Team Ideas – The Bridge to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Idea

Among the other competitive pieces to come out in the Deadpool set (detailed here and here), we got a new figure that falls into a category of pieces that I refer to as “recruiters,” DP041 G.W. Bridge. Like TDW015 Duhg and SLOSH201 Cosmic Boy, DP041 G.W. Bridge has the ability to give any character a keyword that they didn’t have before. In a correctly built team, he can give any character the Six Pack, Weapon X, or Solider keywords. Just one problem… those are boring. Reasonable but boring. And they aren’t worth all the hoops you have to jump through to get them. That leaves the S.H.I.E.L.D keyword. That’s more fun.

So what does it take to get that keyword in a 300 point army? Well G.W. himself is 68 points, and the cheapest S.H.I.E.L.D generic, AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is 19 points. Together the 4 generics required and G.W. are 144. That means I can give the S.H.I.E.L.D keyword to any character 156 points or less. So I can easily create a team like this:

 

Little known fact: this is how Michael Jackson would have looked in another 10 years.

Little known fact: Red Skull’s appearance is actually the result of the world’s worst nose job.

Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D, Director Skull

DP041 G.W. Bridge

CATWS014 Agent Sitwell

CATWS002 S.H.I.E.L.D. Soldier

AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

AVM016 Red Skull

Total = 296 points

 

See that was way more fun than the Six Pack keyword. Let’s try Another one for those of you who saw the latest Captain America Movie:

 

Sometimes his chest TV shows his face, other times it shows Game of Thrones.

My face, now in HD…

Arnim, Head of the I.T. Department

DP041 G.W. Bridge

AVM206 Agent Coulson

AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

AVM003 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

DP054 Arnim Zola

Total = 300 points

 

Now I know what you’re thinking, that’s fun but not all that competitive. Is there any way giving someone S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword actually helps you in battle other than giving you a theme team bonus? Just one. It’s this guy: CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. I’ve tried this guy out in battle and he’s the real deal. Just about any attack aimed at the pieces you care about get redirected to this guy and you lose a 36 point character instead of your 100+ character. Alpha Strike? Just stand there and take it. If they swoop in for a hit on your team that just means they’ll be in a great position for you to hit them next turn. To bump it up a notch the special mastermind power on CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent also works with CATWS106 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent because they share the same name. That means you would only lose 25 points of your force to an attack instead of 36. Even better.

The downside of having six S.H.I.E.L.D. characters on a team in a 300 point game is that it will take you all of your actions just to move them around, much less make any attacks. S.H.I.E.L.D. keyworded figures aren’t know for flying. What a S.H.I.E.L.D. team really needs is something to carry them. There is no helicarrier in HeroClix (currently), but I thought of the next best thing. Here’s my final (competitive) team:

 

The ring is the mightiest weapon in the universe... and it get's HBO.

The ring is the mightiest weapon in the universe… and it gets HBO.

Hal Jordan, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

DP041 G.W. Bridge

CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

CATWS106 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

CATWS106 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

TT033E Green Lantern

Total = 300 points

 

TT033E Green Lantern is exactly what S.H.I.E.L.D. needs. He can carry your whole team. That means moving all 6 guys in 1 action. He’s a virtual helicarrier. The offense on this guy is great. He’s got 8 range, perplex, and he can choose to gain Close Combat Expert, or Ranged Combat Expert as the situation warrants. Since the rest of his team all has the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA, that will allow him to turn his range up to 11.

This is actually what it looks like to turn a Green Lantern ring up to 11...

This is actually what it looks like to turn a Green Lantern ring up to 11…

DP041 G.W. Bridge is very similar to TT033E Green Lantern offensively as he also can gain Close Combat Expert, or Ranged Combat Expert as needed, but instead of perplex he has outwit. Additionally, they both strikingly similar defensively – which means they both have a lousy defense. That’s their weak point. At least it was until they got to this team. With two CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, and two CATWS106 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, it’s likely the first four times your team takes a hit neither Green Lantern or G.W. Bridge will take any damage at all. They will just be able to sit there and take pot shots with their RCE and willpower while any living S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents enhance their damage with the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA. The other team isn’t going to out range you with all the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA floating around and even if they base you, your damage dealers can get Close Combat Expert and your two CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents have empower! That’s a no win situation for the opponent. The only things you need to fear are Precision Strike, Pulse Wave, and Energy Explosion. You have an outwit to help nullify those powers.

Just like with my Iron Pharaoh team, I feel my Green Lantern S.H.I.E.L.D. team is very capable of competing at an event like the ROC and I haven’t seen anything like it published anywhere. It’s original to me right here and now. It’s designed to win in a no resource allowed tournament and will need to be changed for a tournament where resources are allowed. If you get a chance to play this team at a real tournament, leave a comment here and let me know how you did.

 

 

Days of Past Sets Future!! (Or, The Weekly Roundup for 06/08/2014!!)

Roundup

Hello Again!!

(Or perhaps–as our site’s metrics indicate we’ve picked up quite a few new readers this week–hello for the first time!)

Welcome to the Critical Missives Weekly Roundup, where we recap the week in Clix, offer some news and community updates, a few random opinions on stuff, and get you caught up on life–or at least your gaming life. Or at least some of the stuff that happened. With Heroclix. It’s a low bar, but we usually manage to reach it!

So then, without further ado, here is…

THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP!!

PODCASTS:

Dial H

Dial H for Heroclix just released Episode 48! I jumped the gun a little bit in reporting host Hunter’s nuptials and honeymoon, but he sits in with the guys and discusses both a new format for their show and which important Modern Age figures will be rotating out come July when, well, a whole bunch of sets will rotate out of Modern (more on this in a little bit in the WizKids section).

Also, June’s Dial Design just finished Week 2; incidentally, I was, unfortunately, too busy to submit this month, but there have been some really cool entries.

Push to Regen

–Push to Regen is done cooking up Episode 2.4!! You can also check their Podbean for updates and the first three episodes of Season 2!

This is Ultimate Play, b!tches!

–The Quarry’s latest episode is … Episode 20, which sees the return of the Round Table!! Having said that, Hunter Smith announced on this week’s Dial H For Heroclix Podcast that he will be leaving as a regular on the Quarry Round Table episodes; while he didn’t rule out an occasional pop-in, Hunter is done after this month as a continual presence.


Welcome... to the ROC!

Welcome… to the ROC!

ROC:

-A couple new ROC’s have been announced for Kentucky and Indiana!

-Not that I’ll be able to attend, unfortunately, but local venue Gamer’s Gauntlet has a ROC event scheduled for the end of this month. I’ve heard nothing else about this from any other source; check out their website for more details (via the link above).

–If you missed it a couple weeks ago, a brief announcement was made that the recent “Watchlist 2: Electric Bugaloo” changes will go into effect, well, immediately.

–If you want to know what the most frequently used ROC figures are, check out Ninwashui’s latest article that dropped yesterday!

As far as what will be used frequently going forward, I think we’ll see:

-From War of the Light, all of the Entity Chases (but especially Parallax and Entity) will be huge (when played at their 25-point level as “Possessors”); Despotellis should also see a lot of usage;

-From Deadpool, Speed Demon (in particular) and Thunderbolts Teams (in general) should become popular as Speed Demon’s Cyclone Trait offers one of the only ways in the game right now to deal damage without making so much as an attack roll. He’s relatively cheap on eBay at the moment (plenty available around $14.00, which is basically the price of one pack), but once he starts dominating the Meta, look for that price to go up in a hurry. Especially because there’s slightly less of him than other Super Rare, since he’s a Prime;

"'Top o' the morning to ye."

“‘Top o’ the morning to ye.”

-And also from Deadpool… yeah, Banshee. Of course. And possibly Zombie Electro;

-Someone will take a shot at building an army around Phoenixbuster Iron Man, and that person will be awesome in all aspects of life (but they’ll still lose, probably, unless their match-ups fall perfectly).

-Someone will try building a Mystical team around Shaman, as I’ve previously predicted! (Hint: He teams best with Iron Pharaoh!! Also, Map Choice is really important with that type of team!)

-Mercy from the DeadPool Fast Forces is basically the next Scarlet Witch from Chaos War! Of course, at 100 points, AvX Scarlet Witch is pretty good too; but run out and get FF:DP before they’re all sold out and your paying $40 for a $17 quick set! The 75-Point Fast Forces Elektra is also really efficient for her points!

Wizkids

WIZKIDS NEWS:

–WizKids is rotating sets finally, which should juice the Meta starting July 1st!! Pretty much everything Marvel and DC BEFORE M:10 and DC:10

–A general FYI: a few weeks ago, WizKids announced a monthly New OP kit system!


Preview

Previews:

–Final War of the Light color (Black) went live on Newsarama. Black Lantern Spectre looks sweeeeeet.

Army of the Week

Army of the Week:

This week, we’re gonna keep it new and simple for you guys out there:

Team Name: You’lllllll Neveeeerrrr Seeeee Me Commmmmiiiiinng

ThemeThunderbolts

DP053A Speed Demon – 110 Points

FFDP006R Mercy50 

DP036 Bullseye- 110

AVXR100 The Phoenix Force12

(with the Colossus Fragment still Attached) – 3

Cyclops, Emma Frost and Magik Fragments 9

2x Assigned Characters6

=300

Bullseye is taxi’d by Mercy, and then he simply runs amok with his 12 Attack value and triple target 8 Range Precision Strike (remember, Fragments give characters the Flight ability but NOT the Wing symbol, so Mercy can still carry them!). Speed Demon agitates everyone and uses his Trait to fling opposing figures into position for Bullseye to mutilate. Also, with 2 Assigned Characters and 2 Fragments left on the base, Bullseye and Speed Demon get the Defense pumped up +1 to 18 (or 20 against Close Combat attacks as they both have Combat Reflexes) until you KO an opposing figure or roll doubles on an attack roll and hit (the 2 ways the Phoenix Force Resource moves). Bullseye and Speed Demon also get Empower, Charge and Blades/Claws/Fangs, which opens up some interesting possibilities, especially for Speed Demon. Since he ignores characters, he can still make his Cyclone Trait go off by Charging 6 or 7 squares around a character and then he can B/C/F them for the possibility of six damage BEFORE he spins them away in his Cyclone. Then you simply rinse and repeat!!

This is a team that would be a lot of fun to play, and it uses all new characters!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

–Dr. Strange: The Movie may in fact have a director!

Otherwise, not a ton of Hollywood news at the moment. Well, Ben Affleck went to a Tigers game (he’s in town shooting Batman and Superman, or whatever they’re calling it right now). That was kinda cool.

Critical Missives:

–Two big articles last week: A second opinion on the DeadPool set by yours truly; and the frequency of pieces used in the ROC tournaments!

And we’ll be back this week with a special look at Six Pack possibilities in Flash Figure #2 by Ninwashui and some other goodness from me! And in two weeks… a WOL !! Wheeee!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Your Lines of Fire!

 

ROC’ing the Meta… Just like Shuma-Gorath Did!! (Or, A Look at the Top Pieces for ROC Super Qualifiers!!)

Welcome Back!

Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?

Can you smell what the ROCK is cooking?


 

So I’ve continually talked about how the ROC’s are great source of information for the current Meta. Well, on a whim (and somehow finding myself with some rare time to kill) I decided I should tally up all of the Top 4 finishing teams from the entire history of the ROC to see who the Top 10 most popular figures are. Why? Well, if you’re thinking of entering a ROC tourney near you, this might give you an idea of which army you want to build; but even if this doesn’t give you an idea of what to play, it should (perhaps even more importantly) give an idea of what you’ll be facing in the finals if you make the Top 16.

Welcome... to the ROC! (How many ROC puns will I make today? I dunno, but that's prolly not my last).

