Improvised Weapon (Object) If you are Disarmed you may use this Improvised Weapon. This weapon allows you to block Power Blows with a zero-card Exertion. You may not make Head Shots. Here we have an Object that combines two different functions: you can avoid being Disarmed, and you can make 0-Exertion Power Blocks while using it. But first those bothersome game mechanics issues. The text of Master's Disarm/Connor and Nakano states, "Play in your Defense Phase if you have no weapon. . ." For the purposes of Master's Disarm _only_, Improvised Weapon _is_ considered a Weapon. Thus, you cannot use MD when using it. Improvised Weapon is _not_ considered a weapon for the purpose of cards such as Break Weapon, Collapse, Honed Weapon. The ruling on Improvised Weapon indicates that you can't use Master's Disarm if you use Extra Weapon either. So, what good is Improvised Weapon? Let's look at its lesser effect first. It lets you make a 0-card Exertion for a Power Block. Unfortunately, this is not much of an advantage. There is already an Object, Ancestral Blade, that lets you make a Power Block without making _any_ Exertion. It doesn't require that you Disarm yourself (via Discard Weapon), or use up your one Exertion for the turn to make a Power Block. In fact, even if you're Disarmed, Ancestral Blade will _still_ let you Power Block without an Exertion. Assuming of course that you have some way to block attacks (i.e., the Dragon promotional card). So it doesn't seem worth the effort to use Improvised Weapon simply to make "free" Power Blocks. Ancestral Blade, a relatively easy-to-obtain promotional card, renders this aspect of Improvised Weapon obsolete. If you somehow can't obtain Ancestral Blade, then a deliberate Disarm-to-Power-Block strategy using IW could work for you. However, the regular Continuity will probably work better for you (unless you're using Katana or Xavier, who lack this card). Why? Because you don't have to disarm yourself to use Continuity. And this brings us to the primary aspect of Improvised Weapon: as a way to defend yourself if you are Disarmed. Unlike Dragon, Improvised Weapon allows you to attack. And unlike Recover Weapon, IW lets you attack and block even if your weapon is broken. Recover Weapon also _requires_ that you be Disarmed before using it. None of the other re-arm methods have this handicap. Two other methods to rearm involve using the two re-arm Situations. These are the Armory promotional card and Watcher/Rearm from the Series Edition. Both of these are difficult to counter. If Disarmed, you can play them immediately and have a weapon. Only a TCG rip will stop them: Plan Ahead does not "counter" them, and so they take effect before they can be removed. However, Watcher/Counter _will_ counter the play of Watcher/Rearm. These Situations can also be played at any time. There are a few minor disadvantages to Watcher/Rearm. As a Watcher card, it counts against the six you are allowed. And being a Watcher, it has disadvantages in Watcher's Chronicles (as well as an advantage or two as an in-play Watcher). The Armory is a Watcher Field Agent: again, this has certain vulnerabilities due to cards in Watcher's Chronicles. A minor disadvantage of both these cards is that you can't use a disarm strategy against your opponent if you choose to use these. Generally, however, The Armory is probably superior to Improvised Weapon, particularly if you are using Ancestral Blade. This leaves a _fifth_ way to rearm yourself: Extra Weapon. Extra Weapon and Improvised Weapon are both Objects, making them easy to keep in play. The other methods are subject to countering or removal by various means such as Forethought, Plan Ahead, and Police - Objects are not. There are only two cards that adversely affect Object: Thief and Misfortune. You can play both of these Objects regardless of whether you are Disarmed or not. Both can be put into play prematurely with the (currently illegal) Conjure, or recovered from your discard pile with Archaic Collection or Alex Johnson. Both cards are useful as long as you have them in play. However, Extra Weapon only needs to remain in play long enough for you to discard it and regain your weapon. Improvised Weapon must remain in play as long as you want to continue blocking and attacking while Disarmed. Once you discard an Extra Weapon you may attack normally. Improvised Weapon prevents you from making Head Shots. However, this may or may not be a handicap for you, depending on your deck design. Looking carefully at the above, it appears that Extra Weapon is the superior of the two Objects. You use Extra Weapon, it's gone, and there's nothing further your opponent can do about it except Disarm you again. With Improvised Weapon, if your opponent Disarms you and then deprives