“Ultron! We Would Have Words With Thee!” (Or, a Figure by Figure Preview of the Age of Ultron SLOP 1st Wave!!)

May 28, 2015May 29, 2015 / HypeFox / 4 Comments

Alrighty! Welcome back!

Today we’re gonna take a look at the figure rundown for the first Wave of Age of Ultron, which will be coming to a venue near you in the next few weeks!! We’ll be looking at them mostly in the context of Sealed play, since that’s how most of you will be introduced to them, but we will offer our take on how we think a few key pieces will impact Modern Age as well.

Now that we’re this close to the event, folks have already started opening booster Bricks prematurely (and probably in violation of their vendor agreement) to sell singles on eBay and on other platforms.

Nope. Not these guys. They had permission to open their Brick, and produced a mighty fine Preview for us all.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We at Critical Missives have never opened Bricks early, and we do NOT encourage, support or condone other entities breaking vendor agreements to do so. But, since the information is now out there, we have made the editorial decision to report on it.]

Additionally, WizKids themselves have released some previews, so we now know most of the figures in Wave 1.

If you want to go into Month 1 blind and unspoiled, turn away now! Otherwise, sail on!!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: All of the Wave 1 figures are odd-numbered.]

AGE OF ULTRON: WAVE 1 FIGURE LIST:

AAOU001 Hank Pym — 100/50 Points — Common: Not a lot needs to be said. He was already spoiled by WizKids, and you can see his whole dial and power set in the Units tab of HCRealms.com. Or, y’know, in the tiny picture above. There will be Morphing in this set. Oh yes. [Best Yoda Voice] There… will… be…

AAOU003 Ant-Man — 100/50 Points — Common: Once again, a dial that’s already been spoiled. There will be more Hank Pym’s to come, by the way, for anyone who is, y’know, completely obsessed with Hank Pym. And whose Hank Pym love was not satiated by the Hank Pym Boxed set, which featured, like, six more Hank Pyms.

AAOU005 Wasp — 70 Points — Common: So this is actually Janet, not Hank Pym. She does sport the ever popular Lady Liberators keyword to go with her expected Avengers and Celebrity keywords. No Traits, she obviously is a Flyer, and she of course has the “Tiny” Symbol. She starts with (not pictured) an 8 Movement (with Running Shot), 10 Attack Value (with Incapoopitate), 17 native Defense (with Super Senses) and 2 Damage with a Special Power (Founding Member: Wasp can use Shape Change. When she does, she may increase the result by 1 for each adjacent friendly character with a shared keyword (a roll of 1 still fails).).

Like her, don’t love her. Super Senses and Improved Shape Change are normally a great combo, but with so much Precision Strike running around in this Wave, often times it’ll just be the Shape Change. She’s probably most useful as a tie-up piece with Incapacitate, but if you send her away from her teammates to tie-up other pieces, she’ll basically just have regular Shape Change and a very hittable 17 Defense.

In Constructed, I can see some uses for her, but I’d stay away in AOU Sealed unless she was the only fig that fit the point structure of my Build.

AAOU007 Yellowjacket — 85 Points — Common: This looks like the Rita DeMara version. She comes with two really good Traits. The first (Criminal Past, Reluctant Avenger, and Future Guardian: Yellowjacket can use Shape Change and is a Wild Card.) gives her some defensive options; the second (Stolen Pym Particle Technology: At the beginning of your turn, you may choose “Normal Size” or “Tiny Size.” Yellowjacket possesses the chosen combat symbol until you choose again.) lets her float between two different sizes, so she can be Carried out initially (if she’s Tiny Sized) and then spring back to Normal Size if you need to, say, block line of fire or something.

Her top dial features an 11 Movement (with Sidestep), 10 Attack (with Precision Strike), 17 Defense (with Super Senses) and 2 Damage (with Perplex!). She has a 6 Range. Plus, she’s got a truckload of great keywords, including Avengers, Masters of Evil, Guardians of the Galaxy and Scientist, one of the best generic keywords right now.

I expect to see her played a lot in AOU Sealed, especially since she’s a Common that features top dial Perplex (Perp and Outwit are gold in Sealed). She may also see a lot of house play at your local venue, too, since she fits on so many different teams.

So far, Yellowjacket is the early contender for this year’s “White Ranger Iron Fist Memorial Commendation” award, which is given annually to the best Storyline Organized Play Common Figure.

"Memorial? Uhhh, guys? I'm not dead yet. In fact, I haven't even retired! I'm still Modern Age!"

“Memorial? Uhhh, guys? I’m not dead yet. In fact, I haven’t even been retired! I’m still Modern Age!“

Suuuuure you are, Danny. Sure you are.

AAOU009 Alexis — 65 Points — Common: Another character I wasn’t too familiar with, Alexis is actually a newer creation that came out of the pages of AvengersAI. If ol’ Rita doesn’t win this year’s White Ranger, then Alexis almost surely will.

For 65 Points, you get an Avenger (and Robot-) keyworded figure who is a Flyer (read: Taxi), starts with 9 Movement (with Phasing), 10 Attack (and she’s another piece with Precision Strike–Heaven help you if you just have Super Senses, like most of the other Commons in this set), 17 Defense with Energy Shield/Deflection and a native 3 Damage with Probability Control (uh, what I just said about Perp and Outwit in Sealed? That goes double for Prob Control)!!

Now, she has no Traits, no Improved Targeting of any kind, no Willpower/Indomitable and only a 4 Range. But securing a Taxi that also offers Prob and is a more-than-capable Tertiary Attacker for only 65 Points? You are going to be seeing a lot of her in AOU Sealed.

AAOU011 Monica Chang — 65 Points — Common: Another AvengersA.I. character. I actually think she debuted in the Ultimate universe first, but I could be wrong. Regardless, she was an important UnClix’d S.H.I.E.L.D. character that WizKids has finally made for us.

No Traits, No Improved Targeting. Her Range is 6 with 1 Bolt. She does have the S.H.I.E.L.D. and Scientist keywords, along with the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA, and she starts with Stealth and the odd combination of Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Combat Reflexes. I like the Stealth/Combat Reflexes combo, but Pen/Psy won’t help her when she’s based.

Where she really earns her keep is with her Damage Special Power (SHIELD Division Chief: Counter Cyber-Terrorism: Monica Chang can use Enhancement and Perplex. When she uses Perplex, she may modify a combat value by -2 instead if the target has the Armor or Robot keyword.).

In Constructed, there are better options. In Sealed, wow!! She can shut down a LOT of pieces in this set. I personally like Alexis a little bit better for the points, but Monica will be EXTREMELY useful in AOU Sealed.

AAOU013 Victor Mancha — 100 Points — Common: A somewhat odd piece in the context of the whole set. Victor has Avengers, Robot and Runaways keywords, and he’s a Flyer with top dial Sidestep. He also has Indomitable and an 11 Attack with TK, which are all things that the other Commons in this set mostly lack. He can also do 3 Damage, which is never a bad thing.

But at 100 Points, there are better attackers and cheaper Taxi’s in this Wave. Down dial, he becomes both a better supporting piece with a Special Defense Power (Magnetic Bubble: Victor Mancha can use Barrier, ESD, and Toughness. Friendly characters adjacent to Victor Mancha when he uses Barrier can use Sidestep this turn.) and a better attacker, since he picks up a Running Shot/Pulse Wave combination.

He’s solid for his points, but I think there are better options in this set.

AAOU015 Ultron Drone — 50 Points — Common: Not much to say here. He’s your basic Swarm-bot that gets (slightly) better the closer it is to other characters with “Ultron” in their name.

AAOU017 Iron Man — 90 Points — Uncommon: This Iron Man comes with a lightning rod Trait (The Original Invincible Iron Man!: If the first ranged combat attack made during an opponent’s turn doesn’t target Iron Man, modify the attacker’s attack and damage values by -1.) that makes him somewhat compelling. Just keeping him in the back while you press the rest of your forces forward almost makes him worth his points for that alone.

He does also offer Charge, Super Strength and Outwit, so he’s an average secondary attacker as well.

AAOU019 Hulk — 80 Points — Uncommon: Basically the close combat version of the Iron Man above, Hulk even comes with a very similar Trait (The Original Incredible Hulk: If the first close combat attack made during an opponent’s turn doesn’t target Hulk, modify the attacker’s attack and damage values by -1.).

His combat values are outstanding for his cost (he even does 4 Damage top dial), but he’s extremely schizophrenic, due to his other Trait (With Each New Dawn, the Weakling Banner Comes Back: At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 1-2, until your next turn modify Hulk’s combat values by -2 can he can use Outwit, Perplex, and Shape Change and can’t use any other power he possesses. This ability can’t be ignored.).

So basically, you have either a phenomenally good Secondary Attacker (relative to what it costs to field him) or a PRETTY good supporting piece. The problem is, you may not know which figure you have until it’s too late.

AAOU021 Black Knight — 115 Points — Uncommon: Charge and Exploit Weakness are always good, and he starts with an 11 Attack Value. The problem is that he immediately loses that 11 Attack by click 2, he has no Willpower unless he’s already KO’d a character, and one of his Traits (By Sersi’s Side, From One Universe to the Next: If Black Knight is adjacent to a friendly character named Sersi, both characters modify their defense values by +1 unless already modified by this effect.) is completely useless in this set (since the only Modern Sersi we have is in Avengers Assemble. Theoretically, it is possible that your venue might give you one AOU Wave 1 Booster and one AA booster, and that you MIGHT pull both of those characters, but even then they may not be worth playing together).

He has Traited B/C/F and Steal Energy, which will help offset the fact that he doesn’t have Willpower, but it just seems like there are much better ways to spend 115 Points in this set.

AAOU023 She-Hulk — 130/75 Points — Uncommon: Another figure that’s already been previewed on Heroclix.com. I love her Trait (File for Change of Venue: If She-Hulk isn’t part of a themed team, the first time this game you wouldn’t win the roll for first player, you may roll again and add +1 to the result.), especially when used on an Arcade team. It’s not clear if you would get the +1 modifier on the second roll for Map Choice, but just the ability to try for Arcade’s map a second time if you lose the first roll is huge.

AAOU025 Machine Man — 120 Points — Uncommon: More of a novelty attacker than anything else, Machine Man is a close combatant without Charge or a very high Damage Value. His Trait (Extendable Body Parts: When Machine Man makes a close combat attack, squares within a range of 3 and line of fire are considered adjacent.) somewhat mitigates the first problem, and Super Strength will help with the second.

120 Points seems about right for what he does, and he has some versatility to him, but if he’s your Secondary Attacker, you Damage Output Potential is probably low.

AAOU027 TESS-One — 150 Points — Uncommon: Once again, we have a close combat figure with a significant cost that doesn’t have Charge. Sidestep is better than nothing, but it ain’t Charge.

The ability to move through (and destroy) Blocking Terrain is a big plus, but again we have another figure that’s saddled with yet another narrowly useful Trait (Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers: As long as an opposing character on the map is 100 or more points and named Captain America, TESS-One can use Willpower. When attacking such a character, TESS-One’s damage value is modified by +1.) that will NEVER help you in AOU Sealed. Why? Because, SPOILER ALERT: There is no Captain America in Wave 1.

Frankly, you’re paying for a lot of powers abilities in this dial that you’ll probably never get a chance to effectively use. RCE? Great! Only a 5 Range? Less great (although Sidestep actually will help here…).

The one real positive with TESS-One is that it is really hard to kill. It’s Defense actually gets better (a LOT better) down dial, and it picks up a Movement Special (Rebuilding From The Rubble: At the beginning of your turn, if TESS-One occupies a square containing a debris marker, heal TESS-One of 1 damage.) that gives it a way to (somewhat) reliably heal a click every turn.

AAOU029 Ultron-8 — 120/30 Points — Uncommon: And now we have our first real Ultron. Get used to seeing his Trait (Autonomous or Drone Mode: Ultron-8 costs 120 points, or costs 30 points and begins on the click #1 after the orange KO. Until KO’d, Ultron-8 is considered 120 points.), cuz most of the Ultrons have some form of it. The idea is to play multiple versions of a single Ultron, and your opponent will really have no way of knowing which one is which, because their dials will be exact replicas of each other… except that the Drones only have 2 clicks of life.

As for the dial itself, it’s pretty solid. I’d rather play this Ultron at 120 Points than Machine Man, that’s for sure.

AAOU031 Vision — 100 Points — Rare: This is the semi-evil, fresh on the scene, son-of-Ultron version of Vision, and he’s exactly as he should be! If you pull him in Sealed, just pray that you also pull an Ultron–ANY Ultron!

His Trait (Secret Programming: When a friendly character whose name includes Ultron is given a move action and actions resolve, Vision may be given a move action as a free action.) pretty much completely makes up for the fact that he only starts with Sidestep, and his Movement Special Power (He’s Coming… Through the Wall!: Vision can use Sidestep. When Vision uses Sidestep or is given a move action, he can use Improved Movement:Ignores Blocking Terrain.) works quite gracefully with his Trait.

He also adds Indomitable, Super Senses and Shape Change to go with his Penetrating/Psychic Blast. His 10 Attack is pretty pedestrian, but in this set that’s really par for the course.

This is a much better Vision than his Age of Ultron Movie cousin, even though they cost the same amount of points.

AAOU033 Hercules — 220/130 Points — Rare: The first real solid close combat brick of the set, with improved Charge, Traited Super Strength, Impervious or Invincible for much of his dial and a lot of CCE and Battle Fury (which will help with the surprising amount of Shape Change in this set). If you pull him, you’re probably playing him.

I like his 220 Dial in a 400 Point event, but I LOVE his 130 Point dial in just about any format. Yes, he’s a little top heavy at 130, but man, he is going to be scary to face.

He also gives us a Modern Age Herc to bring in with his Avengers ID card, which is great as well. Definitely a needed figure.

AAOU035 Protector — 100 Points — Rare: There are two big things to remember about Protector. The first is that he’s one of the few (gosh, there’s like, I dunno, 3 or 4) characters to appear in the same Set/Wave as his Avengers ID Card. So, theoretically, you COULD pull both Protector AND his ID card.

Secondly, when it comes to calling for his help via an ID card… that’s probably the best way to play him! On his own, there’s nothing very special about him. He has Sidestep, he flies, he has a 10 Attack with NO Attack powers and he does a ho-hum 3 Damage. He does offer Probability Control and an 18 Defense Value (with Defend), which is nice, but hardly game breaking.

If you could get all that for just one important turn, however, and you only had to spend 5 Points to do it… well, Protector just became very exciting, didn’t he? All of a sudden, you’re opponent has to hit an 18 Defense to hit anybody, and he probably has to do it at least twice, since Protector has that Prob at his disposal.

In Constructed, he offers another alternative for Avengers and Kree teams, but honestly, he’s one of the best ID Card Call-Ins, so that’s how I’d expect to see him used most often.

AAOU037 Grim Reaper — 119 Points — Rare: Wow. Another Trait (Deadly Sibling Rivalry: Give Grim Reaper a free action when he is within 4 squares of a character named Wonder Man and modify all of Grim Reaper’s combat values except damage by +1 until your next turn. When you do, deal Grim Reaper 1 unavoidable damage at the end of this turn.) that gives its owner NOTHING in Sealed. I’m betting we’ll probably see a Wonder Man in Wave 2, which will mean nothing to you if you happen to pull Grim Reaper here in one of your packs.

He’s basically a 119 Point gamble. While he has a tiny amount of Range (4 squares), if you play him, you’re planning on Charging folks and hitting them with his special Energy Stealing B/C/F, since his native Damage never climbs above 2. If he were, say, 79 Points, he might at least be interesting. At 119 Points, he just doesn’t do enough to effect the game (even the Prob Control they gave him doesn’t show up until his last two clicks).

We needed a new Grim Reaper, but this is the one Rare/Super Rare/Chase that I’m hoping I never see in a box that I’m opening for Sealed.

AAOU039 Jocasta — 130/25 Points — Rare: Jocasta was already previewed by WizKids, so there isn’t a lot more to say. Since she can work like an Entity, she’s definitely one of the “buzziest” pieces in the set, but her real talents will shine through more in Constructed that they will in Sealed.

Very solid piece, and a nice tweak of the Entity Possession Trait. This is one of my personal “big wants” from the set.

AAOU041 A & B Ultron-5 — 120/60/30 Points — Rare: AAOU41A is basically a (slightly overcosted) Leadership engine for Masters of Evil teams, while the B-side is very much a swarm dial that operates as a Switch Clix with the same Autonomous or Drone Mode Trait that all the Ultrons have in this set.

AAOU043 Goliath — 140/100/50 Points — Super Rare: A SR Hank Pym. Yay?

Well, you might be cheering after you see his dial. For 140 Points, he actually has one of the the best Close Combat dials in the set. The Morph power is nice, but in most cases, your better off just sticking with Goliath. His top dial Movement Special is amazing (Trample: Goliath can use Charge. When he does and moves in a direct line, after actions resolve, he may make an additional close combat attack targeting all opposing characters whose square he moved through but didn’t already target with an attack this turn. For this attack, each hit character is dealt 3 damage.), but he only keeps it for one click. He does pick it back up on clicks 3 and 4, though, and with top dial Invincible, it’ll be tough for someone to knock him all the way past those “money” clicks (God, especially in this set).

Goliath brings a lot to the table AND leaves you a bunch of room for supporting figs. If your lucky enough to pull him in Sealed, he’s a definite play.

AAOU045 Black Panther — 140 Points — Super Rare: Wow. The hits keep coming with the Super Rares! This is pretty much the quintessential version of Black Panther. He was Previewed by WizKids already, but I’m going to go through his dial anyway because I really love this T’Challa.

First of all, his keyword line is jammed pack with everything from great names like Avengers and Illuminati to the best generics like Mystical and Scientist.

He ignores Elevated and Hindering Terrain on movement, so his mobility is awesome, and he’s also going to be extremely difficult to find at range due to his fantastic Trait (Cloaking Tech: Black Panther can use Stealth and Toughness. When it isn’t your turn, lines of fire to him are blocked if he is adjacent to Blocking Terrain.). Pay very close attention to that wording–it’s very similar to the wording on IIM038 Iron Man‘s Personal Cloaking Device Trait. WizKids already ruled that Iron Man’s Trait gets around Pulse Wave, and I’d imagine they’ll rule that T’Challa’s works the same way.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: On second look, Black Panther’s Trait says Lines of Fire are “BLOCKED,” while Iron Man’s says they “CAN’T BE DRAWN.” It’s a slight difference; we’ll have to wait and see what comes up in the Event System Rules Forum to know for sure.]

