Basic Rules From the Playmat

You and your opponent are wizards duelling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Many spells and magical creatures you play will 'damage' your opponent, which means your opponent has to discard cards from his or her deck.You win the game when your opponent's deck runs out of cards. When you have no more cards in your deck -- even if you have some cards left in your hand or in play -- you lose immediately.

Before You Play

1. Pick which deck you want.

2. Both play your starting Wizard or Witch card on the table at the same time.

3. Shuffle your deck and place it on the table faces down.

4. Draw 7 cards from your deck for your starting hand.

5. Decide who goes first.

Steps Of Your Turn(Your turn begins when the other player ends their turn.)

1. Before you draw a card. If a card tells you to do something before your turn, do it now.

2. You draw a card [Each player must draw a card at the beginning of his or her turn. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you draw the last card from your deck you lose immediately.]

3. Your creature cards that do damage, damage your opponent now.[Damage your opponent with your Creatures that are already on the table. (Don't worry about this on your first turn -- you won't have any Creatures on the table yet.)]

4. You use 2 Actions. (You can do the same action twice instead of doing two different actions.) You can use an action to:

Play a lesson card; or

Play a creature card [you'll need enough Lesson cards on the table -- see 'Types of Cards' on p. 12)], or

Play a spell card [(you'll need enough Lesson cards on the table -- see 'Types of Cards' on p. 12);]; or

Play an item card; or

Play a match card; or

Play a location card; or

Draw an extra card; or

Use 2 actions to play a character card; or

Use 2 actions to play an adventures card.

(Character and adventure cards require 2 actions to be played.)

Q: Do I have to use all of my Actions each turn? A: No. You can use all, some, or none of your Actions. However, once your turn is over, those Actions are gone. For example, if you used only 1 Action on your last turn, you can't use the second Action from that turn on your next turn.

5. If a card tells you to do something at the end of your turn, do it now.

6. End of your turn.

You can solve Adventures and use your Characters' special abilities any time during your turn, after you draw your first card.

Types of Cards

Lesson Cards-

Lessons give you the power you need to play other cards. When you play a Lesson card, all you need to do is take it from your hand and put it on the table. Lessons stay on the table ('in play') after you play them. Lesson cards have lesson symbols on them (Care of Magical Creatures = foot, Charms = heart, Potions = cauldron, Transfiguration = butterfly, Quidditch = snitch)

Don't worry if you don't have any Lessons in your opening hand. Just keep playing with the hand that you have. If you use both of your actions to draw three cards every turn, you will soon be able to find your Lessons.

Q: When I use Lesson cards to put other cards into play, are those Lesson cards "used up?"A: No. Lesson cards stay on the table and can be used again, even on the same turn. One exception to this rule is if you have a card that specifically tells you to discard Lessons. For example, if you have 4 Lessons on the table, and 2 cards in your hand that require 4 Power (each) to play, you can use your 2 Actions to play them both.

Creature CardsCreatures damage your opponent's deck -- and not other creatures unless their card states it.. They stay on the table ('in play') after you play them.

Power Needed: In one corner of the card, you will see a number and a lesson symbol. You must have this many lessons on the table to play this card, and ONLY ONE OF THEM HAS TO MATCH the lesson symbol. For example, Surly Hound has a cost of 3 'Care of Magical Creatures' (foot). To play it, you'd need 3 lessons in play, and at least one of them would have to be a Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

Damage Each Turn: Your opponent discards this many cards from his or her deck every turn. This damage happens on step 3 of your turn, so your creature DOESN'T do damage on the turn that you play it.

Health: If your opponent's card does this much damage or more to your creature, discard it.

Damage To A creature: If you do less damage to a creature than its health, you'll need to mark the damage somehow. You can use counters or markers of any kind. For example, if you have a creature on the table with 6 health and it takes 2 damage, put 2 counters on it. If it later takes 4 or more damage, discard it.

Spell CardsTo play a Spell card, show it to your opponent, do what it says and put it in your discard pile. Spell cards don't stay on the table like the other cards do.

Power Needed: You must have this many lessons in play to cast this spell card, but ONLY ONE OF THEM HAS TO MATCH the symbol on the card.

What The Card Does: This is what happens when you play the card. Some cards do damage to your opponent or to creatures on the table. (You need to be able to complete the required steps that the card tells you to do in order to play it. If a card tells you to do something and then says you 'may' do something else, that part is not required.)

Item Cards - Items are a lot like creatures. Once you play them they stay on the table (unless some card tells you or a condition is met to discard them). Some items (Wands and Cauldrons) give you extra power - just like lessons, but even better. Other items have all sorts of different effects.

Power Needed: You must have this many lessons in play to cast this spell card, but ONLY ONE OF THEM HAS TO MATCH the symbol on the card.

Match Cards-To play a match card, you need the required amount of power and you use up 1 of your actions. There can be only one match on the table In Play at a time. So if you or your opponent already has a neither of you can play another one.

To Win: This is what a player needs to do to win the match. It does not all have to be done at once. So a player might win by doing some damage on each turn. (This means each player needs to keep track of how much damage he or she has done towards winning the match.) Also, either player can win the match.

Prize: The winner gets the prize explained on the card. When a player wins a match, the match is put in the discard pile of the person who played it.

Location Cards-These represent different places in Harry's world. You'll find location cards for each different lesson type. To play a location card, you need the required amount of power and you use up one of your actions. When you play a location card, it stays on the table. Since you can be in only one place at a time, only one location can be in play at a time. When you play a location card, check to see if your opponent already has a location in play. If there is one, discard the old location from play.

Adventure Cards-Adventure cards are a kind of card you can play to give your opponent a challenge to overcome. You don't need any lessons on the table to play adventure cards, but you do have to use 2 Actions to play them instead of 1. Each player can only have one adventure in play at a time, so if you already have an adventure in play, you can't play another one. An adventure card has three parts.

Effect: This is what the adventure does as long as it's in play.

To Solve: This is what your opponent needs to do to solve the adventure. They can do this any time during their turn after they have drawn their first card, but they have to solve the adventure all at once, not one piece at a time (unless the card specifically says otherwise).

Opponent's Reward: If your opponent solves the adventure, they're the school hero! The adventure card will say what their reward is. Then you put the adventure in your discard pile.

Q: When you are required to discard cards in order to solve an Adventure, does it take any Actions to discard those cards?A: No. You can discard cards as a "free action" to solve an Adventure during your turn.

Character Cards-When you play the Harry Potter TCG, you always start with a character in play that represents you (this is your starting character). Your starting character is special in another important way: it can never be discarded from play for any reason. For example, if a card tells you to discard three cards from play, you can't pick your starting character as one of those three. As long as the game is still going, your starting character is there - because it's you!

Using Other Character Cards: In the game, you can also have other character cards in your deck. Just like adventure cards, you play a character card by using up 2 Actions, and it doesn't matter if you have any lessons or not.

Ability: Once you've played a character card, you can use its special ability. Whether it's the character you started with or one you played during the game, you can use the ability any time during your turn after you've drawn your first card.

Q: What does it mean when a Character card says "Provides " A: It means that it counts just like that Lesson. For example, if you have 4 Lesson cards, and that Character card in play, you could use cards that require 5 Lessons.

Q: I have a Character card that isn't either a Witch or a Wizard. Can I use it as my starting Character anyway?A: No. Your starting Character has to be able to cast spells, so it needs to be a Witch or a Wizard. Any Characters that aren't Witches or Wizards (like Hagrid or Nearly Headless Nick for example) need to be played in your deck and not as a starting Character. Remember that you don't need any Lessons to play a Character card, but it takes 2 Actions.

Playing And Card Information

Cards In Play-Cards are described as In Play when they're on the table. The cards in your hand, deck, and discard pile are not in play. Cards that can be in play are printed sideways (Lessons, Creatures, Characters, Items, Locations, and Adventures); cards that can't be in play are printed vertically (Spells). Unless the card says otherwise, whatever is written on the 'sideways' cards happens only while that card is in play. In general, there's no limit to how many cards you can have in play. The only exceptions are adventures (only one can be in play on each side at a time) and cards that are 'Unique.'

Cards That Are Unique-All character cards, and some other special cards, say Unique on them. This means there can be only one of them In Play at a time. There is one exception. If you and your opponent both have the same starting character that's fine. Otherwise, only one of each Unique card can be 'in play,' at one time. Nobody else can play another copy of that same 'Unique' card unless it has been discarded from play. Keep in mind that starting characters can never be removed from play. Also, this 'Unique' rule does apply to two different 'Unique' cards that represent the same character. For example, if Harry the Seeker is in play, nobody can play Harry Potter, Harry the Seeker, or any other Harry Potter character card for that matter.

