recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Great Dying

## Ability

### Ability

**Rebound****(Return)** For every Paleontology card you have played this game, your Paleontology cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power permanently and your Life on Land and Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, gain +6 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

If you think 2020 onwards has been tough for Earth, be thankful humans weren’t around approximately 252 million years ago. You see, long before the emergence of dinosaurs, our Earth experienced the biggest mass extinction event that has ever occurred.

The Permian–Triassic extinction event, also known by its more devastating name “**The Great Dying**” saw 90% of life in the oceans and 70% of life on land vanish. So, what in Flying Spaghetti Monster’s name happened?!

Catastrophic volcanic eruptions, apparently, and the dramatic environmental changes this brought on, including a runaway greenhouse effect and ocean acidification. But it didn’t all happen in one go - quite the opposite. On land, a high rate of extinction persisted for around a million years - ten times longer than in the oceans.
Hestina Persimilis

## Ability

### Ability

**Singing You To Shipwreck****(Draw)** Your The Original Odyssey cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played. **(Play)** Your Instrumental cards in hand gain +25 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your opponent loses -15 Power/Turn for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

**Hestina Persimilis** butterflies can’t read (to our knowledge). But if they could, they might know that they’re legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Kill one of these and you’ll be given life in jail with no parole. Okay, that’s an exaggeration - but why would you want to harm something so beautiful anyway?

An East Palearctic species of siren butterfly, Hestina Persimilis has markings similar to a Rorschach Test. However, given the flappy nature of the butterfly, it’s probably unreliable as a psychological assessment. The species has three subspecies: H. p. persimilis (found in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan), H. p. zella, (found in Kashmir) and H. p. chinensis (found in West China).
Khonsu

## Ability

### Ability

**Theban Triad****(Play)** If played between Amun and Mut, your Egyptian Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power this turn and next.

## Did You Know?

Depicted as a young man with a bird’s face and a big lunar disc on his head, **Khonsu** is the Egyptian god of the moon, time, youth and healing. Like Marmite, Kanye West or pineapple on a pizza, it seems Khonshu was a bit of a “love him or hate him” deity in Egyptian mythology.

According to some stories, he was a benevolent god of fertility who helped plants to grow, fruit to ripen and women to conceive children. In others, he summoned evil forces to do his dark biddings on humans. He also appears in the “Cannibal hymn” as a blood-thirsty deity who helps the deceased king to catch and eat the other gods. That’s the kind of stuff that gets you cancelled, Khonsu.
Edward Low

## Ability

### Ability

**The Golden Age of Piracy****(Return)** If your deck has 14 or more Plundering Pirates cards, your Plundering Pirates cards, wherever they are, gain +16 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Having your ship captured by a band of pirates is never a good thing, but it’s so much worse when that band of pirates is led by **Edward Low** - one of the most brutal pirates of all time. Born in 1690, Edward ‘Ned’ Low had a reputation for violently torturing his victims before killing them.

After capturing a Portuguese ship in 1723, the captain allowed a bag of gold to fall overboard rather than see it captured. Enraged, Ned Low slashed off the captain’s lips with a cutlass and forced the victim to eat them.

Although he was only really active on the pirate scene for three years, he made full use of the time he had to capture at least a hundred ships - most of which he burned.
Kepler's Supernova

## Ability

### Ability

**De Stella Nova****(Play)** A random other Space card in your hand gains +48 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

One fateful night in 1604, a supernova suddenly appeared in the sky. Being a professional stargazer, German astronomer Johannes Kepler spotted it, but mistakenly identified it as a new star. Kepler’s star was brighter at its peak than any other star in the night sky and even brighter than Jupiter, with an apparent magnitude of -2.5. Kepler continued to study the star until early 1606, when it was no longer visible to the unaided eye.

However, centuries later, scientists discovered that what Kepler had seen was not just your average star, but an exploding star. Now known as **Kepler’s Supernova**, it was the last gigantic star explosion ever observed by the naked eye in our galaxy.
Inland Taipan

## Ability

### Ability

**Real Venom****(Draw)** Two opponent's random Life on Land cards in hand **Lock** this turn. **(Draw)** Two opponent's random cards in hand **Burn** (20) for the rest of the round

## Did You Know?

There are no bright red warning signs on the **Inland Taipan**, but make no mistake - this is *the* archetypal venomous creature.

Q. How many humans can the venom from one bite kill?

We’ll come back to that.

This Taipan was first recorded in the late 19th century but wasn’t rediscovered until 1972 - no doubt in part due to being a shy reptile that avoids trouble where possible. This is also why, despite being the most lethal snake, it is not the deadliest. The Saw-Scaled Viper kills a smaller percentage of its victims, but the frequency of its attacks means it has claimed a higher…erm… ‘body count’.

The name doesn’t bear any relation to Chinese business executives (sometimes known as ‘Tai-pan’) - but is instead derived from the Aboriginal term for the snake: ‘Dhayban’.

