Greetings everyone,
I was asked by bkwrds from vssystem.org to pass along the following tournament details.
When: January 16th and 17th (Both days start at noon)
Where: 69 Agnes St in Kitchener, Ontario
Formats:
Jan 16th - BYOS followed by MUN draft
Jan 17th - "Silver Age Constructed (DCR-MUN, + MEQ)
How Much: $20 entry fee (covers both days)
For anyone who is interested in attending, please contact bkwrds via private message on the vssystem.org forums.
December 30, 2009
December 29, 2009
VS System Council Errata - Incorrect
In their year-end address to the community the VSSystem.org council has suggested an errata. The full text explanation can be read below:
Our final topic of the day is Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury (MVL-123). This card has been nominated for an errata because of a broken interaction that allows for consistent turn 3 wins (sometimes turn 2) in Silver and Golden Age. The combo uses the following cards:
Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury
Haywire, Suicidal Lover
Mind Gem, Unique * Infinity Gem
Soul Gem, Unique * Infinity Gem
Ratcatcher, Otis Flannegan or Apokoliptian Zealots, Army
Any team-up
In ten test games, KardKrazy won on turn 3 eight times, turn 2 once, and turn 4 once. The trick is to put a Soul Gem on Nick Fury and a Mind Gem on Haywire, Then have Haywire stun himself repeatedly with Nick Fury’s effect, and bounce to hand repeatedly with Soul Gem’s effect. Ratcatcher burns your opponent to death throughout this process. In Silver Age, you simply need to replace Ratcatcher with Apokoliptian Zealots to gain infinite attack. This version is equally unstoppable since you can include a single copy of Blind-Sided in your deck (Mind Gem will be drawing up your whole deck).
The council has decided to change Nick Fury to the following:
Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury
Marvel Knights
Range
1/1
Loyalty
Exhaust X equipped MK characters you control >>> Stun target opposing character with cost less than X.
MVL-123
Rare
Chuck says: After Roy and Scott's comments, I had a really close look at this and they are indeed correct. The second line on Soul Gem reads “Whenever equipped character stuns a character with lesser cost, return that stunned character to its owner’s hand.”
In order to bounce Haywire back to your hand, he would have to be in combat with Nick Fury. Haywire is not being stunned by Nick, he is being stunned by Nick’s power, and there IS a difference. WIthout being in combat you can’t bounce Haywire back to hand, so there is no infinite loop.
Comment 2: According to rules lawyering this combo does actually work, but were I asked to rule on it I'd still say it doesn't work. My opinion and the truth seem to be in disagreement this time. I'm not going to bother adding the errata to the Legends FAQ...but should someone play a deck of this sort in one of my tournaments, I'll be extremely disappointed in them for being cheap. :P
Our final topic of the day is Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury (MVL-123). This card has been nominated for an errata because of a broken interaction that allows for consistent turn 3 wins (sometimes turn 2) in Silver and Golden Age. The combo uses the following cards:
Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury
Haywire, Suicidal Lover
Mind Gem, Unique * Infinity Gem
Soul Gem, Unique * Infinity Gem
Ratcatcher, Otis Flannegan or Apokoliptian Zealots, Army
Any team-up
In ten test games, KardKrazy won on turn 3 eight times, turn 2 once, and turn 4 once. The trick is to put a Soul Gem on Nick Fury and a Mind Gem on Haywire, Then have Haywire stun himself repeatedly with Nick Fury’s effect, and bounce to hand repeatedly with Soul Gem’s effect. Ratcatcher burns your opponent to death throughout this process. In Silver Age, you simply need to replace Ratcatcher with Apokoliptian Zealots to gain infinite attack. This version is equally unstoppable since you can include a single copy of Blind-Sided in your deck (Mind Gem will be drawing up your whole deck).
The council has decided to change Nick Fury to the following:
Nick Fury, Col. Nicholas Fury
Marvel Knights
Range
1/1
Loyalty
Exhaust X equipped MK characters you control >>> Stun target opposing character with cost less than X.
MVL-123
Rare
Chuck says: After Roy and Scott's comments, I had a really close look at this and they are indeed correct. The second line on Soul Gem reads “Whenever equipped character stuns a character with lesser cost, return that stunned character to its owner’s hand.”
In order to bounce Haywire back to your hand, he would have to be in combat with Nick Fury. Haywire is not being stunned by Nick, he is being stunned by Nick’s power, and there IS a difference. WIthout being in combat you can’t bounce Haywire back to hand, so there is no infinite loop.
Comment 2: According to rules lawyering this combo does actually work, but were I asked to rule on it I'd still say it doesn't work. My opinion and the truth seem to be in disagreement this time. I'm not going to bother adding the errata to the Legends FAQ...but should someone play a deck of this sort in one of my tournaments, I'll be extremely disappointed in them for being cheap. :P
December 18, 2009
I Luvs Me Some Muzak
Oddly enough my parents never pushed me to do anything overtly musical as a kid. I didn't have the prerequisite piano lessons that a lot of kids did, or even get pushed into joining the school band. It's actually something I chose to do on my own. Now I can't recall exactly the process that went into it, but it's been a part of my life for so long (skill level notwithstanding) that I can't imagine not having an interest of some kind.
In junior high and high school I played in the concert band until grade 11, which overlapped into joining the metal band of some friends. It was interesting getting that gig, as it came about from being taught to play bass guitar for a school assignment. As soon as we had played it a few times and recorded it, I was asked if I wanted to join their band "because you're better than our actual bass player." We played some live gigs but mostly tried to blow out the power system of an old gutted trailer my dad had set up for us out on the farm.
Landing in the city meant more people to jam with, and eventually my first 'semi-pro' band. We played for several years all throughout Alberta and even a half dozen locations in Saskatchewan. Two CDs and the departure of the last remaining original member of Diesel Fly signalled the ultimate demise of that group.
I sort of hung it up for a while at that point, being tired of the travel, practice and personalities involved with it all. I ended up in Japan as a teacher and stumbled upon several locals who gave me a new outlet, even going so far as to lend me a bass for over a year! Our little trio in Japan was called "Nan-da-rou" which roughly translates to "What the Hell?!". An Aussie guitarist/singer, Japanese drummer and a Canadian bassist/growler made for a pretty interesting collection. Unfortunately we never got to play any gigs due to our guitarist having some visa issues and eventually having to leave the country.
After coming back to my homeland, I left all of my musical junk in storage...as I had no one to play with any longer. After about two years, something started the itch and I went and pulled everything out and set about putting together a new space. First it started with an audio interface and DAW program. This was promptly followed by a beautiful new guitar, then full on mixing and monitoring hardware, complete with a virtual drum program to get that realistic sound that computer muzak is lacking.
On occasion I do get to jam with a few friends, and have started writing again in a very limited fashion. My finishing touch for the newly minted casa-studio was an uber-spiffy Roland HD-1 v-drum kit. I can now jam, write or record, alone or with friends, in the middle of the night in my condo without anyone else in the building knowing. Adding in a singer would make it interesting, but I'm extremely psyched about the whole thing! Vocals can be recorded during daylight hours I suppose.
Merry axe-mas to all, and a happy shred-year!
In junior high and high school I played in the concert band until grade 11, which overlapped into joining the metal band of some friends. It was interesting getting that gig, as it came about from being taught to play bass guitar for a school assignment. As soon as we had played it a few times and recorded it, I was asked if I wanted to join their band "because you're better than our actual bass player." We played some live gigs but mostly tried to blow out the power system of an old gutted trailer my dad had set up for us out on the farm.
Landing in the city meant more people to jam with, and eventually my first 'semi-pro' band. We played for several years all throughout Alberta and even a half dozen locations in Saskatchewan. Two CDs and the departure of the last remaining original member of Diesel Fly signalled the ultimate demise of that group.
I sort of hung it up for a while at that point, being tired of the travel, practice and personalities involved with it all. I ended up in Japan as a teacher and stumbled upon several locals who gave me a new outlet, even going so far as to lend me a bass for over a year! Our little trio in Japan was called "Nan-da-rou" which roughly translates to "What the Hell?!". An Aussie guitarist/singer, Japanese drummer and a Canadian bassist/growler made for a pretty interesting collection. Unfortunately we never got to play any gigs due to our guitarist having some visa issues and eventually having to leave the country.
After coming back to my homeland, I left all of my musical junk in storage...as I had no one to play with any longer. After about two years, something started the itch and I went and pulled everything out and set about putting together a new space. First it started with an audio interface and DAW program. This was promptly followed by a beautiful new guitar, then full on mixing and monitoring hardware, complete with a virtual drum program to get that realistic sound that computer muzak is lacking.
On occasion I do get to jam with a few friends, and have started writing again in a very limited fashion. My finishing touch for the newly minted casa-studio was an uber-spiffy Roland HD-1 v-drum kit. I can now jam, write or record, alone or with friends, in the middle of the night in my condo without anyone else in the building knowing. Adding in a singer would make it interesting, but I'm extremely psyched about the whole thing! Vocals can be recorded during daylight hours I suppose.
Merry axe-mas to all, and a happy shred-year!
December 16, 2009
Rant Time Is Upon Us...
Ok I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I'm seriously annoyed at the situation thus far and have no other outlet for my rage so it's going up here on the blog.
UPS LICKS FUCKING DONKEY BALLS
So I receive a delivery notice last Thursday, stating that I have a package waiting and owe a minimal fee of $16.05. That's all fine and good. So I call their 1-800 number in an attempt to talk to a REAL LIVE PERSON, hoping to re-route the package to my workplace. Yeah right, before each of the enter-x bullshit menu options I get from the uppity computerized bitch on the phone, there's a plug for the fabulous technological marvel that is ups.com...where I can fulfill all my package-related desires with speed and ease.
But I'm already on the phone. After what seems like dozens of menu options I obtain a confirmation that my package will be available at the service center Monday morning. Of course, I can't understand the address the spits out at me, nor does asking to have it repeated result in a more-intelligable response. It appears that I must resort to looking at the website after all.
Aha! I find a UPS shipping center address, but I'm a little suspicious. None of these addresses even remotely resemble the one spewed at me by binary-bitch. Having been to the shipping center before however, I decide to take a trip up there on Tuesday AM before work in an attempt to reclaim my package, figuring they'll have had plenty of time to reroute it to the center and all will be lovely.
You know where this is going now don't you...
I arrive at what used to be the shipping center, only to find a BIG "For Lease" sign in the parking lot. Pulling up to the door I find a map, with a NEW location for the shipping center, which just so happens to be another 15 minute drive from my current location. And did I mention it's -27 degrees Celcius outside and icy as a freshly waxed witches ass? Off to the shipping center it is then, where are my skates?!
Upon arriving at the military-compound, I mean shipping center, there is no obvious place to park, nor decent signs to show you that you're allowed to drive through the gates to the place of parking-ness. I go in anyway, because I want my fucking box at this point. So I walk in, wait impatiently for a surprisingly short 5 minutes, and finally hand my delivery slip to a clerk. She looks the number up with alacrity, only to inform me that the package is not, I repeat NOT at the shipping center.
Yeah, I was happy about it too.
So great, where is this elusive box in question? Apparently it's still on the truck and the driver (love how it's the driver's fault now), didn't read his notes and hadn't brought it in the the shipping center. Fine...here's my proposal to the clerk:
"Well if it's still on the truck, how about we get it delivered to my office tomorrow?" I hand her a business card and indicate the address written clearly at the bottom. She accepts the card and circles the address, clearly, in blue pen. "Oh yes, since it's a downtown address we can deliver it before 5pm tomorrow afternoon."
Great. That's settled. I drive back to work, and think nothing of it until this morning, when I stop at the front desk to inform the reception staff that there should be a package for me today. Three PM rolls around and no package as of yet. Color me suspicious once again. Off to the bloody website we go again, to find this lovely collection of fiction:
AS REQUESTED BY THE CUSTOMER, THE RECEIVER WILL PICKUP AT A UPS FACILITY WITHIN 5 BUSINESS DAYS / ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED WITH CUSTOMER
I particularly enjoyed the "confirmed with customer" part of that story, didn't you? So after talking with the lady yesterday, they just decided that I'd confirmed that I would come back another day, pretend that I had been spoken with, and then not notify me of a god-damn thing that was decided with my 'confirmation'. Excellent.
At least after talking with the girl on the phone today the status is actually representative of the redelivery request. Let's see what tomorrow brings shall we?
UPS LICKS FUCKING DONKEY BALLS
So I receive a delivery notice last Thursday, stating that I have a package waiting and owe a minimal fee of $16.05. That's all fine and good. So I call their 1-800 number in an attempt to talk to a REAL LIVE PERSON, hoping to re-route the package to my workplace. Yeah right, before each of the enter-x bullshit menu options I get from the uppity computerized bitch on the phone, there's a plug for the fabulous technological marvel that is ups.com...where I can fulfill all my package-related desires with speed and ease.
But I'm already on the phone. After what seems like dozens of menu options I obtain a confirmation that my package will be available at the service center Monday morning. Of course, I can't understand the address the spits out at me, nor does asking to have it repeated result in a more-intelligable response. It appears that I must resort to looking at the website after all.
Aha! I find a UPS shipping center address, but I'm a little suspicious. None of these addresses even remotely resemble the one spewed at me by binary-bitch. Having been to the shipping center before however, I decide to take a trip up there on Tuesday AM before work in an attempt to reclaim my package, figuring they'll have had plenty of time to reroute it to the center and all will be lovely.
You know where this is going now don't you...
I arrive at what used to be the shipping center, only to find a BIG "For Lease" sign in the parking lot. Pulling up to the door I find a map, with a NEW location for the shipping center, which just so happens to be another 15 minute drive from my current location. And did I mention it's -27 degrees Celcius outside and icy as a freshly waxed witches ass? Off to the shipping center it is then, where are my skates?!
Upon arriving at the military-compound, I mean shipping center, there is no obvious place to park, nor decent signs to show you that you're allowed to drive through the gates to the place of parking-ness. I go in anyway, because I want my fucking box at this point. So I walk in, wait impatiently for a surprisingly short 5 minutes, and finally hand my delivery slip to a clerk. She looks the number up with alacrity, only to inform me that the package is not, I repeat NOT at the shipping center.
Yeah, I was happy about it too.
So great, where is this elusive box in question? Apparently it's still on the truck and the driver (love how it's the driver's fault now), didn't read his notes and hadn't brought it in the the shipping center. Fine...here's my proposal to the clerk:
"Well if it's still on the truck, how about we get it delivered to my office tomorrow?" I hand her a business card and indicate the address written clearly at the bottom. She accepts the card and circles the address, clearly, in blue pen. "Oh yes, since it's a downtown address we can deliver it before 5pm tomorrow afternoon."
Great. That's settled. I drive back to work, and think nothing of it until this morning, when I stop at the front desk to inform the reception staff that there should be a package for me today. Three PM rolls around and no package as of yet. Color me suspicious once again. Off to the bloody website we go again, to find this lovely collection of fiction:
AS REQUESTED BY THE CUSTOMER, THE RECEIVER WILL PICKUP AT A UPS FACILITY WITHIN 5 BUSINESS DAYS / ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED WITH CUSTOMER
I particularly enjoyed the "confirmed with customer" part of that story, didn't you? So after talking with the lady yesterday, they just decided that I'd confirmed that I would come back another day, pretend that I had been spoken with, and then not notify me of a god-damn thing that was decided with my 'confirmation'. Excellent.
At least after talking with the girl on the phone today the status is actually representative of the redelivery request. Let's see what tomorrow brings shall we?
December 01, 2009
December Gaming Schedule
Greetings fellow nerds, I mean...no, I guess nerds is pretty accurate. But don't feel bad, we're all on the same page here. I felt it important to throw some outlines down for the rest of the holiday month here in regards to our gaming fun down at Trilogy.
This coming Thursday (Dec 3rd) we have another Call of Cthulhu Adventure League night planned. Come out and play some games before we finish up for Christmas! I have some gifts for anyone who can make it down and play three games. This event will also mark the end of the 2009 Adventure League, so I'll be giving out the FFG-provided prizes as well. Win or lose, you'll have fun playing games AND get an early Christmas present! What's not to like about that?
For the event on the Thursday, Dec 17th we will have an open tournament. Any card is legal for play, including legacy cards! Build your trickiest, nastiest deck with any cards you want. Faction head abilities will still be available for use to add for extra shenanigans. If you're all good little demons and devils, I might be convinced to hand out extra Cthulhu cheer for this event too.
There will be no event on Thurday, Dec 31st. Go out and ring in the New Year!
Ok here's the big one: our final VS System Hobby League event for 2009 will take place on Friday December 11th. I'd really love to see everyone come out for this event (Golden Age Open). I have some great prizes prepared to show my appreciation of the best player group in town. I'm hoping to have enough goodies to make sure everyone goes home with something spiffy. I'm laso hoping to talk Pascal into staying open a little later for us, but that's not yet certain.
There will be no VS System event on Dec 25th. (Like you had to ask.)
There is a lot of new stuff on the horizon for 2010 as well. Most notable is the move from bi-weekly to weekly events. That's right, we're going to start playing every week, with a pre-determined monthly schedule and new (yes you heard me...NEW) cards given away every week.
Be sure not to miss any of these great events...if you do Santa might not visit you for Christmas this year!
This coming Thursday (Dec 3rd) we have another Call of Cthulhu Adventure League night planned. Come out and play some games before we finish up for Christmas! I have some gifts for anyone who can make it down and play three games. This event will also mark the end of the 2009 Adventure League, so I'll be giving out the FFG-provided prizes as well. Win or lose, you'll have fun playing games AND get an early Christmas present! What's not to like about that?
For the event on the Thursday, Dec 17th we will have an open tournament. Any card is legal for play, including legacy cards! Build your trickiest, nastiest deck with any cards you want. Faction head abilities will still be available for use to add for extra shenanigans. If you're all good little demons and devils, I might be convinced to hand out extra Cthulhu cheer for this event too.
There will be no event on Thurday, Dec 31st. Go out and ring in the New Year!
Ok here's the big one: our final VS System Hobby League event for 2009 will take place on Friday December 11th. I'd really love to see everyone come out for this event (Golden Age Open). I have some great prizes prepared to show my appreciation of the best player group in town. I'm hoping to have enough goodies to make sure everyone goes home with something spiffy. I'm laso hoping to talk Pascal into staying open a little later for us, but that's not yet certain.
There will be no VS System event on Dec 25th. (Like you had to ask.)
There is a lot of new stuff on the horizon for 2010 as well. Most notable is the move from bi-weekly to weekly events. That's right, we're going to start playing every week, with a pre-determined monthly schedule and new (yes you heard me...NEW) cards given away every week.
