Thief Event Remove all Objects from play. Lose 1 Ability for each Object that leaves play. Misfortune Event Use this card to remove any Object card from play. Objects started out as a minor novelty in the Highlander CCG. It wasn't until weapon breaking became more prevalent, and the release of Watcher's Chronicle introduced Hogg, that object-removal became a near-mandatory tactic for many decks. Flying Machine/Wings, and upcoming cards in Arms & Tactics, make object-removal even more necessary. The cards for Object-removal haven't kept up with the increasing number of Objects, and their increasing power. Currently there are only two cards that actually remove Objects. Mental Ward can prevent their play, but is easily bypassed using Reconnaissance. For this purposes of this column, we'll stick with cards that actually remove Objects. Game mechanics questions first. Concerning Misfortune, there is very little. There must be a legitimate Object in play for you to play this card: if there is no Object, you cannot play Misfortune. If you play it on an Object, you must remove it. Due to recent errata, Thief is a bit more complicated. You lose 1 Ability for _each_ Object removed, and you must remove _all_ Objects in play when you play Thief. You can play Thief even if there are no Objects in play, in which case you take no Ability loss. Thief has, quite frankly, been gutted by recent errata. The only time that it is anywhere close to cost-effective to play is if your opponent is using Objects that cause Ability loss to their owner when removed. Currently, this only covers Hogg and Flying Machines. Assuming no other Objects are in play, the best you gain here is a tradeoff. If you remove a Hogg and a FM/Wings, you both lose two Ability. Otherwise, there is almost no reason to play Thief. The increasing prevalence of "object manipulation" cards such as Alex Johnson and Conjure mean that not only can your opponent get his Objects out more quickly (particularly Restricted Objects), but he can use Alex Johnson to put them back into play. There's nothing more frustrating than using Thief to remove all three pieces of Khan's Armor at the cost of 3 Ability loss, only to watch him use Alex Johnson to put them back into play over his next three turns. If you are _really_ desperate, Thief might be a good idea. If you fear facing an opponent, particularly Khan, who relies on an overabundance of Objects, Thief might be a good idea. However, you're probably better off devoting your resources elsewhere. If Khan has six Objects out, and Plunder as well, you'd be better off using Focus on Plunder during your turn, rather than playing Thief and losing 6 Ability to prevent his successful attack from doing six extra damage. The other problem to keep in mind with Thief is that it doesn't discriminate. You also lose 1 Ability for each of _your_ Objects removed. This was enough of an incentive to keep Thief's use low even before the errata. Who wants to spend time putting out Extra Weapons and Ancestral Blades only to remove them through the use of your _own_ Thief. Ouch. The Object-reliant Personas mentioned almost never wanted to use Thief anyway: now they won't use it at all. This brings us to Misfortune. This mainstay of the Series Edition remains the most effective way to deal with Objects. It's quite straight-forward: play Misfortune, remove an Object. It may lack the mass-removal capability of Thief, but there's no penalty, and it gets the job done. The question isn't who should use Misfortune and/or Thief as much as who you should use it against. Richie, who is best at combining Hogg and FM/Wings in combination, might be a good choice to use Thief against. At least you will then have an equal tradeoff of Ability loss. Against other Object-heavy users, Thief might be a good idea, but consider it carefully. These Persona include Khan, Kern, Corda & Reno, Yung Dol Kim, and possibly Amanda (due to Ancestral Blade) and the MacLeods (due to Bagpipes). Similar reasoning can be applied to the choice of Misfortune. However, Misfortune remains a better tool since it provides selective removal of Objects, without the Ability loss. You may care less about their Parrying Blade, for instance, but wish to remove their Ancient Blade instead. Misfortune is vital for dealing with Hogg and FM/Wings. Since any deck can potentially use these, and they can totally neutralize most attack strategies, the inclusion of Misfortune is almost mandatory in the competitive environment. Currently, you can expect almost any opponent to use Objects, whether it be Quality Blade (either version), or Ancestral Blade, or even an emergency Extra Weapon. So you'll rarely lack for targets to play Misfortune on. It probably won't even prove necessary to cycle it out (using Holy Ground/SE, Master's Stratagem, Elizabeth Vaughn, Methos Persona or Q, etc.). Still, cycling it out keeps you from wasting a Special play slot. The list of who specifically should use Misfortune is fairly small. Slan, since he relies heavily on Power Blowing, should almost certainly include Misfortune to deal with Ancestral Blade. He and Luther are good choices (well, better choices) for using Thief, since their lack of reliance on Ancestral Blade means there is one less Object for them to own and thus penalize themselves for by playing Thief. Anybody who intends to Power Blow a lot and give their opponent a chance to block should employ Misfortune as well. This can be practically anyone under the right circumstances. If Fasil or Methos pursue any kind of Master's Disarm strategy, Misfortune should go in their decks to keep an opponent from rearming via Extra Weapon. Ditto for Connor and Nakano using their own Master's Disarm. In fact, Disarm-oriented deck in general need Misfortune, since Extra Weapon remains the surest generic way to rearm. Mental Ward is simply too easy to bypass for you to rely on it as a defense against Extra Weapon rearming. So overall, and covering both ends of the scale, Steve gives Misfortune a _9_ and Thief a _1_. Thief remains simply too indiscriminate and damaging to be an effective card under any but the most extreme of circumstances. Misfortune, on the other hand, is an indispensable toolbox card that becomes more and more useful with each powerful Object that is introduced into the game. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - Since the advent of Hogg, object removal has become necessary in every deck, leaving you to currently choose between Thief and Misfortune. Thief is probably the most controversial errata from ME (as well as the only one I believe was intentional). Everyone who knows anything about card games knows that you need mass removal of some sort, or you wind up encouraging lock. However, the changing of Thief isn't quite as bad as it first appears, except perhaps if you're playing against Khan. I know I'd usually pay 3 Ability to get rid of Richie's Wings, Hogg, and Ancestral Blade, for example. Plus, unlike Misfortune, Thief can still be played if there are no Objects in play to cycle a card. Still, it's not a great card as is. Misfortune is much more straightforward one-for-one removal. Slightly above average. Hank - [Thief] Thief used to be a practical anti-Object card for decks that used no Objects. I usually ended up wanting Objects in most decks, though, so it saw moderate use. After the crippling blow it received with the release of ME2, however, I can't see any time where I'd use Thief over Misfortune. [Misfortune] With powerful Objects (Hogg, Flying Machine, et al) in abundance now, every deck I build has at least one or two Misfortunes in it. With the crippling of Thief, Misfortune is all that stands between me and horrible uselessness at the hands of some of these Objects, so I consider it as essential and Police/Remove or Ancestral Blade. Alan - Abstain Prodipto - Abstain Allen - Objects are becoming more and more powerful in Highlander and will continue to do so in the near future. Unfortunately, Object counter-measures aren't yet up to the task. The new Thief, with its requisite ability loss, isn't worth using against an opponent whose Objects you need to remove. Misfortune is still a good card, and is becoming required material in most decks. Unfortunately, with Conjure and Alex Johnson, it can't keep up with the workload required. You are not going to be able to keep an Object away from your opponent. Choose carefully when to use your Misfortune. Bruce - To put it simply, Thief used to be too powerful, not it is so weak that it has no place in a tournament deck. Misfortune on the other has become an essential card. The number of powerful Objects has increased dramatically and a competitive deck designed entirely around them is now entirely possible. Stealth Dave - Since the "unofficial" errata/reprint, Thief has been completely unviable for Object removal. If you're playing against Khan or another Object-heavy deck, you would more likely kill yourself than hurt your opponent's strategy. This has had the adverse effect of making Misfortune that much more useful, and Objects in general much more potent (ala Situations pre-Katana). Jonathan - [Thief] Once a fine card, the neutering of Thief has reduced it to nearly-useless status. Certainly not worth the penalty of using it conventionally, Thief might only find use as an emergency card if your opponents' Objects have shut down your deck. Still, even if it were useful in such an instance, chances are you didn't include it in your deck. [Misfortune] Probably the best card we can hope for in Object removal. Misfortune has become an essential in every attack deck. With the overnight boom in powerful Objects, Misfortune has become more popular than the old Thief ever was. If your strategy relies on Objects, you'd better stock some Alex Johnson in your deck. If not, Misfortune could really ruin your day. Charles - There are no other cards available that will remove an entire classification of card, but the Ability-loss penalty makes this card dangerous to use in any deck. Unless the only Objects in play are your opponent's, and his/her only Objects are Hogg and Flying Machine, you will have placed yourself at a distinct disadvantage. You will have decreased your hand size to remove cards from play. Any time you cause damage to yourself, you help your opponent. (Misfortune) Misfortune lacks the Object-removal power of Thief, but it also lacks the Ability-loss penalty. This card will only affect an Object of your choosing, so, unlike Thief, you will not lose any Objects you have in play by playing this card. Due to the release of various abusive Objects (Hogg and Flying Machine) playing with Object-removal has become a necessity in deck construction. I highly recommend using Misfortune over the current alternative. Ratings Overall (Thief/Misfortune): Steve 1/9 Jeff 5/6 Hank 1/9 Alan N/A Prodipto N/A Allen 1/7 Bruce 1/8 Sdave 1/7 Jonathan 2/8 Charles 2/6 Average: 1.75 for Thief 7.50 for Misfortune And yes, that brings Thief in as our lowest rated card, beating out the previous contender, Stamina, at 2.37. ------------------------------------------------------------------