Level 20: The hall itself
Playable nowThe building joins in, closing time clears your board, and the chandelier finishes whatever is left.
You can do this now.
The deck
Thirty cards, thirteen of them at two copies each and four at one, plus Ledger outside the draw pile.
Ordinary cards here are Standard, Rare, Epic and Legendary, and Ledger is Epic. All of them are nonexclusive cards, and their costs are in mana.
Some minions are Statues, which a few of the cards here read.
Stocktaking gives one of her minions +1/+1 at the end of every one of her turns, for as long as she has a minion standing.
The wall
The gallery stands behind a level 15 Town Wall: 5 armour, 1 attack, with Reach. It never attacks, it hits back when you attack it, and until it falls it is the only thing your attacks can hit. With Reach it stops your flying minions too.
It works exactly like a Town Wall at a city.
Facing this deck
Two Legendary cards, one copy each: play around them from the first turn and never commit more to the board than you can rebuild. Everything the way down taught you applies at once.
A loss damages your destroyed cards and your deck master. Check their condition before sailing again.
What it drops
4300 wood, 1075 each of stone, glass, coffee and mana, and 1720 gold, if you win.
The deck master
Deck master; 30 life; 0 armour; cannot attack; no mana cost. Stocktaking: at the end of your turn, give a friendly minion +1/+1.
Orla took the collection. Ledger kept the building.
Ledger was the hall's registrar before the ceiling came down and sees no reason the job should end because the roof did. She goes round at the end of every day writing down what is still here and what it is worth now. Being counted by her is oddly strengthening, and nobody who has been counted wants to be the one who leaves.
The 17 cards, 13 at two copies and 4 at one
- Signal LanternEpic
3 mana Location. At the end of your turn: deal 1 damage to the enemy deck master.
Somebody is out there, and they are keeping count.
A lantern hung in the upper window has been answered every night since the collapse. The message is short, the same, and about you. It does not have to be read to be a problem.
- The Whole Collection MovesEpic
5 mana Action. Give every friendly minion +2/+2.
All of it. Now. Together.
The order everybody has been waiting for goes down the line and the hall empties in one movement: statues, crew, mice, cranes, all of it walking out at once. Nobody is carrying more than they can manage, because everybody is carrying something. It is the most organised this place has ever been.
- Second ShiftRare
Word goes round that the sorting floor is working late, and two more sets of small hands arrive at the door. They bring their own lanterns and their own views on lifting. The work goes faster and the biscuits go missing.
Printed, by CathryneDelamort. Click the artwork for its details.
- Archivist of Small PrintRare
The archivist reads everything nobody else does and remembers the clause that settles the argument. She arrives mid-dispute with the page already open. Her colleagues have learned that asking her to stop is itself covered by a clause.
Printed, by CorneliusvonHelsinki. Click the artwork for its details.
- Reading-Room StatueEpic
A statue of a reader has been sitting in the reading room long enough to have got through most of it. She looks up when somebody comes in and back down when it turns out not to matter. Everything she has read is still in there, in stone, unsorted and available.
Printed, by CorneliusvonHelsinki. Click the artwork for its details.
- The Chandelier FallsEpic
4 mana Action. Deal 6 damage to a character.
Everyone said it was only a matter of time.
The great chandelier has hung by three chains since the collapse and by two since the flood. Tonight it settles the question in one downward movement. Whoever was standing under it had been warned by every single person here.
- Ceremonial BearerRare
4 mana Minion, 3/4. Ready.
The procession does not stop for you.
The bearer has a pole on her shoulder, a route in her head and no authority to pause. Whatever is in the way is part of the route now. She has carried this thing through worse than you.
- The Hall ItselfLegendary
9 mana Minion, 6/6. On arrival: deal 2 damage to every enemy minion.
You are standing in her.
The building has been the last thing in the collection all along, and it has finally decided to take part. Floors move, doorways close, and the ceiling comes down wherever it is most useful. There is no outside to retreat to; there is a room with an opinion.
- Condemnation NoticeEpic
A notice nailed to anything large enough to need one declares it unsafe, unsupported and due for removal. Nobody has established who writes them. Everybody has seen what happens to whatever was standing where one went up.
Printed, by CorneliusvonHelsinki. Click the artwork for its details.
- Handcart RelayRare
A chain of handcarts runs from the yard gate to the ramp, and the mice living under them have worked out the timetable. Every trip leaves a cart unattended for exactly long enough. The crew has stopped asking where the extra help comes from and started counting the cargo instead.
Printed, by CathryneDelamort. Click the artwork for its details.
- The Last BellLegendary
7 mana Action. Deal 4 damage to every enemy minion.
The galleries are now closed.
The bell goes, the lamps drop one by one, and everything that is not staff finds out where the doors are. It has rung in this building every night since the roof came off. Nobody has ever had to be asked twice.
- Recall NoticeStandard
A recall notice goes out and everything lent to the galleries comes back, including the parts quietly written off years ago. Somebody arrives at the desk with a crate and an apology. The keeper puts the crate down and stands straighter than she did a moment before.
Printed, by CorneliusvonHelsinki. Click the artwork for its details.
- 1st ed.·StandardCathryneDelamort
She has been holding this up since before you were a plan.
Minion, Statue⚔ 3♥ 5Caryatid on OvertimeStandardA caryatid is still carrying the corner of a ceiling that no longer exists. She has declined every offer of relief on the grounds that the last one lasted a century. Anybody wanting past her is welcome to take the weight first.
Printed, by CathryneDelamort. Click the artwork for its details.
- Stair MarshalEpic
5 mana Minion, 3/3. On arrival: give every friendly minion +1/+1.
Left side going up, and pick your feet up.
A marshal on the stairs sorts a crowd into two streams and moves twice the traffic in half the time. Nobody enjoys being told where to put their feet, and everybody does it. The line behind her moves as though it had been rehearsed.
- Watchman's WhistleRare
The night watch carries a whistle that predates the collection and outranks most of it. Whatever clever thing you were doing stops being clever the moment it sounds. The whistle does not argue; it ends the argument.
Printed, by CorneliusvonHelsinki. Click the artwork for its details.
- Keystone ArchRare
5 mana Minion, 2/6. Guard.
Remove her and see what happens. Go on.
The arch is holding up everything above the door and is aware of it. She permits passage to anybody prepared to take that risk politely. Every crack in her is older than the collapse and none of them have widened.
- Night PorterStandard
2 mana Minion, 2/3
She has a lamp, a list, and your description.
The night porter walks the building after the bell with a lamp and a list of everything that should not be moving. She is unhurried and entirely certain of her route. Being on the list is not the serious part; being crossed off is.
Summoned outside the draw pile
This deck master summons nothing; the mice come from the deck. No copies of it are drawn at this level: Second Shift and Handcart Relay put it on the board.
A mouse lives beneath a salvaged plinth and considers its hollow base her home. She defends it with small, determined bites whenever somebody reaches underneath. Moving the plinth is perfectly acceptable, provided nobody expects her to help or contribute to the rent.
Printed, by CathryneDelamort. Click the artwork for its details.