recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Inge Lehmann

## Ability

### Ability

**Core Subjects****(Play)** Your Earth card, wherever it is, gains +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

It was the Danish seismologist and geophysicist **Inge Lehmann** who made the ground-breaking discovery that our planet’s core wasn’t just molten liquid. Having earned her degree in mathematics, chemistry, and physics at Copenhagen University, Lehmann used mathematics to analyse the way energy released by earthquakes travels through the earth, which led her to discover that the Earth’s core was composed of two parts: a solid metal core surrounded by an outer liquid core. For any dreamers who still thought there might be another inhabited world beneath the surface, Lehmann’s discovery wasn’t good news. For seismologists, it was revolutionary. Inge Lehmann is also one of the longest-lived scientists in history, living to the ripe old age of 104.

'Lehmann in 1932' by The Royal Library, National Libary of Denmark and University of Copenhagen University Library (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Lan Caihe

## Ability

### Ability

**Life Eternal****(Draw)** Your Eight Immortals cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy for 3 turns. **(Play)** If played next to He Xiangu, your Plant Life cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power until played and your He Xiangu card in hand gains +25 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

If **Lan Caihe** is anything to go by, achieving immortality requires ownership of a flute, occasionally wearing only one shoe and carrying a basket of fruit. Hey, we don’t make the rules.

One of the Eight Immortals from Chinese mythology, Lan Caihe is depicted as a young man or woman who is decidedly eccentric, symbolising a care-free life devoid of the responsibilities of everyday life. In this way, they travel the streets singing ballads - some of which are still preserved.

According to legend, Lan was in a drunken haze when they were carried away to heaven by a stork, a Chinese symbol of immortality. Although quite a sobering shock, it all worked out when Lan was given five hundred years worth of magic by Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King.
Izumo no Okuni

## Ability

### Ability

**Out of the Ordinary****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your Kabuki Mask card, wherever it is, gains +30 Power until played and if you are winning the round, your Kabuki Mask card, wherever it is, loses -20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Born circa 1578, **Izumo no Okuni** is believed to be the original founder of kabuki, a Japanese form of theatre known for its elaborate costumes and energetic performances. It all began in a dry riverbed of the Kamo River in Kyoto: here, Okuni and her all-female troupe performed dances and sketches that soon gained an immense following. The performers were usually lower-class women involved in prostitution, but Okuni gave them purpose and direction by teaching them how to dance, act and sing to form her troupe.

Unfortunately, this all-female performance didn’t go down well with shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who found kabuki too erotic and banned women from getting involved. Okuni retired around 1610, and after that time she disappeared.
Hybrid Iguana

## Ability

### Ability

**Parent Trap****(Play)** Your Galapagos Land Iguana and Galapagos Marine Iguana cards in hand gain +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The Galapagos Islands are host to two types of iguanas: the Marine Iguana, and the Land Iguana. Millions of years of evolution separate these two.

Except… on the tiny island of Plaza Sur, there is a third type - the **Hybrid Iguana**. It is believed there are less than 10 in existence, and that they are sterile. This means that the only way the population could grow is from more interbreeding. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made about the British Monarchy, but I won’t be the one to make it.

The **Hybrid Iguana** is land-dwelling but has the rudder tail and long claws (used to grip the seafloor) of a marine iguana. As a result of combining these characteristics, new opportunities have emerged for the **Hybrid Iguana**, such as the ability to climb trees.

Scientists are conflicted in terms of how to deal with the **Hybrid Iguana**. While hybridisation is typically bad for biodiversity, in this case, it came about naturally - so should the potential threat be removed, or should we let nature take its course?
Humboldt Penguin

## Ability

### Ability

**Stay Humboldt****(Draw)** If you are leading by 100 Power or less, your Sea Birds cards, wherever they are, gain +12 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Why did the **Humboldt Penguin** blush? Unless you gave it a compliment, it was probably overheating. On their feet and head, this species has a small area that isn’t covered by feathers. When the temperature gets too warm, the area turns red as a way of releasing extra heat stored in the body.

In Peru, this penguin is known as the "pajaro-niño", which translates to "baby-bird" in reference to their waddling gait that resembles a toddler on the beach. Sure, the Humboldt isn’t the most refined in its movements, but their jumping abilities would make even the bounciest bunnies jealous. From their homes on the hilltops of South American islands, they must go up and down several times to feed. Thus, the species has evolved to have mad hops like a feathery Michael Jordan.
Leonhard Euler

## Did You Know?

If you've ever done any kind of mathematics, you've got Leonhard Euler to thank for some part of it. He was a Swiss mathematician who was born in 1707, and is considered one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time - his work filled up 92 volumes!

He's known for his work on mathematical notation - he introduced several notation conventions that we still use today. Take, for example, the function - it was he that first expressed "f(x)" (where f is a function applied to x, an argument), that is the basis for modern computer programming. This very app's code is full of functions that make it as concise as it needs to be (at least I think it is - this writer can't actually read the code).

