Search Results for: legacy cards ... F.U.N.

Legacy cards … F.U.N. or nah? These are NOTORIOUS

October 11, 2023 by rkjs·0 Comments

Now that WizKids has released its errata list for Notorious (more on that later), it’s time for our regular review of the set’s legacy cards: a F.U.N. way to bring some old fan-favorites back into Modern/Silver play and rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

By set number:

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L020a CALENDAR MAN
(Streets of Gotham, 2013)

THEN: He was a bizarre piece with different SPs based on the actual days of the week. For example, if played Monday through Thursday, he got mega-Outwit that took the chosen power away from the whole enemy team. But on the weekends — y’know, when most clix games are held — he was stuck with just giving +1 AV to adjacent allies. On even-numbered days, he could halve an enemy’s speed as POWER, but on odd ones he could only give three adjacent pals Phasing. And a third SP was POWER: roll d6 and give a foe holding/next to an object an action token or 1 penetrating damage depending on if it was winter and spring or summer and fall, respectively.

The upside is that all three SPs respectively offered standard powers of Stealth, Energy Explosion and Probability Control all year long. Paired with Mastermind, he could maybe do something consistent despite his 4 range being very poor at the time.

NOW: His old 52-point cost cut down to 40, he gains “The Yearly Cycle,” a trait granting Probability Control and Regeneration. His old speed SP still offers Stealth, but now even-numbered days give him Improved Movement:Characters while odd-number dates give a FREE that nerfs a target enemy’s defense and d6 rolls -1 for a round. His attack SP drops Energy Explosion for Precision Strike — sort of. Because now, Sunday-Wednesday, he still gets EE — penetrating! The rest of the week, his attack and damage both shoot up +2. Finally, his damage SP triggers off even- or odd-numbered months instead, with the former giving a FREE to shut off a standard power for all foes within range (no LOF needed), while in January, March, May, July, September and November he sports double Prob Control regardless of range (but needing LOF). Oh, and he adds a ton of new keywords: Gothem City to his original Arkham Asylum

F.U.N.? As before, CM here is a bizarre piece. And IMO, his power is way out of scale with the character’s classic abilities. But after one of the more recent DCU reboots, he seems to have gained weird superpowers to be reborn each year? So this clix might be more in line with the current villain than I thought.

But is it meta, though? The date-reliant flavor probably makes it too random. Not having EE on the weekends is a blow to his effectiveness, for example. And in a multi-day event like Worlds Singles, he’d completely change his powers — and performance. So more F.U.N. than fearsome, I think.

AM I GETTING THIS? I have long liked this figure. Glad to see it get another season.

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L020b DEATHSTROKE
(Justice League New 52, 2012)

THEN: He was all about his “Precisely Timed Strike” SP which, along with Blades/Claws/Fangs, dealt free d6 damage to any foe who moved adjacent to him at all. Too bad even the lightest damage through Toughness killed both his Stealth and SP, leaving him with Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast. That’s not too terribly bad, especially with his 7 range. But his relative lack of mobility and hefty 120 point cost, which was very easy to collect once he fell off that Stealth, made him a little unwieldy. Keywords: Injustice League, Martial Artist, Society and Soldier.

NOW: This time he comes with two point costs: 100 and 40 (click 5). Along with added keywords Arkham Asylum, Assassin, Gotham City Underworld and Suicide Squad (but no more Society), both lines have the trait “I Killed The Teen Titans” — Charge, Sidestep and a FREE choice of Energy Shield/Deflection + Ranged Combat Expert or Combat Reflexes + Close Combat Expert. He also gets “The Target” trait that other Assassin keyword figs in Notorious have, to gain 25 extra points if any of them KO a designated enemy. His SP, renamed “Timed Strikes,” is functionally exactly the same except for adding Precision Strike to the mix. Improved Movement:Elevated is a big boost, as is Targeted:Hindering and Team Player TA.

F.U.N.? It’s upgraded in every way from the original. But it’s still not quite competitive. Strong, though, and definitely F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Deathstrokes and, before seeing the new card text, had never been happier to own two copies of this piece so I could play both the original and the new on a Golden Age all-Slade Wilson force someday. But as noted above, there’s absolutely no reason to ever again play the original.

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L021 LYSSA DRAK
(War of Light, 2014)

THEN: She was a Probability Control piece (anywhere on map if a friendly with her Sinestro Corps, Monster or Black Lantern Corps keyword was attacked) who started also with enemy-only Perplex (that gave pals Precision against the target) before switching late dial to Steal Energy and Exploit, with Barrier and Sidestep interspersed throughout. Useful but kinda overcosted at her original 91 points.

NOW: She’s only 45 points, less than half, so that means she lost something: her Prob Control. Instead, she generates Grave markers like other BL Corps members in the set — in her case, wherever an enemy anywhere Outwits, Steals Energy or Regens. Enemies in Graves then lose -1 stats when in combat with BL Corps. She keeps her enemy-only Perplex, which now prevents the target from healing, too, when she uses it. She gains the Herald keyword this time.

F.U.N.? Priced like the supporting piece she always was, yet somehow not quite as good as before IMO, she’ll find her way onto some teams.

AM I GETTING THIS? I somehow do not have any copies of her anymore. I don’t regret it, really, as I am not much of a Lantern Corps fan. More for y’all!

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L025 ULTRAMAN
(Trinity War, 2015)

THEN: For 225 points, he was a pretty standard Hypersonic brick. The only things really special about him were A) his SAFEGUARD: Outwit when in hindering terrain and B) his Crime Syndicate team ability, giving him Prob Control as long as he could give himself or an ally an extra action token. His lower price at 125 started with Charge+Super Strength and RCE, which paired very well with anti-Stealth 8 range. He had Brute, Crime Syndicate and Ruler keywords.

NOW: He slims down A LOT to just 110 and 75 points. His losses? The Outwit protection, which trades down to Stealth and Willpower that both only works in hindering. He gains IM:Destroy Blocking and, IF there’s more tokens on his team than theirs, FREE Regen. With the CSA TA, those extra tokens could be easy to rack up. (He also appeared to have lost his Flight ability, but that’s an error WizKids has fixed by errata.)

F.U.N.? CSA is wildcard-friendly now instead of being uncopyable, which COULD be a competitive edge. But I feel like this piece is just OK and not meta. F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? I love the Crime Syndicate, so yeah.

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L026 OWLMAN
(Trinity War, 2015)

THEN: At his full 116 points, Oilman was chiefly a Stealthy Outwit piece who’s SP version of the power kept enemy Outwitters from countering higher-cost characters. With Combat Reflexes, Toughness and Willpower bundled in a defense SP, he was decently protected. But 4 range didn’t allow for much offense on his part. Fortunately, he had a cheaper 50-point line that also had both SPs. Unfortunately, it lacked the Stealth and was thus much easier to KO. Still, as one of the least expensive figs with the CSA TA, he was worth fielding for keyword themes Crime Syndicate, Detective and Scientist.

NOW: He’s 70 and 25 points now. A new trait gives twice-a-turn (IF his team has more tokens than the enemy) Sidestep for the mobility he really needs now that his defense SP lost its old Toughness. His damage SP now allows him to Outwit up to three powers if he’s full of tokens.

F.U.N.? He still has the old weaknesses, so he might not be as scary as he looks. But that 25-point line, starting with Flurry and him having possible double Sidestep, has some potential. F.U.N. times being bad!

AM I GETTING THIS? I love the Crime Syndicate and owl-themed characters, so heck yeah.

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L027 SUPERWOMAN
(Trinity War, 2015)

THEN: Though not as beefy as Ultraman, Earth-3 Lois Lane here actually hit a lot harder thanks to the Charge+Super Strength+Exploit Weakness combo. She also had a trait that nerfed enemy defenses if they were adjacent to each other and shared keywords. Not much else interesting about her for 142 points. She had a 100-point line that started with Empower instead of Exploit. CSA TA rounded out her offerings. Keywords: Crime Syndicate, Amazon.

NOW: She adds one trait giving FREE Mind Control of a hit character and a second granting +2AV if her squad has more action tokens. Cost basically halved to 75 and 50. (There’s also a couple of discrepancies in powers and values between her original correct dial and the erroneous card. Officially the dial is right.)

F.U.N.? The new CSA TA could help ensure these token bonuses, especially now that it’s wildcard-friendly.

AM I GETTING THIS? I love the Crime Syndicate and Amazons are a B-tier theme I collect. So yes.

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L035 KILLER MOTH
(Joker’s Wild, 2016)

THEN: He was one of Heroclixin’s worst of the year because he was 65 points for Running Shot, 9 AV single target Incap … and almost ANYTHING was a better use of 65 points, even for his sole keyword of Gotham City Underworld.

NOW: For a deep discount to just 35 points, he loses his flight ability but gains a few tricks from a brand-new trait that A) gives him two bolts, then B) +2 AV and, probably best, C) he forces his targets to break away to move, whether he hit or not. He also gains the Gotham City keyword

F.U.N.? Some believe the original was a troll piece, a cruel joke to make the character at last but also make him as terrible as possible. This remake actually redeems him a lot.

AM I GETTING THIS? I am, eventually.

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L037a HUSH
(Batman, 2012)

THEN: For 107 points, he was little but a Stealth 5-range Sharpshooter (which, back then, gave the equivalent of Improved Targeting: Opposing Characters and IT: Adjacent but ONLY Adjacent). Well, OK, he could shoot Batman Ally enemies despite their Stealth and he had a Support + Exploit Weakness SP and he got a +1 AV boost when using the Batman Enemy TA. But again, that poor 5 range and lack of Running Shot meant that despite his really cool sculpt and Mastermind+Shape Change SP defense, he just wasn’t very playable, not even for his Celebrity or Gotham City Underworld keywords.

NOW: He is a LOT cheaper: 60 points, losing all his Improved Targeting and anti-Stealth skills. But his all-new trait gives him Precision, Support and Regen — and he gets to move up to the d6 roll when he uses either of the latter. His defense SP keeps Mastermind but loses the Shape Change while gaining FREE placement of same-keyworded allies in his range and LOF next to him. That’s like no-cost TK but better.

His Shape Change moves to his damage SP, which loses the old Exploit Weakness and gains SAFEGUARD: Outwit for all his keyword buddies in range.

F.U.N.? This is a piece designed to play on theme above all else, which we at Heroclixin’ find very F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? I regret unloading this sculpt due to the unwieldy original dial. But I found it again at a premium, so I’m scoring this card.

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L043 JOHNNY QUICK
(Trinity War, 2015)

THEN: The Crime Syndicate version of The Flash looked similar to the heroic speedster: He had the Speed token trait (gain one when if you hit while moving) to modify his speed value, and ignored characters and hindering for movement — the last being a big deal back in 2015. But his real use was for his SP to juice up his stats +1 or +2 for a turn at the cost of clicks of life. A suddenly 14 HSS, 12 AV, 5 damage assassin could easily get to a backline character you THOUGHT was well protected — then use his enemies-only trait Perplex (if he had a Speed token to spend) to also sever that foe’s speed powers. Along with CSA TA, for 82 points, that wasn’t bad. Only keywords were Speedster and Crime Syndicate

NOW: No new keywords. Slashed to 45 points, he loses his juicing abilities, gaining IM:Elevated and a rewritten first trait: +2 undodgable attack against enemy Speedster keyword or figs with Hypersonic Speed. His SP allows him to steal and equip enemy equipment if his team has more tokens.

F.U.N.? Not as good as the last iteration, but CSA looks like a lot of F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? For sure.

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L044 DARKSEID
(SLOSH, 2014)

THEN: Weighing in a hefty 350 points, this rare started with SP Running Shot only when he was token-free. That sounds bad until you see that the same SP granted him Phasing/Teleport with a free attack if he had one token already. Pretty good with his 12 AV and 5 damage. He reduced penetrating damage, had SAFEGUARD: Outwit (conditional on him not using his own Outwit) and gave +1AV and damage to other Apokolips figs with one action token (back then, getting a second token caused self-damage). But probably the most fearsome thing about him was his 10 range IT:Everything except elevated and outdoor blocking terrain — deadly with his opening Outwit.

But better was his 300-point level with all that plus his damage SP that brought the Outwit PLUS Leadership that could remove 2 tokens by dealing damage to the subordinate. These powers also showed up on his low dial of 200 — which actually allowed room for other allies to use all his powers and abilities in a standard game. But he was a little short-dialed with only 6 clicks.

NOW: He adds Cosmic, Deity, New Gods, and Secret Society of Super-Villains to his original Apokolips, Ruler and Warrior keywords while dropping a full 100 points to 250. His chief losses: Improved Targeting is now only IT:Characters,Adjacent; his conditional Running Shot/Phasing+attack is gone; and now his penetrating damage protection is conditional on his non-use of Outwit. But he gains traited no-frills Leadership and Mastermind; his speed SP is Mind Control (FREE if the target has Anti-Life) and Phasing 3 squares FREE (or full speed normally). His damage SP is now just Outwit with extra effects if the targets have Anti-Life (either 2 powers nixed or the target takes damage if they miss their attack next turn).

Oh, you wanna know about Anti-Life? When Darkseid or allies hit, targets get an Anti-Life token that nerfs AV and damage -1 and are only removed via healing or by Darkseid himself.

His lower lines are 175 and 125 now, and he’s got the Cosmic Energy TA.

F.U.N.? The old one was one of the best Darkseids ever, but this one is a solid improvement. More F.U.N. than meta IMO but I also think competitive things could be done with him.

AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Darkseid, so yeah.

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L049 QUEEN OF FABLES
(Superman, 2011)

THEN: For 164 points, she was an oddball giant with 7-range Mind Control and an attack SP giving her Perplex and Prob Control, though with natural 11 AV and 4 damage, she usually wouldn’t waste the action on MC. Dial-long 9 clicks of Shape Change helped protect her from object attacks, to which she had a traited vulnerability. Mystics TA served as a further deterrent. Mid-dial she became a Psychic Blaster, but it’s her last three clicks that bear her best SP: Willpower and able to best her target’s AV and damage despite her flagging values at that point. Only keywords were Mystical and Ruler.

