recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Nails

## Ability

### Ability

**Crafty****(Draw)** Your Tremendous Trees cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

From hanging pictures to horseshoe fastenings, **Nails** come in handy in many-a-setting – yet rarely do we stop to wonder when they came about or where we would be without them. A form of fastening wooden objects, nails date back to at least 3400 BC in Ancient Egypt. Until the early 1800s, nails were made by blacksmiths, carefully crafted by hand from wrought iron and customised for their intended use.

Of course, with the industrial revolution came the mass-production of wire nails, favoured for their low cost. Carpenters still speak of nail sizes by the “penny,” abbreviated “d” for the Latin word for penny, “denarius”. The name refers to the price of nails in England in the 1600s: the price of 100 nails for one penny gave the size.
Minke Whale

## Ability

### Ability

**Sail On****(Return)** Your Ocean Mammals cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Although they are the smallest form of baleen whale, the volume of a **Minke Whale**’s vocalisation can be as loud as a jet plane taking off. Perhaps their spouting explains why they are often a solitary creature: due to the unpleasant smell it lets off, the species have earned the unfortunate nickname “Stinky Minkes”.

Minke Whales can be found worldwide, from sub-arctic waters in the north to sub-Antarctic waters in the South and recently, the River Thames\*. Since they are often found feeding in areas teeming with sea birds, scientists think that Minke Whales might be using their location as an indication of where to find food.

* The editor would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the Minke Whale that visited the Thames in London during lockdown. That the whale had to be put down...an attempted rescue was a tragic coda to what had been a time of wonder for many. Sail on, Minke.
Pallas

## Ability

### Ability

**Warcraft****(Play)** Your Machines of War and Innovations of War cards in hand gain +36 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Born during the Golden Age of Greek mythology, before the rise of Zeus and the other Olympian deities, Pallas is a second-generation Titan whose name comes from the Greek word ‘Pallo’, meaning “to brandish”. Brandishing what, I hear you ask? Well, considering Pallas was the Greek God of battle and warcraft, we can safely assume it would have been a big spear.

The stories say Pallas married Styx, a daughter of Oceanus, and the two had four children linked to war: Bia (Power), Zelos (Rivalry), Kratos (Strength) and Nike (Victory). In the contest to fight for Zeus, Pallas met his end when he was killed by Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategy. So much for that big spear…
O.K. Corral

## Ability

### Ability

**Gunfight****(Play)** Your Legends of the Old West cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn and two opponent's random cards in hand lose -9 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The shooting was over in 30 seconds. When the smoke cleared, three men lay dead. The gunfight at the **O.K. Corral** is one of the most famous moments of the Wild West – however, what many of Hollywood’s retellings of the gunfight miss is that it was not a simple fight between good and evil.

The real story involves a long-simmering feud about authority, territory, gun control and personal vendetta that resulted in a showdown between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and a group of cowboys led by Ike and Billy Clanton. The shootout didn’t even happen at the Old Kindersley horse corral, but the alley nearby. Of course, “the gunfight in the alley near the horse corral” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
Nero

## Ability

### Ability

**Rule The Empire****(Play)** Your The Roman Empire cards in hand gain +14 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Emperor Nero to his chums came to power at just 16 years old and by modern standards, he came from a pretty dysfunctional family. His mother Agrippina the Younger was Caligula's Sister (the well-known hedonist and all-round meanie), Agrippina murdered her Uncle Claudius who was also her husband - I think you get the idea... Carrying on the family tradition, Nero went on to murder her.

Arguably Nero's achievements were few and far between however he was a big influence on Shakespeare's character Hamlet, appearing in one of his most famous soliloquies (speaking one's thoughts aloud); "Tis now the very witching time of night", where Hamlet fears that his anger might compel him to harm his mother like Nero. But ultimately Nero has been remembered for matricide, his decadence, persecution of Christians and 'fiddling' while Rome burned... literally.

In AD 64, Rome was devastated in a fire and the population wanted a scapegoat, turning to their despised Emperor. No one seems to dispute that he did little over the 6-day blaze, ‘fiddling’ is likely to refer to his trivial efforts as the instrument didn't emerge until the 10th-century.
After a revolt over tax policies, he was driven to suicide, convincing his private secretary, Epaphroditus, to perform the task and ending the 95-year long Julio-Claudian dynasty
Mount Everest

## Ability

### Ability

**Peak Challenge****(Draw)** If it's before Round 3 Turn 2, this card costs +1 Energy until played, and if it's after Round 3 Turn 2, this card costs -1 Energy until played. **(Play)** If it's Round 3 Turn 2, give this card and cards adjacent to this +45 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Standing at a height of 8,848 metres in the Himalayan mountain range, **Mount Everest** is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level. It was given a Tibetan name as Qomolangma or Chomolungma, which means "mother of the earth”.

In case you wondered, it would take approximately 4,835 people measuring 6 feet, standing on top of each other to reach the height of Everest. No one’s tried it yet, so if you’re looking for a world record, this could be it.

