ninwashui

The Five Worst Figures in FLASH!! (Or, the Sixth Night of Clix-Mas!!)

/ HypeFox / 7 Comments

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of the 12 Nights of Clix-Mas, an ongoing Critical Missives Clix celebration wherein we’re trying to publish new content for 12 straight days. If you’ve missed anything, you can check out Night 1, Night 2, Night 3, Night 4 or Night 5 just by clicking the preceding links!]

So, Ninwashui’s already told us which Flash figures he thinks are the best. But what about the other end of the spectrum? Which figs from the new set should you avoid at all costs? I’m glad you asked! Ninwashui prepared a whole list…

 

Ninwashui’s 5 Worst Figures in Flash:

 

Central City Police Officer

5. FL204 Central City Police Captain – This guy can add all the Central City Keyword guys to those cool Police teams that were winning tournaments back in the Streets of Gotham days. That’s a huge boost, right? Wrong! Of the 17 Central City-keyworded Dials in Modern, 7 already have the Police keyword. That leaves you with mostly sub-par speedsters like FL002 Max Mercury, FL003 Jesse Quick, and FL035 Impulse. It’s true that the Prime Dark Flash is a viable option, but I don’t think that the Dark Flash along with the CC Police Captain and 150 points of police characters from the 2.5 year old Streets of Gotham set are going to get you many wins.

Amanda Waller

4. FL034 Amanda Waller – For it to be worth going to the trouble of using Waller to add a character to a the ranks of a the Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad has got to be a great keyword, right? I mean, you should be able to assemble one hell of a Themed Team right? Well… not so much. In the Flash set there are 4 other squad members and the Fast Forces has three. Some of these are good. None are great. Three of the (only) seven available Suicide Squad figures in Modern are named Captain Boomerang, but the Squad doesn’t even get his cool Black Lantern version. All of which is to say, without more Squad members to choose from, Amanda here is… pretty useless.

Steve Trevor

3. FL018 Steve Trevor – For 54 points you get one good click with no Willpower. And that’s assuming you can find a good use for his Psychic Blast with a 5 Range before an opponent bases you, breathes on Trevor and gets 54 easy points. Steve also has a Special Leadership power, but that will only allow him to lead the worst characters in the set. As an added bonus, his Justice League of America keyword only appears on two other figures in Modern. I mean, it’s almost as good as the West Coast Avengers keyword!

Argus Agent

2. FL005 A.R.G.U.S. Agent – I really feel like this was a personal slap in the face by WizKids to me. We finally get a silver bullet to deal with Iron Pharaoh and it’s this guy. Sure he can remove the Falcon from the game, but he has to be on his second click and within 4 squares AND survive long enough to be given a power action. It seems pretty unlikely that this will ever happen. Even worse, if your opponent isn’t playing Iron Pharaoh or Captain Cold, then fielding this guy is just a complete waste of time.

"Ohhhh-kay. This just got awkward."

“Ohhhh-kay. This just got awkward.“

1. FL003 Jesse Quick – This piece isn’t worth 90 Points. Even if she started with 3 Speed Force Tokens, I’m still not sure she’d be worth 90 points. She starts with Charge and a bare bones Defense which makes it harder to get Speed Force Tokens with her than any other Speedster piece. Even if you WERE to get three Tokens, the payoff is minimal. If you somehow got five while she was still on her top click, well, sure, THEN she is worth her points. I would play the 65 point FL001A The Flash over her 10 times out of 10. I was a fan of Jesse’s original piece back in the day and I would love for more playable JSA pieces, but sadly this one is just the worst.

 

BUT WAIT!! WE CAN’T END THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT A… SECOND OPINION!!

 

HypeFox’s 2 Worst Figures in Flash:

 

Why two? Because these two “pieces” are in a class by themselves. A.R.G.U.S. Agent is not great, Amanda Waller is really limited, and Jesse Quick straight blows. But these two figures are far and away the worst in the set!!

 

"Yeah, Steve, you can go. We won't be needing your services any longer."

“Yeah, Steve, you can go. We won’t be needing your services any longer.”

2. FL018 Steve Trevor – 54 Points – Uncommon: If anything, Ninwashui might have been too kind. Now, his first Click is not terrible. For his points. And, that’s the end of the good.

His Leadership is useless. Why? Exactly how many 53 Point or less characters can you fit on a 300 Point team? While still being able to field a proper Primary Attacker? To make good use of his Leadership Special, you need to field at least two. So your Build is at 160 or more already. Oh, you’re using Tactics? Like Entities or a Resource? Congratulations. You have less than 100 Points for your Primary Attacker. Which means, his Leadership is so bad that it’s actually affecting how you build your team. Which in turn means, he would be better off with just straight Leadership. Also, Empower is okay; Enhancement would be better.

Also, ANY OTHER LEADER would be better.

Bizarro Flash

1. FL019B Bizarro Flash – 111 Points – Uncommon Prime: At, like, 81 Points, Bizarro Flash would be intriguing. Unfortunately he costs 30 more Points than that. And to some people, he’s the best Prime in the set. I think those people are insane, but they’re out there (Bizarro Flash currently has a five-star rating on HCRealms.com–I repeat: 5 freaking STARS!!). Bizarro Flash takes all the drawbacks of the Speed Force mechanic and amplifies them by making them all take even longer to be earned.

He starts with Sidestep. Which means you’d better be packing some major TK support pieces to get him to where he needs to go, or you can forget about building up Speed Force tokens. It’ll be turn 4 before you get even one. His dial is set up backwards, so that his best stats and powers are at the end. Now, I’m am not the smartest man who ever lived, but just about EVERY piece that’s ever been set up in this manner NEVER lands on it’s best end-dial click–unless it has a Special Stop Click. Which Bizarro Flash doesn’t have. Which means that, even with 8 clicks, chances are he can be 2-shotted right off the map. Of course, he doesn’t have any source of Willpower either, so you can kind of push him to where you need him to get to. Eventually.

A lot of people online are making a lot of noise about how awesome his Specials are (one even shuts down Hypersonic Speed), but again, he has to have a Speed Token to make any of them work, and it’s remarkably tough for him to get those. His second Trait gives him a Speed Token if he MISSES with all of his attacks in a turn, but not until the end of turn, when you can’t do anything with it. And that also supposes that he somehow was adjacent (or within 2 squares) to someone that he could actually attack.

Now, in a Tactics environment, you can fix some of what ails him with Entities or Resources, but I could say that about most figures in this game.

With no named keywords, fitting him on a team and not breaking Theme is difficult. And worst of all, he takes up your Prime slot, so you can’t actually play a useful Prime. Don’t believe the hype; Bizarro Flash may sound like a cool concept, but field him and you’ll put yourself at a massive disadvantage.

 

And that’ll do it for the Sixth Night of Clix-Mas!! Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tomorrow for more ‘Clix madness!

Power Struggle!! (Or, Do Some Standard Powers Need Fixin’?!) (Or, The Fourth Night of Clix-Mas!!)

/ HypeFox / 8 Comments

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We are knee-deep into the Twelve Nights of Clix-Mas!! Night One, Night Two & Night Three have come and gone, but you can always click on any of the links to catch up if you missed a night!]

Get it? It's literally a 'power struggle.' Cuz, like, they have powers! And they're, y'know, struggling!

Get it? It’s literally a ‘power struggle.’ Cuz, like, they have powers! And they’re, y’know, struggling!

Welcome back!

Watchlist 3 was released a little while ago, which means that there are figures and/or mechanics in the game that the Powers-That-Be are taking a look at to see if they’re too strong to the point that they hurt the competitive balance of the game. That got me to thinking (always sketchy territory, that)… what if WizKids took a look at some of the Standard Powers currently in the game to see if they too needed some TLC. They’ve done it before (most recently in 2013, when they added the Pink Powers), so it’s not completely unprecedented.

Now, not every Standard Power is created equal; some are just always going to be more useful than others, and that’s fine. That’s intended from the designers, even. But some powers are so useless, you could take them out of the game and no one would notice! That’s not good, but we’re here to help.

Now, Ninwashui touched on some of the weaker powers last year; and yet, some of the same problems still exist. So I’m going to take another brief look at some of the standard powers in the game that I think are either weak or outdated, and talk specifically (as in, the exact wording I’d use) about how to fix them!

 

The Weak Power All-Stars:

 

Black Panther Leap Climb

Leap/Climb:

You don’t have to take my word for it; WizKids doesn’t even like this power. Why do I say that? BECAUSE THEY NEVER GIVE IT OUT ANYMORE!! Honestly, there’s, like, 10 Marvel Modern Age figures that have Leap/Climb top click. That’s 10 out of roughly 30,000 different Modern Age Marvel dials [EDITOR’S NOTE: That is a rough estimate.].

Before I get going on why Leap/Climb sucks, let’s look at the current wording:

“Give this character a move action and move it up to its speed value; during this movement, this character adds 2 to its d6 roll when breaking away and can use HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting. When you give this character a close combat action, it may target a character regardless of the target’s elevation.”

Doesn’t seem so bad, until you realize that a ton of different figures have many of those Improved Movement abilities as, y’know, IMPROVED MOVEMENT ABILITIES!! As in, they have the power already and it doesn’t take up their Movement slot!!

Think about the last time you played Engineer or Chase Super Skrull, where you can choose any Movement power you want. Would you ever in a million years choose Leap/Climb? No, you wouldn’t, because you not an a-hole.

How I Would Fix Leap/Climb:

“Give this character a power action; halve its speed value for the action. Move this character up to its speed value and then it may be given a close combat action as a free action. During this movement, this character adds 2 to its d6 roll when breaking away and can use HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting, HeroClix Improved Movement / Targeting. When you give this character a close combat action, it may target a character regardless of the target’s elevation.”

Boom. We just made Leap/Climb awesome!!

I know what you’re saying.

You: “Uh, you just added Charge to Leap/Climb.”

Me: “Your damn right I did! Why? Because just about any character who should have Leap/Climb is a character who probably moves and attacks a lot in the comics. Thus, Leap/Climb shouldn’t just be a static ability that no one uses–it’s meant to represent characters like Black Panther or Spidey, characters who jump from foe to foe or scale walls at a moment’s notice.”

You: “But won’t that just make Charge obsolete?”

Me: “Not at all. Toughness is a lesser version of Invulnerability, but I would hardly call Toughness obsolete. It’s just not as good as Invulnerability. Leap/Climb would simply be a better version of Charge, in that same way. And you would expect it to cost more, as well.”

There! Now, if you design a bruiser who just pummels people in the comics, you can give him regular ol’ Charge. But if you have someone who bounds around a lot in the comics, you can give them the now superior Leap/Climb! You’re welcome.

 

Cyke blasting Cap

Force Blast:

Ninwashui has talked several times before about all the reasons why this power both literally and figuratively blows. When it can only be used against adjacent characters, but something like 90% of close combat-based figures ignore knock back, you have a problem. Let’s look at the current wording real quickly:

“Give this character a power action and roll a d6; a single adjacent opposing character is knocked back from this character a number of squares equal to the result. When this character hits with an attack, you may choose that it generates knock back if it doesn’t already.”

