recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
La China Poblana

## Ability

### Ability

**¡Baile!****(Play)** If you play exactly 2 cards this turn and the cards are adjacent, give both cards +44 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**La China Poblana** is the traditional style of dress worn by the women of Mexico until the 19th Century. The design of the dress is attributed to Catarina de San Juan, an Indian slave who, according to legend, was brought to Mexico.

Texts about her life are improbable, but they write that in India she was kidnapped by pirates, converted to Catholicism and was brought to New Spain and sold to Miguel se Sosa. When he died a few years later, she was taken in by a convent and was venerated as a Saint until 1691.

It’s thought that the dress takes design inspiration from the cultural diversity of New Spain, including the full body Sari that Catarina de San Human would have worn.

The dress itself includes an ornate white (scandalously low-cut) blouse with fringing and beads, a “beaver” skirt, named for the animal which provided the material, a white slip underneath the skirt and a shawl made from fine silk with bobbles.
Magellanic Penguin

## Ability

### Ability

**Burrowed Nests****(Play)** Your Going Underground cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In the year 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan attempted to circumnavigate the world. He didn't succeed. However, his crew did spot some penguins around the tip of South America, and named them after their captain. So, there’s that, at least.

One of 18 penguin species, the **Magellanic Penguin** is known for its creative nest building technique, which involves burrowing up to 1 metre deep in soil or guano beds.

Once the breeding season has ended, Magellanic penguins migrate north for the winter to the more seasonable climes of Peru and Brazil, where they can generally be found swimming hundreds of miles off the coast. For some, this migratory trip can be as long as 4,000 miles - almost long enough to rival their namesake!
Mapusaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Put Them on the Map****(Play)** Your Paleontology cards, wherever they are, gain +13 Power until played. **(Return)** If you won the turn, your Paleontology cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

A giant carnivorous dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous period, the **Mapusaurus**’ name translates to “Earth lizard.” But don’t let its name fool you: this beast is no mere gecko. It’s thought that Mapusaurus was even bigger than Giganotosaurus, making it the largest meat-eating dinosaur found so far. The fact that it hasn’t been renamed Supergigantosaurus is an outrage.

This dinosaur knew there was strength in numbers, so it hunted in packs and lived in family groups. That means, if you were a prey animal running from a Mapusaurus in Argentina approximately 95 million years ago, you would be totally outnumbered. If the pack hunting theory is true, Mapusaurus may have been able to take down other dinosaurs like the Argentinasaurus with just a few bites.
Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley

## Ability

### Ability

**Literary Lovers****(Play)** If your deck has 8 or more Arts & Culture cards, this card gains +30 Power.

## Did You Know?

Young and in love, writers **Mary Godwin and Percy Shelley’**s meeting spot of choice was Mary’s mother’s grave (because when a bar isn’t risqué enough, try a graveyard?!).

Percy Shelly was clearly a heartbreaker – he left his wife Harriet to elope with Mary and her sister (steady on Percy). The three would soon find themselves in the company of Lord Byron, where a challenge to write a ghost story led to Mary penning ‘Frankenstein’.
Long-Eared Hedgehog

## Ability

### Ability

**At The Speed Of Sound****(Return)** If you are winning the round, your remaining cards in hand cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

In real life, the species to which Sonic belongs is not blue – but they do have big pointy ears and are much faster than the European hedgehog.

One of the smallest Middle Eastern hedgehogs, **Long-eared Hedgehogs** are also less likely to roll up in a ball when approached by predators. Instead, they will try to outrun their attackers or leap up at them and jab them with their sharp needles. Offence is the best defence, after all!

Although these tiny creatures are mainly insectivores, they also eat slugs, snails, bird eggs and have been spotted feasting on snakes. Clearly, long-eared hedgehogs aren’t fussy, and can even be agriculturally beneficial since they eat harmful organisms like termites and scorpions.
Louis Braille

## Ability

### Ability

**Enduring Honor****(Draw)** Your Brilliant Human Body cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

A pioneer of communication, **Louis Braille** changed the world for the visually impaired. After accidentally blinding himself with a sharp tool at the age of three and becoming fully blind by age five, Louis Braille learned to read by feeling upholstery studs hammered into pieces of wood in the shapes of letters and numbers.

During his studies, Louis was tasked with evaluating Captain Charles Barbier’s ‘Night Writing’, a method of touch-based writing for the army to use in the dark. He found it too simplistic for the blind, but Barbier’s method would later inspire Louis Braille to create his own improved system, which consisted of a code of 63 characters, each made up of one to six raised dots arranged in a six-position matrix or cell.
Kuwaiti Dinar

## Ability

### Ability

**High Value****(Return)** This card gains +20 Power and costs +1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

How did the **Kuwaiti Dinar**, a currency which originally had a value equivalent to one pound sterling, become the highest-value currency unit per face value in the entire world? Being one of the largest global exporters of oil and having large reserves of it throughout the country definitely helps.