All of which means that if you can keep T’Challa adjacent to Blocking Terrain (maybe with a supporting character who sports Barrier?), he’s pretty much invulnerable to any sort of ranged attack.

His Movement Special Power (Spring from the Shadows: Black Panther can use Charge. When Black Panther occupies Hindering Terrain or is adjacent to Blocking Terrain, he can use Sidestep.) goes hand in hand with his Trait, and his Damage Special adds Leadership and Outwit.

On top of all that… he probably has the best sculpt in the set. Another of my biggest wants from the set.

He’s an absolute monster in Sealed, especially with the right supporting pieces behind him (or, really, the right map), and I think he even has potential in the Meta (maybe not a lot, but still) simply based on that ridiculously good Trait. You can’t KO what you can’t see.

AAOU047 Quasar — 225/125 Points — Super Rare: Wow! Now this is a ranged Primary Attacker! His dial almost feels like something out of Justice League: Trinity War or Guardians of the Galaxy rather than this current cycle of Avengers Assemble and Age of Ultron.

He has two dial options, and they’re both terrific. At 225 Points, he is going to be a heavy hitter that can fling 5 natural, penetrating damage up to 9 squares away. In this set, that might as well be 100 damage. He’s going to one-shot some opposing support characters, and it’s going to be tough to retaliate effectively over that distance.

Plus, his first three (of NINE!!) clicks feature Invincible, so even if your opponent retaliates heavy, it’s going to be tough to make any headway. Especially since Quasar has the Power Cosmic TA, so you can’t counter his defenses.

His 125 Point dial is great as well, but for different reasons. His Defense actually gets BETTER against ranged attacks, and he picks up a Damage Special that partially imprisons anyone he hits (Contain Standard Operating Procedure: When Quasar targets and damages a single opposing character, after action resolve, he can use Barrier as a free action, but may only place blocking terrain markers adjacent to the hit character.).

On top of all that, if your opponent does hit him, Quasar goes right into an Attack Special Power that allows him to Steal Energy even with ranged attacks!

Basically, the only piece Quasar really needs to fear in this Wave is probably Black Panther, only because T’Challa is impossible to hit from range.

If you pull Quasar and don’t play him, you’re either an idiot or you’re trying to impress someone for some reason, even though you’ll really just come off as an annoying D-bag. Don’t be either of those guys. They’re A-holes. Play Quasar if you get him.

This is what you look like if you pull Quasar and don’t play him.

AAOU049 M.O.D.A.M. — 131 Points — Super Rare: The latest Preview from WizKids. She’s a fun character, but she’s also limited in what she wants to do by her 5 Range.

AAOU051 A & B Ultron-1 — 120/60/30 Points — Super Rare: Okay, so if Black Panther has the best sculpt, this is probably a close second.

The A-dial is a nifty little trickster who comes packing a couple of cool Traits, including one that really narrows your opponent’s options if you hit (Total Mind Wipe: Once per game, when Ultron-1 hits an opposing character, you may give that character a Mind-Wipe token. A character with a Mind-Wipe token can’t attack Ultron-1 unless that character and Ultron-1 are the only characters on the map.).

His down dial Defense Special (Self-Upgrade: Ultron-1 can use Impervious and Regeneration. When he uses Regeneration and the result is 5 or 6, place an Upgrade token on this card.) offers the chance to gain Upgrade tokens, each of which gives him +1 to all combat values.

He’s not the bruiser that some of the other pieces in this set are, but the longer he’s left alone, the deadlier he gets.

The B-Dial offers the normal Autonomous or Drone options and adds a fantastic Defense Special (The True Creator of Me is… Myself: When a friendly character with the Autonomous or Drone Mode trait is KO’d, you may roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 4-6, place that character in your starting zone on its click #1 after the orange KO.) that can keep the Ultron assembly line going.

AAOU053 A & B Ultron-7 — 150/125/30 Points — Chase: Ultron-7 A is a close combat bruiser who turns into a ranged attacker with a Running Shot/Special Pulse Wave power in the middle of his dial. He has a top dial Damage Special that helps teammates (Hatred of the Horde: Ultron-7 can use Battle Fury and Leadership. Opposing characters that are adjacent to a character friendly to your force can’t use Outwit, Perplex, or Probability Control.), but otherwise his dial is surprisingly straightforward for a Chase.

The B-dial is a surprisingly sturdy (for its points) ranged attacker, but nothing to write home about. Someone is going to find a way to break all these Drones into a great army, but it’s not going to be me.

AAOU55 A & B Ultron — 300/120/30 Points — Chase: Here he is–Ultron himself. At 300 Points, you’d expect a lot from his A-dial, and you might end up a bit disappointed. He doesn’t even have a move-and-attack power top dial–just Phasing/Teleport. And his Attack Value never goes above an 11–until you get to his two Stop Clicks (they appear on consecutive clicks).

Once you get to his Stop Clicks, Ultron will wreck house–provided there is an opposing character within 5 squares that he can Charge (or 8 Squares if you’d rather Quake fools).

In Sealed, you can probably get away with this–especially in a 400 Point game. In Constructed, he’s so easily outmaneuvered that it’s almost comical.

The B-Dial is a glorified Robot Taxi that can moonlight as a Secondary Attacker.

So there you have it! Last year’s Storyline OP featured Chases that were so good they were broken and had to be (mildly) nerfed by a Watch List fix. This year, the Chases are confusing and almost a waste of time, in my opinion. The Super Rare slot is definitely where it’s at. Outside of, say, M.O.D.A.M., there’s not a loser in the bunch (even the Ultron was pretty unique and original).

Good luck with your Month One pulls, and we’ll see you back here soon for our traditional dueling Top Ten Set Reviews for Avengers Assemble! Those should start dropping next week!

Straight, With CHASEr 3!! [Or, 7 Builds for 7 Brothers! (Okay, 6 Brothers and a Sister!)]

May 27, 2015May 27, 2015 / HypeFox / 1 Comment

Welcome Back!

Today we’re gonna take a special look at the brand-spanking new Avengers Assemble set! Amongst a host of previously Un-Clix’d figures, WizKids gave us seven new Chases featuring future/past/alternate timeline versions of the six most popular Avengers (and one Chase that featured their OG sidekick–but we’ll get to him in a moment) on kickass translucent red bases.

Now, while the Chases are vaguely connected from a thematic standpoint, this is the first group of Chases from a main set that I can remember that do NOT all have a shared mechanic (think Zombies in Deadpool and Guardians, Bringers of the Great Darkness in SLoSH, Entities in WoL, etc.). Which is cool. While I don’t mind Chases that share mechanics, it’s kind of a nice palette cleanser every once in a while to see a set of Chase figures that all play completely differently.

Which leads me right into today’s main topic. Because they all play somewhat differently, we’re going to construct seven 300-Point Builds all based around one of the new Avengers Assemble Chases!

Let’s dive right in with a living legend… who kinda lives up to the legend!

AVAS061 Steve Rogers — 250/200 Points — Chase:

So, whether he’s played at 250 Points or 200, Steve Rogers hopped up on the Worldmind is gonna be a Primary Attacker. His Trait ( Nova Helmet Targeting Assist: Each turn, one friendly character with the Avengers keyword and another friendly character with the Nova Corps keyword can use Precision Strike, but only when targeting a single character.) is useful, but not exactly the type of thing you usually build an army around. Still, let’s give it a try.

I’m going to play Steve at 200 points so that I can surround him with a little bit of support–specifically, the new Avengers: Age of Ultron Starter Set Hawkeye! Hawkeye is a terrific secondary attacker that Steve can Carry into battle. Clint also offers some top dial Enhancement, so Steve will be shooting for 5 Penetrating Damage on his first click. Together, Steve and Clint come to 275 Points, which leaves 25 Points for a Resource. So our roster will look like this:

Team Name: You and I Remember Xandar Very Differently

Roster:

AVAS061E Steve Rogers — 200 Points

AAOU106 Hawkeye — 75

AVXR100 The Phoenix Force — 12

AVXR101 Cyclops Fragment — 3

(Assigned to Steve Rogers) — 3

AVXR103 Colossus Fragment — 3

(Assigned to Hawkeye) — 3

=299

Not bad. Playable. Hawkeye can bust any Stealth that you need him to (and unfortunately, Steve will need him to), and his Attack Value is actually higher than Steve’s; you’d probably do well to hit with Clint first, and follow up with Steve for the killshot. With the Precision Strike Steve grants him, Clint’s really only going to be shut down by Shape Change; he’s got an ability to deal with almost every other defensive power in the game. If you can just get the Phoenix Force to its second Click, you suddenly gain two Perplexes (and Hawkeye suddenly has a 19 Defense against ranged attacks), so you’re damage output should be fine from then on.

Still, getting there won’t be easy, and with only two figures, you’ll have little to no margin for error. It will be hard to get in the first attack–especially in such a way that won’t leave you open to a crippling counter-attack.

So, again, this is a decent Build, but I think we can do slightly better defensively than just ES/D. Austin on Dial H for Heroclix noted the potential this particular Chase has for beefing up Police-keyworded rosters, and I completely agree with his assessment! So let’s see what happens when we basically ignore Steve’s Trait (although Steve himself can still use it) and partner him up with a special agent from another universe.

I’m talking, of course, about the ~~Chase Chun-Li~~ D.E.O. Agent!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry, but please note Critical Missives Build Rule #4: It’s never the Chase Chun-Li.]

"I'm the only Clix in the game that starts with top dial Hypersonic Speed AND an Attack Special that grants Leap/Climb! AND a Team Ability that lets me move 3 spaces and attack with just a Power Action! Guess which two of those powers I won't be using?"

“I’m the only Clix in the game that starts with top dial Hypersonic Speed AND an Attack Special that grants Leap/Climb! AND I have a Team Ability that lets me move 3 spaces and attack with the mere cost of a Power Action. Guess which two of those powers I won’t be using!“

So let’s try this again:

Team Name: You and I Remember Central City Very Differently

Theme: Police

Roster:

AVAS061E Steve Rogers — 200 Points

(w/Secret Avengers ATA) — 5

JLTW009 D.E.O. Agent — 56

JLTWR102 Rock of Eternity (Complete) — 28

(Assigned to Steve Rogers)

Rick Jones Avengers ID Card — 5

= 294

See?! We’ve suddenly given our 200 Point lynchpin Stealth (via D.E.O. Agent’s Trait: SAFETY IN NUMBERS: When D.E.O. Agent is adjacent to a friendly character with the Police keyword or team ability, both characters can use Stealth.)! Plus access to an Attack Value buff via the D.E.O. Agent’s Police TA. Not to mention we made Steve the Champion of the Rock of Eternity!

No matter what Build we came up with, it was always going to live or die with Steve–that’s true of any piece that costs 2/3 of your force allotment (which is also why so many high level players won’t play anything in the Meta right now that’s more expensive than WoL107 Kyle Rayner). So by giving him the Rock and Stealth, you made him that much tougher to kill.

This won’t win a ROC anytime soon, but if your opponent isn’t packing a solid targeting solution for Stealth, he’s in some deep trouble.

"'But Chun-Li,' you say, 'you only have Flurry mid-dial. So isn't it great that your Team Ability grants you some move-and-attack goodness?' You bet it is. It grants me the ability to move 3 squares and attack for 2 damage! Which is not Charge, which is what I'd need to use Flurry as well. But hey, I can still Carry folks. Did I mention I'm 140 Points and I only do 2 damage?"

“‘But Chun-Li,’ you say, ‘don’t sell yourself short. You also have Flurry mid-dial. That’s good, right?‘ You bet it is. Especially since my Team Ability grants me the power to move 3 squares and attack for 2 damage! Which isn’t Charge! Which is what I’d need to enable the use of Flurry with it. But congratulations on pulling me! I’m a Chase! You definitely didn’t waste money irresponsibly in acquiring me.“

Uhhh… thanks, Chun-Li. I, uh, I think you’ve made your point. This isn’t really about you–we were just doing a quick bit–

"Oh, hey, speaking of my special power, you know who else ignores Elevated Terrain on movement and can Carry friendly figures?"

“Oh, hey, speaking of my Special Attack Power, you know who else ignores Elevated Terrain on movement and can Carry friendly figures?“

I don’t–I really don’t think you’re still supposed to be here–

“Any %$&#!^* flyer.”

Sigh… Chun-Li, what did we say about the swearing?

“$#@& you! I’m 140 points and I do 2 damage. $#@& you.“

Moving on!

It’s time for some Heavy Metal…

AVAS062 Iron Man — 270 Points — Chase:

Now here is your classic Brick Sandwich. 270 Points! Yikes. Okay, well, believe it or not, we still have some options here. Iron Man has a great defensive Trait (ULTRA-DENSE ALLOYS: When Iron an would be dealt damage, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 1, he can use Invulnerability; on a result of 2, he can use Invincible; on a result of 3 – 4, damage dealt is reduced by 3; on a result of 5 – 6, damage dealt is ignored.) and starts with 8 Movement with Sidestep, 11 Attack with a Special (MAGNETIC CONCUSSION: Iron Man can use Force Blast and Pulse Wave.), 18 Defense with Willpower and 4 native Damage with a pretty awesomely named Special Power (GIVE ME ALL THE CAMERAS: Iron Man can use Outwit and has Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering, Ignores (and Destroys) Blocking, Ignores Characters.).

So, what are his main deficiencies? Well, he doesn’t fly, so even with Sidestep, he’s gonna have a tough time with mobility. At 270 Points, he leaves almost no room for supporting characters. And while his Defense is a solid 18 with a bunch of dampeners, 18 is still pretty hit-able in today’s game. So, having said all that, I would probably look to play him in a non-Resource environment that still allowed 1 Relic per force.

Team Name: Stark’s Industrial Forgers

Theme: Stark Industries

Roster:

AVAS062 Iron Man — 270 Points

FIS104 Greithoth’s Hammer — 8

FI301 Splitlip — 20

= 298

Splitlip gives you a bunch of great little support bonuses. First, Iron Man has a 50% chance to pick up Greithoth’s Hammer, which will give him +2 to his Attack Value, Running Shot and Great Size, so Iron Man can ignore most Terrain types. Second, once Iron Man has that Hammer, he can tote Splitlip around and benefit from Splitlip’s top dial Enhancement. And third, they both form a Stark Industries Themed Team, so Splitlip will be able to use a Themed Probability Control on certain occasions.

In an environment without Resources, you should have a decent chance at setting up an Alpha Strike, especially since Iron Man can shoot through walls on his first two clicks. All in all, I think I like this team sliiiiightly better than the Steve Rogers teams I came up with, but only because there’s a slightly higher damage ceiling with this Build.

AVAS063 King Thor — 369/300/200 Points — Chase:

Another Brick, but one with a slightly different skill set and THREE(!) different dial options. The King here doesn’t pack quite enough of a punch to try him as a one-man army, so again, we’re gonna settle on his 200 Point dial (which is still 6 clicks long. That’s a decent amount of life for a THIRD point option). We’ll go full Asgardian here for a lil’ Map help, plus a few Horde tokens to help dish out Hammers.

Team Name: As-hats

Theme: Asgardian

Roster:

AVAS063R King Thor — 200 Points

FI101R Loki — 30

FI301 Splitlip — 20

FIR100C Book of the Skull (Complete) — 30

CATWSH001 S.H.I.E.L.D. Support — 10

= 300

Once again, we can have our best ranged attacker sling Splitlip over his shoulder and wreck some face. Or, we can have Loki Carry Splitlip first, drop him off in position, and have King Thor finish his Running Shot right next to the lil’ guy. What? King Thor doesn’t have Running Shot? Well, you have four Hammers to choose from. And once he’s equipped, if positioned next to Splitlip correctly, he’ll have two chances (via his own Prob Control) to fling a Hammer 8 squares for 5 Damage. That’s not half bad. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Support is there to help equip Hammers as quickly as possible AND to heal the King should the need arise.

With just a little bit of guile and cunning, you’ll be able to deal some serious dam–

“I’m sorry, did someone say my name?”

No!! Nope! I’m not going through this again with any more Street Fighters, you hear me? You’re not even a Chase!

“I don’t need a Chase. My Uncommon version will dominate any Clix contest! I have a Special Power that lets me move 3 squares and attack for 2 Penetrating Damage–and I get to put an action token on my opponent!“

That… actually, that’s not bad. Not really worth interrupting this article for, but, you know, uh… noted. Good for you.

"Or, for 10 points less, my Common version has a Special that lets me Incapacitate fools!"

“Or, for 10 points less, my Common version has a Special Power that lets me straight Incapacitate fools!“

Wait, what? Your other ability already does that. Why would I ever want to save 10 points so badly that I’d cut into you damage output so severely? That 2 Penetrating damage is definitely worth the extra 10 Points!

“Ha! See? I knew you’d be interested.“

I… can’t believe I fell for that. Moving. ON!

AVAS064 Hulk — 325/300/150 Points — Chase:

Okay, remember when I said that King Thor at 300 wasn’t good enough to be a one-man army? Well, meet the guy who is. This is the easiest Build of the article:

Team Name: The Last Last Titan

Theme: Hulk needs no Theme. Hulk strongest Theme there is!!

Roster:

AVAS064E Hulk — 300 Points

=300

His Trait (THE LAST TITAN: Hulk can use Super Strength and his powers can’t be countered. Hulk begins the game with a Titan token on his card. Once per turn when Hulk damages an opposing character with an attack, place a Titan token on this card.) is awesome; all those times that Ninwashui complained about the fact that the other great Hulks we’ve received this year have no Outwit protection? Yeah, you can forget about that; this guy has total Outwit protection from everyone except, like, Greed with Ophidian and the Omega Drive.

And even if you find yourself sitting across the table from the decked-out orange Sin, you can feel pretty confident in your ability to one-shot the lil’ bastard. On his first click, Hulk can Charge 10 squares (and that DOESN’T include his Giant Reach)–no halving or modifying of his Movement value is required–with a 12 Attack and 5 Damage (or up to 8 with an Ultra-Heavy). He also doesn’t care about Blocking Terrain, other characters, Hindering or Elevated Terrain, either. If you’re on the map, Hulk will find you. And he will obliterate you.

