The Ghost of Christmas Present Presents… The Top Eleven Most Valuable Figures of 2017!! (Or, The Seventh Night of Clix-Mas!!)

December 19, 2017December 19, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Clix-Mas 2017, wherein we here at Critical Missives rather foolishly try to provide you with twelve different articles in twelve days, all brought to you by either the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, or the Ghost of Christmas Future! If you need to catch up with our intro to all of this, the first Night of Clix-Mas 2017 can be found right here! And we announced a new Holiday Scenario for our local venue on Night Two! And the Ghost of Christmas Past named a few of his favorite things from the past Clix year right here! On Night Four, the Ghost of Christmas Present left us his Top Ten Figures from Star Trek: Away Team!! Then, the Ghost of Christmas Future gifted us some Irresponsible Speculation about IndyClix!! Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Future came back yesterday and talked about licensed properties that would make great Clix sets!]

It’s Night Seven of the Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas!!

Today, just for poops and giggles, we’re gonna look at the Heroclix secondary market and determine which figures were the most valuable pieces released this year!

Now Heroclix usually follows the secondary market pattern of most other collectible games: high prices upon release; a big price dip two to four weeks after release; and then usually a tiny rebound that flattens into a plateau thereafter.

But every now and then, some pieces buck this trend, and it’s not always related to how competitive a piece is.

This is the story of the twelve most valuable pieces released by Wizkids in 2017.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: A quick caveat: there’s hundreds, if not thousands of places to buy Heroclix out there. For today’s purposes, we’re going to narrow it down and just compare prices from two of the larger outlets: eBay and Troll & Toad. Beyond that, your mileage may vary.

Finally, obviously this pricing research is current. If you’re actually living in the future and looking back at this article, just think of it as a snapshot of where the Heroclix secondary market at the end of 2017!]

11. DXF065 Pirate Deadpool — $63 – $89.95 on eBay; $54.99 on Troll & Toad;

Deadpool and X-Force was a big hit when it came out in March. The Chases all have synergy with each other, and after the release dust settled, Pirate Deadpool turned out to be the most valuable of the Chases (well, sort of–keep reading for the exception).

Having said that, Pirate Deadpool is a good piece that doesn’t specifically have any Meta implications. This valuation seems to be mostly fueled by the piece’s scarcity combined with the fact that it’s Deadpool in a pirate outfit (which, granted, is pretty cool).

10. EW050 Superman — $64.99 – $109.95 on eBay; $59.99 on Troll & Toad (1 left);

The Dark Knight Returns Chases from Elseworlds were all great pieces; this particular Superman is an absolute beast. His value is also helped by the existence of the Thor equipment, which gives him viability as an essentially one-man army (Thunderball’s Wrecking Ball or Thor’s Mjolnir make this Supes ridiculously deadly).

9. TMTG004 Carnage — $55 – $100 on eBay; $64.99 on Troll & Toad;

Almost all of the Colossals from The Mighty Thor are great; this one combines an absolutely murderous dial and power set with the fact that it features one of Spidey’s most popular villains in a way that we’ve never seen him before in the game.

8. EW049 Green Arrow — $73 – $109.95 on eBay; $79.99 on Troll & Toad;

Another Dark Knight Returns Chase from Elseworlds. This piece was going to be popular regardless; the fact that he’s among the best Call-In characters in the game meant that his value shot up into the $80’s and pretty much sat there. I don’t think it’ll come down until he rotates in 2019–and even then, he may not come down a ton.

7. TMNT3035 Shark Shredder — $??? on eBay (none for sale); $89.99 on Troll & Toad (also Out of Stock);

This beastly Chase was immediately popular with Turtles fans. It’s a great piece in its own right; it’s also needed for the Ocean Resurrection Trait on the Rare Shredder Clone (which is another great piece).

This valuation seems to be a combination of both character popularity and competitive usefulness.

6. TMNT3033 Mini Shredder — $88.00 – $99.99 on eBay; $99.99 (Out of Stock) on Troll & Toad;

See above. Mini Shredder has shown up on a lot of ROC teams on his own.

5. HQ062 Batman, God of Knowledge — $103.36 – $117.53 on eBay; $99.99 (Out of Stock) on Troll & Toad;

Haven’t seen him make a huge difference in the Meta right now. His possible application as a Uni-Mind “silver bullet” seems fine in theory until you look at the rest of his dial and compare it to his point cost.

Still, it’s a Batman Chase, so demand should continue to be high.

4. ADW067 Hawkeye — $94.99 – $124.99 on eBay; $124.99 (Out of Stock) on Troll & Toad;

His Movement Special (RAPID-FIRE TRICK SHOOTING: Hawkeye can use Running Shot. Each time Hawkeye hits an opposing character with a range attack, after actions resolve, he can use Running Shot again as a free action, but only to target a character that wasn’t attacked this turn.) makes him very useful for his points. It’s also a cool sculpt.

3. TMT061 Thor — $119.99 – $153.95 on eBay; $106.99 -$124.99 on Troll & Toad;

While I’ve decided that this particular Thor is better than I initially gave him credit for, this value is being completely driven by the broken Mjolnir equipment that comes with him.

2. HQ063 The Flash, God of Death — $110 – $147.98 on eBay; $139.99 on Troll & Toad;

Probably the most useful of the recent Darkseid War Chases. Still, when Harly Quinn’s prices finally drop a bit, I expect his value to sag enough for Thor to take back the #2 slot.

1. DXF069 Deadpool — $??? (none available) on eBay; $229.99 (Out of Stock) on Troll & Toad;

Deadpool on a unicorn. What more needs to be said? This Ultra-Chase is among the most valuable pieces Wizkids has ever made!

And don’t forget to park it right back here tomorrow for more of the Twelve Night of Clix-Mas!!

The Ghost of Christmas Present Is Going on a Star Trek!! (Or, The Top Ten Figures in Star Trek: Away Team!!)(Or OR The Fourth Night of Clix-Mas!!!)

December 17, 2017December 17, 2017 / HypeFox / 2 Comments

Welcome to Night 4 of The Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas!!

Today we’re diving right in to a Top Ten Set Review of Star Trek: Away Team!

So, without further ado, here are…

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN STAR TREK: AWAY TEAM!!

10. STAT009 Nurse Chapel — 15 Points — Common: Does what it says on the box. She has sneaky good mobility (notably from having Sidestep on each click) and a special Support that heals Starfleet personnel a click more than everyone else. Willpower means that she can attempt a heal two out of every three turns–which she may need to given that her Attack tops out at 9. Still, this is a pretty useful package for just 15 Points.

9. STAT022 Yeoman Rand — 25 Points — Common: Very similar to Nurse Chapel, except her Special Power (Can I Help You Captain?: POWER: Remove an action token from an adjacent friendly character of 50 points or less. If that character has the Starfleet keyword, it may be a character of 100 points or less instead.) allows her to take away action tokens.

This can be very useful if you’re building around it. Her top dial Willpower means its a trick you can keep running, too.

8. STAT026 Captain Kirk — 100 Points — Rare: One of the three (THREE?!?) Title Characters in this set, Captain Kirk has a long dial (8 clicks), Running Shot/Pen/Psy, Indomitable, Super Senses and Leadership… and that’s before you even get to his Title Character abilities.

His master ability actually lets him “Beam In” Starfleet characters from outside of the game! It takes awhile to build up, but it’s not impossible to beam in extra 40 or 50 point piece in a regular game. Pretty impressive.

7. STAT029 Lt. Uhura — 40 Points — Rare: One of the best supporting pieces in the set, Uhura costs 5 more points than KC Green Lantern on Tower Mode, but also offers a bit more.