Keywords-Some cards have special words on them that other cards, or the rules, refer to. These keywords come right after the type of card. For example, the card Boil Cure has the keyword 'Healing' after 'Spell'. If some other card makes you discard all Healing cards from your hand, and you have Boil Cure in your hand, you'd have to discard it. For most keywords, everything you need to know is on the cards, but there are special rules for the Unique, Wizard, Witch and House keywords (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff). Other keywords are there for fun or for other cards to refer to.

Power NeededSpell, Item and Creature cards have a 'Power needed' number that tells you how much Power you need in play if you want to play the card. Each Lesson gives you 1 Power. So in the basic game, you can just count the number of Lessons you have in play to see if you have enough Power to play a card.In the advanced game, there are cards that give you more than 1 Power each. So if a card needs 8 Power to play it, and you have in play a Wand that provides 3 Power, a Cauldron that provides 2 Power, and 3 (or more) Lessons, you would be able to play the card. Just like in the basic game, only one Power has to match the symbol underneath the Power needed number on the card you wish to play.Power Symbol Lesson Type

Care of Magical CreaturesCharmsPotionsTransfiguration

Harry Potter Starter Deck Card ListWe have = 13 trans, 3 potions, 14 charms, 22 care

Draco's Deck = 1 Draco Malfoy10 Lesson9 Lesson

2 Accio2 Boa Constrictor3 Curious Raven2 Hagrid and the Stranger4 Magical Mishap2 Stupefy2 Surly Hound4 Vermillious

Hermione's Deck = 1 Hermione Granger12 Lesson7 Lesson

2 Avifors4 Curious Raven2 Epoximise3 Forest Troll2 Hagrid and the Stranger3 Incarcifors2 Take Root3 Vicious Wolf ==================================

Building Your Own Deck

One of the most exciting parts of the Harry Potter TCG is building your own personal deck! You can build your deck however you want, as long as you follow these simple rules:

1. Your deck must have exactly 60 cards. You must ALSO have 1 card that's your starting character (which has to be a Witch or Wizard). So, you will have 61 cards total.

2. Your deck can have, at most, 4 copies of any card, except for lesson cards (you can have any number of those).

Optional Deck Building Rule-If you want, you can build a 'House deck'. This means that all the cards you choose are from a single House (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Pojo.com's House of Pain). Pick a House, and use cards that have keywords from that House or that have no House keywords at all, but don't use cards from any of the other Houses.

How To Build A Deck Like The Harry Potter Pojo Deck Mech's-

1. Decide what kind of spells, items, and or creatures you want to use to beat your opponent. Try thinking of cards that would make a good combo or just work well together.

2. Select a starting character that best supports your idea.

3. Pick out your lesson cards and items you will need to support your deck idea.

4. Keeping in mind what types of lessons you chose, fill in the remaining room with spells, items, locations, or creatures. Remember to add adventure or other character cards if you want to use them too.

5. All you have to do now is take time playing out a few hands by yourself to see how it's working. Adjust cards in your deck by swapping out certain cards that you need to make your deck play the way you want it too. GOOD LUCK!

GLOSSARY

Action: You have 2 Actions on each of your turns. You can use an Action to draw a card or to play a card. You don't have to use all your Actions.Adventure card: A card you can play to present a challenging situation for your opponent. It takes 2 Actions to play an Adventure card, but it doesn't need any Power. The card tells you what effect it has on your opponent, what he or she needs to do to solve it, and the reward your opponent gets if he or she does. Each player can have only one Adventure in play at a time.card type: There are currently six different card types in the game: Adventure, Character, Creature, Item, Lesson and Spell.Character card: A card that represents a specific Harry Potter character. You play Character cards from your hand (they take 2 Actions to play but don't need any Power). You'll also have one as your starting Character, which needs to be a Wizard or a Witch.Creature card: A card that, when in play, damages your opponent's deck turn after turn.damage: You can do damage to your opponent, which forces him or her to discard cards from the top of his or her deck. You can also damage a Creature in play. If the total damage a Creature takes during the game is greater than or equal to its Health, it's discarded. (Use counters to keep track of damage that's less than the Creature's Health.)discard: To remove a card from play, from someone's deck, or from someone's hand. No matter where the cards came from, they go to the discard pile of the person they belong to.discard pile: This is where all discarded cards go. Your discard pile is always face up, and either player can look at it whenever he or she likes.draw: To take the top card of your deck and put it into your hand.flavour text: This text appears in italics on the bottom of some cards. It's usually a quote from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Flavour text has no effect on the play of the game -- it's just there for fun.hand: The cards you are holding but haven't played yet. You are still considered to have a hand even if there are no cards in it.Health: The amount of damage a Creature can take before it gets discarded.House deck: A deck made with cards all having the same House keyword. It can include cards with no House keyword at all.in play: Cards that have been played and are still on the table. Your deck and your discard pile are not in play.Item card: A card that, when in play, may give you extra Power or have some other ongoing effect.keyword: These words are found on some cards after the card type. Keywords are sometimes referred to by other cards or by the rules. Some keywords have special rules -- like the Unique, Wizard, Witch and House keywords (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff).Lesson card: A card that gives you the Power you need to play other types of cards. Each Lesson provides 1

Power. The current kinds of Lessons are Care of Magical Creatures , Charms , Potions and Transfiguration .Power needed: The number found on the upper-left corner of Creature, Spell and Item cards that tells you how much Power you need to play them. That Power comes from the cards you already have in play -- usually Lessons, but sometimes Items or other cards.special ability: The text on a Character card that says what the card can do if it's in play.Spell card: A card that you play from your hand, do what it says, and then put in your discard pile. Spell cards don't stay in play.starting Character: The Character you have in play at the start of the game. It can never be discarded from play. Your starting Character must be a Wizard or a Witch.Unique: A keyword found on some cards, usually Character cards. You can't play a Unique card if there's already a copy of that card in play. It's fine if both players have the same starting Character, though.Witch: A keyword found on some Character cards. Only a Wizard or a Witch can be a starting Character.Wizard: A keyword found on some Character cards. Only a Wizard or a Witch can be a starting Character.===================================================

Playing the Harry Potter Trading Card Game: FAQs

Q: If I use the Draco's Trick card on an Adventure card like Human Chess Game, which says for the opponent's Reward "Your opponent may draw 3 cards," who gets to draw the cards? Me? Or my opponent?A: You do. Draco's Trick basically changes it so that you get the reward instead of your opponent. If it said you take 3 damage, it would be your opponent that would take that damage.

Q: I didn't get any Lessons in my opening hand. What can I do? Can I draw a new hand?A: No. If your opening hand has no Lessons, you do not get to draw a new hand. Remember though, that you can use an Action to draw a card. So, by using both of your Actions to draw cards, you just might get the Lessons you need!

Q: I have a card with an ability that can be used only once per game. If the card gets returned to my hand and then I play it again, can I use the ability again?A: Yes. When a card gets returned to your hand it forgets that it was ever in play before. In the same way, if a Creature with damage counters on it gets returned to your hand, and then you play it again, it's a new Creature with no damage counters on it.

Q: My opponent wants to know how many cards I have left in my deck. Do I have to let him or her count them?A: Yes. Your opponent is allowed to count how many cards you have left in your deck at any time. However, your opponent isn't allowed to look at what those cards are. Cards in your deck and in your hand are secret!

How do you tell the rarity of a card?To tell the rarity of a Harry Potter card, look at the symbol in the lower right corner of the card. A circle appears on common cards. A diamond appears on uncommon cards. A star appears on rare cards. Premium cards (cards with holographic images) are also rare and have the star on them. Knowing how to tell the rarity of a card is very important when you or your kids start trading cards.

