Let Them Break Upon Your Resolve and Falter (Parry-Out)

If our opponent engages to challenge our character and our character lives, thank them kindly for the uncontested claim/renown.

Packing our deck with all parry-outs was (is?) the go-to-way to build decks for this reason. These decks could frequently win with either Renown or Domination by the end of Day 3, before fighting decks gained enough value killing characters. If a 3 (or less hahahahahahaha) fist character challenged us to a duel, if we could play a 1-parry parry-out from hand or better and take only 2 wounds to our 4-resolve character, the action served no purpose until they issue another challenge to that same character (assuming we give them the opportunity and/or we don’t have a 2+ parry-out for either challenge). Now, if an opponent is taking advantage of a solid swath of the tools above, this is not the case. Specifically, attachments like Sabre can send +1 thrust on challenge, nullifying the 1-parry. Unsanctioned Duel can negate our ability to end the duel. Bleed out and other damage effects allowing finishing off, once they get our character to only 1 Resolve remaining.

Anyways, these are all of the Parry-Outs. (1-parry parry-outs need more than just that as justification to include now, in my opinion):

Neutral

• Not Today (Solid Parry-Out I’ve gone back to running in pretty much all pacifist decks. The ability to escape a terrible situation, such as a Yevgeni pulling your engaged leader into himself and 1+ other fighters. This is a dangerous card to include in a gambling violence based deck, particularly at 2-of. While it is theoretically pretty unlikely to hit both copies in one gamble, I guarantee it will happen to you at the most inopportune time: ending the duel, moving your character home, and wounding them when you needed to get the kill) [hmmmm, great card]
• I’m Done With You (I almost never include this card, even in my parry-out lists. 1-parry parry-out just isn’t enough by itself anymore. That being said, in a deck packed with high-defensive RPT trying to eek out more value by gambling instead of playing from hand, this does become better as a 2 or 3 parry duel ender, or a way for aggressive multi-gamble decks to end duels. I still don’t like it)
• Hidden Corridors (An actually really solid 1-parry parry-out. The Maneuver can even get you out of an Unsanctioned Duel, painfully though and still not ideal. Mainly, the City Action is fantastic moving from Docks to Grand Bazaar or vice versa [more options in multiplayer])

Eisen

• Regroup (Fantastic 2-parry stabled to an on-cost move)
• Hexenjagd (Particularly great with Daniella to make it more likely your character can stay in the city to provide their influence to prevent counter claims. I forget it can also cancel sorcerer abilities. Similar to and amplified by having Not Today, it can be dangerous to include [for non-Daniella decks], in case of a double gamble hit forcing you to send a character home that you needed in the city)
• Unsavory Salve (Turn a card with only Block and 1-Thrust into a parry out. A 2, 3, or 4 parry-out at that!)
  • (Kaspar’s Panzerhand {4!}, Opulence {0} [for you Harold], Appealing to the People {3}, Improvised Weapon {2}, Breastplate {3}, Leverage {3})

Ussura

• Matushka’s Command (2 parry, worth including even with 0-sorcerers [whether or not you run Temnota]. Maybe you recruit one or get the Syrenth Puzzlebox for one of the most impactful single cards in the game.)
• Point of Order (Also a 2-parry card and much more likely you can play its action, this must be even better! No. No it is not. Giving your opponent the choice of moving or engaging with all of the movement cards/abilities in the game, especially the 0-cost ones means you might come out behind by using this. Yes, it can work out great if your opponent has no answer, but, to me, it is strictly a 2-parry parry-out with an oh-crap-time-to-pray ripcord attached to it.) Still worth including for pacifists.

Montaigne

• Porté Travel (Effectively a parry-out that can also get your character completely out of the situation, dodging duel extenders like Unsanctioned Duel or Raise the Stakes. Can also be used if your participant is your sorcerer, although it would not let you leave the location to dodge those duel extenders. Great action too, the best parry out in the game? Probably?)
• Blood Mark (Like Regroup but better! 0-cost movement that requires a sorc, but could move a non-sorc with them for a wound)
• Tabard of the Fallen Musketeer (A straight-up 3-parry parry-out, fantastic. Also can be +1 inf and even grant Musketeer!)
• Pompon (Only a 1-parry, but it will also show up in subsections below with its +1 Resolve and +parry technique)

Dang Montaigne, you’re so good at not fighting!

