Learn the game, then win it.

Orcs win by snowballing attack triggers. Buff the whole board, force extra attacks, and convert deaths into Avenge payoffs so each swing makes the next one bigger. Rage keeps attackers alive (HP can't drop below 1 while attacking), and Overwhelm spills excess damage onward.

Hand out Rage + Multistrike early (Uruk Captain), let Tyrranical Tul'Rag pump the board +12/+4 on every Orc attack, stack Chillin' Orclops (+5/+3 per Attack/Slay trigger), and close with self-scaling attackers like Raging Axer.

• Go wide — fill all 6 slots. Most-units-on-board attacks first, and your per-Orc buffs (Tyrranical Tul'Rag, Grimsnout) scale with a full board.
• Put board-wide 'on any Orc attack' engines in slots 1–2 so their buff lands before the rest of your line swings this turn.
• Place Avenge attackers (Twinfang Alpha) in the back / later slots — allied deaths pile up first, maxing the Avenge count before they fire.
• Front row: Rage and Taunt bodies. Rage keeps them at 1 HP while attacking, so they trade up and shield the back.

Combo is the engine. A Combo Elf triggers whenever you play ANY card — of any faction — whose Tier is equal to or higher than that Elf's Tier. So you cascade Combos by playing high-Tier cards after your low-Tier Combo Elves. Stack Ranged (no retaliation) and Barrier (ignore first hit) to survive while the chain scales.

Order low-Tier Combo Elves first, then drop higher-Tier units to fire every Combo in sequence. Faelan Twinspell and the Archivists scale permanently per Combo; Caedrel variants bounce back to replay the chain.

• Combo triggers on play order during Recruit, not board position — but in combat, keep Ranged carries in the BACK (no retaliation, and they're shielded).
• Front row: Barrier / Taunt Elves to eat the first hits and keep your back-row scalers alive.
• Sequence buffers (Archmage Caedrel, Recurring Archivist) earlier in 1–6 so their End-Turn buffs apply before dependent units act.

Jingle Jack is the NEUTRAL dealer — he is in EVERY match as the 4th dealer alongside your 3 random faction dealers. His cards are always available, and because you always field 3+ factions, his faction-diversity payoffs are reliably huge. Build wide, chain Death effects, and spread keywords.

Fill the board with as many factions as possible so Sovereign Shakka prints +4/+4 per unique faction every turn. Double-Trouble Bjorn doubles all Death triggers; Shay Everlight drops a random keyword on every ally when it dies. Thrashing Death Metal converts faction-count into Warhorses.

• Keep Double-Trouble Bjorn ALIVE in the back — it doubles every Death trigger, so it must persist while your front line dies.
• Put your Death-spreaders (Shay Everlight) toward the FRONT so they die early and dump keywords onto the surviving board.
• Sovereign Shakka buffs at End Turn — protect it in the back so it survives to keep printing per-faction stats.

Dwarves snowball end-turn buffs through Brews. Cheers fires whenever a Brew is played on a unit, so you chain Brew payoffs into a board-wide buff engine. Taunt keeps the front line alive while the numbers compound.

Toastmaster Thorim buffs the board every end turn AND makes every Brew give extra +3/+3. Feed it with Brew generators (Best/Tapmaster Brews Lee) so each turn dumps multiple Brews and the whole board balloons.

• End-Turn brew buffs fire in slot order (1–6) — put Toastmaster Thorim early so its 'Brews give +3/+3' is live as the rest of the row resolves.
• Front row: Taunt tanks (Shield Surfer Boima, Cannonball Protector) to wall while the brew-stacked carries balloon behind them.
• Go wide — board-wide End-Turn buffs reward a full 6.

Frostbite is a damage-nullify state: a Frostbitten enemy deals no damage until it attacks or is hit. Apply it widely to neuter the enemy board, then cash in: Nord attacks reward you per Frostbite applied this turn, and Avenge scales your Yetis off allied deaths.

Stack Frostbite sources, then attack with Nords while Glacial Gains: Warcry pays +2/+2 per Frostbite per attack. With several Frostbites and several attackers that's double-digit board growth every turn.

• Frostbite appliers in slots 1–2: Frostbites must land BEFORE your Nord payoffs swing, since Glacial Gains pays per Frostbite applied this turn.
• Front row: Yeti Taunt tanks (Chonker) — Frostbite also neuters whatever attacks into them.
• Avenge Yetis later / back so allied deaths accumulate before they trigger.

Ambush units enter mid-combat and scale off your HAND — the more (and bigger) the units waiting in hand, the larger they land. Revive brings your key attackers back for a second go, and Stealth protects them until they strike.

Keep your hand stocked with high-stat units, then deploy Kunoichi Twinblade via Ambush to gain DMG equal to your whole hand's DMG — and Revive replays it. Buff cards in hand to inflate every Ambush payoff.

