recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Concertina Wire

## Ability

### Ability

**Snagged****(Play)** An opponent's random card in hand loses -20 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

If you’ve ever tried climbing a **Concertina Wire** fence, you’ll know why native American dubbed its less-spirally cousin, barbed wire, “Devil Rope”. At best, it can rip your favourite jeans. At worst, it can leave you seriously injured. Lucien Smith is credited with making the first prototypes we know as barbed wire, which he called "thorny wire." But there were around 200 other patents for “spiked fencing” including sheets of wood studded with spikes.

When World War I rolled around, barbed wire fences were employed to create barriers between trenches. Some bright spark had the idea of wrapping them up in coils so they could be more easily deployed (and less susceptible to being blown around by enemy ordnance).
Charles Lindbergh

## Ability

### Ability

**Wing and a Prayer****(Draw)** If you are losing the round, your cards in hand gain +35 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Newspapers called him “Lucky Lindy”. His home state of Minnesota considered a bill to rename the state Lindberghia. Crowds of fans sometimes picked him up and carried him. After becoming the first person to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean in his monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, **Charles Lindbergh** had shot to stardom.

But his rise to fame didn’t come without tragedy: in fact, being in the spotlight led to the kidnapping, ransom and murder of his son, who came to be known as “the Lindbergh baby” in 1932.

Awkwardly, Charles was also a leading voice on the America First movement which advocated to effectively “stand back and stand by” while Nazi Germany invaded France and Poland. Yeah, best stick with ‘Minnesota’, then.
Coal

## Did You Know?

Coal is a sedimentary rock formed from the remains of plants and is mainly found underground. It is mostly carbon but also contains sulfur, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on the planet, found in most parts of the world and has a high energy content.

Coal is used to produce around 40% of Earth’s electricity, which is going to have to change if we want to move into a sustainable renewable future.
Ecuadorian Hermit Crab

## Did You Know?

One of the tiniest hermit crab species you'll find, with the biggest ones reaching a whopping 12 millimetres in length, the Ecuadorian Hermit Crab is also one of the fastest.

They've unfortunately got something of a reputation for being disposable as pets, with many of them living only a few months if not looked after properly. But if you do put the time in and treat them right, they can live as long as 23 years!
Daikokuten

## Ability

### Ability

**Wealth and Fortune****(Draw)** If you are winning the round and if your deck has 1 or more Money, Money, Money cards, your cards in hand gain +35 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Be good. Can’t be good? Don’t get caught! That’s basically the rule that **Daikokuten**, a Japanese deity of fortune and wealth, lives by. One of the Seven Lucky Gods in Buddhism, Daikokuten is portrayed with a wide face, a big smile, a black hat and a golden mallet which he uses to hunt demons.

Legend has it that if you’re bold enough to steal a statue depicting the god from someone else’s home, Daikokuten will bless you - but only if you get away with it. They say fortune favours the brave, and clearly, Daikokuten does too. So, if you’re down on your luck, concocting a cunning plan to steal someone else’s property might not be the worst idea. The bigger the heist, the bigger the price!\*

* CUE does not condone stealing.
Crescent Nebula

## Did You Know?

The Crescent Nebula is a wolf-rayet / nebula deep space object. It lies at a distance of about 4,500.00 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus.

The nebula, also known by the catchy name NGC 6888, is basically a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. The beautiful bluey green hue is all thanks to the oxygen atoms which paint the night sky.

It will more than likely end its life in a supernova explosion within a few hundred thousand years. Its estimated age is about 4.7 million years. The star at its centre is 3.3 times larger than the Sun, 15 times more massive and 260,000 times more luminous... some mind blowing big numbers for you to crunch right there...
Clown

## Ability

### Ability

**Make 'em Laugh****(Play)** Your cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn. **(Return)** If you won the turn, your remaining cards in hand lose -10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

As you may know, Coulrophobia is the fear of **Clowns**, and is not nearly as irrational now as it might once have been. There is no specific point at which the ‘evil clown’ archetype came about, but in some ways it started with the first ‘modern’ clown - Joseph Grimaldi.

Grimaldi was the most popular entertainer of Regency era Britain, and he was a master of comedy. Behind the scenes, however, things were much darker: he was prone to depression, his wife died in childbirth, his son drank himself to death by the age of 31, and Grimaldi himself lived in constant pain from injuries. He died penniless and alcoholic in 1837.

Grimaldi’s story highlights the discrepancy between the character (the make-up) and the actor (beneath the make-up) - which is the likely root of coulrophobia.

The reputation of clowns certainly wasn’t helped by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who murdered 33 young men and boys, and used to visit children’s hospitals as ‘Pogo the Clown’. Before and after Gacy though, the evil clown was becoming popularised on page and screen, with characters such as the Joker (DC Comics) and Stephen King’s Pennywise (from ‘It’).

