Yup! It’s the Ghost of Christmas Present, Back Again!! (Or, The First Night of Clix-Mas 2017!!)

December 14, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

Welcome back to the gimmick that never dies!!

Yup! It’s our annual Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas event, wherein we try to bring you twelve articles in twelve days, or ~~die trying~~ feel really bad about ourselves!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Some quick rules clarifications: this doesn’t necessarily mean one article a day. Some days might have none, some might have two or three. The goal is twelve articles in twelve days!]

Will we succeed? Probably not. We’re batting like 1-3 with these things.

But we will have fun? Uh, … hopefully?

This year, we’re going to separate each article into a “Ghost” subcategory: either Past, Present or Future. What exactly that means will be explained as we go on…

Still, all of us here at Critical Missives want to thank each of our readers and supporters for another great year of content!

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2018!

See ya tomorrow!

But THIS… Does Put A Smile On My Face!! (Or, Let’s Talk About the Infinity War Trailer!!)

November 30, 2017 / HypeFox / 4 Comments

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We don’t do many trailer reactions on this site, primarily because we’re mostly about gaming in general, and Heroclix specifically. Also, while some folks manage to publish genuinely entertaining reaction videos on YouTube (The Ecomog #StruggleNation guys and Emergency Awesome are some of my personal faves), most are just schlubby guys staring slightly below the camera while shouting “Wow!” and “Oh S—!!” over and over again.

But while we are assembling our Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls Top Ten (I’ve heard some people call it “Joker’s Wild” with funner Primes and Chases, but really–no, wait, that’s pretty much it), I thought I’d break from tradition and embark on a little story time about why I wanted to talk about this particular trailer, what exactly seems to be going on with the movie’s story, and maybe even why the Colossal Thanos on the Throne of Death is the default masthead for this blog!

So, without further ado… on with the show!]

Marvel finally dropped a trailer for Infinity War today. This is the movie I’ve been waiting for ever since I was a little kid, and one that I never thought I’d ever get in my lifetime.

I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life. Grew up just outside of Detroit. For most of my childhood my family would drive up to Lexington, Michigan at least once during every summer month (after school had let out). Lexington was about 90 minutes away from Detroit, and my grandparents had a small cottage there near Lake Huron.

Now Lexington was (and pretty much still is) the epitome of a small, Midwestern town. It had a Main Street, a few restaurants, a General Store (where, after much petulant badgering, my grandmother would break down and buy me DuckTales stickers and baseball cards) and an indoor bazaar/flea market that, at least in my memory, was always filled to the brim with dusty, undiscovered treasures.

My father was never one to pass up a garage sale or a flea market, so whenever he would head into town, my brother and I always got up early to go with him, particularly because every time we went to that indoor market, someone would be selling… comic books.

In 1992, I was 11 years old, and while I had a general idea who Batman, Superman and Spider-Man were, I was really just discovering the broader range of comic book characters that were out there. That was also the time in my life when I had started earning my own money through delivering newspapers and mowing lawns, so it was not uncommon for me to hit the comic stands with $5, $10 or sometimes even $20 (for our younger readers, you’ll have to trust me–this seemed like a small FORTUNE to 11-year-old me!).

Now I always had to examine the covers of all the comics that were for sale, and my gosh, if I saw a cover advertising a guest appearance by another hero, well, that comic was probably going home with me (I mean, what’s better than getting TWO heroes for the price of one comic?!).

I think I still have this issue in my basement somewhere. It came out the same month as Infinity War #1, I think. And it had Daredevil AND Spider-Man!! 11-year-old me was most impressed.

Well, later on in the Summer of 1992, I saw this:

A double-sized comic that pretty much had ALL the heroes in the MCU. This blew my mind! I eagerly devoured all six issues of Infinity War; then, the following year, I did it all over again with the sequel, Infinity Crusade.

When I got a little older and I could drive myself to the local comic shop on Wednesdays after high school, I was able to track down bits and pieces of Thanos Quest and Infinity Gauntlet (but, frustratingly, never the whole thing–finding those issues, or even a TPB, became sort of my white whale. Especially because this was before eBay and Amazon).

But the ending of Infinity Gauntlet, where Adam Warlock had to sacrifice his peaceful afterlife in the Soul Gem to literally take on the responsibility of the entire universe while Thanos lost universal omnipotence but gained a mantle of inner peace stuck with me.

I can still quote the last line of Infinity Gauntlet decades later. “Somehow I feel that, in the long run, Thanos of Titan came out ahead in this particular deal.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Starlin does not get nearly enough credit for all the concepts and characters he introduced into the Marvel Universe. He has had a brilliant career, but he’s never mentioned in the same conversations as his contemporaries like Alan Moore and Frank Miller. Watchmen and DKR are brilliant, but Starlin did something arguably harder; he told an all-time great story that took place IN CONTINUITY. This is incredibly difficult to do. How many crossovers have come anywhere close to Infinity Gauntlet’s brilliance? Very few… And while we’re at it, when it comes to drawing Thanos, there’s Ron Lim, and then there’s everyone else. Period.]

It was such a powerful ending; I finally realized that sometimes the good guys don’t completely win, and sometimes the bad guys aren’t gonna get punished. And yet, from there, Thanos develops from a villain into more of an anti-hero who is eventually entrusted with the Reality Gem and actually helps save the universe during future Infinity catastrophes (and Keith Giffen even wrote a marvelously fun and complex Thanos 12-issue series back in 2003-2004 that continued this redemption arc in unexpected ways).

Fast forward to 2012. I can’t believe that Marvel movies that don’t have Spider-Man or an ‘X’ in the title are actually succeeding at the box office. My childhood is coming to life before my eyes. “Avengers” hits and its everything everyone wants it to be. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and nothing like it has ever been attempted at the level on which “Avengers” was executed. It’s a gigantic hit.

Also that year, I met a girl. My third date with her also happened to be my birthday. “Avengers” was our first date, and she’d been madly interrogating my friends in order to figure out what she should get me. Then, in front of a bunch of my family members who she’d only just met that night, my girlfriend handed me a gift bag. This is what was inside:

We were married in 2015.

Coincidentally, that was also an “Avengers” year.

I relate all this so that you know that when I hit “Play” on YouTube this morning to watch the “Avengers: Infinity War” trailer, I wasn’t just carrying 10 years of MCU movies with me; I was sitting there with memories of some of the happiest times in my life swimming around my head, waiting with giddy anticipation.

So you can probably guess that I liked it.

It could have been two minutes of a static, black screen and I would have called it “boldly understated” or something. But it wasn’t two minutes of a black screen. It was colorful; vibrant; thrilling; scary; nostalgic; bold; smart; new and surprising and familiar, all at the same time.

In two minutes and twenty-four seconds, this trailer brought together virtually every dangling thread from every Marvel movie in history. Somehow the writers have seamlessly blended the storylines of “Infinity Gauntlet” and “Infinity” (the talented Jonathan Hickman’s magnum opus from 2013) not only with each other but also woven them into the altogether different continuity of the MCU. This is such a complicated structural endeavor that it boggles the mind anyone would even attempt such a thing.

And that’s before you remember that Marvel can’t use the Fantastic Four, Galactus or the Silver Surfer (my God, Surfer was probably the fourth or fifth most important character IN Infinity Gauntlet!!) and that they are CHOOSING not to use Adam Warlock until the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie (or, at least, we assume this to be so).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: I feel like this hasn’t been discussed enough. Again, to make this clear… ADAM WARLOCK IS THE #$&^#(! PROTAGONIST OF INFINITY GAUNTLET!! This would be like a producer going up to Peter Jackson in 1997 and saying, “Look, we’re gonna give you a green light on this Lord of the Rings thing, but only if you lose those weird Hobbit characters. Especially that Frodo guy.“]

This should be an impossible task. But then you watch the trailer, and Black Panther says “Get this man a shield!” and Cap steps out of the shadows to help defend Wakanda against an Outrider invasion, and I’m about frothing at the mouth to find out the earliest date I can pre-order tickets for this movie.

It’s like Kevin Feige and the screenwriters had a workaround for everything.

WRITERS: “Uh, Infinity Gauntlet basically starts with Silver Surfer rushing to warn Earth after a run-in with Thanos and crashing into the Sanctum Sanctorum.

FEIGE: “And?”

WRITERS: “Annnd… we can’t use Silver Surfer.”

FEIGE: “Great. So, now the Hulk will be the one to crash into the Sanctum.”

WRITERS: “Uh… he’s not even in space.”

FEIGE: “He will be.”

Kevin Feige is an absolute stone cold gangster. I’m convinced of this. He saw the possibility for this whole cinematic universe when all anyone else saw was B- and C-list characters with no film potential at all. That’s what I love most about the MCU. Feige and his team just plow ahead.

