recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Marble Berry

## Ability

### Ability

**Nature's Shiniest****(Draw)** If your deck has 9 or more Life on Land cards, your Lost Treasures cards in hand gain +24 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Thought to be the shiniest living thing, the **Marble Berry** is an African fruit with a blue hue brighter than any biological substance. Before you start considering the possibilities (shiny jam, shiny cakes, shiny cocktail garnish?!), this fruit is unfortunately not edible.

In this case, it’s what’s *outside* that counts, as the marble berry (aka pollia condensata) is just a shiny shell filled with hard seeds. This intense blue isn’t created from a pigment, but through a method called structural colour. Just like peacock feathers and the wings of some butterflies, different spacing between the strands in each cell of the berry reflects light of different wavelengths. The result is this brilliant iridescent blue, and the first example of structural colour within a fruit.

'Pollia' by Juliano Costa (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Liberty Bell

## Did You Know?

In July 1776, the **Liberty Bell** rang out to celebrate America’s new-found independence. Or did it? As it turns out, probably not - it’s thought that a magazine writer made up the story of the bell ringing on the first Independence Day

```
But, if you think the Liberty Bell isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, hear us out. Back in the day, the Bell went on tour around the United States, hitting the road for seven promotional tours between 1885 and 1915. But all that travelling took its toll on the bell, so it was taken home and put on display in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell Centre where it is occasionally tapped (lightly) to mark special occasions.

```
Lemon Slice Nebula

## Ability

### Ability

**A Twist of Lemon****(Draw)** If your deck has 4 or more Space cards, your Curious Cuisine cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power and cost -1 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

1.3 kiloparsecs away from Earth in the constellation of Camelopardalis is a perfectly spherical nebula that resembles a giant slice of lemon. This leads us to believe that somewhere in space is a cocktail nebula in need of garnish.

First discovered by American astronomer Robert Grant Aitken in 1900 while using Lick Observatory’s 12” Clark Refractor, the **Lemon Slice Nebula** is one of the simplest nebulae known. It is also a relatively young nebula, possessing a core diameter of only about 0.4 light-years. When astronomer Jim Kaler observed a false-colour image of the nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, he gave it this memorable name to reflect its lemon-like appearance.

'Lemon Slice' by Judy Schmidt (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Medusa

## Ability

### Ability

**Solid as a Rock****(Draw)** Two random cards in your hand **Lock** this round. **(Draw)** Two random cards in hand gain +50 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, **Medusa** was a terrifying monster who could turn anyone she looked at to stone. But she wasn’t always this way. The only mortal of the Gorgon sisters, Medusa was born with beautiful, long flowing hair. The sea god Poseidon couldn’t resist her charms, and according to the myth,

Medusa was seduced by Poseidon in the temple of Athena. This didn’t go down well with Athena. In a fit of rage, she transformed Medusa’s hair into a coil of serpents. Even after the Greek hero Perseus had cut off her head, a task which took him all the tools of the Gods to complete, he had to keep Medusa’s head in a sack strong enough to contain her power.
Mary Fields

## Ability

### Ability

**You've Got Mail****(Return)** Your Paper card, wherever it is, gains +30 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

At six feet tall, all-powerful and not to be messed with, **Mary Fields** was the first African American woman to carry mail on a Star Route for the United States Post Office Department and a force to be reckoned with. Many bandits learned to stay clear of ‘Stagecoach Mary’ in the American Old West.

Completely bad-ass, she carried a gun, smoked too much, drank too much and had a wickedly dry sense of humour, but cross her and her raging temper would emerge.

She was born into slavery around 1833 and worked for the Warner family in West Virginia in the years leading up to the Civil War. Shortly after the war, and completely randomly, she ended up working at Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart - her gruff style not something that fitted into the serene calm of the convent.

Despite being the toughest women ever to work in a convent, Mary earned the respect and devotion of most of the residents of the pioneer community of Cascade, Montana. She was well admired for holding her own and living her own way in a world where the odds were stacked against her.

In 1895, in her early sixties, Mary was the first African American woman to receive a Star Route contract from the United States Post Office to be a Star Route Carrier, an independent contractor who used a stagecoach to deliver the mail in the harsh weather of northern Montana.

Mary built a reputation for being fearless while working as a mail carrier. She not only had to deliver the mail but also protect it from bandits, thieves, wolves and the weather as well.

Mary became well known for the guns she carried. During the time that Mary was delivering the mail, she was known to carry both a rifle and a revolver - go hard or go home, right?

'Mary Fields (c. 1832 – 1914)' by Unknown Author (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Lamprey

## Ability

### Ability

**Only the Feistiest****(Play)** If your deck contains no Fabulous Fish cards, your Feisty Fish cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power for 4 turns. **(Return)** Two random Oceans and Seas cards in your hand cost -2 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

We don’t need to look to space to find aliens. Even in our oceans exist the most bizarre and down-right terrifying creatures. Take the **Lamprey**, for example. For a start, this is one of the only vertebrates with a single nostril. But that’s not even the weirdest part.