OK, it’s time for your answer:

A. The venom of one single bite from an Inland Taipan is enough to kill between 100 and 300 humans. Oof.
Jade Emperor

## Ability

### Ability

**The First Emperor****(Return)** If you won the turn, your Common, Rare and Epic cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Also known as the Heavenly Grandfather, the **Jade Emperor** did more than watch daytime telly and recite stories of his youth. In Chinese culture, this regal being is a representation of the first God.

In one Chinese creation myth, the Jade Emperor fashioned the first humans from clay and left them to harden in the sun. Rain deformed some of the figures, which gave rise to human sickness. At this point, it was too late to invent umbrellas.
John Hancock

## Ability

### Ability

**Signed, Sealed, Delivered****(Play)** If played next to Declaration of Independence, give this card +50 Power, and give your The American Revolution cards, wherever they are, +15 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Given his wealthy background, **John Hancock** was an unlikely revolutionary. Instead of siding with the elite who didn’t want independence, he sympathised with patriots and rejected the ideas of the British monarchy.

As the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, Hancock wrote his name in a large and flamboyant manner. Legend has it that he signed as clearly as possible so King George could read it “without his spectacles on”, but that’s just a myth.

He may not have tossed British tea into Boston harbour, but he was a driving force behind the revolution, raising money and securing troops in preparation. In 1780, Hancock was elected as the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a position he held through the end of the Revolutionary War and beyond.
Inca Tern

## Ability

### Ability

**Penguin Burrow****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more cards with "Penguin" in the name, your Sea Birds cards, wherever they are, gain +5 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Good heavens, old chap, that bird has a moustache! And a ruddy good one at that! How many other birds sport such dashing facial hair? We don’t have the figures, but we’re willing to be that none boast the finesse and length like that of the **Inca Tern’s** moustache.

Although it’s mostly decorative, the length of the Inca Tern’s moustache indicates the state of its physical condition. The longer the moustache, the healthier the bird.

But don’t be fooled - this is no gentlebird. You’re looking into the shameless eyes of a cold hard criminal. Kelptoparasitic by nature, the Inca Tern steals their food from other animals, which they do by diving down and taking it directly from the mouths of sea lions and dolphins. They’re even bold enough to steal fish from a fishing boat.
Golden Ratio

## Ability

### Ability

**Nature's Design****(Play)** If your deck has 11 or more Science cards, your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, gain +19 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

First described in detail by Indian mathematicians in the 6th century AD and introduced to the western world in 1202 by Leonardo Fibonacci, the **Golden Ratio** is a number approximately equal to 1.618. Often called The Most Beautiful Number in the Universe, the golden ratio is found when a line is divided into two parts such that the whole length of the line divided by the long part of the line is also equal to the long part of the line divided by the short part of the line.

What’s so special about this proportion? It’s everywhere: in the leaves of plants, the tusks of elephants, the design of the pyramids, the human body and even the solar system. Coincidence or evidence of simulation theory? You decide…
Java Man

## Ability

### Ability

**The Missing Link****(Draw)** If your deck has 2 or more Primates cards and 2 or more Brilliant Human Body cards, your Life on Land and Science cards, wherever they are, gain +8 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

They say age is how old you feel. After the last few years on Earth, I feel as old as **Java Man** - an early human fossil thought to be between 700,000 and 1,000,000 years old.

Found on the island of Java, Indonesia, in 1891, a skullcap and a femur of this hominid were the first known fossils of the species Homo erectus. If your dream guy has long limbs, a flat skull, a little forehead, powerful jaw muscles, heavy brow ridges and no chin, Java Man would have been right up your street.

The discovery of these fossils sparked great debate about the evolution of humanity. Today, most scientists believe that Homo erectus originated in Africa and migrated to Asia.
James Joule

## Ability

### Ability

**Power Grab****(Play)** Your Energy cards in hand gain +25 Power this turn. **(Return)** If you lost the turn, your Energy cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

**James Prescott Joule** was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer. As an adult, he managed the brewery his wealthy father owned. Even though he had been taught by the famous scientist John Dalton, science was merely a hobby (albeit one he took very seriously). While on his honeymoon he even arranged with a friend to carry out an experiment on a waterfall, to see the difference in temperature between the top and bottom. Among his achievements;

"Joule's first law" (Joule heating), a physical law expressing the relationship between the heat generated and current flowing through a conductor.

Joule's second law, which states that the internal energy of an ideal gas is independent of its volume and pressure, depending only on its temperature.

Magnetostriction, a property of ferromagnetic materials that causes them to change their shape when subjected to a magnetic field.

The Joule–Thomson effect (during Joule expansion), the temperature change of a gas (usually cooling) when it is allowed to expand freely.

The Gough–Joule effect, or the Gow–Joule effect, which is the tendency of elastomers to contract if heated while they are under tension.

He also worked with Lord Kelvin to develop an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale, which came to be called the Kelvin scale.

