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- Watch out for enemy cards that attack multiple fields simultaneously as you can use them to your own advantage. Example: attack a Taurus Monolith with something weak while another enemy is behind you. You will die but it inflicts big damage to the enemy behind you due to the attack going through you. Other examples are twin goblins and Arelai the protector which both attack (and counter attack) two fields simultaneously regardless of enemy/friend status.
- Don't just stare at your hand. Use cards already in play. Many times when you have high mana you can weaken things with attacks by cards already in play, then play your card to finish them or just end turn. Example: I lost hope when holding only one card that I couldn't play. I was in check too. Examining cards in play though I managed to kill two enemies in one turn despite my poor hand. Consider rotating cards in play as well as just attacks.
- Don't worry too much about fast play-through. Unless your opponent’s deck is set up to cause discards then losing by “deck out” should be rare. If you have drawn lots of cards then presumably you are brimming with options and should be able to win before a deck out ever happens. That said, do keep an occasional eye on the library sizes just in case your opponent is trying to prolong the match and retain cards, aiming for a deck out.
- Protection is better than attack. You don't win by killing, you win by surviving and dominating the board. Protection is the key here. Use Verzar Canines to boost nearby cards, and Se Hollyn Fortress is top if played centrally but can also be good in a central side position. Arelai is good for protection too and the Novogus Golem takes the mickey if played early in the game. |
- Be aware of the elemental styles. Earth relies on assistance and support of fellow members. Fire relies on cheap fast deployment, spreading quickly. Water relies on dodge abilities and is perhaps the most keyed to home ground advantage. Wood element creatures rely on confusion, inconveniencing the enemy and surprisingly odd abilities. They also feature the most varied targeting options. The bioliths focus is hard to explain. They cost more in general and are all summon locked which can be a pain. They are more powerful than most but they need to be as they can't gain elemental bonuses. The flip side is that they don't suffer elemental penalties. Basically you pay more but get what you pay for and can use it anywhere. This makes them easy to understand but hard to develop cunning plans for. You just can't exploit the terrain or special abilities with them in most cases.
- Top and bottom fields of the central column of the official board layout are prime targets for field quakes. Look at the top and bottom squares of the central column. You will see that the flip side is a direct opposite of the face side! Use any card that triggers a field quake on those squares while they are occupied by something drawing a home ground advantage and you're in business. Four points of damage guaranteed! Kills most stuff.
- Be aware of the triangle button! Not seen this any tutorial or manual but found by accident. The triangle button (while it's your turn) will remove the display and show the mat and cards. Ideal for when you feel you've knocked it out of alignment. Just press triangle, line up the mat and camera and then press triangle again to return to the game. Soooo handy! Worth noting that this doesn't pause your timer though. |
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- Right stick can be used for cool views. Having trouble seeing which way something is facing? Baffled by the excruciating detail of the status screen? Fear not! Just waggle the right stick to rotate the view. It reorients the view (including the placed cards which you can just make out through the graphics) in real time without moving the camera. That's some clever stuff and very pretty!
- Card recognition problems? Shouldn't happen in natural light unless you live in a coal bunker but some people find artificial light tricky. First, adjust the frequency in the settings to get a flicker free image. Then, change the light colour setting from auto to one of the others. You'll know if this is needed as you'll find only one type of card plays up, only water cards for example.
The easy test is that it needs to see a clear black so put something black in front of it and go through all settings until you find one where it doesn't look coloured.
Finally, try moving the camera to a different side of the mat (and altering the settings to let it know what you have done of course). This will help if the light is reflecting from the cards straight into the camera and causing glare. The different angle will avoid the glare. Try to avoid putting it where your main playing hand will be waving around though.
Personally I invested in a lamp for artificial light but try the above as well. Normal bulbs will require the “warm” setting and fluorescent strip lighting needs the “cold” setting. Don’t use “auto” in artificial light but it works well for daylight. |
- Can't line up the grid? The game uses the wide angle setting. Rotate the lens to select the blue marking, not red. I mention this as every other game for the Eye uses standard, not wide angle, so you'll need to adjust this between different games.
- What does the flashing light mean? Above the card info panel (the bit that shows numbers of cards in library, hand and graveyard) you will see some small round lights. If your time runs out while making a decision then one of the lights starts to flash.
I had this happen to me once back when I was having card recognition problems (thankfully it's perfect, instant recognition since I changed off the auto setting in artificial light and use dark+warm) and the distractingly bright little flashing light totally baffled me. Eventually I worked out what the lights were for so I thought it worth passing on for anyone else who is baffled.
If you light all the lights then you forfeit the game, so watch out.
- Summoning lock doesn't mean you can't summon the creature. - Just because your card has a summoning lock and the game’s summoning lock is still in effect, doesn't mean you can't summon it. In this case you can summon it as long as the creature is summoned on home ground. It’s easy to overlook this. I did.
Note that bioliths always have a lock and have only one home square on an official layout board. Still ... all those corner squares will flip nicely to biolith squares on a field quake. That'd shake things up and swing things to the biolith way. |
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