SantoriniPowerPersephone

Introduction

Persephone, the innocent goddess of spring, is often seen as a detriment for most people. Forcing opponents to move up? Seems a bad deal. However, you will find her power being able to misguide opponents to move away or towards her. So how to keep her opponents on the edge of spring?

God Power

If possible, at least one worker must move up on an opponent's turn.

Category

Opponent forcing

Explanation

On an opponent's turn, opponents must move up at least one worker if possible (which may force other moves). If there are nowhere to move up, opponents can move freely.

Game Strategies

Early Game

Persephone should start by building in the perimeter (not necessarily adjacent to the opponent). Many players like to build in a corner adjacent to the opponent so that he has to move to the corner. That can be good, but don’t forget that the more your opponent moves up, the closest he is to winning. Building in the perimeter is usually good for two reasons:

• If the opponent goes there, he has to move up to the perimeter.
• If the opponent ignores that build and goes to another zone of the board, you can try to use the block which you built to create your own winning threat. It might not be that easy for the opponent to go there and defend (for example, if the opponent’s workers are both on a level 1, when they step down, they might leave a level 1 behind and this might “force” them to turn back.

Moreover, if you don’t plan to use your constructions right away, you should build in squares which are not adjacent. The motive behind this is that it will create more squares to which your opponent has to move up and also to make sure that when he steps down, there is always another square for him to move up in the next turn.

Mid Game

During the mid game, you should try to create threats here and there so that your opponent has to move down. If he moves down, your power regenerates and he might get pushed away from his comfort zone.

Late Game

If you have an aggressive position, this could mean you are close to winning, you just have to deflect your opponent. As an example, consider the following position:

Persephone is close to winning in B4 (or B5), but the D5-worker could defend this threat… How to deal with this? Just deflect him! First, Persephone moves to D4 and build on E5. Then the opponent is forced away. Therefore the threat in B5 cannot be defended afterwards.

Note that as Persephone you want different levels of height in distinct areas of the board (a board covered with levels 1 is no good for Persephone).

Specific Matchup

Artemis

This is a weird matchup where Artemis will most likely be able to move up in every turn. For example, if she is on a level 2, with a neighboring level 1 she has to move to the floor in her first turn so that in her second turn she can move up to that level 1. It will be very hard for Artemis to come up with a good plan and Persephone will be the one throwing punch after punch.

Athena

Although it might seem interesting to “force” Athena to move up whenever she can, she still won’t matter and this will be very tough for Persephone.

Asteria

Asteria is a god that likes to move up (so that she can then move down and use her power). She is stronger than Persephone in this matchup, but Persephone can dream of a position where Asteria has to move up instead of moving down to place a dome in a winning square.

Bia

Bia’s double attack won’t normally work here as Persephone can just deflect her by building in a square to which Bia has to move up to. Even if Bia is able to kill one of Persephone’s workers, it might still be tricky to win. So, if you are Persephone and lose a worker, don’t lose your hopes as there still could be a chance.

Chronus

Chronus is very weak, but Persephone is not a very aggressive power so you might be wondering if Persephone is strong enough to defeat Chronus. The answer is yes. What Persephone needs to do here is to drive Chronus away from her personal space and she will be able to conquer the win.

Circe

This is an interesting balanced game. Persephone has to be careful as losing her power might cost her to be a few turns without it.

Double builders (e.g. Demeter, Hestia)

All double builders are very good against Persephone and you should pick them without hesitation.

Dionysus

This is a balanced game. Have fun.

Eros

Here Persephone has the advantage of easily forcing Eros to a level 2. However, it is pretty hard for Persephone to play this matchup and Eros will most likely win (I’m not denying some winning chances for Persephone).

Gaea

Gaea is stronger here, although having 4 workers can become a liability.

Graeae

At first this matchup might seem a problem to Graeae, as being forced away is terrible when you are Graeae (you have to return, and only on the next turn can you build a neighboring square). It might take a while for Graeae to finally have a winning attack, but she will most likely convert the game into a win.

Hades

This is an interesting (and thematic) matchup. Both gods are not that aggressive so they combine quite well. The best strategy to Persephone is probably to create separated islands and Hades has to be very careful not to get far away.

Hera

Although Persephone could get some initiative by forcing Hera to awkward squares, Hera should still be preferred here. Recall that if Hera reaches a level 2 in C3 the game is practically over.

Iris

This is a very interesting matchup where Iris is sometimes “forced” to use her power since she can move up like that. An interesting and rare case which can happen in this matchup is Persephone trapping Iris by “forcing” her to use her power. For example, consider a complete tower in A4 and B5, a ground level Iris in the center C3. Persephone moves to B4 and builds a level 1 in A5. The C3-worker can jump over Persephone and go to the corner. If this is the only possible way of moving up which the C3-worker has, Iris moves to A5 and cannot finish the turn (she cannot build) and Persephone wins!

Nemesis

Persephone is especially good here since she can easily drive Nemesis to the corners, where it is easy to stay close to her.

Pan

A tricky matchup but where I believe both sides should be able to win. Persephone has to use her power wisely as Pan cannot move up too much. A strong player with Persephone is needed in this match.

Pegasus

It can be annoying for Pegasus to move up almost every turn (he is “forced” to use his power), but this combination provides a balanced match. Pegasus needs to be extra careful as it will be especially hard to move away from a corner.

Poseidon

You never thought that Persephone could be a match for Poseidon, but you would be surprised. Although Poseidon is still stronger here, there are chances for Persephone. Ideally, Persephone wants to “force” Poseidon to move up both ground level workers so that he plays with no power. This still might not be easy to do as the ground level worker can build around him and make sure he doesn’t have nowhere to move up to. I suggest Persephone to place her workers first.

Proteus

This is absolutely the worst possible power to play against Persephone. It is very hard for Proteus to move all of his workers up. Whenever he moves up, a worker in a lower level gets left behind and in the next turn if that worker moves up, another worker goes to that position. I would not recommend this matchup as Proteus will get demolished.

Selene

A balanced matchup where Persephone can use her power to drive the female Selene away. But be careful, an isolated female Selene can win easily on her own.

Triton

I do not recommend this matchup as Triton can just ignore Persehone almost every turn. If Triton can move up to the perimeter, he can just do it and return to his original square as if nothing happened.

Conclusion

Although at first Persephone might seem weak at first (after all, the point of the game is to move up until you reach the third level), you need to be careful as moving up might not always be what you want to do. Persephone is not a very strong power, but can definitely surprise many players and gods by restricting their choices.

Tier ranking: B