Astronomers

## Overview

*Astronomers scan the night sky studying the wonders of the heavens. Though their muses are distant, they can bring them close to home with their observatories and telescopes. This faction will filter cards to the top and bottom of your deck, allowing you to look for distant astronomical objects and gain insight based on when they’re found and where.*

The Astronomers sort your deck to repeatedly reveal cards which give benefits for being revealed. If played carefully, this can snowball quickly into an uber-state of gaining large amounts of resources per turn.

### Details

#### General

* Name: Astronomers
* Author: Berryl
* Complexity: 5/5
* Version: 1.3
* Last updated: October 21, 2022

#### Mechanics

* Stack Shuffling
* Reveal Reactions
* +1 Power Counters

#### Special details

Featured on the youtube channel Crank It Up

### Breakdown

Astronomers have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions. They have the standard 30 total minion power or an average minion power of 3. Among their actions, they have:

* 2 play-on-minion actions: 2x Telescope
* 2 play-on-base actions: Observatory, The Webb
* 6 standard actions, 2 of which directly affect one or minions (in **bold**): 2x Pillars of Creation, **Halley's Comet,** Andromeda, Polaris, **Jupiter.**

### Minions

* **1x Hubble (5):** Talent: Reveal a card from your hand and shuffle it into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Draw a card. Ongoing: When you draw one or more cards from your deck face down, you may reveal them.
* **1x Armstrong (4):** Ongoing: After this base scores, you may shuffle this minion into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, you may play it as an extra minion.
* **1x Hipparchus (4):** Special: Before this base scores, you may reveal your hand or the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Give this minion +1 power until the end of the turn for each action revealed.
* **3x Copernicus (3):** Ongoing: Once per turn, after you reveal a card from your hand or deck, place a +1 power counter on this minion.
* **4x Galileo (2):** Reveal the top three cards of your deck. Discard any number of them, then return the rest to the top and/or bottom of your deck in any order. Ongoing: After this base scores, shuffle up to two cards in your discard pile into the top or bottom 5 cards of your deck.

### Actions

* **2x Telescope:** Play on a minion. Talent: Reveal the top or bottom card of your deck. If it is an action, place a +1 power counter on this minion. Return it to the top and/or bottom of your deck.
* **2x Pillars of Creation:** Reveal cards off the top of your deck until you reveal a minion. Draw the minion, then return the other cards to the top and/or bottom of your deck in any order. Shuffle this card into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, draw a card.
* **1x Halley’s Comet:** Move one of your minions to another base. Shuffle this card into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, move any minion from a base where you have a minion to another base.
* **1x Andromeda:** Draw a card. Shuffle this card into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, play an extra minion.
* **1x Polaris:** Place an action from your discard pile on top of your deck. Shuffle this card into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, look at the bottom five cards of your deck, discard any number of them, then return the others to the top and/or bottom of your deck in any order.
* **1x Jupiter:** Place up to two +1 power counters on your minions. Shuffle this card into the bottom 5 cards of your deck. Special: After this card is revealed from your hand or deck, give one of your minions +3 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Observatory:** Play on a base.  Talent: Reveal the bottom two cards of your deck. Place one on the top of your deck, then return any other cards. Shuffle the bottom 5 cards of your deck.
* **1x The Webb:** Play on a base. Ongoing: After you reveal one or more cards from your hand or deck, place a +1 power counter on one of your minions here and transfer this action to another base.

### Bases

* **(21) Very Large Telescope (4 2 1):** On your turn, if you have a minion here, you may look at the top three cards of your deck. You may reveal one of them, then place it on the bottom of your deck.

* **(19) International Space Station (4 3 2):** Instead of your regular minion play, you may reveal cards from the bottom of your deck until you reveal a minion. Play the minion here, then shuffle the rest into your deck.

