Team Ideas – As Good As Gold

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

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

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

Team Name: Space Invaders

Keyword Theme: None

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

Total = 300 Points

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

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

It’s Sequel Time!

Team Name: Revenge of the Nerfed 2.0

Keyword Theme: None

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

Total = 300 Points

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

005 Thor (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

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

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

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

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

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

008 Hulk (Common to Core Hobby and Mass Market)

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

009 Hawkeye (Rare to Core Hobby)

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

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

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

010 Scarlet Witch (Rare to Core Hobby)

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

011 Vision (Rare to Core Hobby)

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

012 Ultron Mk 1 (Rare to Core Hobby)

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

017 Hulkbuster (Core Hobby Chase)

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

Some Final Notes:

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

–Baron Strucker (90% confident on this one)

–Black Widow (95% sure on this)

–Nick Fury (60% confident)

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

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

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

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

Eh… On Second Thought, What the Heck? Go Ahead and Do This, Scott!! (Or, The Build 4, Part 2!!)

May 18, 2014May 18, 2014 / HypeFox / 1 Comment

"And this is just from indigestion. Imagine what'll happen when I'm really mad."

“THIS is what can happen when you ‘Imagine Dragons!'”

Welcome to Part 2 of our fourth “The Build” column! For information on the game I was building for and the thought process behind why I chose the army I did, click here.

And now that you’re all caught up, Let’s Get Fightin’!!

ROUND 1:

VERSUS: Ninwashui!

FACING:

“Oh look, my shirt’s off again.”

WXM038 Legion – 119

(Assigned a Fragment)

AVX014 Magneto – 200

(Assigned a Fragment)

WXM016 Cyclops – 94

WXM045 Phoenix – 154

(Assigned a Fragment)

The Phoenix Force – 12 + 3

(With the Colossus Fragment Attached)

=600 (Exactly! Nice job, bro!)

FIGHT!

I honestly don’t remember how Ninwashui had his Frags arranged; as it would turn out, it didn’t really matter.

We began by tying on map roll; we rerolled, and I took it. I chose the K’un Lun map. We each advanced slightly on our first turns; on turn two, I unleashed Sentry and Void and Hawkeye (with Mockingbird backing him up for the additional +1 to Attack), and Cyclops was pretty much dead in short order. Ninwa retaliated by having Legion choose good supporting powers like Perplex with his Trait (HIDDEN PERSONALITIES: Give Legion a free action and choose a standard power, then roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. He acquires a “Personality Quirk” from the table below, and uses that and the standard power until your next turn.1: “Cowardly” Legion modifies his attack value by -2.2: “Confused” Legion modifies his speed and defense values by -1.3: “Grounded” Legion can use Earthbound/Neutralized.4: “Enraged” Legion can use Battle Fury.5: “Compassionate” Immediately heal all adjacent characters 1 click.6: “Savant” Legion modifies his combat values by +1. Choose another standard power and he can also use that power.), and then he hit a Running Shot on Sentry and Void for 5 damage straight through (via her Penetrating/Psychic Blast)! Ouch! After this, though, 2 things happened.

First, I got slightly more conservative with my Sentry and Void placement. Second… poor Ninwashui never hit another roll (at least not after one of my Theme Team Probs or Scarlet Witch’s native Prob). The biggest insult to Ninwa came when he sent Legion on a Hypersonic run at Rookie Mockingbird just to pick up SOME points from the match. I believe at that point he needed a 7 to just straight up KO her; instead, he rolled yet another 3. This ended up as a 600-0 squash, which was not at all where I thought we were headed after the first couple turns.

DECISION:

600-0 Victory.

WHAT I LEARNED:

–I went to the trouble of assigning the Cyclops Fragment to Sentry and Void, and then NEVER used it the whole day. That was a major mistake. It didn’t really cost me, but it wasn’t until the whole tournament was over that I realized that I could have been using RCE IN ADDITION to the bonuses provided by the Phoenix Dial, of which I was much more mindful. Don’t know if it would have made a difference in the grand scheme of things, but I’m sure I took a few second actions with Sentry and Void’s Multi-attack where I was just firing away without using any of the RCE bonuses. Boo hiss on me.

—Phoenix was potent offensively, especially in her first 3 clicks, but when she missed her Shape Change roll, Sentry and Void pretty much vaporized her over the course of the next couple turns. Her dial feels like it should be more in the 14o or so point range, which may not seem like a huge difference from the 154 she costs now, but those extra few points actually close of a lot of different build possibilities. I really like this piece, but I’ve never seen her take over a game to the extent that it seems like she should be able to (whether I was playing her or playing against her).

—Legion was a real surprise for me. He was extremely useful, even if Ninwashui rolled Battle Fury about 7 out of 10 times. He’s a figure I enjoyed playing against, even if he was really hard to plan for from turn to turn.

—WXM016 Cyclops is not a bad figure–he just got eaten up in this environment. For the extra six points, I’d probably prefer the Experienced AvX version, but I know Ninwashui has had terrible luck with that fig, so it didn’t surprise me that he went with a different Cyclops this month.

–200 Point AvX Magneto is good… unless he’s facing a 98 Point Chaos War Hawkeye. With the Phoenix Force slot I was starting on, Hawkeye basically had a 13 Attack, and if I could maneuver Mockingbird into a square adjacent to the one I wanted Hawkeye to end up in during a Running Shot, his attack zoomed up to a 14. This was huge in a couple games, because Magneto’s Defense is really hard to crack. It’s 18 with ES/D to start, and most people who played him gave him a Fragment and left the Colossus Fragment on the resource base, which meant that even if you hit him, Mags had access to BOTH Invuln and his native Invincible (while you can’t use two reducers at the same time, that meant that even if you Outwitted Invincible, he’d still be subtracting 2 from any non-penetrating damage). But after 3 damage, that defense drops from 18 to 16, which is much easier to touch (even with his Traited ES/D still in effect). So I had basically planned on using Hawkeye as a “bunker-buster” this tournament, Perplexing his Damage to 4 and hitting Mags for 2 on Hawkeye’s first attack and 2 more on his second in any game where I saw Buckethead. Didn’t QUITE work out that way this game (ending up targeting Cyclops first), but Hawkeye was still a straight beast. As the build total went up each month, Hawkeye only got better. His Wildcard TA (Spider-Man) meant that his effectiveness would grow as his supporting cast grew. In this build, AvX Scarlet Witch gave him Mystics TA on my opponent’s turns and IM3 Tony Stark gave him Avengers Initiative, one of the best TA’s in the game, which essentially let him target Stealthed figures.

“Eat $#!%, Green Arrow. If anyone deserves a show on the CW, it’s–wait, the CW? I don’t want a show on the CW! You know what? Eat you heart out, Oliver.”

All in all, CW039 Hawkeye was pound-for-pound my best performer in Month 4. He’s a 5-Star figure on HCRealms, and he was worth every point I spent to play him. He’s that rare figure who’s really damn good in a multitude of point builds.

ROUND 2:

VERSUS: A (Venue Regular–see below!)

FACING:

Shiny Happy Avengers.

