Troublemakers can be a confusing topic for first-time players, and Villain Troublemakers (any Troublemaker with the Villain keyword) can be an especially confusing topic for anyone! In this article, we'll be covering three important concepts involving Villains: what happens when a Villain is revealed (flipped face-up) at a Problem, how the Villain can affect other Troublemakers played to the Problem, and how a player can defeat the Villain. We'll then take a look at one of a Villain's most terrifying abilities: frightening Friends!
Revealing Villains[]
Here's a game already in progress between Bianca (on the top) and Polly (on the bottom). Let's examine the Mean Meanie Pants Problem: Bianca already has her Rainbow Dash Mane Character boosted, a strong Friend in Holly Dash, Flighty Filly, and a Wild Manticore Troublemaker that is preventing Polly from being able to confront the Problem. Meanwhile, Polly has Flitter, Ribbon Wielder and a face-down Troublemaker that she played last turn. It's the start of her turn right now; after drawing a card and gaining her action tokens, she enters her Troublemaker Phase and reveals her Troublemaker...
However, this isn't just any run-of-the-mill Troublemaker; it's the Villain, Nightmare Moon! When a Villain is revealed, two things immediately happen:
- If a face-up Troublemaker is already at the Villain's Problem, that other Troublemaker is dismissed. In this case, Bianca would dismiss her Wild Manticore.
- If there are any Friends at the Problem, they become frightened and are flipped face-down. In this case, both Flitter and Holly Dash would be flipped face-down. Rainbow Dash is a Mane Character, not a Friend, so she cannot ever be frightened. Nothing happens to Friends at the other Problem, such as Ol' Salt.
Unlike a regular Troublemaker that prevents a single player from confronting the Problem, a Villain Troublemaker prevents both players from confronting the Problem! This is why Nightmare Moon is covering up Mean Meanie Pants so that both of the Problem's requirements are hidden. In addition to being a Villain, Nightmare Moon has her own game text like every other Troublemaker that must be taken into account (each player has to discard their entire hand and draw three new cards).
Playing Other Troublemakers[]
As we've just seen, when the Villain Troublemaker was flipped face-up the current Troublemaker at its Problem (Bianca's Wild Manticore) was dismissed. Both players could choose to play additional face-down Troublemakers to Polly's Mean Meanie Pants problem, but none of these face-down Troublemakers could be flipped until the Villain has been defeated by either player in a faceoff. A Villain at one Problem does not prevent either player from playing face-down Troublemakers to the other Problem (Bianca's 795 Wing Power) and flipping them face-up when able.
Defeating Villains[]
Both players are allowed to challenge the Villain to a Troublemaker faceoff on their turn, including the one who played it. Whoever isn't challenging the Villain will be the person who would flip the top card of their deck for the Villain in that faceoff. For example, if it was Bianca's Troublemaker faceoff then Polly would flip for Nightmare Moon; if it was Polly's Troublemaker faceoff then Bianca would flip for Nightmare Moon. Besides this, the faceoff is exactly the same as a regular Troublemaker faceoff; cards are flipped, power totals are compared and a winner is determined.
Frightened Friends[]
Villains, in addition to other cards, have the ability to frighten Friends. When a card becomes frightened, it is flipped face-down. Any tokens on that card (such as exhausts tokens) are removed and any Resources attached to that card are dismissed.
While it's frightened, a card retains its name and card type. However, all of its other information (such as power, color and traits) are ignored. A frightened Friend is still a Friend, but it has absolutely no Power to do anything with!
There is only one way to fix a frightened card; during their Main Phase, a player can pay 2 action tokens to ready a frightened card, flipping that back face-up. This action is called rallying.
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