Rising Heat of Stone and Sand

Spirit Overview — Framing

Wiki-printed playstyle note:

Weaken-and-Destroy. Likes having Sacred Site where there’s Town/City, as it makes all Spirits’ Damage more effective there. Has an easier time setting up Sacred Site in Sands and Mountains, but can do so in any terrain with a bit more time.

Strategic framing [VERIFY: enhance with play experience].

Starting Setup

Put 2 Presence on your starting board, in the highest-numbered Sands. You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 0 Energy.

Growth Options (one)

Growth token reference (Wiki shorthand):

• reclaim — Reclaim all discarded Power Cards.
• gain1p / gain2p — Gain 1 or 2 Power Cards (Minor).
• addpresence1 / addpresence2 / addpresence3 — Add 1 Presence from track, Range N.
• energy1 / energy2 / energy3 — +1/+2/+3 Energy.
• card1 / card2 — +1/+2 Card Plays this turn.
• (Other tokens documented on Wiki Spirit template reference pages.)

Presence Tracks

As Presence leaves each track, these values are revealed:

• Energy track: energy1, earth, energy2, energy3, fire, energy4, energy5
• Card-play track: card1, card2, card2, card3, card4, card5fire

Core Mechanics & Special Rules

Special Rule

BLISTERING HEAT At your Sacred Site, Invaders have -1 Health (min. 1).

Innate: SCORCH WITH WAVES OF HEAT

• Speed: slow · Range: 1 (optionally from a sacred site) · Target: any

Level	Thresholds	Effect
1	2 Fire + 2 Air	2 Damage to Explorer only.
2	3 Fire + 2 Earth	2 Damage.
3	4 Fire + 1 Air + 3 Earth	2 Damage.
4	5 Fire + 2 Air + 3 Earth	1 Damage to each Invader.

Unique Cards (all, Wiki-verified)

Card Priority Ratings

Uniques

No Unique cards listed.

Top 10 Minor Draft Picks (from full pool)

#	Card	Cost	Speed	Elements	Effect (truncated)	Why this pick
1	Desiccating Winds	1	Slow	Fire, Air, Earth	If target land has Badlands, 1 Damage. Add 1 Badlands.	elements air+earth+fire → 12.0
2	Steam Vents	1	Fast	Fire, Air, Water, Earth	Destroy 1 Explorer .	elements air+earth+fire → 12.0
3	Hazards Spread Across the Island	0	Fast	Fire, Air, Earth, Plant	Choose a type of token from Badlands/Beasts/Disease/Strife/Wilds that exists in an adjace…	elements air+earth+fire → 12.0
4	Rouse the Trees and Stones	1	Slow	Fire, Earth, Plant	2 Damage. Push 1 Explorer .	elements earth+fire → 9.3
5	Drought	1	Slow	Sun, Fire, Earth	Destroy 3 [[Towns]]. 1 Damage to each [[Town]]/[[City]]. Add 1 [[Blight]].	elements earth+fire → 9.3
6	Unquenchable Flames	1	Slow	Moon, Fire, Earth	1 Fear . 1 Damage to Towns/Cities. Invaders do not heal Damage at end of turn.	elements earth+fire → 9.3
7	Call to Ferocity	0	Slow	Sun, Fire, Earth	Gather up to 3 Dahan . OR If target land has Dahan, 1 Fear and Push 1 Explorer and 1 T…	elements earth+fire → 9.3
8	Gold’s Allure	0	Slow	Fire, Earth, Animal	Gather 1 Explorer and 1 Town . Add 1 Strife.	elements earth+fire → 9.3
9	Dry Wood Explodes in Smoldering Splinters	1	Slow	Fire, Air, Plant	You may spend 1 Energy to make this Power Fast. 2 Fear . 1 Damage.	elements air+fire → 9.0
10	Purifying Flame	1	Slow	Sun, Fire, Air, Plant	1 Damage per Blight. If target land is a Mountain or Sands, you may instead Remove 1 Blig…	elements air+fire → 9.0

