Full Tuck: The Wingspan Podcast · The Full Tuck Team

24. Hello from Australia!

February 5, 2026·49 min·4 clips

Adam unveils his dream Wingspan opening hand, designed to dominate with a powerful forest chain.

This episode features hosts Adam and Aidan, who normally record in person but are now separated by continents, with Aidan broadcasting from Australia. Adam has caught Aidan's cold, affecting his voice during the recording. The conversation begins with Aidan describing his arrival in Melbourne during a summer heatwave and his visit to the Australian Open tennis tournament. Aidan recounts a walk through the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, where he recognized birds from the Wingspan game, including the pukeko and common myna. He explains the common myna was introduced to Melbourne in the mid-1800s to control insects and is now ubiquitous in the city. Aidan mentions not yet seeing the Australian ibis, colloquially known as the "bin chicken," but has frequently spotted the magpie-lark and a pair of cockatoos. The hosts compare the visibility of native birds in Australia to the challenge of spotting specific species in the UK, referencing a birdwatching friend who chased a rare spotted bird. They thank a listener named Paul for participating in a recent gameplay rematch, which is available on YouTube and Spotify. The hosts analyze the strategic use of the Inca dove card, which lays one egg on every bird with a "sticks" nest, and discuss its synergy with yellow-power birds like the malleefowl. Adam and Aidan then preview a segment reviewing a listener-submitted opening hand for a two-player Wingspan game. The featured opening hand includes the Brahminy starling, rosy starling, wood duck, whiskered tree swift, and tomtit, with bonus cards like the Bird Counter and Viticulturalist. Adam reveals he curated this as his "dream opening hand" to showcase a powerful forest engine strategy. He explains a planned sequence starting with the tomtit to generate eggs, followed by the wood duck and whiskered tree swift for card draw, and the Brahminy starling for point-scoring. Aidan proposes a variation, suggesting discarding the rosy starling to focus on a chain with the other four birds. Adam agonized over including the rosy starling but kept it for its ability to provide needed wheat/grub resources for the tomtit and whiskered tree swift. The hosts debate the strength of the galah card in the face-up tray, noting its potential downside in a two-player game by giving opponents free food. They imagine a "sandbox mode" where players could choose their opening hands to test dream strategies against each other. Listener Jeff submits two dream opening hands: one focused on predator powers with the gray shrike-thrush and purple heron, and another forest engine with the pileated woodpecker and white-backed woodpecker. The episode maintains a casual, conversational tone with friendly banter and inside jokes between the co-hosts. It blends personal anecdotes with detailed Wingspan strategy discussion and listener interactions. This episode is ideal for Wingspan enthusiasts who enjoy strategic card analysis and lighthearted host dynamics. Listeners seeking highly structured gameplay tutorials or those uninterested in personal travel anecdotes might find less value here.

As heard by us

A relaxed catch-up that turns into a useful Wingspan hand discussion.

Adam and Aidan start from opposite sides of the world, and the episode settles quickly into an easy catch-up about weather, distance, and a bit of back-and-forth before it turns to the hand in front of them.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Wingspan strategy chat that starts across continents, with Melbourne summer on one side and a cold on the other.

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