His Defense starts at 18, never falls below 17, and ends with a stupefyingly awesome Special Power (ONLY ONE THERE IS: Hulk can use Invulnerability and, if he has no action tokens, Regeneration. When this click is revealed, stop turning the dial and remove a Titan token from this card. Whenever Hulk would take damage, remove a Titan token from this card instead. Hulk can’t place additional Titan tokens on this card. This power can’t be ignored.).

Now, will there be times when you’re devastating Alpha Strike is ruined when you roll a stinkin’ 3? Sure there will. You have no backup plan with a one-man army. That’s the deal.

But man, you will have some fun with this guy.

“Pssst… you know who else would make a good one-man army?“

Dammit! We know it’s you, baby Akuma. Go away!

“Ha-Ha!! It’s was me, Akuma, the whole time!!“

Yeah, somehow, we guessed that already. And you’re not a one-man army!

"Of course not. I'm just a Rare. But I do have a special power that lets me make 4 close combat attacks in one turn. With no Damage Depletion Modifier."

“Of course not. And I’m not a Chase, either. Just a Rare. But I do have a special power that lets me make 4 close combat attacks in one turn. With no Damage Depletion Modifier.“

Whaa… ? That can’t be a real power.

“GOSHORYUKEN: Give Akuma a double power action. He can use Flurry as a free action. If he hits at least one character, after actions resolve he can choose a square within 6 squares and be placed in it and then use Flurry again as a free action.“

Waitwaitwait! You get to Flurry, zip around the map Kyle Rayner-style, and then Flurry again? And you’re in the same set as that crappy Chun-Li Chase? What’s your point cost? If she’s 140, you have to be, like 220.

“170!!!”

Who created your set?! Good Lord! It’s like, you would only lose in a Sealed if you actually DID pull a Chase.

“To reiterate: $#@& you.”

Hey!! I did not design you, Chun-Li! Don’t yell at me!

That’s it! NO MORE STREET FIGHTERS!! THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT AVENGERS, DAMMIT!!

[Deeeeeeep breath… ]

Okay. Annnnnnd, we’re back.

AVAS065 Black Widow — 200 Points — Chase:

So, Natasha, the spy, assassin, and all around master of dirty fighting tricks… has been found worthy to wield Mjolnir? Well, it happened! In an alternate universe, sure, but that’s never stopped a character from earning a Clix before! Let’s break down her dial.

Right off the bat, she has a fantastic Trait. Remember all the hoops we jumped through to give 200 Point Steve Rogers Stealth? And how it’s contingent on Steve lugging around a D.E.O. Agent and, y’know, FINDING COVER? Look what comes with Black Widow: “DARK CLOUDS & DIRTY TRICKS: Black Widow can use Stealth. Give Black Widow a free action and place 2 hindering terrain markers, one in her square and another within range and line of fire. These markers remain on the map until she uses this ability to place markers again.”

So, for no additional cost, not only does Natasha have Traited Stealth, BUT SHE MAKES HER OWN HINDERING TERRAIN!! For FREE!!

Looking at her dial, it’s apparent she’s learned a lot from her Asgardian teammate. This is a Thor dial with just a few Black Widow trimmings (like the aforementioned Stealth Trait), most of which don’t show up until the end of her dial. Her Defense Special (WE’RE THE SACRIFICE – WE WILL SAVE THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE: Black Widow can use Combat Reflexes and Toughness. Whenever another friendly character is KO’d by an opposing character, you may heal Black Widow of 2 clicks.) is great, and it coincides with her move from Running Shot to Charge.

I really love Pandora’s Box with Black Widow; any of the Sins you choose to giver her will offer Sidestep (which allows her to better utilize her top dial RCE), and many will even give her ES/D (which gives you a ranged attacker who herself has Invincible and a 19 Defense Value from ranged attacks). Plus, if you can get the Resource Dial to Click #9, she’ll suddenly be able to bust Stealth (and more, depending on which power you get each turn).

We’re also going to stick with an Asgardian Theme for this squad, which will help with Map Choice and offer 3 Themed Team Probs. Since most Asgardians cost quite a bit, we’re gonna have to return to some of the usual suspects to ensure we can get out all the Sins we need to distribute.

Team Name: Strange Clouds

Theme: Asgardian

Roster:

AVAS065 Black Widow — 200 Points

FI101R Loki — 30

FI301 Splitlip — 20

FIB003 Damaged Warbot — 10

JLTWR101 Pandora’s Box (Complete) — 40

= 300

Widow Carries Splitlip (once again, for Enhancement), Loki Carries the Damaged Warbot, and all of them can benefit from Pandora’s Box. Patience is your friend here (and Widow’s Stealth will help with that). Pick your spots to attack carefully, and don’t be afraid to move for board control or for future positioning; your pieces are only going to get better as the game goes on, so stretching things out to give yourself more time to distribute Sins is in your best interest.

“Did someone say they want to ‘stretch things out?'”

Nope! I’m not encouraging this. Moving. On.

AVAS066 Goliath — 98 Points — Chase:

Probably my favorite Chase in the set, Goliath may also be the most versatile CHASEr as well. His Trait seems harmless enough (BACK TO THE BLOND-HAIRED BOWSLINGER NAMED HAWKEYE!: Give Goliath a free action and replace him with any character of equal or less points named Hawkeye on the same click number minus 3, minimum 1.), but it really opens up endless possibilities for how you can use Goliath.

You can start you game by having Goliath Carry out one of your key pieces; then, if your facing, say, some Hypersonic Speedsters, or characters whose offense is based on mobility (especially pieces who have Running Shot or Ranged Combat Expert but DON’T have Sharpshooter), you can stay with Goliath and use Charge with either his native 4 Damage or Quake, if you want to reach out and touch a few opponents at once. Goliath’s Damage Special (GROUND SQUASH: Characters hit by Goliath’s attacks can’t automatically break away and modify their break away rolls by -1 until your next turn.) will all but ensure that anyone he hits (note that he DOESN’T have to actually damage them–just hit them) will be stuck exactly where they are for at least a turn.

Now it’s turn two or turn three… and this is when things REALLY get exciting!! Because Goliath’s Trait can help you customize your team… AFTER THE GAME HAS STARTED!

So, imagine this scenario: Goliath has Carried out your big hitter to some prime real estate where your hitter can attack from next turn. Your opponent, however, decides to TK out his or her ranged beast of a Primary Attacker (say, someone who deals 4 or 5 Damage top dial and has Stealth to prevent retaliatory strikes–oh hey, maybe someone JUST LIKE the Black Widow Chase we just talked about) for an Alpha Strike on Goliath, and all of the sudden Clint is drilled all the way to Click 4. Half his dial is wiped away. Crap. Goliath no longer has Charge, and your Primary Attacker never had a way to see through Stealth. What do you do?

Well, since you thought to include Goliath to begin with, all your really need to do is give him a Free Action, sub in, say, AAOU009 Hawkeye, (who can now suddenly Sidestep–while ignoring Elevated AND Hindering Terrain) and start blasting away. Through Stealth. Oh, and by the way, Hawkeye himself now has Stealth, so your opponent’s big hitter? Yeah, if that piece can’t see through Stealth, your opponent is suddenly in for a world of hurt.

Of course, when you bring Hawkeye in, make sure you bring him in top dial, since his Goliath’s Trait specifies that the replacement character comes in on the same click as Goliath MINUS-3 (in this scenario, 4-3=1). So that big hit your opponent just spent all their resources last turn building up to? Completely wiped away.

With one Free Action, you’ve COMPLETELY changed the makeup of your team–and, in this scenario, you’ve also completely changed the complexion of the game. When used correctly, Goliath can actually devastate your opponent’s strategy WITHOUT EVEN ROLLING AN ATTACK! That’s pretty amazing.

Having said all that, we’re going to keep this Build pretty simple. This is a 300 Point, Modern Age, No Resources team.

Team Name: Blonde-Haired, Blue-Eyed & Furious

Theme: Avengers

Roster:

AVAS066 Goliath — 98 Points

AAOU015 Nick Fury — 45

AAOU005R Thor — 150

AVID015 Manifold— 5

SIDELINE:

AAOU009 Hawkeye

AVAS037 Manifold

= 298

As I stated above, you can get really complicated with a Goliath Build if you want. Here, however, we’re just gonna stick with Goliath (who can change into a ridiculously useful Avengers Age of Ultron Hawkeye) and Thor, with Nick Fury for support. Keep in mind, if you have Thor Carry Nick Fury, your Tertiary Attacker can suddenly do 4 freaking damage! That’ll make your opponent’s head spin!

“Did someone say ‘Electrify?'”

No! Dammit, no one said anything close to that!

Great. You know your own name. Congratulations.

“At least I’m a Chase.”

Yes. You ARE a Chase. You have a perfectly average dial that’s costed just about as one would expect it to be. Which means your perfectly average. Which also means that you’re probably one of the five best clicks in your set, since “perfectly average” is the new “completely broken” when it comes to Street Fighter Clix. There. Are you happy?

Are all of you rude, obnoxious, interrupting jerks from the Street Fighter set happy? Can I finally MOVE THE $#@& ON with my day?

???

Good. At last.

“Uh… something something, MIRROR SPIN?”

I hate my life.

AVAS067 Rick Jones — 75 Points — Chase:

So Rick Jones is kind of support mixed with some Secondary Attacker skills. He continually spawns some pretty decent Bystander Tokens via his Trait (SUMMON THE HEROES I GREW UP READING ABOUT: At the beginning of the game, place a Captain America bystander token (as included with this card) adjacent to Rick Jones. When a bystander token placed by Rick Jones is KO’d, place a bystander token included with this card adjacent to Rick Jones as per the following. This ability can’t be ignored. Bystander Token KO’d: Bystander Token Placed; Captain America: Namor; Namor: Blazing Skull; Blazing Skull: Captain America.), and once per game, his other Trait allows him to immobilize your opponent’s entire team for a whole turn (GALACTIC BURST OF IMMOBILIZING LIGHT: Once per game, when Rick Jones isn’t on his first click, give Rick Jones a double power action when he is adjacent to an opposing character. Give all opposing characters on the map an action token. For each opposing character you can’t give a token, deal that character 1 unavoidable damage.). Keep in mind too that your opponent gets no points for KO’ing any of the Bystander Tokens.

As Hunter Smith from Dial H for Heroclix likes to say, “Sounds fair.”

He’s somewhat hard to hit at range with ES/D down his whole dial, and he has Pen/Psy with a massive 10 Range for his first 3 Clicks. On his second click, he even picks up Perplex.

So again, as with Goliath, you have a single character who can fill multiple roles. Team him with, say, AVAS066 Goliath and AVAS034 Jarvis, add in like 3 ID cards of your choosing, and suddenly you have an extremely versatile team, especially in a Modern Age, No Resources format. Oh, and you still have 87 MORE POINTS!!

Team Name: Swiss Army Avengers

Theme: Avengers

Roster:

AVAS067 Rick Jones — 75 Points

AVAS066 Goliath — 98

AVAS034 Jarvis — 40

WXM078 Quicksilver — 87

AVID015 Manifold— ~~FIVE~~ 0 (via Jarvis)

AVID0XX Your Choice — ~~FIVE~~ 0 (via Jarvis)

SIDELINE:

AAOU009 Hawkeye

AVAS037 Manifold

Avengers ID Figure of Your Choice

= 300

Truly, this is a team designed to combat a multitude of threats. Not a hugely favorable damage output, but it should be able to run with most Builds. There’s nothing out there that you shouldn’t be able to bring a piece in to handle.

So, there you go. A whole bunch of Builds and analysis featuring the seven new Avengers Assemble Chases. Plus, random analysis for Golden Age Street Fighter figures that, frankly, no one asked for or wanted. Myself included.

“Speaking of Chases no one wants–“

What?! Don’t be so hard on yourself, Cammy! You’ve actually got a pretty good dial. Granted, it’s all close combat, but still, you can easily get your Attack Value to 11 or 12–

“I was talking about Chun-Li’s Chase again.“

Oh. Wow. Uh, this is awkward. So, you were just popping in to agree with me?

“Jerk.”

Well, until next time, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire.

“$#@& you and goodbye.”

Team Ideas – The Many Faces of Manifold

May 18, 2015May 19, 2015 / ninwashui / 3 Comments

This is how Avengers commute to work.

So Avengers Assembled brought us AVAS037 Manifold. He’s a great transport character, but unlike the very similar SLOSH022 Gates, you need to share a Keyword with Manifold for him to Carry your team and ignore combat symbols. He’s got the Avengers Keyword, but there are plenty of good flyers with the Avengers keyword. He’s also got the Secret Warriors Keyword… and he is the only figure in Modern Age that has it. Bummer, right?

Thankfully, that is not the case! Why? Because of ATA033 Secret Warriors!! It states: “Before you reveal your force, choose the H.A.M.M.E.R., Hydra, or S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword. Characters using this team ability also possess the chosen keyword. Uncopyable.” Due to the strange wording I checked online and there is a ruling saying that this ATA works like you think it should (i.e., Manifold would get the chosen keyword… “As You Build your force.”). Manifold can get the H.A.M.M.E.R., Hydra, or S.H.I.E.L.D keywords as long as everyone else on the team has those keywords. Essentially he is a walking Quinjet for those keywords (which all happen to sorely need good transportation, natch). This is something I have been looking for since I drafted Hal Jordan into S.H.I.E.L.D. last year.

Here are some teams that explore how Manifold’s extra mobility really helps these keywords that are full of mostly grounded characters.

I just added Sue Storm, Agent of Hydra to my most needed in HeroClix list. C’mon Wizkids, I didn’t get even get my Captain Marvel Constantine in Trinity War. You owe me.

Team Name: The Hand’s Lawnmower Man

Keyword Theme: The Hand

Roster: DP103 Wolverine, Agent of Hydra, AVAS037 Manifold (with ATA033 Secret Warriors), DP006 Hand Ninja, DP006 Hand Ninja, DP006 Hand Ninja, WOLR106 Power Battery (Star Sapphires) – (WOLR306 Star Sapphire Ring, WOLR200.11 Bulldozer (Green), WOLR202.11 Bulldozer (Red), WOLR206.11 Bulldozer (Violet))

Total = 300 Points

How it Works: This a simple team with a simple plan.

AVAS037 Manifold Carries the three Hand Ninjas while hiding behind their Stealth. When a prime target wanders into his killbox (which, in this Build, has an incredibly impressive Threat Range of 11 squares! Don’t worry, we’ll do the math on that in a second.) it’s time for Manifold to strike with his 3 Ninja cargo!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Okay, let’s do some quick Heroclix math (and remember, class, you have to show your work): Manifold can move 10 squares while using Carry and he can drop his Hand-y passengers off in the adjacent squares ahead of him, where they can each make close combat actions AS FREE ACTIONS. (The fact that the attacks are Free Actions is the only reason this works–Ninwashui will explain why they’re Free Actions in a second when he gets to their Special Damage Power). 10+1=11 square melee Threat Range for Manifold and the Hand Ninjas! Great job class!]

So Manifold Phases forward Carrying his secret ninja payload and drops them adjacent to a fat, juicy, sizzling opposing character just begging to be lit up. All three DP006 Hand Ninjas [EDITOR’S NOTE: They are freaking AMAZING in this Build.] can then immediately attack due to their Special Damage Power “THERE’S ALWAYS MORE NINJAS: When Hand Ninja is adjacent to at least one friendly character with the Hand keyword, Hand Ninja can make a close combat attack as a free action.” On the offensive side these guys have a 10 Attack Value, Precision Strike, and the option of generating automatic Knockback due to their Bulldozer constructs. This can add extra damage by knocking people off of Elevated ledges or repeatedly bouncing them into walls.

It will also be easier for them to hit because DP103 Wolverine, Agent of Hydra is on the board, and he happens to be badass in a can. He has a Trait that says “MY KIND OF HYDRA: When friendly characters use the Hydra team ability, they can also affect close combat attacks and don’t need line of fire to the target.” On the defensive side, Hand Ninjas will have Stealth, Shape Change and Mystics (once they have a Construct), and their Trait “RETURN FROM DEATH: When Hand Ninja would be KO’d while adjacent to a friendly character with The Hand keyword, roll a d6. On a result of 5-6, Hand Ninja isn’t KO’d and after actions resolve, is placed in your starting area on click #2 instead.”

Two words about Hand Ninjas: Killing Machines.

Since Wolverine isn’t being carried by Manifold, he can either choose a different target to go after or he can arrive the following turn after your big attack to shore up your line of ninjas. Manifold is mostly there for transportation, but his TK and Barrier can also help the team out if they get in a pinch (as you can pull back an attacker or block lines of fire as needed, natch.).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Stop trying to bring “natch” back, Ninwa. It ain’t going to happen.]

As the Hand Ninjas fall in battle, their constructs can be reassigned to Wolverine and Manifold as needed.

This is how I know we will be getting more Secret Warriors in a future set.

Team Name: The Secret Warriors of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Keyword Theme: S.H.I.E.L.D.

Roster: CATWS017 Captain America and Black Widow, AVAS037 Manifold (with ATA033 Secret Warriors), CATWS013 Agent 13, CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, Edwin Jarvis ID Card, FIR100 The Book of the Skull (FIR101 Kuurth’s Hammer, FIR106 Nul’s Hammer, FIR107 Angrir’s Hammer)

Total = 300 Points

How it Works: CATWS017 Captain America and Black Widow was easily the most powerful character to come out of the Winter Soldier set. It has a few short comings as a Primary Attacker that are now easily overcome by this team.

The piece’s biggest weakness was that it could not be Carried (since it has the “Duo” Symbol), so it always arrived a little late to the battle–and with a action token already weighing on it. Now with AVAS037 Manifold, that is no longer a problem. Manifold says “PORTALS OF SPACE AND TIME: Manifold can use the Carry ability. When he does, he may carry up to 3 friendly characters regardless of their combat symbols if they each share a keyword with him. When Manifold is given a move action and actions resolve, you may give him a free action and friendly characters adjacent when this action was given modify their defense values by +1 until your next turn.” Now, a lot of folks looked at Manifold’s Trait and said, “Hey, he can Carry flyers!” Well, the Duo Symbol is also a Combat Symbol. Thus, Manifold can Carry a single base Duo figure.