He's also known for his work on Calculus, which is the study of mathematical change (the Calculus card will have more information on what that is when it's released), and graph theory (which is how he solved the Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem - check that card out too!)

Oh, and it's pronounced "oy-ler".
La Llorona

## Ability

### Ability

**Forced into Purgatory****(Return)** If you lost the turn, gain +50 Power/Turn next turn and if you won the turn, lose -50 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

This Mexican legend of the wailing woman, **La Llorona** is a story often used to frighten children into behaving. “You better behave or La Llorona will get you!” While she’s become a bit of a bogeyman to get kids to avoid playing near rivers, the stories behind her haunting are much darker and much sadder.

There are various tellings of La Llorona’s story but, ultimately, she was a woman who married a rich man and had two children. While different versions get fuzzy on this part, some say that the husband was looking at other women. So, in a fit of jealous rage, La Llorona drowned her children and immediately regretted it. Now she wanders the earth in purgatory, searching for her lost children near bodies of water and crying for what she has done.

The story also has roots beyond Mexico and versions can be found in Guatemala, Venezuela and parts of the US. Some versions confront colonialism and La Llorona’s husband is sometimes seen as a conquistador and she an Indigenous woman and in a very early poem, she doesn’t even drown her children at all.
Megaloceros

## Ability

### Ability

**Great Horn****(Draw)** If your deck has 2 or more Mammals cards, your Mammals cards, wherever they are, gain +24 Power until played. **(Play)** Your Gjallarhorn card in hand gains +32 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Also known as the Giant Deer or Irish Elk, the **Megaloceros** roamed the open woodlands of Europe and Central Asia for thousands of years until the end of the Ice Age. Cave art from early humans depicts the Megaloceros as having a dark coat with a white underside, similar to deer today. The art also shows the creature with a small hump above its shoulders, likely used as a storage for body fat vital for survival in lean times.

One of the largest deer known to have existed, this creature stood up to 2 metres at the shoulder with antlers up to 2.5 metres wide. Realistically, Santa Claus would only have needed one Megaloceros to pull his sleigh!
Humpback Whale

## Ability

### Ability

**Mighty Flipper****(Return)** Gain +3 Energy and if you won the turn, gain +2 Energy.

## Did You Know?

Humpback Whales, rather confusingly, aren't humpbacks at all. Instead, they look like they have a humpback when they arch themselves ahead of a dive. They also have the largest appendages in the world... their flippers, which can grow to five metres long.
Lotus Temple

## Ability

### Ability

**Oneness of Religion****(Play)** All cards in both player's hands gain +25 Power this turn. **(Play)** If it's the first turn of a round, your cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

While the Lotus Temple has been referred to as the 20th century Taj Mahal, it operates in line with the Bahai faith which teaches the Oneness of Religions - so people of any faith may worship there.

The Temple comprises 27 free-standing petals, arranged in groups of three to form a nine-sided building. It is one of the most visited in the world, with over 100 million visitors from 1986 to 2014.
Lunar Module 'Eagle'

## Ability

### Ability

**The Eagle Has Landed****(Return)** Your Apollo 11 card in hand gains +36 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

**Eagle**, the Lunar Module of the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon, transported Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin from the Command Module to the Moon's surface. At this point, Neil Armstrong famously said "*The Eagle has landed*", a phrase now used more widely to indicate that an objective has been completed.

'Lunar Module' by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Source: Flickr) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Bird Wannabe.
Karnak

## Did You Know?

Karnak translates to "fortified village" in its original ancient Egyptian, and describes a complex of temples and buildings near Luxor in Egypt.

Every Pharaoh of the New Kingdom contributed something to the area. Ahmose I attributed his victory over the Hyksos, a foreign dynasty who occupied Egypt, to the god Amun and constructed a temple there. Nearly 200 years later Akhenaten banned the worship of Amun and closed the temples - but did not destroy them, and constructed a temple to his personal god Aten there.

Ramesses II did not contribute much to the complex. A monument to himself exists to this day, and a copy of his peace treaty with the Hittites is carved into the wall there; like when you work hard on a group project, and the kid who didn't really do anything gets to put his name on it too.
Maiasaura

## Ability

### Ability

**Good Mother****(Draw)** Your Elasmotherium and Mother Orangutan cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Immortalised as the ‘good mother dinosaur’, **Maiasaura** was the soccer mom of the Upper Cretaceous Period. The name refers to the discovery of nests with eggs in a nesting colony, which revealed that Maiasaura fed its young while they were in the nest. A duck-billed dinosaur, Maiasaura (who probably went by Maia to her friends) lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana.
Manticore

## Ability

### Ability

**Man-Eater****(Draw)** Your opponent's Arts & Culture and History cards in hand cost +2 Energy for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

With a name that means “man-eater” in ancient Persian, the **Manticore** sure sounds like a fearsome beast. Most stories say this creature had the head of a man and the body of a lion; some say it had the tail of a dragon from which it could shoot poisonous spines. The legendary Manticore is said to have lurked in the reeds, appearing to victims as an old man. Intrigued, victims would feel inclined to go towards the man, realising too late that it was not a man at all but one of the mightiest beasts capable of devouring every animal in the jungle (except elephants, for some reason.)

