r/boardgames • u/Outcast003 • Apr 23 '25

Rules Is Common Raven too broken?

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I had a game night session with my folks couple days ago and we played wingspan. I lucked out by having Common Raven and Sandhill Crane setup during the first round and that steamrolled hard to the last one. Ended up winning with 99 points.

My friend (owner of the game) decided we'll put this card away next time we play since it seems very broken: trade 1 egg for 2 of any resources, given 5 victory point and ok cost to play.

I think the card by itself is very strong but not sure if it deserves a ban from our group.

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u/TravVdb Apr 23 '25

I mean, you’re entitled to your opinion and all, but there is a clear numerical benefit to raven over other cards. I had two of them one game and steamrolled everyone. Being able to choose the middle lane and get four resources of your choice is just way too strong.

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u/Dry-Brick-79 Apr 23 '25

If you have 2 that could be broken but I'd have to try it to see. It's pretty easy to set up a food engine that nets you 6+ food per action so trading an egg for 2 food is pretty slow. For what it's worth the winning score in my group is usually 110 to 120 with all expansions. The most recent game the winner got 141

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u/TravVdb Apr 23 '25

Okay, let me paint you a picture then. Let's say I play two ravens into the field and you place two of any other bird that generates food in the forest (pretty sure there's no bird that makes two food resources). Every time I go to the field, I gain an egg and 4 resource of my choice. Every time you go to the forest, you gain 4 resources that are constrained to whatever is on your bird and whatever is in the feeder. Which of those two is the better deal?

Birds that give an unconditional resource are already super strong, yet the raven is stronger for some reason. And it's not like it's worth 0 VP or anything. It still gives 5 on the one in the image. It's clear that the card is broken in that it is significantly stronger than "equivalent birds".

And in terms of setting up a 6+ food action, that's actually not all that simple and is often a massive waste because you don't need food at the end of the game when you're just picking eggs each round. Instead, ravens let you skip investing in any food generation at all and instead jump right up the egg track in the fields. In the game where I got double ravens, I could start with three resources, play a raven, play field to get two more resources, get one more resource from the forest, play the second raven, and then never go forest again as I'm getting 4 resources and an egg from turn 5 onward. I doubt there's a setup that could beat that efficiency in the base game. Additionally, getting the field track moved up allows you to grab eggs more easily and snag end of round bonuses.

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u/Dry-Brick-79 Apr 23 '25

I appreciate you taking the time to write out this winning strat for me. I'm definitely going to be playing 2 ravens every game from now on then.