I received a request to explore the decks composition for Root considering that we are currently going through the winter tournament, so here I am! Even though we are only using the Exiles and Partisans deck, I wanted to explore both Root decks. I’m a glutton for data. This is not the first deck comparison I’ve done but I’m trying to add more details. Check out the original article here.
For the remainder of this articles, I will be calling the Standard deck the Might & Right deck. Someone else coined that name for the deck and I am in love with it. So, I will advocate it wherever I can! Also be aware that there are several cards that exist in multiple suits that have been grouped together since they have the same name (Ambush, Dominance, Root Tea, Travel Gear, and Crossbow).
Check out the Game section of MCG for more written reviews or check out the MCG YouTube Channel for Videos and the Reading Rulebooks Podcast!
might and right deck
Quantity of cards
In the Might & Right Deck, there are several cards that are one of a kind and quite a few that show up in duplicate. I was a little surprised to see three copies of tax collector in the deck. There are 32 uniquely named cards in the deck of the 54 cards. The colors in the graph are reflective of the suit of the card (Red is Fox , Yellow is Rabbit, Orange is Mouse, and Blue is Bird). Any column in purple has multiple suits of a card with a similar name:
- Ambush (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse, 2 Bird)
- Crossbow (1 Mouse,1 Bird)
- Dominance (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse, 1 Bird)
- Root Tea (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse)
- Travel Gear (1 Fox, 1 Mouse)
craftable cards
I did want to briefly touch on the craftable cards since it’s a question that comes up often. There are seven different items that have cards across the four suits. Each item has the same crafting cost regardless of the suit of the card (i.e., tea will always cost 1 mouse regardless of the suit of the card)
The breakdown of cards is:
- Tea → All named Root Tea available in a Fox Suited Card, a Rabbit Suited Card, and a Mouse suited Card
- Sword → Foxfolk Steel (Fox), Sword (Mouse), Arms Trader (Bird)
- Hammer → Anvil (Fox)
- Crossbow →All named Crossbow available in a Mouse suited card and a Bird suited Card
- Coins → Protection Racket (Fox), Bake Sale (Rabbit), and Investments (Mouse)
- Boot → Travel Gear (Fox), A Visit to Friends (Rabbit), Travel Gear (Mouse), Woodland Runners (Bird)
- Bag → Gently Used Knapsack (Fox), Smuggler’s Trail (Rabbit), Mouse-In-A-Sack (Mouse), Birdy Bindle (Bird)
suits and crafting costs
While the original article did show the percentages of the suits that made up each deck. I didn’t actually write down the numbers anywhere!
There are fourteen birds and fox cards in the deck and 13 mouse and rabbit cards. It’s a pretty even split for all of the desired cards. The suit needed to craft the cards had a much more interesting split. The fox suit is needed the least for craftable cards while the mouse suit is needed the most. Craftable cards do include items.
Speaking of which, I was also curious how the items versus effects broke down within each suit.
Item cards were ones that, when crafted, would create and item. Effects were all the other cards including ambush and dominance cards. I was surprised to see that fox and mouse suited cards had more craft able cards than bird and rabbit cards. This is offset with the effect cards, but I didn’t expect so many rabbit effect cards even though that’s how math works.
One other item I was heavily interested in was the cards suit versus the required crafting costs. This graph is a little confusing but let’s break it down. Four bird cards, 3 fox cards, and 2 mouse cards all have fox crafting costs.
I thought it was interesting that Rabbit cards typically have a rabbit crafting cost. It almost seems stark compared to the other suits.
specialized cards
Something fun to keep in mind is the unique cards in the deck. These are cards with effects that only exist once in the deck.
- Favor of the Foxes
- Favor of the Mice
- Favor of the Rabbits
- Protection Racket
- Royal Claim
Errata
It was brought to my attention that some of the cards have either errata’s or might need some clarifications so I decided to write them all here.
- Better Burrow Bank – The effect of the better burrow bank is optional. The card should read “At start of Birdsong, you and another player may draw a card”
- Stand and Deliver – The effect can only happen once per turn. The card should read “Once in Birdsong, you may take a random card from another player. That player scores one point.”
