recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Argo Navis

## Ability

### Ability

**The Keel, the Stern and the Sails****(Play)** If your deck has exactly 3 Constellations cards, your Riding the Waves! cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Yunno what sucks? Being one of the largest and most recognisable constellations in the night sky, and still not being recognised as an official constellation by the International Astronomical Union.

Back when Ptolemy was around, he listed **Argo Navis** as one of the 48 constellations and named it after the legendary ship that carried Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. Hundreds of years later, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided Argo up into three constellations: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the “poop deck”) and Vela (the sails.)

The brightest star in the constellation is Canopus, which is the second-brightest star in the night sky and served as an important navigational marker for sailors in the southern hemisphere.
Art Deco

## Ability

### Ability

**Embrace the Future****(Play)** This card gains +20 Power permanently and gain +1:energy/turn: permanently.

## Did You Know?

Known for its geometric shapes, sharp edges and expensive materials, **Art Deco** was both simple and extravagant all at once. As seen on famous buildings of New York such as the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Centre, Art Deco was the most popular design movement…until it wasn’t. The Great Depression wasn’t exactly a period of pizzazz, and so design moved on to centre on functionality, not flair. It was goodbye to Gatsby and hello to glass and concrete.
Asgard

## Ability

### Ability

**Seat of the Gods****(Play)** Your Midgard card gains +20 Power this turn. **(Draw)** Your Norse Mythology cards in hand cost -2 Energy (and if you are winning the round, an extra -1 Energy) until played.

## Did You Know?

Connected to Midgard (the world of people), by the rainbow bridge Bifröst, **Asgard** is the world of the Norse gods (specifically the Æsir, not the Vanir, gods).

Notable tourist hotspots include:

- **Himinbjörg**, where Heimdallr lives and keeps watch over Midgard,
- **Bilskírnir**, Thor’s house, which is next-level ostentatious with 540 rooms, and
- **Valhalla**, a big golden hall for people who die in battle, and favourite hangout of Sir Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hiddleston
Anurognathus

## Ability

### Ability

**Tiny Terrors****(Draw)** Your Paleontology cards, wherever they are, with 3 or less Base Energy gain +15 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Delve into the world of prehistoric creatures and you’ll find a handful of animals that you aren’t sure whether to fawn over or wince at. The **Anurognathus** is one of them. Effectively a prehistoric <link="https:>Porg</link>, this creature lived 150 - 148 million years ago in Europe, roaming the skies and crunching insects with tiny pin-like teeth.

Although it lived at the same time as dinosaurs, Anurognathus was no dinosaur. It was a small, bright-eyed Pterosaur. It’s hard to believe that this little earless-rabbit bat thing was related to the Pterodactyl or even the <link="https:>Rhamphorhynchus</link>, but it’s true. Its name does kind of acknowledge this, deriving from the Greek αν/ an- ("without"), оυρα/ oura ("tail"), and γναθος/ gnathos ("jaw") in reference to its unusually small tail relative to other basal pterosaurs.
Anchiornis

## Ability

### Ability

**Anchi-Panky****(Play)** Your Anchisaurus card in hand gains +36 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The **Anchiornis** is a four-winged bird-like dinosaur from the late Jurassic period. It may look like a regular two-winged bird-like dinosaur, but it's got flight-supporting feathers on its legs - they would have been used to help it stabilise when it glided.

Paleontologists have theorised that, due to its long legs and relatively short wingspan, it probably didn't actually fly. It's the smallest feathered dinosaur currently known to humankind, measuring as it does a mere 34 centimetres from beak tip to tail.
Beast of Bodmin

## Ability

### Ability

**Spooky Big Cat****(Play)** If your deck contains Demon Cat, your Cool Cats cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Picture the scene: you’re strolling through Bodmin Moor, when suddenly, a panther-like creature appears in the distance. While your first response may be to utter <link="https:>"I tawt I taw a puddy tat!"</link>, we advise against this. The last thing you want is to alert the **Beast of Bodmin** to your presence. This phantom feline is said to be the size of a puma with an appetite for flesh.

Unlike other cryptozoological creatures, there’s actually a lot of evidence that suggests the Beast of Bodmin is real. In fact, between 1983 and 1996, the beast was reported around 60 times. However, many say that these sightings are just regular wildcats that were released onto the moors after a law was passed to ban ownership of exotic pets. Still, it makes for a great story.
Avalon

## Ability

### Ability

**The Big Apple****(Play)** Your Arthurian Legends cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**Avalon** is likely derived from the Welsh word for ‘apple’ (‘afal’), and medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth called it *insula pomorum* (the ‘island of apples’). It was an enchanted island ruled by Arthur’s half-sister Morgana and her nine sisters (who may or may not be witches, depending on which story you read), and home to the Lady of the Lake.

The supposed location of Avalon is modern-day Glastonbury. It was famous for being the place where Excalibur was forged, where King Arthur was resurrected after the Battle of Camlann, and where Beyoncé brought the house down when she headlined in 2011.