you of the Improvised Weapon, you have nothing. You can't attack, you can't block. This may not sound like much of a disadvantage. However, any Disarm deck worth its salt is going to have Misfortune and/or Thief in it. The same things that remove Extra Weapon impact Improvised Weapon as well. You only need to get Extra Weapon down for one round, possibly using Forethought or a TCG to protect it from removal. Then you can discard it and be rearmed. You must protect Improvised Weapon _continually_ or risk being Disarmed again. So Extra Weapon appears like the clear choice for use. And as mentioned above, The Armory seems to be a better choice as well. As some reviewers note below, Improvised Weapon _does_ let you use it the turn you play it. This can be important in the short-term. However, this assumes you don't _already_ have an Extra Weapon in play. If you do have Extra Weapon in play, you can discard it the moment you are Disarmed. Otherwise your opponent must deal with it before Disarming you. If your opponent begins removing your Extra Weapon(s), you have valuable warning of his game strategy: act accordingly to keep him from attacking, or keep him too busy playing other Specials. In the long-term, Improvised Weapon might give you a one-turn block and attack. Once it's removed, it's gone for good. Who should use Improvised Weapon? A better question is who should _not_ use it. Amanda still takes the extra damage if she Power Blocks with a 0-card Exertion. Connor and Duncan tend to favor Head Shots. The Kurgan, if he is using a heavy Power Blow-strategy, may possibly use lots of Head Shots himself. Anyone using the Destruction plot will not want to use Improvised Weapon. This potentially includes Amanda (due to Seduce), Xavier and Kalas (Plotmeisters), and the Kurgan and Annie (due to anti-Situation removers). Since the use of Master's Disarm/Nakano & Connor is disallowed with Improvised Weapon, those two Personas gain no overwhelming benefit from this combination. Kern, Katana, and Fitzcairn have better things to do with their Exertions: Power Blocking with a 0-card Exertion uses up their normal one Exertion per turn. This leaves only a handful of Personas that are not handicapped by Improvised Weapon. And thanks to the Master's Disarm ruling, there is no real strategy to use with it. So overall, Steve gives Improvised Weapon an all-time low rating of _1_. There seems to be no real reason to use it rather than Extra Weapon. Both cards are vulnerable to the same things, but Extra Weapon only has to remain out long enough to discard and re-arm. The 0-card Exertion Power Block is an inferior version of Ancestral Blade. And as long as you use IW, you are always at risk of having it taken and left with no weapon whatsoever. This rating _is_ subject to two potential future changes. The Master's Disarm ruling is somewhat confusing, since it establishes there is a time when an Improvised Weapon is a weapon, and other times when it isn't. If this ruling is reversed, I would rate IW much higher. If the current discussion concerning the limit on promotional cards becomes official, Ancestral Blade is limited, and Improvised Weapon + Discard Weapon may be a better alternative method to Power Block. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - My second-favorite anti-Disarm card. Its usefulness was tarnished when it was ruled that you can't use a Master's Disarm with this card in play, but I still like the 0-card exertion for Power Blocks. Hank - Improvised Weapon is unique. It can be played without provocation, like Watcher: Rearm or Extra Weapon, but unlike those it can be used immediately (like the lesser used Recover Weapon). I've started using it more and more in my decks for that reason. (Ed. Note: Watcher: Rearm _can_ be used immediately.) Alan - This is really an great card. It's a great anti-Disarm card, plus it allows 0-card Exertion Power Blocks. If you don't have access to Ancestral Blade, Discard Weapon + Improvised Weapon makes an adequate substitute. Jim - Improvised Weapon is a great card. This card combines the features of Ancestral Blade and Extra Weapon in a somewhat weakened form. You can block Power Blows with a 0-card Exertion and can make attacks normally except for Head Shots. A great insurance card against disarm strategies. It is immediately available to use the turn you play it, unlike Extra Weapon which requires a turn to "ready", Wayne - This is a good toolbox card against Disarm decks. The advantage of this card over Extra Weapon is the built-in Ancestral Blade, but I normally play Extra Weapon since the weapon is recovered upon discarding. The downside of Improvised Weapon is that it gives your opponent time to come up with a Thief or Misfortune which would Disarm you again. Ben - No