recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Ox

## Ability

### Ability

**Raw Strength****(Draw)** If your deck has 3 or more Chinese Folklore cards, your Chinese Folklore cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

An **Ox** is an adult male bull that been domesticated to do farm work. Highly cooperative, oxen are dependable animals can use their strength continually for long amounts of time. What’s more, their muscular build makes oxen strong enough to pull carts, and humans have used them to do work for over 6,000 years! In short, an ox is a sturdy bull with a steady job who you can depend on to stick around for the long haul. Ladies, please.
Mimic Octopus

## Ability

### Ability

**Sucker Punch****(Return)** If you lost the turn, Steal 4 Energy from your opponent.

## Did You Know?

The “Mimicking Miracle Octopus” (its incredible full name, nice work People Who Name Animals) earns name as a veritable chameleon of the sandy seafloor. This cephalopod is a relatively recent discovery (I mean, no wonder they couldn't find it until 1998 when it shapeshifts so much) and is found in shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific.

It's a master impersonator, taking on the appearance and behaviour of the bad guys and the nasty creatures that would be its predators. It can also impersonate several other species and switch between them almost immediately.

* NB if you stare at this card for too long it may change in front of your very eyes...

Okay, it's doesn't ACTUALLY change. Maybe if you squint, it sorta does?
Onyx

## Ability

### Ability

**Sardonic****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The name **Onyx** derives from the Greek word, er, *"onux"*, which means finger or claw. Mythology has it that Eros cut her fingernails and left the clippings scattered on the ground - the Gods turned them into onyx because no part of a heavenly body could die.

First of all, I don't care if you're a deity or a celestial being or whatever - you pick your fingernail clippings up. That's just disgusting. Secondly; I've heard of "waste not, want not", but that's just ridiculous.

In the real world **Onyx** is most often a black stone with white lines running through it, but you can find them in greyer colours.
Oiran

## Ability

### Ability

**High Regard****(Return)** If you won the turn, this card gains +60 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Originating in the red light district of Edo in the 1750s, the term “**Oiran**” was used to describe high-ranking sex workers who’s clients tended to be the rich and powerful. The word itself comes from the Japanese phrase “oira no tokoro nesan”, which loosely means “the older sisters of our place.”

Since they were high-ranking, they had their choice of clientele: customers would have to go through a three-step process prior to any physical interaction so that the Oiran could decide whether or not the customer was worthy of her service. Seen as the pin-ups of the Edo period, the Oiran were influencers of women’s fashion - in fact, many of the most famous bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) that exist as woodcut prints are of Oiran.
Neptune's Great Dark Spot

## Ability

### Ability

**Rapid Rage****(Draw)** Your Neptune card, wherever it is, gains +60 Power until this is returned to your deck. **(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +19 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In 1989, Neptune’s Voyager 2 became the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space. When it flew by Neptune, NASA discovered that the ice giant had a spot similar to that of Jupiter. The mysterious spot was found to be a massive spinning storm about the size of our entire Earth, with winds blowing at speeds of up to 1,500 miles per hour. These were the strongest winds ever recorded in our solar system!

Then, something strange happened. When astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to look at Neptune in 1994, the dark spot in the southern hemisphere of the planet was gone. However, a different dark spot had appeared in the northern atmosphere. The latest spot is known as **Neptune’s Great Dark Spot** – or NGDS for short.
Mongolian Gerbil

## Ability

### Ability

**Small-Clawed Warrior****(Return)** A random card in your hand with 3 or less Base Energy gains +24 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

It doesn’t take a genius to guess its country of origin but given that the **Mongolian Gerbil** is one of the world’s most beloved pets, this oval-eared rodent can be found in homes and pet shops everywhere. They may look cute to us, but the Mongolian gerbil’s scientific name (Meriones unguiculatus) actually means ‘small-clawed warrior’.

Although they don’t pose a threat to any other prey animals, these warriors hone their fighting skills by boxing and wrestling each other. Grooming often happens at the same time, allowing gerbils to remain parasite-free and battle-ready for later life. The tail of the Mongolian gerbil can be used to warn family members of danger, but can also be shed if it gets stuck so the gerbil can escape quickly.
Momotaro

## Ability

### Ability

**Peach Boy****(Draw)** If you have played **Momotaro** this game, your Dogs, Curious Cuisine and Primates cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Once upon a time, an elderly couple living in the mountains found a peach floating in the river. From the peach, a baby boy was born and they called him **Momotaro** (“Momo” meaning peach, and “taro” being a title for the eldest son.)

Momotaro grows to be strong and brave, and sets out to fight a group of Oni (demons or ogres) causing chaos in the land. Along the way, he makes friends with a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant and shares his dumplings with them. Together, they defeat the ogres and recover the stolen loot.

It may be a simple story, but the folk tale of Momotaro is seen as quintessentially Japanese - especially the symbol of food as a gift of nature that has the power to bring people together.
Musky Rat-Kangaroo

## Ability

### Ability

**Tiny Kangaroo****(Play)** Your Little Critters cards in hand gain +15 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

How has the world’s smallest kangaroo survived for over 20 million years in the Australian forests? Well, a combination of evolutionary features passed down from now-extinct ancestors certainly helps.