–Don’t have the rights to Spider-Man or the X-Men? Guess what. We’re focusing exclusively on the Avengers. And we’re gonna do that so well that Sony will be begging us to take over Spidey from them.

–Natalie Portman doesn’t want to come back for Thor 3? Great. We’re not gonna set it on Earth anyway. We’re gonna get Tessa Thompson to play a Valkyrie and it’s going to get the best reviews of any of the Thor movies. Bye Felicia.

–Our original stars are now ten years older and want gobs of money? Great. We’re gonna give it to them for now, but we’re also going to create the next generation of heroes on screen to eventually replace them. And the audience is going to f-ing love every minute of it.

I’m amazed at how many times Marvel has reinvented what a “superhero movie” can be.

For all the reasons I just described, I loved, loved LOVED this trailer, and I can’t wait to take my wife to go and see it in a theater.

Look, I haven’t even really touched on the story of “Infinity” and how it relates to this production, but this probably isn’t going to be the last time I talk about this trailer or this movie, either. But I think I’ll leave it right here for now.

Excelsior.

This set Ragna-rocks (A list of the Top Ten Pieces in the Mighty Thor set)

November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

Honorable Mentions:

5. TMT042 Tyrannus (65 points) – When you absolutely positively need to fill the board with bystanders. This guy has almost zero offense and not much built in defense, but he generates a new bystander token every turn. Even if you never move the pogs you generate, they block line of fire and their plasticity stops opponents moving past them. Don’t think of them as bystanders, think of them as sticky blocking terrain tokens he generates each turn.

4. TMTG007P Frost Giant (20 Points) – As a retaliator he doesn’t have a high attack, but he can do 3 damage to your opponents whole team if you happen to roll well. The real reason he made this list is his low point cost and the fact that he can give any adjacent character an action token every turn whether or not he hits. Great in multiples.

3. TMT002 Loki (75 points) – He’s an army of illusions in one 75 point package. He doesn’t do a lot on offense, but if you roll well on your shape change rolls he will just keep multiplying until you are out of figures to place. I’ve had 6 in play at once. Others online report having a lot more.

2. TMT053A Hela (150 points) – She is not meta unless you really a build a team around her trait. See my previous article. She’s a lot of fun and very hard to put down with her defenses and healing abilities.

1.TMT104 Captain America (50 points) – For 50 points he gets 19 defense for most of his dial (thanks to his free TMTS102 Asgardian Shield) and he has a stop click! On offense he’s got steady attack values and his powers allow him to deal more than his printed 2 damage on every click.

My Top 10:

10. TMT013B Red Leader (50 points) – His special power allows him to use outwit and a special perplex that allows him to increase a single stat by up to 3! If you build your team with some other Thunderbolts on it, you can turn him back to click 1 instead of losing him the first time he is KOed. I’d recommend keeping a Thunderbolt thug in your starting area for that.

9. TMT022 Jane Foster (30 points) – Her ability to heal while either she or the target is based is unheard of. On top of that she has a trait that makes her untargetable to anyone 75 points or over. Even better if your opponent KOs any friendly adjacent figure (even a bystander) she can transform into TMT017 Thor and there is a 1 in 6 shot that she will be on her top click! It’s hard to go wrong turning 30 points into 100 points. Also of note, she (naturally) pairs really well with TMT049 Thor Odinson.

8. TMT062 Thunderstrike (115 points) – He’s an extremely efficient package for his low 115 point cost. His stats are well above average for his points, he can destroy equipment when KOed, adjacent friendly characters get +1 damage when attacking, and his free weapon is arguably the best in game because of the ability to heal the character using it.

7. TMT106E Hulk (50 points) – He has an extremely short dial at this point level, but the game has never seen a piece quite like him anywhere near his cost. He’s got a 12 starting attack, 4 damage, and the ability move his full movement value and still make an attack (with knockback)! He’s not even a slouch on defense with 18 defense and impervious.

6. TMTG006R Mangog (150 points) – Even though his colossal retaliation power is quite good, you’re going to want to play him at his 150 point level. And even though he’s a pretty good 150 point attacker you’re not going to want to attack with him, at least not right away. Playing him creates a mini game within your normal game of HeroClix. Your opponent needs to KO Mangog before he reaches their starting area. Otherwise they will end up facing a 400 point 16 click long Mangog – plus the other 150 points of army that you brought along.

5. TMTG001P Surtur (25 points) – He’s the best single target retaliator in the game. He ignores defense while attacking and then does an additional automatic 1 penetrating damage to every opposing character within 2 of himself. With a single perplex to his damage he could take out a TMT058R Uni-Mind including the stop click. With 2 perplexes to damage he can take a TMT058R Uni-Mind and KO all of the eternals that spawn.

4. TMT061 Thor (160 points) – He is unfortunately very vulnerable to outwit. But, if you can protect him from outwit, or if your opponent isn’t playing outwit, then you are golden. At that point you opponent will need to deal with a figure protected by invincible that can hit with a heavy object from 12 squares away (charge + 6 range) thanks to his free weapon Mjolnir. And the next turn Thor can do it again with the second object he was holding.

3. TMT049 Thor Odinson (175 points) – With hypersonic speed, 12 attack, and 3 great title character abilities this Thor is the best ever made. His first character ability allows him to make a second ranged attack in a single turn and the damage depletion modifier no longer exists. His 3rd character ability will just about cripple opposing forces if you can manage to pull it off. However, it’s his second ability that really has me excited. It gives him the ability to teleport over Asgardians to his side and they can act immediately. So Jane Foster could teleport across the board to heal him, or Fandral could appear and charge at a stealthy character, or a frost giant could show up to give an enemy a token, or Loki could teleport to Thor and block line of fire. You imagination and the Asgardian keyword are the only limits.

2. TMTG004P Carnage (10 points) – The ROC national finals proved that 10 points for a retaliator that generates an awesome bystander every time it retaliates is obscene. You can retaliate, drop a bystander, have it attack, and then walk carnage away from the fight in the same turn to do it all over again later.

1. TMT058R Uni-Mind (165 points) – There is not much I can say about this guy that you don’t already know. His ability to perplex pieces he calls in is arguably better then even using his perplex on himself. He’s the piece to beat right now and if you want to go to a competitive tournament then you need to have a plan for this guy.

Team Ideas: Enemies of Asgard

October 19, 2017October 19, 2017 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

The ROC World cup results are in and apparently Uni Mind Is a thing now. 20 of the top 32 teams featured him.

I had been working on the team for a while that might have a decent chance against the Uni-mind by throwing several low point (or no point) figures in his way to chump block (MTG term for tie up) and then rise from the grave to do it all over again. So here is the team:

TMT053A Hela – 150 points
SMWW055P Eclipso (on Hela) – 25 points
TMT002 Loki – 65 points
TMT002T God of Trickery – 10 points
TMTG001P Surtur – 25 points
TMTG007P Frost Giant – 20 points
NFAOSNFID-007 S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 7 (Nick “balls of ” Fury) – 5 points
Total = 300 points

So this team is built around Hela’s trait, “RELEASE THE SOULS OF HEL: When a non-bystander character is KO’d, heal Hela 1 click and you may generate a Warrior Soul bystander normally (in an adjacent square) or in that character’s square.” These warrior souls aren’t pushovers either. With phasing, blades, and super senses they can be frightening in large numbers.

The goal is to make all of your pieces besides Hela irritating enough so that your opponent will need to kill them before killing Hela because the Loki figures and the retaliators will each grant you a warrior soul bystander token when they die. Even if the Loki figures are killed by their own effect or push to KO, you still get bystanders!

So hopefully play will go something like this:

Move a Loki illusion up to someone. Coerce them to attack you.
You either hit Shape Change and get a free Loki, or you don’t.
If the Loki Illusion dies make a warrior soul in that spot.
Then on your turn retaliate with frost giant and give someone an action token. When Frost Giant dies make a warrior soul in that spot.
If the opponent manages to kill the Loki Illusion, the Frost Giant, and then both warrior souls they will have earned a whopping 20 points and probably needed to use 4 actions to do it.
Repeat with second Loki Illusion and Surtur on the other side of the board.

Eventually you will start killing your opponents figures which generate more souls and make things worse for your opponent. While the rest of your forces keep the opponent busy. Hela can phase from place to place and pick off weakened characters with the extra damage she gets from eclipso. And when the time is right she can line up a Nick Fury or Surtur killshot on the opponents best figure.

It’s Mighty’s Thor’s World; We’re Just Living in It! (Or, All The Mighty Thor Coverage I Could Fit Into One Post!!)

October 19, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

Welcome back!!

I’ve been on vacation, gotten a cold and have been grinding away at some day job work drama since our last article. So I’ve been gone a minute.