When the manticore strikes, no trace of the victim is left behind. Hey, at least it isn’t wasteful!
Infinity

## Ability

### Ability

**Unimaginable****(Return)** All cards, wherever they are, lose -50 Power next turn.

## Did You Know?

**Infinity**, commonly used in the production of gauntlets, is… big. But as every schoolchild knows, it’s not as big as infinity plus one.

Except, of course, that it is. And **Infinity** times infinity is also the same size as infinity. In other words, **Infinity** is just sitting back and laughing at our attempts to define laws of mathematics.

But if you’re thinking, yeah, I’ve got this - infinity goes on forever, so nothing can be bigger than it… then brace yourself. Because some infinities *are* bigger than others.

The Infinity your mind is most likely to try and grapple with is what is called ‘countably infinite’. Even though it *isn’t* countable, it kind of is - you start with 1, 2, 3… and just never stop going. This is known as Aleph-Zero or Aleph-Null, and is actually the smallest infinite cardinal number.

Thanks to Georg Cantor - who made it his life’s mission to melt the brains of future generations, we (by which I mean ‘other people’) now know that there are many infinities vastly larger than Aleph-Zero.

And now, I’m going to go and watch Love Island because that's the highest level of intellectualism I can manage right now.
Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902)

## Ability

### Ability

**Moon Capsule****(Draw)** Your cards with "Moon" in the name, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played. If your deck has 9 or more cards with "Moon" in the name, your cards with "Moon" in the name, wherever they are, gain +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Nowadays, a 14-minute silent film about a journey to space wouldn’t turn heads. But in the early 1900s, most films of the time only lasted a couple of minutes, and most were single-scene sketches that depicted real-life situations. So, when Georges Méliès made **Le Voyage dans la Lune,** it was a total game-changer.

The film tells the story of a group of astronomers who go to the moon, crash land in its eye and battle with aliens. Although long dead, Georges Méliès would be happy to know that his film is now considered a masterpiece of early cinema and a landmark in the science fiction genre.

After all, it did cost an eye-watering 10,000 francs to produce. For context, Edwin S. Porter only spent $150 making the Great Train Robbery.
Lernaean Hydra

## Ability

### Ability

**Heads over Heel****(Draw)** This card loses -11 Power permanently and two random cards in your hand gain +11 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Imagine a horrifying serpentine creature that emerges from the depths to wreak havoc on the livelihoods of sailors, and whenever you remove one of its heads two new slimy ones appear in its place. No, I'm not talking about [insert political party of your choice here] - the **Lernean Hydra** is a monster from Greek myth that did just that.

Its lair was Lake Lerna, which is near Argos (that's a city in the Peloponnese region of Greece, not the chain of UK catalogue stores). It's said to have had the most toxic breath and blood - so poisonous was its mere scent, it could kill someone by breathing on them.

Heracles presumably brought enough PPE to withstand it when he was charged with slaying it as one of his twelve Labours. He's said to have used its own venom against it; when he cut a head off, to prevent two new ones growing in its place, he dipped his sword in the blood and used it to cauterise the wound.
Leo

## Ability

### Ability

**Sign of the Lion****(Play)** Your African Lion and Asiatic Lion cards in hand gain +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Born between July 23rd and August 22nd? You’re a **Leo**, the ‘brave lion’ of the Zodiac. The good news? You’re a natural-born leader, and you aren’t afraid of taking the reins of responsibility. Whatever your goals, you fearlessly run towards them like they were Pride Rock. While your friends might tell you to get real, you will relentlessly chase after your starry-eyed dreams until they come true.

Just like fellow Leos Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Radcliffe, you’ve got big Main Character energy. You’re ambitious, fiercely loyal and super confident, so people will often be drawn to your energy. On the flip side, your sign tends to have issues with pride and is known to be a little egotistical, so practising a little self-awareness can’t hurt.
Juan Ponce de León

## Ability

### Ability

**Conquistador****(Draw)** Your Riding the Waves! cards in hand cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

Famous explorers tend to be remembered for the new places they find. However, despite being the first European to set foot in Florida and founding Puerto Rico’s oldest settlement, Spanish explorer **Juan Ponce de Leon** is best known for the thing he didn’t find: the Fountain of Youth, a mythical source of restorative water.

Legend has it that he came across this source of age-reversing water in Florida in 1513. In fact, there’s little evidence to suggest he was even searching for it at all. All it took was one historian, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, to suggest Ponce de Leon was seeking it to cure his impotence. Although his four children prove otherwise, this rumour stuck and his name was forever associated with the legendary fountain.
Little Penguin

## Ability

### Ability

**Waddle We Do?****(Start)** Your cards with "Penguin" in their name, wherever they are, gain +5 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

Standing just a couple of inches smaller than a bowling pin, the **Little Penguin** is the smallest species of penguin and can be found on the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand. Like most seabirds, they have a relatively long lifespan. In the wild, they will live to an average of 6.5 years – however, in captivity, they have been known to live up to 25 years.