As it’s one of the wealthiest nations in the world, Kuwaiti’s dinar is high in demand, keeping it at the top spot of the strongest currencies on the planet. Introduced shortly before Kuwait officially gained independence in 1961, the Kuwaiti dinar replaced the Gulf rupee. After the introduction of the floating pound sterling in 1972, the parity of the Kuwaiti dinar with the British currency was cancelled.
Mallard

## Ability

### Ability

**The Eaglet, the Lory, the Duck, and the Dodo****(Play)** Your Dodo, Bald Eagle and Rainbow Lorikeet cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you’re fond of sitting in the park and throwing seeds or oats to the ducks (lay off the bread, it’s actually not good for them), it’s more than likely you’ve been feeding a **Mallard** as they’re the most common kind of duck. You’ll recognise the males by their blue-green feathers and the females by their speckled brown plumage, and you’ll recognise both by their ability to appear out of nowhere the moment someone rustles a bag anywhere near a pond.

During breeding season, a female Mallard can lay as many as 12 eggs over the course of a few weeks and this can be up to half her body weight in eggs, which sounds exhausting! She will try to keep her nest near water but if the area is busy, she may look a little further afield. Once the eggs are all hatched and the ducklings are ready, Mama Mallard will form a little line with her babies and lead them to the nearest water source. If you’ve ever seen that almost comical sight of a line of baby ducks following their mom, now you know where they’re all marching to with such purpose.

As cute and fluffy as they look, if you ever come across a Mallard nest, leave it alone. Their nests are protected in the UK and, anyway, Mama Mallard’s got this.
Kuafu

## Ability

### Ability

**Chasing the Sun****(Play)** Your Raging Rivers cards in hand gain +20 Power for 2 turns. **(Return)** Your The Sun card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

When you’re a literal giant, the recommended 6-8 glasses of water just won’t cut it. Just look at **Kuafu**, a giant from Chinese mythology. Kuafu thought it might be fun to catch the Sun, so he chased it from the East to the West, draining the Yellow River and the Wei River to quench his thirst. When that still didn’t hit the spot, he went searching for more water, but eventually died of dehydration. The wooden club he was carrying grew into a vast peach tree forest called the Deng Forest.

Although it seems like a cautionary tale, the story of Kuafu is used in modern Chinese as a way of describing someone who is optimistic and willing to overcome all obstacles on the path to their goal.
Louvre Pyramid

## Ability

### Ability

**Pyramid Scheme****(Play)** Your Trigonometry card in hand gains +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

While I.M Pei was a prolific architect, his most recognisable work is likely to remain the **Louvre Pyramid** in Paris. This sits in the Courtyard of the Louvre Museum, housing the underground lobby and entrance. Constructed in 1989, it is considered to be as much of a tourist attraction as the museum itself. It was the subject of much controversy when erected, due to the stark contrast between its modernist style and the Renaissance architecture of the Palais.

I.M Pei died in 2019 at the age of 102, but had kept working well into old age - designing the famous Museum of Islamic Art in Doha while in his 80s.
Makemake

## Ability

### Ability

**Codename: Easterbunny****(Play)** Your cards with "Egg" in their name, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Do you long for years to last longer? Are you tired of hot summers and other forms of life? Move to **Makemake**, a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt, a region outside the orbit of Neptune. One year on Makemake lasts 305 Earth years, so there’s a good chance you won’t have to celebrate New Year (which never lives up to expectations, anyway!)

Plus, the surface of the planet is so cold, life can’t survive there. Bring your thermals and head 5.61 billion km away from Earth to Makemake, named after the creator God of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.

Nicknamed “The Easterbunny” by the International Astronomical Union, the tiny planetoid sadly has no bunnies, and apparently, no moons, either.
Major Oak

## Ability

### Ability

**Go on your Merry Way****(Return)** If you won the turn, gain +22 Power/Turn this round.

## Did You Know?

As far as awe-inspiring trees go, the **Major Oak** is majorly awesome. It’s the biggest oak tree in Britain, has a trunk circumference of 10 metres and an estimated weight of 23 tons. Thought to be between 800-1,000 years old, Major Oak has stuck around to watch the world change around it from its spot in England’s historic Sherwood Forest.

If you recognise the name, it’s because of the legend that tells of Nottinghamshire’s outlaw hero Robin Hood using Major Oak as his secret hiding place. Apparently, the tree’s first recorded name was the Cockpen tree, because it was once used as a cockerel pen. Thankfully, it was renamed in 1790, long before anyone would have the chance to poke fun!
Kronos

## Ability

### Ability

**Bad Dad****(Play)** Your cards in hand with 5 or more Base Energy gain +25 Power this round. **(Return)** Your cards, wherever they are, with 4 or less Base Energy lose -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the year, blame **Kronos** – the Greek God of Time. In Ancient Greece, time was seen as an all-devouring, destructive force. Right enough, Kronos lived up to his reputation. With the help of his Titan siblings, he went on to overthrow his father Uranus and become ruler of the Cosmos during the Golden Age.

The Golden Age was so-called because the people of the time did not need laws or rules; everyone did the right thing, all of the time, and immorality was absent. This may go some way to explaining how he could get away with all his baby eating.

