When you take damage, you may flip another character's general card. Turning a face-up target face-down makes them skip their next turn; either way, that character then draws cards equal to YOUR lost health.
Cao Pi plays the long, cold game with three tools that all reward patience. Spoils turns the graveyard into his treasury — every fallen character's whole hand and equipment falls to him, so a table that trades kills feeds a vulture who lets others do the killing and then cashes in. Exile is his tempo lever: whenever he takes damage he may flip a dangerous rival face-down, stealing their entire next turn, while the victim only draws cards equal to his OWN lost health — a price he happily pays to freeze the board's biggest threat. As Emperor he adds Acclaim, quietly drawing a card every time anyone's judgement lands on black, so Lightning, Festival Party and Supply Shortage all tithe to him around the table. His weakness is patience itself: on a bloodless, low-judgement board Spoils and Acclaim both starve, and Exile only pays out when he is being hit — a table that neither dies nor touches him leaves the vulture circling an empty field.