First, her Trait (Communications Officer: At the beginning of the game, you may choose a copyable team ability that an opposing character can use. As long as Lt Uhura is on the map, adjacent friendly characters and friendly characters with the Starfleet keyword can use that Team Ability.) is reeeeeallly good on a Starfleet Themed Team.

(Incidentally, more than a few of the pieces in Star Trek: Away Team seem like they’ll get even better as more faction options become available upon the release of future sets.)

Second, her Perplex Special (Monitoring All Channels, Captain: Perplex. When Lt Uhura uses it, she has a range value of 10 and can use Targeting: Ignores Hindering, Elevated, Blocking.) is, for my money, one of the best in the game. It’s even better than KC Green Lantern’s when you consider the fact that she can actually move via Sidestep or normal movement, whereas Green Lantern is stuck in one place the whole game.

6. STAT038 Uhura (Mirror Universe Version) — 75 Points — Super Rare: And then there’s the more lethal version of Uhura from the “Mirror, Mirror” universe.

She has two things that make her stand out.

First, her awesomely-named Trait (Assassination Of Superiors Is A Common Means Of Advancing In Rank: FREE: Choose an adjacent opposing character of 100 points or less. That character can’t use defense powers until the beginning of your next turn.) makes her the new Winter Soldier Agent 13.

Second, her second and third clicks are absolutely LETHAL when combined with her Trait. She has both Flurry and B/C/F on both clicks, which she can use to absolutely end figures that cost three times as much as her.

Finally, her Mirror Universe Team Ability is basically Mystics, so she’ll even do penetrating damage on her way out.

5. STAT036 Mr. Spock — 100 Points — Rare: While his dial is not bad, the main reason Mirror Mirror Spock is this far up the list is his awesome Barrier Special (Agony Booth: Barrier. When Mr. Spock uses it, after resolutions if an opposing character is adjacent to 4 of his Barrier markers, roll a d6 and deal that character penetrating damage equal to half the result.).

So, wait, for 100 Points I can completely shut down my opponents best character by surrounding that piece with four Barrier tokens AND squeeze in up to 3 penetrating damage at the same time?! Sign me up!!

4. STAT048 Khan — 100 Points — Chase: Some of the guys I play with were slightly disappointed with his dial, but I like it. Primarily because of his sweet Damage Special (Although Your Abilities Intrigue Me, You Are Quite Honestly Inferior.: FREE: Choose a standard damage power that an opposing character within range can use. Khan can use that power until your next turn. If you choose Outwit, Perplex or Probability Control, also modify his combat values +1 until your next turn. Khan has PROTECTED:Outwit.).

He’s slightly dependent on the pieces that your opponent is playing, but he can punch above his weight in the right matchups.

3. STAT043 Gorn — 100 Points — Super Rare: A relentless close combat monster, Gorn is ten clicks long for just 100 Points. He only has one Special (it’s on Defense) that doesn’t show up until halfway through his dial (Bare-Handed Against The Gorn, I Have No Chance.: Toughness. At the beginning of your turn, heal Gorn 1 click. Protected: Outwit.).

But his dial becomes reeeaaaallly interesting when you equip him with Proteus. If ever there was a piece that didn’t care about that possible one damage a turn from Proteus, it’s Gorn. And with +1 to all stats, Gorn becomes even that much harder to deal with.

2. STAT037 Charlie X — 40 Points — Super Rare: At first, he just seems like a typical Prob-equipped supporting piece with really good mobility for his Points (Sidestep, Willpower).

But what really makes him dangerous is his Trait (Don’t Laugh At Me!: When Charlie X is the only target of an attack that misses, after resolutions deal the attacker damage equal to its printed damage value.).

So you can let Charlie flit about the board controlling rolls, or you can try and take him out–and risk taking massive damage!

1. STAT044 Trelane — 50 Points — Super Rare: So yeah, the Super Rares in this set are pretty good.

His Traits ( It’s My Game And My Rules: At the beginning of the game, roll a d6 and place it on this card. POWER: If there is no d6 on this card, roll a d6 and place it on this card. Trelane has PROTECTED: Outwit.) and (I Can Do Anything I Want. I Should Think You Would Have Realized That By Now.: Whenever a character rolls an attack roll, you may remove the d6 from this card and replace a die in the roll with it.) essentially make him the new Mr. Myxzptlk.

He only deals two damage (with a 10 Attack top dial), but he also has Super Senses and a STOP click to keep him annoying your opponent for most of the game.

And there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below. And be sure to head back here tomorrow for more Clix-Mas!!

The Ghost of Christmas Past Wants to Talk About His Favorite Things From 2017!! (Or, The Third Night of Clix-Mas!!)

December 16, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

Wait, why does this Ghost of Christmas Past look like Jim Carrey?!

Welcome to Night 3 of Critical Missives… ‘s… “The Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas!!”

Tonight, the Ghost of Christmas Past is going to tell us a few of his favorite things from the Clix year that was, starting with…

THE MOST UNEXPECTEDLY META SET:

This set released all the way back in early February of this year, and it came close on the heels (just 3 months after, really) of its underwhelming predecessor, TMNT 2: Heroes in a Half Shell.

And yet, this set had hit after hit, from the Rares to the SR’s to the Chases. Almost all of the following characters have seen play in (at the very least) the Top 16 of a ROC:

—TMNT3023 Shredder Clone

—TMNT3028 Leonardo (Space Leo who screws with equipped items)

—TMNT3030 Savanti Romero

—TMNT3031 Wyrm

—TMNT033 Mini Shredder

—TMNT035 Shark Shredder

The Space Turtles were all pretty good, really, as were all of the Shredder Chases. For a set with only 35 pieces, an inordinately large amount of those pieces ended up being really powerful!

This set actually made fans excited for more Turtles sets. Quite the feat considering a lot of folks were having Turtles fatigue heading into its release. We’ll see if Wizkids can keep the momentum going when TMNT: Unplugged releases next March.

THE LONGEST-AWAITED STARTER SET IN HEROCLIX HISTORY:

Sooo… before this was released in August, Heroclix KINDA had rules. In that, there was a rule book, but it was old, and most of it still applied, but there were always some weird interactions, and SOMETIMES Wizkids would address these online, but sometimes they wouldn’t, and in those cases yourguessisasgoodasmineandAAAGGGHHHH!!

This Starter FINALLY debuted the new rules for Heroclix going forward, and the updated wording actually did resolve (and/or prevent) a lot of rules ambiguity. Even if some of the new rules seemed bizarre or needlessly revised (See: Improved Targeting: Blocking; Mind Control; etc.), at least we finally had some guidance from on high. So the actual contents of this Starter hardly mattered beyond the new rules. Buuut…

Holy crap are these good pieces!! This was one of the best Loki’s we’ve ever gotten, and the Hulk piece is also pretty extraordinary (50 Points for free 4-Damage Quake?! Sweet!). And they gave us a 5-Click Cap for 50 Points that comes with Charge, ES/D, Combat Reflexes and CCE! Plus he pumps the Attack of adjacent friendly characters!

This would have been a top-selling Starter if it just had the new rules and 6 trash pieces. Instead, Wizkids put in some good design work on these figures AND included an Asgardian Shield! One of the best products they put out this year.

MOST UNDERRATED SET OF THE YEAR:

What If… ? and Elseworlds sounded great in concept, but by the time Elseworlds debuted in July, the best piece in What If… ? (Goblin King) had been nerfed, half of the Chases were down to about $25 and shops were stuck with bricks that no one really wanted any more.

