Richie Ryan - by Steve Crow You may use one Immortal Specific card, even if Reserved, from each Persona. You may have up to five Master cards. Overview Well, it's Cheese Boy. As has been noted many times and in many ways, Richie just gets stronger and stronger with each edition and expansion. Every new Persona gives him a pool of cards to select from. In addition, it looks like he will continue to receive new Immortal-specific cards of his own. On to game-mechanics questions. Yes, Richie can take Reserved cards. Or he can choose to take another Persona's non-Reserved Immortal Specific card (Evade, Duck, Jump, Flashback, whatever). Richie may use Darius to further "borrow" other Personas' cards. He cannot ignore title or specific card restrictions. He can only have four Seduce/Amandas. However, he does not require a Darius to play one of them. For the exact rules on how you determine when you do and do not need Darius to play another Personas' cards, see FAQ Entry 23.5. Richie gains no benefit from the "Generic" Quickening (i.e., you may use one non-Reserved card from each other Persona). He cannot use the pre-game Darius to increase the restriction number on other Personas' cards (i.e., he can't add a fifth Seduce/Amanda). This is because those are not cards he can use "normally." He can use pre-game Darius for his own Restricted cards (Luck, Master's Block) as appropriate. Gold Foils and white-bordered Premiums are not considered Immortal Specific - Richie can't "borrow" them. Nor can he borrow "Signature" cards (as introduced in The Gathering). Persona-Specific Cards Even without his Persona ability, Richie would be a relatively formidable opponent. He has the full complement of "basic" Persona-Specific cards: Back Away, Dodge, Combination, Continuity, Extra Shot, Power Blow, and Trip. These are all the "standard" versions. With the errata on Ancestral Blade and the increased incidence of Lunge, Continuity remains a useful tool versus Power Blows. Combination and Extra Shot, with the introduction of Lunge and Flashing Blade, are still useful cards, Extra Shot in particular. Trip and Power Blow can also be useful in conjunction with Lunge and basic attacks. What about Richie's Reserved cards? Luck is useful for pulling the extra cards for that combo. Master's Block remains a useful and versatile card, superior to Katana's and Fitzcairn's. Richie also has Battle Rage, which remains relatively unreliable. The 1 Ability loss is rarely worth it. Richie's new card, Quick Learner, is useful both for grabbing a "borrowed" card from the Persona you're playing against (if they use Shooting Blade, you grab yours), but for grabbing generic cards as well. If they play Holy Ground, use QL to get one of your own. Master's Advice, still restricted to 1, is so-so, and Richie can probably find better Master cards to "borrow." Which brings us to... Other Personas' Cards This is a new category, although we'll probably use it again next month when we talk about Methos. The question here is, what cards should Richie "borrow"? Keep in mind these are the "ideal"cards for Richie. If you're just starting out, and the only Duncan card you have is Inspiration, then you should probably use Inspiration. Also, one other thing. With the introduction of "Signature" cards in The Gathering, some cards will become unavailable to Richie. The cards below are all currently non-Signature, but future errata _may_ change that. Duncan: Master's Dodge gives Richie additional 9-grid coverage. Jump and Duck can provide good dodge capability and another way to make Hidden attacks. Amanda: Seduce is the traditional choice for Richie decks. Distract can prove useful as well, however. Slan: Shooting Blade is another traditional choice - mix well with Seduce/Nefertiri or Follow-Up/Kurgan. However, if you have a deck planned where you will be hitting often and hard, The Cat isn't bad either, since it stops them from counter-attacking. Nefertiri: Temptress looks better, particularly if you mix with The Cat. Otherwise, Nef's Seduce + Shooting Blade let's you hit nearly anyone. However, as more Personas are created with only Back Away to cover the Middle Center area, you'll need it less and less. If you're prone to using Battle Rage, then Vengeance can help you as well. Luther: Disappear. 'nuff said? Xavier: Stalk and Forethought are both good choices. If you go the Cheese route, Hidden Explosives may be a good choice. But unlike Xave, you may not have enough Situations to make it worth your while. Hook can actually be useful as part of a combo: mix with Master's Lunge/Connor. Connor: Master's Block won't work for you, since you can't attack through it. Master's Lunge lends itself to several combos (Hook/Xavier, Charm/Kastagir, Extra Shot/Annie), does three damage, and thanks to Richie's Master's Block is eminently playable. Flashback (the discard/draw five variety) can be useful in Ren-style play. Master's Disarm can give you needed protection if disarmed. It's a Kind of Magic, if you can get it, is also helpful for damage prevention. Kastagir: Boom Boom is the obvious choice. However, I'm kind of fond of Charm plus Connor's Master's Lunge for a strong 3-point attack. Master's Guard is also useful. Katana: Taunt almost certainly, or Toadies if you take the cheese road. The Kurgan: Disguise can protect your Situations and keep your opponent from stopping