- Ambushes – This is more for clarification, but Ambush is their own combat step after the start of battle and not included in the start of battle step. This means for Lord of the Hundreds looters, the Lord of the Hundreds must declare looters before asking for an ambush.
exiles and partisans deck
Quantity of cards
In the Exiles & Partisans Deck, there are several cards that are one of a kind and quite a few that show up in duplicate. Saboteurs is the card that exists the most with three in the deck. The colors in the graph are reflective of the suit of the card (Red is Fox, Yellow is Rabbit, Orange is Mouse, and Blue is Bird). Any column in purple has multiple suits of a card with a similar name:
- Ambush (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse, 2 Bird)
- Crossbow (1 Mouse,1 Bird)
- Dominance (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse, 1 Bird)
- Root Tea (1 Fox, 1 Rabbit, 1 Mouse)
- Travel Gear (1 Fox, 1 Mouse)
craftable cards
I did want to briefly touch on the craftable cards since it’s a question that comes up often. There are seven different items that have cards across the four suits. Each item has the same crafting cost regardless of the suit of the card (i.e., tea will always cost 1 mouse regardless of the suit of the card)
The breakdown of cards is:
- Tea → All named Root Tea available in a Fox Suited Card, a Rabbit Suited Card, and a Mouse suited Card
- Sword → Foxfolk Steel (Fox), Sword (Mouse), Arms Trader (Bird)
- Hammer → Anvil (Fox)
- Crossbow →All named Crossbow available in a Mouse suited card and a Bird suited Card
- Coins → Protection Racket (Fox), Bake Sale (Rabbit), and Investments (Mouse)
- Boot → Travel Gear (Fox), A Visit to Friends (Rabbit), Travel Gear (Mouse), Woodland Runners (Bird)
- Bag → Gently Used Knapsack (Fox), Smuggler’s Trail (Rabbit), Mouse-In-A-Sack (Mouse), Birdy Bindle (Bird)
suits and crafting costs
While the original article did show the percentages of the suits that made up each deck. I didn’t actually write down the numbers anywhere!
There are fourteen birds and fox cards in the deck and 13 mouse and rabbit cards. The exact same as the Might & Right deck. The suit needed for crafting costs is a lot more even than the Might & Right deck. Mouse has fallen from the top spot and given a hand to fox bringing Fox up from the lowest spot. Even though the cards changed, Rabbit being a required crafting suit for 14 cards did not change. Craftable cards do include items.
Speaking of which, I was also curious how the items versus effects broke down within each suit.
Item cards were ones that, when crafted, would create and item. Effects were all the other cards including ambush and dominance cards. The suited cards for item did not change because the cards for items did not change between decks. The number of suited cards for effects also didn’t change which I found a little fascinating. But it’s not broke, then why fix it?
One other item I was heavily interested in was the cards suit versus the required crafting costs. This graph is a little confusing but let’s break it down. Three bird cards, 5 fox cards, and 2 mouse cards all have fox crafting costs.
I thought it was interesting that Rabbit cards typically have a rabbit crafting cost. It is not as stark of a comparison as before because the mouse crafting costs for mouse cards is also high. I do like to see more cards requiring a bird for crafting has increased. I think it’s just those three saboteurs
specialized cards
Something fun to keep in mind is the unique cards in the deck. These are cards with effects that only exist once in the deck. There are a lot more unique cards in the Exiles & Partisans deck than in the Might & Right deck.
- Boat Builders
- Charm Offensive
- Coffin Makers
- Corvid Planners
- Eyrie Émigré
- Fox Partisans
- Master Engravers
- Mouse Partisans
- Murine Broker
- Propaganda Bureau
- Rabbit Partisans
- Soup Kitchens
Errata
It was brought to my attention that some of the cards have either errata’s or might need some clarifications, so I decided to write them all here.
- False Orders – Official Errata – “In Birdsong, may discard this card to force an enemy to move half their faction warriors (round up) from a clearing you choose to a clearing you choose, ignoring rule.” This causes False Orders to use the “forced” mechanic as explained in the law.
- Eyrie Émigré – The effect of this card is mandatory. The card should read “At the end of Birdsong, you must take a move, then initiate a battle in the clearing you moved into. If you did not take both actions, discard this card.”
- Coffin Makers – Warriors sent to the supply are redirected to coffin makers expect when they are sent to the supply from coffin makers (there is not a loop)
- Tunnels – This is more for clarification, but the tunnels card should read “You treat clearings with any of your factions crafting pieces as adjacent to each other.”
- Ambushes – This is more for clarification, but Ambush is their own combat step after the start of battle and not included in the start of battle step. This means for Lord of the Hundreds looters, the Lord of the Hundreds must declare looters before asking for an ambush.
Card File Images
Below are all the card in the deck compiled into one image.
