Way back in the mists of time Altered was still demoing in various games conventions. One of the card arts shown in 2023 was a certain druid with a big wolf / dog and a squirrel riding atop. What could be more Muna than a druid so at home with nature and Saphire, for one, instantly fell in love with the image and the game. The scene is so calm and friendly, but also gives the feeling of looking ahead at the possibility of a very intense journey. It’s kind of like taking that one last deep breath in calmness, where time freezes for a moment, before you make that tough final decision at the start of something new.

     Fast forward through Beyond the Gates, Trial by Frost and Whispers from the Maze and our beloved druid still hadn’t shown up. Why hadn’t our beloved druid shown up yet? It’s only when you read the flavour text and you find out that our beloved druid is Kauri’s mentor that you understand. Eru, we discover, is a hermit and a lover of all animalkind. His heart is rooted in the lore of the wilds and that rooting perhaps gives us a clue or two to his abilities. 

     Let’s start by looking at the fantastic artwork from Nestor Papatriantafyllou that appears on the common version of Eru.

     The common has two things going for it. Firstly the stats are a little over the par for a three cost card. Secondly the card costs three mana which is very crucial for Muna since it can easily be anchored by the hundreds of ways that Muna can anchor a character already. So the common is actually a useful card which is slightly stronger and does not have a stupendous downside (like letting the opponent draw a card – I’m looking at you Daughter of Yggdrasil). Indeed as a base stat it is stronger than any other 3 cost Muna common as it doesn’t have a big downside going for it. 

     Some of the more competitive folk here on the blog were a bit disappointed that the common card doesn’t do more, but it’s a bit above average and can form the basis of good stats for lower cost.

     This makes it perfect for Teija as you can play it first as a 5/4/4 and then later in the turn anchor it. Having the higher stat in the forest region makes it perfect for Rin. Arjun can anchor him as he costs three. Only Kauri perhaps doesn’t get anything more from the common, but perhaps we should take a look at the rare and see why Eru is his mentor.

     First of all though, let’s take a look a little closer at the artwork on the rare and we discover something a little unexpected. Attached to his belt is a mask and a stake. That mask is perhaps something we have seen before, reminding us here on the blog very much of the mask on the Hellequin that was shown on the Whispers of the Maze card Requiem. Is it possible that Eru is a member of the Hellequin too?

    He’s now been joined on the artwork by two more friends. Two adorable looking raccoons have shown up to join the party. 

     His ability has changed as well with his stats losing a point in the mountains and a point in the forest. What are we getting for losing those stat points though? Well, we are getting the ability to make our loveable druidic friend anchored. Clearly he has a connection to the skein and he can use that to anchor himself. However to do that he needs another creature to help him anchor, and like a lot of Muna cards he shares the ability with a creature card on the opponent’s side. The secret therefore has to be for you to make more advantage out of it than your opponent.

    The first thing to note here is that you cannot gain anchored UNLESS your opponent has a character in play. The anchoring is conditional on you being able to give anchored to a creature card on the other side of the expedition. This is of course great against Ordis, and to a lesser extent Axiom, which will typically have an Ordis Recruit or a Brassbug in play through noon. Of course you can hold Eru until your opponent plays a creature but you are risking it being ‘bigger than you’d want’. 

     Eru has an obvious combo with Cloth Cocoon (though that’s fairly expensive) giving a character anchored and then removing it. It also could be a lot of fun to anchor an opponent’s character that doesn’t have stats matching the terrain it’s either in or moving into (sorry Lyra characters!). You could also team him up with a Will of the Wisp or Persephone where the opponent can now only advance by a certain region type and then lock it down for yourself for two turns. 

    Now I’m going to come back to the part about Eru being Kauri’s mentor. How do you guarantee getting a character on the opponent’s side of the expedition? Why by giving them a cute fluffy cloud sheep, that’s why. If Kauri goes first then he gives his bountiful gifts out to the opponent. Sure it gets to be anchored as well, but Eru has better stats than the cuddly little Woollyback and leaves behind a nice card for Kauri to cast too. I would love to see a spell whereby Kauri gets to go and round up all the Woollybacks onto his side of the expedition – that would be so much fun!

     Of course with Teija a 5/3/3 for 3 with anchored is no joke either and even a 4/2/2 for Rin will mean she stands more chance of advancing on forest for a couple of turns. It seems Eru has a lot of utility therefore to make your ‘sharing is caring deck’ so much better!

     Finally let’s take a look at the out of faction rare.

     Muna is now teaching the Ordis the benefits of sharing. Ordis doesn’t get many ways to anchor anything, so this is something that Ordis doesn’t usually get and it may have uses, although sacrificing a rare for the effect is a steep price. The obvious combo is with Hypothermia, giving the opposing character both anchored and asleep or just using a Teamwork Training to take out the character that you were going to take out anyway. Giving it anchored is irrelevant if you are already going to remove it. The blog doesn’t feel that Eru is going to be at his strongest in his alternative faction, but he will certainly have his uses!

    Well there it is. I hope you all have fun and enjoy sharing and caring with all your animal friends!

Read more

• Cards preview: The Odyssey in the Sky – Skybound Odyssey
• New Mechanics and Card Design
• Skybound Odyssey Spoilers