Faction Highlight: Cave Goblins
Sneeks joins the fray.
This is our first faction highlight article. In Summoner Wars each faction has a variety of unique qualities. The purpose of these faction highlights is to celebrate a faction by discussing some of the things that makes it unique and fun and to give out some tips for playing that faction.
The Cave Goblins are psychotic little creatures that care little for their own lives and care even less for the lives of their fellow goblins. The goblins live in a network of caves and tunnels located in the Mountains of Sorrow. They share those mountains with a variety of dark dwellers, some of which they've even managed to summon to the battlefield. But the goblins' most notable neighbors are the Guild Dwarves, whose great stone city is carved into the mountainside. The goblins have striven against the dwarves for generations beyond remembrance. Now that the goblins have found a summoning stone, they can at last wage a real war against their dwarven foes.
The goblins are a horde faction. Many of their units have a summon cost of 0. This allows players to press forward on a constant attack, regardless of whether they have magic to spend.
In Summoner Wars you can only attack with 3 units every turn. That would make a horde army difficult to execute, if it were not for the backbone unit of the goblin army - the Fighter.
Goblin Fighters allow you to sneak in up to 2 extra attacks every turn. This requires a little finesse in which units you summon and how you attempt to position them on the battlefield, but the rewards for proper execution are an opponent that feels quickly overwhelmed and is forced into a defensive posture.
The Fighters aren't the only horde trick that the goblins have up their sleeve. The goblin event cards revolve around making the horde the best they can be.
The Goblin Horde Attack event is great for turning a few little goblins into a dangerous mob. Use it in the right situation to make quick work of an enemy champion, wall, or even a Summoner.
Goblins can struggle, at times, with breaking through the enemy line and getting at their opponent's Summoner. A well played Goblin Rush, or two, can help with this. It is also perfect for setting up one of those turns where you play a Goblin Rush to get units into position and then play a devastating Goblin Horde Attack and/or Goblin Rage to get in a bunch of powerful attacks, making full use of your extra Goblin Fighter attacks.
The goblins have some fun champion units. The Eater is this huge creature that lives in the depths of the Mountains of Sorrow. The goblins dubbed it The Eater long ago and have learned to fear it, as it likes to snack on wayward goblins. When The Eater is summoned to the battlefield it must feed on a steady diet of common units or it will just wander away. The goal is to have it eating more of your opponent's units than it eats of yours. Eating one of your spare goblins with The Eater isn't a total loss though, since when you destroy a unit, that destroyed unit goes to your magic pile, whether the destroyed unit was yours or your opponents.
Blarf is a snively little goblin who has long been mistreated by the other goblins. The other goblins put Blarf through a painful dark ritual, which allows a Summoner to juice him up on magic, turning him into a beast of a goblin. The problem is, if your opponent destroys Blarf, all those cards you used to beef him up will go into your opponent's magic pile. The goblins have no moral qualms with attacking and destroying their own injured Blarf to prevent that from happening, taking the cards, instead, for themselves.
Designer Tip: Try using the Cave Goblin Summoner Sneeks's Sly ability early. This comes with some inherent risk as you'll be exposing your Summoner to damage, but Sneeks is built to take a little damage and keep on ticking. Use Sly to bring Sneeks up to the frontline of the battle before turn 3 or so. It's early in the game so your opponent will likely still have precious few resources, he will be forced to focus those resources on Sneeks. Meanwhile, you've got an entire horde of common units pressing forward on your opponent. After you've inflicted heavy damage on your opponent's forces, Sly Sneeks back to safety and watch your opponent scramble as they try to deal with the horde of goblins that snuck over while they were focused on Sneeks. Another great time to Sly Sneeks forward is on a turn that you've played Goblin Invincibility. You'll get to take advantage of a heavy hit from Sneeks with little risk of him taking damage himself.
