Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves

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SETUP

Put 1 Presence and 1 Beasts on your starting board in the highest-numbered Jungle. Put 1 Presence in a land of your choice with Beasts anywhere on the island.

PLAY STYLE

All about Beasts and Jungles. Can be very fast out of the gate, but doesn't have the late-game power that some spirits do, and is likely to have some difficulty with Blighted areas. "Ranging Hunt" is a critical Innate ability, particularly in early-game: it simultaneously gives Beasts mobility and permits picking off a stray Explorers or Towns on most turns.

COMPLEXITY

MODERATE

GROWTH (PICK TWO)

Reclaim All
Gaincardicon.png
Gain Power Card
+ Presenceicon.png
Jungle.png / Beastsicon.png
3
Range

Add a Presence to Jungle or land with Beasts
Gaincardicon.png
Gain Power Card
Energy Plus 1.png
Gain 1 Energy
Energy Plus 3.png
Gain 3 Energy
PRESENCE
Energy 1.png

Energy/Turn
Animalenergy.png

Animal
Plantenergy.png

Plant
Energy 2.png

2
Animalenergy.png

Animal
Energy 3.png

3
Energy 4.png

4
Cardplay2.png

Card Plays
Cardplay2.png

2
Cardplay3.png

3
Reclaimone.png

Reclaim One
Cardplay4.png

4
Fivereclaimone.png

5 and Reclaim One

SPECIAL RULES

ALLY OF THE BEASTS
Your Presence may move with Beasts. (Whenever a Beasts moves from 1 of your lands to another land, you may move 1 Presence along with it.)

CALL FORTH PREDATORS
During each Spirit Phase, you may replace 1 of your Presence with 1 Beasts. The replaced Presence leaves the game. (It was not destroyed, so things which return destroyed Presence cannot bring it back.)

RANGING HUNT
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Fast
1
Range
No Blight
2 Animal You may Gather 1 Beasts.
2 Plant 3 Animal 1 Damage per Beasts.
2 Animal You may Push up to 2 Beasts.
FRENZIED ASSAULT
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
1
Range
Beasts
1 Moon 1 Fire 4 Animal 1 Fear and 2 Damage. Remove 1 Beasts.
1 Moon 2 Fire 5 Animal +1 Fear and +1 Damage.

SUMMARY OF POWERS

 
         
         
         
         
         
Offense Control Fear Defense Utility
 
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Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves.png

From the Spirit Panel

A predator-spirit of the jungles, a stalker and hunter of animal and human alike. Wherever it lives, savage beasts emerge to hunt, and the jungle grows dark and ominous.

Sharp Fangs doesn't bother talking to the Dahan. Sometimes it will hunt them, or run them off, but for the most part it ignores them. The Dahan's legends tell of a time when Sharp Fangs hunted them more actively, until a pair of warriors - twins, sister and brother - drove it off with traps and guile, then turned the tables and hunted it down. Since then, it has seen the Dahan as not-entirely-prey, which, for it, is something akin to respect.

Design Lore

Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves is a predator-spirit, half-seen stalker in the jungles, hunter of prey large and small. This most emphatically includes humans - though a pair of heroes long ago won the Dahan the status of "not entirely prey", and with it an uneasy semi-reprieve from its more active predations. Still, the Dahan know better than to stick around too long when it moves into an area to stay.

Where it lairs for any length of time, the jungle becomes a hunting-grounds, and not just for its own hunts - Sharp Fangs can bring the aggressive and predatory instincts of other animals to the fore. Creatures that ordinarily might be dangerous only when provoked become actively marauding threats, or even driven into a berserker frenzy if it suits Sharp Fangs' purposes. It's not that it lives for the hunt and the fight: it is the hunt and the fight, the way that Lightning is lightning and Earth is earth.
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Important note: If playing as Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves, you start the game with these Unique Power Cards in your hand.

1
1
No SunMoonFireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantAnimal
Prey on the Builders.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Fast
0
Range
ANY
You may Gather 1 Beasts.

If target land has Beasts, Invaders do not Build there this turn.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers
Expansion.png
1
1
No SunMoonNo FireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthPlantAnimal
Teeth Gleam From Darkness.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Jungle1
Range
No Blight
1 Fear. Add 1 Beasts.
Or

If target land has both Beasts and Invaders: 3 Fear.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers
Expansion.png
1
1
SunNo MoonNo FireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthNo PlantAnimal
Terrifying Chase.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
0
Range
ANY
Push 2 Explorer / Town / Dahan.
Push another 2 Explorer / Town / Dahan per Beasts in target land.

