SantoriniPowerScylla

Introduction

As one of the sea monsters of the Strait of Messina, Scylla is no less scary than Charybdis, the other sea monster of the duo. Her ability to pluck sailors off ships is now used against her opponents’ workers, and that’s as deadly, if not more, than a whirlpool swirling and consuming everything...

God Power

If your worker moves from a space that neighbors an opponent’s worker, you may force that worker into the space yours just vacated.

Category

Opponent forcing

Game Strategies

Early Game

One of the most important things to remember when playing with Scylla is that she will only be able to use her power if the opponent is in range. With that in mind, Scylla should at all cost try to stay close to both of the opponents workers. For example, if the opponent starts an attack on one corner of the board and Scylla ignores them and starts her own attack on a distinct corner of the board, then Scylla is not making the most of her ability, since she will have no effect over the opponent. Moreover, with Scylla it is easy to control the placement of the opponent’s workers so she shouldn’t be afraid of letting them move up, as long as she is close by.

Mid Game

Similarly to Apollo, it is many times advantageous to have Scylla’s workers in bad positions so that when they use their power, the opponent gets dragged to that position. A big advantage from Scylla to Apollo is that she can be two levels below the opponent and still have an effect over them and that leads to a very strong strategy which is the following: Having a level 2 worker and a ground level worker nearby. If Scylla’s level 2 worker is being defended by an opponent’s level 2 worker, then the ground level worker will be the one forcing the opponent to the ground. Consider the following example:

Here Scylla plays the most natural move, which is to move the C4 worker and force the B4 worker. Now the B5 worker has a group of levels 2 all by itself and the opponent is stuck on the ground. This wouldn’t be possible if both of Scylla’s workers were in a good position.

Late Game

The downside of Scylla’s ability is that she cannot move to the square in which the opponent is. This implies that domes actually have a negative impact on her (unlike Apollo), reducing her mobility and hence making it harder to move around the opponent. Still, Scylla’s ability is good in a closed position due to the fact that she can decide to use it or not, putting the opponent in zugzwang.

Specific Matchup

Aphrodite

Scylla is probably one of the strongest picks against Aphrodite. For instance, the usual Aphrodite strategy to prevent the opponent from moving up to a level 3 by staying away from that level 3 but still neighboring the opponent, doesn’t work against Scylla since she can force Aphrodite to the vacated square and move wherever she wants. Scylla will dominate this matchup.

Apollo

In this matchup Apollo stands stronger but what is quite interesting is to compare these powers. While Apollo cannot affect an opponent standing two or more levels above, Scylla can and this is actually one of her strongest suits. But does this mean that Scylla is stronger than Apollo? Not in the slightest. We cannot forget one of the strongest qualities about Apollo which is being able to move to the space occupied by the opponent. This might not seem much at first but most regular Santorini strategies are not effective when your opponent is able to control you like that. At the end of the day, Scylla is very strong, but she is not at the same level as Apollo.

Artemis

A balanced matchup in which it is hard for both ends to make an effective use of their powers. Overall, Scylla seems to have a small advantage.

At the start of the game, the plan for Artemis is to split up Scylla's workers, by playing on both sides of the board. Then, to use her better mobility to get a 2 to 1 advantage on one side of the board and win. But this is easier said than done. If both players are playing on their own side of the field, Artemis mobility allows her to block opponent threats more easily.

There is a high chance that the game will reach the endgame, because for both gods it is hard to create threats thanks to the opponent's ability. Scylla's ability can't be used to full potential, because of Artemis' great mobility, but it is still a strong ability. Artemis should have advantage if there is a large connected level 2 shape, but even then it can be tricky to win.

Artemis should try to avoid massive building of domes, because less space means that her great mobility is less useful. Moreover, in that case Artemis is forced to be next to Scylla which allows her to use its ability.

Atlas

Atlas might try to trap Scylla, but due to her dragging ability, this might backfire and it might be Atlas who actually ends up getting trapped.

Clio

Clio’s coins are more powerful than you can imagine and this matchup is a perfect example. By standing on a coin, Clio is a dome in Scylla’s eyes and hence cannot be forced out of that square. This is of course very good, Clio can avoid Scylla just by moving into one of her favorite squares, the coins. However, does this mean that Clio will have an easy win? No, and you will have to try it out to understand what we mean.

Dionysus/Eris

The god of wine can be a good pick against the monster since a drunken monster is less effective. Similarly, Eris seems to be an even stronger pick against Scylla. However, Scylla is still pretty strong on both matchups.

Harpies

The difficulty that Scylla will have in this matchup is to stay close to Harpies, since she is dragged to the perimeter by Harpies. Nevertheless, Scylla should hold an advantage in this matchup.

Hermes

Hermes’s possibility of not moving is proved to be useful here. However, Scylla is still a more aggressive power and Hermes will have a tough time trying to win.

Hippolyta

It is not impossible for Hippolyta to win, but definitely very difficult and if she is facing a strong Scylla opponent, then I’m afraid there won’t be much she can do.

Limus

Scylla will be very hard to beat, considering that she can control the placement of Scylla’s workers and hence Limus is much less effective. This matchup is another prove of how strong Scylla is.

Poseidon

You might be surprised to see this matchup being mentioned, but Scylla might have a shot if Poseidon doesn’t play this correctly.

Prometheus

You might know Prometheus as one of the strongest powers out there but Scylla will make him look like a noob. The downside of Prometheus is moving up, which is a turn where he is a mere mortal. Moving up against Scylla is not the problem. The problem is that she can easily ruin his whole progress with a single move, putting Prometheus on the ground, where he is weak.

Siren

By being able to force Scylla away, this sea battle turns out to be quite interesting. Here the Siren player needs to fully understand how to take advantage of Siren’s ability.

Triton

Triton’s mobility and ability to attack (and defend) different areas of the board at the same time is powerful against Scylla. However, a good player with Scylla might be able to defeat Triton, with correct play.

Conclusion

Just like Apollo or Charon, Scylla might appear inoffensive at first, but she will prove to be deadly. However, unlike Apollo and Charon, she cannot move to the space occupied by the opponent, which makes her slightly weaker in comparison. In some sense, Scylla is more interesting than the two other powers because not being so overpowered allows the opponent to still have a chance. You will see that Scylla will dominate many powers, but you will also find really cool counters against her (which would most likely not work against Apollo or Charon).

Tier ranking: A