Harry Potter Card of the Week
with Alex Rockwell

07.24.02  Card of the Week: Photo Album

Well, for this week's card of the week, I want to look at a card that I think is very strong, since it gives you (effectively) extra actions on your turn, at a cheap price.


Photo Album
5C-Item
At the beginning of each of your turns, draw a card.

An extra draw per turn is almost like having an extra action. Its not as good, since you still can't do more on your turn, you merely have more options. Also, you are drawing 2 cards per turn, and it is forced, so it will kill you quicker.

However, the benefit is much greater than the downsides. With one draw and two actions per turn, if you play 2 cars a turn, you will run out of things to play quickly, and be forced to use actions to draw. Also, many of the cards you draw later on in the game are extra lessons, which you don't need, so you'll have to draw again if you want something that you can play. Photo Album effectively makes it so you don't need to spend actions drawing (except very rarely). This means that you can use 2 actions a turn doing real things, like playing creatures and casting spells, not just drawing.

The benefit of Photo Album grows the longer the game goes on, so it's good in a more controlling deck. However, you will need to put some pressure on your opponent, or else, by drawing more than your opponent, you will lose first. Pressuring your opponent shouldn't be much of a problem though if you effectively have more actions and can cast more spells.

I like to play Photo Album in a versatile, creature based deck with disruption (lesson and creature destruction). I find it works great to get you more creatures, more lesson/item destruction spells, and creature killers. That way, you can use your two actions a turn playing 2 spells to destroy what your opponent has done, or play creatures of your own, while your opponent will not be able to counter with two spells every turn, as they need to draw. This will eventually overwhelm your opponent.

I play the following deck, which is an evolution from the Forbidden Corridor deck I posted in my last card of the week, which includes Photo Album.


Professor Minerva McGonagall

13 COMC
10 Charms
4 Borrowed Wand
(27 lessons/lesson items)
4 Marble Gargoyle
4 Doxy
4 Quintaped
1 Cunning Fox
2 Hedwig
(15 creatures)
4 Picking on Neville
3 Switching Spell *(see note below)
4 Forbidden Corridor
4 Bewitched Snowballs
(15 lesson/item/creature destruction)
3 Photo Album
(3 card drawing)

Another card that I like is Griphook, since he can deal lots of damage if your lesson destruction is effective and the opponent has to draw a lot. However, I took him out to make room for other cards.

*The switching spell replaces my lost notes, because it is just so powerful if your opponent plays an item. While it can't kill a lesson, it costs 4, and it can get you an item of your choice. That means you can kill your opponent's wand or cauldron, and then go get YOUR borrowed wand, or if you don't need lessons, a Photo Album.

With a Forbidden Corridor out, the Photo Album is very strong, since you just draw 2 cards and play 2 every turn. One of them can be an extra lesson, and you'll just sacrifice it. Your opponent will be in much more pressure from the corridor, since if e or she plays 2 cards a turn, they will run out of cards and be forced to spend actions drawing, and then they wont be able to play multiple cards a turn. And if you are only playing 1 card a turn, the corridor HURTS.

Another strong point of Photo Album is that if you get it out, it can help you draw more lessons if your opponent is destroying them (or you with corridor). If you go: Turn 1: 2 lessons. Turn 2: Borrowed Wand, Photo Album (a good start). Then, if your opponent plays a Picking on Neville, they have to choose between the album and the wand. If they hit the wand, you will be drawing 2 cards a turn and be better able to restore your lesson count. If they hit your album, then you just saved yourself the borrowed wand, and can cast spells and creatures right away!


Another deck I think Photo Album is very strong in is a Charms/Wand Shop deck. Here, you need to get out lots of lessons to play powerful spells, such as big potions spells like Potions Class Disaster, big charms spells like Obliviate, or big creatures like Hebridian Dragon, Giant Squid or Fluffy. The Photo Album will give you the cards you need to play both lots of lessons and big spells, without having to use lots of actions drawing all the cards you need. Also, your opponent may decide to destroy your photo alum with an item destruction spell, and thus spare your big wand or cauldron.

We could compare Photo Album to Unicorn. Unicorn is an extra action, not an extra draw; however, it costs 6 and a sacrifice of a lesson, which is very hard. If the unicorn gets killed soon, by a Picking on Neville or creature destruction spell, you have lost time, since you lose the lesson. However, if you play a Photo album, and it is immediately destroyed, you lose nothing, since you spent an action and card, and so did your opponent. Also, you probably saved one of your lessons or Borrowed Wand from destruction; from the PONeville or Lost Notes they cast on the Album!

Overall, I think Photo Album is the superior card, and easier to cast.

Thanks for reading this Card of the Week!
Until next time...

Alex