In principle, legacy cards are 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).
In practice? Well, let’s see.
By set number:
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L004 GHOST RIDER
(2099 Collector’s Set, 2006)
THEN: “Being a double-based (read: no TK on him) figure with middling range, AV and speed will make Ghost Rider a tough figure to win with. He’s a 3rd-line attacker/taxi best suited for 400 point games behind (or carrying) better fighters, nothing more. Fortunately, he’s not PRICED to be anything more.”
…Is what I wrote about him at the time, long before this blog was even started. 60 points for this was too much even then. Only Future and Robot keywords were retroactively given to him.
NOW: Adding Monster, Mystical and Police to his keywords, Kenshiro here can go on a lot more teams. More to the point, he’s gotten a Pilot trait to have access to a Future piece’s or another Ghost Rider on the Sideline’s attack or damage powers — very helpful for him since he has neither to start naturally. Another trait allows him to replace his terrible 9-or-worse AV with the Sideline piece’s AV. And if the Sideline fig’s chosen click has any of the same powers that’s showing on Ghost Rider 2099’s dial, all his stats are boosted. A final trait, Spirit of Vengeance, gives him penetrating damage if a foe triggered Mystics damage. Cost trims to 50 points.
F.U.N.? This is a good choice for a legacy card: taking a fairly terrible piece and making it at least workable.
AM I GETTING THIS? I got this figure in Heroclixin’ board member Tim’s collection. But it’s not a priority for me to find the card.
L020a JACK O’LANTERN
(Civil War Storyline, 2016)
THEN: He was an anti-Stealth Energy Explosion piece with decent 11 AV but poor 16 DV and got Earthbound/Neutralized late in his short 5-click dial, taking away even his targeting. Keywords of Pro-Registration, Sinister Syndicate (and TA), Skeleton Crew and Thunderbolts weren’t enough to make him any good outside of sealed. And not really there, either, if you had anything better.
NOW: His old 52-point cost drops to 40 and he swaps his Pro-Registration keyword for Monster. A new trait makes him effectively respawn instead of getting KO’d AND deal free damage to an enemy in range — no LOF needed.
F.U.N.? As bad as the original was, this new version redeems it a lot without making it too good.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have this figure and will make it my go-to version of the character.
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L034 SATANA HELLSTROM
(Amazing Spider-Man, 2013)
THEN: For 82 points, you got a weak Charge fig (8 Speed, 10 AV, 17 DV, 2 damage) whose “Soul Collector” attack SP didn’t work on targets with anything better than Toughness (see the 2 damage) and she could never benefit from her damage SP “Soul Shrivel” that nerfed her hit target’s stats until her next turn. She got Prob Control and her SP’s Steal Energy rider could maybe come in handy (and is probably why she didn’t make my Worst of 2013 list), but she was never much good, not even for her Howling Commandos, Mystical, S.H.I.E.L.D. or Thunderbolts keywords.
NOW: She gets new mostly keywords of Heroes For Hire, Legion of Monsters, Monster, Ruler along with her old Mystical and Thunderbolts. Her attack SP is now Smoke Cloud that deals fire damage after a turn, friend or foe. Steal Energy is traited now; same trait also gives a 50% chance of making her Fire/Smoke token follow an opponent who tries to escape it. Her new damage SP is 4-6 Shape Change.
F.U.N.? Trimmed to a svelte 50 points, this Mystics character has some meta potential with her no-roll damage.
AM I GETTING THIS? I originally cycled her out of my collection in an attempt to purge it of “demonic” pieces. I reacquired the fig. We’ll see if the card finds its way to me.
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L042 JENNIFER KALE
(Secret Wars Battleworld, 2018)
THEN: Mystics, Leadership, Support and the ability to give Regen to friendlies with “Man-Thing” in the name was what 40 or 33 points bought you. Well, that and her “Untamed Weirdness” trait that kept foes from getting stat boosts against her.
NOW: She gives the anti-stat boost to all teammates within 3 squares and her keywords (Battleworld: Weirdworld , Midnight Sons, Mystical, Ruler and one new one: Champions) to Man-Things. One of her traits also has this interesting wrinkle: she can effectively quasi-Mastermind to any allied Man-Thing, placing it next her from anywhere on the map and possibly making the whole attack null because unlike MM, it doesn’t make the Man-Thing the HIT target. So an attack that succeeded against her might fail against him/it. Her SP, which used to give her Leadership and Support, now lets her copy enemy bystanders when generated in her 6 range.