M10A009 Iron Man – 225

FFCW006R Scarlet Witch – 50

(Assigned a Fragment)

AvX003 Thor – 200

(Assigned a Fragment)

CW039 Hawkeye – 98

The Phoenix Force – 12 + 3

(With the Colossus Fragment Attached)

=600 (I believe that’s how Andrew had his Fragments set–if I’m wrong, I apologize Andrew. A smart man might have taken better notes, but here we are…)

FIGHT!

My second opponent is A, a regular at our venue, Comics & More, and he is a high-level player. While he’s certainly capable of putting together some killer team builds, what he really excels at in my opinion is in-game strategy–specifically, adapting what his team does best to the conditions and positioning on the battlefield. I’ve gone against him several times with what I thought (at least at the time) were better teams only to watch as he picked me apart piece by piece. He also seems to enjoy finding some of the quirkier corners of the game and is a master at using Perplex to get most of his key pieces up to absurdly high Defense levels.

I was very nervous going into this game because A had defeated me with a similar version of this team (he added Hawkeye and the resource, and powered down Scarlet Witch from 75 to 50 Points) in Month 3. I just did not know what I was going to do about M10 Iron Man–I had been praying that I wouldn’t play against one, as both my main AND secondary attacker were using Phoenix Fragments.

I seem to recall that A won Map Roll; regardless of who did, we ended up fighting on the surface of the Moon. A brought his fully powered M10 Iron Man, Thor and Hawkeye to the center of the map, setting Hawkeye down in Hindering Terrain. On my turn, I used “No More Mutants” to get rid of his Scarlet Witch’s Mystics TA (so that his Hawkeye couldn’t copy it anymore), then I ran my standard Hawkeye/Mockingbird play and–after Wildcarding Avengers Initiative–smacked his Hawkeye for 3, even though he was Stealthed. Sentry and Void then went to work–and missed twice, after A used up half of his Theme Team probs. Dang.

He countered back by taking out Tony Stark (bye-bye AI TA), but I came right back with Sentry and Void and used Multi-attack to finish off his Hawkeye and get a big blast in on Thor (at that point, I believe my dial had turned to the +1 to Damage, so that hit was about 6 damage straight through). Meanwhile, Mockingbird had tied up M10 Iron Man and even got a hit in with her CCE. Looking at the board, A actually used his Scarlet Witch to attack Sentry and Void–and hit! Then Thor went for the Pulse Wave against Sentry and Void. He needed an 8 at that point I believe to do 5-6 damage, which would have put Sentry and Void on one of its last clicks. He rolled the dice… and he missed! Whew. M10 Iron Man hit his own Pulse Wave, but with both Mockingbird and Hawkeye within range, he only did 1 damage to each.

On my next turn, Sentry and Void finished off his Thor and Scarlet Witch. A took out Mockingbird, but at this point the match simply became about whittling M10 Iron Man’s Adaptive Armor (ADAPTIVE ARMOR: When Iron Man would take damage from a character assigned a relic or resource, Iron Man ignores that damage and rolls a d6. On a result of 1-3, deal Iron Man 1 unavoidable damage. This ability can’t be ignored.) down with Sentry and Void, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye. M10 Iron Man lasted FOREVER, but couldn’t really muster any offense, and eventually Andrew missed enough rolls that he was KO’d–he just got out-actioned too badly at that point since it was 3-1. Still, it took forever–A made enough rolls to really flummox my troops with that Trait for a while there.

DECISION:

600-175 (I want to say that he killed Scarlet Witch, and I know he KO’d Tony Stark and Mockingbird. So we’ll go with 175. Yes, I know, a smarter man would have taken better notes!!)

WHAT I LEARNED:

–M10 Iron Man can be dealt with even by figures assigned Resources or Relics, but you need to be EXTREMELY patient and you REALLY need to take out his supporting figs first. Just like Silver Centurion brings his own secondary attacker with his Pulse Bolt Torpedo, M10 Iron Man really sort of brings his own Support team with top dial Perplex and Mid-Dial Outwit to go with his Adaptive Armor Trait.

The scariest “gently-swaying -in-the-jetstream” piece in the whole tournament!

–AvX Thor is great… until he gets hit. Outwit and Pen/Psy are his main weaknesses (aren’t they everyone’s main weakness?). His attack and damage output are great, but his native defense never rises over a 17. A Psychic Blast for even 3 damage can burn through 100 Points of clicks in one hit. That’s why I like his 100 Point dial better than his 200 Point Dial, incidentally.

–A assigned the Emma Frost Fragment to the Scarlet Witch, which was very clever. Most people play the 75-Point version just for her Telekinesis; A realized he could get that TK just by paying about 6 additional Points (3 for the Fragment and 3 for assigning that Fragment to her).

–A brief note about IM3 Tony Stark. For 50 Points, just the fact that he gives you Outwit and Enhancement with 17 Defense and Willpower is pretty damn good. That he can be promoted AND the fact that he provides Avengers Initiative to all your Wildcards is just gravy. One of my favorite pieces from the IM3 set, definitely.

ROUND 3:

VERSUS: B, (another Venue regular and my nemesis from Month 2!)

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Nemesis is used rather loosely here, as Comics & More is a pretty friendly environment. Just thought I’d throw that out there.)

(DEADPOOL NOTE: Regarding the Editor’s Note above:

“We’ve waited 2 extra days already for this recap. How about you GET ON WITH IT?!”

End of DeadPool note.)

FACING:

WXM032 Bishop -140

(Assigned a Fragment)

AVX014 Magneto – 200

(Assigned a Fragment)

AVX010 Emma Frost – 125

WXM209 Jean Grey – 100

(Assigned a Fragment)

The Phoenix Force – 12 + 3

(With the Colossus Fragment Attached)

=598 (I wish I could remember who had what Fragment; alas, this is my best guess recreation–B, if you’re reading this, go ahead and let me know what I screwed up in the Comments!)

B is another great local player who’d done well in previous AvX tourneys, so I knew I’d have my work cut out for me. His teams are usually pretty innovative, and like A, he enjoys exploring some of the weirder sides of team building. Having said that, this was a downright normal team for him, and after Map Choice was decided (he won, and we ended up back in K’un Lun), he moved his force up and sat Magneto in one of the printed Hindering Terrain squares on the first level. I countered with my “Hawkeye” bunker buster strategy and conglomerated around the other bit of printed Hindering Terrain that was just a few squares away from the one Mags was in and hit (albeit only for a small amount–only 1-2 damage) to open up the attacking, and we were off and running! On his turn, he started maneuvering the rest of his team into the fray, and I followed that by continuing to chip away at Magneto with Hawkeye and Sentry and Void. Soon I scored the KO on Mags (along with the early advantage), but it cost me Tony Stark (who I’d moved forward to counter Mags’s Invincible).

The tables started to turn my opponents way, and soon he had KO’d Scarlet Witch and Mockingbird as well, and while I had damaged just about everyone but Bishop, I hadn’t KO’d anyone else. Jean Grey was showing Support at that point, so I took her out with Sentry and Void, but it left him in a precarious position, and B. took advantage of that by plugging him for a decent chunk of damage. Eventually I managed to take out Emma Frost, but it cost me Sentry and Void when B. countered with a pretty Phoenix’d out Bishop. At that point the dial was showing +2 to all stats plus Hypersonic Speed.

