Ebb & Flow: A Guide to Ocean's Hungry Grasp

An overview of Ocean's role in the game, strengths and weaknesses, and strategies.

Summary

One of the two complex spirits in the core set, "Ocean" is a terrifying force to behold. Capable of clearing out dense invader pockets on the coast with frightening speed, late-game Ocean is a consistent source of fear with a large Energy pool to fund powerful cards. While Ocean can be quite a foe for invaders, his restrictive growth options make careful planning key to this spirit.

Spirit Board Details

Setup: 2 Presence on your starting board 1 in the ocean, and 1 in a coastal land.

Play style summary from the board: Extremely good at assaulting the coasts where the Invaders start out strong, but quite weak island - the ocean is not accustomed to affecting events so far ashore. Its Presence shifts in and out like the tide, which can be tricky to manage, but permits re-positioning and tactical retreats or offensives in the hands of a skillful player. Has fairly inexpensive Unique Powers, but the energy gained from drowning Invaders can be necessary in stepping up to more potent Powers.

Lore: The hunger of the ocean runs deep and powerful, sometimes patient, sometimes tempestuous and angry. It slowly wears away at rocky shores, or devours half an island during a hurricane. It lures humans out onto the water with its sire call, then consumes ship and crew alike unless the proper offerings are made.

The ocean's voraciousness keeps the Dahan from frequent sea travel, though they still manage a trading expedition every decade or so. These trading-trips take the cooperation of several families, and always involve at least two spirit-speakers. That way, even if one perishes abroad, the expedition will still be able to get home.

Special Rules

Ocean In Play: You may place and move presence into oceans, but may not place or move presence into inland lands. oceans on board with your presence *anywhere* are treated as coastal wetlands for powers *and* blight. You drown any invaders or Dahan moved into those Oceans.

Drowning: Drowned pieces are destroyed. At any time you may exchange (X) health of drowned invaders for 1 energy, where X is the number of players. (Ignore modifiers to invader health)

Notes: Both of these rules are key to Ocean's strategy. Having the oceans in play raises some exciting options. First, note that this means ocean spaces can be targeted by powers. Powers which pull invaders can be played (by any spirit!) targeting ocean spaces immediately drown invaders. Similarly, powers which push invaders out of coastal lands into the ocean lands are amazing. Having the ocean in play makes Ocean's Hungry Grasp have extreme synergy with spirits that can push with innate powers; namely River Surges in Sunlight and Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares. When picking spirits, Ocean's special rules on presence placement should be considered. Ocean can, and should, have access to all coasts as the game progresses, but keep in mind that he won't be able to reach the inland lands.

Gaining energy from drowning invaders is a must for Ocean, as we'll see later. Encourage other Spirits to drown, rather than destroy, if they have the option. In the late game, Ocean will often have large amounts of energy to spend on Major powers from drowning alone.

Growth Options

Ocean has one of the stranger sets of growth options. I like to refer to them by the nicknames "Ebb", "Bide", and "Flow".

"Ebb" : Reclaim, Gain a power, +2 Energy, Gather 1 presence into EACH ocean.

"Bide" : Add a presence to any ocean (x2), +1 Energy.

"Flow" : Gain a power, Add a presence to a coastal land (1 away), Push 1 presence from EACH ocean.

This gives us some odd properties to work with. First, note the two options which give energy both require you to move or place presence off of the island. Several of ocean's best powers, including his innates, require you to have presence in the land. This gives Ocean a bit of a rhythm other spirits lack. To gain energy for a big attack, you must first Ebb or Bide your time to gather your strength. Second, Ocean can put down 2 presence, in one turn, but they must go in the oceans. While this is extremely useful for allowing other spirits to push invaders into the oceans, it doesn't do a lot of good in extending Ocean's range of influence.

Since the option the Reclaim comes only on an Ebb, and the only option that allows presence to be placed on the island itself is Flow, Ocean must move with the tides. In order to attack the invaders, Ocean has to move his presence out of the safe haven of the oceans and onto the island. In order to rebuild his hand, he must pull back from the coasts. Ocean can use Bide to extend either of these options, staying on the shores to attack invaders or hiding in the oceans to gather strength, but he must *eventually* Ebb. Keep this in mind, especially in the early game. With the starting 4 cards, plus a minor Power or two, if Ocean Flows to attack on a turn, he can usually at most Bide once before running out of helpful power cards. Ocean can sometimes Flow "desperately", hoping to gain a useful power card to fill out an empty hand.

