Hard 30: Ashes Reborn Battlefield
Now that all of the time cycle has been spoiled let’s have a friendly debate. There is lots to be excited about between the versatility of Snapper and the sheer power of card sifting by the Knowledge Seeker. However, a long shadow falls on every new unit that begs the question; Is Silver Snake the best unit?
Gates Thrown Open
Yessssssss
Hello! I’m Jayson (ImpossibleGerman is my handle) and I’m delighted to be a guest writer for this article. Jerod approached me with a simple (and LOADED, by the way) question- whether I thought Silver Snake was the best unit in Ashes.
I do. Here’s why.
Ashes is a game of inches, not miles. Tiny advantages in efficiency can and do snowball into victories, and in terms of generating mathematical advantage, Silver Snake is unmatched. The reason for that, like most things in Ashes, is multi-layered, but it can be boiled down to a simple thesis; Silver Snake scales, infinitely, on a condition that you want to meet anyway.
Most criticisms of Snake are rooted in its need to be supported by other cards. But, like, does it? Even without Golden Veil, Explosive Growth, and the rest of the gang, Silver Snake is an incredible value proposition. It’s 4 Life for just 2 dice, and then every kill turns it into a harder and harder question for your opponent to answer. A substantial majority of Ashes win conditions necessitate killing your opponent’s units anyway. It’s true that Snake doesn’t belong in decks that prefer to ignore the Battlefield, but Command Strike’s damage utility means Maeoni really isn’t a natural spot for those decks. Maeoni wants to fight, and Snake’s reward for fighting is a win condition. It’s just an incredible amount of weight for 2 dice.
Carl’s rapid refinement of the Snake win condition into a 30-card monster may have found the best Snake deck early in Reborn’s life, but pure mathematics tells us that Snake could also function well in a number of decks. 2 dice. That’s all.
Nope
Artistic tastes aside, the Silver Snake hype is an overblown reaction to false causality. I am not going to tell you that the repeat champion Meoni deck is just fine. It’s amazing. What I am saying is that Silver Snake is not the best unit because it is in this deck. I believe that most any reasonable unit can be built into snake-like proportions. My job is easy. I only have to convince you that any ONE other unit is better than snek.
The Silver Snake can’t win a game on its own. It is actively quite bad at winning you a game actually by itself. A toothless 0/4 for 2 dice. Only Sleeping Bear is as efficient to get a 4 anything stat into play on a unit and we know how much that guy gets played. But we know everything needs context. And the truth of the matter is the amount of unit guard, removal, and bypass makes the snake’s job look pretty cushy compared to most hard working units.
I can easily make the argument that Silver Snake isn’t even the best unit in its own builds. Plus, there is the number one drafted card this season in Lightbringer, the most played unit in Ashes history in Raptor Herder, and finally the new king of knights: Realm Walker.
Exhortations
Yessssssss
Those are some great units for sure, and they’re certainly among the best in class. You can win games of Ashes in a variety of ways while ignoring those units, however. Ignoring a Snake, on the other hand, is almost invariably a death sentence. It’s just not prudent to pretend a unit that might eventually be able to kill you in one hit doesn’t exist. You need to play around Realm Walker, to pick one example, but many decks can do so in ways where they never have to deal with it directly. Snake has so many ways to make those lines untenable.
I do think it’s unfortunate that we haven’t seen as wide a variety of great decks with Snake as we have with some of the other premier Ashes units, but even so, I would argue that the burden of proof in this discussion is actually on the “no” side. The numbers are just very compelling. 3 Shufflebus Championships, even more top cuts, and the distinction of having been not just the premier unit but the primary win condition of the aforementioned decks. I think Silver Snake is the top unit in Ashes until proven otherwise.
Nope
Loaded? Or just trying to get to the TRUTH?!
Er, what I meant to say is I’m more than happy to take the proof of burden. Playing around units is the name of the game and Realm Walker does it better than anyone. It has a built in bypass ability to forward your win condition. A snek will gak a unit in play if it’s big enough to do so and that’s not guaranteed.
The number of championships looks all well and good but pales in comparison with the number of games won off the frostback of, well, Frostback Bear. We can also point out that Meoni doesn’t have the best win percentage of phoenixborn in recorded history. That belongs to Saria. Should we put Seaside Raven in the mix too?
If we are going to use the court of popular opinion then in the latest draft why wasn’t the best unit in the game taken until ROUND TEN. Over 100 picks after such luminaries as Frostback Bear and Salamander Monk. Because those units win you games on their own. I won’t give you short shrift for stating that Silver Snake is the best unit in a combo deck. Best overall unit it does not make.