Castille

• Amour (2 parry that can alternatively get your character out of danger while neutralizing an opposing character at the same time, excellent)
• Rapsodia (Only 1 parry, but has an interesting ability and Discovery tag for Pancea)
• Íñigo Rocoso (Any combat card with at least 2 thrust will enable him to run away home, potentially En Garding as well)

Vodacce

• Veronica’s Guile (Only 1-parry, but being able to send the adversary home is excellent, especially if they were relying on additional challenge cards like Move Along. Vodacce opponents, make sure to use your non-engaging challenges first! [generally]. Also a straight up murdering when played by 4-inf Cesca against 0 or dash-inf fighters.)
• The Pressure is On (2-parry, so great. Also an excellent engage effect for decks that actively want to claim locations)
• Angelo (Additional 2-parry that we will come back to below)
• Elisabetta Bonora (Any cards with just parry and exactly 1 thrust become parry outs)
  • (For the Family {3}, Twist of the Arcana {2}, Subtle {3}, Opulence {0} [for you Harold], Appealing to the People {3}, Improvised Weapon {2}, Breastplate {3}, Leverage {3})

RUN AWAY!!!!! HE’S GOT A SWORD
or How I Learned to Love Saying No

Best way to not let your characters die to challenges? Don’t let them get challenged. Move away, engage opposing fighters, put other characters in the way, etc.

(For all of you violence lovers who snuck in to read this section, most of the move effects below can also be used to counter your opponent’s move effects + Predatory Pursuit in Ussura to reeeeallly punish their cowardice…I mean tactical acumen. Also, His Shaggy Majesty Kaiser Schnurrbart.) 

Neutral

• Sea Legs (The incredibly mediocre RPT keeps this card almost entirely for pacifist decks, but reaction speed move is fantastic [call out to Soline]. You can use this if your opponent tries to Pull you to face Yevgeni. Or, if you just want to walk straight through the Forums as part of a rulebook move action [and who could blame you, full of politicians, ugh.])
• Pull (Not only can your opponent use this to pull your humble character to their fighter’s location [even taking you out of your bed at Home!], but you can also Pull their fighter out of position, or Pull your exposed character back into position)
• Paid Off [technically] (An on-cost engage effect, for an opposing merc, if your performer is a Villain or Scoundrel with RPT no one wants. Hard to justify at this point.)
• Hidden Corridors (Run alllllll the way away)
• Come Hither (Same as Pull but more expensive and less restrictive)
• Heroic Intervention (More of a hybrid tool than pacifist but including for completeness, allows your other character to get in the way to protect the one you actually love)
• Lodestone (Incredible. Just incredible. While your character is En Garde, this can let them go home to go back out to any location still En Garde. While your character is engaged, lets you still run away after being dragged into a death trap. One of the best cards in the game, (assuming the unfortunate RPT with dash riposte doesn’t make your gambling consistency too sad).
• Hop On Board (Another more hybridy tool to shift the fight instead of prevention/ending)
• Leverage (A strong engage effect, but against a violence based deck, potentially tricky to use. A Shared Interest and Astute being fun enablers.)
• Until Morale Improves (Engage effect)
• Midnight Shipment (Move effect)
• Marooned (Merc engage or murder effect)

Eisen

• Seek Each Devil (Run away to a hopefully engaged enemy)
• Commanding (More of a fantastic way to remove opposing engaged Influence from a location, but can be used to prevent an expected no-engage challenge from an engaged fighter)
• Cross of the Martyrs (Can redirect a fight to your pariah, mainly Leader Kaspar, but really, we lug it around because Wilhelm likes to throw it at innocent bystanders so he can attack them for desecrating a Holy Relic.)
• Dark Gift (Repeatedly run away or heal [next section])
• Answering the Call (Yes, this card exists, and it can push wounds off onto your hired mercs)
• Last Word (0-cost [with at least a 0-cost ranged weapon attached] move enemy, yeah, good stuff)
• Move Along (Okay fine, I need to do a hybrid specific section after this. The threat of your pacifist challenge probably wouldn’t scare people home engaged)
• Press the Advantage (This can actually be run by pacifists, especially with Phillip in the mix)
• Regroup (“Fair” movement)
• Stratege (Unfair movement, but mainly because it can move from Home and 2 characters at once as a 1-cost. [This gets cut before Regroup though because it isn’t also a 2-parry parry-out…which is more unfair than unfair movement?])
• Daniella Dietrich {Leader} (Take a wound to let one of your Hunters or Zealots finish the fight for you. More of a hybrid effect. Breastplate on Daniella can even negate the wound from your technique. Thank you Jackson!)
• Daniella Dietrich {Approach} (Escape to an adjacent City Location after resolving your RPT and wounds for the round, once per day)
• Schwester Ise (Hybrid, Reaction get a defender [or challenger] to protect her)
• Philip Hase (Run away by equipping an attachment)
• Rena Klingenhalter (Hybrid, bonus intervenes)
• Rosine Friese (An engage that might also send home)
• Through Thick and Thin (Kaspar and Daniella run away together)
• Armed and Marshaled (Engage effect or move home effect)

