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A return to the bad guys after three further expansions.
The original of these articles was produced almost four-and-a-half years ago and was met with a fairly tepid response. Despite the high appeal of most of Prospero Hall's offerings, this card game didn't sway quite as many in the TWBG environs. One of the oft-cited issues with the game is the Root Problem™, wherein it functions much better if everyone at the table is not only familiar with how their deck works, but also how everyone else's operates, as well. Given that there are now 26 decks with which to play the game (7 more factions than in Neuroshima Hex, just to use a comparison), that's a tall order, indeed. However, the other frequent complaint is that games of Villainous can often descend into multiplayer solitaire precisely because people are still figuring out their own decks and don't know when or even if to Fate their opponents. As we've seen before, some villains are only too happy to engage while others are happy to do their own thing. Also, the consistent argument against this complaint are the Condition cards, meaning that if you want to play your deck optimally, you'll be paying attention to what others are doing on their turn and taking advantage of their moves. The generally steady improvement of those Condition cards over the years certainly contributes to this perspective. Since the writing of part 4, 5 more decks have been released, so I figured I'd write up this assessment of them before Wade and I begin one of our exchanges on just how cool this game actually is. As before, I'm going to assign a very simple difficulty scale to each of them, rated from 1-3, easiest to hardest, and we'll see what comes out.
Oogie Boogie
Difficulty: 2
Objective: Defeat Jack Skellington.
Oogie was an unusual moment in the course of the game, since players had been requesting him for ages, but in the tumult surrounding Ravensberger selling Prospero Hall to Funko Games and then the latter closing down, whereupon the license returned to Ravensberger, it was questionable whether the game was going to continue at all. So Oogie appeared as the game's only solo release (in an expansion called Filled with Fright), since he was probably in the pipeline, anyway, and is also the only release with non-cardboard components other than the mover, as he comes equipped with the character's famous dice, which several of his cards initiate the roll of. Those are mostly Effects, which are predominant in Oogie's deck. Not only does he have those that duplicate board actions, like What Have We Here? does with the Vanquish action (can do it any time you play the card, albeit for 2 Power) but part of achieving his objective is playing Impostor Sandy Claws. If he plays it and wins the roll (7+), he gets to place it next to the real Sandy Claws who starts on the board. When four of them are in play, Jack Skellington is played and sits there waiting to be defeated. Of course, if he loses the roll, Impostor Sandy Claws goes to the discard pile. There are six of them in the deck, so Oogie needs to play two-thirds of them in order to get what he needs. In an extra hurdle to previous villains who need to defeat a specific character, if an opponent draws Jack from the Fate deck and plays him, he doesn't just end up on the board, helping Oogie, but instead becomes an Effect that discards an Impostor Sandy Claws. Thankfully, Oogie has Loaded Dice, which is a new type of card (Cheat) that simply lets him re-roll one of them whenever it's in his hand and he's made a roll. Lock, Shock, and Barrel are also present, becoming more powerful Allies with more of them on the board, just like they are in Funkoverse(!)
Oogie's board is a solid one, with his "big spot" (3 Power, two Play actions) being at Halloween Town, along with a Discard action. He's also one of the villains with a relative rarity in The Graveyard, which doesn't provide any Power, but has a Vanquish, Play, Discard, and Fate selection. Furthermore, since Sandy Claws begins blocking the top at Oogie Boogie's Lair, all of his playable actions are on the bottom row like some other villains, comprised of a Vanquish, Play, and 2 Power spot. As noted, Oogie's Conditions are better than some from the past, including What Did Santa Bring You?, which responds to an opponent's Play and lets you discard any number to draw 2 cards. But also Trick or Treat, which is a bit of a (ahem) mixed bag, since it lets you roll the dice when anyone else gains Power and either gain that amount of Power (8+) or steal 1 Power from anyone else. But Oogie doesn't have a huge demand for Power, as most of his cards don't go above a requirement of 2 (like all of the kids and the Bathtub) and some, like Spiders, are 0. The only one that does go above that is This Time We Bagged Him at a cost of 5, among the most expensive cards in the game, which lets you play an Effect from the discard pile for free and, if it requires rolling the dice, getting to pick the result. Oogie is also one of very few villains to have a single in his deck that isn't a unique Ally, in the Effect card It's a Vacation. The upside is that Oogie's Fate deck isn't especially challenging and doesn't have any auto-loss plays (as with Syndrome, for example) with one, Mayor of Halloween Town, possibly even getting around Oogie's normal win method. So, it's kind of hard to peg this villain's difficulty, given the inherent randomness in play. In all of the times I've seen him played, he's either been something of a walkthrough or has muddled around not accomplishing anything for much of the game. That's why a '2' seems appropriate.