That last sentence about being able to choose to generate knock back if you want when you attack is a new addition from the 2012 wording of the power. That one line was WizKids’s last attempt to “beef up” Force Blast. A noble effort, to be sure, but it’s still not quite good enough. This power is probably gonna require some major surgery if it’s to be saved.

How I Would Save Force Blast:

“Give this character a close combat action and roll a d6; a single adjacent opposing character is knocked back from this character a number of squares equal to the result. When this character hits with an attack, you may choose that it generates knock back if it doesn’t already. When this character targets an opposing character with the  or HeroClix Tiny Symbol symbol, knock back can’t be ignored.”

So I did a couple things here. First, I changed it from a power action to a close combat action. You may be asking why.

I said, you may be asking why…

You: “Oh! Uh, yeah, um, sorry, I didn’t realize this was a recurring gimmick for this article. <Ahem> Uh, why did–”

Me: “Why did I change Force Blast from a power action to a close combat action? Good question.”

You: “Uh… thanks?”

Me: “By making it a close combat action, I’ve done a couple things. First, Force Blast now interacts with stuff. Like Charge! Or the new Leap/Climb I just gave you. Yes, it would share the same dial slot as those other two, but that hasn’t stopped other figures from gaining, say, Charge and Flurry at the same time. We can give figures a white power that allows them to use both powers simultaneously. Also, there are certain Relics or Constructs that would allow a character to have both powers as well.”

You: “That almost sounds useful.”

Me: “I’d agree! Sure, it would still be hard to deal damage with Force Blast–it would still have to be used very strategically. But by now being able to combo with other move-and-attack powers, you can actually set up a Force Blast in one turn instead of hoping to get one off over two turns. Your opponent would have to be really careful about their figure placement around a Force Blaster, or they could be taking some knock back damage, or at the very least end up in a different spot from where they wanted to be. Which is how it should be, as opposed to how it is now, where you usually don’t care whether or not an opposing fig can even use Force Blast, unless you plan on landing right next to them and then not do anything for a turn. Which, y’know, is pretty rare. Unless you like using terrible strategies.

You: “They would definitely have to be more careful–this is is true. But I’m not sure that dealing damage was ever the primary intent of Force Blast.”

Me: “That’s a very good point. Here’s my counter-point:  I’m don’t know that there ever was a primary intent behind Force Blast, since, once again, MORE THAN HALF OF THE FIGURES YOU’D WANT TO TARGET WITH IT ARE IMMUNE TO KNOCK BACK!! Also, we’ve made it so many of the characters in the game that you’d actually want to use it against would actually be affected by it, instead of simply ignoring it without having to burn an Outwit. Like they’re able to right now.”

You: “But it seems like you stole that last part of the fix from Ninwashui’s article–”

Me: “Moving on!”

 

Batman Smoke Cloud

Smoke Cloud:

This one is a pretty simple fix. The current wording:

“Give this character a power action; place up to 6 hindering terrain markers in distinct, adjacent squares that are all within this character’s range (minimum range value 4). At least one of the terrain markers must be within line of fire when it is placed . The terrain markers remain until the beginning of your next turn. Characters that occupy these terrain markers modify their attack value by -1 unless they can use Smoke Cloud or ignore hindering terrain for line of fire purposes.”

How I Would Boost Smoke Cloud:

“Give this character a power action; place up to 6 hindering terrain markers in distinct, adjacent squares that are all within this character’s range (minimum range value 4). At least one of the terrain markers must be within line of fire when it is placed . The terrain markers remain until the beginning of your next turn. Characters that occupy these terrain markers modify their attack value by -1 unless they can use Smoke Cloud or ignore hindering terrain for line of fire purposes. If this character has not already been given a move action this turn, this is a free action instead.”

Look, this power was almost useful. The power itself is fine–people use it all the time with Brother Voodoo or when someone is assigned the “Net” Construct. The common denominator there is that people really only use this power when it’s a free action, so that’s what I’ve done. Now, I’m not trying to break it, so it can only be used as a free action under certain circumstances, but this power would see so much more use with this wording.

You:”Okay, that is almost exactly what Ninwashui proposed in his article last year.”

Me: “Oh really? Well, is Ninwashui here right now?”

You: “Uh… no?”

Me: “Okay then. So I guess it’s my idea now, isn’t it?”

 

Superman Invincible

Invincible:

What? Invincible? No! This power is epic, you say!

…

This power is epic, YOU SAY!

You: “Oh. We’re starting the section like this? Uh, okay. This power. Is. Epic.”

Me: “Wow. That was a really stiff line reading. Regardless, I agree. Invincible has been a great addition to the game. But I think it actually needs to be just a little bit stronger to really fulfill it’s role in the game as the ultimate damage stopper. This fix would also help balance another power, so it’s almost like a two-for-one special!

You: “If you say so.”

Me: “I do say so. But first, let’s look at the current wording:”

“Half of damage dealt to this character is ignored.”

How I Would Improve Invincible:

“Half of damage dealt to this character is ignored. This power can’t be ignored.”

Admittedly, this is a small tweak that has MAJOR ramifications. It would also take Pulse Wave down a very small step, which I would argue needs to happen anyway, since Pulse Wave has no natural predators–it’s the best way to deal damage with a Standard Power in the game. Honestly, it’s probably a little TOO good. Well, this would help that.

Some people would argue that this revision would in turn make Invincible too powerful.

You: “<Sigh> Horror. Of horrors. This revision would make Invincible too powerful. Oh. No.”

Me: “Okay, you know what? If you’re not gonna do the gimmick right, I’m just gonna monologue.”

You: “Please do! I’m running late for work as it is and I don’t actually remember agreeing to do this in the first place–”

Me: “That’s not important right now.”

Where was I? Oh yeah–I would argue that Invincible can still be Outwitted, so making it un-Ignorable isn’t a huge deal. Now, there are some cases where characters who have Invincible also have either Power Cosmic, Quintessence or some Trait or Special Power that says their other powers can’t be countered. Does my revision suddenly make Invincible unfair? What could you possibly do to get damage through in these situations?

Actually, it’s pretty simple:

Deal 2 damage.

Honestly, that’s the only threshold you’d have to hit to get damage through against someone with Invincible. Nothing’s changed there. Instead of unfair, I’d argue that it’s EXTREMELY fair. Most characters in the game deal at least 2 Damage on most of their clicks, so it’s a lot harder to get stuck late game against an Invincible figure without a way to deal damage than it would be against a piece with Impervious or Invulnerability.

 

Okay! That’s all for tonight! Thanks for sticking around. We’ll probably have something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT for tomorrow’s Clix-mas entry…

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

Saving People – In a Flash! (Or, A Top Ten Set Review for Flash!!) (Or, The Third Night of Clix-Mas!!)

/ ninwashui / 11 Comments

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Night Three of the 12 NIGHTS of Clix-Mas here at Critical Missives, where we’re providing 12 straight nights of ‘Clix content! If you missed Night One, click here! The Second Night of Clix-Mas can be found here.]

"So we've had sets for Superman, Batman and the Flash. Do I need to start a KickStarter for an all Aqua-set? Who's ready for a Piranha-man Chase?! Anyone? Hello? Is this an audience or a watercolor painting? But seriously... "

“So we’ve had sets for Superman, Batman and the Flash. Do I need to start a KickStarter for an all Aqua-set? Who’s ready for a Piranha-man Chase?! Anyone? Hello? Is this an audience or a watercolor painting? But seriously… “

Some General Notes About the Set:

Uh, did everyone else catch the irony of the HeroClix set centered around the fastest man alive arriving like three weeks late? Or that my Set Review is equally as late?

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Eh, this is about the elapsement of time from release to review as our GotG Top Ten Set Reviews, so I’m going to say its more of an editorial choice than pure laziness on our part.]

Some Flash Facts about the set:

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Uh… are all the italics supposed to make the words seem faster?]

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: Yes. And it’s totally working!!]

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually… that’s not a bad gimmick for this.]

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: Thank you. Now shush!!]

  • This set brings a new “Speed Force” shared Trait, but the effectiveness of the Trait varies greatly by character. For example, FL001B Rival gains Impervious, the ability to deal Penetrating Damage, Energy Shield/Deflection and Hypersonic Speed after gaining just 3 Speed Force tokens. FL202 The Flash can literally run off the edge of the map to the other side AND BACK AGAIN by removing just a single token. Meanwhile, FL003 Jesse Quick needs three Speed Force tokens just to get Toughness and Super Strength. You can see a real difference there. Something else to consider is that by the time you’ve built up enough Speed Force tokens to use some of the bigger powers, the game might well be over. Professor Zoom has a power that requires ten freaking tokens. In a 300 point game you will probably have either lost or won before you have more than 3 tokens. Most opposing teams won’t last long enough for you to get 5 hits in with a single character.
  • Flash has some real stinkers (FL002 Max Mercury) and some real winners (FL046 Harley Quinn). Overall, most of the set is pretty playable. With only 2 characters in the 200 point range it seems like it should be great for Sealed, in particular.
  • The set delivered a bunch of Hypersonic pieces, but it also delivered a lot of anti-speedster figures as well. FL028 Tarpit and FL049R Midnighter will stop a speedster or keep him in place, respectively. FL042 Fallout and FL015 Rag Doll punish Hypersonic attackers in particular. FL044 Savitar will cripple anyone who relies on the Speed Force as a way of life and FL031 Turtle will cripple any strategy that doesn’t involve going really, really freaking slow (or using a lot of TK to move around the board).
  • On the negative side, wouldn’t it have been fun if they had more of a Black Lantern sub-theme in this set to go with FL206 Captain Boomerang and FL053B Zoom (Black Lantern)? FL051 Elongated Man was already in this set. There was space at the end of his dial for a Black Lantern resurrection the similar to what Captain Boomerang has on his dial. It’s a real missed opportunity. It also would have been a great way to include several characters in the set that needed Modern versions. They could have had 2 point costs with a normal dial and then a Black Lantern dial at the end. Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Firestorm come to mind right away. These could even have filled in the “missing” chase slots. [EDITOR’S NOTE: I LOVE this idea!! A Black Lantern Chase sub-theme definitely would have had me buying more packs. I hadn’t thought of this, but now that you bring it up, it’s probably all I’ll be able to think about during my next Flash Sealed Event. Damn! I mean, did we really need more Trinity of Sin versions ONE SET BEFORE THE TRINITY WAR SET?! Man. I also like this idea because Flash was such a huge part of Blackest night. Ninwashui, this might be your best idea ever.]
"Hello! We should have been your Chases!"

“Hello! We should have been your Chases!“

 

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

 

Elongated Man: One time I disguised myself as a vase. For 3 days! Booster Gold: No you didn't. Elongated Man: Okay, maybe not. Who'd want to anyway? Booster Gold: Doesn't Plastic-Man do that all the time?