As well as taking the crown for the smallest penguin, the *Eudyptula minor* (as it’s known scientifically) is also the only penguin with blue and white feathers. They may be small, but Little Penguins are top ocean predators and play a key role in the marine ecosystem food web. In fact, changes in their population alert scientists to changes in ocean health.
Marie Curie

## Ability

### Ability

**Nuclear Age****(Draw)** Your Nuclear Power card in hand costs -5 Energy this turn.

## Did You Know?

The first thing we should do when discussing **Marie Curie** (1867-1934), a French-Polish scientist, is talk about her firsts because, oh my, did she smash some glass ceilings.

Her accolades include:

- First woman to win a Nobel Prize;
- First woman to win TWO Nobel Prizes;
- First (and, to date, only) person to win a Nobel Prize in two different categories;
- First woman to be appointed faculty at École Normale Supérieure (a prestigious university in Lyon, France);

```
- First woman to be a professor at the University of Paris;

```

- First woman to be inducted into the Panthéon (a mausoleum in Paris where the remains of great French citizens reside).

She achieved all this through her work in radioactivity. While researching uranium rays as a possible thesis subject, she discovered that they caused the air around an object to conduct electricity - radiation. Her hypothesis was that the radiation was coming from the very atoms of the objects itself, not from an interaction in the molecules caused by passing uranium rays though them. This meant that atoms, previously though indivisible, could be split which would form the basis of nuclear research.

It was this that earned her her first Nobel Prize, in 1903, in the Physics category. Her second was earned in 1911, in the field of Chemistry, for the discovery of the elements Polonium and Radium. She shared both wins with her husband, Pierre.

Marie's work would go on to prove vital during the First World War - she worked in field hospitals in battle-ravaged France and developed a portable x-ray machine (the "petite Curie" as it came to be known).

She died in 1934 of aplastic anaemia, caused by decades of exposure to radiation. Her notebooks are still radioactive to this day - they are stored in lead-lined boxes and will probably not be safe to read again for another 1500 years.
Iberian Worm Lizard

## Ability

### Ability

**Burrow Deep****(Play)** If your deck contains exactly 3 Going Underground cards, gain +18 Power/Turn this round.

## Did You Know?

Is it a worm? Is it a snake? It’s often mistaken for both, but this tiny noodle is in fact a primitive reptile known as the **Iberian Worm Lizard** - a burrowing reptile found most commonly in Portugal and central and southern parts of Spain. Although it looks like a worm, its ridged ringed body is covered in scales and it has two small, underdeveloped eyes (unlike worms, who possess very basic light receptors rather than true eyes.)

Recent research has found that these creatures didn’t become widespread through continental drift as once thought. It’s now believed that worm lizards like this one made perilous journeys across the oceans long after the break-up of the continents, using floating vegetation like fallen trees as rafts to travel the world.
Legio I Germanica

## Ability

### Ability

**Disgraced****(Return)** If you lost the turn, this card loses -70 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Who raised the **Legio I Germanica**? It depends on who you ask. Most historians say it was Julius Caesar who raised this Roman legion in 48 BC to fight in the civil war against Pompey. If that’s true, then this legion fought in the Battle of Pharsalus.

However, another theory says the Legio I Germanica, so called because of its service in the Germanic Wars, was the doing of the Roman army commander and governor Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus.

Recruitment aside, it’s well accepted that the legion won acclaim for its conduct during the wars but quickly fell from grace for either cowardice or mutiny when a rebellion resurfaced in the Cantabrian Mountains.
Mary River Turtle

## Ability

### Ability

**Green Haired Turtle****(Return)** If your deck contains Algae, your Raging Rivers cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Maybe it’s the mohawk made of algae that sits atop the creature’s head – or perhaps the fact that it breathes through its genitals. In any case, the **Mary River Turtle** is a very odd and unique animal indeed. In case you wondered, it’s the gill-like organs located within its cloaca (a multi-purpose orifice used for mating and excretion) that allows the Mary River Turtle to stay submerged underwater for up to three days.

With its 17-inch-long shell, it is considered to be one of Australia’s largest freshwater turtles! Despite its rebellious hairdo, this turtle’s docile nature makes it more hippy than punk. Sadly, numbers have dwindled over time, and the Mary River Turtle is now one of the world’s most endangered turtle species.
Luzon Bleeding-Heart

## Ability

### Ability

**Stabbed Through the Heart****(Draw)** Your History of Heartbreak cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

♫ Shot through the heart and you're to blame / Darling, you give doves a bad name ♫ The sight of this ground dove is enough to prompt a panicked call to the RSPB. But don’t worry - it hasn’t been shot. That’s just what the **Luzon Bleeding-Heart** looks like.