comment Rick - No comment Ratings Overall: Steve 1 Ben N/A Jeff 4 Rick N/A Hank 7 Alan 7 Jim 8 Wayne 5 Average: 5.33 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Master's Domain Search through your Endurance for a Location card of your choice. Put that Location into play. Reshuffle your Endurance. [Restricted to 3] Here we have a fairly straight-forward card. Look through your Endurance for a Location, put it into play. Can't get any simpler than that. Any game mechanic questions? Not many. You can't recover an out-of-play Location (taken out via TSC Troopers). Just as using Alex Johnson counts as "playing" an Object, using Master's Domain to put a Location into play counts as playing that Location. However, since Master's Domain has a two-part effect (search for a Location, then put it into play), you can play it even if Illusory Terrain is out. IT merely cancels the second part of MD's effect - it does not prevent Master's Domain from being played entirely. You _can_ play Master's Domain if you don't have a Location in your Endurance. Or if you "forget" that you are out of Locations, as the case may be. It's not of much use, but at least it gets the card out of your hand. And of course, Master's Domain is a Master card. So what can you do with Master's Domain? The first, most obvious use is that for some purposes you can treat it as another copy of a particular Location. Instead of having only six cards that put, say, Ruins into play in your deck, you can have up to nine (ten with pg Darius). If you use a two-Location deck (the Kurgan with Catwalk + Ruins, Amanda with Ruins + Dead-End Alley, Kastagir with Battlefield + Factory), Master's Domain can give you some real supplemental power here to not only get out the Locations quicker, but let you get the one out that you want. If you're the Kurgan and you're shooting that Pistol, Master's Domain out a Catwalk. If you're using that Slash, get the Ruins instead. If you have less than the six maximum allowed of a particular Location, Master's Domain can help you get at least that many. It has some disadvantages, however. MD won't help you to recover Locations from your Discard. If you've already drawn and/or played those six Ruins, Master's Domain is useless (although playable) until you've reshuffled. Master's Domain counts against your total number of Master cards. There are two far-better Master cards: Stratagem and Advance. A 2/3 or 3/2 mix of these cards is almost always useful. And although Connor may have up to seven Master cards, Persona-specific cards like Master's Block are probably going to be more desirable for him. One strategy for Master's Domain is the one mentioned by Jeff Barnes below. In conjunction with Chessex, Master's Domain becomes very useful. You can play Master's Domain, put a Location into play, and still be able to play a second Event. This works nicely if you are using Verona to supplement Chessex. This strategy is also useful, albeit less so, with Impressive Move in Watcher's Chronicles. But other then that, there don't seem to be a lot of uses specifically for Master's Domain. Who should use Master's Domain? Since all Personas (except those who benefit primarily from Illusory Terrain, like Xavier) _should_ use Locations, anyone can get a bit more of a kick by using MD. The only real limit by Persona is how many Masters are allowed. Khan, with four Masters, shouldn't use Master's Domain, unless he absolutely can't find a use for those Master's Advances and Stratagems (or he doesn't have them). Generics shouldn't even consider it, assuming they are using the Generic persona card. Any Persona with less than six Masters allowed should look at MD with caution. Of the Personas who can use more than five Masters, Duncan would probably be better off using the generic Master, or the other two mentioned above. Connor tends to favor the Master's Stance/Block/Lunge mix. Using this combination can take up all seven of his Master slots. If he limits himself to just Master's Block and Lunge (and without pre-game Darius to raise the total number of both of these), he has three Master slots left. He will probably still want to use these for Master's Stratagem, however. This leaves the Kurgan. With six Masters, he can actually spare space for a couple of these. Master's Advance in particular is useful for him. However, if he is using Catwalk in conjunction with Pistol (due to the extra damage - see PotM #1), he may want the extra Location access. Also, the Kurgan tends to Exert a lot, meaning he will have a larger deck. This is the other aspect of Master's Domain. The larger the deck, the more you will want Master's Domain, since it increases your chance of getting that critical Location out into play. There is no Persona who is specifically small-deck oriented. I have seen both large and small deck versions of practically every Persona in existence. Those Personas who would seem to benefit the most would be Duncan, Connor, the Kurgan, and Kern. This isn't to say you should use Master's Domain in any deck you use, or that you should exclude its use from other Personas. If you have a 100-card Amanda deck and you want to get those Dead-End Alleys, out then go ahead and use Master's Domain. Overall, Steve gives Master's Domain a _3_. Some opinions to the contrary, this card does have its uses. There are even one or two small strategies like Chessex/Verona/Master's Domain that it can help you with. