Cardboard Academy - 5 Easy Strategy Tips for Spirit Island

[@brigbrizz]

Dude just won my first solo game of Spirit Island!! Thank you so much for the tips! Life was so much easier when I pushed their mound of nonsense into a huge pile on a single piece of land!!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

That’s fantastic, congratulations!

[@donaldkehler7029]

More Spirit Island!

[@roberthaight1198]

I’m new to the game, have played several times solo and have yet to win, so thanks for these universal tips, and bring on the specific tips! I need all the help I can get!

[@joshsimons7214]

I’ll watch all the Spirit Island content you put out, Jack. Unless I missed it, how about a video of commonly overlooked /gotten wrong rules for the game?

[@bobgrdnr428]

Spirit Island content is always much appreciated. It’s my favorite game too.

[@jonathanrector]

Going in my next game with these tips, here's hoping for the best! New to spirit island, but i'd love as many strat tips as possible, thank you!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Good luck, you got this!

[@jeffculligan]

Just won my first game thanks to this video! Pushing invaders toward the coast and getting lots of presence on the board made a huge difference for me. Thanks!

[@emmahunneyball2990]

Brilliant tips, thank you! I’ll use them on my next play through. Not overestimating blight is a really interesting one, I normally panic about it!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

I hope they work out. Happy spiriting & cheers from Alaska!

[@skutsch6]

Good tips! I'd add one more: when in doubt, get more presence out there. I'll take a turn with a bit more pain if it gets me more presence on the board (meaning more energy and more actions). It's like getting more workers in a worker placement game.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Excellent supplemental tip!

[@CrazyBunnyGuy]

Oh, yes! These are excellent tips! My favourite is probably herding them all in a land or two and then either slowly pecking at them or simply crushing them with a major power. I think push and gather are two most commonly underestimated actions especially for novice players but those can be extremely powerful. Fifth tip is something I've only recently started to apply. It's so easy to fall into the trap and try to fight every ravage... It's simply not possible most of the time. So my tip 5b would be: yep, it's gonna blight, see if you can act during the slow phase to let out some steam so that your next round is less intense. The strongest actions are the one taken during slow power phases, but many players try so desperately to act during the fast phases...

[@Iamwrongbut]

I would also say that attacking the build phase is sometimes wayyy better than stopping a ravage. Even better is stopping an explore, because that prevents a build and a ravage. Blight is only scary in large doses, so if you can sacrifice an early blight to ignore a ravage and stop a build or explore, I think that is more helpful.

[@kieranhartnett3076]

Hi, how would you prevent an explore phase? I thought this was unable to be countered. I am very knew to the game so this sounds like my misunderstanding of the mechanics. Thanks

[@Iamwrongbut]

@@kieranhartnett3076 you can’t prevent the phase itself, but you can prevent certain lands from being explored if you eliminate sources of exploration. For example, if there are no buildings or oceans adjacent to a land they are trying to explore, you don’t need to add an explorer there when exploring. The same occurs if you isolate the land.

[@kieranhartnett3076]

Ah ok. I didn’t realise that. I assumed they explored regardless of situation/building placement etc. Thanks a lot

[@joerihessels8230]

I will definitely watch all of your 24 spirit specific video's and the 8? about adversaries :D ;) Spirit Island is amazing, my favorite game as well. Currently stuck at difficulty 10, and feel like I need to up my spirit specific strategies.. (but it is too much fun to try a new spirit each game.. :)) Consolidating invaders is definitely the way to go, and mostly ignore ravages (especially if you wouldn't be able to destroy all those invaders). Another tip would be that slow powers are generally much stronger than fast ones (think of them as fast powers for the next turn!), thus use them as much as possible.

[@cauegouveia]

Great tips! I've played it solo a bunch of times and managed to "discover" some of the same principles behind strategies that can we apply "universally". Having won 5 or 6 solo matchs and 3 three-players games on the easiest level, I'm about to take my first steps into scenarios and adversaries. I would love to see some content about the scale of different difficulty levels. Cheers !

