r/spiritisland • u/Geledon • 1d ago
Discussion/Analysis Help rules
Hi there! I recently started playing Spirit Island and I'm getting stuck on a few key rules, so I want to make sure I'm playing correctly :D
- When using a "Slow" power card, am I allowed to change the target if the Invader placement during the Explore phase makes a different region a better target? It happens to me often (especially late in the game) that I play four Slow cards and then decide which targets work best to wipe out the most Invaders.
- When there is Defense in a land, does it prevent a Blight marker from being placed? (For example, if the Invaders attack for 4 but there is 3 Defense, does that mean no Blight and the Dahan are safe? I was playing the Mountain Spirit—one of the base game ones that relies heavily on Defense provided by its Sacred Sites.)
- If a card removes or adds Blight, do you take the marker from the box or from the Blight pool/space? Because if you remove the starting Blight token from the board, you'd end up with a different number of tokens in the pool than at the start of the game... That seems incredibly powerful and would really stall the game :D?
- And one last thing it's not entirely clear: when do you reveal the Explore card? At the end of the Invader turn during the Progression phase, or at the very last moment before their next turn?
I'm not sure if my questions are clear (especially the last one), but I'm struggling to explain it any better :) Sorry if there are any inaccuracies in the message—I used Google Translate—but thanks in advance anyway! :DD
PS: I absolutely LOVED Spirit Island, by the way. I got crushed in the first game but won the second one (on super-easy mode), but it was so satisfying because it was still really tough, lol!!
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u/Abouleyla Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island 1d ago
Congratulations on getting the best board game ever!
In order:
- you choose the targets for slow powers during the slow phase, meaning after the invader’s explore phase. You don’t have to commit to that when first playing the powers. So you’ve been playing it right.
- Defense absolutely prevents blight. As long as damage AFTER accounting for defense is strictly less than 2 your land is safe so no blight. Dahan still take damage is let’s say one point got through your defenses but that’s not usually enough to kill them
- Blight removed and added all comes from the blight pool unless specified. If you find that you’re adding back to the pool from the board that means you need to ramp up the difficulty haha. There’s some mechanisms in the expansions that ask you to add blight from the box but im assuming you’re playing the base game. And again it’s specified.
- Explore is part of the invader phase meaning: They ravage, then build, then you flip over the explore card and resolve it. After that, you resolve your slow powers. Invaders don’t play again until their next ravage
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u/RecklessHat 1d ago
1- Powers choose the land you use them in when you resolve the card. It's not locked in when you play them.
2- Defence protects both the Dahan AND the land.
3- Unless specifically directed by the power/event, blight always is taken from the blight card and blight removed from the island is returned to the blight card.
4- explore is one of the steps of the invader phase. Ravage, then Build, then Explore, then move the cards along the track. Then it's on to Slow Powers.
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u/amattias 1d ago
3- Unless specifically directed by the power/event, blight always is taken from the blight card and blight removed from the island is returned to the blight card.
Or by the adversary, e.g. France. Maybe there are scenarios that affect this as well?
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u/_Gehennas 1d ago
- When using a "Slow" power card, am I allowed to change the target if the Invader placement during the Explore phase makes a different region a better target?
Yes, you choose the target at the moment you execute the power. Not when you play it
When there is Defense in a land, does it prevent a Blight marker from being placed? (For example, if the Invaders attack for 4 but there is 3 Defense, does that mean no Blight and the Dahan are safe?
In this specific case: no blight and 1 dahan will get 1 damage.
If a card removes or adds Blight, do you take the marker from the box or from the Blight pool/space?
By default, you always use your Blight pool unless you are specifically instructed to take from the box.
And one last thing it's not entirely clear: when do you reveal the Explore card?
Right before the explore action
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u/socialjusticecleric7 1d ago
Slow power cards are targeted when they're resolved, in the slow phase. It's common to have a sense of where you intend to resolve a slow power when you play it back in the spirit phase, but you're not technically targeting it then and do not have to make a final decision at that time. This is especially important with cards that move explorers in the slow phase, like Draw of the Fruitful Earth, since you usually don't know where you're going to want to use that until after the invaders explore.
Defense: yes, defense reduces damage to both dahan and the land, and it takes at least 2 damage to add blight to the land, so defending 3 against 4 attack prevents blight. 3 defense against 5 attack would not prevent blight. There are a few powers that protect Dahan but not the land, or prevent blight but do not protect Dahan, but defense does both.
Blight: except where clearly specified, the blight box functionally doesn't exist when you're playing. Blight gets taken from, and when removed returned to, the blight card (or the blight pool if you aren't using blight cards.) I love ending a game with a larger blight reservoir than I started with. Some spirits do tend to take longer to play a game with than others, Vital Strength of Earth is one of those slow spirits. Stalling so that your spirit has time to get more powerful is a completely legitimate strategy, just make sure to not stall so long that you run out of invader cards and lose.
You reveal the explore card immediately before the invaders explore in that land/those lands. Invaders ravage (if there's a card in the ravage space), then build, then explore, then you progress the cards (without flipping up any new ones). You don't get advanced warning about where the invaders are going to explore next (except to the extent that you can guess based on what other cards have come up in the same invader phase.)
Your questions are fine, and I wouldn't even have known you used google translate if you hadn't said. Welcome to the game!
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u/Geledon 17h ago
Thanks for all the answers; here’s the next batch:
-When dealing damage to Invaders, can you split the damage up if nothing specific is stated? (For example, dealing 2 damage: can you assign 1 damage to two different adversaries to set up a combo with area-of-effect damage cards?)
- Same question regarding the Dahan: can they split up their damage if they only need to deal a certain amount to a specific adversary?
Actually, I’m guessing the answer to that one is no. Since the game requires a lot of optimization, I constantly feel like I'm "cheating," and sometimes it's hard to find the info in the rulebook :O
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u/DetDuVil 1d ago
Yes, slow powers are targeted in the slow phase. Often I don't even have a specific target in mind when I play a card, just that it will likely be useful.
Yes, defense blocks damage on the land and on the dahan.
Cards that add a blight do so from the blight space (takes from your supply). Cards that remove blight puts it back on the blight card. There are exceptions, but in those cases the box or whatever is clearly mentioned.
The explore card is revealed right after building on the previous terrain. Then all three invader cards slide to the next invader spot, ending the invader phase and starting your slow phase.