If this is too much of a challenge, you could just set your sights on reaching the summit of Mount Everest. The first climbers to do this were of course, Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and a Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay from Nepal in 1953 from the Nepal side.
Mr Hyde

## Ability

### Ability

**Hyde & Seek****(Draw)** If you have played Dr. Jekyll this game, it and this card gain +35 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic horror novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and **Mr Hyde**, we meet two characters: the first is a good doctor. The second is an alter-ego he brings to life via a drop of potion.

Meet Mr Hyde: he’s the embodiment of evil who doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Apparently, the idea for the story came to Stevenson in a dream about a man who “swallowed a drug and turned into another being.”

In 1888, a stage play of the novel opened, starring Richard Mansfield as both Jekyll and Hyde. His performance was so convincing that people actually started to believe Mansfield was Jack the Ripper, as the famous murderer had just begun his infamous killing spree around the same time.
Money Tree

## Ability

### Ability

**Money Tree Policy****(Play)** If your deck has 2 or more Money, Money, Money cards, your Tremendous Trees cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

Why settle for fruit and flowers when you could have a tree that produces money (and fruit)?! Okay, so the **Money Tree** may not grow crisp notes of currency from its branches, but it is said to be a symbol of prosperity and positive energy.

Sure, positive energy can’t buy you a new car, but give this plant time to do its thing - or should we say, their thing, as each tree is actually four to five separate trees with their trunks braided together.

Money trees, aka pachira aquatica, are commonly seen in their small, potted ornamental variety. But in their native tropical habitat in central and South America, they can grow up to 18m tall.
Midgard

## Ability

### Ability

**Land of the People****(Play)** Your Helheim card in hand gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

You live here.

**Midgard** means ‘middle yard’ or ‘Middle Earth’ (ring any bells?), and it is where the people - rather than gods - live. Today you’re about to find out how we got the points of the compass. Excited? Of course you are.

Midgard was created when Odin and his chums killed Ymir - the first being, who was a giant. A Very Large Giant, in fact.

They used his body to make Midgard - making land from his flesh, the seas from his blood, cliffs from his teeth, trees from his hair, mountains from his… anyway, you get the idea.

His skull, with blatant disregard for any sense of scale, became the sky dome over midgard, and it is held aloft by four dwarfs: Sleepy, Bashful, Dopey...

I jest. It is held aloft by four dwarves: **Nordri, Sudri, Austri,** and **Vestri**.

And *that* is how we got the points of the compass.
Pannotia

## Did You Know?

Although **Pannotia** was a relatively short-lived supercontinent (lasting only from 600 million - 540 million years ago, if you’re reading this circa the Holocene era), it formed from the three pieces of the broken supercontinent Rodinia.

Within a blink of an eye however, Pannotia had separated again into four continents, which were brought together to form the more famous Pangaea. It’s the true will-they-won’t-they of the supercontinent world.

When Pannotia was formed, modern Africa was located in the centre, surrounded by the rest of Gondwana. The landmass formed around the South Pole, hence its name, literally meaning “all southern land”.

The break-up of Pannotia was accompanied with dramatic ocean and climate changes allowing for the rapid diversification of species, the phenomenon also known as the Cambrian Explosion. And wouldn’t you know - there’s a CUE card for that too!

'An artist's impression of Pannotia' by Kelvin Ma (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Palatine Light

## Ability

### Ability

**Block Island Apparition****(Draw)** If your deck contains any Riding the Waves! card, your American Folklore cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played. **(Play)** If your deck contains any Riding the Waves! card and if played next to Ghost, your American Folklore cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you ever find yourself off the coast of Rhode Island, keep an eye out for the **Palatine Light** - a ghost ship that likes to make dramatic appearances. Legend has it that this ship, which may or may not be the Palatine or the Princess Augusta, bursts into flames and then sinks into the ocean. Not exactly the kind of ship you want to see if you're hoping for calm seas.

According to one resident, the light can look like anything from a distant window to a giant wavering torch. Of course, over the years, the stories about the Palatine Light have gotten pretty embellished, but there is some evidence that it all started with a real shipwreck. Leave it to New England to turn a shipwreck into a spooky legend!
Ocean Quahog

## Ability

### Ability

**Letting The Days Go By****(Start)** Your Bugs cards, wherever they are, gain +3 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Edward Cullen from Twilight, Connor MacLeod from Highlander and the **Ocean Quahog** all have one thing in common: they’ve been alive for a really long time. In 2007, a team of scientists discovered a quahog clam (Arctica islandica) which was living and growing on the seabed off the north cost of Iceland for around 500 years. When this quahog was a baby, the world had a population of roughly 435 million – a fraction of today’s 7.9 billion.

While the Ocean Quahog can’t tell you stories from its youth, the shell of this mollusc can reveal a lot about its age environment. Just by looking at its hard shell, scientists can tell how warm or salty the seas were hundreds of years ago when the mollusc was young.
Microraptor

## Did You Know?

You know when everyone went through a phase of wanting micropigs? Sadly it didn't take off with microraptors but that's just a regret we'll all have to live with.