'Picture of James Joule' by Henry Roscoe (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Ivy

## Ability

### Ability

**Festive Flora****(Play)** Your Holly and Festive Traditions cards in hand gain +14 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The all-important second component of the Christmas carol, *The Holly and the Ivy*. Symbolically, **Ivy** needs to cling to something in order to support itself as it grows, reminding Christians that they need to cling to God for support throughout their lives.

Common Ivy (Hedera helix) is native to much of Europe and western Asia and, provided it finds the right support, can grow up to around 30 meters (100 feet) tall. Despite its name, it is not related to poison ivy and if you happen to have access to it, you would be ill-advised to drag it into the house.
Hydnora

## Ability

### Ability

**Scratch & Sniff****(Play)** Your Rafflesia card in hand gains +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Suspiciously similar in appearance to the talking, people-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, the **Hydnora** looks like the type of plant you just wouldn’t mess with. But its fang-filled mouth isn’t even the strangest thing about this plant. For a start, the Hydnora Africana is a parasitic plant, meaning it gets all its nutrition from other living plants. As a result, it doesn’t have any stems or leaves.

The body of this oddity is brownish-grey and devoid of any chlorophyll – the green pigment found in plants. Looks are deceiving though, as the Hydnora is said to produce delicious, underground berries that have a jelly-like pulp. Still, we’re not rushing to add this one to our five-a-day.

'Hydnora africana Karasburg District, Namibia, 2002' by Lytton John Musselman (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Internal Combustion Engine

## Ability

### Ability

**Driving Ambition****(Draw)** Your cards in hand cost -1 Energy this round. **(Play)** If you are losing the round, your cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Let's start with the basics. When we refer to an **Internal Combustion Engine** we are generally talking about either a diesel or petroleum (gas) engine. It has 'internal' in the title because the combustion part takes place *within* the engine - unlike steam locomotives, for example, where the coal is burned outside the engine.

Jean-Joseph Étienne Lenoir patented the first successful **Internal Combustion Engine** in 1858: a single-cylinder engine capable of powering a small vehicle to just over 3 km/h (2 mph). Not the most awe-inspiring speed, but hey, you've got to start somewhere.

Most **Internal Combustion Engines** have pistons that slide up and down, that sit within cylinders. Cylinders have valves at one end to let in fuel and air (oxygen) and to push out the resultant waste in the form of carbon and gases.

When the fuel is pushed into the cylinder and ignited it pushes the piston down, creating rotation on the crank-shaft which, in turn, transfers motion to the wheels.

The stroke denotes the full cycle of the process, so in four-stroke engines, it takes 4 strokes:
- **Power stroke** where the piston is down, caused by the combustion.
- **Exhaust stroke**, where the piston is up, which pushes the exhaust out of the engine through the valve.
- **Intake stroke**, where the air-fuel mixture are drawn into the cylinder.
- **Compression stroke**, where the valves are closed and the piston starts to compress the fuel and air before the process starts over again.

This means that the power of the initial combustion needs to be enough to rotate the crankshaft twice.
Kitsune

## Ability

### Ability

**Faithful Guardian****(Draw)** Your Feudal Japan cards in hand gain +16 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

In ancient Japan, man and fox lived in close quarters. However, unlike our urban foxes, their furry friends were more than trash-eating bin raiders. Known as ‘**Kitsune**’, Japanese folklore says that these magical foxes possessed paranormal abilities such as shapeshifting.

The myth goes that the older a kitsune gets, the stronger its powers become. When the kitsune reaches 100 years old, it can turn into a human. By that logic, any human you know could really be a fox (but probably not).

Legends also say kitsune could make fire with their tails – of which they had nine. Although they were loyal to friends, these foxes did use their powers for evil pranks. If you find joy in the suffering of your enemies, the Kitsune is your perfect pet.
Jikininki

## Ability

### Ability

**Human-Eating Ghosts****(Play)** Your cards adjacent to this lose -10 Power this turn and this card gains +20 Power. **(Return)** If you lost the turn, the effects are permanent.

## Did You Know?

They may feast on the corpses of humans, but the **Jikininki** don’t love the taste of decaying flesh, per se. According to the legend, these Yokai (evil spirits) were once greedy and selfish humans whose souls were cursed in death. In spirit form, the Jikininki are forced to feed on dead people to relieve them of the pain of eternal hunger.

Like Edward Cullen but with less sparkles, the Jikininki appear as ordinary humans for the most part - other than their monstrously sharp teeth that they use to tear the flesh from the deceased. These shape-shifting spirits from Japanese folklore exist somewhere between the living and dead, hunting their prey at night and slipping into temples when the dead are laid to rest.
Kangaroo Rat

## Ability

### Ability

**Roo the Day****(Return)** Your Marsupials cards, wherever they are, cost -2 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

When the **Kangaroo Rat** leaps up into the air to dodge rattlesnakes in the Californian desert, the song “I Believe I Can Fly” plays in the background. These spring-loaded little rodents have evolved over the years to have exceptional hearing and powerful hind legs like that of their namesake.

