To Buy or Not To Buy – Superman / Wonder Woman

 

 

 

 

 By Kevin Afrooz

            Hey fellow clixers. This is an article written to help players gauge whether it is worth buying a brick, case, or singles of that set. I know others do a similar type of review, however this article will look only at a set number of pieces for “300pts Modern Meta” play and help to strategize whether it is worth purchasing a brick, case, or just some singles of that set in order to compete at the 300pts Modern Level.

If you’re a collector then you’ll always buy the new hotness, however for those that have the umpteenth version of Iron Man or Captain America you may be wondering if the set is worth purchasing and what figures will keep their value.

Looking at the common figures in the set we find some of our favorite animated super heroes along with a few Generics. It should be noted that starting with the Superman/Wonder Woman set Wizkids has decided to make figures with crazy or confusing special powers to be at the rare level and up. The common and uncommon figures are treated as simple dial designs with at most a special power and trait. For this reason we have figures like Superman who has a base dial and no improved movement/targeting or special powers.

            The best common figures are Wonder Woman, Hat, and some generics. Wonder Woman has been an iconic figure in DC for longer than I’ve been alive. It’s sad that she didn’t get a full set by herself as she deserves it, but awesome that iterations of her like the common 100pt version were made in this set. At 100pts she has 7 clicks of strong values. Seriously who wants to mess with a figure that when hit for 6 still has a 10-Attack, and close combat expert? She’s a beast and great for sealed play.

Hat is by far the best common in this set. For 45pts you have the most versatile common in Modern gameplay. He can gain any standard attack or damage power that means he can pick TK one turn and Probability Control the next. I think we’ll definitely be seeing him along with S.T.A.R. Labs Technician from the FLASH set competing for best Modern common piece.

            As for the generic commons in this set both the Parademon and Amazon are great figures for 45pts and help to round out theme teams. A 45pt Monster with Charge and flight for 4 clicks of health is what might be necessary to carry around a Shriek or Zombie Electro. And the Amazon is 5 clicks of health meaning a secondary attacker won’t generally be able to kill them in one shot with Charge + Super Strength at top dial. I’d be worried if the Amazons somehow found a way to creep across the map and get an attack on one of my figures.

The prime common, Captain Atom, in this set isn’t all that great. With a power that essentially kills him on the back end of his dial no one would be foolish enough to run him in meta play unless they expected him to go *BOOM*. Thankfully commons are easy to pull and with only needing 4 out of 16 at $0.50 per piece you’re basically choosing to pick up these figures instead of a soda the next time you visit your Heroclix retailer.

            In the uncommon section we begin to see Earth-2 figures and the 2 new traits for this set, “WAIT, THAT’S NOT SUPERMAN…” and “THE ODDS ARE AGAINST ME”. Although both traits seem cool as do the figures sculpts they really are useless in competitive play, with the “odds” trait being more favorable, but just placed on over costed pieces. The prime uncommon, Brutaal, who is from Earth-2 is also over-costed for what he does. Sure his powers are cool like the fact that he can’t be outwitted other than by the Superman Enemy Team ability, but Pulse Wave and figures like General Lane from this set make him over-costed trash.

            Red Tornado from Earth-2 is really where people should be looking for a good center piece to build a playable team around. With the ability to do free action knock back and if the person doesn’t get knocked back they then take 1 penetrating damage you pair her with Juston Seyfert and watch your opponent begin to pout when you move up, base their piece, then Close Combat Attack your opponents figure with Juston’s ability causing knockback, then do it again with your own Close Combat Attack after. Even if they don’t ignore the knockback it’s still a devastating combo.

Another great piece in the uncommon section is Artemis. She’s basically Nick Fury but for Close Combat attacks instead of range, and can’t be targeted by opposing characters Probability Control or Outwit unless the character is more points than her, so 126+, or has the Deity keyword.

So remember when I stated that figures with crazy or confusing special powers would be at the rare level and up, well I told you what Wizkids told all of us, but it’s not true. What also is in the uncommon section is an undercosted figure. The best uncommon figure in this set is GENERAL LANE.