Also… it’s tough to invest much in full sets of Heroclix that are released in consecutive months! It’s even tougher when those sets reuse sculpts as if Wizkids had to make a 56-piece set out of, like 14 different molds.

Having said all that… Elseworlds is an infinitely better set than What If… ? was.

First of all, the source material (particularly The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come) is simply better and more popular the What If… ? source material. As a Marvel guy, it hurts to say that, but it’s true. It just is.

Secondly, this set has great pieces at all rarity levels.

–More Shifting Focus Batman and Superman pieces at the Common level (I never loved those pieces, but Ninwashui does and they have shown up intermittently in the Meta);

–Figures like Nekhrun, the Bat God and “Drained Power Battery” Green Lantern at the Uncommon level (I mean, Running Shot/Pulse Wave with Flying, a 7 Range, Indomitable and a TWENTY Defense from range seems fair for 60 Points, right?);

–Kingdom Come The Ray, Green Oracle and The Drummer at the Rare level;

–The very Meta Al Jhor Dan and the extremely efficient The Flying Batman (seriously, compare this piece at 140 to the dials for the Movie Superman or Movie Batman dials from the BvS Movie set last year);

–And a 4-figure murderer’s row of Chases from the Dark Knight Returns. Green Arrow, Superman, Robin… even the Batman piece is really good for his points.

I can’t think of another set that has such a bad reputation while simultaneously being chock full of good pieces.

Well, that’s all for today–I don’t want to step on our annual January “Simply the Best” column–but be sure to tune in tomorrow for some more Clix-Mas!!

The Ghost of Christmas Future Presents: An Upcoming Game!! (Or, The Second Night of Clix-Mas 2017!!)

December 15, 2017December 15, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

“And that tiny speck, way off in the distance? That’s the day the Marvel/Fox deal clears regulatory hurdles and the X-Men can finally join the MCU!”

Welcome to Night Two of the Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas, 2017!

Today, we going to peek into the future by… well, by about five days!

Have you ever wondered what would happen if all the different holidays started fighting each other for supremacy? No? That’s weird… anyway…

This is the next scenario I’m going to be running at Comics & More in Madison Heights, MI on December 20th at 6:30pm!

THE GAME: Holiday Havoc!!

THE BUILD:Each competitor will field a 400 Point Golden Age team aligned with one of the Holiday-Themed factions listed below. Each character on a force must have at least ONE of the required keywords OR meet the Alternative Requirement.

HOLIDAY FACTIONS:

CHRISTMAS:

Keywords:Mystical, Deity. Alternative Requirement:The Snowfall Team Ability.

Christmas Wish: At the beginning of the game, place a single d6 set to the number 6 on your Sideline. Once per game, you may remove the d6 from your Sideline and replace any rolled die result with the d6 removed from your Sideline. That die result cannot be further rerolled.

HALLOWEEN:

Keywords:Mystical, Monster. Alternative Requirement: Translucent ORANGE somewhere on the character’s sculpt.

Trick or Treat: Once per turn, choose a friendly character. Modify that character’s Attack OR Damage by +1. If an opposing character has been dealt damage this turn, instead modify the chosen character’s Attack AND Damage by +1.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

Keywords:Mystical, Translucent Green somewhere on the character’s sculpt.Alternative Requirement:The Tiny symbol.

Kiss Me, I’m Irish: Once per turn, you may give a friendly character an action token. That character can use Enhancement, Empower and Probability Control until the start of your next turn.

VALENTINE’S DAY:

Keywords:Cosmic, Deity. Alternative Requirement:Any two characters who have been romantically linked in their comic book source material (Note: Must field BOTH characters).

Love Hurts: At the beginning of the game, choose an opposing character. Whenever a friendly character is dealt damage by the chosen character, they can use the Mystics Team Ability.

ADDITIONAL RULES:

—No Team Bases;

–No Resources;

–No Relics or Weapons UNLESS they’re specifically brought into play by a character;

–No ATA’s;

–No Possessors;

–Themed Team Rules ARE in effect for Map Choice ONLY! No Themed Team Probs.

ENTRY FEE: $5

PRIZES:Aplenty! This will be our last game of 2017!

NOTES:Yes, I know there’s plenty more holidays to choose from, but I decided to start with these four. If things go well, maybe we’ll bring this game back with updated Holiday Factions come Valentine’s Day!

That’s all for now! If you have any comments or questions, leave them below. Otherwise, come back soon for Night Three of the Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas!!

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

December 14, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

Welcome back to the gimmick that never dies!!

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

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

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

But we will have fun? Uh, … hopefully?

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

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

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2018!

See ya tomorrow!

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

August 30, 2017 / HypeFox / 3 Comments

Annnnnd… we’re back!!

Good Lord, where has August gone?

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

But first…

SOME NOTES ABOUT THE SET:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now, without further ado…

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN ELSEWORLDS!!

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

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

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

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

Well, that clears that up!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 19, 2017 / HypeFox / 3 Comments

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

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

FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS!!

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

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

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

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

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

Very solid for the points.

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

But on to Molly Hayes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN WHAT IF… ? !!

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

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

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

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

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

Hype-Uatu says…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Something like:

Team Name: Picture Me Young Avengin’!!

Theme: Young Avengers

Roster:

WI036 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace — 50 Points

WI024 Karolina Dean — 75 Points

WI031 Nico Minoru — 75 Points

CWSOP031 Wiccan — 90 Points

wkMVID-009 Spider-Man — 5 Points

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

Total: 300 Points

Sideline:

WI038R Cosmic Spider-Man — 75 Points

NFAOS Peggy Carter — 60 Points

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

Yup. I’m an A-hole!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is money well spent!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully that someone is you, and not your opponent!

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

Hype-Uatu says…

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

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

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

And that designer was promptly promoted for breaking the game.

Again.”

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

Okay, that’s all for today!

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

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

Coming Up Next-i-er!! (Or, A Look at the Rest of Your Year!! Part 3: Marvel’s What If… !!)

June 8, 2017June 9, 2017 / HypeFox

I loved this issue when I read it back when I was ten. Now I look at the cover and think, “Wait a minute, Peter’s being punched by Hulk and Thor AT THE SAME TIME and he doesn’t even feel it?! When has the Symbiote suit EVER WORKED LIKE THAT?” Also, what was the heroes’ plan here? Mister Fantastic’s like, “Thor, you and the Hulk are two of the strongest beings on this planet! See if you can overpower Peter physically. If not, I’ve cooked up a special device that should destabilize the Symbiote at a molecular level. But if all that fails, Black Cat, we’ll need you to walk over and scratch him!”

Welcome back!

Today we’re continuing with our year-long Set Preview series by taking a look at Marvel’s What If… ? Heroclix 15th Anniversary expansion set (which actually just came out yesterday!).

Almost the entire setlist has been revealed, so we’ll list the every piece here and talk specifically about selected entries.

COMMONS:

001 Spider-Man — 55 Points: Incidentally, the first five figures of the set all seem to be normal versions of popular 616 heroes. This particular version of Spidey is notable for only costing 55 Points while possessing a great Movement Special (Web Swing: Spider-Man can use Hypersonic Speed. When he does, modify his damage value by +1 if his target is on a lower elevation than the one Spider-Man occupied when he began moving.) and Improved Movement: Ignores Hindering and Elevated Terrain.

His lone drawback is really having no Willpower, but he is really solid and a sneaky good play in Sealed.

