Minions of Cthulu

Illustrated by: REPLACE NAME

Purchase the Minions of Cthulu Faction on Forgefire! (link coming soon)

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

Minions of Cthulu are from The Obligatory Cthulu Set and have a Titan card - Cthulu (I mean, who'd you expect?).

Mechanics

• Power At The Cost Of Madness

Of the factions of The Obligatory Cthulhu Set, the Minions of Cthulhu forces you to draw numerous Madness cards, and revolves around their basic nature as standard actions by offering you similarly numerous extra action plays. Throughout the game, you will play so many Madness cards that we might as well say this faction has more than the standard 20 cards. In addition to Madness cards, the Minions of Cthulhu even feature more actions themselves than minions. The abundance of insanity and action cards ties into the ethereal and psychological nature of the mythos. Most of the Minions' cards have strong effects with penalties attached to them, usually drawing a Madness card, reflecting the forbidden and taboo stigma of associating with Cthulhu. You have many weighty decisions to make throughout the game, all combining into one of the most complicated and challenging factions in the game.

The next three sections overview major mechanics of the Minions, in order of prevalence in the faction, to help expose what is possible with Minions of Cthulhu. These mechanics are diverse, but interweave closely together, so you need to understand them to get the most out of Minions of Cthulhu.

Embrace the Twisting Madness

Madness is the core of Minions of Cthulhu and what makes playing them dangerous for you. It is like you are chained to a monster that consumes your hand and deck, and waits eagerly to take a bite out of your VPs at the end of the game. If you ignore this monster, you would be better off playing a different faction. You are never safe when you play Minions of Cthulhu.

Your job is to make the monster work for you and nurture its potency. Recalling Madness's ability, you are allowed a way out, but that is not always the best choice. You are vulnerable at the start of the game, because of how Minions of Cthulhu recycle cards from your discard pile. This is a good time to draw extra cards. For the same reason, the Minions are strongest at the bottom of your deck, near the end of the game. This is a good time to return Madness cards.

Normally, you draw 1 Madness card roughly every 2 turns. If you aggressively recycle cards, you can draw 1 every turn or even more than that. You may think it best to avoid drawing Madness cards in the first place, but then you miss out on the enticing tools the Minions offer that help control the monster. Obvious ones, Madness Unleashed and Star-Spawn of Cthulhu, subtle ones, Altar to Cthulhu, Cthulhu Fhtagn, and Whispers in Darkness, but view the whole faction around this concept of making use of Madness, and we start to see near limitless possibilities, much like the cards themselves. For example, starting with an empty deck and 7 Madness in our hand, we can play Whispers in Darkness followed by It Begins Again and Madness Unleashed to create a deck of 8 actions and draw and play all 8 of those actions all at once. With those action plays we can do a myriad of things like replay an action multiple times or return several other Madness cards in one go (Altar to Cthulhu was once able to generate infinite action plays).

But what happens when you come to the beginning again?

Someone said insanity means doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Minions of Cthulhu are great at refilling your deck with cards you want from your discard pile. Usually they get placed on top of your deck, letting you replay them soon afterwards, or immediately if you draw cards with Madness. Since abilities like this get better the smaller your deck, the Minions tend to get stronger the deeper into your deck you go, symbolizing going further and further insane with power. At the deepest levels, you can all but pick out whatever minion or action you desire to reuse again and again and again.

To get to that point before the game ends, you have to draw extra cards and slow down your opponents. The Minions are good at both these things!

The kicker is, if you have to draw cards when your deck is empty, you lose control over all of this, plus any Madness cards caught in the mix. You ride a fine line against disaster near the end of the game. That is why you need to think ahead and retain certain cards that restock your deck. Use this situation to put the Madness cards you played earlier in the game into your diminished deck so you can draw and return them.

The Steady Corruption

The Minions have multifaceted and diverse tools for slowing down the game by varying degrees: Star-Spawn of Cthulhu, Corruption, Furthering the Cause, Complete the Ritual, Cthulhu's Chosen, and Servitor of Cthulhu. Because you can farm VPs, you want the game to slow down as much as possible for everyone else, even indefinitely, and end the game on your terms after returning Madness cards.

Strategy

Along the many paths you can take through this labyrinth of powers and penalties, you can lose your way, take wrong turns, hit dead ends, and destroy yourself. On the other hand, many cards have no upper limits to their effects. The Minions reward ambition, a cool head under stress, and long-term, flexible planning.

The Minions have less power than the average faction. Of their minions, only Cthulhu's Chosen is any good at winning bases, but you don't have to wait long to play them on the next base if you Recruit them by Force. You need to get Chosens onto bases that others want to break; he specializes in edging up to second or third place. It is ironic that you lose half of The Seal is Broken's VP if you don't get rid of the Madness card. The more you slow down the game, the more you can replay this card.

Cthulu

Besides the awesomeness of summoning this faction's god-like namesake, this titan improves consistency and reduces his faction's reliance on specific partner and opponent matchups to thrive. The Minions of Cthulhu have several uses for Madness, and can be held back if they cannot draw Madness for a while. Their penalty from Madness and minimal amount of power balances out their potent abilities, but Minions of Cthulhu struggle if the game moves too quickly for them to maintain control.