Elongated Man: “One time I disguised myself as a vase. For 3 days!“
Booster Gold: “No, you didn’t.”
Elongated Man: “Okay, maybe not. Who’d want to anyway?”
Booster Gold: “Plastic-Man. Usually in a women’s bathroom.”

5. FL051 Elongated Man – This guy is surprisingly good for his points. Admittedly he won’t be on next year’s Worlds team and you may never see him KO anyone, but he can be a fun support piece. He doesn’t have Willpower, so push through his first click to get him into position. His second click is where the magic happens. That’s the click you’ll use to tie up the opposing team. He shares a power with Groot from the Guardians movie set that lets him tie up characters that aren’t adjacent to him. Combine that with his super Outwit that let’s him draw lines of fire almost anywhere and there are some close combat characters that will be completely powerless against him. For example, if you are facing FL019A The Flash, you simply have to move within one space of him and then you can continuously Outwit Hypersonic Speed. Without outside help, it’s likely Flash won’t move again for the rest of that game.

Captain Thunder

4. FL052 Captain Thunder – This guy has a long dial, lots of damage reducers, and a Stop Click, and each of those attributes go well with his Mystics TA. Unfortunately, in HeroClix it’s very difficult to field a piece that costs 200 points or more that doesn’t also have Outwit protection built-in. Zero range also makes him even more of a risky play. However, in an environment where you aren’t likely to see much Outwit (like Flash sealed), he can really shine.

"Uh, how can we miss you if you never leave?"

“Uh, how can we miss you if you never leave?“

3. FL025 Golden Glider – For only 60 points she makes 6 squares of hindering terrain every time she moves. These hindering markers last until this character is KOed. You can use this for your team to hide in and your opponent can never make use of these squares at all. Beyond just being normal hindering terrain, they require an opponent to break away when they are adjacent to one of these squares. In a long game your opponent’s movement options could be very limited. If you can find a way to let her ignore characters for movement she could be really nasty. Also, she gets bonus points for being Captain Cold’s brother. I’d forgotten about that.

Yup. This is what Google gave me when I asked for a picture of a S.T.A.R. Labs Technician.

Yup. This is what Google gave me when I asked for a picture of a S.T.A.R. Labs Technician.

2. FL007 S.T.A.R. Labs Technician – Pop quiz. Who is the cheapest TK figure in Modern HeroClix? It’s this guy. Okay, now, who is the best cheap medic in modern HeroClix? That’s actually DOFP016 Moira MacTaggert, but I would say this guy on click 2 is in second place. Add to that his ability to give someone Precision Strike and we have a real winner in the support category.

Hmmm... why wasn't this the sculpt?

Hmmm… why wasn’t this the sculpt?

1. FL030 Thorn – With a first click that has Charge, Flurry, BCF, Combat Reflexes, Shape Change, and Stealth for only 65 points she was an easy inclusion on this list. The fact that her Shape Change gets better and starts healing her once she takes a hit is just gravy. The only thing keeping her out of the top 10 is that FL046 Harley Quinn is also 65 points and fills a similar role.

 

Sadly there are still some Flash characters that have yet to be clixed... [EDITOR'S NOTE: Sadly?!]

Sadly, there are still some Flash characters that have yet to be clixed…
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sadly?]

My Top 10 Figures of the Set:

 

Apollo

10. FL048 Apollo – Any time you see a printed 19 Defense for under 300 points, you should pay attention. Apollo also brings Outwit protection that is sorely needed given his high cost. What sets him apart is that he has Hypersonic, Improved Targeting, Precision Strike, Invincible and Super Senses on his first click. The lack of Willpower on a 200 point character is frustrating, but you could do a lot worse than a team up with FL049R Midnighter.

"Boys, my ocular units are up here."

“Boys, my ocular units are up here.“

9. FL060R Engineer – With her ability to choose her own powers, she makes a wonderful support character. Running shot and Pulse wave or Hypersonic and Super Strength are great on offense. On defense you can still use Stealth and Shape Change to go along with her Toughness. I recommend the 90 point version over the 175 point version due solely to the existence of GOTG062 Super Skrull. At that 170+ point level Super Skrull is just better.

Kingdom COme Flash

8. FL050 The Flash – This guy can have up to a 20 Movement and he’s dangerous all the way through his dial. With Willpower and his incredibly high Movement there are characters who literally won’t be able to catch this guy. His double attack up front also helps justify his point cost. He’s good on his own, but with some Perplex to his Damage value he should end games very quickly. He’d make a real good Puddin’ for Ms. Harley Quinn.

Pssshh. Rainbow Raider was Geoff Johns REAL inspiration for the War of Light!!

Pssshh. Rainbow Raider was Geoff Johns’s REAL inspiration for the War of Light!!

7. FL026 Rainbow Raider – For a character with 7 range, a full dial of Stealth, and 7 clicks of life, he’s very cheap by today’s standards. I think he plays best by Pushing to click 2 off the bat and being a ranged sniper. An 11 Attack and 3 Damage Value is great for sub 75 points. And then there is his Trait. If I told you that he gave your best figure a mostly permanent +1 to all stats, you’d be wondering why he isn’t on the watch list. Consider that what he really does is give your opponents best figure -1 to all its stats and you’ll see that his Trait is just about as good as the crazy broken Trait I just made up. Then he really gets nuts when you realize he might affect your opponent’s whole team.

Jenny SParks

6. FL061 Jenny Sparks – She is a capable attacker for her point cost, but it’s her Trait that really gets my attention. She is the one way in this game to get past powers that “can’t be countered or ignored“. Think about how often you see that phrase on really good powers that are on really good figures. The IIM103 Absorbing Man that is made of Uru metal folds like tin foil against this piece. WOL107 Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern) and WOL026 Sodam Yat might not ever see their Ion clicks when they are facing Jenny Sparks. That’s right, she disables all Stop Clicks! Think about that. I mean, really, THINK ABOUT THAT!!

"Man... why does every portal end on top of Batman?"

“Man… why does every portal I go through always end on top of Batman?”

5. FL045 Etrigan the Demon –  If you are paying 135 points for just the six Demon Clicks, he’s not that impressive. At least not until you realize the Demon’s self healing potential. Your opponent might see those 6 clicks several times over and take Mystics damage for every hit. No matter how hurt the Demon gets, if he is alive, he can be back to full health in 2 turns. When you consider that he has Invincible to start, your opponent will need to focus fire or risk not being able to KO the Demon at all. Best of all, the sculpt kicks butt.

Harley Quinn Baseball Bat

4. FL046 Harley Quinn – With Combat Reflexes, Super Senses and Stealth, she has great defensive options at her disposal. She is also the second cheapest figure in the game to start with Penetrating Poison (behind only Red Lantern Recruit). She also has Outwit with 5 Range, so you could try to stay hidden and make them come to you. Best of all she falls in love easily. Her ability to make anyone her Puddin’ turns a very good figure into an outstanding figure.

Captain Cold

3. FL038 Captain Cold – When you look at his dial without his Trait you see 10 Attack and 3 Damage and you’d think that was a pretty good 85 point dial. Then you do look at his Trait. Then you realize the Ice Block Markers don’t go away. What? I’ve played against him once where I was fielding a Hydra Team lead by DP103 Wolverine, Agent of Hydra. Captain Cold moved into Range and ice blocked Wolverine without needing to make an Attack Roll. Wolverine never moved for the rest of the game. There are a lot of characters out there who can literally be Ice Blocked and just plain ignored thereafter. Captain Cold is well worth his 100 points.

zoom-blacklantern Rival Flash

2. Prime Speedsters (FL053B Zoom (Black Lantern), FL037B Dark Flash, FL001B Rival) – Listed in order from best to worst. I cheated a little with this entry but it’s not like you can ever play them all on the same team. And if I had listed them separately they would have all made my top 10 and pushed other figures out. Here they are in a Flash:

  • FL053B Zoom (Black Lantern)– The best all around Prime. He has three ways to heal himself and Willpower for only 120 points. He also has great offense when you can remove a token. He also has the great monster and Black Lantern Keywords. His major weakness is that you’ll want to remove a Speed Token for the extra damage every attack and that will make it impossible to save them up for better Speed and Regeneration.
  •  FL037B Dark Flash- For 110 points you lose Willpower but you gain 4 top dial Damage. He has the best starting dial without Speed Tokens and only 2 tokens makes all his Damage Penetrating. He also has the best keywords with Teen Titans and Justice League. He doesn’t need to remove tokens for attacking, but he will for Regeneration. His major weakness is that if he has to Regenerate more than once he will likely lose his Penetrating Damage.
  • FL001B Rival – For 105 points he is the hardest of the Primes to get started. He has the best defensive powers, but with starting Charge he practically requires a support figure with TK to put up a good fight. Once he gets that first token things change for him quickly. Hypersonic Speed and Energy Shield/Deflection really bring up his power level. If he can make it to 3 Speed tokens then he additionally gains full Penetrating Damage and Impervious! If he’s still on his first click at that point he has Super Senses, Shape Change, Impervious, and Energy Shield/Deflection. Just to hit that guy you’ll need to plow through an 18 Defense with Energy Shield/Deflection, and Rival’s controller still gets 3 shots at rolling a 5 or a 6 to nullify your attack! Rival is the hardest of the three Primes to start with but is also the most powerful when he has Speed Tokens.

Question_Prime_Earth_0001

1. FL064 The Question – Let me compare this version of the question to the last version (WKD-008 Question), because that is still one of the best pieces in the Modern age.

One of the reasons the last version of the Question was so good was because you could sub in a power that appeared anywhere on his dial in place of one currently there. He could only use 4 powers at a time, but one of the 4 could be tailored to the situation. The new Question can’t pick powers to add, but his first click has 8 Standard Powers on it! Toughness, Charge, Shape Change, Stealth, Poison, Precision Strike, Super Senses and Outwit. Do you really need to pick more powers if you already have that many?

The Stats and cost are similar between both the old and new version of the Question. I love the older versions double Perplex that prevented the other teams from using Perplex, but the new version has the power to subtract an action token from itself every time it uses Outwit. The other team might not be playing anyone with Perplex, but most teams run at least 1 figure vulnerable to Outwit and that could let this figure act every turn! In addition, the new version has Traited Toughness, and if he is played with the Phantom Stranger he gains Quintessence as well! All this makes the new figure superior to the old figure, which should easily make it the best figure in this set.

 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: And that will do it for Night 3 of Clix-Mas here at Critical Missives! We’ll see you right here tomorrow for a look at some potential issues with the game and what we’d do to fix them!!]

Team Ideas!! (Or, The Immortal Super Skrull)

/ ninwashui / 7 Comments

Idea

So it’s been quite a while since I posted a column. It’s been pretty busy in my life. My kids thought it would be funny to start sleeping in alternating shifts and I didn’t get to write earlier in the week because the Arrow and Flash teamed up on CW and it was must see TV [EDITOR’S NOTE: Have you seen S.H.I.E.L.D. lately? They’re about to find Attilan! Maybe! And poor SPOILER REDACTED! Man, next Tuesday can’t come fast enough!]. The days are just packed.

