Pandas

## Overview

*Eat. Sleep. Eat. Sleep. Eat. Sleep. Smash bases to smithereens! Repeat. Such is the lifestyle of the Smash Up Pandas. While they’re busy eating and sleeping, they’ll make sure that you don’t have much choice but to do the same.*

Pandas will slowly grow over time and block opponents' plays. If opponents try to score the bases where their big minions are stationed, they have several mechanisms to turn it to their advantage.

### Details

#### General

* **Name:** Pandas
* **Author:** Berryl
* **Complexity:** 1.5/5
* **Version:** 1.3
* **Last Updated:** 01/11/2024

#### Special Details

Many of the images for this faction were generated by ImagnAI.

### Breakdown

Most factions have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions (but you may describe any deviations from that here). Most factions have a standard 30 total minion power or an average minion power of 3 (again, describe any deviations here). Among their actions, they have:

* 2 play-on-minion actions: 2x Bamboo Shoots
* 4 play-on-base actions: 2x Bigbelly, Anything-Goes, Panda Express
* 4 standard actions, 3 of which directly affect one or more minions (in **bold**): **Kung Fu Panda, Pandamonium, Up Panda-Way,** Mega Panda

### Minions (10)

* **1x Chi Chi (5):** Talent: Choose one of your minions. Until the start of your turn, other players cannot play or move minions to its base with power less than or equal to half its power, rounded down.
* **2x Gentle Giant (4):** Other players cannot play actions until the start of your turn.
* **3x Panda Cub (3):** Ongoing: At the start of your turn, you may place a +1 power counter on this minion.
* **4x Red Panda (2):** Place a +1 power counter on one of your other minions OR give a minion of power 5 or more +2 power until the start of your turn.

### Actions (10)

* **2x Bamboo Shoots:** Play on a minion. Talent: Place a +1 power counter on this minion.
* **2x Bigbelly:** Play on a base. Ongoing: This base’s breakpoint is increased by 2. Talent: If there is a minion of power 5 or more here, destroy this card and place two +1 power counters on that minion.
* **1x Anything-Goes:** Play on a base. Ongoing: Other players must discard a card to play a minion here.
* **1x Kung Fu Panda:** Move a minion of power 7 or more. You may return this card to your hand.
* **1x Panda Express:** Play on a base. Talent: Move one of your minions to or from here.
* **1x Pandamonium:** Choose one of your minions. Destroy a minion with less power at its base.
* **1x Up Panda-way:** Give each of your minions +1 power until the end of the turn for each +1 power counter on it.
* **1x Mega Panda:** Special: Before a base scores, if you have a minion of power 7 or more there, play an action.

### Bases

* **(23) Pandalore (4 2 1):** At the start of each turn, place an Energy on this card. Minions with power equal to the number of Energy on this card cannot be played here. If this card has more than 5 Energy, remove all but one of them.
* **(28) Pandora (5 3 2):** Minions here that would otherwise be power 5 or more have +2 power.

## Clarifications

* **Chi Chi:** Chi Chi can choose itself.
* **Red Pandas, Bigbelly, Kung-Fu Panda:** These cards can give power to other players' minions.

## Strategy

### General

Pandas' strategy is very straightforward: Grow slowly over time, and buy time by blocking other players' avenues of play. Panda Cub and Bamboo Shoots all give a power counter every turn, and Red Panda or Bigbelly can also supply power counters. Use cards like Chi Chi, Gentle Giant, Anything-Goes, and Pandamonium to slow down opponents and thwart their plans. To break bases, use Kung-Fu Panda or Panda Express to move your powered-up minions, Red Panda or Bigbelly for an infusion of power, or Up Panda-Way to cash in on accumulated power counters. If other players break bases where you have powered-up minions, Mega Panda allows you to play an action to swing things at the last second. There are a variety of things that this could do: Play Pandamonium to destroy another player's minion, use Kung-Fu Panda to move somebody on or off (potentially including an opponent's minion), or play Up Panda-Way to get an infusion of power. Mega Panda can also be used on your turn to create a solo or a double score, or to keep a powered-up minion around for a later turn.

Chi Chi in particular can be an opportunity to engineer a solo score - if you can get a minion big enough (usually 10+ power), it's possible to block opponents from positioning any minions at its base, giving you ample time to take the points solo. This usually requires a Bamboo Shoots as well as other sources of power, and takes time to set up. If a lone defender sneaks on during this time, Pandamonium is all but guaranteed to be able to kick it off.

### Partner Suggestions

Pandas completely lack card draw, so a partner with a large amount of draw or some searching would befit them. Other ways to supply passive growth, especially in the form of power counters, will pair well, but a burst partner could be even better, combining with Pandas' passive growth to make both halves more efficient.

#### Published

* **Kree:** Kree's card draw, extra actions, and burst power will be much appreciated by Pandas. Righteous Fury on Chi Chi is a good way to jumpstart a base lockdown, and with extra actions or a pre-staged Bigbelly you can create a 10-power Chi Chi in just one turn.
* **Wraithrustlers:** Wraiths have a good amount of card draw, and Wraith stalling on top of the minor boosts given by Bigbelly can really make bases expensive for opponents.
* **Killer Plants:** Sprouts into Panda Cubs help get growth jumpstarted early. Killer Kudzu grabbing minions like Gentle Giants on command will help stall opponents even more.

## Author Notes

Pandas were a ton of fun to design and test. The initial pitch for the faction was actually supplied by my girlfriend, who wanted to see something like "Geeks, but not as mean." Pandas as a theme didn't directly come from her, but they were definitely chosen with her in mind, and I think their mechanics flowed from the pitch and that theme very naturally. Creating the cards was largely a collaborative effort as well. Many of the references were supplied by Jynx\_KB on Discord, without whom the theming would have been much less strong. Although it wasn't my initial goal to create a simple faction, I think they naturally developed in that direction and ultimately landed in a very good spot. Now, I hope that this faction is approachable enough (theme-wise as well as strategy-wise) for people new to custom factions to start dipping their toes in!

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