The Sorceror Nakano - by Steve Crow Instead of playing a Special card during your turn, you may discard a Special card to duplicate the effects of an Event played during your opponent's last turn. Treat the effects as if you played that Event. You may have up to 5 Master cards. Overview Nakano is, somewhat curiously, an underrated Persona. There was some initial enthusiasm when he came upon the scene in the Movie Edition. These days, however, he seems more valued as a Quickening than as a Persona. In this reviewer's opinion, Nakano is not a powerhouse. He is, in fact, somewhat of a one-note character. Still, he has some strengths. Game mechanic-wise, Nakano's power raises several questions. Any opponent's card that he "duplicates" is considered the same as if he has played it himself. It can be countered normally with Forethought, TCG, etc. If an opponent's card is countered, it is still considered to have been "played" and therefore, you may duplicate it on your turn. One interesting observation here: Nakano's Persona ability states that he, ". . . may _discard_ a Special. . ." (author's emphasis). Thus, if Nakano is using Nefertiri's "discard to top of Endurance" Quickening (or Nefertiri is using Nakano's Quickening), the Special that is played goes to the top of the Endurance. Card reservation and restriction #s are only considered for deck-building purposes. Nakano may ignore restrictions and reservations when duplicating an opponent's card. Thus, if he duplicates an opponent's Alliance/Xavier, he need not play a Darius with it, even if he is using Darius and/or Alliance in his own deck. Nakano cannot duplicate more cards than his opponent played. Thus, he can't discard three Specials to duplicate one Kirk Matunas that his opponent played. He can, however, discard three Specials to duplicate three Kirk Matunas that his opponent played. Also, Nakano may supplement cards he duplicates from his opponent with his own. Thus, if an opponent plays one Kirk Matunas, Nakano may duplicate it, then play three of his own. This is also a useful tactic with Dr. Sonny Jackson. A card that is countered is still considered to have been played. Thus, if Nakano rips a TCG on an opponent's Event, or Watcher/Counters their Watcher/Treatment, he may still duplicate it on his turn. Persona-Specific Cards Nakano has most of the available non-Reserved Persona- specific cards: Back Away, Combination, Continuity, Dodge, Power Blow, and Trip. He also has Flashback (the five-card discard version) and Duck. He lacks Extra Shot, however. Nakano's version of Flashback is the standard one for ME Personas. Elizabeth Vaughn remains a superior card to Flashback at this time, except in in Renaissance format. Combination, Trip, and Duck all provide Nakano with Hidden attacks. As we will see, this is critical to his primary strategies. Looking at Nakano's Reserved cards, we first see Master's Disarm. This version lets you take an opponent's sword if you are disarmed. Errata should be noted on this: it may not be used against a ranged attack, and cannot be used if Nakano has Extra Weapon or Improvised Weapon in play. Master's Disarm is not a bad emergency card, but is somewhat costly since it takes up 1+ of your five Master slots. It is somewhat risky to build a strategy around. You have to use Discard Weapon, hope that your opponent attacks you, and they don't have an Extra Weapon or Recover Weapon card ready themselves. Unless you use Chessex, in which case you can play Discard Weapon and Master's Disarm in the same turn (subsequently Policing Chessex), this strategy is _very_ obvious. Master's Maneuver is a nice way to supplement Nakano's primary strategy of Hidden attacks. However, the fact you can only have one in play at a time can be somewhat restrictive, requiring you to get rid of extras or hold on to them in future. Becomes more useful if you or your opponent use Honor Bound and/or Wargames West. Mirror Image is Nakano's most powerful Reserved card. It can be Focussed, since your opponent makes the die roll on _their_ turn to see if they hit. However, otherwise this card is proof against anything from a Shooting Blade/Challenge to a Sedarius Power Blow. Cursed is also useful in conjunction with this: appropriately enough, since Nakano's picture is on that card. Note that Mirror Image only protects against attacks: not Disarms. Shadow of the Mind is a card that I initially dismissed. It does