recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Decimation

## Ability

### Ability

**Punishment****(Play)** If you are losing the round, a random card in either player's hand loses -300 Power this turn, and is revealed before scoring.

## Did You Know?

Apparently, in Ancient Rome, a slap on the wrist wasn’t enough to punish bad behaviour. In the military, a tactic called **Decimation** was used, whereby every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort - hence the term, which derives from the Latin meaning “removal of a tenth”.

If you were facing Decimation, your greatest hope would be that your commander lost count along the way. Still, that might not be in your favor. The earliest instance of decimation on record occurred in 471 BC when consul Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis punished his men for desertion.

But it didn’t end with the downfall of the empire - in fact, decimation happened in the Italian Army as recently as 1916, when one in ten soldiers of a 120-strong company were killed for mutiny.
Crown-of-Thorns Starfish

## Ability

### Ability

**Heavy is the Head****(Play)** If you are winning the round, this card loses -50 Power.

## Did You Know?

One of the largest species of starfish in the world, the **Crown-of-Thorns Starfish** will spend its days hunting polyps on corals attached to rocks. It supposedly resembles the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. (If it had five legs. Which it didn't.)

Be wary though. They look pretty, but they're something of a scourge. Marine authorities monitor reefs for them, as an outbreak can decimate the coral and kill the reef.

## Fusion

 Pentas | 4
Comet Moth

## Ability

### Ability

**Outta This World****(Draw)** If your deck has 3 or more Space cards, your Beautiful Butterflies cards in hand gain +25 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Native to Madagascar, the **Comet Moth** is here for a good time, not for a long time. Given that the moth only lives for up to five days in adulthood, it’s not about to let predators like bats get in the way of a good time.

So, the Comet Moth - one of the world’s largest silk moths - uses a series of defence mechanisms. Its yellow, green and brown coloured wings help it to stay camouflaged in the trees. When threatened, the moth can quickly open its wings, revealing spots that look like eyes that startle predators.

Should a brave bat pursue the moth, it can use its long spinning tail to interfere with the bat’s echolocation and lure them away from the vulnerable parts of their body.
Dead Drops

## Ability

### Ability

**Trade Secrets****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +50 Power this turn and this card loses -50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The first rule of Spy Club? You don’t talk about Spy Club.

The second rule is, to avoid having your messages intercepted, opt for **Dead Drops**, the old-school method of passing on sensitive information. As the name suggests, Dead Drops are the opposite of Live Drops (the cliché park bench briefcase exchange). Hide your message in a prearranged spot such as behind a loose brick and leave a signal nearby (hint: your signal shouldn’t be a sign that says “top secret message in wall”).
Cosmic Microwave Background

## Ability

### Ability

**Leftover****(Draw)** If your deck contains The Big Bang, your opponent loses -17 Power/Turn and loses -1:energy/turn: for 6 turns.

## Did You Know?

Although this name could also apply to what happens when you try to cook an egg in the microwave, it actually refers to the cooled remnant of the first light that could ever travel freely throughout the Universe.

First detected by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1964, the **Cosmic Microwave Background** (CMB) is radiation in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. As the oldest signal that we can detect, many see the existence of CMB radiation as proof that the Big Bang theory is true.

Of course, for all we know, the Big Bang could have been an egg exploding in God’s microwave, and all we are is tiny pieces of egg that will be eventually wiped away with a Cosmic Sponge.
Common Spotted Cuscus

## Ability

### Ability

**Shy****(Start)** Gain +4 Power/Turn permanently. **(Play)** Lose -26 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

Texting is overrated. Instead, the **Common Spotted Cuscus** distributes saliva on branches and twigs of trees to inform others of their territory and initiate social interactions. Who needs a phone when you’ve got spit?!

Found in the rainforests, mangroves and eucalyptus forests of Cape York, Queensland and New Guinea, this marsupial knows how to chill. During the day, they <link="https:> preen and snooze</link> on self-made platforms in tree branches or rest among the rocks. When they do move, it’s very slowly and sluggishly, which explains why the Cuscus is often mistaken for a sloth. However, the giveaway is in the name, as males of the species are typically greyish brown or white with splotchy patterns on their backs.
Deinotherium

## Ability

### Ability

**Never Forget****(Return)** Your Elephant Seal, Elephant's Trunk Nebula and African Elephant cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

With a name that means “terrible beast” in Ancient Greek, it’s hard not to prejudge this prehistoric elephant. While it may not be the best-looking creature, **Deinotherium** came in peace. Judging by the skull and cheek teeth, as well as its oddly-placed tusks, it’s likely that this not-so-terrible beast fed on tree crowns in forested environments, using the tusks to strip branches for foliage.
Cricket

## Ability

### Ability

**Knocked for Six****(Return)** If you won the turn, this card costs -6 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Cricket** originated in the 16th century in south-east England and to an outsider, the sport seems to be an unfathomable display of eccentric movements, ball-based ritual and abstract terminology. To the indoctrinated... it's still an unfathomable display of eccentric movements, ball-based ritual and abstract terminology.

