Glorus the Dawnbringer is one of the new leaders featured in the Mana Storm expansion.
A leader of the Dawnseekers druidic clan, she produces your choice of a Forest or a Sky symbol each time she’s played, along with a point of mana;. When you can spare 4 mana to flip her over to her upgraded side as one of your buys for the turn, the “or” turns into “and” giving you greater options to purchase vale cards, in addition to the point of mana. While your end-of-game VP on the upgraded side only increases by 1, Glorus features an ability to a lot more points before the end of the game. Although she is one of the less valuable leaders in terms of end-of-game VP, if you’re strategic with vale purchases she gives a fair number of extra VP to the lucky and/or skilled player for each Animal spirit in the costs of the vales you own (this also includes the cost of wild spirt symbols, which count as Animals even though you can use Forests and Skies to pay for them).
The following are some of the new vale cards in Mana Storm that combo perfectly if Glorus is your chosen leader.
Split Rock
This vale doesn’t feature any Animal spirits in its cost but its ability allows you to convert your Sky spirits into wilds. This is a very powerful ability to purchase vales with Animal spirits in its cost, especially since Glorus doesn’t have any Animal spirits herself.
Howling Peak
Similar to Split Rock, its ability allows you to convert your Forest spirits into wilds which increases your buying options. Since Howling Peak’s cost is 2 Animal spirits, this vale is worth a total of 3 VP at the end of the game with Glorus’s ability!
Gaia’s Tears
This vale is fairly easy to buy after Glorus is upgraded since you only need one additional Sky spirit to cover its cost. While the vale starts with a setback of negative 3 VP, this can quickly turn into positive points since Glorus’s primary strategy is to purchase vales during the game. Note that Gaia’s Tears counts itself for end-of-game scoring, so you only need 2 more vales to break even and each vale you own after that is positive points!
– Article by Will Pell