River Surges in Sunlight

Spirit Overview — Framing

Wiki-printed playstyle note:

While capable of some direct offense, River Surges in Sunlight is best at flooding out Explorers and Towns, displacing them from lands where they might Build or Ravage. The ability to get free Sacred Sites makes a wide range of Powers more useful.

Strategic framing [VERIFY: enhance with play experience].

Starting Setup

Put 1 Presence on your starting board in the highest-numbered Wetlands.

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, energy2, energy2, energy3, energy4, energy4, energy5
• Card-play track: card1, card2, card2, card3, reclaim1, card4, card5

Core Mechanics & Special Rules

Special Rule

RIVER’S DOMAIN Your Presence in Wetlands counts as Sacred Site.

Innate: MASSIVE FLOODING

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

Level	Thresholds	Effect
1	1 Sun + 2 Water	Push 1 Explorer / Town.
2	2 Sun + 3 Water	Instead, 2 Damage. Push up to 3 Explorer / Town.
3	3 Sun + 4 Water + 1 Earth	Instead, 2 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	Twilight Fog Brings Madness	0	Slow	Sun, Moon, Air, Water	Add 1 Strife. Push 1 Dahan . Each remaining Dahan takes 1 Damage.	elements sun+water → 7.8
2	Strong and Constant Currents	0	Fast	Sun, Water, Earth	Push 1 Explorer /Town to an adjacent Coastal land. OR Move up to 2 Dahan between targe…	elements earth+sun+water → 8.1
3	Like Calls to Like	1	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant	If target land has Explorer, Gather up to 1 Explorer . Do likewise for Town, Dahan, Blight…	elements sun+water → 7.8
4	Song of Sanctity	1	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant	If Explorer(s) are present, Push all Explorers. Otherwise, Remove 1 Blight .	elements sun+water → 7.8
5	Sunset’s Fire Flows Across the Land	1	Slow	Sun, Moon, Fire, Water	1 Fear . 1 Damage. You may pay 1 Energy to deal 1 Damage in an adjacent land.	elements sun+water → 7.8
6	Blood Draws Predators	1	Fast	Sun, Fire, Water, Animal	After the next time Invaders are Destroyed in target land: Add 1 Beasts, then 1 Damage pe…	elements sun+water → 7.8
7	Elusive Ambushes	1	Fast	Sun, Fire, Water	1 Damage. OR Defend 4.	elements sun+water → 7.8
8	Reaching Grasp	0	Fast	Sun, Air, Water	Target Spirit gets +2 Range with all their Powers.	elements sun+water → 7.8
9	Teeming Rivers	1	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant, Animal	If target land has no Blight, add 1 Beasts. If target land has exactly 1 Blight , Remove i…	elements sun+water → 7.8
10	Uncanny Melting	1	Slow	Sun, Moon, Water	If Invaders are present, 1 Fear . If target land is a Sands or Wetland, Remove 1 Blight .	elements sun+water → 7.8

Top 5 Major Draft Picks (from full pool)

#	Card	Cost	Speed	Elements	Effect (truncated)	Why this pick
1	Sweep into the Sea	4	Slow	Sun, Air, Water	Push all Explorers and Towns one land towards the nearest Ocean. OR If target land is…	elements sun+water → 7.8
2	Inspire the Release of Stolen Lands	4	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant, Animal	Gather up to 3 Dahan . Remove up to 3 Health worth of Invaders per Dahan.	elements sun+water → 7.8
3	Accelerated Rot	4	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant	2 Fear . 4 Damage.	elements sun+water → 7.8
4	Cleansing Floods	5	Slow	Sun, Water	4 Damage. Remove 1 Blight .	elements sun+water → 7.8
5	Unrelenting Growth	4	Slow	Sun, Fire, Water, Plant	Target Spirit adds 2 Presence and 1 Wilds to a land at Range 1 of their Presence.	elements sun+water → 7.8

HoSI Beginner Deck Bundle — for reference only

Card	Type	Cost	Speed	Elements	Effect (truncated)
Uncanny Melting	Minor	1	Slow	Sun, Moon, Water	If Invaders are present, 1 Fear . If target land is a Sands or Wetland, Remove 1 Blight .
Nature's Resilience	—	—	—	—	(fetch error: Wiki API error for ‘Nature's_Resilience’: {‘code’: ‘missingtitle’, ‘info’: “The page you specified doesn’t exist.”, ‘docref’: ‘See https://spiritislandwiki.com/api.php for API usage. Subscribe to the mediawiki-api-announce mailing list at <https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-api-announce> for notice of API deprecations and breaking changes.’})
Pull Beneath the Hungry Earth	Minor	1	Slow	Moon, Water, Earth	If your Presence is present, 1 Fear and 1 Damage. If target land is a Sands or Wetland, 1…
Accelerated Rot	Major	4	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant	2 Fear . 4 Damage.
Song of Sanctity	Minor	1	Slow	Sun, Water, Plant	If Explorer(s) are present, Push all Explorers. Otherwise, Remove 1 Blight .
Tsunami	Major	6	Slow	Water, Earth	2 Fear . 8 Damage. Destroy 2 Dahan .
Encompassing Ward	Minor	1	Fast	Sun, Water, Earth	Target Spirit provides Defend 2 in each of its lands.

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 1 Presence on your starting board in the highest-numbered Wetlands.
• 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: addpresence1 (Place 1 Presence from a track (Range 1)); addpresence1 (Place 1 Presence from a track (Range 1))
• G3: gain1p (Gain 1 Power Card (Minor unless otherwise noted)); addpresence2 (Place 1 Presence from a track (Range 2))

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

Card-play track

card1 · card2 · card2 · card3 · reclaim1 · card4 · card5 — CP as slots reveal: 1 → 2 → 2 → 3 → reclaim1 → 4 → 5

Innate Powers

• MASSIVE FLOODING (Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · Target: any)
  • L1 — 1 Sun + 2 Water: Push 1 Explorer / Town.
  • L2 — 2 Sun + 3 Water: Instead, 2 Damage. Push up to 3 Explorer / Town.
  • L3 — 3 Sun + 4 Water + 1 Earth: Instead, 2 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 River Surges in Sunlight’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 River Surges in Sunlight: 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 River Surges in Sunlight: 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 River Surges in Sunlight: 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 River Surges in Sunlight: 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.