You see, when he took control of the throne, he was warned of a prophecy that he would be dethroned by his own son. So whenever his wife Rhea had a son, he ate it. One child was lucky enough to be kept away from him and was smuggled away to Gaia to be raised in secret. That child’s name? Zeus.

Today, the planet Saturn, named after the Roman equivalent of Cronus, is still referred to as “Cronus” in modern Greek.
Library of Alexandria

## Ability

### Ability

**Lost Knowledge****(Play)** Your History and Science cards in hand gain +38 Power this turn. **(Return)** This card loses -40 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

You know you’re a true history buff when you’re still mourning the loss of the **Library of Alexandria**. And who could blame you: this behemoth of a library is thought to have housed between 200,000 and 700,000 books, making it one of the largest libraries of the ancient world.

Sadly, it was tragically destroyed – not once, but twice, since the library was divided into two branches. The first was located at the royal palace in Alexandria, meeting its end when Julius Caesar set fire to the ships in the harbour and the fire spread to the library.

The second branch was in the temple of Serapis – but when Roman Emperor Theodosius ordered all pagan temples to be destroyed, the world lost the last remnants of Alexandria’s great library.
Lemon Shark

## Did You Know?

The **Lemon Shark**, also known as the *negaprion brevirostris* (rolls off the tongue doesn’t it?), is one of the best known and most researched of all sharks. Scientists have discovered that much like domesticated animals, **Lemon Sharks** exhibit personality traits like making friends, the use of body language and they can also learn simple tricks.

The **Lemon Shark** loves the tropical and subtropical waters in coastal areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A mature adult is usually around 3.5 meters (11 feet) in length and 190 kilograms (420 pounds) in weight. It is named for its unusual and bright yellow or brown pigmentation which provides camouflage in its shallow water hunting grounds.

Supernova
If you were a fan of Oasis back in the day you'll have heard them waxing lyrical about that good ol' Champagne Supernova in the sky, and while that song is not about the explosion of stars, kindly pretend it is for the purpose of this reference.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Old Man Marley caught us spying on him...
Machu Picchu

## Did You Know?

A lot of the cards in Wonders of Construction feature places and buildings that have been well-known landmarks for centuries. **Machu Picchu** is different - it's only really been known to the wider world since 1911 when it was discovered by Yale professor Hiram Bingham. This amazing settlement in the Andes Mountains had managed to stay hidden for at least four hundred years!

There's debate about what **Machu Picchu's** purpose was - it could have a been a royal estate, or a secret military base. What we do know is that it's made up of around 150 buildings built atop mountains more than 7,000 feet above sea level.

It's estimated that it was built by the Inca civilisation in around 1450, and it stands as a testament to their mastery of masonry. The stones would have been hauled up the mountains by hand, and they were so finely crafted that even though they are not reinforced with mortar, they're still so tightly packed that you cannot fit a knife blade between them!

The Spanish Inquisition destroyed many of Peru's Inca settlements, but **Machu Picchu's** position - high up in the mountains, often shrouded in cloud - made it invisible from below and spared its majesty from destruction. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
League Matching

## Opponents in League

CUE uses a matching algorithm so that newbies with very few cards are not crushed by veterans with everything. This means that even new players can get to the top of the league leaderboard each week, you just need to beat enough players who are of similar experience. When you try to find a game in league, only suitable players will see the banner.

This is sometimes referred to as ELO, which is the rating system used in chess to measure the relative strength of each player. Its creator, Arpad Elo, was a physics professor in the United States and a chess master who worked to improve the way the U.S. Chess Federation measured their players' skill levels.

You will also face bots in league if there are no suitable human opponents available (or if none of the potential human opponents clicks on the invitation banner). The bots play decks that are taken from other players at your skill level and deck strength. Players can face opponents or bots who are within their skill level, one level higher, or one level lower.

## CUE Skill Ranks

New players start in Bonehead. As you win games, you will move up at set points in the league rankings. For example, hitting T-Rex (rank 3) will generally increase a skill level, as will hitting Dragon (rank 1). Your skill level (but not league rank) will fall if you lose many games and your win/loss ratio deteriorates. The following skill ranks have been confirmed but are subject to testing and potential changes:

* Skill: Death Incarnate - Highest Bracket
* Skill: Slayer
* Skill: Heavyweight Champion
* Skill: Valiant Knight
* Skill: Tough Cookie
* Skill: Artful Avenger
* Skill: Mad Scientist
* Skill: Spring Chicken
* Skill: Space Cadet
* Skill: Bonehead - Lowest Bracket

To determine your skill rank, send a Direct Message in Discord to CUE#3444 with the command /lastwin IGN (replacing IGN with your ingame player name as appropriate).
Litorosuchus

## Ability

### Ability

**Semi-Aquatic****(Return)** If your deck has 6 or more Life on Land cards, your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Ah, the life of paleontologists: writing so much about a species of ancient reptile that it features in your dreams. That’s (kind of) how the **Litorosuchus** somnii got its name. The Latin ‘litoralis’ (“littoral”) was given in reference to its habitat on the seashore. The “suchus” bit comes from the Greek word ‘soukhos (“crocodile”.) But the “somnii” bit comes from the Latin word for ‘dream’, because the lead author dreamt of the beast while trying to come up with a name for it.