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - Abstain Jeff - The weakest of the ME generic Masters. Why play with this instead of another Location in its slot? Only two reasons I can think of: (1) you only have 2 Veronas and need to stretch a bit, or (2) you're playing Chessex. Master's Domain now has a third use: used correctly, it becomes a Verona, Italy 1637 without taking up a promo card slot. Well, it could also become a Pyramid, but I trust no one is nuts enough to play with that. Unless they're Kevin Murray. =) Rick - Since there are no restricted Locations, you can put six of your preferred Location in your deck and be able to get to them quickly enough. The fact that this card takes up a Master slot is another negative. There are many ways to get rid of Locations, so using a Master slot just to get one into play seems like overkill. Hank - Master's Domain lets you hunt through your deck for a Location and put it into play immediately. It's probably useful for Verona decks and the like, but I don't play with Verona decks and I have better uses for my Master slots. Alan - Admittedly, I have never used this card, nor have I seen its use very often. However, since it is becoming clear the key to winning almost every duel these days is coming down to Location control, I can see it's importance growing. . . Jim - Master's Domain is a good card to use if you are utilizing a multiple- Location strategy. It is costly since it uses up a Master slot. I find it useful in Kurgan decks when using both Catwalk and Ruins. Nakano can use it for a deck using lots of different Locations. For large decks, Master's Domain lets you sidestep the six-of-one-title limit. For single Location decks that are smaller in size than say 80+ cards, I would not recommend using Master's Domain. Wayne - Abstain Ratings Overall: Steve 3 Ben N/A Jeff 5 Rick 2 Hank 4 Alan 6 Jim 5 Wayne N/A Average: 4.17 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Psyche Choose a card from your opponent's hand at random and look at it. Your opponent must play this card during his next turn. If he does not, remove that card from the game. Here we have a card that is perhaps one of the most overlooked in the game, if not the most underestimated. Most people look at this and think, "Why is this a rare?" But first, the inevitable game mechanic questions. It is important to understand this card if you intend to use it. When your opponent selects a card with Psyche, you _must_ play that card if you can. You cannot choose to play another Special to get out of playing the Psyched Special. You can block, putting yourself into a position where you are unable to (normally) use a Psyched attack. If a Psyched card is countered, it is still considered to have been played, and is not removed from the game. Usually, it is clear when you can and can't play a card. For instance, you can't play an attack if you can't attack. If your opponent does not attack, you can't play a defense (except a Guard). You can't be forced to play an illegal defense in lieu of a legal one (except against Hidden attacks - more below). If you see which card is Psyched and then choose not to attack, this could cost an opponent a Master's Block or Dodge. Assuming you can play Specials at all, Situations and Objects can be played at almost any time. However, there are times when you may not want to prematurely (Louise Marcus, Honor Bound, Simple Mind, etc.). Some Edge cards can be played at any time, some cannot. You can only play Alertness/Block if your opponent plays an unblockable attack. You can play Schemer, or Patience, or Lean & Mean, or Flashing Blade, at any time. If you are forced to play a Special, you can't play another Special as well (excepting Chessex, Dr. Sonny, and a few other cards). There are some Specials that you can play that will have no effect, but at least you can play them. Seduce (Amanda's and Nefertiri's) and Trip are good examples. These modify your next attack _if you make one_, but can be played whether you intend to attack or not. There are a number of Specials that are "response-specific." For instance, you