Disney Villainous, The Worst Takes It All - Villain Review Part One

It’s time to dive into the minds of some of the villains of our childhood, and experience life on the evil side.

This is the first 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.

You can check out my review for the game here.

For me, the Worst Takes It All is the set you should start with if you’re new to the game. It has some of the more straightforward Villains in – Prince John and Queen of Hearts spring to mind – but also has Villains that provide a challenge for experience players. As The Worst Takes It All contains six Villains to choose from, it also has the most characters that can be played, so is better value for those with larger gaming groups. If you’re new to Villainous, then this is the place.

In this post, I’ll be looking at three Villains from The Worst Takes It All: Captain Hook, Prince John, and Jafar.

Prince John

Prince John needs to acquire Power to achieve his objective.

Difficulty: Easy

Prince John is one of the simpler villains to learn, with a clear win goal – he must gain 20 Power. As well as being simpler to learn, Prince John is also won of the easiest to win with, many of the cards in his villain deck benefit him if he’s fated: Warrants, Golden Arrow, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Beautiful Lovely Taxes. All these cards allow Prince John to gain Power when heroes are played to his realm, which your opponents will have to do if they wish to play Steal from the Rich.

Personally, I don’t find Prince John very interesting, his goal is very simple, his Condition cards are easily achieved, especially with more players, and many of his cards mean Fating him can help him. However, I think he is more balanced and fun with fewer players, with two players reaching 20 Power feels like it takes a lot longer! This said, Prince John is an excellent character for players who are new to the game to learn, especially if playing with more experienced players.

Top 3 Cards:

My top 3 cards for Prince John.

King Richard’s Crown:

This item reduces the cost of all your other cards by 1 when you’re at its location – this is ideal for Prince John, as his goal is to gain Power. If you play this at Friar Tuck’s church, you can benefit from it twice a turn, as you have two Play a Card locations, and have the potential to move it to an adjacent location if you know you’re moving there on your next turn.

Warrants:

Warrants are great anti-Fate cards. Prince John has 3 Warrants in his deck, meaning he can play one at each location that can be covered by a Hero – everywhere excluding the jail. This forces you opponent to choose more carefully when they place a Hero when they Fate you; they can either give you two Power during their turn, or place it somewhere else, that’s less useful for blocking you. Watch out for Friar Tuck and Robin Hood though.

Sheriff of Nottingham:

The Sheriff is another great anti-Fate card. By playing him, your opponent must think very carefully about where they place your Heroes; if they aren’t stacked at the same location, you can easily generate an additional Power every turn, unless Robin Hood is in play. If Robin Hood is in play, your goal should be killing him as quickly as possible.

Captain Hook

Tinker Bell and Wendy hamper Captain’s Hook attempts to defeat Peter Pan.

Difficulty: Medium

Captain Hook is one of the simpler Villains to learn, and relatively easy to counter, as you can see how close he is to achieving his win condition. Just watch out for those Taunts! He has a wide array of Allies to defeat the Heroes, as well as a pair of Cutlass’ to strengthen them further. Captain Hook also has a multitude of Items he can use to gain extra actions each turn – racking up the Power couldn’t be easier!

I really enjoy playing Captain Hook; whilst it can be frustrating digging through both your Fate deck and Villain deck to look for Peter Pan and the Neverland Map, it forces your opponent to choose between Fating you, and risk playing Peter Pan, and to leave you to play your own game. Captain Hook is enjoyable for new and experienced players alike, whether you’re playing with or against him. Captain Hook is a firm favourite in our house; he feels well balanced, although it can feel hopeless when you stare down his host of Allies at the Jolly Roger!

Top 3 Cards:

Captain Hook has five cards in his deck which provide extra actions - all strong plays!

Ingenious Device

Being able to move Heroes around the board is incredibly strong, positioning them where you wish, and with this card, you can potentially do it twice a turn! Splitting headache will give you a headache (pun intended) as it can be used to get rid of Ingenious Device. However, if you get this card early enough you can prevent Heroes being used to block your locations, by moving them all to one location – I tend to place all my Heroes on the Jolly Roger, as I find it the least useful location. Later on, you can use this card to move Peter Pan to the Jolly Roger faster, or, if you’ve played it to the Jolly Roger or location with a Cannon, can use it to move Peter Pan and Vanquish him on the same turn!

Hook’s Case

A great source of Power – the earlier you play this card, the more use you get from it. I play this at Mermaid Lagoon or Skull Rock, and then use the Move an Item to shift it around to generate more power. Whilst this becomes less useful late game, as I often find Captain Hook has a surplus of Power, being able to get going quickly is incredibly helpful, especially for playing the more expensive Allies.