Welcome… to the ROC! (How many ROC puns will I make today? I dunno, but that’s prolly not my last).

For the record, there are 21 tournament results posted. Four teams from each would be 84 team results to work with, but one tournament only posted the top two teams. All of which means that I’m pulling data from 82 Top 4 teams total.

In the interest of total transparency, the picture below should illuminate the primary methodology I used to determine the following results.

"Me calculating the ROC results for my article. Damn, I'm a handsome beast!"

Showing my work.

Before getting to the actual figures, here are the ranks for the most popular:

Resources

Resources:

1. FIR100C The Book of the Skull
2. NMLR100C Utility Belt
3. IIMR100C Power Plant
4. AVXR100 The Phoenix Force
5. IGR101C Infinity Gauntlet

The Book of the Skull is my favorite Resource, so this pleased me. HypeFox is more of a Phoenix Force or Infinity Gauntlet guy.

Actually, Gen13 came in last in terms of frequency of use, just after the nonexistent Great Lakes Avengers Team Base.

Actually, Gen13 came in last in terms of frequency of use, just after the Great Lakes Avengers Team Base. Which is not a real thing. Better luck next time, Fairchild!

Team Bases:

1. WXMT004 New Mutants
Tied for 2nd. TTT002R Justice League, WXMT001E X-Men: Blue Strike Force, WXMT006 Hellfire Club: Inner Circle

No other team bases have made a Top 4 table, which surprised me. Would have thought Trinity of Sin would have shown up at some point.

Bystander

Bystander Tokens:

1. FIH002 Warbot (Rocket)
2. FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot
3. FIB003 Damaged Warbot
4. FIB005 Super Fan
5. FIB018 Store Clerk

Skadi’s Warbot coming in second is the upset here.

And now without further ado here’s…

ROC

The Top 10 Figures of the ROC.

Tied for 10th place. WXM023B Cerise – Cerise is the only representative from the Wolverine and the Xmen set and one of only 2 primes to make the list. She arguably would have made it even higher on this list except for popularity of the other prime and the fact that they can’t be played together. For 60 points, she’s one of the most efficient Soldier and Police keyworded figs around.

Tied for 10th place. SLOSH008 Phantom Girl – When Phantom Girl phases through opposing characters she gets to target one of them with a close combat action. Every other figure with a similar power gets a close combat attack (like all those characters with hypersonic speed). The fact that she gets a close combat action gives her unique ability to use the bat belt and NMLR106 Handcuffs to handicap opposing figures. From SLOSH039 Bizarro to WKM-G01R Shuma-Gorath, she can wrap them up tight.

Tied for 10th place. IIM051 Iron Pharaoh (1500 BC) – This blog has done plenty to hype this piece (here and here) so it’s inclusion on this list is no surprise. What is surprising is that no other piece from the Invincible Iron Man set made this list.

Tied for 10th place. GG026 Mole Man – How did this make the list? WKM-G01R Shuma-Gorath is the biggest reason. He is set to be retied by July 1 2014 and it seems like WizKids made DP043 Black Talon as his replacement.

9th place. JL52016R Enchantress – The 2nd best way to spend 50 points in modern. She is not only support, but a decent secondary attacker as well. Especially with a resource.

8th place. SLOSH057 Lydea Mallor – The best of the Chases from SLOSH. Lydea is one part Out-of-the-Shadows Batman and one part relic stealing Cat Woman. Her Regen stop click at the end of her dial is just icing on the cake.

7th place. M10A009E Iron Man – If you absolutely know your opponents are playing a resource, then this is their kryptonite. His dial is very efficient for it’s cost, but his trait is the only reason people ever play him.

Tied for 5th and 6th place. SOGV003A GCPD Motorcycle (Autopilot) – This is never played without the GCPD ATA. If you’ve played this without the GCPD ATA, you did it wrong! Combined the cycle and ATA allow to carry two characters regardless of stat symbols 4 squares a turn as a few action. That police motorcycle is a steal for it’s point cost.

Tied for 5th and 6th place. SLOSH039 Bizarro – HypeFox once told that this should be my favorite character in the whole game. I love stop clicks and for this guy every click is a stop click. Depending on point value this is the toughest character ever made.

4th place. FFCW006 Scarlet Witch – She very similar to JL52016R Enchantress, but slightly better. She’s been a popular piece to play when she was first introduced due to her combination of perplex, probability control, and barrier on the same character. She is set to be retied by July 1 2014 and it seems like WizKids made FFDP006R Mercy as her replacement.

3rd place. GG014 Astral Dr. Strange – This is a great way to spend 13 points. The free move definitely puts it over the top. However, a lot of the play this piece has seen lately is with SLOSH048 Tellus. The combo is free move this 13 point figure into range and then have your whole team shoot through it. On your opponent’s turn the only thing in range is this 13 point figure.

2nd place. ASM017B Brother Voodoo – Brother Voodoo is the most popular prime character to date. He’s also my pick for most powerful character (for the points) ever. He’s made the top teams from the very first ROC all the way through the most current one. It seems like a lot of top 4 teams start with Brother Voodoo and fill in the rest from there. Think about this-of the 82 published top 4 ROC teams, this character was on 24 of them (EDITOR’S NOTE: DAAAAAMMMMN)!

1st place. FI301 Splitlip – With 25 total top 4 ROC appearances it’s the most popular figure. How did it get there? Of all of the teams I looked at that used the book of the skulls, all of them included Splitlip. There are a few teams out there that played him without the book, but no one played the book without him. The fact that he’s the cheapest source of enhancement in modern shouldn’t be forgotten either.

So there you go! If you go to a ROC, expect to see some–if not most–of these characters across the board from you.  Thanks for reading.

And keep on ROC'ing! Okay, that was my last pun...

And keep on ROC’ing! Okay, that was my last pun…

 

The Merc and The Meta (Or, A Second Opinion of the Top Ten Figures in Deadpool!!)

"Good Morning!"

“Good Morning!”

So, Ninwashui has chimed in with his Top Ten list for the new Deadpool set, WITH NO REGARD TO MY OWN OPINION!! Obviously, I could not let this besmirchment stand!

Here then, for the DeadPool set, is your…

Second Opinion!!

That's high praise!!

“That’s high praise!!”

 Some General Notes About the Set:

–While there are obviously some powerful individual pieces, I thought that the overall “Power Level” of this set fell slightly below Invincible Iron Man and SL0SH… and that’s OKAY! The fact that we got a ton of weird characters that I never thought I’d see made (Grasshopper? Sweet! Now my GLA team can–wait, there was more than one Grasshopper?), plus some much-needed Modern Age updates to some figures who have been conspicuously absent until now.

–Having said that, I would still agree with Ninwashui’s assessment that this set was more consistent in terms of the usefulness of the characters; I just feel that the previous two sets both had higher ceilings in terms of the power level of their best pieces. Still, since most of the characters were consistently useful, coming up with a Top Ten (and 5 Honorable Mentions) was pretty tough; so tough, in fact, that I was forced to cheat and list a TOP TWELVE!! Even still, there are some good figures in this set that just aren’t gonna get mentioned here, cuz there’s a lot to like.

–After getting to play a couple games with WizKids’s brand new mechanic, I can say that the Word Balloon feature turned out better than I expected. I thought these were all going to be kitschy, trite add-ons that simply granted silly powers that would only be used once in a blue moon, especially after seeing the “I Never Miss With the Sheep Gun” balloon (Man, I’ve had so many theoretical conversations about the impossibly far flung, Rube Goldberg Machine-induced scenarios in which plopping a Sheep token next to an opposing figure will turn the tide of a game, and while it’s early days yet, I think I’ll be okay if that’s the one Balloon I never pull). Boy, was I wrong.

"I was wrong on this one."

“I was wrong–this is awesome.”

First of all, they’ve made it really flavorful and probably avoided themselves future headaches by creating such a small pool of eligible characters (Deadpool Corps. members and Ultimate DeadPool and ThorPool, etc.). Fewer affected characters means there’s a lot less chance to break the game. And then, within that framework, they created some Word Balloons that are good enough to make you WANT to play a DeadPool. “Hammer Time,” “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?,” “My Common Sense is Tingling” and “ ” are all really good, especially when used with DP019A DeadPool, DP019B Evil DeadPool or DP055 DeadPool. In my opinion, those three figs are already all worth their Points to begin with; throw “Hammer Time” on any one of them (for example) and I believe that you’re actually fielding more points than you’re being charged for (remember, Balloons are NOT Resources in and of themselves, so they can be used in tandem with Resources and Relics. And don’t get me started about the “Possessed” ability on the new War of the Light Chases coming this month (Y’know, just when I finish a 4600-word column on Modern Age Chases, WizKids goes ahead and releases these “Entity” Chase pieces that are probably all gonna be Meta in some way–particularly through the aforementioned “Possessed” Trait).

Remember, if there’s one thing that this site has tried to teach ‘Clixers everywhere, it’s Critical Missives Army Build Axiom #1:

CRITICAL MISSIVES ARMY BUILD AXIOM #1: DO NOT PAY “RETAIL” POINT PRICES FOR FIGURES WHEN THERE’S A VALUE-PRICED OPTION AVAILABLE!!

Now, the corollary to that is this: Free Points Are Awesome!!

Again, CRITICAL MISSIVES ARMY BUILD AXIOM COROLLARY #1A: WHEN BUILDING YOUR ARMY, FREE POINTS ARE AWESOME!!

If you accept that the 3 DeadPools from this set that I just mentioned are already worth their points, and if you accept that Resources in general are EXTREMELY under costed, then you would have to conclude that the DeadPool set–and the various Merc With a Mouth Traited characters–offer a LOT of value for opportunistic builders. I’ll get into this a little more in the individual profiles, but you can create some RIDICULOUSLY powerful characters who can get bonuses from 2 or even 3 sources that aren’t really even on the map–or at the very least, sources that your opponent can do little to nothing about.

–No ChampionPool? C’mon!! How will we ever have a complete DeadPool Corps.?!

–Probably the most useful group of Super Rares ever. Cable is probably the only Super Rare you’d be disappointed to pull in Sealed (well, maybe Kingpin, but Kingpin is really useful in Modern), and there’s a TON of awesome SR’s that people will be playing even years from now…

The Chases. Yikes! While the Z-Virus mechanic is cool, Marvel Zombies was never really my hot sauce, so I could kind of take or leave them. I think it’s cool that they’ll have their own Zombie Team Base, but… we don’t get that Team Base until August’s Guardians of the Galaxy set, and with the info that’s been released so far, it seems like that set’s gonna have ANOTHER 8 ZOMBIE CHASES!! Blleeecccch! Enough already! Guardians should have 6 Chases–all 6 of the members of the Cull Obsidian from last year’s Infinity storyline. Those are the Chases everyone wants and expects–and it’s about 99% for sure that it’s not gonna happen. It would have been so simple and so appropriate to do the Black Order figures that I have to wonder if WizKids has gone completely insane (Hunter on Dial H for Heroclix has stated that this has dimmed his enthusiasm for the set so much that he probably won’t even buy his customary Brick of GotG, much less a case–and I can’t say I blame him). Grrrr… but enough about the NEXT Marvel set! I’m here today to talk about the set that’s actually been released!

So let’s start with the…

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

"Dude... I'm'a 'bout ready to smash the $#!t out this flag over here."

“I punch flags! Then I paint them black and wear them!”