But I’ve had a bunch to say about TMT, and, frankly, there’s so much to talk about with this set that a normal Top Ten column won’t cover everything (but we’re still going to do one, so sit tight–soon, soon!!).

Today, we’re going to break this set down into some random categories (chosen by me, natch) and talk about some of the hits and misses from this set.

BEST HEALER:

TMT022 Jane Foster — 30 Points — Uncommon: Back in the day (circa, oh, say 2012-2013), Donald Blake ruled the Meta scene (okay, maybe not “ruled,” but still… ) as the best Support-equipped supporting piece in the game. 33 Points got you an 11 Attack with Support, which made it extremely likely you could heal your pieces back to top dial. Donald even had a Movement Special on clicks 2-4 that let him turn into Chaos War Thor, too. And wit the Avengers keyword, he fit on a lot of teams.

Fast forward roughly five years, and WizKids has decided that, apparently, DONALD BLAKE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH!! What?!?!

Jane Foster costs three points less, has one less click of life and and even worse Defense Value (15 to Blake’s 16). Buuuuuuut… she also comes packing Defend, so on her first two clicks, she will ALWAYS hit on just a six or more! Donald’s 11 Attack only hits a 17 Defense with that same roll.

Okay, so she’s a good healer, but what else? Well, first, she’s not a good healer, she’s a GREAT healer! Why? Cuz she can pull off her Support tricks no matter how close your opponent gets thanks to her wonderfully flavorful Damage Special (PLEASE TRY TO HOLD STILL: Support, even if her target is adjacent to an opposing character.)!

Another problem with Donald Blake was that he could be sniped fairly easily if your opponent really needed to stop a heal. If they could hit a 16 Defense Value and deal 4 Damage, Blake was wiped off the map.

Well, Jane’s Trait makes this a LOT harder (ONLY HERE TO HELP: Opposing characters of 75 points or more can’t draw lines of fire to Jane Foster unless it is the only character on the map from that force. When an adjacent friendly character is KO’d by an opponents attack, after resolutions you may roll a D6 and replace Jane Foster with TMT #017 Thor on a click # equal to the result.).

So you can’t even target her with your Primary Attacker (or even many Secondary Attackers). Moreover, if you don’t go after her first (which we just established is kind of difficult), Jane can transform into a Goddess of Thunder–possibly on click one!

Dude, I’m top dial, I got this. I’m about to deal 8 damage. By the way, I cost 30 freaking points.

Yup. You have a 16% chance to sub out your 30 Point piece for a 100 Point figure WHO CAN IMMEDIATELY ATTACK TWO DIFFERENT ENEMIES FOR 4 DAMAGE EACH!! That’s a possible gain of up to 70 points for your army in a 300 Point game! This is a huge advantage! I CAN’T STOP USING CAPS LOCK AND EXCLAMATION POINTS WHEN I TALK ABOUT THIS PIECE!!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Wait, she has the Asgardian keyword too?! So I can recklessly advance my title character Thor Odinson up the map for an Alpha Strike and then, if my opponent retaliates, I can just spend 1 Plot Point to immediately place Jane next to Thor and heal him EVEN IF HE’S BASED?! That’s madness!!]

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yup!]

COMMON PIECE MOST LIKELY TO BREAK THE BANK:

TMT002 Loki — 65 + 10 Points — Common: Yes folks, we have a Common piece that’s still holding over $5 a copy on eBay more than a month after release. My Lord this was a deep set.

Loki has what has to be the best value Wizkids has ever offered us in terms of add-on Traits (GOD OF TRICKERY (+10 POINTS): During force construction, you may add two TMT #002 Loki to your starting force on the click #1 that appears after the (orange) KO. It has a 0 point value for all effects (including scoring).).

For just 10 Points, you get two REALLY GOOD copies of a 65 Point piece. Huh?! THAT’S NOT HOW MATH WORKS, DAMMIT!!

First of all, Loki and all of his copies have both Super Senses AND Shape Change, so they are a nightmare to get rid of. If Loki actually HITS a Shape Change, he gets to spawn ANOTHER version of himself. And all of these copies have a 10 Attack with Incapacitate, so be prepared to, y’know, never get to do anything on your turn except take tokens off of your army at the end of your turn whenever you’re playing this guy. Sheesh.

Considering there’s not really a hard limit to the amount of TMT002 Lokis you can have on the map at one time, people have been scooping him up on the secondary market left and right.

THE MOST UNDERRATED COLOSSAL:

TMTG007P FROST GIANT — 20 Points — Colossal Booster: First of all, the sculpt is cool. Second of all, HOLY CRAP HAVE YOU SEEN HIS DAMAGE SPECIAL?!?!

(ONCE YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO FEEL THEIR CHILL… YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD AND JUST DON’T KNOW IT: At the end of your turn, choose one: Give an adjacent opposing character an action token, -or- Give each adjacent opposing character that’s lower points an action token.)

Uh… what is this doing on ANY 20 Point generic, much less one THAT CAN HOP AROUND THE BOARD AND BASE ANY OPPOSING FIGURE WHO SUCCESSFULLY ATTACKED LAST TURN?!

Incapacitate isn’t the best power in the game, but it becomes REALLY freaking good if you don’t even have to roll for it!! And when you start playing two (just costs 40 Points) or three (only 60 Points) or four (still just 80 points), it gets really silly. Remember, they give action tokens AT THE END OF YOUR TURN, so you can move them 6 squares beforehand.

Yes, Carnage is borderline broken. Yes, Mangog is borderline broken. Hell, even Surtur is really, REALLY good. But generic Frost Giant is definitely the most underrated, though I suspect not for long.

BEST PRIME:

TIE:

TMT029B Skurge — 125 Points — Uncommon Prime:

TMT041BE Odin the Destroyer — 175 Points — Rare Prime:

I really can’t decide, but holy crap are the Primes solid in this set. Red Leader, the Common Prime, has a lot of potential as a supporting piece and can actually resurrect under certain circumstances; Angela is a lot of fun, but I’m not sure she’s actually better than her A-side, Hela (more on this from Ninwashui soon).

But Skurge is awesome. He is a killing machine who is just SO hard to take down. Once he throws down his Last Laugh marker granted by his Trait (I WILL STAY BEHIND AND THE LAST LAUGH WILL BE MINE: FREE: Once per game, generate a Last Laugh marker in the square Skurge occupies. As long as Skurge occupies the square with the Last Laugh marker, he modifies defense +2, takes a maximum of 1 damage from attacks, and can’t be moved or placed by opposing characters.), he becomes next to impossible to hit AND he can dish out 4-5 damage up to 7 squares away pretty consistently (his Damage Special runs almost his entire dial and gives him his choice of RCE or CCE).

For 125 Points, he is a beast.

Odin the Destroyer is an absolute monster though. I like his 175 Point level the best for a couple reasons. The first reason is pretty basic: more support is almost always better when running a tentpole.

The second is more complicated. With the recent change to Invincible (which Odin starts with on his Experienced dial), Odin is extremely tough to bring down at range with abilities Pen/Psy, since he now reduces even penetrating damage. He also can’t be Outwitted due to his Power Cosmic Team Ability. This means there’s a good chance Odin will get where he’s going without being sniped to death, which is always a concern with Close Combat pieces.

But if he can actually get his hands on an opposing figure, the pummeling can commence. His second Trait even gives him the closest thing to Multi-Attack we’re likely ever going to see going forward (INCALCULABLE MIGHT: POWER: If Odin the Destroyer has 1 action token, give him any two actions at no cost.).