Todays article features two different takes the same idea in both a tactics and non-tactics environment. The idea being to make your team completely un-killable. I’m not a mathematician by trade, but zero points for your opponent should make it a lot easier to beat them on points.

"Zombie Kl'rt you have shown great love for... eating other people. Welcome to the Star Sapphires."

“Zombie Kl’rt, you have shown great love for… uh, eating other people. Which, y’know, still counts. As love. I’m not gonna lie, we’re desperate. Welcome to the Star Sapphires!“

Team Name: Zombie Super Skrull, Agent of Love

Theme: Z-virus

Roster:

GOTG062 Super Skrull

DP064 Electro

WOLR106 Power Battery (Star Sapphires)

WOLR306 Star Sapphire Ring

WOLR206.04 Wall (Violet)

WOLR206.05 Crossbow (Violet)

WOLR206.09 Nurse (Violet)

Total = 300 Points

How it Works:

This is a team that needs tactics to work. It’s based off an idea I read on the Realms. A guy [EDITOR’S NOTE: Knak12 on the Realms.] preparing for Worlds figured out that any Chase Zombies are effectively immortal when given the Mystics TA. He ended up going in another direction in preparing a Build for Worlds, but I think that was a mistake–his Zombie idea was awesome!Here’s how it works:

All the chase zombies have the same great Trait(ZOMBIE HUNGER: When Super Skrull damages an opposing character, place a Food token on this card if there are less than 5 Food tokens. When Super Skrull would be KO’d by an opponent’s attack, turn to its first KO click, remove all Food tokens from this card, and heal it that many clicks.). Now, the Trait doesn’t specify that the damage you do has to be from an attack to get the Food counter. If an opponent attacks you, he takes an unavoidable damage back via the Star Sapphire Ring-granted Mystics TA. Even if you are KOed in a single hit they will take 1 damage and you’re Zombie will thus resurrect on its last click.

While it’s not foolproof, there really aren’t many ways past this combo. Outwit is useless, but Pulse Wave can be successfully used for the killing blow on a Zombie and not trigger Mystics. This team is also vulnerable to being killed via damage that isn’t from an attack (like Penetrating Poison or Incapacitate-generated pushing damage). Your pieces can also be Captured (so be very careful with that stupid Krampus/Helspont combo team that is the absolute bane of my existence). Scarlet Witch or Iron Monger can interfere with your TA. Finally, Lydea Mallor or Catwoman can interfere with the Resource and ruin your nefarious plans. However, if your opponent didn’t come packing one of those answers, congratulations–it’s almost impossible for you to earn anything less than a tie.

 

Wait 'til you get a load of my little... tree.

“Say hello to my little… tree.”

Team Name: Zombie Super Skrull, Monster Mastermind

Theme: Monster

Roster:

GOTG062 Super Skrull

GOTG051 Groot

Total = 270 Points

How it Works:

This is a No Tactics team that I developed on my own a few months back. It’s only 270 points instead of 300. You could add a 1 click Bizarro to use up the extra points, but I wouldn’t recommend it because that would be something your opponent could actually KO and get points for. Here’s how you play it:  Groot has a Trait that says “REGROW FROM A RESCUED SPRIG: Each time Groot would be KO’d, if he’s adjacent to a friendly character that shares a keyword with him, instead turn him to click #9.” Super Skrull shares the Monster keyword with him. So as long as Groot is next to Super Skrull, he can never be KOed. He can take any amount of damage and survive. Super Skrull can use any defensive power in the game via his “IT’S HARD TO EMULATE FOUR POWERS WITH HALF MY LIMBS” Trait. So he’ll chose Mastermind every turn. If the opponent hits Groot then Groot goes to click 9 (eventually), but he can’t be KOed. If the opponent chooses to focus on Super Skrull then all the damage is Masterminded over to Groot and it’s basically the same as if he was shooting at Groot in the first place.

The resource team I listed above is more powerful on offense, but this team is actually tougher on defense. Penetrating poison, Lydea Mallor, Cat Woman, Scarlet Witch, and Iron Monger don’t bother this team. It’s real enemy is Precision Strike. Try giving Super Skrull Outwit to counter it. There is also a small chance that Groot can be knocked back on click nine and thus KOed when he moves away from Super Skrull. You can stop that by keeping Groot off his last few earthbound clicks so he’ll be a Giant and immune to Knockback.

Beyond that you’ll only need to worry about Pulse Wave and pushing damage. Like I said when I wrote The Unstoppable Force, tell your opponent…

Seinfeld Good Luck

Say Geronimo! (Or, The Weekly Roundup for 11/23/2014!!)

/ HypeFox / Leave a comment

Roundup

Hello again! It’s been a solid month since we last rounded up everything there is to, y’know, round up! And, given that Thanksgiving is just about here, I figured everyone could use a Turkey Day Roundup!

So what’s been going on this last 30 days? Well, War of Light is finally done (at least at most venues); The Flash has finally released (after just a one week delay); and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies should finally be out now at a Target or hobby store near you (or be coming very soon–depends on where you live, it seems).

All of which means we have a lot to talk about, so let’s get going with…

THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP!!

 

Microphone

PODCASTS:

Dial H

–Dial H for Heroclix is new every week; last week, in Episode 71, they opened up their Meta Toolbox to talk about all the Modern Age resources in the context of the Meta! And as a special Holiday bonus, they’ve ALREADY released Episode 72!

Yours truly was lucky enough to finish in the Top 4 of their Dial Design contest this month; if you want to get in on the action, December’s Dial Design should start around November 30th.

This is Ultimate Play, b!tches!

–As far as I can tell, Episode 27 is still the most recent ep of The Quarry. The ROC tab on HCRealms has a link to upcoming events and vaguely mentions an Episode 28, but damned if I can find it!

"We're a Thing again!"

–Well, just as quickly as they came back, ClixCast seems to have gone away! They have yet to release an October or November ep, but you can catch their August and September offerings right here!

 

Welcome... to the ROC!

–You can find the latest ROC tourney announcements right here!

 

Preview

–Just announced on the Heroclix.com Downloads tab: there is going to be a “Spider-Man Symbiotes” Monthly Op Kit in May of next year! Looks like there’ll be 3 different versions of Venom!

–No other current Previews, but that’s to be expected as they JUST released Flash. I’d expect no real previews until WizKids’s annual 12 Days of Clix-Mas promotion, where we’ll get a look at next year’s offerings like Justice League: Trinity War, Avengers Assemble and both Avengers: Age of Ultron offerings!

 

Army of the Week

Army of the Week:

So, we’ve gone on and on about the new R.O.C. Format, but sometimes I think we don’t put enough emphasis on choosing the best supporting characters for the Primary Attacker that you’ve chosen. Let’s take a look at how adding or subtracting a single supporting character can drastically alter a Build in this environment!

First, let’s look at the Iron Pharaoh Build from ROC’ing the Meta 2: Electric Boogaloo!

"Oh! Golden Falcon, no! I just polished this armor!"

“NO! Golden Falcon, I just polished this armor!”

Team Name: Slowness as a Way of Death!!

Theme: None (Not Allowed in current R.O.C. Format)

Map Choice Preference: Ryut (from War of Light Month 6)

Roster:

IIM051 Iron Pharaoh – 110 Points

IIM040 Shaman – 92

DP020 Weasel– 27

FI001 Thule Society Priest – 21

FL031 Turtle – 50

=300 Points

What This Build Does:

It slows everything down!! Which, as everyone knows by now, is fantastic for pieces like Iron Pharaoh and Fantomex (who can’t really be played in the current format because E.V.A. is a bystander token, which is illegal in “No Tactics” formats). But the fact that Shaman disables flying and Turtle limits people to moving just 4 squares or less (unless they want to take an additional action token) is just an insane combo. And if you win Map Roll (which will happen roughly 50% of the time, since there are no Themed Team Bonuses), Ryut should be a nightmare for most teams you’ll face. Weasel is the best supporting piece (offers a very limited Prob, +1 to Attack and Range and Enhancement) in the game for Ranged-based attackers, and Thule Society Priest is just there to get pushed into another Prob’r.

Okay, now that we know what the default Build does, let’s change the roster a bit!

This is what's known as a 'Dark Future.' (See what I did there?)

This is what’s known as a ‘Dark Future.’ (See what I did there?)

Team Name: “She Blinded Me With Science!”

Theme: None (Not Allowed in current R.O.C. Format)

Map Choice Preference: Ryut (from War of Light Month 6)

Roster:

IIM051 Iron Pharaoh – 110 Points

IIM040 Shaman – 92

FL031 Turtle – 50

SLOSH004 Science Police Officer – 45

=297 Points

What This Build Does (Differently): This is a Ninwashui variant. Okay, so we lost our main supporting piece (Weasel) and our secondary supporting/tie-up piece (Thule Society Priest), but we added Science Police Officer. What does this do? Well, it slows down the damage Iron Pharaoh can do by about 20%-25% (basically 3 instead of 4). You can make up for this a little bit by constantly keeping Shaman within range and line of fire of Iron Pharaoh, so he can use his Perplex there. But Science Police Officer combos really brutally with Turtle. Science Police Officer’s top dial Damage Special (TACTICAL DEPLOYMENT: When an opposing character within 8 squares is given a free action, if that character has been given a non-free action this turn, after actions resolve, deal that character 1 unavoidable damage.) means that your opponents best attackers are at risk of shutting themselves down before you even attack them!

Let’s run down everything your opponent has to deal with BEFORE you’ve even attacked them (assuming they don’t Copycat away Shaman–which is an unlikely matchup, but not an impossible one):

1. They can’t fly (after Shaman’s “No Flights” ability goes off);

2. They can’t move more than 4 squares at a time UNLESS they want to take a second action token or take 1 Penetrating Damage.

3. If they do try and burst through with one big move and attack (via Charge, Running Shot, Hypersonic Speed, etc.), they take an UNAVOIDABLE DAMAGE in addition to the extra action token/penetrating damage from Turtle!

With all this SLOWNESS going on, you should have plenty of time to get your Golden Falcon into position to start dropping 3 Damage Outwit Bombs!

 

What We’ve Learned:

While both Builds should be competitive no matter who you play, the first Build is fairly aggressive in terms of lining up its shots (with Weasel, Shaman and the available Probs, you’re trying to line up a 4-5 Damage shot that won’t miss after Outwitting a character’s Defense slot).

The second Build is more of a “take the opportunities that my opponent gives me” sort of army, where you’re basically turning the whole map into a spider’s web and waiting for your opponent to get themselves “stuck” (double-tokened and damaged).

That’s two nearly identical Builds with two significantly different styles of play based solely on which supporting character you choose to use!

 

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

–Just in case May 2015 wasn’t going to be a busy enough month for Marvel fans (Avengers 2: Age of Ultron; a ton of different Marvel Heroclix sets), that’s also the month that is currently set to be the premiere month for Daredevil, the first of Marvel’s new Netflix shows.

Let’s take a look at the vital stats!

