The Ultimate Wingspan Tier List: Early Game Strategy Guide & Bird Rankings - Part 1
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- Birds are ranked specifically for their early game potential & value.
Special thanks to my co-commentator: Flan. Check out his channel for more Wingspan contents:
/ @winginitwingspan
Tier list includes 180 birds from Wingspan base game & swift-start pack.
3:05 - Birds start with "A"
24:10 - Birds start with "B"
1:00:00 - Birds start with "C"
1:24:00 - Birds start with "D"
1:29:45 - Birds start with "E"
1:32:34 - Birds start with "F"
1:35:36 - Birds start with "G"
Wingspan tournament discord: / discord - Ігри
If you like funny Wingspan meme videos, check out this channel: ua-cam.com/channels/aiCStL_1YMmZwPS4bjxOYg.html
It's really charming how excited I can hear you guys get when you disagree, like you really want to know what the other's thought process is. Love the energy of this channel.
Thank you! That means a lot!
Whew. I was SO worried about you both, the grading of these birds was getting weird. Then I realized your ranking them on early game play. A tricky topic, but you both covered it well.
Glad that our reputation is still safe! I definitely have second thoughts for a few birds…
which bird did you realize it? For me it was the put an egg on every bird with a certain nest cards
@@BoardInTheHouseBGAplayer I can’t remember, I watched the video a while ago. I was like 8-10 mins into the video. My top takeaway from this video is be careful selecting 3 food birds at the beginning. Great video overall!
It’s almost like they specified that at the beginning and it’s in the title of the video.
tay bullied me into watching this but i gotta say it is worth the time investment. if anyone's put off by the 1:43:40 runtime, grab a coloring book and color birds while listening to birds. there's a lot of helpful tips and good insight in this vid. also a lot of migratory bird hate, so just be prepared :)
"Bullied is a strong word.... but anyway, thanks for the endorsement!
I also bullied you into watching this
Happy to hear about all I want to know about birds and combo play :) Thanks!
You are welcome! Hope you enjoy.
A different perspective or approach I would be interested in hearing as a followup would be "how best to use this bird" or "which scenarios is this bird the best for?"
Thinking what to do with these cards, rather than which cards to choose. I appreciate all the insights, thanks.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to think more about that.
Good video!!
Would love to see more.
I would also watch one where you can read each card by card to listen to it on the commute and be able to memorize the birds easier!
Thanks for watching!
Black crowned night heron deserves a highest ranking imo. It's been crucial in some of my wins that have let me partly skip investing in the forest
It’s a great big point bird with some decent use in certain situation.
One thing I always knock against an early game bird is 3 of the same food, 'cause at least with literally any other food cost, the bird can be played on turn 1 (As if it's 2 of the same, then one different, you can take that bird, then 4 food, including both types of food that appear, that 1 + 1 + .5 + .5 = 3, so you can play it, where as if it's 3 of the same, 1 + .5 + .5 + .5 < 3, so you can't play it on turn 1, regardless of what you do). Being forced to waste an action on taking another food is just so bad because you'd rather use that action to do something productive, that I think it's a pretty big knock against a card.
Good point!
This is great! Thanks for making this Tier list! I'm wanting to get good at this game.
Have fun!
really enjoyed this, great to see S Tier Wingspan content, but! franklin's gull above ravens is insanity, draw is so much easier to access than wild food choice
But Franklin's gull and killdeer are the only two birds that can generate cards in the grassland. There are quite a few birds that can produce food in the grassland besides the ravens.
…but not two…
Im playing wingspan in 2 tourneys in the next month and this is very helpful
I wish you all the best!
In all the videos of yours that I've seen you've never made the joke "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Unless I missed it. Thanks for the videos, love this game.
I don't think I have... haha
Learned a lot from this vid. Thanks!
Glad to hear it!
I now see that this is ranked on early game, but california condor is an amazing card for the entire game. Its a free all environment card that allows you to get bonus cards which helps for late game. Not only does it easily advance you, but it has a lot of good late game potential with its bonus cards. It can really help with getting the better rewards. I mean it is literally feee.
