For this article, I am going to examine an action from the Dawn of the Empire set. Iwill be looking at the action Fallen Thunder [hereafter FT]. This action costs 2 gold to play, and has a focus of 2, low, but not impossibly so. As a kami Open, during an Action Phase, targeta Unique personality. FT bows him, and adds a cost to him or her straightening during his next Straighten Phase, of discarding a card.

I picked this card because I have not seen it used in many, if any, decks, and I love it, and often include it if there is room. Why? What makes it so special?

First, one of the things that AEG has been pushing for Ltus design cards has been the weekness of non-Uniques and the power of Uniques. It is easier to effect non-Uniques, and hurts them more [Sentei pops to mind quickly], while it is harder to affect Uniques. With the change we have been seeing, and the general power level of the Uniques, at least around here, I have seen more of the Uniques in decks. This card is the reverse. It will only affect Uniques, and has no effect on non-Uniques.

Also, this card is unconditional. It bows the card. How many times have you been afraid of attacking because of the big, beefy, Clan Champion sitting over there? Or other Unique nasty card? This helps that. Bow them out first, then declare an attack. Or, if you are thinking they will attack you, use FT on their turn, and prevent that unit from attacking.

Another pooint to consider is that FT can also, conditionally, keep them from unbowing. If the other player does not discard a card, the Uniques does not straighten. And if they can't discard, because they have no cards, then the perasonality will definitely not unbow. For more on this, look below, in the negatives section.

One last thing before I move on to the negatives. There are at least two cards in Dawn that look through your Fate deck for Kami cards [The Emperor's Blessing and Fall From the Heavens], and this is one of only four such cards that I could find. Not a major point, but it is one more advantage of this card.

Now for the bad part. First, this card has a gold cost, which is probably why so many people don't use it. However, for what it does do, that cost is negligable. Especially mid to late game, when you tend to have a little extra gold lying around. Also, with the use of Rich Coffers in Phoenix, it just helps this card, as it is the perfect amount.

Second, the keep from unbowing is a conditional. I have had opponents who paid the cost with barely a whimper. And one who was glad, since it let him dump a useless card. But that is the problem with most discards like that. It can always allow them to dump a useless card. But what about the more common times when they don't have a useless card? Will they dump a card they could need, or will they keep the target bowed another turn?

There are cards that help against this, unbowing persoanlities, but most of them are Battle actions. And FT is Action Phase, so the target is unlikely to be able to even get to the battle in the first place. There are exceptions to that, like Sezaru, but they are fewer in number.

This card may be less Phoenix oriented, and more common to all clans, but it is still worth considering
in your next deck.

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