Martin Hyde - by Steve Crow During your Draw/Discard Phase, you may draw up to or must discard down to a number of cards equal to your current Ability plus the number of Master cards allowed by your opponent. You may include up to 5 Master cards. Overview Martin Hyde seems to be viewed as one of the powerhouses of A&T. Certainly, he seems better than Kanwulf, and on a par with Kinman. Is the Master Hunter on a par with the heavy A&T hitters like Ceirdwyn and Kanis, much less Methos and the revised Duncan? Let's take a look. Game mechanic questions first. Hyde's ability is not optional - he cannot discard to _less_ than his Ability + opponent's # of Master cards. Hyde can only draw up to the extra cards during his Draw/Discard phase. During the rest of his turn, due to cards such as Patience and the use of Nefertiri's Quickening, he can only draw up to his Ability. If he has more cards than his Ability or an equal number, then he draws nothing. Hyde's ability gives him extra cards equal to the limitation on Master slots that his opponent has. If that text is eliminated by Master's Advantage/Ramirez, than Hyde gains no additional cards. If the number of Master cards is modified by the chase pre-game Darius, Hyde's ability takes that into account, letting him have an additional card. Persona-Specific Cards Among his Uncommon cards, Hyde has the "standard" Back Away, Continuity, Evades, and Extra Shot. His Combination is of the Annie variety, that requires his opponent to play a separate defense against each attack he makes, as well as providing an additional attack. It can prove particularly deadly in conjunction with cards that provides multiple attacks, and is debatably Hyde's best card. Martin Hyde has an impressive array of Rare cards. They include: Hunter (Event): As a Special card, the use of that slot can prove expensive. However, since it works against Edge cards as well, it can be extremely dangerous. Having trouble with an opponent using Under Cover and a Shield to avoid those Ranged Attacks? Use Hunter. Hunter is also harder to avoid than similar Situations like The Gathering/Promo. Intimidate (Event): A mildly weaker version of Kalas'. Useful with a Lunge/Basic Attack that you've made a Power Blow (particularly with the Kurgan Q), or a Master Swordsman if you've otherwise impeded their ability to play dodges (Master's Advance and similar Quickening, Kiss Your Butts Goodbye). Master's Block (Block): The same as Katana's and Fitzcairn's. A necessity in the ever-growing environment of multi-attacking. Master's Trick (Event): An annoying card that can even weaken Methos (if he isn't using Secret Identity). Ironically, it's not as much use against Generics, Khan, and Corda & Reno, but that's why Hyde goes after the big game, right? It packs the double-punch of forced discarding _and_ direct damage: it will even work against Nefertiri. Stalk (Special Attack): Perhaps the most dangerous of Hyde's cards as well as Stalks in general. Ability gain is probably more common than Holy Grounds these days. Hyde's Stalk also has the advantage over Kalas' that the former does _not_ require the play of a Head Shot Event to make it Head Shot: you may use cards such as Destruction/ME1. Weapon Bind (Event): Useless against Nefertiri, but a good emergency card against some of the more annoying Dirty Tricks. Mix with Lunge for best effect. Generic Cards Hyde is so "standard" that in many ways there are no particular generic cards he needs. Flashing Blade can help his Extra Shot. Cards that give him multiple attacks (The Prize/Extra Exertion, Master Race) can help his Combination. Lunge can force an opponent to stand and block if Hyde launches a Power Blow and plays Intimidate, or help with Hyde's Weapon Bind. Head Shot, or Destruction/ME1 in a pinch, is vitally necessary if Hyde plans to make best use of Stalk. Granted, the Stalk attack is unblockable and undodgeable whether Hyde plays a Head Shot or not. Still, if you can end the game more quickly, all the better. Advance Warning is useful for Hyde as it is for any Persona with Master's Block. Instead of being Restricted to 2, it is essentially limited to 5 thanks to AW. There is one card that lends itself to Hyde's Persona ability, and that is Bassett & Hotchkiss. Since Hyde will typically be 4+ cards, and thus 4+ Ability ahead for many purposes, lowering both himself and his opponent down an equal amount means he's still ahead. If Hyde intends to use Spiritual Center, Desecration can serve a similar but lesser function, and give him protection from Event damage until he is ready to make his move. Another useful card, Dojo, becomes even more useful with Hyde. It essentially means he has five _more_ cards available to him each turn. That's a total of 15 + 8 + 5 = 28 versus Methos. Either generic Quality Blade (+1 or draw one card) essentially adds one more to that as