The end of the game came down to Hawkeye still on first click and the Phoenix Force providing him with +2 to Attack and Hypersonic Speed, which was perfect because Bishop was down to either his last click or his second to last click, and trying to hit him from range was just asking for trouble. My opponent moved Bishop to temporary safety, and I had to move across the map to get into position for a Hypersonic strike, which I did… right as the Judge called time. As I went second to start the game, that meant that the game ended with my last move that turn. B. almost didn’t realize he had won, and announced that he was clearing Bishop. I almost had to shake him to tell him he’d won.

It was an extremely close match, and I can’t say for certain I would have come out on top even if time hadn’t ended. The way things sat, I would have needed about a 5 to KO Bishop with a close combat HSS strike (Hawkeye’s modified attack at that point was 14 while Bishop’s modified Defense was 19 (16 +2 from the resource plus resource granted Perplex +1 =19). Certainly not impossible, but not a gimme either.

I came close, but B’s team (or more accurately, his skilled play) turned out to be too much for me. He won the tourney; with about 1658 points (out of a possible 1798 or something like that), I finished 2nd, leaving me with finishes of 2, 1, 2 and 2 for the whole event. The Judge assigned Player Points to every competitor each month based on attendance, points earned and final place.

With the Month Four win, B… finished ONE Player Point behind me. It really could not have been any closer. He played a great game, had a great four months, and had he taken the top prize, he certainly would have been worthy. Congrats to him for winning the month and go home with a Phoenixbuster Iron Man (who may make some noise at a ROC–this isn’t the last you’ll here of ~~Peanut Butter~~ PB Iron Man).

“Hey, HypeFox–you missed me, @$$hole.”

WHAT I LEARNED:

–Bishop plus the Phoenix Force is pretty damn formidable. His Trait (TIMESLIDE: Once per game, give Bishop a double power action to use Phasing/Teleport. When you do, he can use Probability Control until your next turn, and after actions resolve, you may give him a close or ranged combat attack as a free action.) can completely shift the balance of power in a game if used judiciously.

–Sentry and Void is sick and wrong, especially in a Build format where he has enough points left to field a pretty good support squad. Multi-attack has been slightly nerfed in the last year or so, but it’s still so powerful that you ONLY TEND TO SEE IT ON COLOSSALS WHO ARE MORE THAN 500 POINTS! A regular fig who’s 300 even? That’s still really good. Even Dark Phoenix Cyclops at 300 Points doesn’t have Multi-attack!

–WXM Gravity Feed Jean Grey is damn good!

–Going in, I thought Emma Frost would be a pain to deal with, but she ended up being beatable every month I played her. While she could be a pest with her Mind Control and Outwit, I mostly left her alone whenever I played her until most of her teammates were gone. She didn’t wasn’t as formidable as I thought she would be going in.

And now, after four months ~~of blood sweat and tears~~ of playing Heroclix:

THE SPOILS:

“My Precioussss….”

And:

Blocky, The Forgotten Go-Bot.

Take it easy everyone, and thanks for your patience. Back next week with some new stuff, including a final wrap-up of AvX wherein we’ll rate the best and worst pieces (now that we finally know the whole set), and keep an eye out for the Top 1o Deadpool figures, which should definitely drop before the end of the month!

The Big Six-MO… nth! Anniversary!! (Or, 10 Burning Questions About Invincible Iron Man!!)

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 / HypeFox / Leave a comment

“So… what’s new with you?”

We are time traveling today, folks! We’re journeying to the distant past, waaaaay back, back before even Lydea Mallor roamed the tables and countertops of this planet we call Earth, back when bringing Shuma-Gorath and a Mole Man to a ROC was still legal (whereas now, of course, bringing Shuma and a Mole Man to a ROC will earn you 3-5 years at County). Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about the distant, distant past of six months ago! Invincible Iron Man was released just before Thanksgiving of 2013 (HCRealms.com lists it as November 20th on their Units page; that’s as good a date as any), so it was six months ago that the world was introduced to pieces like the Silver Centurion, Tony Stark, Absorbing Man (the LE) and Iron Pharaoh. What did we learn from this set, and how is it affecting both casual games and the Meta today? Well, to find that out, we’re debuting a new column gimmick today that we like to call…

10 BURNING QUESTIONS!!

Here we go!

Q1. Both HypeFox AND Ninwashui weighed in on the merits of many individual pieces–Invincible Iron Man was the subject of the first set reviews published by Critical Missives, right? How did they both do? Would their personal Top 10 (and 5 Honorable Mentions) change if they were assembling those lists today?

Mistakes Were Made

A1: Okay, first of all, that’s like 3 questions. You’re already ruining this gimmick and it hasn’t even started yet! To review, my Top Ten IIM figs were:

10. Grey Gargoyle (Super Rare)

9. Iron Pharaoh (Chase)

8. Crimson Cowl (Rare)

7. Rescue (Main Set Version) (Common)

6. War Machine (Rare Prime) 5. War Machine (Rare)

4. Hyperion (Veteran Super Rare Prime)

3. Count Nefaria (Super Rare)

2. Absorbing Man (LE)

1. Silver Centurion (Common Prime)

While my Honorable Mention consisted of:

5. Bulldozer (Rookie Common)

4. Tony Stark (Uncommon)

3. King Hyperion (Super Rare)

2. Iron Paladin (Chase)

1. Maggia Goon (Common)

So, would I change anything? Surprisingly, not a ton. These lists have held up fairly well. Having said that, if I were ranking IIM figs today, it would look more like this (* denotes figure who didn’t appear on previous lists):

10. Tony Stark

9. Rescue (Main Set version)

8. Count Nefaria

7. Iron Doom*

6. Iron Man* (Experienced Common version)

5. War Machine (Rare version)

4. Absorbing Man (LE)

3. Shaman* (Super Rare)

2. Iron Pharaoh

1. Silver Centurion

With an Honorable Mention of:

5. War Machine (Prime)

4. King Hyperion

3. Iron Man* (Rare)

2. Crimson Cowl

1. Hyperion* (Experienced version!)

So, what have I learned in the six months that the set has been out and in the four months since I wrote the lists?

Well, for one thing, Iron Pharaoh is reeeeeaaaallly good.

“I could have told you that, mortal.”

Improved Targeting of ANY kind gives you a major leg up on your competition, and the Pharaoh basically gives you Improved Targeting: Ignores the $#%@&^! Map via his Golden Falcon, Sharting (On Your Opponent’s Entire Strategy) Trait. The Dial H guys have pointed out on more than one occasion that ranged-attack based teams have an inherent advantage (all other things being equal) over close combat teams; they’re usually going to get the Alpha Strike. How do close combat teams combat this advantage? Primarily with Map choice (by choosing a map with terrain that aids what their strategy is, whether that’s advancing and hiding behind Blocking or Elevated Terrain), or with Stealth, etc. Well, Improved Targeting is an ability that specifically hoses those few options and turns what was a minor advantage into a MAJOR advantage for the ranged-attack team. And in ranged-attack versus ranged-attack matchups, if one team has Improved Targeting and the other team does not, the team that does–if it’s positioned well–will still have that same Alpha Strike advantage AS IF IT WAS FACING A CLOSE COMBAT TEAM.