Angrir’s Hammer takes care of Captain America and Black Widow‘s Attack Value (which was already a solid 11) and lets them use Steal Energy with their duo attack! CATWS005 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent lets them use Empower for close encounters and the S.H.I.E.L.D. T/A for long distance fights. However, his number one reason to be on the team is “TAKE A BULLET IN THE LINE OF DUTY: When a friendly character with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword and a higher point value is within 8 squares, that character can use Mastermind, but only to deal damage to friendly characters with the name S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.” That should let your Primary Attacker completely ignore the first damage it might otherwise take. CATWS013 Agent 13 is on the team both for limiting opposing free actions and for bypassing opposing defenses. Giving her Kuurth’s Hammer should allow her to make it to her targets easier and allow her to clear away any troublesome walls or Barrier tokens.

And if you give Manifold Nul’s Hammer, he can use the Willpower it gives him to use Carry and Barrier more often. Or, the +2 Attack Value and Running Shot (plus the slight bump to his Range Value) it also grants makes him a decent Secondary Attacker.

Eden decides whether to stick with S.H.I.E.L.D. or join Hydra…

So there you have it. In the never-ending war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, one man may make the difference between a world a chaos… or a world of order. Which Build would you rather play?

Sound off in the Comments below!

Team Ideas – Test Subjects… of Love!

May 3, 2015May 18, 2015 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

So, the Lantern Batteries I own are Red, Green, and Violet (Star Sapphire). Of those three, Green has been done to death by everyone and Red lacks a fun factor (except when used like this), but I’m always trying to dream up teams for the Star Sapphire battery. Sure I had some fun with it in Sealed. I think I also came up with something nice for it in our Lantern article. But, I feel like I’m not quite there yet.

So lately I’ve been looking at the pieces I like to call “Summoners.” That’s not an official term, but what I am referring to are pieces that bring an unlimited amount of pieces into play during a game (although they may have a limit of how many pieces can be put into play at one time). To clarify further, AAOU101 Iron Man Mk. 43 brings in an AAOU002 Iron Legion once per game. If you kill that piece, he can’t summon another. On the other hand, AAOU001 Iron Man can summon an unlimited amount of AAOU002 Iron Legions per game, but he can only have 4 in play at a time. I would consider AAOU001 Iron Man a Summoner, while AAOU101 Iron Man Mk. 43 is not a Summoner. He’s just, I dunno, friendly.

Anyway, Summoners are probably my favorite kind of piece and the newest set (Avengers: Age of Ultron) brought us three new summoning pieces. Those three pieces are AAOU007 Ultron Sentry, AAOU001 Iron Man, and AAOU016 Baron Strucker. The Sentry is best on Ultron teams and I think Iron Man is a bit overcosted, but I have been looking for a team for Baron von Strucker since I first got him. I originally thought of running him with his Hydra buddy (and fellow Summoner) DP054 Arnim Zola because I remembered him fondly from this article. But, Strucker and Zola together just lacked an offensive punch. Sure they could flood the map with people, but to what end? Even Mind Controlling Gwens or Test Subjects to attack three at a time just isn’t that effective, and the two pieces together didn’t leave enough room for a primary attacker (especially not a Hydra themed one – sorry Hydra Wolverine). So I scrapped that Idea and I’ve moved on to what you see below:

“This is the Age of Miracles and there is nothing more terrifying than a miracle. Especially one that can explode for two unavoidable damage.”

Team Name: Test Subjects… of Love!

Keyword Theme: Scientist

Roster: IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0 (with ATA103 Hammer Industries), AAOU016 Baron Strucker, DP020 Weasel, WOLR106 Power Battery (Star Sapphires) – WOLR306 Star Sapphire Ring, WOLR206.03 Mallet (Violet), WOLR206.14 Sniper Rifle (Violet), WOLR206.12 Spotlight (Violet), WOLR206.13 Stop Sign (Violet)

Total = 300 Points

How it Works: IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0 is an average ranged attacker. But if you add in DP020 Weasel, Hammer ATA, and a Spotlight he becomes a very formidable ranged attacker. The Star Sapphire Battery helps him both on offense by boosting his Range via it’s emotional power and on defense by granting him Shape Change. Weasel is there because he is the number one way (outside of GOTG058 Mentor) to make a ranged attacker more dangerous. He gives +1 range,+1 damage, +1 attack, and evens offers the possibility of a reroll if you happen to juuuust miss. If your name isn’t WKM-015 Doop, JLTW068 Gluttony, or IIM038 Iron Man – you are going to be taking a ton of ranged damage.

AAOU016 Baron Strucker will eventually be an offensive monster, but for most of the game his role will be an entirely different one. He is there to produce AAOU004 Test Subjects that will run forward and tie up opposing characters. That way Iron Monger 2.0 can take shots all day without having to worry about the opponent shooting back. The idea is that Baron Strucker’s special power (WE LEARN SO MUCH FROM THEM… ) lets you put a new Test Subject into play anywhere within 6 range. It doesn’t have to even be within line of fire. Then they each have 6 Movement and can move immediately.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: As a former Magic: The Gathering player, no Summoning Sickness for the Test Subjects just makes me giggle with glee… ]

That means if an opposing figure is anywhere within 12 spaces of Baron Strucker, he should be able to base them with a Test Subject. Just remember to put a Construct on that new figure. Also, make sure that Iron Monger 2.0 carries Baron Strucker (and not Weasel) so that he is always ready to create a Test Subject without pushing. You should also try to keep an extra Test Subject next to Baron Strucker for Mastermind purposes.

So what are an opponents choices when based by a Test Subject?

He can:

Do nothing, or
Try to break away, or
Try to kill the Test Subject.

Option 1 won’t hurt the opponent directly, but if he’s just sitting there then you can just sit back and pick him off with Iron Monger 2.0. Option 2 may fail – especially if that Test Subject has plasticity or the WOLR206.13 Stop Sign (Violet). So that may end up being like doing nothing and giving your character an action token to boot. That leaves option 3. Here’s some reasons why option 3 is the worst of the three options.

The Test Subject might hit shape change and you’ll have wasted an action. This is probably the best case scenario.
If the Test Subject takes damage, then the attacker gets a Mystic TA unavoidable damage back because of the battery.
If the Test Subject dies after taking damage from an attack then every opposing character it’s adjacent to will take an unavoidable damage because of Iron Monger 2.0
After Test Subject Dies and does it’s unavoidable damage, Baron Stucker may get a stat increase. Then he can simply recreate that same test subject with a power action the next turn and it will be able to run right back to where the last one died. You won’t even lose the construct. Those go back to the Battery ready to be redeployed when the figure they are on is KOed.

When he or she is considering those those three options, I like to remind my opponent of my favorite Jerry Seinfeld MEME:

It Might Get Loud!! (Or, Critical Missives Scenario #1: MCU Heroes Versus Villains!!)

April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

Hello again!

Today we’re here to share our first scenario with you. In celebration of the May 2nd premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ninwashui and I have prepared a couple special scenarios that we’re going to play out on our own time. Our first scenario is detailed here today!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: For those who are unaware, a scenario is any game of Heroclix with special rules that are specific to that particular game. Often times they are meant to be played with either a specific set of figures, or else they give you a much smaller range of figures with which to create your Build. Usually there is also a small bit of story context accompanying the scenario (that justifies its existence and/or explains the comic or movie-based storyline you’re about to play out). WizKids sometimes creates scenarios for added depth of play during their OP events and distributes instructions on how to play them with the OP Scenario Pack (for example, Fear Itself had 2 Scenario Pack, War of Light had 1).]

Ninwashui and I have been chomping at the bit to try out some of these new Age of Ultron Gravity Feed pieces, but this Scenario will also give us a chance to break out some of our favorite older Movie Set pieces as well.

So, without further ado, here is our first Critical Missives Scenario. Taking a page from Survivor, it’s simply titled…

HEROES VS. VILLAINS!!

The Scenario: It’s all out war in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!!

While inside Avengers Tower celebrating their ability to finally subdue the Hulk’s latest rampage, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers are finally able to relax. During a fun game of “Whosoever Is Worthy to Pick Up Thor’s Hammer,”all of the Tower’s computers suddenly light up. The Tesseract Thor had brought back with him from Asgard begins to spew energy, and a temporal anomaly forms in the Tower’s Quinjet hangar! For a moment, everything seems normal–until the hangar is ripped open, and the Avengers find themselves under attack from the menacing AI of Ultron and his Sentries! But things immediately go from bad to worse as almost EVERY major villain from the MCU–even some they thought they had dealt with permanently–begin flooding in from the anomaly! The fate of the world is in the hands of the Avengers, and to save it, they’ll have to fight their worst enemies or die trying.

But the Villains aren’t the only ones back from the beyond. An ally once thought lost has returned to aid the Avengers, and he’s brought a really big gun…

The Game: Designed for 2 Players. 1600 Points. Oreo Age. One player assumes control of the “Heroes” side. The other will guide the “Villains.”

The Map: Avengers Tower (from the Age of Ultron Movie Set Starter Pack). The “Heroes” should begin in the Starting Zone located on the side with the lab, while the “Villains” should start on the side with the open hangar.

The Special Scenario Rules:

–When forces are being built, the “Heroes” player selects a Named keyword possessed by a character on his team; each character on his force has the selected keyword.

–When forces are being built, the “Villains” player selects a Named keyword possessed by a character on his team; each character on his force has the selected keyword.

–At the beginning of each player’s first turn, that player may select a single Additional Team Ability (ATA) and assign that Team Ability to all eligible members of their team. At least one member of a player’s force must have the printed keyword required for the chosen ATA.

–There is a restriction of 5 actions per team per turn (NOT COUNTING FREE ACTIONS). This total can be increased by Leadership as per normal.

–While we’re not going to bother with declaring Sidelines or anything, the “Heroes” player should have at least 4 Iron Legions stashed off the map (as well as a Captain America and Black Widow & Iron Man and War Machine Duo Figures if available) and the “Villains” should have at least 4 Test Subjects ready to go.

Special Character Rules:

–In addition to his normal stats and powers, Agent Coulson gets the following Special Damage Power on Click number 4: “So That’s What it Does: Once per game, if this click is revealed due to damage taken from an opposing attack, stop turning the dial and select an opposing character. Agent Coulson can use Pulse Wave. When he does, the area of effect for this attack is his range value, he has a locked damage value of 3, and this attack ignores all characters except the opposing character selected for this power. After actions resolve, deal Agent Coulson 1 unavoidable damage. This power cannot be countered or ignored.”

–When forces are being built, the “Villains” player may assign either Loki or Red Skull GGS102 Cosmic Cube without paying its cost. During the game, figures named “Loki,” “Red Skull” or “Captain America” automatically succeed when rolling for the Cosmic Cube.

THE ROSTERS:

Heroes:

AAOU003 Captain America — Common — 125 Points

AAOU101 Iron Man Mk. 43 — Starter Pack — 150

AAOU005 Thor — Common — 200

AAOU008E Hulk — Common — 250

AAOU013 Black Widow — Mass Market Rare — 80

AAOU009 Hawkeye — Core Hobby Rare — 94

AAOU010 Scarlet Witch — Core Hobby Rare — 55

AAOU014 Quicksilver — Mass Market Rare — 63

AAOU011 Vision — Core Hobby Rare — 100

IM3016 War Machine — Mass Market Rare — 220

CATWS006 Falcon — Common — 105

AAOU015 Nick Fury — Mass Market Rare — 45

AVM206 Agent Coulson — Common — 50

CATWS011 Maria Hill — Core Hobby Rare — 60

= 1597 (Hmmm… Heroes are apparently so confident that they’re leaving 3 Points on the board!)

Villains:

AVM211 Loki — Chase — 220 Points

AVM041 Red Skull — Chase — 170

IM3008 Aldrich Killian — Common — 35

TDW004 Malekith — Common — 350

CATWS008 Winter Soldier — Common — 100

GOTGM106 Ronan — Starter Pack — 300

AAOU016 Baron Strucker — Mass Market Rare — 95

AAOU018 Ultron Prime — Mass Market Chase — 250

AAOU007 Ultron Sentry — Common — 40

= 1600 Points!! (Villains got their $#!t together!)

Why These Teams?: Because, as I mentioned before, this gives us a chance to really dig into the new Age of Ultron Movie Set while also providing an opportunity to dust off some old favorites. As for these specific rosters, we chose them because–between the two of us–we happen to have all these pieces and the points match pretty damn close (in a 1600 Point game, I’m prepared to deal with a variance of 3 points).

Handicapping the Squads: While we haven’t decided who will play which side, just looking at the rosters, I’d expect the “Heroes” side to have a distinct advantage. While there is certainly a ton of raw power on the “Villains” side (and Ooooo, Malekith at 350 looks like soooo much fun…), the “Heroes” side is much more synergistic with their “Avengers Assemble!” Traits and such. Still, we shall see…

The Result: Check back in this space next week. Once we play out the Scenario, we’ll post the highlights and tell you who won right here!! (And/or in the next Weekly Roundup–we’re waaaay overdue for one of those!)

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

There Are… No Strings… on Me!! (Or, a Set Review of the Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Set!!)

April 10, 2015May 14, 2015 / HypeFox / 1 Comment

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! Or a Happy Passover, or, if you’re not a person of faith, or at least not a person of a faith that celebrated this season, I hope you had, uh, a Happy Sunday!

As our belated gift to you, Ninwashui and I are teaming up to rip through the just-released Avengers: Age of Ultron Gravity Feed Movie Set! We’re gonna go figure by figure using our popular and patented [EDITOR’S NOTE: Yeah, it’s really neither of those things.] Oxygen Filtration Mask Numeric Scale!

It’s all part of our month-long ramp up celebrating the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron on May 1st! In addition to today’s article, we’re also going to review the Starter pack and write and play a scenario based on the movie (or, y’know, what little we know about the movie since it hasn’t released yet).

But today is about the Age of Ultron Gravity Feed, so let’s get it rolling!

SOME QUICK NOTES ABOUT THE SET:

–The whole set actually gets its flavor not just from AoU but also from prior Marvel movies as well. Iron Man (Iron Man 3), Iron Legion (Iron Man 3) and Nick Fury (Avengers) all have power sets and costumes that reference previous MCU outings. Conversely, Hawkeye and Black Widow are definitely in their Age of Ultron costumes (note Hawkeye’s longer tunic, which gets him a little bit closer to his comic book look), but their power sets almost seem like they’re taken directly from the first Avengers film (going back to Hawkeye, he has Traits and Powers with names like “Rooftop Maneuvers” and “Vantage Point.” He could certainly spend a lot of time on rooftops in Age of Ultron, but these really sound like Hawkeye’s abilities taken from the Battle of Manhattan sequence in the first Avengers film).

–Meanwhile, it seems like the designers went out of their way to make the most generic Cap, Thor and Hulk pieces they could possibly imagine (I’m speaking strictly from a flavor/sculpt standpoint–see each figure’s individual entry to see how we think they stand up as Heroclix figures!). Cap gets an abilities like “Rebounding Shield” and “His Enemies Fear Him,” while Hulk has “Fueled by Anger” and “He Only Leaves Rubble.”

–For those keeping score at home, we finally have MCU Clix for: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, Baron Strucker and Ultron. First time generics include Test Subject and Iron Legion (although IM3 had at least 4 Armor Shell versions from the “House Party Protocol” scene at the end of the movie).

Alright, enough notes about the set! Let’s dig into the dials!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry bro, we need one more note. As always with Movie Set Reviews, we’re saving the Starter Review for a separate article, since we’re already over 7000 words on the Main Set alone, making this our largest single article ever!]

AAOU001 Iron Man — 250/185 Points — Common:

HypeFox Says: At 250 Points, Iron Man here is certainly beefy, starting with a 12 Attack and an 18 Defense Value with Invincible. His awesomely-named second Trait (THE HOUSE PARTY PROTOCOL, SIR?: Give Iron Man a power action if there are less than 4 friendly undefeated characters named Iron Legion. If you do, place a AAOU002 Iron Legion in your starting area from outside the game.) allows him to bring in armor shells that are two clicks deep, but they come into play in your starting area. Depending on where the action’s centered, the battle may be lost before you can even get the shells into play. This is a bit of a problem, especially since there’s another figure in this set who does the same trick better. Similarly, his Avengers Assemble Trait (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: When Iron Man hits one or more characters with an attack and actions resolve, the opposing player chooses: You place a friendly AAOU #002 Iron Legion from outside the game into your starting area or, modify the defense value of your friendly characters by +1 until your next turn.) is a nifty lil’ bonus, but there are better versions of the same Trait on almost every other Avenger.

In a Modern Age environment that also includes Ultron Prime and Trinity War Superman at the 250 Point level, I just don’t know that you’re getting enough damage out of this Iron Man and his Iron Legion shells to really keep up with number of effective actions your opponent will be taking in a 300 Point game. Also, while any piece with the Avengers Initiative Team Ability is going to be a nuisance, his 7 Range is below average for a piece in his price range.

Now, at 185 Points… he’s still over costed. With five clicks of life and middling Attack Values (again, for the points), he still offers the same two Traits as his higher-costed version and the ability to target through Stealth. Still, this feels much more like a 150 or 160 Point dial. 185 is just a rip-off, frankly. Not the worst dial in the world, but not one that I would choose to play, especially with all of the other Iron Man options out there.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial); 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial)

Ninwashui Says:

Pretty short dials for both versions, actually. Both Traits are more fun than competitive. The Iron Legions he can bring into play hit hard enough, sure, but they’re easy to KO and award 50 Points to your opponent for each one that’s KO’d. And really, the Transport Symbol is pretty much wasted on figures that already fly and have top dial Running Shot.

GRADE(S): 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial); 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial)

AAOU002 Iron Legion — 50 Points — Common:

Ninwashui Says: Mildly effective for his points, but you’re probably not playing him this way very often. He’s useable, but far from groundbreaking. Actually, he’s kind of a boring way to use 50 points, but at least he can Taxi, too.

GRADE: 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: Yeah, he’s only got 4 Clicks, but for 50 Points I get Running Shot, 10 Attack and a Damage Value that never drops below 3 AND never loses Enhancement. A great Tertiary Attacker with a mild amount of support with Enhancement and the ability to Taxi. I think he’s damn effective for 50 Points–I’d put him right up there with some of the better Lantern Recruits we just got.

