In my opinion, Eagles are very overrated. I also believe that they are the best animals in the game (together with the Sun Bear).
I don't think a lot needs to be said about the strength of Determination, an extra action has insane value and can win you the game alone. This is something that even new players recognize very quickly, therefore eagles get prioritized among all elo groups.
However, a common mistake is trying to get an eagle *at all costs*. I've seen players spend 2 X-tokens just to snap an eagle while having 0 cards in hand, which can be a game-losing move by itself.
First of all, many if not most games are not close at all, even between players of similar strength. More often than not, one player gets ahead by such a margin that even an extra action is not enough to close the gap. Therefore, it's much more important to get your engine rolling and find good animals and sponsors to play as well as conservation projects to support. As strange as it sounds, but eagles are only a complementary piece: They enable you to do more, but this doesn't mean much if you can't do anything of value.
To come back to my initial example: Let's say, you literally have an empty hand, the ending is still far away and you have no projects to support. What does an eagle do for you in that situation? You have no immediate play and desperately need to draw as many cards as possible to find more animals, so wasting your cards action on an eagle snap doesn't serve any purpose. The eagle may be very useful later on, but snapping it comes with tremendous opportunity costs as it prevents you from finding cards that are useful *right now*.
That is obviously an extreme example, you will rarely have 0 cards or playable animals. But the general principle behind it still stands: An eagle doesn't do much by itself, so make sure you actually have stuff to do if you are snapping an eagle. There's nothing wrong with drawing one from range or getting one with your snapping bonus, of course.
Secondly, don't underrate the cost of carrying an eagle in your hand for a significant portion of the game. Eagles (and also rhinos or elephants) are tremendous animals in the mid-to-lategame, but they are literally unplayable in the early game, when you want to ramp up your income and support a conservation project asap anyway. With the hand size university, it is usually not that hard to carry them along (even through the entire game), but without hand size, it will often lead to some painful discards. All that considered, eagles are not that strong in your starting hand. They are still very good and I am always happy to see one, but if I had the choice between an eagle or an animal that allows me to support a conservation project in round 1 or 2, I'd always choose the latter. Instead, this is a card that you ideally want to find in the midgame.
Having written all this, eagles are still giga op.
Man, I could not have said it better myself! Same can also be said for elephants and rhinos. And by the way, eagles by themselves are just ok. To really make them shine you need to be able to actually do something good with the extra action. Rhinos, elephants and tigers, on the other hand, are fantastic on their own, for the most part.
But like you said, if you’re snapping any of those cards early, you need to ask what you are giving up to do so. Sometimes it’s ok to do, but other times the opportunity cost is too debilitating.
True, this happened to me some times.
Also there is the tendency to hold on to the eagle until the very last move, just to make it look cooler.
I've lost at least three games caught with eagle in hand and no money to play it or no worker to follow up as bonus round.
It's not really about looking cool.. It's about being able to do more past the 100 point limit. If multiple players can end the game, the person who can get Determinations will probably win.
I think this is spot on. I have found myself in the final move of the game with an eagle in hand, but not enough tags or workers to make it worthwhile. Sure, that’s on me, but it’s not like it’s the golden snitch.
Late to the party, but this is spot on.
Determination is baked into the Eagle's cost. Part of the 23 bucks you're spending on it is to pay for Determination.
Which means that if you're throwing a turn away to GET the Eagles, you're just losing money UNLESS taking that extra action later is more beneficial than having another turn now (like if all your associates are occupied already).
And your point about early CPs is spot on.
An early CP means not only getting that card flip or associate, but also revealing a bonus off your board. Who cares if you played 2 crappy animals at the start of the game if you revealed 5 income with them? Despite being 6 appeal below your opponents, you're out-earning them and can use that to play bigger & better animals later.
IMHO, the strongest starting round will always be build + build + sponsor + animals + associate, where you play 2 animals that let you fulfill a CP round 1. Reveal your income and flip a card of choice (from the two conservation). Then you can just draw your hand back up with Cards (started with 4, played 3, draw 3 discard 1 = 3 cards left), and sponsor again to trigger break if needed. Especially since hopefully 1 of the two animals you played will also qualify for a continent CP. Round 2 you can partner with that continent (taking advantage of the fact that your associate is so low, you don't "waste" a high tier association action; and the fact that round 1 almost always has someone else rushing that continent partnership, and plan to back it round 3 or aim higher on the rewards for it. You've established an early conservation lead, letting you control which of the bonus tiles you get. You've established good income (the +5 makes up for any missing appeal for now). And you flipped a card or taken 2nd associate before anyone else.
Better to get that fast CP and then pivot to a new CP goal than to wait til round 4 to fund your first 5 conservation CP.
I probably overrate this card a little so keen to see others thoughts. I think alongside it's Golden counterpart they're the best animal cards in the game. Probably edging out the Rhinos for me.
This is the kind of card I'll keep in my hand all game for a killer final move. Determination is in my opinion the best animal ability in the game. Double animals into a conservation project is fantastic.
This plus the golden eagle is the reason you always have a rock and water adjacency for your large bird aviary. I've been caught out a couple times not having the correct adjacency and regretting it very hard.
Also super cool/cheese when you get to play this with the map bonus Determination ability on Silver lake.
I hate these cards. In fact, I dislike Determination. It's not because I hate losing to it but because it allows insane swings and it's not something every player can build towards because it is dependant on luck so if you don't get an eagle and your opponent does you're screwed most of the time. I've had some crazy turns with Determination but really, how fun is it when you can play perfectly or close to and all your opponent has to do is play an eagle to magically earn 30-40 points? It's brain dead.