This 2-metre long semi-aquatic archosauriform is known from one nearly-complete skeleton embedded in a slab of limestone and lying on its left side. Perhaps before it died, it was fast asleep, dreaming of the lead author who would give it its name 247 million years later.
Jallab

## Ability

### Ability

**A Drink with Destiny****(Return)** If you won the turn, your Curious Cuisine cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

Date palms have been cultivated in the Middle East for centuries, inspiring the locals to explore various uses for their abundant fruit beyond just a standalone snack (or, in the case of Indiana Jones, <link="https:>a vehicle for poison.</link>)

Eventually, the concept of **Jallab** emerged - a fruit syrup that was made by boiling down the dares to create a concentrated golden syrup. These days, we have industrially produced Jallab, which is much more convenient.

This has given rise to a distinct drink of the same name that’s famous in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. The main ingredients are carob, dates, grape molasses and rose water, but it’s often served with pine nuts or raisins and smoked with Arabic incense.
Leshy

## Ability

### Ability

**He From The Forest****(Return)** If your deck has 8 or more Tremendous Trees cards, this card gains +100 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Like many forest spirits, **Leshy** gets his kicks from leading travellers astray and playing tricks on those who wander into his territory. But unlike many forest spirits, Leshy is also prone to abducting babies who have not been baptised, or children who entered the forest to pick berries or fish.

A demon-god from Slavic mythology, Leshy is said to be as tall as a giant when he is in the forest, but as small as a blade of grass when he steps outside it. If you do find yourself lost in the woods and suspect you’ve annoyed Leshy, the best thing you can do is make him laugh.

Don’t worry, no wit is required here: simply remove your clothes, put them on backwards and switch your shoes to the wrong feet.
Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur

## Ability

### Ability

**Tiny Primate****(Play)** Your Primates cards, wherever they are, with 50 or less Base Power gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

They may not be able to use the Force for mind trickery or moving objects, but **Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemur** is probably the closest thing looks-wise you’ll find to “Baby Yoda”. The smallest primate in the world, Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemur only reaches 11.8 cm in length when fully matured, making them a target for predators in the Kirindy Forest of Madagascar that they call home.

This lemur is named after the conservationist and primatologist Berthe Rakotosamimanana of Madagascar, but the word lemur itself comes from the Latin word “lemures” meaning “ghost”. The Malagasy people associated these primates with spirits because of their nocturnal nature and wide-eyed stare. Of course, since the species is endangered, this ghost ain’t for bustin’.
Mascara Wand

## Ability

### Ability

**Magic Wand****(Draw)** This card loses -5 Power permanently and a random card in your hand gains +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Helena Rubinstein’s Mascara-Matic, the first **mascara wand** and tube applicator, transformed the make-up industry for good. If it wasn’t for this invention in the 1960s, we’d still be scrubbing a brush across a tin of cake-like black soap before spitting on it to make it wet and brushing it on our lashes. Strangely enough, Rubinstein didn’t go for “Hold the Spit” as a slogan – we can’t think why?
La Chupaleche

## Ability

### Ability

**Surprisingly Common****(Play)** Your Common cards in hand gain +18 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

One of Europe’s largest butterflies, **La Chupaleche** – also known as the Scarce Swallowtail – starts life as a gorgeous green caterpillar that measures up to 4.5cm long. Once metamorphosis is complete, La Chupaleche has wings of either white or pale yellow with prominent vertical black stripes and long tail streamers - hence its common name.

If you happen to see one feeding on a flower, count yourself lucky: this beautiful butterfly is sadly becoming rare due to agricultural practices. While they feed, you might even get to see blue crescents and red markings on their hindwings. Since this species of butterfly is so scarce, it is now protected by law in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Russia, Ukraine and Poland.
Melting Ice Caps

## Did You Know?

An ice cap is a large body of ice in the high latitudes of a planet. Earth's ice caps are holding the majority of its freshwater supply, and they melt and refreeze as the seasons pass by.

Ice caps shrink when they melt at a faster rate than they refreeze, which is an effect of global warming. NASA has estimated that our ice caps are melting 9% every ten years, and if the temperature of the planet continues to rise at current rates the Arctic will have no ice by 2040.

## Trivia

* This card was replaced by Pacific Trash Vortex
Lich

## Ability

### Ability

**Necromancy****(Draw)** If you are trailing by 50 Power or more, gain +10 Power/Turn permanently. **(Play)** If you have lost at least 1 round this game, gain +10 Power/Turn permanently. **(Return)** If you lost the turn, gain +10 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

Imagine a **Lich**. Are you picturing a terrifying creature with an exposed skull in long robes, stretching out its bony figures towards you and beckoning you to its cold, deathly embrace? Yeah, us too.

That’s all thanks to modern popular culture (we’re looking at you, certain dark fantasy-themed video games) because we’re afraid the original meaning of the word is a little more straightforward. Lich is literally just an old English word for a corpse. Not a risen from the dead version or one that wants to drag you to the underworld or swallow your soul. Just a regular, old corpse. In fact, in some very old graveyards, you might still see a Lichgate, which is a gate where the funeral procession entered.