If you Pushed any Invaders, 2 Fear.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers
Expansion.png
0
1
No SunNo MoonNo FireNo AirNo WaterNo EarthPlantAnimal
Too Near the Jungle.png
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
Jungle1
Range
ANY
1 Fear.
Destroy 1 Explorer.
ArtistSymbol.png Moro Rogers
Expansion.png


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General Strategy

Some things of note:

  • Growth: It gets two Growth choices rather than one, giving it great versatility. However, reclaiming cards costs it Energy to do, meaning it needs to keep an eye on its reserves when it's running low on Power Cards.
  • Adding Presence: It's very limited in where it can place its Presence: only in Jungles and lands with Beasts! However, its Ally of the Beasts special rule can move Presence along with Beasts tokens, which gives it some mobility after placement.
  • Presence Tracks: It's not a high-Energy powerhouse, but it has very good Card Plays: it starts with 2, rises to 3 rapidly, and has an early Reclaim One spot. Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves is going to excel at a many-small-Powers style - fast and furious!
  • Innate Power - Ranging Hunt: Each level of an innate power that you get is performed in order. So if Sharp Fangs has the full complement of 3xAnimal and 2xPlant, it can Gather a Beasts token into a land, then do 1 Damage per Beasts token, then Push up to two of the Beasts tokens elsewhere, setting up for next turn. Ranging Hunt is phenomenally good at picking off stray Explorers, and with setup can take down Towns or sometimes even Cities; it also lets Sharp Fangs position Beasts tokens for Presence placement, to benefit from Beast-based token events, or to make use of Beast-centric Power Cards. However, it can't target Blighted lands.
  • Innate Power - Frenzied Assault: Not as easy to trigger as Ranging Hunt, Frenzied Assault incites Beasts to a full frontal assault on the Invaders. The Invaders kill off the Beasts, but are apt to take heavy casualties in so doing.
  • Special Rule - Call Forth Predators: Sharp Fangs starts with one foolproof way of getting Beasts into play - but it costs a Presence. Let's see if its Unique Powers offer any other ways:
  • Everything has +Animal. Two have +Plant and two have +Moon, with a splash of Fire and Sun. Triggering Ranging Hunt isn't going to be too hard, though early on Plant may be an obstacle. With only one Fire, Sharp Fangs will have to find more to hit the higher level of Frenzied Assault - ideally paired with Animal.
  • It likes being in Jungles. Two of its Unique Powers can only be used from Presence in Jungles.
  • It benefits from being up close + personal with the Invaders: two of its Unique Powers are range 0.
  • There's a moderate amount of Fear. This is good; it's excellent at picking off Explorers, which doesn't do any intrinsic Fear - but Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves is scary.
  • Nothing costs more than 1 Energy. This supports (but does not require) a Play-heavy, Energy-light strategy.

Looking at specific cards:

  • Prey on the Builders isn't just a way to prevent Build - it's also a way to move Beasts at fast speed, which could help set up a Ranging Hunt.
  • Teeth Gleam From Darkness gets more Beasts onto the board without having to lose Presence. Sweet! Or, if there are enough Beasts out already (is that ever true for Sharp Fangs?) it can be used to intimidate the Invaders yet further. Like Ranging Hunt, this can't target Blighted lands - Beasts don't like going there.
  • Too Near the Jungle offers more ability to take down Explorers. Unlike Ranging Hunt, it's Slow, so it'll be trickier using it to control Invader Builds.
  • Terrifying Chase includes Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves' sole interaction with the Dahan: running them off. All told, though, chasing the Invaders off is usually more useful, and with some Beasts tokens around, Sharp Fangs is exceptionally good at it. Note that unlike many Push powers, the words "you may" or "up to" do not appear: when you start in on the hunt, a whole bunch of people are going to run away.

Overall: Sharp Fangs is exceptionally good at keeping the Invaders from taking over new lands, through a combination of eating Explorers and its Power Card "Prey on the Builders". It's fast out of the gate, then continues to grow slowly in power, especially as more Beasts come onto the board (giving it more options). Some of the low-cost Major Powers which use Beasts are very appealing for it, so it may go looking for a Major Power or two, but is likely to focus more on Minor Powers due to its high level of activity (Card Plays). It does have trouble handling Blighted lands, which are immune to both Ranging Hunt and Teeth Gleam From Darkness, so may want to draft some Blight removal if its allies don't manage to do so first.

Links to Guides

Sacred Site Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves/Antistone's Opening[1]

Sacred Site Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves/Vladvonbounce's Guide[2]

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Gallery

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Replaces Special Rule: ALLY OF THE BEASTS
Replaces Innate Power: RANGING HUNT
Complexity Equal.png
PACK HUNTING

Your Powers get Range Plus 1 for targeting lands with Beasts.

ENCIRCLE THE UNSUSPECTING PREY
SPEED
RANGE
TARGET LAND
Slow
1
Range
ANY
1 Plant 2 Animal You may Gather 1 Beasts into target or an adjacent land. If you do, 1 Damage in that land.
1 Moon 3 Animal If at least 2 Beasts are within Range 1 (of target land), 1 Damage.
1 Moon 2 Plant 4 Animal For each adjacent land with Beasts, 1 Damage.
Nature incarnate expansion symbol.png
Replaces Special Rule: CALL FORTH PREDATORS
Setup Changes: Do not add a Beasts as part of Spirit Setup.
Complexity Down.png
UNCONSTRAINED BY RAVAGED LANDS

Ranging Hunt (your left Innate Power) may target lands with Blight.

PREDATORS ARISE

Each Spirit Phase, either Prepare 1 Beasts (storing it next to your Spirit Panel) or Add any number of your prepared Beasts to one of your lands.

Nature incarnate expansion symbol.png

Rulings for Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves

Explorericon.png There are no rulings at this time. Explorericon.png