Blood of Kings Part 1: Foundling Part 2: First Death - You may not play this card unless Foundling is in play. Part 3: Immortal - You may not play this card unless Foundling and First Death are in play. Discard all three cards. All damage from your opponents next three successful attacks is reduced to zero. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Plots. Unholy Alliance is one of the most powerfully obnoxious things in Highlander, particularly in the hands of Xavier. Some people's opinions to the contrary, I can get Counterfeit to work pretty well. On the Movie Edition side, Destruction is about the best way to pull off Head Shots, giving you a chance to play other Specials (like Amanda's Seduce!) on subsequent turns. A Head Hunter deck is truly painful when combined with Master's Advance. Take both of these Plots and put them in a Kurgan/Disguise deck, and an opponent has real problems. Joy Ride is a bit of a lame duck, even with the errata. However, Cat & Mouse is almost too powerful for words. Whether you're a Kurgan deck zapping their defenses and then Power Blowing, or a Xavier deck making them burn through a potential 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12 = 78! cards from their Endurance, there's little doubt this card can hurt. Also, since the Series Edition, new Plot-enhancing cards (several cards in Watcher's Chronicles, Simple Mind, Schemer, both Director's Cuts, Measure of a Man) are far more powerful and common then new anti-Plot stuff like . . . Moran, and that's it. So now we have the first new Plot in a while. What does it do? Negate all damage from the next three successful attacks. This has several game mechanic issues. First of all, there are several attacks that do not do damage when successful. Those include undefended Head Shots, Improvised Weapon/Attacks, and Dirty Tricks. Blood of Kings doesn't prevent any of their effects. Worse, whether attacks _do_ damage or not is irrelevant. Thus, if you are hit by a Dirty Trick, it counts as one of the three attacks that Blood of Kings aids you against. However, only successful attacks count against Blood of Kings. If you Disappear against an attack, the attack was not successful and thus doesn't count against the three-attack immunity. Preventing all damage from an attack (i.e., Dr. Sonny Jackson) does not make the attack unsuccessful. So an attack dealt with in that manner still counts against the three-attack immunity. Like Continuity, the effect of Blood of Kings doesn't "stack" or accumulate. If you complete a second Blood of Kings while you still have a previous one in effect, only the next three successful attacks from that points on are damage- negated. You can use the effect of Blood of Kings the turn you complete it. So if your Kurgan opponent unleashes a big six point Sedarius/Thrust/Power Blow on his turn, you can play the third part of BoKs on your defense or attack phase and ignore the damage. Even if he has The Gathering out, you can still prevent the damage in your attack phase. So that's what Blood of Kings does. What do you do with it? Blood of Kings is pretty much useless against non-attack decks, and it's probably a waste of your time to even bother with it. Still, if such decks step in at the end of the game to do a Head Shot, you may wish you had completed that BoKs plot 20 turns ago. Blood of Kings isn't a bad counter against Katana's Taunt . . . except that against Katana, you're pretty unlikely to succeed in completing it. Blood of Kings will also stop a Stalk. However, since Xavier can potentially use Plan Ahead and Police, that's not likely to happen either. Other than those exceptions, however, Blood of Kings is a pretty good cards. Many games come down to who inflicts the most damage in the fewest number of attacks. Sedarius, Shooting Blade, Power Blows, Connor's Master Block/Lunge combination, Xavier's Stalk (if Richie is using it): these are the biggies. Against decks that rely on lots of smaller hits (Amanda comes to mind, but Pistol users as well), Blood of Kings is a little less effective. Preventing three attacks of three damage may not be as satisfying as ignoring a 5 or 7 point attack, but it will still help. Also, you don't have to rely on just Blood of Kings for defense. It will let you go a little lighter on stuff like Alertness/Block. And you can probably afford to drop a couple of Dodges. Still, Blood of Kings' effect is only used up if they hit you. Just keep defending normally and let BoKs work when you want it to. So who should use Blood of Kings? Well, when it comes to Plots, always look first to Xavier St. Cloud. Twelve of these and twelve of Unholy Alliance provide a painful combination of defense and (non-swordfighting) offense. Blood of Kings is the best defensive plot (with 12 Cat & Mouse/Attack the only other qualifier). It's not as good as Verona, but there are ways to counter Verona (see CotW #20). You might be better off using Illusory Terrain in conjunction with these two plots, keep them from playing of Locations. This option also lets you toss out a Stalk or