NOW: She’s a completely different kind of piece. First, her price plummets to 100 points with a second line of 60 (click 5). Next, her trait now gives Perplex along with a game-start choice of either Prob or Outwit — or both if you weren’t Player 1. This frees up her attack SP to actually be an attack SP: EE, Penetrating/Psychic Blast plus KNOCKBACK. Her dial-ending speed SP, instead of giving her a second wind, instead literally shrinks her to tiny size, bars her from shooting and grants allies Support to heal only her.

F.U.N.? This redo is based on the wacky Harley Quinn animated show version, which gains her the Gotham City Underworld keyword. That’s a F.U.N. aspect — and maybe one that makes her more playable.

AM I GETTING THIS? Even if the TV show version wasn’t a Black version of the character, I’d want to score this card for the F.U.N. of it.

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L051 THE PHANTASM
(BTAS, 2018)

THEN: The Phantasm made Heroclixin’s Top F.U.N. figs list back in 2018. What seemed like disadvantages — 10 AV, 75 point cost — were actually strengths because that AV became 12 vs. cheaper foes — with Blades. There was also a SP-Perplex against foes on clicks 2, 3, 4 and 6. And FREE move every turn with a FREE Smoke Cloud trait:

YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH AWAITS: Smoke Cloud as FREE // FREE: Move but only through squares with her smoke cloud markers. After resolutions, remove each of these markers she moved through.

Phantasm couldn’t park in Stealth with her own Smoke, though, and she had 0 range, meaning she usually only moved 3 squares, being careful to hide behind a 4th square still holding the Smoke. But Mystics TA rounded the Assassin- and Gotham City-keyworded package.

NOW: Her cost drops to 50. Her attack SP loses the AV bonus but she can make free attacks in hindering terrain — a perfect combo with her new, less clunky trait of Sidestep and FREE Smoke Cloud. Her damage SP becomes Shape Change with a bonus if the attacker’s in hindering or is her Target — because she has that shared trait as well to get bonus points for KOing a mark. Add Project Cadmus and Future to her keywords.

F.U.N.? This version seems easier to use. Getting to make a FREE attack every turn possible could be really good. Definitely F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? I loved the movie this was based on. So yeah.

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L055 MAN-BAT
(Joker’s Wild, 2016)

THEN: It was the most beautiful sculpt in the game. But the dial, though. Charge was paired with just 1 damage all dial so the Blades/Claws/Fangs (standard and SP version that added Steal Energy) was vital for his offense — and one Outwit made him lose it. He also had zero defense powers and his DV topped out at just 17. Like many others in the Joker’s Wild, he had a trait with which he could grant other Bat Enemies a power when copying his AV — in his case, Steal Energy and 10 or lower, respectively — but it wasn’t nearly enough to make him more than minimally playable for 55 points. Animal, Gotham City and Scientist were his keywords.

NOW: He’s trimmed to 45 points. A new trait, “Scent of Blood,” gives +1 damage dealt to a foe he’s bitten. “Swooping Dive,” his second trait, gives Super Senses and +2AV for moving and attacking (whether via Charge or Sidestep or even an allies’ Telekinesis). Finally, his attack SP’s Steal Energy gets boosted to heal equal to the victim’s taken damage instead of 1. No new keywords.

But … this winged wonder of a character now has BOOT SPEED? that seems like a classic case of WizKids quabity … quabity assuance.

F.U.N.? And it got errata, so this is a dial worthy of the sculpt at last. Plenty of F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? Because I missed out on getting the figure, which was sought out for its sheer beauty even before legacy status, I will probably skip it.

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L056 MAZAHS!
(Trinity War, 2015)

THEN: 210 points got you a Hypersonic brick who had to KO an enemy to be anything special: This alternate-universe Lex Luthor’s trait allowed him to take one of the victim’s powers. He also had Prob Control and a special Pulse Wave that forced hit targets to choose just ONE power they had; the rest got countered for a turn. But neither of those useful skills were top-dial and it wasn’t terribly hard to deal with his decidedly average stats. Only the one Mystical keyword.

NOW: He still has the Mystics TA and adds Metropolis and Crime Syndicate keywords (even though he’s technically their enemy). He also still has to KO to activate his trait, but he has the option to boost one of his stats +1 for the rest of the game instead of picking the one of the victim’s powers — though he can choose both if the victim was more than his 150 points. His SP PW is now FREE if he moved this turn.

F.U.N.? This fig is pure F.U.N. with probably zero meta potential. Not having Outwit protection or Willpower is rough at his cost.

AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Lex Luthors so this was a lock to acquire even if it were bad.

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L070 CHESHIRE
(Teen Titans, 2013)

THEN: With pretty average stats for 97 points, her claim to playability was Poison that also nerfed defense -1 to its victims. She also had a SP to POWER action deal no-roll-needed 1 penetrating damage to an adjacent foe. Hopefully her Stealth, Reflexes and wild card ability would be enough to save her long enough to get either off — IF she could get in close in the first place. Keywords: Martial Artist, Titans, Villains For Hire.

NOW: Still a wildcard, the now-50-point Assassin, League of Assassins, Martial Artist, Secret Six, and Secret Society of Super-Villains keyword villainess has The Target trait, a new trait granting Sidestep and 2-damage Poison, and her SP for Precision and nixes damage reduction entirely for a round when she damages an opponent.

F.U.N.? She’s a 100% meta-level piece.

AM I GETTING THIS? I had no real affinity for the character to track this piece down when it was new. So probably no.

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LG003 BRIMSTONE
(Superman Wonder Woman, 2015)

THEN: This colossal guy was most feared for his penetrating Poison. (Well, also for his Colossal Retaliation that could deal d6 damage to a bunch of characters.) At top dial (400 points) he started with a SP Pulse Wave that could blast around corners and away from friendlies. He also had Charge+Exploit-focused 275- and 150-point lines along with a rather weak 100-pointer. But the main event was usually the retal line at 20. Only keywords were Apokolips and Robot.

NOW: He’s playable at 290, 175, 90, 50 and 15 points. Cosmic Energy nixes his old Outwit vulnerability. His old PW SP is gone, rewritten so he just ignores Super Senses or enemy combat buffs. His old Poison SP is also gone; he just deals penetrating damage in general now, and at end of turn he burns every enemy within his printed damage value for 1 damage. His retal SP is virtually the same as before. UNLIKE before, he can normal-attack smaller characters at will.

F.U.N.? This is not a F.U.N. figure. This could be a meta figure, thanks to the myriad of playable start lines.

AM I GETTING THIS? I own the fig, so absolutely add the card to my collection if I buy the Poison Ivy home kit.

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Hopefully all these cards will be readily available. And I really, really hope WizKids figures out how to fix their QA problems. This round of errors is nearly on the level of those seen in the very FIRST set of legacy cards and we’re more than two years into the mechanic.

Legacy cards … F.U.N. or nah? AVENGERS 60

May 27, 2023 by rkjs·0 Comments

Avengers 60 is in pre-release phase as this publishes. But thanks to the PRE-prerelease at HeroClix for Huntington’s in Huntsville about a month back, we have gotten a look at the entire set earlier than usual — including the legacy cards! So here’s our customary review.

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In principle, legacy cards are a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play, rework some old figs that never really worked right before — or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

In practice? Well, let’s see.

As usual, we’ll look back at what this figure used to do THEN when it was new, before looking how it’s updated NOW and considering if it’s F.U.N. But starting this set, I’m getting personal and talk about ME: Do I even want this one?

By set number:

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L003 Ant-Man
(Age of Ultron, 2015)

THEN: With pretty average stats for both his 100- and 50-point cost, AOU Ant-Man’s value came from his SP giving him Charge (good with his printed Exploit), Sidestep and Stealth — along with the power to make an adjacent normal-sized pal into a giant or a fellow tiny for a turn. Also, back then Tiny Size figs were allowed to be carried along with a standard passenger. Finally, he had the “Morph: Many Identities” trait shared with nearly a dozen other Hank Pym characters in that set, where he could swap in and out with the Pyms. Not bad for Avengers and Scientist themes.

NOW: He cuts both price lines in half — but it’s no longer morphin’ time, as that complex trait is lost. Instead he gets “Shrink Out of the Way,” a Sideline trait that swaps him in the place of a Wasp, Hank Pym or Giant-Man thatwould be KO’d. His SP is unchanged because it was great already. He adds Illuminati to his keywords. It must also be mentioned here that he still has the Avengers team ability, which gets a massive upgrade in this set: Instead of just +1 to MOVE (as the TA has been since 2017) or MOVEs not counting against actions (as when this fig was new in 2015), at game’s start, you can pick an enemy team ability and get a +1 AV when targeting that TA.

F.U.N.? It will depend on if any of his alter egos are competitive. But from where I’m sitting, he looks like big F.U.N. for such a little guy.

AM I GETTING THIS? I still have a couple of these figs and Ant-Man is one of the characters I want to collect every version of. So yes.

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L008b Ms. Marvel
(Secret Invasion, 2008)

THEN: Once upon a time, in the pre-NECA days, she ruled the meta with her Exfiltration SP: Hypersonic Speed, Stealth and Plasticity with 4 printed damage, Super Strength and then-default-10-range Outwit. Though she cratered a lot if hit just once, getting that hit was tough because in 2008, Stealth was VERY difficult to handle and HSS even more so — automatic breakaway. Skrulls team ability was icing on her 168-point cake.

NOW: Keeping her original Skrulls and Spy keywords, her cost dips slightly to a more-Modern-friendly 145. Her already near-perfect SP gets upgraded to add Close Combat Expert to aid her no-longer-adequate AV. Her new trait “Emotional Manipulation” serves that end as well, forcing her adjacent foes’ DV to match her own middling values, which really fits her new super-cheap 50-point starting line with Charge, 8 AV Quake, 15 DV Toughness and Perplex.

F.U.N.? Sometimes you can go home again, and that’s what happens here with ol’ Ms. Skrull-vel. So much of what made her good is gone and even this card’s tweaks can’t bring back her past meta glory. Which is OK with us because we’re all about F.U.N. here.

BUT AM I GETTING THIS? I certainly have 1 or 2 of her. Carol Danvers isn’t one of my “every version” characters, though, so the only reason I’ll track this down is to make my Skrull collection complete.

*looks at otherwise complete Skrull collection*

Which, uh … I guess I WILL be tracking it down.

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L030 Wasp
(Chaos War, 2012)

THEN: Her being able to Incap AND deal a little penetrating damage AND possible push-damage was OK, a rare workaround against the Mystics team ability, even at her weighty 77 cost. That cost was actually useful since she had Leadership and back then it only worked on a successful roll to give the extra action and remove an action token from a cheaper adjacent fig — one that could, like with Ant-Man above, carry both her and another ally. She actually saw some high-level play in the world championships that year.

NOW: Her price plummets to just 40 — her stats have not aged well and she loses a trick or two to changed game mechanics (along with the Lady Liberators keyword the original one paired with Avengers. She’s a Celebrity instead now). Her Incap SP now deals bonus penetrating damage for each action token on the target(s). Her Leadership is better than ever, though, and the new Avengers TA will help a lot.

F.U.N.? Invincible didn’t exist when the original made its splash, and Incapacitate lost all its damage capacity in 2021, so her Incap-plus-penetrating skills aren’t as dangerous as in 2012. But she’s gonna be F.U.N. to field.

AM I GETTING THIS? See Ant-Man. I collect Wasps and have this piece. So yes.

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L033 Hulk
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)

THEN: .One of several giant-sized Hulk figs, this 185-point monster wound up being a major letdown for several reasons. A) That cost puts him well into the upper third of Hulks, but B) his offense is poor with just 10 AV, despite a Flurry SP that also gave him Quake as FREE after a Leap/Climb MOVE. C) Unlike many Hulks, his abilities don’t ramp up very well until near end-dial. But by then you’re D) looking at avoiding KO, hoping against hope that he can land on 2 tokens so he can FREE turn to click 11, his “Banner” click that’s a once per game get outta jail free maneuver. The click had Stealth, Outwit and Perplex and also was a semi-difficult KO. But he was then nearly 2/3 of your team doing virtually nothing. And E) subsequent attacks on him tended to land him on 16 DV clicks that were easily pierced to score him soon after. Keywords: Avengers, Brute, Scientist.

NOW: In addition to adding Defenders, Illuminati and Monster keywords, this legacy addresses each of the above issues. A) His new cost is a much more palatable 100 to match his still-barely-adequate 10 AV which is nevertheless B) much more effective thanks to new SP Charge+Flurry+Plasticity compared with his old light-damage Quake. C) He still doesn’t ramp up so well, but he’s less likely to skip his good end-dial now that his trait is reworked to go straight to click 11 instead of KO. D) That Stealth Banner click adds Prob Control and SAFEGAURD: Outwit to the mix. Finally, E) hitting him here lands him on click 4 — no more goofy calculations — one with a 17 DV instead of 16, and with his Charge+Flurry SP so he can readily start smashing again. Defenders TA alongside his original Avengers symbol rounds out the upgrades, giving him a chance to share a higher defense in either state.

F.U.N.? This is a prime example of a great legacy treatment to repair an old dial that was never allowed to shine. Smashingly F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? As one of the few who kinda liked the original version, yes, I’m excited to get this card. I also collect Hulks when I can, though I don’t chase this theme down the way I do many others.

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L040 Captain America
(Captain America, 2011)

THEN: One of the best sculpts ever, peanut Cap here was otherwise a slightly unwieldy piece. An 83-point Charge fig, he also had, via trait, Running Shot, two targets (but dealt 3 damage to both) and Energy Shield/Deflection while holding his detachable Shield. But after doing that range attack, he had to go PICK IT UP (with traited Super Strength that he could ONLY use to hold the Shield) from next to one of the targets. I guess this rookie Steve Rogers hadn’t yet figured how to rebound the shield back to him; his keywords reflect WWII-era Cap (All-Winners Squad, Avengers, Howling Commandos, Invaders, Past, Soldier).

NOW: His rewritten first trait just gives him the Shield token to +1 all his stats until he FREE places it in a square in 4 range and LOF. Then his rewritten second trait allows him to close attack from that square for some possible around-corner shots with traited Flurry and Giant Reach:2. He gets his Shield token back automatically at the beginning of the next turn. With his cost cut to 50, of course he’s got some losses: his old Running Shot and range attacks, his old ESD, his old All-Winners Squad keyword. (He gets Defenders instead, to FINALLY match up with his original Defenders team symbol — which is joined by Avengers TA too.)

