recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Sinterklaas

## Ability

### Ability

**Naughty and Nice****(Draw)** Your opponent's cards in hand with 50 or more Base Power cost +1 Energy until played and your cards in hand with 40 or less Base Power cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

**Sinterklaas** is a tradition that dates back to the 3rd century. Every 5th/6th of December across the Netherlands and Belgium, Sinterklaas arrives to much aplomb. He's an old man with a long white beard, wearing a red robe similar to a bishop's cassock, who keeps a list on the behaviour of children; in many ways the blueprint for Santa Claus. But unlike our jolly friend whose belly shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly, he originally hails from Turkey, not the North Pole, and fills up shoes with sweets.

Nowadays Sinterklaas suns himself in Spain and arrives for the celebrations by boat flanked by helpers. In the past, these public events often included the controversial character Zwarte Peiten (Black Peter). Performers dressed up with curly hair, thick red lips, golden earrings and blacked up faces (supposedly because of chimney soot - it's not).

Recently, there have been moves to change this obviously racist tradition and one of two solutions have been suggested. The first is Schoorsteen Piet (or “Chimney Pete”) where some strokes of ash or grey or black body paint are used to suggest that Pete came from a chimney. The second is Kleuren Piet (or “Colourful Pete”) where the black face paint is shunned entirely for bright colours and patterns. In both cases, the curly hair, thick lips and earrings have been abandoned. While this is an ongoing issue, there have clearly been positive steps towards removing this harmful caricature from public celebrations.
Sea Sponge

## Ability

### Ability

**ARGH YA READY, KIDS?****(Play)** Your Hamburger and Starfish cards in hand gain +64 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Life as a **Sea Sponge** is pretty easy-going. With no heads, eyes, tails or mouths, these creatures spend most of their lives rooted in one spot, pumping water through their pores and filtering out small particles of food. Studies suggest that the common sea sponge inhabited Earth around 600 million years ago, which is a pretty long time for an animal without a head.

Among the simplest of multi-cellular organisms, there are around 5,000 species of sea sponge around the world – and since they produce toxins, they have fewer predators than sea turtles and many fish. In fact, some tropical species of sea sponge and those who inhabit deep oceans may live for 200 years or more! That’s a good innings for a sponge.

## Combo Play

When Starfish and **Sea Sponge** are played together you get the combo "*Argh ya Ready, Kids?"* for a total bonus of **+93**p. Sea Sponge buffs Starfish for **+64**p this turn, and Starfish buffs Sea Sponge for **+29**p this turn.
When **Sea Sponge** and Hamburger are played together you get the combo "*Order Up!"* for a total bonus of **+64**p. Sea Sponge buffs Hamburger for **+64**p this turn.

## Fun Fact

Released on 23 July 23 2021, the **Sea Sponge** and Starfish cards were a direct throwback to SpongeBob SquarePants this is not only evident by the same title for the special ability they share but this post on Twitter asking "We'd love to see you share some of your favorite Spongebob memes (extra points if you edit Dan onto Spongebob's face)!"
Snake Oil

## Ability

### Ability

**Cure-All...?****(Draw)** Your cards in hand cost -5 Energy this turn. **(Return)** If you lost the turn, 12 of your random cards, wherever they are, cost +2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

When a product gets called **“Snake Oil”**, it’s usually a sign that it’s a scam and you should steer clear. But where does this phrase come from?

The origins can be traced back to the 19th century, when Chinese immigrants arrived in the US to work on the transcontinental railroad. These immigrants would often bring with them a traditional Chinese remedy known as snake oil, made from the oil of the Chinese water snake.

While this oil may have had actual health benefits due to the high levels of <link="https:>eicosapentaenoic acid</link>, the idea was copied by travelling salesmen who made fraudulent versions from other ingredients. Confidence trickster Clark Stanley aka “The Rattlesnake King” was the original “snake oil” salesman, but his Snake Oil Liniment was found to be mostly beef fat and turpentine.
Shinigami

## Ability

### Ability

**An Invitation****(Play)** If it's the 13th turn of the game or before, a random opponent's card in play loses -500 Power this turn and if it's the 14th or 15th turn of the game, this card loses -500 Power.

## Did You Know?

It may not have existed in ancient mythology, but around the 18th or 19th century, Japanese folklore got its very own Grim Reaper. Known as **Shinigami** (meaning “death god” or “sky weapon”) these supernatural spirits invite humans towards death.

We know what you’re thinking – why would you ever take Shinigami up on that invitation? However, in Japanese culture, dying is less of a tragic fate – it’s simply something that just is. Plus, the Japanese traditionally believe in the existence of the soul, and that death is just the moment where the soul departs.