Be sure not to miss any of these great events...if you do Santa might not visit you for Christmas this year!
November 27, 2009
So Many Games, So Little Time
This week I started cleaning up my place in preparation for the holidays. It has nothing to do with the fact that I've been lazy and not properly cleaned it since before Halloween, honest! One of the first things I have to do when cleaning up is collect all the various gaming junk lying around on the tables, counters and even the floor, and put it all into one spot. Well this time around I realized that one spot simply isn't going to cut it anymore, unless I get a bigger spot.
So today I thought it might be an interesting bit to talk about some of these games and why I like (or don't) them so much. For today, I think I'll restrict it to card games, because otherwise this list is just going to be too damn long. Grab a cup of coffee and let's go!
VS System - If you have ever met me, or come to this blog at all it's very likely that you know of my love for the VS System card game. This was not the first collectible card game I got into, but it has certainly been the longest love affair I've had with one. This game simply has it all: my favorite comic characters, awesome team options, epic battles and everything in between. I still run the local hobby league and with some new plans in the new year, hope to keep it running for a long time to come!
GIJoe TCG - This was actually my first collectible card game. I resisted picking it up, even after seeing demos of it in San Diego the year of its release. I finally caved in to buying a starter set after seeing the how-to-play video on one of the animated DVDs. This game is quick and easy, but a LOT of fun to play. Anyone from my generation would be crazy not to enjoy an all-out battle between your favorite Joes and Cobras! I still have a half-dozen decks for this game in the closet, awaiting battle at any time.
Teen Titans CCG - This was the third card game I ever played, and it's had limited game time on my tables. It's strange engine, but its based on a hilarious cartoon. I've built a few decks for it, but it doesn't get played often.
Marvel Ultimate Battles - A failed attempt by UDE to capitalize on their Marvel license. Honestly though, this wasn't a bad game at all. Some similarities to VS, but with greater focus on your heroes (or villains) as the stars made it interesting. We only played it for a month or two after its release. I can't see breaking it out again anytime soon, if ever.
Anachronism - This is an odd one. Collin got me into this game, based on historical warriors. It's been out of print for a while, but it's a fantastic game. It plays like a miniature game more than a card game and is fast and fun! I like this game because you can teach it to non-gamers in like 5 minutes and I've never had anyone say they didn't enjoy it. Roll some dice, conquer your foes. Great stuff.
Call of Cthulhu - Another of my favorites, but this one is a tough sell to non-Cthulhu fans. The engine is solid but takes some time to get your brain wrapped around. One of the biggest selling points for this game to me initially was the artwork. The cards are absolutely beautiful! The switch by Fantasy Flight Games to make this a Living Card Game (LCG) was a great one. LCGs are inexpensive to collect, but still provide a ton of play options for interested players. I also run a bi-weekly adventure league for this game. It's still growing, but I'd welcome any suggestions to make it more fun.
Warlord - An interesting card game that I was only recently made aware of. It's a battle game, but has some elements of miniature combat in it as well. Not out of print, but a very limited release structure. I have trouble getting people to play this one. A cool engine with a focus on protecting your warlord makes it a rather deep gaming experience. The warlord characters are usually the best ones on the field, so you have to balance getting him into the fight with protecting him from getting stomped.
Warhammer: Invasion - My newest acquisition, and a definite favorite. This game is designed by the same guy who created the Call of Cthulhu game, and there are some similarities. It is a vastly different game though, with fabulous artwork and a very deep game engine. This is also a LCG, which I love. Finding a balance between developing your capital, getting units out to attack with, and just surviving provides a lot of choices and a really awesome gaming experience.
Now of course, games are no fun without people to play them with...which does pose a problem from time to time. I have a lot of gamer friends and we all have our favorite games. So when it comes around that we actually have time to get together and play, we often want to play our favorites. That's a great thing and I always look forward to out VS tournaments (Starro tonight, woohoo!), and the Cthulhu nights (insanity awaits). But with all these other games in my possession I want to play them too...maybe I'll have to start bribing people with beer or something.
Now, go out and play. Tell your moms and wives that I said it was ok. ;)
So today I thought it might be an interesting bit to talk about some of these games and why I like (or don't) them so much. For today, I think I'll restrict it to card games, because otherwise this list is just going to be too damn long. Grab a cup of coffee and let's go!
VS System - If you have ever met me, or come to this blog at all it's very likely that you know of my love for the VS System card game. This was not the first collectible card game I got into, but it has certainly been the longest love affair I've had with one. This game simply has it all: my favorite comic characters, awesome team options, epic battles and everything in between. I still run the local hobby league and with some new plans in the new year, hope to keep it running for a long time to come!
GIJoe TCG - This was actually my first collectible card game. I resisted picking it up, even after seeing demos of it in San Diego the year of its release. I finally caved in to buying a starter set after seeing the how-to-play video on one of the animated DVDs. This game is quick and easy, but a LOT of fun to play. Anyone from my generation would be crazy not to enjoy an all-out battle between your favorite Joes and Cobras! I still have a half-dozen decks for this game in the closet, awaiting battle at any time.
Teen Titans CCG - This was the third card game I ever played, and it's had limited game time on my tables. It's strange engine, but its based on a hilarious cartoon. I've built a few decks for it, but it doesn't get played often.
Marvel Ultimate Battles - A failed attempt by UDE to capitalize on their Marvel license. Honestly though, this wasn't a bad game at all. Some similarities to VS, but with greater focus on your heroes (or villains) as the stars made it interesting. We only played it for a month or two after its release. I can't see breaking it out again anytime soon, if ever.
Anachronism - This is an odd one. Collin got me into this game, based on historical warriors. It's been out of print for a while, but it's a fantastic game. It plays like a miniature game more than a card game and is fast and fun! I like this game because you can teach it to non-gamers in like 5 minutes and I've never had anyone say they didn't enjoy it. Roll some dice, conquer your foes. Great stuff.
Call of Cthulhu - Another of my favorites, but this one is a tough sell to non-Cthulhu fans. The engine is solid but takes some time to get your brain wrapped around. One of the biggest selling points for this game to me initially was the artwork. The cards are absolutely beautiful! The switch by Fantasy Flight Games to make this a Living Card Game (LCG) was a great one. LCGs are inexpensive to collect, but still provide a ton of play options for interested players. I also run a bi-weekly adventure league for this game. It's still growing, but I'd welcome any suggestions to make it more fun.
Warlord - An interesting card game that I was only recently made aware of. It's a battle game, but has some elements of miniature combat in it as well. Not out of print, but a very limited release structure. I have trouble getting people to play this one. A cool engine with a focus on protecting your warlord makes it a rather deep gaming experience. The warlord characters are usually the best ones on the field, so you have to balance getting him into the fight with protecting him from getting stomped.
Warhammer: Invasion - My newest acquisition, and a definite favorite. This game is designed by the same guy who created the Call of Cthulhu game, and there are some similarities. It is a vastly different game though, with fabulous artwork and a very deep game engine. This is also a LCG, which I love. Finding a balance between developing your capital, getting units out to attack with, and just surviving provides a lot of choices and a really awesome gaming experience.
Now of course, games are no fun without people to play them with...which does pose a problem from time to time. I have a lot of gamer friends and we all have our favorite games. So when it comes around that we actually have time to get together and play, we often want to play our favorites. That's a great thing and I always look forward to out VS tournaments (Starro tonight, woohoo!), and the Cthulhu nights (insanity awaits). But with all these other games in my possession I want to play them too...maybe I'll have to start bribing people with beer or something.
Now, go out and play. Tell your moms and wives that I said it was ok. ;)
November 23, 2009
Vs System notes
Hey kids!
I just wanted to check in with all of the players and remind them to bring their team-play hats for this Friday's Giant-Size VS night. We'll be running both Galactus AND Starro multiplayer events. The Starro deck is a really interesting creation from the online community that I've play-tested a few times and feel is good enough for regular use. It's a different take on the Giant-Size idea that came to us with the Galactus set and is a lot of fun.
I also wanted everyone to think about what night would be good for them if we were to make the tournaments weekly rather than bi-weekly. Of course the prizing system would be vastly improved. Regular players would not only get to play more VS, but would be rewarded for playing on a regular basis with new cards and great new deck ideas. Please drop a comment on the site here to let me know which day is best for the majority of folks. Of course Trilogy's open-hours will affect what we're able to do, but please chime in.
You know you want to play more often.
I just wanted to check in with all of the players and remind them to bring their team-play hats for this Friday's Giant-Size VS night. We'll be running both Galactus AND Starro multiplayer events. The Starro deck is a really interesting creation from the online community that I've play-tested a few times and feel is good enough for regular use. It's a different take on the Giant-Size idea that came to us with the Galactus set and is a lot of fun.
I also wanted everyone to think about what night would be good for them if we were to make the tournaments weekly rather than bi-weekly. Of course the prizing system would be vastly improved. Regular players would not only get to play more VS, but would be rewarded for playing on a regular basis with new cards and great new deck ideas. Please drop a comment on the site here to let me know which day is best for the majority of folks. Of course Trilogy's open-hours will affect what we're able to do, but please chime in.
You know you want to play more often.
November 18, 2009
CoC: Secrets of Arkham
Well I'm back again, and have some happy news on the Call of Cthulhu Living Card game! Most of you probably have heard about the upcoming full-size expansion for the game, entitled Secrets of Arkham. The new expansion will include 100 cards total (2 copies of 50 new cards) and be released this winter.
In light of this news, I think it will be a great jumping-on point for players interested in joining our current Adventure League play. Currently all players have purchased a starter set and added cards from purchased Asylum packs to it. We'll continue with that format until I have news of a release date for the new expansion. At that point we'll have a round-robin tournament event for everyone to finish off the current league.
After the release of Secrets of Arkham we'll begin a new cycle with new rules, to be decided at that time. There will be a new Adventure League kit to co-incide with this and should spark another cycle of deckbuilding, insanity and fun.
In light of this news, I think it will be a great jumping-on point for players interested in joining our current Adventure League play. Currently all players have purchased a starter set and added cards from purchased Asylum packs to it. We'll continue with that format until I have news of a release date for the new expansion. At that point we'll have a round-robin tournament event for everyone to finish off the current league.
After the release of Secrets of Arkham we'll begin a new cycle with new rules, to be decided at that time. There will be a new Adventure League kit to co-incide with this and should spark another cycle of deckbuilding, insanity and fun.
November 06, 2009
The Ancient Ones Devour All...
Well we had another night of demons vs investigators last night at Trilogy. Our Call of Cthulhu league is starting to gain a decent player base which I'm really happy to see. Four players came on Thursday to battle it out over story card and drive their opponents insane.
Sebastien is probably the bravest (or most insane) of us all, as he has not yet added any Asylum Packs to his original Syndicate / Cthulhu deck. The scary thing is that he's still winning a good portion of his games! Jason has built two decks, and is probably the farthest along into integrating Asylum Pack cards into both of them. They fought each other to a standstill over two games, each declaring a single victory and adding to their currency pools accordingly.
I was also able to play two games, one versus Sebastien and another against our newest player Cameron. Prior to last night's gaming I had set out to improve my deck further, after having been sorely disappointed by its performance thus far. It had some good cards in it, but I just couldn't seem to bring it all together.
After flipping through some of the cards in the sets I had already added cards from, I stumbled onto the Rope and Anchor Tavern, which lets you reduce the cost to play a card with a given sub-type by TWO! Nice. I also saw that a large number of my lower cost cards were Cultists, and began wondering if there was a way I could make use of that somehow. Well, I found my answer in a single copy of a 5-cost generic card that boosted all of my cultists by 1 skill and a terror icon. This fellow also happened to have the Ancient One subtype! Things were starting to take shape.
And take shape they did. In both games I was able to get that character (unfortunately I can't remember the name of it) out on turn three or four. Being able to sacrifice my one-cost cultists to destroy my opponent's unattached characters is EXTREMELY powerful. I was able to claim victory in two games in a row to close out my evening undefeated. I'll post up a deck list before the next tournament.
We still haven't determined a way to cap off this phase of the Adventure League, so if you have some suggestions please let me know!
Sebastien is probably the bravest (or most insane) of us all, as he has not yet added any Asylum Packs to his original Syndicate / Cthulhu deck. The scary thing is that he's still winning a good portion of his games! Jason has built two decks, and is probably the farthest along into integrating Asylum Pack cards into both of them. They fought each other to a standstill over two games, each declaring a single victory and adding to their currency pools accordingly.
I was also able to play two games, one versus Sebastien and another against our newest player Cameron. Prior to last night's gaming I had set out to improve my deck further, after having been sorely disappointed by its performance thus far. It had some good cards in it, but I just couldn't seem to bring it all together.
After flipping through some of the cards in the sets I had already added cards from, I stumbled onto the Rope and Anchor Tavern, which lets you reduce the cost to play a card with a given sub-type by TWO! Nice. I also saw that a large number of my lower cost cards were Cultists, and began wondering if there was a way I could make use of that somehow. Well, I found my answer in a single copy of a 5-cost generic card that boosted all of my cultists by 1 skill and a terror icon. This fellow also happened to have the Ancient One subtype! Things were starting to take shape.
And take shape they did. In both games I was able to get that character (unfortunately I can't remember the name of it) out on turn three or four. Being able to sacrifice my one-cost cultists to destroy my opponent's unattached characters is EXTREMELY powerful. I was able to claim victory in two games in a row to close out my evening undefeated. I'll post up a deck list before the next tournament.
We still haven't determined a way to cap off this phase of the Adventure League, so if you have some suggestions please let me know!
November 02, 2009
Marvel Legends Draft Report
We had a smaller turn out than I expected, but travel plans, wives and colds kept some of our regular players away. The six of us who were able to make it out each grabbed our three packs and the draft was on!
I set up two pods of three players to draft, but in retrospect I think that we should have all drafted together. Since draft is a format we don't play all that often I hadn't really thought about the team availability being a little easier in groups of three, but it didn't seem to affect things adversely...just something to note for next time.
Harry, Vern and Scott made up pod 1, Dustin, William and I made up pod 2. In my first pack I noticed a large number of Marvel Knights cards and started filling out my curve early on. A lot of the more team-specific cards were coming back to me, so I started grabbing them. After all three packs were done I had ended up with an almost complete MK build, only using two Doom characters and an X-Men 6-drop to round things out. It was also a mini Punisher legend deck, as I had been able to grab two copies of the 2-drop, one of the 4-drop AND a copy of the 7-drop Angel of Death, all to go along with some Desert Eagles, an M-60 and a copy of Sniper Shot.
In the first game William had relatively poor draw against me, but was able to make it a very close game into turn seven. I had to pay a fair amount of endurance to survive with cards like White Dragon, and after the dust cleared I was only barely able to pull out a win...by TWO endurance!
Game two saw me up against Harry, who was also playing an MK-heavy deck. He started burning me early with some Random Punks and had me pretty scared when he dropped his 3-cost Juggernaut down. I wasn't able to play a visible character until turn five, and opted to play Iron Fist over Vengeance due to his large defense value. In the end that was my demise, as when turn 7 came around and I had to attack into Harry's board, his Vengeance ended up burning me for an extra five, resulting in his victory...once again by TWO endurance!
My final match was up against Dustin, who hadn't played in quite a while and was struggling a little bit. Even with that against him, he was able to hit almost every drop through out the game. Similar to my second game, I was hampered by having hidden characters until turn five, and then sadly missed my six completely. With only a 1-drop on the visible area of the board it was all over for me.
In all three of my games I only got to use my Punisher stuff in the second game. I had one pathetic sniper counter and that's it. Definitely not the terrifying sequence of events I had planned to unleash upon my opponents. The only thing that got punished was my pride. :P
After 3-rounds of play we had our top three players. In a three way tie with 2 victories each, the final standings determined by tie-breakers (Mantis does all the work there) as Scott, Vern and Harry.
We tossed all the rares in a pile and set to drafting them out. If I recall correctly Scott went home with the Angel of Death and an accompanying Sniper Shot, and I think Vern snagged a copy of Three-Ton Boulder (don't ask me why). The box didn't have a Mobilize in it like our Legion draft box did, but it was still a lot of fun for everyone. Thanks for coming out to play guys!
Next up: Bring Your Own Two Teams
I set up two pods of three players to draft, but in retrospect I think that we should have all drafted together. Since draft is a format we don't play all that often I hadn't really thought about the team availability being a little easier in groups of three, but it didn't seem to affect things adversely...just something to note for next time.
Harry, Vern and Scott made up pod 1, Dustin, William and I made up pod 2. In my first pack I noticed a large number of Marvel Knights cards and started filling out my curve early on. A lot of the more team-specific cards were coming back to me, so I started grabbing them. After all three packs were done I had ended up with an almost complete MK build, only using two Doom characters and an X-Men 6-drop to round things out. It was also a mini Punisher legend deck, as I had been able to grab two copies of the 2-drop, one of the 4-drop AND a copy of the 7-drop Angel of Death, all to go along with some Desert Eagles, an M-60 and a copy of Sniper Shot.
In the first game William had relatively poor draw against me, but was able to make it a very close game into turn seven. I had to pay a fair amount of endurance to survive with cards like White Dragon, and after the dust cleared I was only barely able to pull out a win...by TWO endurance!
Game two saw me up against Harry, who was also playing an MK-heavy deck. He started burning me early with some Random Punks and had me pretty scared when he dropped his 3-cost Juggernaut down. I wasn't able to play a visible character until turn five, and opted to play Iron Fist over Vengeance due to his large defense value. In the end that was my demise, as when turn 7 came around and I had to attack into Harry's board, his Vengeance ended up burning me for an extra five, resulting in his victory...once again by TWO endurance!
My final match was up against Dustin, who hadn't played in quite a while and was struggling a little bit. Even with that against him, he was able to hit almost every drop through out the game. Similar to my second game, I was hampered by having hidden characters until turn five, and then sadly missed my six completely. With only a 1-drop on the visible area of the board it was all over for me.
In all three of my games I only got to use my Punisher stuff in the second game. I had one pathetic sniper counter and that's it. Definitely not the terrifying sequence of events I had planned to unleash upon my opponents. The only thing that got punished was my pride. :P
After 3-rounds of play we had our top three players. In a three way tie with 2 victories each, the final standings determined by tie-breakers (Mantis does all the work there) as Scott, Vern and Harry.
We tossed all the rares in a pile and set to drafting them out. If I recall correctly Scott went home with the Angel of Death and an accompanying Sniper Shot, and I think Vern snagged a copy of Three-Ton Boulder (don't ask me why). The box didn't have a Mobilize in it like our Legion draft box did, but it was still a lot of fun for everyone. Thanks for coming out to play guys!