It’s hard to imagine clowns shaking this reputation off now, so if you’re considering a career as a children’s entertainer, maybe think about learning magic tricks instead.
Ferdinand Verbiest

## Ability

### Ability

**Self Propulsion****(Draw)** If your deck has 8 or more Watching the Skies cards, this card gains +20 Power permanently. **(Return)** For every time either player has played **Ferdinand Verbiest** this game, both player's Watching the Skies cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When Jesuit missionary **Ferdinand Verbiest** arrived in China, he shook the very foundations of what the empire knew about the stars. Impressed by his expertise, the Kangxi Emperor bestowed upon him the esteemed titles of Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory. In fact, it was Verbiest who introduced the Western Gregorian calendar to China.

But Verbiest didn’t stop at astronomy. Having mastered a number of languages such as Italian, Hebrew, Latin, Dutch and German, he also worked as a translator. Clearly a workaholic, Verbiest produced 30 books and made one of the largest woodblock-printed world maps of all time. There’s also a rumour that he designed the first ever self-propelled vehicle, although some experts refute this claim.
Chinoiserie

## Ability

### Ability

**Global Phenomenon****(Return)** If your deck has 5 or more Chinese Folklore cards, your Fancy Fashions, Gorgeous Graphic Design and Grand Designs cards, wherever they are, gain +22 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

By the 1700s, European trade with China was booming and breathtaking blue and white Chinese porcelain had become a hot commodity on European markets. Eager to capture the Eastern magic in their own creations, European designers waved goodbye to the heavy Baroque period and hello to a lighter aesthetic. And so this style, known today as **Chinoiserie**, was born.

The earliest example can be seen in The Grand Trianon’s ‘Trianon de porcelaine’, built for Louis XIV at Versailles in 1670. Pretty soon, every aristocrat in Europe had interiors decked out in Chinoiserie. With its delicate depictions of natural landscapes and illustrations of fantastical creatures, Chinoiserie became a major trend that swept across architecture and interior design. To this day, many people buy European porcelain in the Chinoiserie style believing it’s authentic.
Commerson's Dolphin

## Ability

### Ability

**See-Food Diet****(Draw)** If your deck contains Giant Panda, your Crustaceans, Cephalopods, Feisty Fish and Fabulous Fish cards, wherever they are, gain +13 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In the cold shallow waters along open coasts, the **Commerson’s Dolphin** is in its element, bow-riding, spinning and jumping in and out of the crashing waves. Often called the skunk dolphin or panda dolphin for its distinctive blank and white markings, this stocky species is one of the smallest cetaceans (aquatic mammals), growing to only 1.5m at the largest.

Named after the French naturalist Dr Philibert Commerson who first described them in 1767, this dolphin enjoys a balanced diet from both the sea floor and open water including small fish and invertebrates such as krill, squid, cuttlefish, crab, shrimp, and squid. To better spot its prey, Commerson’s Dolphin has even been known to swim upside down.
Devil Reef Crab

## Ability

### Ability

**Toxic Shell****(Play)** All non-Oceans and Seas cards in both player's hands lose -25 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Just like mushrooms, all crabs are edible - but some only once. Let that be a warning to hungry reef sharks in the Indo-Pacific region: what may look like a tasty meal may be your last. The aptly named **Devil’s Reef Crab** is one such example.

When you’ve got a bunch of living things (humans included) trying to snack on your flesh, it helps to carry a secret weapon, and for the Devil’s Reef Crab, that weapon is deadly poison, stored within its muscles. Take a bite of its flesh and you’ll be swallowing two of the most lethal toxins: tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin. With 50% of intoxication cases being fatal, the Devil’s Reef Crab is considered the most poisonous crab in the Philippines.
Colossi of Memnon

## Did You Know?

These colossal twin statues depict Amenhotep III who reigned Egypt in the 14th century BC. By all accounts, his reign brought about unprecedented prosperity and splendour. Remember: history is written by the winners of course, but there is little doubt that Ancient Egypt reached an artistic peak at this time.

So why are they called The Colossi of Memnon? Apparently, one of the statues would occasionally give off a high-pitched sound at dawn. Greeks, and later on Romans, likened the sound to Eos (goddess of dawn), Memnon's mother, mourning for her beloved son. This might be the earliest case of someone saying "it's a feature, not a bug", a phrase heard all too often at Avid Games.
Devil's Tree

## Ability

### Ability

**Heaven and Hell****(Play)** Your Tree of Heaven card in hand gains +55 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The evergreen Alstonia scholars, usually known as the Blackboard, Scholar or… **Devil’s Tree** is an ornamental plant from parts of Asia and Australasia.

Although the bark of the tree is toxic (especially in the summer, weirdly, and more so to rats than mice, also weirdly), it’s a super convenient plant with uses across the (black)board.

The plants are easy to grow so are great for pencil manufacturing, the light wood makes it a popular tree for coffins, and the bitter bark has even been used to help deal with bowel problems.

While the nickname Blackboard Tree is born from the fact it is used as a blackboard pigment (inventive), the Devil association is thought to either come from its poisonous nature or the so-called “devilish” smell that is emitted from the flowers.
Cloning

## Ability

### Ability

**Seeing Double****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands with 22 or less Base Power gain +22 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In 1996, a living and bleating sheep came into this world in the most unconventional way. You see, Dolly (the sheep in question) did not have parents. She wasn’t conceived from a special cuddle between two sheep who loved each other very much. Instead, she was born from the practice of **Cloning** - the process of generating a genetically identical copy of a cell or an organism.

