Vigilance
Kongming's predecessor helped Liu Bei win the battle of Fancheng by recognizing and defeating Cao Ren's use of the dreaded "Eight Gold Locks" formation.
Cast this spell only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
Destroy target attacking creature.
Target opponent skips all combat phases of their next turn.
Out of time and options, Kongming was forced to bluff at Xicheng. He tricked an army of 150,000 Wei by leaving the city gates open and calmly playing the zither.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
"All warfare is based on deception."
—Sun Tzu, Art of War (trans. Giles)
Whenever this creature attacks, you may tap target creature.
Following the battle of Redcliffs, both Liu Bei and Sun Quan coveted the province of Jingzhou. After Sun Quan's troops failed to capture it, Liu Bei's succeeded.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
When Guan Yu is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may shuffle Guan Yu into your library.
Destroy all tapped creatures.
"He [Guan Yu] covered the ground on a thousand-li horse; / With dragon blade he took each pass by force."
Huang Zhong can't be blocked by more than one creature.
"Virile in war, he kept the north in fear; His prodigies subdued the western sphere."
Other creatures you control get +1/+1.
"Such a lord as this—all virtues' height—Had never been, nor ever was again."
: This creature deals 2 damage to target attacking creature. Activate only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Liu Bei gets +2/+2 as long as you control a permanent named Guan Yu, Sainted Warrior or a permanent named Zhang Fei, Fierce Warrior.
"Only wisdom and virtue can truly win men's devotion."
—Liu Bei
Sacrifice this creature: Return target legendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
Destroy target creature. Its owner gains 4 life.
The mourning families of commanders and generals were often given land, valuables, or money to compensate for their losses.
: Target creature gets +0/+2 until end of turn. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
". . . It was Pang Tong's boat-connecting scheme That let Zhou Yu accomplish his great deed."
You gain 2 life for each creature you control.
"We three, though of separate ancestry, join in brotherhood . . . . We dare not hope to be together always but hereby vow to die the selfsame day."
—Peach Garden Oath
Cast this spell only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
Untap all creatures you control.
Destroy all lands.
"Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed. Lean years follow in the wake of a great war."
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (trans. Feng and English)
Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains horsemanship until end of turn. (It can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
One of the greatest steeds in the empire, Red Hare could travel a thousand li a day and climb hills as if running on flat ground.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
In establishing the Shu kingdom, Liu Bei's forces fought against Ma Chao at Chengdu. Eventually, Ma Chao surrendered and became one of Liu Bei's Tiger Generals.
Whenever this creature blocks, it gets +0/+2 until end of turn.
Confronting Cao Cao's army at Steepslope Bridge, Zhang Fei bellowed, "I am Zhang Fei of Yan! Who dares fight me to the death?" Cao Cao's army cowered and fled.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Throughout the three kingdoms, important generals were often guarded by small groups of expert soldiers known as "elite companions."
Kongming's first campaign against the Wei kingdom was a rousing success until an arrogant Shu general, Ma Su, foolishly lost the city of Jieting.
: You gain 1 life. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
"The common folk are ceaselessly active. The fields are fertile and the soil productive, and neither flood nor drought plagues us."
—A Shu diplomat
Liu Bei lost many men at the battle of Runan because of his lack of strategy. It wasn't until he met Kongming that he began to truly succeed as a leader.
Vigilance; horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
When this creature enters, you gain 2 life.
Keeping a million-man army fed was no easy task. Grain and rice caravans were the lifeblood of the empire.
When this creature enters, you gain 4 life.
During Kongming's campaigns against the Wei, his Shu troops rotated from the battlefront to the fields every hundred days.
Destroy target tapped creature.
"Until I've gnawed their flesh and exterminated their clans, my humiliation will not be effaced."
—Liu Bei, on the death of his oath-brother Guan Yu
Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
"The empire belongs to no one man but to all in the empire. He who has virtue shall possess it."
