Turn 1 I unlock the sun icon on the energy track, then turn two I go for 4 energy and 2 plays. When you need to reclaim, try reclaim and use your 4th growth option, cards are important too after all. Every single turn should end with Keeper having 2+ energy. That 2 energy becomes 3 when you use your 3rd growth option, allowing you to turn that energy into a second placed presence while still gaining a power card. Because nothing matters more to Keeper's success than having 2+ energy at the end of your turn. "Sorry Allies, I'll discard cards or forget a power, but I won't use my last 2 energy for this event." is something you should prepare to say. That's the only key, end every single turn with at least 2 energy. This lets you push an explorer and place a wild token, but most importantly, end your turn with 2 energy. Play Boon of Growing Power (on you or someone else, it isn't the important part). First turn use your 2nd and 3rd growth options, taking presence from your Energy track. Quick, how many spirits can place 2 presence and gain a power card during their growth phase? Only Keeper.īut with the cost, how do I pull this off?Įasy. Keeper has the best presence tracks of any spirit, near the best in both card play and energy gain, and the key is to use that early energy gain to pay for additional presence placement, quickly accelerating your spirit to incredible power. Every game I played with Keeper at all different levels of difficulty all point to a simple strategy as the key to playing this spirit, so my main advice for playing Keeper is to remember one simple thing: I intended all of these guides to stay away from promoting a "right" way to play a spirit, and I tried to continue that with Keeper. France doesn't cause Keeper much trouble until level 5 and 6. Sweden causes Keeper less trouble at lower levels, but the higher levels make Keeper's traditional willingness to let a overrun land sit be much more costly. Keeper also finds England's Indentured Servants and High Immigration annoying, but Keeper is well equipped to deal with a random town popping up on already cleared land, so it isn't as tough as Tier 3 Exploration coming early. In my experience, Keeper struggles a good bit more against Brandenburg-Prussia, as the accelerated invader deck give you less time to clear your land, and at tier 3, exploration will threaten to overrun your wilds quickly. Able to clear and hold land, shutting down exploration and winning pretty handily. Keeper is incredibly powerful against the basic invaders. It can support allies with its Boon of Growing Power, and later on Spreading Wilds gets good enough reach to help allies that struggle to deal with exploration, but mostly Keeper is going to stake out a region, clear it of invaders, and keep it clear. Its high damage is also rather versatile and in amounts that let you deal with any combination of invader pieces rather well.
Keeper is valuable because it rarely needs help dealing with invaders. Fortunately you can place wilds tokens and clear Blight, so you should never get shut out of lands to grow into. Games that get blight heavy can make it really hard for Keeper to expand. Keeper places and uses Wilds tokens, but the more important unique mechanic I find to be the restrictions on placing your presence, your two options both have great range, but they require either wilds tokens or your presence for one option, or a land free of Blight for the other. Keeper stakes out its territory, and pushes everything else out.
Keeper excells at holding territory, through its innates and the damage in its initial cards. Keeper is the cranky old spirit of the Island, inviting Dahan and invaders to remove themselves from his lawn.