Disney Villainous, Perfectly Wretched - Villain Review

Today we explore a mixture of modern and historic Disney villains in this review of Perfectly Wretched.

This is the fifth part in a series of reviews I’ll be doing for Disney Villainous, focusing on each character in turn. I’ll be ranking the difficulty of each Villain, placing them as easy, medium, or hard. I’ll also outline a basic strategy that I tend to follow when playing that villain, although it is by no means the definitive way to play. I’ll pick out my top 3 cards for each villain, although I’ll largely ignore those directly required for the villain to achieve victory – cards like the Crown and Trident for Ursula, Titans for Hades, Kuzco for Yzma, and so on – unless I feel they contribute heavily to victory.

Internally Perfectly Wretched feels very well balanced, all the villains are very similar in difficulty, and their Condition cards harmonise well with the other villains in this box. However, I feel this box is much more challenging than the other ones within the range, although I enjoy the challenge, despite how frustrating it can be! Experienced players will definitely find Perfectly Wretched refreshing if they’re getting bored of the game, although new players may struggle with it.

Pete

Pete is partway to achieving his objective.

Difficulty: Hard

I generally find searching for the Items in Pete’s deck a good way to start, especially if you have Strike It Rich or Win Big Goals. Although you only have four Items in total, needing three for Strike It Rich, I think this is one of the easiest Goals to achieve, as the Items all provide extra Actions, and two of them let you generate extra Power, which helps you achieve your other Goals. In my opinion Win Big and Power Play are the hardest Goals to achieve, Win Big relies on luck, although you have a few cards in your deck you can use to rig the odds, whilst Power Play relies on you being able to use 6 Power in one turn, which can become incredibly difficult if you’ve already played a lot of Bandits or if Jalopy isn’t in play.

Top 3 Cards:

Pete’s Items are generally the most powerful cards in his deck.

Air Strike!

In my opinion, this is the best way to kill Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is the strongest Hero in your Fate deck, as well as preventing your victory. As at least one of the Goals you’ll be using each game requires Allies, this will save you using precious resources to kill Mickey Mouse. You can also use the Parrot to get Air Strike! back if it’s possible Mickey Mouse could be played again by shuffling your Fate deck, or if you don’t want to use your Allies to kill other Heroes.

Horse

Horses are a quick way to move Items or Allies, without relying on your Move an Item or Ally spaces. As you have three goals which use Allies or Items to win, Horses are the fastest way to move your other cards into the right place, more so if your opponent has placed a Hero at the Airport.

Bank Loot/Stolen Cargo

Extra Power is so useful for Pete; it’s relatively easy to deprive Pete of Power by playing Heroes to cover Frontier Town and Service Station, or by playing Outlawed or Tired. These two cards also make it easier to achieve your other Goals, as the majority rely on gaining Power.

Cruella De Vil

Cruella must capture puppies to achieve her goal - sounds simple, right?

Difficulty: Medium

Whilst I’ve rated Cruella as a medium difficulty villain, she definitely leans towards the harder end of the spectrum. She is the strongest of the Villains within Perfectly Wretched, but struggles more against Villains from some of the earlier sets. She is great fun to play, and trying to Capture Puppies is different to most of the other Villains’ goals, who want to kill the Heroes or take over the world.

Unfortunately, Cruella struggles to Fate other villains and achieve her own goal – as her Fate actions are in different locations to her Move an Item or Ally actions – she can’t always stop another villain from winning without stopping herself from winning. Playing Cruella against the Evil Queen is the only time we’ve called a game a draw, because Cruella had Fated Evil Queen enough that the only cards left in Evil Queen’s Fate deck were Love’s First Kiss and Woodland Creatures, with Doc being killed repeatedly, but Cruella couldn’t achieve her own goal, because she couldn’t get her allies and the puppies into the same location.

Top 3 Cards

Cruella must perform lots of Activates to win, anything to help that is a good card.

Telephone

I find the Telephone an exceptional card within Cruella’s deck, and the perfect way to get rid of Heroes: you pay 1 Power to bring Horace or Jasper back from your discard pile and put them into play. This way you don’t have to worry about drawing Fireplace Poker or You Idiots! so much to keep Horace and Jasper in play. Even a single use of Telephone means it’s paid for itself, as Horace and Jasper cost 2 and 3 Power respectively.

Get the Job Done

Activates are so vital to Cruella’s game play; it’s really important to Activate as often as possible. With this card you can Activate twice in a turn, by either playing two copies of this card at Countryside, or by playing one at Radcliffe House or Hell Hall and using the Activate that is there. It also allows you to Activate when the location may be covered by a Hero, as both Activate spots are at the top of the board. This card is a good target The Devil Take It.