well. Factor in a Premium/+1, and Hyde essentially has 30 cards available to play from each turn. Location Cards The Spiritual Center/Desecration strategy was mentioned above. Spiritual Center provides adequate protection against Event damage. However, it also makes Hyde's Master's Trick unplayable, so it should be considered carefully. Hyde's Combination, particularly in combination with Rapier (see Weapons of Choice below) can add up to a formidable amount of damage. If Hyde intends to pursue a multi-attack strategy, he may wish to use Ring of Fire. This will also keep them from fleeing if Hyde uses Intimidate, and can nicely supplement Hunter. If Hyde pursues a multi-attack strategy using his Combination, Dueling Grounds both gives him an additional attack, and lets him ignore annoying Situations that might prevent him from attacking. The Circle won't stop Hyde's Stalk/Head Shots, and, however weakly, plays to his strength with Evades. Alternately, Hyde can forego the use of his Evades and use Back Away + Catwalk instead. Laundry Room can be a dangerous tool in Hyde's hands. An opponent misses one attack, and Hyde can unleash a barrage of attacks that can't be blocked from the opponent's hand. Add Combination or Hunter, and the subsequent results can be most unpleasant. With a larger hand size, Hyde can potentially handle Battlefield better than other Personas. Battle Priest can then be played on top of that, in conjunction with Events like Bassett & Hotchkiss, to further reduce an opponent's Ability. Factory can prove useful for the same reasons, since you start out ahead of your opponent as far as hand-size. However, remember that Patience will only let you draw up to your Ability, not the extra cards granted by Hyde's Persona ability. Other Locations can be used, dependent on your specific choices for Hyde. Weapons of Choice Rapier is the primary choice, giving Hyde a second attack each turn. If he uses Combinations, that's three attacks, each one requiring a separate defense. Dueling Grounds can give him a fourth attack, and Master Race and The Prize/Extra Attack can give him even more. Swashbuckler, if used with his Evades, can give him one more. The Rapier's Slices work even better. Use Crystals to eliminate weak Basic Attacks, or Bright Blades or the Kurgan Q to raise their damage back up one. Parrying Blade follows immediately after Rapier. The Dual Attacks are dangerous, and easy to play if you can make multiple attacks. Surprise Strike provides yet _another_ attack, and Trap can make it dangerous for your opponent to play any dodge whatsoever. Spear is so-so. Hyde can use Hunter to prevent his opponent from fleeing those unblockable Slashes through means of a Special, but this requires careful timing. The Spear's ability is handy: Hyde can Back Away, then play multiple Basic Attacks using the tactics mentioned above. If you don't mind the penalties and limits of Gladius, the ability to Exert to make an undodgeable attack, if used carefully with Weapon Bind/Hyde, can prove extremely useful. Twist can boost the damage of any of your multiple attacks, while Deflect gives Hyde yet another way to make multiple attacks. Katana's Lightning Strikes can prove useful with Hunter, forcing your opponent to have to rely on defenses rather than Specials to avoid your attacks. Play Master's Block, then play Lightning Strikes and Slashes as you wish, using Patience as you wish to draw up and play...well, more Lightning Strikes and Slashes. Or play Combination to force them to play a separate defense against each of those Slashes, as well as the last attack you make. Shield can provide Hyde with valuable protection against Ranged Attacks, but otherwise isn't of a great deal of help. War Axe is, as always good if you plan on making Power Blows and don't plan on using Standing Defenses. Quality Blade gives better coverage, and Attack Weapon and Throw remain dangerous threats - more so if you have Hunter. Claymore and Saber, don't yield Hyde any specific benefits. How to Win As you may have gathered from the above, Hyde has a lot of gimmicks (Master's Trick, Intimidate, Stalk). However, his real strength is in the relatively innocuous Combination. This card turns him (and Annie, who has the same thing) into dangerous slice-n-dicers in the post-A&T environment. There are so many ways to now get multiple attacks that it's not even funny. Essentially Hyde has two options. Burn them out of defenses with Combination, or use Hunter to stop them from escaping the attacks. He can also use Master's Trick to rid them of Master's Block. Even if they avoid the damage, they'll probably have to discard it. Hyde's other main strength is cards. Lots and lots of cards. Four to eight more than any other Persona at any given time. This has several repercussions. As noted above, you can use "mutual destruction" cards such as