Top 5 Major Draft Picks (from full pool)

#	Card	Cost	Speed	Elements	Effect (truncated)	Why this pick
1	Unlock the Gates of Deepest Power	4	Fast	Sun, Moon, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Plant, Animal	Target Spirit gains a Major Power by drawing 2 and keeping 1, without having to Forget an…	elements air+earth+fire → 12.0
2	Pyroclastic Flow	3	Fast	Fire, Air, Earth	2 Damage. Destroy all Explorers. If target land is a Jungle or Wetland, add 1 Blight .	elements air+earth+fire → 12.0
3	Forests of Living Obsidian	4	Slow	Sun, Fire, Earth, Plant	Add 1 Badlands. Push all Dahan. 1 Damage to each Invader. If the origin land is your Sacr…	elements earth+fire → 9.3
4	The Land Thrashes in Furious Pain	4	Slow	Moon, Fire, Earth	2 Damage per Blight. For each Blight in adjacent lands, 1 Damage (in target land).	elements earth+fire → 9.3
5	Rumbling Earthquakes	6	Slow	Fire, Earth	This Power ignores Health bonuses. 3 Fear . 6 Damage, to Towns/Cities only. 6 Dama…	elements earth+fire → 9.3

HoSI Beginner Deck Bundle — for reference only

Card	Type	Cost	Speed	Elements	Effect (truncated)
Visions of Fiery Doom	Minor	1	Fast	Moon, Fire	1 Fear . Push 1 Explorer /Town.
Drought	Minor	1	Slow	Sun, Fire, Earth	Destroy 3 [[Towns]]. 1 Damage to each [[Town]]/[[City]]. Add 1 [[Blight]].
Purifying Flame	Minor	1	Slow	Sun, Fire, Air, Plant	1 Damage per Blight. If target land is a Mountain or Sands, you may instead Remove 1 Blig…
Indomitable Claim	Major	4	Fast	Sun, Earth	Add 1 Presence in target land even if you normally could not due to land type. Defend 20.
Encompassing Ward	Minor	1	Fast	Sun, Water, Earth	Target Spirit provides Defend 2 in each of its lands.
Talons of Lightning	Major	6	Fast	Fire, Air	3 Fear . 5 Damage.
Land of Haunts and Embers	Minor	0	Fast	Moon, Fire, Air	2 Fear . Push up to 2 Explorers /Towns. If Blight is present, 2 Fear and Push up to 2 Explo…

Cards to Avoid (anti-synergy flagged)

Key Strategic Principles

[VERIFY and enhance] — strategic principles should be derived from Wiki-verified mechanics above.

1. Use the Special Rule to its fullest (see above for exact text).
2. Element thresholds drive innate firing — see the innate tables above.
3. Suggested draft cards are Wiki-recommended; pattern-match to your matchup.

Opener Mechanics — starter reference

Starting state

• Setup: Put 2 Presence on your starting board, in the highest-numbered Sands. You start with your 4 Unique Power Cards and 0 Energy.
• Starting income (from presence_energy_track[0] = energy1, presence_cardplay_track[0] = card1): 1 Energy · 1 Card Play
• Hand at start: 4 Unique Power Cards (listed below)
• Growth type: one — pick one growth option per turn

Growth options

• G1: reclaim (Reclaim all discarded+played Power Cards); gain1p (Gain 1 Power Card (Minor unless otherwise noted)); energy1 ((track slot showing 1 Energy))
• G2: addpresence3ms ((spirit-specific: addpresence3ms — consult spirit panel)); addpresence3ms ((spirit-specific: addpresence3ms — consult spirit panel))
• G3: gain1p (Gain 1 Power Card (Minor unless otherwise noted)); addpresence1 (Place 1 Presence from a track (Range 1)); energy2 ((track slot showing 2 Energy))

Presence-track reveal rules: placing Presence (via a growth option with addpresence*) reveals one track slot — either the next Energy slot or the next Card-Play slot, not both. The choice determines your permanent-income trajectory from that turn onward.