Next up: Bring Your Own Two Teams
October 28, 2009
I *Still* Love VS System
While I was away on my trip I didn't have a chance to play any card games. That's over two weeks without shuffling up a deck of my favorite comic book heroes and villains. As much as I loved being on vacation, two-plus weeks seems like an eternity in terms of non-gaming time. As an aside, I did get to play some board games with a friend in Osaka at their VERY cool gaming club. Imagine an entire apartment full of board games, card games, comics and DVDs at your fingertips. But back to my story.
Our hobby league hasn't held a VS System tournament in the time I've been back, but thanks to some of the regular players I have been able to play some games. Sunday afternoon William and I played out three matches. First up was his Wolverine legend against my Beast Boy / Doom Patrol legend deck. I was able to survive until turn 6, but only barely...as his Muramasa Blade-equipped Wolverine's made it impossible for me to keep my characters on the table.
Second match saw a reverse matchup: my Wolverine legend deck against his Jean Grey. This game was my turn to punish with the blades. William also had pretty poor draw and wasn't able to discard almost any Jeans to beef up his 5-drop. It might have played out differently if he had.
Our final match was Underworld vs. JSA (guest-starring Lobo!). Well at least my deck is supposed to star Lobo on turn 6. I never saw him, or ANY copies of T-Spheres. Couple that to the fact that Will was able to constantly recur a copy of Meatmarket from his KO pile for power-ups, and burn me with his Skreet (five times if I recall)...I had to concede defeat.
Tuesday night was another good evening for cardboard superheroing. Scott stopped by and we fought to an even 2-2 tie. My memory seems to be failing me at the moment and I can only clearly recall the final game; in which Scott pummelled my Green Lanterns with his leader-heavy Avengers. We each also had victory with our army Doom decks (Scott's is cooler than mine. Super Skrull is nice!), and my Squadron Supreme won out over...something.
After playing so many games I'm really looking forward to building some new decks, tweaking a few of my existing ones, and drafting Marvel Legends on Friday! I also placed a fairly large online order for more boxes for the Hobby League to use (World's Finest, Universe, Evolution etc). I can't wait for that stuff to arrive.
VS System truly is the world's finest game!
Our hobby league hasn't held a VS System tournament in the time I've been back, but thanks to some of the regular players I have been able to play some games. Sunday afternoon William and I played out three matches. First up was his Wolverine legend against my Beast Boy / Doom Patrol legend deck. I was able to survive until turn 6, but only barely...as his Muramasa Blade-equipped Wolverine's made it impossible for me to keep my characters on the table.
Second match saw a reverse matchup: my Wolverine legend deck against his Jean Grey. This game was my turn to punish with the blades. William also had pretty poor draw and wasn't able to discard almost any Jeans to beef up his 5-drop. It might have played out differently if he had.
Our final match was Underworld vs. JSA (guest-starring Lobo!). Well at least my deck is supposed to star Lobo on turn 6. I never saw him, or ANY copies of T-Spheres. Couple that to the fact that Will was able to constantly recur a copy of Meatmarket from his KO pile for power-ups, and burn me with his Skreet (five times if I recall)...I had to concede defeat.
Tuesday night was another good evening for cardboard superheroing. Scott stopped by and we fought to an even 2-2 tie. My memory seems to be failing me at the moment and I can only clearly recall the final game; in which Scott pummelled my Green Lanterns with his leader-heavy Avengers. We each also had victory with our army Doom decks (Scott's is cooler than mine. Super Skrull is nice!), and my Squadron Supreme won out over...something.
After playing so many games I'm really looking forward to building some new decks, tweaking a few of my existing ones, and drafting Marvel Legends on Friday! I also placed a fairly large online order for more boxes for the Hobby League to use (World's Finest, Universe, Evolution etc). I can't wait for that stuff to arrive.
VS System truly is the world's finest game!
October 27, 2009
Legendary Battles
Sounds like the name for a historical fighting game of some kind doesn't it? Well, in a sense I suppose it is. This coming Friday the VS System Hobby League will be running our first ever Marvel Legends Draft event. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and I'm hoping that we'll have a good turn out, even though it's Halloween weekend!
As for me, I don't have a lot of experience with draft but I really enjoy playing VS this way. You often end up using cards and team-ups that you would never consider otherwise, or find a neat little combo that you may have overlooked while deck building from the full pool of cards. And then, there are those cards that are really only playable in draft or sealed play.
The other cool thing that I like about running draft events is the rare-draft that we do after the main tournament. In my opinion, holding a rare draft from the packs opened removes the risk of players drafting a rare card that they won't use, simply because they need or want it for their collection. Every player will have a chance to pick from the pool of all the rares opened for the event, which makes things fair and fun. If you come in near the top of the standings in the tourney, you have a better chance at getting the top rares pulled from the box!
Marvel Legends is a great set, and we've never had the chance to draft from it...so I'm sure everyone will have a good time. Make sure to arrive before 6:30 to ensure that you have a spot in the game!
As for me, I don't have a lot of experience with draft but I really enjoy playing VS this way. You often end up using cards and team-ups that you would never consider otherwise, or find a neat little combo that you may have overlooked while deck building from the full pool of cards. And then, there are those cards that are really only playable in draft or sealed play.
The other cool thing that I like about running draft events is the rare-draft that we do after the main tournament. In my opinion, holding a rare draft from the packs opened removes the risk of players drafting a rare card that they won't use, simply because they need or want it for their collection. Every player will have a chance to pick from the pool of all the rares opened for the event, which makes things fair and fun. If you come in near the top of the standings in the tourney, you have a better chance at getting the top rares pulled from the box!
Marvel Legends is a great set, and we've never had the chance to draft from it...so I'm sure everyone will have a good time. Make sure to arrive before 6:30 to ensure that you have a spot in the game!
October 26, 2009
Prepare for Invasion
Over the past two months I've been keeping a watchful eye on the preview announcements for Fantasy Flight Games' newest Living Card Game: Warhammer Invasion. Not being a player of the miniature game, I initially had very little interest in this card game. My love of fantasy in general, enjoyment of the Call of Cthulhu game, and appreciation for the Living Card Game model got me looking at things more closely. As time progressed and I saw more cards, my interest grew.
A few weeks back FFG posted up a 'how to play' tutorial on their website. The new tutorial goes through the game from setup to an in-depth play example, and is probably the second-best play tutorial for any game out there on the internet. (My first choice would still be for the CoC tutorial, which is a little cooler.) Having watched through the video and looking closely at all of the preview cards, my interest was truly piqued.
Then comes the news that the core set will be releasing a full three weeks early! Wow, that's impressive news indeed. So the internet starts buzzing with various reviews, several of which I read (partly in hopes that they're bad so I can save myself the money). To my surprise however, I have yet to see a review of the game that is anything BUT extremely positive. So that my friends, results in an online order of the core set, and my avid anticipation of its pending arrival.
It's doubtful I'll start a league for yet another game, but I can wait to give this one some time on my gaming table. Call in the reinforcements and sound the call for Invasion!
October 20, 2009
Enter the Dreamlands
Hey everyone,I'm back from my cross-Pacific adventure and it's good to be home. I trust everyone was able to get some good gaming in over the weeks I was away. Thanks go to Will and Roy for running Cthulhu and VS events in my stead. I really appreciate it, and I'm sure the players do too, thanks guys!
The next event coming up is round 6 of our Call of Cthulhu Adventure League. This event sees a turning point I think, as players will be able to add a third and final pack to their deck for play in the league. Trades have been slim across the board, so the pack choices have been critical to making the decks stronger throughout play.
After the sixth round concludes we'll take stock of the standings and organize a final tournament to crown the winner for the first phase of play. First place will take home a deck of Cthulhu playing cards as well as a faction pin. Second place will also obtain a faction pin. Following the final tournament we'll begin the second phase of the adventure league, so keep your eyes open for more details on that in the coming weeks.
To get you thinking about new deck ideas I thought I'd remind everyone that the next set of Asylum Packs has started: The Dreamlands. The forces of Day and Night come out to play in the second pack, entitled In Memory of Day.
Take a look here for a sample of some of the upcoming cards.
September 21, 2009
All Hail the Legion!
Last Friday we played another Golden Age open tournament in our VS System Hobby League. It was great to see some old favorites hit the tables again. In my first round I faced off against Jordan with my long-suffering, never-victorious Legionnaires deck. We were tightly matched up until the 7th turn, where I was able to fend off just enough damage to make it a 3 / -2 endurance game in my favor. Through creative Cosmic counter manipulation I was able to maintain three characters with them and pull off Terror Incognita, causing Jordan to lose an additional 5 endurance, just to cement the victory.
My second round game was up against William. Initially I thought he was playing his ever-so-nasty Kang deck, as he runs the 1-cost MEV Mystique in that as well. It turned out to be an Underworld deck that makes use of her to boost up Meatmarket and Satana on turns 4 and 5 to kick my butt. With some copies of Armies of Quard to move his characters visible and give them spiffy attack bonuses he looked ready to trounce me. I was able to maintain a solid formation and utilize XS to reinforce twice and save myself huge breakthrough on turn five. With some readying effects like Need For Speed and Superboy allowing Cosmic Boy muliple attacks on turn six, the Legionnaires put the deadies back in the ground where they belong!
Round three put me up against Scott, piloting a Marvel Defenders Hulk deck. I had seen this deck before and knew what to expect, which definitely worked in my favor. On turn four (I chose even initiative each game) I was able to team attack his Sub-Mariner and remove him from the game with a copy of Forged in Crisis. Being his only character with flight after that, I was able to use the same re-readying tricks with XS as in the previous game. The Hulk was big and scary, but not doing too much damage. Turn six saw Hulk team attacked and removed from the game, greatly hampering Scott's chances at victory. We did play out until turn 8, but with Mon-El hitting the table and giving all my character 5/5 for the turn it was my game.
I was actually a little surprised to come in first, with Scott placing second and Jordan a solid third. William, Harry, Vern and Roy all came out to join us and we had a good evening of cardboard superheroing. I've never had such good luck with my Legionnaires deck and often found it to be lacking. I think a lot of it was simply getting a feel for what it does well and compensating for its weak points, like any other deck. I do plan to streamline it now that I have a preferred character curve identified.
Ok, so for the next two events I'll be away. Roy has graciously agreed to run things in my absence. Have fun and keep in mind...Marvel Legends draft to follow my return at the end of October!
My second round game was up against William. Initially I thought he was playing his ever-so-nasty Kang deck, as he runs the 1-cost MEV Mystique in that as well. It turned out to be an Underworld deck that makes use of her to boost up Meatmarket and Satana on turns 4 and 5 to kick my butt. With some copies of Armies of Quard to move his characters visible and give them spiffy attack bonuses he looked ready to trounce me. I was able to maintain a solid formation and utilize XS to reinforce twice and save myself huge breakthrough on turn five. With some readying effects like Need For Speed and Superboy allowing Cosmic Boy muliple attacks on turn six, the Legionnaires put the deadies back in the ground where they belong!Round three put me up against Scott, piloting a Marvel Defenders Hulk deck. I had seen this deck before and knew what to expect, which definitely worked in my favor. On turn four (I chose even initiative each game) I was able to team attack his Sub-Mariner and remove him from the game with a copy of Forged in Crisis. Being his only character with flight after that, I was able to use the same re-readying tricks with XS as in the previous game. The Hulk was big and scary, but not doing too much damage. Turn six saw Hulk team attacked and removed from the game, greatly hampering Scott's chances at victory. We did play out until turn 8, but with Mon-El hitting the table and giving all my character 5/5 for the turn it was my game.
I was actually a little surprised to come in first, with Scott placing second and Jordan a solid third. William, Harry, Vern and Roy all came out to join us and we had a good evening of cardboard superheroing. I've never had such good luck with my Legionnaires deck and often found it to be lacking. I think a lot of it was simply getting a feel for what it does well and compensating for its weak points, like any other deck. I do plan to streamline it now that I have a preferred character curve identified.
Ok, so for the next two events I'll be away. Roy has graciously agreed to run things in my absence. Have fun and keep in mind...Marvel Legends draft to follow my return at the end of October!
Haskatonic Kicks er...Wha?
So our Call of Cthulhu LCG league has been running for a few weeks now and seems to be fun for the players, but our numbers are a little light. So far we're averaging 3 or 4 players per event, and I'd like that to grow. So if you've picked up your starter set and are wondering what the do with it, the answer is...whatever you want!
Most of the teams can work with any other, the key is finding some synergy or common thread that you can make use of to give them an advantage over your opponent. It seems a general consensus of the players so far that the Hastur cards from the starter aren't well suited to being your primary faction. However, they seem to go well with almost any other faction! They're like the vodka of CoC...mix it with something else and you'll probably be able to get something tasty out of it.
One of the more original pairings I've seen so far utilizing the Hastur faction cards was a team-up with Mistaktonic U, put together by Jason. He even gave it the cute little nickname Haskatonic (well as cute as demons and scholars driving you insane can be).
Think the Syndicate doesn't play nice with Cthulhu? Shub-Niggurath is too uptight to slum it with Shog-Sothoth? Or maybe those pesky folks at the Agency have turned to Hastur for the power to smite demons and evil-doers alike. Give something a try. You might be insanely surprised.
Most of the teams can work with any other, the key is finding some synergy or common thread that you can make use of to give them an advantage over your opponent. It seems a general consensus of the players so far that the Hastur cards from the starter aren't well suited to being your primary faction. However, they seem to go well with almost any other faction! They're like the vodka of CoC...mix it with something else and you'll probably be able to get something tasty out of it.One of the more original pairings I've seen so far utilizing the Hastur faction cards was a team-up with Mistaktonic U, put together by Jason. He even gave it the cute little nickname Haskatonic (well as cute as demons and scholars driving you insane can be).
Think the Syndicate doesn't play nice with Cthulhu? Shub-Niggurath is too uptight to slum it with Shog-Sothoth? Or maybe those pesky folks at the Agency have turned to Hastur for the power to smite demons and evil-doers alike. Give something a try. You might be insanely surprised.
September 11, 2009
VS System Cubed
Well our last event was a really interesting. A big thanks to Roy for putting together a draft cube for us to play from. The players all had a really great time drafting from it and playing our games. We ended up using four "packs" to build our decks, which I actually found to be very difficult. There were just too many good cards to choose from and it was tough to eliminate enough of them to get my deck down to a playable size of 30 cards.
My first game was against Collin, who missed drops on turn two and five. I hit a perfect curve all the way up with my JLA / X-Force free team up. I also had Black Bolt on the table and was able to team him up every turn after the first one, making him a minimum 5/5. With a full board advantage against him Collin just couldn't manage a win. Sadly for me things went downhill quickly from there.
I lost my second game, which netted me a bye for round three. My final match put me up against Roy. My deck treated me much as Collin's had in our game...badly. I couldn't draw enough characters to hold of Roy's characters and had to accept defeat as gracefully as possible. It was a fun game though!
In the end Roy's hard work putting things together netted him our first t-shirt prize: a really spiffy Iron Man shirt! Congratulations, and thanks again.
My first game was against Collin, who missed drops on turn two and five. I hit a perfect curve all the way up with my JLA / X-Force free team up. I also had Black Bolt on the table and was able to team him up every turn after the first one, making him a minimum 5/5. With a full board advantage against him Collin just couldn't manage a win. Sadly for me things went downhill quickly from there.
I lost my second game, which netted me a bye for round three. My final match put me up against Roy. My deck treated me much as Collin's had in our game...badly. I couldn't draw enough characters to hold of Roy's characters and had to accept defeat as gracefully as possible. It was a fun game though!
In the end Roy's hard work putting things together netted him our first t-shirt prize: a really spiffy Iron Man shirt! Congratulations, and thanks again.
August 26, 2009
VS System Hobby League Changes
Well we've had an awesome resurgence in tournament numbers as summer draws to a close. The previous two tournaments have had 7 or more players in attendance, which is really great to see again.
I've been a little behind on the tournament updates, so this will be short. Our most recent tournament was a switch-deck event decided on by Jordan. He won the first event in August with his villainous Thunderbolts deck. Well done.
In the switch-deck event we had time for three rounds of play in which we chose two first places: one for the player with the best record, and one for the deck with the best record. As a final round the top player and creator of the top deck played it out for the final bragging rights.
The top performing deck of the night was Roy's Weapon X. The top player of the night was none other than your truly, posting a 3-0 record. That put my League of Assassins deck up against Deadpool and his cronies. It was a close game right up through turn 5, but Roy took a powerful lead through turn 6. I was able to draw my 7-drop character, but without having a way to attack his hidden Mesmero I was sufficiently hand-cuffed and was forced to admit defeat. Congratulations to Roy in yet another victory!
Back to the title of the article, the players in the hobby group have decided to make some changes to the prizing structure. For the past two years we've been playing in free tournaments with prizes and t-shirts from the UDE hobby league kits, provided by Trilogy Gaming Club and myself. With those supplies coming to an end, a new prizing structure needed to be determined. So here it is:
Each player will now pay an entry fee of $2 per tournament.
Wait, now I have to pay to play VS? Well, yes. But the reason is simple. With the money we collect from the attendees, and liberally supplemented by me, I will provide a comic-themed t-shirt as a top prize once per month. The regular prizes of booster packs will still be provided as well.
I've been a little behind on the tournament updates, so this will be short. Our most recent tournament was a switch-deck event decided on by Jordan. He won the first event in August with his villainous Thunderbolts deck. Well done.
In the switch-deck event we had time for three rounds of play in which we chose two first places: one for the player with the best record, and one for the deck with the best record. As a final round the top player and creator of the top deck played it out for the final bragging rights.
The top performing deck of the night was Roy's Weapon X. The top player of the night was none other than your truly, posting a 3-0 record. That put my League of Assassins deck up against Deadpool and his cronies. It was a close game right up through turn 5, but Roy took a powerful lead through turn 6. I was able to draw my 7-drop character, but without having a way to attack his hidden Mesmero I was sufficiently hand-cuffed and was forced to admit defeat. Congratulations to Roy in yet another victory!
Back to the title of the article, the players in the hobby group have decided to make some changes to the prizing structure. For the past two years we've been playing in free tournaments with prizes and t-shirts from the UDE hobby league kits, provided by Trilogy Gaming Club and myself. With those supplies coming to an end, a new prizing structure needed to be determined. So here it is:
Each player will now pay an entry fee of $2 per tournament.
Wait, now I have to pay to play VS? Well, yes. But the reason is simple. With the money we collect from the attendees, and liberally supplemented by me, I will provide a comic-themed t-shirt as a top prize once per month. The regular prizes of booster packs will still be provided as well.
