Deck Construction and Progression in Earthborne Rangers

Although the game might be described as a deck builder, Earthborne Rangers follows the LCG model developed by Arkham Horror. Rather than building your deck during a play session you construct your deck before you begin your campaign or session, then you modify or progress it as you move through the campaign. It’s much more useful to discuss those two topics separately: Deck Construction vs. Deck Progression.

When I refer to Deck Construction in Earthborne, it is when you are sitting down with your collection deciding on your Aspect, Personality, Specialty, and Background cards. Deck Progression happens when earn rewards, trade gear, or trade moments in-game, and when you Camp and have the opportunity to swap all the cards you’ve earned in or out of your 30-card deck.

In this post, I’ll start with a close-up look at the Deck Construction process then proceed into how to approach Deck Progression through the campaign.

Right at the top let me say that Earthborne Rangers is not Arkham Horror. You do not need to agonize over every card in your deck for fear of the game bludgeoning your half-heartedly constructed death. You will encounter several stiff challenges through the campaign but the way to enjoy this game is to embrace the invitation to explore, interact with, and immerse yourself in the characters, setting, and lore of the valley. Therefore, I recommend taking a less strict approach towards constructing your deck. You need to create a Ranger that is more than a collection of mechanisms and synergies. You’ve done something wrong if your Ranger turns out to be someone you wouldn’t want to go hiking with.

Last note of the preamble: RangersDB is an essential tool for exploring and practicing deck construction.

Three Ways to Build a Deck

Avatar Approach

I don’t mean the movie. I mean think of a real-life or fictional character – Samwise Gamgee, your Grandmother, Jean-Luc Picard – and take them as your deck inspiration. How would they approach conflict? Would they be better at avoiding danger or understanding people and beings? Would they overcome challenges physically or mentally?

I really like this approach to building a deck because it gives you a North Star to guide your decisions through the campaign. How would Jean-Luc Picard approach a large predator threatening settlements in the Valley? Would Hulk Hogan faithfully deliver the biscuits or eat them himself? Would your Grandma be patient and loving towards the annoying kid Ranger or tell them to get lost?

Lore Approach

The beginning of the rulebook and the early pages of the campaign guide have some wonderful writing that introduces you to the lore and setting of the Valley. Take some extra time to read through these and feel your way to how you would like to interact with this world. What morality would guide you? Would you try to harmonize with the natural world, shape it to fit you, or defer completely? How do you feel about technology? Earthborne Rangers describes humanity’s recovery from a global environmental catastrophe and it doesn’t take a leap of imagination to see how you feel about the modern-day environmental situation. That could be your basis for deciding how you would manifest as a Ranger in this future society.

Deck Crafting Approach

You could also study all the cards in the core set and try to craft a deck that explores a particular strategy or mechanic in the game. The Endless Day Deck is an example, where you try to prolong the day as long as you can (or indefinitely) through a combo of cards from the Traveler Background. Or you could take aim at avoiding Fatigue altogether and look for the best Specialty-Background pairing to accomplish that.

Jack of All Trades or Master Specialist?

Whichever approach you choose you will run into the question of whether you ought to try to do just a couple things really well, or lots of things sort of well. This is particularly relevant to the true solo player because you won’t have a fellow Ranger to compensate for your weaknesses.

In my experience as a solo ranger it is better to do everything sort of well than it is to be really good at a couple things. The different Path sets, locations, and missions will test your deck in different ways and you want to have options available to you.

Here are the essential abilities you need to build into your deck.

Clearing features with progress

The simplest way is to add progress by the Traverse test, but there are exceptions. For example, a Forager can use Familiar Ground to harm a flora and place progress on a Trail. You can use Trail Markers to make any feature a trail. A Shaper can play Shape the Earth. And so on.

If you are a 3 FIT ranger you might be able to rely just on the Traverse test, but if you are any lower, you probably want to build up some combos in your deck to add progress without a test. Avoiding a test also is beneficial because you won’t have to draw a Challenge card and trigger negative effects in your tableau.