Boarding Party

This card is, arguably, the best way of Vanquishing Heroes, and your most flexible Ally. Whilst not as strong as the Pirate Brute or Smee, it’s ability to Vanquish Heroes at adjacent locations is invaluable, and can drastically speed up your ability to Vanquish distant Heroes. I often find Heroes are played to Hangman’s Tree (if it’s unlocked) or Mermaid Lagoon if it’s not, which means, if an opponent plays Taunt on one of them, you must move them and Peter Pan to win. It’s also incredibly useful prior to unlocking Hangman’s Tree, as you can use it to cover your three unlocked locations, leaving Heroes vulnerable should you need to get rid of them.

Special Mention:

Cannon

It’s probably no surprise that this card gets a special mention. Any card that grants you extra actions is invaluable, and Captain Hook has five cards in his deck that do - two Cannons, two Hook’s Cases, and one Ingenious Device! Whilst the Cannon will see little use for most of the game, it combos incredibly well with the Ingenious Device, as you can then Vanquish at locations other than Jolly Roger. It’s also useful performing multiple Vanquishes in a turn – rendering those Taunts useless. Alternatively, playing it at Hangman’s Tree means you can move Peter Pan and Vanquish him in the same turn. Like the Ingenious Device, it is vulnerable to Splitting Headache, and will be another favourable target for them.

Jafar

Jafar searches for the Magic Lamp in his attempts to control the Genie.

Difficulty: Hard

Jafar is one of the more challenging villains in the Worst Takes It All. He starts the game with the Cave of Wonders locked, meaning he has access to only one location at which he can discard cards, and can really struggle for Power in the early game. If Jasmine gets played against him early on, Jafar’s game becomes a real uphill struggle, as his hand size gets reduced, so getting through his pack of cards becomes essential.

I really enjoy playing Jafar, it can be very frustrating digging through your cards for the Scarab Pendant and Magic Lamp - you’ll need to use your Scrying cards to help you find them - but Hypnotising the Heroes is a very fun, and unique, way of playing.

Top 3 Cards:

Jafar has different ways to defeat Heroes, and can weaken them to ease the process!

Scarab Pendant

This card is essential for unlocking the Cave of Wonders, and thus being able to play the Magic Lamp, however it is not for this reason that I’ve picked this card. This card increases your hand size to five cards, which is significant for any villain, as it gives you more options on your turn, and allows you to sift through your deck faster, to find the cards you want. It’s also a good counter to Jasmine, who reduces your hand size by one, which puts you back on four cards.

Hypnotize

Again, an essential card for victory, as you need it to hypnotise the Genie. Hypnotizing other Heroes is also important, especially Aladdin, Abu, and the Carpet, who can also prevent victory. In my opinion, this is the best way for Jafar to defeat Heroes, because they can later be used to counter other Heroes played against you – I’ll often end up with more Heroes as Allies than actual Allies.

Giant Hourglass

This card works great for defending locations in your Realm. When activated, this reduces a Hero’s Strength by two until the end of your turn, so is the perfect counter to the Carpet, Sultan, and Abu (provided wish hasn’t been played) as you can Vanquish or Hypnotize them without using Allies or Power – this can mean opponents won’t play the Hero to a location with a Giant Hourglass. If this Item is played to the Genie’s location, it also makes him easier to Hypnotize, as you’ll require less Power to do so. Whilst Scrying may seem like a more logical choice for my top 3 cards, I find Scrying redundant after finding the Scarab Pendant and Magic Lamp, whereas this has a use all game - and can even be discarded for Necessary Sacrifice!

Special Mentions:

Deception

Why is this card not in my top 3? Unfortunately, against some villains this Condition card never comes into effect. Some Heroes have very few Items in their deck, Yzma for instance has only one, so will never be played against her. This said, the ability to play an additional Fate card on someone is incredibly strong, especially if they’re close to achieving victory, so is extremely effective against villains with a multitude of Items, such as Captain Hook and Ratigan.

Razoul

Another special mention, Razoul reduces the cost of Allies played to his location, meaning your Palace Guards are free. The free Palace Guards then become a great target for Necessary Sacrifice, or simply to get cards out of your hand. I usually play Razoul at Sultan’s Palace, as you can’t play a card here if a Hero is played to this location, meaning you can’t play A Snake, Am I? to defeat them. I’ll often hold back on playing Razoul if I can’t attach a Scimitar to him quickly; Razoul becomes a good target for Crushing Blow because he’s so expensive and beneficial to Jafar.

Scrying

A third card, which I haven’t included in my top 3, that Jafar relies upon early in the game. I find this card best utilised to finding the Scarab Pendant and Magic Lamp. Once they’re both played or in your hand, I don’t find Scrying that useful, so will just discard it.

That’s all for today! Do you agree with what I’ve put? Let me know in the comments below! Next time, I’ll be taking a look at the other half of The Worst Takes It All: Maleficent, Ursula, and Queen of Hearts.

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Thanks for reading!

Chris