A mascot for emos everywhere, the Luzon Bleeding-Heart is endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines where the locals call it Puñalada. They almost always stay on the forest floor where they forage for grubs, berries and seeds, leaving the ground only for nesting purposes. During the mating season, males attract females by puffing out their chests and showing off their bullet-wound marking. Who could possibly resist?!
Lift

## Ability

### Ability

**What Goes Up...****(Play)** Your Gravity card in hand gains +18 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Lift is one of the four forces that impact objects in flight - along with Thrust, Drag and Weight. It opposes weight by harnessing differences in air pressure.

If you've ever looked at an airplane's wing, you'll have noticed that it's curved on top, and flatter underneath. This is so that the air going over the wing becomes 'thinner', exerting less pressure than the air going under... and thus creating lift.
Light Bulb

## Ability

### Ability

**Bright Spark****(Return)** Your Thomas Edison card, wherever it is, costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

INTERACTIVE EXERCISE: Go flip the light switch in the room you're reading this in, right now. If you're outside, go indoors.

Well done, you've just interacted with a **Light Bulb**!

A **Light Bulb** is, in essence, a device used to generate and sustain light. It does this by passing an electrical current through a thin bit of wire, called a filament, which causes it to glow brightly enough to illuminate a room.

Thomas Edison is renowned as the inventor of the **Light Bulb** as we know it today, but several other inventors had versions of the principle in production beforehand. Sir Humphrey Davy, for example, created the first electric arc lamp in 1809. It was Edison who condensed the idea into a practical (and marketable) form.

Since then, the **Light Bulb** has become an essential piece of equipment in the home. Over time more efficient variants have come around - the first light bulbs only transformed about 5% of their energy into light - but innovations such as LEDs and halogen lights wouldn't have come around were it not for the original **Light Bulb**

Now, go back and turn that light switch off, stop running up the electricity bill.
Mantled Howler

## Ability

### Ability

**Guard Hair****(Draw)** If your deck contains any card with "Hair" in the name, this card gains +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise: that is, <link="https:>the damning cry</link> of the **Mantled Howler**, native to Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru. Although they aren’t too big in size (roughly the same as a Golden Retriever), they can sound as large as a tiger.

This booming roar is made possible by an enlarged hyoid bone, a hollow bone near the vocal cords, which amplifies the calls made by the male. Howling helps the monkeys to locate each other without having to move or risk being seen by predators. Sadly, just like Western society, males typically outrank females and younger animals generally rank higher than older monkeys.
Madagascan Dwarf Chameleon

## Ability

### Ability

**SO SMOL****(Draw)** Your cards, wherever they are, with 9 or less Base Power gain +15 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The **Madagascan Dwarf Chameleon** (Brookesia minima) is minuscule and it's not even the smallest chameleon. The problem is, small things are very hard to find and catalogue, meaning that this was once thought to be the smallest lizard around, only to be usurped a few years after its discovery, presumably because zoologists upgraded their glasses.

Hailing from the small Madagascan island of Nosy Be, their diet consists of things tinier than themselves, mostly fruit and whiteflies. As with other Madagascan species, miniaturisation has given them several distinct physiological differences from their cousins. Their tails have less than half the vertebrae of larger chameleons and they also use them as a sort of fifth leg which helps them climb and balance. They also rely on cryptic colouration (basically static camouflage) as they have a minimal ability to change colour and patination.

If you're wondering, they can grow up to 3.5cm (1.3") long.
Louis XIV

## Ability

### Ability

**Sun King****(Return)** If your deck has 4 or more Unruly Rulers cards, your remaining The Solar System cards in hand gain +30 Power permanently and your The Sun card, wherever it is, costs -2 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Louis XIV**, also known as Louis the Great (presumably under pain of death) or the Sun King, ascended to the throne at the age of four. Fortunately for him, his mom chipped in to help, as did Cardinal Jules Mazarin and it wasn't until the still tender age of 22, when Mazarin died, that he assumed full power.

As with most monarchs, there are some good things and some bad things. Earlier in his reign, he had brought unprecedented prosperity to France which saw the country become a dominant force in science and arts. He also instigated a rule that the Palace of Versailles hallways were to be cleansed for faeces and dirt once every week. That's right, Versailles was very short on loos, forcing guests to occasionally relieve themselves in the corridors of power. Passing this decree was easier than installing the odd water closet or providing guests with a complimentary bucket when they visited.

On the other hand, he oppressed the Huguenots (Protestants) and towards the end of his reign got involved in several unsuccessful wars, nearly bankrupted the state and played more than his fair part in bringing famine to his country. Like a lot of people who never get questioned, he started to believe his own hype, assuming his role as a direct representative of God.
Lithography

## Ability

### Ability

**Poster Child****(Play)** Your Gorgeous Graphic Design cards, wherever they are, gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

In the simplest terms, **Lithography** is a printing process that uses a flat stone or metal plate. First, you put grease on the stone – then, you put ink on the grease and press the paper onto the inky, greasy surface and voila – grease is the word. The name for this technique comes from the Greek lithos, meaning “stone.” Since its invention by German playwright Johann Alois Senefelder in 1796, methods have been perfected and the grease replaced with chemical solutions.
Lenten Sacrifice