[@BeingFriends]

All great tips!! 👏🏻👏🏻

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Huzzah! Tip concurrence buddies!

[@BeingFriends]

@@TheCardboardHerald 🌟🎉🎉

[@BeingFriends]

​@@TheCardboardHerald together, with our TWELVE tips and we will take over the world! 🍻

[@davemorgan3532]

Please do more!!!

[@grantprice9768]

The first one would be more clear if you mentioned push them toward the coast.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@DukensteinA1]

I’ve played 14 times at the easiest level and still haven’t won. I’d love anymore tips and strategies you can offer.

[@justinwerth]

Join our Reddit group. Lots of strategy discussed.

[@wZem]

I looked up this game and thought I would really like it as it seemed to be a cooperative game in the same vein as Pandemic. I downloaded the digital version and felt really good after playing the tutorial. I jumped into a new two spirit game and after about 10 minutes I'm now completely lost. Nothing I do seems to make any sense, the invaders just build and blight the island and I'm watching powerlessly. How do I push past the steep learning curve? Seeing how it is many people's favorite game, I'd like to learn it more. But currently I feel like I never want to play it again.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Personally, yes, I’d say stick it out. What are you having trouble with, the rules themselves or strategy?

[@wZem]

​@@TheCardboardHerald Thanks for replying. I think I shouldn't have started a game with two spirits (I chose earth and lightning spirits). There is just way too much to keep track of and too many cards and skills and combos to learn. It is definitely not like Pandemic in that regard. I feel like the first turns are problematic for a new player, because you don't know how the game plays out in the long run, yet. You kind of have to let the invaders do their thing because your spirits aren't strong enough, yet and you can't be everywhere at once. Nothing you do feels very impactful. You see the invaders build town after town and since the tutorial didn't really prepare you for this, it feels like you're already losing the game and will never be able to catch up. Should I focus on keeping the invaders from ravaging or building? It doesn't feel like anything I do matters much in the first turns, but at the same time it feels like those turns are super important so things don't get completely out of hand later. Basically it is hard to have any sort of fun in these first turns and I quit on turn two or three because I was simply overwhelmed. Do you have tips how best to survive those first turns and contain the invaders until you feel a bit more powerful? What spirit should I choose in your opinion for a first full one-spirit game?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

@@wZem yeah, some general tips 1) round 1 look at the upcoming build and focus your turn on mitigating that then for every future round, focus on mitigating ravages where it will either cascade or destroy your spirit tokens but otherwise try to prevent builds. 2) during growth, more spirit tokens is almost always more valuable than new power cards. 3) don’t worry about major powers until you are consistently generating at least 4 energy per round. 4) when you have to make a choice on where to push/pull and things are otherwise equal, try to consolidate invaders into as few lands as possible, and eliminate presence interior regions. There’s actually a good amount of predictability to the game and once you get the swing of it you’ll be fine. Good luck!

[@Lhorbrum]

This game has shown me, that i am, indeed, a moron. At some point, i hope to win a freaking game...

[@TheCardboardHerald]

You got this, I believe in you!

[@adrianhill3797]

Haven't you set up your boards incorrectly for a 2 spirit game?

[@chuckm1961]

Do a solo playthrough, one spirit. Broken into smaller videos, take your time, and tell us your thought process behind every decision. I would LOVE that! You've got a lot of folks (me included) who want to get more into this game, but find myself getting slaughtered game after game.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

That’s a fantastic idea and something I just might do. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Iamwrongbut]

Look up Solo Playthrough’s SI content - he does exactly what you’re asking and he plays against high level adversaries so you can see how someone beats an England 5 for example

[@Iamwrongbut]

Tip #6 - git gud

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Now all I can hear is Hornet's voice right before facing the Radiance. Damn. I need to play Hollow Knight AGAIN.