Dojo SITUATION: At the beginning of your turn, you may either place cards from your hand facedown underneath Dojo or take cards from the Dojo and place them in your hand. Each Dojo can hold up to five cards. If this card leaves play for any reason, then the cards underneath are discarded. Well, for our first Watcher's Chronicles card, we start off with a card that while somewhat inconsequential, is one of several new WC cards that gives a _radical_ boost to many combat-oriented strategies. First, the game mechanics. Moving cards beneath Dojo is a "may do" beginning- of-turn effect. You can only store _or_ remove cards from a Dojo on any given turn, not both. You may store or remove from any number of individual Dojos per turn. Focussing a Dojo causes it to leave play, albeit temporarily. However, the text that would cause the Dojo'd cards to leave play also disappears. Focussing your own Dojo will prevent you from drawing or storing cards to it that turn. That's what Dojo does. How do you use it? Does it have any use? Dojo is a subtle yet powerful card. The first use you have to consider for it is whether you actually _use_ it to store useful cards, or junk. Do you have five cards you need to get rid of? Did you load up on Alertness/Block and run into that non-Sedarius Luther deck? Just store them under Dojo and they'll remain there until the end of game. Even better, your opponent might make an effort to remove the Dojo. Make sure you show him what he got rid of. If nothing else, this strategy can give you a quick burst of cards. Store five useless cards, play Patience and draw to replace them. However, let's say you decide to use Dojo for storage of useful cards. If you use a Dojo to store critical cards, there is a chance you will lose them. So you probably shouldn't do so. If you only have one Head Shot, Dojo is probably not a good place to store it. Ditto for Watcher/Treatment, Darius, Seduce, etc. This decision may change depending on other Situations that you are using, and your opponent's Persona. If you are using Nakano or Xavier, you can probably "hide" Dojo among other, strategy-critical Situations like Forethought, Poison Gas, Mirror Image, Master's Advance, and Master's Stratagem. Your opponent will probably not be able to take care of all of your Situations: Dojo will probably be low on their list of priorities. Of course, if your opponent is Katana, or Xavier using Plan Ahead to supplement Police, Dojo's life expectancy will be brief. If you're not using many Situations, count on losing your Dojos, and use them accordingly. These are all factors to consider when deciding whether to store useful cards under Dojo, or use it as a "garbage can." But if you do store important cards, the question is, which ones? One useful strategy is to store attacks underneath a Dojo. You can almost always afford to lose most non-Special attacks in your deck. In this case, though, you want to _keep_ the attacks for later. Why? This lets you set up a Battle Rage down the road. One problem with a Battle Rage strategy is holding on to five attacks while still keeping pressure on your opponent by attacking each turn. By using Dojo, you can store attacks in the Dojo until you're ready to unleash them. Combine this with Situations like Watcher Involvement and Carl, and Battle Rage can actually endanger your opponent. In fact, Dojo is useful for storing any cards that are part of a large combination. Are you using a Sedarius/Thrust combination? As noted above, you probably don't want to put Darius or Seduce in the Dojo. However, Dojo makes a perfect place to tuck away a Thrust or two until you're ready. Dojo is also nice for storing cards that _might_ be useful. Rather then waste a turn playing an Extra Weapon, store it in the Dojo until you know if your opponent is using a Disarm strategy. This even makes Pierre Bouchet useful! This strategy also applies to defenses. Store a few extra ones in your Dojo. If your opponent unleashes a Bloodlust or Berserk, those extra defenses could mean the difference between winning and losing. You'll also have them if your opponent appears to be building a forced discard strategy (using Cat & Mouse/Defense, Factory, and/or Charm). Here's another defense strategy for Dojo. Being reduced to zero Ability is just no fun. However, if you tucked away an Upper Center Block or a Upper Guard or a Pierre Bouchet in the Dojo, you can pull one out on your last turn when you have no cards in your hand, and avoid that unpleasant end-of-game Head Shot. Another use of Dojo is in conjunction with "discard if you draw a card" Situations like Poison Gas, Shadow of the Mind, and Garfield. "Drawing" is defined as taking a card from your Endurance and adding it to your Ability. Thus, taking cards from the Dojo is _not_ drawing. Spend several turns and a Dojo or two saving up to 10 extra cards. Then, when you've drawn back up and have a number of cards to match your Ability score, play the "discard to draw" Situation on your next turn. The cards in the Dojo(s) give you a nice resource to call upon. And finally, Dojo gives you a way to cycle out useless cards from your Ability _and_ your Dojo(s). How? Place them in