Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn

BGG Rank: 805

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: 4+, Best: 4

Playing Time: 120 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 2.91 / 5

Mechanisms: Closed Drafting, Deck Construction, Dice Rolling, Die Icon Resolution, Hand Management, Interrupts, Variable Player Powers

Category: Card Game, Fantasy, Fighting

Family: Category: Two-Player Fighting Games, Components: Dice with Icons, Digital Implementations: VASSAL, Game: Ashes – Rise of the Phoenixborn, Misc: Watch It Played How To Videos, Theme: Boss Battle

Designer: Isaac Vega

Artist: Thander Lin, David Richards, Fernanda Suárez

Publisher: Plaid Hat Games, Asterion Press, Cube Factory of Ideas, Edge Entertainment, Filosofia Éditions, GoKids 玩樂小子, Heidelberger Spieleverlag

Category: Collectible/Living Card Game

In Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, a two-player expandable card game, players take on the roles of Phoenixborns, demi-gods and protectors of this world. These characters are the great saviors of their civilizations. Before they came into existence, the humans were plagued by monsters like chimeras that took away their lands and forced them to live in walled-off cities. When the Phoenixborns came, they fought off the chimeras and freed the lands for humans to take over once again. But the time of peace was short-lived. A prophecy arose that if one Phoenixborn was able to absorb enough Ashes of others, they would ascend into full gods and take mastery over this world. This, as well as humans' greed for land, fueled the War of Ashes. The great cities now fight among each other, each one of them with a Phoenixborn at its helm, and you will decide who will rise and who will fall to ashes. Ashes Reborn: Rise of the Phoenixborn, released in 2021, features the same Phoenixborn as in the original Ashes with the same cards, but some cards have been modified to balance them. (Publisher Plaid Hat Games estimates that about 30% of all cards across all expansions are being modified.) The rules have undergone a few changes as well, mostly to clarify powers. The Ashes Reborn 1.5 Upgrade Kit contains more than 350+ updated Ashes cards, along with an updated rulebook, allowing players to move from the original game to the new 1.5 rules.

Average Playing Time	1-2 hours
Best Player Count	2 Best
Collection	Kevin
Difficulty	Standard
Played	Unplayed
Recommended Player Count	2 Players
Special Mechanisms	Variable Player Powers

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: -

Playing Time: 120 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 4.00 / 5

In Aenda Woodrass, the denizens of the desert oasis have struck a delicate accord with the laws of Nature. Xander Heartsblood rises to defend that accord to the death. Calling upon the ancient ways of the nomadic shamans as well as the terrifying power of his dinosaur conjurations, Xander channels the raw magic of Nature to bear down on those who would invade the sacred ground he now calls home. Balance the power of Nature and Divine magic to unleash the titans of the desert on unsuspecting prey.

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: 4

Playing Time: 120 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 2.67 / 5

Dimona Odinstar is a promotional card that came with a preorder of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn or with purchase of the game at Gen Con 2015. Dimona is a new Phoenixborn to compliment those that came in the base box for Ashes. She has a life of 17, a battlefield of 5, and a spellboard of 5. Her ability, Order, allows her to remove an exhaustion token from a target unit which can effectively increase your battlefield to 6. Officially suggested deck list 1 Dimona Odinstar 5 Ceremonial dice 5 Charm dice 3 Blood Transfer 3 Expand Energy 3 Small Sacrifice 3 Summon Three-Eyed Owl 3 Bound Soul 3 Sympathy Pain 3 Undying Heart 3 Blood Archer 3 Rayward Knight 3 Anchornaut 5 Three-Eyed Owl

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: -

Playing Time: 0 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 4.00 / 5

Ashes: The Roaring Rose, which features new Phoenixborn Leo Sunshadow, is a full, ready-to-play Ashes expansion deck including three conjurations. Leo requires ten Charms (pink) dice to play, which are included in the Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn base set.

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: 2

Playing Time: 60 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 3.33 / 5

Ashes: The Duchess of Deception, which features new Phoenixborn Victoria Glassfire, is a full, ready-to-play Ashes expansion deck including two conjurations. Victoria requires ten Illusion (purple) dice to play, which are included in the Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn base set.