The Microraptor has often been compared to a cute cuddly cat (also hankering after fish much like its feline comparison) but don't be fooled into thinking it was cute and cuddly. It may have been small (roughly raven-sized) but what it lacked in size it made up for in fierceness, with sharp pointed teeth, strong powerful hand claws, and switchblade talons on each foot.

It gets more bizarre; this strange Microraptor guy appeared to have four wings: both its front and back limbs were feathered. Despite this accolade, it wasn't known as a natural flier but would more likely glide down from trees, albeit a little clumsily living up to the meaning of its name: tiny plunderer.
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program

## Ability

### Ability

**Artistic Preservation****(Play)** If your deck has 8 or more Arts & Culture cards, your History cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 3 turns, and vice versa.

## Did You Know?

When you think of war heroes, you might imagine soldiers, nurses, great leaders! Well, you better add “Monuments Men” (and Women) to that list too because during WWII the **Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program** were tasked with protecting artworks, architecture, archives and monuments from danger and destruction. And, as the war drew to a close, even to retrieve some works that the Nazis had stolen.

While it’s easy to think “oh, these guys just moved some paintings during the air raids,” there was so much more to their contributions to the war effort. They had to identify items and places of cultural significance and provided aerial photographs to pilots so that they could avoid these during bombings. Some of them were even on the front lines and two of them were killed. They returned nearly 5 million artefacts from the Nazis and their work continued six years after the war ended as they searched for lost items and repaired the damage.

They were even immortalised in a 2014 film starring George Clooney and Matt Damon called, believe it or not, *The Monuments Men.*
Oncilla

## Ability

### Ability

**Tigrillo****(Play)** Your cards with "Tiger" in the name, wherever they are, gain +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

At only 20 centimetres tall, the **Oncilla** is the smallest cat in South America but has a temperament as mighty as a lion - which begs the question: if not friend, why friend shaped?

A highly solitary creature, the Oncilla only interacts with other members of the species by chance or to mate. When they do, they produce very small litters. New kittens stay with their mother until they are around four months old and only reach sexual maturity at over two years old. These two factors make for a low reproductive rate, which partly explains why these beautiful babies are so rare.

Recent research reveals two separate species of Oncilla: the Northern and Southern tiger cat. Despite their similar appearance and shared habitat, interbreeding between them is impossible.
Oyster

## Ability

### Ability

**Oyster Card****(Return)** Your Harry Beck's Tube Map card, wherever it is, gains +36 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

That feeling of not being able to leave your comfy bed is real for **Oyster**s. Once they’ve attached themselves to a surface, oysters grow and form around that surface as well as the other oysters around it. But that isn’t to say they are lazy creatures – oysters play a key role in keeping the balance of a marine ecosystem. They do this by filtering water to consume food, like plankton. In the process, they reduce excess algae and sediment that can cause other marine life to die. Every day, one oyster filters a whopping 50 gallons of water, and a healthy one-acre reef filters around 24 million gallons – that’s enough to fill around 36 Olympic swimming pools!
Neptune Grass

## Ability

### Ability

**God of the Sea****(Play)** Your The Solar System cards, wherever they are, gain +13 Power until played. Repeat if your deck contains Poseidon.

## Did You Know?

Good news! All of our pollution and inaction doesn’t matter, because **Neptune Grass** is going to save us all from climate change! Just kidding - we’re still doomed, but this seemingly immortal seagrass could be a secret weapon in our fight against global warming.

Found only in the Mediterranean, Neptune Grass absorbs more carbon dioxide than an equivalent area of the Amazon rainforest. And it’s been around for a long time, by the looks of things. In 2006, scientists found a colony of neptune grass off the coast of Ibiza that stretched over 8 kilometres that they think might be over 100,000 years old. That would make it the oldest and largest living organism on Earth!
Mount Shark

## Ability

### Ability

**Run From Bigger Things...****(Draw)** If you have played **Mount Shark** this game, your Sharks! cards in hand gain +25 Power until played. **(Return)** Your Sharks! cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

You’d be forgiven for assuming that **Mount Shark** in the Spray Mountains in Alberta, Canada, was named after the great sea creature that would rip you to shreds. However, it’s actually named after the HMS Shark - a British destroyer that was sunk during World War I. While this might seem strange, quite a few mountains in Kananaskis Country are named after ships that fought in the 1916 Battle of Jutland so at least it’s consistent!

The shark name is still incredibly relevant if you decide to scale the mountain though. With a peak of 2,786 meters (or 9,140 feet), it’s a dangerous climb for even the most experienced climber. If you follow the trail to the top, you should expect some scrambling (climbing the rock face with your hands and feet). So if you do decide to take on this beast, you better come prepared because Mount Shark’s got a bite!

'Mount Shark' by davebloggs007 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 2.5 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Nine Muses

## Ability

### Ability

**Source of Knowledge****(Draw)** Your Greek Mythology cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Suffering from writer’s block? No problem – just call upon the **Nine Muses** to give you a steer in the right direction. In Greek Mythology, each of the nine muses represented a different artform – although three of the nine muses covered various genres of poetry (epic, sacred and love.)

