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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.
- Love of the card design and gameplay rhythm
- The deck and spell board interactions provide strategic depth
- The boss/chimera encounter offers interesting mechanics (status tokens, red rain tokens)
- Solo run feels challenging and potentially unwinnable
- Memory/s memory of rules triggers leads to mistakes
- Initial deck might not support the boss well in this pre-con
- Array
- Fantasy
- Narrative-driven combat with a boss-like Chimera
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Attack/Defend/Guard — Combat uses attacking units, defending/guarding, and exhaustion or guard mechanics; some units have Defender or cannot be targeted.
- Combat: Damage Based — Combat uses attacking units, defending/guarding, and exhaustion or guard mechanics; some units have Defender or cannot be targeted.
- Conjuration / Card Play — Conjuration cards summon allies or create effects on the battlefield.
- Deck building — Players assemble a personal deck before the game and draw from it during play.
- Dice rolling — Dice are rolled to generate power and trigger phase-specific effects; different dice types used.
- Dice Rolling and Dice Power — Dice are rolled to generate power and trigger phase-specific effects; different dice types used.
- Phase structure — Turns progress through Prepare, Play, and Recovery phases.
- resource/health tracking — Phoenixborn health and threat mechanics track safety and risk in the encounter.
- token management — Status, exhaustion, red rain tokens control turn order, damage, and ultimate triggers.
- Token Pairing — Status, exhaustion, red rain tokens control turn order, damage, and ultimate triggers.
- Ultimate Trigger — An ultimate trigger resolves when a token-based or turn-based condition is met, often altering the battlefield state.
- Variable Phase Order — Turns progress through Prepare, Play, and Recovery phases.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I built a 30 card deck with Namine hem tide and this is going to be the pre-con
- I love the cards
- the gameplay itself it's a strategy that really gets me
- not looking great for me
- I really needed some allies in here it's not good
References (from this video)
- Tight card interactions
- Streamlined rules from original Ashes
- Strong thematic feel
- Heavy text on cards
- Steeper learning curve for new players
- fast-paced spell-casting skirmishes with deck-building
- fantasy world where phoenix-borns and magic drive battles
- high-thematic, narrative-driven card play
- Summoner Wars
- Twilight Struggle
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card timing and synergy — Timing of cards to maximize combos.
- cooperative actions — Timing of cards to maximize combos.
- Deck building — Deck construction with a board for spell interactions.
- Deck-building with spellboards — Deck construction with a board for spell interactions.
- Mana/ magic management — Spend magic to activate abilities and cast spells.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the action selection... that was the best part of the game
- it's an amazing game; the art looks gorgeous on the table
- the chaos and intrigue make this game memorable
- this is engine building right
- behold the nightmare