Preamble
When searching the web for opinions on Gloomhavens‘ Summoner you’ll get a vast diversity of opinions. Some say the class is hard to master, other say it’s getting real fun when you know how to play with. But most the players have the opinion that summons are way underpowerd. In a poll, which I have seen on reddit and found it so interesting that I kept a screen shot of, her power level was voted by far the worst (together with Tinkerer). Roughly 60% of the players marked her as underpowered. In the same poll a huge majority of the players voted that the class is difficult to play, alongside „Triforce“.
The worthwilst description of her class I’ve found so far was like: you feel less like a summoner but more like a kindergardener.
Anyhow, my last retirement led to the Summoner and I felt challenged to master that class. Our party’s prosperity level is 5, but especially on the lower levels I did not know which cards I should take. That is why I decided to start from level 1. Certainly a hard way, but it should give me time to learn. After the first few scenarios I browsed through all the cards up to level 9, to see what I will evolve to. What follows here is a break down of the cards from the perspective of „experience with the game“ but also of „not played the class yet“. Later, during play, I plan to add notes how I changed my mind on these cards. Be warned: spoilers of the cards up to level 9 ahead.