Yuán Shù 袁术 (SP004)

Translated Description
“The Emperor of Zhong Dynasty 仲家帝 (zhòng jiā dì)”

Who is he?
An overweening ambitious younger brother. A terrible general. An opportunist. An immature politician. Alas, a daydreamer without a happy ending. Born from a noble, rich, powerful and ancient family as the only son of the first wife, Yuán Shù seemed to have nothing to worry about in his life. But even with such little talent, he was arrogant enough. He considered himself as the only right person to conquer the world, that’s why he couldn’t even get along well with his half-brother, Yuan Shao 袁紹. He was always searching for the right opportunity, and he finally found it when Dong Zhuo 董卓 was defeated by Sun Jian 孫坚. The imperial seal (the symbol of the legitimate ruler in China) was in the Sun family’s hand, but Sun Jian was quickly killed and Yuan Shu put Lady Sun under house arrest to force the seal out of  Sun Ce 孫策's hands. After getting the seal, he declared himself emperor under his short-lived Zhong Dynasty in 197, which instantly made him everyone’s enemy.

Why is he an SP character?
Cherry: I honestly don’t know! Because his family name is Yuan? one of the biggest noble families in ancient China? Because he’s Yuan Shao’s younger brother? Because he had such a terrible reputation at that time? Because he is one of the only two characters during the Three Kingdoms period that had absolutely no good titles according to all the Chinese historians? (The other would be Dong Zhuo of course) Or, just because his character abilities are super difficult to translate and to explain in English? But there is at least one thing for sure, that no matter in real history or in the SGS game, he is just an annoying and troublesome guy. Wondering why? Just play and find out yourself!

Ricky: I guess one possible reason is because there are only so few "unlikeable" characters in the story. Like Cherry mentioned, there is the ancient Chinese equivalent of Jabba the Hutt, Dong Zhuo. The only other would be the useless and selfish Yuan Shu. No better way to shame him for all eternity by giving him horrid playability in a card game.

Character ability 1: “Mediocrity 庸肆 (yōng sì)” [Enforced ability]
During your drawing phase, you draw an extra X cards, X being the total number of allegiances still in play. During your discard phase, you must discard at least as many cards as there are allegiances still in play. If you have less cards than there are allegiances, you must discard all of them.

Note: Allegiance here refers to Shu, Wei, Wu, or Heroes.

Character ability 2: “The Pseudo-Emperor 偽帝 (wěi dì)” [Enforced ability]
You possess the ruler ability of the current ruler.

Ability Tips:
1. X, in Yuan Shu’s case, does NOT mean the total amount of players, but number of Allegiance. For example, before your drawing phase starts there are Shu, Wei, Wu and Heroes characters alive, you draw 6 cards (X = 4, so additional 4 cards on top of your normal 2 cards).

2. During your discard phase, if there’s only a Shu, Wei and Heroes left in the game (3 allegiances), you must discard at least 3 cards, BUT you must also discard any number of cards in order to keep your hand equal to or less than your current health units. You can choose to discard your equipped cards.

3. Example: During your discard phase there are 3 allegiances in play, you have 2 equipped cards and 5 on-hand cards, and you have 3 units of health. You can choose to discard your 2 equipped and 1 of your on-hand cards (to match the ability constraint of 3 cards discarded), but you’ll still need to throw away one more card because your total on-hand cards is higher than your current health. Or, you can keep your equipped cards and throw away 3 on-hand cards, reducing your number of on-hand cards to below your current health and complying with the constraint of your ability. Any mix of discarded equipped and on-hand cards is possible, as long as it obeys both the specific ability rule and the game’s general rule.

4. Another example: During your discard phase you have 1 card on-hand and 1 equipped, and there are 3 allegiances left in the game. You need to discard both your cards, which means you would have absolutely NOTHING left.

5. Yuan Shu doesn’t have any RULER ability! (The frame of his card is white, not yellow as the other characters that have ruler abilities.) “The Pseudo-Emperor” is just his ability. If the current ruler has no ruler ability, or you choose Yuan Shu as the ruler, you would have only his first ability. And in any case, you would always be considered as a neutral hero.

6.The ruler ability you have would be exactly the same as the current ruler. For example, the current ruler is Cao Cao 曹操, you can use “Royal Escort 护驾”, which means you can ask any Wei character, including Cao Cao himself, to use DODGE 闪on your behalf when applicable.

Ability's relation to story
His first ability “Mediocrity” represents perfectly his personality but mixed with an overindulgent lifestyle. He is just an ordinary person with little intelligence, but he’s too greedy, always dreaming about the things he cannot handle. Finally, because of his overindulgence, he lost everything including his own life. Although he declared himself as an emperor, he never got recognized even by his own forces. Ironically, he still hasn’t been recognized 1800 years later! In SGS, although he has the ability “The Pseudo-Emperor”, he is still not one of the ruler characters.

Additional info based on story:
1. Most famous achievement – Being arrogant and stupid? Stealing the imperial seal? Declaring himself emperor when the emperor of Han Dynasty was still alive? Fighting against his brother? Making his people poor and starve all the time? Well, I suppose his biggest achievement is having absolutely no achievement. He was nothing but a son from Yuan family, was that fortunate? Or unfortunate?

2. Cause of death - After declaring himself emperor, he was besieged by all the warlords at that time, especially Cao Cao, Liu Bei 刘备 and Lü Bu 吕布. In 199, he gave the imperial seal to his brother Yuan Shao, and tried to seek refuge. Yuan Shao sent his son Yuan Tan 袁谭 to Yuan Shu's rescue, but it was too late, Yuan Shu's forces were destroyed by Liu Bei. Yuan Shu died of grief shortly thereafter.

Wiki Link:
Yuan Shu Wiki


Useful Tips:
1. Always keep in mind that you need to discard more cards than others, so don’t use your cards too indulgently. Otherwise you might find yourself with nothing left after your discard phase.

2. You are the only character in SGS that can discard equipped cards during your discard phase, so make good use of your equipment: choose the proper ones and save the others for your discard phase; if you are injured, don’t forget to throw the equipped Silver Lion Helmet 白銀獅子away to get 1 unit of health back.

How to obtain this character?
Oh he’s one of the most popular characters on SGS online now! (Of course VIP only, or you can just buy it in SGS online market) For obtaining a card, purchase ZYZ magazine issue #5 (May 2011).

Contributing Writer:
- Cherry Cat