Here are a simplified set of rules just in case you ever have to make polite conversation with an Englishman.

There are two teams and each team is made up of 11 players and the games comprise of at least one innings\* (you can have more) where each team takes turns fielding and bowling or batting and sitting around in the pavilion eating cucumber sandwiches waiting for their turn.

The fielding team has a bowler bowl the ball (normally red) to the batter who attempts to hit the ball as far as they can or in a direction where runs can be achieved.

The team fielding tries to get the batter out by catching the batter's shot, running the batter out by hitting the wickets\* before they can reach the other opposing crease\*, Hitting the wickets with the ball when bowling, or Hitting the batsman’s leg while it's in front of the wicket\* (LBW\*)

The batter will try to score as many runs as possible before being knocked out. This is done by hitting the ball and running between wickets to achieve runs\* and hitting the ball to either the boundary or over the boundary for four or six runs respectively.

The fielding team must knock all 10 batsmen out (individually described as taking a wicket) before their team can start batting.

The overall goal of the game is to score as many runs as possible before the fielding team takes all 10 wickets. The team with the most runs wins.

* Innings - Divisions of the game during which one side has a turn at batting.
* Crease - A demarcated area on the central pitch in front of the wicket
* Wicket - This has several meanings. It is one of the two sets of three stumps and bails at either end of the pitch. It also refers to getting a player out.
* Pitch - The green strip in the centre of a cricket pitch.
* Run - A run is a point.
Crab Nebula

## Did You Know?

When a star dies a hideously violent, sparks-flying kind of death, it basically vomits its innards all across the sky and universe, thus creating a kind of tsunami/ tidal wave of dust and gas known as a ‘Supernova Nebula’

The super star of Supernova Nebulae is Messier 1. Around 1844, British astronomer William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse, sketched the nebula and its resemblance to a crustacean led to him describing it as the "Crab Nebula" which sorta stuck from then on.
Common Degu

## Ability

### Ability

**Highly Social****(Draw)** For every Going Underground card in your hand, this card gains +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

How do you reserve your spot on a busy beach in the summertime? If you’re tired of watching your towel like a hawk while you splash in the sea, take a leaf out of the **Common Degu’s** book. To sand bathe, this Chilean rodent marks an area of sand with urine and rolls around in it. Sure, it’s not very “Baywatch”, but it will do the job.

Although the Common Degu looks like a defenceless ball of fur, it actually has a few tricks up its sleeve - or rather, its tail. If a predator catches a degu by its tail, a ring of skin at the base will tear off, allowing the degu to make a break for freedom. Unfortunately, they can’t regenerate limbs, so this method can only be used once.
Ceratogaulus

## Ability

### Ability

**Horned Defense****(Draw)** Your Ice Age cards in hand cost -1 Energy for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Long ago in the early Pliocene of North America, there lived the only known rodent genus with horns. Known as **Ceratogaulus** or the “horned gopher”, this burrowing creature is thought to have used its horn for a mix of digging, defence and sexual combat.

But honestly, as a digging tool, their horns were pretty inefficient. Imagine having to burrow down with a protruding spike on your face - it’s less than ideal. Still, the horned gopher did have sharp claws to assist.

Think of the Ceratogaulus as a one-off evolutionary experiment that Mother Nature conducted to devise whether rodents should have horns. Given that Ceratogaulus left behind no similar descendants, it’s clear that the answer was “no” - but hey, it was worth a shot!
Dancing Plague of 1518

## Ability

### Ability

**Inexplicable****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +40 Power and a random card in your hand loses -20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In 1518, as many as 100 people died from a mysterious plague that swept through the city of Strasbourg. Suddenly, and seemingly inexplicably, a woman known as Frau Troffea stepped into the street and began to dance. Soon, hundreds of people were taken over by the uncontrollable urge to shake that thang for days on end.

There was no music, and neither pain, exhaustion nor hunger seemed to get in the way of their party. Some explanations for the **Dancing Plague of 1518** included demon possession, overheated blood or food poisoning causing convulsions. Maybe they just had a really catchy song stuck in their heads. Or maybe it was all a ploy devised by Big Dancing companies and pushed by the mainstream media of 1518 (A bard? A town crier?!).
Date Palm

## Ability

### Ability

**It's a date!****(Play)** If you are winning the round, gain +60 Power/Turn this turn.

## Did You Know?

They’re mentioned more than 50 times in the Bible and 20 times in the Qur’an. Clearly, dates were a big deal to ancient civilizations - in fact, the **Date Palm** is thought to be one of the oldest plants to be cultivated by humans.

But long before we got our sticky fingers on their fruit, fossil records show that date palms have existed for at least 50 million years. Talking of fingers, the species name ‘dactylifera’ is thought to come from the Latin word for “finger” which may be a reference to the shape of the date fruit clusters. These ancient fruit-bearing trees can grow to 20 metres tall, which is around the size of a cricket pitch or thirteen Danny DeVito’s stacked on top of each other.
Cell Theory

## Ability

### Ability

**Divide and Conquer****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Cells are the most fundamental unit of life. Your body - assuming you're organic, we don't want to alienate our sizable mecha audience. - is made up of trillions and trillions of tiny cells that do all kinds of things - contain the basic information for how you're made up, keep you together, synthesise the nutrients in your food into useful sustenance, that kind of thing. It's estimated that an average human body contains 30 trillion cells!