Ussura

• Ekaterina Ilyanava {leader} (All claim effects [for either player])
  • (Rulebook action, Censure, Astute, Indomitable Will, Strong Hands, Ambitious, Curry Favor, Tomoe Sango)
• Point of Order (Good luck [save it for a parry-out])
• Syrenth Compass (A bit wonky for movement potentially, but solid RPT)
• Blood Like Winter (Requires you to have more Fist at a location where your opponent is trying to challenge you, not necessarily easy, at least for Ekat)
• Matushka’s Command (Just nasty. Juuuuuuuuuuust Nasty.)
• Matushka’s Efficiency (Run and/or be pushed from Danger [or Home])
• Mireli’s Revision (Great defensive tool against particularly nasty combat cards, in case your opponent has the chance to play one, hopefully not)
• Razrushitel (Better for pursuing than fleeing, but certainly can)
• Stubborn (Anti-move to prevent being brought to premeditated murder)
• Solomonia Saboruvya (Can’t be challenged if Forums is uncontrolled)
• Elina Georginova (Run Away)
• Yepikhodov Yepikvidich (Run Away)
• Ekaterina Ilyanava {Approach} (Run Away)
• Valeria Mikhailov (Run Away…into a fight?)
• Kaj Kousei (Move an opposing char)

Montaigne

• Odette Dubois D’Arrent {Leader} (Let those Musketeers do their job and bring one to me)
• You’re Embarring Yourself (Cancel a Merc challenge)
• Status Matters [technically] (Can engage your adversary in a duel, but with only 1 defensive RPT, seems hard to justify)
• Porté Travel (Run Away)
• A Heroic End (Including because it amuses me to [and is legitimately good]. Let your little lamb rip off its coat and sink their teeth into the enemy on their way out. In all honesty though, if this is likely the only damage you are going to do, it isn’t worth running. They can almost certainly get at least 2 block to deny the kill)
• Blood Mark (Run Away)
• Bloody Entrance (Run Away)
• Depose (Seems less of a defensive move)
• Tip the Scales (0-cost Run Away)
• Angeline Dèmone (Movement)
• Sir Jack Harding (Shoo a non-leader to a more appropriate location for them)
• Léontine Giroux (Move self or friend to somewhere else, even Home)
• Bastien Girard (Get a Musketeer into that fight instead)
• Odette Dubois D’Arrent {Approach} (Move someone up to intervene when challenged [or move another challenger to her location when you challenge])
• Diplomatic Envoy (No, you may not challenge my En Garde Diplomats at the Forums, thank you very much)
• Hour of Blood (Move to or from your Sorc)
• Tea and Cakes (T’is a tricky card with a lot of effects)
• Réputation Méritée (Air drop in my protector please)

Castille

• Soline El Gato {Either} (Run Away *cheekily*)
• Taunt (Think Pull)
• Night of Drinking (No)
• Improvising (Probably)
• Drinking Games (My leader can handle more than your [non-Joern] approach character. Or we can gang up to share drinking Yevgeni under the table.)
• Amour (Good for them. Each going to their respective Homes to take cold showers and overthink their mutual attraction, as it should be, am I right?)
• Siesta (Run away home and sleep it off)
• You Cheated! (Soline hybrid card)
• Damya Kahina (Move a friend to you)
• Patricia Moustakas (Can’t be challenged while En Garde at the Docks)
• Sanjay (Approach) Engage effect