F.U.N.? Sure as Cap salutes the flag. This is a good pick for a legacy, as the original fig, if played with today’s ruleset, would barely function.

AM I GETTING THIS? Maybe eventually —especially since I have a pair of the originals — but I don’t need it.

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L042 Iron Doom
(Invincible Iron Man, 2013)

THEN: For 200 points, he kept any other cheaper fig on the map from using Leadership or Mastermind; meanwhile, he got use of both, along with Super Senses. His other SP granted Perplex and Outwit, the latter of which he had a 50% shot of using without needing range or LOF. Beyond those, he was an OK Running Shot piece to start, with Impervious/Invulnerability down the line. A wildcard, he really depended on fellows to truly work. Keywords: Armor, Mystical, Ruler, Scientist, Weapon X.

NOW: 75 points cheaper, he gets a new trait that lessens enemy healing in his range. His old Mastermind SP drops the Senses and Leadership while adding Invincible and Shape Change for a greater focus on defense — especially with it being Pulse Wave- and Outwit-proof. His other SP allows his Perplex and Outwit to last until the power’s gone or he uses it again. He loses the Mystical keyword but picks up Exiles, and Minions of Doom is no longer a wildcard TA.

F.U.N.? This old Super Rare was paradoxically a little too top-heavy to really work but also too strong with his global effect. Now he feels like a proper piece.

AM I GETTING THIS? No. It’s one of the rare instances that I’ve never owned the piece. There was a time when I had to have each new variation of Stark Industries armor (do a search on this site of “Iron Campaign” to see how far back that goes!) but that impulse was broken about a year before this set was released.

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L043 Iron Man and War Machine
(Invincible Iron Man, 2013)

THEN: This iconic duo started with Running Shot and had Duo Attack, naturally, but what made them special was their “Reactor Full-Power” trait that allowed them to take an action as FREE when they had two tokens (but not two turns in a row). Mid-dial, they gained a SP granting FREE Duo Attack after a MOVE. 9 range and 3 bolts with Improved Targeting: Hindering rounded out this surprisingly simple dial for 265 points. No TA and minimal keywords: Armor, Avengers, Stark Industries.

NOW: They weigh only 180 points, adding the improved Avengers TA and new keywords Celebrity, Illuminati, Scientist and Soldier. They also lose their old built-in Duo Attack and their old Reactor trait is now 3-6 Willpower that heals them. The SP is now Hypersonic Speed with a FREE attack after. They get a brand-new trait: unOutwittable ESD. Finally, in place of an old, complex mechanic Duos had called Split, this pair — and other legacy duos — get the ability to be “replaced” upon KO by an Iron Man and a War Machine of a combined 180 points or less, healed to their respective last three clicks.

F.U.N.? Not the first pairing of Tony Stark and James Rhodes, it was the last as WizKids backed off from doing Duo figs in the years since. It’s nice to see them return to the field.

AM I GETTING THIS? I 100% am. It’s a new version of Rhodes and the “Black Box” is one theme I WILL still prioritize completing.

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L049 Thor Odinson
(The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: I‘ll just let Sceritz from 2017 do the talking:

I am hardly upset about this dial being a hefty 175 points for the potential that it brings to the table. It feels almost wrong at this point not to play an him on an Asgardian theme because what he brings to the potential is just that staggering. His dial starts with a 19 Invincible, worthy of a god of thunder and when you think he’s finally down and out, his dial ends with another 19! You aren’t going to be safe with a few good hits. If you’re going after him, you need to go hard.

At the same time, I think his dial is fair. It isn’t exactly easy to build around 175 points in most formats, and you’ll have to make sure you back him up with some pretty decent support. So it’s likely he will be your main attacker. Either that, or you’re going to forgo some of your other utility for the sake of raw aggression with the use of his “Bring the Lightning” for extra attacks or “Restore the Lost Asgardians” to bring in others Asgardians to attack for you.

But here’s the other deal… if you choose to play the long game, as Odinson’s deep dial is surely capable of, then you may have a chance to trade in 8 Plot Points for “God of Thunder,” which forces opponents to gain two action tokens whenever they would receive action tokens, severely hindering their game. If you can land this with enough time left on the clock, you just might have that match in the bag.

With the ability to deal massive damage, bring other Asgardians into the fray and a dial that make opponents think twice about attacking, I think this is the Thor I was waiting for.

NOW: No longer a Title Character with those complicated Plot Points, he’s barely discounted to 160 points and just gets a pair of new traits. But it’s easy to see why he’s almost the same price: The first trait lets him FREE Pulse Wave from a square he just RANGE Destroyed and his other trait tokens all enemies in his 7 range when he clears HIS tokens — no attack roll or even LOF needed. He gains the Deity keyword along with his old Asgardian, Avengers and Warrior ones, and he’s got Avengers TA, too, instead of being teamless.

F.U.N.? Another reason for legacy figs, it seems, is to reimagine some without the cumbersome mechanics — in this case Title Character — that they were created with, making for a much more streamlined — and F.U.N. — play experience.

AM I GETTING THIS? Thor is one of those characters I absolutely do NOT need each version of. I have the figure, so I’ll be pleased if I pull the card, but I won’t chase the legacy down until I have others first.

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L056 Squirrel Girl
(Captain America, 2011)

THEN: Squirrel Girl was a game changer, being one of the first bystander generators for All-you-can-beat Tie-up/Mastermind fodder. Cheap tie-up pieces have always been a gameplay staple, and she was a never-ending supply of such with her ability to repeatedly spawn Monkey Joes to lock down enemies. She also served as good tie-up in her own right, with Reflexes and, with M.Joe attached, Super Senses.

NOW: Such pog farms aren’t as special, so she drops from 59 points to 35. Instead of the Leap/Climbing Monkey Joe, she generates his Hypersonic and Precision Striking successor, Tippy Toe — this time as FREE instead of as POWER, and she gets +1 to her stats when T.Toe isn’t on the map.

In fact, what once took two traits to do is now combined into one, so her other trait is brand new: Support and she can heal a patient next to Tippy Toe for nice long-range medic action. Her original Animal and Great Lakes Avengers keywords are joined by A.I.M., Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. — along with the new-and-improved Avengers TA.

F.U.N.? Taking an old piece that introduced a then-new mechanic and streamlining it is a good choice for legacy-ing. Peak F.U.N.

AM I GETTING THIS? Yes, eventually. I like the Great Lakes Avengers and came around to liking this character as well. She’s low priority, though.

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L060 Avengers Prime
(Chaos War, 2012)

THEN: Adapted from an old Heroclixin’ article about Duo figs:

At a staggering 400 points, this ~~duo~~ trio figure was by far one of the priciest clix ever. That bought a LOT of damage potential, much of it through Duo Attack. After an opening salvo with Running Shot thanks to the Iron Man-themed Speed SP (which also had Perplex and RCE), one best used the same power to Perplex the trio’s damage +1 (possible at the time) to then deal out a possible 11 CLICKS in the followup Duo Attack.

But this dial had a lot of mostly wasted points on myriad abilities that couldn’t be used in combination, sometimes not even through the “Trio Attack” trait, which was a double power action granting any combo of CLOSE or RANGE for 3 single-target attacks. Keywords were Avengers, Armor, Asgardian and Soldier. Avengers TA, of course.

NOW: No longer 400 and 300 points, the trio can actually fit a team at full dial — 300. First SP is now Running Shot and Sidestep, plus a FREE attack — potentially devastating with printed 6 damage. At 180 points, they start on click 4 with the Attack SP: Energy Explosion, Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Precision Strike and Quake — powers that either didn’t exist back then or didn’t work together like today. Click 5 reveals the damage SP “Forever Fight As One”: STOP, but only the first time this power is revealed each turn. Avengers Prime can reduce penetrating damage. Finally, they have the same “split into multiple figs” ability as a Iron Man & War Machine above, just with Steve, Tony and Thor. Keywords expand to include Deity , Past and Stark Industries.

F.U.N.? Normally we hate the idea of chases being remade as legacies. The original pieces are rare enough! But this one is more iconic than most, and more importantly, it never quite worked right as designed. So most of the F.U.N. will be in getting to effectively field this crew on a team at last.

AM I GETTING THIS? No. I never got the fig and I don’t need it, so it’ll be trade bait for me.

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L086 Nick Fury
(Clobberin’ Time, 2003)

THEN: The very first of many Furies, he was Unique — the equivalent of Super Rares the pre-card era. Essentially a Stealth Leadership piece who, if targeted and hit, shifted into a mid-dial Running Shooter and Outwit figure, late-dial he’d stay alive with Mastermind. At 62 points, he was probably the most expensive fig on a SHIELD team (though keywords didn’t yet exist — he and other other figs got them retroactively in 2007).

NOW: He slims down to 40 points, which, given his still-putrid combat values, some think is overcosted. But they’re wrong because A) He’s got traited Perplex and Leadership, the former of which is strong with his 6 range (likely longer if he has a SHILED TA teammate adjacent) and the latter keeps enemy teams from adding actions when he rolls it on his first two clicks. B) He’s 7 clicks deep so they CAN’T one-shot him and he stays useful all dial long. And C) if they try to KO him, that’s leaving 260 points of the rest of your team alone. SHIELD TA, of course and keywords are Politician, S.H.I.E.L.D., Soldier and Spy.

F.U.N.? This is a sneaky good redesign that, while not meta, is gonna be better than people think.

AM I GETTING THIS? Yes. I have a small case in my closet called “Box of Fury” full of this character.

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L096 Loki
(Mutant Mayhem, 2004)

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THEN: Another first, this one of the god of lies. He was a wildcard with a really good 12 AV Psychic Blast but hobbled with Phasing and middling DV (though with Batman TA to copy, he could stay real safe in hindering and cover a lot of area with 8 range and 2 bolts. Probability Control, too, then Outwit, then Perplex.

NOW: He’s cut nearly in half from 160 to just 85 points but gets gains, no losses. First: Mystic TA. Second: IT:Hindering. Third are two traits: one granting Sidestep, Stealth, Shape Change, Super Senses AND +1 whenever he rolls a single d6; the other Mind Control with +1 AV for each token on the target. Fourth: new Cabal and Ruler keywords to go with Asgardian, Deity and Mystical.

F.U.N.? Well, OK, he has ONE loss — he’s no longer a wildcard and is stuck with the relatively less useful and situational Minions of Doom TA. But this is as solid a representation of the Asgardian trickster as exists in Heroclix. F.U.N. times ahead.

AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Loki figures for those Asgard Wars that Heroclixin’ board member Lenny and I have all the time. So of course.

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L135 Ultron
(Infinity Challenge, 2002)

THEN: Appearing the very first HeroClix set, Veteran Ultron was fearsome with an opening 14 AV and Energy Explosion. Paired with an Enhancement piece (which once boosted EE damage), he could do massive harm to clustered foes from afar with his 3 bolts and 10 range. No moving attack wasn’t an issue because figs could attack after being carried. Alas, he was saddled an equally massive 188 price point, largely due to the Masters of Evil team ability, which used to add a lot of cost — but with him being a ranged attacker, it did him almost no good. See, the original MOE TA allowed members to make Autonomous close attacks if and ONLY if 2+ members were next to an enemy. And although Ultron’s Invulnerability was the best defense available, it was easily negated by enemy Outwit (also from 10 range) — which became much more dangerous when the rules barred non-free actions after carry. Really, he was outshined in nearly respect by his Experienced counterpart, a wildcard and 49 points cheaper.

NOW: He’s only 38 points cheaper, and the MOE TA is once again no good for a range fighter like himself. But that’s where the downgrades end. UPGRADE 1: He adds Cosmic Energy TA, so Outwit is no longer of any concern. UPGRADE 2: Traited Mastermind that treats any teammate with “Ultron” in the name as adjacent. UPGRADE 3: Same trait lets him use any standard power those other Ultrons can use, such as the moving attack powers he once lacked. UPGRADE 4: Same trait allows him to draw LOF from any of those Ultrons (though his range is 3 when he does that). UPGRADE 5: Trait Leadership that can generate Ultron Drone (Avengers 60 013) in addition to usual effect. UPGRADE 6: A final trait to reduce penetrating damage and heal up to 3 when another Ultron is KO’d.

F.U.N.? From a game balance perspective? Not in the slightest, as he might be immortal. Did WK learn nothing from colossal legacy Apocalypse about the dangers of making long-range Mastermind? From an Ultron fan perspective, this is going to be GREAT fun.

AM I GETTING THIS? Ab-so-LUTE-ly, though it may take a while. I have a complete set of Ultrons. In spite of the fact that they keep making chase-level rarity versions of him, I keep either pulling them or finding them online for WAY cheaper than I ever expected.

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L208 General Thunderbolt Ross
(Incredible Hulk, 2011)

THEN: Starting with Leadership and low AV, he had to push to click 2 to be interesting. There he gained this SP “Call in the Air Strike”: Once per game, he could double power action and range attack any square on the map with 11 AV, dealing 3 to the hit target in that square and 2 plus knock back to everyone in the surrounding squares, as well as destroying all the walls and blocking next to/in that square. Thankfully, it didn’t work with Enhancement. But it was an absolute silver bullet against whatever turtling nuisance the rest of your team couldn’t get to. Often worth the 55 points.

After shooting his air strike wad, he could Alter Ego into Red Hulk (Incredible Hulk 210), a 2-click Flurrying, Poisonous, Invulnerable Hulk with SP 4 range. But because it was a power action, this Hulk was tokened and often unable to act enough to be effective.

NOW: With pushing rules gone, his Air Strike SP has become a “when this click is revealed by an opposing attack” meaning Ross can’t just hide in the corner and attack mid-game. This general now has to be on the front line and has to be hit. The good news is it triggers with each revealed click and the timing is like Mystics, so even if he’s one-shot, the power goes off once for each of his clicks with that SP, dealing 1 penetrating to the attacker and its adjacent friends. Enemy better hope they all have Invincible. His Alter Ego SP is now a FREE that permanently swaps in a Red Hulk pog with Charge, Poison, Impervious and Outwit.