And when you add resources that provide things like Sidestep (like, say, The Phoenix Force) into the mix, even common figures that people may have once overlooked (<cough>E Iron Man 001 <cough>, which, y’know, I totally meant to put on my intial list, but, uh, forgot, and stuff, and really, what had happened was…) suddenly become “breakable.”

“Careful! I’m ‘breakable!'”

Experienced Iron Man 001 plus Sidestep (whether it’s from the Phoenix Force, or from Agent Sitwell, with whom he shares a keyword, or…) plus the right map choice [think Fear Itself Month 1 (The Raft) or AvX Month 1 (Latveria), or any map with a ton of Blocking Terrain] turns this Iron Man into a piece that can potentially Outwit an opposing character THROUGH BLOCKING TERRAIN AND HE DOESN’T CARE IF SAID OPPOSING FIGURE HAS STEALTH! Then he can attack that figure and then, in this scenario, (this is the best part) SIDESTEP BEHIND OTHER BLOCKING TERRAIN SO THAT HE CANNOT BE RETALIATED AGAINST! He’s basically Darkseid without all the “I cost at least 200 Points” drama! Hell, Sitwell is 60 Points AND provides another Perplex (and possibly a prob, assuming your other figs are also S.H.I.E.L.D. keyword figs like these two). I don’t know about you, but when you factor in the fact that this Iron Man also has top click Running Shot, Invuln and Precision Strike, I’d rather play him and Sitwell for 210 than just Darkseid for 200. Overlooking this piece was probably a bigger mistake than under-ranking Iron Pharaoh–at least the Pharaoh made the list.

Here’s a version of a Dial H Best Build I submitted this month that features this particular Iron Man:

Team Name: Nothing to See Here

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

Map Choice: Fear Itself Month 1 (The Raft) or AvX Month 1 (Latveria)

IIM001AE Iron Man – 150

CATWS014 Agent Sitwell – 60

CATWS011 Maria Hill – 60

The Phoenix Force – 12

Assigned Character x2 – 6

Cyclops, Colossus, Magik & Emma Frost Fragments – 12

= 300

Nothing to See here is designed to throw Outwits from every conceivable angle on the board while IM blasts fools through walls. May not win a ROC, but if you win the Map Choice, it’ll be tons of fun to play!

I also overlooked Shaman in a major way. He, too, didn’t make either of my lists–he was one of my last eliminations for Honorable Mention as I recall–but the build possibilities that his Trait (“NO FLIGHT” SPELL: Once per game, give Shaman a free action and until he is KO’d, other characters with “wing symbol” or “transporter wing symbol” have “boot symbol” instead.) grants cannot be overstated. What often goes overlooked on Shaman however is his capability as a secondary attacker–he’s not just a support piece. His first click gives you 10 Attack with TK, 17 Defense with both ES/D AND a souped-up Barrier, and he has 3 Damage top click WITH Perplex! For less than 100 Points!

Look how annoying you can be with him:

Team Name: No Flights, No Tights

Theme: Mystical (Generic)

Map Choice: AvX Month 1 (Wundagore Mountain)

IIM040 Shaman – 92

IIM051 Iron Pharaoh – 110

FFCW006R Scarlet Witch – 50

FIB002 Skadi’s Warbot – 30

The Phoenix Force – 12

1 Assigned Character – 3

Cyclops Fragment – 3

=300

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

“I thought I was clear before, but, to reiterate… Y’all mother$@#%&!$ forgot about Dre!”

So those two figs are probably the ones I missed the mark on the most. Some other figs whose ranking I would change have gotten stronger (Iron Doom) or weaker based on subsequent releases. For example, Absorbing Man LE has taken a slight hit with the release of figs like CATWS013 Agent 13, who can just void someone’s defense completely, but overall, Iron Pharaoh and Shaman were my biggest mistakes, I believe. Next question!

Q4. Other than Shaman, what figure hasn’t been exploited in the Meta as much as you thought they would be? And why?

A4. Hmmm… that’s a surprisingly good question. And it was just two questions! Well done! You’re getting better! Still ruining the gimmick, but you’re getting better!

Let’s see… well, to be honest, I’m surprised people didn’t find more of a use for Grey Gargoyle, the Super Rare. His trick of only letting an adjacent opponent clear one token at a time (instead of two if they’d been pushed) and having some pretty good close combat stats made me think someone would find a way to make him really nasty. If you combine him with AvX Professor X, you could really slow an opponent down, but you wouldn’t have much offense in a 300 Point game–or a Theme Team. That seems like a combo worth trying in, like, a 500 Point game. For the Meta, he may just cost too much for what he does. It may be as simple as that.

A smug French dude isn’t worth what it costs to deal with him? Stop the presses!

Q6. What about the Silver Centurion? Is he still as good now as he was 6 months ago?

A6. Okay, I feel like you’re kind of plateauing in terms of the progress you were making with the whole “asking questions” thing. You just asked two questions again! And the first one was barely even a question–what about the Silver Centurion? Oh, you’d like to know if he’s still as good now as he was 6 months ago? WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST ASK THAT INSTEAD OF WASTING YET ANOTHER QUESTION?

I suppose I should just answer both questions by answering the one THAT WAS ACTUALLY A QUESTION! Sigh…

Yes, he’s as good as he was 6 months ago. He still brings a quality secondary attacker WITH HIM, which tends to scare or, at the very least, frustrate anyone unfortunate enough to play against him. His Point cost WITHOUT the Torpedo is still very reasonable (especially since he’s immune to half of the best attack abilities in the game); and, with the Avengers keyword, he can tack on the Secret Avengers ATA to (somewhat) stymie his biggest fear–Outwit. He’s shown up at or near the top of countless ROC events, and nothing’s really come down the pike that really makes him weaker now than he was then. He’s still the best fig in the set. It’s closer now than it was before, but even without Improved Targeting of any kind, he’s still a complete badass and one of the best Primary Attackers in Modern.

I don’t even need to come up with an army to prove my point–just check out the ROC results from the past few months and you’ll see a ton of great builds featuring the Silver Centurion.

“I’m going to assume I’m in a blizzard and not surrounded by the white nothingness of entropy as it slowly consumes the universe around me. On another note–how sweet does my armor look next to a white background?”

Q8. Can I have more questions?

A8. No.

Q9. What is the power legacy of this set in the current Modern Age format?

A9. Finally! Two questions in a row where you actually just asked a single question! Alright! Well, in terms of power, this set had more pieces that will show up in the Meta than the Marvel set that preceded it, Wolverine and the X-Men. But that’s okay–not every set has to have pieces that are geared towards a single format (in this case, 300 Point Modern Age). WATX had plenty of pieces that are a lot of fun to play, and it introduced Team Bases to the Marvel Heroclix world. It also had some of the most popular Chase characters ever (the Phoenix Five), so loading it up with cutthroat power pieces would have given them less to do when it came time for Invincible Iron Man. Iron Pharaoh has turned up on quite a few Meta teams, but the character itself was never more than, like, an alternate cover–I don’t think there was ever even a story about him. But when he can exist in a game alongside 13 different Wolverines, I think that means that Heroclix in general is actually in good shape. There’s plenty of little things that irk me, but you can play competitive games now with a ton of different characters. That’s a huge step forward from just 14 months ago, when it was Ghost Rider and… well, and nothing else. It was just Ghost Riders as far as the eye could see, each one giving the next a Penance Stare.

