Hi! My name is James. I work as an insurance underwriter. Besides board gaming, my other hobby is running. I've run several marathons in the last few years, and even won my last marathon with a personal best of 2:52:52. I coach elementary and middle school cross country.

Played SW1 back in the day, especially around the time Alliances was released. Found out 2nd edition existed November 2023 and began playing online.

Chosen Grove is my favorite faction. As an economic player, I enjoy defending Nimid and making favorable trades until the time is right to go on the offensive. Oaksworn and seed bearer create a strong push and pull game, and Stag rider and Autumn give CH strong hit and run tools. CH has great internal balance, and every card has a role that it serves well. Knight of Seasons is my favorite card because it's really 4 cards packed into 1. Stacking your hand with each of the season cards creates a strong tempo swing. Support your grove with spring, hit hard with summer, then set a defensible formation with autumn.

Rebalance going 1st vs 2nd. 1st has too much of an advantage in too many match ups because it generally starts with the tempo and economic advantage. 2nd player's 1 extra magic doesn't make up for the units removed on turn 1 by first player.

Rather than play a wide variety of games, I prefer to play the same game many times. I prefer asymmetrical games to have more variety between games. Besides Summoners Wars, my favorite board games are Arcs and Root. I have played a good amount of Dominion, Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone, Pokemon VGC, and Legends of Runeterra.