Dolly wasn’t the first animal to be cloned. In 1952, an unnamed tadpole made history as the first successful cloning. Since Dolly, we’ve cloned cats, dogs, monkeys and most critically, human embryos and even human stem cells. Projects in Russia, Korea and Japan have even attempted to use cloning to resurrect long extinct animals – and we all know how that ends.
Charles VI of France

## Did You Know?

Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), known as 'the Mad,' (Le Fol) was king of France for 42 years from 1380, until his death. He suffered periods of psychosis from his mid-twenties, which was said to be hereditary. Mental illness continued throughout the king's life; during one episode in 1393, he couldn't remember his name and didn't know he was king. In 1405, he refused to bathe or change his clothes for five months. Later in his life, It was widely reported that Charles VI believed his body was made of glass. He refused to be touched and had special protective clothing made to keep him from shattering which gives a new meaning to, "walking on broken glass..."
Christopher Condent

## Ability

### Ability

**War Sloop****(Play)** If your deck has any Riding the Waves! card and any Machines of War card, your Plundering Pirates cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

As a pirate, managing to stay alive and retire peacefully is a very rare achievement. But **Christopher Condent**, also known as “Billy One-Hand”, is one of the few who got to live as a free man long after his pirate days were over. Considering how successful he was as a pirate, it’s somewhat well-deserved.

It all started when Condent joined a pirate crew in the Indian Ocean and helped them to capture the merchantman Duke of York. Impressed, they made him captain of the sloop, and the gang went on to seize plenty more ships - 20 small Portuguese ships in Cape Verde, the English galley Wright, a 26-gun Dutch vessel, the Indian Queen, Fame and a Dutch sloop he renamed The Fiery Dragon. Talk about an overachiever!
Chang'E

## Ability

### Ability

**The Immortal Moon Goddess****(Play)** If played next to The Moon, your cards in hand gain +14 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

If you knew your husband had an elixir of immortality given to him by the gods, could you resist taking some for yourself? That was the dilemma that **Chang’E** faced when she found her husband's secret stash. Seizing the opportunity, she drank every last drop.

But Chang’E didn’t just get immortality - she floated up to the moon. When her husband, the archer Hou Yi, noticed she was drifting into space, he tried to shoot her down. When his anger subsided, he grew to miss Chang’E, so began leaving her favourite desserts out at night in the hope of getting her back. But it was too late: Chang’E had become the goddess of the moon.

This tradition continues today, as people across East Asia leave offerings to Chang’E during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Delta IV Heavy

## Ability

### Ability

**Dense Delta****(Play)** If your deck has 2 or more Life on Land cards and 2 or more Oceans and Seas cards, your Space cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The Daddy Bear of the Delta IV family, the **Delta IV Heavy** is the world’s second highest-capacity launch vehicle in operation. Capable of putting 23.4 tonnes in low Earth orbit, this super-heavy lift rocket is used for both national security and science missions by the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Air Force and NASA.

With 2,100,000 lbf of thrust at liftoff, the Delta Heavy was the most powerful operational rocket in use between 2007 and 2018, with an astronomical launch cost of $400 million! Standing at a height of 72 metres, this rocket is about half as tall as The Great Pyramid of Giza - of course, we won’t be sending the pyramid into space anytime soon.
Dark Matter

## Ability

### Ability

**Hello Darkness...****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands lose -20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Dark Matter is a name given to substances made of particles that do not reflect, absorb or emit light and as such can't be seen directly and may not actually exist.

So why make a card about it? Because it's theorised that it makes up 25% of the mass of the universe. For comparison, everything that's physical and visible (suns, stars, planets, etc.) makes up only 5%.

The other 70%? That's a story for another card...

Oh okay, it's Dark Energy, which is a force that repels gravity.

## Fusion

 Betelgeuse | 18

 **Dark Matter** | **1** | Astrophysical Jet | 1
Chandra X-ray Observatory

## Ability

### Ability

**X-Ray Vision!****(Play)** Your opponent's Space cards in hand lose -15 Power until played and your Watching the Skies cards in hand gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Down here on Earth, it’s not the easiest to spot X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes. Fortunately, astronomers have the help of a pretty useful tool known as the **Chandra X-ray Observatory**.

```
Since its launch in 1999,  the Chandra X-ray Observatory has already made ground-breaking observations such as giant eruptions from supermassive black holes and hot gas in galaxy clusters in more detail than any other telescope. In case you’re wondering, it works its magic through special mirrors stacked together to focus X-rays onto detectors. Thanks to Chandra, we now have a better understanding of the fundamental properties of black holes and the lifecycle of stars.

```
Cymbospondylus

## Did You Know?

One of the largest ichthyosaurs, the **Cymbospondylus** gets its name from the Greek word meaning “boat spine”. (We prefer Boaty McBoatspine.)