In that sense, Shinigami aren’t bringers of doom – they’re more like intermediaries in the grand cosmic bureaucracy whose job is merely to take souls from one life to the next.
Snares Penguin

## Ability

### Ability

**Robustus****(Return)** If you lost the turn, this card costs -4 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

When you look at this sea bird’s Danny Devito-esque physique, the casting for Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns starts to make sense. However, unlike the character, the **Snares Penguin** doesn’t live in the sewers of Gotham City. Instead, it dwells in colonies on the Snares Islands, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

They can also swim faster than Danny Devito (we assume), boasting speeds of up to 24 km in pursuit of their prey. However, like Danny Devito, the Snares Penguin isn’t afraid to make a fool of himself. During the breeding season, male penguins perform displays to attract females, standing with completely outstretched flippers. If you’re picturing the ‘Always Sunny…’ actor naked with his arms open, we’re sorry.
Rufous shrikethrush

## Ability

### Ability

**Toxic Tips****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Venomous Creatures cards, your opponent loses -30 Power/Turn for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Looks are deceiving. Case in point: the **Rufous Shrikethrush**, a small species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae who looks to be a sweet and innocent bird with a cute little chirp to boot. In reality, the Rufous Shrikethrush is the third known species of poisonous bird, containing traces of the batrachotoxin found in the lethal poison dart frogs. In fairness, that’s pretty badass for a small bird.

Found in the tropical moist lowland forests of New Guinea and Australia, this species works in pairs to forage for food at all levels of the rainforest, feeding mainly on arthropods. Hey, when it comes to catching and poisoning your prey to death, two beaks are better than one.

'Little Shrikethrush - Crater Lakes National Park' by JJ Harrison (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
SCP Foundation

## Did You Know?

It’s been called “the most uniquely compelling horror writing on the internet”: the **SCP Foundation** is a fictional organisation dedicated to documenting and containing information about supernatural phenomena that, according to their mission statement, poses a “significant threat to global security by threatening either physical or psychological harm”.

Created by a community of creative writers and lovers of all things weird, the SCP Foundation comprises thousands of descriptions of so-called anomalies, including a toaster that can only be referred to in the first person, a coffee vending machine that can dispense abstract concepts and an IKEA store with infinite interior space and no outer physical bounds. In truth, the latter really does pose a serious threat to the psychological health of humanity.

'SCP Foundation (Emblem)' by Aelanna (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered) 'SCP-087' by Bland (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40303312
Royal Chinchilla

## Ability

### Ability

**Insulation****(Play)** If your deck contains only Life on Land cards, your cards, wherever they are, gain +11 Power this round. **(Draw)** If your deck contains only Life on Land cards, your cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

Even adorable creatures like the **Royal Chinchilla** need a form of self-defence in the wild. As well as hissing and spitting, this soft baby has the ability to leave a clump of its hair in the mouth of their predator and flee while their attacker is disoriented and confused. This unique method is known as the ‘fur slip’. When this tactic fails, they’ll use their powerful long hind legs to jump away to safety.

A royal chinchilla’s fur is said to be 30 times softer than human hair, and they have 50 or more hairs per follicle as opposed to humans, who only have one. To keep their coats looking their best, they use nature’s own dry shampoo: a dust bath, which removes all moisture from their thick fur.
Snow Moon

## Ability

### Ability

**Moon of February****(Play)** Your Fabulous Fish cards in hand gain +20 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Nowadays, the phases of the moon aren't vital information to the survival of our species. But for North American and European settlers, the cycles of lunar phases were important methods of timekeeping. As a result, full moon names relate to the harvesting and hunting conditions in that particular period.

February’s ‘**Snow Moon**’ gets its name from the snow that covered the ground of the Northern Hemisphere during this time. Cold weather and heavy snow made for harsh hunting conditions for North American tribes, so this moon was also known as the Hunger Moon. Other names include the storm moon or the Eagle Moon. Once every 19 years or so, February’s full Snow Moon does not occur due to the phases of the lunar cycle. When this happens, it’s called the Black Moon.
Ruby

## Ability

### Ability

**Seeing Red****(Return)** If you lost the turn, your opponent's cards, wherever they are, cost +1 Energy next turn.

## Did You Know?

Ah, I love a good **Ruby**; going down to the local Tandoori with the lads, ordering some poppadoms for the table... sorry, I've just been informed I should be talking about the gemstone, and not curries - forgive my inner cockney.

The gemstone **Ruby** is a brilliant red rock, which gets its colour from the traces of chromium in its make up. It starts as a mineral called corundum which, under intense pressure and heat, turns into sapphire - but if you get chromium mixed in there, you get **Rubies**.

**Ruby** measures a 9 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness (a universal measure of how tough gemstones are), which is second only to diamond.
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory

## Ability

### Ability

**Dish It Out****(Return)** If you won the turn, your opponent loses -20 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

If you find yourself on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, check out **Roque de los Muchachos Observatory**. One of the largest arrays of telescopes in the world, this site is a sight to behold. Sitting at an altitude of over 2,400 meters above sea-level, it is one of the best places on earth to enjoy stargazing, and according to one review on TripAdvisor – it’s “like something out of a Bond film.” It should have said “like something you’d see in The Midnight Sky, directed by and starring George Clooney, which is the only film we could find that has used it as a location.
Solar Flare

## Did You Know?

If you recall the Shifting Solar Plasma card, you'll know that the surface of the Sun is a constantly fluctuating blob of solar materials (gases, metals etc) and that they're pushed around between magnetic fields.

