Blue Moon: The Aqua
Expansion deck for the Blue Moon card game designed by Reiner Knizia
Aqua illustrations by Lars Grant-West
Kosmos/Fantasy Flight Games, US$9.95 MSRP

Note: This is my second review--I hesitate to call it the second in a series of reviews--of a Blue Moon expansion deck. I've retained here the structure and some of the same prefatory/overview language from that earlier review of the Terrah deck.


Blue Moon
This review assumes some familiarity with the Blue Moon card game. If you'd like an overview of the game, you can see my take( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/132609) on the base game. (There are also many very fine reviews of Blue Moon by other people that are worth a look.)

Overview
The Aqua is one of several "people" expansion decks for the expandable Blue Moon card game designed by Reiner Knizia. This deck can be played "as is" (i.e., preconstructed) against other Blue Moon decks; cards from the Aqua deck can also be combined with cards from other people decks (as well as with Emissaries and Inquisitors cards) following rules outlined in the Blue Moon rulebook (and elsewhere) in order to build customized decks. This review only considers the Aqua as a preconstructed deck, but I hope there's enough detail here for anyone interested in deck building to see some possibilities in the Aqua cards.

Components
The Aqua deck consists of 31 cards: 30 cards that form part of a player's deck during play and one Leader card (which is mainly ornamental in the basic game but comes into play in games with customized decks). Like the other Blue Moon decks, the Aqua deck is made up of oversized cards on fairly thick stock that proves resistant to standard shuffling but that holds up pretty well under repeated play. The only real downside is that the edges are black and prone to flaking and other visible wear.


The Aqua illustrations, by Lars Grant-West, stress the water theme heavily. The color palette runs to the blues, greens, greys, and blacks, as one might expect from a deck dealing with an aquatic people. This makes the reds and oranges in the Fire Swamp and Firewater cards stand out all the more. While the cards' art is certainly up to the very high standards for this game series, I tend to find the lack of range of color and tone to be a little monotonous and just a bit on the dull side. I hasten to add, however, that the Aqua deck contains my single favorite card of those in the six decks I own: Eelena-Aqua-Prima-Alpha (pictured in the above image, at bottom left). Her card's sun-and-moon imagery is both spectacularly striking visually and thematically appropriate, as the sun- and moonshine reflect off the water below, reminding everyone, in her words, that "water carries the land."

Rules
No new rules are included with the Aqua deck. The rulebook found in the base game covers how to play the Aqua (and most of the other decks). Technically, one wouldn't need the base game to play the Aqua, but anyone interested in this game will probably want it, for reasons I go through in my aforementioned review of the base game.

Anatomy of the deck
Like the element they represent, the Aqua are about flow--in game terms, they are built heavily around being able to play a lot of cards (a veritable flood) without worrying too often or too hard about running out of cards at the end of the game. That doesn't mean that the deck lacks knockdown punch; indeed, I find this one of the more powerful decks. But it does mean that, in general, you should be less cautious about your play than you are with a typical deck, and you're going to have to play more cards than normal because the Character cards aren't alone going to be enough to win very often.

Like any Blue Moon deck, the Aqua has a mix of Leader, Character, Booster, Support, and Leadership cards.

Leader
Aqua-Aqua-Alpha is the leader of the Aqua.

Character
The Aqua deck contains 15 Character cards. They have a combined Fire value of 37 and a combined Earth value of 37--a balanced deck in this regard. Fire values on cards range from 0 (4 cards) to 7 (1 card, and this is the mutant). Earth values on cards again range from 0 (4 cards) to 7 (1 card, and, again, it's the mutant). The distribution of Fire and Earth values is as follows:

0 Fire: 4 / 0 Earth: 4
1 Fire: 1 / 1 Earth: 1
2 Fire: 3 / 2 Earth: 3
3 Fire: 3 / 3 Earth: 3
4 Fire: 1 / 4 Earth: 1
5 Fire: 2 / 5 Earth: 2
6 Fire: 0 / 6 Earth: 0
7 Fire: 1 / 7 Earth: 1

A few things are apparent even after a quick glance at the breakdown. One is that the Fire and Earth values have the same distribution. Another is that the values are pretty low overall: eight cards have a Fire or an Earth value at 2 or below, and half of those have a 0 value. Only one card has a value above 7, and that's the mutant (Sas-van-Son), which has a 7 in both elements (and is fairly tricky to play; see below). To complicate things further, seven of the fifteen Character cards have the same value in both elements, including the 7/7 (Sas-van-Son), a 5/5 (Eelena-Aqua-Prima-Alpha), and two 3/3s (Uurunia-Aqua-Terz and Iisilia-Aqua-Terz), meaning that some of your higher-value cards are going to be harder to part with because they're high-value in both elements.

Worse, some of the Character cards with special power text fail to inspire confidence on first look. Oomola-Aqua-Delta (2/2) allows the player to discard any number of cards from his or her hand. Oosa-Aqua-Epsilon (1/1) allows the player do place any number of cards from his or her hand at the bottom of the draw deck. The value of these cards generally only becomes clear in combination with a certain potent Leadership card (see below).

There are some more obviously and immediately useful power texts, though. Mekarthas the Shrewd (2/2)'s ppwer is to ignore the opponent's icons (except STOP icons). Yin (0/2) and Yang (2/0) allow the player to treat his or her next Character, Booster, or Support card played on that turn as if it were a FREE card. (These two cards effectively increase the number of FREE-icon cards in the deck from four to six.)