THE TOP TEN… PIECES OF EQUIPMENT IN THE MIGHTY THOR:

TMTS009 Mjolnir — 10 Points — Heavy Object: Makes so many Chargers just otherworldly good. Try It With: EW050 Superman is just 240 Points of disgusting with this, and Mistress Death is Meta when she’s holding Thor’s hammer.
TMTS008 Enchanted Ball and Chain — 10 Points — Heavy Object: When you absolutely, positively need to KO every Clix in the room, accept no substitutes. Try It With: You can put EW050 Superman on crowd control duty with this thing and watch him mop up the entire map. TMT052 Hulk will literally break through walls and then destroy the room with this thing.
TMTS006 Mirror of Mysolljh — 7 Points — Light Object: For 7 Points, you can give any character a “66% get out of any attack FREE” card. That’s pretty damn good, no? Try It With: Literally any piece that does not have Shape Change, but if they already have Super Senses, that’s even better.
TMTS012 Casket of Ancient Winters — 12 Points — Light Object: There will be builds that will abuse this to no end. Even more than Mjolnir, I think the Casket is the most likely piece from this set to end up on a future Watchlist. Try It With: Any team that is set up to keep your opponents from doing anything. Like, say, a build with 2-3 Frost Giants (who have the Asgardian keyword even at 20 points and thus would remain unaffected by the Casket).
TMTS001 Bloodaxe — 10 Points — Heavy Object: Steal Energy, Battle Fury and Exploit Weakness. In other words, the works!
TMTS011 Stormbreaker — 10 Points — Heavy Object: Deserves this spot for the static +2 to Range alone. Energy Explosion unfortunately isn’t as good as it used to be, or this would be higher. Having said that, Quake got a huge boost.
TMTS016 Dragonfang — 10 Points — Light Object: It gives you re-rollable B/C/F. Try It With: Any “sticky/tie-up” figure with low damage output (<cough> Ha-Ha Joker <cough>).
TMTS015 Gungnir — 10 Points — Light Object: The one-time +3 Attack, Penetrating Damage add-on is nice, but I’m more interested in the “This characters attack rolls can’t be rerolled” portion. Unfortunately, it stops YOU from probbing as well; otherwise, it’d be higher on this list.
TMTS010 Thunderstrike — 10 Points — Heavy Object: Another object that lets you heal while causing maximum mayhem. The Bloodaxe is more efficient though.
TMTS102 Asgardian Shield — 4 Points — Light Object: One of the most simple pieces of equipment in the set is also one of the best. It just gives you ES/D. But it does it for just 4 freakin’ points! That means your average piece with an 18 Defense is now an impenetrable 20 from range! The cost/benefit ratio here is too good to pass up!

Well, that’s all for today! We will keep hammering (pun intended) out the Thor coverage until… well, really until the next set comes out!

In the meantime, keep up with all of our latest musings on Twitter @criticalmissive !!

Finally, on a personal note, my cousin and her husband just lost their home to the wildfires blazing through California.

If you have the inclination and ability to help, a friend of theirs has set up a GoFundMe page to assist them while they rebuild the next chapter of their life together. The page can be found here. Even small amounts help tremendously!

If you’re not in a position to donate, I totally understand. You can still help by going to our Twitter page and retweeting our pinned tweet about the fire.

At the end of the month, I’m going to choose one person at random who retweeted that message and send them an Uncanny X-Men Age of Apocalype Sunfire Chase!

Until next time, Stay Safe (seriously!), and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!

What Else could Hypefox get Wrong? (An Elseworlds Top 10 second opinion)

September 1, 2017 / ninwashui / 2 Comments

Here’s my quick and dirty Elseworlds Top Ten list: (note this was written after the release of the new rules)

10) EW024E Nekhrun, The Bat-God (100 points) – At 100 points he has relatively low stats and a short 5 click dial. You’ll need to keep him behind the rest of your team because your opponent will be aiming for him first. In certain games his trait that gives your entire team stealth won’t matter (like when he faces Superman Allies) . In other games his trait will make your whole team completely invisible. That’s why he is on this list.

9) EW002 Superman (90 points) – This the fifth Superman to feature shifting focus and by far the most well rounded. This version can move almost as far as the hypersonic version and is a lot less squishy. His quake gives you the option of knocking a crowd of opposing figures away from each other or just hitting one character for his full damage. He is also the only version with indomitable. When the original 4 Shifting focus Supermen came out they were winning constructed tournaments. I predict you are going to see this guy make at least a small splash in the meta.

8) EW005 The Flash (45 points) – While his 10 attack and three damage aren’t going to win him any popularity contests, he also brings 14 movement and 19 defense to start. That’s nearly unheard of in his price range. He’s a nightmare for opposing support pieces.

7) EW018 The Flash (60 points) – This guy brings basically the same package that the 45 point version brings, but the 15 extra point also buys you a “get out of one ranged attack free” monopoly card. He’s not Bizzaro Green Arrow, but Bizzaro Green Arrow can’t knock out opposing support figures while protecting you from ranged attacks.

6) EW040 Al Jhor Dan (90 points) – He’s Jakeem Thunder light. His downsides are that he’s got a smaller dial, lower stats, no prob, and the ability to only pick one power per turn. His upsides are that he has indomitable, a double perplex, and costs 50 points less than Jakeem. Jakeem is still better, but this guy is in the ballpark.

5) EW047 Batman (100 points) – For 100 points this guy has a really efficient dial. He has a attack value that doesn’t fall below 11, a 7 click long dial, and 5 of those clicks have outwit. People are complaining that this dial doesn’t represent the armored Batman that attacked Superman with a steamroller in each hand from the comics. If you ignore that and just look at the dial, you’ll have a lot of fun with him.

4) EW015 Superman (70 points) – This is a dial that is undercosted so they had to give it a negative trait. Thankfully in most cases I would gladly take a click of damage to KO an opposing figure. Even better his conscience won’t bother him a bit while piloting one of the games many vehicles. Call this guy “Grand Theft Auto Supes”.

3) EW017 Green Lantern – It’s hard to beat Running Shot and Pulse Wave on a 60 point character. Throw in TK, 18 defense, the upgraded JLA TA, and Indomitable and you’ve really got my attention. You can only make 8 attacks before losing all of your powers, but that just means you need to use him as a taxi and TK support until you are in Pulse Wave range. If you make even 4 Pulse wave attacks in a game you’ve more than covered his 60 point cost.

2) EW050 Superman (230 points) – It’s really hard to run a figure of 200+ points in a 300 point game. Or at least it was hard before The Mighty Thor set came out with several objects that can make this guy the angel of death. With Hypersonic Speed getting a major downgrade Superman’s full move charge makes him the new King of the Alpha Strike pieces. Use TMTS009 Mjolnir, TMTS015 Gungnir, TMTS008 Enchanted Ball and Chain, TMTS005 Enchanted Crowbar, TMTS010 Thunderstrike, TMTS001 Bloodaxe, or even TMTS002 Knobbed Mace. Play any three of those on your team and just equip the one that will help you the most each game. You’re Welcome.

1) EW049 Green Arrow (80 points) – As long as ID cards are legal this will be the figure from the Elseworlds set that will see the most tournament play. With 12 attack, RCE, Improved Targeting, his ability to ignore defenses, and his low 80 point cost there is no reason not to use this guy as a call in figure on just about every tournament team.

What Else Is New? (Or, The Top Ten Figures in Elseworlds!!)

August 30, 2017 / HypeFox / 3 Comments

Annnnnd… we’re back!!

Good Lord, where has August gone?

Anyway, the 15th Anniversary summer of Heroclix rolls on for Wizkids, and once again we have a new, 5-Figure Booster set… which means we need a new Top Ten!! Especially since, y’know, we’re just a few days out from The Mighty Thor!

But first…

SOME NOTES ABOUT THE SET:

Man, what if Warner Brothers made a DCEU adaptation of “The Dark Knight Returns,” only they stripped out almost the entire plot, most of the cast, the characters’ motivation and the entire contextual legacy of 50 years of Batman and Superman stories but kept the part where Batman and Superman punch each other and threw in a jar of Lex Luthor’s pee? That could make for a sweet movie!!

–This Elseworlds set seemingly had more material to draw from than the Marvel What If… ? expansion in that What If… ? was a specific (sometimes even monthly) Marvel title, whereas pretty much anything outside of regular DC continuity seems to fall under the Elseworlds banner. So Elseworlds got to field pieces from amazing, all-time great stories like “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Kingdom Come,” while What If… ? couldn’t use elements of “Marvel Zombies,” “Earth X” or “Old Man Logan” because those stories were told outside of the pages of the actual What If… ? comic.

(That’s not really a nit, by the way; just an observation).

So even though I tend to gravitate more towards Marvel stuff, I found myself looking forward to this set a little more, simply because I was more familiar with many of the specific stories and characters being referenced (again, “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Kingdom Come” are among the best stories ever told in the medium of comics; my favorite comic story ever is still “Infinity Gauntlet,” for a variety of reasons, but catch me on the right day and I might say that “DKR” is the best story I’ve ever read).

Incidentally, THIS is one of the best covers I’ve ever seen…

–Putting this list together is a little more difficult than assembling the What If… ? Top Ten in that there’s no Goblin King-type figure who is heads and tails above almost everything else in terms of power level.

Elijah Snow seems like the only figure who might drive the highway to the Watchlist Danger Zone, but even then, you need to have 3 or 4 copies of him to get really stupid. Will a wide enough swath of Meta players go to that much trouble, especially when Wizkids just Watchlisted away Jakeem Thunder’s number one predator while leaving Jakeem untouched? Seems doubtful…

–This is also one of the toughest evaluations we’ve ever had to do since the rules are changing in some very significant ways this week. Which means that a figure that’s really good today may be less than desirable in a couple days! Just look at Cosmic Spidey from the previous set! What If… ? came out in June, and that set’s already been decimated at the upper end by either the Watchlist or the new rules!