## Clarifications

* **Hubble:** This card's Ongoing ability cannot reveal cards drawn while revealed a second time, because it can only reveal cards drawn face-down. If you choose to reveal a face-down card you draw, you must do so before looking at it, even if you already know what it is.
* **Armstrong:** If you play this using its Special ability as part of a reveal that would relocate it (such as Pillars of Creation or Hubble), it does not go to the new location. Revealing and playing it with Hubble's talent would thus not cause your bottom five cards to be shuffled, because no card is being shuffled in (you would still be able to draw a card with the second sentence of Hubble's talent).
* **Armstrong, Galileo, Pillars of Creation, Halley's Comet, Andromeda, Polaris, Jupiter, Observatory:** When performing this "stack shuffle," set aside the appropriate cards from the appropriate location (e.g. 5 cards from the bottom of your deck). If a card is being shuffled into this set of cards, add it to the set-aside pile. Then, shuffle those cards and return them to your deck; the remainder of your deck remains unshuffled. Any reactions to being revealed occur after cards are no longer revealed, meaning the reveal reactions on Pillars of Creation and Polaris do not affect anything in your deck until after those cards are face-down again.

## Strategy

### General

Astronomers have a collection of cards which want to be revealed from your hand or deck to trigger certain effects, hereafter referred to as Astronomical Objects or just Objects. They come with a variety of effects attached to them including draw, power, movement, and extra plays, providing a well-rounded toolbox.

All of the Objects can send themselves to the bottom five cards of your deck (hereafter referred to as the Stack) by being played normally for a weaker effect than the reveal half, but there are several other methods of stashing them. Galileo, Telescope, and Pillars of Creation can all send cards they reveal from the top of your deck to the bottom. Hubble can send them into the Stack directly from hand, getting a free reveal along the way. Hipparchus can reveal your hand before his base scores if you don't find the time to play the Objects you draw first.

The basic objective of Astronomers is to find the Object cards and then stash them at the bottom of your deck to repeatedly trigger their reactions to being revealed. To accomplish this, many of the deck's most common cards, including Galileo and Pillars of Creation, help dig through and sort the top of your deck. Once you find them, there are many ways to repeatedly reveal cards in your Stack to pile up effects, including Telescope, Observatory, and Hipparchus. With the right combination of cards, this can lead to adding boatloads of temporary power with Jupiter, several extra minion plays with Andromeda, mass movement with Halley's Comet, or mass draw/sifting with Polaris and Pillars of Creation.

Early in the game, the focus should definitely be on finding key cards such as Jupiter, Andromeda, and Polaris. Polaris in particular will help organize your Stack and ensure that your reveal effects hit the things you want them to. Importantly, all reactions to being revealed happen after the reveal finishes processing (with the exception that Armstrong is played instead of being relocated), so draws from Pillars or reorganization from Polaris does not occur until no more cards are revealed. Additionally, you'll want to make sure you have ready access to Telescope and Galileo, as they are the main ways of revealing cards. Ideally, you will eventually have a critical mass of useful cards in the Stack and ways to reveal cards that you can have one or two extremely large turns to score multiple bases at once; most successful Astronomer games will involve them scoring multiple bases in a turn at least once.

It's possible to get easy chain-scores by using Hipparchus to reveal Halley's Comet and move himself to the next base. Make sure that if you do this you still have enough power on the first base to earn first place, though!

Try to avoid running out your deck entirely, as a reshuffle could be disastrous since it means many of your Objects will be in your hand. To this end, Galileo putting cards on top of your deck can be helpful in the midgame to avoid thinning your deck down to just your Stack too quickly.

### Partner Suggestions

Try to avoid partners who shuffle your deck too much, such as via searching or playing off the top. Although you can certainly go for partners who offer more ways to reveal cards, it's not strictly necessary. Since Astronomers themselves lack direct removal and can be vulnerable to action destruction removing Telescopes and Observatory, partners who offer removal of their own or have additional recursion can come in handy. Additionally, partners with a collection of cards they want to conceal (such as specials) may not appreciate the high risk of revealing them.

