Type: Hex Power
Effect Text: At the end of the round, double the strength of your opponent's strongest row. At the end of the next round, double your strongest row.
Flavor Text: "More weight!" His captors hoisted another stone onto his buckling ribs. "More weight!"
Flavor Source: Giles Corey
Artwork: Atlas holding up the celestial globe by Guercino (1646)
Strategy:
Burden is essentially a loan; make your opponent more powerful now, for the promise of becoming more powerful yourself in the next round. The key to using it effectively is to reduce the cost of this loan by either (1) playing it when your opponent is extremely weak, and so you can win the current round despite Burden, or (2) you are going to throw (lose) the current round anyway. Regardless of which strategy you take, you’ll want to play this card late in the round so that your opponent can’t capitalize on this unexpected gift.
About the card:
This painting depicts the Titan Atlas of Greek mythology, condemned by Zeus to hold the heavens on his shoulders for all eternity because of his part in leading the Titans against the gods of Olympus. Atlas was considered to be the father of many constellations, the founder of astronomy, and his name was given to the Atlantic ocean.
The painting was one of a pair commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici as a posthumous tribute to Galileo Galilei (see also Telescope).
Words uttered by Giles Corey in 1692 as he was being pressed to death with stones after refusing to stand trial for witchcraft. Caught up in the infamous Salem Witch Trials, Corey is the only person in the United States to be pressed to death, a sentence which was illegal even at the time (see also Execution).
