HOLDER'S HEROES

With the release of the Priests expansion came the addition of Curses, the evil equivalent of Covenants. We've had a full year plus some to see how this new card type would affect game play, and I am of the opinion that Curses are now one of the most important parts of any defense. This holds especially true in Type 2, where Curses can come in twos and threes. In this short guide, I hope to enlighten you on some of the ins and outs of Curses, how to play them and how to counter them.

Follow up:

Curses have the advantage of being able to be used as an Artifact or as an Enhancement. However, more often than not, the best way to use them is as an Artifact. This is because of the broad effects that most of them have, such as how Confusion of Mind negates the special abilities of all of your opponent's Heroes. This wouldn't be half as strong when played as an Enhancement and many other Curses are the same way. Using the Curses as Artifacts also changes the way they can be targeted. Playing them as Enhancements makes them easier targets, as there are many more cards that target Enhancements than those that target Artifacts. That said, there are no Curses that have toughness less than 4, so if you're in a pinch those numbers could very well win you a battle. So more often than not you're going to use your Curses as Artifacts but try to keep them in your hand unless you've got to put them down.

For the most part, Curses can be divided into two main categories - brigade theme enhancers and archetype counters - with a few left overs. Each brigade has two Curses(orange gets one more in Faith of our Fathers and crimson gets a third as a 2008 promo), and one of those almost always beefs up one of that brigade's base strategies, while the other will tend to target some offensive archetype such as Choose the Blocker. Here's a list of each as I see them.

Brigade enhancers include:

• Carcasses
• Plagued with Diseases
• Besieged
• Oppressed and Robbed
• Incurable
• Blindness

Archetype counters include:

• Flee from Enemies
• Wasting Disease
• Unknown Nation
• Rain becomes Dust
• Madness

General purpose Curses, which I didn't separate into these two categories, include

• Captured Ark
• Go into Captivity
• Unsuccessful
• Wastelands
• Confusion of Mind

These last five don't really counter an archetypes, nor do they enhance a strategy of their respective brigades. The last group of Curses are those that you will probably play more often and see played against you more often because of their general purpose goodness. The archetype counter group will be the ones that you see and use slightly less than the general purpose group but much more than the brigade enhancing group.

Depending on what type of play you are building your deck for, there are a few Curses that I consider must haves. The first is Confusion of Mind for both type one and type two, two player and multi-player. It is that good. Captured Ark is the second and again for all types of play. For type two - two player and multi - I feel that Unknown Nation is also a must have because Choose the Blocker is so strong in type two. These are the ones that you will gain the most benefit from, as well as have the most trouble against.

The archetype counter group of Curses are those that you will want to consider using if the particular defense you are employing is weak against a certain common strategy. For example, if you're playing with a defense that doesn't do well against fast drawing decks then Rain becomes Dust would be a good Curse to add. Look at this group of Curses as a supplementary set of cards.

The brigade enhancing group of Curses will only help you if you're playing the theme that each of theme boost. You'll also want to protect your Curse as much as possible so that your theme will be as strong as possible. Oppressed and Robbed in a deck discarding deck makes Jerusalem Tower null and void, but without Oppressed and Robbed your theme of deck discarding gets very weak. Keep this in mind when playing and facing Curses from this group. Getting rid of such Curses will help greatly in defeating these defenses while protecting it will greatly improve your chances of preventing your opponent from rescuing Lost Souls.

In closing, Curses really boost your defense and should be included in all your decks. You also need to keep in mind which ones will hurt you and incorporate ways to get rid of them. Curses are powerful cards. Learn how to use them and learn how to prepare for them, otherwise you may just find your self exclaiming, "Curse you! Stupid Curses!"