F.U.N.? This now 35- or 30-point fig is clearly made to work with Man-Things, which, in Modern, are a single Super Rare and a SR legacy fig. Looks like wild F.U.N. anyway.
AM I GETTING THIS? I own two of this fig. Eventually this card may come to me.
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L043 BLACK TALON
(Deadpool, 2014)
THEN: Black Talon had friendly Mind Control, a very powerful effect — and one even more potent if he was played with or pitted against Monster keyword figs cheaper than his 60 points, as he could triple target them. In addition to that SP, his trait could first pull a KO’d enemy next to him at full health and try the MC for a single action. Also had Charge+Blades for when MC was not feasible. Keywords: Lethal Legion, Masters of Evil, Mystical.
NOW: His trait and SP essentially swap: He has trait Mind Control (which now works with Charge; it didn’t back in 2014) and his SP can bring any fig, friend or foe, back to life for one move and one attack before dealing Black Talon 1 damage — no dicey MC attack needed. He gains no new keywords and costs just 45 points now.
F.U.N.? This piece is not very survivable — 16 Toughness is trash — so his meta presence may be low. OTOH, that is one hell of a trick.
AM I GETTING THIS? I’ll.be glad to try him in Modern again. And, of course, he’s a Black character, and I’ve aimed to get every single one.
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L046 GHOST RIDER
(Amazing Spider-Man, 2013)
THEN: This piece topped Heroclixin’s Top 10 that year:
… sometimes, even within the limits of design, you still get that one nigh-perfect figure. And in 2013, Ghost Rider is that figure.
- Well-armored with Invulnerability and 18 DV
- Well-priced as a tentpole at 145 points, leaving ample room for a secondary fighter or supporter or both
- Armed with lots of mobile attack options with good AV
- Able to get in attacks and damage every turn via a) Indomitable, b) his Living Hellfire Chain SP and/or Poison and c) the Heroes For Hire ATA, if so equipped
- Bearing the Mystics TA to deter a lot of attacks
- Able to taxi his help as a Transporter.
This is a piece with no weakness. No blind spot. Nothing that requires a relic or resource to truly cover. And it’s deservedly the top piece of last year.
Time has left him behind in several respects — Transporter is no longer a thing, ATAs are history, his once-impressive stats would better fit a much cheaper dial. But it’s still one of the better Ghost Riders ever made.
NOW: It’s a much cheaper dial (80 points) with some key losses: No more IM: Elevated or Transporter Hypersonic Speed for this biker. He adds Vehicle to his original Champions, Heroes for Hire, Legion of Monsters, Midnight Sons and Mystical keywords for all the shenanigans that unshelved keyword can do now. His Attack SP, which now has Poison, still allows him to FREE damage a nearby target, but now THEY have to have 2 tokens instead of HIM. His damage SP later in his dial buffs his slackening AV with CCE and Prob. And no Heroes For Hire ATA to get a conditional one-time, no-cost attack anymore? No problem: his “Rider For Hire” trait is a FREE one-time attack.
F.U.N.? No longer the meta force at all, he’ll be in the back of the pack when the bikers roll out. But still able to keep pace.
AM I GETTING THIS? I never owned this and Ghost Rider’s never been a favorite of mine. So I skipped the Play At Home kit this card comes in.
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L047 MAN-THING AND HOWARD THE DUCK
(Amazing Spider-Man, 2013)
THEN: This duo was unwieldy even for duo standards. At a staggering 152 points, they had lowish damage (just 3), no moving attack until well into the dial, and once they did, their defenses flagged a LOT — and an attack SP barring them from being targeted from range came late dial and so was nearly useless except to maybe buy time to run and Regen. Having traited (and thus then unOutwittable) Perplex was nice, but an opening SP keeping even friendlies from modifying their stats meant … well … I am really wondering now how they didn’t make my Worst of 2013 list.
Oh, now I remember: They had Transporter, meaning they actually DID have moving attack ability — like, the LITERAL Move And Attack ability (When not adjacent to enemies, Hypersonic Speed but with -2 attack). At least they had Mystics TA. Still not good enough for any of their keyword themes: Animal, Brute, Defenders, Mystical, Politician. Waaaugh!
