River Surges in Sunlight

Spirit Overview — Framing

River is a base-game Sun/Water scaling spirit whose win plan is to hit max-tier Massive Flooding every turn from T4 onward. It’s one of the two lowest-complexity spirits (Play Difficulty 0) — a teaching spirit that’s also surprisingly effective at high difficulty via its reclaim-loop innate.

Wiki-printed playstyle note:

Lots of sacred sites for targeting your innate. The best way to get them is generally to focus on expanding to wetlands, where your special rule (River’s Domain) gives you a sacred site with only 1 presence.

Identity capture (latentoctopus):

River is an innate-focused scaling Spirit whose win plan is to hit max-tier Massive Flooding every turn from T4/T5 onward.

The Sacred-Site shortcut: River’s Domain is unique — 1 Presence in a Wetland = a sacred site. Most spirits need 2 presence to make a sacred site; River needs 1. This effectively doubles River’s effective presence count for targeting purposes when Wetlands are available.

Complexity signal: Low is correct — the simplest “Scale the Innate” spirit. One innate. One Special Rule. Linear energy track (1→2→2→3→4→4→5). Decision-load is when to Reclaim and which Minor to draft — not much else.

Starting Setup

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

Only 1 starting presence, which immediately counts as a sacred site via River’s Domain.

Growth Options (growthtype: “one” — pick one per turn)

River’s growth is benign — all three options are usable. G1 bundles Reclaim + card + energy and is used every 3–4 turns in the standard opening.

Presence Tracks

• Energy track (7 slots): energy1 → energy2 → energy2 → energy3 → energy4 → energy4 → energy5
  • 1E → 2E → 2E → 3E → 4E → 4E → 5E
• Card-play track (7 slots): card1 → card2 → card2 → card3 → reclaim1 → card4 → card5
  • 1 CP → 2 CP → 2 CP → 3 CP → Reclaim 1 → 4 CP → 5 CP

Starting income: 1 Energy, 1 Card Play. Linear energy scaling — no marker complexity.

Core Mechanics & Special Rules

Special Rule: River’s Domain

Your Presence in Wetlands counts as Sacred Site.

1-Presence Wetland = sacred site. Targeting from sacred sites matters for Range-from-Sacred-Site abilities (Wash Away, Flash Floods).

Innate: Massive Flooding

• Speed: Slow · Range: 1 · 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 Explorers/Towns.
3	3 Sun + 4 Water + 1 Earth	Instead, 2 Damage to each Invader.

L3 (Max-tier Massive Flooding) is River’s endgame — 2 damage per Invader in a populated land destroys everything a T+ ravage land. Played every turn from T4/T5 onward, this is the whole spirit.

Unique Cards (all 4, Wiki-verified)

Wash Away

• 1 Energy · Slow · Range 1 · Any Land · Water, Earth
• Push 1 Explorer/Town/City. (+1 damage per Water if text says so — verify from physical card.)

1E push for any Invader type. Lennert: “ideal target is a land where the Invaders just explored but which started with a Town — stopping the T2 city-build. Otherwise push towards the coast to create inland dead zones.”

River’s Bounty

• 0 Energy · Slow · Range 0 · Any Land · Sun, Water, Animal
• Gather 1 Dahan. Gather 1 Explorer. Each Dahan in target land destroys 1 Explorer.

0-cost Dahan-vs-Explorer. The key reclaim-engine card — played and reclaimed every cycle. Sun+Water double-prime.

Flash Floods

• 2 Energy · Fast · Range 1 · Any Land · Sun, Water
• 1 Damage. +1 Damage per Water you have.

Water-scaling damage at 2E Fast. Key to Massive Flooding threshold-feeding during non-Reclaim turns.

Boon of Vigor

• 0 Energy · Fast · No Range · Any Spirit · Sun, Water, Plant
• Target Spirit gains +1 Energy this turn and +1 Energy at end of turn (total +2).

Ally gift — Lennert: “Playing Boon of Vigor on yourself is always wrong. It generates more energy for an ally.” Gift to a partner who needs Energy for Majors or plays.

Key Strategic Principles

1. Hit max-tier Massive Flooding every turn from T4/T5. This is the whole win condition.
2. Water + Sun are co-primary. Both unlock Flooding tiers; both sit in starter elements.
3. Minors > Majors by default. Lennert: “The main advantage of major powers is dealing with built-up lands that simply have too many invaders to efficiently handle with minor powers. River is able to handle those problem lands using the highest level of Massive Flooding, so I think it’s generally better to just get a ton of minor powers.”
4. Wetlands = free sacred sites. Target Wetland-expansion over other terrain.
5. Boon of Vigor never self-targeted. Always gift to ally.
6. Wash Away targets the pre-build land, not the city land. Lennert heuristic.
7. Reclaim cycle: River’s Bounty is reclaimed every loop — 0-cost Sun/Water card always in rotation.

