Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine
Card data, innate thresholds, special rules, growth options, presence track, and unique-card text parsed via scripts/wiki-fetch.py. Remaining [VERIFY]: Play Difficulty, aspect mechanics, live mindwanderer stats, board ratings.
Strategic framing from Sarusta’s advanced guide + Reddit builds thread. Best-covered of the NI Incarna spirits.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Expansion | Nature Incarnate |
| Complexity | High |
| Play Difficulty | [VERIFY] |
| Growth type | “one” — pick one growth per turn |
| Power summary (1–5) | Offense 2 · Control 4 · Fear 5 · Defense 1 · Utility 2 |
| Primary Elements | Moon (everything) · Air (Trail + Lost) · Animal (Trail) |
| Special Rules | Terror Stalks the Land (Incarna Abducts 1 Explorer/Town/turn to The Endless Dark) |
| Aspects | None |
| Rei’s Guide | Not covered |
| latentoctopus | Not listed |
| Sarusta Guide | Google Doc |
Spirit Overview — Framing
Breath of Darkness is a High-complexity Incarna spirit with the unique Abduction mechanic — damage a lone Invader, it goes to The Endless Dark (ED) instead of being destroyed. Sarusta:
An incredible Control-Fear Spirit, with a control game that functions very similarly to Finder. Abductions are a powerful Control mechanic that can render Invaders unable to function normally.
Central puzzle: keep the ED full while keeping the board empty. Every non-Reclaim Growth escapes Invaders back to the board.
Starting Setup
Put 2 Presence and your Incarna (Unempowered) on your starting board: 1 Presence + Incarna in the lowest-numbered Jungle, 1 Presence in the highest-numbered Jungle. You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards.
Growth Options (growthtype: “one” — pick one per turn)
| Growth | Effects | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | Reclaim + Gain 1 Power Card + Move Incarna | Reclaim + reposition |
| G2 | Gain 1 Power Card + Add Presence (R3) + Darkness Escape 2 | Card + spread (escapes 2 Invaders!) |
| G3 | Add Presence (R1) + Add/Move Incarna + Darkness Escape 1 | Signature Incarna-mobility growth |
Tempo cost: G2/G3 both escape pieces from ED back to the board. Only G1 Reclaim holds the ED fully.
Presence Tracks
- Energy:
energy1 → energy2 → moon → energy3 → empowerincarna → energy4animal → energy5air - CP:
card2 → movepres → card3 → moonX → reclaim1 → card4air
Starting income: 1 Energy, 2 Card Plays.
Core Mechanics & Special Rules
Special Rule: Terror Stalks the Land
You have an Incarna. Empower Incarna after uncovering [Empower]. You may Abduct 1 Explorer/Town at empowered Incarna each Fast phase. To Abduct a piece, Move it to The Endless Dark. When pieces Escape, Move them to non-Ocean lands with your Presence/Incarna; if they have no legal destination, they stay in the ED.
Abduction = Remove to ED. Escape = return to a land with your Presence.
Innate: Leave a Trail of Deathly Silence
- Speed: Fast · Target: Yourself
| Level | Thresholds | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2  Moon + 1  Animal | 1 Damage at Incarna. Push Incarna. |
| 2 | 3 Moon + 1  Air + 1 Animal | +1 Damage at Incarna. Push Incarna. |
| 3 | 4 Moon + 2 Air + 2 Animal | +1 Damage at Incarna. Push Incarna. |
| 4 | 5 Moon + 2 Air + 3 Animal | Move Incarna to ED; it brings 1 Invader. |
Trail is the Incarna’s mobility + abduction engine.
Innate: Lost in the Endless Dark
- Speed: Slow · Target: ED
| Level | Thresholds | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 Moon + 1 Air | 1 Fear per Invader (max 4). Downgrade up to 1 Invader. |
| 2 | 4 Moon + 3 Air | 1 Fear per Invader (max 4). Downgrade any number of Invaders. |
| 3 | 3 Moon + 2 Animal | Add 1 Beast. |
Abducted Invaders → Fear + Downgrade. ED is the payoff.
Unique Cards (4, Wiki-verified names)
- Reach from the Infinite Darkness
- Swallowed by the Endless Dark
- Emerge from the Dread Night Wind
- Terror of the Hunted
[VERIFY exact costs/text.]
Key Strategic Principles
- Minor drafts: Sarusta — “Elements. Elements. Elements.” Triple on-element (Moon/Air/Animal).