Late game can be kind of a gamble because of zero points, and you have to pay for the eggs. Typically you can pretty reliably score 4 points or more with just activating grassland. But if you are feeling lucky!
@@tuckNcache i like putting it in forest or in grasslands. Forest is actually very good for getting the 2 dice reward, but grasslands is for those 3 eggs. The bonus card ability normally costs 1 or 2 more tokens for other cards, so the fact that its free is actually insane. It could easily give you 6-8 more points which adds up really well. Whenever i get this card i always score in the 90s
Only one I may disagree with is the 1 food for 2 tucked cards ones. I’d say they are B/C mid to late game and for that reason maybe a solid D early on. Where they really shine is when you can have a crow or wheat gain card in front of them in the grassland row. Then you get an extra 2 points for every egg lay action. Very strong but admittedly a bit situational.
Good point. The ranking is mostly focused on early game potential
I don't understand your undervaluing the egg laying pink powers. Playing at the start of the game can gain you 5-14 free eggs in the game depending on the number of players. Usually when I play these birds I never have to play eggs more than once or twice until the last round, that ends up saving a lot of turns and churning out points right up to the end of the game. Even in the grassland it is unlikely you will play a bird that makes up for the points you would have obtained from a cowbird. The benefit makes these usually a must play for me, and usually results in the same "easy win" category that an early corvid or killdeer/gull gets. It just saves too many turns not to play in 90% of situations.
I agree that the brown-headed cowbird can be rated a bit higher (B tier), especially with higher players count. But egg laying pink powers are not game winning like the ravens or killdeer. Many of them are quite expensive to play in early game and you also need to invest in another bird with the right nest type to benefit from their power.
Thank you for your response! I've almost never lost when I'm the only one with an egg laying pink power in the first round in a 3-5 player game. It can burn an extra turn or two but the payoff saves so many more turns over the course of the game, with the addition of a bunch more points as well. I understand in a two player game the argument can be made that the upside isn't big enough depending on other cards in hand which probably makes some of them B-C tier for 2 player only. In 3-5 player I would say it is a strategic mistake to fail to play those in the first round unless you're also holding a number of other S and A tier cards in your hand, and even then I might decide to just hold onto it until the beginning of the second round as it will still pay off. It's also worth noting that the bowl nests have a lot of good early game birds that make playing the cowbirds or cuckoo immediately advantageous. I recognize the other two might not always synergize with early game birds as well. At a bear minimum the Brown Headed Cowbird at it's 1 food cost is A tier, I strongly suggest you try out using it early game next time you get it and test it yourself. The lack of one brown power in the middle is far outweighed by the dominance of that card over the course of a game.
For the Blue Jay (and other birds that just allow you to cache the food on your card), when you say you can get two foods do you mean because you're building your engine out? Generally speaking I think caching cards are not very valuable.
Edit: I realize I've been reading the cards wrong, see now you can choose between keeping the grain as a resource but then opt to cache the food later for a VP if the food resource isn't needed. Definitely pretty great cards.
PS this video definitely helped me beef up my game play and strategy. Finally beat my partner and for once didn't feel like I was always starved for resources!
With a bird like blue jay in the forest, you can get two foods (one from the base action and one from activation of blue jay’s brown power) without discarding a card for the second food.
Tucking cards is quite strong especially with brown power that allows you to draw one back; you are cycling cards and making points at the same time. Tuck and lay eggs brown power allows you to convert bad card to two pts.
Can you do another tier list with the European Expansion? Thanks.
it's definitely on the working list 😉 stay tuned
I don’t get how you rank the chimney swift. It’s basically 3 birds in one, as long as you plan what you’re doing next. Super useful at the start and at midgame.
Good point. But sometimes that can also hand tie you to certain sequence of actions, and take away flexibility to react to changing bird tray or your opponent’s boards.
@@tuckNcache well at one point I forget to move it anyway 😅
This is one of the most useful videos you guys have done. Is there any way you could do this same thing for the European Expansion cards?
Thanks! It's definitely on our radar. But we also don't want to rush it.
The Ravens and the Orioles are all great birds. Go Baltimore!
Absolutely
What is your definition of "early game"? I would say definitly the first round with 8 actions. Maybe more. I think you are underestimating the power of the birds that eat two of the same food like the Oriole, because you cant play it with the first action. But it is very good to play in my opinion.