Despite measuring only 50cm long, the **Musky Rat-Kangaroo** has opposable thumbs on their hind feet, a prehensile tail, a strong digestive tract and the habit of birthing twins or triplets. It’s also one of the only diurnal (opposite of nocturnal) species of kangaroo in Australia.

Due to their shyness and quickness, these creatures are pretty hard to spot in the wild. However, even if you don’t see one, you might be able to smell these tiny kangaroos if you’re in their habitat. As their name suggests, they have a noticeable musky fragrance. Of course, that might just be your tour guide.

'Musky-Rat Kangaroo in Queensland, Australia' by PanBK (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Panchatantra

## Ability

### Ability

**Animal Fables****(Play)** Your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

There’s nothing better than a story about talking animals and the **Panchatantra** has 5 books of them! A little like Aesop’s Fables, the Panchatantra is a collection of moral tales, all featuring animals to push the message home. Because what better way to learn a lesson than to have an adorable mouse teach you it?! Oh boy! Originally written in Sanskrit, the Panchatantra is the most translated work to come out of India.

It all starts by telling the story of how the author Vishnu Sharma came to a kingdom where the king’s three unruly sons needed a teacher. Sharma agreed to teach them for free and told them the stories he would record in the Panchatantra. It contains 5 books - one about losing friends, one about winning friends, one just called “On Owls and Crows” (ultimately about war and peace), one about losing what you’ve gained and a fifth on hasty actions. Each one contains several shorter fables within and you can actually see the origin stories of some of the tales that turn up in the collected works of the Brothers Grimm.
Pallas' Cat

## Ability

### Ability

**Fluff Piece****(Play)** If you are winning the round, this card gains +10 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

This sweet bundle of fluff hales from Central Asia, preferring cold, arid landscapes of shortgrass and mixed prairie at altitudes of around 4500 meters.

Named after Prussian zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811), it took the name Pallas rather than Peter or Simon, which is a loss for David Attenborough narration enthusiasts the world over.

**Pallas' Cats** look much bigger than they are because of their extraordinarily dense and long fur, the longest of any cat. If you were to shave one\*, it would be around the size of a domestic cat. The fur both camouflages them and keeps them warm as they hunt in hostile conditions.

* not recommended
Mole Poblano

## Ability

### Ability

**Quite a Kick****(Draw)** Your Curious Cuisine cards in hand gain +21 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Ancho chilis, fruit, nuts, seeds and Mexican chocolate make up the thick, savoury sauce of **Mole Poblano**, Mexico’s most famous sauce and the pride of Puebla’s cuisine.

The origin story of Mole Poblano is shrouded in mystery and intrigue, with enough theories to fill a spicy telenovela. Some say that nuns at the Convent of Santa Rosa whipped up the concoction in the 16th century for a visiting archbishop, while others believe it dates back to pre-Columbian times.

One thing's for sure, though: it's now a beloved national dish of Mexico, so popular that it's even been dubbed the official dish of Cinco de Mayo since the day commemorates Mexico's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla.
Moustached Guenon

## Ability

### Ability

'**Stached Away****(Draw)** Gain +25 Power/Turn for 3 turns and this card loses -55 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

With facial hair <link="https:>like Sam Elliott,</link>, the **Moustached Guenon** is easily recognisable. Native to Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic, these primates are bonafide arboreal masters capable of leaping 20 metres from tree to tree - Tarzan eat your heart out.

Still, life’s not always a breeze for the moustached monkey, as chimpanzees, leopards, pythons, eagles and humans all pose a threat to its safety. To combat these predators, Moustached Guenons form a troop with other guenon monkeys, whereby each species group will alert the others of incoming predators to their neck of the woods. Each guenon species puts a unique “accent” on these vocalisations, and all the guenons across the genus learn one another’s warning calls so they can better avoid danger and keep each other safe.
Napoleon Fish

## Ability

### Ability

**Napoleon Complex****(Play)** If you are winning the round, this card gains +50 Power.

## Did You Know?

The Humphead Wrasse, also known as the **Napoleon Fish** is a HUGE fish (so much so that we need to capitalise the word huge) and can reach a length of more than 6.5 feet and weigh over 400 pounds.

It has a prominent, large bulge on its forehead, and some of them live to be over 30 years old. They roam through coral reefs in search of hard-shelled prey such as molluscs, starfish, or crustaceans. This fish is luckily immune to the toxic spines of animals like the Crown-of-thorns Starfish. So back off Starfish, you can do no damage here!

The diverse colouring of Napoleon Fish can range from a dull blue-green to brilliant shades of green or purplish-blue. We hear that the dull blue-green ones are pretty livid at the colour palette of the jazzier purple ones.