A Solar Flare is when charged particles interact with the surface and cause those materials to erupt upwards, pushing it into space. That material gets caught in those magnetic fields, which bring it back down in a gigantic arc shape. Kind of like a water fountain at school, if it launched water in an arc tens of thousands of miles in diameter and the water was made of molten plasma.
Sex Determination

## Ability

### Ability

**Skeleton Sequence****(Play)** Your Sue Black's In The Bones cards, wherever they are, gain +3 Power until played. **(Play)** If you have played Unidentified Body this game, your Age Estimation card, wherever it is, gains +8 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

All bones in the adult skeleton can help to determine whether the individual was male or female. However, there are two areas of the skeleton that are more reliable and these are the pelvis and the skull.

During puberty, the growing pelvis responds to circulating sex hormones – testosterone (male) or oestrogen (female) and the bones grow differently. In particular, the female pelvis changes shape in response to circulating oestrogen, so that in the future it will be large enough to accommodate the passage of a fetal skull during birth.

The skull responds more to testosterone to accommodate large sites of muscle attachment and, as a result, the male skull is more robust than the female with stronger sites of muscle attachment.

Professor Dame Sue Black is an anatomist and a forensic anthropologist. She led for her discipline in the war crimes investigations in Kosovo and has deployed to many countries around the world including Thailand, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Grenada. She is the author of 14 textbooks and 2 popular science books about her career. She is a Fellow of 5 learned academies and is a cross bench Peer in the House of Lords. She is currently Pro Vice Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University and is President Elect for St. John's College, Oxford.
Skellig Michael

## Ability

### Ability

**Reyunited****(Play)** Your Laser Sword card in hand gains +45 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Skellig Michael is a twin-pinnacled crag just off County Kerry, named after the archangel Michael. Its landscape is steep and quite inhospitable for humans, although gannets, puffins, razorbills, porgs and seals make a home there.

A winding pathway of 618 stone steps wends its way to the mountain’s summit, and the beehive huts where a Gaelic Christian monastery once lived still stand there.

Over the last century, Skellig Michael’s population numbers peaked at 11 according to the 1911 census, and nowadays tourism is restricted to 180 visitors a day, to prevent too much damage to the island.

Skellig Michael has been used as a filming location for many films, including the three most recent instalments of the Star Wars franchise, with Mark Hamill comparing it to a “fairy-tale world”.
Southern Local Supervoid

## Ability

### Ability

**Nothing to See Here****(Play)** If you have played no Space Oddities cards this game, your Space Oddities cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Like a <link="https:>"sharing bag" of crisps</link>, the **Southern Local Supervoid** is very large but disappointingly empty. It lies next to the Local Supercluster, some 3 billion light-years from our own Sun, and is 112 megaparsecs in diameter across its narrowest width. Picture the Milky Way galaxy, then multiply it 600 billion times: that’s roughly the size of this vast patch of space. Colossal, yet deserted. But why?

According to astronomers, superclusters of galaxies tend to collapse and recollapse onto themselves, while voids tend to grow. The less dense the area, the more it will expand. And the Southern Local Supervoid isn’t even the biggest void out there. In the <link="https:>list of the largest voids,</link> the SLS is only 61 of 113.

'Artist's conception of the Southern Local Supervoid based on open source galaxy cluster data.' by Pablo Carlos Budassi (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Secret Card Abilities

Combos refer to cards that buff other specific cards (as compared to the cards that buff whole collections or albums). Most are described in the Ability printed on the front of the card. But some are secret, and can only be found by actually seeing the interaction during game play. Some of the combos have animations (and potentially achievements). Other cards have additional secret abilities beyond those that are listed on the card, and activate when the card is played or drawn under the relevant conditions.

## Secret Abilities

On draw, Red River of the South gives your Legends of the Old West cards wherever they are +5⚡until played.

On play, QR Code gives your Cute Cats and Cool Cats cards +26⚡for the turn.

If drawn in the 1st turn of a round, 1914 Christmas Truce gives both players +3 EPT (Energy Per Turn) this round.

On play, Warrior Wasp gives your Beautiful Butterflies cards +10⚡this turn.

When Grand Archer Yi is played opposite Xihe, Xihe loses -50⚡permanently.

On play, Plotinus gives your Horrible Halloween cards +20⚡for the turn.

On Draw, Cicada 3301 reduces the energy of your History of the Internet cards in hand -1 for 3 turns.

When William of Orange is played opposite Louis XIV, both players lose -90 ⚡PT (Power Per Turn) this turn.

On draw, when losing by a certain amount and if your opponents deck contains 2 The Write Stuff cards, Infinite Monkey Theorem gains +100⚡this turn.

On Play, Lambert Simnel buffs your Musically Minded cards +10⚡until played.

On Play, Huldufólk debuffs the opponent's Hanging Gardens of Babylon by 10⚡permanently.

On Draw, if your deck contains Dr. Moreau, War of the Worlds (1938), and Invisible Man, your H.G. Wells card gains +100⚡this turn.