King Candy
Difficulty: ∞ (OK, probably a 3. Probably.)
Objective: Pass Start/Finish with a Glitch attached to Vanellope Von Schweetz
The first of the characters from the Sugar and Spite expansion which confirmed that the game was continuing, we go from the only villain with non-cardboard in their play to one with no locations in their realm. King Candy doesn't have a "Big Spot" except, perhaps, the center of the figure-8/infinity symbol track that is his realm where there's a Gain 3 Power and two Play card spots on either side. But he also only ever has 3 actions to take in any one position on his track (the one he's on and those directly in front of and behind him) so, like Ursula, he's at least mildly gimped before the game even starts. He's able to move up to 4 spaces on his track, so you'd like to think that that allows him to more precisely target what 3 actions he's going to take, but since you have to follow the course of the track without reversing, that's not always the case. Furthermore, a huge amount of his gameplay is centered around the race against Vanellope, which can only happen if Vanellope is in play. What's the only way to put her into play? Well, someone can Fate King Candy and play her, which no opponent will do, or play Ralph's Hero Medal, a unique 3-cost Item which automatically brings Wreck-It Ralph into play as a 6 Strength Hero. Once Ralph is Vanquished, Vanellope appears and then you need to play a Glitch on her to start the race. In the converse to Ursula, you don't need a particular Hero in play with multiple circumstances afterwards. Instead, you need multiple conditions before she's in play and then you need to solve an entirely new game mode afterwards. Needless to say, I have never seen anyone win the game with King Candy.
The real issue is the two-stage play mode sequence, in which cards like Taffyta Muttonfudge, Pay to Race and, of course, Glitch are entirely tied to the race mode and are otherwise mostly useless. On top of that, many cards like Turbo-Tastic, Go!, and Candy Cy-Bug are reliant on having opposing Heroes in play to gain their full benefit, but if you don't get Fated, those Heroes won't be present to take advantage of those cards. Granted, having Heroes in Candy's realm are more deleterious for him than many other villains so it's nice to have access to those cards to deal with them, but if they're not present, those cards just (ahem) gum up your hand. Locked Up Memories is a perfect example. It states "Either gain 3 Power or move the Race token back 3 spaces." If the race isn't happening, you're spending 1 Power (the cost of the card) to gain 2 Power. So, you need to have 1 Power (there are only two Power gain space on the racetrack; a 3 and a 2) to use this card in the first place or you need to discard it because the race isn't happening yet. Even if the race is happening, you need to wait until Vanellope moves forward before the card is effective. Otherwise, it's dead weight. In his favor, Candy's Fate deck is similarly often tied to the race, with the most and least effective card being Princess Vanellope, which moves him back 4 spaces. Yeah, I think this one, just like Ursula, would have really benefited from more time in the oven. I'll come back to this post and comment if I ever see anyone win a game with him.
Shere Khan
Difficulty: 1
Objective: Defeat Mowgli when there are no Fire tokens in his realm.