002 Iron Man

003 Punisher

004 Daredevil

005 Thor — 110 Points: This Thor is awesome. Six Clicks of life with a Range of 6 (with 3 Bolts), Traited Energy Explosion and a SWEET Attack Special Power (Lightning Strike: Damage dealt from attacks made by Thor cannot be reduced below his click number.) that basically works like Pen/Psy except it seems like they priced it at about half the cost of normal Pen/Psy (he has it on EVERY Click!).

006 Iron Lad

007 Oni Hulk

008 Punisher Squad

009 Doctor Stark — 45 Points: This is not really the Doctor Stark you’re looking for, but this is as good a time as any to talk about a Trait he possesses that recurs throughout the set (From an Alternate Earth: If this character is on your sideline you may give a free action to a friendly character named Doctor Strange or Iron Man that’s equal or more points. Replace that character with this character on the same click number.) that allows you to swap him into the action in the middle of the game. So, in essence, virtually any Doc Strange or Iron Man now has a one-time use Shifting Focus ability.

010 Iron Rick

011 Molly Hayes

012 Chase Stein

013 Jessica Jones — 65 Points: Probably the best Jessica Jones we’ve ever gotten, although most of the previous Jessicas just kinda suck, so that’s not a huge compliment.

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

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

UNCOMMONS:

014 Spider-Man

015 Iron Man

016 Punisher

017 Daredevil

018 Thor

019 Captain Britain Iron Man

020 Oni Leader

021 Punisher of S.H.I.E.L.D. — 90 Points: He’s only five Clicks long for 90 Points, but those clicks are packed! He’s got some form of Running Shot or Sidestep AND Precision Strike for most of his dial, he’s got a Balls of Fury-like Damage Special (A SHOT AT THE REAL BAD GUYS: When attacking only characters with a point value of 100 or more, modify Punisher Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attack and damage values by +1. When attacking only characters with a point value of 200 or more, modify both values by an additional +1.) and he can draw lines of fire and count range from friendly Punisher Squad figures (#008 in this set).

He also has a situational Trait (I’LL BRING THE BUILDINGS DOWN: When Punisher Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is KO’d, deal 3 damage to each character occupying an elevation other than 1.) that you may be able to exploit on certain Maps.

022 Dr. Stark — 115 Points: Big investment for a Secondary Attacker, but Dr. Stark can completely screw with your opponent’s team.

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

023 Iron Punisher — 100 Points: There’s no trickeration here. This is Frank Castle in an Iron Man suit. You get Running Shot, Pen/Psy with a freaking 12 Attack Value and 3 Damage. Yes, he has the From An Alternate Earth Trait, but really, he’s so good for his points that you might just want to start him.

He’s also got a frontrunning Damage Special (DID WE FREE AMERICA?: When Iron Punisher KO’s an opposing character, modify a friendly character’s damage value by +1 until your next turn.) that will help keep the game’s momentum rolling in your favor.

024 Karolina Dean — 75 Points: So, these are probably the best Runaways they’ve ever done. None are bad (Victor Mancha as Iron Lad is probably the worst for his points, but he’s still playable), and three are quite good. Karolina is one of the “quite good.”

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

025 T.V.’s Spider-Man

RARES:

026 Spider-Man

027 Iron Man

028 Punisher — 60 Points: Another Punisher piece with a 12 Attack! He doesn’t have a move-and-attack ability up top (he does have Stealth though), but he does have Willpower, Precision Strike and a sweet, sweet Trait (SET THE TRAP: Give Punisher a power action to place a Decoy bystander adjacent to an opposing character within range and line of fire, removing any existing Decoys from the game. When a Decoy is KO’d by an opponent’s attack, deal 3 penetrating damage to each character adjacent to the square it occupied unless the attack total was 2 or greater than Decoy’s defense value.) that makes him kind of Anarky-lite.

The Decoys themselves have Plasticity, a Special Pulse Wave (RIGGED TO BLOW: If Decoy was not placed on the map this turn, it can use Pulse Wave. When Decoy uses Pulse Wave and actions resolve, KO it.) with a 5 Range and 9 Attack along with Shape Change.

So even though they only have a 15 Defense, they have the potential to be quite annoying to your opponent.

029 Daredevil

030 Thor — 105 Points: Your usual Thor smorgasbord of Running Shot and Pulse Wave with Sidestep and Pen/Psy mixed in down dial. What makes this Thor interesting is the ability to grant him extra attacks via his Damage Special (UNDER SETH’S THRALL: Give an adjacent friendly character with the Mystical keyword and point value of 50 or more a double power action that deals no pushing damage. When you do, Thor may make a close or range attack.).

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

031 Nico Minoru — 75 Points: Okay, yeah, I just used this art for Karolina. I’m probably gonna use it again for Gert, just because it’s a great shot of the whole team.

Nico here is notable for the fact that she’s another pick-a-power piece. Her Trait (SISTER GRIMM: Give Nico Minoru a free action and choose up to two standard powers, each of a different combat type. You may not choose a power from a type chosen during your last turn. Nico Minoru can use the chosen powers until your next turn.) lets you grab two powers, actually. On a 75-Point piece!

She also has Willpower naturally on her first three clicks as well as the Runaways Trait I mentioned with Karolina.

032 Victorious

033 Spider Ma’am

034 TV’s Daredevil

035 Daredevil, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

036 Captain America

SUPER RARES:

037 Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace — 50 Points: She has an 8 Attack and only does 1 Damage. Why is she on the notable list again?

Something like:

Team Name: Picture Me Young Avengin’!!

Theme: Young Avengers

Roster:

WI036 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace — 50 Points

WI024 Karolina Dean — 75 Points

WI031 Nico Minoru — 75 Points

CWSOP031 Wiccan — 90 Points

wkMVID-009 Spider-Man — 5 Points

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

Total: 300 Points

Sideline:

WI038R Cosmic Spider-Man — 75 Points

NFAOS Peggy Carter — 60 Points

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

038 Cosmic Spider-Man — 275, 175 or 75 Points: This is the usual Cosmic mix of powers (Hypersonic Speed, Invincible, etc.), but what makes this a standout piece is his Uni-Vision-powered Improved Targeting that sees through Hindering, Elevated and Blocking Terrain (and destroys Blocking when he attacks through it).

The 275 Point dial is fun, but not necessarily competitive.

The 175 Point dial is closer to Meta, but his damage is frankly a little light. Still, with both the Power Cosmic TA and the Spidey TA, he’s worth a look.

His 75 Point dial is probably the best Call-In piece in the game right now. He’s got Sidestep and an 11 Attack with Pen/Psy that can do 4 Penetrating Damage. When you add that to his Uni-Vision, that becomes gamechanging.

039 Peter the Hunter — 90 Points: This is an aggressive close combat Spidey dial (Charge, 11 Attack with B/C/F, Combat Reflexes and Exploit Weakness) that gets turned up to 11 because of all of his Traits.

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

040 Goblin King — 275, 175 or 75 Points: Forget the Chases; this is the piece everyone is after. It’s possible he’s even better than Jakeem Thunder, and that’s before you realize he doesn’t take your Prime slot.

We will go into his dial in more detail in our Top Ten Set Review, but he is bonkers good (and already will cost you more than most of the Chases on eBay!).

And if you’re planning on going to Origins for the World Championship this year, you’re going to want to come up with a strategy to beat him.

Because you will see him.

041 The Advocate

042 Punisher of the Strange

043 Peace Machine

044 Thordis

045 In-Betweener

046 Scarlet Centurion

CHASES:

047 Poison

048 Venom Hulk

049 Venom Thor

050 Venom Punisher

Have fun during Release Week! We will be back soon with our Top Ten Set Review!!