The eel-like tail of the Cymbospondylus made up almost half of its 8-metre-long body, while its snout was around a metre long and contained rows of teeth adapted for catching fish and squid. Upon reaching adult size, this beast of the deep likely had few predators to worry about.
Deep-Fried Mars Bar

## Ability

### Ability

**Pure Indulgence****(Return)** If your deck has 14 or more Curious Cuisine cards, give them, wherever they are, +7 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Case in point: the **Deep-Fried Mars Bar**, a gluttonous creation of one John Davie, who claims to have invented it in 1992 at the Haven Chip Bar in Stonehaven, Scotland.

If nougat encased in caramel and chocolate wasn’t indulgent enough, coating the Mars Bar in batter and deep frying it in hot oil should do the trick. It’s not called ‘Scotland’s craziest takeaway’ for nothing. Naturally, the snack and its country of origin got a bad rep after media coverage of the Deep Fried Mars Bar attracted global attention, and Mars have since written to the Haven Chip Bar asking it to make plain that the deep-frying of their chocolate bar is “not authorised or endorsed” by Mars.
Cyclopes

## Ability

### Ability

**Keep An Eye Out****(Draw)** Your opponent's Legendary and Mythic cards, wherever they are, lose -12 Power until played

## Did You Know?

**Cyclopes** are giant one-eyed creatures and have appeared in both Greek Mythology and
later Roman Mythology.

In Homer’s Odyssey our hero and his crew arrive in a 'distant land' (thought to be Sicily) where seven cyclopes live. They are led by Polyphemus, the monster son of the god of wet stuff, Poseidon. Odysseus discovers Polyphemus’ cave which turns out to be quite the lamb and cheese larder. Despite his crew's petitions that they take the food and run, Odysseus insists on staying to meet the shepherd. \*sigh\*

This is a bad idea (like, OBVS) as Polyphemus' idea of a welcome is eating two of Odysseus' men.

The story goes on of course - but we've covered the salient point: don't trust one-eyed man-eating giants.

You're welcome.
Coffee

## Did You Know?

Since the first recorded consumption of **Coffee** (dating back to the 15th century for its stimulating properties), its popularity as a staple drink has yet to wane. Approximately two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day, and assuming an average of around 50 beans required for a single espresso, that's a whopping *100 billion* coffee beans brewed every single day.

So yeah. People *really* like coffee. And rightfully so! The delightfully bitter beverage can be prepared in myriad different ways, from a nice cold cup of *Cà phê sữa đá* in Vietnam, to the slightly more out-there *Kaffeost* (literally translating to 'coffee cheese') in Scandinavian regions.

While I may pass on the coffee cheese, would you mind popping the kettle on?
Democritus

## Ability

### Ability

**Atomism****(Draw)** Your Dizzying Discoveries cards, wherever they are, gain +19 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Everyone’s heard of Aristotle. **Democritus**? Not so much. And that’s a major kick in the teeth for the pre-Socratic philosopher, because it was Democritus who came up with the atomic theory of the universe way back in 430 BCE. He believed that all material bodies must be made up of some invisibly small “atoms” - but unfortunately, Aristotle rejected the idea, calling it “ridiculous”.

That’s right - we could have had major scientific developments much earlier, but everyone believed Aristotle over Democritus until around 1800, when English scientist John Dalton revived the idea. Still, Democritus had the last laugh - not because of any achievement, just that he was literally known as the ‘laughing philosopher’ because of his emphasis on the value of cheerfulness.
Dioscuri

## Ability

### Ability

**Face Off****(Draw)** If you are not tied in the round, this card gains +25 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In Greek Mythology, the **Dioscuri** were the twin Gods of St. Elmo’s Fire – no, not the 1985 coming-of-age cult classic movie, but the weather phenomenon that sees an electrical discharge appear on the masts of ships, warning sailors of an impending storm.

The Dioscuri, whose names were Castor and Pollux, had the same mother but different fathers – their mother Leda had relationships with both Zeus (Pollux’s father and king of Olympus) and Tyndareus (Castor’s father and king of Sparta).

Unlike most twins, there was no rivalry between the two. In fact, Pollux even asked his father to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together. His wish was granted, and the Dioscuri were transformed into the constellation Gemini.
Comet Borisov

## Ability

### Ability

**Just Visiting****(Play)** Your The Solar System cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Astronomers thought 2I/Borisov (AKA **Comet Borisov**) was unremarkable. How wrong they were, for this was no run-of-the-mill comet. For a start, it turned out to be the second confirmed interstellar comet to pass through our solar system after originating somewhere else in our galaxy.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have found that this mysterious visitor has much higher levels of carbon monoxide than comets in our solar system, leading them to the conclusion that 2I/Borisov comes from a star much cooler than our sun – a red dwarf. Not only that, but 2I/Borisov may be one of the most pristine comets ever studied by humans, having never passed close enough to a star to be affected by radiation. Cosmic!
Egg Nog

## Ability

### Ability

**Scrambled****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +50 Power until played. **(Draw)** A random card in your hand loses -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Originating in Britain as early as the 13th century, medieval monks made posset\*, a warm punch with eggs, milk and ale. In 1607, Jamestown Virginia, Captain John Smith noted **Eggnog** was consumed. 'Nog' is probably referencing a type of strong ale (beer) popular in the East of England and the city of Norwich.
It is thought that this became popularised in the 18th century American colonies where access to both eggs and rum (to substitute the ale) were plentiful.