I would say early game is mostly round 1. I think the baltimore oriole is a very solid starter bird. But its "benefit to food" ratio is a bit lower compared to other tier A birds.
This is so useful . I might have missed this but what is early I the game ? First round? First and second ?
I would say first round, and maybe first half of round 2
I’ve always wondered if if it’s better to have a bird that provides only seed/worm or a bird that only provides one of the other food? I love the Oriole, and even if cherries are less commonly used, when one needs a cherry it’s never in the feeder.
9 pts and star nest is hard to dismiss!
Did you manually type out all the bird names? If you did, wow. Nice dedication.
I did. Thank you!
Could you say that the pink birds are in a 2 Player game really bad and in a 5 players game a must have and overpowered ? So that is a bit dificult to rank these.
Some running thoughts:
The condor is clearly b. You rated a bird that costs 2 resources as a C with the same effect, only upside being 4 points instead of 1. Condor can make 2 birds in forest early.
I think you’re underrating the migratory effect, at least for the cheap ones. Good planning means it’s practically in every environment (though it can make building tricky).
I think the oystercatcher is f tier. Being wetland means you’re investing in future draw, so immediate draw becomes somewhat less valuable, but giving all your opponents a card is so bad. I think across the board you’re overrating symmetrical powers. Add on the tricky cost and I think it’s absolutely awful.
Agree with most of what you’re saying though, and some good points. I think I was underrating the Brandt!
Agreed that condor could be moved up.
I find migratory bird suboptimal to play most of the time because it reduces the flexibility of your actions and make your move more predictable. For example, if you started in the wetland, after you drew card and migrated your bird to the forest, if any good bird showed up after your opponent drew, you now missed a wetland bird that helps with card draw. Or a lot of time, it also add barrier to playing bird in specific habitat (ie you will have to migrate the bird before you play so that you don't trap the bird)
Putting oystercatcher in F is kinda harsh. You get a bird in wetland, and two cards, which would typically take at least two actions to gain.
Brant is very dividing. People either love it or hate it.
@@tuckNcache I’m still fairly new so you may be right about migratory birds, I think I need more time to try them. Also my opponents are definitely on a lower level than yours lol. (I’m a 20 year vet of competitive magic the gathering, so that’s what I’m drawing on for some of my evaluations).
I guess I could see oystercatcher in D, but I think it’s a mistake to consider it as +2 cards. It’s +1 cards relative to your opponents, which is what matters in a zero-sum game. I’d like it a lot more if it could be played in forest since you could use the draw to delay the need for wetland investment, but I really don’t like the dynamic of a bird that makes your investment more redundant while enabling your opponents to potentially focus on other habitats for longer. I guess they typically won’t get a great bird once you’ve had first pick, but the bigger the game the more likely you’re giving away something serious. Anyway, 2 duplicate resources for a bird that gives +1 card with some selection when you play it? To me that reads pretty low. Maybe D is more fair but I definitely don’t like it.
I think the Baltimore oriole is a more clear-cut example of a symmetrical bird that I think is being overrated. I’d value symmetrical food generation that only fits into a forest as almost a downside (obviously not a true downside since it’s optional, but I’d frequently decline to use it). Maybe there’s an element I’m missing, but I don’t see any obvious reason to think that I could make better use of those resources than my opponents, making the ability typically a wash. That leaves a 3-resource forest bird with very little upside, except for its large point total, which is of low importance early. I think it’s d or f in early game (obviously better late).
I still like the hummingbirds since they’re more cheap and flexible, especially Anna’s since you can typically get better options than your opponents with it. Being able to put them in other environments means you can invest outside the forest while still diversifying your resources, which is good and reduces the chance of redundancies. I think I’d maybe put them b-tier but I don’t think all symmetrical resource generation is bad.
Thanks for responding btw, I love card evaluation and had a great time watching your videos!
It's interesting that you mention MTG. We have quite a few people on the tournament discord server with MTG experience and there were discussion about meta in the MTG context.
Baltimore oriole's 9pts and star nest could be quite good sometimes. That's almost 10% of total pts for a typical game.