Possible Openings

Shared starting state

• 1 Presence on board: highest-numbered Wetland (= sacred site via River’s Domain).
• 4 Uniques in hand: Wash Away (1E Slow, Water/Earth), River’s Bounty (0E Slow, Sun/Water/Animal), Flash Floods (2E Fast, Sun/Water), Boon of Vigor (0E Fast, Sun/Water/Plant).
• Starting income: 1 Energy, 1 Card Play.

Opening A — Consistent Reclaim Loop 🟨 (default, latentoctopus)

From latentoctopus Opening 1.

T1 · Growth: G2 bottom. T1 · Play (1E, 1 CP): River’s Bounty + one card.

• Elements hit: 1 Sun + 2 Water (+ whatever else). Massive Flooding L1 (1 Sun + 2 Water) live.

T2 · Growth: G2 bottom. Reclaim River’s Bounty (via Reclaim-1 track slot — note: you may need G1 for full Reclaim at this stage, depending on track state).

• Play 3 cards → 2 Sun + 3 Water elements → Massive Flooding L2.

T3 · Growth: Reclaim (G1) + Gain Minor. T3 · Play: River’s Bounty + new Minor. Hold 2 Sun / 3 Water / 1 Earth.

T4 · Growth: G2 bottom. T4 · Play: Reclaim River’s Bounty + play all 4 starters → 3 Sun / 4 Water / 1 Earth, unlocking max-level Massive Flooding.

Core constraint: “Little presence placement past T4 requires careful planning.”

Opening B — Lennert’s 5-turn arc (more detailed) 🟨

From BGG 1967085.

T1 · Growth: G2 bottom. T1 · Play: Wash Away + River’s Bounty.

• Wash Away target: “a land where the Invaders just explored but which started with a Town — stopping the T2 city-build.”
• Alternative: push toward coast to create inland dead zones.

T2 · Growth: G2 bottom. Reclaim River’s Bounty. T2 · Play: Flash Floods + Boon of Vigor + River’s Bounty (3 plays, Massive Flooding L2).

T3 · Growth: Reclaim + Gain Minor (+1E). T3 · Play: Bounty + Flash Floods + Wash Away, hit Massive Flooding L2 again.

T4 · Growth: G2 bottom + Gain second Minor. T4 · Play: all 4 starting cards if draws allow.

T5 · Growth: Reclaim + Gain Minor (+1E). T5 · Play: “You can now definitely activate the highest tier of your innate no matter what minors you drew” by playing all 4 starters.

Critical note (Lennert): “Make sure you have enough energy for this turn — if both drafted Minors cost energy, River’s Bounty must be played both T3 and T4.”

Opening C — Top-Track Variant (optional Major) 🟥

T1 · Growth: G3 top instead of G2 bottom.

• Rationale: top-track gives +5E by T3, enough to plausibly grab a Major T3–T4 if cheap and reclaim-loop it.

Trade-off: loses the T2 Reclaim; card plays off-curve for L2 Flooding.

Opening Decision

• Default Opening A or B (both very similar). Lennert’s variant is more explicit.
• Opening C only when Major-rushing is the plan.

Card Priority Ratings

Uniques — River-specific ranking

1. River’s Bounty — 0-cost Sun/Water + reclaim-every-cycle engine.
2. Flash Floods — Water-scaling damage; innate-threshold feeder.
3. Wash Away — surgical Push for Build-prevention.
4. Boon of Vigor — ally-gift; never self-target.

Top 10 Minor Draft Picks (Water + Sun priority)

Top 5 Major Draft Picks (Opening C only)

Cards to Avoid

Adversary Matchup Matrix

Board / Map Configuration

Wetland-heavy boards give free sacred sites via River’s Domain. Prioritize Board A / B / D orientations that push river lands toward buildable targets. No adversary matrix explicit in Lennert — core advice applies broadly.

Game-Phase Strategy

Early (T1–3)

• G2 bottom → reclaim → G2 bottom cadence.
• Massive Flooding L1 on T1, L2 on T2.
• River’s Bounty reclaimed every cycle.

Mid (T4–6)

• Max-tier Massive Flooding (L3) active.
• Minor-integration; Water + Sun drafts.
• Boon of Vigor ally-gifting.

Late (T7+)

• Reclaim loops stabilize; Massive Flooding every turn.
• Optional Major (Tsunami, Manifest).

Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)

• Energy-hungry allies for Boon of Vigor — Lightning, Thunderspeaker, Major-users.
• Defending partners — cover River’s Bounty-targeted Dahan lands so Dahan actually kill.
• Grouped-Invader partners — Massive Flooding L3 destroys pods; partners who concentrate Invaders multiply River’s output.

Common Mistakes

Tempo Profile

Source Notes

• Mechanics: data/references/wiki/river-surges-in-sunlight.json (Wiki-parsed 2026-04-23).
• Openings: latentoctopus Opening 1 + Lennert BGG 1967085.