augment Nakano's Hidden-attack strategy, and can be Focused past for card-drawing purposes (like Poison Gas and Garfield). It is still somewhat weak. However, Watcher's Chronicles introduces one card, Dojo, that is _very_ powerful with any "discard if you draw" Situation: if properly used, Dojo can let you get more attacks _without_ drawing cards. See Card of the Week #34 for more information. Nakano's last Reserved card, Swords to Snakes, is just annoying. At the very least, it gives him a Hidden attack the turn he plays it. It can actually benefit opposing non-attack decks that want to get rid of their attacks. Against most other opponents, it can almost always buy Nakano a one-turn grace. Combine with Caught in the Act/SE to run them out of attacks. If Swords to Snakes remains on the table . . . your opponent is in trouble. You can now initiate Hidden Head Shots with relative ease. Even if they get a Hidden counter-attack due to your Power Blows, they can't take it because of StS. In an end-game, Swords to Snakes is even more powerful. They may not _have_ two attacks in their reduced hand to discard. If this is the case, you can attack and keep them from counter-attacking for quite some time. Generic Cards The single most beneficial card for Nakano is Pedestrian/Hidden-Only. This Situation will keep both sides from attacking unless they can make their attacks Hidden. Thanks to Trip, Duck, Swords to Snakes, Master's Maneuver, and Shadows of the Mind, Nakano can keep making Hidden attacks for quite some time. Most players don't stock up on a lot of attack-Hiding cards, and the ones they do, like Riposte, are easily predictable. Alertness/Hidden is a card that Nakano should have for those occasions when his opponent can make a Hidden attack. Alternately, he can rely on the 9-area coverage of Back Away and Dodge, or use his Ducks if the opponent makes a Hidden attack due to Riposte. Cursed seems custom built for Nakano. It can aid him both when using Mirror Image, and when preventing a Master's Disarmed opponent from regaining his weapon via die rolling. Your opponent will spend a lot of time dodging your Hidden attacks. Use Master's Advance often. Three of these, with Nakano's other two Master slots filled by Master's Maneuver and/or Master's Stratagem, are probably your best bet. Carl and The Gathering are useful in Nakano decks, since your opponent will often want to escape to Holy Ground to avoid your Hidden attacks if they can't dodge, or miss the block. Holy Ground/SE will also remove your Shadow of the Mind. Attack-wise, the two generic Slashes are not bad. They can be Hidden, are easily playable after a Duck, and Master's Advance keeps your opponent from readily dodging them. Mix with Ruins (see below), and your opponent can't block the Slashes either. Psyche (CotW #29) has some potential for Nakano. The strategy here is to get a Hidden attack through other means (Riposte, Swords to Snakes, Shadow of the Mind), then play Psyche. If you draw a defense from them, play a Hidden attack to a non-protected area. They _have_ to play the defense, since they have no way of knowing if it's illegal. Nail them and force them to Exert for a defense. IMHO, Nemesis cards are currently viable only to Nakano. If he can't use them, he can always discard them to duplicate an opponent's Event. Reporter can be used in a similar manner: play it if you're down on Ability, use it as a duplicator if you're not. While Nakano can and probably will duplicate many of an opponent's useful Events (Watcher/Treatment, Police/Remove Sit), he shouldn't necessarily skimp on such cards himself. Location Cards Nakano's best Location is Ruins. Guards can stop his Slashes, and provide a wide spread to cover Hidden attacks. By using Ruins, you can trap those Guards in your opponent's hand, and keep them from playing other annoyances like Master's Stance+plus Master's Block, or Higher Ground. Just remember that you can't use Continuity when you use Ruins yourself. With the restriction on Ancestral Blade, this can be a handicap. However, use of Master Swordsman and even Focussed Block can help you here. A Ped/Hidden "attack-lock" means your opponent can't make attacks, normal or Power Blow. Since Nakano is a fairly versatile dodger, he can drop Back Away and go with Dead-End Alley. For Back Away-only types like Slan and The Kurgan, you can immobilize them with this Location. If you're going to use Master's