If someone was entering into a dance-off in ancient Greece, it would have been Terpsichore, the muse of dance, that they would have called upon. There aren’t any mentions of dance-offs of the day, but we’re purely speaking hypothetically.

The muses were the daughters of Zeus, lord of all gods, and Mnemosyne, who represented memory. Memory was essential for artists because back then, there were no books – poets simply had to remember their work off-by-heart.
Movable Type

## Ability

### Ability

**Spread the Word****(Draw)** This card loses -40 Power this round and your other cards in hand gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Johannes Gutenberg introduced the **Moveable Type** printing method to Europe, kickstarting the Printing Revolution – but he didn’t invent it. Not that it’s a competition or anything, but a Chinese man named Bi Sheng developed the world’s first printing technology for paper books, made from porcelain roughly 250 years before. However, since whole-block printing was more cost-effective and the Chinese writing system contained thousands of characters, moveable type never really took off in China like it did in Europe.
One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes

## Ability

### Ability

**Golden Apple****(Play)** Your cards with "Golden" in the name, wherever they are, gain +21 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Collected by the Brothers Grimm as part of their Children's and Household Tales collection, **One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes** is a German fairytale that feels like a mashup of Cinderella and the Addams Family.

This is the peculiar but poignant story of a girl who is made to feel inferior for having only two eyes unlike her sisters who have one and three respectively. Because of her “common” features, Two-Eyes has to do all the chores, doesn’t get to eat at the table and is only given scraps as food.

Fortunately, Two-Eyes eventually gets her time to shine with the help of a magic woman and a bleating goat. And, as you probably guessed, she ends up living happily ever after with a handsome knight.
Monito del Monte

## Ability

### Ability

**Little Monkey****(Play)** Your Primates cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Named after the Spanish term for "little monkey of the mount”, the **Monito del Monte** is a small opossum and the only surviving species of the order Microbiotheria. If spotted in your home, Chilean superstitions say this creature brings very bad luck, and the only cure is burning your house down to the ground. A word of warning: “there was a tiny opossum in it” isn’t usually a reason accepted by insurance companies following a housefire.
Nebuchadnezzar II

## Ability

### Ability

**Animal Instincts****(Return)** Two opponent's random Life on Land cards in hand **Lock** next turn.

## Did You Know?

Jews and Christians alike will remember **Nebuchadnezzar II** as the “enemy of God” and “destroyer of nations” from the Bible. (Personally, I prefer to remember him as 15 litres of Champagne\*, but each to their own.)

His biblical exploits included destroying Solomon’s Temple and conquering Judah - so no publicist was going to get him a good write-up. However, in *Daniel* (the Old Testament book, not the Elton John song), **Nebuchadnezzar** goes through seven years of madness and at one point believes himself to be a cow.

*“He was driven away from mankind, and he began to eat vegetation just like bulls, and his body became wet with the dew of the heavens, until his hair grew long just like eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws.” (Daniel 4: 33)*

It all ends well though, with **Nebuchadnezzar** recognising God’s sovereign authority. Aww.

Of course, and not for the first time, historical and archaeological records are at slight odds with the scriptures. These sources would instead indicate that as well as being a strong military strategist and a diplomat, he was largely concerned with rebuilding Babylon, commissioning the beautiful Ishtar Gate in bluestone, and perhaps most famously of all - although no physical evidence exists for it - the *Hanging Gardens of Babylon*.

* A *Nebuchadnezzar* is the largest size of Champagne bottle. Other sizes from smallest to largest are a Magnum, Jeroboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, and Balthazar. You’re welcome.

'Nebuchadnezzar' by William Blake (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Opal

## Ability

### Ability

**This is How I Win****(Draw)** Your Hidden Gems cards in hand cost -2 Energy this turn.

## Did You Know?

All gemstones take a while to form, but **Opal** is particularly slow to solidify. It's believed that it can take five million years for a single centimetre of **Opal** to form!

Not only is it slow, but it's also indecisive - **Opals** can change their colour under various circumstances, in as little as six months! Mere changes in humidity or moisture in the air can send it from blue to brown.

On planet Earth, **Opal** is most abundant in Australia - 95% of the world's supply comes from there. But the Aussies may have some competition, as **Opal** has been discovered on Mars! Not for nothing - the Mars corporation makes Starbursts which were called Opal Fruits in the UK for a long time. What do they know that we don't?
Panamanian White-faced Capuchin

## Ability

### Ability

**We Named the Monkey Jack****(Play)** Your Plundering Pirates cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The **Panamanian White-faced Capuchin** is an intriguing primate, to say the least. With a brain-to-body size ratio similar to chimpanzees, these medium-sized New World monkeys are highly intelligent, have complex social systems and can be trained to assist disabled people.