When Flowing, Ocean must push from *each* ocean, not just the one next to the coastal land you need to do something in. Be sure to pick safe lands to push into on other boards if you don't intend to act there.It's also worth noting that while Flow doesn't give you any energy up front, Flows are usually accompanied by drowning during the subsequent turn.

Presence Tracks

Energy Track: 0 - Moon -Water-1-Earth-Water-2

Ouch. At first glance, this track seems poor. Capped at 2 energy at the far end, and only earning a steady 1 energy income after the 3rd presence is taken from the track, it would appear Ocean is energy starved. Thus the "Hungry" part of his name. Ocean will earn most of his energy from drowning and the Ebb and Bide growth options. Oddly, the energy options are the least interesting parts of his Energy track. Those lovely, lovely elements are the real reward. Ocean's innate powers require water. Gallons and Gallons of it. oceans, even. Progressing along this track can very quickly relieve some of the demand for elements that his innates have. The best spot on this track is by far the Earth element which is necessary for "Ocean Breaks the Shore"; the innate which drowns buildings. Uncovering this spot on the track is often my first priority when playing Ocean.

Card Play Track: 1-2-2-3-4-5

This is actually a pretty steady card play track with only one "dead level" in the repeated 2. The ability to get 2 card plays on the very first turn is powerful, and crucial, to Ocean's strategy. Depending on how you choose to play Ocean in the late game, you may not even want the 4 or 5 card play options at all.

Innate Powers, and Unique Power Cards

Finally, we arrive at the bread and butter of Ocean's Hungry Grasp. Let's begin by just looking at everything.

Cards
Call of the Deeps: A fast, 0 cost card targeting a coastal land 0 away (keep in mind, this also means oceans). Gathers 1 explorer. If the target land is an ocean, gather an additional explorer. Has Moon, Air, and Water elements.

Grasping Tide: A fast, 1 cost card targeting a coastal land 1 away. 2 fear and defend 4. Has Moon and Water.

Swallow the Land Dwellers: A slow, 0 cost card targeting a coastal land 0 away. Drowns a town, and a Dahan. Has Water and Earth.

Tidal Boon: A slow, 1 cost card targeting another spirit. Target spirit gains 2 energy, and may push 1 town and up to 2 Dahan from one of their lands. If Dahan are pushed into your oceans, you may move them to any coastal land instead of drowning them.

Innates
Note: I am writing tier 2 and tier 3 with the effects of lower tiers included.

Pound Ships to Splinters: Fast, range 0, targets coastal lands.
1 Moon, 1 Air, 2 Water: 1 fear
2 Moon, 1 Air, 3 Water: 2 fear
3 Moon, 2 Air, 4 Water: 4 fear

Ocean Breaks the Shore: Slow, range 0, targets coastal lands.
2 water, 1 Earth : Drown 1 town.
3 water, 2 Earth : Drown a town, or you may instead drown 1 city.
2 water, 1 Earth : Drown 1 town/city, then drown 1 town/city

Comments
I love this set of powers so much. Talk about synergy! Let's begin with the innate powers.

Pound Ships to Splinters can easily become a reliable source of fear whenever you play Call of the Deeps. Having the moon and water in the first two spots of the Energy track unlocked gives you at least 1 fear whenever you play a card with Air, like Call. Unless your team of spirits are desperate for sources of fear, Pound Ships is generally a nice bonus rather than a must have. You will generate far more fear by using his second power, Ocean Breaks the Shore. Remember when I said the Earth on the energy track is key to Ocean's strategy? This is why. 2 of your starting powers have Earth, meaning it's possible to drown a city with the combination of Tidal boon and Swallow the land dwellers (in addition to the town you drown with Swallow). Once you unlock the Earth element, it becomes possible to drown a town even by only playing one of the fast cards. Ocean breaks the shore not only generates fear and removes buildings, but also feeds ocean Energy much quicker than drowning explorers gathered/pushed into the oceans. Unlike other spirits, who sometimes lack the elements needed for the top tier of their innates, Ocean can very quickly get Ocean Breaks up and running.