Bassett & Hotchkiss, and still come out ahead. If you've reached 0 Ability, your odds of losing your head are much greater since you will still have a pool of cards to draw upon. And most importantly, having that many more cards gives you a better chance of having the various components of whatever combos you are using. Certainly, Methos is stronger against "stronger" opponents, i.e., ones with more Master cards. However, Master's Trick is the only card that specifically targets them otherwise. It is a two-edged sword, and an opponent may be able to avoid the damage caused, but still have to discard the Masters in his hand. Given the prevalence of anti-damage measures, you may have to settle for merely depriving them of Master cards. Don't forget that Methos' Secret ID will protect against both effects of Master's Trick. How to Defeat Well, the obvious way is to play with a low Master # Persona. Generics, Khan, Corda & Reno currently fall into that category. However, Hyde will _still_ have 3-4 more cards in his hand, and having fewer Masters can make you more vulnerable to Master's Trick. Since Hyde's primary strength is multi-attacking, more defenses, Advance Warning to recover critical defenses, and a slightly heavier reliance on all the typical "toolbox" cards is probably your best bet. Playing Watcher/Treatment will at least almost guarantee that you will then have a chance to play Alertness/Block or Dodge next turn when Hyde plays a Stalk/Head Shot. In the current heavily multi-attack arena, simply take the same measures against Hyde that you would against Ceirdwyn, Amanda, Duncan or Connor (using Bagpipes), anyone with Katana or Rapier WoCs, etc. He's not particularly better at multi-attacking, and is often worse, than any of those. Unfortunately, most of the anti-attack measures out there capable of stopping so many multiple attacks are either cheese (Wings) or Signature (Skull Helmet). Still, Hyde will have to prepare appropriately to defeat these. Trenchcoat and Misfortune are, if anything, more important to him than to many other Immortals. Hyde's Nemesis, Hunted, basically cripples him. If you can get him down to (for example) six Ability if you're playing Duncan or the Kurgan, you can beat on him to your heart's content, since he has more than 0 Ability, but no card in his hand! Hyde's only defense against this is standard Situation removal. Overall Overall, Steve gives Martin Hyde a _7_. His Persona ability only yields a few specific strategies, such as Bassett & Hotchkiss usage. But he's a fun Persona to play, and he is custom-made for taking down some of the more powerful Personas. The larger hand-size may prove overwhelming to beginning players, but it's a good base on which a more experienced player can build any number of strategies. What Our Other Raters Say: Hank - I like Martin's special ability (among other things, he's certainly helped Bassett & Hotchkiss make a comeback), he has some interesting cards without having anything _too_ disgusting. I think he's a nice, strong Persona, and if he hadn't been released alongside powerhouses like Ceirdwyn and Kanis I think he'd get more of a showing. Jeff - Hyde (AKA "The Methos Killer") sports a great Persona ability and a couple of good cards. Unfortunately, he lacks cohesiveness, unless you play standard multi-attack using his Combination, packing the Stalks and Master's Tricks for support. In retrospect, it would have been better to Signature his Master's Trick (which is evil with Methos' Immortal Research) and not Signature his Stalk. Still a strong Persona, just not as unique as he appears at first. Prodipto - Hyde is a formidable Persona, and he gets more so as the game goes on. His ability to hold as many as eight cards beyond his Ability is extremely potent. He's a shoo-in for the Bassett and Hotchkiss cheese strategy. He can throw away 10-12 attacks and still be holding double-digits in cards, leaving his opponent at a tremendous disadvantage. And Heaven help them if they try to heal, because you _know_ he's just waiting around with a Stalk to throw at them. If you use a Berkeley Games, in conjunction with his Combination, you can throw off up to 7 (more with the new Iron Will) attacks, that a single defense won't avoid. Hunters and Weapon Binds can limit your opponent's options, while Master's Trick can put a real damper on most of the popular (Connor, Duncan, Kurgan, Methos) Personae, who tend to use high numbers of Master Cards. All in all, Martin Hyde is well-suited for what he does: taking out experienced Immortals. Allen - Martin Hyde has locally been proving to be one of the more deadly Immortals from the A&T set. His increased hand size grants him an edge in stringing card combinations together. Hand size is also effectiveness in Highlander, and Hyde's ability allows him to absorb a hit or two without falling below his opponent's