–Finally, a quick shout-out to the DKR Chase Superman sculpt. It really captured the way Frank Miller drew him in that story. All of the Chase sculpts were really cool. Great job, Wizkids!!

–I’m not doing a formal Honorable Mention, since this is a bit of a smaller set. Informally, however, the 5 Honorable Mention figures WOULD have been:

5. EW002 Superman (Shifting Focus piece which offers Indom & Quake; his Special Quake with Precision Strike combo lost a little with the New Rules nerf of PS.)

4. EW019 Oliver Queen, Templar (Decent offense with the punch to get through reducers. Does not fear Mystics TA. Unfortunately, despite all that, he’s not even the best 80 Point Green Arrow in this set.)

3. EW047 Batman (The overlooked Chase. Doesn’t pack a huge punch, but a 12 Attack and Precision Strike will get damage through. Very map dependent, though. The more Hindering, the better, as his Trait allows him to hop from clear terrain in Hindering Terrain 4 squares away.)

2. EW044 Diana Prince (People ragged on this piece because it was a 40 Point Wonder Woman. But if you scratched the name off of this piece and just looked at the dial, you’d see a lot of support combined with the ability to defend herself up close.)

1. EW037 The Flying Batman (140 Points is too much for what he does, but man, he’s fun. He has both the Supes Ally TA and the Batman Family TA. It is always a good thing to have Stealth AND be able to see through Stealth. Hypersonic Speed top dial along with 4 Damage is deadly… just not 140 points worth of deadly.)

And now, without further ado…

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN ELSEWORLDS!!

10. EW046E Elijah Snow — 70 Points — Super Rare: Planetary’s infamous leader packs in a lot of usefulness on his Experienced dial. While his dial is only four clicks long, he has an 8 Range with Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Barrier and Leadership, and Indomitable on top of all that.

His first Trait (THE BIG FREEZE: Once per game, give Elijah Snow a free action. For the rest of the game, while Elijah Snow is on the map other characters that can’t use the Flight ability can only move in a direct path.) can really make things difficult for any piece without Flight, and his second Trait (CHILL IN YOUR BONES: Give Elijah Snow a free action and choose one that hasn’t been chosen yet this game: Power, Close Combat, Range Combat, or Move. Until your next turn, when an opposing character is given an action of the chosen type, after actions resolve give that character an action token. If you can’t, deal them 1 unavoidable damage.) can slow down just about everyone else.

When you consider the new Rules taking effect, Leadership is suddenly a useful power to have. Imagine playing 3 of these guys together. Your opponent will think Felix Faust has been un-banned, and you still have 90 points left for a Primary attacker (someone like fellow Planetary alum Jakita Wagner, maybe?)!

Elijah Snow takes an expert hand to really exploit, but–especially in mulitples–he can pose some real threats to your opponent.

Well, that clears that up!

9. EW036 The Drummer — 40 Points — Rare: Once again, we have a member of Planetary with only four Clicks of life who comes packing some major trickeration. He deals 0 Damage his whole dial, has an Attack Value of 8 with no Attack Powers and a Defense of 16 (albeit with ES/D).

But he also has Sidestep on every click, a 10 Range, a great shared Special Damage Power (PLANETARY: ARCHAEOLOGISTS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE: Once per turn, The Drummer can use either Outwit or Perplex.) and an absolutely AWESOME Trait (READING THE INFORMATION FLOWS: Once per turn, when an opposing character within range and line of fire would use one of Outwit, Perplex or Probability Control during their turn, you may choose that instead the opposing character can’t use that power that turn.).

Cornering the market on three of the best powers in Heroclix–Outwit, Perplex and Prob–is probably a good way to win in this game. Just sayin’.

8. EW033R The Ray — 25 Points — Rare: Okay, this is a one-trick pony, but it’s a heck of a trick. His Damage Special (JUSTICE SHINES BRIGHT: Give The Ray a free action and choose an opposing character within 8 squares. Until your next turn, if The Ray has line of fire to that character, that character can’t make attacks.) can absolutely shut down a tentpole for as long as he can see them, really, and heaven help them if they try to shoot The Ray down from Range. That’s a 20 or 21 Defense (if you initially place him in Hindering) PLUS a Super Senses roll. They’re basically going to have to waste an attack up close, and even then it’s not a sure thing.

On many maps, even if they do waste an attack on the Ray, chances are that’s going to leave them wide open for a counter. That’s a lot of gamechanging potential from a 25 Point piece.

7. EW048 Robin — 40 Points — Chase: If Night Nurse and Overdrive had a Clix baby, it would look something like Carrie Kelly as Robin.

This piece has been hotly debated, but I come down on the side of she’s useful, particularly since they’ve fixed her Bystander tokens with the recent errata (they’re now officially vehicles THAT CAN CARRY! Woo-hoo!).

Those tokens come down as part of her first Trait (COMPUTER CLASSES, DUH: At the beginning of the game place adjacent either the Batcycle or Batwing bystander. When that bystander is KO’d, after actions resolve place the other bystander adjacent.), and in addition to being useful taxis, they can also fix a few pieces that have great stats but no move and attack power (The Batcycle grants Running Shot while the Batwing has Sidestep).

She also starts out with Support and Precision Strike, and her Leap/Climb lets her vacate the scene real quick if she’s not Piloting one of her vehicles. Combat Reflexes combined with the Batman Ally TA makes her really hard to even attack.

Finally, her last Trait (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: GET SEEN AND YOU’RE FIRED: When Robin occupies clear terrain, she can use Shape Change. When she occupies hindering terrain, she can use Perplex but only to target another character occupying hindering terrain.) gives her one of two useful abilities: Shape Change or Perplex, based on where she is on the Map.

If she was a great Taxi at 40 Points, she’d be good. If she was a good support piece, she’d be worth the 40 Points it takes to field her. But when you consider that she’s outstanding in both roles, 40 Points is a steal.

6. EW024E Nekhrun, The Bat God — 100 Points — Uncommon: The Rare piece that can hold his own in close combat situations (Sidestep, Super Strength, 3 Damage) or ranged (7 Range, Ranged Combat Expert, Batman and Quintessence Team Abilities).

But the reason I really like him is because whether your opponent goes after him first or last, his Trait (AVATAR OF DARKNESS: Other friendly characters can use the Batman Ally team ability. When Nekhrun, The Bat-God is KO’d by an opponent’s attack, for the rest of the game other friendly characters can’t be targeted by opposing characters 4 or more squares away.) is insanely beneficial for your whole squad.

In an era where Resources are going away, the ability to add a competent Secondary Attacker AND give your whole team Stealth for just 100 Points seems like a good deal.

5. EW012 Kid Flash (Justice Rider) — 60 Points — Common: Kind of the ultimate harasser masquerading as a Secondary Attacker. His Movement Special (QUICKEST SHOT IN THE WEST: Kid Flash (Justice Rider) can use Hypersonic Speed. When he does, he doesn’t halve his range value.) gives him a Threat Range of 16 (10 Movement plus 6 Range), and it makes his lone Trait (HIGH NOON: If Kid Flash (Justice Rider) is the last character with this trait to hit an opposing character with a range attack, until your next turn, if the hit character makes a range attack, Kid Flash (Justice Rider) must be one of its targets.) REAAAAALLY annoying considering that opposing character’s have to track Kid Flash down for retribution before they can move on with their lives.

Your opponent’s whole turn can get derailed really quickly if you start dictating who he has to attack. And while there are several characters with this Trait, Kid Flash’s Hypersonic mobility makes him the pick of the litter.

4. EW017 Green Lantern — 60 Points — Uncommon: Meet the Elseworlds version of DXF’s Fenris. Doesn’t deal quite as much damage on the front end, but has more mobility. Also, he can use TK and Pulse Wave top dial, so he’s basically a Taxi and an excellent Secondary Attacker wrapped up in one.

He may be just 60 points, but he’s more than capable of punching above his weight.

3. EW040 Al Jhor Dan — 90 Points — Super Rare: Pick-a-Power pieces are inherently good. This has been proven in droves in the Meta over the last 3 years. In a Resource-poor environment (like, say, the current Meta), their versatility becomes even more apparent–and important.

So while Al’s P-A-P Trait (GENIE OF THE LAMP: Give Al Jhor Dan a free action. Choose a standard power and choose one of the following: “wing symbol”, “dolphin symbol”, “giant symbol”, or “tiny symbol”. Al Jhor Dan can use the chosen power and has the chosen symbol until your next turn.) isn’t as good as, say, Jakeem’s, or Goblin King’s, it’s still a Pick-A-Power Trait, so it has to be respected!