When the Lamprey matures, it grows to become an eel-shaped sea vampire, latching its terrifying tooth-filled mouth onto fish and grinding away at their scales to reveal bloody flesh beneath. Given that lampreys have at least 12 rows of teeth arranged in circles around their mouths, that’s got to be a gruesome way to die.

Thankfully, there aren’t too many recorded attacks of lampreys on humans, so unless you’re planning to evolve into a fish, you’re probably safe. (for now.)
Mangrove Pit Viper

## Ability

### Ability

**Temper, Temper****(Play)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -8 Power this turn and if this card matches the Arena, your opponent's cards in hand lose an additional -16 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

With what might be this writer's favourite Latin animal name (*Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus* - I don't know why, it just tickles me), the **Mangrove Pit Viper** can be found in India, Bangladesh and YOUR NIGHTMARES.

This snake may only reach lengths of around 60 centimetres, but it's known for having one of the meanest tempers of any creature. Once agitated, which is really not very tricky to do, it can take a long time for a **Mangrove Pit Viper** to calm down.

Its venom is not to be underestimated either - though it is not usually the case, humans have been known to die from it. So try to keep it, and yourself, calm if you ever happen upon one...
Ladybug

## Ability

### Ability

**Spot Check****(Draw)** If you are winning the round, this card loses -10 Power this turn. Otherwise, it gains +20 Power this turn instead.

## Did You Know?

**Ladybugs** are a species of beetle that's instantly recognisable (though not in all cases) for their vibrant red shell and black spots. You might also find them in a black-shell-with-red-spots variety - these are Harlequin Ladybugs, and are rapidly killing off the population of their inverted-colour compatriots.

You may, if you grew up in the United Kingdom, call them 'Ladybirds', named after Our "Lady" the Virgin Mary, and "Birds", because they can fly. It's ironic then that their primary predator is birds, but they have a unique defence mechanism - playing dead.
Lake Hillier

## Ability

### Ability

**In the Pink****(Play)** If played next to Archaea and if you are winning the round, your Natural Monuments cards in hand gain +25 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

Even the most skilled mixologist couldn’t recreate the beauty of **Lake Hillier**, a bubblegum-pink lake on the Recherche Archipelago in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. Like a giant <link="http:>strawberry margarita</link>, this naturally-occurring cocktail has a thick crust of salt around the rim.

It was first discovered by navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802, and its vivid pink colour remained a mystery for many years. Finally, research found that the pink hue was caused by a mix of the organisms that produce a pink colour dye and the red halophilic bacteria found in its salt crust.

In the early 1900s, Lake Hillier was used for salt mining. Seeing as it's 10 times saltier than the ocean, that makes sense. While it’s safe to swim in (and highly Instagrammable) we wouldn’t recommend drinking it.
Legionary Helmet

## Did You Know?

Legionary Helmets, known as Galea, were part of the armour worn by Roman soldiers. The Helmet was typically made of a single sheet of iron or brass, beaten into shape, but you don't care about that - what's going on with the big red bristles, eh?

Well, they're actually horse hairs, and they were used in various configurations to denote the rank and family of the solider. It's thought they came in yellow, purple and black too, but red is the one you always associate with them because the horse hair was usually naturally red.
Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb

## Ability

### Ability

**Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know****(Play)** Your cards adjacent to this lose -20 Power this turn and the card opposite this loses -20 Power this turn. **(Return)** This card costs -3 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

She described him as “mad, bad and dangerous to know,” but that didn’t stop **Lady Caroline Lamb falling for Lord Byron**. And, since her husband was William Lamb (an up and coming politician who later became Prime Minister), their affair was not a good look.

After Byron broke things off, Lamb’s husband took her to Ireland - but the distance only made her heart grow fonder, and she and Byron exchanged letters constantly during her exile. Although Lord Byron made it clear that they were never ever getting back together (like, ever), Lady Caroline became increasingly obsessed and erratic. She publicly insulted the poet and even went as far as to dress up as a pageboy and sneak into his house. How many of us have done that for love?!
Keelhauling

## Ability

### Ability

**Worse Than Death****(Return)** If you are winning the round, your opponent loses -25 Power/Turn this round.

## Did You Know?

If you think being grounded is a harsh punishment, **Keelhauling** is not something you'll want to think about.

One of the most brutal and gruesome forms of torture, which started in the early history of naval travel - Keelhauling involves a sailor being tied to ropes, thrown overboard and attached under the ships keel. While injuries sustained could depend on how fast the ship was sailing, it was typically amounted to an excruciating execution.

You see - and I hope you have strong stomach here - a ship's hull was usually covered in *barnacles*. Not the smooth fluffy kind (because they don't exist), but razor sharp ones.

This meant that as the sailor moved back and forth below the ship they would receive injuries from lacerations to the loss of limbs and major head injuries from hitting the barnacles and ship... and in some even more gruesome cases, decapitation. All this while drowning too. It could get even worse for the sailor: if they survived and the Captain surmised that the injuries were not severe enough already, they could be subjected to it again.

So next time you watch James Bond getting tortured in Casino Royale, just remember he's having an easy time of it.

