by Jay Solomon
Hello, and welcome to another iteration of “Why Don’t I Play This Piece?”. This week, I will be going over a character whose particular shutdown abilities are very notable in the current environment, Howard the Duck.
Howard the Duck has no team abilities. He has one trait and two special powers:
MASTER OF QUACK-FU: Howard the Duck can use Sidestep.
Having Sidestep as a trait will be very useful, if only to get some movement and free positioning with Howard. This will be especially important to prevent him from having line of fire to your own characters, for his shutdown power.
FOWL-MOUTHED!: Howard the Duck can use Incapacitate. When he does, he may target all adjacent opposing characters.
While this power can be useful, the fact that it is not on his top dial decreases the odds that it will be seen. The fact that he only has a 9-Attack to go with it on the first click that he has the power isn’t great either. Still, he is only 50 points, and if he can pull this off, it’s essentially a bonus.
WE CAN DO THIS THE WRONG WAY, OR MY WAY!: At the beginning of your turn, choose a standard power that an adjacent friendly character can use. Until your next turn, all characters within 6 squares and line of fire of Howard the Duck can’t use the chosen power.
This special power is what makes Howard competitive. The ability to shut down a 
standard power within that range for all characters is something no other character can do. He will be especially useful once Peggy Carter retires. The line of fire requirement and the fact that he could interfere with your own characters are things to keep in mind, but if Howard is paired up with characters to help enable him and positioned properly, he should be a very useful tool to mess with your opponent’s plans.
Howard is a particularly good figure at the moment, with pick a power characters being the main threats. Pairing him up with such a character is a good way to ensure that he has the ability to shut off any power you need to before your opponent can use it against you. Howard the Duck also has decent defenses, starting off with Stealth and 17-Defense with Combat Reflexes. His 5 click dial should allow him to survive at least one attack, with his late-dial Super Senses to maybe let him dodge another attack. He has some useful keywords, including Animal, which is decent right now thanks to characters like Klarion, Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace, and Peter the Hunter. His most important keyword is Mystical, which continues to be one of the more prevalent keywords in the game, with options like Jakeem Thunder, JW Green Lantern, and The Wizard.
50 DXF035 Howard The Duck
90 EW040 Al Jhor Dan
75 TMNT3023 Shredder Clone
50 ADW001 Dr. Strange
5 WFR100 Justice League Teleporter
5 WKDCID-004 Lex Luthor
5 NFAOSNFID-007 S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 7
5 WFWFID-004 Green Arrow
5 WKMVID-009 Spider-Man
5 WKMVID-010 Swordsman
5 WFWFID-001 Superman
300
Sideline: ADW019 Dr. Strange, ADW035 Dr. Strange, WI009 Dr. Stark, FFBVS006 Lex Luthor, ADW067 Hawkeye, EW049 Green Arrow, WI038 Cosmic Spider-Man, ADW036 Swordsman, BVS016 Superman
This team is designed to get full use out of Howard’s shutdown abilities. Al Jhor Dan will play well with Howard, as a pick a power character. One power that you might want to choose to shut off with this team is Invincible, as it is the only standard defense power standing in the way of Shredder Clone’s Shredder Elite trait damage. Dr. Strange can carry the whole team when he is using his taxi powerset, to position Howard for his shutdown abilities, and to position Shredder Clone for his free damage. The ID cards for this team have been chosen to work specifically with Howard, so he can contribute in other ways as well. He can call in the 50 point Lex Luthor as well as Swordsman, both of which will help your other characters on top of one of the more important characters not needing to do the call-in themselves.
That’s all for this week. Always remember that when playing either the established competitive figures, or Fringe figures, practice makes your team better.