GRADE: 3 and 3/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU003 Captain America —125/80 Points — Common:

HypeFox Says: One of the most creative Caps we’ve seen in awhile. The 125 Point dial is a brutally effective mid-range piece to start. He’s actually at his most deadly when he’s at least two squares away from an opposing figure, even though Cap is normally thought of as a close combatant. His Avengers Assemble Trait is pretty one-sided (there will be very few circumstances when your opponent would rather take a -1 hit to the Attack Value of all his pieces versus letting you give one of your pieces +1 to Damage). His top dial vanilla Leadership is somewhat wasted when the majority of Avengers cost more than him (or at least the majority of Avengers who can Carry him and keep him adjacent–yes, you can sometimes end up adjacent to a friendly after a Running Shot to set up Leadership next turn, but that’s a lil’ tricky to do usually). If he ignored characters on movement (instead of or in addition to) I’d love him; as it is, I merely like this dial.

His Rookie dial, on the other hand, offers a ton of value for 80 Points–and also plays way differently than his Blue dial. Now that’s a great design! He starts with a Leadership Special Power (HIS ENEMIES FEAR HIM: Captain America can use Leadership. When he does and succeeds, he may also either place an action token on a higher point opposing character within range or he may place an action token on each lower point opposing character within range. Placing this action token doesn’t deal pushing damage.) that he keeps his whole dial. He doesn’t even need line of fire to dish out tokens–opposing characters merely need to be within 4 Squares.

His Attack Value never descends below 10, and even gets up to 11 more than once. The only problem is a lack of Indomitable, but the last half of his dial features Willpower anyway. And top dial, once he gets in close on someone, they’re gonna need a 20 to hit him with a Close Combat attack.

This is a fun piece and one of my favorites from the set.

GRADE(S): 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (125 Point Dial); 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (80 Point Dial)

Ninwashui Says: Really dig his 125 Point dial. He’s difficult to hit at range, which should allow him to use his Avengers Initiative Team Ability to slowly close in on his opponents. After that first hit he magically transforms into an equally hard to hit close combat headache for your opponent.

His 80 Point dial is almost as good, but his Leadership Special–as powerful as it can potentially be–will only go off 33% of the time. And with no native damage reducers, it’s possible for a heavy hitter like AAOU005 Thor to knock him out with one lucky hit.

GRADE(S): 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (125 Point Dial); 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (80 Point Dial)

AAOU004 Test Subject —30 Points — Common:

Ninwashui Says: Ugh. The first real loser of the set. Don’t let the 3 separate dials fool you–even for a generic, this is a bit uninspired. Their Trait (THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE YIELDING… INTERESTING… RESULTS: When Test Subject is first placed on the map, roll a d6 and click the character to the indicated starting line: 1 – 2 red; 3 – 4 blue; 5 – 6 yellow) ensures that you’ll never know which of their dials you’ll actually be playing, which is a problem when you are, y’know, TRYING TO BUILD A COMPLEMENTARY TEAM! These guys need help to be anything more than even just a tie-up piece for a turn. But with such limited mobility, it’ll take them forever just to get next to an opposing figure to tie them up in the first place. I can’t see 4 of these pieces ever taking out any 120 Point figure I can think of.

GRADE: 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: Okay, taken on their own merits, they’re not the best use of 30 Points. However, what if I told you there was a way to easily get them within range of an opposing figure, to the point that they’d be all but guaranteed an Alpha Strike? Then would you be interested? If you can find a way around their awful mobility, these guys suddenly become pretty dangerous–especially since they’re only 30 Points. Having said that, no one is ever going to play them for 30 Points, for reasons we will get into as we get a bit further down the list…

GRADE: 2 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU005 Thor —200/150 Points — Common:

HypeFox Says: Wow. We’ve gotten a ton of 4-Star Thors in the past couple years, but this version might just be a cut above. His AA Trait (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: When Thor hits one or more characters with an attack and actions resolve, the opposing player chooses: Opposing characters modify their damage values by -1 until your next turn or, opposing characters can’t make ranged combat attacks until your next turn.) is absolutely brutal.

You: “So, would you prefer to do way less damage next turn, or would you prefer to do no damage next turn?”

Your Opponent: “Uhhh… is that a real power? That doesn’t sound like a real power.”

You: “It’s a Trait, not a power.”

Your Opponent: “I hate you.”

I mean, what kind of choice is that? But beyond that, he starts with 5 native Damage, an 11 Attack Value that alternates between Pulse Wave and Energy Explosion (with an 8 Range and 2 Bolts) and an 18 Defense Value that’s boosted by both Invincible and his second Trait (MJOLNIR TO CARRY ME: When Thor has one or more action tokens, he can use Energy Shield/Deflection.). And remember, he sees through Stealth via his AI Team Ability. The only thing keeping him from 5 Masks at this point is his one glaring weakness: no Willpower.

Still, in a Tactics format, this is pretty easily fixed, and in a No Tactics format, he hits so heavy that it may not even matter. If you only push him once or twice, you’ll be fine–heck, that first push basically just puts him on Pulse Wave. He only loses one Movement and one Defense.

His Rookie dial is a little more subtle, but just as effective.

GRADE(S): 4 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial); 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (150 Point Dial)

Ninwashui Says: User UncorkedMonk on HCRealms.com said “Hes an indom symbol away from being great. As is hes alright. But theres enough ways to give him willpower I spose.” Despite his clear vendetta against apostrophes, I have to completely agree. Outside of the normal Resource/Relic route, let’s remember that Thor is an Asgardian. For 5 Points, their ATA explicitly GIVES him Willpower on his first click. That’s right. The Asgardian ATA: it’s not just for Splitlip anymore.

His Rookie dial finds him switching from a 5 Damage Primary Attacker to a 4 Damage sniper squad leader. And while he plays differently than his higher point version, he’s just as effective. Especially if you put the right team around him, which you’ll have 50 more points to do with this version.

GRADE(S): 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial); 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (150 Point Dial)

AAOU006 Hydra Soldier — 40 Points — Common:

Ninwashui Says: I think this was the only character in the set I wasn’t looking forward to getting (so guess who I’ve pulled 4 of so far… ). Even in groups, I don’t see this guy ever lasting long enough to hit anyone. I can see what they were trying to do with his Minion power that bestows Leadership (MINION: HAIL HYDRA: When a friendly character with the HYDRA keyword and a higher point value is within 8 squares, Hydra Soldier can use Charge. When that character uses Leadership and succeeds, remove an action token from all characters named Hydra Soldier within that character’s range and line of fire unless one has already been removed this turn from that character from this effect.), but the low inherent Movement and the existence of DP006 Hand Ninja means that this guy will likely never see play from me. On the plus side, he’s got a pretty cool sculpt though.

GRADE: 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: For the first time in this article, I think I finally agree with Ninwa. His TA only works for ranged attacks (well, unless your running him with Wolverine, Agent of Hydra) but his skill set is only viable for close combat attacks. Come to think of it, running him with Hydra Wolvie is really the only way to make him work. Even then, as Ninwashui mentioned, DP006 Hand Ninja is pretty much a better choice all the way around.

GRADE: 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU007 Ultron Sentry — 40 — Common:

HypeFox Says: 3 Clicks for 40 Points doesn’t instill a ton of confidence until you look a little closer at those three Clicks. Top dial they have Pen/Psy and Enhancement (although only a 4 Range) with a native 3 Damage. In other words, as they multiply, they can start dishing out 4-5 Penetrating Damage. That’s a huge amount of Damage output for a 40 Point figure. Yes, they can be destroyed quite easily with just a 15 Defense Value, but their Movement Special on Click 2 (THERE’S NO END IN SIGHT!: Once per turn, for all characters with this power, give Ultron Sentry a double power action. Place AAOU #007 Ultron Sentry from outside the game in an adjacent square on click number 3.) means that they can replicate themselves over and over. In other words, for 40 Points, you can create a whole army INSIDE your army.

GRADE: 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

Ninwashui Says: It’s a 40 point character that can duplicate itself as soon as turn 4. And it can keep doing it until you run out of them on your sidelines with no outside help required. And when one dies, a double power action can put that guy right back out. Unlike Iron Legion, the duplicate figures are the exact same strength as the original. And they have two Traits that make it so they can work together to become far more powerful the more of them there are (COMBINED EFFORTS: Modify Ultron Sentry’s attack value by +1 for each adjacent friendly character named Ultron Sentry. Modify Ultron Sentry’s damage value by +1 for each 2 adjacent friendly characters named Ultron Sentry AND CONSISTENT PROGRAMMING: When using the Carry ability, Ultron Sentry may carry any number of adjacent friendly characters named Ultron Sentry regardless of their combat symbols.).

They also have additional Trait that works well with the other versions of Ultron: HIDDEN PROGRAMMING: Once per game, when a friendly character named Ultron Sentry is KO’d by an opposing character, you may roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. Increase the result by 1 for each character named Ultron Mk 1 or Ultron Prime that began the game on your force. Based on the result, place in your starting area:

3 – 4, place AAOU #007 Ultron Sentry on its starting line;
5, place AAOU #012 Ultron Mk 1 on its yellow starting line;
6, place AAOU #012 Ultron Mk 1 on its blue starting line.”

Try to imagine this: Starting on Turn 4, Ultron Sentry makes another Ultron Sentry. Turn 5, the first Sentry you made makes another. Turn 6, the original makes another. You can just keep doing this in your starting area until you feel like you have enough. A 40 point investment can bring 8 more of these things into play and descend on the opponent as a cloud of nine sentries. Nothing in the game anywhere near 40 points can take that on. If you own enough of these you can bring a 900 point army to a 300 point game.

GRADE: 5 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU008 Hulk — 300/250/200 Points — Common:

Ninwashui Says: Going in, you have to know a couple things. First, you’re paying a metric poop-ton of points for a character that has absolutely no range AND that has absolutely NO OUTWIT PROTECTION!! These are major issues. It’s true that if Hulk gets Outwitted, he gets the small bonus of an Anger Token via his Trait (ENORMOUS GREEN MONSTER: Hulk can use Battle Fury. Each time Hulk takes damage from an opponent’s attack or one of his powers or combat abilities is countered, put an Anger token on this card.), but that’s not really Outwit protection, is it?

His 300 Point dial has an awesome top dial, but the chances of you being able to get to swing with that top dial in a 300 or even 400 Point game is minimal. He’ll most likely be picked apart on his approach.

At 250, he runs into the same problems. While his dial is fun, one Outwit can just absolutely ruin his day.

Finally, his Rookie dial actually gets a half-mask more from me because it leaves room for supporting figs (just from this set, adding AAOU015 Nick Fury and AAOU010 Scarlet Witch will form a perfect 300 Point team) that can really help Hulk deal maximum damage.

Just make sure that whichever dial you play, you use Colossal Stamina whenever there is a meaningful action to take UNLESS that would put you on a Stop Click.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (300 Point Dial); 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (250 Point Dial); 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial)

HypeFox Says: For a Hulk dial, there is a lot going on here, most of which I like. Traited Battle Fury means that Shape Change will not help you–and with a figure that costs this much (no matter which dial you play), any ability that can eliminate the possibility of wasted actions is a very good thing. His Avengers Assemble Trait is good (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: When Hulk hits one or more characters with an attack and actions resolve, the opposing player chooses: Deal one target 1 unavoidable damage and give it an action token or, put an Anger token on this card.), but again, it’s pretty much one-sided (no opponent is going to choose to take an additional damage AND lose an action as opposed to giving Hulk a token that lets him increase a potential Regeneration roll somewhere down the line by +1 or increase the chance Hulk won’t take Colossal Stamina damage by just over 16%.). The first choice wreaks havoc on his team right now, while the second option might subtly benefit you at some unspecified juncture down the line. Not much of a choice there. Having said that, getting the Anger Token bonus is better than not having that Trait at all, so it’s not the worst thing in the world.

I like his Rookie dial a little more than Ninwashui, since I believe that his Defense Special Stop Click (HIS ANGER SUSTAINS HIM: When this click is revealed due to taking damage, stop turning the dial and remove all actions tokens from Hulk. This power can’t be ignored.) gives him a little bit of Outwit protection (and Pulse Wave protection). And it shows up twice, in tandem with his Damage Special Power (HE ONLY LEAVES RUBBLE: Hulk can use Invincible and Regeneration. When he uses Regeneration, you may remove any number of Anger tokens from this card. If you do, the d6 roll can’t be rerolled and you may increase the result by 1 for each token removed.).

So while he doesn’t have Outwit protection, he does have some built-in survivability.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (300 Point Dial); 3 and 1/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (250 Point Dial); 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (200 Point Dial)

AAOU009 Hawkeye — 94 Points — Core Hobby Rare:

HypeFox Says: Wow. Back in our set preview a few weeks ago, I said that this was the figure of the set. And I’m not backing off. I think he’s ridiculously good, and here’s why.

First of all, he’s got arguably the best AA Trait (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: When Hawkeye hits one or more characters with an attack, the opposing player chooses: Hit characters are each dealt 1 unavoidable damage after actions resolve, or Hawkeye isn’t given an action token for this action.). Finally, an Avengers Assemble! where both of the choices really suck for your opponent! Remember, Hawkeye has 3 Bolts and Precision Strike, so chances are he’s already dealt 1 Penetrating Damage to two or three of your opponent’s characters (and keep in mind that Stealth won’t help them, because Clint has Avengers Initiative). Now, does your opponent want each of the hit characters to each take ANOTHER Unavoidable Damage? Or do you want to keep Hawkeye from getting an action token, which means he can do the whole thing over again next turn?

This is an actual dramatization of your next opponent trying to decide which of these options to go with after 3 of his characters have been hit by Hawkeye.

Now before you start worrying about his top dial 10 Attack Value, take a look at his second Trait (VANTAGE POINT: When making a ranged combat attack, modify Hawkeye’s attack value by +1 for each target of the attack. When he hits 3 characters, he may give one hit character an action token if he doesn’t assign that character any damage.). All of which means that it shouldn’t be hard to get Hawkeye a +2 or even +3 modifier to his Attack Value. Forget Perplex–this Hawkeye takes care of his own modifiers.

Finally, Ninwashui is probably gonna come on here and trash Hawkeye’s Movement Value. Sure, it’s a bit low at just 6 Squares, but even that, too, is deceiving. When you break it down, you’ll see that his starting Movement Special (ROOFTOP MANEUVER: Hawkeye can use Sidestep and Stealth. When he uses Sidestep, he can use Improved Movement: Ignores Elevated Terrain.) means that he can actually cover 8 Squares a turn AND he can change elevation, too (AND he can make an Attack afterwards, since it’s Sidestep!)! And since he already ignores Hindering Terrain on movement (again, thanks to the AI Team Ability), you actually have a figure who’s much more nimble than a lot of other figures with higher Movement Values.

Now, I can’t quite give him 5 Masks in an environment where Banshee is still Modern (he’s even more beastly for just 4 more points), but Hawkeye here is darn close. He offers a bunch of powers and abilities that you can’t get from Resources or Relics, and what he lacks CAN be fixed by Resources and Relics (The Phoenix Force or especially the new Pandora’s Box Resource should work wonders with this Hawkeye. If you use Pandora’s Box, I’d recommend it’s first setting–the Path of the Hunter. It’s got pretty easy early access to the abilities that Clint needs the most, like Energy Explosion and Running Shot, and it’s also pretty easy to get Hawkeye permanent access to both ES/D AND Combat Reflexes).

GRADE: 4 and 3/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

Ninwashui Says: Low Movement Value, no dampeners or anything to help his Defense beyond Stealth and a lack of Running Shot hurt this guy. That being said, if your opponent can’t find a way to hide two or three of his pieces (and it’s admittedly tough to hide guys from a dude who has 8 Range, Sidestep, 3 Bolts and the ability to see through Stealth), then this guy could suddenly be the star of your team. All his is missing is Energy Explosion to be the best figure ever made at taking out clusters of opponents at a time. And AAOU015 Nick Fury (who will get to in a minute) has a Special Attack Power that goes great with this guy.

GRADE: 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU010 Scarlet Witch — 55 Points — Core Hobby Rare:

Ninwashui Says: Her Trait (UNCAGING THE BEAST: Give Scarlet Witch a free action when she has two action tokens and choose a friendly character within range and line of fire. Modify the chosen character’s combat values by +1 until the end of the turn, and, at the end of the turn, deal Scarlet Witch 1 unavoidable damage and don’t clear her action tokens. If the chosen character’s name is Hulk, you may modify the chosen character’s combat values by +2 instead.) seems to be begging for you to play her with some version of the Hulk to make her reach her full potential, but I think she’ll end up seeing a lot of play on a variety of tournament teams regardless of the presence of a Hulk. Even just a +1 boost to all stats is no joke, and she could technically do that for five turns in a row before being KO’d. That ability might be worth 55 Points by itself.

Factor in her 8 Range, 10 Attack and 3 Damage with Perplex top dial and you have a piece that’s useful even before her crazy-good Trait starts to kick in!

GRADE: 4 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: She has no Avengers Assemble! Trait on her own, which is a bit of a bummer. Her Point Cost is reasonable, but if Ninwashui thought that Hawkeye was too crunchy with only Stealth to protect him, I can only imagine what he thinks about a figure with one less Click of life and an even worse Defense Value. If you can get some mileage out of her Trait, she’ll make her cost worth it; if she gets destroyed before that, well… sorry.

GRADE: 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU011 Vision — 100 Points — Core Hobby Rare:

HypeFox Says: First of all, this is an awesome sculpt and paint job!! Second… yeah, I have no second. At 50 Points, he’d be amazing. Unfortunately he costs double that. Somehow, a figure with no Traits or Improved Movement or Targeting of any kind and with only six Clicks of life costs 100 Points.

He does fly and he has Indomitable, but he doesn’t do enough to be a Secondary Attacker and he costs WAAAAYYY too much to be a Taxi. And he has 0 Range. I’m glad that he has the Avengers keyword, but he is a Theme play only; he’s not turning up in any sort of competitive environment. Even with Hydra Soldier’s existence, this is probably the worst piece in the set (especially since he costs so much more).

GRADE: 1 and 3/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

Ninwashui Says: He’s not as bad as HypeFox makes him out to be, but I have to agree with the idea that if you are actually playing him, you’re playing him because you like the character and not because you think he’s a powerful HeroClix figure. He does have 3 Clicks of Outwit followed by 3 Clicks of Perplex, so I can tell why he’s clocking in at 100 Points. But in a world where even a 43 Point Hand Ninja has Traits and Special Powers [EDITOR’S NOTE: And a Team Ability!], it’s hard to justify a dial that costs more than double and has none of those things unless the power set is just top notch. Vision’s power set, alas, is not.