The World Wildlife Federation has urged local governments in the Coral Triangle to stop the trade and consumption of Napoleon Fish -one of the most expensive live reef fishes in the world. Live reef fish trade in Southeast Asia continues to be a significant problem that threatens the region’s food security as well as its reefs, as poachers often resort to illegal and destructive fishing methods to catch them.

Did you know that Napoleon Fish, like most wrasses, are 'protogynous hermaphrodites', which means that they can function as members of both sexes throughout the course of their reproductive lives, starting life as a female? Later in life, they may transition to males, but in some species, not all individuals will transition. This amazing transformation is still being studied.
Oviraptor

## Ability

### Ability

**Wrongly Accused****(Play)** Your Dinosaur Eggs card in hand gains +50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The poor Oviraptor is a creature that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That place was near the eggs of a Protoceratops, and that time was possibly at the point in which a meteor strike wiped out all of the dinosaurs.

When the bones of that severely unfortunate creature were discovered in 1924, paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn noticed the fossilised eggs nearby and put two and two together - from that point on he referred to it as Oviraptor, or "Egg Thief", without a fair trial.

Fortunately, long after the case went cold, new evidence came to light - very similar eggs were discovered 70 years later, which contained Oviraptor-like embryos, implying that it had been protecting its own eggs rather than hoarding ones stolen from others. Oviraptor was exonerated, but unfortunately, the name had already stuck.
OPALS

## Ability

### Ability

**OPALS in the Sky with Lasers****(Draw)** Your Hidden Gems cards, wherever they are, cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

In 2014, an instrument designed to speed up the flow of information between Earth and space via laser communications was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft. Its destination? The International Space Station. The instrument was **OPALS** – a catchier abbreviation for the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science.

The OPALS has two hardware systems: the flight system, which sends the laser downlinks from the ISS, and the ground system, which helps the flight system know where to point and receive its downlinks. The mission ran for three months and was a success, proving that space-to-ground laser communications were much faster than radio signals. As a bonus, OPALS collected a huge amount of data to advance the science of sending lasers through the atmosphere.
Mudskipper

## Ability

### Ability

**I Herd U Liek Mudskipz****(Return)** Your Amphibians cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power this round. If your deck also contains Axolotl or Glass Frog, Amphibians gain another +12 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Known for their unique appearance and impressive (yet unsettling) method of walking on land with their pectoral fins, the **Mudskipper** is anything but ordinary. A member of the Goby family of fish, you can find the Mudskipper in the tidal mudflats, estuaries and mangrove swamps of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Unlike other fish, this creature can survive on solid ground during low tide. It breathes using gills, mucous membranes of the throat and mouth and a capillary network under its skin. Their unique way of moving on land is known as “crutching” because their pectoral fins resemble a pair of crutches. Weirder still, this fish needs to roll its eyeballs back while in water to prevent dehydration during low tide.
Pachycephalosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Headfirst****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +35 Power. **(Return)** This card costs +3 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

We're not sure that **Pachycephalosaurus** would have taken kindly to being called a 'thick-headed lizard', but that's what the name means, and it's a fair description. These dinosaurs had a skull 20 times thicker than other dinosaurs (up to 10 inches thick in places) - arguably overkill considering the small brain it was protecting.

The popular - and most obvious - theory is that the skull was used for ramming opponents in battle, but as usual paleontologists are in disagreement about this, with some believing it was used for side attacks instead. But never mind what the scientists think - what do **you** think it could have been used for?
Nu

## Ability

### Ability

**Waters of Chaos****(Play)** If you have won 1 round this game and if you have lost 1 round this game, your Oceans and Seas cards in hand gain +32 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

In the beginning, there was nothing: just a chaotic, watery abyss swirling around containing the potential of all life. The ancient Egyptians saw **Nu** as the representation of these primaeval waters, existing both outside of the universe and within every body of water. Yes, that refreshing bottle of water you’re drinking has Nu in it, as does every raindrop and even the local swimming pool. So, unsurprisingly, Nu was seen as forming the source of the river Nile and its annual flood.

Often, Nu was depicted as a man with a double plume on his head. When he is drawn as part of the Ogdoad, the eight gods of Hermopolis, he is depicted with a frog’s head and a man’s body.

'Heh as Chaos' by Jeff Dahl (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
North African Elephant Shrew

## Ability

### Ability

**Who Nose?****(Return)** If you lost the turn, a random card in your hand gains +28 Power until played and if you won the turn, a random card in your hand costs -4 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

In itself, the name ‘elephant shrew’ is a bit of an oxymoron. But when you see the creature itself, it all makes sense. Like an elephant, the **North African Elephant Shrew** has a tiny little trunk which it can move in a circular motion. And, like that of an elephant’s, the shrew’s trunk has nostrils located towards the tip.

