Order 01
The Gilded
The swap. The stronger the enemy, the better the Gilded card takes it.
- 7highest rank
- 20rank total
- 4cards, same numbers
- 3Treaties to its name
Ability
What a Gilded card does
Reversed combat: it captures neighboring enemies stronger than itself on the touching side.
A Gilded card, once placed, swaps its ranks with each neighboring enemy for the length of the fight, and it attacks with the enemy's number. The result: it takes everything strictly stronger than itself on the touching side, and nothing weaker. On a tie, nothing happens. The swap fades at once: each card takes its own numbers back.
On defense, a Gilded card is a card like any other: an enemy placed against it simply compares its rank with the Gilded card's. So its strength lies entirely in the attack, and in choosing which side it attacks from.
Four cards
The four cards of the Gilded
The four Gilded cards carry the same numbers, 2, 6, 5 and 7, each a quarter turn further on: what is on top on one is on the right on the next. Choosing the right card means choosing which rank will face the enemy.
- 2657Card 1
top 2 · left 6
right 5 · bottom 7 - 6725Card 2
top 6 · left 7
right 2 · bottom 5 - 7562Card 3
top 7 · left 5
right 6 · bottom 2 - 5276Card 4
top 5 · left 2
right 7 · bottom 6
In a duel, your eight cards come from your two Orders, four per Order, plus one card from each Order kept in Reserve for Sudden Death.
Strategy
Playing the Gilded well
The 2 attacks, the 7 defends
The 2 is your best weapon: placed against a 3 or more, it takes. The 7 will take almost nothing, but few cards take it: turn it toward the most threatening enemy, or toward the edge.
Pick the right one of the four
The four Gilded cards have the same numbers, a quarter turn further on. Before placing, look for the one whose small rank faces the enemy to take, and whose big rank covers the square you could be attacked from.
Strike on placement, never after
The swap happens when the Gilded card arrives, and again if a Ripple sets it off once more. An enemy that comes up against it afterward judges it normally: don't count on it to hold a square, count on it to take one.
Poison makes you better
A poisoned square takes 1 from every rank of the card placed on it. For a Gilded card, that's a gift: weaker, it trades even better. That is the whole of the Treaty Tainted Gold, with the Plagued.
The Rampart doesn't stop you
Against a Guardian, the swap takes the protected rank, +1 included: the Gilded card inherits the shield, and the Guardian is left with your small number. The Gilded are the simplest answer to the Guardians.
Facing them
Countering the Gilded
Attack it through its 2: that is its weak side on defense, as with any card, and an enemy placed there takes it, no questions asked. Keep your big ranks away from it: an 8 or a 9 facing a Gilded card is an invitation. Put your strong cards somewhere safe, where a Gilded card can no longer reach, and leave it weak neighbors, which it won't be able to take.
Two per duel
The alliances of the Gilded
Before each duel, you choose two Orders. Some pairs have a name: these are the Treaties, which your profile tracks game after game. The Gilded sign three of them.
Tainted Gold with the Plagued
You poison your own ground to place your Gilded there: the weaker the card, the better the trade.
The signA Gilded card placed on a square you poisoned yourself.
The Ransom with the Cursed
You let your opponent take a Cursed card: it comes out stronger, then you buy it back.
The signA Cursed card lost, then won back in the same game.
The Rigged Mirror with the Chimeras
The Chimera flips the enemy to expose its strong rank, then the Gilded card comes to trade it away.
The signAn Awakening triggered on a card already flipped by a molt.
What no Treaty recommends. Plagued with Herald + Gilded: the Herald spares your side, so Tainted Gold fizzles out.
Questions
The Gilded in three questions
Does a Gilded card take cards weaker than itself?
No. It swaps its ranks with the enemy before the fight: it only takes what is strictly stronger than itself on the touching side. On a tie, nothing happens.
Is the rank swap permanent?
No. It only lasts for the fight that follows the placement. Afterward, the Gilded card and the enemy take their own numbers back.
Do the Gilded have a Herald or a Story chapter?
No. Like the Chimeras, the Gilded have neither a chapter nor a Herald. The eight other Orders each have one.
Play the Gilded
Two Orders, eight cards, one duel. Choose the Gilded and an ally, and see their ability at work.
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