Malevolent Portrait (Minion)

Malevolent Portrait is a hostile portrait minion encountered in the Castle. Unlike the decorative portraits that simply watch, this entity actively captures the energy stored in pegs and uses that energy as part of its attacks. When defeated it releases the captured energy, but it also erupts into a cloud of Spinfectious/poisonous gas on destruction, so players must plan the kill carefully to avoid being poisoned or infecting the board.

These portraits appear among the many framed images that line the Castle’s halls; most portraits do nothing, but Malevolent Portraits are aggressive and directly interfere with peg-based strategies by siphoning peg energy for themselves. Their presence changes how you approach clears and peg-management because the payout for killing them is coupled with a hazardous effect.

• Timing matters: kill the portrait when you are prepared for the gas burst. Lure its destruction into a safe space (away from vulnerable units or the flinch of your own pegs) or ensure you have resistances/healing ready.
• Use ranged or indirect clears if possible to avoid standing in the gas cloud when the portrait dies. Chain reactions that destroy the portrait as part of a larger clear can be risky unless you control where the gas will spread.
• Consider whether you want the released energy. If freeing the stored peg energy benefits you (e.g., for damage, charges, or combos), plan to collect it while mitigating the gas; otherwise, suppressing or avoiding the portrait until you can handle the aftermath is viable.
• The portrait’s behavior is deterministic: it captures peg energy and releases it on death, and the death effect always produces an infectious/poisonous gas cloud. Treat this combination as both an opportunity and a hazard when building around peg interactions or area clears.