Show: Daredevil

Showrunner: Drew Goddard (first two episodes); Steven S. DeKnight (current showrunner)

Known Regular Cast:

Daredevil/Matt Murdock: Charlie Cox

Karen Page: Deborah Ann Wolf

Foggy Nelson: Elden Hensen

Wilson Fisk/Kingpin: Vincent D’Onofrio

Claire Temple/Night Nurse (?): Rosario Dawson

Vanessa Marianna: Ayelet Zurer

Known Notable Guest Stars/Recurring Cast:

Stick: Scott Glenn

Ben Urich: Vondie Curtis-Hall

Leland Owlsley: Bob Gunton

Hachiro: Peter Shinkoda

Daredevil will go for at least one season of 13 episodes, with the character currently expected to play a major role in a planned “Defenders” mini-series which would feature all of Marvel’s Hells Kitchen-based heroes teaming up in an Avengers-like fashion.

It is entirely too early to know whether we’ll get a second season of Daredevil and/or when that would premiere. As of now, even the “Defenders” show is somewhat theoretical; if they four lead-up series bomb, you can bet Marvel and Netflix will find a way to can the mini-series.

On the other hand, if Daredevil is wildly successful (and only Netflix and Disney will really have any idea, since digital distribution success is almost impossible for folks outside the industry to determine), I’d expect Marvel to go ahead with both “The Defenders” AND a second season of Daredevil. And possibly even start added some mystical heroes to the Netflix slate, starting with Blade and Ghost Rider.

–The second Marvel Netflix series after Daredevil will be the as-yet-unofficially-titled Jessica Jones series. Casting has begun, with rumors swirling around who will play both Jessica Jones AND recurring guest star (and star of Marvel’s third Netflix series) Luke Cage!!

For the next Weekly Roundup, I’m going to start compiling season-long episode guides of current genre TV shows, starting with…

 

Gotham Title

 

 

Local Tournament Report

Upcoming Local Events:

Annnnd, welcome back to the latest feature category for the Weekly Update–Upcoming Local Events!

For any who have forgotten, this is the spot where we’ll post a few notices about interesting upcoming games at venues in and around Southeastern Michigan, where Critical Missives is based. If any venue would like us to announce an upcoming event anywhere in the country, you can hit us up on Twitter or let us know via feedback to this very post!

–RIW Hobbies in Livonia is hosting a Sealed Draft of War of Light on 12/05!!

–If you’re looking to try D&D Attack Wing, Month One of the Tyranny of Dragons OP is happening at Eternal Games in Warren on 12/06.

–Annnd, one week later, Eternal Games is running a really cool event that they’re calling War of Light: Month 7! This will happen on 12/13 @ 1pm, and will feature a 600-Point Constructed tournament as well as Battle Royal side events throughout the day!

 

Wait--it's already listing this post!! Huh?! Whaa?! Must be magic!!

Critical Missives:

–We were ROC’ing the Meta this past couple weeks. Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here!

Coming up in the next week, we should have a Comics & More War of Light: Month 6 Battle Report PLUS both my AND Ninwashui’s Flash Top Ten Reviews!

And that’s it for this week!! Until then, stay safe, and watch where you draw those lines of fire!

A Really Long Reply: Skye’s Father and Other Random Thoughts…

/ ninwashui / Leave a comment

This started off as a really long comment/reply to Hypefox’s last Mid-Weekly Roundup. With everything he brought up, my reply ended up being long enough to be it’s own article.

What follows is in no particular order…

Agents of Shield Title

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D:

–I read an article today theorizing that the Inhumans are coming to Agents of S.H.I. E.L.D. . The author theorized that the blue alien that healed Coulson was a Kree and that Skye was an Inhuman. That’s why Skye shared some DNA with the blue alien (being that the Inhumans were the result of Kree genetic experiments on humans). They also theorized that the obelisk is actually a Terrigan Crystal. Various characters in the series have also mentioned several times that Skye and her father were from the Himalayas. That was the original location of the home of the Inhumans (before it moved to the moon and before it blew up). Now, the author of the article thought Skye’s father would either be Mr. Hyde (retconned to now be an Inhuman), Maximus, or the Unspoken! The first one would make Skye into “Daisy” from Marvel’s Secret Warriors and the last two would actually make Skye part of the Inhuman royal family!

My guess?

I think it will turn out that Mr. Hyde will be Skye’s father. There is talk of an Inhumans movie and if that’s true then Mr. Hyde would be the least likely character that would be needed for such an endeavor, which in turn would mean that the showrunners would have free rein to do whatever they wanted to with the character. That’s why I think Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t feature more recognizable super people–they didn’t know which characters would and would not be needed for MCU films in the near future. Having a major villain debut on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pretty much ensures that character won’t make it into the movies (at least not in any meaningful way, i.e. the primary antagonist).

Can you imagine if, say, a Hawkeye movie featured as the main villain someone that Phil Coulson’s team fought (and ostensibly beat) during an episode of MAoS? There could definitely be a feeling of ‘been there, done that’ to the proceedings, which could cause ticket sales to suffer, which is just about the last thing you would want for a tentpole flick that would cost a minimum of $150 million to produce.

However, if the MCU movies used some of the characters who were first established on TV (or, say, one of the upcoming Netflix series) to fill in the edges of some of their stories, well, that could be really cool. For example, if, say, Absorbing Man showed up as bit player in the next Avengers movie then I think that would drive the up popularity of both media, and would make the TV series “matter” in the movie universe. Can you imagine Avengers 2 opening with the already-established-on-Agents-of-S.H.I.E.L.D.-Absorbing Man fighting the Hulk in Times Square before the opening credits? Then Ultron reveals him himself after the Avengers assemble post-fight back at the tower. I don’t think they’ll do it, but it’s awesome to think about. Really, the possibilities for this sort of thing are endless…

 

"Oh, Stephen, noooo!"

Celebrate-Gate…

 The Detroit Lions – These guys have been known in years past (really every other year previous to now) to lead fans on and make them start to believe only to yank the football away at the last second like Lucy does with Charlie Brown. Their defense this year will be remembered as one of the best the team has ever had. The offense will likely not be remembered at all. They won their latest game in incredible fashion, or more accurately the Falcons lost their latest game in incredible fashion. On the plus side this week no major player injured themselves celebrating, and our field goal kicker proved he can actually make a field goal if you give him a free do-over. Seriously I would love it if Jason Hanson came back. I think the Lions are getting kickers from the same place that the Tigers get closers.

 

Avengers_Assemble_TV_series

Marvel Cartoon Series – I don’t have any new news here. I just wanted to bring these to your attention in case you haven’t been checking them out. When Marvel connected everything in their movie universe by releasing the Avengers, the cartoon universe made that same move. In 2013, the current (at that time) Avengers cartoon was based off of the comics. It was replaced by Avengers Assemble, which started in episode one with the events of the Avengers movie. From there it diverges wildly (like adding falcon to the team in episode 1), but it’s nice for new viewers to have the movie starting point. Being in cartoon form also allows them to do things that wouldn’t fly in the movies – like having Dracula (yes that Dracula) be a reoccurring villain.  Avengers Assemble also connects with Ultimate Spider-man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. in the same cartoon Universe. This allows them to guest star characters frequently between series and keep the same voice actors for characters regardless of show. For example, Iron Man is always voiced by Adrian Pasdar (who is also Glen Talbot on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) regardless of which of the shows he’s appearing on at the time. That inter-connectedness makes it cool.

 

redbox

On Blu-Ray this month – I’ve got kids so I miss a ton of movies in theatres. I took a chance and rented Godzilla this week. I loved Pacific Rim and I was hoping this would be similarly fun. That ended up not being the case. The director made the incomprehensible decision to shoot the movie with realistic lighting conditions. Like maybe the monsters would be a lot scarier if you couldn’t really see them. Except in other movies that do that there is something else for the viewers to watch. This was just dark and hard to see. Can you imagine if the original Star Wars used realistic lighting conditions and you could barely see the Death Star the whole movie? Ridiculous. The plot also was absurd and that’s coming from someone who thought the Mathew Brodrick version was decent. HISHE has a wonderful spoof on this movie. The part with the “let them fight” line was dead on.

I’m hoping to rent The Edge of Tomorrow and 1000 Ways to Die in the West soon. I have higher hopes for those movies.

 

The_Flash_(2014_TV_series)_logo

The Entire Flash set Versus Speed Demon – They’ve revealed five Hypersonic Speed-based character dials for The Flash set so far. While they each have some interesting powers, they all require you to hit an opponent before you can really do anything special. There are faster pieces in this set, but so far it looks like Speed Demon will remain the best Hypersonic HeroClix character [EDITOR’S NOTE: All characters get better with Entities, obviously, but he is damn near broken! Ion is great with him; Ophidian might be just as good, if not better (keep in mind, if you can find a way to give Speed Demon Sidestep, his Trait still activates! So in addition to your normal attack and first Speed Cyclone Uplift victim, if you’re careful enough with your positioning, you would have a 1 in 6 chance to do another 1 damage to an opposing figure. That’s three freaking chances to deal damage to opposing figures, and two of them don’t even need attack rolls. Sick, sick SICK!!]

On an unrelated note, FL204 Central City Police Captain has a power that reads “LAW ENFORCEMENT CONSULTANT: When building your force, all characters with the Police keyword have the Central City keyword.” With the Batman and Streets of Gotham sets still being legal, Police teams might be a thing again. As always, stay tuned…

 

Krampus

Team of the week – I’ve had reason to study the Krampus/Helspont combo recently and I’m finding the only teams truly resistant are teams that feature a tent pole that costs over 199 points (because Helspont can’t switch with them). To that end I put together this quick team.

“Deadpool is Just the Man to Teachethetheth Thee.”

  • DP055 Deadpool (w/DPW003 “4th Wall? What 4th Wall?”)
  • TDW011 Fandral
  • FIR100 The Book of the Skull
  • FIR107 Angrir’s Hammer
  • Total = 299 points

If someone tries to “Krampus” this team they won’t be able to touch Deadpool due to his point cost.  That leaves Fandral. Fandral can use his perplex to raise his defense by one and then Krampus would need hit a 20 defense to get his Capture. It’s still very possible Krampus makes that roll, but it’s a certainly not a “lock”. That’s not really even the worst part for the Krampus player. If Helspont switches with Fandral, he’ll end up double tokened next to Deadpool. Deadpool has outwit, pulse wave, and an attack of 14. He’s not going to miss except on snake eyes. Helspont will be near the end of his dial very quickly.

Against non-Krampus teams, Deadpool is still a killer and Fandral is still a very competent backup attacker. If Fandral rolls low on Blades then Deadpool gets a free close combat attack via Fandrals’s Feint special power . If Fandral rolls high on Blades, then he rolls high on Blades. Isn’t that enough?

The approach on the battlefield against other teams might hurt because Deadpool only has a six range, but once you close with another team you will be incredibly deadly.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Any team using the Yellow Power Battery has the possibility to give Krampus fits as well, provided your figures are over 79 Points. The Hal Jordan Parallax team from the first “Let’s Be Lanterns” should be able to mop the floor with a Krampus/Helspont team. Having said that, yeah, there’s not a lot that effectively counters Krampus/Helspont. Props to you again, Andrew!]