* posset is also a name for baby-puke.

See below for CUE's stab at this sickly favorite

6 egg yolks
100g (3/4) cup sugar
2 cups semi-skimmed milk (2% milk)
2 whole cloves
Pinch of cinnamon
230cl (1 cup) of double cream (heavy cream)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tbsp each of scotch blend (or bourbon) and dark rum (This is optional, and you must observe all relevant laws in your territory, etc...)

Get a large bowl and whisk (beat) the egg yolks while slowly adding the sugar a bit at a time until the mixture becomes fluffy.

Heat the milk, cinnamon and cloves together to medium heat until the mixture is hot but not boiling. Stir regularly.

Slowly add half of the hot milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture you whipped up earlier, whisking continuously while doing so. Once done put the mixture back into the saucepan.

Gradually heat until eggnog mixture thickens, ensuring you stir continuously. You're looking for a consistency where it will coat the back of a spoon (similar to pouring cream). Heat until the mixture reaches approximately 70°C (160°F). No more as it will curdle and form lumps.
Take it off the heat, stir in the cream, sieve (strain) into a large jug and pop it in the fridge until it's cool.
Chuck in the nutmeg, vanilla extract and the booze, chill again and consume until you feel queazy (one or two mouthfuls should do the trick).

Now if any of you are crazy enough to try out this recipe, please note it does contain raw eggs, so avoid giving it to the elderly, pregnant people and children.
Cthulhu

## Ability

### Ability

**The Depths of Terror****(Play)** Your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power until played. **(Return)** Your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, lose -20 Power until played and your opponent loses -10 Power/Turn for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Scary as **Cthulhu** may be, even Lovecraft’s most fearful creations cannot live up to the horror of his abhorrent personal beliefs. His heinous support of white supremacy and awful, racist pieces that he wrote during his lifetime, are by far the scariest work he’d ever made.

Prolific horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft created a nightmarish beast to haunt our dreams when he wrote his short story “The Call of Cthulhu” in 1928. This cosmic creature is described as a combination of an octopus, a dragon and a human being – and just glancing at the monster will drive the viewer insane (the problem being that it’s hard not to look at a gigantic, terrifying, tentacle-mouthed Hell-beast.)

Cthulhu is also indestructible: even when a boat rammed into his body, he quickly reformed himself within a matter of moments. Once the stars align, his worshippers can bring Cthulhu out from the depths of the sea and bring about a new age of the Old Gods. Next, Cthulhu will inherit the Earth from them and rule it once again. I, for one, welcome our new sea overlord.
Centaur

## Ability

### Ability

**Opposite Day****(Draw)** Your Horsehead Nebula and Soccer cards, wherever they are, cost -5 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

One of the most famous mythical beasts of all time, the **Centaur** is a half-horse, half-man creature that is said to have inhabited the mountains and forests of Thessaly in Greece. According to the legend, the Thessalians were the first in Greece to ride horses – this in mind, it’s not hard to see how someone unfamiliar with the sight of a horserider would believe it was one single creature, i.e., a centaur.

Almost all centaurs in Greek mythology were hyper-masculine and physically violent with a weakness for wine and no self-control. The two exceptions are Chiron, the son of Titan Kronos who was dubbed the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs", and Pholos, a friend of Hercules.
Eris

## Ability

### Ability

**Remote Control****(Draw)** Your Space cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power permanently. **(Return)** Your Space cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Take a space shuttle to the outer regions of our Solar System and you’ll eventually reach the Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects. Here, you’ll find **Eris** – the farthest known dwarf planet. Named after the goddess of strife and discord, Eris was first detected in data collected in October of 2003.

Before it was formally named, Eris was known as Xena. Upon its official identification in 2005, the dwarf planet was briefly called “the tenth planet” by NASA and media reports, because it is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun – in fact, the discovery that it was larger in size than Pluto is what triggered the International Astronomical Union to demote Pluto to ‘dwarf planet’ status in 2006 (sorry Pluto.)

'Artist's impression dwarf planet Eris' by Calçada and Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org) - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1142a/ (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Elasmosaurus

## Did You Know?

The poet John Milton coined more new words (neologisms) than Shakespeare - 630 in total.

Edward Drinker-Cope was in some ways the Milton of Paleontologists, naming 64 different dinosaur species. While only 9 of these names are still in use, one of them is **Elasmosaurus** platyurus.

Unfortunately for Cope, the **Elasmosaurus** became something of a humiliation. In reconstructing the skeleton, he put the skull *at the wrong end* and was subsequently ridiculed by his rival, Othniel Charles Marsh. Cope and Marsh were Paleontology's equivalent to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry - and their long-running feud even became known as the 'Bone Wars'.