## Ability

### Ability

**Give it Up****(Draw)** Lose -1:energy/turn: for 3 turns. **(Play)** Gain +50 Power/Turn this turn.

## Did You Know?

Chocolate, meat, alcohol, and more recently, social media - these are just a few of the things you might choose to give up as part of your **Lenten Sacrifice**. However, the Bible doesn't specifically prohibit particular activities like meat-eating during Lent (as <link="https:>one pastor</link> made quite clear when he spoke in favour of <link="https:>eating sausage during the Lenten fest.</link>)

But for 40 days, Roman Catholics are encouraged to give up something that means a lot to them to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert. If you're struggling to make it through 40 days, scoff a pretzel. During the early Middle Ages, Lenten fasting required giving up meat and dairy, so pretzels became the go-to snack. Apparently, that twisted shape is supposed to represent arms folded in a prayer.

<link="https:>After all, who isn’t egg-static after a nice warm pretzel?</link>
Lincoln Green

## Ability

### Ability

**Sherwood Uniform****(Play)** Your [[:Category:The Legend of Robin Hood|The Legend of Robin Hood]] cards in hand gain +37 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

If you’ve read ‘A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode’, c. 1510 (who *hasn’t?!*), you might remember a line about men “clothed in Lyncolne Grene.” It’s the first mention of this particular shade of green, one which comes from the colour of dyed woollen cloth originating in Lincoln in the Middle Ages.

The shade was created by dying the wool with woad, which gave the fabric a deep blue colour and then redying it with a yellow plant, known as ‘dyers broom’ which gave it a light green colour. In the centuries since, the colour has been celebrated as a symbol of the region, with the Lincolnshire Yeomanry adopting it for their full-dress uniform in WWI and ice dancers Torvill and Dean wearing **Lincoln Green** at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Metztli

## Ability

### Ability

**Darkened Moon****(Play)** When played between The Moon and Moon Rabbit, give those cards +30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The moon goddess in Aztec mythology, **Metztli** was afraid of the sun and its fire. Understandable, given that it’s a gigantic flaming gas ball. Similar to the story of the male moon god Tecciztecat, Metztli was too afraid to sacrifice herself to the moon and so became the moon instead.

Fearing the earth would burn under two luminaries, and as a punishment for her cowardice, the other gods threw a rabbit at Metztli’s face to diminish her light. They must have thrown it with some force, as it left a rabbit-shaped mark on her face - hence, the markings on the light side of the moon. Other stories say that Metztli was in the form of a rabbit at the time she sacrificed herself to become the moon, casting her shadow there.
Lunar Phases

## Ability

### Ability

**Shoot for the Moon****(Play)** Your The Moon card in hand gains +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you live on Earth, as I’m sure some of you do, you may have noticed that the ‘shape’ of the Moon we see changes throughout the month.

There are eight named **Lunar Phases** to classify these changes: new moon (that’s the one where you wonder where the moon went), waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous (pronounces with a hard ‘g’), full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent.

When there is more than one full moon in one month, it is referred to as a Blue Moon.
Mandarinfish

## Ability

### Ability

**Scale Assault****(Return)** Your remaining Fabulous Fish and Feisty Fish cards in hand cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

The **Mandarinfish** is extremely distinctive due to its intense colouration of bright blue with orange, red and yellow waves. Living in the sheltered lagoons and inshore reefs of the Pacific Ocean, it's pretty small.
But this little fishy lacks the most basic of fishy-defences; scales. For this reason, it has evolved several interesting mechanisms to avoid being eaten.

It's one of just two known species of fish that that can produce its own blue colouring (the other is a close relative). Amazingly, its bright colours are a form of camouflage helping it to blend into the seabed and reefs.

It has also developed two other methods to deter would-be predators. It's covered in tiny spines which inject toxic mucus and, if that wasn't enough, it also stinks! Despite this, it has ended up on many dinner plates with gastronomes describing it as a complex cheese, utterly foul-smelling, but divine when eaten.
Merino

## Ability

### Ability

**Warm and Cosy****(Start)** This card gains +15 Power this round. **(Play)** Your Life on Land cards adjacent to this gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Don’t you love the feeling of a newly knitted jumper. So soft, so cozy. But is that jumper knitted with lambswool or **Merino** wool? The easiest way to tell is just to run your hand over it to see how it feels.

Merino wool comes from the Merino breed of sheep (believe it or not) and their wool is incredibly fine and soft. In fact, we’d wager that rather than sheep, they’re basically little clouds with legs.