your Dojo on your first turn. On your second turn, bring them back into your Ability. You now will probably have _more_ cards in your hand than your Ability score. Discard the useless ones. If you use the Dojo as a "garbage can" and can afford to wait, another strategy is to put your useless cards into your Dojo(s) and let them sit. Wait for an Endurance burn. At the beginning of the turn that you will discard to your new Ability, retrieve all of the Dojo cards back to your hand. You'll now be able to discard all of them, and you won't see them this time through your Endurance. So who should use Dojo? Personas who have Battle Rage (Duncan, Nefertiri, Khan, Connor, Richie) can get some use out of it. The Kurgan, with Bloodlust, can also benefit by storing a few extra attacks. Annie Devlin's power is similar to Battle Rage. She not only wants to attack her opponent, but set aside a few attacks for when she is hit. Dojo assists her in this. Nefertiri can pull off the tactic of storing and immediately drawing without the need for Patience. As noted above, Xavier and Nakano have a number of critical Situations: Dojo could very well get lost among them. These two Personas also benefit from using Dojo in conjunction with "discard if you draw" Situations like Poison Gas and Shadow of the Mind. Shadow of the Mind in particular becomes far more powerful with Dojo: store five attacks per Dojo, play SotM, and when you run out of attacks from your Ability, take some more out of the Dojo(s). Mix with Focus and Patience, and you can keep SotM out for any number of turns. There are a number of Personas that gain no specific benefit from Dojo. However, most of the strategies above benefit any Persona. So overall, Steve gives Dojo a _7_. There are several strategies and/or Personas that gain a substantial benefit from Dojo, and the rest gain a small advantage. Dojo may not be a card for every deck, but it's a card you should try to squeeze in if at all possible. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Dojo is a great card. You can use it to cycle cards you don't need, or to store cards for later combos (just watch out for Katana!). Flexibility plus an increase in hand size equals a card worth playing with in some decks. Rick - The card effectively increases the size of your Ability giving you a way to "store" cards that might be clogging your hand otherwise. Be sure to have a Patience to play at the start of your next turn since you will have fewer cards in your hand than your Ability. Hank - Dojo is a cool card concept, and I could certainly see a use for it (there are many times where I draw a card that I know I'll want later, but I don't need now). I'm wary of placing useful cards under a Situation, though... Situations are so prone to removal. Still, cool idea. Alan - Dojo is a card that, while I haven't found much room for it in my decks before, I am starting to think more and more about. The advantage it gives you is _really_ good, since it essentially adds 5 cards to your hand without actually having them become a part of your hand. Now you can safely store that Master's Block (or Disappear) where the Kurgan's Upper Hand can't get to it! Jim - Dojo is a great card for avoiding card jam. You can use Dojo to get rid of cards you don't need when you can't discard down. It's great for stashing away excess cards when you have too many of a particular card like Head Shot early in the game when you are using six of them in a head hunting deck. You can set aside Guards when Ruins is in play and retrieve them later. Leave some attacks for later use while your opponent is hiding out in a Safe Haven in Verona. The main drawback with Dojo is that it is a Situation so it is vulnerable to Katana, Police, and Simple Mind. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Dojo is a mixed blessing kind of card. It's great for card cycling, which has always been a problem in Highlander. This lets you get rid of "closing" cards (like Head Shot or Ped-5), and free room in your hand for other cards. Of course, being a Situation, it is highly susceptible to removal (Police, Simple Mind, Katana, etc.) This is a drawback that requires serious consideration before you use Dojo. Allen - Originally unimpressed with Dojo, I've grown to give it respect. While it seems the place to store strategic cards, this tactic is dangerous as a single Police can rob you of several valuable cards. Dojo is better used for contingency cards (Misfortune when not facing objects), or to empty your hand when short on key resources (defenses on the Battlefield) or suffering an opponent's lock strategy. Elizabeth Vaughn works faster and with no risk of being Policed before use. Dojo can be used more slowly over time, and you can get cards back should they suddenly prove useful. A non-glamorous workhorse card for larger or toolbox decks. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Jeff 7 Rick 7 Hank 7 Alan 7 Jim 6 Wayne N/A Allen 6 Prodipto 6 Average: 6.63 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Master Swordsman SPECIAL ATTACK/BLOCK: When you play this card, choose one area on the grid where the attack or defense applies. If used as an attack, this attack may be a Power Blow without an Exertion. If used as a defense, this defense may block a Power Blow without an Exertion. The first thing to do is describe what this card looks like: the text above doesn't do it justice. The grid on this card is divided into the standard nine areas, but none of them are filled in. What this means is, as the text indicates, the card is both a (Special) Attack _and_ a Defense at any given moment. It is _not_ a block, however, even though it may be played as such. This has several meanings. First of all, if you are prevented from playing an attack (or due to Verona, a Special Attack), you can _not_ play Master Swordsman. So if your Slan opponent plays a basic attack, a Lunge, Intimidate, and makes the attack a Power Blow, you'd better be able to play that Ancestral Blade or Continuity, because you can't play Master Swordsman - Intimidate stops you. Why? Because Master Swordsman, even if you play it as a defense, is still an attack and subject to any limitations on playing attacks. If an opponent plays Charm/Fitzcairn and you've got a Master Swordsman in your hand, you lose it. However, if he plays Charm/Kastagir, you do _not_. Why? Because Master Swordsman is not a block - it's a defense. Charm/Kastagir does not target defenses. Cat and Mouse/Discard Defense will, however. Once you play Master Swordsman as a block, it is _still_ not a block - it is just treated like one. However, it still has the properites of a block, and thus will not stop unblockable attacks (unless modified by Alertness/Block). Master Swordsman can be played from an Exertion _if_ you Exert for a defense. You cannot play it from an attack Exertion, since it is still a Special Attack, and the normal rules apply. You may make a Master Swordsman/block a Power Block whether you play it from your hand or from an Exertion. Used in this manner, it is similar to a Focussed Block. Since a Master Swordsman/attack can be made a Power Blow in contradiction of the typical Special Attack rules, you may use it in conjunction with a Head Shot, Power Blow, or Hammer Blow. You can not, however, play Head Shot, then Exert for an attack and play Master Swordsman from that Exertion. As you may have gathered, Master Swordsman is a _very_ useful card, and well worth being limited as a Master. Let's look at its attack potential first. Essentially, it functions like Slan's Persona ability and Quickening. You may make a Power Blow without playing a Special or Exerting, thus allowing you to play a Special to modify/supplement the attack while saving cards. Thus, Katana can use Master Swordsman with Taunt and toss out "free" Power Blows. Other useful cards that can be played with a Master Swordsman/attack include Break Weapon, Honed Weapon, Cat and Mouse/Defense, Master's Block/Connor, and Trip/Kalas or Annie. If you make it the second attack of an Extra Shot (the "standard" variety) in conjunction with Flashing Blade, your opponent has serious trouble. Master Swordsman/attack has its weaknesses. As a Special Attack, it can not be made Hidden by Combination or the "standard" Trip, or modified by Lunge. Nor can it be played from an Exertion. However, if you are forced to Exert for attacks, you could do worse then play Courage/Attack to play another attack while keeping Master Swordsman for future use as an attack or defense. Even for Slan, Master Swordsman/attack is not a bad card even though it duplicates his Persona ability. The ability to attack to any area means you can pretty much ignore that restrictive block you just played, while targeting your Power Blow for maximum placement. So much for Master Swordsman as an attack. How is it as a defense? Pretty good. With a probable restriction on Ancestral Blade, the "standard" Continuity and Stamina will once again become the standard Power Blocking tactics for those who don't want to Exert or who can't Power Block for free (Slan and Luther). That's nice. But when Ruins are out, or you don't have the "standard" Continuity users (Xavier, Katana, everyone in Watcher's Chronicles), what the heck do you do? Worse, what if your opponent just made a Lunge/Power Blow, or there's other anti-dodge stuff about? Master Swordsman/block, of course! Now we come to a major point: Master Swordsman is the only gridded non- Persona Master card. Which means that _anyone_ can use it in Renaissance- style games. This means that Personas who do not have any Persona-specific Master cards (Luther, Nefertiri, Slan, Xavier, Khan, Kern) should use the maximum allowed them. The Kurgan probably should as well, unless he is contemplating Master's Disarm. And Master Swordsman isn't a bad choice for the other Personas, particularly those who lack the "standard" Continuity like Annie, Kalas, and Katana. Master Swordsman/block's one "weakness" is that it only covers a single area. Thus, it isn't very effective against multi-area attacks (Slash, Master's Attack/Annie) or Hidden attacks. So who should use Master Swordsman? Well, everyone, essentially. Even in non-Renaissance, it is an excellent card, and finally provides all Personas with some hard choices about which Masters to have in their deck. Even Luther