Doctor Who: Worlds Apart Basics — Keywords & Abilities
In this article we will cover what makes each card so unique and different:
- Keywords.
- Abilities.
- A few examples of abilities ranging from simple to complex.
Note that not all Creature cards have an ability or keyword, though.
Keywords
Flight, Armour, EXTERMINATE, Gather Intel, Upper Hand.
These are some of the game’s Keywords, named that way because they are shared across multiple cards and thus it is easier simply to use a single word rather than a whole sentence for each card.
All Keywords are Abilities, not all Abilities are Keywords.
Let’s take a closer look at those 5 to begin with.
Keyword: Flight
Creatures with Flight can only be blocked by other Creatures with Flight, making them exceptionally good if you want to deal as much damage as possible to the opponent’s TARDIS without dealing with their board.
Creatures with Flight can also block Creatures without have Flight.
Keyword: Armour
Armour reduces incoming combat damage taken by the armoured Creature by an amount equal to the number written behind it.
In other words, if your Creature has “Armour: 1” and takes 3 damage from another Creature, 1 damage is subtracted, making the total amount of damage taken 2 instead of 3.
Keyword: EXTERMINATE
This is one of the more unique Keywords in Worlds Apart.
Creatures with this Keyword can’t attack or block manually — instead they automatically EXTERMINATE something at the start of their owner’s turn, specified by the text after the colon.
EXTERMINATE is always related to the Daleks (they just love to EXTERMINATE things), and it is always followed by a classification of exactly what the Dalek will try to EXTERMINATE, or, in other words, attack.
Any Creature attacked in this way also deals its attack damage back to the Dalek.
Keyword: Gather Intel
Gather Intel is an anti-upgrade mechanic; Creatures with this Keyword will remove a random Upgrade from other Creatures it comes into contact with and add that Upgrade to your TARDIS.
In other words, block with your Gater Intel Creatures at the right moment to steal the enemy Creature’s Upgrade for maximum value!
Keyword: Upper Hand.
Creatures with this Keyword have mastered the art of combat to such a degree that they always deal damage to blocked or blocking Creatures before taking damage themselves. This means that Creatures with Upper Hand can potentially destroy the enemy Creature without getting a scratch, even though it had enough Attack Power to destroy your Creature too.
For example, if O blocks the 1/2 UNIT Scientist, the Scientist is destroyed and therefore doesn’t deal its damage back to O.
However, if O blocks the 3/5 UNIT Sergeant, then O’s 4 attack power isn’t enough to destroy the Sergeant in one hit, resulting in O taking the 3 damage from the Sergeant anyway.
When you play the game, each Keyword on the card you’re hovering over will be explained via an info box next to it. There are many more Keywords to cover, but for now let’s move on to Abilities.
Abilities
An Ability is simply “something that a card is able to do other than attacking and blocking.”
Abilities either require manual activation or play out automatically .
For those that require manual activation, you have to choose between being able to attack/block that turn, or use the card’s Ability that turn.
Let’s take a look at a few Passive Abilities:
Both Dalek Thay and Madame Vastra have 1 Keyword and 1 separate Ability written below it, while Ashad just has 2 different Abilities even though “Alacrity” is written in his text.
Here are some examples of Activated Abilities from other card types, some of which require you to spend extra Artron Energy in order to use them.
Cards with more than 1 Activated Ability are great because they usually give you more flexibility to adapt to the situation you’re in, but you can still only activate 1 of that card’s Abilities per turn.