The Meta in early 2013.

Q10. Wow. What happens when Ghost Rider gives a Penance stare to Ghost Rider?

A10. That was probably your best question. I’m glad you saved it for last. Anyway, the Ghost Rider giving the Penance Stare would end up here:

All paradoxical loops inevitably lead to John Malkovich’s head. And thank you for RUINING THE FIRST OUTING OF OUR NEW GIMMICK WITH YOUR HORRIBLE QUESTION-WASTING!!

Q11. You’re welcome?

A11. I hate you.

Back later this week with some AvX Month 3 Tourney Reports…

Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss!! (A Second Opinion on the Invincible Iron Man set and a Quick Discussion About the Meta.)

January 1, 2014January 2, 2014 / ninwashui / 1 Comment

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Meet NinwaShui, our newest contributor! He’s a veteran of many Heroclix tournaments and has played the game for quite a while. His last tournament victory–Month 6 of Fear Itself–came at my expense and earned him a Colossal Serpent! Ninwa is here today to provide another perspective on a couple of my most recent posts.)

A SECOND OPINION!!

About the set:

I liked this set a lot in terms of theme, but compared to WXM it had a slightly lower power level. There are a larger percentage of figures in this set that I feel I would never field on a team. The power level in the playable figures is definitely comparable. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, as I think WXM is the most powerful set we’ve ever seen.

The chases are cool and they are all playable, but they aren’t the super beautiful one man armies that the last set featured. For a causal player the WXM chases are better, but the chases in this set are much more likely to show up on tournament teams in the current meta.

The current meta:

In my listings below I judge the current meta based on what I’ve seen from recent tournie reports. At the moment, those are mostly from the ROC. Essentially right now you seem to have 5 choices:

-A 300 point team base (Hellfire, X-men blue).

-A 200 point team base (New mutants) and 100 points of something else.

-A 200 point Shuma Gorath and 100 points of something else.

-68 point Catwoman, a 14 point bat belt, and 218 points of something else.

-A 250 point team with at least 3 characters (or two and a bystander), splitlip, and a full book of the skull. This is the most common team you see. I commonly refer to this team and meta environment as “Hammers raining from the sky.”

My 5 figures that almost made the top ten:

5. IIM031 Crimson Cowl – This is a good support figure for MOE teams. Never play her without the Hammer industries ATA. She might have made the top 10 if IIM002 Rescue wasn’t in the same point range in the same set.

4. IIM051 Iron Pharaoh (1500 BC) – He is probably the best figure to use the SUMMON ANCESTRAL SPIRIT: IRON MAN trait to summon. But he lacks the trait himself which means you don’t want to start with him in play. Otherwise, incredible range and his lack of move and attack is easily fixed in a hammers raining from the sky environment.

3. IIM028 Death’s Head – I’ve seen this guy in action and he is deadly on every click. Park him behind the rest of your team and shoot straight through them with his improved targeting. He’s best played with small cheap supporting figures because of his SIDE JOB power mid dial. His average attack value and lack of a move and attack ability are easily fixed in a hammers raining from the sky environment.

2. IIM020 Detroit Steel – This guy made top 16 at a an ROC out of nowhere. I listened to a podcast where they thought it was a joke in the tournament report. Then I checked his dial. His TARGETING SOLUTION allows you to shoot a stealthy guy in hindering OR the guy hiding behind the stealthy guy in hindering. That second option is usually better. Precision strike means that super senses and mastermind are just as useless as stealth. The Hammer ATA is enough to make this guy a pretty darn good figure.

1. IIM030 Mandarin – This guy and his rings would be one of the best support figures in all of modern except that you can’t use other resources with him. He’s not powerful enough to warrant not running your own book of the skull. However in a tournament that doesn’t allow resources, but does allow special objects, this guy rocks. In particular there is one ring to rule them all. The ring binding all the others together in darkness is, appropriately enough, the Black Light ring. There are 3 reasons it’s awesome. “This character can use Smoke Cloud as a free action.” Normal smoke cloud sucks. Smoke cloud as a free action is awesome. “Opposing characters that begin their turn in a square with one of these terrain markers placed by this ability modify their speed and range values by -2.” These are additional bonuses to what smoke cloud already does when used on opposing characters. Go read the new 2013 version of that power again on your PAC card. And if you make opposing characters shoot through hindering, that is an additional -1 to their attack beyond the smoke cloud’s inherent -1 to attack. Also, remember that placing smoke cloud under characters without a way to avoid hindering movement penalties cuts their movement in half. Awesome. And here’s the best part: “This character and adjacent friendly characters can use Stealth if they occupy a square with a terrain marker placed by this ability.” That means if you use smoke cloud on your own team it gives stealth to Mandarin and anyone adjacent to him! Awesome.

In addition to being a competent ranged attacker Mandarin also starts with another ring besides black light. Mento Intensifer (mind control as a free action) is probably the best secondary ring.

The top ten most powerful figures from the Invincible Iron Man Set:

10. IIM002 Rescue – Probably the best support figure in modern not named Scarlet Witch or Tony Stark. The only thing keeping her from being higher on this list is that 65 is a lot in a 300 point army for someone who does zero damage.

9. IIM049 Iron Monger -Do you remember that time he sued the Scarlet Witch because she used the Mystics TA without his permission? Good times. With his ability to nullify any copy-able TA from the opposing team you may disrupt their whole game plan. His attack value looks sub par until you take into account his -2 perplex to defense. Anyone he can target with perplex he should be able to hit.

8. IIM015 Tony Stark – There has to be a way to break this piece and it’s Mole Man-like ability to make your armor pieces awesome. Maybe “Send in the Drones” Ultron is the key? Also, you should consider that because of his stop click and automatic regeneration for 1 at the start of your turn a lot of pieces in this game can’t knock him out one-on-one. You need to either outwit him or attack twice in one turn. 255 point AVM Hulk can’t knock out this figure by himself. Think about that.

7. IIM048 Count Nefaria – I agree with Hypefox that this fig is great for all the reasons he listed. He’s not higher on my list because I believe IIM029B War Machine is better and he’s only 1 point more.

6. IIM029A War Machine – A great attacker at a bargain price. The trait he has is wonderful and Stark Industry theme units are really hot right now. He has Booklip written all over him.

5. IIM056 Iron Soldier (1910s) – I think this is the best character to start with for the SUMMON ANCESTRAL SPIRIT: IRON MAN trait. Full dial stealth plus the ability to move through hindering terrain–that’s been awesome since Hypertime Batman and it’s still awesome now. Rock solid attack values. +1 att and +1 damage versus armor, past and soldier keyword figs. Also a smoke cloud power you actually want to use. His lack of move and attack is easily rectified in a hammers raining from the sky tournament.

4. IIM029B War Machine – His ALPHA STRIKE power will let you hit the other side of the board in one turn, possibly ambushing the other team before they are ready for you. His RETALIATORY STRIKE is an interesting way to help him not get out-actioned by a more balanced team.

3. IIM041B Hyperion – If you just saw his starting click you might think this was a dial for Galactus. This is the Superman dial that we’ve been waiting for and that we know WizKids will never give us, because if they did there would be no reason to make another ever again. He is a one man army with enough room to still run a resource. The only thing keeping him from being higher on the list is the lack of a broken white power or a trait that needs to be sent immediately to the watch list without passing Go or collecting $200.