and Slan should think about using it. Since Master Swordsman/attack duplicates Slan's Power Blow ability, Luther can use his Intimidate the same way Slan does, without Exerting for a Power Blow. Connor, Richie, Duncan, Kastagir, and Amanda have enough other Masters to choose from that they may not want to use Master Swordsman. However, Connor and Duncan can benefit from making Power Blows because of their immunity to Hidden attacks, while Amanda can use Master Swordsmsan to bolster her Continuity. The above analysis is based on which Persona-specific Masters the various Personas have. Some Personas can benefit from generic Masters, particularly Master's Advance and Master's Stratagem. However, if possible Master Swordsman should still be added to such decks if the space can be made. So overall, Steve gives Master Swordsman a _8_. Only its Master status and the fact that a few other Masters are nearly as good limit it. It's an ideal card for Renaissance-style play (where it deserves a 10), and as the "Power Block" Continuity's presence is minimized, Master Swordsman will become more and more useful to more and more Personas. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Abstain Rick - Abstain Hank - Master Swordsman is a great card for swordfighting decks, but it eats up those precious Master slots. I use it in almost every deck I build that doesn't use Master slots for anything else, so that says something. Alan - Not really a card I tend to use, though its "wild card" nature is interesting and unique. There are really other Master cards I would rather include in my deck, though I can definitely see its usefulness in a swordfighting deck. Jim - Master Swordsman is an excellent card. It helps on both offense and defense. It is very useful for head hunting decks and may save your head when you run up against a Head Shot and have no other appropriate defense. This card is also a good supplement decks that emphasize Power Blows. The downside is this uses a Master's slot and as a Special Attack you may not play it as an attack from an Exertion. This may be one reason to reconsider using Courage (attacks) in decks. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - This card is very useful. In the hands of Duncan or Connor, it allows you to make a Power Blow with no penalty. In any Persona's hand, it makes a valuable defense against Power Blows or Head Shots. Obviously it has limited use for Slan or the Kurgan who have minor or no penalty to blocking and making Power Blows, and a little less limited for Luther. A key drawback to note is that it is a Special Attack, and therefore can't be Hidden or played from an Exertion. I would definitely play a few Courage in a deck if I was expecting to be able to use this card. Another thing to note is that it does take up a Master slot. However, since it is most potent in the hands of Connor and Duncan, who have the most Master slots available, it would be well worth considering in a deck. Allen - Master Swordsman can almost take the place of a Master's Attack and a Master's block in your deck; all at the cost of one Master Slot. While it can't defend an entire Bloodlust and isn't intrinsically undodgeable, its versatility makes it a great swordfighting card. I prefer to use it in the attack. Master Swordsman is a great addition to Spinning Attack decks which employ Exertion-free Power Blows without playing a special card. Ratings Overall: Steve 8 Jeff N/A Rick N/A Hank 8 Alan 6 Jim 7 Wayne N/A Prodipto 7 Allen 7 Average: 7.17 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Lunge - by Hank Driskill EDGE: Play in conjunction with a basic attack. Your opponent may block normally, but may not dodge this attack unless the dodge is from an Exertion. Lunge is one of the cards in the new expansion set, Watcher's Chronicle. It's a card that has made its way into a number of my swordfighting decks, and one of many recent attempts to help refocus the game toward swinging swords instead of playing cheese. Let's look at the game mechanics. Lunge is an Edge card, which means you can play it any time during your turn, and it doesn't count as your one Special card for that turn. This makes playing the card a simpler thing, and means it's fairly easy to get out of your hand: you just need to be playing a basic attack to use it. A Lunge-modified attack may not be dodged under certain circumstances. Nonetheless, playing Alertness/Dodge has no effect because all Alertness/Dodge lets you do is . . . play a dodge. You could do that before you used Alertness/Dodge, so you gain no benefit. Strategically, Lunge can be compared to other cards which limit an opponent's ability to dodge . . . Challenge/SE, for example. What makes Lunge really interesting is that it doesn't count as your Special, unlike Challenge/SE or others. This opens it up to lots of combination possibilities . . . unfortunately, it can only be used with a basic attack, which means it can't be used with Stalk, Master's Attack, Shooting Blade, or other non-Special attacks (i.e., Slash, Dirty Trick, and Flurry Strike) that are either difficult to block or unblockable. Those work with cards like Challenge/SE, where you use