Disarm, Parking Garage is a good choice. Mountain Cave is _not_ a good choice: you have plenty of ways to make Hidden attacks: why give your opponent the chance to do so as well? Battlefield has pros and cons. Running your opponent out of defenses is useful, but can backfire. Unless you're using Nefertiri's Quickening(s), it probably isn't a good choice for you. If you're using Shadow of the Mind, you're probably not going to want to draw cards anyway. So Factory looks promising. However, it means you have to play Reconnaissance, Patience _and_ Focus to draw back up. And finally, Lighthouse can enhance your Hidden strategy in several different ways. First of all, if your opponent can't make a Hidden attack, you don't have to worry about dodging it. You probably won't use Standing Defenses. And if your opponent does get off a Hidden attack and misses, you can nail them due to their inability to dodge. How to Win Nakano's cards lend themselves to one specific strategy: Hidden attacks, and lots of them. Unfortunately, the best strategy to implement this is a near-lock: get down Pedestrian/Hidden to keep your opponent from attacking, and make Hidden attacks yourself. This strategy doesn't work quite as well against Connor since he can see your attacks. However, it still "locks" him unless he has a way to make Hidden attacks. This strategy is kind of boring, but Nakano's best bet. He can play a more general Hidden attack strategy without the lock. Nakano's defenses are very good: he has a greater number of dodges than average, plus Mirror Image. Still, a determined Connor opponent can probably take you down. A heavy-hitter like Slan or The Kurgan, relying on anti-dodge (particularly Lunge!) and Focus, can probably hurt you as well. Building an overall strategy around Nakano's Persona ability is rather difficult: there's no way to predict exactly which Events your opponent will use. Still, Watcher/Treatment and Police/Remove Sit are givens in all but the greenest of decks. These cards are more tactical than strategic, however. Unless you know exactly what an opponent will be playing with, go with your own strengths rather then hoping they're going to use Darius + Seduce/Amanda times four. If they do, be ready to take advantage of it. Rip a TCG on their Darius'd Seduce, then duplicate it yourself and be ready to rip on that Holy Ground they'll probably use. Use of Watcher/Counter, or Darius'd Forethoughts, can be a useful strategy to conserve your TCGs. How to Defeat More than most, Nakano's Nemesis, Self-Betrayal, can be a real pain. He can be locked by his own Pedestrian/Hiddens, while his opponent Trips and Focuses at will. Still, if your opponent tries to Police any of Nakano's many Situations, it gives him what he needs to remove Self-Betrayal from play. Cards like Rooftop and Scare will remove the threat of Pedestrian/Hidden. Once you can attack at will, follow the typical strategy for heavy-hitters: use Intimidate or Distraction to prevent Nakano counter-attacking, Hidden or otherwise, after making a Power Blow. Use Lunge to pin Nakano down. Time carefully for after you have Focussed Nakano's Mirror Image. Nakano's main strength is in Situations: use of Simple Mind will either take out a lot of his cards, or require him to rip a TCG before SM hits the table. For the same reason, Focus will let you bypass Nakano's Situations. Sometimes it is better to simply get rid of a card like Swords to Snakes by discarding, rather than leave it out there. In general, however, Focus will see more use against Nakano than practically any other Persona except Xavier. In fact, six Focus probably aren't enough... Lots of Police/Remove Sit can help, although Nakano's power lets him turn them against you. Cards that Nakano can't duplicate are also a weakness. Renee Delaney doesn't give anything for Nakano to duplicate (unless he counters). Other such cards are direct damage (if you can bounce back the damage with Do It Yourself or Unexpected Assistance/ME), and Kate. Overall As the above shows, Nakano can be tough under the right circumstance. Nakano should be able to Ped/Hidden lock an opponent and toss out lots of Hidden attacks. Unfortunately, this is his primary strength, and others may prove more difficult to implement. Overall, Steve gives Nakano a _6_. He can lock down with the best of cheese, and sneak in Hidden attacks. This makes him a bit of a one-note Persona, however. His