Contender Series: Deckbuilding – Objective Cards

This article is a part of the Contender Series, the goal of which is to encourage players to begin participating in Organized Play events, attending tournaments and Grand Clashes, and overall up their competitive game to improve as players and ultimately win more often. While I am not personally some competitive ace taking home glass every weekend, I do have advice to help get newer players off the ground and set you on the path to success, and also can point you to better players than myself where you can get more focused advice when you’re at that stage. I will attempt to keep this article series ‘timeless’, so while I’ll reference specific warbands, cards, and mechanics occasionally, I want it to be relevant for years and so will try to refrain from focusing too much on today’s current competition climate. With those things said, let’s dive into this article’s main topic: Choosing Objective Cards for Nemesis and Championship deckbuilding.

Check out the rest of the Contender Series for more competitive pointers:
Warband Choice
Deckbuilding Overview
Deckbuilding: Objective Cards
Deckbuilding: Gambits
Deckbuilding: Upgrades
Board Choice and Placement
Objective Placement
Mulligan
Fighter Placement
So you won the roll-off, do you choose to go first or go second?
Practice (coming soon!)

Check out other tournament related articles:
Participating in your First Tournament
How to Run a Local Tournament

When building a deck for a competitive event it’s generally the right choice to begin with your objective deck. This is going to ‘set your intention’ throughout both the deckbuilding process as well as the game. What exactly are you trying to do? Remember the game is won by the player with more glory, not necessarily the most kills, and your objective deck is how you’re going to achieve this. In the last article in this series we covered general thoughts on deckbuilding as a whole, and what to think about if you’re working on building a Nemesis deck vs a Championship deck. I won’t repeat too much of that information here, but it’s worth a read if you’re new to the deckbuilding process.

With very few exceptions, you are going to want to include 6 surge objective cards and 6 end phase cards. I generally look through my surges first and choose my end phase cards afterward, but either approach is fine. Regardless of which scoring window the objective uses, they come in three other flavors: Standard (score if you do the thing), Hybrid (score if you do one of the listed things) and Dual (score if you do BOTH of the listed things). All things being equal, you will want to prioritize Hybrid objectives since you can score it multiple ways, and deprioritize Dual objectives since they are harder to accomplish. Let’s look at what to focus on while making your selections.

Surge Objectives

The way I think about surge objectives is that they get the snowball started. You’re able to score these midway through a round, earn some glory, and very soon thereafter spend that glory on upgrades to help you be more effective throughout the remainder of the round and the game. A player who has more reliable surge scoring is often going to jump to an early lead, which gives them an advantage moving forward, and helps maintain the lead across the game. I don’t have hard data to support this, but it can at times feel like a player who can score 2-3 glory during the first action phase is going to end up winning the game if their opponent can’t manage the same.

This brings us to a key trait of a ‘good surge’ – you want to be able to score this in the first round, preferably in one or two activations, and with as little interaction with your opponent/dice rolling risk as possible. The ‘perfect surge’ would look something like “perform a guard action with a fighter” or “perform your third or subsequent move action in a round”. Understandably these are few and far between, with generally low glory reward for meeting such a simple condition, but I would still take them if available. There’s no way you’re getting six of these slam dunks though, so let’s categorize the general types of surges and look at the main things to think about when picking them.

Action surges – score immediately when you ‘do something’. When assessing these, make sure it’s something that you can do reliably, with multiple fighters, at multiple stages of the game. There are many subtypes, and I’ll rank them by general reliability:

• Move surges: make moves (or have a move that meets some condition) – often the most reliable, especially if your warband has extra ways to move outside of an activation.
• Other action surges (e.g. Guard) – you can do other actions just as easily as moves and your opponent will have a hard time stopping you. These are a little less positive than move surges since you’ll often want to be moving for other reasons, and this can ‘waste an activation’ in order to score it. That said, if I had a fighter with the action ‘gain a glory point’ on their card, I can imagine I would use it a few times a game, so it’s still worth doing here since you also get the benefit of guard/barge/what have you.
• Attack surges: Make an attack, make your fourth or subsequent attack, make your second attack with the same fighter, or that targets the same fighter, etc. You’re likely to be making attacks anyway so these are pretty high quality unless you’re playing very passively. Careful of the conditions though – sometimes they’ll require the attacks to succeed and you can’t guarantee that. Sometimes they will require the attack to be done at a specific range or in a specific territory. They might require a specific fighter who could be out of action or out of range. The more conditions (or the harder to meet) the lower your should rank the card.
• Charge surges: those are less useful since you won’t always be able to charge, especially if you drew the card mid-round and didn’t know this condition was coming. You may not want to charge if you’re hoping to stay on a feature token or have some other constraint. They’re not bad if they don’t require a hit or a kill, but I would look for other choices first unless your gameplan is the classic ABC: Always Be Charging.