GRADE: 2 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU012 Ultron MK1 — 120/65 Points — Core Hobby Rare:

Ninwashui Says: For 120 Points you get a character that hits hard, but with a low Attack Value. He also is good at absorbing damage with four clicks of Invuln, but he doesn’t match well with other figures in his point range unless you take his Trait into account (HIDDEN PROGRAMMING: Once per game, when a friendly character named Ultron Mk 1 is KO’d by an opposing character, you may roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. Increase the result by 1 for each character named Ultron Mk 1 or Ultron Prime that began the game on your force. Based on the result, place in your starting area: (4)-(5), place 012 Ultron Mk 1 on its yellow starting line. (6), place either 012 Ultron Mk 1 or 018 Ultron Prime on its blue starting line.). Basically, if you’re running any other Age of Ultron versions of him, then you will likely get him back in your Starting Area on Click one. His stats by themselves are average, but his synergy with other Ultron pieces is the real reason to play him.

His Rookie dial is kind of more of the same. You’d play it to fit in another Ultron on your force, but this dial will never see play otherwise.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (120 Point Dial); 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (65 Point Dial)

HypeFox Says: Kind of a must have piece if you’re trying to create an Ultron swarm. On its own, it’s average, but when you start running it with Ultron Prime or Ultron Sentry, it can really start to wear your opponent down.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (300 Point Dial); 2 and 3/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (250 Point Dial)

AAOU013 Black Widow — 80 Points — Mass Market Rare:

HypeFox Says: This is one of the stranger Black Widows we’ve gotten in recent years. On the plus side, she’s got a pretty decent AA Trait (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: When Black Widow hits one or more characters with an attack and actions resolve, the opposing player chooses: Opposing characters can’t attack Black Widow until your next turn or opposing characters can’t ignore pushing damage until your next turn.) and a cool Attack Special (WIDOW’S STING: When Black Widow hits with a ranged combat attack, after actions resolve, roll a d6. On a result of 4 – 6, Black Widow can use Incapacitate twice, each as a free action, but only to target a hit character.). On the negative side, she’s pretty much set up as a ranged attacker, but she’s only got a 4 Range and no move and attack. And if she can’t attack, her special powers are all wasted.

Having said that, like her former S.H.I.E.L.D. running buddy Hawkeye, much of what ails her can be fixed with a Resource or Relic (Mokk’s Hammer would solve almost all of her top dial problems).

So she has some potential in a Tactics environment, but in a game where you can’t use Resources or Relics, she’s gonna be a tough piece to use effectively. Chances are high that you won’t get out of her what you put into her.

GRADE: 2 and 3/4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

Ninwashui Says: She can really shine with an Avengers Themed Team around her, but you’re gonna have to team her up with a really effective Primary Attacker to distract the other team’s best offensive pieces and let her get a ranged attack (or two) off. Nearly full dial Stealth and intermittent Perplex make me like this version slightly more that her Starter pack counterpart (AAOU105 Black Widow, natch!). And, once again, AAOU015 Nick Fury‘s Special Power works really well with her as well.

GRADE: 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU014 Quicksilver — 63 Points — Mass Market Rare

Ninwashui Says: He’s the cheapest character in Modern right now with top dial Hypersonic Speed. When you compare him to 65 point FL001A The Flash you’ll see that he moves much farther and has a better chance of hitting because of his ability to use Probability Control on himself. This is also one of the few instances where I think it’s really nice for this character to have Force Blast. I can just imagine him flinging opposing support figures off rooftops or into walls. And let’s be honest, 18 Defense with Energy Shield/Deflection is pretty damn impressive for someone at his point level.

GRADE: 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: He’s been growing on me. I still don’t like that his Attack Value never exceeds “meh,” but his Damage Special (FAST ENOUGH TO TRY AGAIN: Quicksilver can use Probability Control, but only to reroll his own rolls.) means that he gets two shots at every attack roll. And an 18 Defense with ES/D is EXTREMELY good for any figure under 80 Points. He’s never going to do much damage, but at 63 Points he’s always going to be a Secondary Attacker at most. But depending on how you construct your army, he might even just be a third attacker on a 300 Point squad. And he’s perfect for that.

GRADE: 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU015 Nick Fury — 45 Points — Mass Market Rare:

HypeFox Says: So, we’ve already mentioned this guy three or four times, so you probably had an inkling that he’d be good. I think he’s possibly Meta, although he necessitates building an Avengers Themed Team around him. His Trait is great (I STILL BELIEVE IN HEROES: If Nick Fury is part of an Avengers Themed Team and has the lowest point value character on your starting force, he can use Leadership and Outwit. When he uses Leadership, he is considered 300 points.), since at 45 Points he will almost ALWAYS be the lowest point value character on an Avengers Themed Team. So you don’t even really need to alter your team any to fit him in, and in a 300 Point game his Leadership is guaranteed to work on whoever he’s next to as long as you make the roll. On top of that, since he has Avengers Initiative, his Outwit sees through Hindering Terrain!!

Oh, and speaking of rolls, Fury Attack Special (I RECOGNIZE THE COUNCIL HAS MADE A DECISION…: When an opponent makes a choice from an Avengers Assemble! Trait, you may roll a d6. On a result of 5 or 6, change the effect to the other option.) gives him a 33% chance to just completely wreck your opponent’s day. Remember how we mentioned how one-sided some of the Avengers Assemble! Traits were on the figures in this set? Well, if YOU suddenly get to make the choice for your opponent, those AA Traits become stratospherically better!

On top of all that, he has Willpower, Shape Change, Stealth and a native 3 Damage. This is a great package for just 45 Points.

GRADE: 4 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

Ninwashui Says: He is really only viable on an Avengers Themed Team, but if you’re playing one, he is almost an auto-include if you have the points. Even if your not using his Attack Special because you’re running him with non-AoU Avengers, just the fact that he gives you a working Leadership and Outwit while also being a competent Tertiary Attacker is pretty amazing. I’m not sure if Avengers Themed Teams will start showing up at major tournaments, but if they do, I’m pretty sure they’ll be running this Nick Fury.

GRADE: 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU016 Baron Strucker — 95 Points — Mass Market Rare:

Ninwashui Says: And finally we come to my top Want from this set. Sporting a creative and efficient dial, Baron Strucker is capable of changing a game just by himself. Like AAOU001 Iron Man, he can make himself a small army with just a few power actions via his Special Attack Power (WE LEARN SO MUCH FROM THEM…: Give Baron Strucker a power action if there are less than 4 friendly characters with the Test Subject keyword on the map. When you do, place a friendly AAOU004 Test Subject from outside the game on the map within 6 squares of him.). Unlike Iron Man, when Baron Strucker’s army dies, his Trait (THEIR SACRIFICE ENSURES OUR FUTURE: When a friendly character with the Test Subject keyword is KO’d put an Evolution token on Baron Strucker’s card. Modify Baron Strucker’s combat values +1 for every two Evolution tokens on his card.) ensures that the Baron gets stronger! Keep in mind that for a 95 Point piece, he was already sitting on some pretty good stats to begin with. Several of his Clicks sport a 10 Attack Value with 4 Damage. Now imagine if that got pumped up to a 13 Attack and 7 Damage–those are Hulk Smash numbers!

And he has Mastermind, so, depending on how you place your Test Subjects, it’ll be damn near impossible for most of your opponents NOT to KO some Test Subjects along the way to Baron Strucker, unless their pieces are just dripping with Precision Strike. And you get all this for just 1/3 of your 300 Point Build!!

I am already dreaming of playing this guy with DP054 Arnim Zola for some friendly Mind Control shenanigans or IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0 to turn those Test Subjects into Claymore mines. Oh, the destruction I’ll wreak…

GRADE: 5 Oxygen Filtration Masks

HypeFox Says: This is the piece I was referencing in my AAOU001 Iron Man writeup. Whereas the Iron Legion pieces have to come into play all the way back at your Starting Zone, Strucker here can place his Test Subjects wherever the hell he likes within a 6-Square radius! Think about how useful that is! Can’t get through that wall and into the room where your opponent is trying to heal his Primary Attacker back to full? Boom–now there’s a Test Subject adjacent to his healer. Who can make an attack on that same healer THIS TURN!! This ability is kind of like Deadpool’s Sheep Gun Word Balloon, only it’s about a thousand times more useful.

If Strucker’s Dial was crap except for that power, he’d still be good. But he’s got a great dial, and he gets stronger for every Test Subject that’s killed! You just need to get this man some Willpower!

I hate to say it again, but this is another near-Meta piece for me. More importantly, he’s going to be poop-tons of fun at house games…

GRADE: 4 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks

AAOU017 Hulkbuster — 300/225 Points — Core Hobby Chase:

HypeFox Says: Sort of a disappointing Chase, especially since we know we’re getting a comic version of the Hulkbuster armor one piece at a time in the Nick Fury and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. boosters this summer. But beyond that, his dial seems much more like a 200-250 Point character; at 300, you’re really only playing him in fun, epic games where you think you’re gonna run into other big’uns.

His AA Trait is actually pretty good (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!: Once per turn, when Hulkbuster hits one or more characters with a close combat attack and actions resolve, the opposing player chooses: Modify Hulkbuster’s defense value by +2 until your next turn or Hulkbuster may make a close combat attack as a free action against a hit target, modifying his attack value by -2 for the attack.), but his other Trait (DESIGNED TO PUT YOU DOWN, BRUCE: At the beginning of the game for all characters with this trait, choose an opposing character with :g-giant:, :g-colossal:, :a-team:, or :d-wheel:. That character can’t ignore pushing damage or have its combat values increased.) and his Defense Special Power (SHE IS BUILT TO FIGHT THE BIG ONES: Hulkbuster can use Invincible. When Hulkbuster is hit by an attack from a character with the :g-giant:, :g-colossal:, :a-team:, or :d-wheel:, modify that’s character’s damage value by -1 for the attack.) are geared specifically towards putting down Giant-sized or Colossal figures, Team Bases or Vehicles. If you’re playing 1000 Point Brawl where those figures are allowed, he’s well worth his Points. If you’re playing almost any other format, you probably overpayed for this dial by at least 50 Points.

His Rookie version is a little bit better, if only because it’s 75 Points cheaper. You lose two really good Clicks, but you’re also closer to his Hypersonic slots.

These pieces are slight misfires for me.

GRADE(S): 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (300 Point Dial); 2 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (225 Point Dial)

Ninwashui Says: I have to agree. You should only play this guy if you know in advance that you have a good shot at facing Giants or Team Bases–and even then I’m not sure that he’ll win that fight. Against Colossals, you’d do much better playing AVX104 Phoenixbuster Iron Man.

It’s not that this guy can’t win; it’s just that he’s a close combat piece that’s likely to get shot crossing the board and his combat values don’t hold up like they do with AAOU008 Hulk. He is also yet another figure above 200 points with no Outwit protection of any kind.

GRADE(S): 2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (300 Point Dial); 2 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (225 Point Dial)

AAOU018 Ultron Prime — 250/125 Points — Mass Market Chase:

Ninwashui Says: At 250 points there won’t be much room for support (other than maybe an AAOU007 Ultron Sentry) He can use Energy Explosion with 3 Bolts, but he doesn’t have Running Shot until his third Click. Until then, he’s stuck with Charge or Hypersonic Speed with a 9 Attack. Not horrible, but not worth 250 Points, either.

He’s meant to be a close combat figure and just like AAOU008 Hulk he will have a hard time crossing the board without being weakened (this seems to be a Chase theme this set!). And he’s 250 Points with no Outwit protection (another Chase theme!), only an 18 starting Defense Value and no Stop Clicks. Again, Transport Symbol is really wasted points here, unless you’re in love with low Attack Values for some reason.

His Experienced dial is a little better just by virtue of being able to pack in a lot more compatible supporting figs. His actual power set is still mostly incompatible (and, again, no Running Shot ’til Click 3), and Transport Symbol is still wasted here.

GRADE(S): 3 Oxygen Filtration Masks (250 Point Dial); 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (125 Point Dial)

HypeFox Says: I think I like him a little better than you do. Yes, he does not have an efficient power mix, but he’s not a pushover, either, and his Trait (HIDDEN PROGRAMMING: Once per game, when Ultron Prime is KO’d, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 5 – 6 place this character in your starting area on its blue starting line.) gives him a 33% chance to come back and haunt your opponent all over again.

That Trait works even better on his Experienced dial, since it brings him back all the way to his Starting Line.

GRADE(S): 3 and 1/2 Oxygen Filtration Masks (250 Point Dial); 4 Oxygen Filtration Masks (125 Point Dial)

Alrighty! There you have it–the longest article (by word count) we’ve ever published! We hope you enjoyed this look into Avengers: Age of Ultron, and make sure to come back for our Starter Review!

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

Team Ideas – As Good As Gold

March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

Peyton List (not the girl from Jessie) plays Golden Glider on the CW’s Flash. I’ll understand if you don’t read the rest of this article and just start searching for more about her on the internet. I can sympathize because I’ve been writing this caption for four hours.

Despite my excellent recommendation in my Flash Top 10, neither I nor Hypefox (my mostly evil almost-twin) have had a chance to try FL025 Golden Glider. Well, this past Wednesday at a constructed tournament at our local venue, Hypefox faced one and all he could talk about afterwards was how she made much of the board impassable to his team. That got me thinking about fun ways to use this piece. (Note: Singing songs from the movie Frozen is completely acceptable while playing Golden Glider. It’s a rule buried deep in the Official Rulebook Appendix under the “Acceptable Singing” section.)

Team Name: Space Invaders

Keyword Theme: None

Roster: FL025 Golden Glider, IIM038 Iron Man, IIM038 Iron Man, WOLR302 Red Lantern Ring, WOLR102 Power Battery (Red Lantern Corps), WOLR202.03 Mallet (Red), WOLR202.12 Spotlight (Red)

Total = 300 Points

How it Works: IIM038 Iron Man is completely untouchable at range as long as he’s in Hindering Terrain (or next to Blocking). And two of IIM038 Iron Man is even better than one. Why? In all of Modern Age, he only has to worry about: DP102 Bill, Agent of A.I.M., GOTG044 Shriek, and 023 Yondu. Each of the Iron Men will be packing a Red Construct that they like to keep handy for close encounters. FL025 Golden Glider is the best Hindering Terrain producer this side of WOL053 Swamp Thing, but at roughly 1/3 of the price. Her power is “FROZEN TRAIL: After Golden Glider moves and actions resolve, place up to 6 hindering terrain markers in squares she moved through. When a character occupying or adjacent to one of these markers attempts to move, it must attempt to break away as if the marker was a character that can use Plasticity and is friendly to Golden Glider.” That means her Hindering Terrain markers are really only passable by her own team. Because if the other team comes to you, you can break away and it will likely be the last time the opponent can move that character this game. Of course you could also stay right where you are and let Penetrating Poison do the work for you.

Because of the complete lack of Willpower on this team and the fact that Golden Glider can only create 6 Hindering Terrain tokens a turn this team will be making a slow, ominous advance up the board not unlike the video game Space Invaders. Advance 3 squares, rest, advance 3 squares, rest and repeat. Unlike Space Invaders, your opponent will not be firing at your approaching army. More than likely no attack will be possible. Just make sure to keep Golden Glider behind the Iron Men so that she is protected as well. If your opponent keeps running from you, don’t worry you will catch up eventually. As you continue to move Golden Glider the opponent’s available space to run will just keep getting smaller and smaller as the game goes on.

It’s Sequel Time!

Team Name: Revenge of the Nerfed 2.0

Keyword Theme: None

Roster: FL025 Golden Glider, GOTG047BR Thanosi, IIM051 Iron Pharaoh (1500 BC), WOLR104 Power Battery (Indigo Tribe), WOLR304 Indigo Tribe Ring, WOLR204.05 Crossbow (Indigo), WOLR204.01 Net (Indigo), WOLR204.06 Decoy (Indigo)

Total = 300 Points

How it Works: Wait, IIM051 Iron Pharaoh is on this team? Wasn’t he nerfed? Yes he was, but just like with WXM010 Shatterstar, that only makes me more determined. It’s true that after the nerf Iron Pharoah’s Falcon now has trouble catching up to a figure on its own. The new Trait reads, “GOLDEN FALCON, SOARING:When Iron Pharaoh is first placed on the map, place a Falcon special terrain marker in an adjacent square. The Falcon marker moves as if it is a character with the Flight ability. Give Iron Pharaoh a free action to either move this marker up to 3 squares or until the end of the turn, 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.” That’s a pretty big nerf (and you can certainly question whether Iron Pharaoh even needed to be nerfed to begin with), but–after copious amounts of testing in my lab–I’ve discovered that Iron Pharaoh’s Falcon will have no problem catching up to the opposing team if they aren’t moving around too much, which would render WizKids’s nerf… moot.

That’s where FL025 Golden Glider and GOTG047BR Thanosi help out. Golden Glider makes Hindering Terrain tokens and Thanosi turns any Hindering Terrain into a veritable wall, but only for the opposing team. His trait reads “BUILT TO TEST MY FOES: KA-ZAR: Opposing characters within range can’t ignore terrain for movement purposes.” That means that if they try to cross Golden Glider’s Hindering Terrain they stop dead and because her Hindering Terrain also acts like “a character that can use Plasticity and is friendly to Golden Glider“, that’s about the worst thing an opponent can do to themselves. All Thanosi has to do is be within his Range of 8 and any Hindering Terrain will stop any move action dead. Telekinesis and a placement power like Shatterstar has are the only ways to get through.

This Build features team members that are generally fairly hardy, so if your opponent wants to TK one character at a time close to you, then that should work out to your advantage. Especially considering that at least part of the opponent’s team will be stuck outside of the fight and because of the Indigo Constructs, everyone on your team has Support. Your opponent can’t even try to shoot you through the Hindering Terrain because of the Indigo Power Battery. It’s Emotional Spectrum Power doesn’t let an opponent hit you from range unless they are within four squares. If you’ve done everything right, they should be stuck in hindering much farther away then that.

The Decoy should be assigned to Golden Glider to keep her safe. The Net is even more effective then normal when assigned to Thanosi, and Iron Pharaoh should get the Crossbow to make sure that the Falcon is super effective.