two. Kalas is a secondary plotter, and might wish to consider this Plot as well. He isn't nearly as strong in the Plot department as Xavier. However, he's also less agile, having only Back Away. If Kalas doesn't want to sit there and hope for a Holy Ground when his opponent fires that Shooting Blade, he should consider Blood of Kings. The Kurgan, thanks to Disguise, ranks with Kalas as a plotter (see PotM #1). Like Kalas, he currently lacks any dodge except Back Away. Still, Blood of Kings is a defensive Plot and the Kurgan is more of a heavy-hitter on offense. Destruction and Head Hunter are probably better choices. But if you want to add a third plot, you could do worse than BoKs. Other Personas? Everyone can use the benefits. However, Plots are difficult to complete. Unless you're using a lot of other Situations to use up your opponent's Situation-removers, Blood of Kings (or any other Plot) probably isn't a good choice. The exception? Director's Cut/Situation. This card can give any Persona Xavier-like abilities to play and complete multiple Plots. And in the hands of Xavier himself, DC is a weapon of earth-shattering dimensions. So how do you cope with an opponent using Blood of Kings? Simple: wear them down with minor attacks. Slashes, Pistols, Dirty Tricks, Improvised Weapons. Save your heavy-hitter stuff for after BoKs' effects have dissipated. So overall, Steve gives Blood of Kings a _6_. There are other ways to handle defense, but BoKs takes all the guesswork out of it and ignores The Gathering as well. Once BoKs effects have kicked in, only Underworld Contacts can stop it. You don't need to worry about your opponent ripping a TCG against your Alertness cards when he performs a Seduce/Shooting Blade later in the game. BoKs is really the only good defense Plot, and the problems with Plot usage are becoming smaller and smaller as time goes on. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - Abstain Jeff - Moderately useful for a 3-part plot, particularly if you have multiples and fear Sedarius. I'd personally rather have three defenses and/or Holy Grounds, myself. A bit over-rated by most, IMHO. Rick - Your opponent's next three _successful_ attacks do zero damage. It still lets you defend normally and only if an attack gets through does it count against the three. Hank - A cool plot. Not too powerful, but nice, useful for decks that want to go toe-to-toe with someone. Alan - Before the release of ME (and Schemer), and Director's Cut/Situation, I would have loved this Plot (even though it could be considered anti-swordfighting). It has a nice effect but was still a Plot (and therefore harder to pull off). But now, since it is possible to complete a plot in one turn (thanks to the use of Chessex + Dr. Sonny Jackson/Desperation), it is now even more useful to anti-swordfighting strategies. In the hands of Xavier it becomes even more powerful (and Cheesey). Jim - Another promo card: well, actually, a set of cards. Although this plot sequence seems to be quite powerful, it simply is not very efficient in light of other cards that are available. You fare better by adding more general cards such as Master's Block, Feint/Edge, Dr. Sonny Jackson, Watcher/Treatment, and such. For cheesers, Verona and Safe Haven are much better. Blood of Kings when completed can allow you to take punishment from three successful attacks. However, often the successful attacks will be ones that do less damage (like Slash). Since only damage is reduced to zero you are still vulnerable to a Head Shot. Chip - Abstain Ratings Overall: Steve 6 Ben N/A Jeff 4 Rick 4 Hank 7 Alan 5 Jim 3 Chip N/A Average: 4.83 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Amnesia Remove any 1 card from your opponent's discard pile from the game. [Restricted to 2] What were we talking about again? Oh, right - Amnesia. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Take a card in the discard pile - toss it out of the game. Any game mechanics issues? A card removed from the game can't be recovered through any other means. Alex Johnson and Sacrifice won't get it back. If an in-game Darius is removed from the game, the card it was allowing you to use is removed as well. This makes the use of Amnesia a bargain since you remove two cards from the game. It's also a nice back-up to James Horton. Removal of a "Darius'd" card is done the same way as when a pre-game Darius is remove: search the discard, then the Endurance, then your Ability, then your in-play cards. So what do you do with Amnesia? At first glance, it seems a fairly powerful card, well worth its restriction to 2. Its primary use is against restricted cards. If your opponent only has one Shooting Blade, remove it once it gets to the discard pile and he won't have it for the rest of the game. Do you have trouble with those bothersome Watcher/Treatments. It has a restriction of two: so does Amnesia. A nice match. Remove the Watchers once your opponent plays them, and they won't be recovering four Ability each time through their Endurance any more. Choose practically any other restricted