If you’re wondering why this tiny animal has so much in common with elephants, prepare to have your mind blown: the North African Elephant Shrew is not, in fact, a shrew. Recent evidence suggests that this species, also called sengis, are more closely related to the group of African mammals that includes elephants, sea cows and aardvarks.
Oshun

## Ability

### Ability

**Flowing Energy****(Play)** Your Raging Rivers cards in hand gain +40 Power until played. **(Return)** If your deck has exactly 12 Raging Rivers cards, your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Practitioners of traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa believe in a pantheon of 401 gods (known as Orisha), who rule over the forces of nature and the endeavours of humanity. Of all the Orisha, **Ọṣhun** is one of the most powerful and benevolent.

A deity associated with the sweet waters of brooks, rivers and streams, Ọṣhun is said to be the protector of the poor and the mother of all orphans. During her mortal life, Ọṣhun served as queen consort to King Shango of Oyo - but she is also thought to have been the first woman to be referred to as an Iyalode - a high-ranking female chieftain. Following her death and deification, Ọṣhun was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and prosperity.
Ornithocheirus

## Did You Know?

Ornithocheirus was a species of pterosaur that we only really know about through remains of its jaw - everything else we think we know, such as body length and wingspan is pure extrapolation. For all we know it had four wings.

What we do know is that it represents a real sore spot for The People That Name Animals. Named Ornithocheirus by Harry Seeley in 1870, who named it after the Greek for "bird hand" on the incorrect assumption that it was the ancestor of modern-day birds, many other sub-species of this dinosaur would go on to have similar names built on the same misconception.
Mule

## Did You Know?

Ever heard the phrase "stubborn as a mule"? Well, un-hear it if you can - Mules are among the more docile creatures on the planet. A Mule is a cross between a male donkey and female horse (unless it's from Moscow, where it's a cocktail).

It's a hardier beast of burden compared to a donkey or a horse. It's also, according to 13th-century Franciscan monk Bartholomaeus Anglicus, a producer of dung which is a great remedy for scorpion stings. Wouldn't recommend trying that, so don't get stung.
Newton's Reflector

## Ability

### Ability

**Mirror Image****(Draw)** An opponent's random card in hand gains +22 Power this turn and a random card in your hand gains +22 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Sir Isaac Newton was a brilliant scientist at a time when “scientist” wasn’t actually even a word - imagine that. At the time, Newton was instead known as a “natural philosopher." He studied the natural world using observation, evidence, and calculations as a basis for his conclusions.

During the 1680s in England, Newton built a small but incredibly powerful telescope. The images produced by this telescope were free from chromatic aberration which for those of us amongst us who are not 'natural philosophers,' means the rings of color that surrounded bright objects.

Newton changed the telescope’s most basic element: its primary lens, replacing the convex glass lens with a spherical mirror that reflected and focused the light. By changing the primary lens to a mirror, he launched a new class of telescopes, drumroll... reflectors!

'A replica of Isaac Newton's second reflecting telescope of 1672.' by Solipsist (Andrew Dunn) (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Nicolaus Copernicus

## Ability

### Ability

**Planetary Revolution****(Play)** Your The Solar System cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**Nicolaus Copernicus** was a Polish astronomer and mathematician. Born in 1473 to a family of merchants and clergymen, he trained as an economist before discovering his astronomical leanings.

He is credited with being the father of heliocentrism - the idea that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun, and so the Earth is not the centre of the universe. He built on the work of Aristarchus and Ptolemy, ancient philosophers who had versions of the same idea, although his published work did not credit them - it's unclear whether he deliberately wanted people to think those ideas were his own, or if it was an accident (anyone who's ever written a university dissertation knows the struggle).

The Catholic Church at the time was not particularly keen on ideas about the universe that didn't mesh nicely with the Bible, but Copernicus was very cautious about not appearing to believe his own theories. He released a work called "The Little Commentary" in the 1510s that discussed heliocentrism in brief, but when he learned that it had made it to the desk of Pope Clement VII he was reluctant to expand on the ideas. He finally did so by publishing "On the Revolutions of Celestial Orbs" in 1543, on his deathbed.
Mount Thor

## Ability

### Ability

**I've Fought Bigger****(Play)** If played next to any Majestic Mountains card, your opponent loses -50 Power/Turn this turn.

## Did You Know?

Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island in northern Canada is known for its vast glaciers, powerful rivers and towering peaks - like Mount Asgard, the impossibly-high cliff that James Bond jumps from in the <link="https:>Spy Who Loved Me</link>. And get this: Mount Asgard isn’t even the tallest cliff. That title belongs to **Mount Thor**.

For starters, the peak’s west face is the longest vertical drop on Earth: 4,101 feet straight down. In fact, the slope is steeper than vertical, since the face is actually a 105-degree overhang. Now let’s say you fall off Mount Thor by accident. If you weigh an average of 70kg, it will take around 16 seconds for you to reach the bottom. That’s certainly enough time to contemplate your choices.
Mummies

## Did You Know?

Only pharaohs, their families, and very wealthy Egyptians could afford the process of mummification after their death. Poorer people had to content themselves with being buried in the sand.