However, the pop culture version is much cooler and has actually been lurking in our collective nightmares since 1920s pulp sword and sorcery stories where a Lich was often a sorcerer who had lengthened their life through unnatural means and were rooted to this plain of existence through some kind of magical item. Their bodies rotted away as they defied the natural order of things…

Much scarier than just a plain, boring corpse, right?
Lemon Tree

## Ability

### Ability

**Rottin' By The Hour****(Start)** Your Tremendous Trees cards in hand lose -5 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

They say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” - but just how profitable is this as a business venture? Let’s look at the numbers. The average **Lemon Tree** lives for 50 years and produces 1,500 lemons per year. It takes 5 lemons for one cup of juice. That means you can sell 300 cups in a year, and 15,000 over 50 years. If you had 20 lemon trees on the grow at once, you could sell 6,000 cups in a year. And that’s how you make the big bucks.

If you really want to attract customers, try hosting a lemon-themed festival. Post Malone, The Seekers and Mt. Joy all have songs about this citrus tree, so could all join the line-up for #Lemonpalooza.
Leshan Giant Buddha

## Ability

### Ability

**Set in Stone****(Draw)** Gain +8 Power/Turn until this is returned to your deck.

## Did You Know?

While researching, I found this gem on Trip Advisor:

“This is really, really big. Does it bother me that the Chinese make these things just to attract tourists? Yes.” JcJud, Riverton, Utah.

Setting aside various ironies (such as JcJud’s home state being the location of the World’s Biggest Mormon Temple), this does somewhat overlook key facts about the **Leshan Giant Buddha**, such as *when* it was built, and *why*.

Carved in the **8th Century** (a time when Buddhist culture in China was at its peak) it predates the ability to rate it two stars with a finger tap by over a millennium. The monk who commissioned it, **Hai Tong**, did so because he believed it would keep the local people safe by calming the rivers. It’s *possible* that he also had an interest in future tourist numbers, but given that he ***gouged out his own eyeball*** to indicate his dedication to the project, I am not about to argue with him.

The carving took 90 years to complete, and indeed the river waters *were* calmer afterwards - though this is likely because of the increased stone in the rivers. The surrounding area was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, and has been included on JcJud’s ‘Top 20 Really Big Things to Be Dismissive About While Touring China’ list since 2018.
Megalonyx

## Ability

### Ability

**Jefferson's Bones****(Play)** Your Declaration of Independence card in hand gains +60 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Paleontology cards, wherever they are, gain +4 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

In 1797, Colonel John Stuart sent fossils of an ancient creature to then Vice-President of America, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson identified the animal as a giant lion, and named it **Megalonyx**, meaning “large claw”. Little did he know that Megalonyx was not a big cat at all, but a giant ground sloth that lived during the Pleistocene epoch.

Like most naturalists at the time, Jefferson didn’t believe that animals could go extinct. So, you can imagine that the discovery of the Megalonyx fossils would have set the fear in him, as he even warned explorers Lewis & Clark to watch out for it on their expedition. But Jefferson was way off the mark: in fact, this unusual mammal went extinct in the Quaternary extinction event, around 0.6 million years prior.

Image by Roman Uchytel, https://prehistoric-fauna.com
Laser Sword

## Ability

### Ability

***Vwoomph*****(Play)** For every Forces of the Universe card played this game by either player, this card gains +14 Power.

## Did You Know?

We’re sure you don’t have to be told what a **Laser Sword** is, but for those completely uninitiated to the poppest of pop culture of the last 45 years, they appear, of course as the Lightsaber in the Star Wars franchise, and were unsurprisingly voted the most popular weapon in film history.

However, the idea of a laser sword wasn’t unique to the franchise, with unbridled energy swords first featuring in Edmond Hamilton’s “Kaldar: Word of Antares”, a popular science fiction story, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.

The laser sword appears under different titles across the decade, notably as “rods of wrath” in Fritz Leiber’s 1943 novel Gather Darkness, and “force-blades” in the Isaac Asimov’s Lucky Starr series from the 1950s.

And as George Lucas was a self-admitted science fiction fan as a child, it’s not a stretch to imagine that these works could have served as inspiration.
Kultarr

## Ability

### Ability

**Torpor the List****(Return)** This card gains +60 Power and costs +1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Australia’s arid plains are home to a tiny marsupial known as the **Kultarr**, a springy mouse-like creature who lives on a diet of spiders, crickets, cockroaches and beetles. Bon Appetit! This nocturnal animal does his biddings in the dark, and during the day, it shelters in hollow logs, at the base of shrubs or in cracks in the soil.