card, and you can find a reason to use on Amnesia on it. Heck, maybe even Pierre Bouchet is giving your head hunter deck problems. Amnesia isn't nearly as useful against unrestricted cards. Still, there is a strong advantage to, say, removing two of their six Back Aways if you're using a Catwalk. They can't use Dodge, they have a diminishing number of Back Aways - looks like they're going to have to stand and block your Power Blows. What a shame. Locations, particularly bothersome ones like Verona, Factory, Battlefield, and Catwalk, are also good targets for removal. Amnesia makes a nice supplement to TSC Troopers (CotW #14). Use six TSC Troopers and two Amnesia, and their chances of having any Locations left after an Endurance burn are pretty minimal. And finally, not _every_ really annoying, powerful card is Restricted. Take out two of Xavier's Forethoughts each time through his Endurance. There are two problems with Amnesia, however. The first is that it is restricted to two. A determined opponent will probably use six of a Location. _And_ several powerful Restricted Persona cards. _And_ two Watcher/Treatments. You may have a hard time choosing which cards to use Amnesia on. TSC Troopers will help you against the Locations, but the Exertion requirement is also a penalty. The other problem is that Amnesia's effects seem impressive. However, they are _delayed_. Since Amnesia only affects cards that are in the discard pile, your opponent isn't going to feel the absence of the targeted cards until the _next_ time through his Endurance. In tournament play, this is a major handicap. Most decks are designed to hit hard and fast, and take you down to an unviable Ability before your opponent has to reshuffle. If your opponent has already blasted you with two Bloodlusts for 6-8 points of damage each, removing them from the game probably isn't going to help you much. In some cases, this problem is even worse. A cautious opponent, for instance, may avoid taking any damage. In that case, he won't even have to use his Watcher/Treatments until he goes through his Endurance the first time and loses five Ability. So if you use Amnesia on his two Watcher/Treatments, he won't notice the impact until the third time through his Endurance. The loss of key cards can impact Lean & Mean decks. But perhaps even more than most decks, they count on hitting hard and fast. The game will probably be decided by the time they take an Endurance burn and start looking for those cards again. So how do you get maximum effectiveness out of Amnesia? Your best bet is to combine it with cards that force your opponent to lose cards directly from her Endurance. These include Avery Hoskins, Challenge/ME, Desert, Cat & Mouse/Endurance, Improvised Weapon/Attack, Dirty Trick/Pummel, and Counterfeit. If they go past a card without getting a chance to use it the first time, you can use Amnesia to make sure they never will. This type of strategy favors Khan slightly, since he can withstand Endurance burn better. However, if you are using any or all of the above cards, Amnesia becomes a bit more powerful. The disadvantage of this strategy is that the most reliable ways to force your opponent to go through cards either are not particularly dependable (Counterfeit) or tend to backfire (Desert, Cat & Mouse). It doesn't do much good to force your opponent to go past cards so you can use Amnesia, if you lose Amnesia yourself. So overall, Steve gives Amnesia a _4_. Yes, it's a useful card in any deck. However, the payoff is delayed almost to the point of uselessness. And there are too many "toolbox" cards that are useful in any deck already, including: Focus, Misfortune, Watcher/Treatment, Dr. Sonny Jackson, Reconnaissance, Police/Remove Situation, Upper Hand, Locations in general. These two factors keep Amnesia's rating down. If you can add it and keep your total deck size down, and you anticipate a long game, go for it. I rarely have both of these occur in a competitive environment. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - Amnesia is a card for the paranoid. One of the first things I come to terms with when I sit down to build a new deck is that you can't possibly plan for everything. So I stick to offense and keep my deck as focused as possible-- which means purely defensive cards like this get tossed out. Jeff - The main problem with this card is that it can only affect cards that have already been used on you. Since most decks aim to have you at or below 7 by the end of their first pass, this seems a bit pointless (as does its restriction to 2). Not a bad card, certainly, but still a bit over-rated. Rick - The biggest drawback to this card is you are restricted to two. It can really mess with decks designed around other restricted cards (Wargames West, Honor Bound, Forged Steel). Hank - An interesting card, but I'm not sure of its usefulness. In tournament play most of the game should be decided by one trip through a deck, so your opponent won't care too much if you remove a card. In non-tournament play, it's just annoying. Still, cards