Now, before you start a (three thousand year late) class war, let's look at the process those lucky Pharoahs went through:

1. Their death was announced. Makes sense. Keeps everyone informed.

2. Their body was embalmed. Fair enough, gets everything cleaned up - who doesn't enjoy a bit of embalming?

3. Their brains were pulled out through their nose. Sure, that's the logical ne-- WAIT, WHAT? Through the nose...?

OK. It's just the brain. I'm sure they had good reasons. As long as they left the rest of the body in one-

4. Their vital organs were dragged out through a hole in their stomach and put in jars. Really? Is no-one else opting for the sand burial yet?

5. The body was covered in salt, then left outside to dry for 40 days. Like forgotten laundry. Nice.

6. The body was wrapped up. Ah - finally, the 'mummy' bit. Well, after everything else you can see why wrapping it up was essential, if only for the aesthetics.

7. There was a procession, followed by entombment in the burial chamber. During which friends and family would walk along crying - probably because they were still getting over that thing with the brain.

All this was to prepare the deceased for entry to the Afterlife. Clearly one of the harder clubs to get into.
PSR B1257+12

## Ability

### Ability

**Three Known Planets****(Play)** If your deck has exactly 3 Space cards, 3 of your random non- Space cards, wherever they are, gain +23 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

In the vast expanse of the cosmos, a pulsar with a convoluted name is spinning faster than a caffeine-charged hamster in its wheel. Located 2,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, **PSR B1257+12** rotates at an incredibly high speed of about 161 times per second.

It was first discovered by Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolsczan in 1990 using the Arecibo radio telescope. A couple of years later, Wolsczan found that the pulsar (which he nicknamed ‘Lich’, meaning ‘undead creature’) had a planetary system with three known planets. Following the undead theme, he named them Draugr, Poltergeist and Phobetor respectively. These were the first extrasolar planets and the first pulsar planets to be discovered.
Nanahuatzin

## Ability

### Ability

**Sun God****(Draw)** This card loses -10 Power permanently. **(Play)** Your The Sun card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Given the chance to save the daylight, serve as the sun and shine down on Earth, would you throw yourself into a bonfire? It’s a pretty tough decision, but according to one Aztec creation myth, that’s exactly what **Nanahuatzin** did.

But that’s not how it was supposed to go down. In fact, another God, Tecciztecatl, had been chosen to serve as the sun. However, when the time came, Tecciztecatl took one look at the flames and thought “nope.” So, Nanahuatzin came forward and did what was needed.

Best known from the Legend of the Fifth Sun, Nanahuatzin’s name even means “full of sores”, which is to be expected after throwing yourself onto a bonfire.
Ornate Tree-Kangaroo

## Ability

### Ability

**Jolly Good Fellow****(Draw)** Your Marsupials cards, wherever they are, gain +26 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Fun fact: there are more species of kangaroos and wallabies (45) than there are of apes (20). Perhaps the most adorable member in the family Macropodidae is the **Ornate Tree-Kangaroo**, an arboreal creature with short, woolly fur and unbelievably wholesome energy.

Native to New Guinea, Ornate Tree-Kangaroos (also known as Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroos) are at their best when boldly navigating the branches of the rainforests. Although their legs aren’t disproportionately large like their land-dwelling cousins, the species still has an impressive jumping ability and has been known to jump from the ground to heights of 30 feet. For reference, that’s around four and a half times the height of LeBron James!

Sadly, the species is highly endangered, and there remain only around 55 Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos in the wild.
Monas Hieroglyphica

## Ability

### Ability

**Esoteric Symbolism****(Play)** If your deck contains The Moon, The Sun and Fire, those cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Looking for your next holiday read? Forget steamy romances or yet another whodunnit - this summer, get stuck into **Monas Hieroglyphica**, John Dee's enigmatic treatise on symbolic language. Who is John Dee, you ask? Only the Elizabethan magus and court astrologer of Elizabeth I of England.

While you sip on that Aperol Spritz, discover Dee’s unified glyph, the Monad, by way of 24 theorems, each demonstrating a variety of mathematical, geometric, cabalistic, and cosmological principles gleaned from the ancient world. Published in Antwerp in 1564, this book was supposedly written in 12 days. Although it didn’t get a lot of attention from English sources, it was praised by his critic, Andrestius Babius, who said the Monad’s symbol was a great standardising tool that transcended language.

'Glyph of 16th-century occultist John Dee' by Kwamikagami (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Michelangelo

## Ability

### Ability

**Touched by the Hand of God****(Return)** Your Legendary cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played. **(Play)** Your Sistine Chapel card in hand gains +50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Taken under the wing of Lorenzo de’ Medici (one of the primary bankrollers of the Renaissance) as a teenager, **Michelangelo** was surrounded by poets and artists, as well as the Medici art collection, from an early age.

He considered himself a sculptor first and foremost - not surprising when you consider his *David*. However, that didn’t stop him painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling (though he said ‘I am not a painter’), and completing the St Peter’s Basilica in Rome (though he said ‘architecture is not my true profession’).

He was so successful that he became the first person in history known to have his biography (correction: *two* biographies) written while he was alive - and he amassed an estate worth the equivalent of $35M in today’s money.