He’s also only 90 Points and, unlike, say, What If… ?’s Nico Minoru, the rest of his dial is not blank. Al comes packing Indomitable, Sidestep, ES/D and a Perplex Special (1001 (KNIGHTS OF EMPIRES): Al Jhor Dan can use Perplex. If he uses Perplex to modify the same character and same value as during your last turn, he can modify it by +2 or -2 instead.) before you’ve even chosen which power you want to pick.

2. EW050 Superman — 230 Points — Chase: So here’s where I cheat a little bit. When Elseworlds came out, Superman was pretty good. Now that there are cheap 10 Point Equipment pieces (and many of those have been spoiled/revealed, something that wasn’t the case when Elseworlds first came out) that are coming out this Wednesday, he’s even better. So, yes, this article is late, but at the same time, I can’t pretend I don’t know what’s coming, right?

With that in mind, let’s first look at what that 230 Points gets you. In addition to his randomly protective Trait (A SYMBOL OF AUTHORITY… AND OBEDIENCE: At the beginning of your turn, you may roll a d6. 5-6: Superman’s powers can’t be countered and his attack rolls can’t be rerolled by opponents until your next turn. 3-4: You may remove an action token from him. 1: He can’t be moved or placed until your next turn.), Supes is blessed with 9 Clicks of life, a 9 Range and the Superman Ally Team Ability. He also has an 11 Movement with an AWESOME Special Power (WE MUST NOT REMIND THEM THAT GIANTS WALK THE EARTH: Superman can use Charge and Stealth. If Superman began the turn occupying hindering terrain, don’t halve his speed value when using Charge this turn.), a 13 (THIRTEEN!!) Attack Value with Super Strength, a 19 Defense Value with Indomitable AND Invincible and a 5 native Damage Value top dial.

So right off the bat, we have a character with Stealth that can see through Stealth. This has historically been a great combo, and it’s as useful today as it’s ever been. BUT THAT’S NOT EVEN HIS MAIN TRICK!

Being able to line up a 5 Damage (or more with an object) close attack with a Threat Range of 12 squares is insane. Now add something like, say, Thunderball’s Enchanted Ball and Chain (EFFECT: Quake, but deals this character’s printed damage value instead of 2. ), and suddenly things get very interesting. The main problem with running an overly expensive tentpole in a 300 Point game is that you’ll get out-actioned, since your tentpole can only attack 2 out of every 3 turns (assuming your tentpole doesn’t have Colossal Stamina, yada yada). But that doesn’t matter IF YOU’RE ATTACKING HALF OF YOUR OPPONENT’S TEAM FOR FIVE DAMAGE WITH KNOCKBACK EACH TURN!

Or what about Mjolnir? It comes with one of the new Thor Chases. It’s text states: “Effect: If targeting a single character within range, treat that character has adjacent for close attacks. When making a close attack against a non-adjacent character modify attack and damage + 1.”

So now Supes can only target one enemy, but if he starts in Hindering Terrain, his Threat Range is now 20 (which might be a record for any non-Colossal, non-Flash character), and he has a 14 (FOUR-FREAKING-TEEN!!?!) Attack Value and deals 6 Damage (and, oh, yeah, with his Superman Ally TA, even Stealth won’t save an opposing character from his world of hurt). Again, IT’S HARD TO GET OUT-ACTIONED IF EVERY ONE OF YOUR ATTACKS KO’S ONE OF YOUR OPPONENT’S FIGURES!!

I mean, if you can get Supes onto a friendly battlefield like the Wakanda Map, holy God, will he be effective. Your opponent better have some close combat solutions of their own, or it will be a quick game.

1. Green Arrow — 80 Points — Chase: Five Clicks of offensive awesomeness. Top dial, he has a 12 Attack, 8 Range and 3 Damage with RCE to go with his first Trait (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: NOT HIDING ANYMORE: When Green Arrow occupies clear terrain, he can use Sidestep and opposing characters can’t draw lines of fire to him unless they are within three squares of him or he has 2 action tokens.) which gives him just about everything else you’d want!

He also sees through every type of Terrain but Blocking!!

Defensively, he comes packing Combat Reflexes for close attacks, and that Trait makes it REAAALLY hard to even target him at range.

His second Trait is simply a negative (…IT STILL HURTS WHEN IT’S COLD: Green Arrow can’t make range attacks when he has 1 action token.).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ll say it’s a negative! Some folks out there who are parsing the new rules for exploitable quirks are interpreting Green Arrow’s Second Trait to mean that he can NEVER make a ranged attack, reasoning that characters get action tokens before actions resolve now, meaning Green Arrow would always have at least one action token on him whenever he went to make a ranged attack.

For the record, the new rulebook states: “Just before the action resolves, give the character an action token. This signifies that you have resolved the action.”

That sounds an awful lot to me like Green Arrow would be able to make his ranged attack AND THEN get an action token. Still, given the amount of times this has come up on social media already, I thought it worth mentioning here.]

But ol’ Ollie still has one last trick up his sleeve. It’s his Attack Special (KRYPTONITE ARROWS: When Green Arrow hits with a ranged attack, the hit target can’t use defense powers until your next turn. If the hit target has the Kryptonian keyword also give it an action token.), which is always a crowdpleaser!

Obviously, so much goodness top dial means he’s also one of the best figures to call-in right now, too. When you put it all together, he is the best piece in Elseworlds.

Agree? Disagree? Post your own Top Ten in the Comments below! And keep an eye out for our Might Thor coverage starting next week!

What IF Hypefox Got it Wrong? (A What IF Top 10 second opinion)

July 20, 2017July 21, 2017 / ninwashui / 1 Comment

This is a quick and dirty rebuttal to Hypefox’s Top Ten:

My Top 10

10. WI039 Peter the Hunter 90 points – Pog madness! Try him him with Con LE earth X Cap and/or anyone with the green lantern TA. Also works well with JLA teleporter. He is the one guy I have seen that I would use with the alternate universe trait from the sideline due his “spectacular” (see what I did there) ability to heal.
9. WI024 Karolina Dean 75 points – Marvel’s Starfire. She made my list due to the general effectiveness of her dial and her awesome defense ability that stops 1 damage from ranged attacks. I am dying to combine her with the uncommon Doctor Strange from ADW that heals people after they are attacked.
8. WI047 Poison 90 points – The only chase I felt was good enough to be on this list. I love his penetrating poison damage combined with his plasticity. His Carnage Gwen token is a great end dial surprise.
7. WI043 Peace Machine 50 points – He is a very unique support piece that brings TK to soldier and Armor teams. His high defense, indomitable, outwit, and special force blast are all great. However, it’s his damage limiting trait that I think someone is going to really abuse.
6. WI042 Punisher of the Strange 100 points – At first glance he doesn’t seem like he is worth his points, but since Hypefox was really down on this guy I knew I had to try him. His relatively long dial and toughness combine well with his mystics TA. His running shot and psychic blast combine well with his ability to see through stealth. And one way or another he deals penetrating damage on every click.
5. WI015 Iron Man 40 points – I am salivating at the idea of building an armor themed team around this guy. 2 extra points of damage for adjacent ranged armor attackers is huge. Even 25 point Iron Heart becomes a 4 damage beast next this Akron Man! On his last click he becomes an attacker, but you might not have noticed that he keeps his 7 range the whole time. So if you had someone to enhance his damage (like another copy of him) then he can also be a secondary attacker.
4. WIG001P Ameridroid 15 points – Possibly the best retaliation attacker ever. Low attack, low defense. But, even if you miss, you can move the targeted piece 6 squares in any direction! There Is a lot that can be done with that.
3. WI037 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace 50 points – For 50 points you get a secondary attacker with 5 stop clicks. Leave Getrude next to a character with support (like Tony Zucco) and Old Lace will live forever.
2. WI038R Cosmic Spider-Man 75 points – In the running for being the games best call in figure (with balls of Fury and a new *spoiler* Elseworlds Figure). He’s also great if you just play him as a 75 point taxi and secondary attacker. Play a primary attacker to draw attention away from him and just watch him get surprise KOs left and right.
1. WI040R Goblin King 75 – For a month his 175 point version was the games best figure. Now post nerf he is relegated to just being the games best 75 point support figure. He can taxi your guys and support them with any two powers you might need (TK and perplex sound good) If you don’t push him off his first click then he will also make a decent secondary attacker.

Wisdom From Wizkids

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

Here is a link to the top 4 teams from this year’s world championships:

https://wizkids.com/2017/07/20/2017-heroclix-world-championship-top-teams/

Happy reading.

What If… You Inserted Your Favorite ‘What If… ?’ Joke Into This Headline? (Or, A Top Ten Set Review of What If?!?!)

June 19, 2017 / HypeFox / 3 Comments

Hello once more, faithful readers! I am your host, Hype-Uatu, and today I’m here not just to reveal another Top Ten figures column, but to show you the unlimited possibilities of an infinite number of alternate universes!!