F.U.N.? Kinda like a mega-Mystics piece, but hard to use to full effect, as his clicks 2-3 have Enhancement he might never see. He’s only 45 points this go-’round. F.U.N. enough, maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AM I GETTING THIS? Maybe? I don’t need it, but I have the figure. So why not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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As always, we hope all these cards will be readily available. And I hope you’ve enjoyed these reviews!

Legacy cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Spider-Man Beyond Amazing)

March 18, 2023 by rkjs·0 Comments

Welcome back to a regular feature: looking at how legacy cards might be a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play or rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

Or, possibly, ruin them.

Here’s the latest batch, from the first Marvel set of 2023 — and the first to rock the new 2023 rules — Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing. We’ll look at what the original figure did, then at what’s new, and wrap with our opinion on it all and whether it’s F.U.N. (Fair, Useful, Nifty) … or nah.

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L001 SPIDER-MAN
(Secret Invasion, 2008)

THEN: “McSpidey” had the silliest-looking sculpt for the character in history — one that yours truly had to adjust. But he was a pretty decent piece to play, with SP Flurry that, IF he hit both shots, could quasi-Incap the second attack instead of damaging — which was better when Incap could deal pushing damage and was an important way of getting around the Mystics team ability. But lacking Charge or other moving attack, he was really dependent on Telekinesis to get to use this SP. Being a wild card, he needed teammates for best effect, anyway.

NOW: Along with a point shaving from 50 to 40, he gets the Charge the old one needed via trait and part of his old SP is essentially moved into the trait as well — this time, simplified to give a hit target a token. BUT he loses Flurry entirely. His new SP is Super Strength and Precision Strike. And with the changes in the Spider-Man Ally team ability, he’s no longer a wild card. Same keywords as before: Avengers , Fantastic Four , Reporter , Scientist — but adds Spider-Man Family, which didn’t exist in 2008.

F.U.N.? This piece is iconic for all the wrong reasons, but it’s nice to see it return and made playable again, though the loss of Flurry is a blow for sure. Not meta by any stretch, it’s pure F.U.N.

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L013 STILT-MAN
(Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

THEN: One of the goofiest villains in Marvel clix, this piece brought some unique tricks to the field and ended up our top F.U.N. fig of 2016. What we said then:

At normal height, he’s a Quake+Force Blast piece that can take one solid hit for the team thanks to his trait that allows him to drop a Leg Extension and take a max of 1 damage (and maybe none). As a giant, he can survive such hits at least twice and gains Giant Reach to make his Quake power much more effective (and also become a taxi). But it’s as a colossal that he can use his Colossal Retaliation SP, making him a deterrent to enemy attacks along with even further Giant Reach range.

NOW: Instead of having to add Extensions in construction at a cost of +5 each to his old 50 price, he gets them free (as tokens) via Rally dice — though he starts with a couple anyway. Each Extension token can absorb a click of damage he would normally take; this even works against penetrating and unavoidable damage! Another trait makes him giant if he has 2 Extensions, colossal with 4, and 6+ boosts all his combat values. His new SP is a new version of his Colossal Retaliation (when he’s colossal) that, like the old version, isn’t barred if another pal retaliates or is placed first. Same keywords (Armor, Sinister Syndicate) and team ability as before.

F.U.N.? That Stilt-Man grows during the game rather than shrinks is a really F.U.N. and character accurate new approach to his design. It also serves to balance him a bit so he isn’t the usual Negative Play Experience retaliation piece and allows him to fit onto teams better. But … WHAT’S HIS ACTUAL POINT COST? Because 49 — a WHOLE SOLITARY POINT below before — seems like a typo. (As of the original 3/19/2023 publication of this article, no errata for Wilbur here was issued.)

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L039a CLOAK & DAGGER
(Secret Invasion, 2008)

THEN: The inseparable ebony and ivory couple were one of a number of duo figs from WK, starting with a Phasing+Stealth SP — neither of which worked well with their Transporter ability (Hypersonic Speed-lite and Passenger:1). Later in their 8-click dial, they traded opening Penetrating/Psychic Blast for penetrating Energy Explosion — which also didn’t work with Transporter. And anyway, Transporter was -2 attack, so it was marginally better to hang in hindering and shoot from 6 range and hope their 9 or 8 AV could land while their Energy Shield/Deflection or Super Senses or Willpower could hold defensively.

NOW: They get a lot of boosts. First, they swap Transporter symbol for Wing. Next, they get Improved Targeting: Hindering, which is key for their new trait “Light of Hope to the Innocent, Dark Justice to the Guilty.” It boosts their AV +2 when they attack targets hiding in hindering and boosts their own DV +2 when they’re in clear terrain. Their still-Stealthy speed SP swaps in Hypersonic Speed for the old Phasing, and if they hit a solo enemy in hindering, that enemy can’t be targeted by its allies — not for Perplex, Support, Prob, ANYTHING — for a turn. C+D’s later SP combos EE with Precision Strike, healing them 1 if they KO a foe (but only if the duo’s in clear terrain). Retaining their old wild card status via Team Player TA while keeping the new Spidey TA, they also add the keywordsDark X-Men, X-Men and, for some reason, Sinister Syndicate to their original Marvel Knights and New Warriors ones. All this with a point shaving from 109 points down to just 65.

F.U.N.? OK, I have to mention that this legacy card highlights one of the many flaws with the new card design, as it has THE ENTIRELY WRONG FIGURE in the illustration. But this is an otherwise perfectly F.U.N. pick for a legacy that takes an old classic that never quite worked right and makes it a little more viable.

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L039b PETER THE HUNTER
(What If, 2017)

THEN: At the start of the game, this weird alternate version of Peter Parker could spawn four semi-autonomous Kraven family bystanders that carried each other and had a range of useful powers. For 90 points, he was interesting to play aggressively, since he could heal to top dial and avoid being KOed if he racked up his own KOs of enemies 50 points or higher. Or, alternately, you could stash him on the Sideline and replace an in-game Spider-Man or Kraven the Hunter.

NOW: Each of his pogs are generated one at a time as FREE, and they don’t get their semi-autonomy or Carry skills. He also drops his SIDELINE ACTIVE trait and his heal-via-KOs trait. All this loss leads to his cost plummeting to 50. His gains? He adds Spider-Man Ally and Sinister Syndicate TAs — where before he had none — and the Syndicate keyword as well to his original Animal, SpideyFam and Warrior keywords. And his new “Please End This” trait allows him to rack up Mission Points every turn equal to his Trophy tokens. But…

F.U.N.? …Oh, the new card design strikes again: Petey here is missing a whole trait that tells how he even GETS Trophy tokens. The designers got so concerned with non-essential stuff like the (too-large) picture and the WHOLLY UNNECESSARY DIAL on the (front of the) card (instead of the back where it belongs), they overlooked ACTUAL VITAL info like this.

(Errata that finally published 3/16/2023 reads: “KILLED MY GREATEST ENEMIES… AND CLOSE FRIENDS: When Peter the Hunter or a Kravinoff bystander KO’s an opposing character, after resolutions turn Peter the Hunter to click #1 and give him a Trophy token. // When Peter the Hunter would be KO’d, you may instead remove a Trophy token and turn him to his last non-KO click. Protected: Pulse Wave.” But it never should have been necessary … and it’s the worst errata this game has ever needed.)

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L040 SPIDER-MAN
(Ultimates, 2004)

THEN: Leap/Climb used to be handed out like candy to Spider-Man figs — bad-tasting candy. But at least Backpack Spidey here was inexpensive: just 31 points! Super Senses could protect him while he waited to push and hit with the heavy object he was likely holding. Later, the 15-point Pounce feat made him a more potent threat.

NOW: They gave him the wild card status this Rookie version needed to be as playable as the Veteran from the set. He also gets a trait allowing him to gain one of a themed team’s keywords and join up to not break theme. Finally, he has trait Perplex that, if he targets an enemy, allows him to copy the target’s printed AV and DV until the next turn … soooo mayyyybe he can survive that turn waiting to hit with the object or terrain he’s holding.

F.U.N.? While it’s great that he can cheat onto themed teams with ease, since those themed teams aren’t as important anymore, he doesn’t seem super for being basically the same cost as before. (I wonder why they didn’t pick the 042 Veteran version, which was one of my favorites of 2004’s figures, instead.)

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L048 FROG-MAN
(Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

THEN: An old favorite of this site. Here’s what we said about Froggy then:

His trait to deal himself free horizontal or vertical 4-square knock back can lengthen his already impressive 10 Leap/Climb, and careful positioning can enable him to deal free knock back to friend and foe alike. That enemy [shooter] perched on the roof turning the map into his personal killbox? Send Frog-Man next to him with L/C, then knock the sniper to the ground!

NOW: He gets Sidestep that lets him knock back an enemy in a direction of his choice afterward. Also, via the same trait, he and adjacent pals can’t be knocked back. A second trait gives him Force Blast, both normal and as FREE, along with a rider that lets him token up a character who didn’t get knocked the usual full 3 squares. He adds the Armor and Avengers keywords to his original Spider-Man Family and also gets the Spider-Man TA where he once had none. Now costs 30 points, down from 35.

F.U.N.? With knockback becoming dangerous again, this piece is suddenly meta again — and in a much more aggressive way than ever. We object to this on character grounds as well because there’s no way Eugene Patillo should be this good.

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L058 MORLUN
(Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

THEN: Back in 2016, this big boy was a 200-point vampire piece, starting on click 4 of his -click life and Stealing Energy with attacks. But with only Charge to move and attack and no protection against Outwit or penetrating damage, all too often he’d get dropped before he could meaningfully inflict his Slash marker on a hit target — his not-top-dial SP allowing him to pursue Animal or Spider Family notwithstanding.

NOW: The Slash mechanic is gone and he no longer gets extra healing from Animal or SpiderFam targets. Instead, he has Poison via trait and heals whenever he damages with it, similar to his Steal Energy. And he gives hit foes Imprint tokens, which allow him, via his rewritten SP, to be FREE placed next to that target. Said SP also has Phasing and Plasticity. But it’s still not top-dial and ideally, you’ll never see it. His keywords (Keywords: Animal, Brute, Cosmic, Monster, Mystical) are unchanged.

F.U.N.? It’s definitely a Fair piece, but Useful? Not really, even at his slimmed-down 150 points. With just Charge to start and no defense against Outwit or penetrating damage across most of his dial, he still might not ever work.

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L087 CARNAGE
(Ultimates, 2004)

THEN: The very first iteration of Carnage was also the worst ever. At a fairly weighty 87 points, he lacked moving attack powers and depended on Leap/Climb to get in position — or the help of a Telekinesis ally (or the Pounce feat, a set later). At least he had BCF for solid damage potential, and his Toughness to take a light hit. (Back then, Perplex didn’t work on your own defense.) Later Incap did nothing but probably bloat his cost some 20 points, I reckon. No team ability, either.

NOW: Kletus here gets Spider-Man TA, to start. Trait #1, “Now It’s a Party!” gives him +1 AV and DV for each adjacent foe and he can attack them ALL at once — with separate Blades rolls if he’s using that power. His other trait gives Steal Energy that heals off each hurt character instead just a blanket 1 healing.

F.U.N.? That Incap in the middle still does him no favors, but at 50 points, he’s pretty OK to field on your Monster and Symbiote teams (though he loses his old Brute and Martial Artist keywords — neither of which quite fit him, IMO).

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L088 SPIDER-MAN
(Clobbering’ Time, 2003)

THEN: Uniques like this were the early game’s version of Super Rare figures. But they weren’t always very good. Even at the time, this six-armed Spider-Man was terrible: No moving attack, just Leap/Climb. Single-target Incap. A poor 4 range. Weak 16 or lower DV … without even Super Senses to help on the back half of his 8-click life. Flurry shows up there but his AV sinks to 8 and below, not even good for the lower stats of the day. Two clicks of Outwit wrap things up, but 6 AV and 12 DV — and lacking even the usual wild card TA to help him — make it nothing but a signal that his 67 points are ripe to take.

NOW: He gets a trait or two to make him playable at last. First is “Becoming More of a Monster,” which gives Steal Energy and allows him to roll FOUR dice instead of 2 in attacks, and use the best two for the result — AFTER Prob Controls and dice replacements. Then he’s got “Don’t Look at Me!,” a Shape Change that allows him to place in an adjacent square after resolutions. Tops it all off with Improved Movement: Elevated and addition of the Spider-Man Ally TA to give him an extra layer of rollout potential.

F.U.N.? He’s still not good, but at just 40 points, he can afford to be just OK. Writing this convinced me to seek this old figure out — and add it to Monster and Spider-Man Family keyword teams.

———

L096 SPIDER-MAN
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: Another Unique from the early game, this first iteration of Miguel O’Hara was not great: No moving attack, just Leap/Climb that wasn’t even good with the Pounce feat because he had Blades/Claws/Fangs, which wasn’t compatible. A poor 4 range with Incap later, and without Super Senses to help on the back half of his 8-click life. Two clicks of Outwit wrap things up, but 7 AV and 14 DV make it a signal that his 92 points are ripe to take. But at least this time he had the usual wild card TA to maybe help him Outwit from 10 squares away — and the Willpower to help him run to cover.

NOW: No longer a wild card, this 65-point redo has a couple of new traits. First is one that gives him Vision tokens when he’s damaged by an enemy. He can spend them all the first time he faces KO and heal the amount. His other trait is Prob Control that he can use as many additional times as he has Vision tokens — and immediately boosts all his stats until his next turn, helping his poor old combat values. Keeps his old Exiles, Future and Scientist keywords and adds Spider-Man Family.

F.U.N.? This is a not-bad update. It’s a pure F.U.N. card for a deserving top-tier sculpt.

———

LG004 CARNAGE
(The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: One of the set’s many colossal booster pulls, this retaliation piece became an absolute meta game staple. Forget his higher costs of 300 or 200 or 100* points: For just 10, he could FREE ‘port across the board via Colossal Retaliation and attack opponents, then spawn a Symbiote pog just as annoying as he was for free, without condition. It was gross and made sightings of this huge piece in multiples commonplace at competitive events.