But that didn’t mean early retirement for Michelangelo - he kept working until days before his death at the age of 88!
Mourning Cuttlefish

## Ability

### Ability

**In Memoriam****(Return)** If you lost the turn, Steal 10 Power/Turn from your opponent next turn.

## Did You Know?

Growing up to around 15cm in length, this intriguing species of cephalopod can be seen resting on the seafloor using their two front tentacles as legs. So-called for their blue-tinged, sad-looking eyes, the **Mourning Cuttlefish** or *Sepia plangon* isn’t totally deserving of your sympathy.

Deviant tricksters, the males of the species use their incredible ability to change colour to fool competitors into thinking they are females. Meanwhile, they use the other half of their body to put on brilliant displays, showcasing narrow, wavy Zebra-stripes that woo the female of the species. Yet, while the male is in full courtship, his rivals are none-the-wiser. From their perspective, they only see two females innocently chatting to one another. That’s some next-level catfishing – or should we say, cuttle-fishing.
P.L. Travers

## Ability

### Ability

**Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious****(Draw)** Your cards with "Penguin" in their name, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

She was the brain behind the beloved children’s book *Mary Poppins* that most of us know from the Disney adaptation. Yet, author Pamela Lyndon Travers (known as **P.L. Travers**) did not like Disney’s film one bit. During the premiere, Travers was seen crying – not tears of joy, but from the anger she felt towards Disney’s treatment of her books.

Born Helen Lyndon Goff in Australia in 1899, P.L. Travers’ life was colourful, to say the least. In her early years, she loved fairy tales and animals, often calling herself a hen. Before her writing career, she gained a reputation as a dancer and Shakespearean actress. Feeling that Australians did not appreciate her talent, she left for London to seek the literary life – it was here that she found her success.
Offshore Oil Platform

## Ability

### Ability

**Fill Up****(Play)** Your Internal Combustion Engine card, wherever it is, gains +30 Power until played and this card loses -30 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

There are more than 1,400 offshore oil rigs across the world - the largest concentration of them is in the Gulf of Mexico, which has just over 210. These giant structures work by sending a huge drill to the ocean floor, which bores down until it breaches a massive pocket of oil underground. The pressure in the oil chamber is enough to push it back up through the drill to the rig, where it can be prepared to be sent to a refinery.

It's worth noting that some of mankind's tallest structures are actually oil rigs - you just don't think of them as being tall, but below the surface, many of them are as tall as skyscrapers!
Mind Uploading

## Ability

### Ability

**Whole Brain Emulation****(Play)** If played next to The Brain and if played next to Brain-Computer Interface, your cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Fearing the end? Terrified of the inevitable day that you will cease to exist? We’ve got just the solution: WBE. It means Whole Brain Emulation, or **“Mind Uploading”**, a futuristic process that scans the physical structure of the brain and transfers it to a computer in digital form. So, when father time calls for you, your personality will live on in digital form as our computer runs the ‘you’ simulation.

Well, that’s the idea, anyway. Although there are no laws of physics to prevent it, we would need the computing power to emulate the 100 trillion synapses in the brain working in parallel. Of course, if you’re still alive in a few centuries, you might just get to upload your withered old mind to a new-fangled computer.
Mordor Macula

## Ability

### Ability

**Going Alone****(Play)** If played alone, your cards in hand gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Take a trip to the dark side of Pluto’s moon to catch a glimpse of **Mordor Macula.** Found on Charon, this big red splotch is located near the north pole and scientists have only recently worked out what’s causing this strange coloration. And, yes, it’s absolutely named after the scariest place in the *Lord of the Rings* books. Presumably because it too is dark and scary.

Originally, scientists assumed that the red color was similar to the coloration found on Pluto itself so assumed these were formed in the same way as on the dwarf planet - sunlight hitting molecules and forming a haze in the atmosphere. However, there’s no atmosphere on Charon so that can’t be right. Then, the finger of blame got pointed at Pluto. Escaping nitrogen and methane gases coming from Pluto might be the culprit. And, even more interesting is that this gas seems to accumulate on the coldest parts of Charon so it’s looking ever more likely that there might be a second Mordor Macula on the moon’s south pole too!
Microdots

## Did You Know?

Worried about someone reading your texts? Take a leaf out of the Handbook for Spies and start writing messages in **Microdots**, a technique that reduces text or images to such a small size that it can’t be detected by unintended readers. That is unless these readers are literate mice. In which case, it’s not the best idea.

Microdots first came about in the Franco-Prussian War as a means of fitting as much information as possible on messages sent by carrier pigeon.
Nicolas Bourbaki

## Ability

### Ability

**Textbook Play****(Play)** Your Secret Societies cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The legendary French mathematician known as **Nicolas Bourbaki** made ground-breaking contributions to fields of mathematics. Which is a phenomenal achievement if you don’t exist.

You see, behind the moniker was a group of French mathematics alumni of the École Normale Supérieure, one of the most prestigious graduate schools in Paris.

