Welcome back to another Crystal Clans preview! Today we're looking at Feather Clan! When you first heard of the Feather Clan, the image of units with Flight likely popped into your head.  But we’ve seen units with Flight before, namely in the Blood Clan and the Flower Clan.  The Feather Clan doesn’t just fly, they soar!

Birds of a Feather

Soar is similar to the Flight ability.  It requires that all units in the squad are Flying units and grants the same ability to leave a zone containing enemy units, but allowing a squad to move up to 3 zones away changes quite a lot, especially for a clan filled with Flying units. This gives the Feather Clan a serious boost in their mobility.

Swiftwind Messengers

No unit embraces the ability to Soar as much as the Swiftwind Messengers.  They build up speed as they move at least 2 zones away from where they started and use that to enhance their attack.  For their cost, they’re one of the most effective units at attacking your opponent’s side of the board.

Direwing Cavalry

These bird riders use their muscle to tussle, their might to fight, and you might even say that they excel at Expel.  By using Expel, they can theoretically move across the entire board in one activation.  But even if they don’t destroy the enemy squad, their ability to ruin an opponent’s board position might just be worth it on its own.  This may free up a crystal space for another of your units to occupy, or even just force your opponent to spend an activation to get back to where they were.  But remember, Expel can only be used on your own turn.

Whipporwill Archers

Not every unit in the Feather Clan has the ability to fly.  Whipporwill Archers exist as the ground troops, and while they themselves can’t take to the air, their arrows certainly can.  Volley allows a player to reveal archers in their hand thus increasing the attack value of their squad.  Be careful in doing so - revealing too much about your hand may give your opponent an edge in predicting not only your battle card in this battle, but maybe even the next few as well.

Dendra the Skykeeper

Walking is so pedestrian, and Dendra ensures that all units of the Feather Clan get upgraded to first class.  Her Carry ability considers all units in her squad to be Flying units, allowing her to Soar no matter who she’s paired with.  Her battle card effect is pretty powerful too.  The left effect can remove even the toughest obstacles, and the right effect can save your cards from the discard pile in battles where your squad would otherwise not survive.  Opponents with costly squads should always be wary of this play.

As you’ve seen today, the Feather Clan are experts in mobility.  But being quick isn’t the only way to win. Later this week,  we’ll take our first look at the Leaf Clan, who will teach us that sometimes it’s ok to be “rooted” to one’s spot! Thanks for reading!

Posted by Jeffrey Berman Jeffrey Berman is the Lead Playtester for Crystal Clans  and  the Show Runner of Dara Teaches How to Play Follow @DaraTeaches