Snake Bar EVENT If your opponent attacked you and you did not play a dodge this turn, your opponent's first defense played next turn cannot be a dodge. (Restricted to 4) Here's a card that looks dangerous. Like Challenge/SE (see CotW #31), it inhibits dodging. Like Challenge/SE, it has the advantage of being an Event: Locations can be Reconned or removed, Situations can be Focussed or Policed, but Events' effects can't be bypassed once they are successful played. Game mechanics first, though. Despite it's name, Snake Bar is not a Location. "play a dodge" is pretty specific. You can discard them, move them a Dojo, whatever. But if you play a dodge, from your hand or from your Exertion, your opponent's first defense can be a dodge. As far as has been currently ruled, Kane using his ability to take an opponent's card and "use" it is _not_ playing a dodge. So he can, for instance, "borrow" a Jump from Duncan, play Snake Bar, and then make a Hidden attack that Duncan can't play a dodge from his hand against. (This ruling is under reconsideration, however, and may change in the future.) Note that nothing prevents you from _playing_ Snake Bar regardless of what you or your opponent played, attack- and dodge-wise. In fact, there are no conditions to playing the card at all. You can play Snake Bar if your opponent doesn't attack, if you don't attack, if you dodged, whatever. The card merely establishes a potential penalty for your opponent, depending on what you and/or he did or did not do. Snake Bar also doesn't care _why_ you didn't play a dodge. If you couldn't play a dodge because of something your opponent did (played a Snake Bar of his own, trapped you on Catwalk, whatever), you can still play Snake Bar and keep them from playing a dodge as their first defense on their turn. The other important thing to remember about Snake Bar is that it keeps your opponent from _playing_ a dodge (from his hand, an Exertion, whatever). Under the current rulings, this means that Alertness/Dodge will _not_ nullify SB's effect. Alertness/Dodge lets you dodge an attack that has been modified to be undodgeable: it cannot be played when you are faced with an attack(s) that you are prevented from playing dodges against. This ruling may be subject to change, but currently it stands. So that's how Snake Bar works. What do you do with it? For obvious reasons, Snake Bar will primarily be useful when you are faced with an opponent who actually attacks you. You can play it even if your opponent never attacks, thus meaning SB never "jams" in your hand. Still, it wastes your play of a Special for a turn to get rid of it. There's no real way to currently assure that your opponent attacks. Louise Marcus and Maniacal Laugh/Corda and Reno can help, particularly the latter (which doesn't give your opponent a choice). Future cards may more severely penalize an opponent for not attacking. The attack that you make in conjunction with Snake Bar should be a fairly potent one, and one that can be made unblockable without the play of a further Special. Master's Attack is the obvious choice here, as is the Persona that should probably use this card (see below). Power Blows are also a good type of attack to make at this point. Keep them from dodging, and if you've dealt with their other ways to Power Block without an Exertion (Ancestral Blade, Luther Q, any Continuitys in play), they're going to have to stand and Exert for that Power Block. Who should do this, primarily? More below. Anti-dodge will also stop the newly-minted unblockable/undodgeable Jump/Leg Sweep/Master Head Shot. If Duncan can't Jump, he can't make the Master Head Shot unblockable. Unlike Challenge/SE, Snake Bar leaves you with the option to dodge next dodge _next_ turn. However, it essentially prevents you from playing a dodge _this_ turn, though. Also, while it stops you from dodging at all, it only prevents your opponent from dodging against your _first_ attack. Still, this keeps an opponent from taking advantage of your relative immobility next turn. Since you can't play a dodge and benefit from Snake Bar, a Back Away/Pistol/Snake Bar combination won't work very well. For Slan, a block/Shooting Blade/Snake Bar combo will work. It's not as good as Challenge/SE in this regard, however, and he'll probably need to use Parry or something similar so he can play the Shooting Blade after blocking. So who should use Snake Bar? Well, first of all, who shouldn't? Anybody who plans on dodging, for starters. Mark off Amanda right off the bat. You can probably disregard Duncan and Fasil as well, and possibly Nakano and Connor as well. However, a low-dodge reliant Connor who plans on making lots of Power Blows may very well wish to use it. This brings us to those