NOW: They get the byzantine-looking new Pilot trait, where a Sidelined Howard the Duck or other Animal keyword can give this fig one of their standard attack or damage powers and then drop onto the map for a single click of life if the duo is KO’d. This time, they really DON’T have starting moving offense. But they get Defenders TA now, and the opening SP is Prob Control that offers a free attack if a friendly fig missed the reroll. They also do penetrating damage on this SP.
F.U.N.? At 80 points, they’re no longer priced like a main attacker. And with extra keywords of Celebrity, Legion of Monsters, Midnight Sons, Monster and Vehicle on top of their original five, you’ll find a F.U.N. team for them somewhere.
AM I GETTING THIS? I used to own this but it’s not worth it to me to reclaim it.
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L049 TWO-GUN KID
(Avengers, 2007)
THEN: One of the first-ever SRs, his “Fanfare” attack SP — essentially ranged Flurry but only against different targets — looked good on paper but in practice … wasn’t good. It didn’t work with his old HSS-lite transporter ability and he didn’t have the Willpower he needed to use the SP. Later, a speed SP gave a +2 speed when not carrying. Avengers TA gave him Autonomous MOVE action and his keywords were Avengers and Past.
NOW: He gets the Vehicle keyword as well. That maligned attack SP is now “Two Pistols Or The Lariat” — heavily beefed up into TRUE ranged Flurry with Precision Strike and +1 damage (the pistols) OR a RANGE that deals 1 damage and a token to all foes in range and LOF (the lariat). His other SP is full-speed Running Shot with Flight and IM:Characters. Not bad for a shaving from 50 points to just 35 — or a very svelte 20-point line that actually STARTS with the speed power. AND he’s got traited Prob??
F.U.N.? This is how the West was won, clearly. Quite an upgrade.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have this dream of running all cowboys. So I was happy to get this card.
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L053a HELA
(The Mighty Thor, 2017)
THEN: At 150 points, she was always a lot for what she did: Phase into position and, well, sit there until next turn while she get Outwitted and shot. Well, OK, she had a trait that healed her and created a Warrior Soul pog with Blades and stuff when non-pogs got KO’d. And a mid-life speed SP: 2-bolt Mind Control with 9 range (better than her printed one-target 6). And a late-dial Exploit Weakness+Shape Change SP that could auto-KO on a critical close hit. Mystics TA wasn’t enough to really help her.
NOW: With Monster added to her original Asgardian, Deity, Mystical, Ruler keywords, she’s only 95 points — no longer having to do tentpole work for a standard 300-point build. Her self-healing trait still triggers on KOs (of standard characters only) but now generates Grave markers instead. Then she can POWER generate a full-health Zombie (Wheels of Vengeance 006) on them. Her Mind Control SP no longer boosts her range but now deals 1 extra damage to every target hit in the whole MC action! Finally, her last SP is reworked to nix STOP clicks and deal the victim’s click number if it’s higher than her natural 3.
F.U.N.? That last SP could make her mean. And she could play well with other Grave marker makers like Black Lanterns or certain WoV pieces. But even at under 100 points, she’s still a little hard to use. So this is pure F.U.N.
AM I GETTING THIS? Heroclixin’ board member Lenny keeps wanting to match his Asgard team against my Asgard enemies ones. So I will be saying Hello to Hela.
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L054 DAREDEVIL
(Earth X, 2020)
THEN: This was one of those “don’t die” pieces that was a difficult KO, with four dials you had to dig through one at a time — and he cheated death as long as 3 sixes weren’t rolled. With IM:Elevated, a Hypersonic dial, a Charging dial, a Blades dial and a Plasticity+Poison dial, he was a problem all his 60-point life. Good thing he was a unique and couldn’t be Masterminded. His keywords were limited to Celebrity, Earth X and Mystical.
NOW: They made him less “666”-ish and more the stuntman. Like before, he can pick his start line. But now he’s only 30 points … or 20 … or 10 … and can cheat KO once for each 10 points and sacrificing those 10 points, with a 1-in-6 risk of getting an action token (but much better odds of being Immune for a turn). Meanwhile, he’s still got those dials at his disposal, along with Super Senses now for defense. (Still no Masterminding onto him.)
