[Shadowfist CotW #1] The Art of War
Brian Bankler
deck. But should you? The simple answer: You should if you believe
your deck will benefit more than your opponent, should he manage to
get control. As usual, the simple answer doesn't help much. A dueling
deck can control the card. After all, you can choose to let your
opponent succeed, but that price might be too high. In a multi player
game, however, it is impossible to guarantee control of this card.
Other players can wait and see how you pick before deciding whether to
help or hinder the attack.
Going back to the simple answer, why would you believe that your deck
benefits more than your opponent? The reason is that you are packing
more free cards.
Many decks follow the Rule of Fives, which dictates that 1/5 of the
cards are Feng Shui sites, 1/5 are foundation characters, 1/5 are
hitters, 1/5 are 'cheap stuff' (zero or one cost) and 1/5 are
whatever. If a player holds six cards and 3-4 power, then power tends
to limit how many cards can be played. If players aggressively discard
an unnecessary card every turn (usually foundation or FS site), you
can assume a hand contains a site, a hitter, two 'cheap things' and
two 'others'. The others could be anything, but if they aren't cheap,
it doesn't matter. If two more cards are added to that, and only some
flexibility is gained ("Which big card do I play, or should I play two
moderate cards?").
If your deck's whatever is cheap stuff, and most of your cheap stuff
is free, then the odds improve that you can play those extra two
cards. In this case, you don't mind losing the Art of War. You'll get
it back sooner or later, and your opponents won't benefit too much.
Decks that can afford to play more cards than other decks (usually
because it's cheaper, but also because they will be doing things like
recycling Bull Markets) want to increase their hand size. A deck like
that will probably use other methods too, such as Sunless Sea Ruins or
Orange Sensei Chamber.
That's the basic idea. A sneakier approach takes advantage of your
opponent having two extra cards. In decks that try to run the opponent
out of cards (or even just at the end of a tight game), suddenly
giving your opponent an increased hand size may seal their doom! The
purists can target the current owner with a Hexagram Spirit and have a
better chance of netting a power. An ascended player can similarly use
We know where you live! Both the Netherworld Vet and Eater of Fortune
gain +1 fighting for each edge controlled by an opponent, whether they
own the card or not. There are a number of cards, such as Dirk
Wisely's Gambit, that require your opponent to have a minimum number
of cards, or count the number of cards controlled by an opponent.
[Remember, though, that as an Edge, the Art of War is not at any
particular location.] Finally, the Guiding Hand have a compelling
reason: Violet Meditation. If you already have any of the
above-metioned cards, then adding Art of War may give your deck a
cheap boost.
Finally, although controlling the Art of War is problematic, it
certainly can be done. Assuming that you aren't having any trouble
with your deck, you may want to hold Art of War in your hand until you
think you can stop the next player cheaply, or that player is in no
position to attack. Alternately, you can simply use a Cabinet Minister
to grab the edge back after you lose it.
Overall, the Art of War seems to be a level playing field: a cheap
benefit that could get passed along. But some decks can use it very
well, and other decks can take advantage of it even when another
player has control. A secret warrior has to know how to tilt the field
to his advantage.
Brian Bankler
This text is Copyright © 2002 Brian Bankler