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| From Roll for Crit |
The big news, if we can call it that, is that the contents of the Starter Kit for Uncanny X-Men has been definitively confirmed. During one of my last articles: Introducing your Starters and Super Rares, I guessed that Magneto was going to be the 8th character in the Starter Kit and I was.... Correct!
Roll for Crit got to get their hands on the Starter Kit (visit their site for even more images) and as you can see: Juggernaut, Quicksilver, Iceman, Cyclops, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Magneto, (and a not-shown Angel) are the starter cards. Roll for Crit, sadly, didn't take advantage of the opportunity to photograph everything, because they thought it would be more available to look at, but we'll have to get by one what they did. We'll also be including some pictures from Crit to Hit.
Super Rares
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| From Roll for Crit |
As I guessed before, I had a few small runs of cards that I thought would provide us with the Super Rares and I turned out to be absolutely correct. My final guess about who would come from those runs was incorrect, however. I had guessed Emma, Magik, She-Hulk, and Scarlet Witch - discounting the possibility of Iron Man and Spider-Man owing to the fact they were from the previous set - and it turns out that was where I made my mistake. Instead, our super rares will be Emma Frost, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Man.
I am not entirely sure we will be seeing the return of the 4 affiliation super rare set, but I do think it's entirely possible. We've not seen a single Fantastic Four affiliated character in this set so it's entirely possible we won't get one at all.
Super Heroic
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| From Roll for Crit |
An additional notable now that we've seen the entire card listing is the presence of a 'Superhero' version of pretty much every card that belongs to a hero, and and 'Archvillain' card for pretty much every Villain.
We've seen a Heroic for Angel from his starter card, and I imagine we'll be seeing one from pretty much everyone in the Starter Kit (at least the heroes). Outside of the Starter Kit, we have additional Superhero cards from: Marvel Girl (u), Storm (u), Captain America (r), Iron Man (r), Red Hulk (r), She-Hulk (r), and Spider-Man (sr). From what we (and Roll for Crit) have determined, Superhero cards get to 'team up' with each other and merge their attacks together. Again, from what we've been able to determine, these can only merge with other Heroic cards, so the utility of this mechanic remains in question as far as I'm concerned.
We also have several 'Archvillains': Emma Frost (c), Mister Sinister (c), Apocalypse (u), and Sentinel (u). We may see an 'Archvillain' variant for Juggernaut and Magneto in the Starter Kit, but that's not definitive. From the text of Apocalypse and Sentinel, it appears that the 'Archvillains' my provide a buff or persistent debuff when they are on the field. This might prove a bit unhelpful with some of the anti-villain options out there, but, again, time will tell.
New Cards
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| Care of Crit to Hit |
We got a sneak peek of several new cards, although they were fanned in an incredibly unhelpful way, and artfully placed for even more unhelpfulness! Dear WizKids, that's not how to make Hype!
So here's our first stack of cards: Psylocke - Betsy Braddock, her common form. When fielded, move one or more opposing characters with cost 2 or less, including sidekicks, to the used pile. Seems to again be targeting the low-cost options, and that's fairly useful and needed. We see confirmation here that not all versions of a card will have the same affiliation as well, as Psylocke - Ninjitsu was unaffiliated but this variant was in the X-Men.
Below her we have Pyro (villain), Scarlet Witch (villain), Spider-Man(?) (Avenger), She-Hulk(?) (unaffiliated), Storm(?) X-Men, Toad(?) Villain, and Cerebro(?) (unknown affiliation).
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| From Crit to Hit |
Next we have a new stack that is topped off with the uncommon version of Angel - Flying High. He's affiliated with the X-Men. When Angel attacks, all other [shield] characters must be blocked before Angel dice can be blocked. Another interesting playing around with the Angel + blocking mechanic. Personally I would have loved to see the opposite! That would make it much easier to sneak in bigger characters.
Below that we have: Ant-Man (avenger), Bishop (unaffiliated), Black Panther (unaffiliated), Cable(?) (unaffiliated), Cyclops (X-Men), 3 Cost Something, Iceman (X-Men), and Juggernaut (villain).