Not sure how we got from John Milton to Katy Perry, but we are almost definitely the first. Our next mission is to link Wittgenstein to Cardi B.
Cockroach

## Did You Know?

Cockroaches are famed for their resilience - not only can they hold their breath for 40 minutes, they can withstand radiation levels that would be fatal to humans. That's all down to the way their cells divide - they don't, really. They only need to when they moult as juveniles, whereas humans are constantly rotating through their cells - that creates space for radiation to enter our bodies that cockroaches just don't have.

Oh, and they can live for a week without their heads too. You might think that losing a brain would be somewhat limiting, but not all of its functions are controlled by it - their vital functions are controlled by organs in the thorax, which means it can continue scuttling about. It will die of thirst though - no head, no way to consume, sadly.
Circus Maximus

## Ability

### Ability

**Ring Leaders****(Draw)** Your Paleontology cards with "Mega" in their name, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Visit the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills in Italy and you’ll see oblong fields that were once home to the first and largest stadium in Rome and its later Empire. This is **Circus Maximus**, a chariot racetrack in Rome constructed in the 6th century BCE to accommodate over 150,000 spectators.

The famous Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus was so impressed with the Circus Maximus that he described it in 7 BC as "one of the most beautiful and admirable structures in Rome." Now this is chariot racing!

Aside from chariots, the stadium was also used for the celebration of religious events, holding public games during festivals and hosting games to celebrate victory in wars.
Clown Fish

## Ability

### Ability

**Finding... Gill?!****(Draw)** Your Moorish Idol card in hand gains +25 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Yes, yes, it's the same species of fish as Nemo and Marlin from Pixar's Finding Nemo and Finding Dory.

Did you know that they're hermaphroditic? All Clown Fish start male but are able to shift their gender if necessary. This usually happens when the dominant female of a group dies, and a dominant male switches gender to fill the gap. Which (spoilers) would have changed the opening scenes of Finding Nemo somewhat.

## Trivia

* **Spoilers**: The opening scenes of *Finding Nemo* depict Marlin losing his wife Coral and all their other eggs in a barracuda attack, leaving Nemo as his only child. If the movie is scientifically accurate, Marlin would not have raised Nemo as his son. Instead, Marlin would switch gender and mate with Nemo to reproduce offsprings.
Endymion

## Ability

### Ability

**Lover of Selene****(Play)** If your deck contains The Moon, your cards in hand gain +10 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Is your boyfriend <link="https:>really, really, really, ridiculously good looking?</link> Do you want to preserve his beauty? Call on Zeus to grant him eternal youth. That’s what he did for **Endymion**, a handsome shepherd / hunter / king from Greek mythology.

In some versions of the story, Selene (Titan goddess of the moon) is in love with Endymion, so asks Zeus to make him live forever without ageing. In other versions, Zeus set out to punish Endymion for showing romantic interest in his main girl, Hera. Whatever the case, Zeus put this strapping man into an eternal sleep. Selene visited him every night, and somehow managed to have fifty daughters by him who some scholars say equate with the fifty months of the Olympiad.
Drag

## Did You Know?

Planes might look like they cut through the sky at great speed, but there is still something holding them back from going too fast. Drag is a force that resists moving objects as they travel through fluids (which is the technical term for the air - I know, it's confusing, bear with me).

Aircraft brake by raising panels on their wings - the increased surface area in contact with the fluid, coupled with a reduction in thrust, slows the plane down. If there wasn't any drag, objects moving through fluids would simply not stop - they'd keep going until something solid stopped them, which does not make for happy landings.
Enchantment

## Ability

### Ability

**Bewitch the Mind****(Play)** If your deck has 8 or more The Occult cards, two random cards in your hand gain +35 Power until played and two random cards in your opponent's hand lose -35 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

“I put a spell on you… because you're mine” - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins may not have been a warlock, but he certainly seemed to have a lot of confidence when it came to **Enchantment**. However, it’s not just people that can be enchanted.

From Arthur’s sword Excalibur to Aladdin’s lamp, enchantment can turn your everyday item into a magical artefact. The word itself has the same root as ‘incantation’, coming from the Latin word ‘incantare’ which means to charm or to bewitch. So, what’s the difference between magic and enchantment?

According to J.R.R. Tolkien, enchantment is more of an art that “produces a Secondary World into which both designer and spectator can enter”, while magic produces an alteration in the primary world.
Earendel

## Ability

### Ability

**Earliest Light****(Play)** If you have played The Big Bang this game, your Science cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Move over, MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 - there’s a new most distant star in town, and its name is definitely more memorable. Known as **Earendel**, the new “it” star discovered in 2022 by the Hubble Space Telescope is now the earliest and most distant known star, sitting in the constellation of Cetus at a whopping distance 12.9 billion lightyears from Earth.

If you’re a Tolkien fan, you’ll recognise the star’s name from The Silmarillion - and that’s no coincidence. The discoverers of the star named it after the half-elven character who travelled through the sky with a radiant jewel that was as bright as a star. And we think it’s a much catchier name than its technical designation of WHL0137-LS.
Fenghuang

## Ability

### Ability

**Chinese Phoenix****(Play)** Your Chinese Folklore cards, wherever they are, gain +7 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

One bird to rule them all… one bird to find them. It’s the **Fenghuang**, a mythological bird from Sinospheric mythology said to reign over all other birds. Even lawless seagulls answer to the Fenghuang.