Although they look adorable and only weigh up to 170 grams, Kangaroo Rats can use their legs to jump clear of predators, kick sand in their eyes or even deliver a devastating kick to the face. They can leap a distance of just over 2 metres and change direction quickly between jumps. This use of a “move-freeze” mode can make it harder for nocturnal predators to attack. So much for a midnight snack.
Gorgonian Wrapper

## Ability

### Ability

**Wrap Genius****(Draw)** If it's after Round 3, this card **Lock**s permanently.

## Did You Know?

Who is the best rapper of all time? If you said Eminem, Kanye or Jay Z, sorry - you’re wrong. They may have sold millions of records, but how many tentacles do they have? Because, by that metric, the **Gorgonian Wrapper** wins outright, boasting an average of 125 tentacles.

This stripey species of sea anemone can be found chilling in its crib in the central Indo-Pacific Ocean, clinging on to the branches of soft sea coral known as gorgonians - hence the name. Instead of an expensive whip, this marine mogul gets its own personal chauffeur in the form of a crab - specifically, the Lauridromia intermedia, who carries the anemone around for personal protection, camouflage and - let’s be honest - clout.

'Zebra striped Gorgonian Wrapper' by Nhobgood (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Knobbed Hornbill

## Did You Know?

Knobbed Hornbills are native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They're cavity nesters, which means they find holes in trees and seal themselves inside using The Three Fs - feathers, food and faeces - while they wait for their eggs to arrive. Suffice it to say, those magnificent beak colours probably aren't quite as vibrant on exit.
Hokusai

## Ability

### Ability

**The Great Wave****(Return)** If your deck contains Tidal Wave, your Arts & Culture cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 5 turns.

## Did You Know?

He was the first artist to use the term ‘Manga’ and the genius behind the ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa.’ Even if you haven’t heard of **Hokusai** by name, you’ve definitely seen this painting - it even served as the inspiration for Apple’s ‘wave’ emoji.

Yet, despite the success he achieved from this series of paintings at age 70, Hokusai was convinced that he wouldn’t see his best work until he reached 110. Sadly, Hokusai died at age 90, although he was no longer Hokusai at this point. The artist formerly known as Hokusai went by over 30 names in his life, eventually signing his work as “The Old Man Mad About Drawing”. Given that he produced over 30,000 works in his lifetime, that’s a pretty accurate title.
Indigo Hamlet

## Ability

### Ability

**A Little Curious****(Return)** If you won the turn, this card gains +15 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Having both male and female genitalia, the **Indigo Hamlet** has no time for gender roles. However, it does get a little picky when it comes to choosing a mate. These fish typically have blue colored ventral fins and white pectoral fins, and they tend to mate with Hamlets of similar stripe and color patterns.

Ergo, if Fish Tinder were a thing (Fin-der - patent pending), they’d be swiping for a long time. When they do find a match, they perform elaborate mating dances, with each fish taking on whichever role is needed!

A member of the Serranidae family of Sea Bass or mini Grouper, the Indigo Hamlet can be found living on coral reefs throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and Florida Keys.
Japanese Beetle

## Ability

### Ability

**An Annoying Infestation****(Play)** Your opponent loses -2 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

Punk’s not dead, it’s just been reincarnated into the **Japanese Beetle** - a little bug who wakes up every day and chooses violence. Even before it graduates to beetle class, it lives as a grub in the soil and feeds on the roots of plants, causing a problem for garden-proud lawn owners everywhere.

Once in adulthood, they make use of their short time on earth (approx. 40 days) to do as much damage as physically possible. Many hands make light work, so the Japanese beetle attacks plants in groups, skeletonising the foliage by consuming the material between a leaf’s veins.

They may only measure one inch in size, but this shiny species has garnered a reputation as one of the major insect pests in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
Hesperocyon

## Ability

### Ability

**Canidae to Canid****(Draw)** For every Dogs card you have played this game, up to a maximum of 5, this card gains +8 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Mother Nature saw the Eocene period as the perfect time to soft-launch some animal groups: the first orders of elephants, bats, whales, even-toed hoofed animals and odd-toed perissodactyls all made their debut. Likewise, the earliest dogs (if we can even call them that) began to appear.

One such example is **Hesperocyon** (“Dog of the West”.) Although a distant ancestor of the modern canine, Hesperocyon was actually more cat-like in appearance, with short forelimbs, long hind limbs and a long back and tail.

Unlike the dogs we know, Hesperocyon didn’t need walkies, and wouldn’t have been cut out for distance running. It didn’t need to be. From its habitat in the trees and forest floor, Hesperocyon had most of the resources it needed to survive, feeding on whatever meal unwittingly walked / flew by.
Insectothopter

## Ability

### Ability

**Camera Fly****(Play)** Your Espionage and Stage and Screen cards, wherever they are, gain +2 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

We’re all familiar with the concept of bugging devices that listen in to conversations, but in the 1970s, the CIA took this brief very literally. It looked like any common green dragonfly on the surface: its face, forewings and thorax were all in the right place. But this was no common dragonfly.