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| From Crit to Hit |
We have a stack topped off by Falcon, and WizKids has helpfully placed someone with NO text on top. I've heard some hypothesizing that Falcon - Samuel Wilson used to have some card text, but it was removed owing to the problems with some of the other 'too good' 2 cost characters from the Avengers vs. X-Men set. Unlike the Ghost Rider common, this doesn't even inform us that it's just a 'low cost die with good stats', it just... is. We were already pretty aware of Falcon's stats as well, so no real news here.
Below we have: Iron Man (Avenger), Magik(?) (Unaffiliated), Marvel Girl (X-Men), Mister Sinister (Villain), Mystique (Villain), Namor (unknown affiliation), and Professor X (X-Men).
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| From Crit to Hit |
There is another stack, topped by Red Hulk, but it's a repeat of the showing at San Diego Comic Con, so just check out that article for a better view of those cards.
Our final stack is topped off with Ant-Man, an Avenger, and again a 2 cost card with no text. It's pretty frustrating, to be honest. The news there is that his final side appears to have 1/5/2ish stats (it's unclear) which is kinda cute for a 2 cost, low TFC card.
Below we have: Apocalypse (Villain), Bishop (X-Men), Black Panther (Avengers), Cable(?) (Unaffiliated), Captain America (Avengers), and Emma(?) (Villain) to round off the stacks.
Basic Actions
Basic Actions are now Orange, Pink, Brown and Purple, and we see: Transfer power, 3 cost, Selective Shield, 4 cost, 3 more, Feedback (3), another below that, and Ambush 3 cost. No 2 costs are apparent, so hard to say if we'll see a return of those. Additionally we have the full text for Transfer Power, which sounds pretty cool, take a look!
That pretty much sums it up for our knowledge about Basic Actions from the pictures from Hit for Crit. Tansfer Power looks pretty cool, with a global that could be BEASTLY if combined with a few other ideas like being unblockable or just swapping attacks with one of the characters who made it through your opponent's defenses.
There is a lot of utility here, and it gives me some hope that there is a change we'll see some much more interesting actions now that we're into the second phase of the game.
A Few Loose Ends
Here are two Wolverines: The Best There Is and Superhero:
Two more Kitties:
And lastly a Magneto:
All of the new characters seem to be a bit more interesting (although I will note that this Magneto appears to be a seriously inferior version of Ghost Rider - Brimstone Biker). We'll keep you posted if and when we get more pictures coming in, and what that might mean for the meta is a question for another day!
This Magneto is a bit more versatile than Brimstone. Allows you to field Magneto, pay 2 mask, and instead of having to move the 3 field cost character that you can't afford to used, you can now place in prep for another shot. Also, can remove a troublesome character from the opponent's field before attacking. Also, can be used to KO a "Fielding effect" character that has high defense and otherwise tough to re-field. I can see this being very useful in a variety of occasions.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I suppose I'm being a touch hard on it, I know. 2 mask is pretty expensive, though!
DeleteActually I am an idiot - the first thing that I describe you can do with Brimstone and not even pay anything for it. But I suppose the ability to do the other stuff offers some interesting choices.
DeleteSome more card info from Dice Tower News Twitter feed. Looks like the Villains are stepping it up.
ReplyDeleteCerebro - Cybernetic Intelligence
5[Mask]
Place Cerebro on an X-Men die's card. It remains there until you or a card effect removes it (it is still in the field). When you field a die from that card, knock out one opposing die.
Max: 1
Toad - Tongue Lashing
5[Fist] - Villain
While Toad is active, each opposing non-Sidekick character must attack (if legal).
* Opposing Characters take 2 damage when they attack.
Max: 4
Spider-Man - Hero for Hire
5[Fist]
When Spider-Man attacks, choose one opposing character. That character cannot block.
Max: 4
She-Hulk - Jennifer Walters
5[Fist] - Avengers
If She-Hulk is blocked, spin her up one level (this happens before damage is assigned).
Max: 4
Scarlet Witch - Wanda Maximoff
3[Bolt] - Villain
When fielded, Scarlet Witch deals 1 damage to each opposing X-Men character for each other Villain you have in the field.
Max: 4
Pyro - Saint-John Allerdyce
4[Bolt] - Villain
When Pyro is blocked, he deals 1 damage to your opponent.
Max: 4
Cerebro...wowwie wow wow...good thing a player can only run one of em (Max 1)...but at cost of 5, it may not see a lot of tourney action. Hmmmmmm....
Delete