost generation makes them indispensable.
A unique aspect of Mind Wardens is their synergy when deployed in groups. Attacking a Mind Warden triggers boost generation for that Warden and all other Mind Wardens within two spaces, making close formation deployment highly effective. Since they excel at protecting your faction, it's often wise to summon multiple Mind Wardens early in the game.
Mind Wardens pair particularly well with the Wither Potion, which allows them to survive longer and generate even more boosts. A group of Mind Wardens protected by Wither Potions can easily generate enough boosts to cover the Potion's cost, with plenty left over. If you have a cluster of Mind Wardens on the field, consider brewing a Wither Potion to maximize their potential.
The Bloom Warrior is the primary damage dealer of the team. Even without additional boosts, a 2-cost 3/4 unit offers excellent stats for a common unit. You can deploy them as-is, and they’ll perform well, especially if you can recover the boosts before they die.
However, their true strength lies in their ability to transform into 6-attack juggernauts with enough boosts, making them a terrifying threat to opponents. When paired with a Swift Potion, they can threaten a large area with a 6 attack (or 7 if enhanced by a Strength Potion), establishing them as a core threat of the faction.
The ideal strategy with Bloom Warriors involves summoning them, adding 3 boosts, and attacking with a 6 attack. Then, protect them with a Mind Warden. On the next turn, attack again with the boosted Bloom Warrior, even if it means taking on additional risk. After the attack, recover all the boosts, reducing the Bloom Warrior to a 1 attack unit. If your opponent hesitates to destroy it, you can once again load the unit with boosts, attack for 6, and then immediately use the boosts to create a potion. This pattern is incredibly powerful and forces opponents into difficult decisions.
Remember, Bloom Warriors are your primary threat throughout most of the game, so it’s wise to keep them in reserve until the later stages. Once you run out of Bloom Warriors, your threat range diminishes significantly.
The Bloom Mystic is the simplest of the common units, offering an inexpensive way to poke your opponents while generating boosts. Avoid using Bloom Mystics for close-range combat; instead, rely on them for cheap ranged damage, especially against summoners and champions that the Sightless Seer can't target from a distance. Bloom Mystics excel when potions are in play, as they can boost a potion already on the field. For example, spending a Strength Potion boost to make it a 4 attack feels like a bargain. Pairing them with a Swift Potion for hit-and-run tactics while recovering the spent boost is also highly effective.
Even when using Wither Potion or Poison Potion, adding more boosts to Bloom Mystics is beneficial. While it’s usually better to rely on Warriors or Mind Wardens in close-range battles, there are times when you need range, and Bloom Mystics are highly efficient at poking the opponent from a distance.
The Sightless Seer provides the Deepwood Groaks with a uniquely disruptive tool that no other faction possesses: an extremely long-range unit capable of shooting over gates, even if it can only target common units.
A Sightless Seer with 5 boosts has an incredibly long range, putting enemy factions in difficult situations if they don’t apply pressure quickly. The ability to poke at commons from such a distance forces your opponent to either engage with their summoner or champions within range or play aggressively with their commons—both of which can expose them to devastating attacks from your Bloom Warriors. If your opponent is keeping their distance, load a Seer with 5 boosts and start poking at their commons.
This unit makes gates especially valuable for the faction. A Sightless Seer protected by a gate becomes a powerful asset, even with just 2 boosts, as it can attack enemy commons while those commons are forced to deal with the gate first.
As mentioned, the Sightless Seer doesn’t always need 5 boosts to be effective. Summoning one with fewer boosts to execute diagonal attacks, shoot over your units, or target a valuable common is a great way to add a third attack in tight formations. After its initial work is done, you can remove the 2 boosts, leaving you with a decent 2/3 unit. This small body can still play a crucial role in protecting positions. So don’t hesitate to summon a Seer with fewer boosts, use it for a quick strike, then repurpose it for defense.
The Swift Potion is arguably the most efficient potion in the Deepwood Groaks’ arsenal. With a cost of 0 Magic, it offers tremendous value, even if that value isn’t immediately apparent. One of its strengths lies in its flexibility—you can brew a 5-boost Swift Potion early on and keep it as a tool or a lingering threat to your opponent. While it’s active, all your units can move 3 spaces, which is particularly beneficial for Bloom Warriors.
The real power of the Swift Potion comes from the tricks it enables. For example, you can attack with a unit, then use the Swift Potion to move it away, creating space for a ranged unit to attack through that opening. With ranged units, you can strike and then retreat to a safer position. You can also kill a unit in melee and immediately occupy the space it vacated, which can be crucial for controlling gate spots or flanking an enemy summoner.
Essentially, the Swift Potion offers all the tactical maneuvers common in Summoner Wars that involve forced movement—on demand and with up to 5 uses. Mastering the Swift Potion is essential for Deepwood Groak players, and brewing at least one per game is highly recommended.
One general rule for potions, not just the Swift Potion, is to be cautious about using them with fewer than 5 boosts. While there are scenarios where using a potion for less might be worth it for the tempo advantage, as a rule, aim to play potions with at least 5 boosts, or at the very least 4.
The Strength Potion is more straightforward than the Swift Potion but just as versatile. It’s an on-demand effect that is rarely a bad choice, making it a solid pick to brew at least once per game. The key with the Strength Potion is to prioritize buffing your sword attacks, as sword dice are generally more damaging than ranged dice. Sightless Seers are particularly good targets for the Strength Potion since it enables them to perform a crucial 3 melee attack, which is essential against many common units.