'Keelhauling in the Tudor period' by Unknown Author - Courtesy of the Bournville Village Trust, Birmingham, England (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under Public Domain (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Loch Arkaig Treasure

## Ability

### Ability

**Skirmish of Tongue****(Play)** If your deck contains Tongue, your Riding the Waves! cards, wherever they are, gain +28 Power for 2 turns.

## Did You Know?

Sure, your friends may have savings accounts and investments, but maybe your nest egg could come in the form of centuries-old treasure hidden at a Scottish loch? Sometimes known as the Jacobite Gold, the **Loch Arkaig Treasure** was the huge sum of Spanish gold sent to finance the Jacobite rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie. But, by the time the gold arrived in Scotland in 1746, the war was already over.

One casket of gold is said to have been taken by McDonald of Barrisdale while the other 6 caskets of gold are believed to have been hidden at a secret location somewhere at Loch Arkaig. Hunted by the Jacobites and Redcoats alike, some of the gold is rumored to still be out there…
Lupus

## Ability

### Ability

**Hungry Like The Wolf****(Play)** All Dogs cards in both player's hands gain +10 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Lupus means 'Wolf' (and even today 'lupine' is the adjective to describe something wolf-like). In this constellation, the wolf in question is stuck on the end of a Centaur's spear - so not a very happy Lupus at all.

At other times the constellation has been interpreted as looking like a wineskin, or the branches of a date palm - showing that when it comes to constellations you really can join the dots any way you like.
Kumamoto Castle

## Ability

### Ability

**Musha-gaeshi****(Play)** Your opponent's cards in hand lose -18 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The majestic Kumamoto Castle was first established in 1607, and features 49 turrets, 18 gatehouses, 29 smaller gates and... ALL RIGHT FINE, we'll talk about some battles as well.

While the castle was constructed and constantly improved during the feudal period, it wouldn't be until the 1877 siege during the Satsuma Rebellion (now THERE's a cool band name) that it proved how strong it was - the Castle stood firm for nearly two months against 20,000 samurai!

The Castle was also attacked by Godzilla in 1994's "Godzilla vs Space Godzilla", and when we say "attacked by Godzilla" we mean "the castle was in the foreground while a bloke in a monster suit walked around behind it.
Majungasaurus

## Did You Know?

**Majungasaurus** is a medium-sized carnivorous theropod and is not to be called Majungatholus (not that you were planning to). The latter name was given to a specimen found in 1979 and originally thought to be a new species. Classic rookie error.

Speaking of rookie errors, it was originally mistaken for a pachycephalosaur (*note to self: buy a new spell-checker*) as all the palaeontologists had to work with was a skull, which had a domed horn. Except, it would have been a spike when Majungasaurus had it, and it had just worn away. You might reasonably expect that a horn would serve some function in combat, but the porous nature of the bone suggests it was purely for display purposes.

Majungasaurus holds the dubious honour of being the only cannibalistic non-avian theropod. Not much of a team player, then.
Lava Lizard

## Ability

### Ability

**The Floor is Lava****(Play)** If played next to any Science card, your Reptiles cards, wherever they are, gain +25 Power until played and this card gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

When you tell this reptile to drop and give you 50, it’ll do it no problem. But swole is not the goal for the **Lava Lizard**. You see, just like human men, male lava lizards exhibit major signs of fragile masculinity, using push ups as a visual display of strength to intimidate competitors from his territory.

Should another male feel he is stronger, a push-up contest will take place. And if that doesn’t settle it, the two may ‘slap’ each other with their tail or even bite each other. When they aren’t fighting, they’re basking in the sun with their besties, the marine iguanas, or scurrying over the black lava that covers most of the islands (hence the name).
Luhman 16

## Did You Know?

In the southern constellation Vela, approximately six and a half light-years from the sun is a binary brown-dwarf star system known as **Luhman 16**. At first, 6.5 light-years from the sun doesn’t sound too far away. Of course, when you take into account that one light year is about 37,200 human years, Luhman 16 starts to feel a little more out of reach.

Nevertheless, its components are the nearest-known celestial objects in this constellation outside the Solar system. The brown dwarfs were discovered by Kevin Luhman, astronomer from Pennsylvania State University. Apparently, the masses of Luhman 16 A and B (the two brown dwarf stars) are 33.5 and 28.6 Jupiter masses respectively, and their ages are estimated to be 600–800 million years.
Kraken Merger

## Ability

### Ability

**Intergalactic****(Return)** Your The Milky Way card, wherever it is, gains +20 Power and costs -5 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

The word ‘Merger’ is often misleading. It is defined as ‘a combination of two things, especially companies, into one’.

Strictly speaking, this is accurate - but it obscures the truth that usually one of those companies is doing a lot more of the ‘merging’ than the other.

The same goes for most galactic mergers. In fact, when the size difference is big enough, the correct term is ‘galactic cannibalism’, which is more apt.

The **Kraken Merger** is a case in point. Announced just 9 days ago at the time of writing (oh yes, we have our finger on the pulse), it is thought to have been the largest, and possibly the oldest, collision in the history of the Milky Way.