On Play, if played next to William Shakespeare, Daemonologie gives your Horrible Halloween cards, wherever they are, +13⚡permanently.
Sigmund

## Ability

### Ability

**Dragonslayer****(Play)** For every Reptiles card in your deck, this card gains +4 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

As a young man, Norse hero **Sigmund** succeeded in pulling out a magical sword from a tree - a trick set by Odin in disguise. But Sigmund’s new brother-in-law Seigger was jealous of the sword. After Sigmund rejected his attempt to buy it from him, Siggeir invited Sigmund and his whole family over for a feast. But, surprise surprise, Siggeir wasn’t just trying to wow them with his cooking skills.

Instead, he put Sigmund and his family in stocks and killed his father. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Siggeir had his mum turn into a wolf and eat one of Sigmund’s brothers every night. So, he and sister Signy forged a plan: smear honey on his face, lure in the wolf-mom and bite off her tongue. It’s gross, but it worked.
Sir Pelleas

## Ability

### Ability

**Young Knight****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +26 Power.

## Did You Know?

“Started from the bottom now we here” - these words may have been penned by the rapper Drake, but we’re certain that **Sir Pelleas** would have vibed with them too. You see, although he came from a lowly background, Sir Pelleas went on to become a Knight of the Round Table.

However, like Drake, Sir Pelleas hung his hat on being a certified lover boy. His unrequited love for Lady Ettard of Arroy saw him fighting off sixty knights in a tournament, but that still didn’t win her love. Every day, she sent knights out to get him off her land, and every day, he allowed himself to be captured so he could catch a glimpse of Lady Ettard. So, she would have him released and the whole process would start again.
Salem Witch House

## Ability

### Ability

**Salem's Lot****(Draw)** All Witch cards in either player's hands **Burn** (5) until played but yours gain +32 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In 1675, Jonathan Corwin, heir to one of the largest Puritan fortunes in New England, bought a stately home in Salem, Massachusetts. Seventeen years later, he would take part in the famous Witch Hunt that saw women tried and executed on suspicion of witchcraft.

Sources state that some of the pretrials even took place inside his home, which has come to be known as the **Salem Witch House**. That makes sense since Corwin served on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which ultimately sent 19 people to the gallows.

As the only structure left with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials, the house was restored to its 17th-century appearance and opened to the public as a museum.
Rogue Planet

## Ability

### Ability

**Break Orbit****(Draw)** A random card in your hand costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Rogue Planet** might sound like a 2000 A.D. series from the late 80's, but it's actually the term given to planets that have broken free of their star's gravitational pull (or formed without being tethered to a star) and roam the universe on their own.

There are many reasons why a planet might become detached from a stars - astronomers speculate that they could have been part of a potential solar system that didn't have enough gravity or mass to complete itself. The opposite could also be true - a system could form so successfully that its planets have to compete for an orbit.

We live on a planet very firmly locked to its star (this assumes you live on Earth), so it's hard to imagine it but there are potentially billions of **Rogue Planets** out there. One notable **Rogue Planet** is OTS 44 - a planet about 554 light-years away that's surrounded by several dust rings that could eventually form its own system!
Royal Flycatcher

## Ability

### Ability

**Hidden Colours****(Play)** If your deck has 4 or more Paleontology cards, this card gains +10 Power permanently. Repeat for Oceans and Arts & Culture .

## Did You Know?

Okay, let's dive straight into its royal moniker. As you have probably guessed it's all to do with its impressive head plumage, a stunning display originating from the crown of its otherwise unremarkable head. In this case, the photo doesn't necessarily do it justice as its feathers are iridescent (goniochromism) meaning their tone and vibrance changes depending on light and movement (a bit like an Everton player’s car wrap).

Like many other birds, its fantastic feathers are all about courtship and are used in competition over females and territory. They are found across much of Central and South America as far south as Bolivia, and they specialise in catching insects in flight. Fascinatingly for such a small bird (15cm / 5.9 in) it lays its eggs in huge nests up to 2 meters (6.5 ft) in length (running down the stem of a branch) nearly always over water, helping it evade predators and ensuring a good supply of waterborne insects.
Russian Blue

## Ability

### Ability

**Mother Russia****(Return)** Your Peter the Great, Soyuz and The Volga cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Watch out, dogs: there’s a new contender in the loyal pets league. The Russian Blue cat will follow their owners wherever they go and wait at the door for them to return. It’s also said that Russian blues train their owners rather than the owners training them, a legend that's been proven true time and again.

In 1875, the Russian Blue made its first public appearance on a literal catwalk, exhibited at London’s Crystal Palace as the “Archangel Cat” since it was believed to originate from the Archangel Isles in Northern Russia. According to cat buffs, this breed is rumoured to have descended from the cats kept by the Russian Czars – hence its name and warm winter coat.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Holy cow, we've made a lot of progress!
Santa María

## Did You Know?

The Santa María was the flagship on Christopher Colombus's first voyage to America. She was accompanied by her sister ships, Niña and Pinta, across the Atlantic from Spain

The ship ran aground on Christmas Day 1492, off the coast of Haiti, according to records from the time - wood from the wreckage was turned into Fort Navidad, a temporary camp that allowed the Spanish to claim occupation (and therefore get the Pope to award them control)
Sauna Elf

## Ability

### Ability

**Festive Protection****(Draw)** Your Festive Traditions cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played. **(Return)** Your Festive Traditions cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Soaking up the steam in a hot sauna in Finland? Whatever you do, don’t swear, cry or shout: according to Finnish traditional culture, you could risk upsetting the **Sauna Elf** (Saunatonttu), a mythical being who protects the sauna.