The Wither Potion is more situational than the other potions, mainly because its effectiveness depends on how your opponent reacts. Your opponent controls how the boosts are spent and can even attack their own gates to force you to use the boosts.
Due to these factors, it’s important to be strategic about when to use the Wither Potion. It tends to be most effective under one or more of the following conditions:
Mind Warden Synergy: This potion pairs exceptionally well with Mind Wardens, allowing them to withstand more attacks, which in turn generates more boosts. Two or three Wardens protected by a Wither Potion can be incredibly challenging for many decks to deal with.
High Attrition Situations: The Wither Potion shines in situations where your opponent can’t afford to waste attacks, such as when they’re aggressively pushing, or even when you’re pushing aggressively. Yes, the Deepwood Groaks can sometimes play very aggressively, and in those moments, this potion can be invaluable.
Countering Key Units: The Wither Potion is highly effective against units that rely on kills for benefits, like Carriers, or those that require a lot of dice to function optimally, such as the Tundra Orcs’ Frost Shaman.
Protecting Your Summoner: If your summoner is under heavy pressure and at risk, the Wither Potion can serve as a critical line of defense.
In all these situations, the Wither Potion can be a smart way to allocate your resources. However, if none of these conditions apply, consider discarding the potion and using the Magic and boosts elsewhere.
The Poison Potion is the most situational of the potions, similar to the Wither Potion, costing 1 magic and lacking control over how the boosts are used. Generally, the Poison Potion is not the best use of your resources unless you have a specific strategy in mind. However, it can be highly effective in certain scenarios, which include:
Countering Aggressive Rushes: As an economic faction, you may frequently face opponents who try to rush you. The Poison Potion can significantly slow down such aggressive strategies, especially if a single point of damage poses a serious threat. By hindering your opponent's advance, the Poison Potion can buy you valuable time to execute your plans. If you know your opponent needs to move units forward quickly, brewing this potion can be a strategic choice.
Finishing Off Low-Life Units: If you find yourself in a situation where two or more enemy units are left with just 1 life at the end of your turn, the Poison Potion can be highly effective. This is particularly useful if one of those units is the enemy summoner. The Deepwood Groaks lack other means of direct damage or ways to inflict additional damage outside of their usual attacks, making the Poison Potion your best option for dealing with low-life units.
Dealing with Units Weak to Direct Damage: The Poison Potion can be particularly effective against units that are vulnerable to direct damage, such as those with Guard or 1 base health. If your opponent has such units on the board, this potion can be a real nuisance and help you gain an advantage.
In summary, while the Poison Potion is situational, it can be a valuable tool in the right circumstances, especially for dealing with aggressive opponents, finishing off low-life units, or targeting units weak to direct damage.
Elderath is a highly versatile champion, especially favored due to its 3-cost, making it easy to summon. As a support champion, it provides significant value to Mind Wardens and, more importantly, to Bloom Warriors. One of the critical decisions for Deepwood Groak players is whether to risk leaving boosts on Bloom Warriors or to recover them. Elderath simplifies this choice, allowing you to maintain 6 boosts on a Bloom Warrior without fear of losing them. With Elderath, you can accumulate so many boosts that you often find yourself brewing potions directly from the boosts this champion generates.
However, Elderath does have its limitations. It introduces movement and range requirements that can be challenging in dynamic games. It is particularly effective earlier in the game and in more static, close-up scenarios. In mid to long-range games or those with high mobility, Elderath may struggle to provide the same level of impact.
As the most expensive champion, Myrrden is ideal when facing factions with numerous small units. These opponents not only provide a steady flow of magic, enabling you to summon Myrrden, but they also increase the likelihood of triggering Myrrden’s ability, which can even lead to acquiring valuable Wither Potions. The availability of Wither Potions against these factions makes Myrrden even more effective, as it can live longer, generating more potions and creating a beneficial cycle. Myrrden excels against factions with small, aggressive units.
Kaelik is a champion with immense potential, but also the most challenging to deploy effectively. In mid to long-range games, Kaelik can be highly effective if you can set up several potions in advance. Using a Swift Potion or a Strength Potion with just 1 boost can make Kaelik a viable play, particularly in slower mid-range games where you have the time to establish these setups. In contrast to Myrrden, Kaelik is less effective in fast-paced games where setting up potions and positioning can be more difficult.
The Deepwood Groaks deck is ideal for players who enjoy the economic aspects of Summoner Wars. Mastering the allocation of boosts is central to the Deepwood Groaks experience. Their gameplay revolves around defensive formations, utilizing gates, and strategically poking the opponent. However, there are also opportunities for aggressive plays. For example, an early push with a Warden, Warrior, and Summoner, combined with a Sightless Seer to shoot over enemy gates, can be surprisingly effective and catch opponents off guard if they expect a slower game. While spotting the right moment for such strategies can be challenging, they definitely have a place in the Deepwood Groaks' arsenal.
Typically, it is safe to follow the core strategy: maintain a defensive posture with Hekatia and Mind Wardens, supported by Bloom Mystics and Sightless Seers protected by gates. You can then capitalize on any advances by using Bloom Warriors in conjunction with Swift Potions to deal significant damage.
Due to the economic nature of the faction, gates hold particular value. Gates naturally slow down the game, which aligns well with the Deepwood Groaks’ playstyle. Moreover, the synergy between gates and Sightless Seers makes them even more valuable, making it difficult to consider discarding gates compared to other factions.
Overall, the Deepwood Groaks faction offers a lot of enjoyment for players who appreciate methodical resource management and a defensive, "Tower Defense"-style approach to gameplay.
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