cheese/damage. However, Follow-Up lends itself nicely to a Shooting Blade combo and is probably your best choice. If you're really into multiple attacks, try Bloodlust. Nakano: Mirror Image is a useful defensive card, while Master's Disarm can provide you with protection against disarming. Khan: Not much until The Gathering comes out. Until then, Flashback might be your best choice. Or protect yourself with a Helmet or Breastplate. Once ME2 comes out, Plunder might be a good choice once you load up with the appropriate cards. Kalas: If you're hitting hard, your opponent will feel the need to play Holy Ground. Take his head with Stalk + Head Shot just like Kalas does. Not much else there unless you want to try something with Intimidate or need an extra Master's Advice. Kern: Hogg. No reasonable errata in the world is going to make this less useful than any of his other current cards. Fitzcairn: Fast Talk. See Hogg for why. If Fast Talk become Signature, Combination and Master's Block are useful alternatives. Annie: Several good cards here. Escape can protect your Situations, while her Master's Attack can be played after your Master's Block. Her Extra Shot can be combined with Master's Lunge. Corda & Reno: Flying Machine/Wings is the only real choice here - it can prove very annoying. However, an opponent removing both this and Hogg (particularly with Thief, in one fell swoop) can be painful. Fasil: Stalk is probably his most useful card. However, Backflip can be handy also, as it lends itself to a number of combos (see Master's Lunge above). If you want to try a disarm strategy, Master's Disarm is also useful. Kane: This Immortal has a number of "spot" cards: useful as annoyance tactics, but difficult to build a strategy around. Ephemeral Wound, Shapeshift, and Open Mind all fit here. Yung Dol Kim: Run Away, Master's Attack, and Frenzy are all useful, depending on your strategy. Generic Cards Upper Hand is more useful than normal, as it can strip away the critical card an opponent might need to escape Richie's inescapable attacks. By the same token, Carl and The Gathering can keep them from fleeing to Holy Ground. And Misfortune will pre-empt their Hogg escapes. Other then that, most typically useful cards are just as useful for Richie. Darius becomes even more powerful: he can be used to give Richie more of a card that he has already "borrowed" one of. This can make Richie a bit more efficient: he only needs three Darii to play four Seduce/Amandas, while everyone else (except Amanda herself, of course) needs four. Location Cards If you wish to pursue block or dodge denial, Lighthouse, Laundry Room, and Catwalk can all prove useful. They can backfire on you, however, so keep Reconnaissance on hand. Factory and Battlefield, if you properly prepare for them (six Reconnaissance, use of the Nef Qs) can deplete an opponent of defenses, making it even harder for him to defend against your combo attacks. Rooftop can prove useful in keeping an opponent from either keeping you from attacking (Ped/Hidden) or eliminating the damage you do to him (Bystander). Dead End Alley isn't really a good choice unless you plan on borrowing lots of non-Back Away dodges from other Personas. Desert will cost you cards you'd rather have for your combinations. Parking Garage is only good if you plan on pursuing a disarm strategy. The various Master's Disarms you can borrow might help you here. Mountain Cave and Ruins give you no real advantage. Watcher Regional HQ can prove useful if you build your deck accordingly. How to Win Even without his Persona ability, Richie is versatile enough to adopt any number of strategies. However, his real strength is in taking varied Personas' individual cards and combining them into powerful combos. I'm particularly fond of those cards that combine with Master's Lunge: Hook/Xavier, Charm/Kastagir, Extra Shot/Annie, Backflip/Fasil, and a disarm strategy augmented by Master's Disarm/Kurgan or Fasil. Shooting Blade works well when combined with Seduce/Nefertiri or Follow-Up/Kurgan. If Richie pursues the path of cheese, he can use Alliance/Xavier and Toadies/Katana. With any kind of combat strategy, Richie should use anti- Holy Ground cards like Carl, and the silent threat of a Stalk/Kalas Head Shot. How to Defeat Richie's Nemesis, Brash Youth (if you can get it) can seriously hurt him, since it impairs both use of his Persona ability and Darius alike. However, that's no big news since most Nemesis cards will take out the Persona they're aimed at. Most Richie decks can't resist getting greedy and using Darius. Keep a stock of James Horton/Situations on hand. One Locatin that was undercut by recent errata was Verona. However, if you run into a Richie deck that relies heavily on Special Attacks, Verona can be very useful. Richie can still use Reconnaissance to get around it, but otherwise it can slow done his Special Attack/Special card combos considerably. The other thing you'll need to do is be ready for cheese and unblockable/undodgeable Special Attacks. Greenfield Hobby, Police/Counter Damage, Alertness/Block and/or Dodge, and Holy Ground - suitably augmented by Focus and Dojo - are what you'll need. Be ready for anything. Overall Steve gives Richie a _9_. He's just too versatile to rate any lower. He's powerful, and will continue to remain so. The limitation of his Nemesis to a relatively hard-to-get collector's item strengths