Obstacles

Obstacles are non-card entities that the Adversary deploys to the board to disrupt your scene. They represent challenges, environmental effects, or other hindrances that can block your cards or apply negative effects.

Obstacle Anatomy

As with Cards, there are two representations of an Obstacle. Its existence on the board, and its appearance in the info panel when selected. Here’s a breakdown of the key properties:

1. Name: Identifies the Obstacle
2. Potrait: Visual depiction of the Obstacle
3. Descriptors: Like cards, Obstacles can have Tags and Archetypes. While these do not interact with the Adversary in the same way they do on cards, many abilities target or affect only Obstacles with specific descriptors.
4. Description: As well as providing a short description of what the Obstacle represents thematically, this area also shows:
   • The rarity of the Obstacle: Common or Legendary
   • Whether the Obstacle is Blocking or Non-blocking
5. Abilities and Effects: Just like cards, Obstacles also have abilities and effects that trigger in different situations. Also like cards, these are initially hidden until the player triggers them (and then they stay visible forever).
6. Counters: Some Obstacles (like the Doomsday Device depicted) can have associated counters added to them. Counters will always have a name. The Obstacle’s description will indicate what the counters are for. Most Obstacle do not have counters, though.
7. Expiration: Several Obstacles expire after a given number of turns. This is shown by a large number at the bottom of the Obstacle (and is also shown in the info panel when selected). In this example, the Monologue obstacle shows that it expires in 3 turns. Expiration counts decrease at the end of each turn.
8. Removal and Activated Abilities: Obstacles that are able to be removed will show a red button like this. Clicking the button will remove the obstacle immediately after deducting the specified cost. Some Obstacles (especially Legendary ones) have activated abilities or removal criteria that are not as simple. Those Obstacles will explain how they work in the info panel.

Obstacle Types

Obstacles come in two main flavors (rarities):

• Common : These are common annoyances. They might have minor effects or simply get in your way.
• Legendary : These represent iconic and specific pop culture antagonists or concepts. They are much more powerful, often have global effects, and are harder to remove. Successfully removing a Legendary Obstacle unlocks a specific, powerful card for your collection!

How Obstacles Work

• Deployment: At the start of each turn, the Adversary has a chance to deploy an Obstacle from their pool onto the board. They will almost never be placed in the bottom row, ensuring you always have a space to play new cards.

• Blocking vs. Non-Blocking: Every obstacle is either Blocking or Non-blocking.

  • A Blocking obstacle acts as a solid wall. A card cannot move into or through its space until the obstacle is removed.
  • A Non-blocking obstacle allows cards to move into its space, but doing so will typically trigger a negative onLanded effect.

• Effects: If a player action or board situation triggers an obstacle’s effects, it will show a speech bubble, just like cards do.

Removing Obstacles

Getting rid of obstacles is crucial to keeping your lanes clear and your cards moving. While some card abilities are designed to remove them, many obstacles have a built-in removal method that doesn’t require a specific card.

These methods often require an activation cost, which you can pay during your Play Phase:

• Payment: Pay a one-time cost to clear the obstacle. This payment could be one of several types:
  • A payment of , , or
  • Accepting some amount of
  • Discarding one or more cards
• Expiration: Some obstacles have a turn counter that ticks down. When it reaches zero, the obstacle removes itself.

Legendary Obstacles often have more complex and costly removal conditions, befitting their powerful nature.

Obstacle Abilities & Statuses

Like cards, obstacles have abilities that trigger based on game events (e.g. “when a card lands on this”, “when a card is blocked by this”, etc.). They can also be affected by Status Effects, which might disable their abilities or reduce their removal cost.