Better still, unlike lambswool, you can shear a Merino sheep at any time of their life and the wool is just as soft. This means that it doesn’t have to be a lamb’s first shear and by choosing a Merino wool jumper, you’ve kept a wee baby sheep cozy for a little while longer. How nice of you. It’s also not itchy, unlike many types of wool, which means it’s good news all round!
Lambeosaurus

## Ability

### Ability

**Hatchet Job****(Play)** Your opponent's Arts & Culture cards, wherever they are, lose -20 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

**Lambeosaurus** was a large dinosaur who lived in the Cretaceous period and loved a good salad. Twigs, leaves – you name it, he was on it. From its side profile, the Lambeosaurus looks like it’s wearing a backwards cap. But this hadrosaur’s cranial crest wasn’t a fashion statement. Some palaeontologists suggest it was used as a snorkel, but the most widely accepted theory is that the Lambeosaurus used its hip headgear to make loud noises.
Magicicada cassinii

## Ability

### Ability

**Growing Underground****(Start)** If your deck has 3 or more Going Underground cards, this card gains +6 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

If you thought getting a “good morning” text was romantic, just wait ‘til you hear about the courting behaviour of the male **Magicicada cassinii**. To wow the females of the species, cassini-type males have been known to synchronise their courting behaviour so that tens of thousands of males fly and sing in unison.

The performance lasts for two to four seconds and is followed by a drawn-out buzz that rises and falls in pitch. At the end of the chorus, males move to a new perch and start the song again. When was the last time you took part in a group performance to wow your crush?!

Due to the 17-year lifecycle of this impressive little bug, the Magicicada cassinii is sometimes known as the 17-year cicada.
Little Auk

## Ability

### Ability

**Sea Doves****(Play)** Your Black Guillemot card in hand gains +40 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

With its black and white plumage, upright posture and general <link="https:>derpiness</link>, the **Little Auk** looks like a tiny flying penguin. Just like the penguin, it can swim and dive exceptionally well, but its movement on land is clumsy at best.

And yet, this cutie isn’t at all related to the penguin. In fact, it's thought that this bird is an example of “moderate convergent evolution” - that is, the independent development of similar forms in nature. With its black stubby bill, shor​​t neck and tail, it’s hard to believe that the little auk could be threatening.

But despite their compact size, little auks can dive to depths of 30 metres and use their natural buoyancy to shoot back upwards through the water in a zig-zag pattern to capture prey.
Lichen

## Ability

### Ability

**Symbiotic Partnership****(Play)** If your deck has exactly 3 Under the Microscope cards, your Funky Fungi cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power until played, and vice versa.

## Did You Know?

Around 6–8% of Earth's land surface is covered in them, and some are considered among the oldest living things on Earth. They can grow almost anywhere, survive in the most extreme conditions and are often the first organisms to colonise fresh rock surfaces after landslides. While some have lost the ability to reproduce sexually, they continue to evolve and form new species.

**Lichen** really are hardy little guys - but what exactly are they? Well, despite their appearance, they aren’t plants - nor are they closely related to moss or any other plant. They’re composite organisms made of algae or cyanobacteria.

There are approximately 20,000 known species of lichens and they range in colour, sizes and form. An Arctic species called map lichen has been dated at 8,600 years old!
Leland Devon Melvin

## Ability

### Ability

**Dog Whisperer****(Draw)** If your deck has 2 or more Dogs cards, your Amazing Astronauts cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power for 4 turns.

## Did You Know?

As if being an astronaut wasn’t impressive in itself, **Leland Devon Melvin** was also a chemist, a tennis ace and an NFL draftee. He’s also the only astronaut to have brought his pets to work on the day their official NASA photo was taken.

If you’re short on answers for “celebrities to invite to dinner parties”, Leland Devon Melvin is a sure-fire winner. While you’re serving the starter, he can entertain everyone with the story of how he turned down the Dallas Cowboys in 1987 to pursue a degree in materials science engineering at the University of Virginia. During the main course, he can regale guests about the 565 hours he spent in space and his missions to the International Space Station, and for dessert, his appearance on The Dog Whisperer.

If we’re talking <link="https:>Come Dine With Me</link> scores, that’s a perfect 10.
Kyoto

## Did You Know?

Kyoto is a city steeped in history - many of the hundreds of temples and shrines built there throughout feudal times still exist today.

Founded in 794 as the capital of Japan - the word "Kyoto" literally means "Capital City" - the city would remain the centre of Japanese culture for over one thousand years until Tokyo became the capital in 1868, at which point it did not change its name to "Shutode wanai" (which means "Not the Capital City" in Japanese, according to Google Translate).

It was the site of the 10-year Ōnin War, which started in 1467. The war was fought over who would succeed shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, and left Kyoto in ruins which took hundreds of years to recover from. Kyoto was spared from bombing in the Second World War, so referring to "the war" in Kyoto actually references the Ōnin War.
Mach Speed

## Ability

### Ability

**Speed of Sound****(Play)** If this card matches the Arena, it gains +60 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

How fast is Mach Speed? VERY BLINKIN' FAST.

Mach Speed is measured in multiples of the speed of sound. If you're travelling at Mach 1, you're travelling at the speed of sound, which is 1,234 km/h; Mach 2 is twice that speed, Mach 3 is three times, and so on.

Technically anything capable of movement can go at the speed of sound - Thrust SSC is the car that broke the world land speed record in 1997 by breaking the sound barrier - but Mach Speed is only used when talking about planes.
Medjed

## Ability

### Ability

**Ghostly Appearance****(Play)** If played next to Book of the Dead, both cards gain +20 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Ghost card, wherever it is, gains +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Bird-headed women, crocodile dogs and bipedal snakes with wings: most Egyptian deities have elaborate appearances that are symbolic of their roles. And then there's **Medjed**.

