Fitzcairn - by Steve Crow Instead of playing a Special Card, you may make an Exertion on your turn to prevent up to 2 points of damage. You may have up to 5 Master cards. Overview Apparently a popular character on the show, judging from the number of post-death appearances Roger Daltrey has made in the series, the release of Fitzcairn has long been looked forward to. The question is, how effective he is? First, game-mechanics questions. The wording on Fitzcairn's Persona is somewhat misleading. Any time you do not play a Special, you may use Fitzcairn's power. Even if you are prevented from playing a Special, you may still Exert to prevent damage. Fitz's Persona ability doesn't distinguish _why_ you don't play a Special. Fitz's ability _prevents_ damage, it does not restore Ability. Thus, it is not considered to occur when you look at effects like Kalas's Persona ability. His ability does not prevent an attack from being successful, nor does it have any effect on aspects of an attack other than damage. If Fitzcairn Exerts to prevent two damage from Amanda performing a Head Shot (which would normally do two damage as a Power Blow for her), he still loses his head. Conversely, if Fitz prevents all damage from an attack, the attack is still successful and conveys any benefits or avoids any penalties therein (i.e., Lighthouse, Immortal Wound). Fitz may Exert to prevent damage from any source: Events, attacks, and even Locations (in the case of Battlefield). Fitzcairn may Exert to prevent less than two points of damage if he so wishes. Thus, he can Exert to prevent one point of damage from Street Punk/SE. Persona-Specific Cards Very little about Fitzcairn is "standard." The only two cards he has that bear any resemblance to what has gone before are Back Away and Flashback. The latter is the "extra 3-card Exertion" Situation that Duncan has in the Series Edition, and that Kern and Annie get as well in Watcher's Chronicles. Both of these are non-Reserved. Fitzcairn also gets the left and right Evades. While not as effective as Amanda's Side Step, they have the advantage that you can attack to any area after using them. Fitz's other non-Reserved cards are Combination, Continuity, and Trip. Each of these is different than the "standard" version found in previous editions. Combination allows Fitzcairn to combine multiple basic attacks into a single Special Attack (which is subject to all Special Attack rules). Due to Evade and Master's Block, Fitzcairn has a good chance of hitting exactly the areas he wants to regardless of the defense he plays. Of course, playing a cross-corner mix (UL-LR, or UR-LL) is best. However, if you are free to attack anywhere, you can use this to dump other, less useful attacks as well. A UL-MR-LL combo is just as effective. Even a UR-Thrust- LL will let you get rid of that Thrust. Keep in mind that Combination will _not_ work on non- basic attacks, whether they are Special Attacks or non- basic red-grid attacks like Riposte and Flurry Strike. According to TCG rulings, the resulting Special attack only does the Persona's basic damage (1 for Amanda, 3 for the Kurgan, 2 for Fitzcairn and everyone else). Thrust has no effect here. You also cannot modify the basic attacks as you "combine" them (i.e., you can play a Lunge on one of the attacks). Continuity is similar to Kastagir's Persona ability. However, unlike Kastagir's ability, Fitzcairn _must_ keep Exerting until he gets a playable defense, or his Exertion ends. Given his Persona Ability, Fitz may be better off simply using that. Just because he can stop Exerting for a defense at any time doesn't assure that he will _get_ the defense he needs. Possibly it's better to simply Exert to avoid the two damage. Trip acts as a Standing Defense remover. It also makes Fitz's next attack that turn undodgeable. The attack need not be a basic attack: Fitz can use this on a Pistol, Dirty Trick, or Improvised Weapon/Attack if he wishes. This brings us to Fitzcairn's Reserved cards. There are only four, but at least three are quite powerful. Fast Talk has already made a reputation for itself. Mix with Renee Delaney and Fitz can keep an opponent from playing Specials for eight rounds, and _any_ cards for two rounds. Not only must Fitz's opponent Exert, but she should have to rely on that Exertion for a defense. Charm is sometimes overlooked, but it can buy Fitzcairn a round of relative safety from attack. In addition, if his opponent can't attack next turn, this gives Fitz another opportunity to set up a multi-area Combination. Of course, this is useless against Nefertiri and her Quickenings. Charm does target _all_ attacks, Special or otherwise. A Kurgan deck hit with this will lose those Pistols they've been holding on to. Master's Block is the "weaker" version that Katana has. It gives Fitz no special advantage, but he can attack to any area(s) after using it. This is useful for avoiding Hidden and multi-area attacks, particularly Annie's Master's Attack. It also is another way to set up a multi-area Combination. Seduce is not one of this author's favorite cards. Basically, at this time there are not enough Ally/Situations worth taking for you to gamble on including this card in your deck. Seduce _can_ work for you, but only under the right, fairly limited circumstances. It may also become useful in the future as more Ally/Situations are added. Generic Cards Since Hugh's Persona ability