Using the latest in espionage technology, the CIA created a bug-sized spy called the **Insectothopter**. Prior to its creation, the agency had tried fitting a cat with a microphone to eavesdrop on conversations – but that didn’t work out so well. So, they turned to robotics – and luckily, one of the CIA scientists was a keen dragonfly expert.

Weighing less than a gram, the Insectothopter had eyes made of glass retroreflector beads perfect for snooping on unsuspecting targets.

'Dragonfly\_Insectothopter' by The Central Intelligence Agency (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Jerboa

## Ability

### Ability

**Hopping Mad****(Play)** Your Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Red Kangaroo cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

This distinctive-looking mammal hails from Egypt and Libya. It stands on its long hind legs and has very short forelegs (a bit like a T-Rex) which are not used for getting around. Instead, the creature hops around everywhere, rather like a miniature kangaroo but, despite this similarity, they are a species of rodent rather than a marsupial.

The **Jerboa** has several interesting adaptions such as hairy ears and a flap of skin in its nose to prevent sand from getting in. It also has thick tufts of hair on the soles of its feet aiding traction on unstable sandy surfaces, like hobbits. As with many animals that live on two legs, its tail aids balance and stabilises it when it stands still.

**Jerboas** are seriously bouncy and can jump up to 3 meters in a single leap when startled. Not like hobbits.
John Young

## Ability

### Ability

**Decades Among The Stars****(Play)** Your Space cards in hand gain +14 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Astronaut **John** "FOREVER" **Young**\* was the ninth man on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission and is well known for having a long a prolific space career - he flew missions for NASA in three different decades!

He began his incredibly impressive career at NASA in 1962, when he was selected from among hundreds of young pilots to join NASA's second astronaut class, known as the "New Nine."

Young famously stood on the Moon, drove 16 miles in a lunar rover and spent three nights on the lunar surface. He was the only person to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs and was the first to fly into space seven times if you count his lift off from the Moon during Apollo 16. Anyone else feeling less productive today after reading that?! Thought so.

Young's career was full of firsts. The most notable was in April 1981, when he commanded Space Shuttle Columbia on the Shuttle program's maiden voyage, STS-1. It was the first time a piloted spacecraft was tested in space without previous unpiloted orbital flights. Young and pilot Robert Crippen went on to accomplish more than 130 flight test objectives during their almost 55-hour mission.

* our nickname for him.

'Astronauts John W. Young (left) takes part in training exercises as the back-up Crew for the Gemini 6 mission which will feature the first "docking" of two spacecraft in orbit.' by NASA (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Honeypot Ant

## Ability

### Ability

**Sticky Situation****(Play)** If you are losing the round, this card gains +20 Power this turn but keeps +10 Power thereafter permanently.

## Did You Know?

It’s hard to decide whether **Honeypot Ants** are irresistibly cute or irredeemably disgusting.

In defence of the latter, they feed via a process known as *trophallaxis*. This is - and I quote Wikipedia directly here - “the transfer of food or other fluids among members of a community through mouth-to-mouth (stomodeal) or anus-to-mouth (proctodeal) feeding”  Nice.

While many insects store food for later, Honeypot Ants have a specialised group of workers storing the honey for them *in their bellies*, waiting to regurgitate it when the time is right.

Disgusting. But on the other hand… look at their cute little round bellies! They look like little ant-honey marbles! Aww.

Oh, and in some parts of the Australian outback, they are eaten like sweets.

'Myrmecocystus ants storing nectar to prevent colony famine.' by Greg Hume (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 2.5 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Jade

## Ability

### Ability

**Going Green****(Play)** Your Life on Land cards in hand gain +10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

An ornamental mineral known for its green varieties, **Jade** is revered in many cultures around the world - most notably, in China, where they have a saying that goes: “gold is valuable; jade is priceless.”

The Chinese believed in jade’s healing abilities, carving bangles from a single piece of jade are to protect the wearer. The jury’s out as to whether this holds any truth – in any case, we wouldn’t recommend supplementing it for a healthy lifestyle.
Kelpie

## Ability

### Ability

**The Shape of Water****(Return)** Your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

If you ever find yourself by Scotland's lochs and lonely rivers, beware the **Kelpie**. Often depicted as a beautiful water-horse, this mythical creature lures in unwitting humans by appearing either as a white pony with a dripping wet mane or an attractive woman dressed in green. But this is no friend of humans.

It is a shapeshifter that legends say possesses a supernatural superglue on its skin. The point of this magic adhesive? To drag people into the depths of a loch to meet their watery doom. Almost every sizeable Scottish body of water has a kelpie story associated with it – even the legend of the Loch Ness Monster is thought to have originated from the myth of the kelpie.
Friesian Horse

## Ability

### Ability

**Elegant Agility****(Draw)** Your cards in hand with 65 or more Base Power cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

If any horse breed has bragging rights, it’s the **Friesian Horse**. With a history dating all the way back to the 13th century, Friesians are one of the oldest horse breeds of Europe. Historical records place these noble steeds at the heart of many a battle, and even King Louis II of Hungary himself rode a Friesian horse in the 1500s.