2. IIM103 Absorbing Man – Here’s that broken white power I mentioned was missing from Hyperion. I don’t know about the rest of you, but with the way I roll in tournaments getting a 7 or better on my dice is sometimes a long shot. There’s a 58% (roughly) chance of that. Well, there’s only a 16%(roughly) chance after hitting this guy to actually damage him (I know his defense is low, but you still have to make that roll first obviously, so when you look at it altogether, he has a very small chance of taking damage for every attack directed at him). He’s got 5 clicks so you will likely need to hit him twice to KO him and all the while he’s hitting your team for 5 damage a shot. If you build a team a around him (TK, taxi, outwit, etc…) he’s deadly. Nul’s hammer makes him even more unfair.

1. IIM001B Silver Centurion – With the Absorbing Man I said he was deadly when a team a was built around him. Silver Centurion doesn’t even need that much to win. His Torpedo trait will hopefully be watch listed soon and even if it’s removed completely he would still be very playable. His only real weakness is a lack of indomitable and that’s easily rectified.

The 5 worst figures in the Invincible Iron Man set:

5. IIM047E Titanium Man – 150 points for 5 clicks? Is he nearly indestructible like the absorbing man? No. 10 attack. 17 defense. Down to 3 damage after two clicks. His 250 version seems like an average figure. The 150 point version feels like they put the 150 point line in the wrong place.

4. IIM024 Centurius – His EVOLUTIONIZER power isn’t that great in a hammers raining from the sky environment and this guy literally has nothing else to offer. Play Rescue for 7 points less.

3. IIM021 Sasha Hammer – Sasha gives you a 1 in 3 chance to resurrect a 150 point character. Without that trait she’d be an average 50 point character. Unfortunately she costs 90. Hell, if you played a better 90 point character to begin with, your 150 point character might not have gotten KOed in the first place.

2. IIM036 Ghost – What is this guy’s purpose? Not really support. Mobile blocking terrain? He can push to click 2 and do some damage up close, but at that point you might as well play 40 point IIM207 Puck.

1. IIM016 Pepper Potts – A 33 point character with 2 activation clicks. Sure, if your opponent knocks her out while she’s adjacent to Tony Stark she can turn into a low point Rescue, but why would you opponent ever try knocking her out first?

Top Ten Invincible Iron Man Figures!! (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Write Almost 4000 Words about Silver Centurion!!)

December 28, 2013December 28, 2013 / HypeFox / 3 Comments

Okay! I registered this blog like two weeks ago! Might be time to actually post something, eh? For my inaugural post, we’re gonna talk about some Marvel Clix!!

IIM has been out for awhile now, and as I’ve finally gotten to play with some of the pieces, I’m finally ready to rate these figs. This set turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would; I was not excited for more armored madness so soon after what I thought was a very strong Iron Man 3 movie set. But now that I’ve seen these pieces in action, I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. My list is meant as a general rating of each figure’s effectiveness across a broad range of formats, not just Sealed or 300 point Meta games. I actually prefer 400 point games myself, but these figs all have uses in just about any gametype.

Firstly, there were a host of figures that just couldn’t crack the cream of the crop, but are still quite useful in their own right. This set has some surprising depth to it, and much of that depth makes up my:

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

—Bulldozer (#014r) 70 points – Common: With his trait (HEAD DOWN, HEAD FIRST: At the end of your turn, choose a side of the square Bulldozer occupies. Lines of fire drawn to Bulldozer that pass through that side of the square are blocked until your next turn.), he’s basically a moving barrier that can also attack in a pinch and—probably more usefully—break through opposing barriers with his Improved Movement—Ignores Blocking Terrain and destroys blocking terrain as he moves through it. His attack is never more than pedestrian, and his defense won’t keep him around very long, but if you have time to line him up where you need him, you can cause some big headaches for your opponents. Just stay away from the Experienced version; for a whopping 75 more points, you get the SAME charge, SAME attack, 2 clicks of Invuln (granted, he defense goes up a tick to 18, but not until his second click!) and a measly one more damage. And if that somehow sounds okay to you, go look at Prime Hyperion’s dial and what 75 points gets you there. Yes, he’s a Prime, but 75 points is 75 points. Experienced Bulldozer is actually on the short list for WORST figs in the set, which makes this a very schizophrenic piece.

—Tony Stark (#015) 70 points – Uncommon: A great support piece that has a lot of things going for it and only one real drawback—his most interesting ability (ARGONAUTS: Tony Stark can use Mind Control and Stealth. When he uses Mind Control, he may only target a single character with the Armor or Robot keyword, but may target friendly characters.) doesn’t show up until his second click. If he had that ability from the start, he would have most definitely made the Top Ten. Still, there’s a lot to like here. He alternates between Outwit and Perplex, he has a Stop click, so it’s really hard to one-shot him, and with his Extremis Healing Factor, he can even heal himself. And it’s all topped off by the Stark Industries keyword, which we’ll get into a little later (suffice to say it’s one of the best named keywords out there, and it doesn’t even have an ATA yet!)

— King Hyperion (#041a) 266 points – Super Rare: A great piece, King Hyperion is tons of fun to play. He has a great mechanic (GENOCIDAL RAGE: Give King Hyperion a power action and make a close or ranged combat attack targeting a single friendly character with a point value of 15 or more. If he KO’s that character with this attack, after actions resolve, heal him of 1 damage, remove all action tokens from him, and modify his combat values by +1 until your next turn and he may immediately be given an action as a free action that may be used to activate this power again.), but once again, it doesn’t show up until click 2. Notice a recurring theme with these Honorable Mentions? You have to hope you can safely guide them to their second clicks! Not too hard in most cases, but if you make these pieces the focus of your army (which you’d HAVE to do in King Hyperion’s case), you’re adding an element of uncertainty to your strategy. Also, at the end of the day, Hyperion (the Prime version of this fig) is just a lil’ bit better.

—Iron Paladin (#053) 110 points—Chase: He’s a Chase piece, so many folks will never get a chance to use him (although most of the Chases from this set are pretty reasonable on eBay right now—about the cost of 2 boosters). Still, he’s pretty efficient as a close combat attacker with good average AV’s and a great Attack ability (SWORD OF FAITH: Opposing characters can’t use defense powers when they are the target of Iron Paladin’s close combat attack.) that is probably the best answer right now to the “How do I take down Absorbing Man?” dilemma that’s cropping up in the Meta. The fact that he picks up Mystics in the latter part of his dial and has a roughly 55% chance to regenerate into another Chase figure AFTER HE’S K.O.’d earns him a spot just outside the Top Ten.

—Maggia Goon (#004) 20 points – Common: A 20-point fodder piece almost makes the Top Ten?! Well, yeah, when you can effectively tie figs up that are 5 times your cost (or more!), you deserve a pretty good ranking. Plasticity plus a VERY interesting defensive power (PROTECTION RACKET: When targeted with an attack, Maggia Goon may use the printed defense value of the character targeting him.) make him a really annoying nuisance for anyone unlucky enough to play against him. He’s got an OK keyword (Maggia) that makes him cool to run with Count Nefaria (but doesn’t lend itself to much else), and he eventually picks up a 1-damage Exploit Weakness if he’s forced to do damage in the middle of the game, but all of that just wasn’t enough to push him from the fringes of Honorable Mention and into the Top Ten… but it was close. Did I mention he’s only 20 points?

