The trading card game Force of Will (FOW), groups its card into five different colors/elements. Each element specializes in unique abilities and takes on its own general theme that injects into its creatures and art tones. The five elements are represented by the colors; yellow (light), purple (dark), blue (water), red (fire), and green (wind). Each element is also accompanied by an array of rulers you can play with. Rulers are the cards players revolve their deck around. You can consider it like your avatar. Most rulers have two sides, the ruler and J/ruler. The ruler beings as a simple mechanic and then upon command becomes a fierce solider with a whole new set of abilities.
Light is the element of protection and divinity. Through the light of this element we’ve seen princesses, kings, fairies, angles, and knights. Light specializes in a lot of healing and protective abilities. Light deals with preventing harmful threats even before they reach the field. One of light’s competitive rulers is Sacred Princess of Guidance/Lumia the Creator of Hope. As a ruler she can tap to recover 300 of your light points. When she J-activates (flips over to her J-ruler) she removes three cards from the top of your deck from the game and allows you to once per turn play a removed from play card. She displays two important aspects of light, healing and redemption.
Dark is the element of chaos and curses. In the shadow of the darkness lies demons,
Vampires, chimeras, Cthulhu’s and nightmares. They are all enhanced with abilities that include outright banishment of other Resonators (creatures), defense and attack deduction, and discarding cards from your opponent’s hand. One of its powerful rulers is Ebony Prophet/Abdul Alhazred, the Harbinger of Despair. After it J/activates it gains the ability to negate up to two resonators/additions per turn. As long as he stays a J-ruler all enter abilities of cards your opponent controls are negated. He hinders your opponent and slows down their plays and card combination.
Water is the element of purity and grace. Under those depths you’ll find mermaids, wererabbits, fantasies, queens and mages. The water element centers itself around hand advantage, redirecting and negating opponent’s abilities, and returning cards from field or graveyard to the hand or deck. Seer of the Blue Moon/Kaguya, Princess of the moon helps stun opponents by making Field addition cards easily accessible. Field additions are non-resonator cards that remain on the field with continuous and activated abilities.
Fire is the element of destruction and flare. Plenty of Werewolves, Dragons, Wanderers, Cthulhu’s and nightmares lurk within the flames of this element. Their effects include dealing specific numbered damage to players and resonators, swift resonators and avoidance. Little Red Riding hood/Little Red, the Wolf Girl acts as a hit and run by returning back to a ruler at the end of the turn she activates. She has a cheap cost allowing you to hit for a lot of damage almost every turn.
Wind is the element of mystery and enchanting. Within the wind element are elves, musketeers, spirits and humans. If you decide to use wind you gain access to a lot of counter abilities that prevent a card from ever resolving. There are also plenty of cards revolving around mana ramp and power boosting in order to get over certain cards. Most importantly wind builds on time and resources. Liberator of Wind/Scheherazade, the Teller of 1001 Stories on both side of the card just works toward managing resources. She searches a stone the moment the game starts and when she J-activates she can search any card and draw you cards when you run out of hand.
All five elements can be played competitively, it’s a matter of deck budget, and consistency. What element(s) will you choose?