F.U.N.? This whole review took a while because errata needed to clear up a NUMBER of issues. A) His new keywords are Asgardian, Deity, Monster, Mystical, Ruler? You mean HELA’S keywords?? This is clearly a mistake, one that was not cleared up with the errata that only arrived last week. Also, B) the legacy card lacks his old unique status, which seems like a another massive mistake because this piece could have been grossly meta as a point denial and/or don’t-die fig. But fortunately, C) the errata closed a loophole that could’ve allowed Daredevil to never surrender points, even on KO. So that lack of Unique status no longer seems so troublesome.
AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Daredevils so I’m glad to add this card to the roster.
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L059 WITCH QUEEN LE FAY
(Secret Wars Battleworld, 2018)
THEN: This was a weirdly bipolar piece. At full cost, she had a speed SP granting EVERY standard speed power except Stealth and Earthbound. That offered some great combos like Charge+Flurry or Running Shot+Mind Control. The risk: She lost this power for good if she ever missed an attack. Even her Pulse Wave, traited Perplex and “Untamed Weirdness” trait that barred stat boosts against her weren’t always enough to help her land those must-hit shots. She needed to be more dependable at 150 points to not be totally dependent on her Mastermind to save her. Meanwhile, at her lower line of 100 points, she lacked that SP entirely, relegating her to weak Sidestep and then-middling 6 range but with the Prob Control and Impervious she really needed at top dial, too. At least she also had traited Leadership. Keywords were Battleworld: Weirdworld, Mystical, Ruler.
NOW: Slimmed down to 100 points, she keeps the same keywords and her anti-stat-boost trait but loses a trait that used to give +2 Perplex targeting “Battleworld: Weirdworld”-keyworded allies. Instead, the trait generates a Skulldugger pog (11AV Charge+Flurry with Skrulls TA) on Leadership rolls — useful for fighting and her Mastermind. And remember how her SP offered the potential RS+MC combo? Now, that’s all her new SP is, aside from a rider nerfing enemy Battle Fury in her range. Her 60-point line is better than ever thanks to smaller maps.
F.U.N.? This is a fine fix to a fig that never really worked before.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have had one for ages with a missing original card. Now I can finally play her!
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L059a HAMMER
(Deadpool & X-Force, 2017)
THEN: This was one of those pieces that could deal mass damage to a clumped set of targets — especially bearing Ranged Combat Expert, which back then could +2 attack OR damage. More than made up for the fact that this flier couldn’t carry same-size pals. Very good for 50 points, he also offered SHIELD TA and Enhancement. Keywords: were only Six Pack, and Soldier.
NOW: For exactly the same price, he loses ANY carry ability and his old mass-damage attack SP. Gains? Pick an attack power. Traited Super Senses that ramps with each attack of the turn. Leadership+Outwit SP with the ability to Earthbound a target within 4. And the Vehicle keyword.
F.U.N.? This is a rare time when the old piece might be more playable. But the new one is more versatile and, consequently, more F.U.N. for us.
AM I GETTING THIS? I own every Black character in the game, so yeah.
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L062 IRON MAN
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)
THEN: Originally a whopping 270 points, this non-flying monstrosity’s worth was all in his durability. He had a trait that gave him (then) unOutwittable Invulnerability at worst and straight up damage nixing at best on a d6 roll. He also started with a Pulse Wave+Force Blast SP, a combo that’s still good today, and his damage SP “Give Me All The Cameras” that granted Outwit a lot of Improved Targeting. A late dial Speed SP offered a Flurry-but-range-attacks effect and he had Sharpshooter (a limited version of IT:Adjacent). A rare Iron Man that couldn’t fly, though.
NOW: Highly discounted to just 120 points now, he loses all that special damage reduction for mere traited Energy Shield/Deflection+Impervious, leaving him open to Outwit. But at least penetrating damage is no longer a problem, via the same trait. His starting attack SP makes a shift to EE and Penetrating/Psychic Blast (since PW isn’t big damaging anymore) and his damage SP offers the IT plus the choice of Outwit or RCE. That late speed SP switches to Leap/Climb, Sidestep and Force Blast. Same keywords: Armor, Avengers, Scientist, Stark Industries. One gain is the Avengers TA.
F.U.N.? This card, designed by Daniel Powell, takes an unwieldy old piece and brings it up to date. Not meta. Pure F.U.N.
AM I GETTING THIS? I used to chase after every Iron Man suit variant, but I mostly quit after the TabApp sculpts were so dumb-looking. I still looked for this one, hoping to score it for a super rare price rather than a chase-level price tag. And I’m glad I did.
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