Fathomless Mud of the Swamp

Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions

• Can you "move" pieces from a land to that same land (e.g., with "Wrap in Wings of Sunlight")? If so, is it considered a move?
  Yes and yes, assuming the instructions don't restrict where you're allowed to move, the way that Push and Gather do. ("Wrap in Wings of Sunlight" doesn't.)

  Thematically, pieces moved to the land they're already in are moving around within that land.
  Tags: Move, Push, Gather, Wrap in Wings of Sunlight, 11 more...

Fear and Fear Cards

• How does Overseas Trade Seems Safer at Terror 2 ("Invaders do not Build Cities in Coastal Lands this turn") interact with effects that change what gets Built?
  Check if a City would be Built before any modifiers to how the Build action would work. Overseas Trade Seems Safer skips the Build entirely, and you resolve all "skip this Action" effects before any "modify this Action" effects.
  Tags: Skipping Actions, Action Modifiers, Overseas Trade Seems Safer, Fathomless Mud of the Swamp, 0 more...

General Play

• Are the low complexity spirits always supposed to use a Power Progression, or is this only for beginners?
  The Power Progressions are only intended for beginners.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Power Progression, Lightning's Swift Strike, River Surges in Sunlight, Vital Strength of the Earth, 6 more...
• When using a Power, can you ignore parts of its effect that you don't want to use (e.g., not adding Blight), or use a weaker version of them (e.g., Pushing only 1 Town with a "Push 2 Towns" instruction)?
  No, if you're using a Power at all, you must use all of it, and you must resolve the effects at the amount printed.

  That being said, players still have a lot of discretion for using Powers in ways were some of the effects won't happen or won't happen at full strength:

  • Spirits can target a land where some effects or possibly all of them won't do anything. (e.g., a Power with a "Push 1 Town." instruction doesn't need to target a land with Towns.)
  • If an effect is explicitly optional, it can be ignored. (e.g., "You may instead Remove 1 Blight." doesn't need to remove Blight even if there is Blight in target land.)
  • If given a choice for how many pieces to affect (e.g., "up to 3"), 0 pieces is a valid number unless a minimum amount is specified. (e.g., "Push up to 2 Dahan." can Push 0 or 1 Dahan even if 2 Dahan are present.)
  • If an effect checks how many Elements you have – usually as part of an Elemental Threshold requirement – you may choose to apply fewer Elements so long as you're consistent for the entire Power. (e.g., if you choose to use 8 Fire for a "1 Damage per Fire" effect, you also meet and must use an "If you have 7 Fire" threshold. But you could alternatively use only 6 of those Fire for the Power in order to deal 6 Damage and ignore the 7 Fire threshold.)
  • If a threshold requirement includes an Energy cost, you may choose not to pay it in order to skip that threshold. (e.g., "If you have 3 Fire and pay 2 Energy" does not require you to pay 2 Energy even if you have 2 Energy to spend and are using 3 Fire for the rest of the Power.)
    Tags: Elements, Resolving Powers, Firestorm (Heart of the Wildfire), Heart of the Wildfire, 72 more...

Range and Targeting

• Does a Power stop resolving if you can no longer meet the Range/Target requirements in the middle of using it? (e.g., because it moves Presence out of the origin land)
  No. Range and target requirements are only checked as part of targeting the Power, before resolving any of its text effects.
  Tags: Range, Targeting, Timing, Ordering, 24 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• When using another Spirit's Presence for targeting (e.g., via "Entwined Power"), can you also use that Presence to determine where you can "target" Special Rules?
  No, Special Rules don't "target" the way that Powers do, even if where you can use that Special Rule is restricted in some way based on where you have Presence or a Sacred Site.

  Special Rules can only benefit from "Entwined Power" and similar effects if the Special Rule modifies the process of choosing which land/Spirit you're targeting with a Power (e.g., for meeting a Sacred Site / terrain targeting requirement or moving Presence as part of targeting) and only as part of that targeting process.

