Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble

Spirit Overview — Framing

Trickster is the statistical-disruption spirit — its kit weaponizes Strife tokens and the Minor Power deck’s expected distribution. Let’s See What Happens is the signature innate: you discard Minors until one has a land-targeting effect, then apply that effect immediately. It looks like a coin flip; it’s actually a calibrated bet with specific probabilities.

Wiki-printed playstyle note (verbatim):

Trickster isn’t as wanton as it’s made out to be — Strife is a very reliable token, and any extra income can easily translate to more of it if you like.

Designer intent (R. Eric Reuss / “darker”, Discord):

Trickster is designed to support/reward/encourage somewhat improvisational/seat-of-the-pants play.

Identity capture (jyonker13):

Around 40% of the deck will deal with a lone Explorer. Pushing an Invader is about twice as likely as Gathering one (23% vs 10%). Around a third of the cards provide Fear.

Complexity signal: Moderate. Surface complexity is medium (3 innates, 2 special rules, 4 Uniques) but mastery requires card-counting the Minor discard. Reclaim loops are reliable but not optimal — designer says “the best Trickster play I’ve seen involves as little Reclaiming as they can get away with.”

Starting Setup

Put 2 Presence on your starting board: 1 in the highest-numbered land with Dahan, and 1 in land #4.

Growth Options (growthtype: “many” — pick multiple)

Trickster picks multiple growth options per turn. Opening cadence uses 2–3 per turn.

Presence Tracks

• Energy track (6 slots): energy1 → moon → energy2 → any → fire → energy3
  • 1E → +Moon marker → 2E → +Any element → +Fire → 3E
• Card-play track (7 slots): card2 → pushdahan → card3 → card3 → card4 → airX → card5
  • 2 CP → Push Dahan (free) → 3 CP → 3 CP → 4 CP → Air scaling → 5 CP

Starting income: 1 Energy, 2 Card Plays. “Any” element slot on the energy track is unique — reveal to gain a Minor-like any-element marker.

Core Mechanics & Special Rules

Special Rule: A Real Flair for Discord

After one of your Powers adds Strife in a land, you may pay 1 Energy to add 1 Strife within Range 1 of that land.

Per-action Strife multiplier. Each Strife-adding Power is a potential 2-Strife turn if you have 1E.

Special Rule: Cleaning Up Messes Is a Drag

After one of your Powers Removes Blight, Destroy 1 of your Presence. Ignore this rule for Let’s See What Happens.

Blight-removal costs a Presence. Trickster is not a Blight-remover by design — avoid drafting Blight-removal Minors and never Blight-remove outside emergency.

Innate: Let’s See What Happens

• Speed: Fast · Range: 1 · Target: Invaders

Level	Thresholds	Effect
1	1 Moon + 1 Fire + 2 Air	Discard Minor Powers from the deck until you get one that targets a land. Use its text effects on target land immediately.
2	2 Moon + 1 Fire + 2 Air	You may Forget a Power Card to gain the just-used Power Card (to hand) and 1 Energy.

The signature innate. L1 is the “deck-roulette” effect; L2 lets you keep a card that proved useful. Air-threshold (2 Air) is load-bearing.

Innate: Why Don’t You and Them Fight

• Speed: Fast · Range: 0 · Target: Invaders

Level	Thresholds	Effect
1	3 Moon	This Power may be Slow.
2	3 Air	Add 1 Strife.
3	3 Sun + 3 Fire	1 Invader and 1 Dahan deal Damage to each other.
4	3 Animal	If target land has Beast, 2 Damage. Otherwise, you may Gather 1 Beast.

The 3-Fire + 3-Sun tier (fynikz’s winning pattern on BGG) stops both Build and Ravage: “often capable of both stopping a build chain and a ravage every turn.”

Unique Cards (all 4, Wiki-verified)

Impersonate Authority

• 0 Energy · Slow · Range 1 · Any Land · Sun, Air, Animal
• Add 1 Strife.

0-cost Strife-adder. A Real Flair for Discord adds a 2nd Strife for 1E. Combined with Incite the Mob, one of Trickster’s opening two plays.

Incite the Mob

• 1 Energy · Slow · Range 1 · Land with 1+ Invaders · Moon, Fire, Air, Animal
• 1 Invader with Strife deals Damage to other Invaders (not to each Invader). 1 Fear per Invader this Power Destroyed.

Strife-payoff + Fear. Requires Strife pre-set; Impersonate Authority seeds, Incite the Mob collects.

Overenthusiastic Arson

• 1 Energy · Fast · Range 1 · Any Land · Fire, Air
• Destroy 1 Town. Discard the top card of the Minor Power Deck. If it provides Fire: 1 Fear, 2 Damage, and add 1 Blight.

Town-destroy with ~38% chance of Fire-bonus (from Minor deck composition). The Blight-add on Fire-hit is risk-tolerable because of Trickster’s non-Blight-remover identity.

Unexpected Tigers

• 0 Energy · Slow · Range 1 · Any Land · Moon, Fire, Animal
• 1 Fear if Invaders are present. If you can gather 1 Beasts, do so, then push 1 Explorer. Otherwise, add 1 Beasts.

Beast-toolkit; situational utility. First Forget candidate for most matchups (keep longer vs. Russia for loss-condition hedging).