Shere Khan is one of the best villains in the game and I don't say that lightly, especially about one whose difficulty isn't exactly overwhelming. The key to him is that 1) he demands interaction from the other players and 2) both his Fate deck and his Villain deck set up multiple hurdles that have answers through proper play, respectively. If you don't Fate Shere Khan, he will eventually find Mowgli, usually through Sure To Pick Up His Trail (not cheap at a cost of 5, but also with a second use if Mowgli is already present, unlike King Candy's deck...) and simply win the game by defeating a Strength 2 Hero. When you do Fate him, you put Fire tokens in his realm that he has to remove, not only to win, but also to regain the actions that those tokens cover. It's possible that locations in Shere Khan's realm may be totally unusable, based on the presence of a Hero and just 2 Fire tokens (of which there are 4.) So opponents have to pay attention. But Khan's deck has so many flexible responses to these situations that it's often a joy to play. His Allies, like the utilitarian Monkeys that are discarded to remove Fire, the inimitable Kaa who can defeat several Heroes over the course of the game, and King Louie, a 5(!) Strength Ally for only 3 Power with an ability to move Monkeys to any location in the realm, are almost universally excellent. Plus, Khan has the best Condition in the game, full stop. When someone else does a Play action, you play How Interesting... How Delightful and can gain 1 Power, draw a card, and move a Fire token to another location. That card would be excellent even without the villain-specific ability. As it is, it's one of the best things to have in your hand at any given moment.
Shere Khan's board is one of the unusual ones, in that each location has four actions, but three of them have only one in the top half, which can be covered by either a Hero or, of course, a Fire token. That's more of a hedge for the villain, of course, since they'll still have three actions available there even if a Hero is present. In that respect, his "Big Spot" is probably The Wastelands (2 Power, two Play actions, and an Activate.) The Ancient Ruins has his 3 Power action, but also has a Play, Activate, and Discard. But the latter action is still more useful than most understand, of course, and the Activates can be used for Monkeys anywhere on the board to remove Fire tokens. He does have only one Vanquish action at The River, but there are also 3 copies of Everyone Runs From Shere Khan in his deck which, for 1 Power, can be used as either a Vanquish or an Activate. His Fate deck isn't overwhelming, since half of it are Man's Red Fire to place or move Fire tokens, but many of the Heroes are quite good: Wolf Pack can discard Monkeys or one of Kaa's Items; The Jungle Patrol is a 6 Strength Hero and also plays the next card from Khan's Fate deck if it's an Effect; and Baloo is probably the most challenging, since he's a 4 Strength Hero and can prevent other Heroes from being Vanquished 3 times. Almost everything about the deck is dynamic and makes many of the other villains sing "I Wanna Be Like You", even if it could be a little more difficult for Khan to do his thing.
Davy Jones
Difficulty: 2
Objective: Collect all 5 Treasure tokens.
Davy Jones is the first from the latest expansion, released just a couple months ago, called Treacherous Tides. Both villains have an ocean theme, so there you go. Both villains have had kind of a muted reaction from the fanbase, as well, and that has raised some eyebrows about the new design team that Ravensberger is employing, but Davy is definitely the more favored of the pair. Davy is one of the more complex villains in the game, in that you have to have Heroes in your realm that come with Treasure tokens. Then you have to play cards to reveal those Treasures before you defeat the Heroes in order to claim them. Do that five times and you win. Those experienced with the game may realize that Vanquishing five different Heroes in a single game is actually on the high end of how many times that action is usually engaged. But one of the complicating factors is that each Treasure has a deleterious effect on Davy when revealed, from simply adding +2 Strength to the Hero (Jack's Compass) to discarding your hand (The Key.) However, there are four copies of Do You Fear Death? in Davy's deck, which allow you to dig through your Fate deck until you reveal a Hero and then play them to your realm, so you're not entirely reliant on opponents to Fate you in order to move toward your win condition. In addition, cards like Hadras, Bootstrap Bill (when played or moved), and The Black Spot allow you to reveal those Treasure tokens, so it is a deck than can kinda do it's own thing for much of the game (which isn't always a bonus to the overall game, as noted.) But you do need some assistance, unless you manage to get I'll Take That As A "No" played, which is a Condition that lets you pull two cards from your discard pile, albeit when another player Vanquishes a Hero of 3 or more Strength.