5. DP025 Flag-Smasher119 Points Uncommon: Okay, my understanding of flags as a concept is that they are generally emblems of some significance that have been made out of some sort of flexible cloth material. So how exactly does one “smash” a flag? Flag-Tearer? Okay. Flag-Ripper? Sounds menacing, unless you mumble it out loud, in which case it comes dangerously close to sounding like “Fart-Ripper.” Regardless, either name seems like it would make more sense than the perplexing “Flag-Smasher.” Although, maybe that’s why he has top dial Perplex? All I know for sure is that Flag-Puncher here has a couple of devastating abilities that get him close to my Top Ten (but not quite in it). First, his Trait (WE SHALL BE ONE PEOPLE, AND I SHALL LEAD: Flag-Smasher can use Leadership. When he does and succeeds, choose a copyable Marvel Team ability. Friendly characters with a lower point value can use that ability until your next turn.) is fantastic! You make your Leadership roll, and all of the sudden all your characters have the Mystics TA. Or Avengers Initiative, or any useful copyable TA you can think of. That’s pretty damn fantastic. And while his starting attack is a 10, he has Running Shot, Pulse Wave and Perplex to go with it, so if your opponent isn’t careful, he could be in for a world of hurt.

Even though Flag-Smasher doesn’t have Willpower, that’s okay as well since pushing him onto his second click gives him a fantastic Movement Special (THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD SHALL CRUMBLE, AND BE ONE: Opposing characters that possess or can use a team ability modify their attack and defense value by -1 unless already modified by this effect.). I mean, if he was nine points less, you could team him with Cul Borson and give most of your opponent’s figs -2 to their Attack!

But that Point total is a problem. I would have loved this character at 90-95 points, or maybe an even hundred. At 119, as great as his abilities happen to be, I think he’s a bit over-costed. If he were 20 Points less, he probably would have made my top 5. Still, his skill set is unique enough to keep him on the Honorable Mentions list.

"Man, if it just had eyeholes, this costume would be perfect!"

“Man, if it just had eyeholes, this costume would be perfect!”

4. DP053B Whizzer120 Points – Super Rare Prime: Obviously has one of the best Improved Movement abilities in the game (he ignores just about everything), especially when he can use Hypersonic Speed his whole dial. Hypersonic Speed + Flurry on his first three clicks is damn good. On his own, he’s a great piece who’s probably worthy of a Top Ten slot. But he’s an Honorable Mention instead for a few different reasons.

First, he’s got the Squadron Supreme keyword, but he still can’t team with Hyperion from IIM because they’re both Primes. That kinda sorta really sucks.

Second, as cool as his Hypersonic Speed + Flurry Special Movement Power is, his defense is predicated on being right next to the character taking a swing at him (since he has Combat Relfexes), which means that it’s almost NOT in your best interest to speed around the board, attack, and then hide. Not the worst thing in the world, and he does have Super Senses as well, but he definitely needs a different play style from how most people play HS characters to be effective.

And finally, Speed Demon’s just got a better Trait for 10 less points, so as far as speedsters go, I’m’a stick with Speed Demon. Which means this is one of the rare instances when the non-Prime actually offers more goodness for less points than the Prime…

"Rawr."

“Now this doesn’t seem safe at all.”

3. DP003 Dogpool 65 Points – Common: Love this lil’ pup. For 65 Points, you can totally nerf Stealth for one of your opponent’s pieces every turn (“BARK” WHAT’D YA FIND BOY? TIMMY IN THE WELL AGAIN?: Dogpool can use Perplex, but only to decrease a defense value. When he uses Perplex, he can use Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain and targeted characters can’t use Stealth this turn.). But what’s really neat is that with a 10 Attack and Precision Strke, he can even sneak some damage in on the biggest of foes! And he picks up Blades/Claws/Fangs further down dial–in Sealed, my opponent nailed one of my best figures twice with that. Unfortunately for him, he rolled 1 twice (and that opponent may or may not have been Ninwashui). Still, he more than proved his worth, and that’s even without a full compliment of Word Balloons (I mean, “Hammer Time” on a dog is just fun…).

Now THIS would have made an awesome Duo figure!!

Now THIS would have made an awesome Duo figure!!

2. DP019A DeadPool135 Points – Uncommon: The star of the set, Deadpool at 135 is like a nice blob of clay that you can mold into whatever sort of primary attacker you need him to be. Want to create mass causalities? Throw on “Hammer Time.” Want to make him harder to hurt? Throw on “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?!” or “Quick! Shield Me With Your Bodies!” Or turn him into a Wildcard–the possibilities are nigh endless (okay, there’s only like 12 different Word Balloons or so, so the possibilities definitely have an end), and that’s before you start adding in bonuses from Resources or Possessing Entities. The fact that there are two even crazier versions of DeadPool in this set is the only reason he’s not in the Top Ten.

I'll be honest, this could even be Cobra Commander. YOU try finding Secret Empire Number 9 images!

I’ll be honest, this might be Cobra Commander. YOU try finding Secret Empire Number 9 images!

1. DP204 Secret Empire Number 935 Points – Common: Actually, for once, the comments on HCRealms.com’s Units page explain this fig better than I ever could. A user named MrDgreen: “man, enhance and the Hydra TA, these guys are basically walking relics.” Hydra TA, Enhancement (with a respectable 2 damage), Pyschic Blast and ES/D to prolong their already pretty good 5 clicks of life… Their only drawback is that Soldier is their lone useful keyword (no one is fielding any decent Secret Empire Theme Teams, I promise you).

Alright!! We’re done with the appetizer–here’s the Main Course!

THE TOP TEN TWELVE FIGURES IN DEADPOOL!!

The next character in Sprint's "Framily" commercials.

The next character in Sprint’s “Framily” commercials.

12. DP057 Tiamat – 255 Points – Super Rare: The Beast with Two… bases. Tiamat comes on a peanut base, and he/she/it is a complete badass. 9 Clicks that are all painted, plus 1 ridiculous Trait (CHAMPION AND STEED: Once per turn, when an opposing character has taken damage from his attack, give Tiamat any action as a free action. When you do, after action resolve, remove an action token from Tiamat.). Besides the boatload of points it takes to field Tiamat, the only drawback is that Tiamat can’t account for Hindering or Elevated Terrain when he moves (that’s why we have Hammers though, right?). Close Combat figs are always gonna take a backseat to Ranged-Based figures, but man, this is a Monnnnnnnnster!!

"I have Stop Clicks! Sort of!"

“I have Stop Clicks! Sort of!”

11. DP057A/057B Typhoid Mary/Bloody Mary100 Points – Super Rare: One of the most unique figures WizKids has turned out in a while now, due to her Trait (I’M JUST MARY WALKER, SOAP OPERA ACTRESS/ BLOODY MARY, PSYCHOTIC BUTCHER: Each time a new click is revealed due to damage taken from an opponents attack, roll a d6. On a result of 6 stop turning the dial, and Typhoid Mary ignores all further damage dealt this turn. On a result of 4-5 you may replace her with DP #058b Bloody Mary on the same click number and then deal her the remaining damage minus 1.) and the fact that both bases come together! She’s slightly over-costed given that’s she’s mostly a supporting piece to start, but as she gets down dial she turns into a solid damage dealer as well.

WizKids's sculpts get more and more lifelike each set...

WizKids’s sculpts get more and more lifelike each set…

10. DP050 Wolverine and X-23168 Points – Super Rare: Another Close Combat figure that has been gifted with so many abilities that Ranged-based attackers won’t necessarily have the Alpha Strike advantage on them. Their best powers come from an awesome Trait (SNEAK AND KILL: Wolverine and X-Men can use Sidestep and Stealth. Unhindered lines of fire drawn to Wolverine and X-23 during an opponent’s turn are blocked unless Wolverine and X-23 have 2 action tokens or are adjacent to an opposing character not on its starting click.) that combines with their Special Attack Power (SLICE AND DICE: Wolverine and X-23 can use Blades/Claws/Fangs and Flurry. When using Blades/Claws/Fangs, their minimum d6 result is 3. If they hit a character twice during a turn, they may use Incapacitate as a free action, targeting that character.) to give them the coveted Charge, Flurry and Blades/Claws/Fangs combo. So, to review: Top dial, they can move up to 7 squares in one turn and still attack between their Sidestep and Charge, then they get to attack you twice with Flurry and–if they hit both times (not unreasonable to think they will with that 12 Attack)–they also plop an action token on their target. Easy ways for them to heal once they hit Click 3 means that their 7 Clicks of life will seem like it’s almost double that. I can’t quite say that they’ll be a Meta piece, since their Point cost is fairly high even for a Primary Attacker, but man, if I sat down at a ROC and saw this Duo in my opponent’s starting area, I wouldn’t exactly feel too comfortable either.

 

"Rawr!"

“Rawr!”

9. DP060 Superior Spider-Man160 Points – Super Rare: The most powerful Spidey since ASM’s Spider-Man 2099, Sup Spidey is basically Toyman from SL0SH done right. Depending on which Spider Bots you attach, you can either give him a 50-66.6% to evade all attacks not made by Banshee or someone with Precision Strike (and that’s assuming that they hit his 18 Defense to begin with), or you can double his Outwit and Perplex Range. Either choice makes him really hard to deal with (although I’d go with the Super Senses bonus myself). So hard, in fact, we’re gonna do a quick Flash Build with him!

Team NameA Superior Way to Die!!

Theme: Scientist

DP060 Superior Spider-Man160

(w/ the Secret Avengers ATA) – 5

IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0135

Sideline: Like a bazillion Spider-Bots (both Mark 1 and Mark 2).

=300 (Exactly! Yeah!)

This may be one of the most self-explanatory armies we’ve ever published. Iron Monger 2.0’s Trait (REWIRE YOU FOR EXPLOSIVES: When a friendly character is KO’d by an opponent’s attack, you may deal 1 penetrating damage to each opposing character adjacent to that character.) makes friendly characters (like, say, little disposable Spider-Bots) go boom when your opponent deals damage to them. Superior Spider-Man spits out a Spider-Bot as a free action (depending on your d6 roll) every turn, and if your opponent doesn’t kill them, they can start surrounding his figures and causing serious problems (like jacking up each other’s Attack Value and firing off a bunch of Incaps right in a row. A classic damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. It will take a minute to get everything going, so you’d want a map that slows your opponents roll out a little bit (like that crazy Fires of Apokolips map or whatever it was called from the SLoSH kit).

"Wheeeee."

“Wheeeee.”

8. DP055 DeadPool215 Points – Super Rare: Insanity in a box. He comes with the “Hammer Time” Word Balloon, which pumps his attack up to a 13 and lets him mix some Energy Explosion Marshmellows in with his Pulse Wave Lucky Charms. If you play him with a TK’er, he’s devastating on most maps. You’d want to pull him anyway just for his Word Balloon; the fact that he’s one of the best figures in the set is just gravy. 215 is a lot to sink into one figure, but damn! Keep in mind, too, that he has the Asgardian keyword, so Splitlip and the Book of the Skull sits you down at 265 with a Theme Team and 35 Points left to spend in a 300 Point game. He’s even better in Epic Games.

"The H does not stand for Hero, incidentally."

“The H does not stand for Hero, incidentally.”

7. DP103 Wolverine, Agent of Hydra90 Points – LE: This is the engine that Hand swarm teams needed. He’s less than 100 Points and enables the Hydra TA to work for Close Combat attacks as well. Since most Hand characters (even the generics) already have this TA, it basically turns your Hand swarm into a mobile meat grinder. Hook him up with the Hand ATA to make it nearly impossible to target him until its too late. One of the best Wolverines currently in Modern Age (and since there’s roughly 2000, that’s saying something!). He also has one of the best Charge Special Movement Powers in the game (especially considering his point level).

"I am not a Bruce Lee rip-off."

“I am not a Bruce Lee rip-off.”