* (Well, OK, his 100+ point levels were also kinda playable because, unlike nearly every other retaliator, he also had Colossal Retaliation on his top dials instead of just the end. Again, gross. AND with “Planet of the Symbiotes” he could pay a few points extra in construction to START with the pog(s). SUPER gross.)

NOW: “Planet of the Symbiotes” now nerfs enemy Super Senses -1 — even after he’s KO’d, if he’s 225, 125 or 75 points. But he still does it even at 10 points. Speaking of that price point — because it’s THE price point — his retaliation SP now gives Blades/Claws/Fangs — which he HAS to use during his retal maneuver now. But if he hits with it, he can HEAL HALF THE BCF ROLL PAST HIS START LINE. And his other SP, “Colossal Indifference,” is still a STOP click — but no longer prevents him from normal attacking smaller foes. He gains the new Symbiote keyword along with his old Monster and Maximum Carnage keywords.

F.U.N.? The one nod to possible balance is that he no longer generates a Symbiote during Colossal Retaliation. He’s good enough by himself. But Clixed Off podcaster Daniel Powell assured me that this new version is even better than the old, which is why the card and figure was commanding such high prices during prerelease. This Carnage is NOT F.U.N. He’s gonna be a problem.

———

Sigh. Legacy cards are always such a mixed bag.

Legacy cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Avengers Forever)

November 18, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

In principle, legacy cards are a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play, rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

In practice? Well, let’s see. Here’s the latest batch, from 2022’s Avengers Forever set.

———

L006 Black Knight
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: Dane Whitman here was nearly as basic a Charging Exploit piece as you could get. Sure, he had the then-new Transporter Move And Attack ability (Hypersonic Speed, but only when not adjacent to enemies and at -2 Attack) but for 77 points, you could and would play something better, even in those pre-card days.

NOW: He gains the Defenders TA along with his original Avengers and a trio of traits:

1. Hypersonic Speed proper;
2. Super Senses and Combat Reflexes;
3. A complicated one called “Honor Bound Not Kill” that first gives him Close Combat Expert but also grants bonuses for hitting but not KOing enemies (token removal or healing or Mercy tokens, which up his AV).

F.U.N.? He’s a 50-point Charge piece. His Exploit Weakness notwithstanding, he’s not a scary enemy. So we’ll rate him pure F.U.N.: Useful and Nifty enough but Friendly for casual play as well.

———

L012 Hawkeye
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: 84 points was his base cost, but sky cycle Hawkeye was always played with the powerful Trick Shot feat allowing him to shoot through friends and enemies — and defeat the far-more-impenetrable-back-then Stealth — with impunity from 10 range. He was also a Transporter.

NOW: Busted down to 50 points, he gains a trait “Training the Thunderbolts” that mimics the now completely defunct T-Bolts Alternate Team Ability feat that used to go on every Avengers team if possible. He also has a “Trick Shots From The Sky Cycle” trait that boosts his AV and DV each time he hits — and when he maxes on those modifications, he can pick a power on his card to use.

F.U.N.? It encourages aggressive play in a neat way, without veering into game-breaking territory. We like it.

———

L024 Black Panther
(Avengers, 2007)

THEN: I wrote pretty effusively about this 92-point piece when he was new, especially in comparison with the BPs we’d had before:

He’s the great fighter he’s supposed to be, with an 11 Attack Value that never slides below 9, where the Infinity Challenge vet PEAKED. His three Blades/Claws/Fangs slots aren’t all front-loaded but are spread down the dial. He’s as much a thinker as a fighter, with double the Outwit (4 clicks in total) and Perplex everywhere else, including the opening slot. Like the IC vet, he lacks natural Stealth and instead has a full dial of Leap/Climb. But he’s a wildcard, giving him much more flexibility. Defensively, he sports Toughness and Super Senses to give him life in the fray, and his lone bare click, his last, spikes back up to a 17 value.

But a lot that was good about him — feats, 10-range Outwit, Perplex on his damage, Leap/Climb, wild card TA — has suffered or vanished altogether over the many years since summer 2007. So he could use an update.

NOW: Though slimmed down to 60 points, he gains a version of the classic “Out of the Shadows” SP in a trait (if he’s in hindering, FREE place him within 4 squares and line of fire) and another trait “Diplomatic Immunity” that keeps him from being shot at or Outwitted if he’s already been attacked that turn. He also gets Stealth.

But … he lost the Avengers keyword somehow.

F.U.N.? Seriously, how does a longtime Avenger in a set called Avengers Forever who had the Avengers keyword on the original figure not get the keyword?

———

L033 Tigra
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: Stealth + Blades + Super Senses was what 54 points often bought you.

NOW: Her nondescript dial is enhanced — and lengthened — by her “Nine Lives” trait that spends up to nine of her Lives tokens to heal up that many clicks.

F.U.N.? Yes. A simple, svelte upgrade well worth the 40 point price.

———

L035 Jarvis
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)

THEN: He boosted the ID card meta at the time, sporting also a trait that kept him from damage while next to an Avenger. Granting fellow Avengers IM/IT:Hindering rounded out his utility for 40 points.

NOW: He lost all ID card interaction in favor of a new trait allowing him to clear out terrain markers within 4 squares. That’s OK, I guess? He kept a version of his damage resistance when adjacent to Avengers, but it’s no longer Protected: Outwit.

F.U.N.? I suppose? The new version loses a LOT of utility at only 5 points shaved.

———

L036 Agent Coulson
(Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, 2015)

THEN: Agent Coulson had Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Energy Explosion on his SP, the latter of which was not good on him at the time. He also had a SP with Enhancement and Leadership on 2 figs instead of one. But all this cost 75 points, and even his Field Team Backup trait giving corner-case Prob couldn’t help make him playable.

NOW: He’s slashed to 45 points. His Attack SP is Incap+damage instead, now, and his damage SP is Outwit+Leadership, with the ability to generate a SHIELD Operative from the set. But his real worth is the Sideline Active trait that brings him into the game from free if a 50-plus-point SHIELD Leadership roll works.

F.U.N.? Definitely as a main force fig. As a sideliner, he is potential meta material.

———

L039 Cosmo
(Avengers Infinity, 2018)

THEN: I wrote a bit about him when I used to collect and play Guardians of the Galaxy figs.

He’s prime TK for the team. He also bears Outwit (and immunity to same) with IT:Hindering. Mind Control (with +1 AV against multitargets) is hampered a little by 6 range, as is his second damage power to shut down POWER actions. Fortunately, he doesn’t need LOF for that SP. His last click is Charge with 12 AV and BCF and Battle Fury. … His short, unarmored dial is his one weakness, especially for [70] points.

NOW: He’s absolutely slashed in price to 45 points and gets much more useful SPs for the savings. His first still grants basic Mind Control, but … well, read it.

CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER OF K.N.O.W.H.E.R.E. AND I SAID NO!! Mind Control. // POWER: Choose a standard power. Until your next turn, Cosmo has “Opposing characters within range can’t use the chosen power.”

His other SP, which doesn’t appear until clicks 2-4, is Outwit that makes the target Immobile. It’s harder to use because he can’t get to those clicks without help. And I suppose it’s why he’s not more points.

F.U.N.? Nah. Being able to quasi-Outwit potentially a whole team without an attack or even line of fire is pretty busted. This is a meta piece that will be a little difficult to deal with.

———

L040 Captain America
(Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: He made Heroclixin’ first Top 10 of the Year list, back in late 2009:

Cap seems a bit of a disappointment until you note his special power “Deflection Trajectory.” Only walls and indoor blocking terrain block his line of fire. This means he can shoot:

past characters, friend or foe (take that, Sharpshooters)

around buildings

from the middle of a roof to the ground, or vice versa

at Stealthed characters

at characters using the Camouflage feat(!)

through Barrier(!!)

Improved Targeting wasn’t really a thing back then and so he was extra special, even at a slightly weighty 72 points for how otherwise sparse his dial is.

NOW: He’s just 50 points and his SP loses the IT:Outdoor Blocking he used to have. He gains a trait that heals a friendly character 2 clicks when he removes an action token from them — himself included.

F.U.N.? As noted above, he’s a lot less special now. Pure F.U.N.

———

L043 Darkstar
(Captain America, 2011)

THEN: Heroclixin’ noted her as one of a new crop of characters who kinda introduced FREE Smoke Cloud to the game back in 2011. We thought it was fine on her, being a Phasing TK and Barrier piece at nearly 100 points, but could be problematic on cheaper figs.

NOW: Cut WAY down from 98 to 50 points, she becomes that problematic cheaper fig. Her old SP granting Toughness and Barrier now gives her the reducer and the ability to turn up to half her Smoke into blocking, a la Molecule Man.

F.U.N.? Along with Stealth, she is a piece that could very well make the meta once Molecule Man retires. Marginally F.U.N. in our opinion.

———

L044 Ursa Major
(Captain America, 2011)

THEN: Wait, forget what we said about Black Knight earlier: THIS was as basic and unremarkable a Charging brick as you could get, despite existing well into the carded fig era. A bloated 102 points gave nothing interesting — you played him because you were running some sort of theme or not at all.

NOW: He slims down to a much more appropriate 75 points with a trait boosting his DV +2 if he’s in 6 squares of enemies and his AV +2 if he’s adjacent to multiple foes.

F.U.N.? Yes. Unbearably so. (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

———

L048 Kang the Conqueror
(Supernova, 2006)

THEN: I mostly liked him back in the day.

At nearly 200 points, a 9-click dial with only one click of starting Invulnerability is a bit of a disappointment. But most of those clicks are excellent, and a 13 attack (WITH Running Shot!) in today’s game shouldn’t be passed up.

NOW: He loses 74 points of cost because the old point formula got COMPLETELY jettisoned some years ago, obviously. He gains a “Master of Time” trait that gains him Time tokens on hits that he can rack up to boost distinct values or spend (up to 3) to heal up. So that opening 10/13/18/4 can become 11/14/19/5 when he has 4+ Time tokens.

F.U.N.? Seems OK to us!

———

L050 MODOK
(Captain America, 2011)

THEN: We had F.U.N. with him leading MODOK’s 11 back in 2011, though he’s overpriced at 160 points to just be a flying PPBing brick. Sure, he had a Pulse Wave SP on his back half that could selectively not hit his chosen keyword allies, but his soft defense at that point kept him from using it very often.

NOW: In addition to keeping the above PW SP, he gains a lot of new tricks. First, he can carry now, which is important for 2) traited Leadership and Mastermind, the former of which can generate minion pogs that 3) gain the AIM keyword. 4) AIM characters rack up Mission Points each turn instead of dealing damage if you like.

All this for exactly HALF the original cost, though. WizKids is wild.

F.U.N.? This piece looks F.U.N. as hell.

———

L067 Rick Jones
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)

THEN: The first bonafide chase piece to legacy’d, Rick was also a bonafide meta figure back in the day. He started by spawning a Captain America pog, one of three bystanders on his card he could send into battle while staying safe in the back, generating a different when/if the previous one was lost. He also had 10 range TK/PPB, so he could get them into the fray with relative ease. Finally, he had a DOUBLE POWER that could token up every foe in the game under certain circumstances.

NOW: He can still spawn those bystanders on his card and send them into battle while staying safe in the back. He loses the TK and PPB for 10 range Incap that deals damage. All for an economical 45 points, down from 75.

F.U.N.? We hate that chase figures are getting legacy cards. That said, not being able to push at will to get to Perplex keeps him in the F.U.N. zone for me.

———

L084 Thor
(Supernova, 2006)

THEN: At 235 points, he was always an overcosted pile of a piece. Yes, 12 AV was VERY good and rare in late 2006. 16 DV was NOT, even with Impervious. So he was highly dependent on his Running Shot and 8 range and 5 damage to get that first blast in, or he was getting Outwitted and swarmed down.

NOW: In addition to a massive three-figure cost cut to just 125 points, he gains the all-important Cosmic Energy TA to avoid the Outwit threat. He also gets a pair of traits that essentially allow him to throw a Mjolnir marker at a foe (this is either a CLOSE or RANGE) for +1 damage, then at the end of the next turn, call it back to him, wrecking blocking and enemies in the way.

F.U.N.? That hammer move is pretty Nifty. Time will tell if it’s too Useful to be Fair — that’s an ability to attack for huge damage every single turn.

———

In a pretty cool move, WizKids packed each legacy card with Team Up Cards as well. But this isn’t a review of those. Maybe in a future feature.

Legacy cards … F.U.N. or nah? (X OF SWORDS)

August 8, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

In principle, legacy cards are a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play, rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

In practice? Well, let’s see. After a a short break with the Disney Plus release, they’re back in X of Swords.

———

L020 Fabian Cortez
(X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga, 2019)

THEN: Able to boost an adjacent pal’s stats for a term, at the cost of maybe dealing them a click, Fabe was almost pure support. SP Enhancement and Leadership was maybe the better use for him since the above trait was a POWER action. He also had a “Mutant Messiah” shared trait that allowed the likes of, say, Magneto to Mastermind to his followers.

NOW: He loses “Mutant Messiah” and his stat boost is now only limited to Attack Value and the chances of harming his ally are a bit lower. But it’s no longer a POWER so it’s easier to use. He gains Empower in his SP. And he’s a Mission Points character, racking up possibly 5 at a time — but only if he KOs a pal with his Overload trait.

F.U.N.? YES! It’s much more playable AND more comic accurate. The “Messiah” trait never quite fit him due to the character’s not-exactly-loyal nature.

———

L026 Leech
(Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

THEN: He was hell of a nerf piece, barring all Power Actions within 6 squares. Park him in Stealth (harder to deal with in 2011 than now) and hinder friend and foe.

NOW: He’s both more limited and more potent, keeping all adjacent characters from using any powers from any source. Easier for foes to get around but easier for you to weaponize.

F.U.N.? He’s a lot more comic accurate than before, which rates him high on the F.U.N. factor for us. But this is also a potentially mega-meta piece, especially in Silver Age, where he’s all asset and low liability due to his having a 3-point ID card with his name on it.

———

L039 Havok
(Mutant Mayhem, 2005)

THEN: At 44 points, this old vet version of Alex Summers was just a TK away from dealing a massive 4 damage, making him one of the giant-killers of his day.

NOW: He only drops a few points to 40. His gain: +3 attack if he hasn’t been moved or placed this turn. New keywords of Avengers and Starjammers round out his modest upgrades.