The Panamanian White-faced Capuchin has been seen using tools to open shells and has been spotted rubbing plants over its body as a form of herbal medicine. Basically, if any monkey were to rise up Planet-of-the-Apes style, it’s this one. But don’t rush to adopt this monkey just yet, as their impressive physical strength and unpredictable behaviour can make them quite dangerous. Let one in your house and it’s likely to bounce off the walls, destroying everything in sight.
Monarch Butterfly

## Did You Know?

Pretty - Check
Wings - Check
Fly 3000 miles - whaaat?

That's right, the Monarch Butterfly migrates 3000 miles across the North-American continent creating one of the greatest natural spectacles on Earth.

Every fall as the days get shorter and the nights get cooler, Monarch Butterflies leave their summer breeding grounds in northeast Canada and USA in their millions and head to their overwintering grounds in southwestern Mexico where they crowd together in a stable microclimate created by the mountainous location and the Oyamel Fir trees (also known as the sacred fir).

The butterflies will never return to the starting point of their migration, heading only partway back before laying their tiny pinhead size eggs on Milkweed plants. Sadly the Monarch is under significant threat due to loss of habitat and decline in Milkweed plants caused by the use of glyphosate herbicides on agricultural fields.
Mycoplasma

## Ability

### Ability

**Walls Come Tumbling Down****(Play)** The card opposite this loses -50 Power and costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Mycoplasma** isn’t like a \*regular\* bacteria, it’s a cool bacteria. It’s also the smallest organism capable of living and reproducing on its own - which makes it seem kinda cute.

In reality, there’s nothing cute about this bacteria. It can affect different parts of your body like your lungs, your skin or even your urinary tract, and can be spread through the air by coughing or sneezing.

What makes Mycoplasma unique is that, unlike other bacteria, these organisms do not have cell walls. And that’s a problem, because most antibiotics work by weakening the cell walls of bacteria.

The good news is that Mycoplasma infections usually resolve by themselves, and if they don’t, special antibiotics like e​​rythromycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin can be effective in treating them.
Mount Bromo

## Ability

### Ability

**Kasada****(Play)** An opponent's random card in hand loses -15 Power permanently and your Volcanoes cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power this turn and next.

## Did You Know?

Like a sugar-charged toddler throwing a tantrum, **Mount Bromo** is the youngest volcano in the Tengger Massif, but one of the most active in East Java, Indonesia. Named after the Hindu god of creation, Brahma, the volcano sits inside a wide expanse known as the ‘Sea of Sand’.

Despite the barren terrain, the area is home to around 90,000 Tengger people, a Hindu ethnic minority in the predominantly Muslim Indonesian archipelago. If you fancy conquering your fear of heights and fear of volcanoes in one fell swoop, you can visit the terrifying <link="https:>2,300-metre peak,</link> famous for its magnificent sunrise views.

A word of caution, though: the “guardrails” protecting you from the churning pit of destruction aren’t very high, and end after about twenty metres in either direction.
Mosasaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Oceanic Ancestor****(Play)** Your Ocean Mammals cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Mosasaurs ARE NOT DINOSAURS (hhmmmmmm. - Ed) - they are in fact reptiles and are more closely related to snakes and monitor lizards.

They're completely massive; think bigger than the biggest bus you can think of, now triple that... they were just a smidge smaller than that.

Mosasaurs, like any prehistoric creature of vague interest, appeared in a Jurassic World movie in all its gargantuan glory. In that film it was depicted as having two additional rows of teeth, which isn't just a case Hollywood effects artists embellishing the truth to wow the audience - they actually had those, so they could better grip onto their prey in the water.
Osiris

## Ability

### Ability

**Power of the Gods****(Play)** Your Sekhmet card in hand gains +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

A lot of the gods of Egypt double-up on duties - Osiris was the god of life, death and the flooding of the Nile (as if he didn't have enough on his plate already).

He's classically depicted as green-skinned, and his dominion over life and death is represented by the crook and flail he carries - the crook represents him as a shepherd, and the flail represents him as a violent shepherd I suppose.

He's also the subject of one of the most influential myths in ancient Egyptian culture. The gist of The Osiris Myth is that, while ruling over Egypt, Osiris is murdered by Set. Set cuts his body into 14 pieces and spreads them across Egypt so his wife, Isis, can't give him the proper afterlife rituals. Isis hunts down all the pieces, Frankensteins him back together and mummifies him. She then uses powerful magic to bring him back to life, and he says "thanks for that, but I have to stay dead so I can be the King of the Afterlife. On the plus side, you're going to have a son!" (I'm paraphrasing). She does indeed give birth to Horus, who comes of age and defeats Set.
Occhiali

## Ability

### Ability

**Privateer****(Play)** If you have played Letters of Marque this game, your Plundering Pirates cards in hand gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, 1500 in Isola di Capo Rizzuto (present day Italy), **Occhiali** should really be the poster-boy for upwards mobility. He started off as a farmer’s son before being captured by Ali Ahmed’s (Ottoman Sultan) forces where he was coerced into become a galley slave.

