Maybe this should be Combo of the Month instead of Combo of the Week ;)
Some people may have noticed I gave the Island Peophin a fairly high 4.2/5 rating without fully explaining how it could have earned that score. If you read on, you'll understand what makes the Island Peophin so useful:
This week: Island Peophin + Item (Spyder Bites)
Island Peophin's effect allows you to return an item to your hand anytime you lose a contest. For the most part, since we want to win contests, nobody really cares about the effect. However, there are a couple of circumstances where the effect is quite useful. One is the bouncing stat enhancers (Everlasting Apple, Potion of Strength, Potion of Speed, Faerie Dishwater, Essence of Brain, and Flying Potion). The other idea, losing on purpose, is even more fun:
How it works:
Have the Island Peophin in play. Play Spyder Bites during contests, recover it after losing, plus gain it's bank destruction effect.
Things to consider:
- To make this work almost indefinately, use Maintenance Tunnels so you cannot roll a '6'.
- In order to lose by 10 or more, it's probably best to put Island Peophin in Strength. Usually, opponent's there have the highest stats.
- Another option is to plant a good Villain somewhere for Island Peophin to fight against. Potgatkerchi can be quite useful, as well as Shadow Usul (among many others).
- The whole idea is to keep your opponent's bank clean, whether or not you are gaining points in yours. Don't be afraid to simply run them out of cards.
- For those other pets you have in play, equip them with Island Angelpuss/Kadoaties for even more bank destruction.
- Oh, and Ring of Sloth.
- Try to stay away from too many draw cards. You don't want to deck yourself.
- If you build the deck simply to deck your opponent, don't bother with any items other than what really helps (Spyder Bites, Ring of Sloth, Kauvara's Potion or Scroll of Recall).
Good luck!
~Deke