Yessssssss
I don’t know if Bear, a unit most players feel is on the decline, is the best candidate to put up a fight against Snake at this point. They do share an interesting angle in that they both can form the backbone of a strategy, though I would stop short of calling Bears a full on win-condition.
The reality is that all units in Ashes need careful application to be their best selves.
Jayson – ImpossibleGerman – Ashes Unit Whisperer
You can’t just slot Salamander and win because it’s the most efficient- it needs to play a role and have the support it needs to amplify its strengths. Snake is no different, really, except that it’s much better than other Ashes cards at being lifted up by the pieces around it. A Nature’s Wrath is great for a Salamander to refresh it…but it’s really great for a Snake that might pick up upwards of 3 tokens from the resulting board clear. A Golden Veil will protect your Knight…but when it saves the 20 attack Snake that could attack for lethal next turn, that card is at it’s best.
All units benefit from synergistic play and deckbuilding- it’s just that Snake’s sky-high ceiling gives it a dramatically outsized reward for those things.
Nope
What you are saying is high tide raises all ships. Or in this case, cancel or unit guard increases the value of all units. Well, I think it is safe to say that Meoni builds specifically around snek. A lot of resources are poured into making that particular unit the best unit. Kaile’s records show an astounding win percentage over all recorded seasons.
| Win/Loss | Total | Win % | Unit Name |
| 29/21 | 50 | 0.58 | Silver Snake |
Here’s where some others fall. Not quite snake level but Gilder, Ruby Cobra, Mind Fog Owl, and Salamander Monk make compelling cases while getting played a ton more.
| Win/Loss | Total | Win % | Unit Name |
| 219/160 | 379 | 0.57 | Gilder |
| 104/77 | 181 | 0.57 | Ruby Cobra |
| 74/58 | 132 | 0.56 | Mind Fog Owl |
| 277/217 | 494 | 0.56 | Salamander Monk |
Oh, and here’s this. I’m willing to toss out Seaside Raven, Wishing Wing, and Gorrenrock Brawler due to the low play volumes. (Although we should definitely keep an eye on Wishing Wing!) I am just as shocked as you for the last standing unit.
| Win/Loss | Total | Win % | Unit Name |
| 14/7 | 21 | 0.67 | Seaside Raven |
| 24/13 | 37 | 0.65 | Wishing Wing |
| 96/62 | 158 | 0.61 | Enchanted Violinist |
| 23/15 | 38 | 0.61 | Gorrenrock Brawler |
Final Round
Yessssssss
I’d frame what I’m saying as this- a high tide raises all ships, but one of those ships has the biggest guns. Fundamentally, I do think a question as open to interpretation as “what is the best unit in Ashes?” isn’t really possible to answer comprehensively. That doesn’t change my answer though. On a number of levels, I personally find Snake to simply outclass its competition, not only in terms of its value proposition, but in practical application as well.
In that respect, Snake is kind of a weird mirror of Turtle Guard, a unit that offers incredible stats and utility but typically fails to rise above its limitations to turn that efficiency into an actual win. Snake can and does turn its baseline mathematical advantage into wins. It does it all the time. That’s why it’s the best single unit in Ashes.
Nope
While I agree Silver Snake is quite possibly the best unit to build a strategy around, I do not think it is the best unit ever. It’s not something I was expecting but at this point I’m willing to crown Enchanted Violinist the best unit ever! Not only for the win percentage but a body that can produce repeatable removal AND facilitate a mill strategy can’t be overlooked. With ZERO support. I am also seriously thinking about a Meoni deck with Squall Stallion and x3 Ash Spirit. What’s better than having one giant threat? Oh! And of course, all the Violinists I can fit.
Call Upon the Realms
I want to thank Jayson for taking the time out of his day(s) to help bring this article to life. Let us know what you think either here or pipe up on the Ashes Discord! Or if you have an idea for a Battlefield, let me know!
About the Authors
Jayson Lindley (ImpossibleGerman) blames Android:Netrunner for starting his card game problem. He is the Creative Arts Director for CityView Church in Houston, TX, and on the weekends can usually be found playing music around town. He loves cooking, the Dallas Cowboys, and making content for new Ashes players. You can find his written content at https://jaysonsethlindley.medium.com
Jerod Leupold (clu) has been an avid gamer and advocate for over 30 years. Founder of Paroxysm by Design and Critical Hit Games storefront in Iowa City, Iowa. He has been published under the Gamenomicon franchise for Party First RPG and is currently launching his own rpg, Goblin Market. He cut his teeth playing the red book D&D but found his passion for writing articles about ccgs with A Game of Thrones. Follow Jerod at Paroxysm by Design on facebook, itch.io, or drivethru RPG!