General Lane in the comics is a person that just stirs up all kinds of trouble. Whenever he shows in comics you know that something stupid is bound to happen. Wizkids decided to include this into his figure design when they chose to give him Leadership towards anyone with the “Soldier” keyword. That means you can pull tokens off of figures such as Nick Fury, Captain America, Peggy Carter, Captain Marvel prime, etc.  What’s crazier is that he gives the Superman Enemy Team Ability to all adjacent friendly characters. For those that may not remember what the team ability does, “When two friendly characters that can use the Superman Enemy team ability are adjacent to each other, the character with the higher point value may be given a free action to immediately use Outwit.” Don’t forget he also has PD Team ability and Enhancement all wrapped up in 40pts. This is an uncommon figure that is better than Chases. If you can grab this figure while the set is new because he gonna sky rocket in value like Professor X from GSX did. I’m expecting this figure to easily jump to being $4-8 when the average price for an uncommon is $0.50-1.

We’ve reached the rare section and this is where the special powers + traits jump to being more than 2. In the rare section we start to find pieces that have versatility.

Starting with Green Lantern we find a piece that just won’t die. With 12 clicks of health and a technical stop click because of his special when he is KO’d we find that the Green really won’t let this guy die until he’s enacted his revenge upon the Black for taking his Fiancé from him. You can try building an undying team around this Green Lantern but I’m not fond of his average 17 defense basically throughout his whole dial. Where most people will have a 13-14 attack value you may just want to pair him up with a Nighthawk Prime instead.

            We all saw Superman Blue in the Wizkids preview and this piece is easily a playable option at his 50pt line, but not at the higher value. What he brings to the table is Running Shot + Energy Explosion, and the ability to ignore Pulse Wave damage for him and adjacent friendly characters. The one power that destroys pieces like Zombies and undying pieces can now be ignored by just sticking your main attacker next to good ol’ Blue. If you get a chance you should push him to his 2^nd click as he’ll be dying from most figures attacks if they hit him anyways, so it’s better to have Hypersonic Speed and Super Senses than being bogged down by no defense to a successful attack and no manner of breaking away from a Melee attacker. Sadly, Superman Red isn’t as good as his counterpart because he only ignores Energy Explosion, and for 100pts which is 1/3 of a 300pt team. If he had better stats he would be in the running.

Another piece that looks good on paper but just doesn’t function because of Nighthawk Prime is Lady Blaze. With the trait “A DEVIL’S BARGAIN” you would expect to have a game changing ability, however Nighthawk Prime just destroys the trait and any chance of Lady Blaze being played competitively.

The only other piece in the rare section that is decent is Lois Lane. For 45pts you have a way to stop Team Abilities – this includes ATA’s – and have an Outwit that generally can’t be countered unless an opposing character gets within 2 of her. She also has a stop click so no one will be able to get a quick KO off of her unless they are using Pulse Wave. It seems to be that the good Rare pieces in this set where made to be hard to kill. At generally $1 a piece it might not be a bad idea to grab these figures.

Looking at the SR’s I instantly fell in love with Krypto. When he was announced as a piece I wondered if they would copy Dogpool’s design and they kind of did. Krypto, however is better than his cancer ridden counterpart in the Marvel Universe. With Precision Strike and the ability to ignore Shape Change Krypto is a beast. What’s even crazier is somehow this dog has a range value of 4, and if paired right with another member of the Super family he can instantly pounce across the map on another opposing character. Having an 18-Defense and being tiny size also seems to help him slowly creep up and hit the opponent. This really is a solid piece for 50pts.

            Vartox is for those who were unlucky to pull a Zombie Super Skrull and can’t afford to get one. He’s not as good as Super Skrull and costs 55pts more than Super Skrull but still does the same thing. Pick any standard speed, attack, or defense power and replace his with the choice. Unlike Super Skrull you don’t have to roll afterwards and potentially take damage for choosing those power. You also don’t get to choose any damage powers, but he’s still got decent stats and can be brought in through the “WAIT, THAT’S NOT SUPERMAN…” trait.

Another figure that is not up to snuff compared to his counterpart click is Atomic Skull. Firestar from the ASM Team Base does what Atomic Skull basically does for less points. However there are advantages to playing Blazing Skull over Firestar such as the increase in damage and Energy Explosion. I just can’t see a good team being built around Atomic Skull when he takes up half of the build total and doesn’t start with Perplex, Probability Control, or Improved Targeting.