Given that there are 3 million saunas in Finland, and that sauna culture in this country goes back almost 10 thousand years, this happy lil’ spirit has an important job to do. Sporting a winning smile and a pointed felt hat to stop its head from overheating, the Sauna Elf maintains order in the sauna and ensures a peaceful bathing environment - specifically on Christmas Eve. To thank the elf for its service, Finnish people traditionally brought gifts of food or drink.
Snow Crab

## Ability

### Ability

**Consumed****(Draw)** If your deck has 5 or more Curious Cuisine cards, your Curious Cuisine cards, wherever they are, gain +24 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

A Snow Queen of a different kind, Chionoecetes opilio - also known as the **Snow Crab**- is a subarctic species of crab found in the northern hemisphere where the water temperature is always below 4°C.
Although smaller than the King Crab, their size is still impressive, with male Alaska snow crabs reaching 6 inches in shell width. Meanwhile, the female of the species produces between 16,000 and 150,000 eggs in spring. And yet, in 2022, over 11 billion of Alaska’s snow crabs <link="https:>mysteriously disappeared</link>.

So, what happened? Mass migration, mass predation or abduction by a tribe of crab-eating aliens? The truth is likely a mix of overfishing and climate change, but in any case, local seafood restaurant owners are feeling the pinch.
Skull Nebula

## Ability

### Ability

**Spooky Space Time****(Play)** Your Ghost Head Nebula card in hand gains +50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Launching your own production of Hamlet in space and don’t have a spare skull to hand? Not a problem - just head to the constellation Cetus, around 1,600 light-years away. Here, you’ll find a planetary nebula that \*vaguely\* resembles a skull.

Discovered by William Herschel in 1785, the officially-named NGC 246 is actually really difficult to see from Earth through a small telescope. Given that Herschel made his own telescope, his find is all the more impressive.

For a dying star, there’s no shape more fitting than that of a skull. Like a perpetual Halloween decoration, the **Skull Nebula** is thought to be at least 45,000 years old and consist of a pair of closely bound stars orbited by a third outer star.
Shanghai Tower

## Ability

### Ability

**Torsion****(Draw)** This card gains +50 Power this turn. **(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card loses -50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Standing 632 metres tall, the **Shanghai Tower** in Lujiazui, Pudong, is the world’s second-tallest building. That being said, while Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is technically number one, Shanghai Tower can claim the record for being the tallest by height to usable floor. As well as the world’s highest restaurant, the building also has one of the world’s highest swimming pools. On the 84th floor, 393m above ground, is a state-of-the-art pool with a view.

But that’s not even the most impressive part. Engineers designed this megastructure to be one of the most sustainably advanced buildings in the world: not only does the glass “skin” of the tower help conserve energy, but 270 wind turbines at the top of the tower provide 10% of its electricity.
River Thames

## Ability

### Ability

**Thames-tation****(Play)** This card gains +20 Power. **(Return)** If you won the turn, this card gains +20 Power permanently and if you lost the turn, this card costs +2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Let us kick off with the basics; the **River Thames** is around 340km (200 miles) long and has more than 200 bridges. It starts in Gloucestershire, not too far from the west coast of England, and enters the North Sea on the East coast between the counties of Essex and Kent (the county in which Avid is based).

The name "Thames" comes from the Latin *Tamesis*, ultimately of Celtic origin, which means "dark". For those of you that have visited or live in London and have looked into its dark waters, you may be surprised that it provides two-thirds of London’s drinking water. Which is even more surprising when you discover that in 2017 more than 1.2 million tonnes of raw sewage was dumped in it. Please don't spit out your tea, I'm sure they run it through a sieve first...

Old Father Thames, popularised by Philip Pullman, is based on an ancient mythical demigod that looked after the Thames. He bears a striking resemblance to the tutelary (guardian, patron, or protector) gods of the Nile and the Tiber. His exact origins are not clear, but there is evidence to suggest that river worship was taking place during the Iron Age (500 BC - 332 BC).
Siberian Husky

## Did You Know?

Bred to be ideal sled dogs, Huskies have a double coat for insulation, narrow eyes to keep out snow, and a metabolism (that we don't yet understand) which enables them to run long distances with very little food.

They are not wolves, but they are closely related - and their howls can allegedly be heard from 10 miles away. (Or even further if they're using a smartphone.)
River Ganges

## Ability

### Ability

**Holy Waters****(Draw)** Your Oceans and Seas cards in hand gain +26 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Originating in the Himalayas and flowing all the way to the Bay of Bengal, the**River Ganges** is one of the world's largest rivers. This vast body of water is considered holy to the Hindus, and every year, a month-long mass pilgrimage takes place where millions flock to the river to bathe in its sacred waters. According to myths behind the festival, the water of the river Ganges turns into “amrita” – the nectar of immortality – on certain days.