Clearing beings with progress and possibly harm

The simplest way is to add Progress with the Connect test. You will need to do this to progress missions with NPCs around the Valley and to clear Path beings.

SPI energy is your best source of progress for beings. You get to add it at a favorable exchange of 1 progress per effort (for a successful test) and there is no penalty for failing a Connect test. If you are a 3 SPI Ranger, you’ll have little trouble here. Even a 2 SPI Ranger can get by pretty well.

You can build in the capacity to place burst Progress on Beings (Shaper’s Staff of Harmony, for example). There isn’t really a downside to this, other than your SPI energy might go unused some turns.

Clearing Beings with harm is a somewhat viable approach but it’s hindered in three ways. First is that many Weapons run on FIT tests and FIT is also the energy you use for Traversing. So if you intend to clear most beings with Harm that will come at the expense of placing progress on features. The Connect test, however, is powered by spirit so you could easily Traverse a feature and Connect to a Being in the same turn.

The second limitation to Harm is that most weapons can only place 1 harm per test or at the unfavorable exchange rate of 1 harm per 2 effort. There are many ways to apply burst damage in the game like Moment of Desperation, some weapons, or Sky Whip, to name a few. These are perfect for handling a big predator or getting you out of a tight spot but they are a bit more of a one-time use card or setup, so you can’t rely on it turn-to-turn.

Soothing Fatigue (possibly avoiding fatigue)

Taking Fatigue not only speeds up the end-of-day timer but it also introduces uncertainty into which cards are remaining in your deck versus your fatigue stack. If you count on drawing a particular card but have taken 8 fatigue, there’s a strong chance that essential card is stuck over there.

Soothing fatigue also helps you rebuild the size of your hand and the cards available to play or commit (for their Approach icons) to tests. You only ever draw 1 card per turn, unless you are using the Remember test, but drawing more from your deck isn’t desirable since it speeds up the end of day.

A rule of thumb is that you want to be able to soothe 8 fatigue in a day, whatever your means for getting there. More than that is probably overkill. And many path cards provide you a way to soothe fatigue so you don’t have to exclusively rely on your deck.

Scouting the Path Deck

It is so helpful to be able to look into the path deck to find good things or avoid bad things. It will sometimes backfire on you by forcing you to draw a card you don’t want (or drawing a card at all, and making a more cluttered tableau), but on balance it is worth it.

One of the more frustrating game experiences is traveling to a location to find someone or something but to keep flipping through Path cards at 1 per turn without success. It makes the game feel really grind-y and repetitive while you hope the next card is the one you want.

Optional / Less important abilities

Briefly, here are less important abilities that you can generally take or leave in your deck.

Avoiding Beings is nice to have but not great to rely on because the being still stays there until you clear it. Some cards, like Carbonforged Cable, might change this equation slightly, but the fact remains that it’s better to work towards clearing beings than Avoiding them. You can Avoid with AWA energy, so you have the option available even if you don’t include any cards to beef up this capacity.
Scouting the Ranger Deck. Between the generous mulligan rule, the innate card draw at the start of turns and soothing fatigue, I feel I can usually find the cards I need. Plus, any essential cards I have two copies of for extra redundancy.
The Approach Icons are not that important right now. Pick cards based on their text, energy requirement, gear equip value, and so on. Later on you may realize you need more or less of a particular Approach icon and you can make that part of your Camping decisions. Some Reward cards have 3 Approach icons and you might keep them in your deck just to commit to tests.

Deck Construction, in order

If you haven’t decided your Specialty-Background pairing already – like Picard is clearly an Explorer-Traveler, duh – the decision order I recommend is: Specialty, High Aspect, Background, Low Aspect, Outside Interest, and finally Personality.

Specialty

This is the most important decision for three reasons. Your Specialty has the powerful 3-requirement cards and you get to select your Role card, which has a powerful every-round ability that really shapes your gameplay and deck concept.