Key Strategic Principles

1. Air is the load-bearing element — 2 Air unlocks Let’s See What Happens. Draft Air Minors aggressively.
2. Don’t blight-remove. Cleaning Up Messes destroys Presence. This is not an emergency kit.
3. Reclaim loops are reliable but not optimal. Designer intent is improvisational play; Reclaim every turn is conservative but Trickster-off-design.
4. Trickster LOVES Energy (jyonker13): “Even 1 or 2 can get you more Strife, more cards, or a painless Reclaim.”
5. Count the Minor discard before Let’s See What Happens — 40% lone-Explorer-dealing, 23% push, 10% gather, 33% fear.
6. Unexpected Tigers is first Forget — unless playing Russia (loss-condition hedge).
7. Arson’s 38% Fire-rate is the correct per-use bet: “every other use… that mentality keeps me from getting too Overenthusiastic.” (jyonker13)

Possible Openings

Shared starting state

• 2 Presence on board: highest-Dahan land + land #4.
• 4 Uniques in hand: Impersonate Authority (0E Slow, Sun/Air/Animal), Incite the Mob (1E Slow, Moon/Fire/Air/Animal), Overenthusiastic Arson (1E Fast, Fire/Air), Unexpected Tigers (0E Slow, Moon/Fire/Animal).
• Starting income: 1 Energy, 2 Card Plays.

Opening A — Hybrid Minor 🟨 (default)

From latentoctopus Opening 1.

T1 · Growth: G3 + G2 top — Gain Minor + Presence. T1 · Play: Impersonate Authority + Incite the Mob (prime Strife chain). Moon + Air priority on drafted Minor.

• If Arson-compatible draw: 0-cost Minor + Overenthusiastic Arson.

T2 · Growth: G2 top + G3 Minor. T2 · Play: 3 plays hitting 1 Moon + 1 Fire + 2 Air (Let’s See What Happens L1 unlock + fire).

T3 · Growth: G2 bottom + Reclaim. T3 · Play: Impersonate + Incite + extra card.

T4 · Growth: G2 bottom + G4 (Energy+CP). T4 · Play: 3 plays.

T5 · Growth: Reclaim; 3 plays. T6 · Growth: G2 bottom + G3 Minor; 4 plays.

Goal: unlock LSWH tier 2 without a reclaim loop; Major-capable by T7.

Opening B — Bottom Track Minor 🟨

From Opening 2.

T1: G3 + G2 bottom; Impersonate + Incite (Moon + Air priority). T2: G2 bottom + G3; 3 plays at 2 Moon / 1 Fire / 2 Air. Forget from discard to unlock LSWH tier 2. T3: Reclaim + G2 bottom; 3 plays. T4: G2 top + G3 Minor; 3 plays. T5+: Reclaim loop with G4 for energy.

Critical constraint (latentoctopus): “This opening cannot reliably sustain a hand whose overall cost is more than 3.” Never Forget Incite or Impersonate.

Opening C — Top Track Hybrid / Majors 🟥

From Opening 3.

T1: G3 + G2 top; Impersonate + Arson (if Air drawn) else Unexpected Tigers swap. T2: G2 bottom + G3; Incite + Air card for LSWH L2; 4 cards, 2 Moon. T3: Reclaim + G2 bottom; 2 plays hitting 2 Moon / 1 Fire / 2 Air. T4: G2 bottom + G3 Major (forget from discard to keep 5 in hand); 3 plays. T5: G2 top + G3 Minor; 3 plays.

jyonker13 guidance: go Top when draws are favorable (Dahan-movement for Strife trades), Plays-track when mixed.

Opening Decision

• Default Opening A — balanced, hits LSWH L2 by T2.
• Opening B when card-volume over card-quality matters.
• Opening C only with Energy-donor partner (River/Downpour/Starlight).

Card Priority Ratings

Uniques — Trickster-specific ranking

1. Impersonate Authority — Strife-seeder, 0-cost every turn.
2. Incite the Mob — Strife-collector + fear.
3. Overenthusiastic Arson — Town-destroy with 38% upside.
4. Unexpected Tigers — situational, first Forget candidate.

Top 10 Minor Draft Picks (Air > Moon > Fire)

Top 5 Major Draft Picks (Opening C only)

Cards to Avoid

Adversary Matchup Matrix

Board / Map Configuration

[VERIFY — latentoctopus no per-board ratings]. Solo: break Reclaim cycle earlier (City targets dry up faster on one board). Fear generation is outsized on a single board.

Game-Phase Strategy

Early (T1–3)

• Impersonate + Incite loop. Seed Strife, collect Fear.
• LSWH L2 unlock by T2–T3 via Minor-draft Air.

Mid (T4–6)

• 3+ plays per turn; Reclaim cycles stabilize.
• Overenthusiastic Arson selectively for Town-destroy.
• Why Don’t You and Them Fight L2 (3 Air) for per-turn Strife spam.

Late (T7+)

• Major integration (Opening C lines).
• Fight L3/L4 for board-wide Invader vs. Invader damage.

Synergy Partners (Multiplayer)

• River (Sunshine aspect especially) — energy donor; fynikz: “absolutely makes his game and turns him into a major powerhouse.”
• Downpour — Gift of Abundance or Pour Down repeats.
• Starlight — element-targeting supports Trickster’s LSWH reach.

Common Mistakes

Tempo Profile

Source Notes

• Mechanics: data/references/wiki/grinning-trickster.json (Wiki-parsed 2026-04-23).
• Openings: latentoctopus Opening 1/2/3.
• BGG: jyonker13 thread 2502216.