The Spoils Trading Card Game: Rouge Style, Gamblers and Thieves

In the Spoils trading card game most everything you do involves strategy and planning, luck is only a minor factor. This philosophy holds true with five out of the six factions, however one faction strays from this path and takes the game to extremes in terms of chance and luck. Rouge decks are decks built by only the chancy, daring and brave.

Many of the Rouge characters are depicted as gamblers, con artists and elegant thieves, and so the deck will play just as these characters would have lived, on the edge. Many times cards and effects will involve coin flips, number games, and prediction causing very erratic and inconsistent style of play, or at least that what it seems like to an opponent.

Many of the cards will involve characters attacking in teams of even or odd numbers, or calling off numbers of cards within the deck, like even or odd. This is not as random as it may first appear. If many of your card effect require odd numbers of cards, then you must use your knowledge of your deck to manipulate the odd into your favor. If a card requires you to predict if the top card of your deck is an even or odd card you have to think, is my deck full of more even or odd cards, then make a sensible prediction based on that.

Playing with a good Rouge deck is just like playing a game of blackjack in Vegas. If you go into it blindly and just hoping to win then you're going to eventually lose and run out of luck. However if you keep your cool and play your cards right then eventually you will realize when the cards are stacked in your favor, and then go for the kill.

Another great aspect about the Rouge characters is the fact that they are all or for the most part are very speedy. Cards like Entrancing Harlot have upwards of 5 speed and many of the cards will add to this, almost always guaranteeing that you will be the first up in battle. Also a lot of the tactic and item cards for the Rouges will increase your speed, however their strength leaves something to be desired.

Tactic cards are a big part of the deck and will add a lot to the style of your play. Rouges have some of the best removal tactics, like Scrag, and can easily clear the field for direct attacks. Also Rouges play host to one of the most unpredictable and powerful items in the game. Emergency Obfuscation is an item that actually requires players to get up from the table and switch seats. Then they play one another's deck for the next two turns, and whoever wins, even if it's with an opponent's deck, is declared the winner of the game. A great last ditch effort card, and one that can be unstoppable if played correctly.

Rouge is always a fun deck to play, but may not be necessarily tournament worthy. It just plays too inconsistently to work well in a competitive environment, but there have been a few very well built decks that cut the luck factor down and have done decent, but normally lose out to more strategically built decks like Arcanists and Gearsmiths and become overpowered by Warlords. I would give Rouges a try, just for the fact that they are different and innovative in their play style.