is Exertion-oriented, the first thing to look at is cards that reduce Exertions: Master/Swordmaster and the Collect promotional card Master Swordsman (CotW #35) is a good choice for Fitzcairn. However, since he is limited to five, and he'll probably want to use Master's Block, he may not use more than three. That's enough. Play Fast Talk and a Master Swordsman/Power Blow. You need not worry about a Hidden counter-attack. If your opponent doesn't draw the right defense he could take as much as four points of damage _and_ lose five cards on the Exertion. Another good choice for a Master card is Master's Advance. This can significantly hobble an opponent's ability to play dodges, particularly those 9-area ones like Master's Dodge, Distract, Back Away, and Dodge. The fact that Fitz can Exert to ignore damage with relative impunity doesn't mean he should ignore such damaging Events as Angry Mob or Street Punk. Cards like Police and Greenfield are still good choices. Just as with any other Persona who has Master's Block, Fitz should use Advance Warning if he wants to squeeze a couple of extra uses out of that 9-grid defense. Successful use of Combination requires Fitz play his attacks exactly where he needs to. An aggressive opponent can hinder this. Charm, Fast Talk, and Master's Block are good tools here. However, you can augment with Weapon Bind, Distraction/Bystander, and Pedestrian/Delay- 2 as necessary. If your opponent can't attack, you're free to place your cross-corner attacks where you wish. We'll talk about restricting your opponent's ability to play 9-grid dodges against your Combination attacks below. Watcher/Watcher Involvement can be used to counter a Master's Block as it is played. You may be making Power Blows (particularly with Fast Talk), so having a Misfortune or three in your deck is a good idea. When using Fitzcairn, considering what attacks and blocks you use is important. Riposte is typically a no-brainer to include. However, with Fitzcairn it can be a bad choice since he can't play it in conjunction with Combination. On the other hand, Parry makes it easier to make those cross-corner Combination attacks. Location Cards Since Fitzcairn can make cross-corner attacks fairly readily, cards that impede his opponent's ability to play 9-area defenses are useful. These include Catwalk and Dead End Alley. Each one restricts Fitzcairn equally. Catwalk is probably his best choice since it doesn't affect his one-and-only 9-area dodge: Back Away. He also can't dodge Pistols anyway, so an opponent using them gains no additional benefit. Lighthouse is a good Location choice. Why? Because Fitz's Persona ability gives him a back-up if he can't dodge to avoid that attack. His cross-corner attacks also tend to have a higher chance of hitting. Mountain Cave _may_ be a good choice for the same reason: Fitzcairn can easily avoid damage from an attack. However, an opponent capable of making multiple attacks may well overwhelm Fitzcairn's ability, so use this carefully. The other Locations can impact specific strategies that you might mix in with Fitzcairn. However, none of them radically augment him. Desert isn't a particularly good idea since it can deprive him of his "power" cards. Watcher Regional HQ is always good if you intend to load up on Watcher/Situations. Other choices can vary. How to Win The key to winning with Fitzcairn lays with two cards: Combination and Fast Talk. Combination is nearly as good as Annie's Master's Attack. It requires two more cards to pull off, but it doesn't count against the number of Masters you can use. All you have to do is hold on to the attacks you need to go cross-corner (Dojo helps here). Then use a Parry or Evade and attack full out. Alternately, stop your opponent from attacking for a turn, then place them where you want. Use Catwalk and/or Master's Advance to stop them from playing 9-area dodges, and Watcher/Watcher Involvement to keep them from playing Master's Block, and you're set. Fast Talk, Fitz's other best card, is downright nasty. Unless they have Jack Donovan and you don't attack, they will be Exerting, which can cost them five cards right there. Since you'll almost certainly attack anyway, Jack is useless to them. Make the attack you play in conjunction with Fast Talk a Power Blow. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to use Master Swordsman. If you don't want to take up Master slots in this manner (although Master Swordsman is always useful), grab a Slan Quickening. If all else fails, Exert - it's well worth it. It's easy to be aggressive with Fitzcairn. However, his Persona ability lends itself to long, drawn-out healing decks. Whatever damage slips by the Dr. Sonnys and Greenfields, Fitz can Exert to prevent. I'm not big on these types of decks, but they're popular so keep Fitzcairn in mind when you consider them. A lean & mean denial strategy can also work, using Renee Delaney to augment Fast Talk and render your opponent unable to play Specials for a potential eight consecutive turns. How to Defeat The Zocchi Distributing card, if you can get it, is a painful way to extend Fitz's Exertions when he attempts to use his Persona ability. If you can keep up a steady stream of Power Blows against Fitzcairn (Slan and the Kurgan - Connor, Kern, and Duncan to a lesser degree), and keep that Ancestral Blade out of play, you'll tend to nullify Fitz's advantage. If you combine direct