It took place 11 billion years ago at a time when Milky Way was a quarter of its current size. Given the size of the ‘merger’, it would have made a massive difference to the Milky Way - and yet the Kraken Galaxy is now at most a footnote.
Lemurine Owl Monkey

## Ability

### Ability

**Monkey of the Night****(Start)** Your Primates cards in hand gain +7 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

They don’t call it the **Lemurine Owl Monkey** for nothing: as the world’s only truly nocturnal monkey, this wide-eyed creature spends most of the day napping peacefully in the canopies of tropical rainforests in South America. When night falls, it awakens to scour its surroundings for fruit, nectar and insects.

It may not have wings or talons like its namesake, but the Lemurine Owl Monkey has been known to make owl-like hoots as well as soft clicks, low-pitched rumbles and high pitched squeaks.

Monogamous by nature, a pack of grey-bellied night monkeys consists of a mated pair and their babies. However, it’s the male parent who takes the initiative and raises the young among these New World Monkeys. Even if the male dies, the female refuses to take over.
La Quema del Diablo

## Ability

### Ability

**Burning the Devil****(Start)** If your deck contains The Devil (XV), your The Devil (XV) card in hand loses -7 Power until played and this card gains +7 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

On December 7th in Guatemala, families clean their house, sweeping out all the dust and dirt and putting it in a pile outside. They then place a papier–mâché devil effigy on top of the pile and burn it down at the stroke of 6 pm, purging the bad from the previous year so the household may start anew for another year. This ritual is known as La Quema del Diablo.
Krampus

## Ability

### Ability

**Naughty List****(Return)** Your opponent's Arts & Culture cards, wherever they are, lose -10 Power until played and if you are losing the round, your opponent loses -10 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

**Krampus** is the anti-Santa in central European folklore. Often described as half-goat, half-demon, he is said to come to the houses of bad children and punish them.

Though not particularly visible in our example, **Krampus** carries with him chains that symbolise the binding of the Devil. In more pagan depictions he's also seen carrying birch branches which he swats children with.

Krampusnacht occurs on December 5th (the day before day St Nicholas's Day...) and is when Krampus arrives to exact seasonal punishment (and deliver lumps of coal in modern, less terrifying celebrations). It is customary to offer Krampus schnapps when he arrives at your home, a parallel to St. Nicholas's penchant for milk.
Mermaids

## Ability

### Ability

**Something's Fishy****(Play)** Your Fabulous Fish and Feisty Fish cards in hand gain +70 Power this turn. **(Return)** Your Oceans and Seas cards, wherever they are, cost -1 Energy this round.

## Did You Know?

**Mermaids** have been a popular subject of art and literature for centuries, such as in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration swear that no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found, but the number of mermaid sightings throughout history suggests otherwise.

That said, there’s a good chance that lonely sailors often mistook mermaids for manatees… #ThatAwkwardMoment when you fall in love with a sea cow.
Llama

## Ability

### Ability

**Guarding the Herd****(Play)** Your Life on Land cards, wherever they are, with 3 or less Base Energy gain +14 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The largest of the South American camelid family, **Llamas** aren’t picky about who they call their crew. Highly social creatures, they have been known to adopt a group of sheep or goats as their own. For a herd of smaller animals, having a Llama in the squad is the business, since llamas make excellent guards.

They’re also very vocal creatures, and mothers often hum to communicate with their babies, called crias, who learn to recognise their mothers this way. Trace the llama’s heritage and you’ll eventually land on their wild cousin, the guanaco, from which they evolved some 5,000 years ago. Their ancestors inhabited the plains of North America and migrated south around three million years ago.
Megacerops

## Ability

### Ability

**To Be Blunt****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your cards in hand gain +9 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

We know it as both the **Megacerops**, meaning “large horn face” and Bronotherium, meaning “thunder face” – let’s cut to the chase: its official name should be Horny McHornFace. You could be forgiven for assuming this was an ancestor of the common rhinoceros. However, the Megacerops was actually more closely related to horses. Imagine riding into battle on this beast!

Standing at around 2.5m tall, the animal easily approached the size of an African forest elephant, the third-largest land animal today. In order to survive, the Brontotherium would have had to eat at least 120 pounds of plant material every day. And every day, for 4.1 million years, it did just that until the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event wiped it out.
Liopleurodon

## Ability

### Ability

**Deep Trouble****(Draw)** Your Paleontology cards in hand gain +20 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

The first fossil remains of Liopleurodon to be discovered were underwhelming: just three teeth. But the archaeologists didn’t let that stop them - and so now this impressive marine beast, which was likely an apex predator of its time, has a name meaning ’Smooth-sided Teeth’.

Liopleurodons had lungs, and so would have had to surface occasionally to breathe, much like modern day dolphins and whales.
Lace Monitor

## Ability

### Ability

**Vantage Point****(Play)** Your Tremendous Trees cards in hand gain +8 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

They may grow up to 2 metres in length and weigh over 14 kilograms, but that doesn’t stop the **Lace Monitor** from being a master climber. On one occasion, this large lizard was spotted climbing a brick wall to find shelter from a thunderstorm.

