Spirit Island: Is this Spirit for YOU? Ocean's Hungry Grasp

[@doooominic]

This Spirit is for me. I love its mechanics, without drowning skill and better upper track I think it would be more boring. I agree that in some cases (adversaries, more than 2 players) it is more difficult.

[@Siegtalon]

I love water and oceans but my group is usually 3+ and I had a miserable time playing ocean when we first got spirit island. I'll be honest I didn't even bother looking at deeps I'm glad you made this video going to give it a try.

[@Welknair]

A house rule that has worked well for our group is that Ocean's energy conversion is "X=Number of boards with your presence" instead of number of players. The balance reason for the scaling energy conversion is that more players and more boards means more opportunities to drown for energy. But in a six players game, Ocean may not be in all those boards at all times and thus not benefitting from control effects there. What this usually looks like for us is a four player game with Ocean on three boards (the fourth board being home to the spirit with the least effects that could cause drowning) and Ocean feels pretty balanced.

[@aruarian43]

I like it a lot! Probably won't make me play ocean, but if I ever find myself playing it again I am going to convince the group to play woth that house rule. Obviously it isn't perfect and it could be exploited. I can already see an Ocean with the new major "bargains of coursing paths" sacrificing all presences on other boards and now just teleporting everything into the ocean anyway at an insane health to energy ratio 😂

[@Reggie1408]

@@Welknair Couldn't Ocean cheese that easily by staying on their own board and hoarding energy like in solo? I like capping X at 3 when playing with more than 3 players. Growth option 2 is obviously designed with 3 players in mind.

[@zelo1996]

my group of 4+ finds ocean to be so powerful, simply for the utility that other players can push/ gather towards and into the ocean (so long as the ocean's presence is on the board). This utility makes up for it's weaknesses imo. To be fair we play on lower difficulties, but also with random spirits (low synergy) and having the ocean is almost always better than not.

[@jamjams1000]

Had my first game with deeps last night and really enjoyed it! Cool new mechanic with watching the ocean spreading into the island

[@Infinity-00x]

Turn 1 I used Serpent’s gift of flowing power to assist Ocean and had 2 deeps tokens on turn already. I’m going all out bottom track my first game with quakes, gonna be spamming cards into the impending. I made sure turn 1 to play 1 card and impend 1 card, so that I can put quakes out right away hehehe. I can goof off cuz I’m playing easy mode. But sometimes I add extra invaders during setup, or part way through I plan to put in extra invaders…aside from that I could do more customization for the invaders but haven’t done that yet

[@Treearch1]

This is one spirit I have played yet. Due to the sticking near the ocean area. After watching this video and how well you explained. I am definitely going to be trying this soon! I throughly enjoy watching your videos. The way you explain each spirit makes it so much easier to understand for some of those more difficult to read spirits.

[@Infinity-00x]

This spirit is actually pretty easy to play imo. When they say high difficulty on the back of boards, it includes how difficult it is to play a spirit, but also how much it affects how other spirits will go about the game when playing with. I recommend going bottom track with Ocean if you’re play 1-2 players, and top track if 3+ players. Possibly can go bottom with 3 players or more, but you need other spirits to help push invaders into the ocean where you have presence. I love Ocean, it’s one of my favorites and I’ve played it most or 2nd most I’d say. Very powerful but restricted to coastal. Other spirits can then focus inland moreso as you swallow the coast. And minor and major power cards you gain can also help with dealing with invaders inland

[@Treearch1]

@@Infinity-00x I will definitely be trying this one the next time I can sit down for a solo play

[@Infinity-00x]

@@Treearch1 solo play = a lot of energy for ocean😄😁 easy majors even going all bottom track. Good luck 😉

[@tstd]

This one's an insane fear generator and can get tons of energy as well, fairly easily. When I play it I usually focus almost entirely on bottom track + getting several major powers quickly. Its 'high' complexity rating is maybe a bit overstated. It's great fun to play, and out of the original 8 spirits, I think this one feels the most thematic. This one's truly awesome, despite the concern about its lack of reach inland. It's just so cool.