**Cell Theory** therefore, is the theory behind how they work, and to what extent they constitute life. It posits three key tenets:

1: All living organisms are made up of at least one cell.
2: The cell is the basic unit of structure in an organism - aside from the contents of the cell, an organism is not composed of anything smaller.
3: Cells are created by pre-existing cells.

Nobody agrees on a single definition of life - some consider viruses, which are not composed of cells, to be alive. Indeed, the mecha who are reading this don't have a single cell in their bodies and one could argue that they are alive... let's move on before this gets too metaphysical.

The discovery of cells is often attributed to Robert Hooke, the fellow on the front of this card\*. He was the first one to identify them when microscopes became advanced enough to make them clear enough.

* OR IS IT? This particular painting is largely considered to be Hooke, but it's not certain. You see, Hooke had been working on a theory of gravity and it's rumoured that Sir Isaac Newton wanted to suppress him so he'd be the most prominent gravity studier. This painting has never been confirmed to be of Hooke, but it matches his physical description from other sources.
Chilesaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Friends Not Food****(Play)** Your Herbivores cards, wherever they are, gain +7 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Humouring children is a part of life. “Aw, you found a run-of-the-mill seashell? Wow! What a find!” However, every now and then, a child finds something that actually is amazing and leaves adults dumbfounded. The **Chilesaurus** is one of those things.

While on a hike with his parents in southern Chile, the seven-year-old Diego Suarez picked up a few bones he found on a hillside. His geologist parents immediately recognised them as the rib and vertebra of a little dinosaur - one that hadn’t been recognised before.

After analysing several specimens unearthed at the site, palaeontologists concluded that this dinosaur was a very rare plant-eating theropod that lived about 145 million years ago in the Late Jurassic period.
Di Nixi

## Ability

### Ability

**Birth-Dei(ty)****(Draw)** If your deck contains Apollo, your The Roman Empire cards in hand gain +8 Power for 2 turns. Repeat if your deck contains Artemis.

## Did You Know?

Representing the CUE equivalent of a bargain bucket, **Di Nixi** isn't just one god, but multiple. Wow!

The Di Nixi, typically depicted either kneeling or squatting, were deities of birth and also later theorised to be associated with the idea of spiritual rebirth and salvation. With a supposed underground altar in Campus Martius, it is proposed that the position of kneeling and squatting is representative of a woman seeking divine help, as childbirth in Ancient Rome was a very difficult and high-risk effort with the young age of mothers and the overwhelming odds of infection playing a leading role in both infant and maternal mortality.

In addition, several religious schools (or *mystery religions*) in Greco-Roman culture have been said to adopt the symbolism of kneeling within initiation rituals, offering the promise of rebirth to initiates who join successfully.
Common Body Plans

## Ability

### Ability

**We Have a Lot in Common****(Play)** If your deck has 2 or more Brilliant Human Body cards, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

The flipper of a dolphin, the wing of a bat, the long legs of a horse, the digging hand of the mole, and the structure of a human hand all are used for entirely different purposes—yet they have exactly the same bones and muscles in them. In every case, there is an upper arm bone, a pair of lower arm bones, and then the wrist and finger bones.

This is true across all of life. Animals build their bodies out of the structures they inherited from their ancestors, then transform these fundamental building blocks into completely different structures for swimming, flying, running, digging, grasping, or whatever they need to do. This shows that nature doesn’t engineer perfect solutions to biological problems, but “jury-rigs” the building blocks of the body that are already there. Nature isn’t a designer, but a tinkerer.

Learn more at donaldprothero.com.

Donald Prothero has taught college geology and paleontology for 35 years at Caltech, Columbia among others. He earned his B.A. in geology and biology from the University of California Riverside in 1976, and his M.A. (1978), M.Phil. (1979), and Ph.D. (1982) in geological sciences from Columbia University.

He is the author of over 40 books and over 300 scientific papers, mostly on the evolution of fossil mammals (especially rhinos, camels, and horses) and on using the earth's magnetic field changes to date fossil-bearing strata. He has also been on the editorial boards of journals such as Geology, Paleobiology, Journal of Paleontology, and Skeptic magazine.

In 2015 he received the Joseph T. Gregory Award for service to vertebrate paleontology and in 2016, he received the "Friend of Darwin" award from the National Center for Science Education.

He has been featured on numerous TV documentaries, including Paleoworld, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, Prehistoric Monsters Revealed, Monsterquest, Prehistoric Predators: Entelodon and Hyaenodon, Conspiracy Road Trip: Creationism, as well as Jeopardy!
Devil's Toenails

## Ability

### Ability

**From the Deep****(Play)** If played next to Ammonite, your Ammonite card in hand gains +36 Power this turn and if played next to Trilobite, your Trilobite card in hand gains +36 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your remaining Deep Ocean cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

They’re known as **Devil’s Toenails**, but no regular clippers could cut these claws. Thankfully, they aren’t really the nails of a gigantic Hellbeast in desperate need of a pedi - they’re just an extinct species of sea oyster from the family Gryphaeidae.

