Wingspan Gameplay #3 Battle of the Ducks 

hmmm I think that you are correct that would've been a good idea. Not quite as reliable as nightingale though, and if he stops laying eggs, its useless. Also, Night Heron would've costed 3 food, but the nightingale was able to play immediately

@@KnackNester if he stops running that forest engine, mission accomplished 🤣 Well, he had the quail, but then he can probably only get enough eggs to convert to played birds as opposed to gaining two points per turn. Hard to be sure - brutal engine to oppose.

I actually think the sacred kingfisher is a fairly safe play as a first turn. There are a lot of people that ditch a card to grab two nectar off the start nowadays and he may have wanted to deter me from that.

Good point, i didn’t consider that. Maybe i overrate PW + WD combo then because in my mind if you have that combo then you should not be afraid of anything except not getting them out in time. I would be curious to get into their head this match because obviously watching from your perspective i could immediately tell it was a wasted turn. They must have thought differently since they took that action, it’s just taking some mental gymnastics on my part to make (possibly) gaining a fish/mouse/worm seem like a good play compared to getting the wood duck out a turn faster.

But yes youre right. 2EOR Flicker helped.

@@etzete7455 lorikeet runs into the same problem the flicker has. It could definitely have helped me get all the food I needed quickly, but it could miss just as well and it costs 2 of my precious food off the start. In full tuck with maned duck, using as little food as possible in other rows is generally what I try to do

How?

@@RoderickEgbertJan_vAmbtsbergen discard the card to get two food.

I never responded to this so apologies. I believe Maned Duck has the highest ceiling right now so that's my #1. The scary part is, even if you house-rule it, you can still play maned duck after other tucking birds, and it can be just as strong. Wood Duck is my #2 because forest engines are so potent with the OE board and card access is still really important. Wood Duck does need other birds to pair with, like pileated woodpecker, or California quail, but it really does what no other bird can do right now. 3rd I think is Galah. No other bird generates 2 points in the forest for free. Giving your opponent a grain and a reset feeder isn't really that scary considering you get 2 tucks for it. Honorable mentions: Ravens are still insane if you play them first round, Gulls aren't what they used to be but are still strong, Mute Swan is also crazy, but doesn't quite do what Maned Duck does. The Play-a-bird teal powers are sleeper strong right now, but they kinda need other powerful birds to work with so they don't quite make the top 3.

@@KnackNester nice, I think i could agree with that list. Thanks for the reply 🙏🏻