Outer Ones

## Overview

*Incomprehensible horrors of the cosmos, nightmares of nightmares, these creatures are what Byakhee tell stories about to scare their children into eating their broccoli. The Outer Ones hold knowledge beyond time and greet insanity as an old friend.*

The Outer Ones see Madness as a tool rather than a cost. Stock up on Madness, then release the mighty Azathoth to dominate the board!

### Details

#### General

* Name: Outer Ones
* Author: LordMewtwo73
* Complexity: 4/5
* Last updated: June 27, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Madness
* Titans

### Breakdown

This faction has 10 minions and 10 actions, with 28 total minion power and an average minion power of 2.8. They also have a titan. Among their actions, they have:

* 0 play-on-minion actions.
* 0 play-on-base actions.
* 10 standard actions, 4 of which directly affect one or minions (in **bold**): A Message from Within, Awaken from Slumber, Call of the Empty, **Inhuman Knowledge (x2)**, **Nyarlathotep's Fury**, Song of the Harbinger, **Succumb to Madness**, Will of the Gods (x2)
* 1 action that directly increases a minion's power: Succumb to Madness

### Minions (10)

* 1**x Nyarlathotep (6):** Ongoing: After you draw a Madness card, place a +1 power counter on this minion. After you play a Madness card, play an extra action. After you discard a Madness card, draw a card. Each of Nyarlathotep's abilities activate only once per turn.
* **2x Lu-Kthu (3):** Ongoing: This minion has +1 power for each Madness card in your discard pile.
* **2x Ghroth (3):** Talent: Draw a Madness card, then discard a card.
* **2x Voormis (2):** Choose a player. Place a Madness card from your discard pile on the top or bottom of their deck.
* **3x Servitor of Azathoth (2):** Discard up to three Madness cards from the Madness deck. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, if you have three or more Madness cards in your discard pile, you may destroy this minion to play Azathoth here.

### Actions (10)

* **2x Will of the Gods:** Draw a Madness card. You may play an extra minion or two extra actions this turn.
* **2x Inhuman Knowledge:** Choose an action or a minion of power 3 or less in play or in a discard pile. Return that card to the top of its owner's deck to play a Madness card as an extra action.
* **1x A Message from Within:** Choose another player and reveal the top card of their deck, then draw up to two Madness cards. That player may draw two more Madness cards than you drew to place the card back on top of their deck. Otherwise, draw the revealed card and play an extra action.
* **1x Nyarlathotep's Fury:** Discard any number of Madness cards. If you discarded three or more Madness cards in this way, you may give a minion -2 power until the end of the turn. You may destroy a minion of power 3 or less.
* **1x Call of the Empty:** Search your deck for any number of Madness cards and place them into your discard pile. Draw a card and play an extra action.
* **1x Song of the Harbinger:** Each player draws two Madness cards.
* **1x Succumb to Madness:** Special: Before a base scores, give one of your minions there +2 power for each Madness card in your discard pile.
* **1x Awaken from Slumber:** Choose a base where you have a minion. Play or move Azathoth to there. Special: If you have two or more Madness cards in your discard pile, you may play this before a base scores, then you may use Azathoth's talent an extra time.

### Titan

* **Azathoth:** Special: On your turn, if you have three or more Madness cards in your discard pile, you may return two Madness cards from your discard pile to the Madness deck to play this titan. Ongoing: At the end of your turn, return a Madness card from your discard pile to the Madness deck. If you cannot, remove this titan from play. Talent: Place any number of Madness cards from your discard pile into your hand to do one of the following, where X is the number of Madness cards placed into your hand in this way:
	+ Give up to X minions here +2 power until the end of the turn.
	+ Play an extra minion of power X+1 or less here.
	+ Destroy up to two minions with total printed power X+1 or less.
	+ Reduce the breakpoint of each base by X+2 until the end of the turn.

### Bases

* **(22) Center of the Galaxy (4 2 1):** After the first time you play a minion here each turn, place a card from you discard pile onto another player's deck to place a +1 power counter on each of your minions here.
* **(18) Goatswood (3 2 1):** Before this base scores, each player with a minion here may discard any number of cards with the same name. The player who discarded the most cards in this way gains 1 VP.