6. DP047A Shang-Chi90 Points – Rare: Why does this entire set either cost 90, 100 or 110 Points? Weird. Anyway, Shang-Chi is a Close Combat nightmare. If sets were measured in the effectiveness of their Close Combat pieces, Deadpool would be the best set ever released! Shang-Chi is the beneficiary of another near-broken Trait (COUNTER-BLOCK: Each time an opposing character targets and misses Shag-Chi with an attack, put a Counter token on this card. Give Shang-Chi a free action and remove all Counter tokens to make that many close combat attacks with a locked damage value of 2. At the end of your turn, remove all Counter tokens.). Add in some GREAT keywords (Avengers, Martial Artist and HfH, among others), Empower, a couple of Improved Movements (including Elevated), a 12 Attack, and an 18 Defense with Combat Reflexes, and you have the Phone Book of Modern Age Close Combat abilities. His dial should be in the 120-135 Range; in reality, it’s 90. There ya go.

"Yep! I'm back!"

“Yep! Zombie Electro. Again.”

5. DP064 Electro – 90 Points – Chase: And now we start to get into the figs you can build competitive teams around. Check out my column on the most effective Chase pieces in Modern Age from last week for some suggestions on the shenanigans you can get into with Zombie Maxwell Dillon.

The cover to "Black Talon and the Ex-X-Men #1," the least selling X-book of all time.

The cover to “Ex-X-Men #1,” the least selling X-book of all time.

4. DP043 Black Talon60 Points – Rare: They should call him Black Shenanigans, except that sounds like it could be the title of a racist D.W. Griffith propaganda film from the early-1900’s. So scratch that. But the point remains–with his Damage Special Power (CONTROL OF THE MINDLESS UNDEAD: Black Talon can use Mind Control with a range value of 8, and when he does he may target friendly characters. If all of his targets are friendly, a lower point value, and have the Monster keyword, he may use it as if had 3 bolts.) & Trait (POWER OF THE LIVING LOA: When Black Talon uses Mind Control, you may place a KO’d opposing character in an adjacent square on its starting click, and that character becomes the target. After actions resolve, that character is removed from the game.) someone (as Ninwashui always likes to say) is gonna find a way to break him. One of the early episodes of the Quarry featured an interview with a ROC winner (or judge–I can’t remember) who had determined within his playgroup that the ability to Mind Control friendly characters shouldn’t appear on figures less than, like, 110 Points or something. He had all kinds of mathmatical reasoning and whatnot, I’m sure–just like I’m sure that WizKids heard that interview, chuckled, and then said “Oh yeah?” out loud and to no one in particular. Whether you agree with my half-remembered anecdote or not, giving a friendly Mind Control ability to a 60 Point figure is damn near absurd. Never mind the fact that he can also use Mind Control to target opposing characters WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN KO’D AND THUS REMOVED FROM THE GAME!! I mean, that’s almost an afterthought, and it’s also a near-gamebreaking ability. He will power some ROC Top 16 teams in the near future–count on it.

"The all-new Thunderbolts! Justice... like rainbows?"

“The all-new Thunderbolts! Justice… like rainbows?”

3. DP053A Speed Demon110 Points – Super Rare: Here’s what you need to know: his Trait (SPEED CYCLONE UPLIFT: When Speed Demon moves, after actions resolve, choose an opposing character and roll a d6. If the result is less than the number of distinct squares that Speed Demon moved into or through that are adjacent to that character during the move, you may place that character within line of fire of its square and up to the result away in squares and deal that character half of the result in damage.) is among the most broken currently in Modern and allows him to sneak in a second attack in one turn, except that you don’t even actually make an attack; assuming you can devote six squares out of your 14-square Movement to circle an opposing figure, this will go off on anything less than a roll of 6. Again, this Trait works WHILE HE’S USING HIS HYPERSONIC SPEED and it allows you to place an opposing character where you want him to be, which can really screw up your opponent’s positioning. It’s also probably the best way to go when you need to damage someone without making an attack (to get around the Mystics TA, for example). It’s sick and wrong.

Like his Prime version, the Whizzer, Speed Demon also has an 11 starting Attack with 3 damage. But unlike his Prime version, as Speedy gets down dial he only gets better, picking up a +2 Perplex (on anything but damage) and a Movement Special that keeps HS but adds in a second attack. This means that he’s actually as good–if not BETTER–on click 4 as he is top dial. That’s pretty sick on a 110 Point character. He’s another piece you should be seeing at an ROC soon, given everything that he does and the fact that his insanely good keywords (Among others, HfH, Sinister Syndicate AND Thunderbolts–plenty of options just with those!) make him eligible for a bevy of different armies. Let’s look at a basic Sinister Syndicate Build:

Team Name: Sinister Six-ish

Theme: Sinister Syndicate

DP053A Speed Demon110 Points

(w/ Sinister Twelve ATA) – 4

ASM031B Alyosha Kraven70

(w/ Sinister Twelve ATA) – 4

ASM019 Vulture 61

(w/ Sinister Twelve ATA) – 4

FIB003 Damaged Warbot10

FIB003 Damaged Warbot10

FIR100 The Book of the Skull6

(w/ 7 Hammers attached–all except Greithoth’s) – 21

=300 (Exact-a-mundo again!)

You’ll get +3 to Map Roll and 3 Theme Team Probs. So, with Gulyadkin the Lion’s token, you should have 6 characters at the start of the game, which will hopefully be at least one more than your opponent so that your Sinister Twelve ATA’s go off. Vulture can taxi Alyosha, who can give his pet a free move every turn too, and Speed Demon is, well, Speed Demon, so once you Hammer Up, mobility shouldn’t be an issue. Speed Demon in particular (with a now 12 Attack) should run amok. Not ROC-worthy, because you’re team would be too vulnerable from Range (depending on Map Choice), but this team can dish out a ton of damage!

Gotta love the backwards arm.

Gotta love the backwards arm.

2. DP019B Evil DeadPool100 Points – Uncommon Prime: Just looking at his stats and powers, you’d think his dial was made up of rejected SLoSH Bizarro clicks. But when you look closer, you’ll see an amazing damage dealer whose main flaw–low top dial defense–is easily fixable with a Resource and/or Word Balloon, and his Regeneration Special (WEIRD REGENERATION FROM LEFTOVER PARTS: Evil Deadpool can use Regeneration. Choose an opponent to roll another d6. If the opponent’s roll is higher than your d6 roll, add the two results together and subtract 2. Evil Deadpool is healed of damage equal to this amount instead. Each time Evil Deadpool would heal past his starting click in this way, modify his combat values by +1 for the rest of the game, even if this power is lost.) means that he can survive almost anything that gets thrown at him and actually come back stronger! Put him on a Book of the Skull team, give him “Hammer Time” when he attacks and suddenly you’re opponent is in for a world of hurt–and you still have 170 Points left to support him. Awesome piece!

"Get used to seeing me around, homies."

“Get used to seeing me at every ROC, homies.”

1.DP051 Banshee98 Points – Super Rare: Just stupid for his Points. His Trait (IT’S GOING TO GET A LITTLE LOUD: Opposing characters within 6 squares can’t use Super Senses. Opposing characters within 6 squares can’t use Impervious, Invincible, or Invulnerability but can use Toughness instead. When Banshee hits a character that can’t use a power due to this trait, increase damage dealt to that character by 1.) shuts down just about every good defensive power and in a lot of cases increases Banshee’s damage by one. I talked about how stupid broken he gets the more Resources etc. that you add to him in last week’s Weekly Roundup. At this point, you should either buy one yourself or be prepared to deal with him–a lot.

(One Final Note: Fast Forces: Deadpool is technically it’s own Micro Set; having said that, I should note that the Elektra and the Rookie Mercy figs from that set would have made my Honorable Mention and Top Ten, respectively had then been part of Deadpool proper. In other words, you’re gonna want that Fast Forces…)

Whew!! 4500 words on Deadpool, and there’s still so much we didn’t cover. But I hope this helps–now get out there and dominate!

War of the Light…ened Wallets!! (Or, The Weekly Roundup for 06/01/2014!!)

Roundup

 

Let the games begin!! With many venues running War of the Light Month 1 this week (and some of the pieces ALREADY turning up on eBay–naughty naughty!!), peeps are getting excited for some batteries and rings! Of course, if you don’t pull that Chase or Prime you’re looking for, you’re still in luck! They can be yours for a mere $100+!! Good Lord. This set is going to cause some divorces and bankruptcies. Which is to say, it should be a lot of fun!

Speaking of the opposite of fun, my Tigers–just like that guy you know who dropped out of community college after his third year to, y’know, go “find himself”–suddenly just cannot get there s#!t together.

In the last two weeks:

–Joe Nathan, the closer, decided it was a good idea to blame his rookie third baseman Nick Castellanos for causing Nathan’s billionth blown save of the year because Castellanos dropped what would have been out number 2 in the ninth inning of a game against Oakland. That drop, according to Nathan, is why Nathan went ahead AND SERVED UP A #$%^#($&^#)$^)#^$)#^$in’ meatball on the very first pitch to Josh Donaldson for a walkoff 3-run homerun. Without that drop, by Nathan’s insane reasoning, that homerun never would have happened, because Nathan could have taken a different “approach” to the Donaldson at-bat, and could have “played with him” a little more.” Excuse me? Because of one error, you had to throw every subsequent pitch slow and right down the middle like it’s a glorified batting practice session and not the bottom of the freaking NINTH?!?! Bravo, Joe Nathan. Not only did you fail again, but this time you almost took down your entire team using only your ego! Closers blow saves around the league all the time. You know what most of those Closers do, Joe? They get back at it the next day, and sooner than later people forget about the blown save. Part of being a Closer is not being a slave to your own ego and admitting when you screwed up, neither of which involves laying the blame for a loss on the shoulders of a rookie whose had less than a year to learn third base after being moved from the outfield and whose error DID NOT END THE GAME!! That is weak.

Great job, Joe. Not only did you fail again, but this time you almost took down your entire team using only your ego!

This is what “Fail” looks like.

–Our starters have gone from the best in the league to the flat-out worst. Why? Only God and Pitching Coach Jeff Jones know. Scratch that–if Jones knew, presumably he would FIX IT! And hey, Max Scherzer–let’s stop throwing teammates under the bus as well, eh? How about everyone just chills the #^#@ out? Just for a minute, okay? Geeezzzz…

–Suddenly, if Victor or Miggy doesn’t light it up, our offense can’t hit. Grrrrr…..

Alright!! Enough negativity!! You’re not here to read my Tigers screeds! No, you’re here for…

THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP!!

PODCASTS:

Dial H

Dial H for Heroclix just released Episode 47! It was a little shorter than normal because host Hunter Smith is knee-deep in Wedding prep–in fact, he should be married and off on his Honeymoon as you read this!

Push to Regen

–Push to Regen is still cooking up Episode 2.4!! Check their Podbean for updates and the first three episodes of Season 2!

This is Ultimate Play, b!tches!

The Quarry’s latest episode is … Episode 19, which features interviews with and perspectives from a bunch of different recent ROC winners (the Roundtable has the week off). I listened to most of this ep–some great insight from the recent tourney champs!


Welcome... to the ROC!

Welcome… to the ROC!

ROC:

–Up to date upcoming ROC tourney listings have been released, which you can find right HERE!

–A brief announcement was made that the recent “Watchlist 2: Electric Bugaloo” changes will go into effect, well, immediately.

–What’s been winning at the ROC Super Qualifiers lately? Well, to answer that, I’d have to review every ROC team that made the Top Four and compile all that data into an article that was able to articulate the information in a way that makes sense. And… I’m sure Ninwashui will get right on that.

Wizkids

WIZKIDS NEWS:

–A few weeks ago, WizKids announced a monthly New OP kit system!


Preview

Previews:

–New War of the Light dials went up last week–most notably Kyle Rayner as a White Lantern–but pretty much every Wave 1 dial is up at HCREALMS.com in their Unit section!

