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Candela Zeana, President of the Democratic States of New Kratia, is a competent, confident, and capable leader on the surface.
But what the world sees of her is only exactly what she wants them to see. Her influence and ability to manipulate others to suit her plans is unparalleled, and nobody really knows just how far her influence spreads.
If you’ve finished the interactive story Volkov’s Escape, you’ll know that Candela Zeana plays a part in the exile of Roman Volkov.
And though Zeana has teamed up with Adam Zoff, now the Premier of Trionvice…do we really know what her true motivations are? Or what she’ll do to reach her final goal?
President Zeana is the standard for morale-based deck construction.
Brandon C. Adams – Warsaken® Creator
Taking a look at President Zeana, we can safely point to her favoring “control” and “drain” tactics.
Zeana’s style tends to favor intel gain, scare tactics, and eliminating your opponent through control and morale loss.
CONDEMNING EVIDENCE can be activated every 2 turns, and allows you to gain 1 intel, and force an enemy to lose 1 morale.
While this ability might not seem great at first glance, gaining 1 intel for free is always good. If you’re in a race to lock your enemy out of the ability to play intel cards, this ability helps.
Where this ability shines though is the forceful drain of enemy morale. Forcing morale loss using cards is often costly, whether through Forces or Morale cards.
Having an ability that does part of the work for you is wonderful.
ENGINEERED SCANDAL is Zeana’s second ability, and it’s a doozy. Forcing an enemy to lose 9 morale makes SCANDAL one of the hardest hitting abilities in Genesis of Conflict.
The morale loss from SCANDAL is roughly equivalent to eliminating 2 territories, on average.
This is yet another ability though that won’t allow you to attack with forces on the same turn. It hits enemy players so hard; they deserve at a last gasp before they’re finished.
So, what cards in Genesis of Conflict pair well with President Zeana? Here’s our top 5:
Blackmail…I mean, the name really says it all.
Playing Blackmail, your opponent will get to choose from 2 options: give you resources or lose morale. Either way it’s a win-win for Zeana.
Non-Aggression Treaty is a great stall tactic.
Another “choice” card, your enemy will have to decide whether to agree to pacifism for a turn or lose 3 morale.
Zeana generally wants them to pick option 2, but option 1 can be really disruptive for decks that need to attack consistently.
Instilling Fear is great way for Zeana to wear down an enemy throughout the game.
Where it really shines though is when it’s being used after her ability SCANDAL to take out the last few points of enemy morale and attack the enemy leader directly.
I foresee Instilling Fear being a very popular card all around in Standard.
Targeted Sabotage might seem a little strange to pair with Zeana at first glance but hear me out.
Sabotage pulls triple duty in a Zeana deck, first by allowing you to see your opponent’s hand, giving you an idea of what to play around.
Second, you get to disrupt the enemy player’s strategy by forcing them to discard a card from the hand you’re seeing.
Then third, if you’ve chosen a card with a 0 or 1 turn-timer, the enemy player loses 1 morale.
And all of this happens for only 2 resources. And you can put 4 of these in your deck. Don’t sleep on this one!
Lasting Blizzard is a great way to slow down the game and disrupt an enemy that aims to win through attacking.
While weather gets bounced by other weather, if your Blizzard stays in the warzone, your opponent’s forces will come to a full stop, buying you more time for your own strategy.
In all, the President of New Kratia has the ability to influence the game in ways that other leaders simply can’t match.
I anticipate her popularity in standard will be high, and with more options coming in Set 000 and Set 002 for her to choose from, she only gets better from here.
Zeana’s story is just getting started, and I’m looking forward to the lore and revelations we’ve cooked up for her future.
When you’re ready, head on over to Warsaken Standard or The Store.
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