Welcome back, dicefans! I'm going to kick off today's article by...talking about Magic: The Gathering a bit, actually.I'll be perfectly blunt - I haven't seriously played magic in approximately a bajillion years. I look at cards
today, and they might as well be written in moon language for how well I understand them (well, or would, outside of how most of the terms explain what they mean); the whole concept of the stack was after my time. In those simpler times, one of the deck styles I enjoyed immensely was the monored direct damage deck. I had one that would zap the opponent relentlessly for a few turns, then blow up everything on the board and start again; it never really got old.
So having said that, maybe everyone will understand when I say that while I don't think it's the best of the basic actions, Power Bolt is probably my favorite - it reminds me of those carefree childhood days of Lightning Bolting my opponents into submission. Oh, and also the fact that it's a pretty useful thing to have around, of course.
And I Leave You...A Bolt To The Head
Frankly, the elephant in the room with Power Bolt is that it is one of the very few unconditional ways of damaging your opponent on demand. Ten PBs to someone and the game is over; short of things like the Iron Man or Vibranium Shield globals, there's not a lot they can do about it. Even the Phoenix Force is powerless to fight the power of Power Bolt - it's not a character, so the Force's ability doesn't work on it.
Think of Power Bolts in your bag like little milestones towards the inevitable end of the game; barring piles of free energy and one of those globals mentioned, every time one comes up you are that much closer to done. Of course, there's nothing to stop your opponent from buying them...so taking Power Bolt can set the axe swinging above your head, too, if your opponent grabs them first.
The solution there is to plan on picking them up in a timely fashion. At three energy, they fit pretty nicely into a turn when you fetch three sidekick dice and one likely free-to-field character out of your bag - not an uncommon situation in the early game. True, you'll probably be more focused on getting characters then action dice at that point in the game, but if you can stand to not buy a Tsarina or Mutate #666 for a round, you can get that sweet sweet near-guaranteed damage into rotation that much faster.
Power Through Their Minions
That said, you don't always have to do target your opponent with PB; sometimes, it's more helpful to blast at a character. Level one Mutate #666 threatening to give your opponent a draw advantage if you attack? Popping him with Power Bolt solves that, and denies your opponent a blocker, so maybe you can make up that lost two damage that way. Opponent has a Human Torch on the back line serving some direct damage at you? If he's level one, Power Bolt can take him out; if someone brought his Flame On! variant, you can pay an extra bolt energy and take out the level two Human Torch, too.
Or maybe your opponent is doing an amazing job at stonewalling your attempts to churn some on-fielding characters, like Storm or Gambit. There's nothing that says you can't turn Power Bolt on your own characters; feel free to pop them if it'll get your Wind Rider to blow a couple more dice away, or your Gobby to incite sidekicks to violence again. Similarly, you can use it to proc on-damaged effects; nuke down your opponents by blasting your Green Goliath Hulk, draw a die with Quasar Nova, or even turn Power Bolt into a heal by targeting your Philanthropist Iron Man.
Lastly, if you plan on attacking while you have a Power Bolt in reserve, it's a nice little lever with which to manipulate the churn game. If you opponent really doesn't want you to knock out one of their characters, they have to make sure it has at least three defense more than what they block with it; if they don't want to knock out one of your characters, they have to make sure their die's offense is at least three less, often an impossible task with some of the more popular on-fielded characters. Worst case: you blast them in the face anyway.
Share The Power
There's a few characters Power Bolt pairs well with. Katie has already talked about a number of characters that work well with basic actions, and all of those are prime candidates for squeezing a little bit more out of PB. Soaring Angel and Master of the Mystic Arts Doctor Strange are probably the best of them, adding to the theme of "damage your opponent can't do much about". As noted earlier, Flame On! Human Torch can help you get the extra mile out of your Power Bolt dice, if you have the energy to spare for its global.
Less directly, Power Bolt works well with any strongly defensive setup, as long as you manage to lock down all or most of the dice. Hiding behind your wall of Beast and Green Goblin dice and firing bolts out till you win may not be the most glamorous way to win a game, but it certainly is a valid one. Supplementing that with some Human Torch pings, or unblockable Angels (or even Canucklehead), or Strange buddy-blasts, will help ensure that it works.
Fond memories of being blasty in Magic aside, outside of the ubiquitous Distraction, Power Bolt is the basic action I find myself going back to time and time again unless I feel I specifically need one of the others. Its viciousness, combined with its ability to get rid of a nuisance or give the churning game a nudge, cement it as at least generally useful most of the time. Do I always pick up a Power Bolt over the course of the games where I, or my opponent, take it? No - but I rarely regret bringing it, and have more than enough times where I did purchase one or more and it made the difference that I can see its value. The trick, like a lot of things in this game, is figuring out when to buy them.
Power Bolt had to be an homage to Magic: The Gathering when they created the card. Forgive me for being curious but when you bring Power Bolt to the table do you always try to pair it up with the RED action dice? I do.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a staple of my decks since the beginning. Any time you have the opportunity to deal direct damage, I say go for it. Heck, you could almost build a deck around a bunch of solid blockers to keep you safe while Power Bolt does it's thing. Of course you'll have to buy up the goods before your opponent and if your strategy is that obvious, he/she may go after them.
Nice reference to the Tai Kwan Leep skit BTW. One of my favorites that ranks up there with the classic "Who's on First?"
There are few constants in what color dice I assign to which basic action, except this: Power Bolt is always yellow.
DeleteOtherwise it seems like we're of the same mind about PB! I do tend to view it as a supplement to a solid strategy rather than a strategy on its own, but it's there if I need it.
I usually associate 'Boot To The Head' with the Last Will & Temperment sketch, not Tai Kwan Leep, as that's the one I heard first.
(pardon the double reply) But both skits are good stuff!
DeletePower bolt and Flame On global is really really good. Things can get ugly quickly.
ReplyDeleteIf you manage to buy 4 Angel Soaring and two or three power bolts, you can just blast away while chump blocking with sidekicks and Beasts. It's incredibly annoying to your opponent. Throw in HT: Flame On! and Invulnerability for the globals.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've run into exactly this thing before. Storm+Tsarina+Human Torch can win the damage race, but not all the time...
DeleteWIth a tournament round being best of 3 games, there have been a few times where that last game has come down to remaining life points. A nicely timed power bolt could give you enough for the win.
ReplyDeleteI really really love, as in really love, pinging Ironman with a power bolt, swooping in with my Soaring Angels, and paying shields to gain live on WarMachine Global. One time I gained 4 life and did 8 damage doing this!
ReplyDeleteAs useful as Power Bolt can be, I MUCH prefer to use NOGG's global ability. I think it is more reliable to sit on a sidekick and be able to sacrifice it when needed than bank on getting the Power Bolt action die from the bag.
ReplyDelete