Scroll Focus: Kinfolk Brave

So now that introductions are out of the way, it's time to start the real stuff.  I'm talking strategy.  Consider this the first of many posts dedicated to dissecting individual Scrolls.

So, for our inaugural Scroll Focus let's jump straight to what is currently the most popular (notorious) and valuable scroll in the game:

Kinfolk Brave

Now, if you are new to the game you may be asking "What is so special about this card?  It's only got 2 Attack, 2 Health and no special abilities."

I thought the same thing when I first dove into the trials, but after a few matches it became extremely evident just how powerful this guy is.  Especially once you realize that he does in fact have a special ability.

"Oh, he does?"

Yes... notice the 1 Countdown?  This means that he attacks EVERY round.

Think about that for a second.  How many cards attack every round?  I can think of a few others off the top of my head.
Wildling - 4 Growth, and starts at 0 Attack.
Destroyer- 4 Energy, has 2 attack but can't move.
Copper Automation - 1 Energy, has 4 attack but self destructs after it attacks.
Charge Coil - 3 Energy, does 1 damage to a random unit every turn. Can't Move.  Can't control who it 
                                                                               hits.  Also, I don't think it's damage can be buffed.


So to summarize, he gets 2 Attack, can attack EVERY turn, can move like a normal Creature and only costs 2 Growth!  That is pretty unique and pretty damn useful.  With a cost of only 2 Growth that makes him very versatile, and can come into play as early as the second round to start making the enemy's life a mess.

So, he only has 2 Attack you say? Well, if you have played Growth or played against them you may soon come to realize that growth has a large number of buff cards.  Dryadic Power, Champion Ring, Bear Paw, Crimson Bull, Unleash Inner Power, Ancestral Totem, and God Hand, all of which increase a unit's Attack.  It is very easy to stack a couple enchantments on him and have a beast who is throwing out 6+ damage a round.

Also of note is his 2 starting health.  Most early game plays only do 1 damage, so he can survive things like a Ragged Wolf, Frost Gale, Illthorn, Kabonk, or Inferno Blast.  Throw a Bear Paw and Elan Vital or Leeching Ring and he suddenly gets a bit more staying power.

If need be you can also toss a Dryadic Power on him for the +3 health making him hard to do away with.  The downside is it roots him in place, but you can still use him to help lock down a lane from behind a Druid Burial Ground or Eternal Statue.

So, now that you realize how awesome he is those of you who don't play Growth may be asking "How do I deal with this guy?"

Well, the best way to do it is to kill him.  Order can throw out a Spearman with their +2 Spiky. Energy has direct damage scrolls like Spark and Ember bonds that can hit him from behind Walls. Also throwing Rigged onto a structure can deter a Kinfolk Brave attack.  Growth probably has the hardest time getting rid of this guy.  Their two early game direct damage spells are Frost Gale, and Ranger's Bane.  Frost Gale only does 1 damage, and also damages your own units.  Ranger's Bane does 1 damage per turn which will kill him in two turns if the Kinfolk Brave isn't buffed, but it's common for players to throw on an Elan Vital or Druid Burial Ground to counteract this.  So basically as Growth you need to take him down quick before he can get buffed up and behind a wall.  Or if you are lucky a Frost Gale / Ragged Wolf can take him down in a surprise attack. So even if you can't outright kill him, knocking him down to 1 HP can open up doors to kill him on your next turn.

One other weak point for the Kinfolk Brave is he does not have relentless so even a buffed out Kinfolk Brave can be slowed down with cheap creatures and walls soaking all his damage.  There are also other options such as Violent Dispersal that straight out kills any unit, or Pushback that will return him to a player's hand.

So, now you know more about the Kinfolk Brave, one of the most versatile badasses that currently exists in Scrolls.

I like my Scrolls Rare

One question I have received from my friends in the first few days of scrolls is how do I tell the rarity of my scrolls?

I will admit I had this same question the first time I dove into the Deck Editor.  The differences are pretty subtle, but Mojang has provided a helpful graphic to point out the differences.

So the things to pay attention to are the sides of the cards.  Uncommon and Rare cards have more tears in the edges.  Uncommons also have a slightly darker parchment.  The Rare scrolls also have noticeable gold inlays in the bottom corners.  These are your money Scrolls, so don't sell or trade them without knowing their value.

Which brings up the question:  How do I know what a Scroll is worth?  How do I know if I am making a good trade?

Well, I have a couple basic rules for the beginner when it comes to trading.

Commons that appear in the Preconstructed decks have the lowest value.
Commons that are not part of the preconstructed decks are slightly more valuable than other commons.