Well, that’s it for now. Man, that was a lot of randomness that I just scribbled down. I feel like Larry King! Now if only I got paid like him…

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry. Not gonna happen.]

Damn.

 

 

 

Oh the Inhumanity!! (Or, The Build 6–Comics & More 10/15/2014!!)

/ ninwashui / 1 Comment

The Format: 300 Point Modern Age. Anything goes. I am limited only by my desire to be cool and my desire to avoid being cheesy. I will likely bring several teams and try and field one appropriate to the level of cheese in the room. I don’t want to give away wins by having an under powered team, but I don’t want to blow everyone out all night with no chance of them winning either. I like to play for the experience and not the prize.

My Team Choices (Listed in Order of Cheese):

 

Maximus

This is why Black Bolt won’t let his brother watch the Matrix – ever.

Inhumanity: (Inhumans Theme)

GOTG018 Alpha Primitive

GOTG037 Lockjaw

GOTG038 Maximus

GOTG060 Thane

GOTGS101 Terrigen Crystal

(Sideboarded) GOTG018 Alpha Primitive * 2

Total= 300 Points

I tested the Alpha Primitives recently in a game versus the Black Order and they were well worth their points. In fact, they usually were doing so much damage to the Black Order that they were KOing themselves (via the Black Order Trait). Is doing too much damage a downside?

Lockjaw is there for tie up and transport. Use his Perplex on his own Defense and you’ve got a 19. Add his Probability Control to that and even a figure with a 12 attack is more likely to miss than hit him.

Like I said in my GOTG set review, Maximus is what really makes the Alpha Primitives deadly. He provides Outwit, Perplex, and a Mole Man-style Mind Control. When you consider that he can make two Alpha Primitives himself, after the game has started, you get to play 360 points versus your opponents 300 point team.

Thane has the best Support power I think we’ve ever seen (INHUMAN HEALER: Thane can use Support. When he does he and/or the target may be adjacent to an opposing character. Once per game, Thane can use Pulse Wave as a free action. When you do, he can’t use Support for the rest of the game.). If you are willing to sacrifice him–or at least leave him vulnerable to a counter-attack [EDITOR’S NOTE: Bleeeccch. With Thane having top dial Invincible, without Outwit there’s really no way to even counter-attack him effectively if he cripples your best attacker]–then he can also dish out more punishment in one turn than any character we’ve ever seen near his point cost. He makes a great support piece, but an even better Primary Attacker– especially if you are able to spare a Perplex or two for his Attack Value. Assign the Terrigen Crystal here.

This was likely the team I was going to play, until some guy wrote this exact team up on a FB forum I follow today. I spent money and bought the pieces I didn’t have. Now it seems like I am copying. Sigh…

 

Where is a robotic fly swatter when you really need it?

Where is a robotic fly swatter when you really need it?

A Superior Way to Die: (Scientist Theme)

DP060 Superior Spider-Man (w/ secret Avengers ATA)

IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0

(Sideboarded) DP099A Spider-Bot (Mark 1) * 2

(Sideboarded) DP099B Spider-Bot (Mark 2) * 6

Total= 300 Points

The idea is to make Superior Spider-Man nearly impossible to hit by equipping him with two Spider-Bots (Mark 1) and making his Super Senses rolls only miss on a one or a two. Secret Avengers ATA helps keep his Defense from being Outwitted. So does Spidey’s native top dial Outwit and Iron Monger 2.0’s top dial Damage Special Outwit that can’t be countered.

The battle plan here is to send Spider Man up close and keep Iron Monger 2.0 at maximum range. When you get close enough to an opponent, make a Spider-Bot and use it to tie up the opposing piece. If they spend an action to blow up the Spider-bot then Iron Monger’s trait says they take a damage. The best part is that that’s their action for the turn and you can make a new Spider-bot as a free action next turn.

HypeFox made this a team of the week once in a Weekly Round-Up after I gave him the idea [EDITOR’S NOTE: Yeah, but I thought up the Team Name, genius, which is, like, 90% of the work!]. I recently acquired the pieces I need to play it. It’s a strong contender.

 

"James Howlett, you have a great capacity for compassion. Welcome to--waaaaiiit, did you just stab the $#!t out of someone? I don't think you understand how this ring works. "

How not to open a can of red paint.

Hydra Relic Acquisition Commission: (Hydra Theme)

DP006 Hand Ninja

DP054 Arnim Zola

DP103 Wolverine, Agent of Hydra

FIH002 Warbot (Rocket)

FIR100C The Book of the Skull (with all hammers except Nerkkod’s Hammer) [EDITOR’S NOTE: Oooooo, I hope we play on a heavy water map!]

Total= 300 Points

This team is pretty simple. Equip Zola with Nul’s Hammer and then use Willpower to make a Gwen Stacy clone once every other turn. Repeat until your opponent makes you stop. In the mean time you can use the Book of Skull and your three remaining characters to give your team power cosmic. When the opponent gets close, engage with everyone except for Zola. The more Gwen’s the better.

 

Sebastian_Shaw_Dialogue

He’s poppin’ tags.

As Long As Our Love (And My Head) Survives: (Hellfire Club Theme)

WXM035 Black King

WXM020 White King

WOLR106 Power Battery (Star Sapphires)

WOLR306 Star Sapphire Ring

WOLR206.08 Scissors (Violet)

WOLR206.09 Nurse (Violet)

Total= 300 Points

Originally posted here. I proved my team building superiority by making it the greatest Lantern build ever (well, except for my Blue Lantern build [EDITOR’S NOTE: Do not play that damn Blue Lantern Build. I ain’t trying to deal with a 4% chance of damaging your &^(&^& Superior Spidey, which I never should have traded you.]). HypeFox glossed over it in the article and neither of us has fielded it yet so it might be time to test just how bad-@$$ this team really is. I also may change the team name to “Quit Hittin’ Yourself.”

 

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

If I were addicted to winning I would play this team.

Patrick Yapjoco New Mutants: (New Mutants Theme)

WXMT004 New Mutants (All characters)

DP038 Copycat

NMLR100 Utility Belt

NMLR103 Grapnel Gun

NMLR105 Rebreather

NMLR106 Handcuffs

Total= 300 Points

Patrick Yapjoco won a ROC qualifier with this team so you know it’s power level is top notch. I can’t tell you more about playing this team because I’ve never done it. However, the fact that Copycat gives HypeFox nightmares makes me want to play it for that reason alone. I’ve named it most cheesy of the teams today due to the simple fact that it has a resource, a team base, and it’s a known tournament winner.

So there they are–all my choices. Look for a special recap section in the Weekly Roundup for the week of 10/19/2014 BATTLE REPORT to find out how I did!

How To Clinch The Central!! (Or, The Mid-Weekly Roundup for 09/28/2014!!)

/ HypeFox / Leave a comment

Roundup

Howdy! It’s time for another edition of our patented Roundups! Why publish an update now, in the middle of the week? Well, a lot has happened in the last two weeks!

In the world of Michigan sports alone:

–Baseball’s regular season has finally ended, and the Tigers finished in first place in the AL Central. Finally! Here’s what the scene looked like in and around Comerica Park:

Noted baseball fans Barry Allen and Wally West run by the stadium wearing Tigers colors! (Not gonna lie, they were hard to capture on film!)

Noted baseball fans Barry Allen and Wally West run by the stadium wearing Tigers colors! (Barry was in the home whites; Wally was wearing the navy gear. And yes, that’s Ford Field–where the Lions play–right behind them. For any non-southeastern Michigan readers, the Lions and Tigers play right next to each other!)

 

Fans exiting the stadium. That's the Ren Cen in the skyline there.

Fans exiting the stadium. That’s the Ren Cen in the skyline there.

 

Folks ready to celebrate in downtown Detroit.

Folks ready to celebrate in downtown Detroit.

Now, here’s where it gets weird. After the Tigers beat Minnesota to clinch the division, two cops on horseback came out onto the grass near the fence in left-center field (by the bullpens.) There, they milled about for just two minutes or so, and then left. And that’s when I noticed something strange on the warning track:

photo (19)

“Hmmm…” I thought, “That’s strange. Lemme see if I can zoom in a bit. That can’t be what I think it is... ”

"Oh yeah. That's what I thought it was."

“Oh yeah. That’s what I thought it was.“

Yep. An explosion of horsecrap right on the outfield dirt. Now our Warning Track needs a Warning Track.

–I bet the Twins felt crappy about losing.

–That horse was a real party pooper. (Okay, I’m done with the dookie puns now. Well… probably.)

–The Tigers will start their playoff run today in Baltimore at 5:37!

–Meanwhile, across the street, the Lions played Green Bay a couple weeks ago. They won the game, in large part because of their stellar defense. Lions middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch was so excited to get a sack in the first half that he just had to express himself:

"Somehow, this is still more manly than the Martin Grammatica celebratory knee explosion. At least Tulloch actually did something worth celebrating...

Yup! These are my Lions!

–Still, after a 3-1 start, I have to be optimistic, right? I mean, it’s not like this team has a long, tortured and RECENT history of collapsing during the latter half of the season, right?

Bah. Best not to think of such things. In fact, I think it’s high time we turned our attention to:

 

THE MID-WEEKLY UPDATE!!

 

Microphone

PODCASTS:

Dial H

–Dial H for Heroclix is always new every week! Their latest episode included some spoilers for upcoming OP kits as well as a discussion of the second series of Yu-Gi-Oh! figures!

This is Ultimate Play, b!tches!

–The Quarry has released Episode 27, which covers the end of the ROC’s first season!!

Push to Regen

–In somewhat sad news, Push to Regen has announced on Reddit that they have released their final episode. Their Facebook page is still up, and still posting the occasional news item, but the show has reached its final destination.

"We're a Thing again!"

“We’re a Thing again!”

–And, in tribute to Elton John and the Circle of Life (never thought I’d make an Elton John reference on this blog; I was, apparently, wrong), just as Push to Regen goes quietly into that dark night, ClixCast rises from the ashes after six months and publishes two new episodes! Welcome back, gentlemen.

 

Welcome... to the ROC!

–You can find the latest ROC tourney announcements right here!

 

Preview

–Keep your GotG Nebula, Rocket Raccoon Movie Chase, Star-Lord Movie Starter piece, Movie Rare Groot, Movie Rare Yondu and Batroc handy–we have another Pirate to add to your force! It’s Pirate Deathstroke, and he’s… weird. But in a good way. His mid-dial “Take Their Vessel” Special Movement power has to be the weirdest justification EVER for granting the use of Mind Control, but he also has a great top dial Damage Special called “Steal More Than Your Gold” that allows him to basically steal a standard power from an opposing figure within 6 squares. The best part is, you’re preventing that character from “using” that power, not countering that power, so it gets around Power Cosmic or Quintessence or any powers that “can’t be countered.” I’d like a little more Range than 6, but for 112 Points, he’s certainly unique.

–Want to know what to expect when OP Rogue is up for grabs at your local venue? Click here to find out!