Originating from the northern province of Friesland in the Netherlands, these horses are known for their strength and agility. But despite being battle-hardened, Friesians are also one of the most cheerful and friendly breeds. In fact, the breed is frequently used in filming because their gentle nature means they can take direction with ease.
Honduran White Bat

## Ability

### Ability

**Berry Blotto****(Play)** If your deck contains Dionysus, this card gains +22 Power permanently. **(Return)** If your deck contains Bacchus, God of Wine, this card costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Need a designated driver? The **Honduran White Bat** should be your last choice. Since they feast all day on fermented berries, these bats are blind drunk basically all of the time – we’re talking several times over the legal limit in most countries.

Like their name suggests, this species of bat wears a fluffy white coat, but its face, ears and wings are bright orange. Their cute little noses protrude from their faces, so scientists often refer to the Honduran white bat as the “leaf-nosed bat.”

Across their skulls are a thin black membrane that gives these creatures a natural form of sunscreen to protect against harsh UV rays. Because they may be drunk, but they aren’t about to let sunburn ruin a perfectly good day.
John Glenn

## Ability

### Ability

**"Zero G, and I Feel Fine"****(Return)** Your Radical Rockets and Amazing Astronauts cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power and cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Legendary astronaut and U.S. senator **John Glenn** was the first American to orbit the Earth. He did it for the first time in 1962, when he circled the world three times. Apparently, the team at NASA mission control were thinking about planning a practical joke for his return, along the lines of: "Hey, when Senator Glenn gets back from space, everyone dress up as apes!"

They didn’t, but John Glenn would later go on to circle the globe another 134 times and be the oldest person to go to space when he climbed aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery at the age of 77. For his efforts, he got the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a mention in Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
Hydra Constellation

## Ability

### Ability

**Serpentine****(Draw)** This card loses -23 Power permanently, 3 random cards in your hand gain +14 Power permanently and your Greek Mythology cards, wherever they are, gain +9 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Of all the 88 modern constellations, Hydra is the largest, measuring 1,303 square degrees. It was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Named after a water snake, the **Hydra Constellation** represents the sea serpent that Hercules was forced to defeat as one of his twelve labours.

In mythology, Hydra had nine heads and one of them was immortal. But the celestial Hydra is depicted with only one head (presumably the immortal one.)

Hydra’s head is located south of the Cancer constellation, and the tail sits between Libra and Centaurus. It is best seen from the southern hemisphere but can be observed in the north between January and May.
Hoag's Object

## Ability

### Ability

**Ring the Changes****(Return)** If you lost the turn, gain +23 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

"Oh great, more space blobs, CUE?" I hear you lament as you flip to the back of another card depicting a smudge on a black background. Well, **Hoag's Object** is a bit special though because there's still some uncertainty around how it came to be.

It's a Ring Galaxy, you see, which is a galaxy that is formed when a small galaxy moves through the centre of a large galaxy. Because there's so much empty space in a galaxy, it's very unlikely anything actually collides but the gravitational disruption forces the larger galaxy to spread outwards.

One problem though - in the case of **Hoag's Object**, there isn't any evidence of the galaxy that punched the hole in the middle of it. There's speculation that it happened so long ago that the galaxy simply went right through and disappeared into the distance, or that it fragmented and became part of **Hoag's Object**.

Wherever it is, it was a cracking shot - getting a bullseye on a disc-shaped galaxy to create almost perfect symmetry like that is no mean feat, although with a target that's around 100 thousand light-years in diameter you'd have to try pretty hard to miss.
International Space Station

## Ability

### Ability

**International Cooperation****(Play)** All Space cards in both player's hands gain +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The International Space Station is the biggest object EVER flown in space. It travels around the Earth at an average speed of 27,700 km/h, completing 16 orbits per day. Feeling dizzy yet?

Luckily for us, at night it can easily be seen from Earth, as it flies 320 kilometres above us, a shining example of teamwork and international effort. 16 countries, including the USA, Russia, Japan, Canada and many ESA member states worked together to build the Station.

So what is it like onboard the ISS? Well, the largest part of the ISS is a central truss to which 16 huge solar panels are attached. Attached to the centre of the truss are the modules where the astronauts live and work. The ISS also has 2 bathrooms, a gym and more room than a 6 bedroom house. Astronauts working out in space? Mind blown yet!?

Europe’s biggest ISS project is the Columbus science laboratory, where astronauts can carry out scientific experiments in weightless conditions. Many different types of experiments take place inside and outside the lab.

The first ISS crew mission called 'Expedition 1' launched on a Russian Soyuz, October 31, 2000. The space station has been continuously occupied since, making it the longest continuous human presence in space.

It has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations. There has been a total of 352 flights to the ISS, by 211 individuals!