with unique function are a good thing. Alan - This is a great card to use against those Personas who like to use Restricted cards (Master cards, Special Attacks, etc.), since a lot of strategies revolve around such cards (or are at least somewhat crippled without the use of such cards). There is almost no Persona this card can't be used against in this manner. Not necessarily a must-have in every deck, but a card you should at least consider when making a deck. Jim - One of my favorite cards. Extremely useful in removing very powerful cards that are restricted. Also useful for removing cards that your opponent has only included a couple in the deck, which is sometimes done with Lean and Mean decks. This card is great for getting rid of Nexus, Shooting Blade and Bloodlust. Removing Master's Blocks can be effective if you're using an attack deck. Plots can be slowed down by removing a part of the plot or by getting rid of plot accelerators like Schemer or Director's Cut. Since Amnesia is restricted to two, it can't be used effectively against cards that your opponent has several of in their deck. Chip - Abstain Wayne - A very under-rated card. Great for Basset & Hotchkiss/healing decks to remove opponents' healing. The only downfall of the card is that in 30 minute or less rounds, there are many times you don't go through the deck twice, thus making it useless. I like this card, though. Ratings Overall: Steve 4 Ben 4 Jeff 5 Rick 7 Hank 6 Alan 7 Jim 9 Chip N/A Wayne 8 Average: 6.25 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Factory No player may draw up to his Ability during his Draw Phase while Factory is in play. If any player's hand drops below 5 cards, remove Factory from play. (errata'd text) First and most importantly, _note the errata on this card_! It can't be emphasized enough. Originally, Factory omitted the reference to, "...during his Draw Phase...". This was a mystifier of sorts. Obviously you couldn't draw during your Draw/Discard phase. However, could you draw due to Patience? Holy Ground/SE? The question also came up as to whether Factory directly affected Nefertiri. While many Locations indirectly limit an aspect of a Personas's ability (Verona keeps Amanda from attacking at all, but doesn't specifically prevent her from making a second attack), Factory directly targeted Nefertiri's ability. The errata answers all of these questions. You _can_ draw due to Patience and Holy Ground/SE, because you don't draw due to these cards on your Draw phase. Nefertiri can draw cards, as long as she doesn't draw during her Draw phase. Although the card text suggests that you should be able to draw up to one _less_ than your Ability, this is not the case. You cannot draw cards at all during your Draw phase. As with any card that removes a card, even itself, the removal of Factory occurs _immediately_ when a player's hand drops below five cards. So with these thorny game mechanic questions resolved, the next issue is: how useful is Factory? The ability to draw cards to replace the ones you use is a critical part of Highlander. The act of playing cards is a major means of drawing more cards. Compare this to Magic the Gathering or X-Files, where the normal sequence of play only allows you one card per turn. Factory takes away this ability to draw cards freely. Without the ability to replace cards, you can easily enter a downward spiral where you are eventually trapped with cards you can't play or are otherwise useless to you. If you have five or more cards when this happens, you will have to start Exerting every turn. One means to slow this spiral is to play cards _very_ slowly. Instead of blocking and then attacking, merely block. Save the attack for a later turn, hopefully after your opponent has used up all of his attacks and you can respond freely. Don't use those playable Specials until you have to. This waiting game is not an unfamiliar one: it's also a valid strategy in the multi-player variant during an Encounter. This is a case of "Who'll blink first?" as you hope your opponent runs out of playable cards and Exerts to end the Encounter before you do. The difference between Factory and the multi-player variant is that you can _stop_ the "no draw during draw phase" limitation. Simply play your own Location, or Illusory Terrain, or TSC Troopers, or Get Away From It All. There are several problems with this Factory-related strategy, however. Conserving cards so you don't have to Exert is normally a good strategy. However, you're not getting any _new_ cards. And without new cards, you have no way to eventually break the cycle. Meanwhile, rest assured your opponent _does_ have cards that let him bypass Factory. The primary cards to bypass Factory are Reconnaissance and Patience. Both of these essentially do the same thing: let the owner draw cards up to her Ability when Factory is out. Patience is better since it can be used at any time. Reconnaissance may be played at any time, but you only get to draw up once: during your Draw phase. Of course, if your opponent plays Factory and you have one or