If you are new to trading, do 1 for 1 trades of cards of the same rarity.
Never trade a Rare for anything other than another Rare.  Even if it is a lot of commons or uncommons.  Why, you ask?  Cause eventually you will get the commons from other trades or booster packs.  As people have more and more Scrolls and Gold most Commons and Uncommons will lose their value, but the most desired Rares are the few cards that will hold value.

I also highly recommend checking out this pricing guide for Scrolls:
http://scrollspc.byethost14.com/index.php

As you can see not all cards of the same rarity have the same value. So be sure to check out this chart before trading your Kinfolk Brave for a Plate Armor unless you want to get hustled.  As you can see Growth  rares currently have the most value, since right now Growth has the highest number of players.  And Kinfolk Brave is especially valuable due to it's cost of 2 Growth making in useful in a large variety of decks.

This is how I Scroll

So, you just bought Scrolls and you aren't sure where to start:

Maybe you have never played a trading card game before and aren't sure what you are getting into.  Well, I have some good news for you.  Scrolls has only been out a week so we are all basically still noobs at this point.  So don't freak out, it's not like trying to jump into Magic the Gathering 15+ years after launch with dozens of expansions, thousands of cards and years of rules changes.

To help everyone out Mojang has put together a handy dandy guide for new players to help you learn how to Scroll.

Here is some handy pointers from Owen:

Are you a Scrolls newbie? Don’t worry. Everyone’s got to start somewhere. Here are 10 tips that you might find useful after you’ve completed the tutorial and played a few games against the AI.

• Once you’ve built up a decent amount of resources, start sacrificing one scroll for two. It’s vital to have scrolls to play!
• Try to maintain board control. If you’ve got a choice between damaging your opponent’s idol or creature, it’s probably better to hit the creature
• It’s OK to let your idols take a few hits. Don’t give up a unit unless it’s completely necessary or part of your strategy
• Keep your deck lean! There’s a minimum of 40 scrolls per deck
• Stick to single resource decks when starting out. It’s a easier to learn basic strategy that way
• Experiment with each of the starter decks. They play very differently so find the one which best suits your play style
• Maintain a good balance of creatures and spells once you begin to customise
• Make sure your deck has good resource balance. You want some scrolls that can be played early as well as hard-hitting finishers for the late game
• You can spend the Gold earned from matches to purchase new Scrolls in the Store. You can also sell back at a reduced price
• Don’t get disheartened if you lose! Try to work out where you went wrong and correct your play next time

Hope these help you out. See you online, noob!

Owen – @Bopogamel

Also, check out the Scrolls.com community page.  There is a bunch of links to more in depth strategy discussions.  You can learn about specific cards or maybe try to figure out how to make a good hybrid Growth / Energy deck featuring Gravelocks.  It's your move.

Check it out:
https://scrolls.com/community

Scrolls Is Released to the Masses!

Scrolls was finally released to Open Beta on Monday June 3rd.

This game has only been out a week and I have already sunk a ridiculous amount of time into it.  It's playstyle is a combination of traditional Trading Card Games like Magic, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh etc, but with elements of Computer Based strategy games like Heroes of Might and Magic or Final Fantasy Tactics.  It is an excellent bland of gameplay mechanics and is just generally put together very well.

You play matches against the AI or other human opponents to earn gold.  This gold is then spend in the Card Shop to buy new pre-constructed Decks, random Booster Packs, and individual cards.  You can then go into the Deck Editor to customize which scrolls you will bring into battle.

There are currently 3 factions available in the Beta; Order, Energy and Growth.  A 4th faction currently referred to as Decay appears to be in the works.  As a Mojang title you can expect regular updates of not only bug fixes but loads of new content.  Once you have purchased the game Mojang never charges for new content.  If you have ever played Mojang's first release Minecraft you know they deliver when it comes to updates and content.

So far the community is excellent.  Trading is handled simply and effectively in the chat rooms, and trading cards with other players is a lot of fun.  I have also surprisingly enjoyed the banter that goes on during online matches.  Turns have a 90 second time limit with gives enough time for players to chat and trade friendly barbs as the matches progress.  This is something that is notably missing from more fast paced games like Starcraft 2 as the action has always been to intense to drop focus long enough to chat.  This is something I have always enjoyed when playing Card Games with friends and I was pleasantly surprised to see it translate so well to scrolls.

As it is still in Beta it is still far from being feature complete.  As I mentioned a 4th  faction is already in the works and I'm sure many Interface elements are to be added.  The deck builder is simple and effective but it could definitely use some sorting and filtering improvements.  It could also use access to in game Leaderboards, as currently the leaderboards only appear on the welcome screen after you log in and it only shows the top 100 players.  The chat rooms could also use some UI improvements.


You can pick it up here for $20:
https://scrolls.com/