When I was sent this card to spoil for the upcoming kickstarter expansion Mindbug Beyond, I saw the Play effect and my mind focused entirely on that, forgetting everything else since that aspect is so powerful. Looking back and seeing it has Hunter and Tough too, I am shook.
For those of you who do not know, Mindbug is a two-player card game where you play cards to attack your opponent from 3 life to 0. There are only creatures, but you both get exactly 2 Mindbugs that can be used to permanently steal a creature when your opponent plays it, gaining all of the effects as if you had played it. I love this game so much it made it into my (still healing) tattoo from two weeks ago.
(That is Rhino Turtle on the end there. The full hand being Arkham Horror LCG, Dixit, Epic, Dominion, Jaipur, Radlands, Widget Ridge, Rhino Turtle [Mindbug].)
The card is Swiss Army Bug. It is a 4-power creature with Hunter, Tough, and Play: You may copy the Play effect of another creature. I confirmed that the Play effect can copy any Play effect of any creature in play by either player. As of now the Play effects are:
Core Set: Compost Dragon, Grave Robber, Giraffodile, Ferret Bomber, Brain Fly, Tiger Squirrel, Kangasaurus Rex, Mysterious Mermaid, Axolotl Healer, and Killer Bee
New Creations: Hungry Hungry Hamster, Ratomancer, Goreagle Alpha
The effect that immediately came to mind was copying Killer Bee. Due to the nature of Killer Bee’s unpreventable life loss if your opponent is out of Mindbugs, this can be the extra copy you follow up with after your actual copy of Killer Bee draws out your opponent’s last Mindbug. Having this can also allow you to play Killer Bee early to get that 5-power Hunter into play before your opponent can get any value from Sneaky characters.
As someone who is personally a big fan of having multiple of the same effect in hand, so I can double Ferret Bomber you (or now quadruple), this is a card I am definitely looking forward to. It can also give you extra copies of the one-ofs Giraffodile, Brain Fly, Mysterious Mermaid, and Ratomancer (or let you borrow the effect of those played by your opponent).
That being said, as is the case with Compost Dragon and Grave Robber, any play of Swiss Army Bug while your opponent has a Mindbug requires you to analyze just how powerful any of the in-play Play-effects would be against you. This also means sequencing your Play-effects becomes more important because if you do have a Killer Bee in play, you are at 1 life, and your opponent has a Mindbug left, you can’t play Swiss Army Bug, no matter how tempting the Kangasaurus Rex trigger undoubtedly is.
Finally, even just a 4-power Hunter, Tough is a card I would frequently be happy to have online early. This can be especially true if your hand is nothing but low power creatures (and/or you can exploit its 4 or less power). Playing this out early when the Play-effect is inactive will likely get your opponent to let you have it, since not triggering the strong play effect makes it appear to be a throwaway. Then, any 4 or less power creature you get Mindbugged becomes hunter fodder for your Swiss Army Bug. Of course, after the first time you do this to your opponent, they might get wise and realize they need to Mindbug this early, until you follow it up with all of the Rhino Turtles (*deviously contented sigh* good ol’ Rhino Turtle).
My only complaint about this card is that it is a “may” effect. It doesn’t force the controller to trigger a play effect such as Goreagle Alpha’s You lose 1 life point (like Mysterious Mermaid does). While I haven’t been able to think of a situation where I could force my opponent into both needing to Mindbug this and immediately losing if they do (if it wasn’t a “may” effect), my sadistic side is disappointed that I never will be able to. Sadness.
Anyways, I know I will be buying multiple copies of the Beyond expansion when it goes live on Kickstarter soon, so I can distribute them to all of the people I have hooked. Great game, and if you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend it. (Here’s the dice tower review by Tom Vasel on it as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-9G24mEsgw)
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