[**Avalon** is also a song by Roxy Music. The chorus goes ‘Avalon…’ and then Bryan Ferry (who played Glastonbury in 2014) goes back to singing about dancing with a lady in bar after a party has finished. Depending on your feelings about Roxy Music, this is either quite profound, or completely daft.]
Bare-Tailed Woolly Opossum

## Ability

### Ability

**Moonlight Activity****(Return)** If you have played The Moon this game, your Common Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power and cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

In North America, the word ‘Opossum’ brings to mind those urban-dwelling trash-loving creatures who carry about a billion babies on their backs. South America, however, is home to some of the cutest and softest opossums around. Case in point: the **Bare-Tailed Woolly Opossum**, native to the neotropical forests of Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

So-called for their long hairless tails, the Bare-Tailed Woolly Opossum uses its tail as an additional limb for locomotion, avoiding falls and carrying leaves to build nests. It can also use its rope-like tail to hang on tree branches and grasp hard-to-reach fruit. A type of New World marsupial, the bare-tailed woolly opossum weighs in at less than two thirds of a pound and averages a tiny 20cm in length.

'Bare-Tailed Woolly Opossum' by Moisés Silva Lima (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Bengal Tiger

## Ability

### Ability

**Shere Power****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your Cool Cats cards in hand gain +18 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The Bengal Tiger primarily lives in India, although there are smaller groups in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The stripes on each Bengal Tiger are unique and can identify a tiger in the same way that fingerprints can identify humans. Sadly the technology doesn’t exist yet for them to log on to their smartphones using their stripes...
Amalur

## Ability

### Ability

**Reckoning****(Play)** If you are trailing by 200 Power or more, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Yo mamma is so nurturing, she’s got the ancient Basque people mistaking her for **Amalur**, the goddess of the Earth.

As far as mothers go, Amalur was pretty important: she made Ekhi, the sun, and Ilazki, the moon. Being pregnant with the sun can’t be easy, let alone giving birth to it. Then again, Amalur is also believed to not only be the goddess of the earth, but the earth itself. But still, it’s no mean feat.

This deity is also responsible for creating the stemless carline thistle - and while that may not seem as important as the Sun and the Moon, the Basques believed that this flower could frighten malicious spirits away if hung up on their doors.
Antivenom

## Ability

### Ability

**Envenomation****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Venomous Creatures cards, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Just been bitten by a poisonous creature? What are you still doing here?! Call an ambulance!! While you wait for the paramedics, you may as well read up on the cure.

First developed in 1895 by French scientist Albert Calmette, **Antivenom** is an antibody product designed to neutralise the venom and save the life (or limb) of a patient. It’s made by injecting an animal like a horse or goat with a small amount of snake (or spider) venom. Next, the antibodies released by the animal’s immune system are harvested via bleeding. The blood serum is then purified to make pharmaceutical-grade antivenom.

While antivenom can’t reverse the effects of venom once they’ve started, it can stop it from getting worse - provided you don’t get bitten by another snake during this time.
Agatha Christie

## Ability

### Ability

**Sleuth the Truth****(Draw)** Your Arts & Culture cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until this is returned to your deck and your History cards, wherever they are, lose -20 Power until this is returned to your deck.

## Did You Know?

Thanks to her exceptional talent, English detective novelist and playwright **Agatha Christie** fast became one of the world’s top-selling authors with works like *Murder on the Orient Express* and *Death on the Nile*. At the time of her death in 1976, she was the best-selling novelist in history.

Although it’s thought that one particular novel penned by Agatha Christie may have inspired a murderer in his methods, it’s nice to know that her work saved lives, too. In her famous novel, *The Pale Horse*, Christie described the symptoms of thallium poisoning so well that a nurse who read the book recognised the symptoms in a baby and was able to save it from certain death.

'Agatha Christie' by Agatha Christie plaque -Torre Abbey (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Auriga

## Ability

### Ability

**Goat To Get Through This****(Play)** Your The Gävle Goat card, wherever it is, gains +25 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

"The Charioteer" is the nickname of the **Auriga** constellation, named because its major stars form the shape of a charioteer's helmet. It's among the largest constellations, taking up a whopping 657 sq/deg of the night sky.

It contains eight stars, all of which are known to have planets orbiting them. The brightest of those stars is Capella, the sixth brightest star in the sky.

Messier objects are a topic for another card, but as far as **Auriga** is concerned it got the short shrift when being assigned object discovered by Charles Messier. Messier objects 36, 37 and 38 are all star clusters which feel rather boring compared to some of the nebulae, galaxies and generally more colourful wonders discovered by the man.

Designed by Avid Games
Aardvark

## Ability

### Ability

**Get Along with Each Other****(Draw)** If it's the first turn of a round, two random Life on Land cards in your hand gain +35 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Lexicographically, the **Aardvark** is *quite* the diva - but beyond the dictionary it’s more unassuming, being a nocturnal burrower.

