Let me be upfront here. I’m a feminist. I’m also a female (in terms of biological gender, gender-assigned-at-birth, and gender identification) who doesn’t fit in the Western (or indeed, a lot of Eastern) standards of what a woman should be. On top of that, I’m bisexual, always nice for being accused of either lying or of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing, casting my (Heterosexual) Male Gaze upon women, while ignoring the fact that I myself am subject to and feel the (Heterosexual) Male Gaze intensely when engaging in most media.

So if you’ve ever seen the Mimix cards in the Blue Moon game ((It’s like a CCG complete with deck construction, except with streamlined powers instead of complicated ones, and while there are expansions, there are no randomized packs.)), you might wonder why someone like me would like them at all. After all, the entire faction is composed of mostly half-naked women. Prime example:

You could claim that I’m just titillated by female porn. But the fact is that I actually can’t enjoy the typical female porn, where nubile young women are posed in a submissive manner, often pouty-lipped in both places, if you know what I mean. It turns me off something awful.

But the Mimix do, I admit, turn me on. But not sexually; they turn me on because they’re powerful. They’re not drawn for the Male Gaze: there are no melon breasts, no curvy-wurvy hips or buttocks; and they are poised for battle or for grace, and not for sex. They do come in pairs, but not lesbian making-out ones (at least, not on the cards).

The closest I can think of to the “lady parts pushed at the viewer” is Amazon Leaping High, and she probably isn’t there to deliver you a blow job.

I also like the variety in the faction. There are pregnant women, for instance, who are often ignored. There are men as well, playing the part of as-powerful shamans instead of warriors.

There are old people as well as young people. And the faction isn’t a bunch of pale people in the jungle. I really love the Mimix leader, Blue Radiance, who looks as though she is both warrior and shaman.

Generally I like the Blue Moon factions. You don’t run into all-male (or even all-female) ones (even the Terrah, who a lot of Americans might see as the Manly Faction, are about evenly split between genders), and there’s a great variety in how each deck functions.

Plus, the Mimix are a natural playing style for me. In MtG I always tended towards weenie and so-called “Big Green” decks, and the Mimix are like a blend between the two: they can potentially attack with double-digit power in fire and earth, and they can pump out several cards (through Pair and Free characters) in one turn so as to maximize the number of dragons that can be gained in one battle. Some dismiss the Mimix because getting a pair looks hard. But the Shamans help pick cards in various ways and thin the deck, so as long as you know where you stand in terms of characters played, you can still play a skillful game that’s not as driven by luck as people may think.

Once upon a time I did construct a Mimix deck that used Flit boosters (which also pair, but every booster pairs with any other booster), which meant it could potentially play six cards on turn two alone.

Oh Blue Moon. You are a pretty game.