The Kultarr may be little, but it sure is resilient. To conserve energy, the marsupial enters into a state of ‘torpor’ where its body temperature drops to 11 °C, reducing its metabolic rate by 30% conserving energy and reducing water loss. Kultarrs do this for 2-16 hours, allowing them to survive in a harsh environment for a long time.
Lilo

## Ability

### Ability

**Float On By****(Draw)** Your Oceans and Seas cards in hand cost -2 Energy until played. **(Play)** Your Oceans and Seas cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

<link="http:>Pizza Slices</link> . <link="http:>Fighter Jets</link> . Even a <link="http:>giant poop emoji</link> . Nowadays, **Lilos** come in all shapes and sizes. But can you imagine how ground-breaking it would have been when the first person rocked up to the beach with an air mattress and started lounging on it in the sea? Incredible.

The Li-Lo trademark, derived from the phrase “lie-low”, was first registered in the UK in 1944, and the inflatable air mattress for recreational use was advertised as one of the Li-Lo brand of products at the British Industries Fair in London 1949. Long before that (we’re talking 1800s), air mattresses had been conceptualised and prototyped by inventors looking to revolutionise sleep. It was only so long before their designs would collide with flotation devices to create a timeless pool toy.
Melchior

## Ability

### Ability

**We Three Kings****(Draw)** A random card in your hand gains +20 Power permanently. **(Play)** If played next to Caspar, give that card +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Not that gifting is a competitive sport, but it’s always great to arrive at the party with a winning present. **Melchior** did just that when he brought Jesus the gift of Gold, which undoubtedly showed fellow wise men Balthasar and Caspar up. If God ever has another son, they’ll know to set the spend limit.

Described by St Bede in the 8th Century as being “an old man, with white hair and a long beard”, Melchior was like a Persian Dumbledore in appearance, and he is commonly referred to as the King of Persia. According to a mediaeval saints calendar, he met up with the Magi again in 54 AD in the Kingdom of Armenia to celebrate Christmas. After living 116 years, he died on 1 January 55 AD.
Lepus

## Ability

### Ability

**Bad Hare Day****(Play)** Your Canis Major card in hand gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Lepus stands for "the Hare" in latin, and whilst not being associated hugely with mythology it is said it is being chased by Orion and his dogs, Canis Minor and Canis Major. It is the 51st constellation in size and is in the Orion family.
Longisquama

## Ability

### Ability

**Long Scales****(Draw)** For every round completed this game, your Ancient Creatures cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Sometimes, just one look at an ancient creature will tell you everything you need to know about why they went extinct. I mean, honestly: what animal really needs 6 hockey stick like appendages on its back to survive? Answer: the **Longisquama**, whose name literally means “long scales”.

Although there’s a general consensus that birds evolved from theropods, and the Longisguama’s scales look like the spinal feathers of birds, palaeontologists have concluded that this “ambiguous” creature had no real significance to bird evolution. Still, it is possible that these quill-like structures jutted out from side to side, giving Longisguama some “lift” to jump from branch to branch in the high trees. Either that, or they would have been purely decorative, serving to attract potential males.
Logan Sapphire

## Ability

### Ability

**Flawless Specimen****(Draw)** If your deck contains Sapphire, this card costs -4 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Almost 423 carats of pure blue beauty and excellent clarity; it’s the second-largest faceted sapphire in the world and perhaps the largest known blue sapphire. The **Logan Sapphire** is a flawless cushion-cut stone of Sri Lankan origin, set in a brooch surrounded by 20 brilliant-cut diamonds.

Upon examination, it was declared by the Gemological Institute of America in 1997 as being completely natural, with no heat treatment to enhance its colour. This gorgeous blue sapphire is roughly the size of an egg and is named after Polly Logan, who donated the gemstone to the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington D.C. in 1960, where it remains today.
Little John

## Ability

### Ability

**Not So Small****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands with 3 or less Base Energy lose -30 Power this turn. Repeat if played next to Robin Hood.

## Did You Know?

Every hero has a sidekick: Holmes had Watson, Han Solo had Chewbacca and Robin Hood had **Little John**. Like Chewbacca, Little John was covered in fur - well, that’s according to Disney, who depicted him as a big loveable bear.

Although he isn’t a bear in the original stories, he is a giant, 7-foot-tall warrior and master of the quarterstaff. His name, as it turns out, is an ironic reference to his towering height. Second in command of the Merry Men, Little John features in the oldest tales of Robin Hood dating back to the 15th century.

According to a 17th-century ballad, Little John met Robin Hood on a bridge, where they fought. Despite having won the duel, John agreed to join his band and fight alongside him.
Leopard

## Ability

### Ability

**Spot Check****(Draw)** If you are losing the round, gain +30 Power/Turn this turn.

## Did You Know?

The spots on a Leopard are known as rosettes as they have a similar shape to a rose… so, you could say that the Leopard is a champion many times over!

Leopards communicate using a wide range of distinctive calls including coughs, growls and hoarse, raspy coughs. It’s a wonder we don’t see more of them in the local Doctor’s surgery.
Lava Lamp

## Ability

### Ability

**Meltdown****(Draw)** If you are losing the round, your cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power for 2 turns and cost -3 Energy for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Perhaps the most kitsch item of home décor ever, the **Lava Lamp** was originally developed from a design for an egg timer using two liquids spotted in a Dorset pub. Entrepreneurs Edward Craven Walker and David George Smith spent years transforming this design into a light, initially using cocktail and orange squash bottles.