Board State surges – score immediately when a board state is true. These are a mixed bag depending on the state in question and when you have the card in hand. Let’s look at some examples, again ranked by general reliability:

• Gambit surges: score immediately when you play a type of gambit, or have played your third or subsequent gambit, cast your second spell, etc. Often you can score these without your opponent being able to stop you, and often without using any dice. There are going to be conditions, and it is dependent on your power hand having the right cards, but these are great choices because they can be done in any round, early in the round, and reliably. These are a little weaker if they require a specific keyword or Deck Plot Card ‘theme’, since outside of rivals you’ll have watered down that keyword and will have fewer potential cards to score it. If you jump for these, make sure to include enough of the keyword cards in your gambits so that you can reliably score this. Also beware of drawing into a Surge after you’ve already played your gambits.
• Territory surges: score immediately if some number of fighters are in some specific territory. These can be a little tougher depending on the condition. Maybe you don’t have three fighters alive to be in enemy territory. Maybe you are forced into a hard choice between going to the place that will score this card, or going to the place that will be ‘optimal’ for other reasons. I like my surges to be scoreable in the first round, so ‘have all your fighters in enemy territory’ can be a big ask if you’re slow or have many fighters. You also want to be able to score it later if you happen to draw it there, so be careful about the number of fighters required (or the type of fighter) if they could be out of action prior to you drawing it
• Hold Objective/Feature Token surges: score immediately if you are on a feature token in enemy territory, hold three objectives, hold an objective with a wizard or your leader, etc. These vary in quality based on the conditions and which warband you’re playing, and your opponents’ gameplan. Sometimes they’ll be trivial, but sometimes your opponent will be trying to get those objectives too and it might be a big ask. Be extra cautious if they require the card to score after an enemy activation or after a power step as you’ll have more risk to get kicked off the token.
• Inspiration surges: score immediately if some number of fighters are inspired. These vary in quality depending on what warband you’re playing and how easy they are to inspire. I lean away from these because you might not be able to accomplish this in the first round. They also will not help you catch up if the game is going against you – you hate to be in a scenario where you can’t inspire, have one of these cards blocking your hand, and therefore can’t get the glory for an upgrade that would help get the ball rolling. If the game’s going great, these feel good (and are often considered ‘win more’ cards), but across a tournament too many of these cards can lose you too many games.
• Out of Action surges: score immediately if an enemy fighter is out of action (not TAKEN out of action), or an enemy leader, two or more, etc. These are much better than “kill surges’ because they just require the condition to be true and don’t care when it happened. They are still rough, because you can’t guarantee a kill. Maybe the enemy leader hides in the back. Maybe you’re playing an elite warband that is hard to kill, especially in the first round, and only has three fighters… you get the idea. If your card is a Dual that also requires you to have some number of surviving or your leader to be the only surviving leader or somesuch, these become a big ask. Remember you want them scorable in round 1!
• Upgrade surges: The lowest of the bunch for me, though there’s an argument they’re better than Out of Action surges. The reason I try to avoid them if you don’t have a good chance to score them early. You want to score a surge in the first few activations, and if it requires you to apply upgrades, you need glory. But how are you supposed to get that glory, Surges? You haven’t scored yours yet, since you haven’t applied the upgrade! Catch-22. In rounds 2 or 3 they’re all right, assuming your upgraded fighter is still alive, and/or your power hand has enough upgrades in it. I personally don’t find these reliable enough to score, at least as surges. These are a even weaker if they require a specific keyword or deck-specific Plot Card ‘theme’, since outside of rivals you’ll have watered down that keyword and will have fewer potential cards to score it. If you jump for these, make sure to include enough of the keyword upgrades so that you can reliably score it.