The fossilised remains of these creatures are commonly found along the West coast of Scotland and Yorkshire, dating back to a time where much of the land in Britain was covered by sea – we’re talking between 200 and 66 million years ago. Although they survived a long time, these ancient oysters finally went extinct and today, their hard shells remain as evidence of their time on Earth in the Triassic and Jurassic periods, when they would live it up in the muddy floors of shallow seas.
Dilophosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Dial-a-Phosaurus****(Play)** If you have played Dreyfuss Model 500 this game, this card gains +30 Power.

## Did You Know?

Dilophosaurus takes its name, ‘two-crested lizard’, from the unusual double crest along its head. This was arguably the most terrifying dino in Jurassic Park, spitting poison and shaking its weird neck frills. Unfortunately the truth is the real Dilophosaurus could do neither.
Chachong

## Ability

### Ability

**Pour One Out For Luck****(Draw)** This card **Lock**s this turn and a random card in your hand costs -2 Energy this turn. **(Play)** A random card in your hand gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

There’s nothing better than a nice pot of tea. First you brew your tea with whatever leaves you prefer. Then pour yourself that first delicious cup. And don’t forget to pour a little over your **Chachong**, also known as a Tea Pet.

These cute little clay sculptures were often made with Yixing clay and were usually leftover clay from making the tea set. Traditionally, these were sculpted into the animals of the zodiac or other mythical creatures. Although, there was also one called a “pee pee boy” and we’ll let your imagination conjure that one up.

Chachong are usually unglazed and this creates a magical experience as the tea pet soaks up the tea over time, and not only does the clay seem to change color, but it also keeps some of the aroma of your tea. It also means that if you’re drinking your tea alone, you’ve got a nice little friend to share it with.
Cleopatra

## Ability

### Ability

**Queen of the Nile****(Return)** Your Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Mythology cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Did **Cleopatra** really look like Gal Gadot, who was recently cast in the role? We’ve rummaged around for photographic evidence but alas, Ancient Egypt wasn’t too hot on Insta culture - so we’ll leave that debate to the Twitterati.

As happens with iconic figures, **Cleopatra's** life often gets boiled down into soundbites: suicide-by-asp-bite, Caesar and Antony, donkey-milk baths, ‘femme fatale’. In addition, much of what we know of **Cleopatra** is on account of Greco-Roman scholars, so our version of **Cleopatra** is one where she is a ‘foreign influence’.

So regardless of what **Cleopatra** looked like, the biggest challenge for any film-maker is to find the truth of *her* story, beyond the many stories - told mostly by men - in the centuries since she died.
Cowrie

## Ability

### Ability

**She Sells Sea Shells By The Sea Shore****(Draw)** Your Molluscs, Worms and Water Bugs cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Short on cash? Once upon a time, a handful of seashells would have covered your costs. The shell most widely used as currency was the shell of a **Cowrie**.

These days, you’re more likely to see the shell of this marine gastropod mollusc used as beads in jewellery – however, in some parts of the world, Cowrie shells are still used in board games, divination and gambling games. But besides human use, the Cowrie has a life of its own.

Generally found on the sea beds of the Indian and Pacific oceans, the Cowrie cares about its appearance. Every day, the sea snail extends a fleshy mantle with branching projections called papillae to polish its shell and keep it looking shiny.
Charles Babbage

## Ability

### Ability

**Split the Difference****(Play)** This card loses -30 Power this turn and your cards in hand gain +10 Power this turn. **(Play)** Your Ada Lovelace card, wherever it is, gains +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

For the desktop computer or laptop that you use for practically everything, you can thank the “Father of the Computer”, **Charles Babbage**. Sure, he didn’t make that exact model, but this mathematician, mechanical engineer, inventor and philosopher is credited with making the first-ever mechanical computer.

In the 1820s, he designed and constructed his ‘Difference Engine’ – a six-wheeled model that could perform mathematical calculations. Sequels are rarely better than the original, but Babbage had plans for a bigger, better machine he called ‘Difference Engine 2’. He didn’t stop there, either. With the help of Ada Lovelace, he started work on a revolutionary device he called ‘Analytical Engine’, that used punched cards to deliver instructions and a memory unit to store numbers.
Chesapeake Blue Crab

## Ability

### Ability

**Jimmies and Sooks****(Play)** Your Super Structures cards in hand gain +15 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough: the **Chesapeake Blue Crab**, native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, have a prickly disposition and a powerful set of pincers. When threatened, they won’t hesitate to use their sharp front pincers to defend themselves.

The scientific name of these bottom-dwelling omnivores is Callinectes sapidus; Cali comes from the Ancient Greek word ‘kallos’ meaning ‘beautiful’, nectes meaning swimmer and sapidus meaning ‘savoury’ in Latin. So, together, their name effectively means “tasty beautiful swimmer”.

