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This page is about the faction. For the base of the same name, see Miskatonic University (base).
SU3-Librarian

Go ‘Pods! Go ‘Pods! Welcome to your first days at Miskatonic University! We will shape you into a student of the sciences both natural and... otherwise. Certainly our courses seem intense, but there always has to be a small sacrifice for knowledge. “Ex Ignorantia Ad Sapientiam; E Luce Ad Tenebras.”

- The Obligatory Cthulhu Set rulebook

The Miskatonic University is one of the 4 factions from The Obligatory Cthulhu Set.

This faction plays around with madness. You gain advantage from drawing Madness cards and discarding them (into your discard pile). Fortunately, they can also get rid of their Madness by returning them to the Madness deck.

Other factions from the same set: Elder Things, Innsmouth, Minions of Cthulhu.

Cards

Miskatonic university

The Miskatonic University has the usual 10 minions and 10 actions. The total minion base power (not counting any abilities) is the usual 30 or an average of 3 per minion.

Among their actions, there are:

  • 0 play-on-minion actions,
  • 1 play-on-base action: Gate to Beyond,
  • 9 standard actions (4 that affect one or more minions, in bold): “Old Man Jenkins!?”, ... It Just Might Work, Field Trip (2x), Jinkies! (2x), That’s So Crazy..., Things Best Not Known, Those Meddling Kids,
  • 3 actions that directly increase a minion's power: ... It Just Might Work, That’s So Crazy..., Things Best Not Known.

Minions

1x Professor - power 5 - Talent: Discard a Madness card. If you do, you may play an extra action and/or an extra minion. FAQ

2x Librarian - power 4 - Talent: Discard a Madness card. If you do, draw a card. FAQ

3x Psychologist - power 3 - You may return a Madness card from your hand or discard pile to the Madness deck. FAQ

4x Researcher - power 2 - You may draw a Madness card. FAQ

Actions

1x “Old Man Jenkins!?” - Special: Before a base scores, destroy a minion with the highest power there. FAQ

1x ... It Just Might Work - Discard a Madness card to give each of your minions +1 power until the end of the turn. FAQ

2x Field Trip - Place any number of cards from your hand on the bottom of your deck and draw a card for each card you place there. FAQ

1x Gate to Beyond - Play on a base. Talent: Draw a Madness card. You may play an extra minion here. FAQ

2x Jinkies! - Return up to 2 Madness cards from your hand or discard pile to the Madness deck. FAQ

1x That’s So Crazy... - Draw a Madness card. Each of your minions has +1 power until the end of the turn. You may play an extra action this turn. FAQ

1x Things Best Not Known - Special: Before a base scores, choose a minion there. Draw up to 3 Madness cards. That minion gets +2 power for each Madness card you draw. FAQ

1x Those Meddling Kids - Destroy any number of actions played on one base. FAQ

Miskatonic University-0

Bases

Mechanics

Miskatonic University revolves around drawing and discarding Madness cards to do some effects, namely power boosts, card draws and extra card plays. Remember that when you discard a Madness card, it goes into your discard pile, not the Madness deck!

Madness cards and Field Trip are also good to draw more cards and cycle through your deck to get your strong cards out. In fact, they also have very strong cards: Things Best Not Known can give +6 power to a minion, "Old Man Jenkins!?" can destroy the strongest minion on a base before it scores, Professor virtually allows you to take an extra turn,...

To avoid getting too overwhelmed with Madness cards, they also have some cards that allow you to return Madness cards from your hand and/or discard pile into the Madness deck.

External Strategy Guides

FAQ

Questions on Professor

Q: Before a base scores, if I manage to play Professor (e.g. Hidden Ninja), can I use its talent?

A: No. Talents can only be used during the Play Cards phase. Here, you're clearly in the Score Bases phase.

Rule: A talent can only be used during your Play Cards phase.

Q: When I use its talent (e.g. if it's on Changing Room), if I don't have any Madness card in my hand, how do I prove it?

A: Good question. Officially, with "Do X to do Y" abilities, doing X is always optional, but this ability is not worded that way. To be confirmed. TBD

Rule: TBD


Questions on Librarian

Q: If I play this minion on the Mountains of Madness, can I discard the Madness card gained from the base with the minion or is the minion's ability resolved first?

A: This minion's only ability is a talent. When you play a minion, you indeed resolve its abilities, but a talent is never resolved from playing a minion. So, when you play a Librarian, you resolve its ability (i.e. you do nothing). Then; you trigger card reactions, so Mountains of Madness make you draw a Madness card. If you want to, you can now activate the Librarian's talent and discard the Madness card.

Rule: When you play a card, an ability that starts with "Talent:" is never resolved immediately.