Of further note, six of the fifteen Character cards have the PROTECTED icon on them, making them resistant to involuntary discard once played.

The mutant (Sas-van-Son, 7/7) is fairly hard to play. The contested element switches between Fire and Earth, the card has a SHIELD icon in both Fire and Earth, and the card's values are the highest of the deck at 7/7, but it can only be used when the Aqua player has at least two cards fewer than his or her opponent. This mutant, more than some, is going to be a situational card, played after one's opponent has forced a discard, after the opponent has used a card enabling him or her to draw extra cards, or when one's own draw deck is too low to refresh one's hand to six cards.

Boosters
Five Boosters are included in the Aqua deck, and they're pretty decent. Firewater raises a player's total Fire value to 7--probably not good enough to beat a Fire-heavy deck, but a good punch nonetheless, especially against an Earth-leaning deck. Launch Hail of Doom (2/2) is a Flit Booster with the PAIR icon (the only such icon in the deck). Aquatic Armor (0/0) has a SHIELD icon in both elements, making it easy for the Aqua player to "reset" a battle that's getting too tough. (Given the Aqua's ability to play a lot of cards, a reset could fairly easily stretch a battle out to the six cards needed for a two-dragon win.) Instant Undertow (0/2) and Sudden Waterspout (2/0) are mirror-image Boosters that both have the FREE icon, meaning you can use these to help pile up the cards in a given turn.

Support
The Aqua deck has a heavy dose of Support cards--eight in all, and they're very good overall.

Tidal Flood (1/1) and Torrential Flood (1/1) are somewhat like the Terrah's Storm cards in that having two or more Flood cards active at the end of the turn has a potent effect: in this case, it forces an immediate retreat by the Aqua's opponent. It may seem tricky to get both of these in your hand at the same or nearly the same time, but the Aqua deck has a healthy ability to control its own card order, as I'll return to below. If nothing else, an opponent's fear of the Aqua player having the second Flood card can encourage a quick retreat.

Irresistible Sirens requires the opponent to discard a character card from his or her hand at the end of his or her Booster/Support phase, or the Aqua player attracts one (additional) dragon, even--and this is the kicker--if the opponent retreats. This is potentially good anytime, but it's especially good when the opponent's running low on cards generally or has obviously played a lot of Characters up to this point.

Four other Boosters (Swarming Sea Serpents, 0/3; Fire Swamp, 2/0; Perilous Marsh, 0/2; and Ravenous Razorjaw, 3/0) have no special power text, but all four have pretty good Fire or Earth values. As a bonus, Fire Swamp and Perilous Marsh have the FREE icon, while the other two have the PROTECTED icon.

The last Booster, Drowning Rain Storm (1/1), isn't very useful on its own. To be maximally useful, it needs one of the other Terrah Storm cards, which aren't included in this deck.

In short, the Support cards should more than make up for generally low Character card values.

Leadership
If any one card can be said to dominate a deck, it's the Aqua's Administer Water of Immortality. "Now I may shuffle my discard pile into my draw deck," its special power text reads, and this can truly change the dynamic of the game. Now the Character cards Oomola-Aqua-Delta ("Now I may discard any number of cards from my hand") and Oosa-Aqua-Epsilon ("Now I may place any number of cards from my hand at the bottom of my draw deck") become a lot more valuable as Character cards. End up with only one of the two Flood cards, with the other one still in the deck? Consider putting the one in your hand at the bottom of the draw deck. Have a hand short on Character cards? "Recycle" some cards to the discard pile, knowing that you're going to get them back. Got Administer Water of Immortality in the early or midgame? Put it at the bottom of your draw deck; you won't need it until the very end. Administer Water of Immortality should give you the confidence to play a lot of cards, knowing you're unlikely to run out unless your opponent is well versed in the Aqua deck or unless you're truly profligate. You can only pull this trick once, but, really, you shouldn't need to do it more than once.

Sprinkle Water of Tranquility, the other Leadership card, is also good but more situational. It forces an opponent with more than five cards in hand to discard down to five. This one is good for those times when a card play allows the opponent to draw "reinforcements."

Conclusion
The Aqua is my favorite deck to date (I've only played five of them, with the Flit owned but unplayed, so that cuold change.) It's my current "comfort" or "go-to" deck when I'm feeling a bit pressed. The deck rewards aggression, and it can be hard for an opponent inexperienced in facing the deck to deal successfully with it. The fairly weak and relatively sparse Character cards are more than made up for, in my opinion, by a plethora of good Booster and Support cards and one great Leadership card. It's not an unfair deck--timing is still critical--but the deck enables you, more than is true with most decks, to control when certain cards appear. I'd say it's also medium complexity in terms of difficulty of play. A first-timer may misplay certain critical cards or fail to see the significance of certain combinations, but after a time 'round or two, the tactics should be fairly apparent. I think there are probably better "starter" decks (the Vulca and the Terrah come to mind) for new players, but the Aqua deck is a good next step strategically.

I'd consider the a must for any Blue Moon player, but I think they're all musts, so take that with a grain (or a shaker) of salt. It has a distinctive feel to it thanks to its "fluid" play, and it's fun sometimes just to be able to slap down a high number of cards and watch your opponent wince knowing that you can do just about all of it again.