Moving on to the starting power cards, there's even more to like! Two of the cards are free, and the other 2 only 1 cost 1 energy. Having 2 fast cards and 2 slow cards gives Ocean some flexibility. Not to mention the elements! Every single element here can be used to power Ocean's innates. Every single card has water, 3 have moon, and 2 have Earth. Truly, a great set of starting elements. The biggest downside to this hand is that 2 of the cards require you to be in the land you're targeting, but this really only applies to Swallow the Land Dwellers in practice.

Call of the Deeps can keep lands just explored from building that turn, and can be used in the fast phase! It additionally gives Ocean energy. Remember that when gathering, the 2 explorers do not have to be from the same land of origin. This is especially useful when "Coastal Lands" comes up from the invader deck, or in tier 3 when multiple land types are explored at once.

Grasping tide is a great defense card, with Defend 4 preventing even a city and town combo from blighting the land. The 2 fear are a nice cherry on top, and makes even Ocean's defensive play offensive. Grasping tide is key to saving your presence from being destroyed following a Flow which forces you into a land with invaders, or if you have to Bide when you didn't initially plan to.

Swallow the Land-Dwellers is a powerful card that fuels Ocean's Powerful "Ocean Breaks the Shore". Being able to drown a town, for free I might add, is sublime. Try not to drown the Dahan if you can. Doing so doesn't give you energy, and can only hurt in the long run. Since this power is slow, be sure not to count on it in lands where a ravage is occurring unless you can defend your presence. It's best used in lands that have just built a town.

Finally, Tidal Boon is an unexpected support card. Giving another spirit 2 Energy is a great way to make up for a "favor" on Ocean's behalf (can you take care of my inland lands?). You should encourage the spirit to push the town from a coast so that you can drown it, if applicable. The ability to "float" the Dahan to another shore is a great way to get rid of invaders about to ravage. If You're playing with Thunderspeaker, she will almost always benefit from being able to re-deploy Dahan (and her presence) somewhere possibly far away.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Let's recap what Ocean's strengths and weaknesses are before we begin.

Strengths
Ocean's ability to drown is incredibly strong. It has all of the perks of destroying, plus gives you energy income. Ocean can very quickly grow to deal with cities, which often take other spirits some time to work up to. The fact that Ocean Breaks the Shore, and Drown the Land-Dwellers say "Drown" and don't deal damage is especially useful against invaders with extra health on their buildings (cough England cough), as this boost in health is effectively ignored.

Ocean's starting powers have both offensive, and defensive applications, and ALL of them give elements towards his innates. In particular, the pair of slow cards can hit tier 2 of Ocean Breaks the Shore by themselves if you have the first water uncovered on the Energy track.

Pound Ships to splinters can throw in a bit of fear which is never a bad thing.

Oceans in Play turns the utility function of spirits like River Surges and Sunlight and Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares into an offensive one; letting them drown invaders instead of merely moving them around the island.

Finally, Ocean is shockingly widespread; able to interact with every coast on the board very early.

Weaknesses
As a huge fan of this spirit, it's hard to admit that it has faults. Nonetheless, it does. It's energy track should just be renamed "element track", as it basically provides no energy. Especially in the early game, most of your energy income will come from selecting "Ebb" or "Bide". Ocean's starting power cards are very inexpensive, but it can be difficult to fund additional card plays or expensive major powers.

Inland lands are a problem. You know this going into a game playing Ocean, but the invaders always seem to know that too. On difficult levels, named invaders (particularly England and Sweden) can wreck havoc on an untended inland land. Sweden's ability to add additional blight means these lands can't just be ignored, and England's alternate win condition negates this strategy as well. In cases where all spirits are overwhelmed with their own problems, their promise to help with your inland lands is usually the first to go. On the other hand, your promise to help with their coasts can often overwhelm you in a similar war. The restrictions on powers targeting inland lands can be circumvented somewhat by cards which gather the invaders from the inland land to a coastal land, but doesn't completely solve the problem. The best thing you can do it keep the coasts clear.

Finally, Ocean is slow. When he Flows and attacks with a full belly of energy and a prime hand of power cards well, let's just say I'd hate to be the invaders he consumes. On the other hand, for every Flow, their must be an Ebb. While gathered in the oceans, Ocean can't use his most offensive powers, and instead falls into a support role for a bit. It is possible to get "out of sync" on the Ebbs and Flows, where you find that you must Ebb but then "waste" a turn, only to discover that if you Flow your presence will be destroyed before the slow phase occurs. Bide can be used to get back into the proper cycle if you notice this is happening.