Vodacce

• Unyielding Loyalty (Cancel a challenge)
• The Pressure is On (Engage effect)
• For the Family (Engage effect)
• Angelo (0-cost intervener)
• Buratino (1-cost intervener)
• Dante (2-cost intervener or destroy to move friend or foe to his location)
• Alcee (2-cost intervener or destroy to engage friend or foe at her location)
• Bravos (Another Thug intervene or Dante/Alcee)
• Wrath of the Don (Hybrid, engage foe or En Garde your character you wounded)
• Follow the Thread (0-cost Strega move to enemy or available merc)
• Provoking the Pack (Get your thug/bodyguard into position)
• Subtle (Hybrid card to change a duel into inf, tricky to use but great)
• Fate’s Silence (negate some potential bonus like Turais Dall’s ability to En Garde on challenge by taking a wound)
• Mourad (Bonus intervene per day)
• Desideria Colomberia (potential bonus thug intervene per day)
• Don Constanzo Scarpa [approach] (potential bonus thug intervene per day)
• Vittoria Anselmo (free thug from hand intervene)

Parry-Out Boosters and The Anti-Direct-Wound-Healing-Switch?

With 1-parry parry-outs being more reliably countered by new cards, making it harder to keep your characters above the 1-Resolve remaining danger zone, are they even worth still bringing? Mostly no, in my opinion.

However, there are ways to get more juice out of them: +1 parry techniques. I’m undecided on how worthwhile bringing attachments to grant that is worth, but characters that inherently have them are strong.

Alternatively and/or additionally, if the meta ever shifts heavily towards violence with multiple direct wound finisher cards (like Bleed Out), healing effects could fill that hole. Instead of accepting the duel and attempting to 1-parry parry-out and potentially getting hit by a Raise the Stakes, Bravado, Mirelli’s Revision, or Axelle, you just refuse (hope they don’t have Relentless), then brick their finisher with a 1-wound heal. Force them to try to get that second challenge on your wounded character.

Neutral

• Triage (One of my least favorite heals due to the RPT, but 0-cost for Heroes and Scoundrels could be worth it.)
• Tending the Wounded (Solid RPT, but 2 cards to heal one wound is steep. Theoretically you can multi-heal a non-leader, but spending the extra cards to heal past 2 resolve remaining is a bit similar to spending cards to wound a character to 2+ resolve remaining, not particularly worth it.)
• Breastplate (Can function as a repeatable +1 block, but it has 2 major issues. It won’t negate a wound if you refuse, while still being destroyed. If your opponent wounds you directly Cesca/Bleed Out/etc., the breastplate is immediately lost. 2 cards spent for basically no effect. 3/1 RPT on an attachment is solid though)
• Concealed Flintlock (The maneuver allows you to equip this from your dueling line and even get a refund for your 1-fist characters; however, still not worth it for pure pacifist. I’m not a fan of gambling with Pacifism in part because being able to bring horrible RPT cards is one of the perks of playing pacifism. Further, if your deck can’t inflict further wounds, there is no reason your opponent shouldn’t just take the wound to deny you your block. Solid hybrid card though)
• Main Guache (Technically can be +parry if you have 2 or less fin duelist, but better options for that role. More of a 3+ fin violence duelist card)
• Quick Reflexes (The premier anti-wound card. The fact that you can hold this card until your opponent attempts to finish you off is huge. No preemptive healing to save your opponent the trouble of spending a card. Great for fighting decks too with 3 Fin characters)
• Leather Spaulders (Not only can this negate a direct wound each turn, but it also comes with a bonus resolve, double duty. Remember though, no equipping to characters with less than 2 Fin, like Anghos, sorry Diantre! Also, Soline can make this fall off by decreasing your Fin, watch out!)
• Sturdy Shield (+1 parry once per day, assuming your character has at least 2 fist. Bonus +1 parry if you gamble, but I’d rather play my parry-outs safely and securely from hand)
• Shield Rite (Requires your Sorc to be the target and for them to be En Garde. The maneuver and wound reflection make them much more appealing in a hybrid/violence deck.)
• Liberating Goods (Because completeness)