Q: When I use its talent, does the Madness card go to my discard pile or the Madness deck?

A: It says to discard it, so it goes to your discard pile.

Rule: If you discard a Madness card, it goes into your discard pile.

Q: When I use its talent (e.g. if it's on Changing Room), if I don't have any Madness card in my hand, how do I prove it?

A: Good question. Officially, with "Do X to do Y" abilities, doing X is always optional, but this ability is not worded that way. To be confirmed. TBD

Rule: TBD


Questions on Psychologist

Q: If I play this minion on the Mountains of Madness, can I return the Madness card gained from the base with the minion or is the minion's ability resolved first?

A: When you play a minion, you must resolve its ability immediately before resolving any abilities triggered from playing the minion. So the Psychologist's ability is resolved before you draw the Madness card from the Mountains of Madness.

Rule: Resolve the played card's ability completely, then resolve any card reactions.


Questions on Researcher

Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?

A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.

Rule: On your Draw 2 Cards phase, if you have more than 10 cards in your hand after drawing, discard until you have exactly 10 cards left in your hand.


Questions on “Old Man Jenkins!?”

Q: If two or more minions are tied for the highest power, are they all destroyed?

A: No. You choose one and that one is destroyed.

Rule: Do exactly what the card says.

Q: If one of my minions is the only minion with the highest power there, is it immune to “Old Man Jenkins!?”?

A: No. Your minions aren't immune to it, and you must even destroy it if you play this card.

Rule 1: "A minion" means "any minion in play".

Rule 2: Do exactly what the card says.

Q: Do we only consider the printed value or the modified value?

A: The modified value of the power.

Rule: In play, a minion's power includes all modifiers.

Q: If I play this and it brings the total power on the base below its breakpoint. Does the base stop scoring?

A: No. Once a base has been chosen to score, even if the total power there changes during the before-scoring step, the base keeps scoring.

Rule: The base is scored regardless of how much power is still left on it after the before-scoring step.


Questions on ... It Just Might Work

Q: When I play this card, if I don't have any Madness card in my hand, how do I prove it?

A: You don't have to prove anything. It's a "Do X to do Y" type of ability, so while it doesn't say "you may", doing X is actually optional![1] So play it and say that you don't discard a Madness card. No need to justify yourself.

Rule: When a card says "Do X to do Y" or "You may do X to do Y", doing X is optional in both cases.

Q: When I play this, does the Madness card go to my discard pile or the Madness deck?

A: It says to discard it, so it goes to your discard pile.

Rule: If you discard a Madness card, it goes into your discard pile.

Q: If I play "... It Just Might Work" and then play another minion afterward, does the new minion get +1 power from "... It Just Might Work"?

A: No. Contrary to Howl and similar cards which makes your minions gain, get or have power until the end of the turn. "... It Just Might Work" gives power to your minions currently in play and is not reevaluated. Check Group Hug's clarification in the What Were We Thinking? rulebook; Group Hug gives power to one of your minions and is not reevaluated if the situation changes.

Rule: Do exactly what the card says.

Q: I play "... It Just Might Work" and boost my minions. If an opponent manages to take control of one of my minions before "... It Just Might Work" expires (e.g. The Base Is Not Enough, Can Has Cheeseburger?), does the minion keep its boost?

A: Yes. "... It Just Might Work" boosts your minions and is not reevaluated. If one of them is later controlled by another player, it keeps its +1 power.

Rule: "Until the end of the turn" means the effect persists even if the card is removed from play.

Q: It gives +1 power to "each of my minions". Does it also give +1 power to minions I own that I don't control?

A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.

Rule: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".


Questions on Field Trip

Q: If I have cards in my hand that I don't own (e.g. treasure cards, a card obtained by Trade), what happens if I use Field Trip to put these cards under my deck?

A: The other players can't know which cards you're placing under your deck so do exactly what Field Trip says. So, if there are treasures, they won't go in the treasure discard pile, and if there are cards owned by other players, they won't go under their deck.

Rule: When a card that others can see goes to the hand, deck or discard pile, it goes to the one belonging to the card’s owner.


Questions on Gate to Beyond

Q: An opponent plays this card on a base, so on my turn I can use its talent, right? It's a base action, so every player can use it, right?

A: No. Your opponent played the action, so they control it, and therefore only they can use its talent.

Rule: A talent can be activated on each of its controller's turns.

Q: Is the extra minion part of the talent? I mean, do I have to use the talent to gain the extra minion? Or does the talent only allow you to draw a Madness card and the extra minion is only gained when you play the action?

A: The extra minion play is part of the talent, so you have to use the talent to gain one.

Rule: Do exactly what the card says.