August 07, 2009
Group Deck Dynamics
Yesterday I had a chance to get together for an evening of VS with Scott and Collin. While trying to quiet my nephew down enough to go to sleep I watched them play two games one-on-one. Scott was playing a deck made mostly of cards from Universe and Collin had DC Legends. All of us made various remarks about the power levels of the cards from the new sets being frustrating to deal with, or in some cases plain over-powered.
Later on we were able to play a few three player games, and it struck me that the simple addition of another player really seemed to level out the playing field. Due to the number of things to consider when attacking and defending against two opponents instead of just one, many of the high-powered effects don't seem to be nearly as bad. While this doesn't really address or change the fact that the cards are in general more powerful, I think it's an interesting observation. It also might be a good suggestion for players who do use older sets, or were DC-only players to help keep VS interesting.
Another option is the multiplayer team format. The Galactus set is great for multiplayer. Several months ago I also found fan-created Starro set (and I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who created it at the moment). However, it was a lot of fun to play as well, and I think I'll print those out on proper stock and set up a team-play even in the near future.
I'm really looking forward to the Ban-5 tournament tonight too. I guess I better decide what deck I'm going to play!
Later on we were able to play a few three player games, and it struck me that the simple addition of another player really seemed to level out the playing field. Due to the number of things to consider when attacking and defending against two opponents instead of just one, many of the high-powered effects don't seem to be nearly as bad. While this doesn't really address or change the fact that the cards are in general more powerful, I think it's an interesting observation. It also might be a good suggestion for players who do use older sets, or were DC-only players to help keep VS interesting.
Another option is the multiplayer team format. The Galactus set is great for multiplayer. Several months ago I also found fan-created Starro set (and I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who created it at the moment). However, it was a lot of fun to play as well, and I think I'll print those out on proper stock and set up a team-play even in the near future.
I'm really looking forward to the Ban-5 tournament tonight too. I guess I better decide what deck I'm going to play!
August 04, 2009
Sad Times, or Just a Rainy Day?
Well color me more than a little disappointed. This summer has seen a pronounced fall in attendance at our VS System events. While I did expect a bit of decline due to the game's discontinuation I didn't expect the rapid drop that has happened recently. I know that I can attribute some of the losses to summer vacations happening etc, but I don't know if that's the entirety of it. Even a lot of our rabid regulars don't seem to be coming out anymore.
With all that being said, I'll continue to run events and provide prizes (it won't just be cards, I have some other good stuff too!) as long as people show up to play. And of course if you have any suggestions for formats, events or improvements in our game please let me know.
With all that being said, I'll continue to run events and provide prizes (it won't just be cards, I have some other good stuff too!) as long as people show up to play. And of course if you have any suggestions for formats, events or improvements in our game please let me know.
July 26, 2009
And Our New Champion Chooses...
Our VS System tourney on Friday had a new first-time winner: Congratulations to Vern and his formidable Inhumans! Those moon-dwellers are full of tricks... Ben came in second, piloting an Injustice Gang deck centering on Criminal Mastermind. Impressively he was able to set up four copies of it in his row on not one but two of his four matches.
As per the winner's decree our next tournament format will be Golden Age Open: Ban 5. Each player chooses 5 cards that they can ban for this event. If a card has been reprinted, banning one effectively bans all versions (such as Mobilize or Flying Kick). Post your ban-lists in the comments to this article. Selections must be entered by midnight on Sunday, August 2nd. Your ban list is void if you do not join us to play in the tournament.
As per the winner's decree our next tournament format will be Golden Age Open: Ban 5. Each player chooses 5 cards that they can ban for this event. If a card has been reprinted, banning one effectively bans all versions (such as Mobilize or Flying Kick). Post your ban-lists in the comments to this article. Selections must be entered by midnight on Sunday, August 2nd. Your ban list is void if you do not join us to play in the tournament.
July 23, 2009
Caution: Post contains high levels of nerdity
Hey again loyal readers. Er...I guess one begins to wonder if there are any such folks, but honestly it doesn't really matter much. This site is more for me than anything else, although I do heartily appreciate the comments by those of you who do stop by from time to time.
Ok so back to my ramblings. If you checked in earlier this week you may have seen my post about the Dark Heresy game we ran last weekend. During the course of this week I've been doing a lot more reading and thinking about role-playing games, genres, available books and all kinds of other related nerd-activities. *gasp* Yes, I used the n-word!
Thinking back on things, I think the first time I actually played an RPG would have been in grade 10 or 11. A friend of mine who had recently moved to town rounded up a few of us to play a game he went to special pains of describing as "not Dungeons and Drgaons". That game turned out to be "Dark Conspiracy". I don't remember much about the game or the play session except the cover of one of the novels he showed us. I do recall that we had a lot of fun and talked about playing again several times without ever actually doing so.
Going back even further this was not my first exposure to an RPG book. I had in fact bought one back in the summer of 1989 title simply "The Batman Roleplaying Game". I remember reading through the book a few times and simply not being able to figure out how this book could be considered a game. In my defence I'll simply say that I was only 11 or 12 years old at the time and the idea of a "game" outside of my Nintendo or something with a board just didn't make sense in my head.
Back in the present day, I realized that I have actually purchased a grand total of five RPG source books: Batman (which I have never played and am not sure of its location), Dark Matter (a book that uses the Alternity rules system), Deadlands Reloaded (it was just too cool looking to pass up on sale), Call of Cthulhu (purchased out of interest in the FFG Living Card Game) and of course, Dark Heresy.
Where am I going with this you ask? Well, after having played our Dark Heresy game to positive response, I think it may be possible to get a somewhat regular campaign of adventures going for that game. This in turn go me looking at the other books I had to see what kind of nifty plot ideas I could borrow or steal, yet ended up pulling me in an entirely different direction when I re-read the Deadlands Reloaded book.
The character creation section of DL:R had a simple paragraph about skills stating something along the lines of, "All standard skills in Savage Worlds are available in Deadlands Reloaded." What the hell is Savage Worlds? I didn't know either, so I did some digging around and happened upon the publisher's website at www.peginc.com. The Savage Worlds system looks like a generic RPG system that is genre-independant, yet versatile and unique all at the same time. The core rulebook only costs like $13! Now granted, I have not used this system, but judging from the Test Drive rules PDF and the one-sheet adventures available on their site it looks simply amazing. While I don't intend to toss aside the system we're using for Dark Heresy, I definitely hope that I can talk some people into trying a game of Deadlands, or another one-off evening of gaming, using the Savage Worlds system.
Ok so back to my ramblings. If you checked in earlier this week you may have seen my post about the Dark Heresy game we ran last weekend. During the course of this week I've been doing a lot more reading and thinking about role-playing games, genres, available books and all kinds of other related nerd-activities. *gasp* Yes, I used the n-word!
Thinking back on things, I think the first time I actually played an RPG would have been in grade 10 or 11. A friend of mine who had recently moved to town rounded up a few of us to play a game he went to special pains of describing as "not Dungeons and Drgaons". That game turned out to be "Dark Conspiracy". I don't remember much about the game or the play session except the cover of one of the novels he showed us. I do recall that we had a lot of fun and talked about playing again several times without ever actually doing so.
Going back even further this was not my first exposure to an RPG book. I had in fact bought one back in the summer of 1989 title simply "The Batman Roleplaying Game". I remember reading through the book a few times and simply not being able to figure out how this book could be considered a game. In my defence I'll simply say that I was only 11 or 12 years old at the time and the idea of a "game" outside of my Nintendo or something with a board just didn't make sense in my head.
Back in the present day, I realized that I have actually purchased a grand total of five RPG source books: Batman (which I have never played and am not sure of its location), Dark Matter (a book that uses the Alternity rules system), Deadlands Reloaded (it was just too cool looking to pass up on sale), Call of Cthulhu (purchased out of interest in the FFG Living Card Game) and of course, Dark Heresy.
Where am I going with this you ask? Well, after having played our Dark Heresy game to positive response, I think it may be possible to get a somewhat regular campaign of adventures going for that game. This in turn go me looking at the other books I had to see what kind of nifty plot ideas I could borrow or steal, yet ended up pulling me in an entirely different direction when I re-read the Deadlands Reloaded book.
The character creation section of DL:R had a simple paragraph about skills stating something along the lines of, "All standard skills in Savage Worlds are available in Deadlands Reloaded." What the hell is Savage Worlds? I didn't know either, so I did some digging around and happened upon the publisher's website at www.peginc.com. The Savage Worlds system looks like a generic RPG system that is genre-independant, yet versatile and unique all at the same time. The core rulebook only costs like $13! Now granted, I have not used this system, but judging from the Test Drive rules PDF and the one-sheet adventures available on their site it looks simply amazing. While I don't intend to toss aside the system we're using for Dark Heresy, I definitely hope that I can talk some people into trying a game of Deadlands, or another one-off evening of gaming, using the Savage Worlds system.
July 22, 2009
VS System: Golden Age Musings
With our upcoming tourney on Friday night being Golden Age, it got me to thinking. I have lots of decks that I could play, but somehow I just think I need something new. Last event we cracked a box of Marvel Knights to use for sealed play, and I found that to be a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the Crime Lords / Underworld interplay and was shocked at just how awful the X-Statix really are on their own. After batting around some posts on the forums over at vssystem.org I decided that a mono-teamed X-Statix build just wouldn't be the thing for me to build.
So what does that leave me with? I have been playing the game almost from the beginning be there is a surprising amount of stuff that I've left untapped thus far. Looking back over the past few months it seems I've focused mainly on the mini-teams or those that seemed harder to make work on their own like Doom Patrol, Starjammers and Secret Six. Assessing those efforts as honestly as I'm able, I would say that my Doom Patrol deck is the only one that even remotely works as I'd intended. Where to go from here is a bit of a mystery, mainly because Golden Age has just so many options to explore!
Last month I built a Green Lantern / Gotham Knights deck based on an article by Shadowtrooper. It was fun to play, but didn't work that well for me. So I think I might go back to the first Marvel set and pick a team from there. I've never built a Brotherhood, Doom or FF deck...so maybe that's the way to go. I won't restrict myself to team-affiliated cards from just that set, but at least it will give me a place to start. Just which one I'll use on Friday will have to remain a mystery for now.
I know that a lot of the players in the online community feel that Golden Age is simply too wide open, making it unfair or broken. While there is some merit to the argument, I feel that not allowing Golden Age decks to be played at a time when our card pool will not be expanding further would be a terrible mistake. More specifically, in our hobby league group only a few players will go out and build something massively powerful for Golden Age play. More often than not it will be a new deck that is built for fun or just to try it out. However, the option is there to build something near broken in terms of power level. With the right amount of rare cards, time and solid deck design, Golden Age games can be a real battle of skill, or a straight-up scoop if you get the wrong matchup.
To me though, there's nothing better than playing Golden Age, because of all the options, you never know what you're going to see on the other side of the table!
So what does that leave me with? I have been playing the game almost from the beginning be there is a surprising amount of stuff that I've left untapped thus far. Looking back over the past few months it seems I've focused mainly on the mini-teams or those that seemed harder to make work on their own like Doom Patrol, Starjammers and Secret Six. Assessing those efforts as honestly as I'm able, I would say that my Doom Patrol deck is the only one that even remotely works as I'd intended. Where to go from here is a bit of a mystery, mainly because Golden Age has just so many options to explore!
Last month I built a Green Lantern / Gotham Knights deck based on an article by Shadowtrooper. It was fun to play, but didn't work that well for me. So I think I might go back to the first Marvel set and pick a team from there. I've never built a Brotherhood, Doom or FF deck...so maybe that's the way to go. I won't restrict myself to team-affiliated cards from just that set, but at least it will give me a place to start. Just which one I'll use on Friday will have to remain a mystery for now.
I know that a lot of the players in the online community feel that Golden Age is simply too wide open, making it unfair or broken. While there is some merit to the argument, I feel that not allowing Golden Age decks to be played at a time when our card pool will not be expanding further would be a terrible mistake. More specifically, in our hobby league group only a few players will go out and build something massively powerful for Golden Age play. More often than not it will be a new deck that is built for fun or just to try it out. However, the option is there to build something near broken in terms of power level. With the right amount of rare cards, time and solid deck design, Golden Age games can be a real battle of skill, or a straight-up scoop if you get the wrong matchup.
To me though, there's nothing better than playing Golden Age, because of all the options, you never know what you're going to see on the other side of the table!
July 20, 2009
Welcome to the Inquisition
Yesterday I had the chance to run a game of Dark Heresy for some friends. This was only my second time as game master (GM), and our group consisted of one experienced role-player, one long-out-of-practice player, and two brand new ones. It was their first exposure to Dark Heresy however...
I've been buying the Dark Heresy books since they were first released early in 2008. Initially I had been shown the core rulebook by a friend of mine while on a trip to Pittsburgh and was captivated by the artwork. I knew little of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and next to nothing about the miniature game. Before heading home on that trip I happened upon a copy of the rulebook for half price, and haven't looked back since.
I devoured the contents of the core book and have purchased all of the other products released to date. I've also purchased dozens if not hundreds of 40k miniatures, and now have pieces to build approximately seven different armies. Sadly only three of those are in any sort of shape to be playable, but I digress. The tabletop game is great, but I don't get to play often. However, it is grounds for another article entirely.
After reading the Dark Heresy core rulebook, I wanted to know more about this grim future they were talking about. So I started buying the 40k omnibus editions that Games Workshop produces. These are massive tomes containing three novels each, and usually sell for around $15 or $16 Canadian. In my opinion this is a screaming deal, because a single paperback now usually costs around $10. Once I had read through the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies I was officially hooked and couldn't wait to start playing Dark Heresy!
I had only one problem: no players. Like any other game, it's no good without players. After asking around over the course of several months to mixed results I finally sent out a call, and was able to find four willing victims, er I mean players to take up the role of Acolytes of the Inquisition.
We set a day and time and I set about preparing their first adventure. It got off to a pretty rocky start, but everyone soon settled into their roles and the story began to take shape. They've uncovered some clues, met some unsavoury characters and drawn blood in their first combat encounter. It hasn't gone all too smoothly for our players either though. Wounds have been taken and damage done. For now they're resting up, but they'll soon be plunged into the darkness once more...
Thanks to everyone who came out to play and make it fun. I enjoyed running the game and am looking forward to the next session.
July 09, 2009
Awfully quiet in here...
Which I'm going to blame on it being summer rather than the decision to ban Blink, but I suppose it could be a little of both. With the stupefying amount of rain we've had here lately though I think that there is probably a lot of kitchen table gaming going on.
I was able to do exactly that on Monday evening, playing several games of VS w/ Scott. My new Arkham Inmates insanity deck held its own against a massive Jean Grey legend, but just couldn't pull out a win on turn 9 (yes NINE) when faced up against a 19/19 Jean Grey, plus an 8-drop Professor X and an Onslaught. Even against all that the game was still pretty close. We also played a game with this deck facing off against the Fantastic Four. I believe that was my only win of the evening. Insanity is tough to build, but so far I think it's a blast to play.
My Legionnaires also got a chance to come out and play. Another deck I love to use because I think the characters are great. However, every time I play this deck I'm reminded that it is a little lacking. The Legionnaires are light on range, and many of them have rather low defense. I've thought several times about how to improve their performance, and this time I think I'll finally take it apart and see what I can do with it. Scott suggested a copy of two of New Mutation...which seems a pretty good idea.
The other deck that got to hit the table was my Purifiers build. Things started out badly for Scott's Hellfire Club, but I wasn't able to pour out mass amounts of Purifiers, and really once I get past turn 5 with them, their chances of winning decreases to almost zero. I didn't see a single copy of Birthing Chamber or X-Babies Attack except when rallying for Purifier cards. Thus they all ended up on the bottom of my deck. Magneto finally wiped out the mutant haters.
Even months after the cancellation of the game I still love playing and building new decks. I think I might finally build a Fantastic Four deck, as I've never done one before. They're not exactly my favorite comic characters, but they've got some great cards to play around with.
I was able to do exactly that on Monday evening, playing several games of VS w/ Scott. My new Arkham Inmates insanity deck held its own against a massive Jean Grey legend, but just couldn't pull out a win on turn 9 (yes NINE) when faced up against a 19/19 Jean Grey, plus an 8-drop Professor X and an Onslaught. Even against all that the game was still pretty close. We also played a game with this deck facing off against the Fantastic Four. I believe that was my only win of the evening. Insanity is tough to build, but so far I think it's a blast to play.
My Legionnaires also got a chance to come out and play. Another deck I love to use because I think the characters are great. However, every time I play this deck I'm reminded that it is a little lacking. The Legionnaires are light on range, and many of them have rather low defense. I've thought several times about how to improve their performance, and this time I think I'll finally take it apart and see what I can do with it. Scott suggested a copy of two of New Mutation...which seems a pretty good idea.
The other deck that got to hit the table was my Purifiers build. Things started out badly for Scott's Hellfire Club, but I wasn't able to pour out mass amounts of Purifiers, and really once I get past turn 5 with them, their chances of winning decreases to almost zero. I didn't see a single copy of Birthing Chamber or X-Babies Attack except when rallying for Purifier cards. Thus they all ended up on the bottom of my deck. Magneto finally wiped out the mutant haters.
Even months after the cancellation of the game I still love playing and building new decks. I think I might finally build a Fantastic Four deck, as I've never done one before. They're not exactly my favorite comic characters, but they've got some great cards to play around with.
July 01, 2009
Happy Cthulhu er...Canada Day
Well, here it's a national holiday and people were out in large numbers to enjoy the sunshine and wave their maple leaf-emblazoned flags proudly. I'm proud to have been born in such a great country like Canada, and now we need to protect it more than ever...from the ancient ones!
Over the past few months I've been doing demos for the Call of Cthulhu LCG, and have been please with the reception it's getting from most players. One of the major selling points is that after you buy your base set, it's a minimal investment. The Asylum packs are released on a (near) monthly basis and run around $12. That's around the price of three random packs of your average collectable game, so it's pretty easy to get into for little cost. So in preparation for league play I thought I would give you a few pointers on getting started with the contents of your base set.