–They weren’t officially spoiled, but four of the Light Entity Chases went up on HCREALMS.com as well, and my, are they (very nearly, depending on which figures you choose to put them on! If you choose, say, Banshee, he can become a World Breaker in no time fast! What’s that? He already basically is a Worldbreaker? Uh… well, here’s a quick Build to make my point–in fact we’re going to make this our:

Army of the Week

Army of the Week:

Team Name: It’s Going to Get a Little Loud

Theme: None (Honestly, you probably won’t need it)

DP051 Banshee98 Points

WOL061P Entity – 25

FI301 Splitlip20

FIH005 Navy Seaman8

DP059 Kingpin118

FIR001C The Book of the Skull30

=299

With this army, you’re sacrificing Theme Team Bonuses for the right to essentially use 2 Resources on one character-Banshee. Assuming you select Banshee with the Book and choose Damage Power and Damage Value via the Possessed Trait from Entity (POSSESSED: Click the Possessor’s dial to the same click number as this character and change it during the game in the same way that this character’s dial changes. At the beginning of each of your turns or after this character takes or is healed of damage and actions resolve, you may choose 1 power showing on one Possessor’s dial and 1 combat value on one Possessor’s dial higher than this character’s printed combat value. This character can use that power and modifies that combat value by +1 until your next turn or until it is healed or takes damage. If the Possessor is turned to a KO click, it is removed from the game immediately.), on his top click, Banshee has: the Police and X-Men abilities; 8 Range; Running Shot with a BotS-enhanced 12 Movement; 11 Attack with Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Smoke Cloud; 18 Defense with Super Senses and Barrier; 4 Damage with Probability Control and Perplex. Then, if he chooses to Carry Kingpin with him (Holy God!!), he gets all that (Except he can only move 4 spaces for Running Shot instead of 6) PLUS his Damage goes up to 5 (from Kingpin’s Enhancement) and he also gains Sharpshooter, RCE and freakin’ Precision Strike. Oh, and due to Banshee’s own Trait, from which this army gets its name (IT’S GOING TO GET A LITTLE LOUD: Opposing characters within 6 squares can’t use Super Senses. Opposing characters within 6 squares can’t use Impervious, Invincible, or Invulnerability but can use Toughness instead. When Banshee hits a character that can’t use a power due to this trait, increase damage dealt to that character by 1.), if you’re close enough, your target can’t use Super Senses AND your damage goes to 6. Again, you still have a Perplex floating around.  I mean, that’s borderline psychotic.

And that’s without a Theme Team. One of these Chases may actually make someone like White Phoenix Hope viable–and still be a Theme Team! Who thought we’d see that?!

 

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

–X-Men: Days of Future Past was pretty damn good! Really solid flick, prolly the second best of the entire franchise (after X2: X-Men United). 3 out of 4 Stars, by my reckoning!

Critical Missives:

–Two big articles last week: a gigantic 4600+ word monster on the best Chases in the Meta (not including the upcoming War of the Light Chases, which easily would have made the cut); and our first DeadPool set review (Ninwashui’s)–my version will be coming in the next couple days!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Your Lines of Fire!

 

 

 

Heroclix – Now with extra Deadpool (A set review for Deadpool)

DEADPOOL-CANADA-HEALTHHABITS

About the Set:

I really liked the 12 attack Assassin subtheme (DP036 Bullseye, DP057 TiamatDP201 Deadpool) and 12 attack martial arts sub theme (DP031 Elektra, DP047A Shang-Chi, DP047B Cat). Actually, I like 12 attack on exceptionally skilled characters that have great story reasons for being that skillful or powerful.

Plus I hate missing.

The Chases are cool to have, but not so uber that my team of scrubs has no chance. Which is how they should be. There are some characters that are sub-par (DP002 Headpool), but for the most part it’s a very good set for sealed. Not too many unusable characters like I thought were in the Incredible Iron Man set. Even the weird ones that I’ve never heard of (DP024 Number One, DP025 Flag-Smasher, DP040 Doctor Bong) seem playable for their costs.

A Note on the Current Meta:

The current meta seems to be:

1. Play Shuma Gorath, Mole Man, and a power plant.

2. Play Splitlip, and the BOS.

3. Play Phantom Girl and the belt.

4 ????

My 5 Honorable Mentions for Best Figures in the Set:

*DP041 G.W. Bridge would have made the list here, but look for a different article featuring him soon.

5. DP059 Kingpin – I wouldn’t play this piece without a plan (like including DP021 Outlaw, FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot, SOG038 David Cain to make a good 300 point team). You need to use his white power a lot to make him worthwhile to field. A fun piece to build a team around, especially since he has the assassin keyword.

4. DP020 Weasel – The Weasel in the Deadpool set (who isn’t Pauley Shore – I double checked) is really just a walking relic. In fact, think of him as a hammer that walks next to your primary attacker instead of being equipped. The bonuses he gives are +1  to range, +1 to damage, and essentially +2 to attack! All for 27 points. He’ll mess up your theme team, but for what he brings to the table it’s worth it. Imagine playing two or three of him. Try using him to build (and then power) a doomsday weapon for AVM016 Red Skull.

Not that weasel...

Not that weasel…

3. DP038 Copycat – Mess up your opponent’s theme team. Grab his SLOSH048 Tellus. Have your opponent’s DP019B Evil Deadpool fight right next to yours. The more powerful your opponent’s figures are the better you will get In exchange. Anything under 101 points is fair game.

2. DP048 Blink – To make the most of her powers, the rest of your team needs to share a keyword with her. If they do she will be your team taxi and then your teams close combat expert. She has a way of moving around the board that is unique to her in all of HeroClix. If she had indomitable, she would be in my top 10.

1. DP202 Daredevil – He’s not too flashy, but he is very well rounded with both improved targeting and movement. He is also the only piece for the entire Deadpool set to have made a top 4 team at an ROC tournament.

The top ten figures from the Deadpool set:

10. DP019A Deadpool – Every time I have faced this guy in combat he has done well. Especially when equipped with this his DPW003 “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?” word bubble. He has great up front stats and a long dial. His RIDICULOUS REGENERATION looks confusing, but it’s really just improved super senses (no damage on 4-6) that can’t be countered or bypassed with precision strike. I call that a great power. Compare him to similar IIM029A War Machine and you’ll see you get a lot more for that extra 10 points.

deadpool common sense

9. DP060 Superior Spider-Man – After a few turns of making and attaching DP099A Spider-Bot (Mark 1), the Superior Spider-Man is going to have +2 to all super senses rolls. (missing only on a 1 or 2). After that you can make DP099B Spider-Bot (Mark 2) for free and use the plasticity to hold opposing forces in place until Doc Occ has a chance to deal with them.

Electro: For when you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAVE TO ZOMBIFY EVERY M*TH*RF*CK*R IN THE ROOM--ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

Electro: For when you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAVE TO ZOMBIFY EVERY M*TH*RF*CK*R IN THE ROOM–ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

8. DP064 Electro – Electro is the best of the zombie chases because of his unparalleled ability to spread the zombie plague and earn food tokens for himself. Left unchecked your opponents forces will look they are in the Thriller video very quickly.

7. DP043 Black Talon – When SLOSH048 Tellus came out I said there was a way to break him and I just don’t know what it is yet. The same thing goes for this character. He’s very similar to the soon to be retired Mole Man, except he works with ANYONE. Want to get that wrecking crew team off the ground that’s never been powerful enough before? This is your answer. The same goes with just about anything else. Two actions in a one turn is really powerful when it can be used on anyone. For extra fun use him with DP019B Evil Deadpool whose low defense and high damage potential are perfect to be mind controlled.

Don’t forget he can also mind control your opponents characters at an 8 range. And with his trait even your opponents KOed characters are potential targets. I actually used his charge and BCF to KO an opposing character in sealed, but it felt like I wasn’t using this guy to his full potential that turn.

6. DP057 Tiamat – With Tiamat fronting your team I can see you winning 300 to nothing in short order. I can also see you whiffing the first couple of attacks and losing in short order. At his point level he is the whole team and if he doesn’t hit (and attack twice) then you could be in big trouble. On the other hand, his ability to mow down characters with soft defenses is nothing short of obscene. I played against him in sealed and lost 300 to nothing. You experiences may vary.

5. DP031 Elektra – HCrealm’s ‘Snake Eyes Again’ jokingly gave her the following trait, “Fanboy frenzy: Elektra can use every standard power in the PAC.” He wasn’t far off. On her 4th click she can use Charge, Flurry, Stealth, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Incapacitate, Precision Strike, Close Combat Expert, Exploit Weakness and Ranged Combat Expert. Add to that her improved movement and the fact that the first time she is KOed you can resurrect her and you’ve got a winner. She and four DP006 Hand Ninja are 287 points. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.

4. DP019B Evil Deadpool – You get a lot here for the cost and that’s the key. At 100 points he is likely your secondary attacker. If he gets a chance to regenerate even once then he’s worth far more that that. If you want to make this guy really work for you, you need to control the damage he takes to get him to his regen clicks and not past them. Mastermind looks like a good way to do that. Once Evil Deadpool takes enough damage stop sending it his way for a turn. It seems like IIM042 Iron Doom would make a good partner for this guy.

3. DP055 Deadpool – I took a while comparing this guy to DP049 Deadpool and Bob and in the end decided he brought more to the table. AVX014 Magneto showed me how fun running shot is with Pulse Wave. This guy has a better attack, decent defens and built in prob with his DPW003 “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?” word bubble for those times your opponents actually hit an 18-19 D. Magneto’s starting defenses are better, but “Thorpool” is much more dangerous mid to late dial.

2. DP047A Shang-Chi – With Improved movement, an awesome trait, and more offense this guy is just plain better than SOG039 Lady Shiva. He needs other close combat attackers around to get the best use out of his empower (like AVX102 Lei-Kung the Thunderer), but his stats and power level are unmatched in his price range.

1. DP051 Banshee – If he was 50 points more he would still be darn good. Banshee’s stats are great for his price range and his trait is very good, but the real reason to play him is his improved targeting: ignore elevated. That power is super rare and it’s never been on a figure even half this good. Imagine blasting someone from the other side of Wundagore Mountain while ignoring the mountain completely. That targeting advantage is what makes this character the best in the set.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: And for a slightly different take on the Deadpool set, be sure to check out HypeFox’s Second Opinion article!)

Straight, With CHASEr!! (Or, 4600 Words About the Top Ten Most Effective CHASE Pieces in Heroclix Modern Age!!)

"Even consumed by my darkest demons, I have all the power of a million exploding suns. Oh, and I'm like $55 on eBay."

“Even consumed by my darkest demons, I still have all the power of a million exploding suns! Oh, and I’m like $55 on eBay.”

Hello again! We’re gonna go off the beaten path for a just a moment this week (don’t worry–the Deadpool Top Ten set review is coming soon!) with a JOINT column that takes a look at those figures that are the hardest to find, yet create the most excitement when you stumble into a store and find them buried deep inside a tall pack. We’re talking, of course, about Lone Ranger Heroclix Chases.

These weren't hard to find and they created no excitement. Wait, a whole Gravity Feed set that had just four #$@&!ng pieces? Why did they bother? Who was this set aimed at? People who saw the movie and hated it? Actually, that's probably a wide target market. Okay, you win WizKids!

Wait, did they really make a Gravity Feed set that had just FOUR f$@&!ng pieces? Why did they even bother? Who was this set aimed at? People who saw the movie and hated it? Actually, that was probably a wide target market. Okay WizKids, you win!

Chases, by their very nature, are usually pretty expensive. Often that’s just because of their scarcity. But occasionally, WizKids will publish a Chase figure that dominates most of the pieces it encounters and becomes significant in the Meta (or dominant in higher point games). This is our list of those pieces. We’ll tell you why we like them, we’ll create a quick and fun build featuring that piece, and we’ll let you know how much you’re going to have to invest to get each piece if you haven’t had the luck to pull one!