Q: I already have ten cards in hand. What happens if I decide to use this talent? Is the Madness card discarded? Or do I draw it and immediately choose a card to discard?

A: You draw the Madness card and don't discard any card until your upcoming Draw 2 Cards phase. At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.

Rule: On your Draw 2 Cards phase, if you have more than 10 cards in your hand after drawing, discard until you have exactly 10 cards left in your hand.


Questions on Jinkies!

Q: If I have a Madness card in my hand and a Madness card in my discard pile, can I return both? Or is the "or" exclusive?

A: Yes, you can return a Madness card from your discard pile and another one from your hand.

Rule: Do exactly what the card says.


Questions on That’s So Crazy...

Q: If I play "That's So Crazy..." and then play another minion afterward, does the new minion get +1 power from "That's So Crazy..."?

A: This card is similar to Howl, so the official answer is yes.[2]

Rule: Do exactly what the card official answer says.

Q: I play "That's So Crazy..." and boost my minions. If an opponent manages to take control of one of my minions before "That's So Crazy..." expires (e.g. The Base Is Not Enough, Can Has Cheeseburger?), does the minion keep its boost?

A: No. "That's So Crazy..." only boosts your minions. If one of them is later controlled by another player, it's no longer your minion and "That's So Crazy..." doesn't affect it anymore.

Rule: "Until the end of the turn" means the effect persists even if the card is removed from play.

Q: It gives +1 power to "each of my minions". Does it also give +1 power to minions I own that I don't control?

A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.

Rule: "Your minion" means "a minion that you control".

Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?

A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.

Rule: On your Draw 2 Cards phase, if you have more than 10 cards in your hand after drawing, discard until you have exactly 10 cards left in your hand.


Questions on Things Best Not Known

Q: It doesn't say that the power boost expires at the end of the turn, so does it remain forever? For example, if you target a First Mate, will it carry the power boost as long as it's in play?

A: This seems to be an oversight and the effect is intended to expire at the end of the turn. If so, the card should be phrased "Special: Before a base scores, choose a minion there. Draw up to 3 Madness cards. That minion gets +2 power until the end of the turn for each Madness card you draw."

Rule: TBD

Q: After playing this card, I have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?

A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards. So, if the base scored during another player's turn, you keep all your cards and can therefore play your next turn with more than ten cards.

Rule: On your Draw 2 Cards phase, if you have more than 10 cards in your hand after drawing, discard until you have exactly 10 cards left in your hand.


Questions on Those Meddling Kids

Q:

A:

Rule:

Trivia

  • The artist is Andy Wright.
  • The phrase "Go 'Pods!" in the flavor text is a reference to the Miskatonic University's mascot the Fighting Cephalopods. The motto "Ex Ignorantia Ad Sapientiam; Ex Luce Ad Tenebras." is Latin for "Out Of Ignorance Into Wisdom; Out Of Light Into Darkness.".
  • This faction contains references to Scooby Doo:
    • The Librarian is a reference to Velma Dinkley.
    • Jinkies! is also one of Velma's catchphrases.
    • Those Meddling Kids is an expression often used by villains when they are caught by the gang.
    • "Old Man Jenkins" is a coined term to designate the Scooby Doo villain.

In other languages

Language Name
French Université Miskatonic
German Miskatonic University
Italian Miskatonic University
Russian Мискатоникский университет
Spanish Universidad Miskatonic


The Obligatory Cthulhu Set
Factions: Elder Things  •  Innsmouth  •  Minions of Cthulhu  •  Miskatonic University
Mechanics: Madness  •  Titans (optional, since the TITANS Event Kit)
Sets
Main: Core Set  •  Awesome Level 9000  •  The Obligatory Cthulhu Set  •  Science Fiction Double Feature  •  Monster Smash  •  Pretty Pretty Smash Up  •  Smash Up: Munchkin  •  It’s Your Fault!  •  Cease and Desist  •  What Were We Thinking?  •  Big in Japan  •  That ’70s Expansion  •  Oops, You Did It Again  •  World Tour: International Incident  •  World Tour: Culture Shock  •  Smash Up: Marvel  •  Smash Up: Disney Edition  •  10th Anniversary  •  Excellent Movies, Dudes!
Big Boxes: The Big Geeky Box  •  The Bigger Geekier Box
Event Kits: All Stars Event Kit  •  TITANS Event Kit
Booster Packs: Smash Up All Stars  •  Smash Up Sheep Promo  •  Smash Up Penguins  •  Smash Up TITANS  •  Dead Reckoning Promo  •  Smash Up Goblins  •  Smash Up Knights of the Round Table  •  Smash Up Teens
Cancelled: World Tour Event Kit

References

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