The 3-requirement cards is a great place to start building your deck because you will only get access to one of these through your chosen Aspect (distribution of energy you receive every turn), so it immediately narrows your choices and focuses your deck. When you read each card, think through the effect it would have on your play sessions. Is it an every turn or once a game kind of card? Does it build out one of your essential abilities (per above) or is it more of a nice-to-have? You can start bringing in cards that synergize with it or compensate for it.

The 3-req cards might be enough for you to decide what the high stat of your Aspect will be. If not, you should think through what strengths the different energy spheres bring and how 3 of that energy every Round will fashion your gameplay.

High Aspect

Choosing 3 in an energy gives you access to every card in that sphere (not labeled Expert) in the game. You also need to keep in mind the Common Tests associated with each energy. Here they are, ranked by importance.

Traverse, for Fitness. One of the essential tests in the game. It’s how you clear most Features and Locations.
Connect, for Spirit. Another essential test for clearing Beings through Progress and interacting with NPCs.
Avoid, for Awareness. Allows to exhaust a being so its Challenge effects won’t trigger and it won’t cause Fatigue.
Remember, for Focus. You can search your Ranger deck and draw a card.

Selecting your Aspect not only gives you access to different cards, it also increases your power through these tests.

Stat	Struggles as low stat	Strengths as high stat
Fitness	Clear features, travel, and clear beings with harm. You’re going to move a bit more slowly around the Valley.	Awesome. You’ll be flying over the map. And if dealing Harm is your thing, you can do that on the side.
Spirit	Interact with NPCs (gaining side missions), clear Path beings with Progress, and advance some missions	You won’t have issues with beings or NPCs. The Path card Tableau will be much cleaner.
Awareness	Avoiding beings. Navigate/interact with the Path cards through tests on them. AWA shows up frequently on path card tests.	You’ll be able to Scout effectively and manipulate the Path card tableau (through card tests or Avoid Common Test)
Focus	Remember is the least useful Common test so don’t worry about losing it. FOC tests do show up on quite a few path cards (and notably on Elder tests to trade Moments in and out of your deck).	The most niche to benefit from. It requires a really intentional approach to deck construction to make a 3 FOC build work effectively.

The other decision you need to make about your Aspect is your low stat (the other two are each 2). But let’s hold on that and look at your Background.

Background

Perhaps you already know your background because Samwise Gamgee is obviously a Conciliator-Forager, but if you don’t, now’s the time to choose it. It should synergize well with your Specialty around any card types/keywords/traits like Trail, Aid, Tech, Gear, and so on. Backgrounds do not have any 3-req card so that choice hasn’t changed anything about the cards available to you, but your choice of your low stat will.

Start checking off the essential cards for your build from your Specialty and Background. If you’ve chosen a 2-req card from every energy sphere, you need to reconsider. Which of those cards can you give up without compromising your deck? Is lowering that stat to 1 going to hinder you based on the Strengths/Struggles table above? Have you built some capacity in your deck to compensate for that weakness?

Low Aspect

You should know at this point which is your low stat. In my experience fiddling around in RangersDB, most of time it just slots into place.

You should know that life as a 1 FIT solo ranger will need special compensation so you can effectively traverse locations and features. A 1 FOC build is probably the easiest to work around, but swapping gear and moments into your deck will be more challenging. You will need to prepare for those tests and commit a lot to succeed, just a heads up if you plan to do a lot of Deck Progression.

Outside Interest

Now take a scan through the rest of the collection. You’re looking for two things: a card you want to include now as your Outside Interest and cards you’ll want to swap into your deck during the campaign. I write about Deck Progression below, so let’s talk about your Outside Interest.

All things being equal, take an Attachment or Companion card. There is currently no way to bring these into your deck after Deck Construction. The early part of the campaign is pretty forgiving so you have time to go find an Elder for a Moment trade or the Carbon Forge or Kobo’s Market for a gear trade to bring in those types of card that you need to make your deck sing.

You cannot include Expert cards as your Outside Interest.