The animal is the only species of its order\* and has a long snout with large nostrils and more olfactory bulbs (nine!) than any other mammal. This gives it a crazy good sense of smell, which it uses to sniff out concentrations of ants and termites - the Aardvark’s food of choice.

* Tubulidentata, if you must know. The order is named after the teeth structure: dentine mounds with no enamel, that wear away and constantly regrow. This is why you’ve never seen Aardvark toothpaste.
Arcovenator

## Ability

### Ability

**Hunt Down****(Return)** If you won the turn, your opponent loses -2:energy/turn: next turn and if you lost the turn, your opponent gains +1:energy/turn: next turn.

## Did You Know?

A type of theropod dinosaur of the Abelisaur family, the **Arcovenator escotae** was discovered in France in 2007. Short arms, a narrow snout and a French accent don’t sound threatening, but at an estimated six metres in length, this dinosaur was probably the apex predator in the area.

The name “Arcovenator” means “hunter from the River Arc”, with “escotae” being a reference to the motorway construction company Escota which delayed building work to allow time for the area to be properly excavated. Good on them.
51 pegasi b

## Ability

### Ability

**Cutting it Close****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your cards in hand gain +13 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The discovery of 51 pegasi b created a stir that it launched a whole new field in astronomical research.

Why? Because 51 Pegasi b was in fact the first ever planet to have its reflected visible light spectrum detected and the first planet confirmed around a sun-like star. Previous to this it was often thought that planets couldn’t exist around these volatile stars - game changer!

The discovery made scientists and astronomers question what they knew of our universe and launched the search for new worlds. Just when they thought they had it all figured out…
American Badger

## Ability

### Ability

**Badgering On****(Draw)** Your Life on Land cards in hand gain +5 Power permanently. **(Play)** Your Life on Land cards in hand gain +4 Power permanently. **(Return)** Your remaining Life on Land cards in hand gain +3 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The Honey Badger may take the crown for the grumpiest of their species, but the **American Badger’s** aggression puts it a close second. Operating in the grasslands of northeastern United States, northern Mexico, and south-central Canada, this adorable but expert hunter has a partner in crime.

In the wild, the American badger has been spotted working in tandem with the coyote while hunting. Researchers have shown that the coyote benefits from an increased catch rate of 33% when working with the badger. For the badger, the benefits are less clear cut, but the different hunting styles of the predators works in confusing prey and it’s thought that badgers expend less energy while working with their coyote colleagues.
Admont Abbey

## Ability

### Ability

**Ad Montes****(Play)** If your deck has 2 or more Majestic Mountains cards, your The Write Stuff cards, wherever they are, gain +21 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

You know that scene in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast lets Belle into the biggest, fanciest library you’ve ever seen (best part of the film, IMO). Well, what if there was a real version and it was even better and even fancier?!

And there is. In **Admont Abbey** in Austria. The abbey itself was built in 1074 and the amazing library hall was completed in 1776. We know, we’re booking flights there right now, too. It’s the largest monastery library in the world, holding around 70,000 volumes from the monastery’s even larger collection of around 200,000 volumes. We hope that’s because a lot of the books and manuscripts are kept elsewhere or have been sent to other libraries and not because a lot of folk out there don’t return their library books.

There was a fire in 1865 that destroyed most of the monastery but left the library mostly intact, which we think is a sign that even a rampaging fire knows that it’s a sin to destroy pretty books. Thankfully, reconstruction on the rest of the abbey began not long after and was completed in 1890.

'Admont Abbey Library, Austria' by Jorge Royan (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Castoroides

## Ability

### Ability

**Extended Underwater Activity****(Draw)** For every round completed this game, your Ice Age cards, wherever they are, gain +6 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

During the Ice Age, the normal-sized North American beaver and a gigantic seven-foot beaver known as **Castoroides** existed at the same time. Unless you’ve happened upon a beaver the size of a bear recently, we can safely assume only the smaller of the species survived. In the end, it all came down to diet and work-rate.

You see, despite its giant incisors, Castoroides simply couldn’t chuck wood to make dams like its mini-me. Instead of wood, the bigger beaver ate aquatic plants like pond weed, making it entirely dependent on the wetland environment. When everything’s freezing over, an inability to build shelter and a reliance on marine plants doesn’t bode well. It took several thousand years, but with the wetlands dried up, extinction finally came for the Castoroides. Dam.
Ahu Akivi

## Ability

### Ability

**Sunrise, Sunset****(Play)** Your Easter Island Statues card gains +63 Power this turn. **(Return)** If your deck contains The Sun, your Easter Island Statues card, wherever it is, costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Welcome to **Ahu Akivi**, the celestial observatory on Easter Island. Here, you'll find seven magnificent moai statues standing tall, as if they're guarding the place against nosy tourists trying to photobomb their sunset view.