So, why did these eggheads decide to catfish the world? The Bourbaki club was formed to preserve math knowledge in Europe after World War I. Also, pranks were a done thing at the school. The name ‘Nicolas Bourbaki’ was taken from the 19th-century French general who had nothing to do with maths at all, and first years were tricked into believing this general was coming to the school to talk about maths… maybe you had to be there.
Odin

## Ability

### Ability

**Bonds of Marriage****(Play)** Your Frigga card in hand gains +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Sometimes known as the Allfather, Odin is the king of the Norse gods - father of Thor and Baldr, husband of Frigga (and/or Freya, depending on where you stand on them being the same being).

He's present in just about every Norse myth; from the creation story (he and his brothers, Vili and Ve, kill the frost giant Ymir and create the universe from his crushed bones and flesh) to the one where he steals a potion made of the blood of a wise man said to give you the gift of great poetry (that one ends with him regurgitating the potion into vials, and a tiny drop falling to Earth and creating lesser poets).
Oxytocin

## Ability

### Ability

**The Love Hormone****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands gain +15 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your remaining cards in hand gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Whether you’re a human, giraffe or rabbit, you’ll have a hormone in your body called **Oxytocin**.

Let’s say, for argument's sake, that you’re a human. When you hug or kiss another human that you love, this act could trigger oxytocin production, making you feel warm and fuzzy. Not only will you be happier, but the release of oxytocin will strengthen the bond between you both.

But that’s not the only thing this magic chemical can do - there are also oxytocin receptors in your digestive tract, which is why you feel sleepy and happy after a hearty meal. The only thing that overrides oxytocin is stress hormones, for the purpose of keeping you safe.

That makes sense - after all, the last thing you need during a deadly animal attack is the warm fuzzies.
Nabta Playa Calendar Circle

## Ability

### Ability

**Hypothetical Alignments****(Draw)** If your deck contains any Moon in Motion card, your Ancient Egypt cards, wherever they are, gain +19 Power until played. **(Return)** Your remaining Space cards in hand cost -2 Energy next turn.

## Did You Know?

​​Built over 7,000 years ago, the **Nabta Playa Calendar Circle** in Egypt is the oldest stone circle in the world, beating Stonehenge by 2,000 years. It’s thought to be one of the world’s oldest astronomical observatory, and was used by an ancient cattle-worshipping cult to track the summer solstice and the arrival of the annual monsoon season.

The alignment of the stones suggests that the ancient builders had a sophisticated understanding of astronomy and were able to make accurate observations of the night sky. Plus, the stones used to construct the circle were likely transported from several kilometres away, indicating a high degree of organisation and planning among the people who built it. Or, you know… aliens.

'Nabta Playa Calendar Circle, reconstructed at Aswan Nubia museum' by Raymbetz (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Morris & Co.

## Ability

### Ability

**Nature's Inspiration****(Play)** If your deck contains any Plant Life card and any Birds card, your Gorgeous Graphic Design cards, wherever they are, gain +17 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

As a jack-of-all-trades, William Morris was a political theorist, publisher, environmental activist, poet, and fantastic designer rolled into one. Under his leadership, **Morris & Co** blossomed into a popular Arts & Crafts decoration company known for its wallpapers and textiles inspired by English gardens and hedgerows.

Their most renowned pattern, Strawberry Thief, was based on the winged thieves in his Kelmscott Manor garden in the Cotswolds. Fun fact: the birds were sketched by his BFF, architect Philip Webb.

This naturalistic design is just one of over 50 wallpapers produced by William Morris - a process that involved using carved woodblocks loaded with mineral-based dyes and pressed down with a foot-operated weight. Each pattern was made by lining up and printing the woodblock motifs again and again to create a seamless repeat.
Mistletoe

## Did You Know?

Ah, Mistletoe - giving mums an excuse to embarass you in front of your family since Ancient Greek times.

Back then the plant was associated with fertility and was used in marriage ceremonies and during Saturnalia. It also shows up in Norse mythology, where Frigga revives her son under a mistletoe tree and declares that whoever stands under it be granted protection from death - and a kiss.

Ever since it's been a symbol of love and goodwill during the holidays, but biologically it's almost the opposite. Mistletoe attaches itself to trees through a haustorium, a kind of root-straw that they use to suck water and nutrients from their host - so technically, it's a parasite.

It's also poisonous - the stem, berries and leaves all contain Viscotoxin and Phoratoxin, so don't eat them. Just pucker up.
Moleosophy

## Ability

### Ability

**On the Olives of the Body****(Draw)** If your deck has exactly 1 Ancient Greece card, your The Occult cards in hand gain +18 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Have you ever wondered whether that mole on your left shoulder could reveal omens of your future? Of course you haven’t. But Moleosophy - that is, the act of fortune telling based on the interpretation of bodily marks, and moles in particular - is a real thing.