But don’t be getting any ideas: due to overfishing, the numbers of Chesapeake Blue Crab have dropped dramatically, falling to their lowest levels since scientists began tracking them in 1990.
Day of the Little Candles

## Ability

### Ability

**Burning Bright****(Draw)** An opponent's random card in hand **Burn**s (30) until played. **(Return)** An opponent's random card in hand **Burn**s (30) until played.

## Did You Know?

When you’re a kid on Santa’s lap, your requests are usually more gift oriented. But during the **Day of the Little Candles**, a Columbian Christmas tradition held on the 7th of December, candles are lit to symbolise the wishes we ask for ourselves and our family (usually health and happiness rather than, like, Star Wars Lego).

On this evening, families and friends light lanterns and candles in their homes, parks and shopping centres as a way of giving thanks and reflecting on the year just gone. On December 8th, it’s customary for houses to hoist a white flag with the image of the Virgin Mary all day. There will usually be events like firework shows, mass-gatherings and giveaways in celebration.
Chand Baori

## Ability

### Ability

**Intricate Design****(Play)** Your Wonders of Construction cards in hand gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Chand Baori can be found in the Indian state of Rajasthan and is one of the largest step-wells in the world. Built over 1000 years ago, the clue is in the name - it's a well with a complex of steps around it so that many people may access its water all year round.

It's no longer used as a well though; you may well know it from The Dark Knight Rises, where it played the prison that Bane grew up in. When it's not starring in the decent-but-ultimately-disappointing sequel to The Dark Knight (i.e, any time that isn't a week or so in 2011), it's a tourist attraction.
Common Tailorbird

## Ability

### Ability

**Nature's Tailor****(Play)** If you have played any Fancy Fashions card this game, your Fancy Fashions cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you think your new-found crochet hobby is impressive, wait ‘til you see the creations of the **Common Tailorbird**. So-called for its incredible ability to sew leaves together with plant fibre, the Common Tailorbird creates a comfy cradle for a nest complete with a roof to provide shelter from the rain, shade from the sun and security from predators.

We’d go as far as to say this bird has one of the best self-made hiding places in the natural world. It’s a shame they give themselves away with a loud, distinctive call that sounds like a car alarm.

Found in woodlands and gardens across Asia, this songbird has short rounded wings, a short tail, strong legs and a long beak that it uses as a sewing needle.
Cozumel Raccoon

## Ability

### Ability

**Little Bandit****(Play)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -5 Power until played and this card gains +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Off the coast of Mexico, on the island of Cozumel, lives the solitary **Cozumel Raccoon**, looking smaller and sadder than Baby Rocket in all the flashback scenes in *Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.* This trash panda weighs only 3-4 kg, making it much smaller than your average raccoon from the mainland. Being the smallest species of raccoon in the world, it means that looking into their little bandit-masked-faces may absolutely melt your heart into a puddle. They’re freaking adorable.

However (time to get even sadder than GotG Vol. 3), these little guys can only be found on Cozumel and are considered critically endangered. We can all point the finger of blame at ourselves because it’s likely that the increase of tourism to the island is what is threatening these tiny raccoons. It’s estimated that there are less than 200 Cozumel Raccoons left in the world.

Since we don’t want to end on such a downer, here’s a weird fact to cheer you up/freak you out - Cozumel Raccoons can rotate their feet 180 degrees. This is supposedly for climbing trees but seems like a great trick to frighten the tourists off too.
Clara Barton

## Ability

### Ability

**Red Cross****(Play)** If your deck contains First Aid Kit, 5 of your random Marvellous Medicine cards, wherever they are, gain +24 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Born in Massachusetts in 1821, **Clara Barton** devoted her life to helping others. At the tender age of 10, Barton found her calling while nursing her brother back to health after he was severely injured.

Initially working as a teacher, Barton later established a free school that catered to over 600 students. During the Civil War, she became a self-taught nurse, risking her own health to care for wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Her efforts extended beyond medical care as she assisted in identifying 13,000 graves of Union soldiers at Andersonville Prisoner of War Camp.

In 1880, Barton founded the American Red Cross, serving as its first president and spearheading relief efforts for natural disasters. Today, Clara Barton’s life of service continues to inspire healthcare professionals across the world.
DI Chamaeleontis

## Ability

### Ability

**Quadruple****(Play)** If your deck has 4 or more Exploring the Stars cards, this card gains +40 Power this turn. **(Return)** This card costs -4 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Behold **DI Chamaeleontis**, a quadruple star system in the constellation Chameleon approximately 700 light-years from Earth. Not only is this system the youngest collection of newly formed stars to be found, but it’s also the closest. That makes DI Cha the ideal target for studying star formation.

Although this is a quadruple star system, the image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble only shows two stars shining through a ring of cascading dust.

Also known as Hen-593 or HIP 54365, DI Cha is a variable star of the T Tauri type - young stellar objects just approaching the main sequence. In a way, this star system is a cosmic teenager who is coming of age. Think ‘The Breakfast Club’ or ‘Dirty Dancing’ - if the Catskills were in space and Baby was a star system.