Move over Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman – there’s a new sheriff in town - and this one takes this one takes the meaning of ‘neighbourhood’ very seriously. In fact, lace monitors spend their entire adult lives in the same area, with one individual recorded as living in the same tree for years. As well as eating bugs and small animals, lace monitors will often venture into areas inhabited by people to rummage through the garbage and snack on food waste. #ClimbFastEatTrash
Maison Carrée

## Did You Know?

The Maison Carrée is a magnificently preserved Roman temple in the heart of Nîmes, France. Nîmes has many other magnificently preserved Roman buildings, but this is special because of the ongoing influence it has had over classical architecture and design.

Jefferson (President, lawyer, architect, philosopher all-round polymath) visited the building in 1787 and by all accounts stared at it for hours in awe of its Vitruvian architecture and workmanship which he used to inspire the civic architecture that he went on to create.

The podium measures around 25 x 12 meters and was probably built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa the son-in-law of the Augustus, in 20 BCE.

The building itself was dedicated to Augustus's grandsons who died young. Astonishing some clot removed the bronze letters in medieval times, but Jean-François Séguier (1703 – 1784), was able to work out the inscription on the front frieze and architrave from the arrangement of holes used to affix the lettering.

Every now and then this writer gets to write a card about something that I have visited or experienced first hand and this is one of them. Nîmes is rich with Roman remains and architecture and the Maison Carrée takes your breath away with its scale and condition. Like many of the other surviving buildings from that time it has been used and repurposed over its life, which is why it survived. In the past, it has been used as a church, a stable, a consul's house and even held the town's archive.
Maenad

## Ability

### Ability

**Mad for Wine****(Play)** If you have played Dionysus this game, gain +7 Power/Turn permanently.

## Did You Know?

It’s hardly surprising that the Greek god of wine had many followers. The females of his fan club were known as the **Maenad**, a word that comes from the Greek maenades, meaning “mad” or “demented”. Just like your mate who’s had one too many and is doing press-ups in the middle of the pub, the maenad had unusual strength.

Legend has it that, while under the influence of Dionysus, they had the ability to tear animals or people apart with their bare hands (not to be confused with bear hands, which are also well known for tearing people apart). While followers of other gods were busy doing boring worship and sacrifice, the maenads roamed the mountains performing frenzied, ecstatic dances. Where do we sign up?!
Mangrove Monitor

## Ability

### Ability

**Handle With Care****(Return)** If you lost the turn, this card and a random card in your hand lose -17 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The **Mangrove Monitor**, also known as mangrove goanna, is a type of monitor lizard species found in the Western Pacific. An opportunistic carnivore, this chancer feeds on eggs of other reptiles, birds, molluscs, rodents, insects, crabs, carrion, fish, and small lizards. In some areas, mangrove monitors have even been known to feast on baby crocodiles.

At only 1.3 in length, you might be wondering how it consumes a young croc. Well, just like snakes, this monitor lizard has the ability to increase the size of its mouth by dropping its lower jaw to eat large prey. Unlike snakes, however, the jaw of the mangrove monitor remains rigid throughout the process.
Lope de Aguirre

## Ability

### Ability

**Stream to El Dorado****(Play)** Your Amazon River card in hand gains +50 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

He called himself the "Wrath of God, Prince of Freedom, King of Tierra Firme". His fellow explorers just called him “El Loco” (“the Madman”.) Spanish conquistador **Lope de Aguirre** is best known for his expedition down the Amazon river in search of the mythical kingdom of El Dorado.

The expedition was doomed to fail: no golden cities were found, and after travelling hundreds of miles up the Marañon River in canoes, Aguirre led a mutiny against the group’s leader, Don Pedro de Ursua. After murdering his superior and alerting the King of Spain via a letter of his independence from his home country, Aguirre knew the end was nigh. In an attempt to “spare” his daughter from torture, he stabbed her to death before he was captured and, eventually, killed.
Marbled Newt

## Ability

### Ability

**Written in the Stars****(Play)** Your Constellations cards in hand gain +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The beautiful Marbled Newt can be found in the south of France and the northern Iberian peninsula. They are nature's astronomers - a 2002 study discovered that they observe the stars to figure out their way to breeding pools.
Komodo Dragon

## Did You Know?

Komodo Dragons are the largest lizard species in existence today. It has only recently been discovered that they produce a venom, but originally they were believed to kill targets with the toxic bacteria in their saliva.

They are NOT actual dragons, please stop clogging up the customer support channels.
Lute

## Ability

### Ability

**Historic Vibrations****(Play)** If your deck has 4 or more Instrumental cards, your History cards, wherever they are, gain +13 Power until played.

## Did You Know?

During the mediaeval times, the **Lute** was \*the\* stringed instrument to have. You could whip it out at church for a hymn, carry it with you to play ballads while you walked and serenade your friends with songs around a campfire during a pilgrimage.