Persona ability is a nice defensive measure, but is not a great combat-enhancer: rather, it is more useful in thwarting or dealing out cheese. What Our Other Raters Say: Jeff - During playtesting of ME, Nakano was my favorite persona. Unfortunately, once I tried to translate him into a workable deck type, only lock or healing proved moderately useful. Nakano's problem is that his cards are okay, but tend to be destroyed by Katana (Situations) and/or ignored by Connor (Hidden attacks), giving him a big vulnerability to at least two very popular deck types. He's too defensive in nature to be viable for tournament play, IMHO. Now, if he could get some cool cards to go with that ability... Rick - Abstain Hank - I've tried to use Nakano a number of times, and I think he has some interesting and unique cards... but he's just never seemed to work all that well for me. I think there's something in there, but I've never been able to build a Nakano deck that wouldn't work better as someone else. Alan - One of my favorite Personas, Nakano can be quite powerful, particularly since he is the king of Hidden attacks. He is also one of those too few Personas whose strength is not only in his Persona ability, but also in his cards. A properly-constructed Nakano deck can give anyone but Connor (and Duncan, to a lesser degree) trouble... particularly those cheeseheads! Jim - Nakano is master of the Hidden attack. He is also king of the Event. He is the one persona who can afford to use Nemesis cards for any Immortal who might give him problems. If he doesn't face the Immortal, he can always discard the Nemesis to duplicate an Event his opponent plays. Wayne - Nakano tends to lend itself to being very reactive instead of aggressive. The Hidden attack ability is okay but somewhat dangerous with Feint edge cards out there. Nakano really needs some better offensive cards to be more competitive with other personas. His ability to duplicate Events is extremely powerful, especially with being able to duplicate healing cards. Many people overlook Nakano as a viable Persona but I believe that you can win with him. Prodipto - Nakano has several strategies integrated directly into his Persona. He is the best character for hidden attacks. Combined with a Ped/Hidden, he makes an intriguing "Lock" deck type Persona. He is well-suited for Dead-End Alley and Parking Garage. With his ability to play Hidden attacks, Dead-End Alley will make things very difficult for Slan and Kurgan players, as well as Personas who only have Dodge and Back Away as options for Dodging. Of course, he is also well-suited to use Lunge, especially in these situations. With his "guaranteed" Master's Disarm (although it must almost always be prefaced with a Discard Weapon, revealing your strategy) and the fact that he has Ducks available to him, Nakano can work quite nicely in a Parking Garage. Discard, Duck, Disarm, hidden attack is a potent 2-turn combination. Nakano is also the only Persona who can make effective use out of Nemesis cards. If he isn't playing the Persona he has the Nemesis for, he just discards it to duplicate an Event. I think the hardest part about building a Nakano deck is trying to figure out what _not_ to put in it. Allen - While not as effective as Connor, Kurgan, or Katana in a straight-up sword fight, Nakano excels at defensive warfare. I find Pedestrian: Hidden to be his best friend. Whether he is trying to fight you, lock you, or cheese you, his mastery of hidden attacks gives him the edge while Ped: Hidden is on the table. It's difficult to Focus past Two or three Ped's, and thus you can lock your opponent's attacks in his hand and force him to play with only his dwindling defensive resources. Things to look out for here are Rooftops(!) and Simple Mind. Should he ever get ahead, or should the game simply stall, Nakano always has the advantage. He has all of his cheese, plus most of _your_ cheese. He has all of his healing cards, plus all of _your_ healing cards. Efficiency is his key. He can discard whatever cards might not prove to be useful against his current opponent while duplicating the useful events of his opponent. Ratings Overall: Steve 6 Jeff 3 Rick N/A Hank 4 Alan 7 Jim 7 Wayne 7 Prodipto 7 Allen 6 Average: 5.88 Highlander is a protected trademark of Gaumont Television, used under license by Thunder Castle Games. The card text is copyright 1996 by Thunder Castle Games. All rights reserved.