Prophecy Strategy

Prophecy is a very easy game to play. On each turn, you just draw a card and then play any card in your hand (that is playable), or you ask an opponent for a card. It is kind of an enhanced Go Fish. However, determining which is the best card to play is not always as straightforward as it seems.

When you play an online game against the computer, the Java program is written to select the best card to play. I am constantly changing this part of the program. When you leave the hints on, then the recommended card to play is the same one that the computer would play if it had your hand. However, that doesn’t mean that the recommended card is really the very best card to play. It is just my best guess based on my experience. In fact, the following recommendations actually deviate slightly from the Java program in some cases and significantly in other cases. So here are my recommendations based on my experience.

  • Always play a Double Measure Card first. This card gives you 2 turns in a row. Each turn you have gives you an advantage.
  • If you have a Prophecy or Fulfillment card in your hand that matches one already played on one of your Prophets, then play it. This will give you a match and also another turn.
  • If you have a Prophecy card in your hand that matches a Fulfillment card in your hand for one of your Prophets, then consider playing one of the cards on this turn, and the other one on the next turn. You would make a match on your next turn. Of course, this would leave your Prophet exposed for one turn. If your Prophet is already well protected by Guardian Angels, then this is always a good move. If your Prophet is not very well protected, then perhaps you might take a turn or two to play some Guardian Angels (if you have any) on your Prophet first.
  • If your Prophet is weak (turned over), then consider playing a Guardian Angel or Warrior Angel to Strengthen him. It is much more advisable to play a Guardian Angel, but if you don’t have one, a Warrior Angel would do the trick. This can be very beneficial if you have matching Prophecy and Fulfillment cards on the Prophet but have been unable to make the match due to the Prophet being weak. In this case, you could play the Angel card and then make a match! The Guardian Angels that help you in this case are God’s Mercy, Joy, and Strength. The Warrior Angel that helps you in this case is Strength.
  • If your Prophet is discouraged (has some cards turned over), then consider playing a Guardian Angel or Warrior Angel to Encourage him. It is much more advisable to play a Guardian Angel, but if you don’t have one, a Warrior Angel would do the trick. This can be very beneficial if you have matching Prophecy and Fulfillment cards on the Prophet but have been unable to make the match due to one or more of the cards being turned upside down In this case, you could play the Angel card and then make a match! The Guardian Angels that help you in this case are God’s Mercy, Joy, and Encourage. The Warrior Angel that helps you in this case is Encourage.
  • You win the game by matching Prophecy and Fulfillment cards on a Prophet. Therefore, the more Prophets you have, the more chances you have to win. I would recommend playing the Demon Wanderlust next to take one of your opponent’s Prophets. This has the added benefit of giving your opponent less Prophets and a less chance to win. I would play this card early and not wait. Otherwise your opponent might protect his Prophet with a Guardian Angel against Wanderlust and you will lose your opportunity. Of course, your opponent might be able to block this with the Warrior Angel Peace. Also, you could always lose the Prophet back to an opponent by another Wanderlust card, a Sabbath Rest card, or a Jubilee card.
  • Speaking of Jubilee cards, if you have lost a Prophet or two due to Wanderlust and you want him (them) back, then play the Jubilee card. Make sure the results are what you expect. If you have taken an Opponent’s Prophet with a Wanderlust card, and then you play the Jubilee card, then the Prophet will return home to your opponent. Since your opponent cannot block a Jubilee card, then it might be best to wait for your opponent to protect the Prophet with Guardian Angels before getting him back.
  • Another way to get a Prophet back who has wandered away is by playing the Sab
    bath Rest card. This can be played on one Prophet only and is a great card to have. Like the Jubilee card, it might sometimes be best to wait until your opponent has protected the Prophet with some Guardian Angel cards first before you bring him back with the Sabbath Rest card.
  • The next best thing to do is to protect your Prophet with Guardian Angels. This is very important and is actually among the first things that you should do in a game. Here is the order of Guardian Angels that you should play. Of course, it all depends on which ones that you are dealt with and which ones that you draw:
  • Mercy: This protects the Prophet from being attacked and from wanderlust. Use this one as soon as possible. Note that even if a Prophet is protected by this Guardian Angel, if he is discouraged by a demon (where all of the attached cards are turned faced down), then he will lost the protection of this Guardian Angel until he is encourage by another Guardian Angel or a Warrior Angel.
  • Peace: This protects the Prophet from wanderlust. You don’t want to lose your Prophets.
  • God’s Mercy: This protects the Prophet from being attacked, weakened, and discouraged. If you can put this one on a Prophet along with a Guardian Angel Peace (see above), then the Prophet is fully protected from all demon attacks!
  • Protect: This protects the Prophet from being attacked. When a Prophet is attacked, all of his attached cards (including Guardian Angels) are reshuffled into the deck.
  • Joy: This protects the Prophet from being weakened and discouraged.
  • Strength: This protects the Prophet from being weakened.
  • Encourage: This protects the Prophet from being discouraged. When a prophet is discouraged, his attached cards are turned face down.
  • If you don’t have a Guardian Angel to play, then consider next playing a demon card to slow your opponent down. You can play a demon when your opponent’s Prophet is not protected by a Guardian Angel against that demon. Of course, your opponent might have a Warrior Angel to play against the demon. The best demon to play is Wanderlust, as mentioned before. Here are the other demons to play in the best order.
  • Attack: All of the attached cards of the Prophet (including Guardian Angels) are removed from the Prophet and reshuffled into the deck. This will really slow him down!
  • Weaken: This demon card turns the Prophet face down and he is unable to make prophecies. Your opponent can keep attaching cards to the Prophet, but cannot make any matches until the Prophet is strengthened by a Guardian or Warrior Angel.
  • Discourage: This demon card turns the attached cards of the Prophet face down. Sometimes this can be a great card to play. For instance, your opponent might have a Prophet that is protected against Wanderlust. On one turn, you can discourage the Prophet (and he loses the Guardian Angel protection), and the next turn you can play the Wanderlust card and take the Prophet.
  • If you have a Prophet in your hand, I would recommend it as the next card that you play. Playing a Prophet certainly gives you more opportunities to fulfill prophecies. However, the more Prophets that you have, the more Prophets that you need to protect with Guardian Angels. Of course, playing a Prophet card this far down is only my opinion. It could be good to make this the first card you play because it gives you more opportunities to win the game.
  • The special card God’s Call can certainly be useful because your opponent must give you all cards that he has in his hand for that Prophet.
  • Finally, there are the actual Prophecy and Fulfillment cards for each Prophet. These are ultimately the most important cards in the game (along with the Prophet card itself) because they are used to win the game. What I am going to say deviates significantly from the way the game works right now, as far as which card the computer would play on it’s turn or would recommend for you to play. I would not recommend playing any of these cards unless your Prophet is well protected by Guardian Angels. By playing these cards on an unprotected Prophet, you expose them to be removed from the Prophet (by an attack demon) or turned face down (by a discourage demon). They are safest in your hand and should only be played when needed to make a match or on a well protected Prophet. Therefore, you should leave these cards in your hand, and ask the computer for a card for one of your Prophets. Of course, I would still recommend playing any of the other cards first if you have them (Guardian Angels, demons, etc.). However, there are times that you don’t have any of those cards to play and just have Prophecy and Fulfillment cards in your hand. In this case, don’t play them, but ask your opponent for a card. If you receive a card that matches one in your hand, then on your next turn you can play the matching card and make a match. I know that in this game, the temptation will be there to play these Prophecy and Fulfillment cards on your Prophets, but just remember that there are 4 Attack demons in the game and 4 Discourage demons in the game. Also, what if you played several of these cards on a Prophet and then your Prophet was stolen with a Wanderlust demon? You would actually be helping your opponent!

Prophecy is a game that is easy to play, but has a lot of strategy. On each turn, you draw a card, and then you either play a card in your hand or ask your opponent for a card for one of your Prophets. Of course, if your opponent asks you for a card for one of his Prophets, then if possible try not to give him a card that gives him a match.

If you play the online Java version of Prophecy against the computer, consider turning off the hints button and coming up with your own strategy to help you win the game!