What are premium cards?Premium cards come in two types: foils and holoportraits. Foil cards are non-character cards that feature a lightning bolt foil pattern. As you might expect, these cards are harder to find than non-foil cards. Holoportrait cards will be the most sought-after (and most expensive) Harry Potter TCG cards. You can recognize a holoportrait card by its shiny, holographic-like image. Only character cards receive the holoportrait treatment

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How to Build a Deck for the Harry Potter Trading Card GameBy Steve Warner

If you've played a few matches of the Harry Potter TCG using the beginning rules on the playmat, you may now be wondering how you can take your game to the next level. Well, why don't you design your own customized deck and show people just how good you really are at the game?The first thing you want to do when building a deck is to decide what classes you want to specialize in -- or, in "real world" language, what type of cards you want to use in your deck. Do you want to teach your opponent about Creatures? Maybe you want to practice some Potions or Charms on your opponent. Or, perhaps you are really good at Transfiguration and want to show off your skills. Since you can't be sure what cards your opponent has in his or her deck until the game starts, it's a good idea to include 2 different Lesson types in your deck. This will give you more flexibility in dealing with whatever Lessons your opponent plays.Next, choose 1 starting Character to play. This step is extremely important. Each Character has a different ability, and these abilities can be vital to your deck. If you plan on running some Adventures -- which add a lot of fun to the game -- decide which Adventure cards you want to include in your deck. (Adventure cards are cards you can play to give your opponent a challenge to overcome.) When choosing which Adventures you want to use, try to think about what will work well for your deck. And remember, each player can have only 1 Adventure card in play at a time.You also want to look at the available Spell cards and Creature cards, and think about what you want to do, and how you want to win. Perhaps you want to play Spells and Items to make your opponent discard the cards in his or her hand. This can be a good strategy to use because without any cards in your opponent's hand, he or she can't play any cards that will hurt you! Or maybe you want to use Potion cards to damage your opponent directly. It's all up to you. Remember though, you can't have more then 4 copies of any card in your deck -- except for Lesson cards, of course!If you put a lot of high cost Spells and Creatures in your deck, you might want to consider adding some Wands or Cauldrons to your deck as well. These could be crucial to allowing you to get out the Lessons you need quickly enough to play your high cost cards.Finally, you need to decide how many Lesson cards to include in your deck. Usually you will want about 25 out of the 60 cards in your deck to be Lessons. If you have lots of high cost cards, you may want to include as many as 30. If you have less than 25-30 Lessons, you could lose due to a lack of studying!After you've figured out all of these things and built your deck, you just need to find someone to play against and show them how well you have learned your lessons!===========================================

Strategy: Lesson Cards By Steve Warner

How many Lesson cards should I include in my deck?If you are playing the Harry Potter Trading Card Game (TCG), that's a good question to ask, and one that can greatly affect your game. If you have too many Lesson cards, chances are you'll probably draw them too often, keeping you from getting other important cards you might need. If you include too few Lesson cards in your deck, you probably won't draw enough of them to put the cards that you do draw into play. Besides thinking about how many Lessons you should include, you also need to consider how many of each type you should have. Even if you have 12 Potion Lessons in play, for example, these Lessons won't help if you draw a Creature card and don't have any Creature Lesson cards in play. The first thing you should do is decide how many different types of Lessons you want to have in your deck. It's usually a good idea to have no more than 3 different types of Lessons. Once that's decided, look at how many of each kind of card you have. If you have 17 Creature cards and only 8 Potions cards, then you'll want to add more Creature Lessons and keep just a few Potions Lessons.Another important thing to think about is that sometimes Spells and Creatures will make you discard Lesson cards. Ask yourself, "Do I have any cards in my deck that make me discard my Lesson cards?" If you do, you need to put more of those Lessons into your deck to account for that.Next you want to decide if you are going to use Wands or Cauldrons. Wands and Cauldrons are great Item cards that provide you with extra power. If you have Spells and Creatures that have high costs, these Item cards are extremely useful. If you mostly have really low-cost Spells and Creatures, and just a handful of high-cost cards, it's not worth it to include Wands and Cauldrons in your deck. Too much power won't do you any good in that case.

Finally, figure out how many of each Lesson type you need. I suggest that you have at least 27 Lessons total in your deck. If many of your cards are high cost, consider upping that to about 30 Lessons. If most of your cards are very low cost, you can probably get away with 24 Lesson cards, but no less! So, learn your lessons about the number of Lesson cards to include in your deck by going through these simple steps, and you will be on your way to victory!

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Deck Check: "Double Trouble Boil and Bubble"

By Steve Warner "Double Trouble Boil and Bubble" isn't the name of a Spell, it's a new deck I designed for the Harry Potter Trading Card Game (TCG)! The main goal of this deck is to overwhelm your opponent with strong Creatures that become even stronger using Hagrid's Character ability. With Hagrid's ability, when 1 of your Creatures does 3 or more damage, it does 2 more damage than it normally would. This ability is especially strong when combined with the Spell card Steelclaw. Steelclaw has all of your creatures deal their damage to your opponent again. So, if you have Creatures in play that do damage to your opponent at the start of your turn, and then you play Steelclaw, those Creatures would get to do their damage again! Now do you understand the name of the deck? Steelclaw doubles the damage!

The Creature cards Pet Toad and Kelpie are also very good at preventing direct damage and keeping you from discarding cards. This is because you can let them take the damage from a Spell card instead of letting it affect you!Mysterious Egg is a Spell card that allows you to search your deck. For the "Double Trouble Boil and Bubble" deck, you'd want to use Mysterious Egg to find the Creature card Norbert and put it into your hand. Norbert is an extremely powerful dragon that does 5 damage -- or 7 damage if you use Hagrid's ability! The only downside to Norbert is that you do have to discard 2 Creature Lessons.Here's another thing to watch: Since both Rubeus Hagrid and Norbert are unique cards, you can have only one in play at a time. So, once you play a Norbert, you can't play another until the first one leaves play. Also, if your opponent plays one first, you can't play yours until you get rid of their card!When using the "Double Trouble" deck, you want to have 7 Lessons in play as quickly as possible (which the starting Character card Hermione Granger does well!), so that you can play the Creature card Guard Dog. Guard Dog is a strong card because not only does it do 3 damage, but it also has 5 Health! Its high Health makes Guard Dog a very hard card for your opponent to get rid of. Unicorn is another great Creature card to use in your deck because you get to take an extra Action each turn, (including the turn that you bring Unicorn into play). At first, it might be easy to overlook Unicorn because it deals no damage. But give this card a chance -- Unicorn is actually very helpful! Using the extra Action Unicorn provides can allow you to draw extra cards, or even play more Creatures then your opponent can handle!The real strength of the "Double Trouble Boil and Bubble" deck, though, lies with Steelclaw. You want to play Norbert and then use Steelclaw immediately afterward. This will make Norbert do 7 damage to your opponent twice and let him or her know that you've been paying attention during class!

"Double Trouble Boil and Bubble" deckStarting Character (1) = Hermione GrangerCharacters (3) = 3 Rubeus Hagrid

Creatures (23)2 Baby Dragon4 Guard Dog2 Kelpie2 Mountain Troll3 Norbert2 Pet Toad2 Scottish Stag2 Unicorn4 Vicious WolfItems (3) = 3 CageSpells (7)1 Hagrid and the Stranger2 Mysterious Egg4 SteelClawLessons (24)9 Transfiguration15 Care of Magical Creatures==========================================

Single Card Strategies: Reptile HouseBy Adam Conus Putting cards quickly into play is a huge advantage in any trading card game, and the Harry Potter TCG is no exception. Lesson cards allow you to put other cards into play, so the quicker you get your Lessons on the table, the sooner you'll be able to play your Spell, Item, and Creature cards. It's for this reason that players spend the first few turns of the game putting Lesson cards into play as quickly as possible (when they are lucky enough to have them in their hand). Thus, while you are playing your Lessons as quickly as you can get them, your opponent is playing his or her Lessons just as fast! This is where the Adventure card Reptile House comes in.

Reptile HouseAdventureEffect: Your opponent can't use more than 1 Action to play Lesson cards during each of his or her turns.To Solve: Your opponent chooses 4 of his or her Lessons in play and discards them.Opponent's Reward: Your opponent may draw a card.