Finally, after 15 years, they went to market in 1963 with the first lava lamp, which they called the Astro Globe. Originally, the lamp was sold as a luxury home decoration, but with the rise of the psychedelic movement in the 60s, lava lamps became a staple in the hippie household.

In case you wondered, the largest ever Lava Lamp stands four feet tall and holds gallons of lava formula.
Lighthouse of Alexandria

## Ability

### Ability

**Pharos for Pharaohs****(Return)** If your deck has 2 or more Egyptian Mythology cards, your Ancient Egypt cards, wherever they are, gain +26 Power and cost -1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the most famous lighthouse in antiquity. The **Lighthouse of Alexandria**, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, stood on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria and is said to have been over 110 metres tall. The only taller man-made structures at the time would have been the pyramids of Giza!

Built in the year 280 BC during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the lighthouse stood for almost 1,500 years, surviving many Egyptian regimes – even the one that resulted in the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. It was the third-longest surviving ancient wonder, and in 1480, the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site.

'3D reconstruction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria' by SciVi 3D studio (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Mars Rover Perseverance

## Ability

### Ability

**Another Happy Landing****(Return)** If you won the turn, gain +30 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

Good News!

NASA’s **Perseverance Rover** has touched down safely in the delta feature in the Jezero Crater, Mars. "We are in a nice flat spot. The vehicle is only tilted by about 1.2 degrees," said Allen Chen (Entry, Descent, and Landing Lead).

After seven months of travel, the precision of this exercise is made all the more impressive as only around 50% of Mars missions have been successful (it’s a little more complicated than that, but we won’t go into it).

Among many other objectives, Perseverance is looking for signs of past life in the Jezero Crater, which has been selected as it was once a large body of water (49km across), and it is thought that if life ever existed on Mars it is likely to have inhabited bodies of water and the wet areas around its shores. It is specifically looking for carbonate rocks, which are particularly good at trapping biological activity.

Now landed, it will spend its first 5 days confirming that it is running as it should be, before attempting to launch Ingenuity, a small Mars Helicopter stowed on its underbelly, before moving onto its long-term primary scientific objectives.

Perseverance Rover's First Image from Mars sourced from NASA/JPL-Caltech
Meoto Iwa

## Did You Know?

**Meoto Iwa** are also known as the Married Couple Rocks. They're two large rocks in the sea, off the coast of the city of Ise in Japan.

They symbolise the union of Izanagi and Izanami, two Shinto gods, who created all the spirits of the Shinto faith. A huge rope made of rice straw, called a "shimenawa", joins the two rocks at all times. It weighs a ton - literally - and has to be replaced three times a year in a special ceremony. Most people only renew their wedding vows once...
Megaraptor

## Ability

### Ability

**Toe in the Slaughter****(Return)** Your Herbivores and Omnivores cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power and cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

If you were a fish in the Late Cretaceous period, the **Megaraptor** was bad news. Using a huge, sickle-shaped toe claw, the large therapod dinosaur hunted its aquatic prey. When alive, this claw would have been sheathed in material much like our fingernails, which would have made the claw even bigger and sharper. Note to fish: swim away.

Incomplete remains of the Megaraptor were found in 1996 in Northwest Patagonia, Argentina, by palaeontologist Fernando E. Novas. Novas named it in 1998 (when it was still thought to be a raptor, hence the name – which literally translates to “giant thief”.) After several recent studies, palaeontologists point towards the lineage of this giant carnivore as being closer to a basal coelurosaur.
Maine Coon

## Ability

### Ability

**The Gentle Giant****(Return)** If you are losing the round, your remaining cards in hand cost -2 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

In the 1850s, seafarers brought long-haired cats into the State of Maine, America. These ship cats mated with the local shorthair cats. Their offspring were large, stocky cats with semi-long coats and big brush tails like those of racoons. Over the years, they developed thick, dense coats to withstand the harsh New England winters. This is the origin story of the **Maine Coon**, the largest of all the cat breeds. If you’re wondering, the record for the world’s longest house cat belongs to a Maine Coon who grew to be over four feet long!

Despite making excellent mousers, this breed is a gentle giant at heart – they tend to be affectionate, playful and love spending time with their human companions.
Lolcat

## Ability

### Ability

**MOAR POWERZ?****(Play)** If your deck has 9 or more Cute Cats cards, your Cute Cats cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

It’s hard to believe there was a time before the internet was a toxic cesspool of hot takes and fake news, but trust us - in the early 2000s, memes were wholesome as hell and cats ruled the roost.