He converted to Islam, became a privateer, made loads of money, bought a share in a brigantine, bought his own galley (ship with oars), joined the Siege of Malta alongside the Ottoman Egyptian fleet and eventually ended up as Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Empire's fleet.
Michael Faraday

## Ability

### Ability

**Magnetic Personality****(Play)** Your Magnetar card in hand gains +50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Michael Faraday, a self-educated British chemist and physicist, made significant contributions to electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

His discovery of electromagnetic induction, the principle behind electric transformers and generators, was pivotal in the development of electricity. Most famously, Michael Faraday invented the Faraday Cage, an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields. For these contributions to science (and many others), Faraday is one of the most revered scientists of the 19th century.

Many analytical terms bear his name; “The Faraday effect”; the unit of capacitance, known as the farad; as well as the Faraday constant, the charge on a group of electrons. Faraday Branding has yet to catch on as a term in marketing, but we're working on it.
Newbie cards

These cards are good general cards for newbies to own, useful in lots of decks and as filler. Also good to offer as gifts in trades with newbies. They are either basic or are easy to trade for (limited commons) or build (fusions). To get into this list, cards must be:

* Easy to trade for
* High power per energy (PPE) - note that card statistics are reported as X/Y where X is the energy cost and Y is the effective power
* Flexible use - no or few restrictions

If you are trading for these, remember that they are useful but not valuable, they are worth a card at the same level and the level is stated next to the card. Fusions are made with basics and are often easier to trade for than build when you are new - veteran players have lots of spare basics to make fusions with.

## Fusions

Fusions are made using a specific recipe with many (but mostly low rarity) basic cards and are themselves basics. In trade, they are worth only basic cards, with the specific value largely dependant on the rarity level of the ingredients.
Neon

## Ability

### Ability

**All of the Lights****(Draw)** Your cards with "Light" in the name, wherever they are, gain +33 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

When British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers first discovered **Neon** gas in 1898, they probably didn’t know that their discovery would go on to illuminate cocktail bars, bowling alleys and back-alley tattoo parlours you probably shouldn’t trust for decades to come.

The pair made their discovery by freezing an argon sample with the help of liquid air. Next, they warmed the liquid, capturing the gases as they boiled off. One of these was neon - a noble gas that is abundant in the universe but actually incredibly rare on Earth.

In space, neon is created when helium and oxygen are fused together. However, without an electrical charge, neon remains colourless - hence why the night sky doesn’t look like the Vegas Strip.
Nazar

## Ability

### Ability

**An Eye for an Evil Eye****(Play)** If played next to Circled Dot, your cards adjacent to this gain +20 Power and the card opposite this loses -20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

What better way to protect against the evil eye than to distract its gaze with an eye-shaped amulet? That’s the logic behind the **Nazar**, a beautiful bead used as a protective talisman.

The sight of a Nazar alone may evoke images of hippy shops, a strong smell of patchouli and burning incense, but this eye-shaped amulet has a long history that dates back long before the dawn of new age hippies. Although it is attributed to Turkey, the symbol has roots in ancient Egypt, where the eye of the God Osiris was believed to have protective powers.

With the rise of glass making around the Mediterranean, the nazar boncugu bead became popular in Turkey and quickly spread across the middle east and the rest of the world.
Orphic Egg

## Ability

### Ability

**Cosmic Egg****(Draw)** If you have played Phanes this game, your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? According to the Ancient Greeks, it’s the egg - or more specifically, the **Orphic Egg**. From this cosmic egg hatched the primordial deity Phanes, who then created all the other gods.

The Orphic Egg is named after Orpheus, a musician, poet, and prophet who may or may not have existed before the Trojan war. The egg and the snake represent the cosmos, circled by the creative spirit. Of course, the existence of the egg still begs the age old-question: who laid the egg?

The Ancient Greeks believed it was Chronos - the personification of time. So, hang on: was Chronos a giant cosmic space chicken? Or just time itself? And if that’s the case, who made Chronos? That’s enough Greek mythology for one day.
Painted Frogfish

## Did You Know?

With a face only it's mother could love, these masters of disguise are a type of anglerfish who use their bright colours and ability to camouflage to attract prey.

Growing up to 30 cm in length, they have no scales and are covered in a soft stretchy and extendable skin. The skin is also adorned with protuberances and ocelli (basic eyes) in addition to its higher functioning eyes.

Frogfish are carnivores and have a mouth capable of swallowing prey a similar size to themselves and like other anglerfish, they have modified dorsal fin that is used as a retractable lure. This fearsome hunter is solitary until it comes to reproduction. Not one for a long-term romance their tolerance of others is short-lived, with males sometimes killing or eating a lingering mate.
Mountain Beaver

## Ability

### Ability

**Uphill Struggle****(Play)** Your Beaver Moon card, wherever it is, gains +29 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The first thing you should know about the **Mountain Beaver** is that it is not a beaver. It’s not even closely related to the beaver. It doesn’t build dams; it lives in tunnels and, while it can swim, it prefers to stay on the safety of land. It only gets its name because, like beavers, it enjoys gnawing on tree bark. The similarities end there.

