Ok, yes, we hope you get the obvious joke. But hey, Tornados are pretty awesome in this game (not as much in real life). Get ready to spread minions all over the place with these excellent Shark Delivery Systems(TM).
- - It’s Your Fault! rulebook
The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook provided a different flavor text, probably because it's not much of a surprise faction anymore:
Tornados are the Coriolis Effect throwing a serious temper tantrum. Face it, tornados are pretty awesome (in this game, not so much in real life). Get ready to spread minions all over the place with these excellent Shark Delivery Systems™.
- - The Bigger Geekier Box rulebook
The Tornados are one of the 5 factions from the It’s Your Fault! set.[1]
They focus almost entirely on moving cards around.
Other factions from the same set: Dragons, Mythic Greeks, Sharks, Superheroes.
Cards[]
The Tornados have 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,
- 0 play-on-base actions,
- 10 standard actions (8 that affect one or more minions, in bold): Carried Away (2x), Gone with the Wind, Not in Kansas, Over the Rainbow, Picked Up, Ripped Off, Trade Winds (2x), Whirlwinds,
- 0 actions that directly increase a minion's power.
Minions[]
1x Monster Tornado - power 5 - Talent: Move a minion of power 4 or less from here to another base, or from another base to here. FAQ
2x Cyclone - power 4 - Talent: Move this minion to another base. FAQ
3x Twister - power 3 - You may move a minion of power 3 or less from here to another base, or from another base to here. FAQ
4x Dust Devil - power 2 - Special: Before a base scores, you may move this minion to there. FAQ
Actions[]
2x Carried Away - Move a minion to another base. FAQ
1x Gone with the Wind - Special: Play after a base scores. You may move one of your minions from there to another base instead of the discard pile. FAQ
1x Not in Kansas - Destroy a base and any actions played on it or on minions there. Replace it with the top card of the base deck. All minions from the original base remain. FAQ
1x Over the Rainbow - Special: Play before a base scores. Move one of your minions from another base to there. FAQ
1x Picked Up - Special: Play before a base scores. Move a minion from there to another base. FAQ
1x Ripped Off - Transfer an action played on a base to another base or on a minion to another minion. FAQ
2x Trade Winds - Choose two minions of power 3 or less. Move each one to the other’s base. FAQ
1x Whirlwinds - You may move any number of your minions to other bases. FAQ
Titan[]
- (available in the 10th Anniversary set)
1x Category 5 - Special: After you move two or more minions in a turn, you may play this titan on a base where you have a minion. Ongoing: After one or more of your minions move to or from here, place a +1 power counter on one of them. Talent: Move this titan to another base OR place a +1 power counter on this titan.FAQ
Bases[]
Clarifications[]
Here are the official clarifications as they appear in the It’s Your Fault! rulebook:
Not In Kansas: Actions on minions are also destroyed.
Twister: Twister can move itself.
Trade Winds: If there’s only one eligible minion in play, you cannot move it with this card. (added by The Bigger Geekier Box)
Mechanics[]
Tornados focus on moving cards around, especially minions. Nearly their entire deck involves moving something. You can move your minions or other players' minions.
They also have a few Special cards allowing you to move minions around before a base scores, allowing you to change the state of the game to your advantage.
External Strategy Guides[]
- Tornados: The Best Smash Ups in Smash Up
- Cull the Weak: Tornados vs Sheep
- Action Awareness #49: Tornado Specials
- Smash Up KOTH #69: Monster Tornado
FAQ[]
Questions on Monster Tornado[]
Q: Can I move another player's minion?
A: Yes.
Q: If I move another player's minion, do I take control of it?
A: No. Moving is just relocating a minion, it doesn't mean that you take control of it.
Q: If Monster Tornado has its power reduced (e.g. Wyrm’s Desolation, Grumpiness, etc.), can I use its own Talent to move it to another base?
A: Yes. You can move any minion as long as it has 4 or less power. If Monster Tornado has its power reduced to 4 or less, then it's a legal target for its own ability.
Questions on Cyclone[]
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Twister[]
Q: Can I move another player's minion?
A: Yes.
Q: If I move another player's minion, do I take control of it?
A: No. Moving is just relocating a minion, it doesn't mean that you take control of it.
Q: If I play Twister on an enemy Leprechaun's base and move Twister to another base, will it be destroyed?
A: Based on the wording, yes, but it's actually no: The Bigger Geekier Box ruled that Leprechaun and the minion must be on the same base after resolving the played minion's ability for the played minion to be destroyed.
