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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Jiāng Wéi 姜维

Posted by Ricky Chua On 3:47 PM 20 comments
Translated description:
“The Protégé of the Dragon 龙的衣钵 (lóng dè yī bō)”

Who is he:
He was to be the ultimate general. Said to have the charisma of Liu Bei 刘备, wisdom of Zhuge Liang 诸葛亮 and fighting ability of Zhao Yun 赵云, Jiang Wei was the only remaining hope for Shu in the dying days of the kingdom. Yet, as history would tell us, Shu was the first of the two major powers to be exterminated, what more while Jiang Wei was General-in-chief. What happened? While many would point to the incapable ruler Liu Shan 刘禅 who did not give Jiang Wei the support he needed, Jiang Wei himself was criticized as being reckless and single-minded. Nonetheless, Jiang Wei was a brilliant general that would truly have done Shu a lot of good had he been born 20 years earlier whilst Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei were still in power. Ultimately, Jiang Wei would be forced to surrender to Wei under instruction from Liu Shan, but his fighting spirit and loyalty would not be extinguished! He would go on to plan a grand coup that would have revived Shu, yet he died in the process. What happened? Read on to find out!

Character ability 1: “Taunt 挑衅 (tiǎo xìn)”
During the action phase, you can pick a player that is able to strike you using ATTACK 杀. That player must use an ATTACK on you. If the player does not do so, you can discard one of his/her card. Limited to once per turn.

Character ability 2: “Recommence the Legacy 志继 (zhì jì)” [Awakening ability]
At the start of your turn, if you have no on-hand cards, you must regain 1 unit of health or draw 2 cards, then reduce your maximum health by 1 unit, and permanently acquire the ability “Star Gazing 观星”.

(Note: "Star Gazing" is Elder Zhuge Liang's ability where he can view the top few cards of the deck at the start of his turn)

Ability's relation to story:
Before Jiang Wei became the leading General of Shu, he was under the command of Fei Yi 费祎. Jiang Wei recommended taking up the offensive against the Wei Kingdom like Zhuge Liang once did, but Fei Yi was dead against the idea. Instead Fei Yi sent Jiang Wei to harass the Wei forces numerous times at the border, probably as a reminder that Shu forces are not sitting idle. This is probably the relation to the ability “Taunt”, and the ability mechanics, though simple, seem well-crafted to suit the ability title.

“Recommence the Legacy” refers to Jiang Wei being seen as Zhuge Liang's most able apprentice, then carrying on his work and aspirations after Zhuge Liang's death. In this aspect, the ability mechanics is a perfect fit. After he is "awakened", Jiang Wei actually takes on the ability of Zhuge Liang and can "Star Gaze" to tell the future. In reality, though, Jiang Wei did not seem to inherit Zhuge Liang's god-like abilities. Furthermore, there is actually a gap in the story since Jiang Wei was never actually Zhuge Liang's disciple. Perhaps the actions taken by Jiang Wei to honor Zhuge Liang's wishes earned him that nickname.

Additional info based on story:
1. Most famous achievement - The coup that almost saved Shu Kingdom. Once the incapable Liu Shan 刘禅 surrendered, Jiang Wei was also forced to surrender to Zhong Hui 钟会, the rival of Deng Ai 邓艾. Jiang Wei insidiously suggested to Zhong Hui that animosity be conjured between Deng Ai and the defacto Wei ruler, Sima Zhao 司马昭. The plan was successful initially because Zhong Hui himself was ambitious, albeit deluded, and planned to rule all of Wei. The cunning Jiang Wei sat on the bylines and watched as Zhong Hui forged letters that slandered Deng Ai to Sima Zhao. Eventually, Sima Zhao seemingly fell for the ploy and order Deng Ai be captured and executed.

2. Cause of Death - Killed in the ensuing chaos. Sima Zhao was not as naive as Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei expected. Whilst a force was sent to arrest Deng Ai, another secret force was directed personally by Sima Zhao himself, headed straight for Zhong Hui. Zhong Hui knew that Sima Zhao had seen through his plan and had come to crush any new-found power Zhong Hui had at his disposal. The prudent Jiang Wei quickly advised Zhong Hui to kill all the key officers and stake a rebellion but Zhong Hui was slow to act. Once their own officers knew that Zhong Hui planned to exterminate them, all hell broke loose and in the carnage, both Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei were killed.