But, uh, I’m mostly here to reveal another Top Ten column. So, without further ado…

FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS!!

5. WI001 Spider-Man — 55 Points — Common: You know you’re dealing with a What If… ? set when you get ALMOST as many alternate universe versions of Spidey as you got with the last Spider-Man set.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: For the record, Superior Foes of Spider-Man had Spideys from nine different alternate universes (if you include Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen) while What If… ? has seven (including the wonderful Aunt May as Spider-Ma’am).]

This, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is regular, Amazing Fantasy #15-debuting, 616 Peter Parker. Putting that aside… this is a hell of good version of Peter!

He has five Clicks and starts with a sweet Speed Special Power (WEB SWING: Spider-Man can use Hypersonic Speed. When he does, modify his damage value by +1 if his target is on a lower elevation than the one Spider-Man occupied when he began moving.) that allows this 55 Point piece to move up to 8 spaces and deal 4 Damage! In fact, he has Hypersonic Speed on every one of his Clicks!

He toggles between 3 and 2 Damage throughout his dial, has the Spidey Family Team Ability (so he’s a Wildcard) and starts with an 18 Defense with Super Senses.

Very solid for the points.

4. WI011 Molly Hayes — 50 Points — Common: Yeah, I know we used that shot in the Preview column, and you’re going to see it a lot more today. But hey, if Wizkids can reuse sculpts like 3 or 4 times in the set, we can reuse clip art, right? Actually, we’re prolly going to reprint some entries from our extensive Preview article too, sooo…

But on to Molly Hayes!

For 50 Points, you get Charge, 10 Attack and a Damage Special (KNOCK KNOCK: Molly Hayes can use Close Combat Expert, but as a close combat action. When she does and hits, the target is knocked back 4 squares instead of any other knock back.) that lets her punch above her weight class! And, if she’s doing said punching while standing next to a Runaway or Young Avenger, her Team Trait (RUNAWAYS: Once per turn, when Molly Hayes attacks, if she is adjacent to a friendly character with the Runaways or Young Avengers keyword, she can re-roll a 1 on a die of the attack roll.) will give you some insurance against missing!

3. 013 Jessica Jones — 65 Points — Common: From our Preview:

“Probably the best Jessica Jones we’ve ever gotten, although most of the previous Jessicas just kinda suck, so that’s not a huge compliment.

Still, this Jessica has both the Shield AND Avengers Team Abilities, 10 Speed with Flying AND Charge, Super Strength, Super Senses and Toughness and one of the coolest-named Traits out there (Keeping My Last Name, Though: When building your force, if your force also includes one character named Captain America, Jessica Jones gains all the keywords of that character this game.) that lets her team with any Cap!

All in all, this piece is a lot of fun!”

2. WI038 Cosmic Spider-Man — 275 Points — Super Rare: Okay, not only are we reusing clip art and entries from our Preview column, we’re reusing some of the same pieces from the column you’re already reading!

That’s because two pieces in particular have three different point levels and pretty much all of them need to be talked about (for various reasons).

The full-points version of Cosmic Spider-Man will probably get out-actioned in most 300 Point games (although he’s really worth looking at in 400+Point contests), and his Damage Value never rises above four (and indeed it hovers at three for large parts of his dial).

But–but… he has the Power Cosmic AND the Spidey TA’s, he has an 11 Attack on more than half of his Clicks and he sees through EVERYTHING except other characters.

He’s also got the Avengers, Spider-Man Family and Cosmic keywords, so he fits on a lot of teams.

He’s not quite good enough to be a one-man army outside of What If… ? Sealed, but he’s still really good.

1. WI040 Goblin King — 275 Points — Super Rare: Now this guy… this guy could be a one-man army! His keywords aren’t as good as Cosmic Spidey’s, and he has one less Click of life, but he starts with both better Attack AND better Damage values.

He doesn’t see through anything, which can pose a problem, but he has two great Traits.

The first (FORCE YOU TO RELIVE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE: When an opposing character misses Goblin King with an attack, after actions resolve give that character a Nightmare token. Characters with a Nightmare token modify their attack values by -1. When a character with a Nightmare token makes an attack, after actions resolve remove one Nightmare token from that character.) makes him harder to hit, but the Second (INFINITY GAUNTLET: Give Goblin King a free action and choose two standard powers. Goblin King can use the chosen powers until he chooses again.) just happens to be the best pick-a-power Trait Wizkids has ever bestowed on a character.

Note that he can choose his powers as a Free Action, which should read “whenever the hell you want” as opposed to choosing at the beginning of your turn, which is when most other pieces have to make their choice.

That also means that on many turns, you’ll actually be cycling through FOUR different powers in a turn. For example, you may choose Hypersonic Speed and Precision Strike on one turn. Then, when your next turn comes around, YOU STILL HAVE THOSE POWERS! So you can make another Hypersonic attack and then choose, say, Super Senses and Shape Change (remember, he already has either Invincible or Impervious on his first five Clicks!) and make Gobby nearly impossible to hit on down turns!

And as impressive as that sounds… that’s not even really his best dial!

Okay!! Enough of that! Let’s move straight in to…

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN WHAT IF… ? !!

10. WI005 Thor — 110 Points — Common: This is the 616 version of Thor. Here’s what we said during our Preview:

“This Thor is awesome. Six Clicks of life with a Range of 6 (with 3 Bolts), Traited Energy Explosion and a SWEET Attack Special Power (Lightning Strike: Damage dealt from attacks made by Thor cannot be reduced below his click number.) that basically works like Pen/Psy except it seems like they priced it at about half the cost of normal Pen/Psy (he has it on EVERY Click!).

Like Spidey 001, he lacks Willpower, but his other Trait (Founding Member: When Thor is given a non-free move action he isn’t given an action token for that action.) helps quite a bit with that, especially at the start of the game.

As we’ll talk about in a minute, much of the crazy-good that is coming in this set is coming in at the Super Rare level, but if you’re playing Sealed, there’s a decent chance that you won’t get one of those. But chances are that you might still find yourself with a great Primary Attacker if you open this guy in one of your Common slots.”

9. WI040R Goblin King — 75 Points — Super Rare: Okay, I feel like we were just talking about this guy.

Hype-Uatu says…

“The truth is, I really wanted to talk about Nico Minoru here. We discussed her in the Preview, so believe me, I would have loved to just slot her here and move on. But… I can’t. Why? Well, unless you are SPECIFICALLY PLAYING A RUNAWAYS OR YOUNG AVENGERS THEMED TEAM, Rookie Goblin King is just plain better. Empirically. Outside of the caveat I just mentioned, there is simply no universe where playing Nico is a better choice than playing Goblin King. And as Hype-Uatu, I should know. I’ve seen literally ALL OF THEM.”

To be honest, the differences are so stark that it’s hard to believe Rookie Goblin King and Nico Minoru were both designed with the same point system.

Nico has five Clicks; the Avengers TA; a pick-a-power Special that lets her take two powers with caveats (SISTER GRIMM: Give Nico Minoru a free action and choose up to two standard powers, each of a different combat type. You may not choose a power from a type chosen during your last turn. Nico Minoru can use the chosen powers until your next turn.); never has more than 2 printed Damage; Willpower on her first three Clicks, nothing after that; and her Runaways Team Trait.

Gobby only has four Clicks; the Power Cosmic TA (with its built-in Willpower); starts at 4 printed Damage and never goes below three; Invuln; Phasing; and his aforementioned pick-a-power Trait that lets him grab any two powers he wants with no restrictions. Oh, and he has a better range and Perplex down dial.

If Goblin King’s Rookie dial didn’t exist, Nico would be a great play and she would have this spot. Unfortunately, this is Gobby’s universe, and we’re just living in it.

8. WI024 Karolina Dean — 75 Points — Uncommon: From our Preview:

“So, these are probably the best Runaways they’ve ever done. None are bad (Victor Mancha as Iron Lad is probably the worst for his points, but he’s still playable), and three are quite good. Karolina is one of the “quite good.”

At 75 points, she’s at the high end of the Taxi/Supporting Figure cost spectrum, but she’s also a more than capable Secondary Attacker. Here’s a list of everything she brings top dial:

7 Range; Flight; 10 Movement with Running Shot; 10 Attack with Pen/Psy; 18 Defense with a great, damage-absorbing Special Power (REACTIVE ENERGY BARRIER: Karolina Dean can use Barrier and Defend. When Karolina Dean or adjacent friendly characters are targeted by a range attack, modify the attacker’s damage value by -1.); 3 Damage with Enhancement.

She also has the Runaways Trait/Defacto Team Ability (RUNAWAYS: Once per turn, when Karolina Dean attacks, if she is adjacent to a friendly character with the Runaways or Young Avengers keyword, she can re-roll a 1 on a die of the attack roll.), which in itself is not bad at all.

