Jack O'Lanterns

*In shadowed eve, when darkness falls, Beware the little orange balls.*

*The pumpkins gleam their eerie eyes, They come alive upon moonrise.*

*Their vacant eyes, a piercing stare, They wander 'neath the moonlit air.*

*When midnight comes their power grows, these pumpkins are your greatest foes.*

*Lock your doors and draw the curtain, for your fate is quite uncertain.*

*For in their realm of hallow fright, The Lanterns are coming tonight.*

### Breakdown

Jack O'Lanterns have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions. Their total minion power is 27, making their average power per minion 2.7 which is slightly below average. However, when the Night side of their Titan is flipped over, some of their minions grow in power. Among their actions, they have:

* 2 play-on-minion actions: 2x Say Hollow To My Little Friend
* 1 play-on-base action: The Pumpkin King
* 1 action that can be played as either a play-on-minion action or play-on-base action: Ahead Of The Carve
* 6 standard actions, 1 of which directly affects one or minions (in **bold**): 2x Spooky Time of Year, Smashing Pumpkins, **Gourdness Gracious!**, Solar Eclipse, Trick or Treat
* 3 actions that directly increase a minion's power: 2x Say Hollow To My Little Friend, Gourdness Gracious!

### Minions (10)

* **1x Gigantic Jack (5):** Ongoing: If it’s Day, this minion has “Talent: Play an extra minion of power 2 or less here.” If it’s Night, your minions here have +1 power.
* **2x Scary Squash (4):** If it’s Day, draw two cards. If it’s Night, choose another player to discard two cards.
* **3x Porch Pumpkin (2):** Ongoing: If it’s Day, this minion cannot be destroyed or moved by other players’ cards. If it’s Night, this minion has +2 power.
* **4x Lil Spook (2):** Add or remove up to one counter on the Day/Night Titan. Ongoing: After the Day/Night Titan is flipped, you may place a +1 power counter on this minion.

### Actions (10)

* **2x Spooky Time of Year:** Draw a card. Add or remove up to two counters on the Day/Night Titan. Play an extra action.
* **2x Say Hollow To My Little Friend:** Play on a minion. Ongoing: If it’s Day at the start of your turn, place a +1 power counter on this minion. If it’s Night, this minion has +2 power.
* **1x Trick or Treat:** Shuffle this action face-up into another player's deck. Special: If this card is drawn face-up: If it's Day, its owner draws three cards. If it's Night, its owner chooses a player to discard two random cards.
* **1x The Pumpkin King:** Play on a base. Ongoing: At the start of their turn, the player with the most power here may play an extra minion here.
* **1x Ahead of the Carve:** If it’s Day, you may play this on a base. If it’s Night, you may play this on a minion and play an extra action. Talent: If it’s Day, draw a card and discard a card. If it’s Night, destroy a minion of power 2 or less here.
* **1x Smashing Pumpkins:** Destroy an action on a minion or a base. If you owned or controlled it, you may shuffle all minions or all actions from your discard pile into your deck.
* **1x Solar Eclipse:** It is both Day AND Night until the end of the turn. Special: You may play this before a base scores.
* **1x Gourdness Gracious!:** Special: Play before a base scores. If it’s Day, move up to 2 of your minions there to another base. If it’s Night, choose up to two minions there to gain +2 power until the end of the turn.

### Titan

Jack O'Lanterns use a Titan that doesn't ever come into play. It's two-sided, and can flip between Day and Night by using its own effect or the effects of Lil Spook or Spooky Time of Year.

* **Day**
	+ Special: This Titan remains out of play. After this card is flipped to reveal Day, you may choose a base with one of your minions on it and increase its breakpoint by 3 until the start of your turn.
	+ Special: At the start of your turn, place a counter on this Titan if it wasn't flipped this turn. When this Titan has 2 or more counters, remove all counters and flip it to Night.
	+ Special: It is considered Day while this Titan is face-up.
* **Night**
	+ Special: This Titan remains out of play. After this card is flipped to reveal Night, you may give a minion +1 power until the end of the turn.
	+ Special: At the start of your turn, place a counter on this Titan if it wasn't flipped this turn. When this Titan has 2 or more counters, remove all counters and flip it to Day.
	+ Special: It is considered Night while this Titan is face-up.

### Bases

* **Trick or Treat Street (20) 321**: Once per turn after you play a minion here, either draw a card or choose another player with a minion here to discard a random card.
* **Pumpkin Patch (24) 421**: After a minion is played here, place a counter on this base if there are no counters on it or remove one otherwise. If there is a counter on this base, minions here have +1 power. Otherwise, they have -1 power.

## Clarifications

* **Trick or Treat:** When shuffling this card into a deck, shuffle it blindly so it's not apparent where it ends up in the stack.
* **The Pumpkin King:** If in a tie in total power on this card's base, if it's the tied player's turn, they may still play an extra minion.
* **Ahead of the Carve:** After Solar Eclipse has been played, the player may choose whether this card becomes a play-on-minion action or a play-on-base action.
* **Day/Night Titan:** Adding counters to the Titan at the start of your turn is not optional.