And now we have reached a figure I am biased towards, Sebastian Faust or Faust as he’s printed. Faust is a beast of a piece created by my two friends/partners and I when we won the 2014 Heroclix 3v3 Team World Tournament. This figure is everything you can ask for in order to deal with Night Hawk Prime and high defense figures. Rolling 3 dice when attacking and choosing one of them to eliminate is great on the probabilities of scoring a hit. Suddenly needing an 8 or 9 on a roll isn’t so tough, and the best part is the full roll can be Probability Controlled in case if somehow you blunder by rolling two 1’s. He also has “SHADOW WALK” like Lydea Mallor but off of Sidestep, and has 7 clicks of life for 90pts. I could go on more and more about how ridiculous this piece can be with resources and such, but I instead encourage everyone to pick this piece up and try it for themselves.

            Another amazing piece is Mr. Mxyzptlk, or as I like to call him Mr. M for short. Mr. M is an interesting piece that will be played almost as much as Nighthawk prime. With the ability to change any one die in a re-rollable roll with the dice on his card you can inadvertently make or break the chance of winning a game off of that die roll. Not to mention that if someone equips something such as an object or entity you can just push Mr. M to his 2^nd click and free action to change the opposing characters size thus nulling the effects given by that equipped item or entity. Mr. M is truly a beast. Trade, buy, or steal him from someone if you can.

Looking at the Chases for this set I was ecstatic to find that the Chases were Red Son alternates of DC characters. People always love alternate storylines and the chases are well made in the sculpt department. Red Son Batman is a must get for any double barrier teams as his trait “BOMBS PLANTED EVERYWHERE” allows you to roll after the action resolves in which an opposing figure destroys a piece of blocking terrain to deal 1 penetrating damage to that character. He can also outwit a person’s entire dial should you choose to do so.

Red Son Bizarro is the new M10 Dark Phoenix with a similar top dial at his 100pt line. He has Running Shot, Pulse Wave with a range value of 10, and a stop click. Only thing he’s missing is the Outwit and ability to heal off of KO’s. Red Son Braniac is something players definitely want to get and keep for when the ROC changes to allow entity possessions again, but until then he isn’t necessary. Red Son Green light is just like Clark Kent in which he is amazing on his 3^rd click so if you can find a way to get on it and trap opposing characters inside of his barrier then you are Golden.

Sadly Red Son Superman and Wonder Woman aren’t amazing pieces in this 300 Limited format for the ROC, but
the figures really do look amazing.

            Excluding myself from talking about the Super Boosters pieces because they can’t be played in the ROC for the next 6 months, all in all I like this set. It has pieces that will literally shape the meta teams. The commons like Hat and Wonder Woman can easily round out a team. At a reasonable rate of $0.50 per common fig and a maximum value of $1 a pop the necessary good commons would cost $2. So common total amount is $2 – $4. The uncommon section only has 3 figs that can be considered necessary to add to a collection, but General Lane is definitely a necessary piece. Uncommons generally run around the same amount as a basic common and can be anywhere around $0.50 – $1. With General Lane going up in value the minute after a ROC result is turned in you should gnab the 3 pieces for $1.50 – $3 prior to his price raising. The same goes for Superman Blue in the rare section as he’s really the only versatile piece out of that section. The total value for a CUR from this set will most likely be like the Nick Fury CUR’s at only $12.50 – $21. Most CUR’s sell online day 1 for only $30. It would cost $20+ for you to acquire the whole CUR set without having to buy a brick. It should be noted that a brick does not get you a full CUR always, and this set has a ton of non-competitive pieces, so it may not be worth it. However, this set has a ton of expensive SR’s and Chases. With Krypto finally being reprinted in this set and actually being a playable piece he’s going to go for anywhere between $15-25. Vartox and Atomic Skull will probably go for $10 each while the unmentioned SR’s will go for $8. And the crazy one’s to watch will be Faust and Mr. M as they have the potential of easily going for $30+ depending on their pullability. Just pulling one of them is 1/3 of a Brick’s price made back. The Chases from this set are pieces that DC fans have wanted forever. Just like Marvel fans wanted the Phoenix 5 DC fans wanted Red Son alternates and they finally got them. These Chases won’t drop below $50 for a while. If you pull a Chase and Mr. M or Faust count yourself lucky because all the rest of the figures are profit. With that in mind I would recommend you get a brick of this set only if you intend to keep the pieces for playability. Unlike past sets where you had more of a chance to make your money back this set seems to be chance related in needing to pull well, and you have 2 less boosters to do that with as the Super Boosters are introduced back in this set. That means that out of 8 boosters 3 will contain SR’s, 1 Chase/Prime, and 4 Rares. That’s a 50/50 chance of pulling well or crap, and the probability gets worse when you move up to a Case as you don’t want the majority of the primes in this set.