level of effectiveness. Hyde also has several very strong cards. Combination may be the most powerful. Use it with the Rapier and Parrying Blade and you can throw 5 or more attacks a turn (using Surprise Attack) that each require a separate defense. This is a slicing machine few decks can stand up to, and if they miss once they're on a fast downhill slide. Lots of attacks to one spot help here. Master's Trick is a great softening-up card and relieves your opponent of those dangerous Master Head Shots, Blocks, etc. Once you've begun hurting your opponent, Stalk discourages him from healing himself. Hunter is very effective with unblockable or undodgeable attacks. Extra Shot pales in comparison to Combination. Hyde's biggest obstacles are cards which prevent him from playing attacks, and especially "payment" cards like Skull Helmet and Wings. Prepare accordingly. In the meantime, play Combination and render your opponent into a Picasso portrait. Bruce - Hyde is an average persona with the limited versatility that results from having an unpredictable, run-of-the-mill power and fairly unfocused, unremarkable cards (including no dodge that avoids center Ranged Attacks). That doesn't mean that it isn't possible to make a competitive deck that could only work using Hyde. Highlander is a faster game than it was in the past. A quick kill is far easier to pull off if you start the game with twenty cards in your hand. There are combos that simply cannot work without a large number cards at the ready. While Hunter is probably the closest thing he has to a killer card, many of his cards are at least interesting even if of limited potential. Intimidate can help a Power Blow's ability to nick with Lunge, getting rid of an opponent's blocks or Masters is usually a good thing. Stalk should at least slow down healing and, while certainly not a cure-all, Master's Block is a great defense in a multiple attack environment. Hyde isn't great, but at least he's playable. Stealth Dave - Here is another Persona whose Ability rests entirely on your opponent. While your deck may kick ass against Methos, you can easily bottom out against Bob with no Master slots. With the new Richie-Bob (which I play fairly often), this is not an uncommon occurrence. Even having Khan or C&R as your opponent can be detrimental. While he does have some interesting cards, such as Hunter and Combination, he also has cards that are extremely specialized to the point of not being useful in 90% of your games, such as Intimidate, Master's Trick and Weapon Bind. All in all, I can't see Martin Hyde being much more than an interesting diversion for most players. Jonathan - Hyde, on the surface, appears to be very formidable indeed. I don't disagree that he has a phenomenal ability, that makes him difficult to defeat in the end game. However, his cards do not lend themselves particularly well to any type of focused strategy. His defense is average, as he has the less than useful Evades, but very nice Master's Block. His Stalk, Master's Trick, and Weapon Bind are quite conditional on what your opponent is playing. Run into the wrong opponent, and these cards become wasted space. Intimidate has some uses, but overall, offers no powerful techniques. Hunter is too limited to be of much value. Hyde's Combination is excellent, and would be the only Persona-Specific card I would build a Hyde deck around. Thus, Hyde must look elsewhere for his potent strategies. He has a very reasonable chance of putting together complex combinations, as he will certainly have a great number of cards in his hand at once. This makes him very versatile in terms of deck-building. You can pretty much assemble any type of deck you'd like, and have the implements of that strategy in your hand when you need them. However, Hyde might prove difficult for beginners and intermediates of deck-building, as they attempt to maintain deck focus. He is a potentially deadly tool for the seasoned player, as mouths tend to water when they say "I can have how many cards in my hand?!" When you run up against Hyde, you probably have your hands full, but he s not much of a powerhouse. Charles - Martin Hyde is one of the more enjoyable Personas to play. He gets to increase his hand size by a number of cards equal to his opponent's Master card limit; this provides him with a distinct advantage. The one aspect of any card game that will make or break a match is being able to get to the cards that form the basis of your chosen strategy. He also has a few nice cards to keep his opponent on his toes--mainly Stalk and Hunter. Ratings Overall: Steve 7 Hank 7 Jeff 7 Prodipto 8 Allen 8 Bruce 5 Sdave 3 Jonathan 6 Charles 7 Average: 6.44 Highlander is a protected trademark of Gaumont Television, used under license by Thunder Castle Games. The card text is copyright 1998 by Thunder Castle Games. All rights reserved.