by Jay Solomon
Hello, and welcome to another iteration of Why Don’t I Play This Piece?. This week, I will be taking a look at a character that can be a great addition to the point denial archetype, among others. This week, the spotlight is on TMNT4 (rare) 024 Shredder!
Shredder has the Foot Clan and TMNT Villain named keywords, as well as the Martial Artist, Mystical, and Ruler generic keywords. Shredder has two traits and a special damage power:
+20 (Optional Trait) ILLUSIONARY DOUBLE: FREE: If no friendly character named Shredder Illusion is on your force, generate a TMNTUP #005 Shredder Illusion. Your opponents don’t score that character.
For the same cost as adding a Shredder Illusion to your force, Shredder can generate one, such that there is almost always one on the map. The fact that this Shredder Illusion is not scored has a lot of positive implications. But before I get into that, let’s look at what the Shredder Illusion does. The Shredder Illusion has one trait:
(Trait) TEMPORARY SHREDDER ILLUSION: For all characters that can use this trait, whenever a friendly character within 6 squares named Shredder would take damage, you may reduce that damage by 1 in addition to any other effects that reduce damage. If you do, after resolutions, deal 1 unavoidable damage to a friendly character named Shredder Illusion.
This trait will essentially allow the Shredder Illusion to take 1 damage in the place of a friendly Shredder. The Shredder Illusion also has a solid offensive first click, as well as Shape Change on every click, to serve as annoying tie-up.
There are many benefits to this Shredder Illusion optional trait, especially since these characters are not scored. First, these Shredder Illusions being generated as FREE means that this can be done after being carried, following which you can get an attack, to go along with other characters that can attack or otherwise do something offensive after being carried. Also, these Shredder Illusions are risk-free tie-up, as well as Mastermind fodder for either Shredder, or other characters, that, to reiterate, will not be scored. So essentially it’s similar to bystander generators, but better in almost every way. On top of all that, the damage reduction trait can help protect Shredder from one of the best ways around Mastermind, non-attack damage.
(Trait) GAME BOSS: FLASHING RED: The first two times each game Shredder would be KO’d, instead turn him to click #6, then heal him 1 click if an opposing force has 1 or 2 characters on it; otherwise, heal him 2 clicks. Protected: Pulse Wave.
To put it simply, this trait will make it so Shredder needs to be KO’d multiple times. At the very least, your opponent will need to deal Shredder 6 damage to KO him the first time. Then (assuming he only heals 1 click), they will need to deal him 2 damage at least 2 more times. So that’s a total of “10” clicks of health for 100 points, not even considering the fact that Shredder could heal 2, each of the first 2 KO’s, along with him being easy to heal on any click he heals onto, thanks to the 16-Defense. While the overall defensive numbers may be low, it’s fine since Shredder is more about passing off damage defensively rather than taking a lot of it directly. Assuming that Shredder is able to have an Illusion around for at least one instance of damage being dealt each turn, even most of the time, a lot of the initial damage coming his way is mitigated, so the amount of damage he needs to be dealt is actually more than it initially appears.
(Special Damage Power) RETROMUTAGEN RAY: Outwit. When Shredder uses it, the targeted character can use Earthbound/Neutralized until your next turn.
Not much to mention here, outside of Outwit generally being good, along with the fact that the opposing character’s Willpower and Improved Movement and Targeting will be taken away.
Shredder can fit into a lot of different theme teams and archetypes thanks to his two useful generic keywords, along with functions on two different possible team archetypes, point denial, as well as action after taxi. In addition to the dial already being hard to get through, Shredder makes his own Mastermind fodder, which synergizes even further with the annoying defenses. For Shredder, I’ve made a few different teams. One of which is a Ruler theme team, with lots of pogs to spam your opponent with. Another is an action after taxi team, and the last one is a point denial, Mystical team.
Ruler
80 TMNT4024 Shredder
+ 20 Illusionary Double Optional Trait
+8 EAXS001 Beetle Pod
100 WKDP18-001 Starro
20 AIG025 Groot
45 SFSM046 Mephisto
3 XXSXID-006 All-New Wolverine
5 WKMVID-012 Professor X
5 WKD Harley Quinn
3 WKM Cyclops
10 AIG012 Tony Stark’s Car Special Terrain
299
Post Rotation – Alpha Strike/Action After Taxi
80 TMNT4024 Shredder
+ 20 Illusionary Double Optional Trait
25 SWB031 Alex Wilder
15 HQ044 Kite Man
70 BTAS052 Batgirl, Shadow of the Bat
+ 12 WKM Exospex
15 HQ044 Kite Man
20 AIG025 Groot
257 – Room for ID cards, special terrain, location bonuses, etc. of your choice
Mystical
80 TMNT4024 Shredder
+ 20 Illusionary Double Optional Trait
+10 BTASS004 Scarface
60 EAX054 Daredevil
7 BTASS002 Venom Harness
25 SWB031 Alex Wilder
35 JW052 Green Lantern
30 WKMP18-G001P Tri-Sentinel
267 – Room for ID cards, special terrain, location bonuses, etc. of your choice
That’s all I have for this week. Thanks for reading, and remember that whether you’re playing an established competitive piece, or testing out a Fringe Figure, remember that practice will make your team better.