damage with a Power Blow strategy, you can keep enough pressure on him to force him to Exert just to keep up. Forcing him to Exert is the best way to keep him from drawing and playing those dangerous cards like Fast Talk. Don't forget - every time you force him to Exert to avoid damage, Fitz can't play a Special. An overwhelming number of attacks in a single round is another good way to handle Fitz's advantage. Kurgan's Bloodlust, Slan's Berserk, and Annie's and Kern's abilities are best for this. If you're worried about Seduce, use Allies that affect both players. Fitz gains no advantage if he uses Seduce on Avery Hoskins. Advance Warning plus a Master's Block, for those Personas with this option, will let you handle Fitz's Combination. This combination is good even if Fitz doesn't use Combination. For those without Master's Block, be prepared to Focus or Recon past anti-dodge Situations and Locations, respectively. Fitzcairn's Nemesis is, of course, the best way to defeat him, and there will probably be enough Fitzcairn decks in a tournament that adding one or two Fooled Agains is a viable option. This not only negates his Persona ability, but if you can force him to Exert through other means, he's toast. Avery Hoskins (CotW #47) and Challenge/ME (CotW #48) are helpful here. If you're already using these cards in your strategy, they plus Fooled Again spell almost certain doom for Fitz. Generally, when coping with Fitzcairn you just have to hit him hard and hit him constantly. Short of using his Nemesis, there's no way to get around the fact that he can Exert to avoid two damage. Overall Overall, Steve gives Fitzcairn a _8_. He's a subtle but heavy-hitting Persona if he chooses to be, or he can remain aloof and play a healing-delay game. Even his weaker cards, like Seduce, look to become more useful as the game evolves and expands. He's a good base Persona to build a number of strategies on. What Our Other Raters Say: Jim - Abstain from comment - rating provided below. Rick - Abstain Hank - Fitz's special ability works great with cards like Collect and Master/Swordmaster, he has a few notable cards (Charm is nice, Fast Talk moreso), and plus I like the character a lot. As a Persona, I've built some decks with him, and had moderate success, but he's not a huge winner. Alan - Fitzcairn brings more of a tired element to Highlander, since he is now clearly the Persona-of-Choice for healing decks. In that respect, he is actually a great Persona, as he is quite hard to kill. His Combination and Fast Talk make him a formidable fighter to face, as well. A Persona I enjoy playing as, but not against. Jeff - Fitz is obviously the Persona of choice for healing decks. He's also tough with denial decks, give his use of six Renees and three Fast Talk. The cream of the WC crop, he's a force to be reckoned with in Master's or Renaissance format. Wayne - Fitzcairn is one of the top 5 immortals to play. His ability to stop damage through exertions is excellent when playing Fitz as a healing deck. The six Renee/three Fast Talk deck can cycle cards fast enough to stop your opponent from playing a Special for a long time if they don't go first or have the Nakano Quickening. I really like his versatility and his ability. Prodipto - Fitzcairn is the chronic deckbuilder's delight. He is wonderfully versatile in the variety of strategies one can use with him. For example, with Renee Delaney's and Fast Talk's, he becomes as potent, if not more potent, a lock Persona than Nefertiri. With Charms, Cat and Mouse and other anti-attack situations, he can be built around preventing your opponent from being able to attack by forcing him to discard any attacks he has. Using Exertion-control cards like Master/Swordmaster and Collects, as well as healing type cards, he can become a virtually untouchable Persona as far as healing ability. Additionally, he has a Master's Block and a fair number of offensive cards for a pure swordfighting deck. Since he uses Evades, many of his Dodges still allow him to attack. His biggest vulnerability is Center attacks, particularly if they are made undodgeable. Even so, he can Exert to prevent damage from these. Fitzcairn is (quietly) one of the most potent Personas in the game. Allen - Hugh Fitzcairn is a very versatile immortal, and perhaps the most well-rounded of the WC Personae. He can finesse his way into a lot of effect in a sword fight. Cross corner Combinations and Trip/Slash are very difficult for an opponent to defend. Fast Talk works well with Power Blows, and has even bought me time after being disarmed. Charm can shut down a multi-attack opponent while you slice him to ribbons. Can't decide between the attack strategies above? Mix two or three and use your increased deck size to prevent any cheese damage. The arrival of WC has done a lot to increase the popularity of UC and LC Power Blows, and most Left and Right attacks will be Lunged. Your Evades may wind up jamming your hand. Because of this and his unusual Continuity, Fitz' main problem seems to be in defending Power Blows. It might be best to invest most of your Master Slots into Master Swordsman. Ratings Overall: Steve 8 Jim 8 Rick N/A Hank 7 Alan 7 Jeff 8 Wayne 8 Prodipto 9 Allen 7 Average: 7.75 Highlander is a protected trademark of Gaumont Television, used under license by Thunder Castle Games. The card text is copyright 1997 by Thunder Castle Games. All rights reserved.