There are seven factions in the Call of Cthulhu LCG:
- The Agency: A human faction of law enforcement agents. (Symbol: badge, Colour: blue)
- Miskatonic University: A human faction representing academics and learned folk. (Symbol: scroll, Colour: gold)
- The Syndicate: A human faction made up of mobsters, gangsters and reporters. (Symbol: Dollar sign in a red triangle, Colour: Black)
- Cthulhu: Cthulhu and his minions, as well as cultists and human worshippers. (Symbol: Squid, Colour: green)
- Hastur: Centers on Hastur's role as the King in Yellow, as well as his minions. (Symbol: the Yellow Sign, Colour: yellow)
- Yog-Sothoth: Yog-Sothoth, the humans who worship and study it, and undead monsters it controls. (Symbol: a key, Colour: purple)
- Shub-Niggurath: Shub-Niggurath is responsible for creating mutants, monsters and the like. (Symbol: a goat's head, Colour: red)
Alright, so now you know the major players. The stakes are simple; protect your beloved country, your planet, your sanity, and the very universe against these foul monsters! Or...take control of these slavering demons and their follows and leave a wake of death, instanity and destruction in your wake. In order to do these things, you'll need a deck to play with.
For the first event or two you'll need to to create a deck from the cards in your starter set. The easiest way to create a deck is to chose two of the factions and add their cards together. You'll be a little short, so choose a few of the non-affiliated cards (they're grey) to fill out your deck to a minimum of 50 cards. The rule book has some further suggestions on which grey cards will go better with your faction choices. I've chosen to put Hastur and Shub-Niggurath together, because I think red and yellow won't hurt my eyes. Oh and they've got some pretty nasty powers too! If you're not sure about buying the base set until you've played a few games, one of my demo decks will work fine too, and I'll be happy to provide you with one.
Each month (every other event, as we're playing bi-weekly) you can add cards to your deck by purchasing an Asylum Pack. You're also free to make trades among the other players to help build up your faction's strengths.
Keep in mind a few things if you decide to mix a human and demon faction together. If you have a card in play that has Heroic keyword on it, you cannot play a card that has the Villainous keyword. And vice-versa. They cannot co-exist, so if you do want to play one, you have to chose to destroy the other when you do. This isn't to say NOT to play two factions like this together, as you might be able to come up with a neat strategy for it, but just a warning.
I haven't got a full count of how many players will be joining the league. But I'm expecting to have our league support kit in the next few weeks. I'll be running another round of demo games on Sunday July 12th, and have few more demo decks to give away. If you're interested in a demo or joining the league, please let me know. I'd be happy to help you build your first deck and answer any questions you might have about cards or rules as best I can.
Over the past few months I've been doing demos for the Call of Cthulhu LCG, and have been please with the reception it's getting from most players. One of the major selling points is that after you buy your base set, it's a minimal investment. The Asylum packs are released on a (near) monthly basis and run around $12. That's around the price of three random packs of your average collectable game, so it's pretty easy to get into for little cost. So in preparation for league play I thought I would give you a few pointers on getting started with the contents of your base set.There are seven factions in the Call of Cthulhu LCG:
- The Agency: A human faction of law enforcement agents. (Symbol: badge, Colour: blue)
- Miskatonic University: A human faction representing academics and learned folk. (Symbol: scroll, Colour: gold)
- The Syndicate: A human faction made up of mobsters, gangsters and reporters. (Symbol: Dollar sign in a red triangle, Colour: Black)
- Cthulhu: Cthulhu and his minions, as well as cultists and human worshippers. (Symbol: Squid, Colour: green)
- Hastur: Centers on Hastur's role as the King in Yellow, as well as his minions. (Symbol: the Yellow Sign, Colour: yellow)
- Yog-Sothoth: Yog-Sothoth, the humans who worship and study it, and undead monsters it controls. (Symbol: a key, Colour: purple)
- Shub-Niggurath: Shub-Niggurath is responsible for creating mutants, monsters and the like. (Symbol: a goat's head, Colour: red)
Alright, so now you know the major players. The stakes are simple; protect your beloved country, your planet, your sanity, and the very universe against these foul monsters! Or...take control of these slavering demons and their follows and leave a wake of death, instanity and destruction in your wake. In order to do these things, you'll need a deck to play with.
For the first event or two you'll need to to create a deck from the cards in your starter set. The easiest way to create a deck is to chose two of the factions and add their cards together. You'll be a little short, so choose a few of the non-affiliated cards (they're grey) to fill out your deck to a minimum of 50 cards. The rule book has some further suggestions on which grey cards will go better with your faction choices. I've chosen to put Hastur and Shub-Niggurath together, because I think red and yellow won't hurt my eyes. Oh and they've got some pretty nasty powers too! If you're not sure about buying the base set until you've played a few games, one of my demo decks will work fine too, and I'll be happy to provide you with one.
Each month (every other event, as we're playing bi-weekly) you can add cards to your deck by purchasing an Asylum Pack. You're also free to make trades among the other players to help build up your faction's strengths.
Keep in mind a few things if you decide to mix a human and demon faction together. If you have a card in play that has Heroic keyword on it, you cannot play a card that has the Villainous keyword. And vice-versa. They cannot co-exist, so if you do want to play one, you have to chose to destroy the other when you do. This isn't to say NOT to play two factions like this together, as you might be able to come up with a neat strategy for it, but just a warning.
I haven't got a full count of how many players will be joining the league. But I'm expecting to have our league support kit in the next few weeks. I'll be running another round of demo games on Sunday July 12th, and have few more demo decks to give away. If you're interested in a demo or joining the league, please let me know. I'd be happy to help you build your first deck and answer any questions you might have about cards or rules as best I can.
June 30, 2009
Golden-Age Goodness!
Another couple of busy weeks, but not too busy for some gaming goodness! I'll start off with some coverage of Friday's Golden Age VS System event.
We had five players for this one, which is a nice step up from the three we had a few weeks back. I do hope that our numbers will level out again as summer winds down. We had an Avengers / X-Men team up, JLA, Thunderbolts, Runaways and a Green Lantern / my Gotham Knights team up played by me.
I wish I could take credit for my deck, but I only had the idea. I found a deck list shortly after over on TCGPlayer created by ShadowTrooper that I used and it's probably better than what I would have come up with anyway! I had to make a few modifications to it, as I only had 3 copies of a few of the rares needed to make it run. After being released in two sets I was rather surprised that I only have three copies of Alfred...
My first match up was against Roy's Runaways deck. Let me just say now, that I think Runaways is extremely frustrating to play against. Some of their effects to burn cards from the top of my deck just seem a little too cheap, but that doesn't mean it's not a good deck. However, while I suffered a rather poor draw and missed a few drops, Roy's draws were worse. I was able to survive long enough for a win, but if he'd got a little better early set up I don't think I would have had a chance.
The second game was against Jordan's X-Men / Avengers deck. His focus was on Cyclops and Captain America, getting team attack and stun effects with Cyclops, and rallying goodness from the Avengers. I destroyed his team-up card twice, but just couldn't survive when he played a second copy of Concussive Force, requiring me to exhaust my 6-drop Batman and 8-drop Superman.
Round three paired me off with Colin, who I haven't played a game against in several months. Being a DC-only player, I wasn't terribly surprised when I saw his "Power-up Everyone" JLA deck hit the table. With seemingly dozens of copies of Nth Metal at his disposal, my Gotham Lanterns were beaten to a bloody green pulp in no time.
After some debating what we all though was a weird pairing for the final round, we decided that the computer did know what it was doing after all. We'd never seen it give a player two byes in the same event, but it all worked out and I faced off against Scott's Radioactive Man / Iron Man / Thunderbolts deck. Now I think I might have mentioned this deck before but the combination of +1/+1 counter generation, Radioactive Man's you-can't-play-stuff lockdown, and Iron Man is a very tough one to beat. I was able to last out until turn 7 and pull a couple of lucky Cover Fires to make it interesting, but again...the Lanterns fizzled out late game. It was a close one though, which is always good in my books.
Scott walked away the winner once again. Congratulations!
We had five players for this one, which is a nice step up from the three we had a few weeks back. I do hope that our numbers will level out again as summer winds down. We had an Avengers / X-Men team up, JLA, Thunderbolts, Runaways and a Green Lantern / my Gotham Knights team up played by me.
I wish I could take credit for my deck, but I only had the idea. I found a deck list shortly after over on TCGPlayer created by ShadowTrooper that I used and it's probably better than what I would have come up with anyway! I had to make a few modifications to it, as I only had 3 copies of a few of the rares needed to make it run. After being released in two sets I was rather surprised that I only have three copies of Alfred...My first match up was against Roy's Runaways deck. Let me just say now, that I think Runaways is extremely frustrating to play against. Some of their effects to burn cards from the top of my deck just seem a little too cheap, but that doesn't mean it's not a good deck. However, while I suffered a rather poor draw and missed a few drops, Roy's draws were worse. I was able to survive long enough for a win, but if he'd got a little better early set up I don't think I would have had a chance.
The second game was against Jordan's X-Men / Avengers deck. His focus was on Cyclops and Captain America, getting team attack and stun effects with Cyclops, and rallying goodness from the Avengers. I destroyed his team-up card twice, but just couldn't survive when he played a second copy of Concussive Force, requiring me to exhaust my 6-drop Batman and 8-drop Superman.
Round three paired me off with Colin, who I haven't played a game against in several months. Being a DC-only player, I wasn't terribly surprised when I saw his "Power-up Everyone" JLA deck hit the table. With seemingly dozens of copies of Nth Metal at his disposal, my Gotham Lanterns were beaten to a bloody green pulp in no time.
After some debating what we all though was a weird pairing for the final round, we decided that the computer did know what it was doing after all. We'd never seen it give a player two byes in the same event, but it all worked out and I faced off against Scott's Radioactive Man / Iron Man / Thunderbolts deck. Now I think I might have mentioned this deck before but the combination of +1/+1 counter generation, Radioactive Man's you-can't-play-stuff lockdown, and Iron Man is a very tough one to beat. I was able to last out until turn 7 and pull a couple of lucky Cover Fires to make it interesting, but again...the Lanterns fizzled out late game. It was a close one though, which is always good in my books.
Scott walked away the winner once again. Congratulations!
June 24, 2009
In-House Becomes Official
Well folks, whether you agreed with my decision or not...it seems that the VS Council did. They also have decided to ban Blink, in addition to proposing an errata to Armed Escort. The official wording for said errata has not yet been released. I will post it here when it becomes available.
I do realize that this decision is disappointing to some of our players, but I feel the decision is the right one for the health of our game.
I do realize that this decision is disappointing to some of our players, but I feel the decision is the right one for the health of our game.
June 17, 2009
First In-House Ban
After a lot of deliberation, discussion and debate, I've decided to add our first card to the banned list; MEV-134 Blink, Earth-295 - Clarice Ferguson.
This card will no longer be legal for play in scheduled tournament events run by me at Trilogy. The reason behind this decision is simple: I think that this card is far more powerful than the designers intended, and would remain so even with errata'd text.
This card will no longer be legal for play in scheduled tournament events run by me at Trilogy. The reason behind this decision is simple: I think that this card is far more powerful than the designers intended, and would remain so even with errata'd text.
June 15, 2009
Ivy Sweep-kicks the Elder Shoggoth...
...as Superman flies by carrying Darkseid, who burns everything to a crisp with his Omega-beams!
What? It could happen! At least if the last comic book title I saw on the shelves is any indication. "Jesus Hates Zombies" is apparently the name of an actual comic, so if they're willing to print that, then my story idea should be more than acceptable.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, trying to alleviate the confusion of you readers. Well, let's start with Friday night's Arch Enemy event. We had four players, but one didn't have a deck that qualified for the format so we started off with a three-player vs. Galactus game. To save you the boring and painful details, the Scott-run Galactus deck kicked our butts.
Following that we played a quick three-player tournament. Scott was running Wolverine legend that included Mystique, Jordan was playing a Cyclops legend with Mr. Sinister, and I played Darkseid and included two different versions of Superman. Surprisingly, my Super-Darkseid-Man deck won both games and I ended up the winner for the tournament.
I didn't see all of Scott and Jordan's game, but Scott was victorious in short-order. My game against him was very close, with me winning by a narrow margin of less than 6 endurance. I was able to get set up well against Jordan who was working on building a small swarm for turn five. I was able to draw into a Superman, Metropolis Marvel that turn. The following turn put victory firmly in my grasp. Thanks for everyone coming out to play on such a beautiful evening which ALSO happened to be the Stanley Cup final game (I hate both teams, but I'm glad the Penguins won instead of the Red Wings).
Saturday I shunned the gaming tables for rowing on the reservoir and working on my tan (read: sunburn). Note to self: use strong sunscreen next time...as in, actually USE sunscreen next time. A fantastic barbecue (thanks Seb!) in the evening had me in bed full of yummy food by just after midnight.
On Sunday the plan was to play games anyway, but the sunburn cemented the decision as even the sun on my arms and knee in the car on the way there hurt a bit. Sebastien has started up a new-player league for UFS that runs on Sunday afternoons. I've played 6 games with my starter deck now and am only just getting the hang of how the game works. I scored my only victory due to running out of time while having higher vitality, rather than actually defeating my opponent.
I was able to get a few games of VS in too (it'll always be my first love!), as well as running two demos for Call of Cthulhu. Those were well received and I think both players really started to get a feel for the game.
It's been a great year for gaming with friends, and it's even more fun now that we're all playing several different games. I think it will help keep things fresh for all of us.
Now who wants to learn to play the GIJoe and Teen Titans CCGs? :P
What? It could happen! At least if the last comic book title I saw on the shelves is any indication. "Jesus Hates Zombies" is apparently the name of an actual comic, so if they're willing to print that, then my story idea should be more than acceptable.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, trying to alleviate the confusion of you readers. Well, let's start with Friday night's Arch Enemy event. We had four players, but one didn't have a deck that qualified for the format so we started off with a three-player vs. Galactus game. To save you the boring and painful details, the Scott-run Galactus deck kicked our butts.
Following that we played a quick three-player tournament. Scott was running Wolverine legend that included Mystique, Jordan was playing a Cyclops legend with Mr. Sinister, and I played Darkseid and included two different versions of Superman. Surprisingly, my Super-Darkseid-Man deck won both games and I ended up the winner for the tournament.
I didn't see all of Scott and Jordan's game, but Scott was victorious in short-order. My game against him was very close, with me winning by a narrow margin of less than 6 endurance. I was able to get set up well against Jordan who was working on building a small swarm for turn five. I was able to draw into a Superman, Metropolis Marvel that turn. The following turn put victory firmly in my grasp. Thanks for everyone coming out to play on such a beautiful evening which ALSO happened to be the Stanley Cup final game (I hate both teams, but I'm glad the Penguins won instead of the Red Wings).
Saturday I shunned the gaming tables for rowing on the reservoir and working on my tan (read: sunburn). Note to self: use strong sunscreen next time...as in, actually USE sunscreen next time. A fantastic barbecue (thanks Seb!) in the evening had me in bed full of yummy food by just after midnight.
On Sunday the plan was to play games anyway, but the sunburn cemented the decision as even the sun on my arms and knee in the car on the way there hurt a bit. Sebastien has started up a new-player league for UFS that runs on Sunday afternoons. I've played 6 games with my starter deck now and am only just getting the hang of how the game works. I scored my only victory due to running out of time while having higher vitality, rather than actually defeating my opponent.
I was able to get a few games of VS in too (it'll always be my first love!), as well as running two demos for Call of Cthulhu. Those were well received and I think both players really started to get a feel for the game.
It's been a great year for gaming with friends, and it's even more fun now that we're all playing several different games. I think it will help keep things fresh for all of us.
Now who wants to learn to play the GIJoe and Teen Titans CCGs? :P
June 08, 2009
Cthulhu Rises
Just a note for anyone interested. I'll be running some Call of Cthulhu demos this Sunday (June 14th) after 4:30pm. We're looking at running a hobby league on Sundays after the new beginner UFS league that Seb and WIll are organizing. Currently I think it will be every other week, likely on the same weekends as our VS System games.
If you attend a demo and are interested in playing with us, I'll give you a two-player demo deck to use as a starting point for your deck building. For more information about the Call of Cthulhu LCG please see the website here.
If you attend a demo and are interested in playing with us, I'll give you a two-player demo deck to use as a starting point for your deck building. For more information about the Call of Cthulhu LCG please see the website here.
June 03, 2009
Mmm Stale Blog...crunchy!
I was chastened by one of our players today for not updating my blog in a while. Looking back I suppose my writing has been pretty sparse lately. Oops!
Well just because I haven't written much doesn't mean I'm not playing much. Just last weekend we had another Golden Age tourney with 5 players joining in on the fun. Scott was playing Avengers, Will his Wolverine Legend deck, Roy had some Negative Zone shenanigans, and Jordan...for the life of me I can not remember what he was playing. Whatever it was must have worked well though, since he went 4-0 to take top spot in the tournament! What's even worse on my part is that I played a game against him on Sunday and still can't remember what his deck was. I must be getting old, since it looks like I'm going to have to start taking notes. Regardless, congratulations (and apologies) Jordan!
As for me, I was playing my first build of a straight Starjammers deck. It's a fun little idea, but really didn't hit well for me in any of my three games. The one victory I had was more due to Will's extremely poor luck drawing into useful characters than my awesome deck building skills.
Here's the deck list:
Characters
3x Professor X, Mutant Messiah (1)
4x Raza Longknife (2)
3x Nightcrawler, Brimstone Cowboy (2)
4x Corsair (3)
3x Ch'od (4)
4x Hepzibah (5)
3x Rachel Summers (5)
4x Korvus (6)
2x Polaris, Back in the Fold (6)
3x Havok, Proud Son (7)
Plot Twists
3x Mobilize
2x Savage Beatdown
4x Messiah Complex
2x Cannibal Tech
4x Freedom Fighters
2x He Who Watches
Equipment
4x The Starjammer
2x Rapier
2x Ego Gem
1x Reality Gem
The basic idea is to get the Starjammer shifted out or recruit Professor X out on the first turn. From there you want to get Corsair on turn 3 with a He Who Watches to play before he stuns a character. Then Ch'od to do the same thing the next turn. I have to tweak it a fair bit, because it can't really last out well right now. I can get my opponent's hand size down pretty low before turn 5, but I don't have a way to cement the win. I'm open to suggestions!
Well just because I haven't written much doesn't mean I'm not playing much. Just last weekend we had another Golden Age tourney with 5 players joining in on the fun. Scott was playing Avengers, Will his Wolverine Legend deck, Roy had some Negative Zone shenanigans, and Jordan...for the life of me I can not remember what he was playing. Whatever it was must have worked well though, since he went 4-0 to take top spot in the tournament! What's even worse on my part is that I played a game against him on Sunday and still can't remember what his deck was. I must be getting old, since it looks like I'm going to have to start taking notes. Regardless, congratulations (and apologies) Jordan!
As for me, I was playing my first build of a straight Starjammers deck. It's a fun little idea, but really didn't hit well for me in any of my three games. The one victory I had was more due to Will's extremely poor luck drawing into useful characters than my awesome deck building skills.
