Godric Gryffindor - Any card that gives you another action is pretty good in my eyes. As someone who does not like drawing to many cards, my goal when building my Gryffindor deck was 2 fold. First was to only draw 3 cards a turn, and second was to draw the cards without having to use an action to do so cause that would defeat the purpose. The obvious way to do so was with the Gryffindor common room. I also used the OG Harry to help with that, yes he took 2 actions to play but with 3 actions a turn that seemed worth it for future 3 actions a turn. And for a last resort I put in a few cards that do damage and let me draw a card, like bewitched snowballs. Another thing I noticed when play testing was that I need to make sure I have something to do with those extra actions. And the artist on this seems to have drawn inspiration from Jamie Lannister from GoT.

Helga Hufflepuff - Another character that gives another action and another great card. Despite being a Gryffindor I prefer Helga here. There is just so many things that trigger her. Once again the obvious choice is the common room but healing is my back up plan. Since I tested my Gryffindor deck before this one I made the changes of making sure I don't waste the extra action before hand. I go back and forth on rather Lucius Cane is worth it or not in the deck. On the one hand 2 damage a turn is nice. On the other is something that can hit for more a better idea. And the provided C lesson is wasted. This one looks like the Doctor and Donna Nobel went back in time and someone drew Donna

Hogwarts: A History - At first I wasn't to impressed with this Card (mainly cause misread) but after thinking about it and trying it, this card is good. I used it with my Ravenclaw and it worked great. I discard a lesson to get a stupefy play it and use Ravenclaw to get the lesson back. And it provides a lesson which is also good. I also used it in my pre neutered burrow/snuffling deck to great results. The first game I didn't need it the second game I used it to pull the burrow back that I was forced to discard from my hand

Rowena Ravenclaw - Everytime I look at this card I want to go tell Merlin to be careful or Kara to not trust her. As for the actual card, it is a good card, not as good as the other founders in my opinion but still solid. It can take a while before this card actually does anything. I think she works best with a CP or CComc deck. That way if you discard a lesson for a creature or potion it is basically a wash if the potion/creature is at least 6 power. I went with a charms/potion deck for flavor more then anything but it works well. The common room let's you start utilizing her one turn sooner. And let's you hit a 8 cost card with only 6 lessons in play which is a big difference I feel. And you get a lesson back for it. I messed around with the lesson count a lot here. 20 I felt flooded and 15 starved so working either 17 or 18

Salazar Slytherin - The final founder. Originally I went with a CP deck. And it worked fine was triggering him often. I added a chamber of secrets card for flavor but it didn't work with the Slytherin common room so i cut it. Then I decided that a Salazar deck needs to have a basilisk. So I switched to CoMCP. And it worked even better. I used low cost creatures and he was triggering from early on. Even turns when I had no playable cards in my hand or just lessons he still triggered from the creatures or the common room. Out of every time he triggered only once did I not discard the cards I saw.

The Grand Staircase - One of a few cards this set that did not make it into any decks or side boards. Yes I can get the action back but so can my opponent. Even decks that don't care about playing to many cards this would be annoying to deal with. I mean from the point of view of the person playing it. Yes if you are up against a character or adventure heavy deck that doesn't have a lot of lessons this could heavily stall them and if you have a lot of dead lessons this could work but as a person playing it it would be to annoying to deal with it on top of whatever my opponent is making me deal with.

Cocatrice Attack - I like this card. It doesn't make sense in the main deck but I put one in a lot of side boards. I haven't had a lot of chances to test this card since my main testing opponent doesn't have many characters in her deck. I had her use a couple of my decks that are character heavy. And used a deck with this in the sideboard. And the difference between how I did before sideboarding and after was clear, at least for one of the decks. It slowed down their character playing. At first I put 4 of them in my sideboard but noticed that I didn't need 4 so took 1 out of the sideboard and switch between 2 and 3 when needed.

Hogwarts' First Match - I put these in a few main decks and a few sideboards. But was not impressed, it doesn't make sense for triggering the Gryffindor chasers. And winning it with catch the snitch, no hands or swallowed snitch doesn't feel worth it. I ended up leaving it in one sideboard, my dreaming of the cup deck. I used it to get rid of my opponents annoying creature. Then discarded a lesson to do it again and kill another creature. Which really made a difference it slowed them down enough that I was able to squeak out a win. Would winning three month long match have been more effective? Maybe, but I'm less scared of losing this match then that.

Hogwarts' Kitchens - This card is ok, I wouldn't put it in a main deck but for a deck that does healing it is good, but only if the opponent doesn't have healing. I am aware that a lot of decks have a Pomfrey. I meant other then her. The issue is that your opponent gets first use of this card. And if they pull a Pomfrey and play it then you have to get rid of it before playing your own. So while I did put this in several sideboards i don't know how often I'd actually bring it in. But want to test it some more before removing it as well.