[@travisbicklejr]

Love your content, Red! What do you think are the most interesting/fun fear-based spirits?

[@RedReVenge007]

1) Many Minds 2) Darkness 3) Eyes Watch Are the most interesting Fear spirits for me. 4) Fangs (not really a fear spirit, but generates a bit of it). 5) Bringer (I like the aspects, but not base Bringer).

[@travisbicklejr]

@@RedReVenge007 Very cool! Thanks for the response. Do you like the new aspect for Shadows? Also, would you consider Wandering Voice to be a fear-focused spirit?

[@RedReVenge007]

@@travisbicklejr I forgot Voice! Yes, I agree WV is a solid fear spirit (would put it under Eyes as #4). I do not like Dark Fire Shadows, but I don't like Shadows kit in general. I think Dark Fire is the strongest version of Shadows you can play.

[@zombocom2869]

@@RedReVenge007 Not sure if it counts since it’s just an aspect, but where would you put pandemonium lightning on that list?

[@RedReVenge007]

@@zombocom2869 50/68

[@ioannispaxinos5171]

Ocean generates tons of fear. Remember, all those drowning aren't just for energy. They also generate fear. And lets not forget the indirect fear it generates. Other spirits can now push invaders into the ocean to kill them instead of just push them around to avoid blight. So now, high control spirits actually become high offense spirits and that generates even more fear.

[@dylogysminter]

deeps tokens dont get pushed as much. only all but 2 get pushed

[@Noxen74]

The wording of tidal boon stating 'your lands' means a piece of land where another spirit has presence in there?

[@RedReVenge007]

Your lands is referring to the spirit that is targeted!

[@Noxen74]

@@RedReVenge007 to clarify, that means if I target my friend, then in any land where he has presence, he can freely push up to 1 town and 2 dahan? I notice some other cards refer to certain lands as being 'yours' and sometimes I get confused reading that. Thanks for clarifying

[@RedReVenge007]

@@Noxen74 that is correct

[@thomashantgin5124]

deeps ocean actually uses top track to get more tokens and drown lands

[@duckluck3755]

I might be wrong, but I feel like you're reading the drowning special rule wrong. It says you may exchange X health of invaders that are drowned for 1 energy each. You're reading it as exchange X invaders for X energy. Basically instead of instantly killing buildings, you're instead whittling them down to 0 health. I may be wrong, cause then the energy gain seems kinda low for solo.

[@RedReVenge007]

You instantly kill buildings but energy is converted based on unmodified health.

[@thomashantgin5124]

i want to play ocean in a large game tbh

[@mella4376]

I'm not sure I understand how the aspect helps move away from depending on the drowning income, can you elaborate on that? You lose one source of drowning while gaining another, but it's not like you get income some other way, did I miss something?

[@RedReVenge007]

The spirit has less drowns due to losing a right innate. The spirit still needs to drown to have an established income. The aspect doesn't change anything about how Ocean plays, it's just a more thematic Ocean imo. IMO, I wish the future Ocean will just move completely away from a drowned source income.

[@BlueMountain26]

Hey Red, a question when playing the Deeps aspect. When hitting the 2nd & 3rd thresholds to add the Deeps token, it says add 1 to a different coastal land "on any board". In a multiplayer game, do we ignore the 1-Range restriction since it says "on any board"? Or do we still need to fulfill the range restriction by having presence in other board's ocean?

[@RedReVenge007]

You get to ignore the 1-range restriction!

[@BlueMountain26]

Awesome, thanks so much!

[@hiimme101]

In my experience, with a bit of teamwork, Ocean's fear is accurate. It turns any cards that push or gather into destroys, which makes for undercosted removal, and as long as you pick up a decent damage card or two to hammer coastal lands it can generate an obscene amount of fear through offense. The innate is just candy on top if you can make it work. Tidal wave and Cleansing Floods even make the top track worth it.