## Clarifications

* **Nyarlathotep:** All three different parts of Nyarlathotep's Ongoing can trigger each turn, but only once per turn each. For example, if you use Ghroth's talent to draw a Madness card and immediately discard it, Nyarlathotep would trigger twice: after drawing the Madness, you'd place a +1 power counter on him; then, after discarding the Madness, you would draw a card.
* **Servitor of Azathoth:** Discarding Madness cards from the Madness deck puts them directly into your discard pile. This circumvents your hand, so it does not trigger any "after you draw" reactions. It does, however, trigger "after you discard" reactions.
* **Servitor of Azathoth:** Azathoth cannot be played if he is already in play, or if you control another titan in play. You can still use Servitor's Ongoing ability, but it would destroy itself and have no further effect.
* **Inhuman Knowledge:** The owner of a Madness card is its controller.
* **A Message from Within:** If a card you do not own were to go to your discard pile, it goes to its owner's discard pile instead. The exception to this is Madness and Treasures.
* **Nyarlathotep's Fury:** Only the power reduction requires you to discard three or more Madness. The final sentence, the destruction ability, can be used no matter how many Madness cards you discarded.
* **Call of the Empty:** This counts as discarding Madness cards, and triggers Nyarlathotep.
* **Awaken from Slumber:** You can use Azathoth's talent with this card even if it is not your turn.
* **Azathoth:** "X" is a shorthand for keeping track of how many Madness cards you chose with Azathoth's talent. For example, if you placed two Madness into your hand, your choices are: Give up to two minions here +2 power, play an extra minion of power 3 or less here, destroy up to two minions with total printed power 3 or less, reduce the breakpoint of each base by 4, draw three cards and discard two non-Madness cards.

## Strategy

### General

This faction has two main goals in mind: store up for big *Azathoth* plays, and mess with your opponent. Cards like *Ghroth*, *Servitor of Azathoth*, and *Nyarlathotep's Fury* load up your discard pile with Madness while *Voormis*, *Inhuman Knowledge*, and *A Message from Within* clutter the top of your opponent's deck. *Nyarlathotep* is a great value engine in this faction, so make sure his base doesn't break right away to get maximum use out of him. Don't worry about drawing through your deck, as *Call of the Empty* can get any Madness back that you may have had to shuffle in. Once your discard pile is loaded with Madness, you can bring out *Azathoth* for big power swings, draw power, or breakpoint reduction. Maximize the number of Madness in your discard pile by using *Servitor of Azathoth* to bring him out instead of his own play condition. Just be careful of his Ongoing, because if you remove too many Madness from your discard pile, he'll leave play at the end of the turn.

Remember, while Madness is a useful currency for this faction, it still loses you VP at the end of the game. Note that *Voormis*, *A Message from Within*, and *Azathoth* are the only ways to get Madness out of your discard pile, and none of them are incredibly fast. If you get too greedy with your Madness consumption, you might end up with negative VP when the game ends!

### Partner Suggestions

Outer Ones have some decently powered minions, with a natural 6-power *Nyarlathotep* and two potentially large *Lu-Kthu*. Extra minion plays would give them incredible burst potential, but also factions that can draw or remove more Madness will always be helpful to their game plan.

#### Published

* **Miskatonic University:** It should be no surprise that the other faction that uses Madness as a resource could go well with this one. Many of their abilities discard Madness, working very well with *Azathoth*. Furthermore, they contain plenty of ways to put Madness back into the Madness deck, great for cleaning up your discard pile near the end of the game.
* **Minions of Cthulhu:** Another faction that draws a lot of Madness. While *Cthulu* and *Azathoth* may butt heads occasionally, for the most part they don't step on each others' toes, as long as you can get the right titan in play when you need it. Just be mindful of how much Madness you end up with!
* **Killer Plants:** *Sprouts* can find nearly any minion in this faction and can even facilitate an immediate *Azathoth* play by searching for *Servitor* at the start of your turn. *Killer Kudzu* is on its own clock and is easy to remove from the board, so you can swap between it and *Azathoth* very easily. Killer Plants' extra minion plays can also make for a large burst in a single turn.

## Author Notes

* This faction uses the Austrian Castle font.
* The original intention of this faction was to be a counter to Minions of Cthulhu w/ Titan. Though it has changed much since then, it still poses quite the threat to Cthulhu. Unfortunately, it also pairs very well with MoC!
* These bases were thought up by Ludichrisness (with incredible haste!) after I told him that I didn't have any ideas for them.

## Artist Credits

Walter Brocca

douzen

Arianne Elliot

Frank Fazetta

Loïc Muzy

SketchyFoxer

Richard Luong

Satibalzane

Darmus

Borja Pindado

Bogdan Rezunenko

YouveBeenOwned

*Note: These images were found through Google. If your art appears in these cards and you would not like it to, or if your art is uncredited (as for some images I could not find the source), please contact me through discord (user: lordmewtwo73) and I will be happy to square that away for you!*