Card Tricks, Part Two

This post concerns some of the most frequently used card tactics after the starting draw and select a  card step is complete. The active card will be the one face up and in play (it is added to the relevant Combat Trait for the current Challenge).

Reinforce: the first two cards from the left have the special ability to reinforce. During the Buff Step in a Challenge, this card’s value is added from your Buff Hand to your selected draw card. After the reveal, the card is displayed face-up with your draw card and is considered “active”. Both your original draw card and the reinforce card are added to your relevant Combat Trait value. The suit and Force icons may be activated individually and are not considered to be linked (see Link below).

The low value cards (2, 3 and 4) may be added to your selected draw card if that draw card is of an equal or higher value. The best reinforcement that can be achieved is the 4-card added to a 10-card (or 14 total). Taking “The Flood” wild card into the mix with its’ 12 value means a low 4-card could result in a reinforcement total of 16.

The mid-value cards (5, 6 and 7) may be added to your selected draw card if that draw card is of an equal or lower value. The best reinforcement that can be achieved is the 7-card added to a 7-card (or 14 total).

Only one reinforcement may be used in any Challenge or Check sequence.

Replace: All of these cards may be used as replacement cards. During the Buff Step in a Challenge, this card is used to replace the selected draw card. Discard the previous draw card when this card is activated. If you have used a Reinforce card, you may not play a Replace card and vice versa.

Link: This card may be used to combine with another card during any Challenge or Check Step whenever played. This card does not have to be played from your Buff Hand. After being turned face-up and activated, take your top Draw card into your Buff Hand then take any available Buff Hand card and link it to this one (it does not have to be the card you just drew).

If you link a high value card (8, 9 or 10) with a 1+ card you immediately gain an added Push token.

These cards have a value of 1 plus the value of a second card. Suits and Force icons on both cards are considered active but cannot be played separately.  The Force value is double the value of the linked card. If you link another 1+ card, their Force value is zero.

These card tactics are the ones you will use repeatedly in play. To quickly determine if a Reinforce or a Replace is the better choice (aside from sticking with the selected draw card), add your best available low value and mid-value cards to the draw card value and compare totals. 

There might be other reasons to select a card beyond its value. In the next post I consider some of those reasons for the Block and Gain Force special abilities. Also, the Push Step rule is explained.