Once, western North America was teeming with mountain beaver relatives. Fossil records show 120 species, with up to 30 to 40 species living at the same time. Today, the Mountain Beaver is the sole surviving member of its genus, Aplodontia, and its family Aplodontiidae. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid, the Mountain Beaver is still standing after all this time.
Nao Victoria

## Ability

### Ability

**Circumnavigate the Planets****(Play)** Your The Solar System cards in hand gain +18 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The Nao Victoria was a Spanish carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world, but it was a troubled journey.

Ferdinand Magellan received funding from Charles V of Spain to set sail with a fleet of five ships. The fleet left Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 20, 1519. Magellan ran immediately into something of a problem; he found himself commanding a fleet of Spanish captains and sailors while he was Portuguese. Lost in translation was given a whole new meaning as in April 1520, a huge mutiny erupted with the Spanish fleet.

Magellan was able to hold on to the Victoria. Sick and tired of Magellan and the voyage, the San Antonio ship took the opportunity to set sail back to Spain. This left the Victoria, Concepción, and Trinidad to go it alone and sail into the Pacific on November 28, 1520.

After crossing the Pacific, Magellan was killed April 27, 1521. The rest of the expedition frantically attempted to escape the Philippine Islands, however the Concepción was burned at the Island of Bohol. The two remaining ships tried desperately to get back to Spain.

On December 21, 1520, the Victoria and a crew of 47 men set sail across the Indian Ocean to Spain. They arrived at Sanlúcar de Barrameda September 6, 1522 with only 18 men remaining.

The Victoria made two more voyages to America, more specifically, Hispaniola. Unfortunately, she sank on her second return trip...
Ohaguro

## Ability

### Ability

**Status Symbol****(Play)** If played next to Teeth, your Feudal Japan cards in hand gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In Feudal Japan, you aren’t chic unless you’ve got a mouth full of black teeth. Yup, you read that right. Using a solution called kanemizu, made out of iron filings, vinegar, tea and rice wine, teenagers would dye their teeth black for the first time to show their coming of age.

The unique practice known as **Ohaguro** was also adopted by aristocrats, samurai and people of nobility as a way of showing their stature and pedigree. Because nothing says “I’m rich” like black teeth, right?

Unfortunately, historical reports suggest that the dye had an awful smell, and it only lasted a few days. If you were really dedicated to getting the look, you had to fully commit to the process.
Ornithomimus

## Did You Know?

Ornithomimus was a dinosaur which lived approximately 76 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. It was first discovered in 1889 around Denver, Colorado. The following year, it was examined and named by Othniel C. Marsh. He named it Ornithomimus—which means “bird mimic.”

Ornithomimus was very much the Road Runner of its time (just lacking a Wile E. Coyote) - it could run REALLY fast. Shaped much like a modern ostrich, its long legs made it quite the speed demon, running at speeds of up to 50 mph.

Measuring about 12 feet long, 6 feet tall and around 300 pounds, it may have been fast but was severely lacking in the looks department. With a toothless beak, long giraffe-like neck, small head and bulging big eyes it was probably a sight for sore eyes - in a bad way.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Love, vaguely.
General Sherman

## Ability

### Ability

**Stand Tallest****(Play)** Your opponent's cards, wherever they are, with 50 or more Base Power lose -30 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Feeling old? Go stand by **General Sherman**, the largest single stem tree in the world, believed to be around 2500 years in age. We can guarantee you’ll leave feeling like a spring chicken. In 2006, the largest branch on General Sherman broke off. The branch was around 30m long, and it’s fall cratered the nearby pavement.

There were no witnesses to the incident, though – so if no one saw it, did it even happen at all?
Pangu

## Ability

### Ability

**The Great Separator****(Play)** Your cards gain +15 Power this turn. If it's the first turn of a round, or if you are losing the round, they gain an extra +10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Though disappointingly not related to everyone’s favourite animated penguin, *Pingu*, we admit that **Pangu** is almost as awesome.

Pangu, for example, was the first living being. He hatched after 18,000 years from a cosmic egg (or chaos), wherein yin and yang were perfectly balanced. He then spent another 18,000 years making the world and everything that’s in it - ‘Yin’ became the earth, and ‘Yang’ became the sky. Then when he died, the various parts of his body became our rivers, forests, weather, animals, and so on.

Pingu, meanwhile, says ‘Noot! Noot!’ a lot and can turn his beak into a megaphone.

And you just can’t compete with that.
Microwave Ovens

## Ability

### Ability

**Fast Food****(Draw)** Your Curious Cuisine cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

In 1945, American engineer Percy Spencer discovered the microwave beam. He had been working on an active radar set, but when the **Microwaves** coming from the product melted the chocolate bar in his pocket, he got an idea.

