Good: I was worried that the Illuminati would have trouble with cards like Have a Blast and resource row disruption, but Sub-Mariner here offers you a way to mitigate the effectiveness of row replaces.
Bad: Yet another cost of "exhaust two different members of the Illuminati" and still no The Order, Cosmic Radiation or even To Me My X-Men. Despite the fact that they CAN use Cosmic and To Me My X-Men, one is Golden Age and the other just isn't enough juice. I was thinking and hoping they'd be a strong control deck, but I'm not so sure anymore. Great effects do not a great deck make. There needs to be synergy. And exhausting all your guys for all your effects is not so hot.
Good: It does something that was too powerful even at a cost of 5 plus the cost of the stolen character without a recovery, but for only an exhaust. If your four isn't stunned while attacking, then exhausting a 3 would be a pretty sweet play. Avengers have some pretty nice cards and I can see that happening with frequency.
Bad: You have to exhaust a character to steal stunned character. You might often be better served just attacking or playing a Finishing Move effect. It might tempt you into trying to do something like teaming up SHRA w/X-Men and Avengers so you can recover the stolen character which could be good, but it's one of those things where you might be trying to hard to make something good, great and instead coming up with something marginal.
Good: There's a free character to exhaust for Switching Sides, right there. The Avengers have a lot of Rallying for characters and they also have a fairly decent ability to put things on top of your deck, so the likelyhood of Echo <> Ronin being free is rather high. Reservist, 2/3 _and_ a Crime Lord? Well, you have me sold. Amelia Voght 2.0.
Oh the art is awesome? Yeah, it is. There's enough Ninjas in this set all ready to make me giddy. Let's not forget there's even a plot twist Ninjas! Ninjas! Ninjas!
Bad: Um,... I can't see her boobs in that costume? Yeah, that's probably it. Oh, um, concealed instead of concealed--optional I guess. It's always nice to have a choice. Especially since she's free, it would be nice to soak up some attacks with her.
Good: He's a 9/8 four drop off initiative with only one draw back. He's a freakin Nazi.
Bad: He's not an amusing Nazi like the schmucks on Damn Nazis. He doesn't look goofy. He's very serious looking. And while I hate the revisionist alternative of editing the giant swastika out of his picture, I have to admit I might feel uncomfortable playing him in some situations. "You shall call us The Master Race." Yeeeouch. This might be the first card I ever deface with a sharpie.
Gameplay wise, he kinda sucks when you have the initiative because his ability means nothing as an attacker. I'd think he's more of a backup character unless Crime Lords dig the odds. And Kingpin-4 may be a better off-turn drop anyway!
Good: Mutant of the Year was a key card in Adam Prosak's Devil's Due deck that won the last PC LA. This provides the same effect, none of the Loner drawback, plus a global D-pump. If you can get Suzie Secret Avenger visible she's got a huge rear end to soak up endurance.
Bad: On the other hand, it's better to just leave her cute butt in the hidden area because unlike Mutant of the Year, when you stun Invisible Woman your inaccessibility goes away and you're once again open to the nasty world out there waiting to burn you, exhaust your characters and discard your hand.
Good: They can usually only stun one of your team attackers anyway, right? Two cards from the hand to recover and ready an Avenger you control. That seems okay. But this is what probably makes Switching Sides so crazy. Team attack up the curve to their big drop. Recover and ready the guy they stun and exhaust him to steal their drop.
Bad: The fact that you have the option really makes these little downside to this card. If you HAD to discard two cards I really wouldn't like it. Three is just the right turn to start wanting to play the effect and options really leave it to do whatever you need it to, without excessive cost.
Good: I will call him Bob.
Bad: I might want to sharpie on him too... :(
Good: So, yeah, this guy hits turn 2. Goes away and turn three you fate up the Hulk cannon, blindside the crap out of someone with him, turn four Brood dies Hulk-KO, Turn five you play someone who can take the fate set... Turn six you play THIS guy...
Who takes the Fate suit, eats his dopple ganger and is an insane 20/20, no reinforcement, KO machine.
Oh... Bad? There's bad in the Hulk cards? Um, I guess that you have to choose between a couple of the Hulk drops and the INSANE effects Hulk gets for the entire game when his buddies die. Like I don't think you wanna really play the four drop Hulk when you can play Brood, have a bigger drop than their turn four anyway and then kill it... With your three drop.
That's it for now, I'll pick up more tomorrow.
-Mike Continue reading...
