by Jay Solomon
Hello and welcome to another iteration of Why Don’t I Play This Piece?. This week, I will be turning the spotlight to a seasonally appropriate character, Captain Cold, from the Flash Fast Forces.
Captain Cold has the Suicide Squad Team Ability, which reads:
When a friendly character adjacent to a character using the Suicide Squad team ability is KO’d, roll a d6 and subtract 2 from the result, minimum result 1. After the action is resolved, if this character is not KO’d, you may heal it of damage equal to the result.
This team ability is even better in this age of bystander tokens, and will help keep Captain Cold alive and in the fight.
Captain Cold has one trait and one special power:
SUBZERO TEMPERATURE: Characters using Charge or Hypersonic Speed modify their attack and damage values by -1 when making a close combat attack against Captain Cold or a friendly character adjacent to Captain Cold if not already modified by this effect.
With Bizarro Green Arrow’s release, Captain Cold has become more relevant. Bizarro Green Arrow’s “ME THE WORLD’S GREATEST ARCHERY TARGET” will lead to more close combat in the competitive environment, which will mean more Charge and Hypersonic Speed. Captain Cold’s nerfs to those powers will help keep the rest of your team
ICE BRIDGE: Captain Cold can use Barrier and Energy Shield/Deflection. When he uses Barrier, he may place an Ice Ladder marker in any square instead of a blocking terrain marker. Ice Ladder markers are clear terrain and are considered a ladder between that square and any adjacent squares of a different elevation. Ice Ladder markers are removed from the map at the beginning of your next turn.
This power will mostly serve Captain Cold defensively, as he will be able to use the Energy Shield/Deflection effectively as a ranged character, with the option of using Barrier. The Ice Ladder markers can be helpful if you lose map roll and need to make your own ladders on a map with a lot of elevated terrain.
Overall, Captain Cold has a very useful dial, with Running Shot and Psychic Blast, along with Outwit, all for a very reasonable 75 points. He also has some very viable keywords, such as Justice League and Legion of Doom, both of which have some useful ATAs.
The Justice League Silver Age ATA will increase Captain Cold’s attack values against a specific target, or multiple opposing characters that share a team ability. The Justice League Dark ATA will help hinder your opponent’s range value, if you have at least two Justice League characters using the ATA. The Justice League: New 52 ATA has been seen in the competitive scene before, such as in George Massu’s recent TW Lex Luthor builds. The New 52 ATA will most likely not be useful with Captain Cold, as the characters that he would play with either do not have Leadership, or are too high in points to play with Captain Cold and make an effective team. The most likely Justice League ATA to play with Captain Cold is probably the 1 point Justice League ATA that gives a situational +1 to Defense, with his defensive focus from his trait. The Rogues ATA is extremely limited, and somewhat redundant for Captain Cold, as he already starts with Outwit. The Task Force ATA is similar to the Justice League Silver Age ATA, with the ability to choose a new Target when the first is KO’d, and is fairly usable. Captain Cold’s Legion of Doom keyword allows him access to two ATAs, the better of which is Tiago Pinto da Luz’s All My Teammates Are Useless, allowing Captain Cold to either get better stats himself, or help a teammate by increasing one of their combat values. Captain Cold also has access to the other Legion of Doom ATA, allowing him to copy another Legion of Doom friendly character’s team ability. Using an ATA with Captain Cold is viable, as he has several very good, viable keywords:
75 FFFL001 Captain Cold
1 ATA080 Justice League
100 WF040 Element Man
1 Justice League ATA
75 WF060R World’s Finest
1 Justice League ATA
25 FFJLTW007 Atomica
1 Justice League ATA
10 SFSM005 Thug
1 Justice League ATA
290
This team is designed to be as defensive as possible, with the team having either high defenses or Shape Change, Super Senses, and Impervious in Element Man’s case. Captain Cold’s trait and the Justice League ATA will help further boost the team’s defenses. Element Man’s versatility will also help the team do well, such as using Telekinesis to move World’s Finest to set up their duo attack, or choosing Impervious to serve as tie-up while Captain Cold takes shots using his Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Outwit. Feel free to fill in the last 10 points with whatever special object you prefer to best help the team.
That’s all I have for this week’s Why Don’t I Play This Piece?. I hope you’ve enjoyed my focus on another fringe figure, and always remember that when you’re using a fringe figure, or any other team, practice makes your team better.