The Lute began as an ancient Arabic instrument. In fact, its name evolved from the Arabic “al-ud” which means “the wood.” After the crusades, the lute found its way to Europe. Like many art forms during the time, the lute’s popularity blew up when the Renaissance kicked off. As the instrument became iconic, kings and queens began requesting new works to bolster the appeal to the masses. King Louis XIII of France, for example, had musicians pen dozens of songs for him during his reign.
LaPerm

## Ability

### Ability

**Speedy and Curly****(Start)** This card loses -5 Power permanently. **(Return)** This card gains +20 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

The 80s were a wild time for hairstyles. Case in point: your mum’s yearbook photo and the **LaPerm** cat. It looks like a member of an all-feline hair metal band, but the story of how this cat got its curls all comes down to a random genetic mutation.

Back in 1982, cat lovers Linda and Richard Koehl noticed that their barn cat, Speedy, had given birth to an unusually bald kitten. At 8 weeks, the kitten began growing a curly coat. There was no rhyme or reason as to why, but the wavy-haired wonder grew up to have kittens of her own who carried the curly gene.

It took around 20 years, but the LaPerm cat was officially named as a new breed by the Cat Association in 2002.
Metropolis (1927)

## Ability

### Ability

**The Mediator****(Draw)** If your deck contains The Brain, Hands and Heart, your Science cards, wherever they are, gain +18 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Vast sets, special effects and more extras than you can shake a stick at: Fritz Lang’s ‘>**Metropolis’ (1927)** is one of the most daring science fiction films ever made. It was also the most expensive film of its time, with a budget that rose to $5.3 million. And while that’s nothing compared to the budgets of today’s blockbusters, films cost a lot less to make back then.

Not only was Metropolis one of Germany’s most vital contributions to cinema, it was also the first to use a technique that was still being used as recently as ‘Lord of the Rings’. Lang’s special effects guy, Eugen Schufftan, used mirrors to “project” actors into miniature models or drawings - a technique that became known as the Schufftan Process.
Larynx

## Ability

### Ability

**Voice Your Concerns****(Return)** If you lost the turn, gain +10 Power/Turn next turn.

## Did You Know?

More commonly known as the voice box, the **Larynx** is an organ in your neck (assuming you’re a human) that houses the vocal cords and helps protect your windpipe. Here is a little-known fact about the Larynx that’s bound to leave you speechless: when you’ve got a sore throat, whispering actually makes it worse, because the effort it takes to whisper is tougher on the larynx.

That said, we wouldn’t recommend shouting, either. Maybe just get a whiteboard.
Long Nosed Bandicoot

## Did You Know?

Sure, the **Long Nosed Bandicoot** looks adorable. But wait ‘til you find out about its <link="https:>rear-facing pouch.</link> If it’s a choice between climbing into your mum’s rear pouch or facing the dangers of the East Australian rainforests, we’ll take the latter.

As you might have guessed, that long nose it's named after is used to forage for food - specifically, invertebrates, fungi and plants. If you see a snout-shaped hole in the woodlands, it’s a sign that a long-nosed bandicoot has done the rounds.

Of all the bandicoots, this particular type is one of the few to emit a high-pitched toot noise like a tiny elephant. This call is often made when disturbed or alarmed, but may also be used intermittently by foraging bandicoots.

'Long-nosed Bandicoot, Crater Lakes National Park, Queensland, Australia' by JJ Harrison (Source: Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (original image resized, cropped and altered)
Mary Celeste

## Ability

### Ability

**Abandon Ship?****(Play)** If you are losing the round, your **Mary Celeste** card in hand loses -70 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The mystery of the Mary Celeste has enthralled those who succumb to enthrallment since 1867 when it was discovered off the Azores without its crew.

The British brig Dei Gratia spotted the ship adrift in the choppy seas. Capt. David Morehouse dispatched a boarding party who found the ship's charts scattered below decks, crewmen's belongings still in place along with the cargo and food rations. The only obvious thing missing was the ship's only lifeboat.

What happened to the crew? What happened to the... Actually, CUE knows basically everything, but that's among the very few things we don't know.
Mare

## Ability

### Ability

**Troubled Dreams****(Start)** If you are losing the round, a random card from both player's hand loses -30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Drink coffee before sleeping, change your sleeping position, take a leather belt to bed with you and leave a bundle of hay by your bedside. If all else fails, smear faeces on your front door. It seems a bit extreme, but according to Polish folklore, these are just some of the ways you can protect yourself against the **Mare** - a malicious being in Slavic and Germanic folklore that rides on people’s chests while they sleep, bringing on vivid nightmares. In fact, the Norwegian and Danish words for ‘nightmare’ can be directly translated as ‘mare-ride’, in reference to the creature.

Thankfully, scientists have figured out medical reasons for sleep paralysis, but historic treatments for “the mare” included bloodletting and shaving the head.
Mari Lwyd

## Ability

### Ability

**Ain't What She Used To Be****(Play)** Your Festive Traditions cards in hand gain +15 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

The Mari Lwyd (which roughly translated means "grey mare") is a Welsh wassailing custom. Wassailing is a bit like carolling - you go door to door, singing songs and wishing good cheer, often in exchange for small gifts.

In the case of the Mari Lwyd, you do it with a horses' skull on a stick draped in a cloth. On New Year's Eve, you knock on doors with a group of people and attempt to gain entry with songs ("pwnco"). The inhabitants of the house are meant to reply with their own verses in an attempt to outwit the Mari and her gang - so it's not unlike 8 Mile.