Sadly, the 2,525 km-long river is threatened by severe pollution, which poses a danger to both humans and the immense ecosystem within the river, including the 140 species of fish and 90 species of amphibians who call the Ganges home.
Sable Ferret

## Ability

### Ability

**Little Thief****(Draw)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -10 Power this turn and your cards in hand gain +10 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

The majestic living draught excluder, the **Sable Ferret**, is the most common breed of ferret in the US. Known for its long body, brown and cream coat, and flipping adorable face, they are sometimes kept as pets.

During the revolutionary war, they were used for “ferreting” which meant they preyed on rats and other vermin, however now they’re better known for being <link="https:>excellent dancers</link> and can make you lose hours on YouTube and TikTok just watching them boogie.

Male ferrets are called “hobs” and females are called “jills”, while their babies are called “kits”, all of which sound like members of an early 2000s Britpop band. Sable Ferrets are very playful and super inquisitive, meaning they like to get in about everything they can. They are known for having mad bursts of energy where they like to run around and crash into things, just to let you know they’re having a good time. However, they can also sleep for 18-20 hours a day so don’t expect playtime to last for very long!
Sir Geraint

## Ability

### Ability

**Old Man****(Play)** If it's the third turn of a round, your Arthurian Legends cards in hand gain +28 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

His name is a Welsh form of the Latin ‘Geronitus’, meaning “Old Man”, but that doesn’t do Sir **Geraint** justice. A renowned knight of Arthurian legend, Sir Geraint is actually portrayed as a valiant and chivalrous hero.

He is best known for his role in The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur, in which Geraint embarks on a tournament to prove his worth, falls in love with Enid but jealousy and misunderstandings strain their relationship.

Poor Geraint has to deal with the Earl of Limours, who slides into Enid’s DMs and promises her wealth and a castle. When Enid refuses, the Earl gets violent, but Geraint doesn’t hesitate to take the Earl down before riding into the sunset with his beloved. Not bad for an “Old Man.”
Sleepy Sponge Crab

## Ability

### Ability

**Crabouflage****(Play)** If played between any two cards, this card gains +30 Power.

## Did You Know?

Sebastian from the Little Mermaid made it sound like an idyllic paradise, but let's be honest: the sea is a dangerous place. Sharp teeth, deadly poison and terrifying tentacles await prey around every corner. So you’re gonna need protection.

**The Sleepy Sponge Crab** has the right idea, boasting full body armour and a sea sponge for camouflage. Sure, it may look like an angry baby in a shower cap, but that conscious fluffy hat is working wonders for this crab.

The largest species of sponge crab, the Sleepy Sponge Crab gets its name from its slow movements. But given many of these crabs live in the Mediterranean Sea, that’s to be expected. It’s just a slower pace of life.
Siege Perilous

## Ability

### Ability

**Fatally Unworthy****(Draw)** For every Album in your deck, your Arthurian Legends cards, wherever they are, gain +3 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In the barbeque finale scene of Fast 9, we see a chair at the family table that’s left intentionally empty. That seat is still reserved for Brian (Paul Walker, RIP.) Well, the Knights of the Round Table may not have had cars, but they did have family.

In Arthurian legend, the **Siege Perilous** is an empty seat at the Round Table reserved by Merlin for the knight who would successfully find the Holy Grail. In Thomas Malory's book "Le Morte d'Arthur," Sir Galahad takes the seat on Whitsunday, but it is said to be fatal for anyone unworthy who sits in it. (For context, it would be like if Hobbs or Shaw took Brian’s seat.) Some scholars believe the “perilous seat” is a half-remembered Celtic ritual similar to the Irish Lia Fáil.
Sitting Bull

## Ability

### Ability

**Raging Bull****(Return)** If you lost the turn, your remaining cards in hand gain +25 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

Sitting Bull was born a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota. The Native American chief united the Sioux tribes of the American Great Plains against white settlers taking their tribal land.

The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty granted the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota to the Sioux, but when gold was discovered there in 1874, the U.S. government blatantly ignored the treaty and began to remove native tribes from their land by extreme force. The resulting Great Sioux Wars came to a great crescendo in the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn, when Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led united tribes to victory against General George Armstrong Custer.

Sitting Bull was shot and killed by Indian police officers on Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 1890. Before his sad demise, Sitting Bull was considered a holy man within his tribe. Once during a Sun Dance ritual, he saw a vision where he pictured "American soldiers dropping like grasshoppers from the sky". He knew there was a great battle was coming and his people would win. Shortly after his vision, on June 25 1876, Colonel George Custer of the United States and his army attacked. However, Custer didn't realise the size of Sitting Bull's army. The Indians soundly defeated Custer's forces, killing many of them including Custer.