Born from a comment on 4chan, the concept of ‘**Lolcat**’ spread fast: by 2007, everyone was sharing memes of cats with funny misspelt captions (apparently, cats are smart enough for world domination, but not enough to grasp spelling and grammar.) That broken-up English became known as Lolspeak, a way of communicating a cat’s internal thoughts like “I can has cheezburger?”, “Im on ur shelvz, fyled undr ‘kitteh’”, and everyone’s favourite <link="https:>'Ceiling Cat'.</link>

Reader, this was a time when a picture of a cat peering from a hole in the ceiling was the height of humor.
Leopard Gecko

## Did You Know?

The Leopard Gecko is indigenous to the Middle East and India, and is renowned for its black spots and its gentle disposition that makes it a fantastic pet. They also have claws, rather than the sticky toe pads that most geckos have, and a tail that can break off when grabbed by a predator. While that tail is also where they store fat for lean times, not being eaten is a decent trade-off.
Max Planck

## Ability

### Ability

**Quantum Leap****(Play)** Your Quantum Theory card in hand gains +27 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Quantum Theory card, wherever it is, costs -4 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

One of the founding fathers of Quantum Theory, **Max Planck** was a Nobel prize-winning theoretical physicist whose work changed our understanding of the world forever. Before Planck, it was assumed that everything in our world abided by the basic laws of traditional physics. Then, physicists began to study the world of the ultra-small. As Max Planck began to study particles, he discovered new laws by which electrons, light waves and atoms were ruled.

Using just five constants in nature (length, mass, temperature, time and charge), Planck set a maximum limit for the universe, beyond which the laws of physics break. Planck’s constant is often defined as the fundamental physical constant characteristic of the mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics.
Mary Cassatt

## Did You Know?

Despite a social environment which still frowned on the idea of women having careers in the arts, and rules that forbade female students from using live models, and restrictions on where women could socialise with other artists… **Mary Cassatt**’s determination and remarkable paintings ensured that she made a lasting impression.

And that word is chosen deliberately - faced with rejection from the French artistic establishment (the ‘Salon’), Edgar Degas invited Cassatt to exhibit with the Impressionists - whose work was also widely rejected by critics at the time. Her art, as well as being a significant contribution to that movement, also celebrated women’s independence, the ideal of the ‘new woman’, and the nature of motherhood.

'Two Women Throwing Flowers' by Mary Cassatt (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)

## Fusion

 **Mary Cassatt** | **7** | Claude Monet | 3
M.C. Escher

## Ability

### Ability

**Beautiful Geometry****(Play)** Your Super Structures and Wonders of Construction cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played and gain +1:energy/turn: this round.

## Did You Know?

Contrary to popular belief, **M.C. Escher** wasn’t a mathematician – in fact, he wasn’t even a good math student. This changed when his interest was piqued by a paper he read on “plane symmetry groups”, repetitive patterns on two-dimensional surfaces. The paper inspired his mind-bending geometric art (although he didn’t really get the theory behind it). M.C. Escher went on to collaborate with mathematical physicist Roger Penrose to create art that depicted mathematically impossible forms.
Megantereon

## Ability

### Ability

**Kind of a Big Deal****(Play)** Your Paleontology cards with "Mega" in the name, wherever they are, gain +30 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

While some pictures portray **Megantereon** as a soft and cuddly creature, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Its name alone means Giant Beast, which gives a more accurate insight into the ferocity of this sabre-toothed slayer.

Sizing up at around 4 feet long and weighing 100 pounds, Megantereon was like a heavyweight champion compared to your average house cat. Its powerful bite packed a punch, inflicting serious damage. Initially, scientists believed it used its teeth to hold onto prey until it perished, but further analysis revealed that the Megantereon likely injured its prey and patiently waited for it to die before digging in. As such, this sadistic predator struck fear into the hearts of its prey wherever it prowled—Africa, North America, and Eurasia were all part of its hunting grounds.
Leaellynasaura

## Ability

### Ability

**Leaellyn's Lizard****(Play)** If you have played a Reptiles card this game, gain +2:energy/turn: for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

Discovered at Dinosaur Cove, Australia in 1987, **Leaellynasaura** (meaning "Leaellyn's lizard", named for the daughter of the paleontologist who discovered it) is an ancient species of lizard who was capable of surviving – and thriving – in the coldest temperatures. Scientists say this creature likely had skin with hair-like filaments to keep it warm and a super-long, furry flexible tail that could wrap around the lizard to keep it warm during cold snaps.

It may not have had deadly claws or teeth like other dinosaurs, but Leaellynasaura didn’t really need those features. What the lizard did have was big eyes, adapted to help the animal find its way around in lowlight conditions. With only the glow of the moon and the aurora to guide it, Leaellynasaura would have foraged for its favourite ferns and low-growing Early Cretaceous plants like horsetails.
Lonesome George

## Ability

### Ability

**All By Myself****(Draw)** If this is the only Reptiles card in your deck, your Life on Land cards in hand gain +26 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The world may not have ended in 2012. But we did say goodbye to **Lonesome George** - the last Pinta Island tortoise. George was first found on the island of pinta in 1971, but due to the devastating effects of feral goats to the island’s vegetation, he was moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where he lived the remainder of his life. In his final years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world.

How do we honour this beautiful reptile’s memory? By dragging him on Wikipedia, apparently. In a section dedicated to ‘mating attempts’, the article reads “Over the decades, all attempts at mating Lonesome George had been unsuccessful.” Brutal. On the flipside, the Futurama episode <link="https:>Naturama</link> was dedicated to his memory.

'Lonesome George walking in October 2008' by Arturo de Frias Marques (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)