So, I hope you’re “prepared”.
Scar is not the easiest to win with. His goal is vanquishing Heroes, but unlike similar goals, he has to defeat a set amount of them, and he has to start his turn with the win condition in place, which is a lot harder to hold onto than, say, Hook or Yzma.
You need 15 strength in your Succession Pile. What this means is you’ll need at least four Heroes defeated before you can win. The first card in the pile must be Mufasa, who is 6 strength; that’s 9 nine left, and the bare minimum there is either Simba, Timon and Zazu (5, 2 and 2), or any combination of Sarabi, Nala, Pumbaa and Rafiki, which have 3 strength each.
So, where does the trouble for Scar really begin? Rafiki, and Hakuna Matata, that’s where.
For clarification, Rafiki is a Hero with 3 strength, and he must be defeated before any other Hero. Hakuna Matata is an effect that takes Heroes of strength 3 or less out of the Succession pile or, failing that, moves a Hero in the Realm. There are 3 Hakuna Matatas in the Fate deck.
That doesn’t sound like too much, but in a 15 card deck, that’s a whole 5th of your deck!
Remember how I said that you need at least 4 cards in your Succession Pile to win? That means, at best, your Fate deck is now only 11 cards when you’re on the verge of winning. Even less if you’ve got Heroes and Items on the board. Now you’ve got over a quarter of your Fate deck ready to rip your victory away.
Even worse, it’s gonna keep Rafiki on your board.
Once you’ve got your Succession Pile up and running, defeating Rafiki puts him in said Pile. Hakuna Matata can bring him back out, and with the Effect’s high density in the Fate Deck, you can easily get caught in a cycle of defeating Rafiki, only for your opponents bring him back out again.
Now, if I were to go in and actually tweak the game, I would consider a couple of options. Bringing Rafiki to 4 strength would stop this incessant bouncing, but would mean that Scar can secure three cards in the Succession pile for a win, and no way of preventing that, so that’s probably not a good idea.
Maybe Rafiki’s power only effects Heroes strength 5 or more, so that he’s still horrible early on, but once Simba and Mufasa are in the pile, his power doesn’t keep you in a stalemate. Maybe you take out one of the Hakuna Matatas and replace it with a different effect. An Idea for THAT would be “Remember Who You Are”, an effect that takes away Scar’s power for eachHero in his Succession Pile, or something else more thought through than that.
Of course, that’s just wishful thinking now. From here on out, I will be suggesting ways to optimise your Scar plays. They’re not very intuitive, which is what makes him easier only to Ursula to win with, but these strategies are still there, and there are probably more to discover!
1. Keep your Allies spread out
Yeah, Mufasa and Simba are strong, and Prophecy is a massive strength boost. The Hungry Hyenas do get bonkers strong when all in one spot. But building up in the wrong spot is be devastating, and will make you a little too reliant on two Feeding Frenzies.
Ignoring Mufasa and Prophecy, all Heroes can be vanquished by any two allies (except if the location only has a Hungry Hyena and a Stampede), Including Simba when at Zazu’s location. Once Mufasa is gone, You can easily dispatch heroes quickly by having your options covered. It can also be very handy to keep a hyena in the Gorge, for reasons I’ll discuss later.
If you really need to gather your Allies up, Feeding Frenzy will solve that problem, and the Move Ally/Item spot suddenly becomes a lot more helpful, too. Move a third Hungry Hyena into a spot and BLAM, 9 strength to relive my favourite Lion King moment: Telling Simba it’s his fault that his Father died. (I’m kidding!!!! … or am I?)
This is not to say that the “Killing Field” strategy I so often see suggested has not viability, but it is a very rigid strategy and can make it hard to adapt to certain Fate options.
2. Keep your opponent(s) from Fating effectively
When you’re on the verge of winning in a three player game, both opponents fating you in a row will draw four cards from your (at best), 11 card Fate deck. In this late game, holding onto Injustice can be cructial.
Keep an eye on your Fate discard pile, it may be worth playing Long Live the King to get rid of 2 or even 3 Hakuna Matatas. Withh great luck and timing, you could even reshuffle your deck, giving your opponents 7 or 8 Haku-nuh Matnuh-uhs to draw.
Every Hero has access to a top row Fate Action and a bottom row Fate action. When Fating your opponents, covering their top row Fate action, will make it a little harder for them to bombard you with Fates, further securing that win.
3. Stick With Me, and you’ll Stampede through your Vanquishes
With a Stampede, you can perform two vanquishes on one turn, unless you’re at the Savannah. A Stampede gives you a bonus Vanquish action, leaving you free to use the Vanquish at the Gorge. Stick With Me allows for you to do this second Vanquish too, as long as there is a Hyena at the Gorge.
This double Vanquish is a reliable way to stop the Rafiki stalemate, and to remove the stick and the Ally in one fell swoop. Stampede can be a little finicky to pull off, but remember that you can do both in either order, so plot wisely.
4. Is Zazu really a Hero?
Zazu gives a -2 strength to Heroes at his spot, With a decent spread, the +1 to Heroes NOT at his location shouldn’t be too much of a bother, but the -2 makes Timon without Pumbaa with a free Vanquish, and the 3 strength Heroes weak enough for a lone hungry Hyena.
Remember, the Hero you move with the Stampede doesn’t have to be the Hero you Vanquish, as long as there is another Hero in their location. Moving Zazu to other Heroes this way can let you pick up some incredibly cheap Vanquishes.
If you’re struggling for that, however, feel free to defeat him yourself. If he’s sent to the discard pile, a Whisper or a well timed Long Live the King will get him back out and into the most valuable spot. If he goes to the Succession Pile, that’s still 2 strength closer to victory. If you’re in want of his ability, Whisper and target one of those painful Hakuna Matatas, and use them to you advantage for once!
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Well. I hope that was helpful! Keep in mind there are others who are much more experienced with the character than I am, so these strategies may need a great deal of improvement. At the very least, I’m sure they’ll get you thinking! Scar can be as grinding and unfun as Ursula sometimes, but nowhere near as constant, and is avoidable with experience!
I’m sure I won’t keep up this one-a-day pace forever, but it’s nice to be able to build up a foundation. Check out my post on Ursula, if you haven’t already. Next time, I’m gonna tackle Evil Queen.
Thanks for reading,
Madness Hattzer
Disney Villainous: Simply Atrocious 