These statues, believed to be the reincarnation of important kings or clan leaders, were erected to protect and bring prosperity to their village towards the end of the 15th century. During the equinoxes, the seven figures perfectly face the setting sun while turning their backs to the sunrise, as if they have a celestial compass built into their stone bodies.

If that wasn’t intriguing enough, it’s thought that the 5-ton statues were transported from the quarry of the Rano Raraku volcano and taken across 15 kilometres of irregular terrain using an <link="https:>unknown method</link> .
African Elephant

## Ability

### Ability

**Trunk-ated****(Play)** Your Woolly Mammoth and Mastodon cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

There are two types of elephant right? I bet you've been told that the **African Elephant** is one with big ears, and the Asian elephant was the one with the smaller ears. But in 2000, some boffins recategorised the African elephant species into two distinct species; the large African Savanna Elephant and slightly smaller African Forest Elephant.

Contrary to Kipling's *Just So Stories*, the **Elephant** didn't get its trunk after an encounter with an angry crocodile. Boffins have hypothesised that the **Elephant's** trunk came about because of an evolutionary process called allometric scaling, a biological law which says that the size of an animal is in proportion to the scale of its diet. Basically, soft body parts like lips tongues and even trunks are the key to a species's survival as they deliver more food to the animal and provide an advantage that leads to those traits being passed onto the next generation.

Around 8 million years ago the **Elephant's** distant ancestors grazed from the ground, but they also had elongated teeth (tusks) that prevented them from doing this efficiently. So the elephant trunk evolved to such a length, at least in part to accommodate its large tusks. This incredible appendage can lift as much as 350kg!
Bald Eagle

## Ability

### Ability

**Land of the (nearly) Free (energy costs).****(Draw)** Your Life on Land cards in hand cost -3 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

It's been a while since this writer has taken The People Who Name Animals to task, but come on - there is nothing bald about the Bald Eagle. Look at that fabulous white plumage!

Of course, the Bald Eagle is an emblem of the United States of America - it appears on the Great Seal of the United States, the Seal of the President of the United States, The Flag of the President of the United States and the CIA logo among others.

Despite that cultural significance, it wasn't long ago that the Bald Eagle faced extinction. Early settlers hunted it to protect livestock, and it wasn't until 1940 that the practise was banned. Post World War II, farmers began using a pesticide called DDT that was found to make eagle eggshells too thin to sustain their chicks. A 1963 survey discovered that there were only 471 pairs of Bald Eagles in the contiguous United States. Fortunately, DDT was banned in 1970, and Bald Eagle populations thrived
Arsinoitherium

## Ability

### Ability

**Around the Horns****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +46 Power until played. **(Return)** A random card in your hand gains +46 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Go back to the early Oligocene of northern Africa around 30 million years ago and you might spot what looks at first to be a funny looking rhino. At approximately 6 feet tall and 11 feet long, the **Arsinoitherium** is similar in size to the White Rhinoceros. But the Arsinoitherium is not closely related to rhinos at all. Instead, this ancient, two-horned creature is a genus of paenungulate mammals more closely related to the elephant.

The first known fossils belonging to Arsinoitherium (pronounced Arsin-oy-ther-ium) were discovered in the Fayum Oasis of Egypt in 1901, so the creature was named after Queen Arsinoe I of Ancient Egypt. The giant double horns are made of bone that likely had a protective keratin sheath, much like those of a bull.
Asteroids

## Did You Know?

Asteroids are, pretty much, rocks in space.

More specifically, they're objects made of rock or metal that orbit a sun that aren't quite big enough to be classified planets.

Our Solar System (assuming that you're from Earth, we do have some extrasolar users) has a huge Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, which is speculated to be a planet that failed to form.
Apple Tree Man

## Ability

### Ability

**The Oldest Spirit****(Play)** If you have played **Apple Tree Man** this game, your Arts & Culture cards in hand gain +38 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

Either the **Apple Tree Man** is real or farmers in Somerset are supercharged on scrumpy cider and hallucinating this orchard-dwelling spirit. In any case, there’s no harm in offering your last mug of mulled cider to the apple trees in your local orchard on Christmas Eve. You never know, you might be rewarded by the Apple Tree Man and shown the location of buried gold.

Gold aside, this character from English folklore should be respected - he is, after all, the spirit of the oldest apple tree. Plus, rumor has it that he spooks and frightens anyone entering the orchards during harvest time who are intent on stealing his apples. So, for that thirst-quenching glass of Thatchers Gold, you’ve got this creepy looking goblin to thank.
Assassin Caterpillar

## Ability

### Ability

**Deadly Sting****(Return)** Your remaining Brilliant Human Body cards in hand cost -2 Energy and lose -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If John Wick was a bug, he would absolutely be the **Assassin Caterpillar** - the most venomous caterpillar in the world. While this critter isn’t enacting revenge on those who killed its dog, its sting can cause internal bleeding that can make your brain and organs shut down. Surprising, for a bug that looks like a Christmas tree branch.