Eventually, the inhabitants let the Mari Lwyd in, and she's meant to scare away evil and unwanted bad energy from the previous year.
Lionfish

## Did You Know?

Native to the Indo-Pacific region, the beautiful **Lionfish** is recognisable by its long, flamboyant spines and fins. Unfortunately, its magnificent display is its way of telling you that "I'm full of deadly toxins and you'd do well not to trouble me, sir" - those spines contain a venom that can cause pain, paralysis and even death!

They don't use those spines to hunt, thankfully; their favourite method of snaring prey is to silently get close, then use their large pectoral fins to leap forward and swallow them whole. On balance, that's probably preferable to the venom.
Mako Shark

## Ability

### Ability

**Outpace****(Play)** Your opponent's Oceans and Seas cards in hand lose -30 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

We should all be more excited about (and scared of) the **Mako Shark**. Yes it has a ridiculous name (Mako means Shark in Maori, so we are calling it a 'Shark Shark'), but it's an aggressive carnivore with speed on its side.

At its fastest, the Mako is believed to reach 60mph. To give some context, an Olympic human swimming speed is around 6mph. So if you come across a Mako...

...good luck.
Mantis Shrimp

## Ability

### Ability

**Supercavitation****(Play)** If it matches the Arena, your opponent's cards in hand **Burn** (15) this round.

## Did You Know?

The **Mantis Shrimp** is notorious for its striking force, and has the nickname ‘thumb splitter‘, due to the painful gashes they can cause if handled without care by humans.

Despite their namesake and the fact they're pretty tiny, **Mantis Shrimp** aren’t actually shrimp at all, neither, of course, are the mantises.) They're stomatopods, distant relatives to crabs, shrimp, and lobsters.

Stomatopods are actually older than dinosaurs and began evolving independently from other crustaceans nearly 400 million years ago which is around 170 million years before the first dinosaurs started stomping around.
Lamia

## Ability

### Ability

**Bad Diet****(Draw)** If your deck has 5 or more Curious Cuisine cards, this card costs -3 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Hell hath no fury like **Lamia** scorned. Once a beautiful queen of Libya, Lamia fell for Zeus and the two started a sordid affair. Naturally, this didn’t go down well with Zeus’ wife, Hera, who robbed Lamia of her children, either by kidnapping or killing them.

Honestly, Hera should have directed her anger at Zeus, because her vengeful acts caused Lamia to go insane and start eating any children she could find. Because of these cruel acts, Lamia transformed into a monstrous beast.

If stealing her children wasn’t a harsh enough punishment, Hera cursed Lamia, depriving her of the ability to sleep, forcing her to constantly grieve the loss of her children. So, Zeus endowed her with removable eyes, which doesn’t really solve the main problem, but it was something.
Lungs

## Ability

### Ability

**Breathe It In****(Draw)** Your Five Senses cards, wherever they are, lose -5 Power until played. **(Return)** Your Five Senses cards, wherever they are, gain +10 Power permanently.

## Did You Know?

13 pints of air. That’s how much the average human breathes per minute, and it’s all thanks to those powerful organs that sit within our ribcage: The **Lungs**. Working in conjunction with your airways, your blood vessels and the muscles of your respiratory system, your lungs take in oxygen from the air and remove harmful carbon dioxide from your body.

Regular exercise helps you to expand your lung capacity, allowing them to send oxygen through the body faster. You might try running, swimming – or how about a spot of tennis? Speaking of which, if you were to unfold and flatten out all the tubes in your lungs, it would cover an area the size of a tennis court.
L'Oiselle

## Ability

### Ability

**Aerial Prowess****(Draw)** Your Awesome Aviation cards, wherever they are, gain +15 Power for 3 turns.

## Did You Know?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's **L'Oiselle**! This flying wonder soars through the skies with her trusty wing-suit, fearlessly taking on the misdeeds of the nefarious organisation, "Les Compagnons de l'Étoile Noire."

L'Oiselle's thrilling escapades are part of a larger cycle crafted by René d'Anjou, set in the fictional kingdom of Alaxa and entangling rival secret societies. These captivating tales first graced the pages of the serial novel L'Oiselle ou Royale énigme in the women's weekly La Mode du Petit Journal back in 1909.

Back in the day, Parisian cabarets embraced the fascination with flying women, showcasing dancers who defied gravity using cables and optical illusions. Now, after a century of obscurity, L'Oiselle returns in full force, taking flight once more with a novel and a comic book adaptation titled "LADY-BIRD."
Margay

## Ability

### Ability

**Thanks a 'lot!****(Play)** Your Ocelot card in hand gains +20 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

**Margays** can be found from Mexico to South America, living in deciduous evergreen forests. These shy cats are nocturnal and live on a diet of birds, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals (including monkeys).