And now, without further ado, the Top Ten figures in Invincible Iron Man!

TOP TEN:

10. Grey Gargoyle (#046) 95 points—Super Rare: This was the hardest figure for me to place on this list. I can make an argument for him not being included at all; I can also make the case that at #10, he’s not getting nearly the respect he deserves. I just don’t know. Having said that, this feels about right. When this figure appeared on the setlist, like most people I assumed he was really just an average figure with a few tricks up his sleeve that was really just meant to give folks someone to revert Mokk into. Now that I’ve seen his dial, he’s actually much more interesting than I first gave him credit for.

All three of his special abilities (GRADUAL PETRIFICATION: When an adjacent opposing character would clear action tokens, that character only clears one action token instead of two. & STONE SWIPE: Grey Gargoyle can use Incapcitate. When he uses Incapacitate, he may give up to two action tokens to a hit target. & STONE SHATTER: Grey Gargoyle deals pentrating damage to characters with two action tokens. ) are great. I think it was Edward Shelton who pointed out on “Dial H for Heroclix” a few weeks back that putting tokens on your opponent’s figures is always good, even though it seems like players in the Meta sometimes go through cycles where they forget how devastating Incap can be and then almost have to rediscover its power. I almost equate it to card advantage in Magic: The Gathering—if you draw more cards than the person sitting across from you, you’re probably gonna win. Well, in Heroclix, if you are taking more meaningful actions than your opponents, you’re probably beating them. And so folks will come up with crazy ways to do that, whether it be with Duo Attack or crazy shenanigans with Stealth or Barrier, and sometimes they’ll forget that the easiest way to accomplish this is Incap.

Stone Swipe is as good as close combat Incap gets. But that’s also my problem with this figure. He is all about close combat, but his defense might be too chewy for him to get close enough to opposing figures to wreak havoc. He also has no Willpower of any kind to effectively take advantage of all the tokened figures he’s generating. You can give him Nul’s Hammer, but there’s a lot of figures who suddenly become tenable in a variety of formats if you give them a Hammer. He’s got great keywords in A.I.M., Masters of Evil and Scientist, but at 95 points, he almost HAS to be your secondary attacker in a 300 point game. The good news there is that he has great damage values for his point level. Still, with all the question marks hanging over Gargoyle’s role, #10 feels like the right landing spot for him on this list.

9. Iron Pharaoh (#051) 110 points – Chase: The best of the Chases, Iron Pharaoh boasts a 9 (9!!) range and a trait that should practically let you see half the freaking map at any one time (GOLDEN FALCON, SOARING: When Iron Pharaoh is first placed on the map, place a Falcon special terrain marker in an adjacent square. Give Iron Pharaoh a free action to move this marker up to 3 squares. Iron Pharaoh can draw lines of fire and count range (up to 3 squares) from the Falcon marker using Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Outdoor Blocking Terrain, Ignores Characters.) His second click is the best, as he defense stays at 18 (it goes from Invuln to Toughness, but I can live with that tradeoff) and he keeps Outwit but his attack goes up to 11 and he gains a pretty good Mind Control special power (PHARAOH’S SLAVE: Iron Pharaoh can use Mind Control, but only to target characters of fewer points that himself. When he does, after actions resolve, deal 1 unavoidable damage to the character he hit with his Mind Control.) Some late dial Pen/Psy and Prob Control means that he should be a steady damage dealer throughout his dial, and he defense against ranged attacks never goes below 17.

He’s kind of Fantomex-lite, with some distinct advantages and disadvantages. Since he produces a special Terrain token, and not a bystander token, his Falcon is a lot harder to mess with than E.V.A., who’s a Bystander. E.V.A., on the other hand, can move 8 spaces at her leisure, whereas the Falcon can only move three. The Falcon gives the Pharaoh some of the best Improved Targeting in the game, whereas as E.V.A. just gives Fantomex Toughness. Both extend their parent figures range quite a bit, with E.V.A. giving Fantomex an essentially 13 range and the Falcon only adding 3 to the Pharaoh (although, with his native 9 range, he can cover quite a bit of the board). The Pharaoh is 32 less points than Fantomex, which also helps in the grand scheme of things. To be clear, I’m NOT saying this piece is as good as Fantomex; just that he’s in the same ballpark. The fact that you don’t even have to start the game playing Iron Pharaoh and there’s still like a 55% chance that he can pay huge dividends for you is kind of mind-blowing (“Well, that does it. You killed my Stealth Suit Iron Man. Let me just make a roll here and—oh, look at that. I get to bring in Iron Pharaoh. On his best click. For free. Cool.”).

Add in some strong keywords, and you have just a solid, solid piece. I don’t think he’ll have a huge 300 Meta impact, but he really starts to shine in 400 point games, which opens up a few more shenanigan build possibilities.

8. Crimson Cowl (#031) 57 points – Rare: One of the best support pieces in the set with some more great keywords. Hammer Industries can give her limited Perplex, which is really NEVER not worth 5 points. While her attack never goes beyond “pedestrian,” attacking is one of her least efficient uses. She has arguably the best pound-for-pound Leadership ability in Modern right now, and she starts with first turn TK. And if she goes off top click, she gains a plasticity and Carry Special. A support piece under 75 points that can TK OR Carry other figs AND take action tokens off them AND Perplex any stat but damage—that’s pretty damn good. If you’re playing a Hammer OR Masters of Evil team, Crimson Cowl should be one of the first figs you reach for. Great in both 300 or 400 point games.

7. Rescue (#002) 65 points – Common: So, like a lot of people, when I’m evaluating figures and I get really excited, it’s usually because the figure falls into one of two categories. The piece will either be a heavy hitter with a hefty cost but great stats and abilities; or, as in the case of Rescue, I’ll see everything she offers and then do a double take when I see how much she costs. Perplex (on everything but damage), Flight, first-click TK, DOUBLE Incapacitate with an 11 AV and 6 range, with Force Blast and 17 Defense with Toughness thrown in just for good measure… I mean, this dial seems like it should cost 90 points or more. Then you throw in her Traited ability that lets her carry up to THREE figs if they’re not on their first click, and I start drooling. Doesn’t matter if they fly, or if they have the transporter symbol, or if they’re a Duo (as long as they are on a single base—oh look, IM3 has two Duos that occupy a single base AND share keywords with her for good measure!) Rescue is the best common in the set, and she has uses across the format board. Sealed? If I pull her, I’m playing her! 300 point Constructed? Depending on any stipulations, I’m gonna seriously think about it. 400 points? You can build a FILTHY Stark Industries team and you’d BETTER have Rescue on it. Stark Industries hasn’t had a huge impact (beyond the number one fig—we’ll get to him in a few minutes) on the Meta yet (partly because they’ve yet to receive an ATA), but in formats larger than 300, they are really sick. In 300 (if you’re using resources—my venue typically doesn’t allow it unless it’s the resource for a storyline event like Fear Itself or AvX), you could do a lot worse than something like Booklip (50 points), Rescue & Silver Centurion. You would still have 14 points left for ATA’s or whatever you want. But in addition to boosts from the book, you’d have Enhancement, TK, Double Incapacitate, Perplex (on anything but damage) AND Support backing up a constantly free-quaking Silver Centurion, who would also be backed up by his torpedo. AND you’d have 2 Theme Team Probs. That army wouldn’t dominate the Meta by any means, but you could certainly be competitive. Tony’s girl is just ridiculous.