Here's the deck list:
Characters
3x Professor X, Mutant Messiah (1)
4x Raza Longknife (2)
3x Nightcrawler, Brimstone Cowboy (2)
4x Corsair (3)
3x Ch'od (4)
4x Hepzibah (5)
3x Rachel Summers (5)
4x Korvus (6)
2x Polaris, Back in the Fold (6)
3x Havok, Proud Son (7)
Plot Twists
3x Mobilize
2x Savage Beatdown
4x Messiah Complex
2x Cannibal Tech
4x Freedom Fighters
2x He Who Watches
Equipment
4x The Starjammer
2x Rapier
2x Ego Gem
1x Reality Gem
The basic idea is to get the Starjammer shifted out or recruit Professor X out on the first turn. From there you want to get Corsair on turn 3 with a He Who Watches to play before he stuns a character. Then Ch'od to do the same thing the next turn. I have to tweak it a fair bit, because it can't really last out well right now. I can get my opponent's hand size down pretty low before turn 5, but I don't have a way to cement the win. I'm open to suggestions!
May 10, 2009
Tournament report
Well let's give this another try, and see if I can make it stick this time. Friday was a good night, with ten players joining in the Alter Ego tournament. We even had a new player join us I threw the players a little curve before beginning: there was only 1 copy of each Alter Ego card to choose from! Each player got to choose from the pile (like a draft), so if someone had already chosen the one you designed for might have already been taken.
I chose Superman as my Alter Ego, with 75 endurance. I was playing my new Outsiders deck, which had performed really well the first few times I played. Sadly between my match-ups and my draws, I was only able to win one of my four games. Seeing the different match-ups play out with the different Alter-Egos added in made things really interesting, and from all reports everyone would be interested in playing with them again.
After four rounds of play we ended up with Harry as the top dog this time around, with Jordan taking second place. It's always cool to see the younger guys take the the honors. Congratulations.
I chose Superman as my Alter Ego, with 75 endurance. I was playing my new Outsiders deck, which had performed really well the first few times I played. Sadly between my match-ups and my draws, I was only able to win one of my four games. Seeing the different match-ups play out with the different Alter-Egos added in made things really interesting, and from all reports everyone would be interested in playing with them again.
After four rounds of play we ended up with Harry as the top dog this time around, with Jordan taking second place. It's always cool to see the younger guys take the the honors. Congratulations.
May 03, 2009
Rescheduled
Ok kids, looks like we'll try to have our Alter Ego tournament on Friday, May 8th. We'll return to our regular schedule and have another tournament the following Friday. Due to them being back to back let's make the next one simple: Golden Age open.
Mediocre Deck-Man out!
Mediocre Deck-Man out!
April 30, 2009
Alter-Ego event postponed
I got a call from Pascal earlier today telling me that the store would be closing at 5pm on Friday, May 1st. I'm trying to see if I can reschedule for the 8th, but am not sure at this point. Sorry for such short notice everyone!
April 22, 2009
Help Me! Please?
I've put together a very short list of cards that I need to finish sets or to build decks with. Maybe you can help me out, either in trade or selling me stuff. I have a full list (it is WAY longer than this) if you really want to go all out and try to unload some of your older rares, and even a few commons and uncommons.
Have a look and let me know what you've got!
Commons
2x MAV-071 Answer the Call
8x MAV-179 Macrobots
20x MVL-224 Shi'ar Soldier
1x MAA-007 Jean Grey
Uncommons
4x MAV-179 Kang's Guards
1x MVL-182 Uatu the Watcher
3x MAA-014 Havok
1x MAA-021 Breeding Pens
2x MEQ-008 Doctor Doom
2x MEQ-011 War Machine Armor
2x MEQ-014 Web-Shooters
2x MEQ-017 Man and Machine
Rares
2 MAV-069 Aida
1 MAV-079 Rocket Central
3 DCR-032 Advance Warning
1 DCR-037 JSA Headquarters
2 DCR-164 Dodge the Bullet
3 DCR-168 Secret Six Victorious
1 MHG-212 Haywire
2 DCL-259 Have a Blast!
1 MVL-048 Telepathic Suppression
1 MVL-144 Encircle
1 MVL-184 Fantasticar 2.0
4 MVL-198 Signal Flare (MOR is ok)
2 MVL-201 Boris (MOR is ok)
1 MVL-216 Fervent Research
3 MVL-258 Mobilize
4 MEX-016 Call in a Favor
1 MUL-003 Spider-Man
1 MEV-012 Havok, Proud Son
2 MEV-147 Mimic
1 MEV-148 Mimic
1 MEV-153 Power Princess
1 MEV-165 Blink!
3 MEV-168 A Finer World
1 MEV-172 Warp Shards
3 MEV-173 Wolverine Squad
1 MEV-242 Ch'od
3 MEV-243 Corsair
3 MEV-246 Professor X
2 MEV-249 The Starjammer
Have a look and let me know what you've got!
Commons
2x MAV-071 Answer the Call
8x MAV-179 Macrobots
20x MVL-224 Shi'ar Soldier
1x MAA-007 Jean Grey
Uncommons
4x MAV-179 Kang's Guards
1x MVL-182 Uatu the Watcher
3x MAA-014 Havok
1x MAA-021 Breeding Pens
2x MEQ-008 Doctor Doom
2x MEQ-011 War Machine Armor
2x MEQ-014 Web-Shooters
2x MEQ-017 Man and Machine
Rares
2 MAV-069 Aida
1 MAV-079 Rocket Central
3 DCR-032 Advance Warning
1 DCR-037 JSA Headquarters
2 DCR-164 Dodge the Bullet
3 DCR-168 Secret Six Victorious
1 MHG-212 Haywire
2 DCL-259 Have a Blast!
1 MVL-048 Telepathic Suppression
1 MVL-144 Encircle
1 MVL-184 Fantasticar 2.0
4 MVL-198 Signal Flare (MOR is ok)
2 MVL-201 Boris (MOR is ok)
1 MVL-216 Fervent Research
3 MVL-258 Mobilize
4 MEX-016 Call in a Favor
1 MUL-003 Spider-Man
1 MEV-012 Havok, Proud Son
2 MEV-147 Mimic
1 MEV-148 Mimic
1 MEV-153 Power Princess
1 MEV-165 Blink!
3 MEV-168 A Finer World
1 MEV-172 Warp Shards
3 MEV-173 Wolverine Squad
1 MEV-242 Ch'od
3 MEV-243 Corsair
3 MEV-246 Professor X
2 MEV-249 The Starjammer
Errata Discussion
Here's my first-ever joint article! Thanks to Scott Mooney for providing counter-point to my ramblings.
Following the release of Marvel Universe and Marvel Evolution there has been a lot of discussion among our player group (and online) about the powers of certain cards, both in terms of sheer power and in terms of wording. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the debate brought on by the 3-cost, Exiles-affiliated Blink. We'll not be discussing that particular card today, but rather some other combinations you may or may not have thought of.
Scott has built a very deadly Starjammers/X-Factor/X-Men deck that takes advantage of discard effects and Energize to lead to an amazing turn 7 combo using Cyclops, Astonishing X-Man and Havok, Proud Son. This combo can stun an opponent's board if they are unable to pay the discard required by Havok's ability. It is especially dangerous in a multi-player format and brought up some thoughts on designer intent versus the actual wording on the cards.
Personally, I can’t come up with a way that either card could be reworded to make it not screw over both of those cards. You can’t make Havok’s power only work once per turn because he has Energize. Cyclop’s power could be once per turn but then he’s not really ‘rare’ powerful anymore. The only thing I thought of was adding text to Havok that read something like “If your opponent cannot discard a card Havok may not ready again until the recovery phase”. But again, that nerfs his Energize ability if you’re defending. I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be as killer as it is...but I still think it’s too powerful.
Scott disagrees. "really it’s just an effective turn-seven win condition, and there are lots of those out there." Further adding that, "it takes a lot to make it fire, including:
1. Controlling the other person’s hand-size (usually means I’m not attacking with my 5-drop Rachel in order to use her power twice, which leaves me vulnerable to attack and breakthrough, and gives my opponent board advantage);
2. Keeping Cyclops on the six turn (vulnerable to KO effects);
3. Making it to the seven turn in the first place, which is next to impossible vs. nearly every other Evolution deck;
4. Having initiative on turn seven (Havok’s still good on defense, but the combo with Cyclops only triggers if you attack)."
All are good and valid points, most of which I'm forced to agree with. And as it is a turn-seven combo, I think that his argument wins out over any I might be able to make. Scott does concede a little ground me though:
"My suggestion would be to remove Energize from Havok – that way, if the opponent has the initiative, Havok can only stun one character instead of two, making turn eight (and its inevitable win conditions) more likely. Unfortunately though, this errata wouldn’t break the combo if Cyclops is able to attack on any turn, since it’s Cyclops’ ability that allows Havok to ready, not the Energize."
Again very true...which makes me take a closer look at Cyclops. What if his text were amended instead? By adding a line that read "Use this power only once per turn per character" his effect would still be be useful and effective, but it would stop any kind of abuse like that available to the Cyclops/Havok duo. Now keep in mind that there are only musings, and I'm not proposing an in-house errata for either card, yet.
Some other food for thought in the realm of errata would be:
- Armed Escort (infinite life gain equipped to Energize char adjacent to Red Skull)
- Blink 3-drop Exiles character (free resource points for everyone [shifted])
- Blink! (my characters attack any of yours OR reinforce any of mine...on ONE card?!)
- Pathetic Attempt (too powerful for zero cost other than waiting until turn 4?)
- Warp Shards (control Blink and fuck over your opponent's chances to survive)
Weigh in with your comments!
Following the release of Marvel Universe and Marvel Evolution there has been a lot of discussion among our player group (and online) about the powers of certain cards, both in terms of sheer power and in terms of wording. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the debate brought on by the 3-cost, Exiles-affiliated Blink. We'll not be discussing that particular card today, but rather some other combinations you may or may not have thought of.
Scott has built a very deadly Starjammers/X-Factor/X-Men deck that takes advantage of discard effects and Energize to lead to an amazing turn 7 combo using Cyclops, Astonishing X-Man and Havok, Proud Son. This combo can stun an opponent's board if they are unable to pay the discard required by Havok's ability. It is especially dangerous in a multi-player format and brought up some thoughts on designer intent versus the actual wording on the cards.
Personally, I can’t come up with a way that either card could be reworded to make it not screw over both of those cards. You can’t make Havok’s power only work once per turn because he has Energize. Cyclop’s power could be once per turn but then he’s not really ‘rare’ powerful anymore. The only thing I thought of was adding text to Havok that read something like “If your opponent cannot discard a card Havok may not ready again until the recovery phase”. But again, that nerfs his Energize ability if you’re defending. I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be as killer as it is...but I still think it’s too powerful.
Scott disagrees. "really it’s just an effective turn-seven win condition, and there are lots of those out there." Further adding that, "it takes a lot to make it fire, including:
1. Controlling the other person’s hand-size (usually means I’m not attacking with my 5-drop Rachel in order to use her power twice, which leaves me vulnerable to attack and breakthrough, and gives my opponent board advantage);
2. Keeping Cyclops on the six turn (vulnerable to KO effects);
3. Making it to the seven turn in the first place, which is next to impossible vs. nearly every other Evolution deck;
4. Having initiative on turn seven (Havok’s still good on defense, but the combo with Cyclops only triggers if you attack)."
All are good and valid points, most of which I'm forced to agree with. And as it is a turn-seven combo, I think that his argument wins out over any I might be able to make. Scott does concede a little ground me though:
"My suggestion would be to remove Energize from Havok – that way, if the opponent has the initiative, Havok can only stun one character instead of two, making turn eight (and its inevitable win conditions) more likely. Unfortunately though, this errata wouldn’t break the combo if Cyclops is able to attack on any turn, since it’s Cyclops’ ability that allows Havok to ready, not the Energize."
Again very true...which makes me take a closer look at Cyclops. What if his text were amended instead? By adding a line that read "Use this power only once per turn per character" his effect would still be be useful and effective, but it would stop any kind of abuse like that available to the Cyclops/Havok duo. Now keep in mind that there are only musings, and I'm not proposing an in-house errata for either card, yet.
Some other food for thought in the realm of errata would be:
- Armed Escort (infinite life gain equipped to Energize char adjacent to Red Skull)
- Blink 3-drop Exiles character (free resource points for everyone [shifted])
- Blink! (my characters attack any of yours OR reinforce any of mine...on ONE card?!)
- Pathetic Attempt (too powerful for zero cost other than waiting until turn 4?)
- Warp Shards (control Blink and fuck over your opponent's chances to survive)
Weigh in with your comments!
Draft report
*sigh* Well kids...the internet gremlins did it to me again. I had written a nicely detailed report detailing our first draft tournament, only to have it stolen in the ether upon posting. The thought of retyping it doesn't really make me all warm and tingly inside, so I'll simply congratulate Harry on winning the tournament and walking away with a copy of Mobilize to cement his status as supreme overlord. At least...until next time. >:D
April 17, 2009
Alter Ego Format
Back when Marvel Team-Up was released, UDE also provided what they called "Alter Ego" cards. These cards had a starting endurance total that sometimes varied from the standard 50, and granted some kind of bonus to you, or a restriction on your opponent. While there was talk of a similar set to be provided for World's Finest, they never appeared.
Shortly after UDE announced that they would no longer be supporting the VS System, the text for the proposed DC Alter Ego cards was released by the R&D team via the forums, and later created as actual card images by members of the online community.
These alter ego cards offer another awesome twist to playing VS. I have posted them under the Game Resources section for reference. They will be available in printed format from me to use in Alter Ego format events.
Note: Alter Ego cards may only be used in a match or tournament if both players agree to use one (they may both pick the same Alter Ego). Players must use the same Alter Ego for the duration of a tournament.
Shortly after UDE announced that they would no longer be supporting the VS System, the text for the proposed DC Alter Ego cards was released by the R&D team via the forums, and later created as actual card images by members of the online community.
These alter ego cards offer another awesome twist to playing VS. I have posted them under the Game Resources section for reference. They will be available in printed format from me to use in Alter Ego format events.
Note: Alter Ego cards may only be used in a match or tournament if both players agree to use one (they may both pick the same Alter Ego). Players must use the same Alter Ego for the duration of a tournament.
April 16, 2009
Game Resources 'n various thoughts
Hey everyone,
The last little while I've been posting up the FAQ documents here for people to have easy reference to. They're mainly for myself though, both as reference, refresher info, and for a sort of archive source as well. Upper Deck's documentation site is hard to navigate and I wouldn't put any money down on the VS System files having a long life over there. I'm trying to find the most up-to-date copy of the Comprehensive Rules Document (CRD) to post up as well, but that may not come for a while yet.
While reading through these documents I couldn't help but think how varied, deep and exciting this game really is. There are just so many strategies and combinations to explore that it seems almost infinite. I still love playing this game, and hope that other around me will want to continue playing for a long long time to come. The gameplay coupled with the staggering array of characters and effect available really set it apart from any other game I've had the pleasure to play.
With that said, I intend to keep our tournament group going as long as possible by providing prizes, alternate formats and new & interesting deck-building challenges. Thus far I have resisted the urge to introduce any house rules or errata. I'd like to keep it that way, but am considering a few and will keep all the players informed through the site here. As long as players keep coming out to play, I'll keep showing up to run events.
On Friday we're playing our very first draft event and I'm really looking forward to it! A few of us had a chance to play a small practice-draft a few weeks ago and it was great fun. I was able to draft a fun and playable deck using only a single rare, a half-dozen uncommons and a team-up I'd have never considered building for real: Defenders / Underworld! That deck was able to win three out of three games, the last of which had a very exciting finish against Harry. After getting me down to zero endurance I was able to play an effect to gain a measly ONE back and push it to the next turn where I was able to turn the tables for victory.
Next up: Alter Ego!
The last little while I've been posting up the FAQ documents here for people to have easy reference to. They're mainly for myself though, both as reference, refresher info, and for a sort of archive source as well. Upper Deck's documentation site is hard to navigate and I wouldn't put any money down on the VS System files having a long life over there. I'm trying to find the most up-to-date copy of the Comprehensive Rules Document (CRD) to post up as well, but that may not come for a while yet.
While reading through these documents I couldn't help but think how varied, deep and exciting this game really is. There are just so many strategies and combinations to explore that it seems almost infinite. I still love playing this game, and hope that other around me will want to continue playing for a long long time to come. The gameplay coupled with the staggering array of characters and effect available really set it apart from any other game I've had the pleasure to play.
With that said, I intend to keep our tournament group going as long as possible by providing prizes, alternate formats and new & interesting deck-building challenges. Thus far I have resisted the urge to introduce any house rules or errata. I'd like to keep it that way, but am considering a few and will keep all the players informed through the site here. As long as players keep coming out to play, I'll keep showing up to run events.
On Friday we're playing our very first draft event and I'm really looking forward to it! A few of us had a chance to play a small practice-draft a few weeks ago and it was great fun. I was able to draft a fun and playable deck using only a single rare, a half-dozen uncommons and a team-up I'd have never considered building for real: Defenders / Underworld! That deck was able to win three out of three games, the last of which had a very exciting finish against Harry. After getting me down to zero endurance I was able to play an effect to gain a measly ONE back and push it to the next turn where I was able to turn the tables for victory.
Next up: Alter Ego!
Marvel Origins FAQ
Marvel Origins Frequently Asked Questions
A Child Named Valeria
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
If you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, characters with a cost of 3 or less you control cannot be stunned this turn.
If you control Dr. Doom, stun target exhausted character with a cost of 2 or less.
This plot twist checks to see if you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, and/or Dr. Doom when it resolves.
If you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman when this plot twist resolves, characters with a cost of 3 or less you control cannot be stunned for the duration of the turn, even if later on in the turn you no longer control Mr. Fantastic or Invisible Woman.
If you control Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Dr. Doom, and the only exhausted character with a cost of 2 or less, you must target your own character with the “Dr. Doom” part of A Child Named Valeria. When A Child Named Valeria resolves, its effect will try to stun your target character, however that character can’t be stunned, so nothing happens to it.
Acrobatic Dodge
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Target defender you control gets -3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack.
If a character’s ATK would be reduced to below 0 as a result of Acrobatic Dodge, treat its ATK as 0 for all purposes except adding to or subtracting from it.
Alicia Masters
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
0 ATK 1 DEF
Alicia Masters comes into play exhausted.
Whenever Alicia Masters is attacked, put her on the bottom of your deck.
