The Swamp Orcs (Water/Earth) focus on creating a farm of boosts to use for powerful effects.
Without a particular focus on offense or defense, playing Swamp Orcs is a little like playing a city-builder, trying to position your swamp units correctly to generate boosts for their summoner and constructing gates for champions to emerge. Mugglug must be pushed to the limits to maximize the value of what Swamp Orcs are capable of.
The Swamp Orcs are mostly a close-range faction with low mobility, which can make maneuvering them difficult. They compensate for this by having a very strong economy. In addition to that, if they manage to fill the board with enough cards and put Mugglug into action without overexposing her, they can outvalue other factions in an attrition war. Not by producing more magic or particularly efficient units, but by producing tons of boosts that can fuel Mugglug and her events.
Swamp orcs need to build a big swamp fast. And they can achieve this because their deck is filled with 1-cost commons, 0-cost events, and a relatively inexpensive set of champions, which can be further reduced in cost with their potent Epic Event, Emerge. If they manage to maintain a filled board and generate plenty of boosts, they can produce extremely powerful effects, primarily with Mugglug and Emerge, but also through Regenerate and Vinemancer activations. Consequently, the deck strongly revolves around the summoner and the champions. The goal is to get champions on the board as quickly as possible, often in multiples and Emerge significantly facilitates this process.
Mugglug is the central piece of this faction. Note that her ability has no cap, so in theory, she can throw the most attack dice in the game, especially when a nearby Bog Witch is used for even more damage. No amount of health is too much against Mugglug, who can literally melt full-life champions and 10 life gates, often two at the same time, in one turn!
Of course, your opponent will be aware and will avoid being so devastated by Mugglug. However, it is important to utilize the threat she represents to your advantage and bully your opponent’s positioning and movement. In addition, you can often “expose” Mugglug quite a bit if necessary since you have a lot of protection between Mud Drudgers, Regenerate, and Vinemancers to reposition her. It can become quite difficult to punish Mugglug. Dropping gates to protect Mugglug’s flanks is also a good idea in general since Swamp Orcs love dropping gates everywhere. It makes it easier for them to control the map and compensate for their lack of mobility and range.
This is the team MVP, they are the conduit to transform boosts into useful actions. Maximizing Vinemancer potential is key for the Swamp Orcs, giving them the power to manipulate the final position of your swamp. They can do so much for you:
- - Giving the Swamp Orcs more reach by bringing commons closer to the swamp.
- - Moving your units into a safer position at the end of the attack phase.
- - Moving your units without using movement actions.
- - Allowing your units, especially champions and Mugglug to reach one more space in the direction they need.
- - Forcing a friendly unit into an enemy summoning spot after it has been cleared.
- - Allowing you 2 attacks from a single flank.
Notice that Vinemancer can only pull force which has some limitations, but also has 3 range, which is an unusually long range for this kind of ability.
In addition to this, Vinemancer is cheap at 1 cost and has decent combat stats. They have enough health that they can be exposed, and enough attack to be an acceptable finisher. They can also generate and accumulate boosts. Don’t be afraid to spam these units. They are the true MVP and you can never have enough of them. They do all roles quite well. However, it is okay to discard one if you need to keep the hand flowing, but be very careful as this is the best unit to spend your magic on.
Bog Shamans are a crucial part of the Swamp Orcs faction. They are your primary boost generation, which can be used for Emerge, Regenerate, and most importantly, Mugglug and her attacks. However, they can’t be used for Vinemancers and Bog Witches.
To be competitive, you need to try to keep at least 1 or 2 Shamans alive on-board most of the time. They have decent stats for the cost and can provide ranged support to finish low life units. With their 3 life for 1 cost, they can take a hit in a pinch and maybe provide some protection to a more critical unit in the moment. So while you need 1 or 2 on-board, if you have more, don’t be afraid to use them in the front line to absorb hits and finish enemy units.
Mud Drudgers are mostly there to protect Mugglug. However, against some decks that can ping for 1, they prove to be poor protectors. These units are not core to the Swamp Orc strategy but do cover for some key weaknesses.
- Free movement is useful in a deck that requires a lot of movement, not only to boost the Shamans, which are not really needed most of the time but sometimes come in handy, but also to attack and sometimes block opponent summoning spots.
- This deck has a problem against 3 life units. Most of its commons only attack with 2 strength, and Mugglug or Blub are generally better suited to kill bigger targets. Mud Drudgers are another available option to try to one-shot opponent 3-life units.
