Sun Jian

Emperor Wulie 武烈帝

**Brave Spirit** 英魂
Before his turn, if Sun Jian is not at maximum health, he can force anyone to either
1- Draw X cards, then discard 1.
2- Draw 1 card, then discard X.
X is how much health Sun Jian is missing.

**Clarification:**

* Sun Jian cannot use "Brave Spirit" on himself.
* To fulfill the discarding requirements of "Brave Spirit," the target can elect to discard equipment.
* When Sun Jian is missing one unit of health (X=1), both options have the same net effect on the target.
* Note that Sun Jian must have at least one unit of damage to activate this ability. X cannot be equal to zero.
* If Sun Jian exercises the second option of his power and the target does not have enough cards to fulfill the discard requirement after drawing a card, the target simply discards all of their remaining cards.
* The character who is targeted with "Brave Spirit" cannot elect to discard pending judgement tool cards like *Capture.*
* The target of "Brave Spirit" can elect to discard some/all of the cards that they drew for the power.

**Strengths** **Weaknesses**

* "Brave Spirit" can be used to help teammates or hurt enemies, which is a rare quality for a power of a character of four units of health.

* "Brave Spirit" becomes more powerful as Sun Jian becomes weaker, allowing him to make a comeback more easily as his health approaches zero. When Sun Jian is missing three units of health, there is a net gain/loss of two cards. This is significant, as two cards are drawn each turn.

* "Brave Spirit" is not very useful unless Sun Jian is missing three units of health. When Sun Jian is at full health, he cannot activate the power. When he is missing one unit of health, there is no net gain/loss of cards. This limits the usage of this power to only being helpful (and only marginally so at that) for allies. When Sun Jian is missing two units of health, there is only a net gain/loss of one card. While this is useful for Sun Jian, it does not usually change the game drastically.

**Notable Combinations:**

* Zhang Jiao/Gan Ning/Zhang He - These characters specialize in card destruction. If they can remove some cards from a particular player, Sun Jian could possibly force them to discard the rest of their cards, leaving them open for an assault.

* Hua Tuo/Wu Guo Tai - These characters can keep Sun Jian alive with one unit of health easily, maximizing the power of "Brave Spirit." Hua Tuo can do this through either of his powers, while Wu Guo Tai can do this with "Amend" if Sun Jian keeps a tool or equipment card in his hand.

* Sun Quan - Sun Quan's "Reconsider" benefits him the most when he has a lot of cards, so Sun Jian can help him out by targeting him with the first option of his power.

* Sun Shang Xiang - Because Sun Shang Xiang can elect to discard equipment for "Brave Spirit," she can activate "Armed Consorts" when Sun Jian targets her with his power. This makes them a good pair of teammates, but it also makes Sun Shang Xiang a powerful enemy of Sun Jian, as he has little leverage against her when using his power.

* Lu Xun/Zhang Chun Hua - These characters have powers that specify a minimum number of cards in their hands at any one time, so Sun Jian's "Brave Spirit" is not useful when used against them.

 Loyalist
 Rebel
 Spy

**Final Remarks:**

Sun Jian is an interesting character, but he is inherently flawed because he has to be at very low health for his power to be effective. Experienced players will exploit this weakness by not damaging him and only pursuing his teammates. When Sun Jian is at full health, he has nothing to offer his team. After the teammates are killed, they will then turn their attention to him. At this point, his power will be useful, but he may be up against so many enemies that it will not be enough to save him. A character using Sun Jian can counter this tactic by willingly taking damage when other characters play *Barbarians* and *Hail of Arrows*. Sun Jian still has to be careful though. He has to walk a very fine line to be an effective team member.