Zhōu Yú 周瑜

Translated description:

"Supreme Commander-in-Chief 大都督 (dà dū dū)"

Wikipedia link: Zhou Yu Wiki

Who is he:

Nicknamed "Zhou Yu the Fair" for his good looks, Zhou Yu was the most famous of all Sun Wu 孙吴's advisors. Both a military general and a strategist, he became Sun Quan 孙权's able right-hand man and was the brains behind the battle of Red Cliffs 赤壁之战. Unfortunately for him, Zhu Ge Liang 诸葛亮 is just too incredibly clever. Despite coming up with schemes to rid Zhu Ge Liang, Zhou Yu simply cannot outsmart the unrealistically intelligent Zhu Ge Liang. The story seems to downplay Zhou Yu's achievements and make him seem second class and inferior to Zhu Ge Liang. Yet Zhou Yu's contribution to Cao Cao 曹操's defeat at Red Cliffs is incredibly significant and has guaranteed him a place both in the history books and in semi-fictional accounts of the era.

Character ability 1: "Dashing Hero 英姿 (yīng zī)"

You can draw 1 additional card during your drawing phase.

(This means he can draw 3 cards from the deck instead of 2 at every turn.)

Character ability 2: "Sow Dissension 反间 (fǎn jiàn)"

During the action phase, you can ask any one player to guess a suit (eg: hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades). This player while then have to pick one of your  on-hand cards and show it to everyone. If the selected card has the same suit as that which the player guessed, nothing happens. If it is not the same suit, the player loses one unit of health. Regardless of the result, the player will always get to keep that card which he or she picked. Limited to one use per turn.

Disambiguation:

1. Can a player refuse or use NEGATE 无懈可击 when "Sow Dissension" is directed at him or her?

Ans: No. There is no escaping this ability! The player targeted MUST pick one of Zhou Yu's on-hand cards and keep it.

2. What if the target player only has 1 unit of health left and guessed the wrong suit, but the card picked happens to be PEACH 桃 or WINE 酒? Can this card be used to save himself or herself?

[Updated Feb 2011] Ans: No. The player must be saved from the brink of death first before being able to take possession of the card. 

3. What if the player targeted is using Xiao Qiao and she guesses "hearts", but picked a "spades" card? Does her ability "Youthful Beauty" apply such that the "spade" becomes viewed as a "heart"?

Ans: Yes her ability applies. Thus if Xiao Qiao picks "hearts", she has a far higher chance of escaping damage since both "spades" and "hearts" will save her. This may have been a planned consequence by the game makers since Xiao Qiao and Zhou Yu are a couple.

Ability's relation to story:

Ok although history states that Zhou Yu was a handsome young man, but I don't see why he should get to draw 3 cards for being good-looking. So I'm bullsh*tting any connection this has to the story.

"Sow Dissension" is comes from a significant event leading up to the battle at Red Cliffs, where Cao Cao is tricked by Zhou Yu into executing the only 2 generals with experience at naval combat, Cai Mao 蔡帽 and Zhang Yun 张允. Unfortunately, that too has nothing to do with how the ability is played in the card game.

Additional info based on story:

1. Most famous achievement - Defeating Cao Cao at Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu used a series of ploys to completely fuddle Cao Cao, all of which ran concurrently. These include getting Pang Tong 庞统 to trick Cao Cao into shackling his ships together, getting Huang Gai 黄盖 to feint defection so as to set the ships ablaze, making use of Jiang Gan 将干 to sow dissension between Cao Cao and his navy generals Cai Mao and Zhang Yun.

2. Cause of death - One of the most famous episodes in the story talks about Zhu Ge Liang "frustrating Zhou Yu 3 times". Zhou Yu was completely outwitted by Zhu Ge Liang and loss troops, Sun Quan's sister Sun Shang Xiang, as well as important nodes such as Nan Jun 南郡 and Jing Zhou 荆州. Zhou Yu literally vomited blood and died of frustration. Historical records, however, showed that Zhou Yu died while preparing for a battle, thus rendering the storyline as dramatization.


FAQ and Disambiguation

1. Can Zhou Yu use '' Sow Dissension 反间'' if he has no on hand cards?

Ans: No he cannot. He needs to at least have 1 card in hand to use that ability.


2. What if the target player only has 1 unit of health left and guessed the wrong suit , but the card picked happens to be PEACH 桃 or WINE酒 ? can this card be use to save himself  or herself?

Ans: No. Death is always calculated first. Since the victim takes damage first he does not obtain the card until after someone heals him. Also if he does die from the ability  the card chosen remains with Zhou Yu