 

Wizkids

–In case you missed it last time, we got some announcements about some upcoming sets!! We are getting an Avengers Assemble set with 25 never-before-Clix’d characters along with next year’s OP set: Age of Ultron!! Oh, and we’re getting an Age of Ultron Movie Set as well. In addition, it appears that BOTH sets will use Avengers ID cards (randomly inserted in boosters?) that will work with the Avengers Roundtable Resource. How this will all play out, I don’t know. But what I do know is that somewhere along the way (probably but not definitely as the main prize from Age of Ultron) we will finally get… a Quinjet! Yep, Marvel’s finally getting a vehicle (at least one that didn’t start as a figure like Warlock)!

Avengers Assemble should hit around May, and will be a normal 5-figure Booster set. Age of Ultron will come in two different waves of 5-Figure boosters. Wheeee!

You can find a link to the Alliance pictures HERE!!

 

Army of the Week

Army of the Week:

No Army of the Week this week, as we’re devoting a little extra time to debuting another new feature–Upcoming Local Games–at the bottom of this very article. Army of the Week will return next time, though!

 

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

Hooray for Hollllllywooood!!

–Gotham and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have premiered! After two episodes apiece, they appear to be  heading in opposite directions. This week, I’ll talk about Gotham. Next week, we’ll take a look at Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Gotham Title

–Okay, I know this is a comic-book-based show, but the premiere and ESPECIALLY the second episode were really over the top. Not a great start. Ben McKenzie is fine as Jim Gordon, and I like his military backstory. But Donal Logue seems uncomfortable so far as Harvey Bullock (color me surprised–I would’ve thought he’d be brilliant), partially because every other scene has him spouting cartoonish exposition about how corrupt Gotham is and how Jim needs to get with the program. I think that’s what I dislike the most–Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock seem like characters from two different shows. And the abysmally named Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith). the other character with the most screen time through episode 2, seems bizarrely misconceived.

Why does Fish Mooney have a character banner like audience's already know who she is? Whaaa... ?! And really, a tough as nails female gangster has no problem with folks calling her Fish? Really?!

Why does Fish Mooney have a character banner like audiences already know who she is? And really, a tough as nails female gangster has no problem with folks calling her Fish?!

The only other standout so far is the guy playing the Penguin as a young thug. He’s good, but since he’s rail-thin and dressed to the nines all the time, every time someone talks about how much he looks or walks like a penguin (which supposedly sets him off on a violent rage every time he hears it), you just wonder what the hell they’re talking about.

The acting was really bad in episode 2, which featured indie movie vets Lili Taylor and Frank Whaley as a couple of creepy kidnappers. The roles were so poorly executed that neither actor ever seemed comfortable, and the whole thing devolved into a giant mess by the end. The show is also already having trouble connecting Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth to the weekly stories. This episode, Alfred caught Bruce burning his own hand with a candle flame, so of course he did the natural thing and went to see Jim Gordon, that detective Alfred has only met twice and who admittedly botched up the Wayne’s murder investigation. Well, of course that’s the guy he would turn to for parenting help.

This is only Episode 2, so the fact that the creative team is already having these sorts of structural problems with the premise of the show doesn’t bode well for the future. Look, I love Batman and Catwoman, but it seems like things would go a lot smoother if Bruce, Alfred, Selina Kyle and the young girl from the pilot who may or may not turn into Poison Ivy were recurring characters who only showed up a few times a season, at most. Because, despite what the marketing campaign would have you believe, the show’s not actually about them!

Based on what we saw in the pilot, Gotham is about a young detective named Jim Gordon, who happens to be the one honest cop in the city of Gotham, and his rise to prominence in the world’s most corrupt city. That’s it–that’s the logline of the show. Paring down the main cast to Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, their boss (I’m sorry, I can’t even remember her name), Jim’s fiance Barbara and whatever mobsters/villains you want them going after during the arc of the first season would free up a lot of constraints that are currently weighing down the show.

"I take it back--the marketing clearly showed the four completely different stories that the show would be telling this season."

“I take it back–the marketing clearly showed the five completely different stories that the show would be telling this season.”

Now, on the bright side, they did find a way to include Selina Kyle a little more directly (although, God help me, if she tells one more adult to call her “Cat,” I might throw something at my TV. She’s gonna be Catwoman in another decade—WE F–KING GET IT!!), not just for this episode but for at least the next few.

I haven’t watched much of Arrow, but from what I understand that enterprise started a little shaky too; now it’s become CAN’T-MISS TV!! for a lot of folks. Perhaps Gotham will get there; for now, it remains a flawed undertaking.

 

Local Tournament Report

Upcoming Local Events:

Hello! Welcome to the latest feature for the Weekly Update–Upcoming Local Events!

This is the spot where we’ll post a few notices about upcoming games at venues in and around Southeastern Michigan, where Critical Missives is based. If any venue would like us to announce an upcoming event anywhere in the country, you can hit us up on Twitter or let us know via feedback to this very post!

–Today @ 6pm, Big Ben’s Comix Oasis in Allen Park, MI will host some Free-For-All battles, 400 Points Modern Age–only single-based figures will be allowed. “Shock the Turtle” Battlefield conditions will be in effect.

–Comic City in Pontiac, MI also has a Zombie Team Base going to the winner of tonight’s game! Looks like the Build is a massive 1550?! Wow–gonna be some carnage tonight!

–Thursday night Clix is also happening at Comic City’s Canton location tonight! 300 Points, Modern Age.

–Fun 4 All Comics & Games in Ypsilanti (tonight!), The Amazing Book Store in Flint (Saturday the 4th), Warriors 3 Comics & Games in Wayne (Saturday the 4th), Comic Relief in Flint (Saturday the 4th) and Eternal Games in Warren (Sunday the 5th) are ALL running WoL Month 5 Events this week!

More updates to come next week!

And don’t forget that my local venue also has something cooking in a couple weeks:

–On Wednesday, October 15th @6:15pm, Comics & More in Madison Heights, MI will have some Zombie Team Bases from the GOTG OP kit up for grabs! The Build is 300 Points, and Colossals, Team Bases, Entities, Relics & Resources will ALL be allowed!

 

Wait--it's already listing this post!! Huh?! Whaa?! Must be magic!!

Critical Missives:

–Our Top Ten Set Reviews for Guardians of the Galaxy have dropped! To read HypeFox’s take, click here! To check out Ninwashui’s rebuttal, go here!

And that’s all for now! Whew! Long one this week. Keep an eye out for us this week! We’ll have a Local Tourney Report for WOL Month 4 coming soon, as well as an article devoted to Copycat and some of the issues she’s created!

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

WE are Groot. (Or a Second Opinion on the Guardians of the Galaxy Comic Heroclix set)

/ ninwashui / 3 Comments
Well he don't know talkin' good like me and you, so his vocabulistics is limited to "I" and "am" and "Groot," exclusively in that order.

“Well he don’t know talkin’ good like me and you, so his vocabulistics is limited to ‘I’ and ‘am’ and ‘Groot,’ exclusively in that order.”

So I am in the unusual position of HypeFox having given his Top Ten Set List first. The last time we did a top ten was for Deadpool. I went first that time and the process created the most popular article our site has ever published. I think HypeFox is feeling the pressure this time because this is my…

 

Second Opinion!!

A Second Opinion

 

Some General Notes About the Set:

"None of us made this list, but damn we look heroic!"

“None of us made this list, but damn we look heroic!”

Here’s some things HypeFox was actually right about. He said:

  • “There is a metric Poop-Ton of generic figures in this set… which, for once, is actually awesome!” – These packs had two chances of pulling a good figure. Every pack has a rare, but now some also have a unique version of a generic that is usually very playable (AKA Tana Nile instead of Rigellian Colonizer). For example, I got a pack containing my 3rd Killraven (ugh), but it also contained my first Recorder #451. I ended up feeling that that a was pretty good pack. Bravo Wizkids.
  • “In terms of Overall Power Level, Guardians is NOT Deadpool” – Agreed. There are less uber-powerful figures in this set, but everything seems remarkably playable. Great for sealed play with seemingly less figures that would give you an auto-win in sealed (like ThorPool).
  • “…the Chases in this set SHOULD have been the Black Order…” – Agreed in that they seem more Chase-like (think Prime’s Titans). However, on the plus side, I own a Thanos now and I wouldn’t own one if he were a Chase. So I guess it worked out in the end.
  • “Zombie Skrull is really just a waste of everyone’s time” – Zombie Skrull is the worst Chase I have ever seen. Ever. I would almost rather never pull a GotG Chase than open that Flaming pile of poopfarts.

Here’s something he was wrong on:

  • “The Inhumans didn’t turn out so hot, in my opinion” – There were some stinkers (Gorgon), but in general I like their inhumanity trait. That perplex brings a lot of value. Hypefox loved the same power on IIM002 Rescue when it was called “I’M NOT LETTING YOU TURN ME INTO A WEAPON“. Why is he suddenly hating on it now? [EDITOR’S NOTE: I have no problem with the Inhumanity Trait. I just don’t like any of their dials outside of maybe Thane. Either way, I think the only way to settle this is with an 800 Point Black Order vs. Inhumans Throwdown with a GotG Pack on the line!!]

Now then, on to:

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

 

"Yes I 'dare.' Honestly, being the fifth Honorable Mention isn't that bad, Volx."

“Yes, I ‘dare.’ Honestly, being the fifth Honorable Mention isn’t that bad, Volx.”

5.  GOTG010B Dire Wraith Queen – She brings Pen/Psy, Perplex, Stealth, Energy Explosion, Toughness, and Prob on her first click. In addition her crazy Traited Shape Change makes her hard for opponents hit. She reminds me a lot of SLOSH042E Helspont, but with less impervious and more stealth. What’s keeping her from being higher on this list? She needs slightly higher stats and the basic Dire Wraiths just aren’t that good.

 

"This job is not worth $2.13 an hour plus tips... "

“This job is not worth $2.13 an hour plus tips… “

4. GOTG013B Recorder #451 – He’d be decent on his own, but his Trait is the real reason you’ll ever really want to field him. He brings a fun new spin on some pieces that would likely have not seen as much play otherwise. Time to dust off your IIM001A Iron Man!

 

"Don't touch which button? And what's a 'remote detonation' now?"

“Don’t touch which button? And what’s a ‘remote detonation’ now?”

3. GOTG008A Raptor – Sporting Stealth, Flight, and Sidestep, these members of the Brotherhood of Raptors make great taxis for the Armor and Shi’ar-keyworded figures of the world. Remember the Shi’ar? WatX wasn’t that long ago, was it? Remember armor teams? IIM, wasn’t it? … You get the idea.

 

"If do right, no can defense."

“If do right, no can defense.”

2. GOTG028 Karnak – A solid close combat piece similar to Shang-Chi and Cat. His inhumanity trait is what pushes him over the top. It essentially gives him +1 to attack or +1 to defense that turn depending on your needs that turn. But the real kicker here is his trait and the awesome combo ability it brings. Imagine him with poison from a phoenix shard. Now imagine a penetrating quake from a hammer dropped from the book of shadows!

