Wounded Waters Bleeding
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, physical-copy opening verification.
Strategic framing paraphrased from BGG thread 3141249 + community discussion. No Rei guide, no latentoctopus, no Phantaskippy coverage.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Expansion | Nature Incarnate |
| Complexity | High |
| Play Difficulty | [VERIFY physical spirit panel] |
| Growth type | “one” — pick one growth per turn (forced T1–T2) |
| Power summary (1–5) | Offense 4 · Control 5 · Fear 2 · Defense 1 · Utility 1 |
| Primary Elements | Water (Swirl and Spill) · Animal (Sanguinary Taint) · Fire + Plant for L3s |
| Special Rules | Seeking a Path Towards Healing (bleed Presence/Forget until Healing Cards claimed) |
| Aspects | None |
| Rei’s Guide | Not covered |
| latentoctopus | Not listed |
| BGG | thread 3141249 |
Spirit Overview — Framing
Wounded Waters is a split-identity bleeding spirit — every turn before its first Heal (T3 earliest) it loses Presence or Forgets a card. It chooses between Water (control/push) or Animal (damage/beasts), then between Renew (control finish) or Taste of Ruin (fear finish). Steve496 (BGG):
Despite the somewhat forced opening build… it still feels like a really complicated spirit, with actions on the track and triggered actions and just a lot of bookkeeping to do. I forget about mechanics and have to backtrack and fix stuff way more often than I do with the other new spirits.
Wiki-printed playstyle note:
Healing-track spirit with forced opening growth. Complex triggers; very high bookkeeping load.
Complexity signal: Wiki says High; community consensus trends Very High.
Starting Setup
On your starting board, put 2 Presence in a land with Blight, then put 2 Presence and 1 Blight (from the box) in the highest-numbered land with a Town Setup Symbol. You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 4 Energy.
4 starting Presence, 4 starting Energy. Unusually high both.
Growth Options (growthtype: “one” — forced T1–T2)
| Growth | Effects | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | Reclaim + Gain 1 Power Card + +1 Energy | Reclaim cycle |
| G2 | Gain 1 Power Card + Add Presence (R2) | Card + spread |
| G3 | Add Presence (R3) + +3 Energy + Add 1 Destroyed Presence | Rebuild after bleed-losses |
T1 forced: reclaim + 1 presence + 1 energy. T2 forced: 1 presence + 2 presence. Optional Growth rows unlock after claiming first Healing Card (T3 earliest).
Presence Tracks
- Energy track:
blank → blank → blank → blank → energy3 → energy4fireorplant → energy5any - Card-play track:
energy0card1 → wateroranimal → gatherblight → energy1card2
Starting income: 4 Energy (!), 1 Card Play. Exceptionally high Energy; low CP; the gatherblight CP slot is a Wounded-Waters signature — pulls Blight from adjacent lands onto target for AOE Major detonation.
Core Mechanics & Special Rules
Special Rule: Seeking a Path Towards Healing
After playing cards each Spirit Phase:
- Claim a Healing Marker (Element Marker) matching whichever of Water or Animal you have more of. (You break ties.)
- You may then Claim a Healing Card if you meet its requirements. (First Healing Card available Turn 3.)
- Then Destroy 1 Presence or Forget a Power Card (unless a Healing Card removes the rule).
The bleeding. Every turn before first Heal (T3+) destroys Presence or Forgets a card. The Heal cards are Roiling Waters (Animal-path, Fear-heavy) or Serene Waters (Water-path, control-heavy), with second-tier evolutions into Renew or Taste of Ruin.
Innate: Swirl and Spill
- Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · Target: Any
| Level | Thresholds | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2  Water | Push up to 2 Explorer/Dahan/Blight. |
| 2 | 3 Water + 1  Animal | 1 Fear. Push up to 2 Town/Presence/Beasts. |
| 3 | 5 Water + 2  Plant + 2 Animal | In one land pushed into, Downgrade all Town and all City. |
Innate: Sanguinary Taint
- Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · Target: Any
| Level | Thresholds | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 Animal | 1 Fear. 1 Damage. Push 1 Dahan. |
| 2 | 1 Water + 3 Animal | 1 Damage. Add 1 Beast. |
| 3 | 2  Fire + 2 Water + 5 Animal | 1 Fear. 4 Damage. Add 1 Disease. |
Unique Cards (all 4, Wiki-verified)
[VERIFY exact cost/speed/text from physical copy — script parse was incomplete]:
- Blood Water and Bloodlust — Animal-path damage unique.