Questions on Dust Devil[]
Q: The card says "Special" so I can play it outside of my turn, right?
A: "Special" does not mean the card can be played out of turn. "Special" simply means that it's an ability that can be used when its condition is met. Whether it can be used out of turn, activated straight from your hand/discard pile, or if it can only be used when it's already in play (essentially being a synonym of Ongoing), it entirely depends on the wording. In the case of Dust Devil, the condition is "before a base scores", which means that you can only activate it during the Score Bases phase of any turn, and more specifically during the step where before-scoring abilities can be used. Furthermore, it mentions that when activated, you may "move" it. Moving involves a relocation from one base to another, so Dust Devil must already be on a base. So Dust Devil is actually a Special card that can only be used when it is in play.
Rule: Moving lets you relocate a minion or titan from one base to another.
Q: Does moving a minion to a base before it scores change anything at all? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: My Dust Devil is on base A. Base B and C are ready to score. Base B is chosen to score, so I move my Dust Devil to base B and get first place. My opponent plays a card and steals first place from me (e.g. Shinobi), can I decide to move my Dust Devil to base C, which is also ready to score?
A: No. When you use Dust Devil's ability, the only base you can move it to is the base that was chosen to score.
Rule: "There" means "the location just referred to on the card".
Q: Can I move it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Questions on Carried Away[]
Q: Can I move another player's minion?
A: Yes.
Q: If I move another player's minion, do I take control of it?
A: No. Moving is just relocating a minion, it doesn't mean that you take control of it.
Q: Can you move a minion from stasis to a base?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
Questions on Gone with the Wind[]
Q: It tells me to move "one of my minions". Can I move a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
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.
Q: Does Mindraker prevent this action from being played?
A: Yes. It prevents special actions from being played from the moment the base is chosen to score until Mindraker is discarded at the end of the scoring.[2]
Q: Can I play it from stasis after a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action
Questions on Not in Kansas[]
Q: My question is regarding the "OR" in the first sentence. Does this mean that you destroy either actions played on the base, OR on the minions, but not both?
A: The "or" is inclusive. You must destroy both types of actions.
Q: Before a base scores, I manage to play Not in Kansas (e.g. with a Mole). I target the scoring base. What happens now?
A: The scoring stops for that base (because it's not the same base anymore), but you must continue the Score Bases back to step 1 if a base (including the new base) is ready to score.[3]
Rule: If a scoring base leaves play before VPs are awarded, stop scoring it immediately.
Q: I have a Steam Queen in play. Another player plays Not in Kansas and targets a base where I have actions attached to the base and actions attached to minions there. What happens?
A: The player who played Not in Kansas will try to destroy your actions, but it will fail. However, the base will be destroyed, and according to the rulebook, "when a card leaves play, discard attachments." The base being a card and your actions attached to the base being attachments of it, they are discarded and Steam Queen can't prevent that. Makes you wonder why Not in Kansas even tried to destroy them in the first place, right? Note that there's a possibility that some cards react to those destructions (e.g. The Mean Streets). On the other hand, your actions attached to minions there remain in play because the minions remain.
Rule: "Can't" trumps "can".
Q: What does Not in Kansas do to monsters?
A: Nothing, they go on the new base, exactly as stated on its ability.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied. Yes, destroying an action affects that action, but not the card (minion or base) it is on.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Questions on Over the Rainbow[]
Q: Does moving a minion to a base before it scores change anything at all? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: It tells me to move "one of my minions". Can I move a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
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.
Q: Does Mindraker prevent this action from being played?
A: Yes. It prevents special actions from being played from the moment the base is chosen to score until Mindraker is discarded at the end of the scoring.[2]
Q: Can I play it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action
Questions on Picked Up[]
Q: Can I move another player's minion?
A: Yes.
Q: If I move another player's minion, do I take control of it?
A: No. Moving is just relocating a minion, it doesn't mean that you take control of it.
Q: Does moving a minion away from a base before it scores change anything at all? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: Before a base scores, I play this card and move a minion away from that base, reducing the total power below the breakpoint. This ends the scoring, right?
A: You're mistaken here. Once a base has been chosen to score, you keep scoring it even if the total power on it drops below its breakpoint because of before-scoring abilities. (Only a couple of things can really prevent a base from scoring, but this isn't one of them.)
Q: Does Mindraker prevent this action from being played?
