Disney Villainous, Wicked to the Core - Villain Review

Of all the villains currently released for Villainous, Hades was the villain I most looked forward to playing; as a kid, Hercules was my favourite Disney movie, and as an adult I love mythology. I really wanted to add this iconic villain to my collection. I also really enjoyed watching Princess and the Frog, so Dr Facilier was another villain I wanted to play. Although it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Snow White, and the Evil Queen was the villain I was least interest in playing, she has quickly become the favourite from this set. I wasn’t disappointed by Wicked to the Core, and I enjoy the playstyles of all three villains.

This is the fourth 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.

Evil Queen

Evil Queen must first unlock the Dwarfs’ Cottage before defeating Snow White!

Difficulty: Easy

Evil Queen is one of the easiest Villains in the game, she can sift and sort through her cards with ease, can defeat a Hero every turn if she wishes, and can generate vast amounts of Power with ease. Evil Queen’s Fate deck isn’t even particularly problematic for her, with the exception of Doc, she can ignore the Heroes in her Fate deck as she works to defeat Snow White, simply moving them out of the way of her more useful locations. When playing Evil Queen, I like to move between The Woods and The Mine, largely ignoring the other two spots; Evil Queen can sometimes win fast enough that she doesn’t have to worry much about Fating other villains.

Top 3 Cards

Unsurprisingly, using magic is the key to victory with Evil Queen.

Magic Tomes

Magic Tomes are easily one of the best cards in the game; you can Activate it every turn by moving between The Woods and The Mine. You can keep Heroes off these locations with Scream of Fright and the Move a Hero spot, or just ignore Heroes by playing I’ll Fix Ya! With Magic Tomes, Evil Queen can cycle through her cards incredibly quickly, searching for the Ingredients and Magic Mirror in the early game, or for Take a Bite cards later on.

Magic Mirror

Magic Mirror is usually essential for victory – as Evil Queen’s only way of playing Snow White – but I like it for its other ability: drawing a card when targeted by a Fate action. Drawing extra cards every time you’re Fated is great; opponents need to Fate you to stop you winning, and the earlier you play Magic Mirror the more you’ll benefit from its effect. I like to play and activate Magic Mirror in the same turn if I can; if you don’t, your opponent will try to play Sneezy to remove it, as it’s their only way of stopping you from playing Snow White. For most of the villains, cycling through your deck is important to victory, and Magic Mirror helps Evil Queen do this; it can also be a good counter to Woodland Creatures, which allows your opponent to choose a card from your hand to discard.

Black of Night (and Thunderbolt)

Black of Night is best played at The Mine, because you can use it to gain the most amount of Power, or to activate any abilities you have – churning through your deck in a turn by activating your Magic Tomes multiple times makes them even stronger. Playing two copies of Black of Night (or using Thunderbolt to do so) at The Mine means you can generate a net of 7 Power in one turn. Thunderbolt allows you to replicate any of your played Ingredients, and is generally used for Black of Night, as this is the most versatile of the Ingredients, so playing Black of Night early is key.

Hades

Hades must use the Titans to defeat the other gods.

Difficulty: Hard

I enjoy playing Hades, but he can be incredibly frustrating to play. Mechanically, Hades is very simple to learn, as he relies on moving Titans to Mount Olympus; Hades is just an incredibly slow villain to play. Hades needs to generate a lot of Power to win, something he can struggle with, and covering Mount Olympus makes his goal take a lot longer to achieve. There are also many cards in his Fate deck that can put him back several turns (if not more). Moving the Titans generally means Hades can’t discard cards, as the Move an Item or Ally and Discard Cards actions are at different location; early game I discard most non-Titan cards, the main exceptions being Panic, Hydra, and Chariot, and any other Allies if I have Power to spare.

Top 3 Cards

Hades must make careful use of Titans and Allies to win!

Panic

Whilst at Panic’s location, the cost of Items, Allies, and Titans is reduced. I find Panic best played at The Gardens, where there are two Play a Card spots, to get the best use of his ability. You can also use Panic to defeat Heroes; although you’ll generally want to do this later in the game, you may find it necessary to do so earlier, Panic is the cheapest Ally in your deck so he can also be a quick way of Vanquishing Heroes.

Hydra

Hydra is the best Ally for defeating Heroes. Whilst not as strong as Cerberus or Nessus, Hydra costs less Power, and it returns to your hand when you use it to defeat Heroes. It can give you the extra Strength needed to defeat Hercules, Zeus, or Heroes with a Medallion attached, or outright defeat Heroes like Phil and Pegasus. I generally find it best played to Mount Olympus, but keeping it in hand if you want to play other cards is also a good idea, giving you a chance to react to being Fated.

Arges

As one of the Titans, Arges is essential to victory. However, I’ve included him here as his ability to gain a Power every time he moves vastly increases the amount of Power Hades can gain. If you can, make sure Arges is the first Titan you play; getting him into your realm earlier means you can generate more Power, as Arges will become the target of more Fate cards that push him back.

Special Mention

The Chariot

The Chariot is Hades card for gaining an extra action; I often find this key later in the game, if you can hop between Mount Olympus and the Underworld. Why is this not one of my top 3 cards? Well, I often find it the target of The Gospel Truth; in some games you’ll play the chariot, your opponents will see you play it, and will fate you to make you discard the Chariot if they draw the Gospel Truth. It’s a very good card, but you may not be able to make a lot of use out of it. Also, if you choose to play Eye of the Fates, you can end up discarding the Chariot, and not being able to play it at all.

Dr Facilier

Difficulty: Easy

Dr Facilier is an interesting character to play, he is usually very quick to play, but can take a long time to win, as a luck can play a huge factor in his ability to win. He has a unique mechanic: the Fortune pile. This is a separate deck of cards that Dr Facilier must build and construct in a way to benefit him; unfortunately, your opponents will also try to make the Fortune Pile as bad for you as possible. Cards like Desperation and Illusion Powder allow you to remove cards from the Fortune Pile, so using these is key for removing harmful cards, such as Masked Spirits.

Top 3 Cards

Extra actions provided by the cane make Dr. Facilier a formidable villain.

Cane

Like any card that grants extra, the Cane is an incredibly good card. I usually like to play it to the Voodoo Emporium: you need to move here to Vanquish Heroes and to use The Cards Will Tell – being able to play two lots of the Cards Will Tell in one turn can turn defeat into victory! Sometimes I will play Cane to The Parade as well so I can move it to Voodoo Emporium later, as you can potentially use it to Vanquish Heroes two turns in a row: once at Voodoo Emporium and once at the Parade. Be warned though, this will be a target for Juju, so try to defend it with at least one Ally if you can.

Shadow Man

The strongest Ally in Dr Facilier’s deck, this card can also move with Dr Facilier, making it incredibly versatile. It’s best used for dealing with Tiana, or any Hero that has the Talisman, if you have no other way of defeating them. Additionally, if your opponent chooses to target this card with the Evening Star, there’s the potential for you to replay it use the Cards Will Tell!

Voodoo Dolls

Although not the strongest Ally in terms of their Strength, being able to move heroes around and control your own board is an incredibly good ability to have. As your opponents also want to play a lot of low Strength Heroes against you, the equally low strength of the Voodoo Dolls is usually not an issue for defeating Heroes.

Do you agree with what I’ve put? Let me know in the comments below! Next time I’ll be reviewing the villains from Perfectly Wretched: Cruella De Vil, Peta, and Mother Gothel.

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Thanks for reading!

Chris