'Two stars shine through the centre of a ring of cascading dust' by ESA/Hubble (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Cosmic Dust

## Ability

### Ability

**It Gets Everywhere****(Draw)** Your cards, wherever they are, gain +1 Power permanently. **(Play)** Your cards, wherever they are, gain +1 Power permanently. **(Return)** Your cards, wherever they are, gain +1 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Quite often I find myself looking on in utter disbelief at some of the subjects the design team give to write about. **Cosmic Dust**, for instance - well, that's just dust in space, pretty much. What could possibly be interesting about that?

I don't want to have to write pointless, meandering paragraphs just to bulk the word count up. It's a waste of my time and your time. Imagine if- (get on with it - Ed)

You know what is great about Cosmic Dust, actually? At first, astronomers thought it was junk that was getting in the way of what they wanted to see. It took several decades before they began to realise that the movement of the dust could offer clues to the way space objects move around - very valuable if you want to get a picture for where things in the universe are going.

There are a whole bunch of kinds of dust. There’s big dust (more professionally knows as *meteoroids*), circumplanetary dust (often seen as rings, as per Saturn), and of course -*Stardust* (not quite as magical as it sounds, mostly refractory minerals), to name a few.

When combined with gases in a dust cloud, you get Nebula… but there’s a whole other collection for that.
Diabloceratops

## Ability

### Ability

**Devil Inside****(Play)** If you are losing the round, this card gains +22 Power.

## Did You Know?

'Diablo', meaning Devil, seems like a harsh descriptor for a plant-eater - but then I suppose Hitler was vegetarian.

Oh wait - it turns out the 'devil' bit is referring to the two curved horns on it's head. That makes much more sense.
Cryogenic Freezing

## Ability

### Ability

**Time to Wake Up****(Draw)** This card **Lock**s this round. **(Start)** This card loses -30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

**Cryogenic Freezing** refers to the freezing (duh) of human remains, so that wealthy eccentrics may be resurrected in the future, although the science is generally regarded as quackery, especially as the preservation techniques used cause extensive cellular damage to the brain (although cryonicists disagree with that science).

Over 250 bodies have been preserved in the United States, at the cost of $28,000 to $200,000 each, but despite the famous urban legend, Walt Disney is not one of them.
Common Octopus

## Ability

### Ability

**Octopus' Garden****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more cards with "Octopus" in the name, your Plant Life and Around the Reef cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power and cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Eight arms, no bones, three hearts, one beak and a brain shaped like a doughnut: there’s nothing particularly “common” about the **Common Octopus**. And that’s not even the half of it.

Octopuses have an extensive nervous system, with over 500 million neurons, similar in number to that of a dog. But unlike any dogs we know of, two thirds of an octopus’s neurons are located in its arms. That means their arms can taste, touch and even act on their own accord with no input from the brain.

So, do they put their intelligence to good use? You bet they do. In captivity, common octopuses have been observed opening jars, solving puzzles, navigating obstacle courses and finding ways to escape their tanks.
Brown Rat

## Ability

### Ability

**Symbol of Rebirth****(Return)** If you are losing the round, a random card in your hand gains +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Like your kid brother vaping at school, the **Brown Rat** will do just about anything to fit in. It’s true: the urge to conform is so strong in this species that they will even choose to eat unpalatable food if they are in the company of other rats who are eating it.

Native to northern China, brown rats were introduced to Eastern Europe in the early 18th century. Today, they can be found just about anywhere. In fact, where there are humans, there are probably brown rats - except for Alberta, Canada, which is the largest rat-free populated area in the world due to aggressive government rat control measures that started in the 1950s. Bring a rat to Alberta and you’ll be fined up to five thousand dollars.
De Brazza's Monkey

## Ability

### Ability

**Pair Bonding****(Play)** For every multiple of 2 Primates cards in your deck, up to a maximum of 12, your Primates cards, wherever they are, gain +4 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

Socrates, Aristotle, Confucius, Descartes and the **<link="https:>De Brazza's Monkey</link>** - all great philosophers of the ages. The latter holds a firm belief that groups of its kind should comprise one male and multiple females. Hey, it’s worked out for them so far, being one of the most widespread arboreal African primates.

Controversially, De Brazza’s Monkey stands against diversity, and will act aggressively towards other species. Only some colobine species are considered acceptable, as they do not compete with De Brazza’s monkeys for resources.

In case you wondered, these monkeys are named after explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who established Brazzaville, the capital city of Congo - one of the countries they are endemic to. However, their scientific name ‘neglectus’ was given to them because of their ability to hide from both humans and predators.
Cryptic Skink

## Ability

### Ability

**Codesnaker****(Play)** If played next to any Mega Math card, your Reptiles cards, wherever they are, gain +6 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Cut a **Cryptic Skink** and it will bleed green because of a buildup of the waste product biliverdin. Attack it from behind and the skink will shed its tail for a quick getaway. Within three to four months, a new tail will grow back. But do the species a favour and take our word for it, as these little reptiles are deemed ‘At Risk’ of an ongoing decline in their population.