Normally in the Harry Potter TCG, a player gets 2 Actions per turn, and each action can be spent playing a Lesson. However, when you play the Adventure card Reptile House, your opponent is limited to just 1 Lesson per turn! Plus, solving Reptile House is very difficult for your opponent because your opponent must choose 4 of his or her Lessons in play and discard them. This will prevent your opponent from playing more Lessons very quickly. Because of this, your opponent will probably simply choose to endure the effect unless he or she can get rid of Reptile House some other way -- like with the Spell card Apparate. (Apparate allows a player to discard the Adventure that his or her opponent just played.)Now that you have the advantage of being able to play more Lesson cards than your opponent, you want to make things even more difficult for him or her. Since your opponent can play only 1 Lesson per turn thanks to Reptile House, maybe you can make him or her discard that Lesson! The Spell card Lost Notes is an easy way to do this as it allows you to choose 1 of your opponent's Items or Lessons and discard it. You might be reluctant to add Lost Notes to your deck because it has a cost of 5 Lessons, so it might take a bit longer to put into play. Don't worry! If you have Reptile House in your deck you definitely want to include Lost Notes. This is because Reptile House is really only helpful at the beginning of the game, and you want to make sure you can keep up the strong offense in the middle of the game, too!There are other Spell cards that work well with Reptile House and allow you to discard your opponent's Lessons from play. These Spells cost less than Lost Notes and can be played earlier in the game, but they have a drawback -- each one can discard only 1 specific type of Lesson. Restricted Section allows you to discard a Flying Lesson, Epoximise allows you to discard a Charms Lesson, Avifors allows you to discard a Care of Magical Creatures Lesson, and Cauldron to Sieve allows you to discard a Potions Lesson. If you can make your opponent discard at least 1 Lesson every turn from the start of the game, then you'll quickly gain the upper hand because you will have more Lessons in play and can therefore play more Creatures, Spells, and Items! And, with a little luck, your opponent's deck will include cards that force him or her to discard his or her own cards, as well. If this is the case, your opponent will be in a serious world of hurt!

Keeping your opponent from playing Lessons by using cards like Reptile House can be an effective tactic, but it won't win the game for you by itself. To win the game you need to make your opponent discard more than just Lessons, so decide what sort of cards you want to use to deal damage to your opponent. Still, while cards like Reptile House won't win the game single handedly, they go a long way toward giving you the advantage!

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Card Lists

The following cards are featured in the Harry Potter TCG Base Set Card Game. Further cards are available in booster sets each containing 11 cards.The Base Set Card List is divided into five categories:

Holo-portrait premiumDean Thomas (card #1) Draco Malfoy (card #2) Hannah Abbott (card #7) Harry Potter (card #8) Hermione Granger (card #9) Nearly Headless Nick (card #13) Professor Filius Flitwick (card #15) Professor Severus Snape (card #16) Ron Weasley (card #17) Rubeus Hagrid (card #18)

Foil premium Draco Malfoy (card #3) Dragon's Escape (card #4) Elixir of Life (card #5) Gringotts Cart Ride (card #6) Hermoine Granger (card #10) Human Chess Game (card #11) Invisibility Cloak (card #12) Obliviate (card #14) Troll in the Bathroom (card #19) Unicorn (card #20)

Rare Delivery Owl (card #21) Draught of the Living Death (card #22) Harry Hunting (card #23) History of Magic (card #24) Incendio (card #25) Malevolent Mixture (card #26) Meet the Centaurs (card #27) Mountain Troll (card #28) Mrs. Norris (card #29) Norbert (card #30) Phoenix Feather Wand (card #31) Platform 9¾ (card #32) Potion Ingredients (card #33) Raven to Writing Desk (card #34) Shrinking Potion (card #35) Titillando (card #36) Transfiguration Exam (card #37) Transfiguration Test (card #38)

Uncommon Privet Drive (card #39) Alchemy (card #40) Apothecary (card #41) Apparate (card #42) Baby Dragon (card #43) Bluebell Flames (card #44) Burning Bitterroot Balm (card #45) Cage (card #46) Confundus (card #47)

Diagon Alley (card # 48) Dogbreath Potion (card #49) Draco's Trick (card #50) Dragon Heart Wand (card #51) Fumos (card #52) Guard Dog (card #53) Hiding from Snape (card #54) Kelpie (card #55) Logic Puzzle (card #56) Mysterious Egg (card #57) Nurture (card #58) Ollivanders (card #59) Peeves Cause Trouble (card #60) Pet Toad (card #61) Pomfrey's Pick-Me-Up (card #62) Potions Exam (card #63) Reptile House (card #64) Silver Cauldron (card # 65) Snuffling Potion (card #66) Stupefy (card #67) Take Root (card #68) Transmogrify (card #69) Unusual Pets (card #70) Vanishing Glass (card #71) Winged Keys (card#72)

Common Accio (card #73) Avifors (card #74) Baubillious (card #75) Boa Constrictor (card #76) Boil Cure (card #77) Borrowed Wand (card #78) Cauldron to Sieve (card #79) Curious Raven (card #80) Dungbomb (card #81) Epoximise (card #82) Erumpent Potion (card #83) Fluffy Falls Asleep (card #84) Forest Troll (card #85) Forgetfulness Potion (card #86) Foul Brew (card #87) Giant Tarantula (card #88) Hagrid and the Stranger (card #89) Homework (card #90) Hospital Wing (card #91) Illegibilus (card #92) Incarcifors (card #93) Lost Notes (card #94) Magical Mishap (card #95) Noxious Poison (card #96) Out of the Woods (card #97)

Pet Rat (card #98) Pewter Cauldron (card #99) Potions Mistake (card #100) Remembrall (card #101) Restricted Section (card #102) Scottish Stag (card #103) Snape's Question (card #104) Squiggle Quill (card #105) Steelclaw (card (#106) Surly Hound (card #107) Toe Biter (card #108) Vermillious (card #109) Vicious Wolf (card #110) Wingaredium Leviosa! (card #111) Wizard Crackers (card #112)

Other Cards Care of Magical Creatures (card# 113) Charms (card #114) Potions (card #115) Transfiguration (card #116)

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Harry Potter Trading Card Game Card List

1 Dean Thomas: Holo-portrait premium2 Draco Malfoy: Holo-portrait premium3 Draco Malfoy: Foil premium4 Dragon's Escape: Foil premium5 Elixir of Life: Foil premium6 Gringotts Cart Ride: Foil premium7 Hannah Abbott: Holo-portrait premium8 Harry Potter: Holo-portrait premium9 Hermione Granger: Holo-portrait premium10 Hermione Granger: Foil premium11 Human Chess Game: Foil premium12 Invisibility Cloak : Foil premium13 Nearly Headless Nick: Holo-portrait premium14 Obliviate: Foil premium15 Professor Filius Flitwick: Holo-portrait premium16 Professor Severus Snape: Holo-portrait premium17 Ron Weasley: Holo-portrait premium18 Rubeus Hagrid: Holo-portrait premium19 Troll in the Bathroom: Foil premium20 Unicorn: Foil premium21 Delivery Owl: Rare22 Draught of Living Death: Rare23 Harry Hunting: Rare24 History of Magic: Rare25 Incendio: Rare26 Malevolent Mixture: Rare27 Meet the Centaurs: Rare28 Mountain Troll: Rare29 Mrs Norris: Rare30 Norbert: Rare31 Phoenix Feather Wand: Rare32 Platform 9 3/4: Rare33 Potion Ingredients: Rare34 Raven to Writing Desk: Rare35 Shrinking Potion: Rare36 Titillando: Rare37 Transfiguration Exam: Rare38 Transfiguration Test: Rare39 Privet Drive: Uncommon40 Alchemy: Uncommon41 Apothecary: Uncommon42 Apparate: Uncommon43 Baby Dragon: Uncommon44 Bluebell: Flames: Uncommon45 Burning Bitterroot Balm: Uncommon46 Cage: Uncommon47 Confundus: Uncommon48 Diagon Alley: Uncommon49 Dogbreath Potion: Uncommon50 Draco's Trick: Uncommon51 Dragon Heart Wand: Uncommon52 Fumos: Uncommon53 Guard Dog: Uncommon54 Hiding From Snape: Uncommon55 Kelpie: Uncommon56 Logic Puzzle: Uncommon57 Mysterious Egg: Uncommon58 Nurture: Uncommon59 Ollivanders: Uncommon60 Peeves Causes Trouble: Uncommon