Strategy: "Water is the element of Change"

Opening Strategy
Regardless of your plans for Ocean in the late game, I almost always start out my games with the same opening plays.
Turn 1 : Select Bide and unlock the Moon and Water from the Energy Track. Prioritize placing the presence in Oceans with spirits who can push Play Call of the Deeps to deal with the initial explore invaders on your coast, possibly drowning 2. We now (usually) have 1 energy in the bank (unless you're playing on solo, or playing with 2 spirits and drown 2 invaders).


What you do next is determined by the invader deck and state of the board.
[No immediate threats]
Turn 2: Select Bide again, and unlock the 1 energy income and Earth. (we now have 3 energy at least). On the full island, this ensures we have presence on every board. Depending on whether the coastal land we chose in set-up has invaders in it, play Swallow the Land Dwellers and possibly Grasping Tide to defend a coastal land. If a city can be drowned, playing Swallow the Land Dwellers and Tidal Boon together to use tier 2 of Ocean Breaks the Shore. If there are truly no threats, try to only play one card.

Turn 3: Flow! Unlock the second card play, and place the presence in a land with a building (or which will have a building). You should now be set up to drown a town with Ocean Breaks the Shore, even if you used Swallow the Land Dwellers on turn two. Otherwise, Using Tidal boon accomplishes the same goal, with the bonus of possibly drowning a town.

[Invaders need to be dealt with now]
Turn 2:
Select Flow and unlock the second card play. Place the presence into a land with invaders where it won't be destroyed. Aim for a town/city to drown in the slow phase. Play the magic combo of Swallow the Land Dwellers and Tidal Boon to drown at least 2 towns (one from Swallow, one from Tidal) and then a town or city with Ocean Breaks the Shore. Try to place your presence in such a way where you can drown the maximum possible number of buildings.

Turn 3: You'll likely need to Ebb now, as you only have 1 card. If things are still less than ideal on the island, you can Flow again to unlock the 1 energy and hope you get lucky on the gain power card options. Otherwise, Ebb and reclaim your cards. Gather your presence which is in danger into the oceans, and try to leave any presence on the island in a spot that has or will have a building. Now that you have your cards back and plenty of energy, you can play Grasping Tide to defend presence, or allow for a Dahan counter attack / protect a land from blight. Call of the Deeps can prevent some inconvienient builds. Finally, you can use the two slow cards to either drown a town and power Ocean Breaks the Shores. Tidal boon is the best option of you don't seem to have anything to do, as it will empower a spirit in need and still possibly drown a town.

Once you survive the first 3 turns, it's time to decide how you want to play ocean. I see 2 main routes.

"Wrathful Sea" : Swinging a big, slow hammer.
Ocean's 2 card plays can be enough if you want to focus on clearing out densely occupied lands. Settling for only 2 card plays allows you to unlock all options on the energy track, reducing your need to play 3/4 cards to handle innates. You can Ebb and Flow more often to reclaim your hand as you wait for "problem areas" to arise, drowning buildings during your flow to gain energy, and gaining further energy as you Ebb. This Ocean strategy will give you a large amount of energy to play with, which means you can take many major powers to deal real destruction. Major powers which have thresholds unlocked by your elements are even better. This version of Ocean starts to follow a very clear cycle, and will select Bide less and less. Use the fast, defensive cards during Ebb and the slow, offensive cards during Flow.

"Ocean of Bounty": "Keeping coastal settlements on their toes"
The other option is to use Ocean's cheap starting powers and steady drowning income to power many card plays of inexpensive minor powers. Here, you make up for not having elements unlocked on the track by simply playing more power cards with the needed elements. If you choose power cards wisely (and get lucky), this gives Ocean more flexibility. Selecting more minor powers with Air can allow Ocean to more reliably trigger Shatter Ships to Splinters, making him a more consistent source of fear. Selecting minor powers which turn slow powers into fast powers, give energy to you or other spirits, and a suite of Defend actions can let ocean handle the "little problems" of all the other spirits by defending their coats using Ocean's far reach. This version of Ocean can still drown large amounts of buildings, but becomes more dependent on the current state of elements in their hand. Keep a mental note of the current "drowning potential" of your hand; if you know you don't have the cards to deal with cities or towns, account for the fact that you will have to Ebb to reclaim before being able to Flow and attack in earnest. Knowledge of the possible cards the invader deck can turn up is important here; as you'll have a better idea where "surprises" can pop up from.

