by PJ Bolin
Well guys, that was fast! Already found something else that needs to get added to the Bronze Age Ban List! I’m going to do a quick write up today, explaining why that is. To preface this, I just want to explain a bit about how we come to these decisions. When something is brought to our attention as a group, we will analyze the interaction to, first, ensure that it actually works that way. Then, once we conclude that it does, we look at all of the elements that are critical in making it happen. When that is broken down, we then try to ban the element that will have the lowest overall effect on the format, whether that be fun or competitive viability. With that in mind, let’s discuss the banning of Bizarro Green Arrow!
Bizarro Green Arrow – JW 066
A piece with quite the past in both Modern and Bronze Age play. He was always very playable on squads to avoid being shot at, but was never quite a meta staple because of the ‘ol Hawkeye for 5 points. Unfortunately, I was able to unearth an infinite combo with him that can lead to an opponent being defeated in just one turn. I will be giving an example build, and then explaining the elements in question that make it happen. I will be referring to him as “BGA” for the remainder of the article.
Build:
Jason Wyngarde 75
Bizarro Green Arrow 50
Alpha Primitive 30
Dr. Doom the Sorceror Supreme (starting on Prisoner) 75
Molecule Man 30 (flexible)
Q Prime 30 (flexible)
Pym Particles 2
Joker’s Gas Canister 3
Frogjolnir 5 (flexible)
The Combo:
The basis of this combo is quite simple, Jason Wyngarde targets Alpha Primitive with Mind Control, which automatically redirects to BGA, allowing you to resolve the MC on BGA. Using either the Pym Particles or Frogjolnir to make Alpha Primitive tiny, BGA will be able to carry him along during that action. Once you have moved and/or attacked, you go back to resolving Jason’s MC. Because of BGA’s timing of “would be targeted” the Alpha Primitive was never targeted by Jason, therefore he can try to MC him yet again, but it will redirect to BGA, even if illegal. Repeat this until the opposing team is KO’d. Using the Joker’s Gas Canister on BGA first, will give him a -2 Defense and +1 Damage, making him easier to hit, and giving him the 3-Damage (after the Empower) to get through damage reducers. Doom Supreme will give you the re-rolls you need on Jason, in addition to Q Prime, to hopefully not crit miss too many consecutive time. The build will have a full map reach, since you can just keep moving a few squares at a time, you’ll eventually get there.
The Options:
So now we come down to breaking down the figures that are necessary to make this happen:
Jason Wyngarde: This was the other main option when deciding what to ban, but this figure sees play more regularly than the other options, so this would only be the choice if we had no other way to go.
Alpha Primitive: The friendly attack conduit is necessary to get the chain going. However, if we ban Alpha Primitive, we would also have to ban XDPS047 Jean Grey as well as TMT025 Valkyrie. So in order to just ban one option, that leaves us with…
BGA: The remaining piece of the combo. It is quite unfortunate that we were lead here, because I think he is a really interesting figure. But the spirit of the game is significantly more important.
Thanks for reading everyone! Hopefully we don’t get too many more new ones to add to the list!