can only play Police/Counter Damage if your opponent actually played an Event that does damage to you. Any card that is response-specific can be played under certain circumstances. However, there are times when they may not be playable. If this is the case, the card is lost from the game. You can play Darius if you don't have _any_ of another Persona's cards in your hand, rather than lose it from the game. To do so, however, you must Exert for a defense from another Persona. This tactic is permissible even if you know you don't have any such card in your deck. Timing can also hurt you. Psyche forcing you to play Discard Weapon if you're not ready is one example. If you are forced to play a Head Shot and don't have an Upper attack, you are forced to Exert for one. Ditto if you are forced to play Hook, Extra Shot, Follow-Up, or Combination and don't have a second attack. Being forced to play Run Through or Master's Disarm/Kurgan the turn after your opponent plays that Thrust/Power Blow is probably not a good thing. Another example is being forced to play Kiss Your Butts Goodbye when you're temporarily out of dodges. The best two examples of potent bad timing are Nexus and Second Wind. Being forced to play either of these early in the game can be a serious problem. If you are forced to play a card you don't like . . . you've got trouble. If you had a Holy Ground/Forfeit in your deck to protect those Quickenings, being forced to use it due to Psyche is probably the ultimate humiliation. However, you are also hurt if you are forced to use Police/Remove Sit when you're the only one who currently has Situations in play, or to use Simple Mind even though you have lots of Situations currently in play. One note: counter cards, including the TCG rip, do _not_ specify you can only use them against an opponent's card. You can rip a TCG to counter your own card as you play it. Psyche is probably the only time that you will want to do this, though. Prematurely forcing a lock deck to play Jack Donovan or Honor Bound, or Focus before there are any Situations out, can help you. Making your opponent play a card like Watcher/Treatment early in the game, when she is at full Ability, is also useful. As is forcing them to play a Dr. Sonny Jackson when you are not doing any damage to them. Against an opponent with an Ability of 15, Psyche's impact can be minimal. However, later in the game when they have a smaller Ability, Psyche can be crippling as they lose those cards they need, or are forced to play them before the desired moment. I have noted in previous reviews of game-remover cards like TSC Troopers (CotW #14) and Amnesia (#22) that these are not particularly useful since the impact of removal isn't felt until the next time through the target's Endurance. Psyche suffers a similar problem. However, careful play of Psyche under the right circumstances can mean your opponent doesn't get a chance to play the card the _first_ time either. Refusing to attack the turn you Psyched your opponent's Master's Block is a good example. So that's what Psyche does, and how you use it. The question is, who should use it? As the above indicates, there is no strong strategy for using Psyche - the effects are a bit too variable. Psyche can seriously hurt your opponent. However, it could just as easily do little or nothing. If they were going to use that Seduce/Amanda anyway, your opponent is not going to be bothered if he was Psyched into using it. Still, there are a few tactics, and a few Personas, who can make best use of the benefits of Psyche. One tactic is using Psyche against an opponent taking a wait-and-see approach to playing anti-Power Blow cards like Ancestral Blade. If your opponent doesn't have an Ancestral Blade on the table, and you Psyche them into playing a _different_ Special, immediately make a Power Blow. They can't play the Ancestral Blade, and will have to deal with your Power Blow in some other manner. Also, unless the Special you Psyched _was_ Holy Ground, they can't play HG either. And if you did Psyche their Holy Ground, don't attack. In this manner, you can make them waste Holy Grounds and score with your attacks later. The above also demonstrates that you should play Psyche _before_ making an attack on any given turn. This tactic is best suited to Personas who can do lots of damage without playing a Special, since Psyche is the Special you play. This includes Slan, the Kurgan, Kern, and Annie. Anyone using Master Swordsman from Watcher's Chronicles can also benefit from this tactic, however. Here's another tactic: are you playing Kalas and tired of the fact they refuse to play those Holy Grounds you know they've got? Psyche them into playing one and then go ahead and Stalk/Head Shot them on your next turn. Do you use