Memories Memories EDGE Play this card before you make an Exertion. You may pull one Special/Edge card from that Exertion and put it into your hand. You may play only one Memories per turn. Here's a card that is a variation on several others: Courage from the Movie Edition, and Kane's Divination from the same set. Game mechanics questions first. There's not much, really. Play it before you Exert. It doesn't matter what kind of Exertion you're making. You can't use it in your Defense Phase and play the recovered that same phase: you can't play cards during a phase, after you Exert. However, you can keep a card from a Defense Phase Exertion and then use it during your Attack Phase. In the case of Specials, you can't play a recovered Special during your Attack Phase if you already played one during your Defense Phase. So that's it, really. So what does Memories do for you? Basically, they're a great way to keep from losing cards that you might otherwise want to keep. Specifically, they keep you from losing. Memories can also keep you from losing Edges, but typically they are nowhere as restricted as Specials. Nor are you likely to have as many except in smaller decks, where you probably won't care if you lose them to an Exertion anyway. Using Memories/Special, Xavier can Exert for that Power Block, and keep that Forethought or Unholy Alliance pt. 2 that he is going past. He can even potentially go on to play that card during his Attack Phase if necessary. Memories is far superior to Courage. Courage only lets you keep an attack during an attack Exertion, or a defense during a defense Exertion. Courage is useless during Exertions for Power Blows/Blocks, making Memories superior on that basis alone. Typically, you're going to want a Special more than an attack or defense anyway. Kane's Divination is a superior card to Memories, since it lets you keep any card without designating a type or requiring a particular Memories before making the Exertion. However, Divination is Persona-specific, an Event, and Restricted. Since Kane is probably going to use it to keep a Special, he might as well use Memories/Special. Of course, this means Kane can further supplement his Exertion control by using Memories on top of Divination. So who should use Memories? Well, anyone who plans on Exerting. Even those who plan on making 3-card Exertions (the Kurgan, anyone using Master/Swordmaster) can use it to save themselves a card they might otherwise lose. Just because you can make a smaller Exertion doesn't mean that you still won't find valuable Specials and Edges you want to keep. Fitzcairn and Katana often Exert, and Memories can help them here as well. They won't be able to play that Special they regain using Memories/Special (since they can't Exert to us their ability and play a Special), but they'll have it next turn. There seems to currently be some question on how exactly Kastagir's power works. Still, he should be able to go back and pull any one Special or Edge (as appropriate) from the Exertion using one Memories or the other. Amanda doesn't want to Exert, particularly to Power Block, and should probably stick to using Ancestral Blade and Alex Johnson to effectively Power Block. However, Amanda, and pretty much everyone else, can always be the target of Taunt (Katana's or the Kurgan's), Avery Hoskins, or Challenge/ME. Memories can help you here. Heck, if Amanda wants to make that Thrust a Power blow, and can't otherwise make a "free" Power Blow (like with Slan's Q), she can always use Memories/Special to keep that other Seduce she'd probably lose through bad luck. If you just can't find a use for Memories, tuck them into your Dojos (Card of the Week #34) for future use, or to keep them out of your way. So overall, Steve gives Memories/Special a _7_, and Memories/Edge a _4_. They are useful each dodge that they had and ran circles around you. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - [Special] Not a card I'd use a lot (I'd probably prefer Zealot if I'm planning on exerting), but not completely useless, either. However, since I avoid exertions like the plague, I can't see when I'd use it. Maybe if I played Katana or his Q... or maybe Fitz... [Edge] Woo-hoo. Talk about power. Use the Flashback: Edge card if losing an Edge to an exertion bothers you Hank - Memories is a nice, balanced card. Not terribly abusive, useful in decks which force Exertions or just use them for fun. Alan - Abstain Jim - [Special] This is a great card for anyone who exerts alot and uses lots of Specials. Duncan, Fitzcairn, and Katana will get good use from this card. Battle Rage and Bloodlust decks will also find this card useful. [Edge] A good card for decks that make lots of Exertions and use a good number of EDGE cards. