Chapter Analysis - Secrets of Spirata
Hello to you all Realmrunners and welcome to another chapter analysis, this time we’re looking at Spirata’s second chapter, quite a heavily anticipated one among a lot of us more competitive players; The Secrets of Spirata.
Chapter Overview
From a Keyword perspective, this is quite a polarising set; Menagerie focuses very heavily on having multiple Character types on board and rushing for an aggro-esque victory whilst Infest is very much a control-based ability that’s main aim is to stun your opponent’s key cards, so overall, it’s a mix between Aggro and Control strategies. The other direction of the Chapter, coming from the Pixies, is very much Object-focused with several support cards for this card type within their Palettes. The main Legendaries show this off well with all of these themes having strong Characters to lead them.
Removal & Interaction
In this set we see one of the strongest removal Actions to date in Unfathomable Hunger; not only can it Erase any card on the Canvas, it then gives you the option of deploying a Parasite to the same Canvas as the card you Erased for free. This means, for 3 shards, you can get rid of any card on an opponent’s Canvas that’s a threat and Infest another to severely weaken it.
Another card that can really pull its weight is one of my favourite cards in the game, Thrash. This steampunk-looking Pixie turns every Object you deploy into ‘Erase a card’ which, if you build your Palette right, can be huge.
The entirety of the Infest mechanic also gives you several options to interact with your opponent’s Canvas and turn off their strongest abilities and resolve effects and some, like Nocturno, also have further negative effects to really hinder your opponent.
Board Wipes
Going through the set as a whole, there’s no cards that really fit into the category of being a ‘Board Wipe’. There’s a few cards that can Erase multiple others but nothing that would clear a well established Canvas.
Strong Resolve Cards
Both Chroma and Achrom have some strong contenders for this spot so let’s look at each card separately.
For Chroma we got the Heroic Character Hoffel Brown; his Menagerie ability allows you to gain a sizeable chunk of shards, at least 3 since that’s what you need to use his ability to begin with, at any point during your turn so it allows you to play bigger cards sooner or race towards 30 even faster.
It’s also worth giving a quick spotlight to Cordyceps who, if you’re not as reliant on your Characters’ abilities or resolves in the long run, can be a strong source of constant gain that can also interfere with your opponent’s strategy.
For Achrom we got a couple of potentially huge resolve effects that both compliment the Object subtheme to varying degrees and they’re both, conveniently, the Pixie Legendaries. Firstly we have Sorrono, the First Mechanical Pixie; his Action has the potential to do incredible damage to your opponent's shard bank and, as a bonus, you can trigger it every turn as long as you deploy an Object. This gives a Pixie-based Palette a very strong Character to helm it, especially if you run a good amount of Objects. 
Leaning even heavier on Objects we have Morag who, not only gives your Objects Protection, which makes them incredibly powerful in combat as they become almost permanent boosts to your Characters, she also drains 2 for every object you have on your Canvas; so if you only have 2 Objects out that's still drain 4. This makes her a very high ceiling Legendary to play; if you deploy Morag at the right time she can almost win you the game on the spot. 
One that can pivot in either direction, depending on how your Palette is constructed, is one of my favourite characters; Spiral Traitorius. Go Location heavy and he’s a good source of gain or focus on Characters and he can become a powerful drain resolve for you.
Chroma or Achrom?
Looking at this set in isolation I have to say I think Chroma pips it just slightly. As much as I love the support that came for Pixies and all this Achrom-leaning Object support, Menagerie just gives the Chroma side that slight edge in speed if they put down enough threats quickly, with the lack of Canvas wiping abilities, they can run away with it a lot faster than this set's Achrom cards can keep up with, aside from a perfectly timed Morag or holding the advantage from the start by having stronger Strength Characters on the Canvas.
Get yourself First Editions of The Secrets of Spirata from the Achroma website, either as a single set of 2 random Palettes or the full collection which will also net you a copy of the namesake's promo location as well as every single Palette and card from the set! If you combine it with cards from The Fall of Flutterby and its expansions, you can get some really powerful Palettes together too!
That's all from me for now guys!
The Achroma store is currently doing an offer of 25% off, including these first edition sets, with some heavily discounted bundles of The Warriors of Wishwell and their expansions so its even easier to get ready for the next chapter, The Monsters of Norso!
Comments
Post a Comment