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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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L057 Thor and Loki (Hammer of Thor, 2009)
- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).