We give you… THE TOP TEN CHASE PIECES IN MODERN AGE!!

 

In the DC Universe, Mount Rushmore only has one face...

In the DC Universe, Mount Rushmore only has one face…

10. SLOSH059 Guardian – 207 Points: Most of the recent full sets in the current Modern Age all feature Chases that share at least one (and in a lot of cases, more) Trait or ability. The SLoSH Chase pieces were all granted one of the most Meta-baiting Traits yet (THE GROWING DARKNESS: At the beginning of the game for all friendly characters with this trait, you may remove one attached game element from an opponent’s resource and, if it is a relic, assign it to a character with this trait. At the beginning of your turn, roll 2d6 for all friendly characters with this trait. If the result is lower than the sum total of all of these characters’ click numbers, then modify all opposing characters’ combat values by -1 until your next turn.), which is ridiculous enough (in the Meta, unless the whole tourney is No Resources or Relics, at least 75% of all teams will feature something these Chases can steal), but all the SLoSH Chasers also get a special Stop Click (SPACE WARP: When this click is revealed, stop turning the dial. Guardian can use Phasing/Teleport. When he does, after actions resolve, he may immediately use Regeneration as a free action.). But Guardian here has a couple things going for him that his SLoSH Chase brethren do not have.

Firstly, he has a 9 Range with 2 Bolts, which goes great with his top dial Psychic Blast and 4 damage! Running Shot (with an 11 Movement) and Enhancement mean that he can act as a Primary Attacker, Support Piece and Taxi, all at once. Secondly, that Stop Click I mentioned? Guardian gets 2 of them! He’s the only one from the set who does–every other SLoSH piece has only one. His 207 Point cost doesn’t leave a lot of room for the rest of your force, but his Enhancement definitely helps that. And in Epic Games (400 Points or more) his versatility makes him even more valuable. Let’s see what Ninwashui’s cooked

NINWASHUI SAYS:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

Not my favorite of the SLoSH Chases, but if I were forced to use him in a 300 Point army (HYPEFOX’S NOTE: You’re forced to. That’s kind of the gimmick here, genius!), I’d do this:

Team Name: Guarding Skadi

Theme: Monster

SLOSH059 Guardian 207

GG026 Mole Man47

FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot 30

IIMR100 The Power Plant10

IIMR003 White Light Ring2

IIMRoo7 Matter Rearranger Ring2

IIMR009 Electro Blast Ring 2

=300

As of this writing, Mole Man is still Modern Age, so giving Guardian two actions a turn seems like a good idea to me. If you keep Skadi’s Warbot adjacent to Guardian, it can do 4 damage with Psychic Blast. 18 Defense with Super Senses makes him difficult to bring down. Even before you start messing around with rings, you have the possibility of doing 8 penetrating damage a turn between Guardian and Skadi’s Warbot (and with the Matter Rearranger ring, even Stealth shouldn’t bother your pieces too much). Throw in some abbreviated Power Plant goodness, and you’ll have an army that can compete with just about anything it might run into.  You won’t win every game, but you should at least take out a significant figure of your opponent’s army just about every time.”

What He’ll Cost You on eBay: Actually, not much. About $15-$20.

 

"Hmmm... I think this mirror is broken!"

“Hmmm… I think this mirror is broken!”

9. IM3018 Iron Man and War Machine – 200 Points: There’s a lot to like here. Running Shot with an 11 Attack, Energy Explosion and a standard 4 damage. This is the type of figure that’s just begging to get its hands on some Resource goodness. Hammers make the most sense, since you can team ’em with Splitlip and still have a Stark Industries Theme Team.

Also, Duo Attack is one of the best attack abilities in the game, and the fact that they have an enhanced Duo Attack Trait (TRYING TO ONE-UP EACH OTHER: When Iron Man and War Machine use the Duo attack ability, you may give them a ranged combat action instead of the second attack.) makes it even better. Even better, uh, ER, these guys are on a single base (and can therefore be TK’d)! Their other Trait (WATCH EACH OTHER’S BACKS: When Iron Man and War Machine do not have two tokens, Iron Man and War Machine can use Energy Shield/Deflection.) combines with their top dial 18 Defense with Impervious to give them at least 20 D at range (for most turns). HypeFox in particular loves these guys, and uses them every chance he gets.

 

HypeFox Says:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

As noted, I love these guys. Probably the Duo piece I’ve played the most. Heck, they’re probably the Chase figure I’ve played the most (NINWASHUI’S NOTE: Tell that to Iron Pharaoh, you jackwagon!). Our venue usually doesn’t allow resources, so I haven’t played this army exactly as written, but I definitely would like to. If you’re in an event that doesn’t allow relics or resources, sub out Bethany Cabe and the BotS for IIM002 Rescue, and you’ll be almost as deadly!”

Team NameDwarven But Deadly

Theme: Stark Industries

IM3018 Iron Man and War Machine – 200

FI301 Splitlip – 20

IIM102 Bethany Cabe – 39

DOFPH002 Sentinel Sentry – 14

FIR100 The Book of the Skull – 6

Plus 7 Hammers (every Hammer except Greithoth’s)21

=300

Iron Man and War Machine carry Splitlip around, which pumps their ranged damage up to 5, and if they get to Duo Attack, they can do up to 9 freaking damage a turn. If you can get Hammers on both Iron Man and War Machine AND Splitlip (keep in mind, that gives IM & WM a 13 FREAKING ATTACK), you may find yourself choosing Splitlip as the ‘dial’ character most turns. Even on Click 1, the BotS dial gives Splitlip Smoke Cloud, Barrier AND Perplex to go along with his native Enhancement. Usually you’ll be dumping Splitlip 1 square behind Iron Man and War Machine so that you can slip Bethany Cabe in front of the lil’ guy and adjacent to IM & WM. This gives everyone +1 to their Defense (and with her Police Team Ability, she can make it so that Iron Man and War Machine basically only miss on a roll of 2 against characters with 17 Defense or less!). The Sentinel Sentry is really just there to round out your points and help you get out the maximum amount of Hammers quickly and to provide cover mid-game (if he’s still around) with Smoke Cloud (especially if you’ve gone beyond the Smoke Cloud clicks on the resource).

What They’ll Cost You on eBay: These dudes are still popular. You don’t see more than 2 or 3 being auctioned at a time, and they still command $25-35.

 

When you get to Zombie Electro, maybe the Z-Virus story has run its course...

When you get to Zombie Electro, maybe the Z-Virus story has run its course…

8. DP064 Electro 90 Points: The most recent entry on this list and the best of the DeadPool Chases that just released this month. He is offense in a bottle. If left unchecked, he can take over a game real quick. What’s special about Mr. Dillion in his Zombie form here is that his Zombie Traits (ZOMBIE HUNGER: When Electro damages an opposing character, place a Food token on this card if there are less than 5 Food tokens. When Electro would be KO’d by an opponent’s attack, turn to its first KO click, remove all Food tokens from this card, and heal it that many clicks. & ZOMBIE INFECTION: When Electro damages an opposing character, give that character a Virus token if it has less than 5 Virus tokens. When an opposing character is KO’d by this character, you may add it to your force, turn to its first KO click, remove all of its Virus tokens and heal it that many clicks.) actually work perfectly with his dial. He starts out with Psychic Blast top dial and a special damage power (LIGHTNING ROD OF THE DAMNED: Electro can use Energy Explosion. When he does, he does not need a line of fire to one target within range if that character has a Virus token.) that is nearly broken when combined with everything else. Why? BECAUSE ALL OF HIS FREAKING POWERS COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER! He has top dial Running Shot with a 10 Attack Psychic Blast, 7 Range and THREE FREAKING BOLTS!! Combined with his Damage Special that we just mentioned, this means that Electro can split 3 PENTRATING Damage in up to 3 different directions, and any hit characters will splash 3 more damage onto adjacent figures! This is insane! In one attack, he could potentially fill up his “Zombie Hunger” meter! And then, he can keep pounding them with shots REGARDLESS OF LINE OF FIRE! Just freaking insane. Lots of “Iron Pharaoh” type of potential here, and I would not be surprised to see him show up in the Meta. His ES/D gives him a 19 Defense against ranged retaliation, but even if he’s damaged to the point of being KO’d, that Zombie Hunger Trait means he’ll come right back at nearly full strength!! And we haven’t even touched on the fact that every figure he KO’s JOINS YOUR TEAM!! Or that you can’t really base him to shut him down BECAUSE HE IGNORES CHARACTERS FOR MOVEMENT!! This is a piece that could get real stupid real fast.

NINWASHUI SAYS:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

Like this guy. I still have my Zombie Power Cosmic Wolverine that I think would be fun to play with this guy. For a quick, fun team, try this:

Team Name: Meat-ster Sinister

Theme: Sinister Syndicate

DP064 Electro – 90

DP053A Speed Demon – 110

ASM031B Alyosha Kraven – 70

IIMR100C Power Plant (with any 4 Rings plus the Electro Blast Ring) – 20

ATA090 Sinister Six x3 – 9

=299

If this doesn’t end up being the most expensive team on this list, I’ll be surprised (HYPEFOX’S NOTE: Geeee, the best of the brand new crop of Chases, a brand new Super Rare that’s even rarer cuz it’s the front half of a Prime slot and a Meta-level Rare Prime. Expensive? Y’think?!). Still, lots of versatility here, Electro’s damage output starts out very strong and should only get better as the game goes on. If you want to set up a shot for him, you can use Speed Demon’s Trait (SPEED CYCLONE UPLIFT: When Speed Demon moves, after actions resolve, choose an opposing character and roll a d6. If the result is less than the number of distinct squares that Speed Demon moved into or through that are adjacent to that character during the move, you may place that character within line of fire of its square and up to the result away in squares and deal that character half of the result in damage.) to Cyclone opposing figs next to each other for maximum lightning madness. Alyosha and his pet lion are insane on their own, but with the ATA, if Alyosha can use his superior Attack value to score a couple of hits, things will be that much easier for Electro. The Power Plant is just there to fill out points effectively; you’ll probably find yourself draining rings for an emergency Outwit or +1 to all stats as much as you will find yourself using them for their native abilities. Having said that, giving Electro the “Electro Blast” ring is basically broken–which is the polite way of saying that you should do it as often as you can.

What He’ll Cost You on eBay: The word is out on Zombie Maxwell Dillon. When you can even find him, he usually starts at $55 and ends up in the $70-$80 range.

 

"We're only #7? Then how broken are the pieces ahead of us?"

“We’re only #7? Jesus, how broken are the pieces ahead of us?”

7. CATWS017 Captain America and Black Widow130 Points: Another HypeFox favorite, this Duo fig came out only a few months ago in the ridiculously good Captain America and the Winter Soldier Gravity Feed set. If nothing else, what have we learned so far in this article? Duo Attack is gooooood. Duo Attack that ignores damage modifiers (WORKING TOGETHER: When Captain America and Black Widow use the Duo Attack Ability, they may target more then one character with a ranged combat attack and ignore damage modifiers from the Duo Attack ability.)? Hooooo, boy! They also possess two of the best TA’s in the game (Avengers Initiative and S.H.I.E.L.D.), they occupy a single base so they can be TK’d, they have Sidestep, Precision Strike, Traited Stealth–actually, just read this before we spend another 1000 words repeating ourselves!

HYPEFOX SAYS:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

Man, I know what I said last time, but I think this may be the Chase figure that I play most often (NINWASHUI’S NOTE: Seriously?). They’re great as is, but they get even better with the Phoenix Force!

Team Name: The Soldiers and the S.H.I.E.L.D.

Theme: Avengers.