 

This sculpt wasn't creepy enough for Shriek so it was rejected and replaced with the version we have now.

This sculpt wasn’t creepy enough for Shriek so it was rejected and replaced with the version we have now.

1. GOTG044 Shriek – She would have made my top 10 except that she needs a lantern construct to be really good. Combine her with the sniper rifle and you’ve really got something there. Everything within 10 range gets battle fury. That means that with good positioning your team can’t legally be targeted by a ranged attack all game by 99% of the figures out there. Even Bullseye won’t be able to touch her. Plus she can mind control anyone in 10 range regardless of line of fire. She severely limits what you can play yourself (maximum carnage or close range figures only), but I think she can be the lynchpin of a successful team.

 

Alright, now that we’re done with the warmup, here are:

 

Star-Lord Gesture

He just found out he didn’t make the top ten…

My Top 10 Figures of the Set:

 

Maximus

10. GOTG038 Maximus AND GOTG018 Alpha Primitive –  I made these two figures one entry because the effectiveness of both pieces are closely tied to each other. [EDITOR’S NOTE: This seems an awful lot like cheating.]

They are either both effective or both not. I’ve been arguing with HypeFox for a few weeks now about this guy. I think he has a future in tournaments. HypeFox doesn’t. I think everything the Alpha primitives bring to the table make them well worth 30 points. (especially the Mind Control and free move) When you consider that Maximus can create 2 of them and add that 60 points to your force, then it’s really like you get the remainder of the Maximus dial for 15 points. That seems like a great deal to me.

 

"Y'know what? Let's just skip Father's Day this year. And, y'know, every other year. From now on."

“You know what? Let’s just skip Father’s Day this year. And, y’know, every other year. From now on.”

9. GOTG058 Mentor – Like a buffed up version of SOG038 David Cain – this guy is a sniper instructor just looking for the perfect student. He brings a lot of offense to the table himself, but his real value is transforming a high-range, low-offense character from zero to hero. If you make sure to keep him our your side of the map, he won’t go down easy.

 

Ronan the Accuser painted

8. GOTG208 Ronan the Accuser – This guy is the perfect sniper. You’d be hard pressed to find this much ranged offense in another character his point level. 9 range, 12 attack, and Pen/Psy make for a deadly character. As a bonus, he’s the glue you need to put together a great Kree team. All the Kree Generics are lacking is will power. This is how they can get it.

 

"Alright! I'm almost finished with my Voltron costume!"

“Alright! I’m almost finished with my Voltron costume!”

7. GOTG059B Doctor Spectrum – I this guy over GOTG059A Doctor Spectrum because he has a better offensive roll to play and costs less points (Plus Rokk isn’t very good). His Trait will make sure you almost never miss. Energy Explosion with 3 arrows will punish anyone standing next to your target. Just watch out for when your opponent starts shooting back, because his low-ish Defense Value makes him pretty squishy.

 

"Longest. National. Anthem. Ever!"

“Longest. National. Anthem. Ever!”

6. GOTG011B Jason of Sparta AND GOTG011A Spartoi Elite – Remember the Shia’r? Wait I said that already. This is another group of figures that you don’t want to play separately. Consider that one Spartoi Elite will give Jason 18 Defense and a Perplex to waste on whatever he wants. 3 will give him 20 Defense and 3 Perplexes to use on offense! Plus thanks to ship he can carry them all around at the same time. That’s 159  points total for that Defense/Perplex ball. In 300 you could throw in WXM023B Cerise and WXM022 Korvus and still have 17 points to share. Alternatively, Jason and a single Spartoi Elite could bring WXM048 Warstar along to pack a serious punch. You could even make a bunch of Raptor and Spartoi Elite pairs. Lots of options here.

 

Zombie Super Skrull

5. GOTG062 Super Skrull – You can look at his dial and wonder why it costs 170 points. What you need to do is imagine that he has a full dial of hypersonic speed, steal energy, and impervious. If I ever play him on my team that’s exactly what he will have. I was a big fan of WXM038 Legion and the Super Skrull brings that idea to a whole new level.

 

"Ugch. I have got to start washing my hands after using the bathroom!"

“Ugch. I have got to start washing my hands after using the bathroom!”

4. GOTG003 Mantis – For a mere 56 points she brings Prob, Mind Control usable on friendly Guardians, Combat Reflexes, Close Combat expert and Regeneration for when she’s taken a good hit. She’s a support character that can also handle herself in a fight. I’d love to say I originated the love for this piece, but it’s rated 5 stars on HCrealms and Patrick Yapjoco won the ROC championship with her. Consider me a band wagon fan.

 

"Hey, Marvel, let's ease up on the 'Holocaust' references, eh? It sounds like your comparing the horrifying ordeal of Jewish POW's in WWII concentration camps to the plight of FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!"

“Hey, Marvel, let’s ease up on the ‘Holocaust’ references, eh? It sounds like your comparing the horrifying ordeal of Jewish POW’s in WWII concentration camps to the plight of FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!”

3. GOTG007B Captain Marvel – A defensive ability only seen before on 175 point Mon-el Prime now comes on an 82 point piece? And it can’t be countered? What the what? On Offense his penetrating damage ranged UNI-BEAM attack can keep any character he’s able to hit from attacking at all on the following turn. This well rounded piece has it all.

 

Thane

2. GOTG060 Thane – A month ago, Hypefox and I played a game with the Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Starter pieces. He tried to use the starter set Starlord to attack my character once normally and then once with a free action Hadron Enforcer. That seemed way too powerful for me to believe it. We stopped and read Starlord’s card and I was right. If you use the special action Pulse Wave power, then that is your one action with that character this turn. They will never make a character that can do both in one turn, because that would be stupid.

So the next set comes out and we get Thane. Thane can do exactly the trick that Hypefox tried to pull on me last month. He can attack and then once per game do a free action Pulse Wave in the same turn! That’s potentially 9 clicks of damage to a single target in a single turn and all of it would bypass Impervious! Even discounting his Trait, his dial is very tough and deadly. 3 clicks of Invincible up front for only 115 points? That’s almost enough to be the best character in the set.

 

Proxima Midnight

1. GOTG050 Proxima Midnight – This is the best character in the set. For only 100 points you get a long 7 click dial and every click of it is deadly. Her Defense of 18 plus Combat Reflexes was called revolutionary when it originated on SOG039 Lady Shiva. It’s no less effective here. Her nine range and 11 Attack with Pen/Psy is deadly and the unique damage over time feature for hit targets is great. Sharpshooter means she can make ranged attacks while based with her opponent. 4 clicks of Steal Energy should allow her to get back into the fight when damaged. If all else fails she will least do some damage on the way out with her CULL OBSIDIAN trait. This is not a 100 point dial, but that’s all you will need to pay for it!

 

Team Ideas – The Unstoppable Force

/ ninwashui / 9 Comments

Idea

See that? Lightning shoots right out of my hand. You should give up now.

See that? Lightning just shoots right out of my hand. You can’t beat that.

So it’s been quite a while since I posted a team ideas column, but I think the wait was worth it. I’ve got a great team idea for today’s article that is completely original to this blog right now and very tournament worthy. Without further ado here’s the team:

The Unstoppable Force

IIM037 Iron Monger 2.0

DP042 Grasshopper * 4

WOLR102 Power Battery (Red Lantern Corps) [Writers Note: Battery color and construct color don’t matter that much, just make sure the ring is red.]

WOLR302 Red Lantern Ring

WOLR202.03 Mallet (Red)

WOLR202.06 Decoy (Red)

WOLR202.11 Bulldozer (Red)

WOLR202.13 Stop Sign (Red)

Total= 299 points

The most powerful character ever is a Great Lakes Avenger? You bet it is! This team works much better than you might think it does because of timing rules. When multiple effects happen at the start of your turn, you choose the order in which they happen. So the idea is to put a Red Construct on each of your Grasshoppers, which–in addition to the normal effects of the Construct–grants penetrating poison to each character. Once everyone is equipped, use all three actions to Maximum Jump and remove three grasshoppers from the board. They will be double tokened and they will each take a pushing damage. That sounds bad, but stick with me.

Maximum Napalm!

Maximum Napalm!

On your next turn the Grasshoppers hit the board like virtual napalm. Because of beginning of turn timing rules they can land and then do penetrating poison damage to every adjacent opposing figure immediately. That’s 3 penetrating damage dropped out of the sky with no attack rolls and probably hitting multiple opposing pieces at once. The Grasshoppers are still double tokened, but they haven’t taken an action this turn so they will clear at the end of the turn. And then if you need them to they can maximum jump again next turn with the same bad effect for your opponent. Since you’ve done all that damage on your turn but haven’t taken any actions you can use Maximum Jump on your last unused Grasshopper and even get a standard attack in with Iron Monger. But who likes rolling attack dice? Boring. Just keep doing automatic penetrating damage. That’s so much easier.

Then comes the hard part for your opponent. Every turn a Grasshopper survives next to an opposing character is another Penetrating Poison damage it will do the following turn. Depending on tokens, the number characters he’s playing, and positioning your opponent may not be capable of eliminating them all in one turn. Which means more Poison damage next turn. Just to make it harder on your opponent I’ve included Iron Monger 2.0 on this team. Iron Monger 2.0’s trait says that if your opponent kills a Grasshopper he’ll avoid taking a penetrating poison damage to every adjacent opposing figure next turn, but he’ll trade that for a penetrating explosion damage to every adjacent opposing figure right now! It’s a real lose-lose situation. Don’t knock out a Grasshopper? Take penetrating one damage for every one left alive. Knock out a Grasshopper? Take penetrating one damage for each one you kill.

Star-Lord Gif

After your opponent figures out what’s going on, this could be his response.

Something else to keep in mind is that the first Grasshopper that gets KOed resurrects itself for free in your starting area due to it’s Trait. Being in your starting area doesn’t really matter when you are moving around with Maximum Jump and the construct that was on the KOed figure simply returns to the battery to be redeployed on the resurrected figure. It’s really like you are playing 5 Grasshopper napalm bombs, but only paying for 4.

You’ll need a few turns for deploying constructs to get maximum effectiveness out of this team. Waiting until turn 4 is ideal. You can use the fact that this is a theme team to win map roll and make it a map that’s hard to traverse from one side to another. Wundagore Mountain anyone? Then if you need to you can use Iron Monger and any Grasshoppers that are ready to engage the other team for a turn or two from a distance. After taking all those Battery actions early, it should be pretty easy to get to the end of the dial. Which means that if all Grasshoppers are eliminated your opponent will likely still have to face down an Iron Monger 2.0 with Shape Change, Penetrating Poison, Plasticity, and +3 to all stats.

It takes a special kind of crazy to run Lethal Legion at a ROC...

Artist’s rendition of what it looks like when Iron Monger 2.0 gets plus three to all stats.

If you surprise people with this team by taking it to you next constructed tournament, there is really only one thing to say to someone trying to beat it.

Seinfeld Good Luck