On the plus side, you would need to be stung repeatedly for the venom to actually kill you. Still, best to keep clear of this caterpillar. When it grows up, the assassin caterpillar becomes an equally formidable killer, the Giant Silkworm Moth. The good news about this flying demon is that it doesn’t have a mouthpart. As a result, it can’t eat, so it only lives for a few weeks.
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

## Ability

### Ability

**Open Sesame****(Play)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -8 Power this turn and this card gains +40 Power.

## Did You Know?

“Open Sesame” - the coolest words ever spoken in a fairy tale and they came from **Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.** Where else would you ever hear of a magic door that can only be opened by speaking a specific phrase? Oh hello, J.R.R. Tolkien. Didn’t see you taking notes over there!

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is the tale of 2 brothers - one rich and one poor - who stumble upon a group of thieves’ hideout. The poorer brother (Ali Baba) overhears the thieves using the words “Open Sesame” to gain access to a cave and manages to sneak in and grab a bag of gold. However, his greedy richer brother attempts the same and when he gets over excited by his haul of loot, he forgets the magic words and gets trapped in the cave. The thieves find him, kill him and cut him into pieces. Lovely.

Now the rest of the story gets absolutely wild and involves sewing up a corpse, marking doors with stone chips and thirty-seven thieves hidden in thirty-seven giant jars but don’t worry, Ali Baba and his family come out of it all fine in the end. Well, except for the greedy brother but he was a bad ‘un, right?

The story featured in a translation of One Thousand and One Nights (sometimes called Arabian Nights) and it’s actually thought to be the addition of a French translator, rather than one of the original tales. But it’s made its mark on pop culture and you can see it everywhere from films to TV shows and even making some appearances in video games.
Alexis Carrel

## Ability

### Ability

**Scientific Scorn****(Draw)** Your Debunked! cards in hand gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

**Alexis Carrel** was usually photographed with a confident smile - and it’s easy to see why. This pioneering surgeon saved countless lives when he developed methods for sewing blood vessels together with minimal stitches - a technique that laid the groundwork for many surgical operations, including the transplantation of blood vessels and organs.

But his impressive feats in medicine didn’t stop there: in 1904, Carrel left his home in France and headed to the US. Here, he investigated how living organs or tissues could be kept alive outside the body - in one famous case, for over 30 years. When war broke out, Carrel returned to France where he helped develop what is now known as the Carrel-Dakin method of treating wounds with antiseptic fluid to prevent infection.
Ancestral Origin

## Ability

### Ability

**Skeleton Sequence****(Play)** Your Sue Black's In The Bones cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power until played. **(Play)** If you have played Height this game, your Genetic Identity card, wherever it is, gains +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Police will want to know whether it is likely that the person was white, black, of Asian origin or any other classification that the human uses to separate its species into different groups. In the past, we would have talked about ‘race’ but this is a relic from the times of the Victorian anthropologists and paleontologists who wanted to group individuals into categories looking at variations between humans and to try to understand human evolution.

Today, Forensic Anthropologists use computer programmes into which they enter measurements taken from the skull and it will provide a probability of the most likely ancestral origin of the individual. This is not always reliable and, in the modern world, there is such a cosmopolitan mix of humans that determination of grouping can be challenging.

This is the biological characteristic that is most challenging for the FA to achieve with any degree of reliability.

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.
Ambrosia

## Ability

### Ability

**Sacred Snack****(Draw)** Your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power until played. If your deck has 4 or more Curious Cuisine cards, your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain an additional +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Delivered to Olympus by doves - **Ambrosia** was the Greek Gods’ food of choice. Accompanied by the drink Nectar, it would confer immortality on the drinker.

One ethnomycologist\* suggests the hallucinogenic mushroom *Amanita Muscaria* was the original Ambrosia. Some scholars think it was a kind of honey. Other people, such as *me*, wonder how you get funding to research what some ancient fictional beings had for dinner.

* No, really, there is such a thing. It’s a person who studies the sociological uses of fungi. Would love to meet the careers counsellor who put *that* idea forward.
Avalanche

## Ability

### Ability

**Heavy Snow****(Play)** Your Weight card gains +50 Power this turn, and all Alpine Skiing cards (wherever they are) lose -20 Power permanently

## Did You Know?

Avalanches typically occur when a lot of fresh snow has fallen, and the weight of this 'new' snow makes the layer below unstable. At this point large chunks of snow and ice break off and can move down mountainsides at speeds of up to 80 mph. Be careful out there.
Alexander Fleming

## Ability

### Ability

**Antibiotic****(Draw)** Your Marvellous Medicine cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

**Alexander Fleming** is rightly famed for the discovery of penicillin in 1928.

By the time he discovered Penicillium chrysogenum, he was already a scientist of some note having discovered the antiseptic enzyme Lysozyme, found in bodily secretions like milk and tears.