more of these two cards in your hand, you're in good shape. Again, the trick to dealing with Factory is to extend the process. Try to get by for a few turns without using them. Then use one. Draw some cards. Draw out the situation some more. Play another one. And so on. Your opponent will be doing the same. You still have options even without these cards. Cards that let you "cycle" stuff into your Ability are essential when dealing with Factory. These include: Quality Blade/ME, Master's Stratagem, Dr. Alan Neyman, Elizabeth Vaughn, Flashback/ME, Lean & Mean, and Holy Ground/SE (and the ME version to a lesser degree - remember it only lets you draw a # of cards equal to those you previously had, _not_ up to your full Ability). Brenda Wyatt and John MacLeod are also cyclers, but pretty ineffective ones. Use these cards as soon as possible. If you don't immediately have the resources to deal with removing Factory, at least these will give you a chance of drawing what you need. As our reviewers note below, dealing with Factory is a whole new situation if Nefertiri is using it. This strategy may not be as obnoxious and/or predictable as Connor using Mountain Cave. However, it's very close. If Nefertiri lays down a Factory, play a different Location or otherwise get rid of it ASAP. Use the card cyclers to get what you need. No review of Factory would be complete without looking at its related Special: Explosion. Since it's dependent on Factory's presence, this card is a less powerful version of Angry Mob/SE. You can avoid the damage with Careful Planning. However, you're better off simply using Careful Planning + Angry Mob/SE. You don't have to worry about getting a Factory out and keeping it out long enough to play Explosion + Careful Planning. Who should use Factory? Nefertiri, obviously. Personas that function better on a small number of cards might also wish to use it. This includes Kastagir (because he Exerts more effectively) and the Kurgan (since he can Power Blow/Exert better, and Bloodlust gives him plenty of attacks). Factory is also good in any deck that causes your opponent to discard. If you use Master's Advance, for instance, your opponent won't be able to draw to replace those extra dodges he's using up. With some careful timing, cards like Charm/Kastagir, Kiss Your Butts Goodbye (CotW #8), Louise Marcus (CotW #9), and Cat & Mouse/Attack or Defense (next week's CotW #24) can be crippling. Generally, any Persona can use Factory - you merely have to build your deck accordingly. Add six Reconnaissance and six Patience. The problem is that these are good "toolbox" cards and your opponent will probably either or both of them as well. So overall, Steve gives Factory a _7_. I'd rate it a 5 if Nefertiri didn't gain such a huge benefit from it. You rarely get an ideal "lock" when your opponent has a diminishing hand of 5-7 cards that he can't play. But when you do, the game is pretty much yours. If you have a strong head-hunting deck, this is perhaps your best unaugmented way to succeed at decapitation. They just keep Exerting until they run out of luck. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - A so-so card for anybody but Nef-- now that the ruling has been changed in her favor. No other Location supports her as much. I also like Factory in a Kurgan deck, to keep them from drawing back defenses before or after a nasty Bloodlust. The problem is I have no room for Locations in such a deck. I rate it 10 for Nefertiri. Jeff - Beautiful in any Nef deck -- especially Nef cheese. Also tends to work well with Kastagir or Kurgan, if you pop in a few Patience and/or Recons. A solid, fun card. Rick - The Location of choice for Nefertiri so for her this rates a 10 (6 for any others). With some Patience and Holy Grounds/SE, you can minimize its effect. Hank - The perfect Nefertiri Location, of course. Anything that slows your opponent's progress through his deck prevents him from furthering his strategy. I've used it in Nef decks and in a weird Richie deck of mine, and I liked it both times. Alan - A great Location when used in combination with Nefertiri, since she can ignore its effects. Anyone else using Patience and/or Reconnaissance can do the same thing. Great for taking your opponent's head while he's low on Ability. Jim - Factory is lethal in the hands of Nefertiri. Nefertiri is immune to Factory's effects. Factory is also a good location for Head Hunting decks. You can use Reconnaissance and Patience to bypass the restriction Factory imposes on you. Make Head Shots when your opponent is low on cards. Chip - Abstain Wayne - Factory can be somewhat useful with Nefertiri or any deck heavy in Patience or Reconnaissance. I feel that Factory is one of the weakest Locations. Most people in our area play with Patience and Holy Ground/SE, which both negate the effect of Factory. It's possibly a good Location if you have nothing better to play, but there seems to normally a better option. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Ben 6 Jeff 7 Rick 8 Hank 8 Alan 7 Jim 8 Chip N/A Wayne 4 Average: 6.88