Can you name all of decks the Spy can never take a secret look at the top card of?

Netherdeck

Tunnel Deck

Bridge Deck

Dragons Decks

erm

Homebrew that do not count as A'dventure' Cards for their regions

but his ability says any deck

Netherdeck

Tunnel Deck

Bridge Deck

Dragons Decks

erm

Homebrew that do not count as A'dventure' Cards for their regions

Thanks for playing along! However, this guess is incorrect. And I'm only counting official products, there is no way to keep track of all the Homebrew stuff out there

but his ability says any deck

Correct, it works on any deck. Care to take a guess? It's all just for a bit of fun.

Omens, as they are a stack, not a deck?

Well... If I were to play this game I would say he cannot look at the sheets that are in the box. Such as characters deck or Ending cards.

Finally I could say that he cannot look at the Omen stack, because it is a stack, and not a deck.

I will give partial credit to Jon and Nemo for noting the Omens are a stack and not a deck. However, I am looking for decks that the Spy cannot take a secret look at the top cards of. I am assuming that all official expansions are in use for the purposes of this question.

@ Nemo - It is true that the Spy cannot look at Character cards or Alternative Endings, but they are never classified as decks in any of the rulebooks (at least as far as I can tell). So for the purposes of this question, they are not correct answers.

Then I say he cannot look at decks that by default are revealed, such as the Purchase deck, Talisman deck, Stables deck, Lycanthrope deck (is it really a deck?), Armoury deck and Emporium deck.

XD... Tricky wordplay. Nice...

Then I say he cannot look at decks that by default are revealed, such as the Purchase deck, Talisman deck, Stables deck, Lycanthrope deck (is it really a deck?), Armoury deck and Emporium deck.

Ah yes, now you are on the right track!

The Purchase deck and Talisman deck are indeed faceup , so there would be no way to take a secret look at the top card. They are always revealed!

The Stables deck would qualify, but only if you are not playing with the City expansion. It is faceup when using only the Sacred Pool expansion, but facedown when using the City. The Armoury and Magic Emporium decks are also technically (and inexplicably) facedown when following the setup rules in the City expansion. So the Spy could take secret looks at those Shop decks, but I have no idea why they actually would. But technically, it would be legal.

Lycanthrope, Character, Toad and Alignment cards are never classified as decks in any of the rules (that I have found, at least), so the Spy could never looks at those. Of course, there is no reason to ever do so either.

2 and 1/2 down (Purchase, Talisman and sort of Stables decks), 3 decks to go!

Not Secret: Purchase, Talisman, Treasure, Quests (if using Reaper without Frostmarch), Armoury, Magic Emporium, Stables, Terrain.

Secret: Adventure, Spell, Dungeon, Quests (with Frostmarch), Highland, Relic, Rewards, Varthrax, Cadorus, Grilipus, Potion, Pet, Wanted Posters, City, Path, Destiny, Woodland, Nether, Bridge, Tunnel, Harbinger.

Not Decks: Alignment, Character, Endings, Omen, Tunnel (in front of character).

I think that's everything!! I just did this off the top of my head lol

Not Secret: Purchase, Talisman, Treasure, Quests (if using Reaper without Frostmarch), Armoury, Magic Emporium, Stables, Terrain.

Secret: Adventure, Spell, Dungeon, Quests (with Frostmarch), Highland, Relic, Rewards, Varthrax, Cadorus, Grilipus, Potion, Pet, Wanted Posters, City, Path, Destiny, Woodland, Nether, Bridge, Tunnel, Harbinger.

Not Decks: Alignment, Character, Endings, Omen, Tunnel (in front of character).

I think that's everything!! I just did this off the top of my head lol

Oddly enough, the Warlock Quests when used with just the Reaper expansion are placed facedown , even though you freely pick from them. So no point for you!

The 3 I was still looking for you have mentioned above. The Treasure and Relic decks are kept in the game box until needed per the setup rules, and as a result are never specified as being faceup or facedown , nor are they apparently in play in a sense.

Also, the Terrain deck makes no reference if it is to be kept as faceup or facedown , so technically I would think the Spy couldn't look at that either. Not that it matters for this case.

Odd thing with the Relic deck is they are not kept as an ordered deck until needed, and when you do get a Relic, it is a random draw, not from the top of the deck but just as 1 of the remaining cards. Which when you need to determine from 6 or fewer things, you are supposed to roll a die to determine which one you get. So even if the Spy could look at the Relic deck top card, it would do him no good.

Good for you, this is actually a good topic to raise, because the Spy can only use his ability on one deck per turn. So he shouldn't be presented with invalid decks when he uses his ability. (This is almost a non-issue for human players, but definitely for coding the Digital Edition.)

But I think shuffled is a better indicator of whether a deck is hidden from most players, and thus a valid target for the Spy. I believe if the setup tells you to shuffle a deck, then the order must be maintained. I think the Spy can look at those. He gets a glimpse at the upcoming order.

If a deck is not shuffled, I think anyone should be allowed to look at it at any time, even if random cards are occasionally ( e.g. Terrain) or always ( e.g. Relic) selected. I don't think these are valid targets for the Spy.

Respecting your diligent manual reading, I don't think face-up or face-down has much to do with it besides style choices of manual writers. For example, The City rules may have just told players to put all the Shop decks face-down so they look the same.

Again, it seems trivial for human play, but I would be quite disappointed if the Digital Edition lets the Spy waste his ability on the Stables deck, for instance, when the City expansion comes with a cheat sheet for all non-shuffled Shop decks on the back of the rulebook!

Oh, I was just applying things in the most rules-lawyerey sense, just for fun. Hopefully Nomad cuts out the nonsensical choices from even appearing.

So... it is a good time for the next question =P.

Good for you, this is actually a good topic to raise, because the Spy can only use his ability on one deck per turn. So he shouldn't be presented with invalid decks when he uses his ability. (This is almost a non-issue for human players, but definitely for coding the Digital Edition.)

But I think shuffled is a better indicator of whether a deck is hidden from most players, and thus a valid target for the Spy. I believe if the setup tells you to shuffle a deck, then the order must be maintained. I think the Spy can look at those. He gets a glimpse at the upcoming order.

If a deck is not shuffled, I think anyone should be allowed to look at it at any time, even if random cards are occasionally ( e.g. Terrain) or always ( e.g. Relic) selected. I don't think these are valid targets for the Spy.

Respecting your diligent manual reading, I don't think face-up or face-down has much to do with it besides style choices of manual writers. For example, The City rules may have just told players to put all the Shop decks face-down so they look the same.

Again, it seems trivial for human play, but I would be quite disappointed if the Digital Edition lets the Spy waste his ability on the Stables deck, for instance, when the City expansion comes with a cheat sheet for all non-shuffled Shop decks on the back of the rulebook!

We're actually working on this right now!

Hey, my silly just-for-fun post may have practical application! Who knew!