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - Both Memories serve to save you from some of the bite of having to Exert. If your deck has a rather relaxed attitude about Exerting then both of these cards are well worth including. Which one you want to use will depend upon your deck and what types of combos/key cards you don't want to miss. Bruce - Does Courage find a lot of use in your decks? If so then these are the cards for you. They are marginally better than Courage because if the Exertion is during your Defense Phase, you might actually get to play the cards during your turn. I have found them mildly beneficial for some Exertion-heavy decks. But if you are Exerting for attacks or defenses, they tend to just get in the way. Ratings Overall (Special/Edge version): Steve 7/4 Jeff 5/3 Hank 7/7 Alan N/A Jim 7/6 Wayne N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 6/6 Bruce 1/1 Average: 5.50/4.50 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Master's Sanctuary SITUATION - Ignore the effects of any Locations you have in play. Any Locations your opponent has in play still affects you. (Restricted to 2) Here is the first and only generic Master card in The Gathering set. In it's own way, it is nearly as powerful as Master Swordsman, the only Watcher's Chronicle generic Master. Game mechanics first. Master's Sanctuary is a fairly straight-forward card. You ignore the effects of a Location. Your opponent doesn't. So if you have Lighthouse in play and one of their attacks fails, they can't dodge on their next turn, and must discard all standing defenses. If your attack fails, Lighthouse has no effect. The wording is such that you _must_ ignore the effects of a Location you have in play. Using Master's Sanctuary with Watcher Regional HQ or Mountain Cave is therefore a rather poor idea, unless you want to require you use Focus every time you benefit from one of these Locations. Master's Sanctuary lets you ignore a Location that you have _in_ play. It won't let you ignore the effects of a Location that occur _as_ it is being played. Thus, if you have Master's Sanctuary out and play Rooftop, you will still have all your Pedestrians and Bystanders removed. Ditto for Ruins and Guards. Just as you can play Reconnaissance and still play a Location-related card (i.e., Recon Parking Garage and play Slippery Footing), you may still play Location-related cards even if the Location is your own, and you have Master's Sanctuary out. So that's how Master's Sanctuary works. How do you use it to best effect? Essentially, Master's Sanctuary unleashes a whole horde of new uses for existing Locations. Typically, if a Location is already powerful in your deck, MS makes it even more so. We covered Lighthouse above. Another good example is Battlefield, one of the more popular current Locations. While you have Master's Sanctuary and Battlefield in play, your opponent must discard a defense or take a point of damage each turn. You do nothing. Essentially, you're playing Nefertiri at this point, as far as Battlefield is concerned. Factory can be equally restrictive. While you continue to draw and re-draw normally, your opponent cannot draw during their draw/discard phase. Don't put too much emphasis on any strategy which involves ignoring your own Locations due to Master's Sanctuary. Your opponent can still use Reconnaissance to bypass your Locations, or simply remove them by playing his own Location or other Location-removing Events like Get Away From It All. Other Locations? Let's run down the list. As noted above, Ruins and Rooftop's immediate "removal" effect aren't thwarted by Master's Sanctuary. Still, if you want to play Guards and Pedestrians, respectively, once you put them in play, your opponent can have trouble. Mountain Cave and Watcher Regional HQ are Locations you shouldn't use Master's Sanctuary with: you never want to ignore them. Catwalk and Dead End Alley, with their dodge restrictions, can be handy to ignore. With the prevalence of Back Away/Evade-only types, a Catwalk can seriously inhibit an opponent's ability to play nine-grid dodges. An agile Persona like Duncan or Amanda can use Catwalk and then ignore it. This can make their use of Pistols more useful. It also keeps some opponents from playing not only Dodge, but Master's Dodge as well. As Jeff notes below, Jungle is a card that you _must_ ignore while Master's Sanctuary is out. This can be good or bad: bad if you're using it for card cycling (i.e., Nefertiri and her Quickening users); good if you're trying to drain off an opponent's hand. Using Master's Sanctuary in conjunction with Pyramid means that you know everything that goes into their hand, while they are denied a look at your hand. Desert, like Pyramid, can be a major drain on your opponent while having no effect on you. Master's Sanctuary in conjunction with Parking Garage will let you rearm while your opponent does not. However, if he is Disarmed he probably isn't able to Disarm you. The "new" Verona isn't nearly as powerful. However, certain Personas using it (particularly Richie and Methos with their ability to "borrow" other Personas' Special Attacks, often-times Masters) can reduce the chance of their opponent playing Special Attacks they have to cope with, while being free to play their own. We talked about Lighthouse above. Laundry Room from The Gathering works in a similar fashion, and in some ways is even more powerful. Mix with Flashing Blade or Challenge/SE, use a multiple-attack sequence, and your opponent will be in serious trouble. Using Master's Sanctuary, as always, lets you avoid an unpleasant backlash. Master's Sanctuary and Spiritual Center are best used in cheese decks, since it will keep your opponent from playing cheese event-damage while leaving you free to do so. MS plus Mental Ward can help considerably against Object- reliant Personas like Khan, Kern, and Corda and Reno. Supplement with Misfortune and it will be difficult for them to get multiple Objects down. And finally, here's an amusing if risky trick. Use Holy Ground/Location/Forfeit from the Movie Edition, and Master's Sanctuary. Ignore the effects of Holy Ground, then Focus or Police Master's Sanctuary when you're ready to escape. This can be risky since your opponent can do the same. However, put both in play (or three if you use a pre-game Darius), and it may prove a difficult tactic for your opponent to stop. If you use multiple MSs in this case, use Simple Mind to remove them all in one fell swoop. So overall, Steve gives Master's Sanctuary a _7_. It's a powerful card, giving you freedom to ignore your Locations. However, its limits as a Master, a restricted card, and a Situation balance out its strengths. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Makes non-Nef Factory or Battlefield decks more feasible. Note that there's no "may" in that text; you don't have the option of having the Location affect you (so, no Jungle cycling with it). Hank - Master's Sanctuary opens up a lot of ideas: playing Locations like Battlefield, Verona or Light House without consequence can be a lot of fun. Still, it ties up a Master's Slot, always a painful thing. Alan - Not a bad Location-control card, but inferior to Reconnaissance, in the sense that it not only takes up a precious Master slot, but only affects your own Locations. Add to that its relatively high vulnerability as a Situation, and you have a card that wouldn't see it's way in many of my decks. Give me Reconnaissance. Jim - This is almost a must have for any deck that uses Locations. This card can be played at any time and is not removed when your Location leaves play. As long as you control the site of the battle this card will give you an advantage. Mix in some Reconnaissance cards and you can use any Location you'd like. I expect to see more decks built around Ruins. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - A very useful card, though not as magic as it might first seem. Usually tightly constructed decks are built with their location in mind. Given this, Master Sanctuary is often not worth the Master slot, deck space, and Police/Focus opportunity that you are costing yourself or granting your opponent. However, I still find this to be a very valuable tool in Battlefield and Desert decks, and worth looking at in the new Mental Ward and Laundry Room. Bruce - Better than Reconnaissance because it takes up less space in your deck and can work indefinitely. Not quite as good because it uses a Master slot, is subject to removal, and only affects your own Locations. This will dramatically increase the effectiveness of many Locations. Despite its limitations, it will be augmented by Reconnaissance in most decks that use it. Controlling the terrain was the key to victory in many games before: taking Sanctuary in hostile terrain can only make that more true. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Jeff 6 Hank 7 Alan 5 Jim 8 Wayne N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 5 Bruce 8 Average: 6.57 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Mental Ward LOCATION While in the Mental Ward, no Objects may be put into play. This was seems fairly straightforward. Still, a few game questions to address. Mental Ward does nothing about Objects in play. You may, of course, play Recon and then an Object while MW is in play. Mental Ward doesn't stop you from playing Events that later _become_ Objects. Thus, a Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon combo is legal to play when you're in the Mental Ward. And...that's it. Pretty straight-forward, eh? So now that we know how it works, what do you do with it? Well, duh. Keep people from playing Objects is pretty much it. When is that useful? Basically when one of two things occur: you're making Power Blows, or you're disarming an opponent. What do Objects have to do with Power Blows? Ancestral Blade, of course. Even Restricted to one, Alex Johnson assures that if you remove it from play an opponent can bring it back for an encore performance. Some Personas don't even _have_ another way to deal with Power Blows because of their lack of the "basic" Continuity. Master Swordsman is nice, but requires that you give up Master slots to use it. As far as disarming, Extra Weapon remains one of the more useful ways to rearm yourself. The other typical way to rearm is to use Watcher/Fair Fight. Use Watcher/Counter to stop this, and Mental Ward to stop the use of Extra Weapon, and a disarmed opponent is going to remain this way unless they take extraordinary measures. Mental Ward also seriously interferes with Immortals who rely on Persona- specific Objects. Currently this includes Kern, Corda and Reno, Khan, and (borrowing from these three Personas) Richie. One thing to keep in mind is that you shouldn't rely on just Mental Ward to keep Objects out of play. A wise opponent will have Reconnaissance in his deck, and use it to put into play their one critical Object. MW _will_ keep them from playing lots of Objects, so you can use Misfortune rather than Thief to keep up with a potential shower of Objects. So who should use Mental Ward? Better to ask who shouldn't, and that includes the Personas just mentioned: Kern, Corda and Reno, Khan, and Richie. Yes, you can Reconnaissance around MW to play your Objects, but it's a waste of resources. Alternately, they can use Master's Sanctuary (CotW #60) to bypass Mental Ward. However, perhaps by coincidence, two of these Personas can only play with four Masters. Two Master's Sanctuary can represent a considerable drain on their Master slots . . . and MS is still easily bypassed, since it is