Power Cards [WIP]

Work In Progress

I need to refresh my memory which power cards are not in the core set and are from the expansions not yet added to the Steam version of the game. Sadly, the Major Power which is the most fun for Ocean, "Sink into the Briny Deep", is not in the core set. Take Tsunami if you see it, and if you see someone else discard it shame them for it ;)

General tips when selecting powers
Elements, elements, elements. I can't stress this enough, if you're split between a few options, pick the one that has the elements you want. This usually comes down to the maxim "Pick the one with the Rock". The elements on power cards actually do correspond a bit to what those cards do (For instance, fire is often on cards which destroy, air on cards which are fast and longer reaching, Earth on cards which are slow and short ranged, etc..), this means that the cards which best suit ocean tend to have Water, Moon, or Earth.

Keep in mind that ocean doesn't like spending energy on minor powers. Powers which cost 2 or more throw and unexpected bit of calculation into your projections of future hands (if you are counting on it for the elements, but suddenly can't afford it....). Ocean's main abilities take place during the slow phase, and so cards which are slow and will never be chosen over things like Swallow the Land Dwellers will just sit in your hand until they're played as an alternative to Ebb and reclaim. Aim for cheap, fast powers if possible. If you are hoping to Pound Ships to Splinters, look for Air elements, which generally are on faster, support and change oriented cards.

Also, keep in mind that that fancy Major power you drew may not be able to be played often. Cards which target only specific types of lands (I'm looking at you Talons of Lighting) combined with Ocean's restriction to coastal lands can make these kinds of card very situational.

When choosing powers to forget, Tidal Boon and mayyybbbeeeeee Call of the Deeps are the only starting powers I would consider ditching. Tidal Boon is nice, but rarely vital to Ocean's game. If I take a major power early, like on turn 3 or 4, Tidal Boon is almost always the one to go. Otherwise, forget a minor power that doesn't quite work (often happens when it's picked just for the elements, not the effect). Also remember when selecting Major powers that you can choose to forget the major power that you just acquired; this is useful when none of the majors that you drew are a good fit.

Invader Specific Strategy Notes [WIP]

This is a work in progress.

Synergy with other Spirits [WIP]

This is a work in progress.

[Crispy]

At the end of the day i play ocean as a support spirit that consistently transitions to a mid/late game powerhouse and if you see a player picking river just shake their hand knowing you both have a cruisy game incoming



Apparently comments have a limit of 1000 Characters, who knew

[Crispy]

While the 'energy' track is situational i do my best to avoid it, the value of playing 5 powers per turn is huge, picking up cheap push/gather/defence cards is all the more impacting and grabbing a major when you can effortlessly play your hand and the major cards cost is mitigated by your drowning and all the rest. Important note is to fish for power cards that give + range (2 minors and 1 major card)
A cost 0 card that gives you + 2 range allows you to ride your reclaim option and build up your hand and still be impactfull.
I personally prefer ocean in 4-5 player games but it is a fun experience with 1/2 with the energy conversion but it does add time to the game when playing with people as it changes the rules and often needs clarification on events/fear cards "no you cannot push into the ocean"

[Crispy]

I briefly skimmed over your guide so dont drag me over the coals if i missed things being said. But having ocean in play is part of a team atmosphere. So concerning yourself with your inland lands is a waste of your time as your team-mates (other spirits in this version i guess) are expected to chip in and assist while you help in their coastal lands.
I treat lands 1-3 on each board as my domain.
As for set up i ideally take the board with double coastal wetland as depending on which adversary you are up against call of the deeps does gods work in there.
Doing the middle growth option next to spread onto other boards prioritising spirits that have push actions or will be in a coastal land with a town for my tidal boon to also result in a drowned town and repositioning dahan for the next turns defence. in a 4p game you can do a cheeky 3rd growth out of sequence to push your presence out first and adding presence to a coastal land at 1 range and getting on the 4th board.