Energy track

energy1 · earth · energy2 · energy3 · fire · energy4 · energy5 — income as slots reveal: 1 → earth → 2 → 3 → fire → 4 → 5

Card-play track

card1 · card2 · card2 · card3 · card4 · card5fire — CP as slots reveal: 1 → 2 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5

Innate Powers

• SCORCH WITH WAVES OF HEAT (Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · Target: any)
  • L1 — 2 Fire + 2 Air: 2 Damage to Explorer only.
  • L2 — 3 Fire + 2 Earth: 2 Damage.
  • L3 — 4 Fire + 1 Air + 3 Earth: 2 Damage.
  • L4 — 5 Fire + 2 Air + 3 Earth: 1 Damage to each Invader.

Fast-phase element ceiling from Uniques

Fast innates resolve in Fast phase and can only see elements from Fast cards played before the innate. Slow-card elements arrive too late to feed a Fast innate. This is the element ceiling Fast plays from your Uniques alone can contribute each turn:

• Fast-phase Unique elements: (no Fast Uniques — all innate firings require drafted Fast cards)

Unique Power Cards

No Unique cards parsed.

Invader phase by turn (base deck)

Adversary escalation can shift this — check the adversary JSON for deviations (Sweden front-loads a Build; some Habsburg levels add early Builds).

Pause-point before writing T1 prose

Adversary Matchup Matrix

[VERIFY all grades] — template only; fill in per-adversary notes after play.

Strategy Cliffs — per-adversary-level shifts that change Rising Heat of Stone and Sand’s math

England L5 — Buildings +1 HP

What changes: Towns become 3-HP (was 2), Cities become 4-HP (was 3). Damage-only Powers dealing 2 or 3 may no longer kill a Town/City in one go.

Mitigation for Rising Heat of Stone and Sand: Stack damage from multiple plays or use downgrade Powers (Crops Wither, Tangled Trees) to soften before finishing.

England L3 — Coastal Lands build faster

What changes: England’s L3 escalation adds an extra Build in coastal lands. Ocean-adjacent spirits see compounded pressure on their home terrain.

Mitigation for Rising Heat of Stone and Sand: Front-load coastal defense or disruption before T3’s first Ravage.

France (Plantation) — Dahan capture threatens your Dahan engine

What changes: France’s plantation rules convert Dahan to colonists, and Invaders occupy lands with Dahan. Spirits whose innate/card math counts on Dahan density (Shadows-of-the-Dahan, Favors, Thunderspeaker) are downgraded.

Mitigation for Rising Heat of Stone and Sand: Play Defend Powers on Dahan lands; accept loss of range-extension budget.

Brandenburg-Prussia — Cities drive Fear-per-kill (favorable swing)

What changes: BP’s escalation puts Cities on the board early, and each destroyed City dumps Fear into the pool. Damage-dealing spirits benefit from an inflated Fear curve; weaker spirits may struggle against pre-City pressure.

Mitigation for Rising Heat of Stone and Sand: Aim at City-dense lands with your highest-damage plays for outsized Fear returns.

Board / Map Configuration

[VERIFY via play] — base boards A–D, Jagged Earth E–H, and thematic ratings pending per-spirit play experience.

Game-Phase Strategy

[VERIFY: needs play data].

Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)

[VERIFY: needs multi-spirit play data] — archetype-based hints from Archetype Index are the starting point.

Common Mistakes

[VERIFY: collect from play].

Tempo Profile

[VERIFY: per-round targets need playtest].

Expansion Sensitivity

• Base only: core Uniques + Innate + Special Rule functional if expansion = Base.
• + Branch & Claw: events + blight deck introduce variance.
• + Jagged Earth: Major/Minor pool deepens.
• + Nature Incarnate: additional aspects may unlock; check the aspect column above.

Per-expansion specifics [VERIFY].

Stat Snapshot

Source Notes

Chapter draft generated from Wiki data 2026-04-19. Strategic prose needs enhancement from play experience. See templates/SPIRIT_TEMPLATE.md for the full Rei-format spine.