61 Pet Toad: Uncommon62 Pomfrey's Pick-Me-Up: Uncommon63 Potions Exam: Uncommon64 Reptile House: Uncommon65 Silver Cauldron: Uncommon66 Snuffling Potion: Uncommon67 Stupefy: Uncommon68 Take Root: Uncommon69 Transmogrify: Uncommon70 Unusual Pets: Uncommon71 Vanishing Glass: Uncommon72 Winged Keys: Uncommon73 Accio: Common74 Avifors: Common75 Baubillious: Common76 Boa Constrictor: Common77 Boil Cure: Common78 Borrowed Wand: Common79 Cauldron to Sieve: Common80 Curious Raven: Common81 Dungbomb: Common82 Epoximise: Common83 Erumpent Potion: Common84 Fluffy Falls Asleep: Common85 Forest Troll: Common86 Forgetfulness Potion: Common87 Foul Brew: Common88 Giant Tarantula: Common89 Hagrid and the Stranger: Common90 Homework: Common91 Hospital Wing: Common92 Illegibilus: Common93 Incarcifors: Common94 Lost Notes: Common95 Magical Mishap: Common96 Noxious Poison: Common97 Out of the Woods: Common98 Pet Rat: Common99 Pewter Cauldron: Common100 Potions Mistake: Common101 Remembrall: Common102 Restricted Section: Common103 Scottish Stag: Common104 Snape's Question: Common105 Squiggle Quill: Common106 Steelclaw: Common107 Surly Hound: Common108 Toe Biter: Common109 Vermillious: Common110 Vicious Wolf: Common111 Wingardium Leviosa!: Common112 Wizard Crackers: Common113 Care of Magical Creatures 114 Charms 115 Potions 116 Transfiguration =====================================

Harry Potter Trading Card Game Strategy 101:Basic Deck-Building, Part One

Welcome to Harry Potter Trading Card Game 101 where we're learning basic strategies for playing and winning the Harry Potter trading card game (TCG). In the first two lessons, we discussed the basics of both offense and defense. Now that you understand those concepts a little better, it's time to put them to work in your own deck. So, for the next two lessons, we'll look at how to make your own Harry Potter TCG deck.

Half of the fun of a trading card game is building new decks to play with against your friends. But you can't just take a handful of cards, shuffle them together, and start playing. Building a deck takes time, some thought, and a lot of strategy. There are many ways to build a TCG deck. In these two articles, I will show you a simple way to build your first Harry Potter TCG deck, starting with how to choose the Lessons and the Creatures for your deck. After you start to master the game, you can tweak these decks or look for brand new strategies that no other Wizard or Witch has imagined. Choosing LessonsThe first step in building a Harry Potter deck is to choose which types of Lessons you want to use. This choice should be based on the offensive and defensive strategies you want to use, and I would suggest you limit yourself to no more than three types of Lessons in a single deck. In fact, for a more reliable deck, use only two types of Lessons. This will help insure that you always have the right Lessons for the cards you want to play. Here is a very basic rundown of the strengths of each Lesson type. You can use this as a guide when you choose which Lessons to create your deck around. Care of Magical Creatures is an obvious choice for almost every deck, because you need this Lesson to play any Creature card in your deck. Creatures are the most potent offensive weapons, so most decks will use Care of Magical Creatures Lessons. It is possible to build a deck without Creatures, though, as all of the other Lesson types have ways to deal damage to your opponent's deck. Potions cards have most of the versatile damage Spells, like Erumpent Potion and Foul Brew, which can be used to damage your opponent or a Creature that is damaging you. You also need Potions Lessons for any Healing cards in your deck as well as some of the best damage prevention and disruption Spells, such as Shrinking Potion and Snuffling Potion. Putting Potions in your deck will give you many ways to hurt your opponent and his or her Creatures, let you heal yourself, and give you some good ways to slow down your opponent's game, so you can have more time to build up your offense. Charms cards are the home of most of the discard effects in the Harry Potter TCG. These Spells allow you to strip cards out of your opponent's hand before he or she even gets a chance to use them. This is a great way to disrupt your opponent's strategy, especially in the early parts of the game. Some Charms Spells also allow you to reuse cards from your discard pile, letting you recover key cards you have lost to damage or even use the same Spell twice in the same duel. And you don't have to give up versatility with Charms either. Perhaps the best damage Spell, Vermillious, is a Charms Spell, as well as many cards like Magical Mishap that deal damage only to opponents. So, use Charms if you really like to disrupt your opponent or reuse cards in your own discard pile. Transfiguration is equally powerful in its own right. While there aren't any Transfiguration direct damage Spells, this class does have most of the card destruction Spells in the basic set. Cards like Avifors, Incarcifors, and Squiggle Quill allow you to choose cards your opponent has in play (Care of Magical Creatures Lessons, Creatures, Items) and discard them. You don't need to do damage when you can use Incarcifors to easily destroy any Creature. Some of the best Spells for pulling cards from your deck are also Transfiguration cards. This is called "deck manipulation" because these Spells allow you to go into your deck and manipulate it in such a way that you get the cards you need when you need them. For example, Transmogrify lets you discard a Creature you have in play to go into your deck and find a better Creature. Alchemy allows you to search your deck for up to 2 Lesson cards and put them in your hand. So, for manipulating your deck and destroying cards in play, Transfiguration is the route to go. As I said, choosing which two or three types of Lessons to put into your deck should be based on which strategies you wish to use. But these strategies will often depend on which way you like to play the game. The guidelines above can help you decide on the Lessons to use depending on which strategy you like. So, if you like to deal damage, Charms and Potions are strong contenders. If you like to use Creatures for offense, you'll definitely need Care of Magical Creatures. If you like to remove cards from your opponent's hand, you'll want to look at Charms. And if you want to destroy every card your opponent plays, you'll have to rely on Transfiguration. Just remember to have a balance of both offensive (damage dealing) and defensive (Healing, disruption, destruction) cards in your deck.

Choosing CreaturesIf you do plan to use Creatures as one of your primary offensive weapons, it's important to pick the right mix of Creatures for your deck. The bigger the Creature, the more Lessons you need to put it into play. If you have a bunch of Mountain Troll, Guard Dog, and Vicious Wolf cards in your deck, you won't start dealing damage until many turns into the game. That might work if you have a very defensive deck or some way to get Lessons into play quickly (and we'll talk about that in part two), but otherwise, you'll want some smaller Creatures like Curious Raven and Pet Rat that you can put into play early as well, so you don't just sit there drawing cards and playing Lessons every turn. Having said that, I will say that there are three basic strategies to use in a Creature-based deck. The first strategy, as I said, is to have a variety of Creature sizes, based on how much Power you need to put into play. This way, you can start playing Creatures on the first or second turn and keep putting bigger and better Creatures into play every turn as you add more Lessons. This gives you great momentum throughout the game and keeps pressure on your opponent to do something about your Creatures, which should mean that he or she won't have time to get going on his or her own strategy. The second strategy is to use only the cheapest, most damaging Creatures you can find. Creatures like Forest Troll and Giant Tarantula are great for this strategy because they do as much or more damage than the Power you need to put them into play. This strategy gets your offense going very quickly because you can start doing lots of damage in the first few turns of the game. The downside is that most of these Creatures make you discard a Lesson to put them into play, so you can't build up to larger Creatures and Spells because all of your extra Lesson cards end up in your discard pile. To get around this, just don't put any big-cost Spells in your deck, or you can use some of the Charms Spells that allow you to get cards back out of your discard pile to reuse those Lessons. This can be a very strong strategy if you build your deck correctly. The third strategy is the "big" Creature strategy I discussed above. You sacrifice early damage to deal a lot of damage later in the game, hoping to defeat your opponent quickly in the middle to later parts of the game with a lot of Creature damage. To pull this off you need a couple things. You need some way to disrupt your opponent early, either damaging his or her Creatures, forcing him or her to discard cards, or destroying the cards your opponent has already put into play. You also need some way to keep your big Creatures in the game long enough to deal those big blows, so you may want some Nurture cards, which remove all damage counters from your Creatures, and Steelclaw cards, which give all your Creatures another chance to deal damage. In addition, I might add some Healing Spells to keep you in the game late and give you another chance to draw some of your big Creatures that you might have lost. This strategy is the toughest to pull off, but with the right mix of cards, it can be very powerful. If Creatures are going to be a big part of your offense, you'll need to decide which of these strategies you want to use and then pick the Creatures for the job. For the slow buildup strategy and the hit 'em fast and hard strategies, I would use about 15 to 20 Creatures. For the big Creature strategy, you don't need to find your Creatures until later in the game, so you can go with as few as 10 Creatures, giving you more room for the disruption and Healing cards you'll need. What's Next? Next time we'll talk about choosing Spells and Adventures to help your strategy, discuss how many Lesson cards to include in your deck, and look at some advanced topics such as how to speed up your deck and some ways to add a few surprises for your opponent. Until then, get back to your lessons!=============================