• Ambush units deploy mid-combat from reserve, so their board slot matters less — the priority is a FULL hand of fat units to feed them.
• Stealth carries (Kunoichi Twinblade) are untargetable until they strike; a back slot keeps them safe right up to the hit.
• Front row: one durable body to buy time for your Ambush entries to land.

Pirates convert Treasures into Plunder payoffs. Open Treasures (and Bounty drops from slain enemies) to advance Plunder counters, which trigger powerful board-wide rewards. Build a crew that Plunders repeatedly for permanent stats.

Admiral Booty Bill turns every Plunder into +3/+3 for the whole board, permanently. Set Bounties, open Treasures, and chain Plunders so the board grows by double digits each combat.

• Go wide — Plunder payoffs (Admiral Booty Bill) hit the whole board, so a full 6 maximizes every trigger.
• Front row: Taunt to soak; put Ranged pirates (Zahara Soakshot) in the back.
• Keep your Plunder engine alive in the back so the +3/+3-per-Plunder keeps stacking.

Demons pay you for throwing cards away. Discard to trigger Discarded payoffs and buff Demons in hand and on board, then summon those oversized Demons. Fading cards self-discard to feed the engine for free.

Loop discards to pump every Demon, then fetch Tier 4–5 Demons with Balrock the Fallen. Each cycle the board you summon is bigger than the last.

• Go wide — your summoned, discard-buffed Demons want a full board.
• Front row: a tanky Demon to shield the oversized carries you've pumped with discards.
• Keep summon engines (Balrock the Fallen) protected so each cycle refills bigger.

Link shares the load: when a Linked Gnome takes damage, all Linked allies split it, and stat gains ripple across the Link. Augment bolts Modules onto Gnomes for extra effects, and Death summons keep refilling the line.

Chain Linked Gnomes so buffs and damage spread across the whole board. Botsitter Gamba buffs all Gnomes and summons more Linked bodies on death, refilling stronger each time.

• Put a durable Linked Gnome in the FRONT — incoming damage is split across all Linked allies, so the tank soaks for the back row.
• Spread your Linked units across the board so damage distributes and the Link chain stays intact.
• Keep Death-summon engines (Botsitter Gamba) alive to keep refilling Linked bodies.

Ritual is a countdown that ticks down each turn (and via Sacrifice) and pays out a big reward at zero, then resets. The payoff is Guardians — oversized spirit units — which you discover, summon, and empower.

Accelerate Rituals (extra plays, Sacrifice) to fire payouts repeatedly. Altar of Quetzal discovers a Guardian on every reset; pile up Guardians as your finishers.

• Guardians are big bodies — front row as tanks and attackers.
• Ritual accelerators that trigger on Kickstart / End Turn go earlier in 1–6 so their ticks resolve first.
• Go wide to keep the action count (and Ritual progress) high.

Dragons grow by eating their own side. Devour sacrifices an ally and dumps its stats onto a Dragon; Death effects then spawn fresh Dragons that inherit power. Feed weak bodies into your Alphas until one is unstoppable.

Devour chaff to balloon your Dragons, with Ancestral Noxious Drake summoning a new Dragon on death and handing it half its DMG. Snowball into a single oversized, self-replacing threat.

• Place devour-fodder where it'll be eaten; keep your grown Alpha Dragon in the back until it's huge, then it can tank up front.
• Death-summon Dragons refill the line — run a full board so replacements have slots.
• Front row: a body to shield the Dragon you're feeding before it snowballs.

Every Undead death buffs ALL your Undead — even in shop and hand. Cursed is the accelerant: a Cursed unit dies right after it attacks, so it deliberately triggers the death payoff each combat. Chain deaths to explode the board.

Baron Von Buffed chains — each death summons another Baron (with Cursed) that attacks, dies, and buffs every Undead again. The board compounds with every death in combat.

• Cursed units (die after attacking) go in slots 1–2 — they swing, die, and fire the all-Undead death buff BEFORE the rest of your board attacks this turn.
• Front-load the death chain: Baron Von Buffed wants early, ordered deaths to compound across the board.
• Keep a persistent buff-holder in the back to bank the stacking Undead buffs.

Goblins build a wall of Traps — summoned units that punish attackers — and recur them with Revive. Confused and Poisoned (both Goblin-exclusive) sabotage the enemy: Confused makes their attack hit their own ally; Poisoned stacks recoil damage.

Fill the board with Reviving Traps buffed by Apex Dodo (next Trap gets double DMG + Revive) so attacks bounce off a self-healing wall, while Confused/Poisoned rot the enemy line.

• Traps must be ATTACKED to do their job — keep your Trap wall in the FRONT row to intercept enemy swings.
• Apex Dodo'd Reviving Traps go front-and-center so attacks keep bouncing off a self-healing wall.
• Confused/Poisoned debuffers can sit behind the wall; keep the front slots full of Traps.