Activate >>> Cards named Thing and Human Torch cost you 1 less to recruit this turn.
Alicia Masters’s power makes all cards named Thing and Human Torch cost you 1 less to recruit, so if you recruit both Thing and Human Torch, you save a total of 2 resource points.
Alicia's power is cumulative. If you activate her, ready her through an effect, and then activate her a second time, you will be able to recruit cards named Thing and Human Torch for 2 less resource points each this turn.
Annihilus
Character, Negative Zone, Recruit 7
16 ATK 16 DEF
At the start of the combat phase, if Negative Zone is not in play, lose 15 endurance.
At the start of your attack step, you may stun target front row character.
“Negative Zone” in Annihilus’s text box refers to the card Negative Zone.
It doesn’t matter who controls Negative Zone; if it’s in play, you don’t lose 15 endurance.
Ant Man
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
2 ATK 1 DEF
Activate >>> Target front row character is not and cannot be reinforced this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Antarctic Research Base
Location, Threshold 1
Whenever you recruit an equipment card, if you control a Fantastic Four character, draw a card.
This power triggers when you announce recruiting the equipment, not when the equipment comes into play.
Example: You wish to recruit Advanced Hardware. You put the recruit effect on the chain, choose a target for Advanced Hardware, and pay 1 resource point. Antarctic Research Base’s power triggers and goes on the chain. It will resolve, and you will draw a card, before Advanced Hardware comes into play.
Avalon Space Station
Location, Threshold 2
Activate, discard a card from your hand >>> Return target character card from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Activate, discard a Brotherhood character card from your hand >>> Return two target character cards from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Because you announce all targets and pay all costs at the same time, you cannot target the card you discarded.
If you wish to use Avalon Space Station’s second power, there must be two characters in your KO’d pile for you to target.
Backfire
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Target character gets -1 DEF this turn. KO all equipment equipped to that character.
You may target a character with Backfire even if that character is not equipped.
Betrayal
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Target player stuns a non-stunned character he controls, unless all characters he controls that have team affiliations share a single team affiliation.
Betrayal doesn’t care if all of the target player’s characters share more than one team affiliation. They just have to share at least one team affiliation.
Bishop
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
Whenever Bishop attacks a character with range or is attacked by a character with range, Bishop gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack.
If Bishop is team attacked, he gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for each attacking character with range.
Bitter Rivals
Plot Twist, Threshold 4
Name a character.
Ongoing: Whenever your Dr. Doom attacks the named character or is attacked by the named character, your Dr. Doom gets +3 ATK for this attack.
If you play Bitter Rivals from your hand, you still choose a character name.
You do not have to choose the name of a character in play.
If a Dr. Doom you control is team attacked, he gets +3 ATK for each character with the chosen name.
Blaastar
Character, Recruit 6
At the start of the combat phase, if Negative Zone is not in play, discard your hand.
At the start of your attack step, you may stun target support row character.
“Negative Zone” in Blaastar’s text box refers to the card Negative Zone.
It doesn’t matter who controls Negative Zone. If it’s in play, you don’t discard your hand.
Blind Sided
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Target character is not and cannot be reinforced this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Blob
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 4
While Blob is in your front row, support row Brotherhood characters you control cannot be attacked.
Characters that could normally attack the support row, such as characters with flight, cannot attack support row Brotherhood characters while Blob is in your front row.
Cerebro
Location, Threshold 2
Activate >>> Reveal the top two cards of your deck. Put all revealed X-Men character cards into your hand. Put all other revealed cards on the bottom of your deck in any order. For each card put into your hand this way, discard a card from your hand.
You may discard the X-Men character(s) you put into your hand as a part of this card's effect.
Charge!
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only during your attack step.
Move all characters you control to your front row.
While attacking this turn, characters you control get +1 ATK this turn.
Moving your characters does not ready them.
You may rearrange your characters however you want as long as they are all in your front row
Common Enemy
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Play only if you control a Doom character and a Fantastic Four character.
Draw a card.
Ongoing: Cards you control, as well as cards in your hand, deck, and KO'd pile that have either the Doom or Fantastic Four team affiliation are considered to have both team affiliations.
If you only control one character but it has both team affiliations, you may play Common Enemy.
If you play Common Enemy from your hand, you draw a card.
(These clarifications also apply to Heroes United, Mutant Nation & Unlikely Allies.)
Cosmic Radiation
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Ready any number of Fantastic Four characters you control. Those characters cannot attack this turn.
You choose which characters to ready when Cosmic Radiation resolves.
You may choose to ready a character that is already ready. If you do, that character cannot attack this turn.
Crystal
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 4
Activate >>> Target opponent moves a support row character he controls to his front row. Use this power only during the combat phase.
The target opponent decides to which front row position to move the support row character.
Cyclops, Slim
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
While participating in a team attack, your X-Men characters get +2 ATK and +2 DEF.
Cyclops does not have to be part of the team attack in order for his power to apply.
Cyclops can benefit from his own power.
It is possible to team attack an opponent directly if he has no characters in play or all of his characters are stunned.
Cyclops, Scott Summers
Character, X-Men, Recruit 5
While attacking from the support row, Cyclops cannot be stunned.
While attacking from the support row, Cyclops cannot be stunned by any means, including effects.
Destiny
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Whenever target character becomes stunned this turn, its controller loses 4 endurance. Use this power only during the build phase.
You can use this power any time during the build phase, including after your opponent has rearranged his characters during his formation step.
Doom’s Throne Room
Location, Threshold 2
Activate >>> Reveal the top card of your deck. If you control a Doom character, reveal two cards instead. Put all revealed plot twist cards into your hand. Put all other revealed cards on the bottom of your deck in any order. For each card put into your hand this way, discard a card from your hand.
You may discard the plot twist(s) you put into your hand as part of this card's effect.
Doomstadt
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
Your Dr. Doom gets +3 DEF.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character.
Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius
When Dr. Doom comes into play, you may turn a face-up plot twist you control face down.
While you control another non-stunned Doom character, your opponents may not play plot twists from their hands.
Turning a plot twist face down “resets” it, allowing you to play it again.
Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria
Character, Doom, Recruit 8
When Dr. Doom comes into play, for each Doom character you control, you may turn a face-up resource face down.
Whenever Dr. Doom attacks, you may return a plot twist card from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Dr. Doom counts himself when determining how many resources you may turn face down.
You may turn any face-up resource face down, including ones you don’t control.
You choose which resource(s) to turn face down when his power resolves.
You choose which plot twist to return from your KO’d pile when his power resolves.
Fall Back!
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only during an opponent's attack step. Move all characters you control to your support row. While defending this turn, characters you control get +1 DEF this turn.
Moving your characters does not ready them.
You may rearrange your characters however you want as long as they are all in your support row.
Flying Kick
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Target character has flight this turn.
While attacking this turn, that character gets +3 ATK this turn.
You may play Flying Kick at any time during the turn, but the +3 ATK only applies while the character is attacking.
The +3 ATK modifier lasts for the entire turn, so if a character with that modifier attacks more than once, it will have +3 ATK for each attack.
Focused Blast
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
As an additional cost to play Focused Blast, exhaust a character with range you control. Target player loses endurance equal to that character's cost.
If the character is no longer in play when Focused Blast resolves, the target player still loses endurance equal to the character’s cost before it left play.
If the character’s cost is changed before Focused Blast resolves, the target player loses endurance equal to the new cost.
Foiled
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only from your resource row and only during the combat phase.
If Foiled is in your resource row, KO target ongoing plot twist and KO Foiled.
If the target is no longer in play when Foiled’s effect resolves, you will not KO Foiled.
If the target is turned face down when Foiled’s effect resolves, it no longer counts as an ongoing plot twist. The effect is negated, and you will not KO the target or Foiled.
If Foiled is turned face down or has left play before its effect resolves, Foiled will no longer be in your resource row, and you will not KO the target or Foiled.
Forge
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate, discard an X-Men character card from your hand >>> Search your deck for an equipment card. Reveal that card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck. Return Forge to his owner's hand.
Returning Forge to your hand happens when his power resolves. If you ready Forge through an effect before his power resolves, you may use his power again before he is returned to owner’s hand.
Franklin Richards
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
Franklin Richards comes into play exhausted.
Whenever Franklin Richards is attacked, put him on the bottom of your deck.
Activate >>> Cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman cost you 1 less to recruit this turn.
Franklin Richards’s power makes all cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman cost you 1 less to recruit, so if you recruit both Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, you save a total of 2 resource points.
Franklin's power is cumulative. If you activate him, ready him through an effect, and then activate him a second time, you will be able to recruit cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman for 2 less resource points each this turn.
Global Domination
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Negate target location effect.
Ongoing: While you control a Brotherhood character, locations your opponents control do not ready during the recovery phase.
You can only target an effect with Global Domination. An effect is only found on the chain.
Example: You cannot use Global Domination to negate Danger Room’s continuous modifier.
Heroes United
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Iceman, Bobby Drake
Character, X-Men, Recruit 3
Pay 3 endurance >>> Target attacker with a cost of 3 or less does not ready during the recovery phase this turn. Use this power only once per turn.
Iceman’s power’s effect does not “stop working” if the target character becomes stunned over the course of the turn.
Invisible Woman, Invisible Girl
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
When Invisible Woman comes into play, put an invisibility counter on her.
Whenever Invisible Woman is attacked, you may remove an invisibility counter from her. If you do, remove all attackers from this attack.
When a character is removed from the attack, do not ready that character.
When an attack concludes and there are no attackers, there is no ATK/DEF comparison.
Invisible Woman, Sue Richards
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 8
Activate, pay 6 endurance >>> Fantastic Four defending characters you control cannot be stunned this turn.
Even though the characters cannot be stunned, breakthrough damage will be applied as normal.
Jean Grey, Marvel Girl
Character, X-Men, Recruit 4
Activate >>> KO a resource you control. Put the top card of your deck face down into your resource row.
You choose which resource to KO when Jean Grey's power resolves.
Jean Grey, Phoenix Force
Character, X-Men, Recruit 8
Recruit Jean Grey only if you have a card named Jean Grey in your KO'd pile.
Activate, KO Jean Grey >>> Return all characters in play to their owners' hands.
Jean Grey will return characters you control to owners’ hands as well.
Juggernaut
Character, Recruit 7
While Juggernaut is attacking a support row character, the defender is not and cannot be reinforced.
Whenever Juggernaut attacks, he does not ready during the recovery phase this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Ka-Boom!
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Play only from your resource row and only during your combat phase.
If Ka-Boom! is in your resource row, KO target location and KO Ka-Boom!
If the target is no longer in play when Ka-Boom!’s effect resolves, you will not KO Ka-Boom!
If the target is turned face down when Ka-Boom!’s effect resolves, it no longer counts as a location. You will not KO it or Ka-Boom!
If Ka-Boom! is turned face down or has left play before its effect resolves, “Ka-Boom!” will no longer be in your resource row. You will not KO the target or Ka-Boom!
Kristoff von Doom
Character, Doom, Recruit 2
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
Army Doom characters you control get +1 ATK and +1 DEF.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character.
Kristoff does not count as Dr. Doom. You may not exhaust Kristoff to pay for plot twists or payment powers that require you to exhaust Dr. Doom.
Longshot
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Name two different cards. Reveal the top four cards of your deck. If both of the named cards are revealed, put all copies of the named cards into your hand. Put all remaining cards on the bottom of your deck in any order.
You must name two different cards in the Vs. System.
If one or both of the cards you named is a character, you do not pick a version.
Example: You could name Wolverine and Cyclops.
Characters that have different versions still have the same name.
Example: You could not name Wolverine, Logan and Wolverine, Berserker Rage.
Lost City
Location, Threshold 1
If a Brotherhood character you control would become powered-up, that character gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack instead.
Lost City’s power generates a replacement effect. The +3 ATK and +3 DEF bonus is given to the character instead of any other power-up bonuses.
Luke Cage
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 2
Discard a Fantastic Four character card from your hand >>> Luke Cage gets +2 ATK and +2 DEF this turn. Use this power only once per turn.
You can still power-up Luke Cage by discarding a card named Luke Cage from your hand
You can discard a card named Luke Cage to pay for his power. This does not count as powering-up Luke Cage.
Mastermind
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Target character with a cost of 3 or less attacking Mastermind does not ready during the recovery phase this turn.
Mastermind’s power’s effect does not “stop working” if the target character becomes stunned over the course of the turn.
Micro Sentinels
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Put a micro counter on up to X target characters that have no micro counters, where X equals the number of Sentinel characters you control.
Ongoing: At the start of the draw phase, KO each character with micro counters greater than or equal to that character's cost. Then put a micro counter on each character with a micro counter.
The number of target characters is locked in when you first put Micro Sentinels’s effect on the chain. If the number of Sentinels you control changes before Micro Sentinels resolves, it doesn’t change the targets.
Moira MacTaggert
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Recover target stunned X-Men character. Put Moira MacTaggert on the bottom of your deck. Use this power only during the recovery phase.
Moira MacTaggert is put on the bottom of your deck when her effect resolves. If you ready Moira MacTaggert before her effect resolves, you can activate her again before she is put on the bottom of your deck.
Mr. Fantastic, Stretch
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 5
Equipment cards cost you 1 less to recruit.
Pay 2 endurance >>> Transfer target equipment you control to an unequipped Fantastic Four character you control.
When you transfer equipment, take it off the character it is currently on and equip it to a new character. The new character must legally be able to have the equipment equipped to it.
Example: You could not transfer Power Compressor to any character except Dr. Doom.
You cannot transfer equipment to or from a stunned character.
Mutant Nation
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Mystique, Raven Darkholme
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 3
If Mystique would cause breakthrough endurance loss to an opponent, that opponent loses 5 endurance instead.
Mystique’s power replaces the amount of breakthrough she would cause with 5, whether it would have been less than 5, exactly 5, or more than 5.
Night Vision
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Ongoing: Each of your opponents plays with the top card of his deck revealed.
You may look at the top card of your deck at any time.
When a player draws cards, he draws them one at a time. If a player is playing with the top of his deck revealed and he is going to draw more than one card, he draws one and reveals the new top card, then draws it and reveals the next, and so on.
Nightcrawler
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
Nightcrawler can attack as though he has flight and range.
While Nightcrawler is attacking, he cannot be stunned.
A character that can attack as though he or she has flight and range does not actually have or get flight or range. Cards that “look” for flight or range, like Cover Fire, won’t “find” him or her.
Nimrod
Character, Sentinel, Recruit 5
When Nimrod comes into play, if you control another Sentinel character, put a repair counter on Nimrod.
If Nimrod would become stunned, remove a repair counter from him instead. If you do, exhaust Nimrod and he is not stunned.
If Nimrod has a repair counter and would become stunned, you must remove a counter.
If Nimrod does not have a repair counter and would become stunned, you are unable to remove a counter, and Nimrod will become stunned.
Not So Fast
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
As an additional cost to play Not So Fast, discard a card.
Negate target non-ongoing plot twist effect with a threshold cost of 1 or less.
No So Fast cannot target an effect that was generated from an ongoing plot twist.
Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath
Character, X-Men, Recruit 7
Recruit Professor X only if you control an X-Men character.
Activate >>> Exhaust target character with a cost of 5 or less. That character's controller loses endurance equal to the target's ATK.
You can target an already exhausted character with Professor X’s power. That character’s controller will still lose endurance equal to the character’s ATK.
Robot Seeker
Character, Sentinel, Recruit 3
When Robot Seeker comes into play, name a character.
Whenever Robot Seeker attacks a character with that name, Robot Seeker gets +3 ATK for this attack.
You do not have to choose the name of a character in play.
Rogue, Power Absorption
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 4
At the start of the combat phase, target a character. You may use the target's activated powers this turn as if Rogue possessed them.
If one of the target character’s powers uses that character’s name, use Rogue’s name instead.
Savage Land
Location, Threshold 1
Activate >>> Target Brotherhood attacker you control gets +1 ATK and -1 DEF for this attack for each resource you control.
If Savage Land lowers a character’s DEF to less than 0, treat its DEF as 0 for all purposes except adding to or subtracting from it.
A character is not stunned when its DEF is 0.
Senator Kelly
Activate >>> Target player loses endurance equal to the number of army Sentinel characters you control.
Stunned Sentinel characters you control are included when calculating this endurance loss.
Spiral
Character, Recruit 4
Spiral can attack as though she has flight and range.
When Spiral is put into your KO'd pile from play, you may return a different card named Spiral from your KO'd pile to your hand.
A character that can attack as though he or she has flight and range does not actually have or get flight or range. Cards that “look” for flight or range, like Cover Fire, won’t “find” him or her.
Toad
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 2
If Toad would become stunned, you may return him to his owner's hand instead.
If you return Toad to your hand, you don’t take stun endurance loss. If you return Toad to hand while he is defending, you will apply breakthrough as normal.
Unlikely Allies
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Victor Von Doom II
Character, Doom, Recruit 5
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
At the start of the combat phase, target opponent chooses one of the following: Victor Von Doom II gets +2 ATK this turn; or Victor Von Doom II gets +2 DEF this turn; or that opponent loses 5 endurance.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character
Xavier’s Dream
Plot Twist, Threshold 5
Ongoing: At the start of the recovery phase, if there are no stunned characters in play, you may discard an X-Men character card from your hand. If you do, put a dream counter on Xavier's Dream.
When there are three dream counters on Xavier's Dream, you win the game.
Xavier’s Dream’s power will only trigger if there are no stunned characters in play.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
Location, Threshold 1
Activate >>> Ready target X-Men character you control with a cost of 3 or less. That character cannot attack this turn.
You may choose to ready a character that is already ready. If you do, that character cannot attack this turn.
A Child Named Valeria
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
If you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, characters with a cost of 3 or less you control cannot be stunned this turn.
If you control Dr. Doom, stun target exhausted character with a cost of 2 or less.
This plot twist checks to see if you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, and/or Dr. Doom when it resolves.
If you control Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman when this plot twist resolves, characters with a cost of 3 or less you control cannot be stunned for the duration of the turn, even if later on in the turn you no longer control Mr. Fantastic or Invisible Woman.
If you control Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Dr. Doom, and the only exhausted character with a cost of 2 or less, you must target your own character with the “Dr. Doom” part of A Child Named Valeria. When A Child Named Valeria resolves, its effect will try to stun your target character, however that character can’t be stunned, so nothing happens to it.
Acrobatic Dodge
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Target defender you control gets -3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack.
If a character’s ATK would be reduced to below 0 as a result of Acrobatic Dodge, treat its ATK as 0 for all purposes except adding to or subtracting from it.
Alicia Masters
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
0 ATK 1 DEF
Alicia Masters comes into play exhausted.