Thief? If so, your opponent may be cautious in playing those Objects (particularly Ancestral Blade), waiting until you remove the first one until he plays a second. Psyche gets them on the table quicker, making your Thief more cost-effective. If you use Hidden attacks and can make them without playing a Special (Riposte, Jump, Duck, Mountain Cave, Master's Block/Richie & Duncan, Swords to Snakes & Shadows of the Mind/Nakano, Acrobat/Amanda), Psyche is potentially a card for you. If you are making a Hidden attack, your opponent _can_ play an illegal defense. So if you Psyche him into playing a Lower Right Block, go ahead and make a Hidden Upper Left Attack. He must play the LRB, since it's legal in this case. Even if they _know_ it's an Upper attack because it's a Riposte, they still can't play that Upper Guard because you Psyched them to use the LRB. This strategy works best for Connor, the primary user of Mountain Cave. Duncan, Richie, Amanda, and Nakano can also use it, though. Tired of your opponent waiting to play that Location to remove your Catwalk, and then use a dodge the same turn? He can't do it if you use The Gathering . . . but without Reconnaissance he also can't do it if you force him to play another Special instead with Psyche. Overall, Steve gives Psyche a _6_. It is a potent two-faceted card. It is one of a very few cards that forces an opponent to play something. It is also a card that can potentially remove cards from the game. Psyche gives you some very subtle control over what your opponent can do. There are several useful combinations using Psyche, and its psychological value shouldn't be underestimated. It is only the card's random nature that lowers it from a 7 rating. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - Abstain Jeff - Blech. Maybe if you got to _choose_, I'd have a use for this card. As it is, it's only going to be seen in sealed deck -- and there I'd think hard before using it. Rick - Psyche is a good card if you want to annoy your opponent. About half the time you should be able to make them get rid of a card from the game. But if they can't play when they have to, the probably didn't want to play it anyway, so you really just helped them cycle cards. You should already have a rough idea of what cards are in their hand before using Psyche. Hank - When I first bought my cards, I ended up with a lot of Psyches . . . so I really tried to figure out a good use for them. Unfortunately, I could never get them to really have a big impact on play... and I have better Specials to put in a deck that _do_ have a big impact. Alan - This is a card I haven't found too much use for. There are other cards I would rather use to force my opponent to discard/remove cards from the game. However, if the sole purpose of my deck was to annoy the heck out of my opponent, then this is a card I just may use (don't laugh, I've actually seen decks like that). Jim - Abstain Wayne - This card is possible a fun card to play with in non-tournament play, but it is fairly useless in tournaments. Upper Hand is probably a much better alternative since you get to see your opponent's hand and discard the card you choose. I don't see many uses. Ratings Overall: Steve 6 Ben N/A Jeff 2 Rick 5 Hank 4 Alan 4 Jim N/A Wayne 2 Average: 3.83 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Vaughn EVENT: Reporter. Your opponent is hounded by a reporter. You may discard up to 6 cards and replace them from your Endurance. (errata'd text) An interesting card. This was initially somewhat overlooked, but seems to be coming back into vogue big time. First, the game mechanic questions. Elizabeth Vaughn is both an Ally and a Reporter. "Duel is delayed." is flavor text and has no impact on play. You discard, then immediately draw the same number. So that's how she works - what does she do and how useful is it to you? Card cycling is _critical_ in Highlander, and becoming more so every day. Patience lets you draw quickly. Master's Stratagem lets you dump cards. Quality Blade/ME essentially lets you have an Ability one higher, as well as letting you draw the card at the beginning of your turn. Elizabeth Vaughn lets you dump a big chunk of cards and redraw them immediately. Using her does use up your one Special for the turn. However, you can still play defenses and attacks. That suggests one use for Elizabeth Vaughn. Don't have the defense you need? If so, discard those defenses that aren't helping you, or that attack you don't need at the moment, and draw up to six more cards. Hopefully the defense will be there. Are you faced with an unblockable/undodgeable attack and don't have that Alertness in your hand? Play Elizabeth Vaughn. You may not be able to play another Special . . . but you can play any number of Edge cards. If