The Vanguards (Divine/Light) is a faction that focuses on straightforward combat and winning the attrition war.
The Vanguards are more than capable in the fight, but they are in no rush to. They can fight and keep fighting until the opponent runs out of cards. The longer the fight lasts, the more powerful setups the Vanguards can make, and the more units Sera, their summoner, can bring back to the fight and the more the match will favor them.
A summoner-centered faction, the deck heavily relies on Sera’s positioning and the efficacy of her Citadel Knights to protect her.
The Vanguards want to keep combat trades going and have Sera attacking regularly. If they can do that, they will almost certainly win in the end.
Their ranged game rests on the back of Sera, Citadel Archers, and Jacob. While they can be enough when range is needed, the Vanguards prefer melee combat most of the time.
In general, the Vanguards want to get into melee combat range and then have an attrition war. With a teamwork of Knights to protect Sera, champion units, and Paladins, they hope to start exchanging blows while using powerful events to protect and boost their units to win over the long game.
Sera’s attacks are key to winning with Vanguards. Between Citadel Knights and carefully poking low-life units, you should trigger her ability as much as possible. In Renewed Hope turns, you can generally attack with her freely and then protect her from any possible counter.
Her endgame is scary as she can produce an infinite supply of Citadel Knights while she pokes with her ability, out-valuing every opponent summoner in the game. Sera’s life is precious, and with careful positioning, you can effectively convert her life into magic and units. She is the core of the Vanguards’ economic game, trying to force the opponent to place units in her range for her to gain value. Smart opponents will avoid this but will then have trouble not giving up territory. Forcing the opponent to retreat from Sera’s threat is a big part of her game.
Vanguards' only ranged common. Early and mid-game you should try to always have one archer around if possible. They are very strong early game, easily having 3 to 5 attack strength with minimal cost, and they are very hard to trade with because of their high life. Unlike the rest of Sera’s plan, Citadel Archers do not require protection, as they have a great life to magic ratio. If you want to poke things, attack things or threaten carelessly, Citadel Archers are your tool.
As the late game starts to kick in however they lose a lot of their value and effectiveness. Part of the reason late game Vanguards needs to become more aggressive to delve into melee exchanges is because of this unit's dwindling efficiency.
Temple Priest is the cheap unit of the Vanguards. In an expensive deck that needs a strong board presence, this 0-cost unit allows you to keep the action going while saving up magic for a champion.
With “Guardian Spirit” and/or “Holy Judgment” active is when they are at their best.
Once you have your board set up, your priest can shift from combat units to healer of champions. They heal an average of 2.33 life per card, which is not bad if you have the extra attacks going. Healing Citadel Knights is not worth it in general and Paladins barely so, but if you have the free attacks, and it can make those units survive one more attack, it is worth doing.
Remember, “Holy Judgment” buffs their healing capability. In that situation, their heal becomes a lot more attractive of an option.
Sera's Epic Event is very powerful and versatile, ensuring you get extra strength one turn, but possibly even two turns, and aiming for that is entirely reasonable. Vanguards damage isn’t great but playing Holy Judgment changes that.
Between all of Sera's protective tools, keeping your units alive is realistic. Remember too that this card boosts your Temple Priest healing so keeping a 2 flank fight while healing really maximizes this card's value.
It still can be used to try to one-shot an enemy champion or summoner, even if it means it will only last one turn, but such will not be its most common use.
An economic event, Mass Heal mainly can give you a lot of value, but it requires a lot of setup, often more than it's worth it.
Sera has the tools to keep her units alive with smart use of Citadel Knights and Guardian Spirits. You can keep an army of wounded units just waiting for Mass Heal to refresh them all. If you can heal 2 units for 2 life each, then this event is worth it. Sometimes you can set it up so you heal 4 or even 5 units, and in those cases, it can prove to be a massive economic advantage.
However, players will do their best to focus fire to kill your units, so it will be hard to get too much value with Mass Heal, so it’s not easy to build up to and for that reason you may not want to hold his event in hand unless you see the game is developing down a path where you can do a big, impactful Mass Heal.
Jacob is expensive for what he provides, and he is hard to protect. But if properly supported, he can be a big, valuable cannon. If you can get your magic up to 10, you get a massive 7 ranged attack. In some matches, you can do this. Often, you can discard aggressively to feed his Radiant Shot, knowing you can bring those discarded cards back with Sera.
If the opponent’s faction isn’t pressuring you to hurry up and you have time to build up the whole setup for him, he can be quite strong, but identifying those games is not easy. Six life is not much, but with Citadel Knights and healing, it can feel endless.
The best start the Vanguards can have is a Citadel Archer. A first turn Citadel Archer is one of the strongest plays in Summoner Wars. This can give the Vanguards a ranged game until they set up their front lines, which should be composed of Knights protecting Paladins and Sera, hopefully with one champion to complete the lines.
Setting up all of this is very expensive, and a big part of the early game of the Vanguards is figuring out how to get there. Generally, it requires aggressive burning cards for magic and lots of summons quickly, which often requires tough decisions as the Vanguards’ powerful events are a big part of their power. It is often better to play them in sub-optimal scenarios to keep card cycling, rather than clog the hand or discard them for magic.
Against factions with a strong ranged game, especially when not drawing an early Citadel Archer, the Vanguards need to dramatically accelerate the process, pushing and trying to build a forward gate. It is important to remember that Sera needs to threaten to attack, always protected by Citadel Knights. If the opponent retreats too much to avoid Sera attacks, use that window of opportunity to advance with Sera and build a forward gate.
Renewed Hope is a key component of Sera’s strategy. It is her only element of surprise, and she needs to threaten very strong Renewed Hope turns to keep the opponent on their toes. If it were not for Renewed Hope, she would be too easy to play around for most opponents, as she would be just too predictable.
Well-played Guardian Spirits and Holy Judgments are how the Vanguards gain a lot of their edge, but don’t be afraid to play them for small value in the goal of keeping the hand flowing and having that very needed team of Knights and Paladins going. Using Temple Priests as cheap combat units to save for a champion, especially Coleen, is also a consideration.
If Sera loses control of the midfield versus many factions, it will be very hard to come back as she can then be toyed around with thanks to her weak ranged game and lack of reach and tricks.
It’s important to note that in some matchups, the Vanguards need to play significantly more aggressively than in others. In those matches, supporting the aggression with sturdy units and with Sera is your hope to keep the gas going on the offensive.
Focus on protecting your economic assets, be it a champion or Sera herself, and keep mindful of formations to maximize Guarding Spirits usage.
Her games need patience and the will to drag on long. She slowly builds an economic lead through the game, and as long as she is not too far behind, she can outlast every other summoner thanks to her ability.
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