Native to New Zealand, the Cryptic Skink has a dark mid-dorsal stripe and a yellowish grey chin, sometimes flecked with black. Making a home in the wetlands and exotic forests, these creatures play an important role in their ecosystems, helping to keep insect populations at a respectable level. They also eat snails, slugs, rodents and even other, smaller reptiles.

' A variety of different specimens observed during an Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group lizard survey' by Possumsend (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Count Dracula

## Ability

### Ability

**Lord of Darkness****(Play)** Your Horrible Halloween cards in hand gain +40 Power this turn. If played on the Horrible Halloween Arena, your Horrible Halloween cards in hand gain an additional +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

While **Count Dracula** only came into being in 1897, when Bram Stoker’s novel was published - the likely source material was already the stuff of legend: *Vlad the Impaler* (not to be confused with Vlad the Impala, who is generally peaceful, and also vegetarian).

Vlad Tepes was a 15th Century Romanian prince who took the name of his father, Vlad Dracul (Dracul meaning ‘dragon’). Vlad was right up there on the Caligulometer of unnecessary violence, and liked to (brace yourself)…

- decapitate or disembowel his enemies, or
- boil or skin them alive, or
- impale them with a wooden stake and leave them to die of exposure.

It is believed that he impaled up to 20,000 Ottoman invaders in this way during 1462, and he would supposedly eat dinner alongside these impaled bodies and even dip bread in their blood.

Frankly, Vlad sounds a fair bit scarier than Stoker’s Dracula, but I doubt his dress sense was as good.
Deinocheirus

## Did You Know?

For 50 years, all we knew of **Deinocheirus** was that it had long arms (2.4 metres) and a lazy manicurist. Those claws grew to 20 centimetres each.

For the longest time, paleontologists didn't know what the rest of the creature looked like. Was it a massive body with tiny arms? Small body with massive arms? Or was it two arm-shaped dinosaurs?\*

However, in 2014, two near-complete fossils were discovered that confirmed it to be roughly the same size as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Mystery solved.

* Paleontologists may not have considered this last option, but we think that's a failure of their imagination, and not our failure to grasp basic science.
Claude Monet

## Ability

### Ability

**It's Not About the Monet****(Draw)** Your Common and Rare Prominent Painters cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Hard to know what **Claude Monet** would make of his works being reduced and reprinted and hung in generic cafes and show homes around the world. Certainly today, it is hard to imagine that the ubiquitous, inoffensive image of *Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge* (1899) had its roots in what was a fairly radical and anti-establishment artistic movement.

Monet was one of the founders of Impressionism - a movement dedicated to capturing the painter’s impressions of nature, rather than reproducing the visual reality. Critics often disparaged their works at the time, and the Impressionists were compelled to host their own exhibitions independently of the ‘Salon de Paris’ (organised by the Académie des Beaux-Arts).

Ironically, the rise of Impressionism played an important part in the dwindling relevance of the Salon.. and now Monet paintings are the stuff of greetings cards.
Chichén Itzá

## Ability

### Ability

**Kukulkan-do Attitude****(Return)** If this card matches the Arena, gain +3 Energy.

## Did You Know?

Oh boy, it's not often this writer gets to write about a location he's actually been to! That's because this writer is not particularly well-travelled, and we currently lack a pure Geography album.

Chichén Itzá is an archaeological site in the Yucatan region of Mexico. Its name roughly translates to "the mouth at the well of the water magicians" - a series of pyramids and settlements built around two sinkholes that provided year-round water supplies, it's believed the area was a major hub for the Mayan culture in 600.

The pyramid you see on the front of this card is El Castillo, the Temple of Kukulkan the Serpent God. It has a staircase on each of its four sides, and when the sun hits them just right (usually around the spring and autumn equinoxes) the undulating shadows resemble slithering snakes.

It also acted as a colossal calendar - the staircases have 91 steps each, and one extra step at the very top equals 365, the number of days in a year (no evidence has been found to suggest how or if they recognised Leap Days).

The majesty of El Castillo is tempered somewhat by the bloodsports arena a mere 50 metres or so away. Literally named The Great Ball Court, the Mayans would play a game called Pok-a-Tok. Imagine Basketball, except the hoop is twenty-feet up and on its side, you can't touch the ball with your hands or feet, and the losers are brutally sacrificed to the gods.

## Trivia

* The quote "Kukulkan-do Attitude" is a nod to the fact that the center of Chichén Itzá is El Castillo or the Temple of Kukulcan.
Cold Moon

## Ability

### Ability

**Moon of December****(Play)** Your The Occult cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn and next.

## Did You Know?

By the end of the year, farmers and hunters of yore had run out of ideas as to what to call the moon. Freezing and exhausted, they just looked at one another and said “let’s say it’s the **Cold Moon** and call it a day.”

While there’s no record of this conversation, the facts in the Farmer’s Almanac speak for themselves: the full moon of December comes at a time when temperatures are cold. Or, at least, they *were* cold before global warming got out of hand.