- Draw to the Water’s Edge — Gather effect.
- Wrack with Pain and Grief — Fear-damage unique.
- Boon of Corrupted Blood — ally-gift with blood-cost clause.
Key Strategic Principles
- Commit to a path by T3 heal. Animal (Roiling — fear) vs Water (Serene — control).
- The R2 Presence slot gathers Blight. Pull Blight from target lands onto the slot for AOE Major detonation — Wounded Waters’ hidden superpower.
- Save hybrid W+A Uniques until 3 plays online. Hit tier-2 on both innates simultaneously.
- Blight-adding Majors are unusually good here (Drought, Poisoned Land, Spill Bitterness) because you can pre-gather the Blight.
- Roiling > Serene for fear generation. davypi: “Roiling generates fear but Serene doesn’t.”
Possible Openings
Shared starting state
- 4 Presence (2 on Blight-land + 2 on Town-symbol-land with 1 Blight added).
- 4 Uniques in hand.
- 4 Energy, 1 Card Play.
Opening A — Community-standard 🟨
T1 · Growth: Forced (Reclaim + 1 presence + 1E). T1 · Play: Gain Water OR Animal Minor (aligns with eventual heal path). Place first Healing Marker on R1.
T2 · Growth: Forced (1 presence + 2 presence). T2 · Play: Gain opposite-element Minor (flex for either heal path). Place Healing Marker on R2 (keeps Serene vs. Roiling open).
T3 · Growth: First optional row unlocks after Healing. Gain a Major. T3 · Play: Steve496 — “I’ve mostly been opening minor/minor/major and picking a healing card based on what direction those cards favor.” Animal/Beast Major → Roiling; push/downgrade Major → Serene. Commit heal at end of Spirit Phase.
T4–T5: Second Healing Card → Renew (control) or Taste of Ruin (fear).
Opening Decision
- Default Opening A. Not many variants documented.
Card Priority Ratings
Top 5 Minor Draft Picks (Water + Animal)
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Absorb Essence | 0-cost Water |
| 2 | Call to Isolation | 0-cost Water + Animal |
| 3 | Predatory Nightmares | 0-cost Animal |
| 4 | Call to Bloodshed | 0-cost Animal |
| 5 | Call of the Deeps | Water + Animal |
Top 5 Major Draft Picks (Blight-adder or Water/Animal)
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drought | Blight-adder; pair with gather-blight |
| 2 | Poisoned Land | Blight-adder |
| 3 | Spill Bitterness Into the Earth | Blight-adder |
| 4 | Bargain of Coursing Paths | Aminar’s pick |
| 5 | Insatiable Hunger of the Swarm | Animal multi-land |
Adversary Matchup Matrix
| Adversary | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Habsburg Mining (High Surges) | ★★☆☆☆ | AP-heavy; drowns in double-build pre-heal |
| Most other matchups | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] — coverage is thin |
Game-Phase Strategy
Early (T1–T2)
- Forced growth. Gather Minors matching planned heal.
- Bleed 2 Presence + Forget 0 cards (or reverse) — 4 starting presence absorbs the early bleed.
Mid (T3–T6)
- First Heal T3 (Roiling or Serene).
- Second Heal T4–T5 (Renew or Taste of Ruin).
- Major integration.
Late (T7+)
- Path-specific closes.
- Gather-blight AOE Major detonation.
Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)
- Blight-location-sensitive partners: Keeper, Wildfire, Fangs, Serpent, Stone, Vengeance.
Common Mistakes
- Over-committing to Serene alone — no fear generation.
- Forgetting the bleed trigger before first heal (most-cited bookkeeping slip).
- Failing to use the blight-gather — the hidden superpower.
Source Notes
- Mechanics:
data/references/wiki/wounded-waters-bleeding.json(Wiki-parsed 2026-04-23). - Openings: BGG thread 3141249.
- Coverage: Thinnest of the NI spirits — treat as starting point, physical-copy verify.