F.U.N.? He’ll take a little more finesse than before (no TK to get the AV bonus) but he’s still a giant-killer.

———

L042 Unus the Untouchable
(Mutations and Monsters, 2007)

THEN: An early Special Powered piece, he boasted a strong defense SP (Impervious AND Super Senses) but little else. His other SP just dealt knockback in close actions but without Charge or another TKer besides himself to get him in position, he’d never use it. A waste of 90 points nearly every time.

NOW: He slims way down to 50 points and his losses are zero: His defense SP keeps the ImperviSenses and adds a once-a-turn rider where if a foe would move or place into his 4 range, on a 1-3 d6 roll, they … can’t. And then his other SP just becomes KNOCKBACK — no qualifications needed.

F.U.N.? Yes, this piece is actually playable now. Could even have some minor meta use, but not enough to make him un-F.U.N.

———

L046 Warlock
(Wolverine and the X-Men, 2013)

THEN: An overcosted mess of a piece. He had a nifty pick-a-power SP, but with no move+attack ability and really short 4 range, most of his options (limited to the Attack powers) were worthless for him. He also had traited Perplex with an option of +2 for himself and fellow New Mutants (except damage). Oh and then there’s his weird Dune Buggy trait to permanently turn into a vehicle that could Ram … which I suppose was intended to make up for his lack of move+attack. Not great for 164 points at ALL.

NOW: He gets absolutely SLASHED in price to just 80 points. What’s he lose for the savings? First, his Perplex, sorta: it only works on friendlies with a shared keyword and the +2 is gone. He also loses his attack-power-picking SP and his transform into a car trait. But despite costing less than half his original weight, he still makes gains: He can use ANY one power on his Perplex target’s card (including his own) and his SP grants him Giant Reach: d6.

F.U.N.? Yes, and actually effective now.

———

L051 Banshee
(Deadpool, 2014)

THEN: Super overpowered! Like Leech earlier in this list, he could nerf powers up to 6 squares away (rendering all reducers to just Toughness and nixing Super Senses altogether) but only foes, not friends, who could take on the weakened target while he was safe behind a wall or something. Then he dealt extra damage to those who normally have better armor — not that his Penetrating/Psychic Blast even cared about most. And should he actually take damage (either pushing/X-Men TA/getting hit), he got an attack SP allowing him to Pulse Wave through walls. All this plus Improved Targeting: Elevated and PD TA, too? At 98 points, he was one of the more unbalanced pieces ever made.

NOW: He still bars Super Senses but now his sonic trait just keeps enemies from reducing damage to 0 and he doesn’t deal the extra damage when he attacks them. His SP is improved to deal full printed Pulse Wave damage instead of just 1 like everyone else. Points shave down to 75.

F.U.N.? Not really — he’s still in the conversation for being a top meta piece. (IT:Elevated is really top tier on ANY figure.) But at least he’s a lot better balanced than before.

———

L051 Iceman (Uncanny X-Men, 2016)

THEN: A 110-point SR who saw much meta play with his Frozen Solid trait that basically gave him a no-cost close attack on a target he moved through. So he could get two attacks a turn (vs. different targets, though), then make the second of the targets Immobile and unable to act for a turn. Oh, and he also had Incap-lite as well (damage SP) and Barrier+Regen (defense SP).

NOW: Mostly the same, except he no longer paralyzes that 2nd hit target but keeps them from clearing tokens until his Ice Wall token is gone. He also gains Toughness in his defense SP along with FREE Barrier on top of his normal Barrier. And he only costs 60 points with all these upgrades???

F.U.N.? That is WAY too undercosted for this piece to still be this good.

———

L085 Forge
(Sinister, 2006)

THEN: From the pre-card age, HeroClix’s first take on the inventive mutant was anemic even at the time, with then-average 9AV Running Shot but zero defense power to start. His Outwit worked from 10 squares but 84 points is a lot to ask. He could push to click 2 for Perplex (which wasn’t as good then, anyway) or, in mid-dial, become a Support piece before ending on Leadership. Not great at all.

NOW: He’s just 45 points, for a couple of new traits. One allows him to FREE remove objects 1 or fewer squares away to gain Tinker tokens, which he can FREE spend to boost his or adjacent friendly stats other than damage +2.

F.U.N.? Yes? He’s still not that good, though.

———

L129 Magneto
(Infinity Challenge, 2002)

THEN: From the very first HC set, he was nothing but TK and Leadership and a bit of ESD to protect him for his hefty 103 points. (Well, OK, he has 4 damage to start.)

NOW: He gets a couple of traits: First, one that grants him Mastermind for defense and for offense, a +2 attack and damage when attacking Armor or Robot targets — and a FREE shot at enemies with those keywords. Second trait gives Brotherhood of Mutants allies the X-Men symbol. He also gains the X-Men symbol himself along with his original Brotherhood one. And he only cost 50 points!

F.U.N.? Yes, very flavorful. Heroclixin board member Chadd wishes he had this.

———

LG01 Sentinel Mark II
(Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

THEN: Despite his fearsome 300 point cost, this anti-mutant robot was never reliable. Its first SP required rolling doubles. Its next SPs in mid-dial, required A) KOing a foe — hard to do with just 10, 9 or 8 AV — and B) it to take fire to boost its DV … which sank about is much as it rose.

NOW: At top dial, it still has the same doubles-needed damage SP. That’s the only bad news. The good: It’s exactly half the cost at 150 points, and even better, its other SPs now populate a new 100-point start line. Those SPs are also markedly improved: one grants Running Shot and Force Blast — the latter with a FREE option — and the defense grants ESD and Toughness instead of a totally conditional stat boost. Add to that a free beginning-of-turn move similar to other Sentinels past and a new trait that heals it when it KOs targets, and you have a solid upgrade.

Oh, I didn’t mention the 30-POINT start line, which offers Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Invulnerability and Perplex for such low investment. Sure it’s only 9 AV, but still.

F.U.N.? Yes. Sentinels’ Great Size makes them easy targets. But you’ll never feel completely outclassed when using them.

———

LG02 Sentinel Mark V
(Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

gxG02

THEN: This more advanced model of Sentinel worked better with an improved Incap SP (made a hit target immobile or gave it 2 tokens) and more solid defenses. But it also cost 400 points and its lower 200 level was an average Charge piece and the 8 range isn’t as good. Its Outwit SP that allowed it to counter multiple targets if they had 2 tokens (which worked well when it the Incap SP was also active) was pretty OK, though.

NOW: Like its Mark II brother, its cost is halved, with even lower price points of 125 and 40, respectively. It also shares the free move trait at beginning of turn and the heal traits. But it loses the multi-target Outwit in its Speed SP in favor of a more aggressive Running Shot + Plasticity + 3-square tie-up zone combo. More importantly, it gets starting click access to this SP on the 125-point line, along with its new Attack SP, which is like old-school Incap but better, because A) it works with ANY range attack, B) it gives Immobile and C) it deals 1 penetrating if they can’t be tokened.

Best is that all these powers are available on the 40-point line, too — also with Enhancement.

F.U.N.? Yes. Sentinels’ Great Size makes them easy targets. But you’ll never feel completely outclassed when using them.

———

LG03 Apocalypse
(Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

THEN: Apocalypse writ large was kind of a point sink. Sure, he couldn’t be Outwit and had traited Shape Change, but penetrating damage could and did tear through his dial. His Speed SP “You Appear More Worthy,” with which he could swap an adjacent wounded enemy for one of his teammates, was clunky and almost impossible to pull off, since he was 500 points and likely to either be alone on the force (either from taking up all the room or outlasting his allies — or both).

NOW: His max price got slashed to just 300, and along with his he loses a few steps. His Outwit is gone (replaced with the more team-friendly Empower, Enhancement and Prob Control) while his defense SP lost its old Invulnerability for Combat Reflexes and Energy Shield/Deflection. So he’s got a big soft spot middial. But it almost doesn’t matter: He can generate Horsemen Bystanders at the beginning of the game and when he rolls Leadership AND every time his dial passes a new starting line (or via a POWER action middial). Those pogs work well with his new traited Mastermind (usable at his range, too, not just adjacent!) and Leadership to go with his Shape Change — and, of course, his svelte price points of 300, 250, 200 and 100. He also gains the Deity and Warrior keywords.

F.U.N.? The pogs are his classic original 1980s X-Factor run Horsemen. That’s super F.U.N. But better still is that he can actually be played on a 300-point team!

———

Hopefully all these cards will be readily available.

Legacy Cards … F.U.N. or nah? (War of the Realms)

April 28, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

Legacy cards are clearly here to stay. So far they’ve been a way to:

Bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play with a twist (L038 Thing, for example)
Make some old figs that never really worked right work better (L056 Hawkeye, L052 Human Torch)
Completely change the play style of some old figs (Ultimates Captain America)
Bring some now-unplayable-due-to-game-changes pieces into playability (X-Plosion Destiny)
Rework retired elements into the modern game (L003 Lockjaw’s nu-style “LAMP) or squeeze out retired elements of a piece’s design (L052 Cyclops’ ID card traits, for example)

Mostly they’ve been pure F.U.N., until the Fantastic Four storyline cards brought in a couple of truly meta entries.

What now of the War of the Realms?

———

L016 Piledriver (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: A simple Masters of Evil brick who could knock back foes who had Charge and Combat Reflexes — both of which used to grant immunity to KNOCKBACK — and then run as many squares as the knock back dealt. He also had a quasi-Stealth from beyond 4 squares if he was in debris. At 75 points, he was overpriced for the utility — especially lacking Indomitable to defray the self-harm of the Masters of Evil team ability.

NOW: He gets a trait similar to WWE team ability: Can’t be Outwit or shot when on his top click or when he’s within 3 squares of debris — which he can make in spades with IM:Destroy Blocking. And if he’s next to a fellow Wrecking Crew ally and an enemy, he takes max 2 damage from attacks — which works fantastically well with the new MOE TA. All for 25 points less!

F.U.N.? Yes, but he actually might also be low-tier meta, especially paired with Mission Points Wrecker (War of the Realms 043b). But for some reason, this legacy card is the scarcest of them all, so good luck using it.

———

L018 Fandral (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: For 101 points, he had +1 AV for each other Warriors Three on the map. Combine with a Flurry+Leap/Climb SP, he could eventually deal out some hurt if his Invulnerability held out. Top dial Outwit helped.

NOW: Shaved to 75 points, if he starts with exactly three Warriors Three on the map, this time he grants a game-long +1AV to ALL three of them. His SP is upgraded to Charge+Flurry+IM:Elevated. And traited Sidestep!

F.U.N.? Lots.

———

L023 Beta Ray Bill (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: Boring, basic Running Shot for 159 points. No traits or SPs or even a team ability.

NOW: He gets the new Guardians TA, SAFEGUARD: Poison (for his soft middle dial) and can reduce penetrating damage. He also bears “Korbonite Resolve,” which allows him to take an attack meant for an ally.

F.U.N.? Reasonably. Nowhere near meta at his new cost of 125.

———

L032 Bulldozer (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: Like Piledriver, he had quasi-Stealth from beyond 4 squares if he was in debris. His SP allows him to auto-breakaway when Charging. But also like Piledriver, he was 75 points and no good, even with Masters of Evil TA’s Colossal Stamina.

NOW: See Piledriver above. He gets the same trait abilities. His SP amps up to full-speed Charge if he’s on debris, plus KNOCKBACK.

F.U.N.? He’s 60 points now, so not quite meta. But yes, F.U.N.

———

L034 Hogun (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: Like Fandral, he got +1 AV from each other Warriors Three on the map (even if there were four or maybe two). He also had a mid-dial SP that buffed his damage +1 for having an action token.

NOW: Like nu-Fandral, he gets Sidestep and gives all three (and ONLY three) of the Warriors Three a game-length buff: their damage dealt can’t be reduced below 1. His SP is now Close Combat Expert and Exploit Weakness. Cost is down from 96 points to just 75.

F.U.N.? Yes, but not as good as his brothers. His card also seems to be in low supply for some reason.

———

L057 Thor and Loki (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: We wrote about this big duo figure — then considered the best — back in the day:

They start with Running Shot and 10 range … They bear Invulnerability through a trait so it can’t get countered and Shape Change to avoid attacks altogether.

They’re Mystic, so opponents won’t want to target them much, anyway.

They’re Indomitable, so they can push immediately next turn.

They’ve got Perplex to make their ensuing Duo Attack deal out a crippling 11 clicks, potentially.

They’re single-base fliers, so TK can yank ’em back or send ’em forth, depending, and they won’t have much problem maneuvering themselves.

Their AV never dips below 10. Their DV, 16. Damage is usually 4 or better.

Their only drawback is the DV SP, which saddles them with the range-killing Battle Fury. It also gives Exploit Weakness, so we’re over it.

NOW: Yikes, they used to cost 362 points! That’s chopped down more than 100 to 250.

They lose a LOT more than points. No more Duo Attack, Running Shot, Perplex, Super Strength, Shape Change, Exploit, Battle Fury or Quake. But a third of those aren’t any good for them anyway, and they got this:

A pair of bystanders on their card from whom they can select all their powers: Thor’s Charge, Quake, Reflexes and CCE -or- Loki’s Running Shot, Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Energy Shield/Deflection and Prob Control. Soooo … not really lost that much.

Standard powers on traits aren’t proof against Outwit anymore, so they get SAFEGUARDed from it via Cosmic Energy (and Avengers TA) along with Mystics with an upgrade to Impervious.

They also gain a bunch of reworked SPs granting Incap, FREE attack, FREE Barrier (1 square), Mind Control, Sidestep, Energy Explosion, Super Senses and, to their Outwit clicks, free healing when they use it.

Oh, and they have IM:Destroy and IT:Hindering+Elevated, TOO?

F.U.N.? I think they still get too outactioned to be competitive, so this is a squarely F.U.N. tentpole to try out.

———

L059 Volstagg (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: Somehow this big boi got the same +1 AV as his other HoT bros. At least he distinguished himself by being Impervious instead of merely Invuln. His SP made it hard to break away from his immune-to-knockback bod.

NOW: Like his bros, he gains Sidestep. His buff to the Warriors: +1DV for the game. His SP is rewritten to Plasticity and Immobile on enemy turns — essentially the same.