It’s also known as the Long Night Moon, because it takes place near the solstice, which has the longest night of the year. During this time, the full moon will stay above the horizon much longer than at other times of the year.
Confucian Analects

## Ability

### Ability

**Do unto others...****(Return)** Your opponent's remaining cards in hand gain +10 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

*“Tsze-Kung asked, “Is there one word with which to act in accordance throughout a lifetime?” The Master said, “Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”*

This quote from the **Confucian Analects** is one of the earliest articulations of ‘the Golden Rule’ - a principle of reciprocal treatment that is expressed in one form or another in most religions.

The Analects is an ancient book - most likely written around 300BC - that gathers together sayings and concepts from the philosopher Confucius. For 2000 years it has remained one of the most studied texts in China.

He also predates Stephen Covey’s ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by a couple of millennia: *“The mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. ”* The difference is that Stephen Covey registered a trademark for his version.
Centrosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Centre of Attention****(Play)** If it matches the Arena, this card gains +40 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The **Centrosaurus** was a stocky chap with large, strong muscles. While not the largest dinosaur of its family (only 20 ft long) it appears a lot like the modern Rhinoceros. It had a curved nasal horn, which often curved inward, or outward depending on the species.

The name Centrosaurus means 'Pointed Lizard' and refers to the series of small hornlets along the margin of their frills, not to the nasal horns (which were unknown when the dinosaur was named). Any dinosaur with frills is fine by us - fancy!

Common theories concerning the function of ceratopsian frills and horns include defence from predators, combat within the species, and visual display (obviously).

Centrosaurus is a herbivore and known by literally thousands upon thousands of fossil remains, making it one of the world's best-attested ceratopsians.

The first, isolated remains were discovered by Lawrence Lambe in Canada's Alberta province; later, nearby, researchers discovered two vast Centrosaurus bonebeds, the largest dinosaur graveyards EVER discovered, containing thousands of individuals of all growth stages (newborns, to adults) and extending for hundreds of feet.

The most likely explanation is that these herds of migrating Centrosaurus were sadly drowned by flash floods, not an unusual fate for dinosaurs during the late Cretaceous period, or that they simply perished of thirst while gathered around a dry water hole. Both scenarios make us feel a little melancholy inside but let's just focus on how fabulous they looked pre perishing with all those jazzy frills...
Chainmail

## Ability

### Ability

**Impenetrable****(Draw)** Your opponent's Innovations of War cards in hand lose -30 Power this turn and your Innovations of War cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Slashing bows and piercing weapons are no match for **Chainmail**. One of the earliest forms of armor, the use of chainmail dates back to at least the 3rd century BC. It was made by linking together thousands of small metal ringlets from tiny strips of iron. The result? A protective tunic that weighed around 14 kilograms.

But honestly, it was worth the weight. Chainmail was flexible, easy to fix and surprisingly effective at protecting from flesh wounds - so much so that it’s been used for non-military purposes like butchers’ gloves and shark-proof diving suits.

Real chainmail suits were also used in the <link="https:>Lord of the Rings films</link> for Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli - a feat that took two years and over 12.5 million metal rings.
Chess

## Ability

### Ability

**En Passant****(Play)** The card opposite this loses -36 Power this turn and your Unruly Rulers cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In the pantheon of boardgames that stood the test of time, **Chess** holds a top spot. Although the earliest predecessor of the game known as Chaturanga is thought to have originated in India in the 6th century, the oldest recorded game of chess as we know it took place in the 10th century between a historian from Baghdad and a pupil.

If you’ve ever wondered why some games of chess can take so long, it’s because of the vast number of possible moves that each player can make. For example, after four moves each, there are over 318 billion different possible positions! Perhaps even more baffling is that the number of distinct 40-move games in chess is far greater than the number of electrons in the observable universe.
Cloaking Device

## Ability

### Ability

**Cloak Engaged****(Play)** Three random cards in your hand gain +35 Power this turn, but reveal after scoring.

## Did You Know?

When the guy from the Ancient Aliens documentary said aliens were using a **Cloaking Device** to hide their spaceships in our skies, we all laughed. And rightly so. That guy was hilarious.

But in 2018, researchers in Montreal successfully rendered an object invisible to broadband light using a new technique dubbed “spectral cloaking”, which works by transferring the energy from a particular colour to other colours in the spectrum. After the wave has passed through the object, the cloaking device restores the light to its original state.

Star Trek was the first to conceptualise cloaking technology; the term ‘cloaking device’ itself was coined in the 1968 episode “The Enterprise Incident”. While we may not be technologically advanced enough to make a spacecraft invisible, we are making inroads. Watch this space - until it disappears…
Chlorine

## Did You Know?

Chlorine (Cl) is used to sterilise drinking water and disinfect swimming pools, as well as being used in the manufacture of many products such as paper, medicine, textiles and plastic.

However, in natural gas form, Chlorine can be harmful to humans, making it difficult to breathe and irritating eyes and skin - if you've ever had a chemistry lesson where you missed the instructions in a chlorine experiment, you will know what I'm talking about.