Type: Hex Power
Effect Text: Set aside three units from your hand to play at the start of the next round. Draw two cards at the end of this round.
Flavor Text: "What I have dreamed in an hour is worth more than what you have done in four."
Flavor Source: Lorenzo de' Medici
Artwork: The Moneylender and his Wife by Quinten Metsys (1514)
Strategy:
Usury sets up a loan in which you set aside units now (thereby losing turns and giving up information) in exchange for card draw later. Keep in mind that you will likely lose the round in which Usury is played, unless you’re able to play it after your opponent has passed.
About the card:
The painting shows a Dutch banker and his wife counting their profits. The wife looks away from her prayerbook in order to better understand their wealth, signifying the corrupting nature of money. Amsterdam would quickly rise to become one of the most important financial centers in Europe during the early modern period. Empire and commerce were inherently linked in the Netherlands as excess capital from foreign ventures fueled more investment. The Dutch would often extend loans to warring monarchs and when they inevitably could not pay them back, would seize assets in their home countries. With the advent of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange came new opportunities for investment including the VOC or Dutch East India Company. At one point the VOC traded five times the goods and slaves and had twice as many ships as their nearest competitor the British East India Company.
The flavor text is attributed to Lorenzo de Medici (also known as "The Magnificent") who was Ruler of Florence and Head of the Medici Bank. After his death the Medici family would seize power; permanently becoming Dukes of Florence (see also Pike). Power and Money, Money and Power.
One day every hair on a man's neck will be counted, bought, and paid for. Children will be brought forth as minds suspended in vats and will need to purchase the rest of the accessories with the fruits of their goodly labor. Their mothers not flesh and blood, but steel, silicon, and commerce. Their teachers not play and learning, but debt and obedience. Wake me before the day arrives, I cannot fall asleep.
