Quirks with the Art of War relic

Introduction

The Art of War relic can seem tricky to use.  In most cases, you will want to be aggressive and attack foes, unless you are running a complete Block only deck.

Relic Synergy

• Letter Opener does 5 HP damage to all foes every 3 skills played in a turn.
• Mummified Hand makes a random card in your hand cost zero (0) that turn when you play a power card.  Incredibly useful when playing a long hand.
• Dead Branch [Relic] is provides a random card for every card you exhaust.
• Enchiridion adds a power card into your hand at the start of combat.
• Nilry's Codex lets you choose 1 out of 3 cards to add to your draw pile each turn.  Good for those times that you go beyond one turn.
• Toolbox puts a random colorless card into your hand at the start of combat.

Quirks

• Only Attack cards invalidate the bonus energy.  This means damage from other cards due to actions, such as exhaust, discard, etc., don't invalid the energy you will gain.
• If you end a turn with 1 Energy, it looks like a bug is present in the relic, since it will give you your normal energy + 1 +1.  For a default 3 Energy, that means you end up with 5 Energy versus four (4).

Useful Defect Cards

• All for One - pulls all zero cost cards from the discard pile into your hand
• Creative AI - adds a random power card into your hand
• Heatsinks - draw a bonus card when you play a power
• Machine Learning -- draw a bonus card each turn
• Overclock - draw two bonus cards
• Skim - draw three cards
• White Noise - add a random power into your hand

Useful Colorless Cards

• Chrysalis - add three random skills to draw pile
• Flash of Steel - draw one card
• Jack of All Trades - add a random 1/2 color  cards to your hand each turn
• Magnetism - add a random colorless card into your hand
• Master of Strategy - Draw 3 cards
• Thinking Ahead - Draw two cards, keep one and put one back on the draw pile
• Transmutation - Add X random colorless cards into your hand that cost zero

Useful Silent Cards

• Adrenaline.  Gain +1/2 energy.  Draw 2 cards
• Acrobatics; draw 3 cards, discard 1 cards.
• Backflip -- Draw two cards
• Choke - Does damage and when you play a card, that target takes 3 HP damage.
• Escape Plan.  Draw 1 card
• Expertise.  To refill the hand back to six cards
• Nightmare - Adds three copies into your hand the next turn
• Prepared.  Zero cost and draw 1 card, discard 1 card
• Well Laid Plans -- let's you retain cards (1/2)