F.U.N.? Much more than the original.

———

L060 Thunderball (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: The smartest of the Wrecking Crew, for 100 points he brought Outwit to the team — and his Enchanted Ball & Chain equipment that gave him full damage Quake. He also had the quasi-Stealth from beyond 4 squares when in debris. His SP: Giant Reach 3 (swinging that ball) that -1 the stats of hit targets.

NOW: See Piledriver and Bulldozer. He loses his free equipment, though. To partly make up for it, he gets the same SP as before but with Quake added.

F.U.N.? At 75 points, he’s still the priciest of the new Crew. Definitely squarely in the F.U.N. zone.

———

L061 Thor’s Mighty Chariot (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: Wow, he cost FIVE HUNDRED POINTS. For kinda nothing but Passenger:2, and Charge, and short-lived Defend+Impervious (but defend for WHO? He’s 500 points), and a few other SPs that really weren’t very good because his stats were poor or he had no defense.

NOW: He’s only 350 at most. Instead of giving Force Blast, his speed SP extends his Charge further down his dial. A weak “Drag” SP got reworked into a direct path MOVE that attacks multiple foes. And he can’t be Outwit thanks to Cosmic Energy.

F.U.N.? He’s still not good, so yeah. But at least he can now be played at 250 (so friends can use his before-now-wasted Enhancement/Defend/Passenger:Whatever on normal-sized teams) or 75, where his Energy Explosion SP (which pumps his anemic 9AV by his targets’ combined action tokens) also acts as a quasi-Incap when he misses.

———

L065 Valkyrie (Avengers Defenders War, 2017)

THEN: Brunnhilde here could Sidestep into position, then use “Aragorn, Charge!” to POWER move in a direct path through a bunch of people and slash them ALL, friend or foe, with Blades/Claws/Fangs, one at a time. She also had a Defenders TA-related trait that could heal pals.

NOW: She lost the “hit everyone” ability in favor of just picking one foe. But she adds the new Guardians team ability and IM:Characters (instead of only when using the above trait) for 25 points less than her original 75.

F.U.N.? Very.

———

LG001 Surtur (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: A ridiculously meta Colossal Retaliator at 25 points who dealt 1 penetrating damage to every foe within 2 squares AFTER his retal (even if he didn’t even make the attack for loophole-y reasons that have since been closed for Silver Age play). Oh, and a solo target couldn’t use defense powers against his attack. He had some other powers on his higher lines of 550, 350 or 150 points, but no one cared.

NOW: He’s lost his retaliation skills. So maybe his attack SP matters now (only seen on his 500, 350 and 150 lines), gaining PPB, Precision and EE instead of the old 3-bolt EE. At those costs, damage to the enemy also can’t be fully reduced. But his old Colossal Indifference, which kept him from attacking except via Retaliation, is gone on his 25-point click. So he can be a viable fighter now — one that can still be FREE placed next to an enemy that attacked, retal style.

F.U.N.? He’s not the bag of death meta that he was, but this piece could still see some competitive play.

———

LG002 Ymir (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

THEN: The ice-based counterpart to fiery Surtur, he was never as good at their shared 25-point low cost, with a worse Colossal Retaliation (basically mass Incap without pushing? Worthless) and a vulnerability to the far more common Energy Explosion compared to Surtur’s weakness against Incap characters. On higher lines, he had a SP that was Incap plus his actual damage, so that was better. But still not great.

NOW: Unlike new Surtur, new Ymir still has actual retaliation but with actual damage this time, though it’s a POWER now and not FREE. On higher costs, he penalizes enemy speed and range the whole game.

F.U.N.? Kinda.

———

That’s got us caught up on legacy cards. The next set, Disney Plus, apparently has none. But I suppose X of Swords will more than make up for that with its buttloads of tarot-themed cards (rolls eyes).

Legacy Cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Fantastic Four Storyline)

March 26, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

Legacy cards are clearly here to stay. So far they’ve been a way to:

Bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play with a twist (L038 Thing, for example)
Make some old figs that never really worked right work better (L056 Hawkeye, L052 Human Torch)
Completely change the play style of some old figs (Ultimates Captain America)
Bring some now-unplayable-due-to-game-changes pieces back into some sort of playability (X-Plosion Destiny)

And until now, they’ve been pure F.U.N.: Nothing too strong or possibly meta.

Until now.

L044 Air-Walker (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

THEN: I rated him an honorable mention among the best of the year due to his opening Hypersonic Speed, once-excellent AV and Power Cosmic. though his low damage and poor defense for his cost lost him his spot.

NOW: Changes to powers make him a little better on top dial. But the only material changes to him personally are a MAJOR cost drop from 201 to just 125 points — with a trait that respawns him in your start zone on click #1. Wild, that point formula.

F.U.N.? Now that you can actually fit him on a team, sure.

———

L075 Dr. Doom (Clobberin’ Time, 2003)

THEN: He almost made me quit the game back when I started in 2005 thanks to Enhancement EE. But the rules got changed and, while never bad, he faded into Golden Age obscurity. Still, with a sky-high 12 AV, Perplex to aid his printed 3 damage, his old Minions of Doom wild card status and two clicks of Mastermind, he could last a good while on that top dial with the right 102 points of support to back his 198-point price.

NOW: No longer a wild card and with Perplex no more working on damage, he instead gets a cost shave to 175 and a bunch of traits centered around making up to 3 Doombot pogs (which have the same powers/stats as the old Veteran Doombot) to serve as MM fodder and Leadership tokens off Doom himself, boost his AV and DV and number of [BOLTS], and FREE KO them to heal and teleport to their last square.

F.U.N.? He’s super F.U.N. Having to hit to create Doombots keeps him from being unfair.

———

L095 Dr. Doom (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: Totally relying on his wild card status, he was generally unplayable because a bloated 186 price left him with few points to team up with. And his strong Pulse Wave numbers notwithstanding, he really wasn’t impressive stats-wise.

NOW: .He gets a couple of new traits: one that makes Mosquito pogs and the other that boosts his AV and DV against targets he and his pogs hit this game. Also drops to 125 points.

F.U.N.? Seems OK. Definitely not an overbearing piece.

———

L138 Firelord (Infinity Challenge, 2002)

THEN: With sky-high starting numbers and gameplay allowing him to carried into battle and attack right away, he was part of the S-tier meta early on. Changes to the game made him much less central, but he remained a top figure for years after retirement thanks in part to his TRASH numbers down his very long dial making him very easy to heal back into the fight.

NOW: .He only drops 7 points … a very modest discount compared to others so far. But he gains a lot: Cosmic Energy, FREE Regen and, once a game, a free attack with his printed values.

F.U.N.? That last thing is a nice nod to his original play style, but balanced in a way that it wasn’t back then. So yeah, F.U.N. indeed

———

L003 Lockjaw (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: As the “L” in “L.A.M.P.,” Lockjaw was part of a meta-defining strategy: Use the Phasing transporter Lockjaw (L) to taxi a piece bearing the Armor Piercing feat (A), the Mastermind defense power (M) and the Poison attack power (P) next to a target, then deal free damage to the target turn after turn while any enemy damage gets thrown onto the big dog’s very long dial.

NOW: He still has Passenger:1 but can carry 4 if they share a keyword, making him more of a mega taxi than ever. Moreover, keyword pals get to use Mastermind on him, so three-fourths of the LAMP strat returns! Finally, he has a great use as a tie-up piece — when he misses attacks, he immobilizes the target (thanks to his poor AV). All for 8 points less!

F.U.N.? Without Armor Piercing (think Precision Strike that also works with non-attacks), LAMP isn’t really as effective. But I daresay this is 100% a meta piece again.

———

L026 Mole Man (Galactic Guardians, 2012)

THEN: His friendly Mind Control SP with +3 AV made Monster teams viable.

NOW: The SP is changed to double target Incap … not good with his not good 9AV, even though his Incap deals penetrating damage. Better is his new trait that gives him Passenger: 6 for Monsters, even colossal ones.

F.U.N.? Mole Man usually rides out with his armies, so this is much more character accurate.

———

L021 Red Shift (Galactic Guardians, 2012)

THEN: At the time he was one of the cheapest Power Cosmic figures at 106 points. But his SP to teleport foes he damaged up to 3 squares away was never that great despite his Hypersonic Speed.

NOW: He no longer has to damage in order to ‘port targets, just hit, and it’s based on his BCF roll instead — a power that combos with HSS now. He also costs WAY less: just 60 points.

F.U.N.? Better than before, but still not much use.

———

ic141

L141 Thanos (Infinity Challenge, 2002)

THEN: “Fat Thanos” as I used to call him, had a fearsome mid-dial 15 AV but not much else to make him notable even just three or so years after his release.

NOW: .Oh brother. Not only does he shave from down to points, but he gains Cosmic Energy TA (Power Cosmic didn’t exist in the very first HeroClix set), the ability to reduce penetrating damage, and, above all, his Infinity Gem-themed trait “Behold the Ultimate Power in the Universe” that add 1 to 3 powersets of his choice each turn. It’s a lot more than I want to go through. Suffice it to say that he can always see through EVERYTHING from 10 range and hit you hard right after Mind Controlling you, maybe even after Phasing 5 squares for free. Or free heal up. And more.

F.U.N.? Not in the least. This guy is pure top tier meta, something we kinda hoped these cards would never be. Only his putrid defense numbers on his latter half make him even slightly fair.

———

Heroclixin’ supposes that because these cards are event prizes rather than being simply a little bonus for buying a brick, they were made a bit stronger. But we’re still a little disappointed that they’re not quite the pure F.U.N. their predecessors were.

Like we said, legacy cards are here to stay. Look out for our review of the 12(!) in War of the Realms.

Legacy Cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Empyre)

January 9, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

WK appears to be making these legacy cards a regular thing. It’s a neat idea.

So far WizKids has kept them balanced and F.U.N., never overbearing.

So far.

———

L064 Captain America (Ultimates, 2004)

THEN: His Ultimates team ability-bearing Experienced and Veteran versions made this unaffiliated Soldier keyword Cap a shelf-sitter even though 72 points was the cheapest of the REV by far.

NOW: He gains Avengers TA, three additional keywords (Avengers, Past, Wakanda) and a trait granting both Close Combat Expert and a FREE close attack. AND a Sideline trait allows him to swap him in if a 50-point-plus Black Panther is KO’d.

F.U.N.? Pretty darn effective at his new price of 50. Possibly meta-level. But the Black Panther interaction is really Nerdcore.

———

L035 Daredevil, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (What If, 2017)

THEN: This alternate timeline version of DD was mainly about extending SHIELD TA range. Had a Running Shot+Stealth+Sidestep SP to give it some slight combat ability.

NOW: The SP adds Charge+Flurry while shifting the Stealth to a trait to make this a proper DD fig. Otherwise identical.

F.U.N.? Yep.

———

L056 Hawkeye (Avengers, 2007)

THEN: He was awkward because his attack SP, being a POWER action, didn’t work with Running Shot, and he lacked the Willpower to truly get the most from the SP by using it after getting into position. His later Smoke Arrow SP was never much good either.

NOW: He gets a trait boosting his either his range or his AV +2 while shooting. His attack SP now grants FREE Smoke Cloud or Barrier next to hit target(s) and his later defense SP, renamed “Arrow Down The Barrel,” gives him (with his putrid DV) and teammates a good evasion roll.

F.U.N.? One wishes the trait gave a +3 AV with range shots instead. But this is a game attempt at making this poor old figure … well, LESS poor, I guess

———

L039 Joe Fixit (Incredible Hulk, 2012)

THEN: He had a couple of SPs that were interesting — and nearly useless because neither were top-dial and he rarely had opportunity to use them.

NOW: Along with a price slash from 115 to 75, he gains the same “carry the Fantastic 4, make an attack if carried by Fantastic 4” trait that some other FF figs have gotten recently. His click 2-4 damage SP is much better than the old version (he needed an object before), but still hindered because he can’t push to the power at will. His late-dial speed SP is better, too — gives him a whole attack instead of just Quake — but as said, it’s late-dial. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

F.U.N.? He’s OK. Much better priced than the original and much better costumed than the other current gray Hulk versions.

———

L045 Namor (Secret Invasion, 2008)

THEN: We wrote, “It’s literally one of our favorite versions of the Prince of Atlantis: Strong enough to be a tentpole but never quite an unfair piece.”

NOW: He’s a mix of loss and gains. He loses the All-Winner Squad keyword while gaining Cabal, Dark X-Men, and Utopia. His “Avenging Son” SP lost Flight but now he gets full-speed Charge with Flurry. His “Atlantic Rejuvenation” SP gained Invulnerability instead of just the naked Regeneration when in water it had before — and it also gives him Regen proper. Finally, his top-dial Leadership SP lost the extra actions option but adds a POWER action to generate a 50-point Dolphin Speed fig twice per game from the Sideline.

F.U.N.? Though these are all upgrades, they’re pretty modest ones. I guess his ability to bring in up to 100 additional points onto your force was reason enough to not lower his price one bit. And so he’s still not an unfair piece.

———

L017 Mockingbird (Sinister, 2006)

THEN: This Mockingbird stood out more for the bare-legged sculpt than anything, with the Vet’s 17 Reflexes DV, coupled with her Thunderbolts-feat-ready price tag, making her the choice if you had the points room. The Rookie made for cheap and mobile SHIELD TA.

NOW: She’s a SKRULL and we talked about her a while ago.

F.U.N.? Sure, but not good.

———

L052 Scarlet Witch (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

THEN: Anti-Stealth Prob Control was really good (Stealth was always “on” back then, unless you turned it off … even for your allies. Game was dumb then). Too bad it was the Vet version who did that and not this Brotherhood of Mutants piece. You only played her A) for the autonomous move that team ability used to offer on B) wildcard teams that needed it and for C) her Prob Control only if D) Destiny was retired by now or E) you needed this Prob piece to be Stealthy/shoot sometimes.

NOW: A new trait adds Phasing with FREE Force Blast after she uses it. With her 10 range, that could be semi-useful sometimes.

F.U.N.? Yeah, maybe sometimes.

———

That’s a wrap on the Empyre legacies. Next we’ll look at the Fantastic Four Storyline legacy cards, and whether they stay in the F.U.N. vein of these.

