by Amber Collins
Hi guys and welcome to the Rules corner, an article series where we go over rulings recently made on the WIN Rules Forum and how they affect the greater game. Today we’re going to be talking about a quiet errata that has caused quite a stir.
How do you Solve a Problem like Malice?
Malice was introduced in the Uncanny X-men set and became another new approach to the game mechanic often referred to as a ‘Possessor’. Unlike those that came before her Malice had no way of becoming a Possessor at Force Construction, instead, equipping to a friendly character during game play. (The only other time we had seen this was in TMNT 029 Rat King) Before Malice’s quiet errata her trait read as such:
I’M DONE WITH YOU, PRETTY: When Malice would be KO’d, you may equip her to another friendly character. EFFECT: Character can use Perplex and Shape Change.
This was a throwback to the way that the original War of Light Entities worked. By making her trigger on a ‘would be
KO’d’ it meant that an opponent wouldn’t be able to score her 75pts until they also KO’d the character she had equipped herself to. Whether this was an oversight in the original design or something they decided needed to be changed after having seen her be played, we’re unsure but this did make her stand out from all the other Possessors. It was a way to protect that 75pts for just a little bit longer while also beefing up another friendly character with her equipment effect.
However, it didn’t take long before Malice was made to conform with her Possessing brethren and on June 6th 2016 her trait was changed to this:
[E]I’m Done With You Pretty When Malice is KO’d, you may equip her to another friendly character.
This took away the slight point protection that she had initially offered while also allowing other characters to activate any ‘when a character is KO’d’ effects. Although this was seen by some as a bad change, one that made her a little less desirable to play, it does help bring her into line with all the others. We know that the Design team is trying to make things easier and simpler by trimming game effects and trying to make them universal across multiple characters. This errata was a change in that direction. However there was one side effect,
Unforeseen Side Effects
When a character becomes a piece of equipment they are no longer considered a character for game purposes and will only be affected if a game effect specifically targets equipment. Likewise all of their powers are ignored except for those specified otherwise. In the case of Possessors the only powers that will come into play will be their Equipped Traits and their Effect traits.
Before Malice’s errata there was something else about her trait that made her stand out from the others and it wasn’t the timing on her trigger. It was the use of the word ‘another’. All previous Possessors had used the phrase ‘equip this character to a friendly character’ even the aforementioned Rat King who was closer in function to Malice than a Possessor like Eclipso. Malice though, used the phrase ‘equip her to another friendly character’.
Taken on it’s own this slight change may not have caused any problems. After all it wouldn’t be the first time a similar game effect used a slightly different wording. On the other hand, things are rarely done in a bubble when it comes to Heroclix and there’s one more Possessor that was introduced in Uncanny X-men that has players thinking outside the box. That Possessor goes by the name Proteus. Had Proteus not been made, I’d bet there would be much less confusion about the change in wording for Malice’s Trait. Proteus, though, is a unique case. His own powers are what allow him to hop from character to character:
HE’S USING ORDINARY PEOPLE LIKE PUPPETS!: When building your force, you may pay 35 points to equip Proteus to a character of 100 points or less. When the equipped character is KO’d, equip this to another friendly character of 100 points or less. If you can’t, place him on click #10 into the square of the last character he was equipped and he can’t be healed.
Since it’s plainly written right within his own trait that he moves on once the character he’s equipped to KO’s, he’s the exception to the rule. So how does that affect Malice? Put simply, it doesn’t. Malice never did and never will hop from one character to the next and to explain why we once again need to pull out our English-Heroclix Dictionary.
Quick Robin, to the Dictionary!
To understand why Malice is more like Eclipso than Proteus we need to look at the definition for the two phrases ‘a friendly character’ and ‘another friendly character’.
A Friendly Character
Phrase
- Any character on your force that you control
- Refers to all characters including the character using the game effect
- A Character is always friendly to themselves
Another Friendly Character
Phrase
- Any other character on your force that you control
- Refers to all characters excluding the character using the game effect
Taking into consideration the fact that the Design Team is trying to make powers more clear and concise this change to the Possession wording makes sense. After all, if a character is always friendly to itself the previous wording would suggest that it could possess itself, which it can’t since it’s own effect is removing it from the board. By changing the ‘a’ to ‘another’ it removes the unnecessary redundancy of a character trying to possess itself. Unfortunately in the process of trying to be more concise, more confusion arose. Hopefully this gives players a better look as to the why Malice was worded the way she was and how she’ll function while on the board. Til next time, remember it’s all in the wording.