#### Published

* **Time Travellers:** There's a lot going for Time Traveling Astronomers. With the ability to recycle Time Walk numerous times with Telescopes flipping it to the top of the deck, Time Raiders to put discarded Objects directly on the bottom of the deck, and no shortage of minions to fill Andromeda's extra plays with, this is a high-caliber deck that really brings out Astronomers' strengths.
* **Miskatonic University:** 2x Field Trip can help set up cards from hand in the Stack, making Hipparchus chain-scores much easier if set up correctly.
* **Polynesian Voyagers:** Sun Tattoo and Wayfinders help make Hipparchus bouncing more viable with movement after scoring instead of before. Astronomers really benefit from the ability to spread out their engine components across additional bases.
* **Astroknights:** Astroknights offer a plethora of additional talent-based reveals, making Astronomers' big turns even bigger. Space Knight in particular is great for getting additional reveals.
* **Vikings:** Huscarls and Raiders can stack Objects you draw on top of your deck for Galileo or Telescope to hit. They can also prevent you from running through your deck in the endgame, allowing you to draw and mill much more aggressively to the uber-state before hitting the brakes at the last moment.
* **Halflings:** Many Halfling cards offer reveals, including the extremely powerful Rude Awakening to reveal from hand in your Play Cards phase. Spoiled Brats will help prevent drawing through the Stack.

#### Custom

* **(Not added yet) Mantis Tribe:** Mantis Tribe could care less about leaving too many important things in play. They also bring increased opportunities to play Galileo in phase 3 for even more potential last-second reveals. Mantis Petras can follow Hipparchus bouncing from base to base with proper setup. This deck will have no trouble filling the extra plays from Andromeda with the abnormally high number of minions.

## Author Notes

The Astronomers may be my magnum opus. They're certainly my favorite creation. They were made for Crank It Up's second Custom Faction Month, and they were lucky enough to be one of the winners. I tried my best to create an extremely tight relationship between mechanics, abilities, and card names, which I'll elaborate on below. Symbolically, the deck represents outer space, while your hand and the board represent astronomers on the ground observing things. Revealing the cards represents "discovering" the cards.

Hubble is perhaps most well-known for discovering the expansion of the universe through the measurement of redshifts. This is represented in his abilities to send cards in your hand (which are close by) to the bottom of your deck (which is far away), and to reveal/discover cards as you draw them (as they get closer to you). Armstrong, who is an astronaut rather than an astronomer, sends himself to space and is a minion who wants to be discovered like the Object actions. Hipparchus created a catalog of a large number of stars, represented by his ability to reveal a large number of cards near or far. Copernicus built many of the foundations for modern astronomy and introduced the heliocentric model of the solar system, leading to his ability to gain power from other astronomers making discoveries. Galileo was the first person to use a telescope (although not the inventor of it, as many have been led to believe), which is why he is the main source of minion-based reveals.

The Pillars of Creation are nebulae, giant clouds of gas where stars are thought to form; these qualities are reflected in its ability to fill your hand with more cards. Halley's Comet is a fast-moving body, represented by its movement-focused abilities. Andromeda is a distant galaxy with uncountably many objects of its own, symbolized by its ability to play extra minions. Polaris is the North Star, a guide for sailors since ancient times. This is represented by its primary ability to recur an action (leading it home, so to speak) and its ability to sort your Stack (helping you get your bearings). I'm especially proud of the symbolism in this card. Finally, Jupiter is known as the King Planet, giving rise to its ability to give power to your minions (increasing their status).

## Reviews

* **Astronomers v1.3, May 14 2023, 9/10, reviewed by ludichrisness** - Got obliterated by Astronomers in a three player custom showcase match, piloted by Berryl. In retrospect, playing a faction which forcefully reveals cards from the other player's deck was *not* a good idea. This is a really unique and cool faction which sets up not in play or in the hand like most, but in the deck itself, where they are immune to most countermeasures (although they can further establish their engine on the board). They have great tempo and can set up some big plays, and the deck has an extremely clear endgame that they build towards of establishing an "uber state" where their thin deck consists of nothing but their best Astronomical Objects which they can reveal over and over, reaping substantial benefits. This faction requires extreme focus and planning, but is well worth it. My feeling is they might be a little overtuned in v1.3, especially for the recruit (the 2 power minion Galileo) but it is just a fantastic concept for a faction and is really well executed. I highly recommend you try it out!