Cthulhu's play requirements provide on-demand Madness cards, as does his talent. Cthulhu possesses his Star-Spawn's potent ability to offload unneeded Madness onto opponents, but to pay off his play requirements you must keep Cthulhu around for a couple turns. Cthulhu easily accumulates +1 power counters through normal play of his faction, including Madness cards played to return to the Madness deck, and is one of few titans that can add power to himself through his own abilities.

Synergy

Minions of Cthulhu enable a variety of playstyles and goals. Maybe you like to dance with devils, harass your opponents, stack your deck and replay cards, play a lot of actions, or pull off crazy wild combos with their unique abilities. The best partner factions accomplish more than one of these at the same time.

• Wizards: This faction is great for getting used to the Minions of Cthulhu. They make managing Madness much easier and help you find good cards, so you can focus on the fun aspects of the Minions. It's an addicting thrill to blitz heedlessly through your deck like a runaway train, but it is more effective to take a measured approach and make the most of your cards before drawing more with Madness.
• Innsmouth: Mysteries of the Deep is extremely valuable, as are extra minion plays when combined with Altar to Cthulhu. Recycling Recruitment via Servitors makes it possible to play all 18 of your minions in a single turn, with corresponding action plays and Madness cards.
• Miskatonic University: Play even more Madness cards to dive to the bottom of your deck, then recycle the University's amazing return cards. Jump on the chance to win the base Miskatonic University.
• Itty Critters: These themes don't have much in common, right? Mechanically, they have a bizarre amount of synergy. Both are excellent at selecting cards with which to refill your deck, and a talent loop lets you replay an extra action every turn (Critter Champion with Altar > Servitor > Rainboroc). Itty Critters let you return Star-Spawn to your deck, and offer a few very impactful actions like Critter Cube.
• Elder Things: Fill some of the gaps in the Minions, like Begin the Summoning of Star-Spawn, and break bases much easier. Force everyone else to feel your Madness to slow down the game and counteract whatever Madness cards you end up with.

Cards - Minions

1x Star-Spawn of Cthulu

Power 5 - Talent: Place a Madness card from your hand into another player’s hand.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

3x Cthulu's Chosen

Power 3 - Special: Before a base scores, you may draw a Madness card. This minion gets +2 power until the end of the turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• This ability triggers no matter which base is being scored. It triggers each time a base scores. Draw a separate Madness card for each Cthulhu’s Chosen you want to receive the +2 power. You can draw no more than one Madness card per Cthulhu’s Chosen per trigger.

4x Servitor of Cthulu

Power 2 - Destroy this minion and place an action card from your discard pile on top of your deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If your attempt to destroy this card fails because it is protected from destruction, you still place the action card. Destroying a Servitor on R’lyeh counts either for the Servitor’s ability (during the Play Cards phase, to place an action card) or for R’lyeh’s ability (at the start of the turn, to earn 1VP), but not both.

Cards - Actions

1x Altar to Cthulu

Play on a base. Ongoing: Whenever you play a minion here, you may play an extra action that turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x Complete the Ritual

Play on a base where you have at least one minion. Ongoing: At the start of your turn, place all minions and actions on it on the bottom of their owners’ decks and swap this base with the top card of the base deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• Actions played on minions also go to the bottom of their decks. You also place your own minions and actions on the bottom of their deck. Cards immune to the effects are discarded instead.

2x Corruption

Draw a Madness card. Destroy a minion.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x Cthulu Fhtagn

Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you have revealed two actions. Place them into your hand and put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x Furthering the Cause

Play on a base. Ongoing: At the end of every turn, if another player’s minion here was destroyed, gain 1 VP.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• You get 1 VP if at least one minion was destroyed during the turn, not 1 VP per minion destroyed.

1x It Begins Again

Shuffle any number of actions from your discard pile into your deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x Madness Unleashed

Discard any number of Madness cards. For each one discarded, you may draw a card and play an extra action this turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• You must do all discarding before drawing anything. You may not continue discarding Madness cards after starting to draw cards.

1x Recruit by Force

Place any number of minions of power 3 or less from your discard pile on top of your deck.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x The Seal is Broken

Draw a Madness card. Gain 1 VP.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

2x Whispers in Darkness

Draw a Madness card. You may play two extra actions this turn.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

Cards - Bases

1x Mountains of Madness

Breakpoint 20 - VPs: 6 4 3 - After each time a minion is played here, its owner draws a Madness card.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

1x R'lyeh

​Breakpoint 18 - VPs: 4 2 1 - At the start of each player’s turn, that player may destroy one of their minion’s here. If they do, they gain 1 VP.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• If the minion is not destroyed because it is protected, its controller does not receive a VP.

Card - Titan

1x Cthulu

Special: Instead of your regular action play, draw two Madness cards to play this titan on a base with one of your minions. Ongoing: After you play or draw a Madness card place a +1 power counter on this titan. Talent: Draw a Madness card, OR place a Madness card from your hand into another player's hand.

Errata? Yes/No

Clarifications:

• You do not place power counters on Cthulhu when you first play it.