Crazy build for Darkness! It is a little tricky to play, though. 0:00 Introduction 2:38 First few turns of the build 7:04 Tempo math 8:34 Example on board B 12:57 How to combo with Green 14:15 How the build supports
On turn 3, instead of underplaying you can G1 reclaim and play your 3 non loop cards (the minor drafted on turn 1, the unique you aren't looping, and the minor you just drafted with reclaim). Then on the next turn you can G3 to fill up your energy and play the loop cards. You hit the same end state of hitting your loop starting from T4, but you get more energy to buffer your loop since you take a G3 instead of a G2.
You know, I've done this before as a contextual choice (realizing I needed terror of the hunted to bide more time for a stable loop) but totally didn't realize that it can actually just be a more functional strategy in many ways. It makes sense that the G2 and G1 draft are equal in card scaling, terror more reliably hits left innate, and this also sets up an energy efficient loop as you describe. There is tradeoff in the early dump all and the lack of another G2 for multiplayer-oriented presence placement, so this might be a turn that the player just has to evaluate when they get there. Into something like Russia 6, the early dump all will disrupt your engine timing for matching the turn 4 state II escalation + Russia 5, but for something like Scotland the early reclaim provides extra security against a land 2 explore turns 2-4 and you don't care about the early dump. But the cool part is, you don't have to decide before you get to turn 3, so you can wait for the invader information to make the best contextual choice. And this definitely better offsets the timelines where you pulled a 0 cost moon on turn 1 and have much less fuel for turn 3. What a cool comment!! Thank you : )
@@Lonk-yg4cn Oh yea for sure it's a contextual choice you can make at T3, especially since it's dependent on evaluating both the minor you drafted on T1 (as well as whether that minor is 0-cost and therefore playable on T1) as well as whether the early dump is something you can afford to take. The funny thing if you hit the 0-cost moon for T1 is that this variant becomes 0% cheesy (in that you can choose to not underplay on any turn and it just feels like a regular bottom track darkness opening). Definitely looking forward to the next video in the series, I had usually defaulted to the mixed track build on boddys and I like this opening quite a bit more. Excited to see what you end up cooking!
I pulled out Breath as my random spirit choice last night and after a couple of games more or less stumbled into this build. Really strong, tempo spirit. I've only play difficulty 7-8 so far, as learning the spirit but those games felt very easy. Upping the difficulty next time. Great to see a refined version of the build with lovely clear explanation.
Just tried this v Scotland 6 solo: got to TL3 in the slow phase of Turn 6 and had already managed to suppress any city builds. Felt super dominant the whole time. This feels absolutely busted and I love it.
Played this build with Lonk the man himself using Regrowth Green (which I thought was worse than base green but definitely wrong about that). Super fun pair! Played Russia 6 and they had no way of winning with darkness generating over 10 fear a turn. Lonk is definitely one of the most knowledgeable spirit island players I've had the pleasure of playing with and I can't wait for more delicious cheese on the channel
Very excited for this series! This is basically the build I originally went for with darkness, minus the actual reclaim loop at the end. I love getting and playing new cards too much to enjoy the reclaim loop. These first few turns absolutely devastate some adversaries so I don't mind pivoting from this build once I get my board in check
For sure! The tempo is really crazy when you open bottom. I totally get how people don't super enjoy reclaim loops, but for me this one is fun because it means I can always teleport to another board and help out my friends! 😁
I also usually play Darkness 3unique loop with TTBB. So also can play 3unique loop since turn 5. But I found your build is far stronger than TTBB loop because of looping 1turn earlier and turn2's 3cards play. It's awesome. Although it's an unsustainable loop in the long run, but the game ends before the energy dries up. I only think sustainable loop. Your idea smashes me. This build's key is looping 3cards since turn4, so ideally your example is correct, but sometimes in situations like 'HLS first explore in inland town terrain,' I have to give up on the turn 2 play of the example. Anyway it doesn't matter looping since turn4.