A Greek seer by the name Melampus even wrote a manual on the subject called Peri Elaion you Somatos (“On the Olives of the Body.”) The title is enough to put you off olives for life, but if you are interested, here are the basics: a mole on the back of the throat portends beheading. A mole on the nose is apparently indicative that you will be “insatiate in lovemaking”. A mole on or near to the lip portends overeating. Well, either that, or that you’re an <link="https:>undercover agent.</link>.
Oskar Schindler

## Ability

### Ability

**Righteous Among the Nations****(Return)** If you won the turn, your remaining cards in hand gain +16 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

As a successful businessman and member of the Nazi party, German industrialist **Oskar Schindler** was an unlikely candidate to become a wartime saviour. But during the Holocaust, Schindler saved the lives of hundreds of Jews by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Over time, Oskar Schindler became less concerned with turning a profit and more concerned with the wellbeing of his workers, spending millions to keep them safe. His factory had been an official subcamp of a labour camp in Plazow, but when the Nazis ordered the closure of the camp and demanded that workers be shipped to Auschwitz, Schindler refused, putting together a list of 1,100 men, women and children that he claimed as his workers.
Muspelheim

## Ability

### Ability

**Icebreaker****(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, your Norse Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power this round. If your deck contains Mira, your Norse Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain an additional +7 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Welcome to **Muspelheim**! Did everyone remember to bring some Sudocrem and blister plasters? Good, because this place is hot hot hot! And we’re not talking Miami hot, we’re talking literal flames.

One of the Nine Worlds in Norse mythology, Muspelheim features in both the creation myths of the world and its downfall. This realm is home to the fire giants, and guarded by Surtr, who has a big flaming sword.

Make sure you don’t get on his bad-side by mispronouncing the name of the realm (it’s pronounced “MOO-spell-hame”, in case you didn’t know.) The etymology of the name isn’t certain, but is believed to come from “Mund-spilli”, meaning “world destroyers” or "wreck of the world".
Neutrino

## Ability

### Ability

**Zero Mass****(Return)** Your remaining cards in hand cost -3 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

They may be the second most abundant particle in the universe, but **Neutrinos** are notoriously difficult to pin down. That’s because they’re so tiny that they’re almost massless and have no electric charge.

Sometimes called ghost particles, Neutrinos are born from violent astrophysical events like exploding stars and gamma ray bursts. Scientists say that if you hold your hand towards the sunlight for one second, about one billion neutrinos from the sun will pass through it.

That’s because they get shot out as a byproduct of nuclear fusion from the sun, the same process that produces sunlight. And yet, once produced, these ghost particles almost never interact with other matter. In fact, while reading this, billions of neutrinos have passed effortlessly through your body without you noticing.
Paraceratherium

## Did You Know?

Paraceratherium (tongue twister alert) make us feel sad.

Why? Because not only are they extinct but they were essentially hornless rhinoceros and what, we ask you is a rhinoceros without its horn? Sob.

In better news, Paraceratherium was one of the largest terrestrial mammals that have ever existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch. They stood at around 18 feet high at the shoulder and weighed around 20 tons. They fed on tree leaves like a giraffe, presumably still trying to figure out their identity.
Pacific Trash Vortex

## Ability

### Ability

**Take Out the Trash****(Play)** Your opponent's Oceans and Seas cards in hand lose -22 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**The Plastic Trash Vortex** is as horrifying as it sounds. Located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California, it is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. Some reports say the Pacific Trash Vortex is roughly three times the size of France, but this measurement doesn’t give us the bigger picture of the problem. In fact, 94% of the ocean’s plastic can be found on the seafloor.

Think of the vortex as a tip-of-the-iceberg situation. The debris here ranges in size, from tiny microplastics smaller than 5mm to large discarded fishing nets, of which some speculations suggest make up 45% of the garbage patch. The result isn’t just harm to marine life, but also to human life.
Jean Sylvain Bailly

## Ability

### Ability

**Jean of All Trades****(Play)** Your Watching the Skies, Mega Math and Secret Societies cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

On 12th November, 1793, a leading French scientist and mathematician who had been elected Paris’ first mayor was publicly executed. His name: **Jean Sylvain Bailly**.

This was a man who excelled in astronomy; a man who once calculated an orbit for the next appearance of Halley's Comet in 1759 and studied the four satellites of Jupiter then known. An early architect of the French Revolution, Bailly was the first to take the famous Tennis Court Oath in 1789.

However, after a protest turned into a massacre on his watch, Bailly was on thin ice. Failing to testify against Marie Antoinette was the final nail in his coffin. While being led to the guillotine, a member of the crowd jeered: "Do you tremble, Bailly?" Bailly replied: "Yes, but only from the cold.”
Neo-Confucianism

## Did You Know?

Neo-Confucianism uses metaphysics - questions about the nature of reality, the universe, and everything (but not cards, annoyingly) - to form a rational philosophy. This contrasts with Buddhism and Shintoism, who see metaphysics as a way to develop spiritually.

Neo-Confucianist teaching spread to Japan during the Edo period and, though in conflict with the dominant religious attitudes of the day, managed to gain a foothold and continues to influence Japanese society today.