Personality

Don’t spend too much time thinking about your Personality cards. They are the first cards you’ll swap out for rewards. As such I’m not going into any great detail on them. In general, the ones with two approach icons on them are best.

Final Deck Construction Points

I’ve touched on all this already, but I want to pull these points out because they’re important for setting yourself up for success.

Expert Cards

You can only take Expert cards during Deck Construction and if you select its Specialty or Background. This means an Expert card cannot be your outside interest. You also cannot swap an Expert card into your deck even if you chose that Specialty or Background.

The upshot is that it’s best to include any Expert card in your Specialty or Background in your deck. You can trade it out for a Reward but it remains in your available cards (since you included it at the beginning) so you can bring it back in when you Camp.

Attachments, Companions, Moments, Gear

Currently there are ways to bring Moments and Gear into your deck during the campaign. There is not a way to bring in Attachments or Companions so, like Expert cards, Deck Construction is your only opportunity to include them in your deck. You can have them as your Outside Interest (unlike Expert cards).

Similar to Expert cards, if in doubt, include an Attachment in your deck so that you have it available. Don’t overdo it though, many Attachments are rather niche cards and unless you are building out a particular deck concept, a Moment or Gear might be a better choice.

Deck Progression

Deck Progression refers to the process of upgrading your deck with Rewards or in-game opportunities to trade cards in from the Collection. The Collection refers to all the cards (except Rewards) in the set. A subset of the Collection are cards that you’ve traded out of your deck. Those cards remain available to you when you Camp to rebuild your deck as you wish for the next day.

The deck you construct at the beginning of the campaign must abide by the restrictions of including so many Specialty, Background, and Personality cards. Once you start the campaign, however, most restrictions go out the window and you gain access to most of the cards in the Collection. You can select any Moment or Gear that does not have the Expert keyword.

When you construct your deck you should also have an idea of where you want to take that deck. There are 2 questions you should ask yourself that will help.

What Moments or Gear do I want that I can’t take now?

Keep a list (RangersDB has a bookmark feature) of those cards you want to add in later. If you need to bring in Gear, find Ren Kobo, go to Kobo’s Market, or the Carbon Forge at the Spire. If you need Moments, go to a pivotal location and look for the Elder that lives there.

Keep in mind that progressing your deck this way is sort of like a side mission in itself. You’ll need to pass a test and you have to have a card in hand that you want to trade for a new Gear/Moment. So it isn’t exactly like some free respec overhaul for your Ranger. It will take time and planning.

Also, it’s a permanent change, which means the card you swapped out is back in the Collection, not in the subset of cards available to you when you camp. Only do this if you’re sure you want to make the trade!

Do I need one or two copies of this in my deck?

As you play, keep a mental note of cards that you seem to be hanging onto for a long time and not playing. These cards might just not be that useful for your deck because they duplicate something else you’re good at, or they might be powerful but only in specific circumstances. In either case, these are candidates to be swapped out. You may only need one copy, not two, in your deck.

What about Rewards?

I haven’t mentioned Rewards because I think you ought to just play the game the way you want to play and find the Rewards you find. I don’t recommend flipping through the Reward cards, figuring out which ones you want, then going to find where to get them. Some will be great for your deck, others not as much, but you’ll enjoy the experience much more if you don’t break your immersion and try to game the Reward system. Just stay in the story!

Wrapping It All Up

Here are the main points to take away from this post:

Lean into roleplaying your character. Don’t min-max your Ranger. Create a Ranger you’d want to go on a hike with.
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different energies and what lots of energy (3) or less energy (1) will mean for your gameplay.
Start with your Specialty. Then choose your Background and Outside Interest. Finish with your Personality.
Don’t pay too much attention to the Approach Icons when constructing your deck.
Place priority on Expert, Attachment, and Companion cards during Deck Construction.
Bringing in Moment and Gear cards mid-campaign is possible but treat this like a side mission itself. It takes time and planning so don’t expect to swap out half the cards in your deck for other cards in the collection.