Kill Surges – score immediately when you take an enemy fighter out of action. Avoid kill surges where possible, especially if only scoring 1 glory. You can’t guarantee a kill at any given time. If you draw the card after a kill, too bad. If you draw the card after all enemies are out of action, too bad. In Nemesis you may not be able to toss all of these, so when choosing kill surges you’ll want to have as few conditions as possible. Don’t pick a card that calls for your second or subsequent kill, requires the kill to be from a spell, requires it in enemy territory, requires it be done by a leader, on an objective, etc. You’ll probably do those things throughout the course of the game, but remember, you want to have the card in hand when the deed is done. You might draw it after the fact and can’t score it, or draw it early and then it clogs up your hand while you work toward a kill. Surges are for scoring quickly and ideally in the first round, and kill surges are mighty hard to promise, even for elite aggro warbands.

End Phase Objectives

The other six cards you’ll need to take will be cards that score in an end phase. I lump these into very similar categories as the surge cards, but they aren’t ranked with the same reliability. I do have a similar caveat about the first round – you want to be able to score your end phase cards in any round you happen to have them. I try to eliminate cards that require me to score them in the third end phase – if I draw it in the opening hand (or worse, mulligan into it) I’m guaranteed not to score it that round and then either have it clog my hand all game (and even then maybe won’t score it) or have to throw it away in the first End Phase. They do often come with huge rewards, but try to limit yourself to one or you’ll increase the odds of drawing one too early. Other cards may not have a third round specification, but will be really hard to score until rounds 2 or 3 (multiple enemies out of action is a common one). Be discerning when selecting these. End phase objectives where ‘xyz happened in previous round’ can be rough too – say the card asks that the enemy leader be taken out of action in the previous round, but their leader was killed the round prior. These in effect are ‘Surge Lite’, and should be avoided in preference for ‘the enemy leader is out of action’ without a timebound component. Again, in Nemesis you’ll have less ability to avoid every ‘Surge Lite’, so make sure they’re as reliable as possible.

Action End Phase Objectives –

• Move end phase objectives: With the change to move token rules allowing for the same fighter to make multiple moves, this is a great option. They’re often ‘Surge Lite’, requiring you to have made some number of moves in the previous action phase, but that’s usually something you can control unless you’re very short on fighters and need to charge. Many decks have gambits or upgrades that let you do additional moves, as well as some warbands have fighter card abilities or reactions that assist here as well. Less good if it requires the same fighter to have made the moves, but still hard to pass these cards up.
• Other action end phase objectives: Did you do a fighter specific action this round? Here’s a glory. Did you go on guard? Here’s a glory. Hard for your opponent to stop and rarely require dice. Sometimes they come with the requirement that the fighter in question is still alive or did the action in a specific territory, but generally speaking I like these. A little tougher if it’s ‘cast x number of spells’ but still worth considering if you have spell actions on the card or sufficient gambit/upgrade support.
• Attack end phase objectives: These can be hit or miss, depending on their conditions. Make x number of attacks this round? You were probably doing that anyway. Make x number of attacks with a specific fighter and/or in a specific territory and/or needing to be successful? Much harder to include. If it fits your gameplan and you think you can pull it off, go for it, but understand you’ll need sufficient glory reward to offset the risk.
• Charge end phase objectives: similar considerations to the attack action end phases, but generally worse because you may not be in a position to charge or may prefer not to for various reasons.