This battle is still considered one of the great victories for the Native Americans in the fight against the United States Army. We’ll end with our favourite Sitting Bull fact to lighten the mood - he once worked in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show earning $50 a week and his birth name was ‘Jumping Badger!’
Semiconductors

## Ability

### Ability

**Circuit Break****(Draw)** A random card in both player's hands **Lock** this turn.

## Did You Know?

It's sort of a cheat to call **Semiconductors** an Ingenious Invention, because humans didn't invent them, as such. A **Semiconductor** is a material that can partially conduct an electrical current - silicon is the most commonly-used **Semiconductor** - and that's important because, without them, humans couldn't have invented the circuit board.

Other materials that fully conduct electricity don't restrict the flow in any way, which can be a problem if you're trying to build an electronic device. You want a way to control the flow, sort of like how you can't just have a pipe pouring water forever - you need a tap to selectively control when it's useful.

By controlling that flow of electricity, circuit boards can redirect it so that different areas of the device can work at different times - if it weren't for **Semiconductors** all the functions of your microwave would go off all at once when it was plugged in, and you'd spoil dinner for everyone. Nice one, mate.
Skin

## Did You Know?

Once you’ve accepted the oddly sinister undertones of the CUE **Skin** card, there’s a lot to learn about the body’s largest organ that accounts for about 15% of your body weight and contains over 11 miles of blood vessels (see?).

The human body is constantly regenerating, with all cells replacing themselves every 7 to 10 years (so, are we even the same person we were a decade ago? Something to think about at 3am).

The skin is speedrunning the Regeneration 100% Run, renewing itself every four weeks and shedding about 4.1kg (9lbs) of dead skin cells around your house every year. Awesome.
Stroboscopic Effect

## Ability

### Ability

**Light Artefacts****(Start)** Your cards in hand with "Light" in the name gain +7 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When that early zoetrope showed us a horse galloping in motion, our little minds were blown thanks to the **Stroboscopic Effect.** The Stroboscopic effect is when a flickering light hits a moving object - usually something like a fan or a rotating thing. And if you took, say a projector and a series of quickly changing film cells, BAM! You’ve got a motion picture!

This works because our eyes can only perceive 24 frames per second so our imaginations fill in some of the gaps and help create the illusion of movement. Now, cinema might have changed a lot since physical film was used but our eyes sure haven’t changed!

Stroboscopic effects can also be seen in action to slow things down. Think about the way strobe lights in a nightclub make people look like they’re moving in slow motion. Which makes nightclub scenes in movies always look way cooler than any club I’ve ever been to. Granted, maybe it’s just been a while since I’ve been clubbing.
The Oregon Trail

## Did You Know?

Stretching across six different states and over 3,000km, **The Oregon Trail** once served as a gateway to the American West. The roadway was used by pioneers in covered wagons to travel and eventually settle in the Oregon area. Since the oxen pulling the wagons were pretty slow, children usually walked alongside the wagons while adults sat in the carriage. Then again, you would probably make your children walk too after months of hearing “Are we there yet?”

Back in the 1980s the Oregon Trail became an educational computer game played by a whole generation of American schoolchildren. In it you had to plan your trip, manage resources, ford rivers, and hopefully avoid breaking an axle. The game later led to the unlikely phrase ‘You have died of dysentery’ becoming a meme.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Touring Pangaea? Then your next stop is known for du vin and da Vinci. Good luck!
Slash-and-Burn

## Ability

### Ability

**Deforest****(Draw)** Your opponent's Life on Land cards in hand **Burn** (10) until played.

## Did You Know?

**Slash-and-Burn** agriculture is a method of farming that involves burning and clearing forests to grow crops, with the resulting layer of ash providing a nutrient-rich layer to help the crops thrive. The short-term gains may be great for farmers, but burning the land only creates fertile ground for a few years before the farmers must move on to another area. It’s cheap and effective, but it’s also incredibly detrimental to the ecosystems.

Not only does it kill off thousands of plants and animals, but the ash contaminates water and lowers air quality. Plus, as you might have guessed, air pollution from carbon emissions released by cut trees is also highly damaging, releasing over two tonnes per acre.
Silverback Gorilla

## Ability

### Ability

**Silver Medal****(Return)** If you lost the turn, your remaining cards in hand cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

A **Silverback Gorilla** is the mature male leader of a troop of Mountain Gorillas. A **Silverback** is generally the largest Gorilla in the troop, but despite being 6 feet tall and up to 350 pounds in weight, they are shy creatures unless provoked.

A Mountain Gorilla is considered an adult at around 8 years old, but over the next five years, they develop a silvery fur on their backs. Imagine if we started calling humans Silvertops after the age of 65 or so!

Their similarities to humans go beyond getting grey at advanced ages though - the Mountain Gorilla is 98% genetically similar to us, making them some of our closest cousins in the animal kingdom (only chimpanzees and bonobos are closer). This, unfortunately, means they are susceptible to the same diseases as we are, and when you throw in a low rate of reproduction (One **Silverback** will have many female partners, who only tend to give birth to one baby every 4-6 years), their numbers are dwindling.
Robocall

## Ability

### Ability

**Cold Caller****(Play)** If you have played Telephone this game, this card gains +15 Power permanently. Repeat for Cell Phone and Dreyfuss Model 500.