Davy's "Big Spot" is, appropriately, Davy Jones' Quarters, with 3 Power, 2 Plays, and a Move Ally/Item action. Beyond that, you'll often be Below Deck (2 Power, 2 Plays, Discard) but there is only one Vanquish action at The Flying Dutchman. You have one crew member in Clanker who can give you another one, but that's only one card. Likewise, one of the best cards in your deck is another Ally, The Kraken, who costs 5, but is an 8 Strength Ally who isn't discarded if Vanquishing a Hero with a revealed Treasure token, The lone Item in the deck, The Flying Dutchman, can also get you more frequent access to that Vanquish by letting you use it if there's a Crew of the Flying Dutchman present there. The real problem comes with the Fate deck, since there are only five Heroes contained in it. That means that you basically have to go through the entire deck in order to win. The most frequent card is Curse You, Jack Sparrow which removes a Treasure token and replaces it with a face down one, which can get kind of annoying, but at least isn't an auto-lose moment. The rest of it is more about annoyance and delay than real challenge, but that makes sense when part of your win condition is revealing those tokens, which often have effects just like having a Fate card played on you (like losing all of your Power; The Heart.) Jack Sparrow making you unable to even do a Vanquish if he's at Davy's location is definitely the toughest enduring problem in the deck, though.
Tamatoa
Difficulty: 2
Objective: Have the Heart of Te Fiti and Maui's Hook at Tamatoa's Lair.
I think it's fair to say that some of the negative reaction to Tamatoa may be based on the degree of randomness that is inherent to the villain. Not only are we dealing with the usual randomness associated with the draw of a card game but, in this case, we have an extra deck to draw from for a significant portion of that game that sometimes does beneficial things and sometimes doesn't. It makes him not that dissimilar from Oogie Boogie, except for the fact that, even if you don't make the roll with the latter, you're still getting something positive, just not to the level you wanted. Tamatoa's goal evokes memories of Ursula's and Jafar's but, as with those decks, there are some alleviating factors built in. First off, there are two locations on the board (Lalotai and Tamatoa's Lair) that have Move Item/Ally actions. Plus, there are three copies of Crustacean With The Power Of Creation in your Villain deck that allow you to manipulate your Fate deck in a significant fashion to gain the Heart, which will get you Moana, plus three copies of Maui Time in your Fate deck that will get you Maui and the Hook. Plus Maui himself, of course. That latter part does require you to be Fated, so there is a roadblock, but that's just one of those things. The real change is the Maui deck, which is an additional series of effects that begin to happen when Maui enters your realm. They're frequently both positive and negative, such as Shark Head Maui: All Allies get +2 Strength. All Heroes get +1 Strength or Pig Maui: Tamatoa loses 3 Power and draws 4 cards. But they're almost always disruptive if you've been building up plans and a lot of players have issues with that, understandably.
Tamatoa doesn't really have as much of a "Big Spot" as other villains, since The Impossible Cliffs has 2 Play actions, but only gives 2 Power, along with a Discard action. But he has access to Power in all 4 locations and his next most frequent locale will likely be Lalotai (2 Power, Play, Move Item/Ally, Discard) given the nature of his objective. However, his deck does seem kind of imprecise, in that he has a ton of anti-Hero stuff: Powerless, Sloth Monster, Fish Monster, Tree Monster, You Look Like Seafood (where he can simply pay Power to Vanquish, rather than need Allies or the Vanquish action), but only three Heroes in his whole Fate deck: Maui, Moana, and Heihei. Granted, Maui is a Strength 8(!) Hero so multiple cards will probably be required to deal with him but, even so, there are plenty of targets for the Discard action. Both of his Conditions (Fish Are Dumb, Not So Tough) are narrow enough in activation and mediocre enough in application (both concerned with Power in a deck that has multiple 0-costs) to not be things to cling to. The counter-argument is that 1/6 of the deck does cost 3 or more, but I've never had a real Power crisis with him in my plays. There's also a great way to alleviate the randomness that many don't like about the Maui deck in 4 copies of Not Exactly Maui Time that let you draw the top card of the deck whether Maui is in play or not and either play it or discard it. In the end, I'm not exactly bowled over by his playstyle but I'm interested enough to give him a go after my usual favorites (Evil Queen, Mother Gothel, Hades, Ratigan, Maleficent.)
So, yeah. That's the game to this point. As noted, I think the new design team learned some lessons, as the new version of the base game, Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil has softened the sharp edges of villains that many people had issues with, like Captain Hook and Ursula. It does, however, only have four of the original base set (those two, Maleficent and Prince John) so it remains to be seen if Jafar and Red Queen will be returning to the fold. Regardless, Wade and I should have a conversational article about the game coming up soon.
