Feral, Echo Form and Phantom Blades refer to the first qualifying play of the turn, including cards played before the Power entered play. A Power played halfway through the turn does not create a fresh first-card allowance. Check the cards already played before spending Energy on a return or extra play you expect immediately.
Which plays use the allowance?
| Power | Qualifying position | A different card that does not use it |
|---|---|---|
| Feral | First zero-Energy Attack | A zero-Energy Skill such as Zap+ |
| Echo Form | First card of any type | A potion is not a card play |
| Phantom Blades | First Shiv | An Attack that is not a Shiv |
| Nostalgia | First Attack or Skill | A Power |
| Juggling | Third Attack | A Skill or Power |
These are separate counters. A cheap Attack can consume Feral’s return and Echo Form’s extra play together. A non-Shiv Attack cannot consume Phantom Blades’ Shiv bonus. Do not group all of them under a single “first card” rule.
Feral before Claw: three damage becomes eight
Assume three Energy, no earlier cards played, an unupgraded Feral and an unupgraded Claw in hand. The enemy survives both hits and has no Block, Vulnerable or other damage modifiers. There are no additional Strength or cost effects.
| Order | What happens | Claw damage this turn |
|---|---|---|
| Feral, then Claw, then returned Claw | Feral costs two Energy. Claw hits for three, increases its damage by two, and returns once. The returned copy hits for five. | 8 |
| Claw, then Feral | Claw hits for three and enters the discard pile. Playing Feral does not retrieve it or restore the turn’s return allowance. | 3 |
Both lines can leave one Energy, but only the first gives the second Claw play. The returned Claw does not return again from one Feral stack. More plays require another retrieval or another applicable effect; see the Claw and zero-cost strategy.
The upgrade changes Feral’s cost from two Energy to one. It does not add another return. A newly drawn Feral+ can therefore be easier to fit beside a defensive card, but upgrading it cannot repair a return allowance already used by an earlier zero-cost Attack.
Echo Form and Duplicator on the setup turn
Echo Form normally supplies its first extra play on a later turn: when you play the Power, that card itself already occupies a card-play position. Playing another card afterward does not make that later card the first.
There is a useful setup exception. Suppose you have four Energy, Echo Form, a base Defend and a Duplicator potion, with no cards played this turn and no other effects.
| Setup | Remaining Energy after Echo Form | Defend outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Play Echo Form normally | 1 | Defend is the second card, outside one stack’s allowance: 5 Block. |
| Drink Duplicator, then play Echo Form first | 1 | The Power applies twice. The second card position is covered by two Echo Form stacks: Defend plays twice for 10 Block. |
The potion supplies an additional Power application, not more Energy. Starting with only three Energy leaves none for an ordinary Defend in either line. A plan that doubles a Power still needs a way to survive its setup turn.
On the following turn, two Echo Form stacks cover the first two cards, with one extra play each. They do not make the first card play three times. A low-impact opening card can consume a slot that you wanted to spend on Focus, Block or a stronger Attack.
Phantom Blades before the first Shiv
Two base Shivs deal eight damage without other effects. With base Phantom Blades already active before either Shiv, the first deals 13 and the second four: 17 total. Playing a Shiv first, then the Power, then the second Shiv leaves both at four for this turn. The bonus belongs to the first Shiv’s position, which has already passed.
Retain still has value when the immediate damage bonus is unavailable. Keeping a Shiv for the next turn can provide a guaranteed first Shiv then, rather than hoping to draw another generator. Use the Shiv strategy to weigh that stored damage against a kill available now. If an enemy would otherwise attack, delaying four damage merely to obtain a later bonus may be expensive.
First-card sequence checks
Before committing the hand, separate three questions:
- Which cards have already been played, and which qualify for this Power’s counter?
- Which qualifying play gives the largest useful result this turn?
- After paying for the Power, can you still afford that play and enough defense?
With Feral, a zero-cost Skill can leave the Attack return available; a zero-cost Attack cannot. With Echo Form, either card uses a card position. With Phantom Blades, a non-Shiv Attack leaves the Shiv position available. These distinctions often make rearranging the same hand more valuable than adding another combo card.