I live for Furs

Cruella really struggles to gain Power, and with this card you gain Power based on how many locations that have Puppy Tokens in. As Cruella only has three locations where she can Power, she can often end up with a very limited supply of Power. However, as there are many cards that let you take Puppy Tokens from the supply, you can easily generate three or four Power with this card; I often wait until I have two of these cards in my hand before playing both at Countryside to generate a lot of Power in one turn. This card is also a good target for The Devil Take It, if you’re running low on Power.

Special Mentions

Horace and Jasper

It’s practically impossible to win without these two allies, as they are your main way of Capturing Puppies. Horace is doubly useful, as he can find and Capture Puppies, costing nothing to do so; unlike the Flashlight, Horace can’t be discarded by Reckless Driving. I tend to use Jasper for vanquishing Heroes, and the using the telephone to get him back, playing him to a location with two Puppy tokens, before activating him. If I have one, I’ll then use Get the Job Done to activate him in the same turn as well.

Mother Gothel

Mother Gothel is incredibly difficult to win with.

Difficulty: Hard

Mother Gothel is, in my opinion, the hardest Villain to play that I’ve reviewed so far. Mother Gothel relies on thinking ahead, planning when to play cards and working out where Rapunzel is going to be on at least your next two turns – a situation that’s likely to change when your opponent Fates you. You need to play Allies to defeat Rapunzel (usually several times over the course of a game), which means you can’t use those Allies to defeat other Heroes – as Rapunzel is Strength 4, other Villains are also guaranteed to be able to use their Condition cards, such as Captain Hook’s Opportunist or Ursula’s Arrogance.

Top 3 Cards

Patchy and Sideburns Stabbington are the best way to keep Rapunzel in her tower.

Patchy/Sideburns Stabbington

Patchy and Sideburns are your most effective ways to return Rapunzel to Rapunzel’s Tower, especially compared to other Allies; each can vanquish Rapunzel without the need for another Ally, meaning you can save your Play a Card action for other useful cards. They can also defeat Rapunzel if she has the Frying Pan attached to her, whereas it would require three Royal Guards or a Royal Guard and Royal Rider to do so.

Patchy and Sideburns can be used to return her to Rapunzel’s Tower twice, first be being played to Rapunzel’s location, and later by using them to vanquish Rapunzel. I generally wait until Rapunzel is at Corona before playing them, as this sends Rapunzel back the furthest distance, and they’re in the perfect place to vanquish.

Crown

For me, the Crown is best used to generate Power for Mother Gothel, being the only card in your deck that gains you extra Power. I play it at Corona; Rapunzel will move towards Corona throughout the course of the game, so by playing it there, you’re guaranteeing that you’ll vanquish a Hero there. It can also be used as a little protection from being Fated, as your opponent is less likely to place a Hero to its location, to prevent you benefitting from it - it can also be good to play at Rapunzel’s Tower, as this is a useful spot for your opponents to cover.

The Crown does have another use, one I usually employ when Mother Gothel is nearing 10 Trust; you can discard it when you vanquish a Hero to gain 1 Trust; especially useful if you can combine it with the Dagger or Revenge, or if you kill Flynn Rider, so you can earn multiple trust in one turn.

The Hairbrush

The Hairbrush is the fastest way to gain Trust. Provided there are no Heroes at Rapunzel’s Tower, you can move it every single turn, meaning you can gain a Trust every single turn. Unfortunately, if you’re moving the Hairbrush every turn, you’re not discarding cards, so having the Hairbrush means not getting through your deck as quickly. Despite this, it is arguably the best card in Mother Gothel’s deck, and you should aim to play it as quickly as possible.

Special Mention:

What Once Was Mine:

This card is a great counter to the Aging card in Mother Gothel’s Fate deck. It allows you to regain any card from your discard pile, with no restrictions. Generally, I use it to regain the Hairbrush or Patchy/Sideburns Stabbington, as these are the most useful cards in the deck. However, any card that gains you Trust is a useful card to have; Let Down Your Hair and I Love You Most are best played when Rapunzel is at Rapunzel’s Tower, so try to time them for when you need to vanquish Rapunzel, which works especially well if you have the crown at Rapunzel’s location. It can also be used to recover Allies, should you be being overwhelmed by other Heroes.

That’s all for today, and my last review of the villains - for now! Do you agree with what I’ve put? Let me know in the comments below! Next time I’ll be doing a brief overview of which are my favourite villains and a general idea of which cards are good.

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Thanks for reading!

Chris