Again, thanks for sharing. Very interesting insights.
@@tuckNcache I do think the oriole is a decent bird overall, just more of a mid or late game play than early imo, since the ability is a wash. The star nest is nice but not at that cost imo. I’d play it early if I had no other forest birds, but that makes it a D imo.
I think everything in life can be understood though mtg lol.
I was using this tier-list to crosscheck my early picks and couldn't find the "Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher" in the list, I thought I was going crazy, then I checked at 44:45 and you skipped it.
I guess it must be A-Tier tho, given the traits but I just wanted to confirm since I'm just learning, nevertheless thanks for the great work and taking the time to do it, respect :)!
I think it’s at 47:00. Glad to hear you I find this useful!
Question: how did you create the square images with all the bird names?
I used Pixlr to create a template and then change the text for each.
Brewers blackbird should have been in C in my opinion.
Why so?
Probably because my opinion is based on a lack of experience 🤣
I just started playing the game yesterday afterall
I guess my argument would be because I'm an egg fiend haha, and I often favour cards that draw, so I usually have cards to tuck, which is good for the end game tally too. I only played about 6 games, but I've won every game in person and in the phone app.
If i don't see a stork i'm closing my eyes
Which stork?
I don't know... I am three birds in and I feel all three should have been easily rated down an additional tier. Assuming we are holding true to early game. You would never get these birds out in early game.
which birds specifically?
@@tuckNcache The first three birds. American Bittern, American Avocet, Acorn Woodpecker. I just felt all three were ranked 1 step too high, so I paused the video and commented. After hanging in there and watching the rest of the video, I was on board with almost all the birds. I stumbled onto more of your videos after watching this one first. I am loving the wingspan content - even though I am late to the party. Thanks!
Welcome!
So, the CONDOR is not a bird?
What do you mean?
at 1:00:00 it shows a picture if that helps you decide.
I don't get some comments. Saying a card is expensive that costs two resources and not taking into account points value on the card before ability 5 points is decent for 2 cost and yet the card went in F for never played.
Then later you say a 1 point value bird that can tuck cards is really strong. How many times are you actually going to tuck and are you always going to have cards you don't mind tucking? End of the game that's probably 5/6 point bird
The tier list focuses on early game potential of each bird. I think low cost bird that gives low point but good brown power are more advantageous in early game to build tempo/engine given how difficult it is to access food most of the time. But of course there’s always exception to that.
Another added value to tucking birds like American robin or barn swallow is the ability to cycle bad cards while earning pts. They minimize the impact of bad wetland set up or unlucky card draw.
why is canada goose and atlantic puffin in f tier
The rating is based on "early game potential." Atlantic Puffin at 3 fish is almost impossible to get out early. Even late in the game it is hit or miss because, while it is a lot of points, you may get stuck with 0 versus 0 bonus card with no time to improve and at 8 points less egg cost a strong grassland engine can get 6-7 points in a turn. Canada Goose I might not have as F tier, but I do not think it is better than D tier. At 2 of the same food for 6 points (3 points + 3 eggs) it does not give a good point/food ratio (American Kestrel gives you potentially 8 points for 2 different foods so it can be played right away) and requires going to bird feeder.
I am surprised that you gave Canvasback a B. Thats a really bad card because all players draw a card , so its not an advantag. And 2 Foods is not extremely cheap
.
Why do you hate migratory birds so much? :D
they are ok... sometimes... XD
ravens are so goddam broken . Get the expansion. the base game is garbage with the unfairness of certain cards being runaway hits
Killdeer and franklins gull too.
Baltimore Oriole as an early game B tier? Shocking. It’s good later on, but for early game it’s expensive to play and does nothing for engine development.
Overall this list was really helpful and great. I just have to disagree with you on that one bird!
If there a cherry in feeder, two turns to play a 9 pts bird with star nest is not a bad way to start. Cherry can comes in hand sometimes.
Poor American Goldfinch 😢
All birds has their moments to shine. Some has more than the others.
@@tuckNcache Definitely, can't argue with that - especially in the early game when every move counts. Thanks for the excellent video(s) - they've been a huge help!
Happy to hear that!