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

Upcoming Games: Heroclix: The Gathering: Month 4: Rise of the Eldrazi!!

May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a quick series of local game announcements for SouthEast Michigan Clix’ers before we go back to our regular programming!! We’re running a Scenario called Heroclix: The Gathering, obviously inspired by the eternally popular CCG Magic: The Gathering. Each month is based–very loosely–off of an existing Magic expansion. We then weave everything together with an ever-evolving narrative that changes based on the results of our local tournaments. Think of this as a “What If” Magic: The Gathering story told through Heroclix! Read about the Month One posting here, the Month Two scenario here, and the Month Three game here!]

Welcome to Month Four of Heroclix: The Gathering!! Before we get into what’s happening this Month, let’s review everything that has happened in our story so far…

HEROCLIX: THE GATHERING: MONTH THREE: TIME SPIRAL!!

The Guildpact has been shattered. Ravnica has been torn apart from the inside by the machinations of its Guild Paruns (notably Szadek of House Dimir) and their ever escalating intrigues. But the shattering of the Guildpact also attracted the attention of the predatory plane of New Phyrexia, who opened portals to Ravnica in pursuit of conquest and resources.

As the Phyrexian legions pour in, Compleation seemed inevitable for the Ravnicans until Momir Vig, Simic Guildmaster, unveiled his secret weapon: Experiment Kraj, a gigantic, mutated Ooze.

Kraj rolled through the City, absorbing Ravnican and Phyrexian alike, until the initial Phyrexian invaders were forced to retreat. Reasoning that a Second Wave of Phyrexian invaders was all but assured to wipe them out, the surviving Paruns of Ravnica regrouped in the vast smoldering ruin of the Azorius Senate, where they came up with the dangerous idea of summoning a powerful temporal storm called a Time Spiral to spirit Ravnican warriors of both the past and the future into their present timeline to help their cause…

Their gambit worked. The Phyrexians have been defeated by the heroes of Ravnica’s past and future, and Szadek slew their champion, Glissa the Traitor. The demon Rakdos used an ancient spell to seal off the Phyrexian portals, and the threat of Compleation is now over.

HEROCLIX: THE GATHERING: MONTH FOUR: RISE OF THE ELDRAZI!!

Except… actions have consequences, and the sundering of the Guildpact combined with the ripping of time itself have now brought the Ravnican plane to the attention of the Old Gods known now as the Eldrazi, once thought to be locked away in the prison plane of Zendikar.

But the Eldrazi are native to the Blind Eternities, the space between planes, and what was once their prison is now more of a fortress, a stronghold from whence they will pour forth and reclaim their position at the top of the planar hierarchy.

Many hoped that the triumph of Ravnica over the Phyrexians would usher in a new era of fairness and justice for all. But soon, there will be no “fair.” There will be no “just.” There will only be the will of the Eldrazi.

And they are rising…

Well then!! Hello fellow Clixers, and welcome to the fourth and FINAL Month of Heroclix: The Gathering, exclusiviely at Comics & More in Madison Heights, MI!!

Month One ended with Roberto Ty piloting a House Dimir team to victory (with noted Spy Nick Fury standing in for Szadek!), which is why House Dimir came out on tops in our Month One recap story.

However, in Month Two, Matthew Wenderski used a Simic Combine squad to triumph over all comers, resulting in Momir Vig saving the day in that chapter.

Matt won again in Month Three, but now everyone will face the doom of the Eldrazi in Month Four as we play out the final battle for Ravnica!

But before we get to this Month’s Build, let’s have a look at the Scoreboard!

Again, to review, each competitor scored Tournament Points as follows:

Showing Up: 1 Tournament Point

Match Loss or Tie: 1 Tournament Point

Match Win: 2 Tournament Points

Event Win: 3 Tournament Points

And now, without further ado…

The 2017 Comics & More Heroclix: The Gathering Scoreboard (after 3 Months):

1. Matt Wenderski: 24 Tournament Points [2540 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 4 TP’s; Month Two: 10 TP’s; Month Three: 10 TP’s)

2. Tyler Pienta: 17 Tournament Points [1533 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 5 TP’s; Month Two: 6 TP’s; Month Three: 6 TP’s)

3. Cam: 15 Tournament Points [1513 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 5 TP’s; Month Two: 5 TP’s; Month Three: 5 TP’s)

4. Andrew Boger: 15 Tournament Points [1328 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 6 TP’s; Month Two: 6 TP’s; Month Three: 3 TP’s)

5. Roberto Ty: 15 Tournament Points [1065 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 10 TP’s; Month Two: 5 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

6. Real Tim (Kropf): 11 Tournament Points [1140 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 5 TP’s; Month Two: 6 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

7. Tim O.: 10 Tournament Points [1135 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 6 TP’s; Month Two: 4 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

8. Ben (Jammin’): 9 Tournament Points [815 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 6 TP’s; Month Two: 5 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

9. (Baron) Carl (Mordo): 6 Tournament Points [663 Tournament Points]

(Month One: 0 TP’s; Month Two: 6 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

10. Darren Chin: 5 Tournament Points [83 Tiebreaker Points]

(Month One: 0 TP’s; Month Two: 5 TP’s; Month Three: 0 TP’s)

And now, for this week’s Build!!

The Game: Heroclix: The Gathering: Month 4: Rise of the Eldrazi!

Entry Fee: $5

Prizes: It’s Month Four, so there will be a bunch of prizes of all sorts!! Some will be hella sweet, some will be really stupid, but we are going to have us some fun!!

The Build: 600 Points (an even bigger conflict means even bigger armies!!), GOLDEN AGE, No Tactics (No Resources, ATA’s or Relics.)

No figure larger than a peanut base (UNLESS YOU ARE PLAYING ELDRAZI!! See the Eldrazi entry for more details).

No Call-Ins.

Possession pieces are okay to play. (Basically the Heroclix version of an Aura Enchantment, right?)

You must choose a Guild or other faction from the chart below. Once you’ve chosen, your army must be built around the generic keyword pairings associated with that Guild or faction. This means that everyone on your force must have at least ONE of the two generic keywords listed.

All characters friendly to your force can use the associated Guild Team Ability (GTA) or Faction Team Ability (FTA).

NOTE: After the sundering of the Guildpact at the end of Month One, the Guild Team Abilities are all your figures have to fall back on. This means that ANY OTHER TEAM ABILITY POSSESSED BY YOUR PIECES CANNOT BE USED. Note that characters still POSSESS whatever Team Abilities are printed on their base and card; they just cannot USE them.

List of Ravnica Guilds (Guild descriptions provided by MTGSalvation.com):

~~AZORIUS SENATE~~

~~The Azorius Senate functions as the government of Ravnica and creates Ravnican laws.~~

~~Keywords: Politician, Ruler~~

Azorius Senate Team Ability: At the beginning of the game, place an Immunity token on the character card of one character with the highest point value of those using this team ability. When a character with an Immunity token is within 8 squares of an opposing character’s starting area and is dealt damage, it may be given an action token to remove the Immunity token from its card and ignore the damage dealt. When a character with the Immunity token on its card is KO’d, you may place the Immunity token on the card of the remaining character on your force that is the highest point character that can use the team ability.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: The Azorius Senate was all but destroyed following the events of Month One. Their leader, Augustin IV was murdered and their guild hall was decimated. They are still rebuilding. Therefore, the Azorius Senate MAY NOT BE CHOSEN for Month Four builds.

BOROS LEGION

Ravnica’s security force, the Boros Legion is both Ravnica’s constabulary and standing army. The Boros suffered a terrible blow when their Parun, Razia, was killed in battle, but another angel, Feather, has rallied the Legion back into battle readiness. The Eldrazi are coming, and its all hands on deck.