The story goes that upon returning to his office from a holiday, he noticed that some Petri dishes of Staphylococcus aureus (a potentially fatal bacteria) had died in his absence. To his credit, rather than simply shrugging his shoulders and throwing it away, he set about finding out what had caused its untimely demise - a sort of autopsy for bacteria - and after some time realised that the dishes had become contaminated with a fungus which had grown and killed off the bacteria. He managed to reproduce the fungus and published his observations; importantly, he understood the potential implications of the discovery.

In 1941, after the considerable and tenacious efforts of Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, the first person was treated with penicillin and in 1945 all three men shared the Nobel Prize.

Since its creation, it has been estimated that penicillin has saved between 80 and 200 million lives, a number that continues to grow every day.

'Synthetic Production of Penicillin' by Imperial War Museum (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Angkor Wat

## Did You Know?

Angkor Wat? Well, exactly...

This mother of all religious monuments is the largest in the world at 1,626,000 m2. That's around 220 soccer pitches, which isn't relevant as it's a Buddhist monument but somehow soccer pitches became the standard hyperbolaic scale measurement.

Originally a Hindu temple, it made the switch to Buddhism in the 12th century. As with many of Cambodia's ancient sites, it deteriorated further while Pol Pot was in charge - UNESCO eventually stepped in and it is now Cambodia's most popular tourist attraction boasting a fascinating architecture style and extensive decorative friezes.
Ankylosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**It's Club-berin' Time!****(Play)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -15 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Ankylosaurus, or 'fused lizard', was so named because its skull and other body parts were fused together, giving it a rugged skeleton. Combine this with the bony, bite-resistant plates on its back, and a club-like tail that it could swing at attackers, and you have one tough herbivore.
Aten

## Ability

### Ability

**Disc of the Day****(Play)** If played next to The Sun, 14 of your random Egyptian Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Once considered a manifestation of the sun god Ra, **Aten** rose to supremacy as the central deity of Atenism - a monotheistic religion of ancient Egypt. Representing the life-giving force of light, Aten was not depicted in anthropomorphic (human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk.

In a dramatic shift, Pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned Egypt’s traditional polytheism and made worship of Aten the state religion. He even changed his own royal titulary to reflect his service to the deity, having previously been known as Amenhotep IV. ‘Akhenaten’ can be translated as ‘Effective spirit of the Aten’. The full title of Akhenaten's god was “The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc.” That’s a little long, so Aten will do.
Argos

## Ability

### Ability

**Old Faithful****(Play)** Your Odysseus card, wherever it is, gains +10 Power permanently. **(Draw)** Your Odysseus card, wherever it is, costs -1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

In the Odyssey, **Argos** is the faithful dog of Odysseus. And when we say faithful, we really mean it.

Bred to be his finest hunting dog, Odysseus had to leave his pup behind when he departed for Troy, without ever having a chance to go hunting with him. Nevertheless, Argos became renowned for his hunting prowess, exhibiting great power, strength and exemplary tracking skills. After ten long years fighting in Troy, and another ten laborious years struggling to return home, Odysseus finally arrived back in Ithaca, two decades after leaving Argos behind. (In human terms, at this point the dog would be around 150 years old.)

On approaching his home, Odysseus discovers Argos lying neglected on a pile of cow manure, covered in ticks. The faithful dog immediately recognises his master, dropping his ears and wagging his tail, despite not having the strength to get up. Odysseus sheds a tear and continues into his hall, at which point Argos dies, having finally seen his master one last time after so many years. How's that for an uplifting story? :(
Apple Snail

## Ability

### Ability

**Dual-Respiratory System****(Draw)** Two random cards in your hand gain +13 Power until played. **(Return)** Two random cards in your hand gain +13 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

It’s fair to say that the **Apple Snail** is a pest, not because it’s a snail masquerading as a tasty fruit, but because it's been identified as one of the top invasive species by IUCN/GISD.

Hailing from South America, these innocuous looking gastropods can decimate native biodiversity, ecosystems and rice crops. If left unchecked, they can breed throughout the year and grow to the size of apples!

While predominantly aquatic, they lay their clusters of pink eggs on tree stumps above the water line so an invasion can be easily spotted.

Something else worth mentioning is their rather flashy dual respiratory system that absorbs oxygen from water and air while above the water.
Artemis

## Did You Know?

The Olympian goddess of the hunt, the wilderness and wild animals is **Artemis**. She's usually depicted hunting with a bow and arrow, and she's written about as a complete badass.

Her parents are Zeus and Leto, who is not Zeus's wife. Hera, who is Zeus's wife, was furious that Leto was going to have children with her husband and cursed her not to be able to have the children on Earth. Fortunately, Leto found the floating island of Delos and had twin babies there - **Artemis** and Apollo. She trains her daughter in the ways of the hunt, and spend a great deal of timing getting revenge on those that made their life miserable.

She is also associated with women and their protection, and a couple of myths involve **Artemis** punishing men for being obnoxious. Actaeon, for example, is written about as seeing her naked and attempts to force himself on her. For his hubris, she turns him into a stag and sets hounds on him.