Wiki Link:
Jiang Wei Wiki

20 comments:

  1. can he only use his 2nd ability once? or can he continue to heal himself by having no cards in hand each round?

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  2. for his second ability? Does that mean that he wil always lose 1 maximum hp? meaning that he would eventually end up with 1 maximum unit of hp?

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  3. I enjoy how Deng Ai is a counter-pick to Jiang Wei, since Jiang Wei tried to invade Wei 9 times and never really got anywhere with it. Deng Ai was defending the Wei frontier and always found ways to thwart Jiang Wei. Shu meanwhile was exhausted from continuous war and was run into the ground!

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  4. For the "Taunt" ability, can the chosen player use WINE on top of the ATTACK towards Jiang Wei?

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  5. ^ No. Wine can be used to boost the damage dealt by ATTACK only at the attacker's action phase, and limited to once per turn. Since Jiang Wei uses "Taunt" at his own action phase, not the attacker's action phase, using wine is impossible.

    P.S. WINE is used to boost the damage dealt by next ATTACK by 1, not used together with an ATTACK.

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  6. can somebody explain to me why this guy is good?

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  7. 1.He can help his team mate with Taunt ability, where the chosen player purposely not to use Attack, then Jiang Wei can easily discard Acedia or Ration Depletion to help him, not even have to worry being NEGATE.
    2.Star Gazing ability alone is quite useful and powerful.

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  8. ^ "Taunt" cannot discard the time-delay tool cards in someone's pending area (just like Pang De).

    By the way, the usage of Jiang Wei is quite unique. In SGS gameplay, teamwork and strategy are important, and an usual technique is to focus the attack at one character, especially to powerful but defenseless character like Sun Shangxiang and Hua Tuo. Jinag Wei can taunt at one of the enemy's character, possibly attackers like Lu Bu. If they attack Jiang Wei, you waste him/her one ATTACK card. If they do not, you can discard one card from them, including weapons and armours. By doing so, Jiang Wei can disturb a focused attack and protect his teammates.
    Also, Jiang Wei can discard an equipment, so you can discard your teammate's SILVER LION HELMET, or equipments of Sun Shangxiang or Ling Tong (to activate their abilities).

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  9. I think taunt is a quite powerful ability at the latter stage of the game.As players would have less hp left, they probably do not have enough capacity to keep an attack card.

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  10. If the taunted player has an attack card on hand, can he say he doesn't have one and have one of his cards discarded or does he have to use one?

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  11. The target can choose not to use ATTACK and let Jiang Wei discard a card. That is useful if the target is Jiang Wei`s ally, but in other cases it is really better just use this ATTACK on him.

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  12. ^ While the mechanics does that, the translation is slightly misleading. Note this in Taunt's description: "That player must use an ATTACK on you." This implies that the chosen player must use ATTACK if he/she has one and ONLY if he/she cannot will Jiang Wei be able to discard one of his/her cards.

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  13. ^ I am afraid that this is a misinterpretation.

    My original translation is "During the action phase, you can target a player that can use an ATTACK on you. The target player has to use an ATTACK on you, or else you can discard one of his/her card (on-hand or equipped)."

    (If you are expert player of SGS, you may notice that I have misused the word "player", since "characters" and "players" have different meaning, and I didn't notice that when I translated the Hills Pack)

    Both "Taunt" and DURESS use the Chinese character of 需, which means "need to, has to". It does not mean "must", so the target character can refuse to use an ATTACK even if he/she has ATTACK.

    P.S. For your reference, the new description of Jiang Wei becomes "During your action phase, you may target a character whom you are in his/her attack range. He has to make a choice between: using an ATTACK on you, or allowing you to discard one of his/her cards. Limited to once per phase." (The word "his/her cards" implies his/her on-hand cards and equipped cards)

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  14. can jiangwei discard acadia card?

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  15. Nope. The card states it must be one of the targets cards (look for the 的), this implies it must be a card owned by the target of which time delay tool cards are not.

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  16. When Jiang Wei uses his first ability, does he need to play a dodge as well or is that attack damage-free?

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  17. ^ He needs to play a DODGE. If he taunts Lu Bu, he needs to play two DODGEs. Note that Huang Zhong's ability only activates during the action phase, so you can still DODGE if you taunts Huang Zhong.

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  18. Can you use 'Star gazing' on the same turn as Jiang Wei awakens?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, but if you choose to draw two cards instead of recovering health, the two cards are drawn before 'Star Gazing' goes into effect.

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