The writer of this card definitely did not spend a long time outside one night tracking the ISS only to realise an hour later it was just a star.
Horned Puffin

## Ability

### Ability

**Huffin' and Puffin****(Return)** Your opponent loses -1:energy/turn: this round.

## Did You Know?

This beautiful black-and-white seabird may look similar to the Atlantic Puffin but look closer and you’ll see clear differences. For one, its bill is mostly yellow with an orange tip. Secondly, the **Horned Puffin** gets its name from the horn-like projections that extend above its eye.

Fish may think swimming deeper will save them from the oncoming beak of the Horned Puffin, but this bird is extremely agile underwater. Its movement is often referred to as “underwater flight” rather than swimming. To catch fish, the Horned Puffin dives down about 30 metres, stakes out a school of fish and follows in pursuit. Before bringing spoils back to the colony, the Horned Puffin swallows several small fish as a reward.
Hoppin' John

## Ability

### Ability

**A Prosperous Year****(Return)** Your remaining Money, Money, Money cards in hand cost -3 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

**Hoppin’ John** is a delicious looking meal that this author is going to try this year - despite not living in the Southern United States where this meal is a popular tradition for New Year.

It is a dish consisting of rice, black-eyed peas, smoked pork and onions that is eaten for good luck on New Year’s day, often paired with collard greens (and other greens, for wealth).

If you would like to try to make a version yourself this year, here’s an idea of a recipe for 4 people.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ham hock (or equivalent in bacon)
1 stick of celery
1 small onion
1 green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
2 cups long-grain rice
8 ounces dried black-eyed peas
4 cups stock
Spices and herbs to taste - try thyme and cayenne pepper!

1. Cook the ham hock in a pan on a medium-low heat. When the oil is hot, add the vegetables, turn the heat up, and let them cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute or two.

2. Add the black-eyed peas and seasoning, and cover with the stock. Leave it to simmer for about 60-90 minutes, while cooking the rice separately.

3. Once everything is cooked, add them together, season to taste, and serve up for a bit of good luck!

For best results - save some leftovers for the next day - known as “Skippin’ Jenny”, your frugality brings hope for even further wealth for the new year!
Immortal Jellyfish

## Did You Know?

*Turritopsis dohrnii* - AKA **Immortal Jellyfish** - is the only known immortal creature on the planet which means that, aside from being killed by predators or succumbing to disease, it can live forever.

So what's the secret, and how come we haven't dissected this thing extensively to unlock eternal life? Well, for one thing, they're only about 5 mm-wide, so good luck getting anywhere with a scalpel. But it has a unique feature that humans could simply not replicate - it can turn itself into a baby again.

An **Immortal Jellyfish** is born, grow up, propagates its species and then faces a choice - die, or transform itself back into its polyp state. And just like Doctor Who can hit the big button marked "Cheat Death", the **Immortal Jellyfish** can retract its tentacles, shrink its body and return to the ocean floor so the cycle can begin all over again.

## Fusion

 Chaos Theory | 3
Iðunn

## Ability

### Ability

**Ever Young****(Draw)** If it's the first turn of a game, this card costs -4 Energy permanently. **(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, this card gains +60 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Norse Gods, listen up: are you sick of adding yet another step to your skincare routine? Are the thousands of years you’ve been alive starting to show on your face? Look no further. Introducing **Iðunn**, the goddess of spring and rejuvenation.

In her basket, she keeps age-defying golden apples that prevent beautiful gods and goddesses like yourself from getting old like lowly mortals do. Who needs retinol when you can stop ageing entirely by feasting on delicious apples of immortality?

Just remember to keep Loki far away from Iðunn - the last time he intervened, her apples were stolen and taken to the realm of the giants, and the gods began ageing normally.

* Terms and conditions apply. Apples will only work on true Norse gods.
Hoia Forest

## Ability

### Ability

**Ghost Adventures****(Draw)** If you have played Ghost this game, your Tremendous Trees cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Welcome to the **Hoia Forest!** As one of the most haunted forests in the world, you’ll be sharing your surroundings with ghosts, aliens and even the devil himself!

Located on the outskirts of Cluj Napoca, the Hoia Forest spans across 250 hectares of Transylvania. Over the years, our beautiful forest has seen the disappearance of a shepherd and 200 sheep, a five-year-old who reappeared five years later and a woman who vanished in the forest and came back with a 15th century coin. People even come out of here with burns, headaches, hives and fevers.

For that reason, it’s been called the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania, so if you do make it out unscathed, we’ll send you a certificate and a medal in the post\*.

* the medal is also haunted.
Horologium

## Ability

### Ability

**The Pendulum Swings****(Play)** If both you and your opponent have won at least 1 round this game, your History cards in hand gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

A small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, **Horologium** was first described by the French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1756. He visualised it as a clock with a pendulum and a second hand - hence the name. How he saw that from a small collection of stars is anyone’s guess.