There's also the story of Adonis, who boasts that he's a better hunter than her - **Artemis** seemingly thinks "hunt THIS", and sends a wild boar to kill him. Which it does.

Finally, the Aloadae were two great hunters who could not be killed unless they killed each other. They were huge at a young age, and wouldn't stop growing. They decided they could storm Olympus and take **Artemis** and Hera for themselves. **Artemis** is having none of it; she turns herself into a deer, and puts herself between them - they both throw spears, and she dodges just in time to watch the brothers spear each other.
American Pit Bull Terrier

## Ability

### Ability

**Restricted****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Dogs cards, your Dogs cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power until played and your Dogs cards in hand **Lock** this round.

## Did You Know?

It gets a bad rap, but the **American Pit Bull Terrier** wasn’t always aggressive. Not so long ago, the breed was commonly used as a nanny dog - the trusted caretaker to watch over your kids. What happened to make this breed go from loveable babysitter to dangerous dog? Breeding and bad treatment.

Along the way, American Pit Bull Terriers became the most popular breed for dogfighting, earning them a reputation for their nasty nature. Of course, if dogs bred humans for man-fighting, you can be sure we would become aggressive, too. Contrary to their stereotype, pit bulls do make loving family pets. In fact, for every ‘attack’ story, there’s a viral video of this breed being tucked into bed like a baby.

Though this is the description on its card, the American Pit Bull Terrier was, in fact, not originally a "nanny dog", as the term was not applied to them until the 1970's, even after they were used as a symbol of American patriotism during World War II. Originally, however, they were bred for the barbaric and now outlawed practice of "bull baiting", a cruel tradition where humans believed meat of animals tasted better if attacked and tenderized while still alive, by multiple Pit Bulls, until they were dead. While Pit Bulls today are often touted to be safe around children, no parent should ever leave their children alone with any dog, including family pets, as children make up the overwhelming majority of dog attack fatality victims. This, in addition to the prevalence of backyard breeders, has pushed the Pit Bull population in America to be horribly oversaturated and inbred, causing the breed to have the track record of most dog attacks each year, mostly due to this massive overpopulation with a severe lack of appropriate homes where they will not be mistreated or misused. Please spay and neuter your pets, and never support backyard breeders or any "purebred" dogs, for that matter.
Angel Falls

## Ability

### Ability

**Of the Deepest Place****(Draw)** Your cards, wherever they are, with 2 or less Base Energy gain +21 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

If you thought there was no better feeling than listening to Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’ full blast on your headphones, you need to visit **Angel Falls**. Situated just south of the Orinoco River in the Canaima National Park of Venezuela, Angel Falls is the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, boasting an impressive height of 979 metres. For context, that’s three times the height of the Eiffel Tower. Sacré bleu indeed.

The falls were named after the American gold prospector James Crawford “Jimmie“ Angel, who discovered the waterfall by accident when flying over the mountain in search of a precious ore bed. Until then, Angel Falls were known only to the indigenous Kamarakotos Pemon tribe who stayed away for fear of evil spirits.
Anne Boleyn

## Ability

### Ability

**Break with Tradition****(Return)** Your Wives of Henry VIII cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played and your opponent's History cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

When **Anne Boleyn** first joined the English court in 1522 as Catherine of Aragon’s maid, Henry VIII was apparently already romantically involved with her sister (not to mention his then-current wife.) Anne refused to be his mistress, so Henry divorced Catherine. But, just like Catherine before her, Anne could not give Henry the son he longed for. And, predictably, Henry fell for Anne’s maid, Jane Seymour.

Anne did give birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I, but Henry needed a reason to break up with her to marry Jane. So, Henry VIII had Anne arrested on charges of adultery, incest and high treason. In a horrific turn of events, Anne was sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried, convicted and executed.
Barreleye

## Ability

### Ability

**Looking Up****(Play)** Your Awesome Aviation and Birds cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

2,000 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean off the Californian coast lives the spook fish, also know known as the **Barreleye** – a small deep-sea argentiniform fish comprising the family Opisthoproctidae. At first glance, it looks like a tiny, sad dolphin. But a closer look reveals something far weirder.

If you thought those two holes on its face were its eyes, you’re mistaken: those are its nostrils. Its green, barrel-like eyes are actually inside its head, facing upwards and working like two little underwater telescopes. The transparent skin on its dome-shaped head allows it to see better in the dark. The barreleye tends to sit quietly in the deep ocean, using its fins for stability as it scans the sea above for its next potential meal.
'Oumuamua

## Did You Know?

'Oumuamua is a cigar-shaped interstellar object which entered our solar system in 2017 - the first such object astronomers have identified as coming from another system. It's actually tumbling through space on its central axis, a bit like when you flick a matchstick.

(Please don't flick matchsticks.)
Bat-Eared Fox

## Ability

### Ability

**Opportunistic Diet****(Draw)** If your deck has 3 or more Bugs cards, this card gains +26 Power. Repeat if your deck has 3 or more Birds cards.

