Team Tactics – Chameleon Disguise Tips & Tricks – Jay Solomon

 by Jay Solomon

With the Superior Foes of Spider-Man set settling itself into the competitive scene, there have been some pieces that have made themselves especially known. All of the champion made pieces in the set have been demonstrated to be quite good, with Patrick’s Chameleon having shown up in the second place team at the Florida Regional. His Disguises give him versatility with the benefit of not breaking theme, and both Spy and Sinister Syndicate can be effective themes that can use the help of some characters outside of the keywords.

As a general rule of thumb for this article, I prefer to use disguise characters that have a similar number of clicks to Chameleon, specifically not wanting to use characters that have more clicks than him. This is in case they are on click 6, for example, and fail the Disguise roll when attacked, as this would KO Chameleon.

Some honorable mentions of great disguises include:

He has made himself knows in Kevin Afrooz’s first place US Cup team, as well as showing up in the Top 8 of the New Hampshire Regional and the first place team of the Florida regional. His particular set of skills will not fit every team, but he deserves to be mentioned for his unique abilities. His decent dial length and annoying-ness factor will put a target on his head and away from the rest of your team, but a failed Disguise roll can be more helpful than a successful one, in his case.

CACWS006e Black Panther

Although his dial is short, this Black Panther offers something that is unique in the current modern environment, with the most recent retirement of the Green Lantern Power Battery.

TACTICAL TAKEDOWN: Give Black Panther a free action to choose an opposing character within range and line of fire. Choose one to last until your next turn: the chosen character’s combat values can’t be increased, -or- the chosen character can’t be given more than one free action.

This special power is the main reason to have Black Panther as an option. It can be a great help against Krang/Juston teams, as Krang relies on multiple free actions to do everything that he needs to, including picking a size and the resulting modifiers, choosing an attack power, and his move and attack powers. This alone could be reason enough to have Black Panther in your back pocket as a safety measure. But of course, he is very situational, so he didn’t quite make the list.

AAOU010 Scarlet Witch

She is very situational, but on a team with a Hulk or Hulk option, like an ID card, she can be a decent piece to keep as an option for a nice stat boost. Her damaging herself can also be good for manipulating what click Chameleon and other Disguises will be on.

WF057 Platinum

She’s an 18-Defend with Outwit. That’s about it, and it’s a solid package. She’s a very good piece to use on a Doctor Octopus team, as his defenses are not great and she helps immensely. She is not on the main list as I believe there’s a better overall option, but the Outwit is useful.

SMWW009 Accountable

His Outwit special power is very useful, but he has a very soft dial. I would use him as an emergency Outwit and as a great anti-Nick Fury option, but he isn’t a disguise that is absolutely necessary. He’s very much an emergency contingency plan, and his soft defenses and short dial force me to place him in the honorable mentions.

All 4 50 point Ninja Turtle commons – TMNT001, TMNT002, TMNT003, TMNT004

All of the 50 point turtles are very competent close combat attackers. The most likely choice would be Raphael, but they all bring something that makes them worth considering.

wkM16-03 or SFSM39 Mysterio

These Mysterios are both solid support pieces with an extra trick up their sleeve that can be useful on most teams. With their respective “begins the game” wordings of their Illusion tokens and clixFX base, both these Mysterios will be able to use these effects when brought into the game as disguises. Which one you want to use depends on the exact team. The LE Mysterio is more of a Sinister Syndicate team player, with his pogs that rely on using the team ability to make attacks. The other Mysterio is a solid Probability Control piece that can also use the clixFX to help your whole team defensively. Either is a good choice, which you may want to pick depends on your team’s specific needs.

For the main list:

10. Tim Hunter is mostly on the list for his click 4. If you can pull off turning into him later in the game, it will be 70 points well spent. His Perplex and Probability Control alone can be useful, and he has tent-pole-like stats while being immune to Probability Control. Even if you don’t manage to pull off his click 4 trick, your opponent will either be put off by seeing him as a Disguise, or they will know what he can do and be very afraid.

9. Why he is great is elaborated more in my article about him here. His tie-up abilities are superb, as is the possibility of using him to bypass stop clicks or get free damage on opposing characters. His wild card ability is also useful for versatility, helping him get better attack values on a Sinister Syndicate team or being more support-type piece by copying S.H.I.E.L.D. on a Spy theme team.

8. Harley Quinn will have to be used at her 50 point line, but she can still be quite useful. Her Perplex/Probability Control combination can be very useful, as is her potentially penetrating Poison. The +1 stats can also discourage your opponent from killing her Puddin’, so bringing her in at the right time can be very useful, or if you have an attack that absolutely must hit.

7. I also wrote about this guy here. His support powers are useful, as are his tigers and defensive abilities. The point denial that he offers can be useful in a pinch, and his top dial offensive stats are fine for the points, and his Probability Control helps.

6. His 18-Defend is very useful, as is his wild card ability. The reason he is on this list over Platinum is that he is defensively better, with his Stealth and Shape Change. His taxi abilities are also useful, especially with his Improved Movement. He also has slightly better damage output, with his potential 1 penetrating damage as opposed to Platinum’s 1-damage.

5. Jean Grey has made herself well known, and for good reasons. Her free action TK is a game changer, but she has one flaw as a Chameleon disguise that keeps her as not the best possible option. Chameleon’s disguise changing being a power action, so Jean will not be able to use TK for free until 2 turns after, once she’s cleared.

4. This Lois Lane doesn’t get played as much as she should, and exactly why eludes me. She can do especially well on a Spy team, as her Stealth-busting Outwit and can’t use team abilities trait go well with all the shutdown that Nick Fury and Peggy Carter offer. Her movement power will also keep her well protected, as will her Outwit. Her STOP click also works very well with other disguises, as she can control what click the next disguise will turn into. This works especially well with Tim Hunter. All the different things that she can do make her well worth using, as is her synergy with Chameleon and his other disguises.

3. She is such an appropriate Chameleon disguise, and almost feels like a different interpretation of his abilities. She also has the benefit of starting with her “disguise” token and will be hard to target because of it. Even when she does attack her Shape Change and Disguise roll should keep her from KO’ing easily, turning her back into Chameleon for the Super Senses roll and attempt at a different disguise.

2. While this Nightwing is usually played at 25 points, his defenses at the 50 point line make him worth considering as a Chameleon disguise. Like Chameleon, he is a wild card, so he will also want to be used with teams that were planned with Chameleon in mind. His Outsiders can be a game changer against Krang, similar to Black Panther. The ability to call him in for that one purpose alone can be worth using. He can also be extra useful if played with characters with the Superman Ally or Avengers Initiative team ability, as wildcarding those along with the 10 range of Outsiders can help him keep Nick Fury’s stats in check.

NFAOS007b Peggy Carter

1. Peggy is absolutely the number one pick for Chameleon to use as a disguise. She works well with a Doctor Octopus strategy, being able to choose a power to shut off and then be carried in, as well as passively helping with her S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability. Her offensive abilities are also good throughout the dial, giving her plenty of opportunity to contribute. Her being a prime is also a non-issue, as there are not many other primes for Chameleon to use as disguises, so she doesn’t take anything away from his other options. When combined with all the Outwit that Sinister Syndicate characters get, she will make a dent in your opponent’s powers that they can access.