who can benefit from using Snake Bar in conjunction with Power Blows. These are the low-dodge types like Slan, the Kurgan, and Kern for starters. Other low-dodge types like Kalas, Corda and Reno, and Kane may wish to do so as well. Certainly, Snake Bar, when played in conjunction with Challenge/SE and Trip, can assure that Kalas is going to keep an opponent from dodging for a very long time. Yung Dol Kim, like Kalas, has the no-dodge Trip and can therefore pin down a dodge-heavy opponent. SB only restricts an opponent defending against his first attack, though. However, if he uses Master Swordsman or Master's Attack on that first attack, then uses his Persona ability and Frenzy to toss off more attacks, it can prove a formidable barrage. As noted above, and under the _current_ rulings, Kane can bypass the "if you play a dodge" restriction by "using" a dodge from his opponent's Endurance, then playing Snake Bar. However, this is an iffy proposition: if he draws a dodge like Dodge or Back Away, he's probably not going to attack anyway. And he's relying on drawing a dodge at the right time. But at least he can use his opponent's Back Away, then play Snake Bar and Pistol. Until the ruling changes. We mentioned Snake Bar's use with Master's Attack (the "standard" version) above. Who's the guy who can use six Master's Attacks? Yep, Methos. As noted, SB has the advantage that it doesn't impair you on your next turn. Methos can wait for the right moment to block rather than dodge, than play Snake Bar and unleash a Master's Attack. Watch them scurry for those Alertness/Blocks! Other Personas: use it as needed. Basically, Snake Bar acts either as a supplement to anti-dodging cards like Challenge/SE and the Kalas/Kim Trip variant (at least, until a potential Alertness/Dodge ruling is made), or as an alternative to Challenge/SE if you don't like the dodge-immobilization on your next turn. So overall, Steve gives Snake Bar a _5_. It's a nice anti-dodge supplement, which can make it useful in Power Blow decks, or when you go up against dodge- heavy types, or both. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - The most-changed card in The Gathering, I believe, this card was once a Location and then a Situation. Strikes me as being arguably less useful than a Challenge; the only difference is it takes effect without the opponent being able to take advantage of it. I wouldn't play with it unless maybe I wanted to play Annie with it. Even then, I dunno. Hank - Gee, yet another way to stop your opponent from playing Dodges. Both worse (ties up your Special for the turn) and better (can work with Special Attacks) than Lunge. Alan - What else can be said about this card? Great card to add more unblockable/undodgeable attacks to the mix already out there. Jim - A rather restrictive variant of Challenge/SE. I'd use Challenge instead, but if you really want to keep your opponent from dodging you can use both. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - Snake Bar has the shock value of being played from your hand with no chance of your opponent being able to avoid its effect. Still, it takes up your Special play and compares badly with Challenge/SE. Your opponent had to attack you (not a given in the current game), it's limited to four, and you need a stand-alone attack that has high odds of damaging your opponent. Snake Bar can be played after a turn when you didn't have to dodge rather than keeping you from dodging next turn, but that often seems small in comparison with its limitations. I'd probably only include this card if I'd already included six Challenge/SE and wanted more. Bruce - If you are under the illusion, after the release of Flashing Blade, Lunge and Lighthouse, that dodges are still viable cards, Snake Bar should help put an end to it. Combined with other dodge inhibitors and unblockable, Ranged or difficult-to-block attacks, Snake Bar can be the centerpiece of a potent direct damage deck. Since you are using attacks to do it, you can even pretend to yourself that it is combat! One card that is apparently no longer just an option in a deck is Alertness:Block. Ratings Overall: Steve 5 Jeff 4 Hank 7 Alan 6 Jim 4 Wayne N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 4 Bruce 9 Average: 5.57 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Laundry Room LOCATION While in the Laundry Room, if any player makes an unsuccessful attack, that player cannot play a block from his hand during his next turn. Laundry Room is essentially the opposite of Lighthouse (CotW #40). The former keeps your opponent from blocking from their hand: the latter from playing a dodge from their hand _or_ an Exertion. As such, points of comparison between the two are inevitable. Game-mechanics