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: -

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 4.00 / 5

A new Phoenixborn enters the fray with The Goddess of Ishra expansion deck for Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn! All enemies kneel before Astrea, who provides enlightenment to all who seek her out. Spring into action with this full, ready-to-play deck, or use the cards you find here to build your own deck centered on the Phoenixborn of your choice. The Goddess of Ishra gives you the freedom to find new combinations of cards and unlock new types of decks. With each Ashes expansion deck, you can supplement your collection with new spell and unit cards in order to play out all-new battles! —description from the publisher

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: 2

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 3.33 / 5

Wild is the son of the Spiral Jungle. Koji Wolfcub walks boldly into your games of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn in The Boy Among Wolves expansion deck. The jungle itself rises up to help him in his fight to restore the world. Bring his power to the table in this ready-to-play expansion deck or use the cards you find here to customize your own deck. In addition to Koji Wolfcub, The Boy Among Wolves includes new spells, units, and conjurations that give you the freedom to create your own combinations of cards and explore the world of Ashes like never before! —description from the publisher

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: -

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 4.00 / 5

A new Phoenixborn enters the fray with The Spirits of Memoria expansion deck for Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn! The spirit realm is subservient to Sembali Grimtongue, who holds power over all conjurations in the game. Spring into action with this full, ready-to-play deck, or use the cards you find here to build your own deck centered on the Phoenixborn of your choice. The Spirits of Memoria gives you the freedom to find new combinations of cards and unlock new types of decks. With each Ashes expansion deck, you can supplement your collection with new spell and unit cards in order to play out all-new battles!

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: 2

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 3.33 / 5

A new Phoenixborn enters the fray with The Demons of Darmas expansion deck for Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn! None of your enemy's minions are safe from Harold Westraven and his Hunter's Mark! Spring into action with this full, ready-to-play deck, or use the cards you find here to build your own deck centered on the Phoenixborn of your choice. The Demons of Darmas gives you the freedom to find new combinations of cards and unlock new types of decks. With each Ashes expansion deck, you can supplement your collection with new spell and unit cards in order to play out all-new battles!

Players: 2 - 4, Recommended: -, Best: -

Playing Time: 120 minutes

Weight (Complexity): 3.00 / 5

Death has given Rimea Careworn sight beyond sight. Her eyes now burn forever with visions of the Spirit World, where the souls of the dead test the boundaries of eternity, hungering to be free. Rimea has returned to the world of the living, and she now leads an army of lost souls to reclaim the city of Shadowreck. She will not stop until those responsible pay for their crimes, for only then will her ancestors’ spirits be at peace. Unleash powerful Illusion and Sympathy magic to raise ancient warriors from beyond and cast out the enemies of the Spirit World.

Deviser rated: N/A/10

Promos owned: Ashes: Dimona Odinstar

kytah rated: N/A/10

Unimpressed rated: N/A/10

Includes Ashes: The Frostdale Giants and Ashes: The Children of Blackcloud. Condition: Very good Version: English edition (2015) Language: English Publisher: Plaid Hat Games ***double check if Dimona Odinstar is included***

nlfuller77 rated: N/A/10

Game has potential, but needs more cards before it can touch MTG territory. Some starter decks do not balance well at all (Noah v Aradel).

Guanciale rated: N/A/10

AcaelusTitan rated: N/A/10

Played

partangel rated: N/A/10

in shrink

minscfan rated: N/A/10

Combines used mechanics with subtle twists. Enjoyable game that my wife wants to play more, which is good.

matchfixer rated: N/A/10

darker rated: N/A/10

Demo'd once; found it kinda-fun - but I've always most enjoyed the deckbuilding (and subsequent seeing-how-it-works) portion of dueling games like this, so that I wasn't as enthused about piloting the prebuilt deck isn't really surprising. I was expecting the dice to add more chaos than they did; they instead acted as interesting constraints, and seemed less swingy (and more *transiently* swingy) than M:tG's land draws/drops. My opponent did have to work to overcome worse die rolls, but did so semi-successfully. I haven't gotten deep enough into other dueling CCGs/LCGs to compare/contrast to anything but Magic and Netrunner; Ashes is far more like the former than the latter, and in general, I found the many differences to be positive ones. (Start with any desired hand of 5, attacking minions directly, conjurations, battle/spell limits, exhaustion stacking, dice as resources instead of mana, semi-persistent damage, and more.)

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