A: Yes. It prevents special actions from being played from the moment the base is chosen to score until Mindraker is discarded at the end of the scoring.[2]
Q: Can I play it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
Questions on Ripped Off[]
Q: If I transfer another player's action, do I take control of the action?
A: No, you just relocated it, it doesn't give you control of it.
Rule: When you transfer an action, it doesn't change controller.
Q: If I transfer another player's play-on-minion action onto one of my minions, do I take control of the action?
A: No, you just relocated it, it doesn't give you control of it.
Rule: When you transfer an action, it doesn't change controller.
Q: There's only one action on a minion in play and no other minion in play. What happens if I choose to transfer that action to another minion?
A: Nothing, there's no minion to transfer it to, so you can't do that.
Q: There's an action on a minion in play and only one other minion, but that minion is immune to being affected by that action. What happens if I choose to transfer that action to another minion?
A: Because the minion is immune to the action, if you transfer it to the minion, the action is discarded because it can't be attached to it, which counts as affecting it.
Q: Can I transfer an action to a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be chosen by cards that do not explicitly state cards in stasis can be chosen.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied. Yes, transferring an action between two minions affects that action, but not the minions.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Questions on Trade Winds[]
Q: Can I choose one of my minions and another player's minion? Two of another player's minions? Another player's minion and a different other player's minion?
A: You can target any two minions in play, no matter who controls them. You can even move uncontrolled monsters!
Q: If I move another player's minion, do I take control of it?
A: No. Moving is just relocating a minion, it doesn't mean that you take control of it.
Q: Do I have to choose exactly two minions? Or can I choose 0, 1 or 2?
A: You must choose exactly two minions.
Q: What if there's only one eligible minions? Does it mean I can move it to any base?
A: No, if there's only one minion, it means there are no other minion's base to go to.
Q: If one of the moved minion is a Cub Scout, does it destroy the other moved minion? I suppose I can choose the order in which they are moved and make it so the other minion is destroyed before moving Cub Scout.
A: No. The two minions are moved at the same time, so when the other minion is moved, Cub Scout is no longer on the base to destroy it.
Rule: When a single effect makes one player affect multiple cards, they are all affected at the same time.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it (and it can copy it even if its power is more than 3), Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself and it can copy it even if the power of the minion that gets the copy is more than 3), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If We are Family copies it (and it can copy it even if the power of the minion it is on is more than 3), the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it moves one of your minions away from Funky Town, but if Funky Town does copy it (and it can copy it even if the power of the minion that gets the copy is more than 3), the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base as the minion that was directly affected by the action.
Questions on Whirlwinds[]
Q: It tells me to move "my minions". Can I move a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
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.
Q: Can you move a minion from stasis to a base?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - There's no point for Diva to copy the movement because Diva can be moved directly by Whirlwinds anyway.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base. If several minions were moved away from Dancing King's base, choose one of them to follow. Note that if several minions were moved from the same base, Dancing King only triggers once and allows you to move only one additional minion, not one per affected minion. Also, note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is moved to the same base. If several minions were moved away from the minion's base, choose one of them to follow. Note that while the action is restricted to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect's copy still works if applied to a minion not controlled by that player.
- There's no point for Funky Town to copy the movement because all your minions can be moved directly by Whirlwinds anyway.
Trivia[]
- The artist is Gildia Art Guild.
- Their divider (updated in The Bigger Geekier Box) features Twister.
- The font used for the Tornado cards is CycloneRegularSWFTE.
- This faction is a reference to the Sharknado franchise.(The whole faction is not a reference to Sharknado Franchise, just some of the cards)
- The actions Not in Kansas and Over the Rainbow are references to The Wizard of Oz.
- The artwork for Over the Rainbow depicts two tornadoes playing volleyball with a house, using a rainbow as the net.
- Tornado Alley refers to the Great Plains region of the United States where tornadoes occur most frequently.
- The Monster Tornado is picking up a Werewolf, the cat from Hang in There, an Armor Stego and Killer Plants.
- An Alien is being Picked Up by a Tornado in a similar fashion as the Beam Up card.
- A Saucy Wench and a Pinkie are being carried by Trade Winds.
- A Flying Monkey is being blown away in the Gone with the Wind card.
- Cyclone is a reference to Sharknado
- Twister is a reference to the movie of the same title, as seen by the cow in the tornado.
In other languages[]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| French | Tornades |
| German | Tornados |
| Italian | Tornadi |
| Russian | Торнадо |
| Spanish | Tornados |
| ||||||