6. War Machine (#029b) 245 points – Prime: Outside of some merely average attack values, this guy is sick. With running shot, his range is effectively 14 squares with a PRINTED 5 DAMAGE! And with his Alpha Strike ability, he can push to take two attacks in one turn. Just sick. Then you look at his trait: RETALIATORY STRIKE: Each time War Machine is targeted with an attack, put a Retaliation token on this card. Give War Machine a free action and remove 2 Retaliation tokens; he then may make a ranged combat attack against a single target. That is just silly. He doesn’t even have to take damage or even be freaking hit. This means that at some point, the designer of this piece was like, “Let’s give this 245-point tank MORE FREE ATTACKS!” And everyone else in the office was like, “Yeah, we’re cool with that. We’ll cosign that.” Whaaaa… ? I still like the IM3 War Machine with a built-in Duo Attack just a bit better for 25 less points, but man, it’s close. Sick, heavy hitter. But he’s not even the best War Machine in the set when you consider point cost…

5. War Machine (#029a) 125 points – Rare: 125 points for this? Sign me up! Just like his Stark Industries keyword-sharing sister-from-another-mister Rescue, War Machine makes you hold up and go, “Wait a minute. Is this secretly a 150-point character masquerading as 125 secondary attacker?! In addition to two great Team abilities (Avengers AND S.H.I.E.L.D. AND Stark Industries—Booklip, anyone?), and three great named keywords, this War Machine can dish out a bunch of damage and he can do it from about 14 squares away. Add in his Trait: VARIABLE THREAT ADAPTATION: At the beginning of the game, choose a standard power. When an opposing character attacking War Machine can use the chosen power, modify its attack and damage values by -1 for that attack. And suddenly your lil’ 125-point War Machine is shooting for 4 damage and isn’t taking very much in return. This is the War Machine that you’d get at a place like Costco; the other War Machines all look like you’d paid retail!!

4. Hyperion (#041b) 275 points – Prime: Whoa. Talk about beefy. 275 points, so pretty much a 1-man army in a 300-point contest, but man… Power Cosmic, 19 D with Impervious, 12 attack w/Super Strength with a printed 5 damage and—oh yeah—Hypersonic Speed with 13 movement! Has Avengers keyword (always helpful), but what I really like is that even if your opponent chews through his first four big clicks, he still has 200 points worth of dial left, and he gains the second best Improved Targeting available with an 8 range! One-man armies are usually too limited to do much in Meta, but he’d be a lot of fun to play! In a 400 point game, he’s deadly! Love this piece!

3. Count Nefaria (#048) 244 points – Super Rare: Arguably the best non-Stark Industries guy to build a 300-point army around from this set (although the next guy on the list may have something to say about that), Nefaria is 244 points and 11 clicks of flat nasty. He starts with 3 clicks of Hypersonic, and on that third click, he gains Power Cosmic (essentially), 18 D with Imperv, 12 attack and his damage goes up to 5. Oh, and right before you finally get him double chipped and surrounded, this happens: IONIC ENERGY RECHARGE: Once per game, give Count Nefaria a free action. Until your next turn, Count Nefaria ignores all damage dealt to him by opposing characters’ attacks unless it is a critical hit. Unbelievable. So, unless you’ve built your Meta around Longshot (and props to YOU, sir, if you have), you’re probably not gaining any ground on the 5-damage, 12-attacking Madman with superspeed. As the bad man said to Liam Neeson in Taken, “Good luck.“ I’m not saying Ionic Energy Recharge is broken, but I feel pretty confident in saying that I don’t think we’re gonna see another power that just spits on opposing attacks like this for quite some time…

2. Absorbing Man (#103) 153 points – LE: (URU METAL: When Absorbing Man is dealt damage or healed, roll a d6. Absorbing Man ignores the damage dealt or healed unless it is the same as the result of the d6. This power can’t be countered or ignored.) Wow. That escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand. Okay, so I stand corrected. THIS power might be kind of broken. Maybe not, but close. Good Lord, Wizkids! So this guy kind of changes things. 5 clicks for 153 points and he might be UNDERcosted. That sick gut-punch feeling you get when you maneuver things just the way you want them, and then move in for that big hit with an object only to watch helplessly as your opponent effortlessly hits his stupid Shape Change role? Yeah, prepare to feel that quite a bit against this guy. He’s almost not worth attacking unless you can do 5 damage and finish him in one shot. If you get three or four damage through, your simply helping him get to his Flurry clicks where he can start doing massive damage. His trait (ABSORBS ANYTHING: When Absorbing Man is hit with an object or is given a power action when adjacent to a heavy or light object, place that object on his character card and remove any other objects that are on it. When Absorbing Man has a light object on his character card, modify his attack and damage values by +1. When Absorbing Man has a heavy object on his character card, modify his attack and damage values by +2.) really helps out with his low AV’s, and if he gets a Hammer or the Gauntlet, forget about it. This guy should open up some really cool builds in the Meta.

1. Silver Centurion (#001b) 161 points – Prime: Now we’re talking! This piece has already made waves in the Meta, with several top 16 finishes in some of the recent ROC Qualifiers and other tourneys. There’s really nothing not to like here. Very reasonable point cost for your main attacker. He brings his own backup with his first trait (PULSE BOLT TORPEDO: Once per game, give Silver Centurion a power action to put a Torpedo special terrain marker on the map in an adjacent square. When the Torpedo is on this map, you may give Silver Centurion a free action, put an Acceleration token on this card and then move the Torpedo equal to the number of Acceleration tokens on this card as if it were a character with “wing symbol” and Improved Movement: Ignores Characters. At the beginning or end of your turn, if the marker’s square is occupied by an opposing character, you must remove the marker from the map and make a close combat attack roll against that character with an attack value of 11 and a damage value equal to the number of Acceleration tokens on this card, maximum 7.) and his second trait is stupid good as well (HEAT, ACID, AND RADIATION-SHIELDED: Silver Centurion ignores damage dealt by Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Poison, and Pulse Wave. This power can’t be ignored.). In other words, if you want to take him down (in between avoiding his errata-dodging Torpedo, mind you) you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way and go right through his 18 Impervious AND Shape Change. You could try Exploit Weakness, but you have to get to him first, which won’t be easy with his 8 range and 11 Movement top dial. He has two bolts and 4 printed damage as well, so he can just pound folks before they can run up to him. This is why some of the other heavy hitters like Titanium Man and the Iron Man and War Machine duo didn’t make my list; yes, the Centurion is a Prime (so his point cost is gonna be determined a lil’ differently to begin with), but you just pay soooo much less for him than any of the other big’uns. And on top of everything else, he has the Stark Industries AND Avengers keywords. He’s the most efficient attacker in the set, and that’s why he’s number one on my list.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to leave your reactions—or even your own Top Ten—in the comments below.

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