## Strategy

### General

Jack O'Lanterns operate using a Day/Night mechanic granted to them by their Titan (which operates in this context as a "Titan-like Card" instead of a Titan that is played onto bases). The Titan itself changes its mode every three turns, but this can be further manipulated by the abilities of Lil Spook and Spooky Time of Year. This is a clear mode shift, where the Jack O'Lantern abilities are more passive and defensive during Day, and more aggressive/powerful at Night. Very similar to "OR" abilities, the pumpkins have multiple effects that differ from Day to Night, but they are generally less flexible than "OR" cards because it is not always possible to use their ability if the Day/Night cycle isn't aligned to your preference. To make up for this, the choices are both generally potent and powerful. Lil Spook is able to change the time with its on-play ability the turn it's played, and do it again after another minion is played on its base with its talent (which reactivates its on-play). This means that a Lil Spook wants to stick around on a base you intend to play minions at, to be able to change the Day/Night cycle when it makes sense to. Spooky Time of Year is also able to change the time as a double feature. Counters from the Titan's ability remain when doing this.

The rest of their minions and most of their actions take advantage of the Day/Night cycle. Gigantic Jack, the faction's leader, may play extra 2-powered minions during the Day and enable a power burst at Night. Scary Squashes either give you draw, much like Minn-Erva from Kree, or forces an opponent to discard cards at Night. Porch Pumpkins stick around during the Day without adding much power creep and defending themselves, and they gain 2 power at Night. All these abilities use precise timing which requires the Jack O'Lanterns player to manage the "clock" carefully, and plan ahead a turn or two. When switching to Night, your cards can gain a lot of power, but if this power is left out on other players' turns they may be able to take advantage and use that power against you for a score. In general, it is safer for it to be Day time on other players' turns, although this is not always the case. If a come-at-me style is preferred, leaving it Night on other players' turns allows you to play Gourdness Gracious! for a potential +4 power on someone else's turn in phase 3. Additionally, if Trick or Treat is drawn by another player after it has been shuffled into their deck, that player could potentially discard two random cards which can often be devastating. They are able to limit other players' options with cards like Pumpkin King, Smashing Pumpkins, and preventing destruction with Porch Pumpkins to help bide their time before Night strikes.

Solar Eclipse can enable some spicy plays. It allows Gourdness Gracious to become a monster of a phase 3 special, that can not only move two of your minions off a base you're intending on getting strategic second on, but gives them power as well. It also can just activate Day or Night effects in phase 3, which is often enough power to swing a base in your favour with the right set up. It gives Scary Squash and Gigantic Jack both their abilities, making them seriously powerful minions on that turn.

While mode switching is possible without Lil Spook and Spooky Time of Year, Jack O'Lanterns appreciate the added control over their options and if those options are at the bottom of the deck, they may have a rough time.

### Partner Suggestions

Jack O'Lanterns are more a headliner faction, and as such appreciate partners that enable their Day/Night gameplan as much as possible. Factions that love to bide time and then explode with a huge burst play will play nice with the pumpkins. Factions that provide recursion for the deck will also help them hit their ceiling. One interesting thing to note is that even though Jack O'Lanterns have a Titan, it stays out of play, so you don't need to worry about managing competing Titans when playing a faction that has one.

#### Published

* **Ninjas:** Playing Lil Spook + Hidden Ninjas allows for a sneaky time change, which could make all the difference in phase 3 when Porch Pumpkins, Gigantic Jack, or Say Hollow activate(s). Invisible Ninja can play Porch Pumpkin, and at Night this is an extra 4 power. Ahead of the Carve gives them a little extra destruction for weaker minions.
* **Ghosts:** Strong in theme and in function, this combo gives you multiple "modes" to work with between your Day/Night and "ghost" mode (two or less cards in hand). Ghostly Arrival into Solar Eclipse into two Scary Squashes allows you to force four discards and draw four cards for yourself. The Pumpkin King gives you additional ways to dump your hand, and Creampuff Man can replay cards like Solar Eclipse and Spooky Time of Year for extra manipulation of the "clock".
* **Teddy Bears:** For a specific power play, you can play Sir Squeezes + 2 Porch Pumpkins, play Care Package, play Gigantic Jack + Lil Spook and switch it to Night mode. That’s 25 power, and can solo score most bases with the right setup (not to mention any Snuggly Bears that may have appeared). Square Deal for hand refill.

#### Custom

* **Narwhals,** by Berryl and Onassi:
* **Jellyfish,** by Onassi:

## Author Notes

This was my very first faction, and as such it still feels like it could have expanded more on the Day/Night idea. It has undergone a number of changes, and could still use more polish, but for the most part I'd like to make room for new projects. It's certainly a *fun* faction, and fairly well balanced. If you ever get a chance to play it, leave a review! I'd happily adapt any comments or concerns into an inevitable Day/Night faction in the future. Special thanks to Ludichrisness for the base ability for Pumpkin Patch.

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