Starting Effect
A Starting Effect is an Effect deployed before the game's starting cards are revealed, with a stack of cards from outside the deck under it. Decipher printed Fear Is My Ally and An Unusual Amount Of Fear in Reflections III: A Collector's Bounty (31 October 2001).[1] Starting Effects later appear in the Players Committee's Original Virtual sets (2003–2008). On those virtual cards the banner on the slip reads STARTING EFFECT instead of EFFECT; the printed Decipher card under the slip is an ordinary Effect.
How it works
The 2003 release text of Ineffective Maneuver (V) and Sudden Impact (V) reads:
"Before any starting cards are revealed, deploy on table with up to 5 cards from outside your deck face-down under here. Cards under here do not count toward your deck limit. Thrice per game, may lose 2 Force to play a Defensive Shield from here, as if from hand."[2] The December 2006 Remaster sheet shortens this to "Deploy on table with 5 cards from outside your deck face-down under here. Three times per game, may play a Defensive Shield from here (as if from hand)."[3]
A Starting Effect gives a deck a side pile of Defensive Shields that can be played during the game without being part of the deck. On the later cards the pile can also hold a few named Effects. Because it is still an Effect, it can be targeted as one unless its text says otherwise. The later Starting Effects of Virtual Set 8: Jabba's Court and Virtual Set 15: Galactic Frontier also tax repeated searches that take cards into hand or deploy from Reserve Deck.
Cards
| Card | Set | Side | Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Unusual Amount Of Fear | Reflections III: A Collector's Bounty (31 October 2001) | Light | 10 cards; three Defensive Shield plays per game |
| Fear Is My Ally | Reflections III: A Collector's Bounty (31 October 2001) | Dark | 10 cards; three Defensive Shield plays per game |
| Ineffective Maneuver (V) | Virtual Set 5: A Dark Time (2003) | Light | 5 cards; three Defensive Shield plays per game |
| Sudden Impact (V) | Virtual Set 5: A Dark Time (2003) | Dark | 5 cards; three Defensive Shield plays per game |
| Thrown Back (V) | Virtual Set 8: Jabba's Court | Light | 12 Defensive Shields; four plays per game |
| Drop! (V) | Virtual Set 8: Jabba's Court | Dark | 12 Defensive Shields; four plays per game |
| Anger, Fear, Aggression (V) | Virtual Set 15: Galactic Frontier | Light | 12 cards; three plays per game (Defensive Shield or The Professor) |
| Knowledge And Defense (V) | Virtual Set 15: Galactic Frontier | Dark | 12 cards; three plays per game (Defensive Shield or Restricted Access) |
See also
- Effect · Immediate Effect · Defensive Shield
- Defensive Shields (the Original-era printable shield slips) · Virtual Shields
- Silver bullets
- Virtual card icons
References
- ↑ Reflections III Rules Supplement, Decipher (2001). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
- ↑ VirtualCards5.pdf, the Players Committee's Virtual Set #5 release sheet (PDF dated 12 June 2003), slips 10 and 47.
- ↑ VirtualCards5.pdf (swccgpc.com, Internet Archive 24 October 2007) — Remaster sheet, official text as of 4 December 2006.