CATWS017 Captain America and Black Widow130

(w/ the Magik Fragment) – 3

CW039 Hawkeye 98

(w/ the Cyclops Fragment) – 3

FFCW005R Mockingbird25

CATWSH001 S.H.I.E.L.D. Support 10

The Phoenix Force12

3 Fragments Left On 9

2 Assigned Characters6

=296

With the TA’s granted by Cap and Black Widow, Hawkeye becomes a Stealth busting machine, and even if you go up against a team that messes with resources, he can still move through Hindering Terrain without an issue. Cap and Black Widow now have access to Invuln and, more importantly, un-Outwittable Running Shot! Mockingbird pairs with Hawkeye to pump up his attack and pop off the occasional Theme Team Prob.”

What They’ll Cost You on eBay: These two are consistently available in the $17-$22 range.

 

"Does that dude know he's in the shot?"

“Does that dude know he’s in the shot?”

 6. IM3017R Iron Man and Iron Patriot200 Points: Okay, everything we said about Iron Man and War Machine? That goes double for these guys. Another single based Duo fig, these two have even better defensive Traits than their counterparts (I’VE GOT YOUR BACK. NO, I’VE GOT YOUR BACK: Iron Man and Iron Patriot can use Energy Shield/Deflection and Defend. Iron Man and Iron Patriot can use the Sharpshooter ability and may target non-adjacent characters with a ranged combat attack even when they are adjacent to an opposing character.), and their Duo Attack Trait is even better as well (THIS LONE GUNSLINGER ACT IS UNNECESSARY…YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE!: When Iron Man and Iron Patriot use Duo attack ability, each attack may use 2 targets instead of 1 target and one of their attacks may be a ranged combat action instead.). They are, in a word, sick and wrong. Which is two words, actually. But there ya go!

NINWASHUI SAYS:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

“I like this Duo better than Iron Man and War Machine. This Build is simple and fun. Enough of these Theme Teams and Resources and ATA’s–we’re keeping this as simple as possible. Here goes nuthin’!

Team Name: Leftover Parts

Theme: None

IM3017 Iron Man and Iron Patriot200

DP019B Evil DeadPool – 100

=300

Simple, right? Evil DeadPool’s only real weakness is his erratic Defense, which we’ve fixed to some degree with Iron Man and Iron Patriot’s top dial Defend. Point and shoot, basically. Then repeat. And, y’know, repeat, uh, again.”

What They’ll Cost You on eBay: This Duo, while more powerful than their IM3 counterparts, were not as popular. You can find them for $18-$20.

 

"Wait, I thought we were just posing!"

“Wait, I thought we were just posing!”

5. CW060R Avengers Prime300 Points: This is the biggest kitchen sink piece in the game. It’s not quite good enough to stand on its own in a 300 Point game, but in larger builds, man, these guys are TOUGH. But the main reason they’re this high on this list is their ability to take a three actions in one turn (TRIO ATTACK: Give Avengers Prime a double power action. They can be given 3 close or ranged combat actions as free actions, each targeting a single character. These free actions may be used to activate the same effect.). Yes, it’s as nuts as it sounds. But the ability to do that while holding a couple of Hammers is even crazier, as HypeFox is about to discuss:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

Avengers Prime needs very little help to be competitive in Epic Games. That said, for a 400 Point game, I’d surround ’em with some Asgardian love.

Team Name: As-Whoop-ians

Theme: Asgardian

CW060R Avengers Prime300

FI301 Splitlip20

FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot30

FIB003 Damaged Warbot10

FIB003 Damaged Warbot 10

The Book of the Skull (Complete)30

=400

You know the drill. Avengers Prime is basically carrying Splitlip after picking up a couple Hammers. You can hook the Warbots up with Hammers too if you like, but honestly they’re really just there as distractions until you can pull off a Trio Attack that will cripple your opponent’s best figures. Yes, you only get two Theme Team Probs, but with two Hammers, Avengers Prime has a 15 attack. If you’re constantly missing with a 15 Attack, I really can’t help you.

What They’ll Cost You on eBay: I’ve seen them go occasionally in the $50 range, but it’s rare. Usually you’re spending at least $65 to get them to your door.

 

"Well hello again, you mewling quim."

“Well hello again, you mewling quims.”

4. AVM211 Loki – 220 Points: Another figure we’ve talked about at length before! His ridiculous number of TA’s (Power Cosmic, Mystics and ANY COPYABLE TA’S POSSESSED BY YOUR OPPONENT’S FIGURES), Traited Toughness, 18 Defense with Super Senses AND Shape Change (dampeners are great, but Super Senses AND Shape Change is a great way to avoid having to dampen any damage), Pulse Wave with a Range of 9… and that’s before you hook him up with a Resource. He’s great in Epic games, but even in 300 Point contests, he’s not a bad fig to hang your hat on. Plus, I mean, it’s Movie Loki, and he’s holding the Tesserect! Pretty much the definition of awesome, as Ninwashui is about to discuss:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

Normally I wouldn’t play a piece this expensive in a 300 Point game, but if Resources are allowed, it’s viable. Still wouldn’t recommend putting all your eggs in one basket though.

Team Name: All Your Eggs in Loki’s Basket

Theme: Asgardian

AVM211 Loki220

FI301 Splitlip20

Skadi’s Warbot30

Store Clerk3

The Book of the Skull (with 7 Hammers)27

=300

Loki gets Charge and Running Shot after picking up his dual Hammers (I’d start with Mokk’s Hammer, and then have him grab Angrir’s once you start your second wave of Hammer distribution), and he can still be carried by Splitlip if you turn your lil’ dwarf into a Greithoth-powered monster (Greithoth’s Hammer grants, among other things, Giant Reach). We’ve talked about how good Skadi’s Warbot is; the Store Clerk is just there to dish out Hammers. But basically, you’re banking on a hopped-up Loki going nuts with his Running Shot, 13 Attack, 5 Damage (with Splitlip’s Enhancement) Pulse Wave (and don’t forget that you gain a Perplex from the Resource dial at the start as well).

What He’ll Cost You on eBay: Loki can be found for $21 and up.

 

"Tonight on FOX--When X-Rays Go Wrong!"

“Tonight on FOX–When X-Rays Go Wrong!”

3. CW057 Sentry and Void300 Points: And now we come to someone–or someTHING–who COULD hold his own in a 300 Point game with no backup. Sentry and Void’s list of abusive powers starts with their Multiattack Trait–yes, not just Multiattack, but a Multiattack TRAIT (EMERGENT EVIL: Sentry and Void can use Multiattack ability. Give Sentry and Void a power action if it has no tokens and replace it with CW #035 Sentry or CW #045 Void on the same click number. When the replacement character would be KO’d, you may instead return this character to the map on click #10.), because Multiattack clearly isn’t good enough on its own. Then you add in top dial Hypersonic Speed, Psychic Blast, 18 Defense with Impervious and 5 native damage and, frankly, you start to feel guilty just for playing him/them/it. Sentry and Void has finished in the Top 16 of several ROC tourneys in the last year–and again, since they’re 300 Points, that means there is NO BACKUP in those games. And it was still a pretty successful piece. Pretty amazing. In larger point games, where you have extra points for a resource or relic, this piece gets downright stupid.

HYPEFOX SAYS:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

This one’s an easy inclusion for me. This is one of my favorite pieces ever made, and Sentry and Void is probably the Chase figure I’ve played the most (NINWASHUI’S NOTE: I’m not talking to you any more.). This piece is ridiculously good in Epic Games. But we’ll keep it simple:

Team Name: What About Bob?

Theme: None

CW057 Sentry and Void300

=300

You run around with Sentry and Void. You kill stuff. Then you rinse off the blood and repeat.”

What He’ll Cost You on eBay: Sentry and Void can be yours, too! Y’know, for the low, low price of $55 to $80.00.

 

"Is it cold in here?"

“We’re sure I’m Lydea Mallor and not Lyssa Drak?”

2. SLOSH057 Lydea Mallor79 Points: She’s got the same broken Trait that Guardian has, except she’s only 79 FREAKING points–the cheapest of the SLoSH Chases. Her dial without the Trait would easily be worth that investment–when you add in her ability to steal Relics right off of their Resource base, she starts to get silly. On top of that, good luck finding her with her top dial Movement Special (WRAPPED IN SHADOW: Lydea Mallor can use Smoke Cloud and Stealth. Once per turn, when Lydea Mallor occupies hindering terrain and is given a non-free action, before the action begins or after actions resolve, you may place Lydea Mallor in any square of hindering terrain within 5 squares and line of fire.). Basically, she’s the best way to spend 79 Points this side of Brother Voodoo.

At any ROC that allows Resources and Relics, you can expect her to turn up somewhere in the Top 16–probably multiple times, actually. There’s a lot of different ways you can go with her; let’s check in with Ninwashui for his way:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

NINWASHUI SAYS:

She’s the most used Chase from SLoSH, that’s for sure. But I wouldn’t necessarily say she’s the best; people are just playing her as the cheapest way to acquire that Trait for their Build. Having said that, it’s hard to argue with the results she’s consistently showed at ROC tourneys across the globe.

Team Name: Smoke and Mallor

Theme: Monster

SLOSH057 Lydea Mallor79

ASM101 Frankencastle102

SLOSH039X Bizarro – 100

FIR100 The Book of the Skull (with 4 Hammers)18

=299 Points

Hopefully you’re able to steal a key piece from your opponent’s Resource. Either way, you’ve got a pretty balanced yet unpredictable team to go against whatever your opponent has in store for you. Bizarro, with his 3 Stop Clicks and the possibilities that his ever-spinning dial represents, can get really crazy when you start tossing him Hammers. Lydea will be hard to find until your ready for her to attack, and Frankencastle’s Leadership could work on any of these pieces. Happy hunting.

What She’ll Cost You on eBay: Lydea Mallor will run you about $60 right now.

 

I am STILL a thing, going forward. Ever forward...

I am STILL a thing, going forward. Ever forward…

1. IIM051 Iron Pharaoh110 Points: He’s stupid good. He’s been the winning figure on a winning ROC team not too long ago. He’s great with Resources, but in matches and at venues that don’t support the use of Resources… he gets even better. For those who don’t know, his Trait (GOLDEN FALCON, SHARTING: When Iron Pharaoh is first placed on the map, place a Falcon special terrain marker in an adjacent square. Give Iron Pharaoh a free action to move this marker up to 3 squares. Iron Pharaoh can draw lines of fire and count range (up to 3 squares) from the Falcon marker using Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Outdoor Blocking Terrain, Ignores Characters.) is what makes him so exploitable. Barrier Tech teams in the Meta generally feature either Fantomex or Iron Pharoah. Iron Pharaoh’s inherent stat-boosting Trait (FIGHT THE FUTURE: Iron Pharaoh modifies his attack and damage values by +1 when attacking a character that shares a keyword with him.) works on a LOT of the best figures in the Meta, and there’s a bunch of figures <cough>Shaman<cough> that make him even stupider to deal with. Versatility combined with overall usefulness for the points make Iron Pharaoh our #1 Chase figure in Modern Age (at least as of this writing).