## Did You Know?

If the **Bat-Eared Fox** tried to pull a move like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Why? Because even a confused child can see when her supposed grandmother has ears that are five inches long.

Besides its excellent hearing abilities, this creature plays a crucial role in termite control. Termites (and dung beetles) make up around 80 per cent of its diet, and a single fox can eat up to 1.15 million termites every year.

If memes about your childhood got you feeling old, it’s nothing on the Bat-Eared Fox. Fossil records suggest that this species first appeared during the middle Pleistocene period, which is around 430,000 years ago. Feel young yet?
Antarctic Shag

## Ability

### Ability

**Close to Shore****(Draw)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +17 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Not to be confused for a raunchy encounter in the South Pole, the **Antarctic Shag** is the only member of the cormorant family to venture down to the Antarctic peninsula. Here, the sea bird spends its time chilling on cliffs and rocky slopes, diving into the freezing water to feast on fish, crustaceans and basically any invertebrates caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Childish jokes about their name aside, Antarctic Shags are actually monogamous, and only mate with one partner each nesting season. Males attract breeding partners with a greeting display that involves stretching their wings out wide. Speaking of wings, this species has an impressive set that allows them to reach flight speeds of around 50km per hour!
Archytas

## Ability

### Ability

**Mechanical Mathematics****(Play)** If played between two Science cards, your Ancient Greece cards, wherever they are, gain +22 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Recognised as the founder of mathematical mechanics (and a good friend of Plato), **Archytas** dabbled in everything from maths to astronomy to philosophy. But his claim to fame? Inventing "The Pigeon" - the world's first self-propelled bird machine. Because, you know, in 300 BC people were still scratching their heads over how birds flew.

So Archytas built a massive hollow pigeon with wings and a pointy beak, complete with a steam-powered boiler inside. As the boiler produced steam, the pressure built up until it exceeded the connection's mechanical resistance. Then, the bird was ready for takeoff.

The result? A soaring flight of 200 metres, proving that even in ancient times, curiosity and a knack for tinkering could lead to some seriously epic bird-watching.

'Archytas of Taras' by NikonZ7II (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Arabian Horse

## Ability

### Ability

**In the Running****(Play)** If you are winning the round, this card gains +100 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Originally bred in the Middle East, the **Arabian Horse** is the oldest purebred horse in the world today, with archaeological evidence pointing towards a history of at least 4,500 years.

The unique appearance of the Arabian Horse has made it one of the most popular breeds of all time, but this horse isn’t just a pretty face. Due to the harsh desert climates from which it evolved, the modern breed is hardy. Not only do they have immense lung capacity and great strength, but almost all Arabian horses have black skin under their coat to protect them from the hot desert sun. If that wasn’t enough, these horses are genetically designed to be fast, and their large nostrils allow them to breathe better while running.
African Bullfrog

## Did You Know?

Blimey, that's a heck of a mouth the African Bullfrog has there. Unsurprisingly, the African Bullfrog is a voracious eater - as well as eating rodents, insects, small bird and other amphibians, they've been known to eat their own baby tadpoles.

I mean, my kid drives me nuts sometimes but I haven't gone that far.

Yet.
Badalisc

## Ability

### Ability

**Huge Mouth****(Play)** If played in the left or right slot with no card in the middle, your opponent loses -50 Power/Turn for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

How do you encourage people to behave well? Ask them nicely? Enforce strict rules? Or… hear us out: hold an annual festival where a person dressed like a mythical creature is seized and brought to the town square, where they reveal the gossip of the community. That’s what happens in Val Camonica, in the southern central Alps.

The creature in question is the **Badalisc**, a beast with a big head, two horns and bright shining eyes said to live in the woods around the village of Andrista. During Christmas, someone dressed as the Badalisc is led into the village by musicians and a host of masked characters. After the Badalisc has revealed all the sins of the community, a big party ensues consisting of singing, dancing and feasting.
Argus Panoptes

## Ability

### Ability

**Watch Closely****(Draw)** This card **Lock**s for 3 turns and your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

**Argus Panoptes** was a giant, faithful to the goddess Hera. He was good at keeping watch (he never slept) and has been depicted as having anywhere from 4 to 100 eyes. Hence the epithet ‘Panoptes’, which means ‘All-seeing’.

Hera’s husband Zeus - not known for his monogamy - lusted after Io, a nymph who had been turned into an heifer.

Hera, realising that it would take more than BEING AN ACTUAL COW to keep her husband away, sent the loyal Argus to guard Io, so that Zeus wouldn’t visit her.

Zeus, however, had Hermes lull Argus to sleep with panpipes (thus giving birth to the entire wellness industry)… and then killed him.

Finally free, Io went off to swim the Ionian Sea (you could see that coming) and settled in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Hera paid tribute to Argus by… I think I’m reading this right… gouging his eyes out and putting them on peacock feathers. Nice.