Still, it’s impressive he saw it all, given that this constellation is made up of mostly faint stars and is relatively small, occupying only about 0.603% of our sky. Of the 88 modern constellations, Horologium ranks 58th in size. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha Horologii, with an apparent magnitude of 3.85. For context, our sun has a magnitude of -26.74 (the lower the figure, the brighter the star.)
John Dee

## Ability

### Ability

**Dee-ceptive****(Play)** If your deck has 3 or more Unruly Rulers cards, your Watching the Skies cards in hand gain +28 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Elizabeth I card, wherever it is, costs -1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Long before James Bond was written into existence, another man went by the codename ‘007’. That man was **John Dee** – a mathematician and astronomer famously known as the ‘conjurer’ to Elizabeth I. When communicating with the Queen via letters, he signed as ‘007’ – the zeroes representing eyes (as in, for her eyes only), and the seven because it was thought to be a lucky number.

Scholars believe that Dee, like Bond, was a spy, and that he travelled throughout Europe to gather intelligence for the Queen under the cover of “attending spiritual conferences.” Dee’s knowledge of astronomy was also critical to navigation, and so he often served as an advisor on England’s expeditions of discovery. It was actually John Dee who first used the phrase “British Empire.”
Hunter's Moon

## Ability

### Ability

**Moon of October****(Play)** Your The Write Stuff cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn and next.

## Did You Know?

Fortunately, most of us don’t have to hunt for our dinner anymore, so we’re unlikely to notice that the month of October makes for perfect hunting conditions. For Native Americans, however, that knowledge was absolutely critical - so much so, that they named the full moon in October **“the Hunter’s Moon”**.

In the months prior, the deer would have fattened themselves up for winter, and the fields would have been reaped in late September. As a result, hunters could easily see foxes and other animals that had come out to feed. Also known as the blood moon, the Hunter’s Moon typically falls around the 9th of the month. Sometimes, the Harvest Moon is mistaken for the Hunter’s Moon because, once every four years, the Harvest Moon is in October.
Gelada

## Ability

### Ability

**Bleeding Heart****(Draw)** All Arts & Culture and History cards in both player's hands **Burn** (16) until played.

## Did You Know?

Often known by its emo nickname “bleeding-heart monkey”, the **Gelada** is sadly not the lead singer in a rock band. Yet, it’s epic coiffure and shoulder pads could convince us otherwise. Besides humans, Geladas are the most terrestrial primates. They spend most of their days sitting down, munching on grass and grooming each other. We all know there’s strength in numbers, and apparently Geladas agree.

Family units usually form to combine bands of around 1,200 Geladas who travel together during the day - some of the largest groups observed among any primate. They live in peace and harmony until the alpha male is challenged by a younger rival, a fight that can sometimes last up to three days!
Hercules Beetle

## Ability

### Ability

**Pincer Movement****(Return)** If you lost the turn, gain +10 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

Hercules Beetles have large, horn-like pincers located on their forehead, that are often longer than their body. Males use their pincers to fight, picking up their opponent and slamming them down. Hercules Beetles can pick up loads around 850 times their own weight.
King Farouk I

## Ability

### Ability

**Coin Collector****(Play)** For every Money, Money, Money card in your deck, up to a maximum of 5, this card gains +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

What happens when a lazy teenager with a massive ego inherits the Egyptian throne before they’ve even finished puberty? The answer is **King Farouk I** - or, to use his proper title, “His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and the Sudan”.

Known for his extravagant lifestyle, King Farouk I spent most of his time hoarding luxury cars, jewels and watches. When he wasn’t galavanting with mistresses or berating his wife for failing to give him a male heir, Farouk I was aboard his yacht while the vast majority of Egyptians lacked indoor plumbing. Inevitably, his lavish lifestyle and scandalous behaviour led to his downfall. In July 1952, the playboy king was removed by a coup led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Hogfish

## Ability

### Ability

**Power Pigs****(Draw)** Give your cards with "Hog" in the name, wherever they are, +5 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The **Hogfish** is (quite rudely) named for their elongated snout that they use to find their dinner.

Their colors are obviously bright and beautiful, although that changes dependent on where they are, their age and their sex.

Speaking of their sex, hogfish are all born female, and have the ability to switch to male at maturity. Socially, a single male will then mate with and protect a group of the females (and probably tell his friends all about it later).

'Lachnolaimus maximus' by Albert Kok (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Giant Isopod

## Did You Know?

Question- have you ever SEEN a picture of a Giant Isopod? If you have then you will know that you simply cannot unsee it and it could very well haunt your dreams for the next few decades. Be warned CUEniversers. Giant Isopods are crustaceans that are closely related to shrimp and crabs. Although typically between 7 and 14 inches in length, they can grow up to 2 and a half feet on occasion. They live in deep oceans on mud or clay floors, burrowing down for shelter.

They are also EXTREMELY popular on the internet, with many 'fans' writing blog/fan posts detailing their 'cuteness' - we beg to differ, but we're sure that the Giant Isopod community are thrilled to go viral. Someone out there has created a whole album of songs about Giant Isopods!

Fun fact: they love a hunger strike! One Giant Isopod went FIVE years without eating a single bite. When they do finally eat they gorge themselves and can eat for hours on end. HARD RELATE.