Challenge/SE as your Special and follow with an unblockable attack. You have to use some other means to make your attack unblockable with Lunge. Let's look at some combinations for Lunge. The first combo is Lunge/Head Shot. This is a simple, easy-to-play pair which forces an opponent to either have a way to Power Block _and_ have an Upper Block/Guard ready, or spend five cards scrambling for a Dodge. Many cheese decks rely on Dodges as their main defense, so this is a simple way to keep them nervous. Break Weapon: I never used this card before Lunge came along, but now I can play Lunge/Break Weapon, make a Power Blow, and my opponent has three choices: take the Power Blow, Exert for a Dodge, or block and risk losing their weapon. Fun . . . Head Hunter: This plot just became much more interesting. For three turns, your opponent can't block, and Lunge means it is hard for them to dodge. Opportunities for Head Shots and Power Blows and other obnoxious attacks await you thanks to Lunge. Other cards that limit blocking include Xavier's Hook, Mishap, Kastagir's Charm, Run Through, Connor's Master's Block, and more. These are all usable with Lunge. The worst of them is Connor pulling a Master's Block, Lunge/Head Shot attack: a Head Shot that's unblockable and dodgeable only with an Exertion. Ugh. Looking at the rest of the Watcher's set, only one new card really begs for the use of Lunge: Annie's Extra Shot (second attack is unblockable). There are other cards that work well with it, however. Watcher's Chronicles has lots of ways to do multiple attacks in a round, so Lunge's ability to limit Dodges works nicely with Flashing Blade, and the many multiple attack combos in this set. Rachel Ellenstein is the only card that currently cancels Edge cards, and it's not in wide use. This means putting Lunges in your deck, if you ever plan on playing a basic attack against your opponent, is probably a reasonable thing. They're fairly easy to get out of your hand, and they're always useful when played. In summary, Hank gives Lunge an _9_. It's a great addition to the swordfighting aspect of the game, it opens up new possibilities for fun combos, and it encourages the parts of the game I like the most. What Our Other Raters Say: Steve - This is the card that breaks the back of those irritating dodge-types. Having trouble pinning down those Amanda types? Got a non-attacker like Xavier who prefers to dodge? Lunge/Power Blow them. A vital card for Slan and the Kurgan, helpful for Duncan and Connor as well. Good for enhancing Trips, Power Blows, the first attack of a standard Extra Shot and the second attack of a standard Combination. More versatile than Flashing Blade, and duplicates many of FB's functions. All these factors make Lunge vital in Renaissance-style. Jeff - Now _this_ is a sweet little Edge card. Play Kalas with a Slan Q, Intimidate, and make it a Power Blow. Nasty. Lends itself to an infinite number of combos, some fun, some nasty. Rick - Abstain Alan - One of my favorite new cards, since it makes dodging attacks _really_ expensive, especially with Master's Advance out. I find its best use, however, is in a Connor deck with Master's Stance/Advance Warning, Master's Block, and six Thrust. Not quite as effective as Master's Block/Lunge, but effective nonetheless. Jim - Lunge is a cool card. It lets you get more mileage out of basic attacks. This is an excellent card to use in conjunction with Combination and Extra Shot. It's nice to use in conjunction with Hidden attacks, so it works well with Trip as well as being played following Jumps and Ducks. Lunge is a good card to play with the first attack on a Kurgan Follow-Up. This is a card that should be used in just about any attack deck. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - This is one of the best attack-oriented cards yet. The usual defense against a Power Blow or Head Shot is to dodge if possible. With the Lunge, played in conjunction with a Head Shot or Power Blow, you can quickly put your opponent on the defensive. They'll either have to block and exert, or exert for a Dodge (unless they're Luther or Slan). Lunge will also have a huge impact when you play Hidden basic attacks. Again, your opponent has to either block and hope it's the right defense, then Exert if it's not, or Exert for a dodge. Note, Lunge doesn't make the attack undodgeable, so even Alertness doesn't help here. Of course, it only works with basic attacks, but I would still put it in just about any deck. Allen - Lunge is a great friend to attack-heavy decks. Dodges have long been the bane of decks stressing multiple and/or hidden attacks. When played with power blows, Lunge assures that your opponent cannot escape exerting for a Power Block merely by dodging. Used with Extra Shot or Combination, you prevent your opponent from avoiding your use of three cards by merely playing a single dodge. Of course, you'll still need to do something about Holy Ground. You'll find your odds of scoring sword damage in one pass through your deck to be much greater if you include Lunge in your strategy. Ratings Overall: Steve 10 Jeff 8 Rick N/A Hank 9 Alan 8 Jim 8 Wayne N/A Prodipto 9 Allen 8 Average: 8.57