by Jason Collins
Areas of Disinterest
See, that
What?
That area there!
What about it?
Don’t want to go there.
Wow it’s been awhile since I’ve had a chance to write for the site. Let’s get this show on the road.
At the Heroclix World Championships I was putting together some ideas for a team and I almost put together a number of combinations that included Iron Heart and the lovingly named HA HA HA Joker. When I played my third round match against Howard Brock I realized I should’ve gone with my gut as the functional combination of Iron Heart and HA HA HA Joker led to something I haven’t dealt with in a while as these two characters became the bane of my existence.
The reason these characters were great on his team was because they created on the map what I like to call, the Area of Disinterest. This is something we haven’t seen since the days of Giant Size X-Men when we had small characters that created small auras of shut down near them. The difference now is that these characters are no longer creating an aura of shut down but rather an aura of effort. so let’s start to break down and look into what is The aura of disinterest how we can try to deal with it.
Area of Disinterest defined
Why don’t you want to go there?
Not worth it!
The Area of Disinterest is an area of a Heroclix Map where the effort needed to eliminate figures on the map isn’t worth the the risk or actions to either eliminate or get around what’s in that area of the map. What’s more the area of disinterest could also be caused by a figure with a power set that works in an area of effect that would limit the effectiveness of opposing characters in some manner.
This is an area that could also create something of a safety bubble around more important and costly figures. As an example if I put my Iron Heart within a few squares of, in the case of Howard’s team, my Green Goblin my opponent will have to find their way around my Iron Heart.
Dealing with the area of disinterest
How do I get around it
Be ready for it
One of the best ways to deal with the area of disinterest is to prepare for 
it. Some characters such as the recently released Chase Green Arrow from Elseworlds, The chase Hawkeye from Avengers Defenders War, or everyone’s favorite Nick Fury have the ability to shoot past characters (among other things). All of these characters can be included on your team with minimal cost, point-wise through ID cards. Of course you’re free to include them on your team but that comes at a higher cost and forces you to focus more on these characters as part of your team instead of what your initial strategy may have been.
If this is not an option you will need flexible movement characters. By flexible movement I mean abilities like flight or improved movement: ignore characters among other things in order to zip past these characters.
The other more difficult option is to arrange your team to be outside of the danger zone of the stronger characters but within a zone where you can attack the non-threatening characters. One such way you can do this with the example of Iron Heart is to use a character that is of less importance for your primary attack force and possibly less focused on damage output to do the work for you. In cases like the HA HA HA Joker this will take much more work but could be managed with safe placement and high damage output. But it must be stressed that attempting to attack a difficult to kill character such as the Joker should be a desperation tactic instead of a primary tactic. One thing to always be aware of when attempting these more aggressive tactics is to be sure your opponent doesn’t have something that will bite you in the butt in later parts of the game (ie the Justice League teleporter, or Colossal Retaliation).
Always remember though more aggressive tactics are what your opponent wants you to do in this situation so you need to make sure they’re not getting what they want out of you. They want you attacking these characters so if you’re going to do so make sure you’re not exposing yourself to your opponent’s plans.
Finally for the more patient player you could always take the long way around stay well outside of the bubble of influence of these characters don’t allow them any of their small pot shots or other such nonsense and make your way to the primary focus of their team. Once again worth noting though this is what’s your opponent wants you to do but sometimes playing to their tactics can work in your favor given the right situations. Be sure to read your situation correctly.
In conclusion
Better get my hiking boots it’s going to be a long walk
The current competitive environment has some very strange pieces that don’t require a lot of point investment to put on the board but take significantly more game-play investment to take off of the board. Being ready for this is a difficult undertaking and it will take a great deal of patience to work around. Be sure to read your board as well as what your opponent’s team is doing and do your best to work around these figures. I hope I’ve managed to bring this idea to light and to make more players aware of what they need if they plan on using it or trying to find their way around it.