This team is probably the more evil of the two; either way, have fun trying them out. I know I will!

What to Expect When You’re Expecting… a New Avengers Movie Set!! (Or, A Brief Look at What We Know About the Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Set!!)

March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 / HypeFox / 1 Comment

Well, here we are again, with news breaking just before a new set comes out. Thanks to Cool Stuff Inc. (and a few other sources), we now know plenty about the Core Hobby version of the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie set!!

I’ve been looking forward to this set for several reasons, none more so than the fact that the first Mass Market Avengers Movie Set is what got me back into Clix in the first place (bought a few on a whim–pulled a Loki Chase in my first pack and was hooked!).

A few quick notes before we get into the individual figures:

–We only really know the top dial for each character so far. That’s why we’re not handing out grades yet. This is strictly a preview/spoiler.

–Most of the core Avengers from the first film have a common Trait called Avengers Assemble! The effects vary with each character, but usually it makes your opponent choose between two effects every time your Avenger hits one or more of his characters. For example, Iron Man makes your opponent choose between letting you summon an Iron Legion figure or pumping up the Defense Value of all your friendly characters by +1. Not bad. Hawkeye’s is straight filthy (borderline broken!), but we’ll get to him in due time.

So, with that in mind, here is a list of figures that we know of so far, with some armchair analysis from yours truly:

001 Iron Man (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: He can be played at 250 or 185 Points. This seems to essentially be another version of ol’ Shellhead circa Iron Man 3, except they were able to give him some Traits and Special Powers (like “The House Party Protocol” and “The Clean Slate Protocol”) that may have been spoilers had this piece come out in that set. This Iron Man should play a little like Chaos War Gravity Feed Ultron in that Tony Stark can summon “Iron Legion” drones pretty easily.

He’s also a Transporter, which gives the 250-point version a top dial option of either Hypersonic Speed with a 10 Attack or a 12 Attack Running Shot that can cover 13 squares. And while he has no Improved Targeting, his Avengers Initiative Team Ability will let him bust Stealth all day long!

250 Points is almost your entire squad, but if you call in a few members of the Iron Legion to start the game, suddenly it’ll be a lot harder to out action you.

002 Iron Legion (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: Another holdover from Iron Man 3, this is basically one of the “empty shells” that Tony calls to his aid for the climax of that movie. It’s okay for its 50 point cost, but the fact that you can call them into play (depending on what you roll, it’ll either come in at full strength or on its yellow dial) for the cost of one power action if you’re playing Iron Man makes them an awesome bargain. His top dial has Running Shot (albeit with just a 5 Range), Toughness, 10 Attack, 3 native Damage and Enhancement. Plus Indomitable. Solid piece.

003 Captain America (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: He’s available for 125 or 80 Points, and he’s about what you’d expect: a competent close combatant. He has some vulnerability at range, but he’s got some tricks up his sleeve for opposing swarm teams. A solid close combat piece.

004 Test Subject (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: A 30-Point generic that’s comes with what are essentially 3 different dials, all of which offer at least something useful for his Points.

005 Thor (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: A brick that can pack a punch from range at either the 200 or 150 Point level. At some point on his dial he gets Energy Explosion, Pulse Wave or Penetrating/Psychic Blast. A little reminiscent of his AvX version, except with the Avengers Initiative Team Ability, this Thor can obliterate Stealthed foes as well.

006 Hydra Soldier (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: 60 Point foot soldier with the always useful Hydra Team ability and absolutely no Range Value of his own. Strange. For hardcore Hydra teams only.

007 Ultron Sentry (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: Basically the evil version of Iron Legion, this a drone that Ultron himself should be able to bring into being. Nothing too exciting.

008 Hulk (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

Analysis: We don’t know how many clicks this Hulk has, but it’s probably a lot. He dial comes in 3 sizes too: 300, 250 or 200 Points. He’s Giant Sized with no Range, so his Avengers Initiative Team Ability is almost wasted. But as much as any figure in this set, Hulk will really be made or broken by the values and length of the rest of his dial.

009 Hawkeye (Rare to Core Hobby)

Analysis: The figure of the set. He’s got the best Avengers Assemble! Trait (either all hit characters are dealt an additional 1 Unavoidable Damage after actions resolve, or Hawkeye doesn’t get an action token. Holy smokes, he’s good!!), he’s rocking a top dial of 8 Range with 3 Bolts, Sharpshooter, Sidestep, Stealth, Precision Strike, Willpower and 3 Damage! Triple Bolt Precision Strike WITH Avengers Intiative TA equals a bad day for your opponent! Plus, when he’s making a Range Combat attack, he pumps his Attack Value by +1 for each target (Yup! That means he can potentially have a 13 Attack!!). And, if he targets someone and hits them but decides to deal damage elsewhere, he can still give that hit character an action token. Genius!! All this for 94 Points!

When Chaos War Hawkeye was retired last year, I didn’t think we’d ever see his like again. Not only have we seen his like again, but it’s ANOTHER freaking Hawkeye!! Wizkids must hate Green Arrow…

This is the biggest Meta-baiting piece in the set that I have seen so far…

010 Scarlet Witch (Rare to Core Hobby)

Analysis: Finally an Avenger without the broken Avengers Assemble Trait. Sheesh! She’s only 55 Points, and, as you might expect, she’s a complete supporting piece, with Perplex top dial and Probability Control down dial.

011 Vision (Rare to Core Hobby)

Analysis: This is one of the coolest Vision sculpts ever. Having said that, he has NO Traits or Special Powers of any kind, so he’s kinda hard to judge until we get a look at his full dial.

012 Ultron Mk 1 (Rare to Core Hobby)

Analysis: A solid piece that can be played at 120 or 65, depending on circumstances. This figure also has a chance to resurrect itself once per game. 4 Damage top dial is niiiiiiiiice.

017 Hulkbuster (Core Hobby Chase)

Analysis: Your choice of either 300 or 225 Points of ass-whoop. He’s got a cool, unique sculpt, and his Avengers Assemble! Trait is almost as good. He’s a big can of beef that’s designed to take on other kinds of beef. Against other giant characters, he’s pretty fantastic. Against ordinary characters, not as much.

Some Final Notes:

Based on what we know, we are expecting the Target/Mass Market Rares to include:

–Baron Strucker (90% confident on this one)

–Black Widow (95% sure on this)

–Nick Fury (60% confident)

–Ultron Prime is probably the Mass Market Chase, but there’s a chance he could merely be another Mass Market Rare and that the Red Skull will be the Chase. We shall see!

Well, thanks for checking in with us! We’ll revisit this set (along with the Starter, which WizKids has officially started spoiling) in April!

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

(P.S.: That awesome artwork of Ultron sitting on the Lincoln Memorial was created by a guy named Matt Broox, apparently on a whim. It’s awesome! Hope you enjoyed it!)

This Ain’t your Father’s SuperFriends! (Or a Top Ten Set Review for Justice League Trinity War!!)

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 / ninwashui / 1 Comment

I’ve heard that this is pretty much what the Burning Man Festival looks like.

Some General Notes About the Set:

The Trinity for whom the set was named (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) each fielded their most powerful Clix versions ever. For as many times as those three characters have been made, that’s pretty impressive. [EDITOR’S NOTE: I dunno... the Justice League Strategy Game versions of the Trinity are pretty damn good too. That’s a close race. For example, JL:TW Batman can pick any standard Attack or Damage power with his Special Attack Power. JLSG Batman already can just USE almost every dang Standard Power in the game with his Special Attack Power. That’s Energy Explosion, Sidestep, Smoke Cloud, Regeneration and Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain. Oh, and he Ignores character when he Sidesteps. And he can go on the JL Team Base. And so on. The point is, both versions of the Trinity are fantastic.]
For as impressive as the Trinity were, their counter parts in the CSA were unimpressive. Ultraman is good, Superwoman is ok, and Owlman is just plain “not great”. That all changes in the Fast Forces however, where each of these characters was Clix’d much, much better.
This set featured several characters who come with ways of avoiding Outwit without needing the Quintessence TA. These pieces are: Ultraman, The Outsider (Prime), Lex Luthor, Black Adam, and Despero. [EDITOR’S NOTE: What’s The Grid, chopped liver? Granted, his power is situational depending on your opponent, but still!] I love this trend and they need to keep it going. With the amount of Outwit floating around in Modern right now I was starting to think characters with Impervious weren’t really worth playing. If a Defense Power is just going to get Outwitted anyway then you might as well have a cheaper one. These characters and future characters will hopefully start letting us play big point Impervious characters competitively again.
Keywords are starting to really matter. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Especially with the Entity keyword nerf!] There are a number of figures in this set that grant benefits to characters with the same keyword, more than I remember in any recent sets. John Constantine grants Stealth to Justice league Dark, Green Lantern gives the Justice League of America Sharpshooter, and Killer Frost protects Secret Society of Super Villain members from Steal Energy. There are many more. This is a nice bonus for a guy like me that usually plays keyword teams.
During our local sealed event for this set release a bunch of us had to look up what the CSA team ability did because we all remembered playing it, but it had been so long no one remembered what it actually did. Congrats to Wizkids for making something old fun and new again.
The CSA will be a lot better in a Tactics environment than a No Tactics format. Having a bunch of 3 point bystanders to put tokens on for their TA really helps ramp up their power level.
For the first time ever there is an Ultra Chase (Prime Chase?!) and you don’t need to own it to play competitively. JLTW069 White Rabbit is an interesting and effective piece, but I doubt she will be on any of the top teams at Nationals this year. Before it was revealed I was worried that the piece would be so uber that people wouldn’t be able to field a tournament competitive team without one. It would make amateurs like myself feel like we are no longer able to compete. When I get a feeling like that I tend to move on to other games. Bravo to Wizkids for making a cool figure, but not a Meta defining figure.
The Prime selections in this set weren’t great compared to the last three or four sets. Dr. Light is decent, but not overpowered. The Outsider was just okay (although, like I said, I like the Outwit protection). Freddy Freeman is actually pretty good. Nick Necro I am just not sold on – time will tell. However, the main /fail with the Primes in this set is that none of them were John Constantine with the power of Shazam. That happened in the comics (briefly) and had that figure been made it would likely have been my favorite in this whole set.

Why wasn’t this a Prime? Or an Ultra-Chase? Actually, if this was an Ultra-Chase, folks would riot.

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

[EDITOR’S NOTE: For the first time, we are including pieces from the relevant Fast Forces pack as being officially “part” of the set, and thus eligible for inclusion on this Top Ten list. Too many good pieces were falling through the cracks of our coverage because of their distinction as “Fast Forces” figures. Starting today and going forward, we believe this change will remedy that.]

5. JLTW029 Ocean Master – Atlantis Themed Teams are likely still not going to be vying for the top spots at Nationals this year, but because of this figure they are now much closer to being truly relevant. This is the best “Water Terrain-creating” figure ever produced. It will take him a 12 on his role at the start of the game to cover most maps entirely with water (only a 3% chance). However, on some maps the starting areas are in the corners and you can flood those starting at the side. Because maps are longer than they are wide if you can entirely flood a map from the side with an 8 or better on the tidal wave role. (42% chance).

The most likely scenario is that you role a 7 on the tidal wave role. In that case the first 14 rows of the board become water and the remaining 10 rows remain normal. For a lot of characters that’s all you’re going to need. Most characters gaining a bonus from water either just need to start there and can move out (TT015 Aquaman, ASM025 Manphibian, JLTW008 The Trench) or they can shoot from Water Terrain and hit enemies on dry land (JLTW028 Mera, FFLOD004 Black Manta, FI022 Nerkkod). That gives you a lot of options building a team.

For added fun pair him with GOTG047BR Thanosi and both traits together will practically drown the opposing team. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Hmmm… this is dangerously close to being clever.]

4. JLTW034 Element Woman – Defensively this may be the strongest character ever printed especially considering her point cost. Shape Change, Super Senses, and Impervious on her first clicks and then Impervious throughout. Because lets face it, you will be choosing Earth 95% of the time. Her lack of offense and Willpower is her downside. You could just use her as a really tough Barrier figure, but if your opponent is just ignoring her then I could see choosing Fire for a turn as a nice surprise. When she really comes into her own is with a Resource. A Hammer or a Green\Black construct could make her really ridiculous.

3. JLTW038 Hawkman – 12 starting Attack is always a good way to get me to notice a figure right away. With dice like mine, high Attack figures are a necessity if I want to be competitive. His full movement Charge that also allows for a post attack Sidestep (although you still need to hit your break-away roll) to activate his Energy Shield/Deflection are really great together. His weakness is that he’s meant to be played more like a speedster than Superman. He doesn’t hit very hard unless he’s standing still, but you are going to want to keep him moving to use his Energy Shield/Deflection.

2. JLTW042 The Grid – The Grid is just really effective for his point cost. His Outwit\Improved Shape Change combo along with his TA should protect him well against anyone who is can be targeted by Outwit. You could run him up and let an opponent focus on him (and miss) before using his Running Shot/Pulse Wave to retaliate on the following turn. With Probability Control and Outwit he’s competent support as well as a great secondary attacker. Two great tastes in one!

1. JLTW055 Tim Hunter – When I pulled this guy at our Sealed tournament I realized two things. The first was that he is completely useless in Sealed. Completely. The second is that this may be my favorite character in the set to try and build a combo team around. Ever since then I’ve been working on ideas. WOL050AE Spectre (Red Lantern) lets him be Untargetable at range. FL045 Etrigan the Demon grants Invincible, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Charge, and Exploit Weakness. JLTW053A John Constantine grants Stealth, Outwit (OR Perplex), and double Probability Control! Again, for emphasis, teaming him with John Constantine gives your side FOUR PROBS a turn!!

I’ve also been pondering how to get him to his 4th click. I’ve thought about having him follow an IM3105 Extremis Mercenary into battle. I’ve also considered using FL063 Phantom Stranger to Mastermind exactly 3 Damage (Phantom Stranger can Mastermind any amount of damage). I think I’ve settled on the easiest method being a White Lantern Battery and letting your opponent do the Damage for you.

My next Team Build article will likely feature him soon.

My Top 10 Figures of the Set:

10. JLTW053A John Constantine – If you are running a Justice League Dark team, he is practically a must play. While playing JL Dark he grants Stealth to any adjacent JL Dark friendlies. We’ve only seen that a few times before with FFDP004 Red Hulk, JLTW051 Batman, and BM001 Batman. Beyond that He’s got mystics TA, his choice of Outwit or Perplex, and that neat Special Damage Power that grants Probability Control twice per turn. We’ve only seen someone able to use Probability Control more than once per turn with FL047 Zoom. That’s pretty good company to be in.

An older more mature version of Freddy Freeman.

9. JLTW037B Freddy Freeman – Extremely effective for his points. He’s maybe enough just by himself to make a certain keyword that has largely been unseen at competitive events for ages start showing up again. That keyword is Teen Titans. (Most people forget there was a DC 5 figure pack set between Batman and SLoSH). But the best part about this figure is his ability to effectively heal when hurt. That and yelling Shazam when using Pulse Wave is totally worth it.

8. JLTW059 Despero – Despero’s stats for his point cost don’t quite measure up to other figures in his point range. However it’s his Trait that makes him great. “PSYCHIC JUGGERNAUT: Despero can’t be the target of Incapacitate, Mind Control, Outwit, or Penetrating/Psychic Blast by characters of a lower point value.” A giant 200 point character that is likely immune to Outwit and Psychic Blast can be really scary. Invincible and Impervious are really formidable if you can’t find a way to bypass them. At 235 points he also leaves enough room in a 300 point build for a good support piece.

7. Superman – For 250 points you get one of the toughest characters ever printed. One click of Invincible, seven clicks of Impervious, and two of Super Senses. 12 Attack, 19 Defense, and 5 Damage to start, plus Hypersonic Speed and Super Strength. He’s also a pseudo support figure with his Leadership Special and the ability to grant his TA to anyone in the Justice League. This is the Superman we’ve always wanted. His weakness is that he’s a 250 point character with absolutely no Outwit protection. Or should I say no protection other than breaking an Ultra Heavy object over an Outwitter’s head for 8 damage using Hypersonic speed. That happened to me in sealed and it turned out that it was all the Outwit protection Superman needed.

6. JLTW044 Power Ring – This is my sneaky pick for the most overlooked character in the set that will be showing up in the Meta later. When you look at him you might think that he’s not a very good attacker for 70 points… and you’d be right. However this guy is really a support piece. Don’t think of him like a 70 point attacker, think of him as a better version of FFDP006R Mercy or WOL007 Blue Lantern Recruit (with a little bit of DP048 Blink and FFFL003 Mirror Master thrown in for good measure) and you’ll start to get the picture of how you can use him most effectively…

5. Martian Manhunter – At 300 points he can’t stop you from Outwitting his powers – if you can see him at all. Better hope your character with Outwit can see through Stealth. Otherwise it’s going to be a really long game. I faced this guy in sealed with Superwoman and Sea King. After a few turns of him beating on me he decided to just go toe to toe with me to save time. I did get lucky and hit him once, but the game was never in doubt.

Think of it this way – when you target him you need to get past Stealth and he has Hypersonic Speed so close combat attacks are hard to line up. Then 1/3 of the time Shape Change stops your attack. Then you have to try to hit a 19. Even with a 12 attack that’s a 42% miss chance. Then he uses Probability Control and you have to hit that 19 again. Finally, if you get past all of those obstacles then he STILL has a 1 in 3 chance of making you miss with Super Senses. It’s been too long since I took any kind of college math for me to add that all up, but I’d say the chances of the average figure doing damage to him is extremely low.

4. FFJLTW002 Owlman (Fast Forces) – Fast Forces FFJLTW001 Ultraman, FFJLTW003 Superwoman, and FFJLTW006 Deathstorm are all very good figures, but this easily the best of the Fast Forces CSA bunch. His dial is top notch. INTO THE SHADOWS is pretty effective on the right map and ALL CRIME PROFITS ME IN THE END grants him Mastermind. I love Mastermind on figures that I actually want to keep healthy, and I don’t like it on figures like FL034 Amanda Waller or SLOSH050 Toyman. I’m not sure which dial (Point level) I like best, but his 100 Point version makes a very effective support character with Probability Control, Empower, Enhancement, and Outwit.

