Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot
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 taurunti’s obsidian-spiritisland notes + BGG thread 2924043. No Rei / latentoctopus / Phantaskippy coverage.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Expansion | Horizons of Spirit Island |
| Complexity | Low |
| Play Difficulty | [VERIFY] |
| Growth type | “one” — pick one growth per turn |
| Power summary (1–5) | Offense 5 · Control 2 · Fear 2 · Defense 1 · Utility 1 |
| Primary Elements | Fire · Animal (both innate all tiers) · Earth (L2+) |
| Special Rules | Territorial Aggression (+1 Damage to every damage-dealing Power — including Minors/Majors) |
| Aspects | None |
| HoSI | Yes — pairs with Base Minors + Majors |
| Wiki Guides | None official; taurunti community notes |
Spirit Overview — Framing
Devouring Teeth is a territorial ambush predator — Range-0 offensive spirit that walks itself to threats via its innate’s Gather threshold. Territorial Aggression gives +1 Damage to every damage-dealing Power, weaponizing the whole draft pool.
Wiki-printed playstyle note:
Range-0 aggressor. Innate Gathers the spirit into Invader lands; Territorial Aggression amplifies all damage.
Teaching role: demonstrates range-0 + mobility; small damage bumps compound.
Complexity signal: Low — appropriate for an onboarding spirit.
Starting Setup
Put 1 Presence on your starting board, in land #5. You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 0 Energy.
Growth Options (growthtype: “one” — pick one per turn)
| Growth | Effects | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | Reclaim + Add Presence (R0) | Reclaim + stack |
| G2 | Gain 1 Power Card + Add Presence (R1) | Card + close spread |
| G3 | Add Presence (R2) + +3 Energy | Spread + energy |
Presence Tracks
- Energy:
energy2 → fire → energy3 → energy4 → animal → energy6 → energy7 - CP:
card1 → card2 → animalX → fireX → card3 → earthX → card4
Starting income: 2 Energy, 1 Card Play.
Core Mechanics & Special Rules
Special Rule: Territorial Aggression
Your Damage-Dealing Powers do +1 Damage. (This adds +1 Damage total for the Power, even if the Power Damages multiple Invaders or “each Invader”. It can boost Minor/Major Power Cards, too, not just your Uniques + Innate.)
+1 Damage to every damage Power. A 1-damage Minor becomes 2-damage; a 3-damage City-killer becomes 4.
Innate: Death Approaches from Beneath the Surface
- Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · Target: Invaders
| Level | Thresholds | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1  Fire + 1  Animal | If you don’t have Presence in target land, Gather 1 of your Presence. (Required.) |
| 2 | 2 Fire + 1  Earth + 2 Animal | 1 Damage. (+1 from Territorial Aggression) |
| 3 | 3 Fire + 1 Earth + 3 Animal | 2 Damage. |
| 4 | 4 Fire + 2 Earth + 5 Animal | 2 Fear. 4 Damage. |
L1 is the mobility lever: Gather moves Teeth into the target land (required). L2+ adds damage with the +1 Territorial bonus.
Unique Cards (all 4, Wiki-verified)
[VERIFY cost/text via physical copy]:
- Herd Towards the Lurking Maw — push Dahan; Defend utility.
- Ferocious Rampage — multi-Invader damage.
- Mark Territory with Scars and Teeth — Fast multi-Invader.
- Gift of Furious Might (shared HoSI unique) — partner-amp or self-cast for easy City-kill.
Key Strategic Principles
- Fire + Animal — draft priority.
- Territorial Aggression multiplies drafts. Gold’s Allure, Quicken the Earth’s Struggles, Call to Guard are standouts per taurunti.
- Gather tier is required, not optional — this is the whole point of the innate.
- Gift of Furious Might is arguably the easiest City-killer in HoSI thanks to Territorial Aggression turning “3 Damage” into 4.
- Don’t draft Moon/Water out of excitement — they don’t fire the innate.
Possible Openings
Shared starting state
- 1 Presence on land #5.
- 4 Uniques in hand.
- 2 Energy, 1 Card Play.
Opening A — taurunti Standard 🟨
T1 · Growth: G3 bot (+Presence 0, +Presence 1, +3E → 3E). T1 · Play: Herd Towards the Lurking Maw + Ferocious Rampage. Clears a freshly-explored land; Herd’s Defend-9-style utility is massive on a board with a Disease land or early T1 Build risk.
T2 · Growth: G2 top (Reclaim one + Gain Minor). T2 · Play: Mark Territory + Furious Rampage — hits L2 innate (2F+1E+2A) for 2 Damage + Gather 1, and Rampage deletes a Town.
T3+: Aim for 3rd card play (bottom-track presence removal). Gift of Furious Might for City-kill.
Opening B — Reclaim Loop 🟥
Cycle Herd+Rampage every 2 turns — simple but repetitive.
Opening Decision
- Default Opening A — broad draft pool.
- Opening B when learning the spirit; more predictable.
Card Priority Ratings
Top 10 Minor Draft Picks (Fire + Animal)
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gold’s Allure | taurunti’s top flag |
| 2 | Quicken the Earth’s Struggles | Fast, Sacred-Site, destroys a Town before Ravage (amplified by Territorial Aggression) |
| 3 | Call to Guard | cancels Build AND Escalation Town (BGG 2924043) |
| 4 | Predatory Nightmares | 0-cost Animal |
| 5 | Call to Bloodshed | 0-cost Animal |
| 6 | Pyroclastic Friction | Fire + Earth |
| 7 | Visions of Fiery Doom | Fire-feeder |
| 8 | Call to Migrate | Air + Animal |
| 9 | Rain of Blood | Fire + multi-element |
| 10 | Dry Wood | 0-cost Fire |
Top 5 Major Draft Picks
| # | Card | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tigers Hunting | Cheap Fire + Animal |
| 2 | Angry Bears | Fire + Animal + Fear |
| 3 | Pillar of Living Flame | Fire + board-wide |
| 4 | Insatiable Hunger of the Swarm | Animal + multi-land |
| 5 | Instruments of Their Own Ruin | Fire + Animal multi-land |
Adversary Matchup Matrix
| Adversary | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Brandenburg-Prussia | ★★★★☆ | +1 Damage helps kill extra T1 Town |
| England | ★★★☆☆ | Gather chases Coastal Land 1 Builds without range crutch |
| Sweden | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
| Habsburg | ★★★☆☆ | [VERIFY] |
Board / Map Configuration
Land #5 placement is fine on boards G and H (both have usable interior #5s).
Common Mistakes
- Treating Herd as pure Defend — it’s push-Dahan, closer to Year of Perfect Stillness than real Defend.
- Ignoring the Gather-tier clause (“if you don’t have presence in target land”) — the whole point of the innate.
- Drafting Moon/Water Minors — don’t fire the innate.
Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)
- Rising Heat of Stone and Sand — shared Fire (BGG reports T1 interior wipe via Gift of Furious Might + Blistering Heat -1 HP).
- Lightning — grants Fast so Teeth’s Slow innate fires pre-Ravage.
- Shadows Flicker Like Flame — shared Fire, quiet fear synergies.
- Avoid Volcano if boards are tight (both want to be in Invader lands).
Source Notes
- Mechanics:
data/references/wiki/devouring-teeth-lurk-underfoot.json(Wiki-parsed 2026-04-23). - Openings: taurunti Guides + BGG 2924043.