Whenever Alicia Masters is attacked, put her on the bottom of your deck.
Activate >>> Cards named Thing and Human Torch cost you 1 less to recruit this turn.
Alicia Masters’s power makes all cards named Thing and Human Torch cost you 1 less to recruit, so if you recruit both Thing and Human Torch, you save a total of 2 resource points.
Alicia's power is cumulative. If you activate her, ready her through an effect, and then activate her a second time, you will be able to recruit cards named Thing and Human Torch for 2 less resource points each this turn.
Annihilus
Character, Negative Zone, Recruit 7
16 ATK 16 DEF
At the start of the combat phase, if Negative Zone is not in play, lose 15 endurance.
At the start of your attack step, you may stun target front row character.
“Negative Zone” in Annihilus’s text box refers to the card Negative Zone.
It doesn’t matter who controls Negative Zone; if it’s in play, you don’t lose 15 endurance.
Ant Man
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
2 ATK 1 DEF
Activate >>> Target front row character is not and cannot be reinforced this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Antarctic Research Base
Location, Threshold 1
Whenever you recruit an equipment card, if you control a Fantastic Four character, draw a card.
This power triggers when you announce recruiting the equipment, not when the equipment comes into play.
Example: You wish to recruit Advanced Hardware. You put the recruit effect on the chain, choose a target for Advanced Hardware, and pay 1 resource point. Antarctic Research Base’s power triggers and goes on the chain. It will resolve, and you will draw a card, before Advanced Hardware comes into play.
Avalon Space Station
Location, Threshold 2
Activate, discard a card from your hand >>> Return target character card from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Activate, discard a Brotherhood character card from your hand >>> Return two target character cards from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Because you announce all targets and pay all costs at the same time, you cannot target the card you discarded.
If you wish to use Avalon Space Station’s second power, there must be two characters in your KO’d pile for you to target.
Backfire
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Target character gets -1 DEF this turn. KO all equipment equipped to that character.
You may target a character with Backfire even if that character is not equipped.
Betrayal
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Target player stuns a non-stunned character he controls, unless all characters he controls that have team affiliations share a single team affiliation.
Betrayal doesn’t care if all of the target player’s characters share more than one team affiliation. They just have to share at least one team affiliation.
Bishop
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
Whenever Bishop attacks a character with range or is attacked by a character with range, Bishop gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack.
If Bishop is team attacked, he gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for each attacking character with range.
Bitter Rivals
Plot Twist, Threshold 4
Name a character.
Ongoing: Whenever your Dr. Doom attacks the named character or is attacked by the named character, your Dr. Doom gets +3 ATK for this attack.
If you play Bitter Rivals from your hand, you still choose a character name.
You do not have to choose the name of a character in play.
If a Dr. Doom you control is team attacked, he gets +3 ATK for each character with the chosen name.
Blaastar
Character, Recruit 6
At the start of the combat phase, if Negative Zone is not in play, discard your hand.
At the start of your attack step, you may stun target support row character.
“Negative Zone” in Blaastar’s text box refers to the card Negative Zone.
It doesn’t matter who controls Negative Zone. If it’s in play, you don’t discard your hand.
Blind Sided
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Target character is not and cannot be reinforced this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Blob
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 4
While Blob is in your front row, support row Brotherhood characters you control cannot be attacked.
Characters that could normally attack the support row, such as characters with flight, cannot attack support row Brotherhood characters while Blob is in your front row.
Cerebro
Location, Threshold 2
Activate >>> Reveal the top two cards of your deck. Put all revealed X-Men character cards into your hand. Put all other revealed cards on the bottom of your deck in any order. For each card put into your hand this way, discard a card from your hand.
You may discard the X-Men character(s) you put into your hand as a part of this card's effect.
Charge!
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only during your attack step.
Move all characters you control to your front row.
While attacking this turn, characters you control get +1 ATK this turn.
Moving your characters does not ready them.
You may rearrange your characters however you want as long as they are all in your front row
Common Enemy
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Play only if you control a Doom character and a Fantastic Four character.
Draw a card.
Ongoing: Cards you control, as well as cards in your hand, deck, and KO'd pile that have either the Doom or Fantastic Four team affiliation are considered to have both team affiliations.
If you only control one character but it has both team affiliations, you may play Common Enemy.
If you play Common Enemy from your hand, you draw a card.
(These clarifications also apply to Heroes United, Mutant Nation & Unlikely Allies.)
Cosmic Radiation
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Ready any number of Fantastic Four characters you control. Those characters cannot attack this turn.
You choose which characters to ready when Cosmic Radiation resolves.
You may choose to ready a character that is already ready. If you do, that character cannot attack this turn.
Crystal
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 4
Activate >>> Target opponent moves a support row character he controls to his front row. Use this power only during the combat phase.
The target opponent decides to which front row position to move the support row character.
Cyclops, Slim
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
While participating in a team attack, your X-Men characters get +2 ATK and +2 DEF.
Cyclops does not have to be part of the team attack in order for his power to apply.
Cyclops can benefit from his own power.
It is possible to team attack an opponent directly if he has no characters in play or all of his characters are stunned.
Cyclops, Scott Summers
Character, X-Men, Recruit 5
While attacking from the support row, Cyclops cannot be stunned.
While attacking from the support row, Cyclops cannot be stunned by any means, including effects.
Destiny
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Whenever target character becomes stunned this turn, its controller loses 4 endurance. Use this power only during the build phase.
You can use this power any time during the build phase, including after your opponent has rearranged his characters during his formation step.
Doom’s Throne Room
Location, Threshold 2
Activate >>> Reveal the top card of your deck. If you control a Doom character, reveal two cards instead. Put all revealed plot twist cards into your hand. Put all other revealed cards on the bottom of your deck in any order. For each card put into your hand this way, discard a card from your hand.
You may discard the plot twist(s) you put into your hand as part of this card's effect.
Doomstadt
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
Your Dr. Doom gets +3 DEF.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character.
Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius
When Dr. Doom comes into play, you may turn a face-up plot twist you control face down.
While you control another non-stunned Doom character, your opponents may not play plot twists from their hands.
Turning a plot twist face down “resets” it, allowing you to play it again.
Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria
Character, Doom, Recruit 8
When Dr. Doom comes into play, for each Doom character you control, you may turn a face-up resource face down.
Whenever Dr. Doom attacks, you may return a plot twist card from your KO'd pile to your hand.
Dr. Doom counts himself when determining how many resources you may turn face down.
You may turn any face-up resource face down, including ones you don’t control.
You choose which resource(s) to turn face down when his power resolves.
You choose which plot twist to return from your KO’d pile when his power resolves.
Fall Back!
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only during an opponent's attack step. Move all characters you control to your support row. While defending this turn, characters you control get +1 DEF this turn.
Moving your characters does not ready them.
You may rearrange your characters however you want as long as they are all in your support row.
Flying Kick
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Target character has flight this turn.
While attacking this turn, that character gets +3 ATK this turn.
You may play Flying Kick at any time during the turn, but the +3 ATK only applies while the character is attacking.
The +3 ATK modifier lasts for the entire turn, so if a character with that modifier attacks more than once, it will have +3 ATK for each attack.
Focused Blast
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
As an additional cost to play Focused Blast, exhaust a character with range you control. Target player loses endurance equal to that character's cost.
If the character is no longer in play when Focused Blast resolves, the target player still loses endurance equal to the character’s cost before it left play.
If the character’s cost is changed before Focused Blast resolves, the target player loses endurance equal to the new cost.
Foiled
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Play only from your resource row and only during the combat phase.
If Foiled is in your resource row, KO target ongoing plot twist and KO Foiled.
If the target is no longer in play when Foiled’s effect resolves, you will not KO Foiled.
If the target is turned face down when Foiled’s effect resolves, it no longer counts as an ongoing plot twist. The effect is negated, and you will not KO the target or Foiled.
If Foiled is turned face down or has left play before its effect resolves, Foiled will no longer be in your resource row, and you will not KO the target or Foiled.
Forge
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate, discard an X-Men character card from your hand >>> Search your deck for an equipment card. Reveal that card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck. Return Forge to his owner's hand.
Returning Forge to your hand happens when his power resolves. If you ready Forge through an effect before his power resolves, you may use his power again before he is returned to owner’s hand.
Franklin Richards
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
Franklin Richards comes into play exhausted.
Whenever Franklin Richards is attacked, put him on the bottom of your deck.
Activate >>> Cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman cost you 1 less to recruit this turn.
Franklin Richards’s power makes all cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman cost you 1 less to recruit, so if you recruit both Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, you save a total of 2 resource points.
Franklin's power is cumulative. If you activate him, ready him through an effect, and then activate him a second time, you will be able to recruit cards named Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman for 2 less resource points each this turn.
Global Domination
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Negate target location effect.
Ongoing: While you control a Brotherhood character, locations your opponents control do not ready during the recovery phase.
You can only target an effect with Global Domination. An effect is only found on the chain.
Example: You cannot use Global Domination to negate Danger Room’s continuous modifier.
Heroes United
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Iceman, Bobby Drake
Character, X-Men, Recruit 3
Pay 3 endurance >>> Target attacker with a cost of 3 or less does not ready during the recovery phase this turn. Use this power only once per turn.
Iceman’s power’s effect does not “stop working” if the target character becomes stunned over the course of the turn.
Invisible Woman, Invisible Girl
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 1
When Invisible Woman comes into play, put an invisibility counter on her.
Whenever Invisible Woman is attacked, you may remove an invisibility counter from her. If you do, remove all attackers from this attack.
When a character is removed from the attack, do not ready that character.
When an attack concludes and there are no attackers, there is no ATK/DEF comparison.
Invisible Woman, Sue Richards
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 8
Activate, pay 6 endurance >>> Fantastic Four defending characters you control cannot be stunned this turn.
Even though the characters cannot be stunned, breakthrough damage will be applied as normal.
Jean Grey, Marvel Girl
Character, X-Men, Recruit 4
Activate >>> KO a resource you control. Put the top card of your deck face down into your resource row.
You choose which resource to KO when Jean Grey's power resolves.
Jean Grey, Phoenix Force
Character, X-Men, Recruit 8
Recruit Jean Grey only if you have a card named Jean Grey in your KO'd pile.
Activate, KO Jean Grey >>> Return all characters in play to their owners' hands.
Jean Grey will return characters you control to owners’ hands as well.
Juggernaut
Character, Recruit 7
While Juggernaut is attacking a support row character, the defender is not and cannot be reinforced.
Whenever Juggernaut attacks, he does not ready during the recovery phase this turn.
A character that cannot be reinforced can still be targeted by effects that attempt to reinforce it. However, those effects will not reinforce it. Whenever a modifier says something cannot happen and another modifier tries to make it happen, "cannot" overrides "can."
Ka-Boom!
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
Play only from your resource row and only during your combat phase.
If Ka-Boom! is in your resource row, KO target location and KO Ka-Boom!
If the target is no longer in play when Ka-Boom!’s effect resolves, you will not KO Ka-Boom!
If the target is turned face down when Ka-Boom!’s effect resolves, it no longer counts as a location. You will not KO it or Ka-Boom!
If Ka-Boom! is turned face down or has left play before its effect resolves, “Ka-Boom!” will no longer be in your resource row. You will not KO the target or Ka-Boom!
Kristoff von Doom
Character, Doom, Recruit 2
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
Army Doom characters you control get +1 ATK and +1 DEF.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character.
Kristoff does not count as Dr. Doom. You may not exhaust Kristoff to pay for plot twists or payment powers that require you to exhaust Dr. Doom.
Longshot
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Name two different cards. Reveal the top four cards of your deck. If both of the named cards are revealed, put all copies of the named cards into your hand. Put all remaining cards on the bottom of your deck in any order.
You must name two different cards in the Vs. System.
If one or both of the cards you named is a character, you do not pick a version.
Example: You could name Wolverine and Cyclops.
Characters that have different versions still have the same name.
Example: You could not name Wolverine, Logan and Wolverine, Berserker Rage.
Lost City
Location, Threshold 1
If a Brotherhood character you control would become powered-up, that character gets +3 ATK and +3 DEF for this attack instead.
Lost City’s power generates a replacement effect. The +3 ATK and +3 DEF bonus is given to the character instead of any other power-up bonuses.
Luke Cage
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 2
Discard a Fantastic Four character card from your hand >>> Luke Cage gets +2 ATK and +2 DEF this turn. Use this power only once per turn.
You can still power-up Luke Cage by discarding a card named Luke Cage from your hand
You can discard a card named Luke Cage to pay for his power. This does not count as powering-up Luke Cage.
Mastermind
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Target character with a cost of 3 or less attacking Mastermind does not ready during the recovery phase this turn.
Mastermind’s power’s effect does not “stop working” if the target character becomes stunned over the course of the turn.
Micro Sentinels
Plot Twist, Threshold 3
Put a micro counter on up to X target characters that have no micro counters, where X equals the number of Sentinel characters you control.
Ongoing: At the start of the draw phase, KO each character with micro counters greater than or equal to that character's cost. Then put a micro counter on each character with a micro counter.
The number of target characters is locked in when you first put Micro Sentinels’s effect on the chain. If the number of Sentinels you control changes before Micro Sentinels resolves, it doesn’t change the targets.
Moira MacTaggert
Character, X-Men, Recruit 1
Activate >>> Recover target stunned X-Men character. Put Moira MacTaggert on the bottom of your deck. Use this power only during the recovery phase.
Moira MacTaggert is put on the bottom of your deck when her effect resolves. If you ready Moira MacTaggert before her effect resolves, you can activate her again before she is put on the bottom of your deck.
Mr. Fantastic, Stretch
Character, Fantastic Four, Recruit 5
Equipment cards cost you 1 less to recruit.
Pay 2 endurance >>> Transfer target equipment you control to an unequipped Fantastic Four character you control.
When you transfer equipment, take it off the character it is currently on and equip it to a new character. The new character must legally be able to have the equipment equipped to it.
Example: You could not transfer Power Compressor to any character except Dr. Doom.
You cannot transfer equipment to or from a stunned character.
Mutant Nation
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Mystique, Raven Darkholme
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 3
If Mystique would cause breakthrough endurance loss to an opponent, that opponent loses 5 endurance instead.
Mystique’s power replaces the amount of breakthrough she would cause with 5, whether it would have been less than 5, exactly 5, or more than 5.
Night Vision
Plot Twist, Threshold 1
Ongoing: Each of your opponents plays with the top card of his deck revealed.
You may look at the top card of your deck at any time.
When a player draws cards, he draws them one at a time. If a player is playing with the top of his deck revealed and he is going to draw more than one card, he draws one and reveals the new top card, then draws it and reveals the next, and so on.
Nightcrawler
Character, X-Men, Recruit 2
Nightcrawler can attack as though he has flight and range.
While Nightcrawler is attacking, he cannot be stunned.
A character that can attack as though he or she has flight and range does not actually have or get flight or range. Cards that “look” for flight or range, like Cover Fire, won’t “find” him or her.
Nimrod
Character, Sentinel, Recruit 5
When Nimrod comes into play, if you control another Sentinel character, put a repair counter on Nimrod.
If Nimrod would become stunned, remove a repair counter from him instead. If you do, exhaust Nimrod and he is not stunned.
If Nimrod has a repair counter and would become stunned, you must remove a counter.
If Nimrod does not have a repair counter and would become stunned, you are unable to remove a counter, and Nimrod will become stunned.
Not So Fast
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
As an additional cost to play Not So Fast, discard a card.
Negate target non-ongoing plot twist effect with a threshold cost of 1 or less.
No So Fast cannot target an effect that was generated from an ongoing plot twist.
Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath
Character, X-Men, Recruit 7
Recruit Professor X only if you control an X-Men character.
Activate >>> Exhaust target character with a cost of 5 or less. That character's controller loses endurance equal to the target's ATK.
You can target an already exhausted character with Professor X’s power. That character’s controller will still lose endurance equal to the character’s ATK.
Robot Seeker
Character, Sentinel, Recruit 3
When Robot Seeker comes into play, name a character.
Whenever Robot Seeker attacks a character with that name, Robot Seeker gets +3 ATK for this attack.
You do not have to choose the name of a character in play.
Rogue, Power Absorption
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 4
At the start of the combat phase, target a character. You may use the target's activated powers this turn as if Rogue possessed them.
If one of the target character’s powers uses that character’s name, use Rogue’s name instead.
Savage Land
Location, Threshold 1
Activate >>> Target Brotherhood attacker you control gets +1 ATK and -1 DEF for this attack for each resource you control.
If Savage Land lowers a character’s DEF to less than 0, treat its DEF as 0 for all purposes except adding to or subtracting from it.
A character is not stunned when its DEF is 0.
Senator Kelly
Activate >>> Target player loses endurance equal to the number of army Sentinel characters you control.
Stunned Sentinel characters you control are included when calculating this endurance loss.
Spiral
Character, Recruit 4
Spiral can attack as though she has flight and range.
When Spiral is put into your KO'd pile from play, you may return a different card named Spiral from your KO'd pile to your hand.
A character that can attack as though he or she has flight and range does not actually have or get flight or range. Cards that “look” for flight or range, like Cover Fire, won’t “find” him or her.
Toad
Character, Brotherhood, Recruit 2
If Toad would become stunned, you may return him to his owner's hand instead.
If you return Toad to your hand, you don’t take stun endurance loss. If you return Toad to hand while he is defending, you will apply breakthrough as normal.
Unlikely Allies
Plot Twist, Threshold 2
See Common Enemy
Victor Von Doom II
Character, Doom, Recruit 5
You are considered to control Dr. Doom.
At the start of the combat phase, target opponent chooses one of the following: Victor Von Doom II gets +2 ATK this turn; or Victor Von Doom II gets +2 DEF this turn; or that opponent loses 5 endurance.
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” means you can play plot twists or use powers that require you to control Dr. Doom, triggered powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will trigger, and continuous powers that check to see if you control Dr. Doom will be “turned on.”
“You are considered to control Dr. Doom” does not mean you control a character. It also does not mean you control a Doom character
Xavier’s Dream
Plot Twist, Threshold 5
Ongoing: At the start of the recovery phase, if there are no stunned characters in play, you may discard an X-Men character card from your hand. If you do, put a dream counter on Xavier's Dream.
When there are three dream counters on Xavier's Dream, you win the game.
Xavier’s Dream’s power will only trigger if there are no stunned characters in play.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
Location, Threshold 1
Activate >>> Ready target X-Men character you control with a cost of 3 or less. That character cannot attack this turn.
You may choose to ready a character that is already ready. If you do, that character cannot attack this turn.
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