Legacy Cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Rise&Fall)

January 3, 2022 by rkjs·0 Comments

So WK has been doing these “legacy cards” that take old, retired HeroClix pieces and bring them back to Modern play with new traits and updated special powers.

So far they’ve all been perfectly F.U.N. — Friendly but Useful and definitely a Neato way to bring some old figures back into Modern and Silver play.

Let’s take a look at summer 2021’s Rise & Fall’s set.

———

L059 APOCALYPSE (Mutations And Monsters, 2007)

THEN: He was kinda the worst sort of tentpole … immobile, lacked Indomitable (which wasn’t in the game yet in 2007) and Outwit-bait. Even his long 10 range was no good when, at the time, a cheap 40-something Batman could safely turn off his reducers from 10 squares away, too, and set him up for the other 250-ish points of his team to wear him down to KO.

NOW: The inability to push is no longer a concern. More importantly, he gains Outwit immuntiy via Cosmic Energy, a bit of move+attack via Charge in his Speed SP in addition to the Phasing and Plasticity it offered before. He also gets a new Strength token trait accrued by racking up KOs that extend his Giant Reach in his Speed SP, his number of bolts in his later Attack SP (which also has Incap and PPB), and boosts his AV/DV on his end-dial Defense SP (which also upgraded from Toughness to Invulnerability and grants an ultra-Regen that can heal extra by spending the Strength tokens).

He lost Shape Change and Mind Control, so it’s not all gains. But he’s WAY better overall — and should be since he still costs the whopping 250 points.

F.U.N.? He’s still pretty grossly overcosted for the modern game, but at least he functions as a tentpole much better than before.

———

L078 DEADPOOL (Mutant Mayhem, 2004)

THEN: Dial design wasn’t super innovative back then and the point formula really made stuff cost a lot if you had too many clicks in a row of the same power. He was essentially a Stealthy shooter who’d cut you with Blades if you got close — and with Stealth being MUCH more difficult to deal with back then, you really HAD to get close.

NOW: Stealth is way weaker. So is Perplex. So his price gets slashed from 85 to just 50 — and he gets the wildcard Team Player TA and, to bolster his complete lack of defense powers aside from his original Regen, he also gets traited Super Senses and Combat Reflexes. (This is also to make up for how much weaker Stealth is these days.)

F.U.N.? The flavor text is outta sight. If I owned this piece, I’d run it just for that.

———

L022 DESTINY (X-Plosion, 2003)

THEN: She was the cheapest Probability Control in a time when Prob was cheaply to be had in general. A staple on every balanced team, she could move into position without burning any of your 3 actions (via the old Brotherhood TA) and affect the field from 10 squares away. That was far enough that you didn’t care her DV was only 13.

NOW: The range for Prob is way more restricted and she’s potentially a much easier target to nail. So she gets to use a crossbow via a new trait granting a 4 range, 9 AV and 1 penetrating damage RANGE shot. More vitally, her other trait allows her to copy the DV of an adjacent ally so she doesn’t have to ONLY rely on Super Senses to live.

F.U.N.? She’s a nice budget version of Destiny if the Rise & Fall rare doesn’t quite fit.

———

L053 MAGNETO (Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

THEN: One of the best Magnetos to ever be made, he had the ability to carry a team — literally and figuratively — as a mega taxi (4 passengers) and 10-range double-TK figure who could attack (+2 for a whopping 5 damage — TWICE!) and transport with equal aplomb. A bit too pricey at 189 points, but still worth it just outside of competitive.

NOW: Telekinesis has entirely lost its attack capability, so the new card removes the double TK, lowering his quick damage output a lot. He also can’t carry more than one passenger. On the surface, that’s where it looks like his new 175-point cost came from, but he kept a LOT: his traited ESD, his stat boost from debris markers, his nerfing of enemy shooters targeting him. He also gains a lot more: Sidestep; SAFEGUARD: Mind Control and PPB; he can FREE destroy blocking squares (and get free Regen, too, when in debris); SP Invulnerability instead of his old SP Toughness; SP Willpower instead of being vulnerable to pushing; +1 stats just for being near debris instead of occupying it; and his range nerf works whether enemies target him or not.

F.U.N.? Still too many points, but on balance, he’s actually much, much better than before.

———

L001 WOLVERINE (Wolverine and the X-Men, 2013)

THEN: He wasn’t the first free-healing Wolvie in the game — or even the third. But he had Toughness, at least. Also he had a trait allowing him to “Track & Kill” an enemy target — a trait that was a little hard to use.

NOW: The beginning of turn free healing is replaced with an end of turn version that’s effectively FREE Regeneration. He also loses the tracking trait, gaining instead Reflexes and a FREE attack against targets who miss attacks on him or breakaways from him.

F.U.N.? He’s still 100 points and just OK for the price. An average Wolverine and not the best at what he does, but F.U.N. enough.

———

L052 CYCLOPS (X-Men: Xavier’s School, 2018)

THEN: When ID cards ruled the day, he was on every meta team. But at his actual costs of 150 and 50 points, he never quite seemed to pull that weight despite an array of great powers.

NOW: Shaving down to 125 and 40 points, respectively, he loses a lot of tricks (Sidestep; his variable ES/D and P/PB depending on where he was on the map; his Perplex for other X-Men; his FREE attack on enemies who attacked his X-Men) while gaining just a little: +2 action Leadership and giving the team Sidestep when he hits.

F.U.N.? The extra Leadership is quite good but everything else is blah. At least he’s simpler to play now?

———

LG002 SENTINEL (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga, 2019)

THEN: Still legal, this generic has a bunch of 2-click dials to choose from at 33 points or just 25 if you’re OK with a random choice.

NOW: Still legal, this card allows you to add them at 25 without the random dial. It also loses the free 1-square movement at the beginning of turn.

F.U.N.? The wording makes it look like you need a legacy card for each Sentinel to play them at lower cost. That’s … kinda bad. Though for the casual games where this would be played, this probably won’t be an issue.

———

L003 STORM (Uncanny X-Men, 2016)

THEN: She was a free Smoke Cloud piece and also a taxi, being a flier, I guess. She also had an X-Men TA-activated trait that sounded good on paper (+1 AV after an X-heal) but was almost useless in practice because she was rarely attacked or attacking.

NOW: The free Smoke is gone and replaced with SP EE that hits all foes within TWO squares of the target, not just adjacent. Lack of Running Shot keeps that from being easily weaponizable, so it’s a good thing she has another use: Passenger 2 and Leadership via a new trait.

F.U.N.? Fantastically so.

———

WizKids is doing well with these cards. Nothing’s returning to their old dominance or going to newly warp the game. We’ll see how long this keeps up.

Legacy Cards … F.U.N. or nah? (Wonder Woman)

September 30, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

So WK came out with these “legacy cards” that take old, retired HeroClix pieces and bring them back to Modern play with new traits and updated special powers.

It’s a neat idea. We hope WizKids keeps them balanced and F.U.N., never overbearing.

Let’s look at them individually, this time the second batch released in Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary.

003 WONDER WOMAN (Justice League New 52, 2011)

THEN: She had a SP that gave a 4 range, no damage attack that quasi-Incapped and nixed all speed and damage powers.

NOW: The SP is downgraded to just pulling the target adjacent, but it’s now FREE — which works MUCH better with the Flurry she has on those clicks. And she and all other WW legacies get the trait “80 Years Of Wonder Woman” that allows them to start with WW equipment.

F.U.N.? Not bad but still outshined these days, even though her original 136-point cost is shaved to 100.

———

023 WONDER WOMAN (Arkham Asylum, 2008)

THEN: From my Pojo.com review: “Lacking the mobility and shooting ability of most other tentpoles in her weight class, Wonder Woman requires a great deal of finesse to work. But being Indomitable and never dealing less than 3+ damage on every click make her work HARD. 3.5 of 5. Add a half-point if the build is over 300.

NOW: Trimmed from a bank-busting 248 points to 200, she still requires finesse. But not as much, now that her old “others only” Perplex+Leadership SP is now the standard version of both. Her “range only” Super Senses is now standard as well, on top of the WW TA. And her attack SP grants BCF along with the old piece’s Super Strength and Incap — though the latter is just basic and unranged now instead of also granting 6 range and possibly roping a second foe adjacent to the first. Having the Lasso as her WW equipment could completely make up for it.

F.U.N.? Even discounted, she’s still pricier than good in today’s game. But she’s a wonder.

———

033 WONDER WOMAN (Superman/Wonder Woman, 2015)

THEN: She cost 200 points but was mostly worth it: a big Charge+Flurry bruiser with great reducers and Mystics who got free attacks when outnumbered and, late dial, punished foes for not fighting making attacks when in 2 squares of her.

NOW: Her cost shaved to 175, she loses the Outnumbered trait and her later SP only deals damage when foes break away from her. Still very good.

F.U.N.? This piece didn’t really need the update but the lower price is welcome.

———

035 WONDER WOMAN (Batman: The Animated Series, 2018)

THEN: The only one of the legacy card characters to still be Modern legal upon the card’s release, this rare had a pretty unremarkable SP: Pick a target, roll a d6 and if the result is more than the number of squares to the target, reel it in and punch it. Problem was, it was a POWER action that had two chances to fail: the d6 and the attack roll.

NOW: The SP is just Incap which reels in the hit (non-giant/colossal) character next to her and makes it Immobile.

F.U.N.? She’s just as bad as before, in my opinion, because Incap is worse now.

———

051 WONDER WOMAN (DC 75th Anniversary, 2010)

THEN: Her SP Charged through characters then knocked foes back 2 squares after resolutions. Not bad.

NOW: The SP is the same but full Speed without the Improved Movement. She’s also 25 points cheaper, down from 100.

F.U.N.? This is mostly an improvement all around.

———

078 WONDER WOMAN (Cosmic Justice, 2003)

THEN: Coming from the very early set Cosmic Justice, this was a first-pass take on Diana. She was a basic Charging brick, nothing more.

NOW: New rules make her more effective in her original role. But her real bonus is a trait that allows her to swap either her AV or DV for the opponent’s during a close attack (hers or theirs). She also drops to 100 points instead of her original 126.

F.U.N.? Looks like it. But good luck actually getting to play her … these old pieces are scarce.

———

093 WONDER WOMAN (Unleashed, 2004)

THEN: One of the coveted Kingdom Come uniques, she was an overcosted Blades piece.

NOW: She gets a Fortified mechanic boosting her DV for a turn by spending these Fortified tokens as well as a point shaving to 175 from her bank-breaking 198 original cost. The Golden Armor WW equipment is not only ultra-thematic on her, it’s perfect to shore up her lack of reducers on top dial.

F.U.N.? She’s still overcosted (because of the uncertainty of Blades) but F.U.N. enough.

———

Next in the series: X-Men Rise & Fall.

Search Results for: legacy cards ... F.U.N.

L020a CALENDAR MAN (Streets of Gotham, 2013)

L020b DEATHSTROKE (Justice League New 52, 2012)

L021 LYSSA DRAK (War of Light, 2014)

L025 ULTRAMAN (Trinity War, 2015)

L026 OWLMAN (Trinity War, 2015)

L027 SUPERWOMAN (Trinity War, 2015)

L035 KILLER MOTH (Joker’s Wild, 2016)

L037a HUSH (Batman, 2012)

L043 JOHNNY QUICK (Trinity War, 2015)

L044 DARKSEID (SLOSH, 2014)

L049 QUEEN OF FABLES (Superman, 2011)

L051 THE PHANTASM (BTAS, 2018)

——— L055 MAN-BAT (Joker’s Wild, 2016)

——— L056 MAZAHS! (Trinity War, 2015)

——— L070 CHESHIRE (Teen Titans, 2013)

——— LG003 BRIMSTONE (Superman Wonder Woman, 2015)

L003 Ant-Man (Age of Ultron, 2015)

L008b Ms. Marvel (Secret Invasion, 2008)

L030 Wasp (Chaos War, 2012)

L033 Hulk (Avengers Assemble, 2015)

L040 Captain America (Captain America, 2011)

L042 Iron Doom (Invincible Iron Man, 2013)

L043 Iron Man and War Machine (Invincible Iron Man, 2013)

L049 Thor Odinson (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

L056 Squirrel Girl (Captain America, 2011)

L060 Avengers Prime (Chaos War, 2012)

L086 Nick Fury (Clobberin’ Time, 2003)

L096 Loki (Mutant Mayhem, 2004)

L135 Ultron (Infinity Challenge, 2002)

L208 General Thunderbolt Ross (Incredible Hulk, 2011)

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L001 SPIDER-MAN (Secret Invasion, 2008)

L013 STILT-MAN (Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

L039a CLOAK & DAGGER (Secret Invasion, 2008)

L039b PETER THE HUNTER (What If, 2017)

L040 SPIDER-MAN (Ultimates, 2004)

L048 FROG-MAN (Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

L058 MORLUN (Superior Foes of Spider-Man, 2016)

L087 CARNAGE (Ultimates, 2004)

L088 SPIDER-MAN (Clobbering’ Time, 2003)

L096 SPIDER-MAN (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

LG004 CARNAGE (The Mighty Thor, 2017)

L006 Black Knight (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

L012 Hawkeye (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

L024 Black Panther (Avengers, 2007)

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L033 Tigra (Fantastic Forces, 2005)

L035 Jarvis (Avengers Assemble, 2015)

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L036 Agent Coulson (Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, 2015)

L039 Cosmo (Avengers Infinity, 2018)

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L040 Captain America (Hammer of Thor, 2009)

L043 Darkstar (Captain America, 2011)

———

L044 Ursa Major (Captain America, 2011)

L048 Kang the Conqueror (Supernova, 2006)

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L050 MODOK (Captain America, 2011)

L067 Rick Jones (Avengers Assemble, 2015)

———

L084 Thor (Supernova, 2006)

L020 Fabian Cortez (X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga, 2019)

L026 Leech (Giant-Size X-Men, 2011)

L039 Havok (Mutant Mayhem, 2005)

L042 Unus the Untouchable (Mutations and Monsters, 2007)

L046 Warlock (Wolverine and the X-Men, 2013)

L051 Banshee (Deadpool, 2014)