Type: Hex Power
Effect Text: Choose any King on the field; set it aside until the start of the next round.
Flavor Text: War is not a river, or a lake, but an ocean of all that is evil.
Flavor Source: Gustavus Adolphus
Artwork: Battle of Lutzen by Carl Wahlbom (1855)
Strategy:
Demise can either be used to (1) disrupt your opponent’s King to help you win the current round, (2) bluff with your own King, only to utilize it in the next round, or (3) counter an opponent’s bluff if you’ve overcommitted resources this round (by saving your King for next round). Remember that when the set aside King returns to the field, its unique power is not repeated, but it still doubles the row it was originally played in.
About the card:
This card depicts the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden and one of the main figures in the Thirty Years War (see also Lion King), at the Battle of Lutzen. This battle occurred two years after Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years War and led to the middling result for the Swedish Crown. After Gustavus's death many of Sweden's German allies began to fight battles in pursuit of their individual territorial goals rather of focusing on winning the war in totality.
Sweden lost its central role in the alliance and France became the alliance's senior partner and many of the war's religious aspects would be sidelined (see also Minister). Sweden's new High Chancellor and military commander, Axel Oxenstierna, would not reach the same military heights as Gustavus had, despite being a much more skilled diplomat and administrator.
