Marvel Evolution... Just. Got. REAL!

So, THE Ben Seck, master of one of those cool Aussie accents and esteemed member of our beloved R&D Overlords has done the unbelievable... Posted a preview that was up for over an HOUR before someone posted it on VSRealms! Grats to our good friend Bloke of Lost Hemisphere demi-fame for scooping everybody... Hmmm... This doesn't happen to be one of those "foreigner conspiracies" does it? HMMMM? HMMM? Did you just find it, or did you get a TIP OFF!? HUH!? HUH!?

Erm... Anyway...



How sweet is that!?

So, Skrulls have a pretty good 5-drop, Paibok who gives a pump to all your Skrulls with a lot of team affiliations. Is this guy better? Hmmm, maybe. Different. I think that's better than an outright "replacement" drop. Having options is ALWAYS good.

So what does he really do?

Evasion. Evasion is great, for the mere cost of 5-endurance which you probably were taking anyway, and some extra breakthrough you get to keep an extra character going into a turn where you have initiative and can make the attacks that go YOUR way. So, your opponent gets an endurance advantage, but loses their ability to control your board. This can be very powerful. Decks like the Morlocks and Spider-Friends use evasion extraordinarily well. While the Skrulls haven't played with this ability in the past, that doesn't mean it can't work in your favor. Plus, with his other effects, he could be the catalyst for a fun team up.

Invulnerability. Invulnerability is great. If you don't need it, you don't discard, or get a different useful ability, but if you do you can save 5 endurance on an unexpected stun back. Opponent thinks they're going to eat your end because you left Super Skrull out to the side and they took out the guy next to him? Discard a card for invulnerability, play a reinforce effect like Poker Night and take NOTHING instead of "A LOT!" Turns fair trades into a sweet five endurance swing in your favor. Very nice.

Energize. It... Well... You can... I have no idea! Hopefully we find out real soon. If it has the utility of Evasion and Invulnerability, Super Skrull may indeed be a World Champion.

Wait... He does MORE!?

He also has an activate ability with three options. The first is a simple discard. UDE R&D has a good memory. Discards outside of the combat phase are bah-roken. So he can make your opponent drop a card from their hand. Discard is hard to pull off as a main strategy, in fact the only time it's worked, it was banned. So, discard is... Nice. It's nothing special, but options? They're good. Unless they're all bad... Sort of. But that's a whole other discussion!

Target player loses 3 endurance. So you discard for invulnerability, you activate to burn for 3 and a fair trade becomes an EIGHT endurance swing? Yes! Nice! It also gives you protection against exhaustion effects in a manner of speaking. They try to lock up your boy and he burns for three instead. It's not 9 attack, but it's better than twiddling your thumbs!

The final power is the best I think. Target player replaces a face-up resource. Now, obviously you can replace whatever you want. However, you can also play some mentalism on your opponent. Let him pick. Maybe you don't care about what he replaces. Maybe you're playing a lot of reservists and most of your stuff is face down or will potentially draw into your next turn's drop. Maybe you want to protect your face-ups and by letting him choose he'll over think it. Maybe you misdirect them and they think you WANT your resources replaced. Thus instead of replacing your resources they cycle their own stuff, forgoing their own replacement effects? May be. I like it. Plus, you can just replace whatever you want anyway.

Choices, this card is all about choices! And choices allow you to fill in a gap wherever you need it. How many decks have you seen over the years that are brutally dominate because they have options for every threat coming their way. Decks like New School, Crisis Doom, Teen Titans (even if their option for every threat was... Roy Harper!) and Deadshot.dec. I personally liked the name Banana Hammock, but I guess it was too risque for Metagame.com. Hehe. Options are the best thing in VS System. Overwhelming power can win games, stall can win games, but options can win games you were supposed to lose.

Options separate the best of players from the good players from the bad players. Making the right choice at the right time is the hardest skill to learn. Some people never do. So more choices, in my estimation, is always better. I like to think I'm a good player, I know I'm not one of the best, but cards like this are a quick way to find out.

-Mike