Keywords: Police, Soldier

Boros Legion Team Ability: Adjacent friendly characters modify their range values by +1. When a character using this Team Ability is adjacent to a friendly character making a ranged combat attack, modify the target’s defense value by -1 if the target is within line of fire of this character.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: Feather hasn’t just revived the Boros Legion, she’s slightly upgraded their capabilities. Note that adjacent friendly characters now modify their range values by +1 in addition to the previous effects of the Boros Legion Team Ability.

HOUSE DIMIR

~~In practice, little information on the Dimir is known. It is, however, known that the Dimir are involved in assassinations, criminal activity, and espionage on a contractual basis.~~

Szadek has led his House to victory, but the celebration is short lived. Even if he can muster enough strength to repel the invaders, the other guilds may use this new conflict as an opportunity to take back what was taken from them.

While subtlety will always be the primary tactic of House Dimir, the time has come to step out from the shadows and remind everyone why they should be afraid of what stirs in the night…

Keywords: Spy, Assassin

House Dimir Team Ability: A character using this team ability can’t have their defense power countered if they occupy the lowest elevation of terrain.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: The House Dimir Team Ability has not changed since its revision in Month Two. While their presence in the shadows of Ravnica is now common knowledge, they are still very hard to deal with if encountered on their home turf–Ravnica’s sewers and Underbelly…

GOLGARI SWARM

Denizens of Ravnica’s agricultural and waste management sectors. Run by Gorgon sisters. And creepy fungal sewer monsters.

Keywords: Monster, Assassin

Golgari Swarm Team Ability: Characters using this team ability can use Stealth on their starting click. If that character can already use Stealth on their starting click, lines of fire may not be drawn to that character by opposing characters while on that click.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change to Golgari Swarm.

GRUUL CLANS

Ravnica’s foresters, gamekeepers, park rangers, wildlife officers, and wildskeepers. But with the wilds declining, the role of the Clans has also diminished, and many Gruul Clans members have adopted an anarcho-primitivist ideology and become Ravnica’s defenders of nature, intent on destroying civilization.

Keywords: Animal, Brute

Gruul Clans Team Ability: All successful attacks made by a character using this Team Ability generate knock back. Knock back generated by a character using this Team Ability cannot be ignored.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change to Gruul Clans.

IZZET LEAGUE

Ravnica’s formative and physical scientists and engineers. The Izzet League are known to perform magical experiments, ever with reckless abandon and sometimes with spectacular but severe results.

Keywords: Scientist, Mystical

Izzet League Team Ability: When a character using the Izzet League Team Ability takes damage from an attack, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled and consult the chart below for the resulting effect.

1: This character takes 1 additional unavoidable damage and gets an action token after actions resolve.

2: This character takes 1 additional unavoidable damage.

3-4: The attacker is dealt 1 unavoidable damage.

5: The attacker is dealt 1 unavoidable damage and gets an additional action token after actions resolve (if able).

6: The attacker is dealt 2 unavoidable damage.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change to Izzet League. Once normal Mystics was turned off, this GTA worked extremely well (instead of being EXTREMELY overpowered).

ORZHOV SYNDICATE

Nearly every business in Ravnica ties back to the Orzhov in some devious way or another. Whilst they bear the facade of a religious group and may well have been a true faith at the signing of the Guildpact, they now worship only profit and power.

Keywords: Mystical, Politician

Orzhov Syndicate Team Ability: Characters using this Team Ability can’t be the target of an opponent’s Outwit or Perplex unless they’ve been targeted with an attack previously in the same turn.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change to Orzhov.

CULT OF RAKDOS

Founded by Parun Rakdos, an ancient demon, the Cult of Rakdos attend to menial labor and the services industry, which includes some less-than-savory offerings, such as assassination, as well as more agreeable ones, such as the catering (i.e., food service) and entertainment industries.

Using the strife of the end of the Guildpact as a distraction, acolytes of Rakdos have finally managed to raise their Parun from the depths of darkness and despair. But will Rakdos choose to fight the invaders or decide to use this opportunity to thwart Szadek and seize Ravnica for his own?

Keywords: Monster, Mystical

Cult of Rakdos Team Ability: Whenever a character using this team ability is KO’d, you may roll a d6 and subtract 2 (minimum 1). Deal that much damage, divided as you choose, among any number of opposing characters adjacent to the square the KO’d character occupied.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change to the Team Ability, but please note that the return of the demon Rakdos has slightly altered the Cult of Rakdos keywords. Now a character must have either the Monster or Mystical keyword to be eligible for the Cult of Rakdos (I mean, they just awakened their demon overlord, so, yeah… )

SELESNYA CONCLAVE

Despite their superficial appearance of being a “good” and “peace-loving”, in truth the guild is just as hypocritical and as sinister, if not more so, as other Ravnican guilds. The Selesnya Conclave often employs its quietmen and other members to silence the civilians of Ravnica from up close and wreak havoc.

Keywords: Brute, Spy

Selesnya Conclave Team Ability: When characters using this Team Ability roll doubles on a successful close attack roll, that attack generates no knock back; instead, that attack cannot be evaded, damage dealt can’t be reduced below 1 and any hit characters get an action token.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: No change from Month 2.

SIMIC COMBINE

The original purpose of the Simic Combine was to preserve the health of all Ravnican life-forms. They were devoted to the study of life, medicines, and biomancy. But just as life can adapt, so did the Combine. Momir Vig, the Simic guildmaster, was dissatisfied with this original purpose and formed a new purpose: to improve upon life-forms of Ravnica.

Keywords: Animal, Scientist

Simic Combine Team Ability: At the beginning of your turn, choose one option to last until the end of your turn for all friendly characters using this Team Ability. All friendly characters using this Team Ability ignore Shape Change; or all friendly characters using this Team Ability ignore Stealth this turn.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: The Month 2 change helped this Guild quite a bit (indeed, both players in the Championship game were playing Simic), so it will stay as is for now.

~~NEW PHYREXIA~~

It came not in the form of a noble struggle, a fair contest of warriors clashing will against will, but as a wave of unstoppable slaughter. Mirran partisans resisted bravely, using their wits and magic to fend off the onslaught that originated from inside their own world. But their efforts were for naught. Phyrexia is victorious. Mirrodin now goes by a different name: New Phyrexia.

~~And New Phyrexia hungers…~~

~~Keywords: Robot, Armor~~

New Phyrexia Team Ability: Characters using this team ability can use Perplex, but only to target a character with the Armor or Robot keyword. This use of Perplex may not modify damage values, and no character may be targeted by this ability more than twice per turn. This use is in addition to any other uses of Perplex.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: The Phyrexians have finally been defeated! Thus, they can no longer be chosen.

TIME SPIRAL

From Ravnica’s forged Past to its many posssible Futures come the warriors caught in the Time Spiral. But even if they are able to turn the tide of the war with New Phyrexia, what will become of them once the invasion is over? And if the sundering of the Guildpact awakened the interest of New Phyrexia, whose attention might the spiraling of time itself attract?

Now, that question has been answered. The Eldrazi are rising…

Keywords: Past, Future

Time Spiral Team Ability: Characters using this Team Ability may use
Probability Control. When a roll is ignored because of this
team ability an action token must be placed on a friendly
character on the battlefield or the roll is not ignored.

GAMEPLAY NOTES: The time-displaced warriors of Ravnica come packed with the ability to manipulate time itself. No change for Month Four.