## Did You Know?

It’s always disconcerting to hear from a stranger that you’ve been in an accident that wasn’t your fault. Don’t worry, it’s not a blip in your memory: it’s just a pesky **Robocall**, brought to you by the magic of automated dialling and pre-recorded messages. In 2022, US consumers received a whopping 50.3 billion robocalls, and around 40% of these were scams.

So, who’s guilty of inventing this tech? Ironically, a man by the name of Inocentes. Tony Inocentes launched Robocall technology in 1983 to announce his candidacy for the 57th Assembly District in California. Running a debt collection agency, he also invented phone software in 1989 that could be used by debt collectors at large. Thanks, Tony. We really needed this technological marvel in our lives.
Sea Cucumber

## Did You Know?

There are over 1,250 species of **Sea Cucumber**, which are close relatives of starfish, and they vary in size between 0.1 of an inch and 3 feet.

In Asian cuisine, the Sea Cucumber is often eaten either raw or pickled, much like its namesake. But with it being an animal - not a vegetable - with a texture like a slug, you probably wouldn't want it on your sandwich.

CRAFTING CLUES BELOW!

- A nice easy clue to get things rolling...
- The dead... rose?

## Card Changes

Artwork for the card changed on 26 April 2022.

## Recipes

Sea Cucumber is used in two crafted cards: 9 Muses and Cornucopia.
Space Roar

## Ability

### Ability

**Roar Power****(Return)** Your Cool Cats and Dizzying Discoveries cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Everyone knows that in space, no one can hear you scream. But in 2006, NASA picked up on something now known as the “**Space Roar**”.

Okay, so it wasn’t a roar like that of a bear or angry ogre, but a big, unexpected blast of radio waves that seemed to be part of the background noise for no known reason. The space roar was picked up by a device called ARCADE, which was sent to space to search for distant signals in the universe. The blast was six times louder than what they were expecting and far too loud to come from distant galaxies.

The Space Roar could even stymie our efforts to search for signals from the first stars that formed after the big bang. Sus or what?!
Sir Ywain

## Ability

### Ability

**...And Again****(Draw)** If you have played **Sir Ywain** this game, your Arthurian Legends cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The tale of **Sir Ywain**, as told by French poet Chrétien de Troyes, is a bit of a rollercoaster. It begins when Ywain, a Knight of the Round Table, agrees to accompany his cousin Gawain on an adventure to become a heroic knight. Before long, Ywain gets so fixated on his knightly exploits that he forgets about his wife, whom he promised he would return for.

After his wife bans him from returning, Ywain loses the plot and lives naked in the woods, but is eventually cured by the enchantress Morgan Le Fay. Things start turning around for Sir Ywain when he saves a lion from the clutches of a dragon and completes his quest, winning back the love of his wife and a new pet in the process.
Spam Musubi

## Ability

### Ability

**Fusion Cuisine****(Draw)** If your deck has 2 or more Curious Cuisine cards, your Fusion and Ultra Fusion cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

During World War II, the people of Hawaii developed a deep love for Spam. The canned meat had become a staple in army food due to its long shelf life, and when it hit the islands, it sparked a craze that’s still going strong today. At some point, someone decided to combine spam with rice and nori to create a snack known as **Spam Musubi**.

Some say it was a nutritionist called Barbara Funamura who had both American and Japanese heritage. Others say it was a Japanese housewife called Mitsuko Kaneshiro. All the while, survivors of the Japanese American internment camps in the US claimed it was their invention. In any case, August 8th is now officially National SPAM Musubi Day for Hawaii, as set by L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.
Shifting Solar Plasma

## Did You Know?

The surface of the Sun is not solid, but is a constant flux of gases that are about 10 million degrees at its surface and a huge 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core.

They appear as these kind of whisps of flame as solar winds push the plasma around. Solar winds are kinda like winds on earth, except not at all - instead of air, a cocktail of heavy ions and atomic nuclei whizz around the star at supersonic speeds.
Rosso Corsa

## Ability

### Ability

**Spectrum of Color****(Play)** If you have played Electric Violet this game, your Dutch Orange card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power permanently. **(Return)** If you have played Electric Violet this game, your Dutch Orange card, wherever it is, costs +1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

*“Is there anyone who will undertake to travel this summer from Paris to Peking by automobile?”* So read the January 31st 1907 edition of the Paris newspaper Le Matin, setting a challenge for racing enthusiasts across the world.

Five teams arrived in China, but only one emerged victorious: the Italian Prince Scipione Borghese and his mechanic/chauffeur Ettore Guizzardi. Prince Borghese famously wore a deep red to symbolise his passion for the race. After a gruelling race that lasted 61 days, the Italians crossed the finish line first. Going forward, Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia and Ferraroi were painted ‘**Rosso Corsa**’ (‘Racing Red’) to celebrate their national champion. At its peak in the early 1990s, a remarkable 85 per cent of all Ferraris built were painted rosso corsa.