So there was a 1200-point Modern Age game coming up soon, and I had a dilemma. SO many of my favorite themes and builds can’t be done in the Modern format, thanks to the recent (and somewhat premature, in my opinion) retirement of Avengers, Justice League, Mutations & Monsters and Crisis sets.
With the loss of Spectre, Black Adam, Liberty Belle and Black Canary, my Modern Age Justice Society build tops out at around 950 points. Where I once could mount a formidable Iron Campaign of Tony Stark-designed suits, I’m now stuck between severe underbuild (over 80 points!) and overbuild. Even the Wonder Woman phase I’m going through doesn’t add up well…not until I can get the 190-point convention exclusive in my hands. In the meantime, I have to fill with generic Amazons, but not enough to satisfy my appetite to swarm.
Maybe I could run all my GSX Sentinels again, this time at full power? BZZZT!…they cost 1300 points. Atlantis? AAAGH. 900 points. Legion of Super-Heroes? Only TWO Modern Age pieces now…can’t even build a 300-point team without doubling up on one of the worst figs in the game.
And it just goes on and on like this. Other faves are too inexpensive, and I’m just not interested in running another Green Lantern Gravity Feed team or Avengers or X-Men team.
So, I said, screw theme. I’m just playing my FAVORITES!
Groot 152
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Aquaman (Brightest Day) 105
Wonder Woman (DC75th) 100
Star-Lord 90
Batman (DC75th) 77
Mysterio (Web of Spider-Man) 75
Armor 66
Rocket Racer 60
Rorschach 57
Impulse (DC75th) 49 -or- The Spot 51
Madrox (Giant-Size X-Men) 44
Madrox (Giant-Size X-Men) 44
Molly Hayes 43
Robin (Brave + Bold) 43
Night Nurse 27
I wound up playing four games with this team over the weekend, finishing with an overall 2-2 record (the first being an untimed casual match and the other three in a tournament). But rather than chronicle the actual matches, I’ll simply talk about each character’s performance:
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Aquaman (Brightest Day)
Did well as a taxi and frightfully powerful clean-up hitter. But he really needed to be a more front-line fighter and always took too long to get in the fight. The lack of objects for his Super-Strength by the time he could fight was a liability.
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Armor
Soooo key for my weaker pieces with her 18 Defend. It’s no coincidence that my worst loss involved her getting one-shotted.
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Batman (DC75th) 77
Love that Smoke Cloud Maneuver, even though he was KO’d in half the matches. Took too long for him to really get in the mix. Like BD Aquaman, I should have leveraged that solid 11 AV sooner.
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Groot
His slow movement made him more like mobile blocking terrain + Yellow Lantern caretaker than the deadly brick he should have been. He was never KO’d in a game but never scored any in turn, either.
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Impulse (DC75th)
Only played in 3 of the 4 games, Impulse just couldn’t get any speed going in the two losses.
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Madrox (Giant-Size X-Men)
Purely for support, they never got the dupe rolls or a shot at Flurry.
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Molly Hayes
She was thoroughly inactive in the two losses, getting KO’d in one of them, but she scored two more KOs for my list: R Kang (Infinity Challenge) and Pretty Boy.
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Mysterio (Web of Spider-Man)
His Probability Control was the saving grace of my team. It’s telling that his LOF was often blocked in the two losses.
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Namor (Secret Invasion)
Mighty as ever, except in the final crushing loss when he not only never made an attack, but didn’t even cause any damage via Aquaman’s “Undead Sea” trait when he was KO’d. That was a huge disappointment, as the last time I played the two sea kings together I’d forgotten to activate Aquaman’s trait.
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Night Nurse
An earlier build lacked this, my favorite LE from Web of Spider-Man. Having a medic was a great help in the two wins.
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Rocket Racer
Despite taking early damage in most games, Rocket Racer seemed to survive every game. I perhaps should have used him more aggressively to tie-up in the last match.
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Robin (Brave + Bold)
Similarly, I think I held him back far too long. Using him to tie up enemies might’ve given my bigger melee fighters just enough time to save the day.
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Rorschach
Ended up being the main tie-up thanks to his ability to push.
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The Spot
Only used him in the first game. The requirement of LOF for his SP made it too difficult to use, so I dropped him for Impulse.
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Star-Lord
The sole ranged threat of my team, he truly delivered on his ability. With Defenders to back up his lame DV, he was worth every point.
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Wonder Woman (DC75th) 100
She also didn’t disappoint, hitting and carrying and lending her JSA TA to the wild card.
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Overall, this team is no good for tournament play. While it’s fine for untimed matches, too much of its muscle can’t get involved until too late. But any chance to run this many of my favorites is worth even getting smacked down. 