Just a Bill

Locust is generally regarded as the weakest power in the entire game, since in most cases it does almost nothing for you. Protecting foreign colonies from being eliminated is a very weak effect, and you have to jump through hoops to activate it. Well, if you’re going to work twice as hard you should get twice the benefit, right? We treat Locust as if it said this (changes shown in bold):

You have the power to Devour. At the start of any regroup phase, if you have a foreign colony on a planet by yourself (i.e., there are no other players’ ships on the planet with you), use this power to devour the planet, removing it from the game and placing it on this sheet. Your ships on that planet return to your other colonies.

Each planet you have devoured counts as two foreign colonies toward victory for you, even if this power is later lost or stolen. If this power is stolen, devoured planets do not transfer with it.

The Citadel alien power leaves its citadel cards permanently stranded on the table if the planet they are next to, or the alien power itself, is removed from the game. We treat Citadel as if it included the following text:

Discard citadels if their planet is destroyed or this sheet leaves the game.

Magician says “Do Not Use with Oracle,” but this restriction is completely unnecessary. In fact, Magician already needs a timing clarification to solve the conflict with its own Wild flare, and once you take care of than then the Oracle conflict basically gets fixed “for free.”

The sequence goes like this: Magician plays a card face up, then Oracle plays two cards, then Magician adds one of them to his hand (without changing his own encounter card). This allows both players to still get a benefit out of their power.

We treat Magician as if it included the following text:

If another game effect requires you to play your card first (e.g., Oracle, Wild Magician), you must do so. You then still use your power, but may not change the card you played.

Gambler says “Do Not Use with Sorcerer,” but this restriction is completely unnecessary, and easily overcome by simply allowing Gambler to still bluff about the card he originally played; in this case, Sorcerer must then accept or challenge Gambler’s claim about the card Sorcerer is about to reveal (and may not look at it if he accepts the claim).

We treat Gambler as if it included the following text:

If another game effect switches the encounter cards (e.g., Sorcerer), you may still bluff about the card you originally played, forcing your opponent to accept or challenge your claim about the card that he or she would now reveal. If another game effect forces you to show your card early (e.g., Oracle), you may use your power at that time.