HYPEFOX SAYS:

HYPEFOX SAYS:

This is another of my favorite pieces in the game (NINWASHUI’S NOTE: A-HA! Finally!); I just wish I got to play him more often (NINWASHUI’S NOTE: Oh c’mon!!). Having said that, winning Map Choice can sometimes straight win you the game with Iron Pharaoh–the longer you make your opponent take to get to you, the easier it will be to pick him off with IP’s Golden Falcon. With that in mind, for the final Build of the article, I’m actually going to steal from myself! This army originally appeared in my look back at the Invincible Iron Man set article that ran a few weeks ago:

Team NameNo Flights, No Tights

Theme: Mystical

Map ChoiceAvX Month 1 (Wundagore Mountain)

IIM051 Iron Pharaoh110

(w/Cyclops Fragment) – 3

IIM040 Shaman92

FFCW006R Scarlet Witch – 50

FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot30

The Phoenix Force12

1 Assigned Character3

=300

What I wrote before: ‘This team can double Barrier to protect Iron Pharaoh while his Golden Falcon goes out and treats the map like a Seagull treats a parking lot after a big lunch. If you win Map Roll, yikes. Your opponent better have a non-flying piece equipped with Phasing/Teleport and the Carry ability–essentially, Cloak from ASM (there’s a couple others, but he’s the best). If not, he or she will have to take the long way around a freaking mountain only to be met by a double Barrier tandem who each have the Mystics TA when AND IF you can actually hit them. All the while, Iron Pharaoh will be chilling like the Boss that he is and taking pot shots of at least 5 damage (and it’s quite easy to make that even more) at your best figs after he’s Outwitted their defense. This is the definition of “a bucket of yuck” for your opponent.’

Yup! Pretty much that!”

What He’ll Cost You on eBay: Iron Pharaoh could have been had for about $25 awhile back. Now that he’s a Meta hero, he’ll run you about $40-$60.

 

Well then! Hope you enjoyed this look at a bunch of different armies that were all strangely built around Skadi’s Warbot some of the harder-to-acquire pieces in the game. Agree? Disagree? Hit us up in the Comment section below!

Patriotic DeadPool!! (Or, Happy Memorial Day!!)

Patriotic Deadpool

Happy Memorial Day weekend to our American readers! For our international audience, Memorial Day is an American Holiday wherein we celebrate the sacrifice of those who have fallen in defense of our country and the many freedoms we enjoy here–like playing ‘Clix whenever we want!

(And yes, we realize good ol’ Wade Wilson is Canadian; but this was the best picture we could find that tied in the holiday with the most recent set release!)

We should be back at it on Monday or Tuesday with an article on the best Chase pieces in Modern, and then our traditional Top Ten set review & rebuttal for Deadpool should run towards then end of the week.

Until then, stay safe, and watch where you draw your lines of fire!!

The Editorial Staff at Critical Missives

Dead and Loving It!! (Or, The Weekly Roundup for 05/18/2014!!)

Roundup

 

Well well well!! Welcome back!

Things are as busy as ever around here, so I’m just going to go right into…

THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP!!

PODCASTS:

Dial H

Dial H for Heroclix has released Episode 45! This week the guys discuss Sealed advice for Deadpool release tourneys.

Push to Regen

–Push to Regen is back with Episode 2.3!! Check their Podbean for updates and the first two episodes of Season 2!

This is Ultimate Play, b!tches!

The Quarry’s latest episode is … Episode 18, “featuring ROC Rankings, Watch List, Roundtable analysis of West Virginia & Wonder Con SQ’s.”


Welcome... to the ROC!

Welcome… to the ROC!

ROC:

–Up to date upcoming tourney listings have been released, which you can find right HERE!

Wizkids

WIZKIDS NEWS:

–WizKids announced a monthly New OP kit system!


Preview

Previews:

–New War of the Light dials seem to go up every day–Newsarama is a good place to look, but eventually all that info filters down to HCRealms, so you can always check their Units page. Larfleeze and his constructs are the latest to get spoiled.

–Deadpool has RELEASED!! Check out HCREALMS.com in their Unit sections for every dial in the set!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

–Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ended its first season with a pretty damn fun finale. Some characters died, some lived, and some got shot by Nick Fury!! Yep, Samuel L. Jackson showed up for pretty much half the damn epidsode, and even helped Coulson take on Agent Garrett. Not going to spoil anything more here, but Season 2 should start in a pretty interesting place…

–Speaking of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel and ABC will be partnering for an 8-episode run of “Agent Carter” next season that will bridge the programming gap when “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” goes on its Winter hiatus. Haley Atwell is reprising her role from the films, and she spoke recently about her excitement for the project.

–As mentioned in this space before, Gotham is a go on FOX this fall and it now has a shiny new trailer.

Army of the Week

Army of the Week:

Okay! You may remember from last week that we started another quick new segment for the Weekly Roundup! Basically, I’ll use this space to talk about winning ROC armies, something I saw at my local venue or even just a force that’s been bubbling on the back burner of my brain.

This week we’re going to build a team called:

The Hammer’s on the Merc!

ThorPool

DP055 Deadpool – 215 Points (w/ as many Word Balloons as you care to use, but “Hammer Time,” which comes with this figure, is straight AWESOME. I know some people don’t like it, cuz it permanently goes away if you miss with it. First, none of these Balloons cost any points, so even if it goes away, you can still take a free action to assign a different one, like “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?” Second… it gives some awesome bonuses! It’s basically like having a Relic on your character).

FI301 Splitlip – 20

FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot – 30

FIH004 Army Private – 8

The Book of the Skull – 6 + 21 (every Hammer but Greithoth’s)

=300 (Theme: Asgardian)

This is a fun Book team that revolves around one heavy hitter–the Merc With a Mouth holding a Hammer! He’s got the Asgardian keyword, he’s got a top dial 12 Attack (13 with his word balloon!) with Running Shot, Pulse Wave, 18 Defense with Invincible and 4 Damage with Outwit (that’ll go to 5 if he carries Splitlip with the lil’ guy’s Enhancement). Skadi’s Warbot is there as a nuisance/secondary attacker, and the Army Private is just there to help you get out Hammers faster.

And with those Hammers, Deadpool becomes straight up ungodly!!

This team won’t take down a ROC anytime soon, but it should be a lot of fun to play. And with the new rules, it technically qualifies as theme team!

Critical Missives:

Three new articles last week, including a wrap up of AvX at our local venue and a fun preview of what to expect from Deadpool Sealed.

And we’ve got more great articles coming this week!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Your Lines of Fire!

 

 

 

Local Tournament Report – 5/14/14 Ninwashui’s Kitchen Table

There's a new HeroClix set out -today's going to be a wonderful day!

There’s a new HeroClix set out – today’s going to be a wonderful day!

The Format: Ninwashui and Hypefox each bought two boosters of Deadpool the day it came out because they are like addicts and can’t wait until their normal venue has a sealed tournament next week. They decide to justify their purchases by saying they are “practicing” for next week’s Deadpool 400 point sealed event at Comics n’ More. No prize, but the loser will receive a large helping of shame for not being able to win a tournament with only two people in it. Because of the unusual venue there are battlefield conditions that will affect play. Namely my kids who think HeroClix figures look like toys. The game is delayed for about 20 minutes after team construction while the kids steal figures and run off with them. Concentration is difficult under these circumstances.

What I played:

DP011 Silver Sable

DP022 Kidpool (DPW005 “Broccoli! Why Can’t it Be Meat?”)

DP023 Black Cat

DP028 Siryn

DP048 Blink

Total: 397 points

 

"My precious..."

This was actually a picture of normal Cyclops trying to light his grill. Ouch.

Round 1 Facing:

DP003 Dogpool (with DPW002 “I’m Going to Lick Your Hand”)

DP019A Deadpool (with DPW003 “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?”)

DP032 Punisher

DP058A Typhoid Mary

Total: 400 points

My opponent  is the recent champion of my venue’s AvX and earned the Dark Phoenix Cyclops. He’s fresh off his big win, possibly over confident, and easily distracted by my children. I’m fresh off coming in near last place in that series, hungry for some payback, and exceptionally skilled at ignoring my children. That came out wrong, but you know what I mean.

FIGHT!

We fight on the K’un Lun map from the AvX Month 4 kit. I have my team move to the elevated terrain on the left hand side. Blink carries Kidpool. Siryn carries Silver Sable. I leave my whole team out of danger away from the edge, except for Siryn who has energy shield deflection. On his turn My opponent sends Dogpool and Deadpool up the center. Punisher and Typhoid Mary stay on elevated terrain. Deadpool has exactly enough range and movement to juuuuust get a running shot off on Siryn. I sit back confident knowing he is more likely to miss than hit. Deadpool rolls a 10. Instant hit for 4 damage. Siryn is on her second to last click. On my turn I realize no one on my team has will power and I don’t want to push. That leaves me only Kidpool and Silver Sable. Kidpool runs to base Deadpool so he doesn’t get another shot off and KO Siryn. Silver Sable outwits Dogpool’s see-through-stealth-Perplex to avoid the embarrassment of standing in front of the other team with no Stealth while covered in doggie drool.

Ninwashui's worst nightmare is facing this lil' guy directly across from his Stealthed characters on a  Heroclix map.

Ninwashui’s worst nightmare is facing this lil’ guy directly across from his Stealthed characters on a Heroclix map.

On my opponent’s turn Typhoid Mary outwits Kidpool’s Shape change and shoots him for two damage… with knockback. Deadpool is suddenly free. He takes a shot at Siryn. She (of course) misses her super sense roll and is KOed. Dogpool opts not to push and Punisher doesn’t as well. On my turn Black Cat bases Dogpool. Blinks “blinks” in to attack Dogpool. She rolls a 4 and misses. Silver Sable Shoots Typhoid Mary for 3 and after taking two Typhoid transforms to Bloody Mary. I point out her transformation power is useless in sealed because you need her other half until Hypefox snickers and shows me that it came in the same pack as a separate base. Yep, Typhoid Mary… is a switch click. Very cool. Silver Sable then outwits Deadpool’s toughness and Kidpool charges in with blades/flurry/precision strike. I roll a 5 and then a 3 to miss twice. Kidpool takes a click of pushing damage and is on his last click. Things aren’t going well.

On my opponent’s turn he uses Dogpool’s perplex to outwit black cat’s stealth. Punisher proceeds to do 4 with a running shot. Dogpool attacks her but misses. Deadpool KOs Kidpool. The other pieces clear. On my turn Black Cat uses blades/flurry to take Dogpool from full to KO.

And it’s then that battlefield conditions take over, which is to say my 3 year old climbed on Hypefox’s head and stayed there for a good five minutes.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: By “five minutes” I assume you mean THE REST OF THE GAME.)

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wish I had a picture.)

It looked kinda like that...

It looked kinda like that…

From there everything changed. Our luck reversed. He started rolling threes and I started rolling tens. Bloody Mary charged Black Cat and took her out. Silver Sable shot her again and turned her back into Typhoid Mary on a poison click. She based Silver Sable and used poison to do a damage and cancel Stealth. Punisher not wanting to miss gave himself 12 Attack, but only hit for 2. That gave Sable her Stealth back. She unloaded on Mary for the KO. While that was going on, Blink decided to “Blink” over and tie up Deadpool They both missed each other for several turns. After KO’ing Mary, Sable hit Punisher for 4 and then Blink swooped in to finish him off before opting to return to her original place keeping Deadpool based. Deadpool keeps missing. When my team next clears Sable hits Deadpool for 4 from range and Blink hits twice with flurry for the KO and the win.

What I learned:

  • All casual games needed to be played with my kids around from now on. They just love their Uncle Hype.
  • I knew Deadpool’s dial was tough, there was a reason I left him for last. He’s good on offense and defense (especially with his word balloon).
  • Kidpool was unimpressive and his word balloon was useless.
  • Siryn died too quickly to learn anything, but seems like she should be promising.
  • Typhoid Mary was nice. Bravo to WizKids for including her switch click in the pack with her.
  • Punisher seems promising if you don’t have a kid on your head and can remember his trait. Great Offense. Average Defense.
  • HypeFox forgot about Punisher's The Guilty Must Be Punished Trait. In his defense, it's hard to remember that a character like the Punisher would have a Trait called "The Guilty Must Be Punished."

    HypeFox forgot about Punisher’s Trait. In his defense, it’s hard to remember that a character like the Punisher would have a Trait called “The Guilty Must Be Punished.”

  • Silver Sable did quite well even after taking a hit.
  • Blink was great. I would definitely play her again.