questions first. The "unblockable" quality of Laundry Room is in fact, not a truly "unblockable" condition. As has been ruled in many cases, the inability to play a block from your hand does not mean that attack is "unblockable." An unblockable attack is an attack that has been modified so as to be block-proof. Laundry Room does _not_ do this. Rather, you are limited in how you can play a block. So Alertness/Block is useless. Nor does Laundry Room require that you Exert for a defense, unlike Taunt, the second attack of an Extra Shot, Feint/Edge, etc. So Bait and Switch won't help you either. When do you determine if you can play blocks from your hand? You check during your defense phase. If Laundry Room is in play _and_ you missed at least one attack last turn, you cannot play a block from your hand. If Laundry Room was in play last turn and you missed an attack, but Laundry Room is no longer in play, then you may play a block normally. No Location has an effect if it is no longer in play. If Laundry Room modified your opponent's attack(s) on her turn, then it would be relevant. However, it does not do that. If Laundry Room was _not_ in play last turn and you missed an attack, but you yourself put Laundry Room into play on your turn, you _can_ block. The Laundry Room had to "see" you miss your attack, so that it could prevent you from playing a block this turn. So you have to be in the Laundry Room both when you miss at least one attack, _and_ when it comes to your defense phase, for you to be affected by it. So that's how Laundry Room works. This understanding is key to putting it to use for you, and prevent it from backfiring. First of all, keep in mind that unlike Light House, you _can_ play a block. You just can't play it from your hand. You can still Exert for a defense. If you're Kastagir, this is probably a good idea if you're playing a defensive deck. New cards like Memories and Kane's Divination also help to minimize card loss. Laundry Room can be used in conjunction with anti-dodge cards as well. Put a Laundry Room out, wait for your opponent to attack and you to successfully defend. Then play Challenge/SE. Alan notes below that Laundry Room lets anyone make an unblockable/undodgeable Head Shot. True, but it's a bit more conditional than Connor's Master's Block tactic. First, you have to have your opponent attack. Secondly, you have to make sure they miss at least one attack. Third, you have to already have the Laundry Room in play. And then you have to have the Head Shot, Lunge, and Upper attack in your hand. Even then, they have several "outs" that someone facing Connor's Master's Block/Head Shot/Lunge does not. They can play their own Location and then block. They can play Reconnaissance and block normally. They can use a Location-remover like Get Away From It All. Also, they can still play a block from an Exertion. Since they can play a block or a dodge from the Exertion, their chances of successfully defending are a bit better. The only downside is that they can't play Alertness/Block against the Laundry Room-assisted attack. Reconnaissance is a useful tool for bypassing the Laundry Room. As long as you are only worried about avoiding your own Laundry Room, Master's Sanctuary (CotW #60) may be useful. If your opponent is also using Laundry Room, put down your own again ASAP. So who should use Laundry Room? Anybody who plans on making multiple attacks, for starters. Mix with Flashing Blade (if you need it: Battle Rage, Bloodlust, and Berserk types, and Annie Devlin, don't need it) and you have a potent series of attacks indeed. This includes the Kurgan, Slan, anyone with the "standard" Battle Rage, and of course, Annie Devlin. Amanda, who doesn't typically block a lot anyway, may wish to use Laundry Room as well. She'll probably want to have a Recon or two at hand when her opponent Lunge/Power Blows, though, so she can use that Master Swordsman. High-dodge characters like Duncan, Fasil, possibly Nakano and Connor, and even Generics, may also wish to rely on the relatively high number of dodges they have, and use Laundry Room. If you tend to use Lunge, then Laundry Room is potentially good for you anyway. Power Blow types (Slan and the Kurgan for sure, Kern, Kalas, Connor and Duncan to a lesser degree) can all benefit from it. As noted below, Kalas can put together a fairly formidable combination if he can get his opponent to trigger Laundry Room, then play a Lunged attack and use his version of Intimidate. They can only block or dodge from an Exertion, and they can't Exert! Mix with The Prize/Extra Attack or Master Race and the results can be fairly formidable. A thing to watch for is if you are a "low-dodge" Immortal: a Persona with Back Away as their only dodge. Because of this, you have a lesser chance of dodging, and are stuck trying to block. Recon and Master's Sanctuary can help here. Still, Kane and Corda and Reno in particular can have trouble here. So overall, Steve gives Laundry Room a _7_. It's a powerful card, but Locations are still relatively easy to deal with. It's also of very little use against a non-combat deck. It can actively deter an aggressive opponent from attacking, but it can also backfire. Use with caution. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Possibly more useful than Lighthouse, this Location really sparks when added to Lunge (becomes a Special-less Taunt; add Kalas' Intimidate for more fun). Fun location I expect to see make some creative decks, but not likely to be a power card given the popularity of passive decks. Hank - The block version of Lighthouse, and just as fun. Works great with Lunge decks, or with Amanda or Fasil or another dodge-heavy Persona. Alan - An excellent Location for attack decks that adds yet another way to make an unblockable/undodgeable attack. Combine with Lunge and, and now anyone can make an unblockable/undodgeable Head Shot, only defendable from an Exertion. Jim - A very nasty Location. Great when combined with Master's Sanctuary (though rather amusing). A wonderful location for dodge-intensive types like Amanda, Fasil, and Duncan. Also good for Personas who can make multiple attacks, especially if they can make the attacks Hidden. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - Laundry Room is a very fun and nasty Location. Unsuccessful attacks happen a lot in Highlander, and when they do you should back them up with a Challenge/SE in the Laundry Room. Recon, Master's Sanctuary, Snake Bar, and Carl are also worth taking a look at in this Location. You don't want to see what happens when the Kurgan Bloodlusts after you've failed to hit him with an attack. Bruce - This is a very effective Location when used with cards that restrict dodging. It has many of the same advantages and drawbacks as Lighthouse. It has no effect on non-Attack decks and frequently comes back to haunt combat decks that attempt to utilize it. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Jeff 7 Hank 8 Alan 7 Jim 7 Wayne N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 8 Bruce 6 Average: 7.14 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheathe Weapon EDGE Play in conjunction with Discard Weapon. Discard Weapon remains in play as an Object. You are still considered disarmed, but you may remove Discard Weapon from play at any time to regain your weapon. (Restricted to 5) Well, this is interesting. I'll have to admit, this is not a Gathering card I playtested. As such, to some degree this is my first in-depth look at the card. But game mechanics questions first. Here's the most important thing. FAQ entry 11.7, at the web page and as of this writing, states that you cannot play Master's Disarm/Connor-Nakano if you have a weapon in play. The entry mentions Improvised Weapon and Extra Weapon. A "sheathed" Discard Weapon would also meet this criteria. So you couldn't play Master's Disarm if you had a sheathed Discard Weapon. Literally and conceptually, you _do_ have a weapon. I have been informed by TCG that this ruling will be reversed. We are reviewing Sheathe Weapon under the assumption that it is. Otherwise, Sheathe Weapon would probably warrant a 1 (if not a 0) rating by all concerned, as you could not play Master's Disarm if you had a sheathed weapon. So, you play Discard Weapon. You play Sheathe Weapon. The first is an Event, the second is an Edge. Neither is an Object, although the combination becomes an Object when it hits this table. Does this make a difference? Well, yes, as we'll see in a bit. Once a sheathed Discard Weapon is on the table as an Object, it is no longer an Event and is immune to stuff that affects Events. As far as one can tell, the Sheathe Weapon does _not_ remain in play. The Discard Weapon card remains on the table to signify you have a sheathed weapon and are disarmed. The Sheathe Weapon Edge is "swept" normally. If Sheathe Weapon is countered as it is played (TCG rips, Rachel Ellenstein), the Discard Weapon is still successful. If Discard Weapon is countered (TCG rip, Forethought, Lt. John Stenn), the Sheathe Weapon has no effect. As is always the case, there is no "timing" issue. If your opponent plays Misfortune or Thief, you cannot then choose to immediately discard Discard Weapon to rearm. You can discard a "sheathed" Discard Weapon on your opponent's turn. Why is this card restricted to five? No idea. Whoosh. Well, that's more complicated than many cards. Is all this complication worth the effort? As far as I can