- Swamp Orcs like to drop gates for spread out summoning points. It is hard to have threats from them, and one threat from your gates are Drudgers with their 3 strength.
Sadly, they can be too easy to kill for many factions. So be aware of how fragile they are.
Probably the most niche of the units, this fragile common should not be summoned lightly, unlike most other cards in this faction that you want to flood the board with. With only 2 life, the Bog Witch is easy to take out, and its ability requires 2 boosts and perfect positioning, which is not that easy to get.
However, Bog Witch is how Swamp Orcs can reach their peak turns in two ways:
- The main way is to allow double attack with Mugglug. If Mugglug has a swamp that is grown enough, then she can throw a ridiculous amount of dice on a single flank, often the first to remove the blocker, the second to remove the target. Many Swamp Orc games are won with Mugglug augmented by a Bog Witch. Having a Bog Witch ready to support Mugglug is the biggest threat the opponent summoner can face.
- The second use is related to Blub. If you have a Bog Witch in-hand as well as Blub, your Vine Gates can potentially summon a 10 AV threat at 3 spaces. Even your regular gates can do it if you have Sow in your hand. This threat can readily bully your opponent’s summoner and champions.
In addition to that, as with all “double attacks” in tight fights, being able to throw 2 attacks from a single unit can allow you to make attacks you otherwise couldn’t and is a tremendous advantage.
The Swamp Orc Epic Event is one of the most powerful events to hit Summoner Wars! It can give the faction a tremendous amount of economy. At 3 boost and returning a champion from discard, it’s +3 magic without really requiring that much effort, given how much boost this deck can produce. While it’s nice to get the full value, you shouldn’t be too greedy. Often, it is best to just take +2 magic gain or even +1 magic gain and use it fast to keep the hand flowing. This often means having to search for a champion from the draw pile instead of the discard.
It’s important for this deck to keep a hand flowing and keep flooding the board, and sometimes it means not taking full advantage of the first Emerge. But the second Emerge is where you should really try to get maximum value and be more patient with. In addition to all of this, the event also gives you versatility, often allowing you to get the champion that best fits the current game state, and often multiple times. Emerge is an all-star card that can single-handedly define the power of the Swamp Orcs.
Regenerate is another event that you want to maximize, but you don’t want to clog your hand. Try to maximize the second one, but it is okay to discard the first one or just use it to regenerate 2 life. While 2 boost and a card is not great value for 2 life, since Mugglug’s life is so important for the Swamp Orcs, it is still a valid play. In some cases, it’s okay to use it to heal a champion if you have the boost to spare but not the hand space. Although, in general, the ideal use of this card will always be on Mugglug.
The cheapest champion of this faction has some great features, which include not using movement in a very movement-reliant faction. Also, having an extra attack to kill small-medium commons is of great help since this is something the deck struggles with. In addition, not needing an attack often means he is great to combo with Bog Witches. Unlike Blub, Splack is a champion you don’t want to throw carelessly around. Having him around doing free movements and attacks is a great asset, so if you summon him when you feel you can put him in relatively safe spots to live for at least 2 or 3 turns, the better!
During the initial turns, summon many Vinemancers and Bog Shamans quickly; consider adding 1 or 2 extra gates for additional key summoning points. Apart from Shamans, Vinemancers, and Emerge, if you can't play a card, it's better to discard it for general magic. Establishing a "Swamp" ASAP is a top priority. Additionally, it's better to keep your units safe early on than to expose them.
Quickly visualize where Mugg should go; if attempting to push the enemy (especially when facing factions with strong range and mobility), or maintain a minimum distance to involve Mugglug. Mugglug's position is key to Swamp Orcs' success.
If you decide to push, keep in mind the necessity of building gates on the front lines to quickly support and protect Mugglug.
As the game develops, consider keeping cards in hand, such as Regeneration and Emerge, to maximize their value. Much of Swamp Orcs' power lies in playing Regenerations and Emerge for their full value.
Keep Mugg active to target high-value opponents, including gates, and use champions and even your smaller units like Vinemancers to attack low-value targets.
Threaten the opponent with your assassination tools, but if they are well-protected, avoid overcommitting. You can win by making good trades, thanks to the value of significant Mugg attacks and your economy based on Shamans, Regeneration, and Emerge.
Build your swamp and be prepared to take calculated risks based on the game situation. Use Mugglug to bully the opponent summoner and aim to bring out champions as soon as possible. The outcome of most games will hinge on how effectively you manage these three aspects.
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