After making the Peach Garden Oath, the three brothers raised an army of 500 youths to fight the Yellow Scarves rebellion.
Cast this spell only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Vigilance; horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Zhang Fei's uncharacteristic alliance with a defeated Riverlands general, Yan Yan, allowed Shu forces to advance through forty-five Riverlands strongpoints with no casualties.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Whenever Zhao Zilong blocks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Zhao Zilong was a brave and noble warrior. Twice he rescued Liu Bei's son, Liu Shan.
If target opponent has more cards in hand than you, draw cards equal to the difference.
Draw a card for each tapped creature target opponent controls.
Kongming and Lu Su tricked Wei troops into shooting over 100,000 arrows at them to later use against the Wei at Red Cliffs.
Draw three cards.
At Red Cliffs, Kongming and Zhou Yu each wrote his plan for defeating the Wei on the palm of his hand. They laughed as they both revealed the same word, "Fire."
Tap one or two target creatures without horsemanship.
Using nature to their advantage, wise Three Kingdoms generals often let dammed rivers loose to destroy their enemies.
Take an extra turn after this one.
The province of Jingzhou was the fulcrum of the three kingdoms. At separate times it was coveted and controlled by the Wu, the Shu, and the Wei.
Cast this spell only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
Return target attacking creature to its owner's hand.
When this creature enters, draw a card.
Sun Quan's long and successful rule in the years 199 to 251 was due to his ability to choose and foster talented advisors and generals.
Return one or two target creatures to their owners' hands.
Before the battle of Red Cliffs, a supposedly sleeping Zhou Yu allowed his old friend, a Wei advisor, to steal a planted letter forged as if from Wei's two best admirals.
Creatures and lands target opponent controls don't untap during their next untap step.
Starving and worn, Cao Cao escaped from the battle of Red Cliffs with only 27 of his original 800,000 men.
Counter target sorcery spell.
Put target creature on top of its owner's library.
"Leadership, not numbers, determines victory."
—A Wu commander, before his 5,000 troops forced 15,000 Wei troops to retreat from Ruxu
: Return Lady Sun and another target creature to their owners' hands. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
Sister to Sun Quan and wife to Liu Bei, Lady Sun often felt her loyalty to both tested.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
As the Wu chief commander, Lu Meng conquered Shu-held Jingzhou in 219 by disguising soldiers as merchants on boats filled with hiding troops.
: Draw a card. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
Lu Su served as an intermediary between the Wu and Shu kingdoms until Zhou Yu's death in 210, when he became Wu's supreme commander.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Whenever Lu Xun deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
Counter target creature or sorcery spell.
Counter target creature spell.
This creature can't attack unless defending player controls an Island.
By the battle of Red Cliffs in the year 208, the Wu kingdom controlled more than 7,000 warships on the Yangtze.
Return target sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know."
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
(trans. Feng and English)
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
"Plans evolved within the tent decide a victory 1,000 li away."
The overnight appearance of miles of "armed" Wu forts at Guangling frightened a much vaster Wei force into fleeing for their lives.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
When Sun Ce enters, you may return target creature to its owner's hand.
Creatures you control have horsemanship. (They can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
"One score and four he reigned, the Southland king: / A dragon coiled, a tiger poised below the mighty Yangtze."
This creature gets +1/+1 as long as an opponent controls an Island.
The Wu kingdom's well-trained admirals were integral to the Southlands' victory at Red Cliffs as well as the kingdom's defense.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
At the second battle of Ruxu, the brave Wu general Gan Ning raided Cao Cao's camp of 400,000 men with only 100 cavalry. Not a single man or horse was lost.
The first battle of Hefei was Sun Quan's last as a field general. From then on he let his generals command in the field while he directed battle from behind the front lines.
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
A cunning strategist, Cao Ren tricked Zhou Yu by letting him enter Nanjun. Zhou Yu thought he was capturing the city until Cao Ren's arrows rained down upon him.