tell, there is only one reason to use Sheathe Weapon. It's the same reason you would use Discard Weapon: to deliberately disarm yourself. Sheathe Weapon just gives you an option to recover your weapon, and to do so faster. Why would you want to disarm yourself? Well, we've never covered Discard Weapon in a Card of the Week feature, so now's a good time to take a look. The most obvious strategy is using Master's Disarm/Connor or Nakano. This card requires that you be disarmed to use it. Now, this card is okay as a defensive measure against a disarm-type opponent. However, unlike re-arm methods like Watcher/Fair Fight and Extra Weapon, Master's Disarm is unplayable if you _are_ armed. Thus, Discard Weapon provided a way to deliberately disarm yourself so you can use Master's Disarm. The problem with that strategy is that your opponent can then avoid attacking. If they don't attack, you can't play Master's Disarm. You also cannot play attacks, or Guards, or other blocks, or dodges. You can only play Specials. Meanwhile, your opponent could play Specials _and_ Guards. Given the typical non-attack decks that are often seen in competitive play, guess who'll run out of cards to play first, and start Exerting? Yep, that's right: you, the Disarmed Immortal. Sheathe Weapon lets you reverse your disarmament. With a mere "Whoops, changed my mind!" you may discard Discard Weapon, rearm yourself, and go on the offensive again. Also, if your opponent unleashes a Head Shot/Lunge, it won't do much good to play Master's Disarm and end your defense phase, since you've got no way to play a block. You can Exert for a dodge, which is somewhat iffy, and you can't play Master's Disarm after you do. So you unsheathe your weapon and block. This isn't going to help your Master's Disarm strategy, but at least you keep your head. You can always Discard Weapon/Sheathe Weapon later. Heck, rearm yourself, block, and then play Discard Weapon/Sheathe Weapon and start the cycle all over again. The other current reason to disarm yourself is Improvised Weapon/Object (CotW #27). As I noted at the time, this Object seemed remarkably useless. However, when we reviewed it before, FAQ entry 11.7 was in effect, preventing you from using Master's Disarm when you have a "weapon" card in play. So, you can disarm yourself, use an Improvised Weapon to block and attack as necessary, and when your opponent attacks, subsequently Master's Disarm them. It seems that you can only use an Improvised Weapon when you are disarmed, and while you are using it you cannot make Head Shots. If you do wish to later make a Head Shot, you'll want to rearm (using your sheathed Discard Weapon) and proceed to make a Head Shot. If you so desire, or course. Improvised Weapon/Object also has the benefit of letting you make 0-card Exertion Power Blocks. This is a little more appealing now that Ancestral Blade has been Restricted to one. However, the introduction of Conjure in The Gathering, plus the existence of Alex Johnson, means you can recycle that Ancestral Blade pretty easily. So Improvised Weapon's main use still seems to be to block while disarmed, then use Master's Disarm to relieve them of their weapon. Then you can discard your sheathed weapon to rearm and go for those Lunge/Head Shots. But here's the catch: you could _already_ do this. How? By playing Extra Weapon, and then using Discard Weapon next turn to disarm yourself. You could then discard Extra Weapon later to rearm yourself (whether you were using Improvised Weapon or not). You could do so either to make an "emergency" block against a Head Shot/Lunge, or to rearm yourself after using Improvised Weapon so you could perform Head Shots yourself. So what are the only two advantages the Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon combo has over the Extra Weapon/Discard Weapon combo? First of all, a new card in The Gathering, Mental Ward, prevents both combatants from playing Objects. However, it does nothing about Objects on the table. Remember what we said above in game mechanics? When you play Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon, you're _not_ playing an Object, although Discard Weapon becomes an Object when it gets on the table. Voila - you've bypassed Mental Ward. Of course, using Reconnaissance or playing your own Location would let you do this anyway. The other advantage is speed. Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon takes one turn. Extra Weapon/Discard Weapon takes two turns. And . . . that's it. On the downside, Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon will do you no good if you're _already_ disarmed. Extra Weapon lets you regain your weapon no matter who disarmed you. This makes little difference with Master's Disarm, since you're counting on that to re-arm yourself anyway. You won't be able to rearm yourself if an opponent fails to attack, though. However, for Improvised Weapon it's a definite downside. I disarm you, you can't play Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon and these two cards jam your hand. You could play Improvised Weapon, but then I'll Misfortune it (as most Disarm- types do, although typically against Extra Weapon). Now, you can pull off a fairly elaborate combo that lets you rearm with a sheathed weapon, even if your opponent disarms you. How? Sheathe your weapon before they disarm you. Then rearm through other means (Recover Weapon, rolling a die). Apparently this means you've picked up _another_ weapon, leaving your original one sheathed. Now if you're disarmed, you can discard the Discard Weapon and presto - you have a weapon. Of course, you could have done the same thing by playing Extra Weapon or Watcher/Fair Fight in the first place... So, who should use Sheathe Weapon. Only Immortals who plan on using Improvised Weapon or Master's Disarm. Given that the latter only belongs to Nakano and Connor, it's not too hard to figure they should be using Sheathe Weapon if they want the slightly faster combo. Methos and Richie can also use Master's Disarm. Using an adequate number of Master's Disarms take up a substantial percentage of Master slots, which mean Richie and Nakano (with five each) are probably using up slots for Masters that could be better used otherwise. Nakano has You Have Already Lost, which makes a successful use of the combo lethal. But he still has to pull it off. Connor (with seven Master slots) and Methos (with eight) can do better with Master's Disarm. However, you pretty much have to build your deck around it, and it's easy to beat (Watcher/Fair Fight, anyone?). As for who should use Improvised Weapon/Object . . . even with the introduction of Sheathe Weapon, Ancestral Blade (particularly with Conjure becoming a legal card) still is a better way to deal with Power Blows. It doesn't require that you be disarmed, it doesn't use up your one Exertion per turn, it doesn't count _as_ Exerting (for Amanda, very important), it doesn't prevent you from making Head Shots. So overall, Steve gives Sheathe Weapon a _2_. For the purposes of Master's Disarm, it's one turn faster then the existing Extra Weapon or Improvised Weapon plus Discard Weapon combo. You're trading off speed for security, essentially, and it doesn't make a substantial difference in strengthening that card. It only really augments two Immortals, making it extremely limited in scope. Since Sheathe Weapon is apparently a Common, a lot of people are going to have these sitting around with very little use for them. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - The oddest card in The Gathering, given that it's one part Watcher: Revealed, one part Master's Stance. And what's with that restriction of five, anyway? Will Discard Weapon/Master's Disarm decks become the wave of the future? Yeah, right. My candidate for Generic card most likely to pose the most FAQ entries. Hank - Makes the Connor/Nakano Master's Disarm a little more interesting, I suppose, but not a card that excites or thrills me. Alan - This card just simply begs the question of why you would use a two-card combo to duplicate exactly what you can do with one (i.e., Extra Weapon). Not a card that will see a lot of use in my decks. Jim - Abstain Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Sheathe Weapon has strong potential for Connor or Nakano disarm decks. It allows you to Discard your weapon and, if your opponent holds off from attacking, to recover it and begin an attack sequence. Of course if your opponent foolishly attacks after you Sheathe your weapon, then you may Master's Disarm him at will. Overall, it's a nice way to disarm yourself without having to use Extra Weapon as a failsafe. Not a tremendously powerful card, but still useful. Allen - Generally speaking, why bother? Extra Weapon mostly accomplishes the same thing in one card and works with Conjure and Alex. However, you'll most likely use it along with Connor's or Nakano's Master Disarm. In this case, Sheathe Weapon allows you to throw your weapon away and get a spare at the same time. This can help you defend yourself the first turn after you Discard Weapon if your opponent throws an undodgeable or lunged attack. You might try it with Improvised Weapon. It has a place, but unless you are running a dedicated Master Disarm deck I'd skip it. Bruce - Sheathe Weapon is very limited in its uses, but it serves those purposes very well. Ratings Overall: Steve 2 Jeff 4 Hank 5 Alan 1 Jim N/A Wayne N/A Prodipto 5 Allen 5 Bruce 5 Average: 3.86