Originating in the Shang dynasty, the creature was said to be made up of the beak of a cockerel, the face of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish. So, not really a bird at all, then.

A symbol of summer and spiritual balance, the Fenghuang represents all the virtues and asks us to live a life filled with peace and justice. Seagulls clearly didn’t get the memo, as they chose a life of total anarchy.
Entelodont

## Did You Know?

The Entelodonts were a group of pig-like omnivores found around North America and Eurasia. Some of their nicknames include "Hell Pigs" and "Terminator Pigs", so they're already among the most metal subjects we've ever picked for a CUE card.

How can something with such a vicious reputation be an omnivore - surely these monsters used those razor-sharp teeth purely for carnivorous pursuits? Well, their flat back teeth suggest differently - those were more likely adapted for crushing plant material.
Christmas Fried Chicken

## Ability

### Ability

**Big in Japan****(Draw)** Your Feudal Japan cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

In 1974, Takeshi Okawara’s dream came true at Christmas.

He was the first manager of a KFC in Japan, and after hearing some ex-pats bemoan the absence of a Christmas dinner in Japan (there is no Christian tradition, so why should there be a Christmas dinner?), Takeshi had a dream about offering a ‘party barrel’ of chicken for Christmas.

He sold this **Christmas Fried Chicken** - along with a bottle of wine - in 1974 for the first time. And it caught on.

Big time.

It is now the de facto way to celebrate Christmas in Japan, with over 3,600,000 people ordering Fried Chicken for Christmas each year. This leads to the mind-boggling statistic that around a **third** of annual sales for KFC Japan take place in the three days from 23rd to 25th December.

Best to book in advance. :)
Exomoon

## Ability

### Ability

**Extrasolar****(Play)** If your deck has 3 or more Moon in Motion cards, your Exploring the Stars cards, wherever they are, gain +28 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

As the dominant species on a planet we’ve effectively trashed, humans are always looking for new planets and moons that we could call home (and eventually ruin) in the distant future. Astronomers suspect that certain **Exomoons** - natural satellites that orbit exoplanets - could be candidates.

Given that over 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered, one of their moons must be habitable, right? Some may even already be home to extraterrestrial life. That’s a problem for future humans to resolve (undoubtedly through war).

In the short term, we can make believe that our new Exomoon home would be similar to the luscious green forest moon of Endor in the Star Wars universe. In reality, we’re probably Darth Vader, and we’d probably nuke the ewoks rather than sing songs with them.
Atlantic Wolffish

## Ability

### Ability

**Wolf it Down****(Play)** Your Lupus card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The **Atlantic Wolffish**, in common parlance, is 'not much of a looker', with a face like a painter's overalls and teeth that would make a British dentist wince (its name, predictably, derives from its protruding fangs). They are, however, indisputably *cool*. So cool, in fact, that their circulatory system has had to develop a natural anti-freeze in order to keep the blood moving.
Flying Head

## Ability

### Ability

**Ravenous Spirit****(Start)** If your deck has 8 or more Curious Cuisine cards, your Curious Cuisine cards in hand lose -5 Power until played and this card gains +20 Power for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

It’s described as a ravenous spirit resembling a human head with long dark hair, terrifying eyes, and a large mouth filled with razor-sharp fangs. No, it’s not Morbius. It’s much worse than that.

According to the legend, the **Flying Head** is a cannibalistic spirit that played a role in driving away the original native inhabitants from their hunting grounds in the area of the state of New York near the source of the Hudson River. The location of the tribe's village where the legend took place is considered cursed, as three different hotels built on the site mysteriously burned down.

Originating from Iroquois and Wyandot mythology, the Flying Head has an insatiable hunger for anything that’s alive - dogs, cows, humans. Whatever they can get their heads on.
Colombian Black Spider Monkey

## Ability

### Ability

**Welcome to the World!****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, your cards in hand gain +10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

We'll start with the sad news before we give you the good news. Lamentably the population of the critically endangered **Colombian Black Spider Monkey** is predicted to shrink by around 30% over the next 30 years, this decline comes on top of an already dwindling population and as you've probably guessed, us humans are responsible. Hunting and deforestation to make way for farmland and palm oil plantations are having a significant impact.

The Good News:
A Colombian Black Spider Monkey baby was born just last week at Dudley Zoo (in not-so-tropical England!) Valentine - The twenty-year-old mother, gave birth to a baby in mid-January 2021. The really good news is, this was no fluke as back in August Dudley Zoo delivered baby Evita in front of some surprised visitors. These two babies might seem like a drop in the ocean when compared to the challenges facing the species, but it represents a significant improvement in the breeding program ending a forty-year drought of Colombian Black Spider Monkey births at the zoo!
Citipati

## Did You Know?

Citipati was an omnivore which lived in the Cretaceous period (83.6 million years ago) and inhabited Asia. Its fossils have been found in Mongolia and show that it lived in the desert and reproduced by laying eggs.