Restricted to two. Amanda almost falls into the same category. She can use Continuity to Power Block, but typically she relies on Ancestral Blade to avoid running afoul of her Persona ability vis a vis Power Blows/Blocks. Mental Ward can restrict her from playing AB at a critical moment. Mental Ward works well with the new Sheathe Weapon/Discard Weapon combo. Connor or Nakano can now divest themselves of their sword (sort of) and still have the sheathed weapon available to rearm, all while with a Mental Ward in play. They can either use Master's Disarm (with Nakano using You've Already Lost as a follow-up), or if their opponent proves reluctant to attack, then can unsheathe their weapon and go back to combat. Immortals who rely on Power Blows should probably consider Mental Ward, particularly Slan. He has little need for Objects, particularly Ancestral Blade. If he uses Watcher/Fair Fight, he can rearm himself as necessary. The Kurgan, Duncan, and Connor can all Power Blow heavily under the right circumstances, and might wish to consider Mental Ward. Since Luther is not dependent on Ancestral Blade, and can rearm using Watcher/Fair Fight, he can probably afford to use Mental Ward. He gains no huge advantage, unless he possibly uses an Intimidate/Master Swordsman strategy (see PotM #6). As far as disarming, as noted above, Connor and Nakano do well when using Mental Ward in conjunction with Master's Disarm. Fasil is even more the ultimate Disarm Master, however. Granted, MW probably isn't as good a choice as Parking Garage for Iman to fight in. Still, if he breaks their weapon (using Forged Steel in conjunction with his standard disarm technique), Mental Ward is superior since it keeps his opponent from playing Extra Weapon. As noted above, Fasil should have Watcher/Counter on hand to keep a Watcher from deciding to lend out a spare sword. A similar strategy applies to Methos using Fasil's disarm strategy (see PotM #13 in May). Other Personas? Whether they should use Mental Ward will vary depending on the particular strategy you choose. typically, they gain no huge benefit from doing so, but a particular strategy may lead them to using it. Before concluding, let's take a look at Mental Ward's "associated" card, Breakout. This Event removes MW from play, and lets both sides recover an Object from the discard pile. This is of remarkably little use, since MW neither removes Objects when played, nor is it likely that an opponent lost Objects to his discard pile in another manner. It might be useful if you're following a shared card-loss strategy: Khan using Desert, Duncan using Avery Hoskins, etc. However, since it gives your opponent a chance to recover that critical Ancestral Blade or Extra Weapon as well, it's probably not a good chance. Duncan, perhaps, might need it if he gets in over his head against an Object-low Power Blow type like Slan or the Kurgan. So overall, Steve gives Mental Ward a _5_. It's a so-so Location, tending to impair some Personas and helping others. It really comes out average compared to other Locations. Some are better, a few are worse. It's too easy to bypass currently. As more Objects enter the game, it might be worth a second look down the road. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Yawn. Suppose it'll be more useful as Objects become increasingly powerful, but if it doesn't remove them from play, it's just Reconnaissance bait. Aside from messing with Khan, I can't see a lot of use for it. Notable in that its "catastrophic" associated card will never be played in a deck containing it and that it's not powerful enough to play with in the hopes someone else will play a Mental Ward. Hank - Works great with Slan decks (no annoying Ancestral Blade to get in your way). I like Mental Ward a lot, I use it whenever I'm not putting Objects of my own into the deck. Alan - Good card if you're either not playing with Objects yourself, or are playing a Power Blow or Disarm strategy (prevent the play of those annoying Ancestral Blades and Extra Weapons). However, there are other cards that do the same job, but better, and other, more useful, Locations. Jim - This is a good card against Object-heavy opponents such as Kern and Khan. As more Objects are introduced, this Location will become more important. A few more anti-Object cards like this and I'd be willing to see the limit on Ancestral Blade removed. Wayne - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - Best used (obviously) in decks that feel Objects can hurt them. Power Blow decks that don't want to see Ancestral Blades, and swordbreaking decks that don't want to see their opponents play Extra Weapon. It's not as easy to use as you might think, as it is an easily replaced Location and it does not remove Objects in play. Mental Ward doesn't allow you to forget about Objects, just slow them down. You will most likely still need to include Misfortune or Thief in order to gain its full benefit. Bruce - Mental Ward is fairly weak compared to other Locations. If it does not hurt your deck it can be used as adequate Location defense that could provide you with a some occasional benefits. The fact that it does not remove Objects from play makes it a somewhat useful preemptive alternative to Thief if you play with your own Objects and Master's Sanctuary or Reconnaissance. Ratings Overall: Steve 5 Jeff 3 Hank 7 Alan 4 Jim 6 Wayne N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 7 Bruce 5 Average: 5.29