Yzma

"Our moment of triumph approaches!"

Yzma is one of three playable Villains in the Villainous expansion, Evil Comes Prepared. She is from the movie The Emperor's New Groove, released in 2000, in which she is voiced by Eartha Kitt and animated by Dale Baer. She is illustrated in the game by Lucas Torquato.

Yzma has a unique setup for her Fate deck: at the start of the game, it is dealt into four different Fate decks, one for each location, placed above its corresponding location (with room to spare to place Heroes). When another player takes a Fate action against her, they choose one of her four Fate decks, look at all of the cards in it, then secretly choose one of them to play, shuffle and return the rest, then finally play the chosen card to the location under the Fate deck it came from. If none of the cards can be played, all of them are returned. If a location's Fate deck is empty, that location cannot be chosen for a Fate action. Yzma still has a single Fate discard pile; if a Fate action is taken against her and all of her Fate decks are empty, her Fate discard pile is shuffled and dealt into four Fate decks again.

Objective

Yzma must find Kuzco in her four Fate decks and play him. She must play Kronk, keep him on her side, and use him to defeat Kuzco. As Kronk does not have enough Strength on his own to defeat Kuzco, Yzma will also need to either attach the Dagger to Kronk, or have an Imperial Guards at his location.

Realm

Yzma's mover.

Yzma's Realm contains the following locations, from left to right:

• The Palace
  • Gain 2 Power | Move an Item or Ally
  • Vanquish | Play a Card
• Pacha's House
  • Play a Card | Gain 1 Power
  • Move an Item or Ally | Fate
• The Jungle
  • Play a Card | Discard Cards
  • Gain 3 Power | Play a Card
• Mudka's Meat Hut
  • Gain 1 Power | Fate
  • Discard Cards | Play a Card

Villain deck

Yzma's Villain deck card back.

The following cards are in Yzma's Villain deck:

• After Them! (×3)
• Eavesdrop (×3)
• Imperial Guards (×3)
• Smash It with a Hammer (×3)
• A Cruel Irony (×2)
• Beauty Sleep (×2)
• Fake Funeral (×2)
• Ferocity (×2)
• Finish the Job (×2)
• Right-Hand Man (×2)
• Superiority (×2)
• The Path That Rocks (×2)
• Dagger
• Kronk

These include 4 total Allies (Imperial Guards; Kronk), 4 total Conditions (Ferocity; Superiority), 21 total Effects (After Them!; Eavesdrop; Smash It with a Hammer; A Cruel Irony; Beauty Sleep; Fake Funeral; Finish the Job; Right-Hand Man; The Path That Rocks), and 1 Item (Dagger).

Card Gallery

3 Copies:

2 Copies:

1 Copy:

Fate deck

Yzma's Fate deck card back.

The following cards are in Yzma's Fate deck:

• Beware the Groove (×3)
• Peasant (×2)
• The Path of Righteousness (×2)
• Wrong Lever (×2)
• Bucky
• Chaca
• Chicha
• Kuzco
• On the Run
• Pacha
• Tipo

These include 8 total Effects (Beware the Groove; The Path of Righteousness; Wrong Lever; On the Run) and 8 total Heroes (Peasant; Bucky; Chaca; Chicha; Kuzco; Pacha; Tipo).

Card Gallery

3 Copies:

2 Copies:

1 Copy:

Strategy

Lord of the Board's strategy video.

Yzma is a relatively strong Villain. It's quite easy for her to sneak a win, if she can find Kuzco and Kronk quickly.

Speaking of, Yzma has two tasks:

1. Find and play Kuzco.
2. Find and play Kronk.

For 1., you should be playing Eavesdrop and Smash It with a Hammer at every opportunity. If you find Chaca, Tipo or On the Run in a pile, Smash It to try to get rid of them, otherwise smash a pile you haven't checked yet to whittle away your unknowns. Once you've found Kuzco, you'll need a copy of After Them! to play, but you'll want to hold off on that until you've found Kronk.

For 2., all you can really do is Discard Cards until you find either Kronk himself, or a copy of Right-Hand Man. Early on, ditch anything except the three Fate-checking cards, A Cruel Irony (to replay said cards), Dagger (for later), and Superiority. Imperial Guards and Fake Funeral can either be played or discarded, as opportunity allows.

Once you've found both of your targets, you'll want to play Kronk to Kuzco's location, then move to The Palace so you can play After Them!, then Vanquish. Since Kuzco has one more Strength than Kronk, you'll either need to also play Dagger on Kronk, or preplay an Imperial Guards. If neither Chaca nor Tipo are out, you win the game!

It can be tempting to play Kronk as soon as you find him, as he is an excellent Ally. However, playing him early leaves him vulnerable to The Path of Righteousness, and he'll also most likely need to be moved to Kuzco's location when he is found. If you need Kronk's Hero-defeating powers early, a good compromise location is Pacha's House, as you should Smash Mudka's Meat Hut quickly to keep your top-row Fate action clear. If you use Kronk to clear out Heroes before Kuzco is found, make sure you have a copy of The Path That Rocks handy to deal with his Power.

As you get into your late game, hold on to your Conditions. Ferocity can get rid of Chaca or Tipo, and Superiority can either force a player to pull out Kuzco for you, or prevent them from pulling out either On the Run or one of the children.

Beauty Sleep is an odd card. It is often discard fodder, but if your board is swamped with Heroes, or moving Kronk instead of Kuzco would turn him into a Hero, it can be worth it.

Both playing as and playing against Yzma requires an abnormal amount of guessing and bluffing. If using Peasant or Beware the Groove to shuffle back in Chaca or Tipo, you can take the opportunity to play a mind game - Yzma may think that Kuzco is in whatever pile you put the child in (if she hasn't found Kuzco yet), so it might mess with her head to put the child somewhere else. In any case, Fate Yzma early so you can find out which Fate cards are where, so you can find a child, The Path of Righteousness, or On the Run when you need to.