He tested the product on popcorn kernels first and was amazed by the result. Next, he tried an egg. Intrigued and sceptical, one of Spencer’s co-workers took a closer look: seconds later, he had egg all over his face.
Ibong Adarna

## Ability

### Ability

**Winged Healer****(Draw)** If your deck contains exactly 3 Winged Mythical Creatures cards, your cards in hand gain +19 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

What’s better than a magical bird that can change form? A magical bird that can change form *and* cure you from any kind of affliction. Known as **Ibong Adarna**, this mythical bird of the Philippines originates from a 15th century epic.

According to the legend, the dying King Fernando of Berbania set his three sons the task of finding the fabled Adarna bird to heal him. Whoever caught the bird would inherit the throne. Clearly, Fernando found a way to shirk responsibility, swapping careful succession planning for a wild ~~goose~~bird chase.

As well as the ability to change colour, the bird knew a total of seven songs that could either lull a person to sleep, turn someone into stone or heal a deadly illness. So, you’d better choose the right song.

'Ibong Adarna, oil on linen, 27x32in 2021' by Nat Lamina (@lasarasu) (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Minotaur

## Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, the **Minotaur** was a creature who had the body of a man and the head of a bull. His mother was Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos of Crete. The **Minotaur's** father was a snow-white bull sent to Minos by the god Poseidon for sacrifice. (Do NOT consider the reproductive process at this point.)

Why was King Minos even sent a snow-white bull in the first place? Well, legend has it that the king was locked in a battle for the throne with his brothers. He asked Poseidon to give him a sign of support... and got a prize snow-white bull. (A 'You got this' text would have sufficed.) However, the idea was that Minos would sacrifice the beast in Poseidon’s honour.

It all went extremely wrong when instead of sacrificing the bull, Minos kept it alive and tried to trick Poseidon by sacrificing a more regular-looking bull. As a punishment, Poseidon made Pasiphae fall head over heels in love with the bull.

[CENSORED]

Nine months later, the **Minotaur** was born. Minos had Daedalus create the Labyrinth on Crete to hold it; a maze from which the **Minotaur** could never escape. But that's for another story...
Moonstone

## Ability

### Ability

**Power of the Moon****(Play)** For every card in your deck with "Moon" in the name, your cards with "Moon" in the name, wherever they are, gain +2 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

It’s been used in jewellery for thousands of years and has been the subject of countless songs, poems, and symbols: **Moonstone** isn’t just an aesthetically pleasing gemstone, it’s also packed full of mystery and intrigue.

As you probably guessed, its name comes from its moon-like sheen, and is believed to have originated from ancient Roman beliefs that the stone was formed from frozen moonbeams. It’s a nice idea, but this gemstone is actually composed of two feldspar minerals: orthoclase and albite.

Still, that doesn’t detract from its beauty. Moonstone can come in a variety of colours including grey, peach, yellow or green - however, the most valuable and sought-after moonstones have a blue sheen, perfect clarity and a colourless body.
Pacific Walrus

## Ability

### Ability

**Up to the Tusk?****(Return)** If you won the turn, gain +100 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

This is one blubbery beast - with the body of an overgrown seal and tusks like an elephant. Not things you'd brag about.

The **Pacific Walrus’** full name, *Odobenus rosmarus*, means 'one that walks with teeth', which IS something to brag about. They can often be found en masse on rocky beaches or riding ice floes.

Found in the Bering, Chukchi, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, the Pacific Walrus relies on sea ice for resting during the summer foraging period. This makes them extremely vulnerable to changes in climate and the associated loss of sea ice.

The devastating news is that global warming has dramatically altered arctic marine ecosystems, reducing significantly the sea ice that Pacific Walruses need for socialising, giving birth and nursing their young.
Neuschwanstein Castle

## Ability

### Ability

**Ludwig's Fairytale****(Play)** Your Ludwig II of Bavaria card in hand gains +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

When you’ve lost your sovereign power to the Prussian empire, what better way to reaffirm your royalty than have a fairy tale castle built on a mountain for you to live in? This was, in simple terms, the thought process of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who estimated that his plans to construct the **Neuschwanstein Castle** take three years.

Clearly, Ludwig II’s deadlines were unachievable, and workers had to pull all-nighters to even get close to meeting them. 12 years later, the King was able to move in, although building work still wasn’t totally complete. Two years later, he died. Still, it did go on to inspire the design for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, so it wasn’t all in vain.
One World Trade Center

## Ability

### Ability

**E pluribus unum****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

We like to have a laugh at CUE, but sometimes we cover topics that we ought to treat seriously. **One World Trade Center** is one such occasion - in itself, a magnificent feat of engineering and design, but it is inextricably linked to the tragic events of the September 11th 2001 terror attacks on New York.

The original towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed on that day, and in the aftermath, a memorial was built on the original locations of those two towers. But plans were drawn up to construct buildings to replace their commercial purpose almost immediately - they went with a final design, named "Freedom Tower", in 2005 and began construction in 2013.

In many ways, **One World Trade Center** is a tribute to America overcoming adversity. The tower dwarfs every building around it (it's taller than its predecessors), standing as it does at 1776 feet; 1776, of course, was the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Finally, the "One" bit of it's name? It's just the beginning - there are a further 6 towers planned in the World Trade Center complex.