  Tags: Targeting, Entwined Power, Locus Aspect (Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island), Choke the Land with Green (A Spread of Rampant Green), 12 more...
• Does Mud’s Offer No Firm Foundations special rule do anything useful against The Kingdom of France Level 2+?
  Yes, it still has two uses:

  • Since "Slave Labor" only triggers in lands that had 2+ Explorers before Building, the Explorers built via "No Firm Foundations" won't trigger that ability (though they would still be upgraded if the land already had 2+ Explorers).
  • At some points in the game, preventing new Cities from being built can be worth adding extra Towns. This is particularly true against Level 4+, when a City that causes "Triangle Trade" would add another Town anyway.
    Tags: Triggered Actions, Offer No Firm Foundations (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp, Kingdom of France, 0 more...
• If Devouring Teeth Lurks Underfoot gets a Range bonus to Death Approaches from Beneath the Surface and targets a land at least Range 2 from its Presence, does it have to Gather Presence into that land?
  No, "Gather" can only bring in pieces from adjacent lands.

  If it used "Move" — e.g., "Move 1 Presence to the target land" — then it could happen at any Range, like Fathomless Mud of the Swamp's Spreading and Dreadful Mire.
  Tags: Targeting, Gather, Range Boosts, Death Approaches Beneath the Surface (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), 3 more...
• When Fathomless Mud of the Swamp uses Spreading and Dreadful Mire, does the moved Presence have to be Mud’s Presence?
  Yes, when one of your Actions moves Presence, it means your Presence unless otherwise specified. (This is explicitly stated in later printings of Mud.)
  Tags: Presence, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• When using Spreading and Dreadful Mire, does it matter if you don't have a Sacred Site in the origin land when you resolve the first threshold (e.g., because you targeted via Entwined Power)?
  No, "the origin sacred site" is just land you picked as the origin back when targeting the Power. There isn't a second check for if that land is still your sacred site.

  This only matters if you still have Presence in that land (e.g., because you and the Spirit you're entwined with each had exactly 1 Presence there); if none of the Presence there is yours, there is no Presence you can move.
  Tags: Sacred Sites, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp, Entwined Power, 0 more...
• When playing Fathomless Mud of the Swamp solo, can it gain 2 Power Cards with Exaltation of Tangled Growth?
  Yes. It can pay 1 Energy to gain a Power Card as “target Spirit,” and then can pay 2 Energy to gain a Power Card as “you.”
  Tags: Solo games, Exaltation of Tangled Growth (Fathomless Mud of the Swap), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• Can Powers target lands where it's impossible to resolve all of the effects (e.g., Spreading and Dreadful Mire targeting a land without Dahan)?
  Yes, Powers just need to be able to meet the conditions in the "Range" and "Target" boxes.

  In this Spreading and Dreadful Mire example, the only targeting restriction is having Invaders. While some thresholds of the Power will push Dahan if possible, Fathomless Mud of the Swamp isn't required to target a land with pushable Dahan.
  Tags: Targeting, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• When the Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 2+ would Build a City in an Inland Fathomless Mud Sacred Site, how many Explorers get Built?
  One or two Explorers, your choice.

  If you choose to apply Offer No Firm Foundations first, it switches the Build from a City to an Explorer, so More Rural Than Urban doesn’t apply. On the other hand, if you choose to apply More Rural Than Urban first, it switches the Build from a City to two Towns, which Offer No Firm Foundations then switches to two Explorers.
  Tags: Build, Action Modifiers, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), Offer No Firm Foundations (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), 1 more...
• Can Fathomless Mud of the Swamp target the origin land of Spreading and Dreadful Mire, or does that fail because moving Presence is required?
  Yes, you can target the origin land: “this is required” is a reminder that if it’s possible to Move a Presence, you must, not that you must choose a target where moving Presence is possible.

  (Also, while it's rarely relevant, you can technically Move a piece from a land to that same land, so long as the wording of the Power doesn't exclude doing so. Thematically, it’s moving within that land.)
  Tags: Targeting, Move, Presence, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), 1 more...