Adept at life in the forest, **Margays** rarely if ever leave the trees, choosing to hunt, sleep and even copulate up them (unfortunate phrasing - Ed)

The **Margay** is one of only two species of cat that descend a tree facing downwards, this is possible because of the flexibility of its front feet which can be rotated 180 degrees allowing its caws to dig into the tree's bark.
Lady Hope's Story

## Ability

### Ability

**Embellishment****(Play)** If played next to Charles Darwin, this card gains +40 Power.

## Did You Know?

If you somehow convinced famous naturalist Charles Darwin to convert to Christianity and repent his disbelief in God right before his death, your name would become legendary… That’s likely what Lady Hope had in mind when she claimed to have visited Darwin on his deathbed in April 1882 and went to the press with her account.

In a magazine called The Gospel in All Lands in December 1885, British evangelist Lady Hope told readers of their conversation about religion and Darwin’s desire to be baptised. Remarkable if true, given Darwin was critical of supernatural explanations for natural events his entire career.

Unsurprisingly, there’s no evidence to support **Lady Hope’s Story** at all. It isn’t mentioned in any of Darwin’s letters, and his family deny that Lady Hope ever even visited him.
Mecha

## Ability

### Ability

**Metal Gear****(Play)** If your deck has only Science cards, your Science cards, wherever they are, gain +20 Power until played. **(Return)** Your Science cards, wherever they are, cost +1 Energy permanently.

## Did You Know?

Let's be honest - who wouldn't want to pilot a giant robot suit? And that's why **Mecha** has gripped audiences for over a century.

Its roots can be traced back to early science fiction works by authors like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, featuring steam-powered mechanical elephants and alien tripods. However, the introduction of mecha into Japanese media gained prominence after World War II, with works like Astro Boy and Gigantor being influential in shaping the genre.

Now the question on everyone’s lips: can we really create and pilot Gundam-style Mecha robots? Surprisingly, yes - the <link="https:>most advanced model today</link> today lets you flip a 4,000 kg pickup truck or lift a 500 kg log without any noticeable effort.
Loire River

## Ability

### Ability

**Franc Discussion****(Return)** Your Joan of Arc card, wherever it is, costs -3 Energy until played.

## Did You Know?

The **Loire River** was the backbone of France, a highway for the movement of goods to the cities and towns on its banks and beyond to France's vast interlinking canal system.

Let's get to the best thing about the Loire (in my opinion); the wine! With more than 750 km2 (185,000 acres) along its 1000km banks, it boasts some of the finest wines in the world including Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Its winemaking industry goes back to the 1st century when the areas first vineyards were planted by the occupying Romans. In the Middle Ages, Augustine and Benedictine monks played a major role in the development of new wine varieties and the creation of one of France's biggest exports.

Because of the Loire's significant role in French and European industry, it has always attracted wealth and power. In just one 200km stretch there are more than 300 large Château (manor houses). One of them being Château du Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's final residence.

CRAFTING CLUE BELOW!

- Everyone's rushing around for the next clue, but don't be sad, you'll find it too!
Memory

## Did You Know?

Your first day at school, your trip to Disneyland and that time you embarrassed yourself in public: these images etched in your mind’s eye forever are all thanks to the **Memory**. According to scientists, our brains have the capacity to store up to 2.5 petabytes of data. That’s the equivalent of three million hours of TV shows – and yet, you still can’t remember where you put your wallet?
Methuselah

## Ability

### Ability

**Rooted for Millennia****(Draw)** Gain +11 Power/Turn until this is returned to your deck.

## Did You Know?

High in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California lives the world’s oldest organism – a gnarled and twisted bristlecone pine. Known as **Methuselah**, it is recognised as the non-clonal tree with the greatest confirmed age in the world, pre-dating even the great pyramids of Giza.

At 4,852 years old, the old pine is named after a character in the bible with the same name, who was said to have lived the longest. So, what’s the secret to defying death? It turns out that the bristlecone pine possesses advanced survival strategies that make less resilient plants green with envy. These evolutionary abilities aid the tree to cope with even the harshest environments on the planet.
Libra

## Ability

### Ability

**Sign of the Scales****(Play)** Your Yoga and Venus cards in hand gain +32 Power this turn.

## Did You Know?

Born between September 23rd and October 22nd, **Libra** babies are blessed with well-balanced personalities and brimming with charm. They’re like the influencers of the Zodiac, thriving in most social situations. Astrology is no science, but if you’re born between these dates and have a real problem making your mind up, blame it on the Zodiac. Libras are notoriously indecisive, relentlessly weighing up the pros and cons of every situation before taking action.

Represented by the scales (curiously, the only inanimate object of the Zodiac), Libras are famous for their ability to see all sides of an argument, which makes them great mediators. If you’re ever in a heated debate and someone chimes in with “you’re both right”, they’re probably a Libra.
Kyptoceras

## Ability

### Ability

**Kyptonite****(Draw)** Your opponent's History and Arts & Culture cards in hand lose -15 Power this round.

## Did You Know?

Friends of the male **Kyptoceras** tried to tell it that those horns on its nose really weren’t doing it any favours in the looks department, but this genus of small protoceratid insisted that it would help to attract females. Apparently, it did, and also served for sparring with other males. Sadly, the protoceratids were believed to have been driven to extinction by more advanced grazing herbivores.