you draw a few Patience, you can play those as well. Not only can you draw to replace Patience, but to replace EV as well. If you're trapped with a useless, diminishing hand of cards due to Factory or a multi-play Encounter, Elizabeth Vaughn can give you a boost there as well. If you've been hit with a Charm/Kastagir or a Cat & Mouse/Defense, EV can give you an emergency draw of cards there as well. As noted above, Elizabeth Vaughn is a card cycler. Did you put Alertness/Block in your deck, and you find yourself up against Luther or Annie Devlin? You're probably not going to be facing an unblockable attack, and you can dump those Alertness cards at will. In other words, Elizabeth Vaughn can help you dump those cards you don't need. Unlike, Master's Stratagem, it lets you dump them in bulk. Is Elizabeth Vaughn better or worse than the Movie Edition Flashback? As an Ally and a Reporter, Elizabeth is more vulnerable. However, currently there isn't much for her to be vulnerable _to_. The only card that affects Reporters is Sovereign Media, a promo card that you typically don't find in many tournament decks. Sovereign Media _is_ a powerful card, removing all Reporters in the target's Endurance from the game. Even Selective Memory is no proof against it. However, at least one of the other two Reporters, Linda Plager, is pretty inconsequential. If you think you'll be up against opponents paranoid about Reporter itself and/or Elizabeth, then don't use them. There are not currently any cards that detrimentally affect Event Allies such as Elizabeth, so she's in no danger there. Balanced against this are the facts that A) Elizabeth Vaughn is a Common (compared to Flashback's Rare status); B) not all Personas have Flashback; and C) she allows the discard of one additional card. Taking this all into account, EV is currently the better of the two cards. Of course, in Renaissance-style play, Flashback is usable and Elizabeth Vaughn is not, making it much more useful as a card-cycler. Another issue that arises is: is Holy Ground/SE better than Elizabeth Vaughn? If you are expecting a lot of attacks that can't be dodged or blocked, then Holy Ground is definitely better. However, it also lets your opponent cycle cards . . . and he doesn't have to play a Special to do so! If you have other means of avoiding attacks (Disappear, Alertness/Block & Dodge), EV is once again the better card. Also, Carl won't counter Elizabeth Vaughn. Above we note the power of card-cycling. Using Holy Ground/SE to let your opponent ditch cards is doing his work for him. If you are going for a lock deck, using Holy Ground is probably not a good idea: why give them a chance to draw those lock-breakers? Elizabeth Vaughn seems like a better bet for combat and non-combat decks. Use Alertness/Block to avoid those unavoidable attacks, and EV to cycle rapidly and get what you need while they have to spend their turn playing Specials to get their vital cards. So which Personas benefit from Elizabeth Vaughn? Probably all of them. The ones without Flashback/discard have no other choice but to use her for large- scale card cycling. Nefertiri gets no huge benefit from Elizabeth Vaughn. She can draw to replace EV itself, giving her an extra card in addition to the other cards she cycled/discarded. In fact, she can play EV, draw to replace, and then toss the replacement card as one of the six allowed. This is not a huge benefit for her. No other Persona gains specific advantages from Elizabeth Vaughn. The dumping of useless cards is a benefit to anyone. So overall, Steve gives Elizabeth Vaughn a _7_ at the current time. If future cards have a greater impact on Reporters and Event-Allies, then this rating could be lower. But right now, her ready availability to any Persona, and her ability to move mass numbers of cards, make her a force to be reckoned with. What Our Other Raters Say: Ben - Abstain Jeff - Lizzie Vaughn is essentially a Holy Ground without the "Holy" part. Useful only if you don't want your opponent to cycle as well. Usually, though, I'd rather have a Holy Ground: 4 Cards. Rick - It's one of the best card cyclers in the game so it's good in an emergency. Hank - Elizabeth Vaughn is a good card for throughput, if you're somehow intent on keeping your opponent from drawing cards. Otherwise, I use Holy Ground/SE for the same effect. Still, it's a card with a use. Alan - Abstain Jim - Abstain Wayne - This is probably the best generic event card for card cycling. This card allows you to play a larger deck and still dump the "trash" without it piling up in your hand. This card is probably second only to Master Stratagem as far as card cycling. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Ben N/A Jeff 6 Rick 7 Hank 6 Alan N/A Jim N/A Wayne 8 Average: 6.80