him even more. If you like playing around with innovative mix-and-match combos, Richie's the guy for you. What Our Other Raters Say: Jim - Richie is perhaps the most flexible Persona since he can have one card from each other Persona. Since Richie is not limited in any way, except the limit on his Masters and the normal card restrictions, he can make some very creative decks. Richie also has many good Persona-specific cards. The most powerful and unique among these is Luck. Using Luck, Richie can advance nearly any strategy much faster than most Personas. When adding Darius, Richie can get rather abusive in his use of other Personas' cards. He can out Shooting Blade, Slan and out Seduce Amanda. He can Taunt, Fast Talk, and ride a mean Hogg. With each new release, Richie grows stronger. You never quite know what to expect from the wonder kid, just don't expect an easy victory. Richie is not the most powerful Immortal, but he should never be underestimated. Hank - When Series Edition first debuted, Richie was far- and-away the "most broken" Immortal, and he won a lot of tournaments. When Movie Edition debuted, Katana replaced Richie as the "most broken", but he's since been fixed. As more Immortals come along, Richie's ability to pull cards from each of them grows. I've never liked the Persona (although I like the character) and it just keeps getting worse. Richie is a badly thought-out Persona, and he and Darius/In-game make the game harder and harder to design around. I'll give him the rating below on principle. Alan - Richie is one of the strongest and most versatile Personas around, due to the fact that he can use one card from each Persona. This means that with each expansion, Richie automatically gets stronger, due to the new numbers of cards available to him. While he can't do any one "trick" better than the Persona he borrowed it from, he can do more tricks than any other Persona available. My favorite has to be the "Master Swordsman" deck I have used with great success. Definitely one of my three favorite Personas. Jeff - Richie is an infinitely talented lad, with a strong penchant for cheese. With that inherent ability (probably fourth behind only Katana, Nefertiri, and Fitz) plus awesome cards of his own like Luck and Master's Block, he's got a much better chance in the game than he ever did in the series. Wayne - Richie is quickly becoming one of the top Immortals to play. He is good for cheese decks, heal decks, and he has the ability to combine cards from different Personas in such a way that makes for a great attack deck. The only downfall for Richie is that if he depends on combinations of cards, he may not get the needed cards in his hand at the same time. Overall, Richie will continue to get stronger and more versatile as new sets come out. Prodipto - Richie is the only Persona guaranteed to get more power and versatility with each and every expansion of Highlander. His ability to utilize cards from other Personas, as well as his strong complement of cards in his own right, makes him an extremely potent foe. One of his greatest strengths is being able to create card combinations using cards from disparate Personas (such as Nefertiri's Seduce+Slan's Shooting Blade). He's the only Persona who can have five Master's Blocks in his deck (if he so chooses) (Editor's Note: ignoring presumably the upcoming Methos release). The introduction of the Signature cards is a prime example of exactly how potent Richie is. The most devastating effect of all in Richie decks is his versatility. When you sit down to face a Richie deck, you have very little idea as to what the deck will do. Typically, each Persona will play a deck that complements his or her power, but the strength of a Richie deck is in the cards he plays, rather than how his power affects them. Overall, he is, and always will be, a dangerous opponent. Allen - Richie is perhaps the most versatile Persona in the game. No matter what strategy you are trying to play, his ability to borrow other Personas' cards allows him to focus more on it. Want to play lots of Master Blocks? Richie can use three of his, one of Katana's and one of Hugh's. Want to play Cheese? Use the standard Careful Mob, then add Toadies and Hidden Explosives. Want to make lots of undefendable attacks? Grab one of everyone's Master's Attack and play with Challenge/SE. Add an Amanda's Seduce. (You use it far better than she anyway.) It's hard to recommend a strategy for Richie, since he can use them all so well. (Except for relentless power blowing; he can't beat Slan or Kurgan there.) Richie also has great cards of his own. Aside from the above mentioned Master's Block, he has Luck. Whatever card you need for your strategy, go get it. There is almost no such thing as a bad opening draw for Richie. Quick Learner is a great new Richie card from Watcher Chronicles. Don't overlook its ability to let you go and get needed generic blocks and attacks. Bruce - Despite new personas and one new card, Richie continues to fall behind other Immortals. But he is still a good choice, along with Slan, for a beginning player with limited card resources. A combo deck with unblockable/undodgeable attacks can be competitive, but is unlikely to win tournaments. Ratings Overall: Steve 9 Jim 8 Hank 3 Alan 9 Jeff 8 Wayne 9 Prodipto 8 Allen 8 Bruce 4 Average: 7.33 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.