A lesser-known deity mentioned in the Book of the Dead, Medjed is your kid brother's low-effort halloween costume, a fitted-sheet ghost with cut-out eyes. However, while Medjed may not be the most famous or significant god, his ghostly depiction in the Greenfield papyrus caught the attention of modern Japanese culture.

In 2012, the British Museum showcased an ancient Egypt exhibit in Tokyo that featured Medjed, and visitors couldn't help but notice the resemblance to the character <link="https:>Obake no Q-Taro</link>. And, just like that, Medjed became a fully-fledged meme with fan art ranging from <link="https:>keyrings</link> to <link="http:>baked goods</link>.

'An artistic representation of the Egyptian Deity Medjed' by Eternal Space (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Liger

## Ability

### Ability

**Hybrid Power****(Play)** Your Hybrid Animals cards, wherever they are, gain +30 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Whilst it might sound like a Pokemon, a Liger is very much real and very impressive. It is a cross between a male Lion and female Tiger but grows to be much larger than both.

Lion and Tiger habitats don't overlap as much as you might think - in fact, the only place in the world where they do is the Gir forest in India - so all of the known Ligers in the world are born in captivity.

And no, Napoleon Dynamite, they are not bred for their skills in magic. If only they were - a lot of them are bred to be an interesting zoo attraction, or by rich private owners looking for a status symbol.
MRI Scanner

## Ability

### Ability

**Scanning, for Science!****(Draw)** Your Science cards in hand cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and MRI Scanners generate a series of magnetic fields and radio waves in order to collect detailed images of the internals of a body. They can generate a magnetic field that is between 1 and 4 THOUSAND times stronger the Earth's magnetic field!
They're used to detect anomalies and get looks inside the body that X-Rays aren't detailed enough to see, but they're also used to see how the body and brain react doing different activities. People have been inside MRI Scanners while they've played videogames, given birth, read books and... well... look, it's a family app, but you can guess what else.

## Trivia

* This card, along with Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Cheetah, Augustus and Hatzegopteryx are considered as players' favourite cards and one of the either copy is included in the Awards Pack.
Krishna's Butterball

## Ability

### Ability

**Gutterball****(Play)** If played in the middle slot, the card opposite this loses -50 Power this turn, and 9 of your random Natural Monuments and 9 of your random Weird World cards, wherever they are, gain +23 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

It’s the kind of boulder you’d expect to be chased by in an adventure movie. Thankfully, **Krishna’s Butterball** is completely still, and has remained in the same position for 1,200 years.

The original name of the rock, Vaan Irai Kal, translates from Tamil as "Stone of Sky God." Located in Mamallapuram, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu, India, this gigantic rock seemingly defies the laws of physics. Despite weighing around 250 tonnes, standing 20 feet high and 16 feet wide, Krishna’s Butterball rests at 45 degrees angle on a smooth slant and does not roll.

Throughout history, attempts to move Krishna’s Butterball for safety concerns have been unsuccessful - even seven elephants couldn’t move the thing. The only explanation? God, or aliens (...or complicated rock physics that goes over our heads.)
Merlin

## Ability

### Ability

**Magic Hour****(Return)** An opponent's random card in hand **Lock**s this turn. **(Return)** An opponent's random card in hand **Burn**s (12) until played.

## Did You Know?

In the pantheon of pop culture wizards, **Merlin** topples both Gandalf and Dumbledore in longevity. He was also a man of many talents: according to the legend, he was a bard, a prophet, a shapeshifter and a magician. Talk about a side hustle!

His story was based on both fictional characters and real people, notably the poet and seer Myrddin Wyllt, also known as "Myrddin the Wild". Although Merlin served Uther Pendragon during his reign, Uther didn’t necessarily like Merlin or vice-versa. The King must have had some appreciation for Merlin, though, since it was his magic that arranged for Uther to have a son, and for that child to become a great king who would one day unite all of Britain.

'An illustration of Merlin as druid' by Unknown engraver - The Rose, 1847 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Matterhorn

## Ability

### Ability

**The Mountain Calls****(Draw)** Your Exciting Exploration cards in hand gain +25 Power this round. **(Return)** For each of Blizzard, Avalanche and Frost you have played this game, this card gains +10 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

It’s the 12th highest peak in Western Europe; the 10th highest mountain in Switzerland and one of the toughest mountains to climb: **Matterhorn** is one of the most famous and distinctive mountains in the Alps, with a peak height of 4,478 metres.

This alpine behemoth formed millions of years ago when several landmasses slammed into one another, forcing the ground upward. After several attempts, the Matterhorn was first conquered by the British explorer Edward Whymper in 1865, but sadly, four of his party died on the descent.

If you’re worried about suffering the same fate, you can always enjoy the sights from the magical igloo village at the mountain’s base, where guests can spend the night.