Just like JLTW055 Tim Hunter, this guy brings a lot of good ideas to mind for fun team building. I’ve finally found a good way to play a lot of my favorite characters from the Batman Arkham Orgins set. Or, he can be the head of a Gotham City Police team like DKR100 Batman used to do. He can even combine everything into one team like TDW015 Duhg. Do WXM023B Cerise and BMAO021 Bane make good team mates on a Gotham City Underworld team? You can find out. My Recommendation is to try FFJLTW002E Owlman, FL046E Harley Quinn, and JLTW051 Batman. That Gotham Underworld Themed Team can pump Batman up to 6 Damage with a 12 Attack and have one or two uses of Probability Control in case Batman does miss.

3. JLTW049 Sinestro – If you field a team with JLTW049 Sinestro on it then any character you face with the Quintessence team ability is at an incredible disadvantage. Even without that coming into play, Sinestro is well worth his points. He starts with Running Shot and Pulse Wave which is great on offense. But his best power may be his Special Damage Power which reads “FEAR THE SINESTRO CORP: Sinestro can use Perplex, but only to decrease combat values. Until your next turn, a character targeted by this Perplex can’t target Sinestro unless the targeted character or Sinestro are the only characters on their force on the map.” That means you can keep your opponent’s best figure from targeting Sinestro until you’ve wiped out the rest of his team. As an added bonus he has Injustice League, Legion of Doom, Ruler, and Sinestro Corps keywords so there are tons of good characters that share a keyword with him. And the Parallax Entity can make any character over 25 points share a keyword with Sinestro.

For added fun play him with JLTW033E Lex Luthor. Whomever you target with Perplex will literally just have to sit there while Sinestro tears their team apart.

Technically this is Wiz Kids profits from selling HeroClix as opposed to Greed the character, but you get the idea.

2. JLTW065 Greed – HypeFox has been talking up this guy ever since the set came out. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually, I’ve been talking him up since he showed up on the Units page a couple of days before JL: TW was even released. So there!] He has the two best TAs in the game and one of the coolest Mind Control powers I’ve ever seen (Try to Mind Control someone with Running Shot so they can take a shot and end their movement next to you!) But the real reason that he is the best of the 7 deadly sins is that similar to SLOSH047B Black Witch he can provide Relics for your team in a No Resource environment and he’s half the cost of SLOSH047B Black Witch. I’d recommend AVXS103 Fragment – Colossus (for Poison, Flight, and Invulnerability), JLTWR101A Envy (for Sidestep, Energy Shield/Deflection, and Attack Value replacement), or FIS102 Mokk’s Hammer (for Running Shot, Plasticity, and +2 attack), or FIS107 Angrir’s Hammer (for Steal Energy, Toughness, Regeneration, and +2 attack). Additionally, he provides the JLTWS104 Greed relic to someone else on your team and you can still play a Resource! That brings him up to a total of 83 points and even considering his short dial, you’re still getting an incredible deal.

I'm not even in this set, but I'm still in this article. Why? Because... I'm Batman!!!

I’m the best figure ever. Why? Because… I’m Batman!!!

1. JLTW051 Batman – This is the best version of Batman ever created. Considering how many good version of Batman there are, that’s really saying something. He is the only character I am aware of that can have all the best support powers at once without outside help (Outwit, Perplex, Probability Control, and Telekenesis). At 150 points he’s a competent primary attacker with support capabilities and at 85 points he’s the best support character ever printed. During close combat situations he can choose Pulse Wave and Shape Change or Blades and Exploit weakness if other characters are around. He can even throw in Steal Energy if necessary. In ranged combat he has Running Shot and he can choose Pulse Wave, Ranged Combat Expert, or Close Combat expert. Add to all that the fact that he can use support with a 12 printed attack and Probability Control which likely makes him the best healer ever in addition to everything else. He doesn’t give you quite an many options as FL060 Engineer or GOTG062 Super Skrull, but his already existing abilities and great stat values make him equal or exceed those characters. All of this together makes him the best character in the set.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the Comments section below!

Heat Check: Wordplay!! (Or, The Top Ten Named Keywords in Modern Age… Right Now!! PART TWO!!)

March 18, 2015 / HypeFox / 1 Comment

Hello again! We’re back for Part 2 of our countdown of the best 10 Named Keywords in Modern Age… RIGHT NOW!!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: If you missed numbers 10-6 and want to catch up, click here!]

5. Thunderbolts

We Are Legion!: 32 pieces with 37 different dials (Man-Thing alone has 3!).

Uncle Sam Wants You!: None that I am aware of.

Also Known As: Yup. And, just like the Heroes for Hire ATA, it costs 8 points per character and it’s pretty awesome. Basically, at the beginning of the game, you choose any other Marvel TA (that’s not an ATA, Wild Card TA or an uncopyable TA), and everyone with the Thunderbolts keyword on your team gets that Team Ability. In most cases, this means that you’re choosing Mystics or Avengers Initiative, but you don’t have to decide until the game begins, which means you can scope out your opponent’s team and choose the TA that will be most helpful.

Is your opponent playing some short-dialed pieces that hit hard? Choose Mystics. Are you playing against a Batman Family theme team? Choose Avengers TA. Are you playing a Punisher or Deadpool-led ranged attacking team? Maybe Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D. will do the trick. Do you want everyone on your team to have Phasing/Teleport? Well… you can’t. Cuz Serpent Society is no longer an official Team Ability–like Morlocks, it is now an ATA and, thusly, sadly ineligible to be copied. All of which just goes to prove my theory: ~~Germans love David Hasselhoff~~ WizKids hates the Serpent Society!

Working Together!: No team base, although, oddly, several of their pieces (Red Hulk, Deadpool) fit on the Avengers Team Base.

Prime Time!! Prime Time!!: None.

Straight, With Chaser: None.

Shadow of the Colossus: None (Sheessh! How ’bout some more Thunderbolts love, WizKids? We need a Colossal Atlas! Well, not really… ).

Micro Machines: A lot of great pieces under 100 Points, but only 1 dial that qualifies for this: Fast Forces Rookie Mercy, who clocks in at an even 50 Points.

Who Let You In?!: Has to be Kuurth, from Fear Itself. Sure the Juggernaut was a member of the Thunderbolts, but I don’t remember too much Thunderboltin’ around by ol’ Juggs when he was the thrall of the Serpent! Weird that this version of Juggernaut would have the Thunderbolts keyword.

Why Thunderbolts Is #5: Cuz I like them just a tiny bit better than Heroes for Hire, a group with which they share a good many key members. But after the HfH ATA nerf, you’re usually better off playing most of these pieces as Thunderbolts. Plus, you gain access to some Meta pieces like Bullseye, who’s tough to play on a Modern Age Themed Team any other way now that Entities have been nerfed (unless you want to team him with Convention Exclusive Moonstone, M10 Green Goblin or–nope, that’s it. Those are ALL your Modern Age Dark Avengers choices.).

Having played some of these pieces recently, both the Fast Forces and main set version of Elektra that we got in Deadpool were great, and Venom and Deadpool himself have their uses, but holy gawd is the main set Punisher good. Just playing him for 100 Points is a good move, but playing him on a Themed Team that allows you to give him Avengers Initiative for 8 measly point turns him into an absolutely remorseless killing machine.

Which, I suppose, is comic accurate.

Must Have Pieces: Speed Demon, Bullseye, Deadpool Fast Forces Mercy, Deadpool Main Set Punisher–hell, pretty much all of the Deadpool set.

4. X-Men

We Are Legion!: Whoa! 110 figures with over 134 dials between them!! Holy Schnikes, That’s even more than the Avengers.

Uncle Sam Wants You!: No recruiter, although with a roster list that long, they don’t need one.

Also Known As: Until very recently, none. Now? 3 different ones from which to choose: X-Men: Gold, X-Men: Blue & X-Men (Utopia). They’re all kind of utilitarian (they all kind of revolve around positioning and or Leadership), and each one seems to work much better if you have some version of Cyclops on your team. If you want to play a non-Cyclops X-Men Themed Team, maybe don’t worry so much about the ATA’s…

Working Together!: Wow. Not 1 Team Base… not 2… how about 3 FREAKING TEAM BASES!! Good Lord! And if New Mutants wasn’t a keyword in and of itself, they’d have 4!

Prime Time!! Prime Time!!: Yup! 2. I bet you remember good ol’ Vampire Jubilee from Wolverine and the X-Men; what you may have forgotten is that the Magneto Prime from that very same set (the Rare Prime) ALSO has the X-Men keyword.

Straight, With Chaser: 6. The Phoenix Five Chases from WXM and… Skrull Wolverine from M10!! In larger point games, the Phoenix Five start to get really broken really quickly. In 300 Point games, Rookie Magik is probably your best bet at 150 Points.

Shadow of the Colossus: Dark Phoenix Cyclops, the Grand Prize from AVX! He can be played at 3 different point levels; his 300 Point level is okay, but his 750 Point level and 1000 Point level are especially deadly.

Micro Machines: Four different members are 50 Points or less, including Prime Jubilee and Moira MacTaggert, one of the best healers in the game!

Who Let You In?!: Pretty solid roster, actually, but I’m gonna go with Husk. While she was certainly part of the official X-Men roster for awhile, she always took a back seat to her brother (Cannonball) in terms of notoriety, and her powers were just plain weird (she basically has the power to shed dead skin like a snake, which, um, allows her to, uh, do stuff). You could almost tell that the writers didn’t know what to do with her either, since they eventually just had her go crazy and, then, when she finally got better, they just had her go away.

Why X-Men Is #4: Because, right now, they have pretty much the largest roster in the game. You can go so many different ways with them and still be competitive. Plus, with so many versions, you can probably play your favorite roster and still be squarely in the Modern Age.

People always talk about the great Avengers pieces we got in AVX, but the X-Men did just as well! And Banshee (my #1 Figure from Deadpool) is ridiculously good for his points.

Must Have Pieces: Banshee is a Meta stud, Prime Jubilee, Gambit can fuel some shenanigans, AVX Cyclops, AVX Magneto, Dark Phoenix, Dark Phoenix Cyclops, DoFP Moira MacTaggert.

3. S.H.I.E.L.D.

We Are Legion!: 47 pieces with 51 different dials. This is a sneaky big roster!

Uncle Sam Wants You!: Yes, of a sort. G.W. Bridge will add any character of 150 Points or less to an already existing force of five, provided that the first five characters all share a keyword. In 300 Point games, that’s pretty much gonna be either Soldier or S.H.I.E.L.D., but this Trait starts to get real interesting in larger point games.

Also Known As: Yup! It extends the minimum Range of Outwit, Perplex and Probability Control for just 3 Points per character. It’s incredibly useful, since S.H.I.E.L.D. characters almost always have at least one of those abilities.

Working Together!: No team base.

Prime Time!! Prime Time!!: You betcha! Remember Brother Voodoo? Yup. He’s also got the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword. Along with Deathlok Prime (heavy hitter from range) and War Machine Prime (heavy hitter from, well, everywhere).

Straight, With Chaser: 2 Chases. The aforementioned Captain America and Black Widow Chase from CATWS, and the, uh, also aforementioned Captain America Skrull Chase from M10.

Shadow of the Colossus: Currently none, but if and when WizKids ever wises up and creates an actual Helicarrier vehicle piece…

Micro Machines: 4. A S.H.I.E.L.D. Soldier. 2 different Agents and Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales) from ASM.

Who Let You In?!: As much as I love the character, since when is Sleepwalker an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Why S.H.I.E.L.D. Is #3: Because S.H.I.E.L.D. teams are some of the most effective teams out there, and they cater to a bunch of different play styles. From big bruisers like Iron Man 001 to War Machine Prime, to smaller, tricky pieces like Brother Voodoo and Agent Sitwell.

Speaking of the agents themselves, each one brings a different set of skills to your team. Sitwell offers a Power Action group Perplex and Sidestep to adjacent characters; Agent 13 can cancel any defensive powers used by adjacent opposing characters; Black Widow can steal opposing Themed Team Probs; Nick Fury can steal the placement of opposing objects; Maria Hill can Outwit opposing characters from across the board (under certain circumstances). And so on.

Beyond the fact that many of these figures are not only fun to play but also tourney tested, you’ll find some of the more unique powers in the game belong to pieces with the S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword.

Must Have Pieces: Brother Voodoo, Captain America and Black Widow, Agent Sitwell, Agent 13, M10 Iron Man, Living Mummy.

2. Justice League

We Are Legion!: 80 separate characters with 111 different dials!

Uncle Sam Wants You!: No recruiter.

Also Known As: 4 separate ATA’s, although Justice League Dark is kinda obsolete (and was only “okay” to begin with).

“Justice League” is actually kind of sneaky good; for a measly 1 Point per character, it pumps up member defenses by +1 whenever they’re attacked by a character with the Wing, Sharpshooter, Indomitable or Giant combat symbols (just think about how many Meta pieces have one of those symbols for a second–almost all of them will have either Wing or Indomitable).

Working Together!: Yup! It was the original OP Team Base that dominated the tourney scene. It’s a bit obsolete now, but really only because we’re just coming off of a ROC season that banned Team Bases.

Prime Time!! Prime Time!!: 2. Dark Flash and The Caped Crusader. Dark Flash is perfectly respectable for his points; The Caped Crusader has seen some tourney play.

Straight, With Chaser: While there is a metric poop-ton of Super Rares on the roster, there isn’t actually a Chase piece.

Shadow of the Colossus: Believe it or not, none (The Bug is a “Giant” figure and Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet–a FREAKING JET, mind you–is considered to be normal-sized.

Micro Machines: 4. Crime Syndicate Fast Forces Atomica, Oracle, Rookie Batgirl… and Autopilot Invisible Jet. By the way… 50 Point Autopilot Invisible Jet HAS 10 CLICKS!! Sure, you say, but it’s just a glorified taxi. Uh, Invisible Jet has Pulse Wave on its last 4 Clicks (Range is 6) and a 10 Attack Value on its last 4! Whaaa… ? For 50 Points? How has this not been used more?

Who Let You In?!: I gotta be honest, I never really “got” Geo-Force. I know he has a 35 year history at this point, but I’ve never thought to myself, “Man, I really want to build a Justice League team from the Ge0-Force era!” I mean, even among his fans, he’s thought of more as an Outsider, no?

Why Justice League Is #2: Because there is elite-level quality all up and down their roster. Yeah, most of that quality is named Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, but so what? Each of those characters has no less than 3 awesome versions in Modern right now (actually, those Tab-App figures weren’t bad either–maybe that should be 4 awesome versions!).

Justice League: Trinity War alone added a 5-star Batman and a 5-star Superman. With the addition of Ultra-Heavy objects to the game, Trinity War Veteran Superman can Hypersonic 12 spaces across the board and potentially deal 8 freaking damage! And he’s backed up by a 19 Impervious. A dial like this probably would have cost 300-350 Points as recently as two years ago, but somehow WizKids thinks he’s fair at 250. I’m not saying Supes will destroy the tourney scene (figures who cost more than 200 Points and are not named “Sentry and Void” tend not to do so well at tournaments), but even with his high cost he is a VALUE for his points. Batman is probably even better (we’ll talk more in depth about both these pieces in our JL:TW Top Ten Set review).

But beyond the Trinity, Justice League has access to really special pieces like JL:TW Lex Luthor, that Team Base, and much more. Big point games simply allow you to use your pieces at full strength, but even in 300 Point games, this keyword is very competitive.

Must Have Pieces: Team Base, JL:TW Batman, JL:TW Superman, Fast Forces Atomica, JL:TW Lex Luthor, Elongated Man and The Flash from Flash.

1. Green Lantern Corps

We Are Legion!: 32 different characters featuring 36 different dials.

Uncle Sam Wants You!: Yup–Ion is a Possessor, so you can induct any Modern Age character you want into the Corps (I’d suggest Speed Demon, but then I always suggest Speed Demon for everything).

Also Known As: 1 ATA, The Green Lantern Honor Guard. At 5 Points per member, it’s actually a pretty expensive and very situational +1 buff to Attack Value.

Working Together!: No Team Base. This could change in the future, as I’m sure fans will clamor for it, but that’s assuming that WizKids even makes Team Bases in the future.

Prime Time!! Prime Time!!: Oh, they’ve got Primes. 4 to be exact. Laira Prime was one of the key pieces on the 2014 World Championship winning team, and she’s maybe the THIRD best prime with the keyword. Abin Sur and Tomar Tu are both better; regardless, all FOUR GLC Primes can use the extremely awesome “CONSTRUCT” Trait.

Straight, With Chaser: Ion is the lone Chase, but during his peak, he was going for over $200–he’s that good. As a Possessor, that is.

Shadow of the Colossus: None.

Micro Machines: 2 besides Ion when used as a Possessor. Green Lantern Recruit is pretty good; Abin Sur Prime is probably the best 50 Piece in Modern (although that’s deceiving, since you need to add another 8-10 Points for his Construct Trait).

Who Let You In?!: It’s not that they shouldn’t have made Simon Baz; his WOL LE was great! I just don’t need another, frankly inferior Simon Baz just two sets later.

Why Green Lantern Corps Has to Be #1: Because no other keyword has put more pieces in more high level tournament Top 8’s (ROC, World Championship, etc.). LE Kyle Rayner is almost silly he’s so good. All the WOL Primes are great; Abin Sur and Tomar Tu are ridiculously effective for their points.

The fact that the CONSTRUCT Trait is so good is really what powers their success, especially in ROC tourneys. And they have no less than 11 different pieces that can use that Trait!

Even in tournaments where Resources are allowed, the Green Power Battery interacts so well with their keyword that almost any GLC figure will be able to punch above its weight with ease. If you’re rolling into a major tournament, you better have a plan for dealing with the Corps!

Must Have Pieces: Ion, LE Kyle Rayner, Abin Sur, Tomar Tu, Laira, Parallax (Hal Jordan).

JUST MISSED THE CUT: Justice League of America (too top heavy–lots of quality from the best pieces, but that quality thins out pretty quickly); Justice League Dark (John Constantine is awesome, and the pieces all have synergy with each other, but the roster is simply too thin right now. There’s really only a few different ways to go if you want to be even mildly competitive. Now, if you just want to play some cool figures and have a lot of fun, they’re aces!); Kree (just missed out–again, a lot of synergy, and it’s overflowing with really good Ronan pieces from the GotG Movie Set).

So, there ya go! Those are your Top 10 Named Keywords in Modern Age… RIGHT NOW!! Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the Comments below!

And look for our Justice League: Top 10 Set Review and Second Opinion articles coming later this month!

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