- Dire Metamorphosis is the top Minor — dumps 4 tokens + Blight into the ED.
- Sleep and Never Waken is a godsend Major.
- Skip Majors create free dumpsites.
- Don’t Empower mid-game just to have it — Empower is expensive and often a trap.
- The Endless Dark is targetable for Powers with terrain-origin requirements — Jungle-Hungers it from your Jungle presence.
- Don’t Escape Invaders to illegal terrain (Ocean/Volcano presence can brick you into instant-loss).
Possible Openings
Shared starting state
- 2 Presence + Incarna on starting Jungles.
- 4 Uniques in hand.
- 1 Energy, 2 Card Plays.
Opening A — Sarusta’s Mixed (default) 🟨
Start Top Track to Breakpoint 1 (after Moon node = 2 plays + 2E), then drop to Bottom. L0cksmash’s solo line vs. Scotland 6:
G2 → G3 → G1 Reclaim → G3 → G2 → G2/G3 → G1 Reclaim
T1 play-pairing rule (Sarusta): pair one Moon+Air card with one Animal+Air card so both innates’ first thresholds fire. “Do not play Terror + Reach, as you’ll be left without an Air on subsequent turns.”
T1 Swallowed + Trail: abducts an Explorer then the City (if L2 explored T1).
T4 target: 4 Moon / 3 Animal for Lost’s big threshold + 3-piece ED for recurring fear.
Opening B — Top-track Empower/Major 🟥
G2 exclusively. Reclaims rarely, late Empower, plays Majors. Struggles to threshold Trail.
Opening C — Bottom-track Trail/Minor 🟥
G2/G3 mix for plays; hits Trail’s 3/1/1 threshold consistently via early Moon.
Opening Decision
- Default Opening A (Mixed) — Sarusta’s recommendation.
- Opening B when Major-draft is strong.
- Opening C when card plays > Empowerment.
Card Priority Ratings
Top 10 Minor Draft Picks (Moon + Air + Animal — triple on-element)
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dire Metamorphosis | Sarusta: top pick — dumps tokens + Blight into ED |
| 2 | Veil the Night’s Hunt | Sarusta pick |
| 3 | Here There Be Monsters | Moon + Animal |
| 4 | Bats Scout for Raids by Darkness | Moon + Air + Animal |
| 5 | Predatory Nightmares | 0-cost Moon + Animal |
| 6 | Call to Migrate | 0-cost Air + Animal |
| 7 | Call to Bloodshed | 0-cost Moon + Animal |
| 8 | Strange Tales of the Sky | Moon + Air |
| 9 | Pull Beneath the Hungry Earth | Moon + Earth |
| 10 | Entrancing Apparitions | Moon + Air |
Top 5 Major Draft Picks
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sleep and Never Waken | Sarusta: “a godsend” |
| 2 | Savage Transformation | Sarusta: punches above cost |
| 3 | Tigers Hunting | Cheap damage |
| 4 | Indomitable Claim (or other Skip major) | Creates free dumpsite |
| 5 | The Jungle Hungers | Plant + Moon; ED-targetable |
Adversary Matchup Matrix
| Adversary | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | ★★★★☆ | Wide adversary — Darkness strong |
| Brandenburg-Prussia | ★★★★☆ | Wide |
| Sweden | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
| France-Plantation | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
| England | ★★☆☆☆ | Weak — tall-building adversary |
| Habsburg Mining L5+ | ★★☆☆☆ | Weak — tall |
| Russia | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
| Habsburg Livestock | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
Board / Map Configuration
Minimise adjacencies is the most important board-pick criterion (fewer escape-land options = more stable ED).
Common Mistakes
- Forgetting the ED is targetable for terrain-origin Powers (Jungle Hungers from Jungle presence).
- Letting a land reach 2 Cities before you have a Major.
- Escaping Invaders to illegal terrain (Ocean/Volcano presence = instant-loss risk).
- Empowering mid-game just to have it.
- Playing Terror + Reach T1 — loses Air for subsequent turns.
Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)
Sarusta: “Darkness pairs incredibly well with ‘dumpsite’ Spirits… Stone, Vengeance, Roots, Lure, Gaze, DUE and Volcano.”
- Wildfire, Ocean, Volcano benefit uniquely from Reach’s presence-abduction + range boost.
Source Notes
- Mechanics:
data/references/wiki/breath-of-darkness.json(Wiki-parsed 2026-04-23). - Primary guide: Sarusta’s Advanced Guide.
- Reddit: builds thread.