Hufflepuff Common Room - Obviously this card goes well with Helga. But I think that even beyond that it isn't a bad card like if you have any Hufflepuff it can be a nice 2 card heal a turn. Doesn't make much sense with sprout cause she has better location choices, but with Helga, Hannah, Justin and Cedric. And since it is a creature card it goes well with Hufflepuff Badger and they are not unique so you can get 4. I used this card in my Helga deck and it worked great. With Helga, this card, 4 badgers and Hannah I was healing 4 cards a turn with healing cards on top of that. And an extra action it was 2 quick games.

Ravenclaw Common Room - This card has the least support among the common rooms. For characters you have Rowena, Flitwick and Cho, and that is it, you can only have one Flitwick and Davies doesn't really fit. You also have itself and Ravenclaw Eagle. I only used this card in my Rowena deck and it worked well. It made it easier to play cards and Rowena put a lesson in play to make it even easier and to play even stronger cards. I managed to play Alley Blast twice in a game. Once with only 8 lessons in play.

Stairs into Slides - Another card that never made the cut. I mean it only kills a card that your opponent just played. Yes it could be used sometimes, but there are cards that do the same thing but better. True none of the cards are only 5 cost, and if you are scared of your opponent dropping creatures, items or adventures before you get enough lessons you can put it in as a bridge to tide you over, but I personally would rather have to get to more lessons then risk this never being helpful.

The First Triwizard Tournament - This card is a bit like Cockatrice Attack on the sense that it stops characters, but what makes this card a little better is that it also stops adventures. While I still don't think that is enough to main deck it it will come into the main deck more often. Against a character deck I think CA is better cause I feel it is harder to solve. I had my testing opponent use a couple of my decks that utilize adventures and I used decks that had this card. It worked ok, but didn't really make me go like "Wow that was awesome!" It stalled her for a couple turns but the extra action let her play an adventure the same turn she solved it. And I don't think this card will its self be in a adventure or character control deck.

Animated Armour - What sets this card apart from other 1 damage 3 health creatures is that it can be brought back from the dead with a lesson. I tried this card in a few decks but was not overly impressed. Yes it was interesting with dizzing workload knowing that I was feeding into a large card play. But my decks that benefit the most from that like smack or alley blast don't run creatures. I did leave this card in a few sideboards and 1 maindeck, but if the sideboard size was 10 it would not have made it.

Bewitched Ceiling - A bit of a risky card without something like Unfogging the future or Trelawny in play to know what you are discarding. Yes I think a lot of the time it won't matter what lesson type you are discarding id care more about discarding a lesson and getting nothing out of it. Not having to use an action to use it is a plus. If it goes right it is a big help going from 4 power to 6 is a good jump. I didn't use it in to many decks cause for one it only works in a Transfiguration deck and secondly I don't know if the payoff is worth the risk usually but it is in my Trelawny deck.

Depulso - The card does have a pretty low cost with 5 but doesn't feel worth it to me, there are better cards for removal, what sets this one apart is that it is charms. And playing it to put an opponents character or strong creature or adventure on the bottom of their deck could be helpful but I didn't find it helpful enough to warrant putting it in any decks.

Invisibility Potion - This card is good, in creature decks it can keep your creatures safe for a turn like if you play fluffy you can guarantee that it will survive to do damage on your turn. In a tri color deck it can be used when you play a creature then this, then your next turn play a creature then steel claw. It also works in non creature decks as well. In my Draco Slytherin deck I used an action to play a bulge eye potion then used Arthur to do 10 damage then played this then next turn used Arthur to do 10 again and then discarded bulge eye to do 13 which was 33 in 2 turns and ended the game. And my opponent could not get rid of my cards.

Midnight Snack - This card reminds me of loyalty reward. While I never put loyalty reward into a deck this one I did for a couple reasons, the cost is lower making it more playable, it triggers Helga (Loyalty does as well but my Helga doesn't run Transfiguration), and it can be the same card 4 times. There is a downside that your opponent knows one of the cards in your hand but if you play it right away it doesn't even matter. Yes picking passwords isn't wise... unless you already have a password in your hand and mess with your opponent.

Stooging Penalty - Hmm 2 damage and discard an opponents character. Does not seem worth it usually. However, in a mono quidditch deck which has no other cards that get rid of characters it can be helpful. Not necessarily in the main deck but I put it in a few side boards to counter act decks that are character heavy. It isn't fool proof cause the opponent chooses what character to discard and if they have more then one. They will chose probably not the one you want them to. It can even help them if they have a tapped once per game character.

Wild Cockatrice - I like this card. It has decent damage a turn, health isn't horrible, and the ability is good. The worst part of the card is the cost. So I didn't put 4 of them in any decks but 1 or 2 in several. The 4:4 makes it worth it even in main deck cause even if your opponent doesn't have characters it is still a solid 4 damage. I have it in my Hagrid deck and a few others that run Hagrids hut. So that the discarding of a lesson just goes back to my hand. I also have it a couple that don't save the discarded lesson.

Set Review: Hogwarts: A History