The Eldrazi are gargantuan monstrosities who have transcended the colors of mana as we know them. Native to the Blind Eternities, they are huge and immensely powerful. Confronting them is like confronting the multiverse itself.

Keywords: Deity, Cosmic, Monster

Additional Requirements: Characters who cost less than 100 Points may not be chosen for this faction.

Rise of the Eldrazi Team Ability: Characters using the Rise of Eldrazi Team Ability can use Willpower and their powers cannot be countered. When you build your force, you may include characters with any size base as long as they still meet the Rise of Eldrazi Keyword Requirements.

Alright! There is your Month Four Scenario! Hope to see everyone at the game! And thanks to everyone who has attended these events (and also to all of you who have left comments about this! If you’ve run this scenario at your local venue, let us know how it went!). It’s been a blast to see such positive responses from you folks!

The Totally Awesome Set!! (Or, a Top Ten Set Review of Avengers Defenders War!!)

May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 / ninwashui / Leave a comment

Well now! It’s been awhile, but I’m finally back, and my return to writing articles here on Critical Missives couldn’t have come at a better time!

Because Avengers Defenders War is here, and it’s so much more than “Marvel’s Joker’s Wild,” as some around here (HypeFox) have dubbed it, although there are some such comparisons to be made..

To wit:

(AKA, Some Notes About the Set:)

Yup. If you open Porcupine in a meaningful tournament, you are definitely “FIKKT.”

The Commons and Uncommons are both exciting and good, but the Rares kinda suck. And by “kinda” I mean, like, they are really, truly, awfully garbage-y. There are MAYBE three Rares that might ever see play from me in this set. Opening a pack with ADW049 Porcupine or ADW043 Machete as your Rare is just a real downer.

“Pull me as your Rare in Sealed and you’ll have the same look on your face.“

While I had some very good experiences using this set in Sealed, most people (HypeFox) were not as enthusiastic. I spoke to one person playing sealed at a Wizkids Open whose Rares were ADW042 Gladiator and ADW041 Foggy Nelson. In fact, Gladiator was his most expensive piece at 60 points. It’s hard to face off against pieces that are 150 points or more like ADW040 Count Nefaria when nothing you have to use is over 60 points. Those boosters might as well have come with a note telling you what time Battle Royals were going to start.

There were no Primes in this set. That meant a case might have 3 SR’s and a Chase in one brick, and just 3 SR’s in the other. So if you bought just a brick you weren’t guaranteed a Chase or a Prime.

Big pictures of Thor and Namor on the boxes, no trace of them in set. I’m still waiting to pull one.

And finally, on a personal level, I really love Shifting Focus and I hope they do more of it in sets to come.

Okay! Enough of that! Let’s get into some…

TOP FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS:

5. ADW006 Vision — 50 Points — Common: I don’t remember ever seeing a dial with 5 clicks of Invincible and Impervious for 50 Points. It’s also unusual to see a 50 Point dial with Indomitable. Add to that an offense that lets him do 3 Damage through reducers and you’ve got yourself a great package.

His only weaknesses are a complete lack of range and no move and attack save for two top clicks of Sidestep. Thankfully, both of those weaknesses can be fixed with a free action when you shift to ADW024 Vision because, oh yeah, HE ALSO SHIFTS FOCUS IN CASE HE WASN’T ALREADY OVERPOWERED FOR HIS POINTS!

4. ADW021 Hulk — 75 Points — Uncommon: For 75 points you get 6 Clicks featuring Invincible and then Impervious. He has 4 Damage for his entire dial and Traited Super Strength to add to the damage even more (and add knockback under the new rules that are coming out). When he does get hurt, his combination of Flurry and Steal Energy will help minimize the pain.

He’s very undercosted for his points which is why Wizkids added a negative Trait to his card (LEAVE HULK ALONE!: At the beginning of your turn, if Hulk was targeted with an attack since your last turn, place an Anger token on his card. If Hulk wasn’t targeted with an attack since your last turn, remove an Anger token from his card. After placing or removing Anger tokens, if Hulk has 5 Anger tokens or more he is immediately KO’d.). Fortunately for Hulk enthusiasts, Wizkids was too conservative with the trait and I have a hard time imagining it ever mattering in a game.

3. ADW023 Wasp — 40 Points — Uncommon: I’ll bet a fair amount of you reading this article will think that that this an unusual choice. But I love this piece. She is one part Secondary Attacker and one part Support Figure. Offensively she is similar to ADW035 Dr. Strange, but instead of hiding behind your other characters she can remain in the open. Why? Because this 40 point character has a 21 defense against ranged attacks! Psychic Blast allows her to bypass damage reducers when she wants to get offensive or she can Costume Change to ADW023 Wasp and use her dual target Incapacitate. Her supporting Leadership power allows her to remove tokens from a much higher point character and her small size also allows almost anyone to carry her.

2. ADW050 Batroc — 40 Points — Rare: Batroc usually doesn’t get much respect in the comics, but in the HeroClix world he’s the real deal. Even though his Attack and Defense values are average, he really stands out in three areas: His low point cost of 40; his Improved Movement that ignores Hindering and Elevated Terrain and also Characters; and his Special Movement Power Zey Call Me… Ze Lee-Pair. It reads, “Batroc can use Sidestep. When he has one action token, he may use Sidestep twice this turn and may be given a free action to make a close attack.” If he starts a turn with one action token, he can move up to 4 spaces (ignoring most terrain and moving through characters) and make a free action attack with Precision Strike. And after all that, he still clears tokens!

1. ADW059 Klaw — 110 Points — Super Rare: Klaw is that rare balance of strong offense, defense, and movement. On offense he’s got a starting 4 Damage Value and the ability to pick any Attack Power once each turn. That can be Psychic Blast, Pulse Wave, or even Telekinesis if the situation warrants it. He also has a Movement Special Power that lets him ignore almost all terrain and Sidestep as many as 6 squares each turn.

That means he could Sidestep through a wall and then Pulse Wave someone on the other side. On defense he has Can’t Hurt What’s Made of Sound which states, “Klaw can use Super Senses. If Klaw would take more than 2 damage, he takes 2 damage instead.” The only thing keeping him from going higher on this list are low(-ish) Attack Values and a lack of Willpower.

All of which brings us to…

THE TOP TEN FIGURES IN AVENGERS DEFENDERS WAR!!

10. ADW064 Ghost Rider — 75 Points — Super Rare: This is the best of the mounted figures that move through opposing forces in a straight line, but all three in this set are worth owning. He starts with his super movement power that lets you do 2 Penetrating Damage by attacking every opposing figure in a straight line. On defense he starts with Invulnerability and Indomitable.

What sets him apart from the other mounted figures is that when he hits an opposing figure he can move them one space to either side of the path he traveled. Taking into account that he ignores most terrain this could make him very good against opposing Stealthy characters or really any piece that relies on adjacency (defense balls, Mastermind, etc.).

9. ADW048 Nuke — 70 Points — Super Rare: I love characters that can heal themselves and Nuke has that covered. At the start of his turn he can choose the Red Pill for +1 attack in close combat, the Blue Pill for Precision Strike, or the White Pill for a one click heal in lieu of attacking this turn.

He starts with Running Shot, Energy Explosion (which combos nicely with the Blue Pill and Precision Strike) and when he gets damaged he gains Charge plus Super Strength (which is when you’ll want to start popping Red Pills to grant him +1 attack). When it’s time to clear tokens a White Pill will heal some of the damage he’s taken. He’s not going to take down a 150 point (or more) figure single-handedly, but he offers a lot for just 70 points.