Board State End Phase Objectives –

• Gambit end phase objectives: Play some number of gambits this round? As long as you had them in your hand, you probably did this just by playing the game. Beware that you might draw into an upgrade heavy hand, and may not have the draw tech you need to get more without burning activations (and even then may not get what you need). But generally your opponent can’t stop you from playing a gambit and you don’t need to roll many dice, so this is a relatively reliable end phase objective classification. These become more difficult if they are things like ‘cast gambit spells’ because you may fail a casting roll or have lost your wizard too early.
• Hold Objective/Feature Token end phase objectives: a classic end phase type, and often come with big glory rewards. Hold 2, hold 3, hold objectives that equal or exceed some value, hold with a type of fighter, hold in a territory/multiple etc. You run the risk of your opponent having the same plan and you won’t be able to stand on them uncontested, and it’s generally pretty obvious when hold objective gameplay is your plan so your opponent may try to drive you off of them. Still among my favorite styles of play but depending on how things are going you may find them difficult to score, especially toward the end of the game when you’re low on fighters (or early when there are too many enemy models to compete with).
• Territory end phase objectives: Have some fighters in multiple territories, more than your opponent in a given territory, or have your leader in a specific territory. Depending on how many fighters your warband has (and are still alive) this can range from easy money to pretty hard to pull off. It needs to fit your gameplan, but there is a place to include these if you have the numbers/mobility/durability. It’s more difficult if it requires enemy fighters to be in specific places since you have less control over that, and sometimes they may be all up in your grill.
• Upgrade end phase objectives: Have a fighter with multiple upgrades, have multiple fighters with an upgrade, etc. These can be a little tough to include for me in most decks, as it’s hard to score early if you don’t have enough glory to purchase them or your hand doesn’t include enough upgrades to play, and hard in the later game because your number of surviving fighters will dwindle. If you go for one of these, I prefer the Voltron flavor where you load up a single fighter, but be careful they survive to the end phase so that you can cash in.
• Inspiration end phase objectives: Have some number/all of your surviving fighters inspired. Depending on your warband this can be a manageable ask or a quite difficult one. You need to make sure that inspiration is possible for you (ideally in round 1), and that you will have enough fighters alive at that time to score it. Gets both easier and harder the longer the game goes on depending on the scenario, and I usually shy away from these because they’re pseudo third end phase cards.

Kill/Out of Action End Phase Objectives

• Number of fighters: These come in a few varieties, but if you’re going aggro then you’ll be more generous with including them. The unquestionable best is “x number of enemy fighters are out of action”, where you don’t need them to have been taken out in the previous round. When you start layering on requirements such as in the previous action phase they become much harder to include. You’ll run into these a lot, so be realistic about your chances of scoring them, but they’re not wrong to include. Depending on your opponent, who may only have three tough fighters, having 2 or 3 out of action may not come to pass when you draw this card early (or at all). You’ll definitely want to take accuracy/damage/extra attack cards where available to help you score this category of objective.
• Board state of fighter: Often a Surge Lite, this kind of card will ask for a fighter on an objective to have been taken out of action, or you take an enemy out of action in a specific territory, or with 2 or more objectives, etc. Unless you have multiple fighters that can satisfy the condition, or lots of gambits to help you get into the board state, they can be hard to score.
• Type of fighter: Kill someone with your leader, or kill their leader (or get a kill with a minion, wizard, keyworded fighter, somebody with a keyworded upgrade, etc). These cards are asking a lot. They’re almost always Surge Lite, which is bad enough, but they layer lots of extra conditions on top. Your minions may not be alive to score the kill, your leader is in the wrong spot, you don’t have the right upgrade keyword, their leader is well protected and their best fighter with 5 upgrades, etc. If you have one of these and it’s only awarding 1 glory, leave it at home. If you have one of these and it’s 2 or 3 glory, you’d better be pretty dang sure you can swing it.

Review Your Objective Choices

Run back through your selections and make sure they agree with each other. You want to have a single, cohesive game plan (or two synergistic plans), and you want to be able to score any of your cards while executing it. If you have a few cards that say hold something in your territory, and a few others that say kill things in enemy territory, you’re playing tug of war with yourself. If you have cards with too many conditions, and too many of them are the same condition, you may be putting too many eggs in one basket. As an example, say you took lots of cards that require your leader to do something in order to score. If your leader goes down (and you will absolutely be putting them at risk by doing those things), you likely can’t score any of those cards after that happens. It’s ok to include conditional cards, especially in Nemesis with a smaller pool, but you probably want to vary those conditions within reason to allow for a backup plan. Missing out on a bunch of objective card scoring because your wizard dies too early or your opponent is too good at invading your territory (or won’t come into your territory) can be a bummer, and across a long enough tournament you will eventually have to face that situation.

Wrap

So you’ve picked your 12 Objective Cards, and split them 6 Surge and 6 End Phase, limiting the number of Third End Phase and Dual objectives where possible. Make sure your deck has a plan and can take a hit, and then you’re on to picking your Power cards! Thanks for sticking with me on this mammoth guide, and I hope it is helpful to some of you. Objective deckbuilding is probably the most important skill to master if you want to become a more competitive player. You can’t have any Spent Glory if you didn’t earn it in the first place!