Eisen

• Drachenblut (Beserker/Hunter heal, this is the correct order)
• Second Wind (Heal)
• Kaiser Schnurrbart (+1 Resolve, expensive if you are using it for that goal)
• Cross of the Martyrs (+1 Resolve, assuming you never use its reaction)
• Dark Gift (+1 heal per day, or take a wound to move)
• Kaspar’s Panzerhand (once again, expensive for +1 resolve, but worth running for RPT)
• Fight Through the Pain (Heal if equipped)
• Katain DeWinter (Engage a ranged weapon for +1 parry)

Ussura

• Ekaterina Ilyanava (+1 parry or even +2 parry if artifact equipped to her)
• Matushka’s Song (up to 2 wound heal, potentially for 0)
• Temnota (0-cost +1 Resolve, suck it Eisen!)
• Mireli Sabre (+1 parry attachment for 0, if your character has at least 2 Fin)
• My Fight, Alone (Heal if lonely)
• Miyato and Ota (Can duplicate a +1 parry maneuver [or Matushka’s Song] once per day)
• Pavel Ivanov (+1 parry technique)

Montaigne

• A Fine Addition… (Steal an animal for +1 resolve or any of the other attachments)
• Pompon (+1 Resolve and a once per day +1 parry)
• La Voix Des Sans Voix (Heal)
• Grand Merchant Anghos (+1 parry technique against non-3-inf chars)

Castille

• Robbery (Robbery)
• Night of Drinking (No wound.)
• Improvising (Maybe)
• Siesta (Heal)
• Panacea (Heal)
• “Madre” Dolores (1 wound heal per day, can hit 2 chars by discarding a card)

Vodacce

• Cesca Del Rosso {Leader} (Shift a wound off her or one of her Strega to a non-leader opposing char)
• Twist of the Arcana (Shift the wounds, possibly onto a Danilo Danini supported thug)
• Elena Agnelli (No parry-out sorceries yet though)
• Vissenta Scarpa (+1 parry technique)

Neutral

• Concealed Flintlock (Can grab it from a gamble for only 1 spent card and the fork of +1 block or wound opponent actually matters if the opposer might die)
• Hop on Board (If you can get someone with higher restricted hostilities and/or relevant dueling stats, like a duelist, into the fight you can simultaneously protect your squishy and potentially murder the challenger, or at least throw out wounds)
• Shield Rite (Reflecting a wound matters much more if it finishes off a character or puts you in range to one shot them with a challenge)

Eisen

• Move Along (Sending a character home engaged is great if you are trying to claim the location. So is sending a bonus challenge if you are trying to kill.)
• Schwester Ise (Reaction speed move is excellent for setting up your challenge, or intervene, or Rosine without giving your opponent an Action to interfere. Not necessarily a hybrid specific bonus, just giving the Schwester some love)

Ussura

• Nothing?! There are just a lot of great cards to support both ends of the spectrum specifically, and I want to run all of them.

Montaigne

• La Voix Des Sans Voix (Requires a diplomat and gives a fighter an En Garde)
• A Fine Addition… (Requires a merchant and can swing a weapon to your fighter)
• Odette Dubois D’Arrent {Either} A high influence character that can move protectors to herself. The Faction character is particularly fantastic in this role with Angeline Dèmone, allowing for a free wound going into the intervene
• Sworn Swords (Turns a diplomat engage into a duelist improved challenge)

Castille

• You Cheated! (This card. Oh my god this card. And with Soline! I DON’T APPRECIATE MY FIGHTERS GOING DOWN TO 0-RESTRICTED HOSTITILITIES DAVE! I respect it, but I don’t appreciate it *pout*. *grumbling* makes me wanna run high finesse fighters. But ohhhhh the smirk on my face when I get to Mirelli’s Revision it and kill Rosa. That’s niiiice, keep ‘em coming)
• Passionate (Considered by many to be a terrible card, and … it’s not great. A 1-cost En Garde effect is fair, but attaching it to surviving a duel, trait locking, and subpar RPT that Sanjay can’t buff is a lot. Although the fact that changing just the dash riposte to a 0-riposte would make this quite reasonable in a Sanjay deck is quite telling.)

Vodacce

• Subtle (Having high Inf sorcs help protect each other and your fighters from opposing low inf fighters, when you have additional ways to wound is solid)
• Plans Within Plans (While certainly used quite effectively in Pacifist Domination/Renown decks, En Garding your fighter on a claim seems nice)