Finally, it’s worth noting that if you want to play the “classic” lineup of Gert, Nico, Chase, Molly and Karolina… they all add up to 300 Points exactly! Yes! Great job Wizkids! Oh, and if you want to add in Victor Mancha as Iron Lad, then they’re… 400 Points exactly! Wonderful design! As much as I like complaining about some of the things Wizkids does, they deserve credit for a fantastic job here. These may not be the “real, 616”-Runaways, but if you’re a fan of the characters, you should seek these pieces out. It’s honestly one of the strongest Sub-Themes from top-to-bottom that Wizkids has given us in quite awhile.”

7. WI022 Dr. Stark — 115 Points — Uncommon: Again, from our Preview:

“Big investment for a Secondary Attacker, but Dr. Stark can completely screw with your opponent’s team.

He has the Mystics TA, Phasing/Teleport, a 10 Attack with Pen/Psy, a 7 Range, 17 Defense with Impervious and 3 Damage with Prob. That’s all decent, but probably not worth 115 Points. But he also has the aforementioned From Another World Trait along with one of the best-named Traits the game has ever seen (AUTOMATED COUNTERSPELL: Dr. Stark can use Energy Shield/Deflection. Opposing characters within 4 squares can’t use Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Precision Strike, or Pulse Wave.)!

Slap the SFSMS101 Symbiote suit on him and you essentially have a sticky bomb that is capable of hamstringing your opponent’s entire force.”

I always hesitate recommending a piece if you HAVE to use an object or Resource to get the most out of him, but Dr. Stark with the Symbiote suit is a giant pain in the neck for most opponent’s to play around.

6. WI030 Thor — 105 Points — Rare: From our Preview:

“Your usual Thor smorgasbord of Running Shot and Pulse Wave with Sidestep and Pen/Psy mixed in down dial. What makes this Thor interesting is the ability to grant him extra attacks via his Damage Special (UNDER SETH’S THRALL: Give an adjacent friendly character with the Mystical keyword and point value of 50 or more a double power action that deals no pushing damage. When you do, Thor may make a close or range attack.).

If WW009Raven was 50 Points instead of 40, he’d be sick. Still, someone is going to find a way to break this.”

5. WI037 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace — 50 Points — Super Rare: There! I finally found a new image for a Runaway! Are you happy now, internet? You finally got some new content from me, okay? Geez…

Ahem. Alright, having said that… From our Preview:

“She has an 8 Attack and only does 1 Damage. Why is she on the notable list again?

Oh yeah… cuz she has an unkillable pet Raptor! Her second Trait (MY PARENTS ONLY LEFT ME ONE THING: At the beginning of the game place adjacent an Old Lace Bystander. When Old Lace would take damage, you may instead deal Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace 1 unavoidable damage.) allows Gert to hang back in her Starting Zone (preferably on Hindering to take advantage of her top dial Stealth) and simply absorb any damage done to Old Lace! Which basically gives her dino buddy 5 Stop Clicks–and that’s assuming you never find a way to heal Gert!

She also comes packing a fantastic Leadership Special–one of the best we’ve ever seen, frankly (YOUNG AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace can use Leadership. When they do and succeed, you may instead remove an action token from one friendly character with the Runaways or Young Avengers keyword, regardless of adjacency or point value.), which synergizes with leaving her in your Starting Zone.

You also have to remember that all these Runaways ALSO have the Young Avengers keyword. So while playing them as a 300 Point squad is fun, if you don’t think they’re quite Meta, you can, say, sub out Chase Stein and Molly Hayes and throw in, say, CWSOP031 Wiccan and STILL have a NAMED Themed Team!

Something like:

Team Name: Picture Me Young Avengin’!!

Theme: Young Avengers

Roster:

WI036 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace — 50 Points

WI024 Karolina Dean — 75 Points

WI031 Nico Minoru — 75 Points

CWSOP031 Wiccan — 90 Points

wkMVID-009 Spider-Man — 5 Points

NFAOSNFID-007 S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 7 — 5 Points

Total: 300 Points

Sideline:

WI038R Cosmic Spider-Man — 75 Points

NFAOS Peggy Carter — 60 Points

Now that is a Themed Team that’s full of tricks! And Prob, Perp and other enhancers. And unkillable Raptors.”

Yup. I’m an A-hole!

4. WI043 Peace Machine — 50 Points — Super Rare: This was one of Ninwashui’s favorite pieces from the set. His stats and powers are fine for a Support piece (Sidestep, TK, 19 Defense with Toughness and Outwit, with actual Support down dial–although he has a big fat 0 for his Damage Value).

His coolest feature is his second Trait (SUPPRESSION FIELD: If a character would take 4 or more damage, it takes 3 instead.), which puts the kibosh on some of these early Alpha Strike Strategies.

He’s also not a bad figure to Mastermind damage to, especially if you need him there for your opponent’s turn to limit burst damage but gone on your turn as you plan your counter-attack!

3. WI038R Cosmic Spider-Man — 75 Points — Super Rare: Yup! Him again.

You are looking at the best Call-In piece in the game, in my opinion. If there’s another character 75 Points or less who can bunker-bust Barriers or other Blocking Terrain AND deal 4 Penetrating Damage, I’m at a loss as to who it could be.

And yes, you read that right. He comes in with Sidestep, 7 Range and the ability to shoot through anything except other characters (and he blows up Blocking Terrain when he shoots through it, too!), an 11 Attack Value with Pen/Psy and 4 printed Damage.

And any 75 Point figure, even if they’re on their last click, can call this piece in for the low, low cost of 5 Points.

That is money well spent!

2. WI039 Peter the Hunter –– 90 Points — Super Rare: From our Preview:

“This is an aggressive close combat Spidey dial (Charge, 11 Attack with B/C/F, Combat Reflexes and Exploit Weakness) that gets turned up to 11 because of all of his Traits.

With his first Trait, Peter the Hunter brings his own army (ENSLAVED KRAVEN FAMILY: At the beginning of the game, place the 4 bystanders listed on this card into your starting area. These bystanders can use the Carry ability this game, but only to carry each other. The first non-free action you give one of these bystanders each turn doesn’t count towards your action total.).

These are ridiculously good pogs that you get FOR FREE!! I won’t go over all of them here, but you get a mix of Stealth, Charge, RCE, B/C/F and even Outwit. The fact that they can Carry each other is also bonkers.

His Second Trait is the standard Sideline Trait that half of these pieces have (FROM AN ALTERNATE EARTH: If this character is on your sideline, you may give a free action to a friendly character named Spider-Man or Kraven the Hunter that’s equal or more points. Replace that character with this character on the same click number.), but when combined with Peter’s third Trait, it can suddenly be devastating to your opponent.

His Third Trait (KILLED MY GREATEST ENEMIES: When Peter the Hunter KO’s an opposing character of 50 or more points, after actions resolve heal him to click #1 and place a Trophy token on this card. When Peter the Hunter would be KO’d, you may instead remove a Trophy token and turn him to his last non-KO click.) is probably stupid. In fact, I know it is.

To recap: You can be on the last Click of a TOTALLY DIFFERENT SPIDER-MAN (up to Click #6), switch to Peter the Hunter, and if you can use him to KO any opposing character of 50 Points or more (Peter can deal up to 4 Range damage on his last Click), suddenly he is not only back to his top dial, but he essentially gains a STOP CLICK too!

Someone will figure out a way to break him right quick.”

Hopefully that someone is you, and not your opponent!

1. WI040E Goblin King — 175 Points — Super Rare:

Hype-Uatu says…

“In the Heroclix Universe you are familiar with (commonly referred to by us Watchers as Heroclix Universe 616, natch), Wizkids recklessly created an uber-piece called “Jakeem Thunder.” This piece rules the Meta scene that you now know.

But what if there was a different Meta scene in a different universe where someone at Wizkids decided that Jakeem Thunder was actually too weak? One where he said to his boss, ‘Okay, Jakeem, sure, but what if we did him as a Marvel character with the #$)^#ng Infinity Gauntlet? You know, cuz he’s not quite powerful enough as currently constituted?’

Well, I can tell you this… in the universe I speak of, Goblin King quickly took over the Meta and was the winning piece on the 2017 World Championship team at Origins.

And that designer was promptly promoted for breaking the game.

Again.”

Man… some of these alternate universes are just so different from our own!

Okay, that’s all for today!

Agree? Disagree? Post your Top Ten in the Comments section!

And until next time, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!

	swill9655 on When You Absolutely, Positivel…
	HypeFox on The Ghost of Clix-Mas Present…
	HypeFox on Editorial: What I Love Most Ab…
	tydesign on Editorial: What I Love Most Ab…
	tydesign on Here Is Your Clix-Mas Checklis…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: