Card Shark 78: Similo Duplexis
Hiya, hiya, hiya! Welcome back to Card Shark! The rumors are true: I have an extra treat this week! I’m looking at a Shark that can do some seriously messed up things for some heavy prices. Let’s get dangerous! Here’s my take on “Similo Duplexis!”
GlimGlam is everywhere. There aren’t a lot of events that are expensive in both color req and AT cost, but this is one of the few exceptions. You need a lofty 4 AT and 4 Purple req to play one of these. That’s hefty, dude! There’s a reason for it, of course: When you play this during your Main Phase, during the next Score Phase (aka your Score Phase), you face an additional Confront Step for each Problem. This may come off as a bit confusing, so let me expand on that: Essentially, this card gives you the ability to confront one or more Problems during a single turn. Say you’ve got yourself set up to confront your Daring Escape and you play this before going on to confront it. Thus, you confront it once, gain a point, and if you want, you can move one of your characters. But you’ve played Similo Duplexis. Then, after the first confront, you confront it again, score a second point, and if you want, move one of your characters again. This Event is really intense! With just one of these, you have the ability to gain 4 points in a single turn. And that’s just with two Problems! And not counting bonus points should you win a Double Problem Faceoff! With Dilemmas in play, you can get even more points. And you can pile on cards to help you score additional points and activate more Problem confront effects. There’s just so many “ands” with this card. This card gives you so many opportunities for crazy shit, guys. I love it so much.
So how can this spell backfire? As I’ve already mentioned, this Event is not cheap. You may be confused by my calling it hefty compared to other Events. 4 color req isn’t the craziest thing to see on more common Events such as Rise and Shine and Scope Things Out. But those Events are fairly easy to play, only costing 1 AT. Even Events that require multiple colors to play, such as Super Rare Songs, frequently need low color req (such as 2/2) and/or cost 2 AT or less. I find that sometimes low multi-color req is easier to acquire than high mono-color req. So... yeah. You have to put aside a huge chunk of change to play this card. You also have to set your playing field up just right so you can feel safe in playing this. Just one banishment, frightening, or dismissal can royally screw you over. And usually you can’t predict when your opponent will suddenly decide to Prince Rutherford or Belly Flop your flank, so you always have the potential to be stopped in a flash. This is a risky Event to play, my friends. You’ll either be swimming in points or unable to make much out of it... play it wisely.
Here’s a few more cards ready to cause more double trouble:
*Starlight Glimmer, Magic Instructor. This may be the most brutal Friend you can play alongside this spell... and it just so happens to be the pony that mastered this spell in the first place! Glimmy here can copy an Event’s effects if you exhaust her and a number of your Unicorn Friends equal to the Event’s cost. One way I’ve seen players pull this expensive combo off is by using Unicorn Token Friends (and there are plenty of ways you can get those). If you GlimGlam this Event, you can score 6 points in one turn! You just have to beware your opponent getting rid of one of your Unicorns before you can do your exhaustion tricks - one Unicorn short and your world will be flipped upside down.
*Trixie, Smoke and Mirrors. As long as Trixie is in play, each Event you play doubles her power. She can go from 2 to 4, then to 8, then to 16... you get the gist. Not only can Similo activate this effect, Trixie can use that increased power to help you get the most out of the Event! It’s a nice complimentary relationship. This is one of my favorite Purple Friends, solely because you can do trippy shit like this. (It can also count as a Changeling for any fun bug things you can do, like another card on this list... but we don’t have to talk about that right now ;P)
*Starlight Glimmer, Great and Powerful Assistant. This is the only card on this list that doesn’t require you to have Similo Duplexis in your hand to play! With Great and Powerful Assistant in play, whenever she or another of your Unicorn Friends enters play, you can play an Event in your discard pile as if it were in your hand. You have to banish it if you do, though, but if you’re running multiple copies of Similo, I don’t think that’s the biggest concern in the world. You also may be doubling the time Trixie is in that box, but she’s okay in there... right?
*Tymbal, Talk It Out. By now y’all know I absolutely ADORE Tymbal. They gain you an additional point when you confront their Problem with at least two other Changeling characters at that Problem. Now what if you have that set up... and you cast Similo Duplexis? Your first Confront Step will potentially gain you two points. Then a second Confront Step and you’re up to four points! You could also do one of my favorite tricks where you play two or more Tymbals at one Problem and get two extra points on each confront. That’s a lot of points!
*Fluttershy, Pony Pirate/Discord, Sneaky Snake/Repulsor Blast/any card that allows you to bypass a Troublemaker. So maybe you’re not ready to initiate any Problem Faceoffs, but still want to get a sweet point bonus. Any of these cards (and more) can allow you to confront Problems even if there is one or more Troublemakers situating there. I wouldn’t call one of these cards better than another - they all do a similar thing for similar costs and color reqs. Whichever one(s) you choose are up to you.
*Save the Day. Wait, what? I’m breaking one of the Card Shark rules by talking about an actual Problem! This is just one I couldn’t pass up highlighting. When you confront Save the Day, you score 2 points instead of one. One Similo Duplexis on this Problem can score you 4 points in one turn if you’re confronting this Problem alone! And that’s not to mention where you can go if you combine this combo with cards like Tymbal and Magic Instructor... I may be suffering a bit of CCG-playing withdrawal.
Thanks for reading another edition of Card Shark! I had a lot of fun writing this one. Next week I should have double the Sharks again, first a Friend from Seaquestria and Beyond and then an Ultra Rare card to celebrate both the 80th Shark AND Discord Day next Saturday! Stay tuned to see which cards I select! Diamond out!