Citipati is one of the larger members of the oviraptorids. It is thought that they had a special nesting behaviour; because of the positions their fossils have been found in, it's speculated that they would smother their eggs like a warm and cosy insulating blanket, literally cuddling their babies to life. DAAWWWWWW!
Flowing Hair Dollar

## Ability

### Ability

**National Mint****(Draw)** If your deck contains Alexander Hamilton, your Money, Money, Money cards, wherever they are, gain +22 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you happen upon a **Flowing Hair Dollar**, count yourself incredibly lucky: of the 1,758 produced, there are said to only be 140 or so coins in existence today. Naturally, these coins are worth a pretty penny: specifically, around $42,500 in average condition, or $70,000 for those in near-mint condition.

America’s first official silver dollar, the flowing hair dollar was engraved by Robert Scot to feature a side profile of Miss Liberty. For the reverse, Scot engraved an eagle motif, its wings surrounded by a laurel wreath with the inscription ‘UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’.

The Flowing Hair dollar was first issued by the Federal Government in 1794, but only lasted until 1795, when it was replaced with the ‘draped bust’ design.
Exorcism

## Ability

### Ability

**Freedom from Evil****(Return)** Your Horrible Halloween cards, wherever they are, cost -2 Energy and lose -10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

“What an excellent day for an **Exorcism.**” You might be having images of spinning heads as an old priest and a young priest yell “the power of Christ compels you” at a teenage girl who’s just discovered how to float but Exorcisms are an ancient ritual found in many cultures and belief systems. They are considered controversial today and there are many famous real-life cases which have inspired Hollywood, from *The Exorcist* to *The Exorcism of Emily Rose.*

Put simply, an Exorcism is the act of driving demons or evil spirits out of a place, object or even a person. If that’s what you believe, of course. Exorcisms have been known not just in Christianity and Judaism but also in Islam, Hinduism and even Buddism.

While for some people, Exorcisms might seem like a good or noble idea, they are not recognised by public authorities and health bodies and can sometimes make things worse or get in the way of medical or professional help. So maybe check in with a doctor first if any of your loved ones start speaking backwards or moving objects with the power of thought alone.
Einiosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Identification Problems****(Play)** For every Herbivores card in your hand, your Herbivores cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power for 2 turns and for every non- Herbivores card in your hand, lose -5 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Some people are always sticking their nose in other people’s business. Unfortunately, the **Einiosaurus **can’t help but stick their nose in because it’s got a big, giant horn on the end of it.****

****The Einiosaurus was first discovered by the aptly named paleontologist Jack Horner in 1985. Horner discovered the remains of up to 15 creatures (including 3 skulls) in the Landslide Butte site. However, Horner needed special permission from the Blackfeet Indian Tribal Council as the area was on a reservation but was given it since it was agreed that previous digs hadn’t caused too much environmental harm.****

****Einiosaurus is a herbivore and is considered the buffalo of the Cretaceous period because that’s literally what its name means. Its nose horn is thought to have been a beautiful color to attract mates (we have no idea what color so just pick your favorite). However, its frill (the large plate coming off of its head) had large holes in it so was probably useless in a scrap. Safe to say, these big lads were definitely lovers, not fighters.****
Edgar Allan Poe

## Ability

### Ability

**Poe Faced****(Draw)** If your deck contains Raven, gain +24 Power/Turn for 4 turns. **(Play)** If played next to Siamese, your Siamese card in hand gains +38 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Although he’s known as one of the most iconic Gothic fiction writers of all time, **Edgar Allan Poe** only wrote about fifteen horror stories out of a total of seventy tales. Poe actually wrote more comedies than spooky stories and also penned mysteries, scientific essays and even a book about seashells. In fact, his 1841 short story 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' is widely considered to be the first modern detective story.

However, it was his dark poem ‘The Raven’ that made him a household name in the horror genre. Apparently, Poe often wrote with his Siamese cat perched on his shoulder, and if he couldn’t feel the claws digging into his flesh, he couldn’t write.

Whether that’s true or just a myth, we can say with certainty that Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most important writers in American literature and a pioneer of the short story.
Dragonfly Spacecraft

## Ability

### Ability

**New Frontiers****(Play)** If played next to Titan, Moon of Saturn, this card gains +36 Power. **(Return)** Your Space Technology cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If there’s life on Saturn’s largest moon, they’re about to get a shock when the **Dragonfly Spacecraft** appears in the sky. This NASA spacecraft will deploy a robotic rotorcraft to roam the surface in a mission that will go down in history as the first controlled atmospheric flight on any moon (and the first ever aircraft on Titan.) Its aim? To scout for signs of life (past or present) and uncover clues as to how life may have arisen on our planet.

Because Titan is so far from the Sun, its surface temperature is around -179 degrees Celsius. Its surface pressure is also 50 percent higher than Earth’s - so it’s a good thing we’ve got this trusty robot to do the job for us. The Dragonfly mission is currently targeted to launch by June 2027 for arrival at Titan in 2034.