8. ADW052 (Totally Awesome) Hulk — 160 Points — Super Rare: I’ll say it again. I love characters that can heal themselves. Before you play him (or play against him) his healing isn’t obvious. He is one of those pieces that is better in practice than on paper.

His BATTLING MONSTERS! Trait (BATTLING MONSTERS!: When Hulk hits an opposing character with the Monster keyword or with a printed damage value of 4 or more, after actions resolve remove an action token from him.) doesn’t come in handy that often, but his BEST HULK EVER Trait is one of the best Traits I’ve ever seen. It reads, “Hulk can use Super Strength. When he KO’s an opposing character, heal him a number of clicks equal to the damage that would have been taken minus the actual damage taken.” When you combine the Traited Super Strength with his printed 4 damage on every click, he can dish out a lot of damage. That leads to high damage KOs which in turn power his healing.

I used him in Sealed to take first place during a Prerelease. In all three games he was knocked down to at least his second to last click, but ended each game near the top of his dial. While he can’t do everything himself, with the proper supporting figures he can soak up damage and KO his way to good health.

7. ADW040 Count Nefaria — 200 Points — Rare: He has bad keywords (Lethal Legion, Maggia, Ruler), but a pretty decent dial for 200 points. He starts with Running Shot, Psychic Blast, Invincible to go along with his Stealth. His 7 Range and Stealth helps keep Outwit from targeting him on his first three clicks and Flight means that his movement won’t be hampered by hiding in Hindering Terrain.

The reason why he is so high on this list is his improved form of regeneration “IONIC RESERVES.” He has it sprinkled through out his dial. It says, “Count Nefaria can use Invulnerability and Regeneration. When he uses Regeneration and has one action token, he doesn’t subtract 2 from the d6 roll.” With a lucky roll he could regenerate for 6 clicks of healing!

6. ADW068 Daredevil (AKA Chair Devil)— 80 Points — Chase: For 80 Points you get the 6 clicks with the Mystics TA, Traited Stealth, Precision Strike, and Super Senses. He has better than average attack and Flurry in the middle of his dial to make that Precision Strike hurt.

That might be enough to justify his point cost right there, but his Trait “LEADER OF THE HAND” allows him to generate nearly unlimited tie up figures with Stealth and the Hydra TA. It reads, “Once per turn, give Daredevil a power action to place a #adw015 Hand Ninja from outside the game in a square of hindering terrain within range and line of fire. If a friendly character with The Hand keyword was KO’d since your last turn, this is a free action instead.”

So at the beginning of the game you can make a few ADW015 Hand Ninja before the other force even gets close. Then for the rest of the game when ANY other member of the Hand on your team gets KOed you can make another ADW015 Hand Ninja as a free action on your turn.

5. ADW035 Dr. Strange — 50 Points — Rare: This version of the Doctor is equal parts Finger Bang DXF017 Deadpool (Sidestep, Psy Blast) and DXF059B Wiz Kid (+1 to stats to adjacent characters). Add to that his Shifting Focus versions that Transport your team (ADW001 Dr. Strange) or Defend it (ADW019 Dr. Strange) and you’ve got a great figure and one of the most versatile pieces in the set!

4. ADW030 Punisher-– 50 Points — Uncommon: Everyone who attended an ADW Prerelease knows about (Rocket Launcher) ADW009 Punisher. That guy dished out ranged group damage that far exceeds his 50 point value. Unfortunately, as easily as he can dish out the damage he can also easily take it in return. That means that most of the time you will need to use the much more subtle ADW030 Punisher.

This close combat version of the Punisher features an improved form of BCF, Combat Reflexes, Indomitable, Wildcard TA, and most importantly Stealth. This dial alone is worth the 50 points even if you never switch forms. So keep him in that form until it’s just the right time to strike and then “say hello to my little friend!” for fun and profit!

3. ADW053 Iron Man — 165 Points — Super Rare: So the first thing everyone thinks of when they see a Primary Attacker character in Modern that allows them to pick a power is “how does that character compare to JW053B Jakeem Thunder?”

Here are Iron Man’s advantages:

Better Keywords
Slightly better combat values
Better powers before you start picking powers (including damage reducers)
He can gain new powers via a free action, not just at the start of turn

Here are Jakeem’s advantages:

1 click longer dial
25 points less cost
1 square longer range
Can chose a Defense Power
Doesn’t lose existing powers when he gains new powers
Choosing powers is Traited and lasts the whole dial
Has a Team Ability

JW053B Jakeem Thunder is still a better piece, but there are some situations where Iron Man is better. Keeping in mind that Jakeem Thunder is the piece to beat right now in competitive play, coming close means that this Iron Man is a piece you should look to own.

2. ADW071 Iron Heart— 25 Points — Chase: She is one part ADW007 Black Panther (cheap Outwit), one part JW025 Hawkman (cheap Taxi), and one part JW060V The Joker (she doesn’t die easy).

Her Sidestep, Flight, and 10 Movement make her a top tier Taxi and at 25 points there is no Taxi piece cheaper in Modern Age. She starts with Outwit, but she shuffles among all the best supporting powers (Outwit, Perplex and Probability Control) as she takes damage.

Her 18 defense is bolstered by the Trait ARMOR’S FALLING APART ON ME. It reads, “Iron Heart begins the game with 1 Broken Armor token. When she is dealt damage, instead roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. If the result is equal to or less than the number of Broken Armor tokens, she is KO’d. If not, turn her to that click number and give her another Broken Armor token. This can’t be ignored.” So the first time she takes damage she has an 17% chance of being KOed. After 2 hits it’s 33%. After 3 it’s 50%. On average she will be KOed after 3 hits, but it can take as many as 6 hits to KO her if you have lucky rolls. Also, it’s only the number of hits that count, not the amount of damage, not even if it’s Pulse Wave damage. It’s all the same to RiRi.

WF061 Superman with an Ultra Heavy Object will do 8 damage to any other character, but it still is just one broken token for Iron Heart. WF048 Zatara can sacrifice himself to do a 4 damage Pulse Wave attack. Iron Heart will just take one broken token in place of that damage. That’s insane for 25 points.

1. ADW051 Dr. Strange, Earth’s Guardian— 80 Points — Super Rare (Title Character): One of my main complaints about DXF060 Deadpool, Merc With A Mouth is that his keywords (Initiative and X-Factor) don’t leave a lot of options for team building. In fact they kinda suck. Well, Wizkids must have heard those complaints because Dr. Strange was made with the Avengers and Mystical keywords. If you can’t find good team building options with those keywords then I have nothing for you.

His dial alone is almost worth 80 points. 7 range with Sidestep, 11 Attack, Psychic Blast, 3 Damage, and Probability Control should do well on offense. Defensively, 18 Defense, the Mystics TA, and Energy Shield/Deflection are above average for his point cost. He also has 6 clicks of life and his values for attack and defense stay relatively the same throughout.

He has three Title Character Abilities. His first ability reads “Every Scrap Of Hidden Sorcery: Modify Dr. Strange, Earth’s Guardian’s or an adjacent friendly character’s damage value by +1 this turn.” That’s a great effect and I would use that often, but it’s his third title ability that really blows me away. It says, “Sorceror Supreme: For the rest of the game, as long as Dr. Strange, Earth’s Guardian is on the map you may reroll an attack roll each turn.” That’s huge. It’s in addition to any use of Probability Control your team might have, and it lets him join the ranks of the only two other characters in Modern who can affect your rolls anywhere on the board: SMWW060 Mr. Mxyzptlk and TMNT2029 Renet Tilley.

And that’s why Dr. Strange, Earth’s Guardian is the best character in this set.

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