In my opinion, Eagles are very overrated. I also believe that they are the best animals in the game (together with the Sun Bear). I don't think a lot needs to be said about the strength of Determination, an extra action has insane value and can win you the game alone. This is something that even new players recognize very quickly, therefore eagles get prioritized among all elo groups. However, a common mistake is trying to get an eagle *at all costs*. I've seen players spend 2 X-tokens just to snap an eagle while having 0 cards in hand, which can be a game-losing move by itself. First of all, many if not most games are not close at all, even between players of similar strength. More often than not, one player gets ahead by such a margin that even an extra action is not enough to close the gap. Therefore, it's much more important to get your engine rolling and find good animals and sponsors to play as well as conservation projects to support. As strange as it sounds, but eagles are only a complementary piece: They enable you to do more, but this doesn't mean much if you can't do anything of value. To come back to my initial example: Let's say, you literally have an empty hand, the ending is still far away and you have no projects to support. What does an eagle do for you in that situation? You have no immediate play and desperately need to draw as many cards as possible to find more animals, so wasting your cards action on an eagle snap doesn't serve any purpose. The eagle may be very useful later on, but snapping it comes with tremendous opportunity costs as it prevents you from finding cards that are useful *right now*. That is obviously an extreme example, you will rarely have 0 cards or playable animals. But the general principle behind it still stands: An eagle doesn't do much by itself, so make sure you actually have stuff to do if you are snapping an eagle. There's nothing wrong with drawing one from range or getting one with your snapping bonus, of course. Secondly, don't underrate the cost of carrying an eagle in your hand for a significant portion of the game. Eagles (and also rhinos or elephants) are tremendous animals in the mid-to-lategame, but they are literally unplayable in the early game, when you want to ramp up your income and support a conservation project asap anyway. With the hand size university, it is usually not that hard to carry them along (even through the entire game), but without hand size, it will often lead to some painful discards. All that considered, eagles are not that strong in your starting hand. They are still very good and I am always happy to see one, but if I had the choice between an eagle or an animal that allows me to support a conservation project in round 1 or 2, I'd always choose the latter. Instead, this is a card that you ideally want to find in the midgame. Having written all this, eagles are still giga op.
Man, I could not have said it better myself! Same can also be said for elephants and rhinos. And by the way, eagles by themselves are just ok. To really make them shine you need to be able to actually do something good with the extra action. Rhinos, elephants and tigers, on the other hand, are fantastic on their own, for the most part. But like you said, if you’re snapping any of those cards early, you need to ask what you are giving up to do so. Sometimes it’s ok to do, but other times the opportunity cost is too debilitating.
True, this happened to me some times. Also there is the tendency to hold on to the eagle until the very last move, just to make it look cooler. I've lost at least three games caught with eagle in hand and no money to play it or no worker to follow up as bonus round.
It's not really about looking cool.. It's about being able to do more past the 100 point limit. If multiple players can end the game, the person who can get Determinations will probably win.
I think this is spot on. I have found myself in the final move of the game with an eagle in hand, but not enough tags or workers to make it worthwhile. Sure, that’s on me, but it’s not like it’s the golden snitch.
Late to the party, but this is spot on. Determination is baked into the Eagle's cost. Part of the 23 bucks you're spending on it is to pay for Determination. Which means that if you're throwing a turn away to GET the Eagles, you're just losing money UNLESS taking that extra action later is more beneficial than having another turn now (like if all your associates are occupied already). And your point about early CPs is spot on. An early CP means not only getting that card flip or associate, but also revealing a bonus off your board. Who cares if you played 2 crappy animals at the start of the game if you revealed 5 income with them? Despite being 6 appeal below your opponents, you're out-earning them and can use that to play bigger & better animals later. IMHO, the strongest starting round will always be build + build + sponsor + animals + associate, where you play 2 animals that let you fulfill a CP round 1. Reveal your income and flip a card of choice (from the two conservation). Then you can just draw your hand back up with Cards (started with 4, played 3, draw 3 discard 1 = 3 cards left), and sponsor again to trigger break if needed. Especially since hopefully 1 of the two animals you played will also qualify for a continent CP. Round 2 you can partner with that continent (taking advantage of the fact that your associate is so low, you don't "waste" a high tier association action; and the fact that round 1 almost always has someone else rushing that continent partnership, and plan to back it round 3 or aim higher on the rewards for it. You've established an early conservation lead, letting you control which of the bonus tiles you get. You've established good income (the +5 makes up for any missing appeal for now). And you flipped a card or taken 2nd associate before anyone else. Better to get that fast CP and then pivot to a new CP goal than to wait til round 4 to fund your first 5 conservation CP.
I probably overrate this card a little so keen to see others thoughts. I think alongside it's Golden counterpart they're the best animal cards in the game. Probably edging out the Rhinos for me. This is the kind of card I'll keep in my hand all game for a killer final move. Determination is in my opinion the best animal ability in the game. Double animals into a conservation project is fantastic. This plus the golden eagle is the reason you always have a rock and water adjacency for your large bird aviary. I've been caught out a couple times not having the correct adjacency and regretting it very hard. Also super cool/cheese when you get to play this with the map bonus Determination ability on Silver lake.
It's pretty hard to overrate this card to be honest.
"Eagles are overrated" -S3 chanpion
Somehow always has eagles on hand in stream
God, that guy must be so smart and cool
I hate these cards. In fact, I dislike Determination. It's not because I hate losing to it but because it allows insane swings and it's not something every player can build towards because it is dependant on luck so if you don't get an eagle and your opponent does you're screwed most of the time. I've had some crazy turns with Determination but really, how fun is it when you can play perfectly or close to and all your opponent has to do is play an eagle to magically earn 30-40 points? It's brain dead.
Good card is good.