Deck Check: Fred and George's Excellent Adventure

Sometimes we'd see Fred and George doing something in all innocence only to find that they'd actually set up something less innocent. One day Professor Snape found a live baby boa constrictor in a glass jar that was supposed to hold dried roots. The snake had quite enough air to breath because the lid had holes in it, and it gave Snape quite a start by immediately wrapping itself around his hand as he reached in.Ron's brothers are here, and they are determined to have a good time. They always seek the next big adventure or joke, and with this deck, you'll find that they like to drag everyone else with them along for the ride. First off, Fred & George Weasley have a great ability when it comes to Adventure cards. You need only one Action to play the Adventure card (instead of the normal turn), so that means that you can play it and still get 1 more Action to play something else.Now, let me explain some of these Adventure cards. One of my favorites from this set, Hagrid Needs Help, is simply a great Adventure. (See Prefect Conus's Single Card Strategy: Hagrid Need Help article for this week for more about the card!) Next, we have Sticking Up for Neville. At the start of each of your turns, your opponent takes 4 damage. To stop that damage and solve this Adventure, your opponent has to discard his or her hand. Their reward is a little nice -- they get to "heal" 4 cards back to the bottom of their deck in any order. However, by deciding to stick up for Neville, they also get an empty hand and YOU get a smile on your face. Use this particular Adventure card early on or when your opponent is holding a lot of cards in his or her hand.That covers a couple of the Adventures you might set up. Now for defense! What better defense can you have than a few Charms Spell cards? Stream of Flames, which costs 1 more than Vermillious, does 3 damage to your opponent AND a Creature card. That's 2 for 1, and I always like that! When added with Toe Biter, you can cause your opponent a fair amount of chagrin. I also have Rope Bind, which I always like to use because it does 2 damage to either a Creature card or player and lets you draw a card. So, you get that added little bonus of 2 damage instead of drawing just a card.For longer games I have a couple Creature cards. Cunning Fox does 3 damage, but it has only 1 Health. So, while the Cunning Fox would be easy to take out normally, your opponent should be quite busy trying to deal with all the Adventure cards that Fred and George have sprung on them, thanks to you! I also have some Boa Constrictor cards in there because they are fairly cheap (costing only 4 Power) and do 2 damage each round. To keep some of the damage down, I have 3 Trevor cards. Although this sneaky little frog gets lost a lot, he is very useful when you have him with you. He acts just like a Pet Toad, where you may have all damage dealt to you by a Spell card be dealt to him instead, but he also lets you get a Lesson card from your discard and put it in your hand when you play him. Keep in mind, though, that he is Unique, so only 1 can be in play at a time.Well, that is the adventure that Fred and George have in store for you and your opponent. Perhaps we will look at a game of Quidditch next!The class that witnessed Snape reaction had a pop quiz that day to distract them. Strangely enough, the boys had been seen nearby just after Snape had dismissed his class and left the day before. Of course, nobody told Snape or any of those Slytherins. Nobody could prove that they'd been there, after all."Fred and George's Excellent Adventure" deckStarting CharacterFred & George WeasleyAdventures (16)4 4 Privet Drive4 Hagrid Needs Help4 Peeves Causes Trouble2 Snape's Bias2 Sticking Up for NevilleCreatures (10)4 Boa Constrictor3 Cunning Fox3 Trevor

Spells (16)4 Stream of Flames4 Toe Biter4 Rope Bind4 StupefyLessons (18)9 Care of Magical Creatures9 Charms==============================================

Deck Check: Draco's Special

Draco learned a few tricks from his father long before he entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This deck gives you an idea of what he has learned and allows you to use his knowledge to your advantage!

First, you start with his ability to disrupt opponent's hands! With his ability, you can discard a card to look at your opponent's hand and make him or her discard a card of your choice. This is very useful, especially for getting rid of any of your opponent's Healing Spells. Also, you can get rid of some of those very powerful attack Spells, like Draught of Living Death. Next comes lockdown! Adventures like 4 Privet Drive, which states that your opponent cannot cast Spells, are just great. Your opponent has to discard 6 cards to get rid of it, which allows you to keep his or her hand down. This trick is really nice if you get a Guard Dog out, because you do 3 damage a round, while your opponent can't play any Spells to get rid of it. With Spells like Titillando, you can do 3 damage and make them discard 3 cards, which is great when your opponent is building his or her hand up to get rid of 4 Privet Drive. Another Adventure called Human Chess Game states that your opponent can't play any cards if you did not play any on your last turn. The great thing about the combo of this Adventure and Draco's ability is that you don't play a card to use Draco's ability. As a result, you can keep your opponent's hand down, which also makes it so they have a hard time to solve the Adventure. Human Chess Game requires that your opponent discard a Character (other then his or her starting Character) or 8 cards. You can send out another Guard Dog out to chomp at your opponent while you keep his or her hand clear of anything useful. The Dragon Heart Wand cards allow you to get started quickly if you can get them out on the table. Also, all of the Charms and Transfiguration Spells get rid of pesky Creatures. If your opponent is not running Creatures, then you can hit him or her with the Spells, or you can discard the Spells to make your opponent discard some of those cards that he or she might be saving up. Transfiguration Test cards are wonderful because they make everyone go down to 1 Creature. Since you'll probably have only 1 Guard Dog out anyway, you can use Transfiguration Test to knock your opponent's Creatures down really quick. Use Transfiguration Test in combination with another card (like Bluebell Flames) to get rid of your opponent's last Creature, making it so that you have the only Creature left. Once you get out 4 Privet Drive or Human Chess Game, simply work on keeping your opponent's hand down and keep making it hard to build up enough cards to get rid of the Adventure. Draco's ability assists this process by allowing you to discard anything in your opponent's hand that he or she might find useful. Well, these are the lessons Draco's father taught him. With the aid of his father's guard dog and a nifty Wand, Draco becomes a hard challenge to beat. So be careful not to cross Draco, because the people that do tend to come into some very bad luck! "Draco's Special" deck Starting Character (1)Draco Malfoy Adventures (6)4 4 Privet Drive2 Human Chess Game Creatures (4)4 Guard Dog Items (2)2 Dragon Heart Wand

Spells (26)4 Bluebell Flames4 Fumos4 Incarcifors2 Obliviate4 Titillando4 Toe Biter1 Transfiguration Exam3 Transfiguration Test Lessons (22)5 Care of Magical Creatures10 Charms7 Transfiguration ======================================

Single Card Strategies:Dean Thomas

By Prefect Adam Conus

"Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football." --Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling The fog settles thickly on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, muffling every sound. Forms appear briefly, then sink back into the dank bank of fog. I can recognize some of the people: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Professor Flitwick, Dean Thomas. Each time they appear, I hear them say, as if from afar, "Choose me!" Then I wake up, safe and sound in my bed at Hogwarts. But, which wizard or witch should I choose to be on my side during my adventures? The obvious thing to consider when giving thought to which Witch or Wizard to include in your deck is how you would build a deck around that card using it as your starting Character. The thing is, you don't have to start with a Character to have him or her help you! In fact, some Characters might be more useful if you include them in your deck, rather than starting with them. Dean Thomas is a great example of someone who can help you after you being your adventures! Dean allows you to draw 3 cards once per game. Once you've drawn those cards, he has helped you as much as he can. While you certainly can do fine with Characters like Dean in play at the start of the game, I prefer to use the Characters with one-use abilities in my deck, playing them when I draw them. This allows me to use the ongoing powers of someone like Hermione to my best advantage -- she likes to stick around and finish the duel that she begins! As it takes 2 Actions to put a Character into play, what you are effectively doing with Dean Thomas is exchanging 2 Actions for 3 cards. You may use Dean's ability on the turn you put him into play, if you like, as Character abilities don't take Actions unless the ability says otherwise. Dean's ability may also be saved until later, particularly if a Wizard like Draco Malfoy appears and threatens the cards in your hand with his sneaky ways. In general, the safest time to use Dean's ability is at the beginning of your turn, while you still have your full set of Actions left. While drawing cards is usually a good thing, remember that the cards in your deck also represent how much damage you can take. When your deck is out of cards, you've lost. This means you don't want to overdo it with card-drawing effects. Including Dean Thomas as your starting Wizard or just putting him in your deck is fine, but if you've also got Harry Potter, Delivery Owl, and Alchemy cards in there as well, you might find that you're weakening yourself against the onslaught of your opponent. Also note that it doesn't make sense to play Dean Thomas in your deck if you're starting with Harry Potter. Without any cards at all, Harry can spend 2 Actions to draw 4 cards where taking the 2 Actions to play Dean Thomas nets you only 3. Putting more than 1 of any Character card in your deck is a risk. As there is no way for you to remove a Character card once you've put it into play, if you draw a second (or third, or fourth) Dean Thomas after you've played your first one, those extras will simply be taking up space in your hand. For this reason I'd never recommend including more than 2 of any Unique Character in your deck. You can get away with more copies of Unique Creatures, like Norbert, because Creatures are frequently discarded from play, Norbert doubly so. (Norbert is, after all, a bit of a nuisance to your opponent in the duel!) The only way you'll ever get Dean Thomas (or any Character) out of play is if your opponent plays a card like Potions Exam that causes any sort of card in play to be discarded. If this happens, you can call on Dean's assistance again and draw another 3 cards. However, just because it's possible, don't count on it happening. Those Potions Exams don't happen every day, thankfully! Otherwise you'd be studying all the time!

Hermione calls out from downstairs, "It's almost time for classes! Get out of bed, silly!" As I jump out of bed, rush about throwing on my clothes and robe, and head downstairs,I hear Dean Thomas laughing loudly. I'm not quite sure, but I think he was laughing at something someone said about Slytherin students.==========================

Harry Potter Trading Card Game Strategy 101:Basics of Card Advantage, Part One

I learned today that it's sometimes a very good idea to have several options when you're in a duel. Your opponent might have something for you that you never expected and that disrupts your usual spells. However, if you come prepared with a variety of options and the knowledge (and studying) to back up those options, you might just come out on top like I did! Just be careful that you don't get so distracted by what you could do that you don't do anything or waste your spells and lose the duel because your opponent outlasted or outsmarted you! One of the first advances in trading card game strategy came when players realized that more cards give you more options, which gives you an advantage over your opponents. Simply put, card advantage is the edge you get when you have more cards you can use than your opponent has. This can be cards in hand, cards on the table, or even cards in your deck (if you have some way to get at them quickly and easily).There are several ways to gain card advantage in the Harry Potter trading card game. You can simply draw more cards than your opponent, giving you more cards in your hand with which to play. You can put Lessons into play quickly, giving you a jump on your opponent in the first few turns of the game. You can destroy your opponent's Lesson, Creatures, or Items, which gives you an advantage on cards in play. And you can force your opponent to discard cards from his or her hand, giving you an advantage by limiting your opponent's choices.In this lesson, we'll take a brief look at drawing extra cards and getting a jump on your Lessons for a fast start. Then next time, we'll take a look at the darker side of card advantage: destroying your opponent's cards and forcing your opponent to discard cards from his or her hand. The method you choose will depend on your style of dueling, which Character you like to ally yourself with, and what Lessons you tend to excel at.Drawing Cards for Fun and AdvantageThere is a balancing act involved with how many and what kinds of spells to use against your opponent in a duel. You can come to the duel having a lot of spells ready to go, you can limit yourself to a special few, or you can walk the middle road between these two extremes. The versatility of the one might lead to you wasting your energies on choosing which one to use (or digging for just the right potion!), which in turn might lead to your foe winning due to you squandering your thought and energy. The limitations of the other could cause you to lose the duel because of your lack of choices and inability to adapt to your foe's style of dueling. The middle ground is always to be sought after, but it can be a most difficult thing to achieve and retain!Drawing cards is, perhaps, the easiest path to card advantage, but it is also one of the most dangerous. There are many ways to draw extra cards during a Harry Potter TCG duel. The trick is balancing your card drawing with the knowledge that every card you take from your deck puts you one step closer to losing the game. But before we discuss how to avoid losing, let's look at some of the better card-drawing cards in the game that can help you win.Harry Potter is the best card in the game, hands down, especially when it comes to drawing cards. Just by playing Harry Potter as your starting Character, you can draw 2 cards any time you use an Action to draw cards. Now, this ability doesn't affect your 1 free draw at the beginning of your turn, but if you use several Actions to draw cards during the first few turns of the game, you can soon have a hand full of cards -- and options -- for the later parts of the game.There are also Spells that get you extra cards. Some of these, like Alchemy, allow you to search your deck for specific cards (in this case 2 Lesson cards) and put them in your hand. Remember, this only nets you 1 extra card because you used 1 card to get 1. But if you need Lessons, Alchemy can be pretty useful. Cards like Mysterious Egg, which lets you search your deck for a Creature card, do not give you card advantage because you are just trading the Mysterious Egg card for a Creature card. While this can help you, often just having another Creature card in your deck works just as well.One last way to get more cards into your hand is to get more Actions during your turn so you can draw extra cards without losing momentum playing Lessons, Creatures, or Spells. The Unicorn Creature card is great for this purpose. Once you have it in play, you get an extra Action every turn. Plus Unicorn has a health of 6, so it

is hard to destroy with damage. Use the Unicorn Creature card with the Harry Potter Character card and you'll never run out of cards in your hand.Of course, that brings me to the downside of the all this card drawing. What happens if you draw so many cards, you start to run out of cards in your deck? Quite simply, you lose. Card drawing is a balancing act between getting more options and running the risk of drawing yourself out of the game. The best time to draw extra cards is in the early turns of the game. This gives you more time to use all those cards and you run less risk of losing from drawing too many cards. Later in the game, you have to weigh the chances of finding just the right card with the chances of losing when your opponent's Creatures attack you on his or her next turn.This is where targeted search cards like Mysterious Egg for Creatures and Alchemy for Lessons can come in handy. When you need a specific card to win, having the option of searching your deck for that card is invaluable.Another way to minimize the effects of drawing too many cards is by using the Healing Spells to put discarded cards back into your deck. Not only can you then get to these cards quickly if you are using the Harry Potter/Unicorn combo I mentioned above, but those extra cards give you extra time, which could mean the difference between winning and losing the duel.Jump Start Your LessonsStudying is the key to learning new spells. If you study hard enough, you will retain what you learn in your classes! Your lessons might even become second nature to you. If you don't study hard enough, you are left to the whims of your memory, which can sometimes fail you at the most inopportune times! Never forget that you can sometimes cause your foe to founder just by showing your superior knowledge.In many duels, the winner is decided in the first few turns by the player who can get the most Lessons in play. Obviously, if your opponent puts down a Lesson once per turn for the first 6 turns, and you can find only 2 Lessons throughout the entire duel, you're going to lose. This is why we stress putting enough Lessons in your deck. But in those close duels where both players get enough Lessons, the ultimate difference could still come in the first few turns. Getting the first large Creature on the table and starting to do 2 or 3 damage every turn can force your opponent into a defensive game, making him or her change strategies and never allowing him or her to get into the flow of the game.There are certain cards in the Harry Potter TCG that can give you an early Lesson advantage over your opponent. The best one is the Hermione Granger Character card. Once you have 2 or more Lessons in play, Hermione lets you play 2 Lesson cards instead of just 1. Again, you can use the Unicorn Creature card to give you extra Actions for putting Lessons into play without slowing down the rest of your game. Plus, Hermione's ability helps you get the 6 Lessons you need to bring the Unicorn into play. Homework is a Spell that gives you the ability to put 2 Lessons into play, just like Hermione's ability. This would be a good card to use if you want to play with Harry Potter as your Character but still want to get a Lesson advantage on your opponent. There are Spell cards that help you get more Lessons into your hand, and you'll need these if you use Hermione as your Character, or you'll quickly run out of Lessons to play. We already talked about Alchemy, but you can also use Accio to get Lesson cards back out of your discard pile and reuse them later in the game.The other way you can gain Lesson advantage over your opponent is to use Items like Wands or Cauldrons or certain Characters. The basic Wand card, Borrowed Wand, gives you 2 Charms Lessons at the cost of 1 Action. It's like putting 2 Lesson cards down at once. Sure, you need 3 Lessons on the table to put the Borrowed Wand into play, but you can still use those 3 Lessons, so you now have 5 Lessons in play and 1 more Action this turn to use them.Obviously the best Wand is the Phoenix Feather Wand, but that rare card may be hard to find, and there's no rule against having both Borrowed Wands and Phoenix Feather Wands in your deck. Just remember, you can't have more than one Wand in play at a time. Each Wand card tells you to discard any other Wand you have in play. But having extra Wands in your deck will give you a better chance of finding one early in the game. And both the Borrowed Wand and the Phoenix Feather Wand require only 3 Lessons to put into play, so you can get them out as early as the second turn.For extra Lessons, you can turn to Cauldrons and Characters like Professor Filius Flitwick and Professor Severus Snape, which both provide 1 Lesson you can use, in addition to their once-per-game abilities. These Characters can get you a head start right from the beginning of the game, plus if you play them as your main

Character, those Lessons can never be taken away from you, which can be very important if you run up against an opponent who likes to destroy your Lessons to gain his or her own card advantage.Card Advantage Versus Just Extra CardsYour choice of spell is very important. Be sure that your efforts gain you more than you give!That's a quick rundown on some basic ways to gain card advantage through drawing more cards or playing more Lessons than your opponent can. The main thing to remember with card advantage with any of the methods is that it isn't card advantage if you use as many or more cards than you gain.For example, Transmogrify forces you to discard 1 of your Creatures from play to take a Creature card from your deck and put it into your hand. You have now used 2 cards (the Transmogrify and the discarded Creature) to gain 1 card in your hand. There may be times when this is a great play, and I'm not saying Transmogrify is a bad card, but it does not give you card advantage, which is what we're discussing today.==================================

Single Card Strategies: Start-of-Term FeastIt's a shame Harry and Ron missed the feast at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, because that's some good eatin'! The card, Start-of-Term Feast, is a Charms Spell that allows you to put up to 4 Lesson cards from your discard pile into your hand. When playing with the more powerful Creatures or Potions Spells, you'll normally watch your Lesson cards rapidly go from your hand, into play, then into the discard pile. If your opponent is playing with Lesson-discarding Spells, it can be even worse. Start-of-Term Feast is a Spell that can really come in handy if you find your Lessons headed into your discard pile a lot. There are 2 ways to play Charms. You can do it the normal way by including a good number of Charms Lessons in your deck and playing them like any other sort of Lesson. The other way is to use Professor Flitwick as your starting Character. He provides the Charms Power you need to play any Charms Spell you like, provided you have the correct number of Lessons in play. Joining forces with Professor Flitwick or any of the professors that provide Power allows you to reliably play with 3 Lesson types instead of the usual 2. Once you've decided how you're going to be playing with Charms, you can decide what other sorts of Lessons you can include for the best possible deck.Cards like Start-of-Term Feast may even allow you to get away with playing more Lesson types. You might even try using all 5 Lesson types as you duel. The ability to pull any sort of Lesson you like from the discard pile greatly increases the odds of getting just the sort of Lesson you need. In general, I still recommend playing with only 3 Lesson types, and even then only if 1 Lesson type is provided by your starting Character. The most obvious use for Start-of-Term Feast is in conjunction with the many cards that require you to discard Lessons when you play them. You can safely include at least 4 more Lesson-discarding Creatures or Lesson-discarding Potions Spells when you've got Start-of-Term Feast cards in your deck. Having Hermione in your deck, either as an extra Character or as your starting Character, will help ensure you can get those Lessons back into play as quickly as possible. If you don't want Hermione's assistance, you can also use the Transfiguration Spell, Homework, which allows you to take 1 Action to put 2 Lessons into play. (We all know that Hermione is all about homework, but you can be, too!)Other less obvious advantages to grabbing Lessons out of your discard pile include keeping a defense against the Exam cards, particularly the extra-nasty Potions Exam. (It never hurts to study hard for those pop quizzes, after all!) Having an extra 4 Lessons in your hand will also help against the new and also nasty Potions Class Disaster. If you are using any Spells that require you to discard, you can't go wrong with discarding extra Lessons and then playing Start-of-Term Feast to bring them back later if needed. In a certain sense, Start-of-Term Feast is almost like a Healing Spell. With Start-of-Term Feast, however, the cards go directly into your hand rather than into the deck. If Lessons are what you need, instead of wasting Actions drawing cards to get more Lessons, you can recycle them from your discard pile. This keeps cards in your deck where they can keep you playing. In a close game, that can certainly be the difference between winning and losing. Ahhh, the mouth-watering food filled my stomach, giving me energy for the work ahead of me. I felt quite refreshed and ready to tackle the upcoming academic year! But first some sleep was in order. It had been an exciting day, and I sure didn't want to be unprepared for all of the things I'd be learning shortly.=====================

Single Card Strategies: Hagrid Needs Help

I love Adventure cards. This is because no matter what you are playing, you can always drop an Adventure card in your deck and there's an excellent chance it'll come in handy when you draw it. They are also somewhat difficult to get rid of, other than solving them, and that is usually pretty painful. My favorite Adventure card in Quidditch Cup is Hagrid Needs Help. It's an extremely useful card that'll fit nicely into just about any deck. Like all Adventure cards, Hagrid Needs Help has three parts. First, the Effect. Your opponent gets one fewer Actions on each of his or her turns. This effectively halves your opponent's game. Every turn Hagrid Needs Help is in play is a turn where you are gaining a significant advantage over your opponent. Because of this, it is never long before you get to the second part -- solving it. To solve Hagrid Needs Help, your opponent has to take 8 damage. Even if your opponent does solve it right away, he or she will still lose at least 1 Action because you still lose an Action on the turn you solve it. Lastly, the reward further depletes your opponent's deck as he or she has the option to draw an additional 3 cards. If you add this all together, for the 2 Actions it takes to play Hagrid Needs Help, your opponent will lose a minimum of 1 Action and 8 cards out of their deck, and he or she will probably draw the additional 3 for a total of 11 cards depleted. Not bad at all!Because of the effectiveness of Hagrid Needs Help as well as a lot of the other Adventure cards, you'll probably be seeing more things that discard your Adventure cards. If you're concerned about this, you should add Healing cards into your deck or just play with 4 copies of each Adventure card. Either way, you might keep playing them over and over again.I originally planned on using Hagrid Needs Help with Unicorn cards so that I can really get a big advantage over my opponent Action-wise. As it turned out, however, my opponents take the damage to get rid of Hagrid Needs Help almost immediately every time. Because of this, be prepared to use Hagrid Needs Help as a damage-dealing card more than for its Action-stealing effect. To even further increase your ability to put Hagrid Needs Help into play, you might consider playing with Fred and George Weasley, who allow you to play Adventure cards for one Action rather than the usual two. As Hagrid Needs Help gets solved so quickly, this is likely to come in handy.The best way to deal with Hagrid Needs Help is to either just take the damage and have Healing spells to repair it or simply include anti-Adventure spells. It's also vulnerable to the hard to cast but extremely effective Potion spells that have you discard cards from play, like Potions Exam and Potions Class Disaster. If you're caught without such Spells, you may be in for a long (or rather short) game.====================================

DecksCheck out these hot new decks...courtesy of Harrypotterville.com

"Alchemy"

Starting CharacterSeamus Finnigan Character (2)1 Hermione Granger 1 Professor Severus Snape

Adventures (2)1 Hagrid Needs Help1 Human Chess Game

Items (4)1 Invisibility Cloak2 Pewter Cauldron1 Remembrall Spells (27)2 Alchemy4 Avifors1 Bloodroot Poison1 Boil Cure1 Bruisewort Balm1 Burning Bitterroot Balm1 Draught of the Living Death1 Elixir of Life1 Hospital Wing4 Incarcifors2 Noxious Poison1 Potions Exam2 Snape's Question4 Take Root1 Transfiguration Test Lessons (25)14 Potions11 Transfiguration ========================="Holy Snap, That's a Good Deck!" Starting Character (1)Harry Potter

Characters (1)1 Hermione Granger

Adventures (2)1 Peeves Causes Trouble

1 Unusual Pets

Creatures (8)1 Baby Dragon1 Forest Troll1 Mountain Troll1 Norbert4 Vicious Wolf

Items (2)1 Pewter Cauldron1 Silver Cauldron

Spells (30)1 Accio2 Dungbomb 1 Elixir of Life2 Hagrid and the Stranger2 Hospital Wing1 Illegibilus2 Incarcifors1 Logic Puzzle2 Lost Notes2 Magical Mishap1 Mysterious Egg1 Noxious Potion2 Squiggle Quill1 Steelclaw3 Stupefy1 Take Root1 Titillando1 Toe Biter1 Transfiguration Exam1 Vermillious1 Wingardium Leviosa!Lessons (18)5 Care of Magical Creatures5 Charms4 Potions4 Transfiguration ========================Obliviate Starting Character (1)Dean ThomasItems (3)1 Borrowed Wand1 Dragon Heart Wand1 RemembrallSpells (34)1 Apparate3 Avifors2 Baubillious2 Epoximise1 History of Magic3 Incarcifors1 Incendio 2 Logic Puzzle4 Magical Mishap1 Obliviate2 Restricted Section3 Stupefy1 Titillando

1 Toe Biter1 Transfiguration Exam4 Vermillious2 Wizard CrackersLessons (23)12 Charms11 Transfiguration ==============================