To Buy or Not To Buy – TMNT 3: Shredder’s Return – Kevin Afrooz

By
Majestix

Kevin Afrooz (1) 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 competitive play. In this instance 300pt Modern and 300pt Modern Age Limited Constructed. I will attempt to help you strategize on whether it is worth purchasing a brick, case, or just some singles of that set in order to compete at the Competitive 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.

THE COMMONS

Looking at the common figures in the set we find that the best figures are the generics. Out of the 10 Common figures in the set 3 of the 4 Foot Tech figures have potential to be played. None of the figures are overpowered and necessary, but each of the 3 brings a unique twist to the game. And besides they’re commons so each figure is easy to pull and generally worth $0.50-$1 if you wish to just purchase them.

All of the Foot Tech generics in this set have a trait that is worthwhile. For 35 points they can each take a power action to place an Invisible Token on their card. This token makes it to where they can’t be targeted by non-adjacent characters and they get an increase of +2 to their defense until they attack or are attacked. At that point the token comes off and these little 35 point menaces become way too easy to kill.

Going in set order #007 Foot Tech (Katar) has Charge, Blades with a 10 attack and the ability to have his damage be penetrating if he occupies hindering terrain. That’s not hard to accomplish if you have a Super Strength piece on your team. Just place the object underneath the Foot Tech and watch him Blades for 6-penetrating damage.

#009 Foot Tech (Shuriken) is the ranged version of the Foot Tech. Instead of Charge he has Running Shot with a 5-range. And his special power is the ability to lower an opposing characters attack and defense by -1 until your next turn if he hits them.

#010 Foot Tech (Twin Katana) is a variation on Foot Tech (Katar and instead of his Blades having the ability to do Penetrating Damage if he occupies Hindering Foot Tech (Twin Katana) allows you to roll 2 dice when rolling a Blades roll and keep one. I like this because I’m always afraid of rolling a 1 or 2 with Blades. With 2 dice and the ability to Probability Control both I feel like that 5 or 6 roll is going to always occur.

THE UNCOMMONS

Unlike the Commons the Uncommons are less playable. Out of 8 figures only 1 stands out and I probably still wouldn’t play it. That figure is #12 Splinter. The meme sums up #12 Splinter’s dial perfectly. This is a figure that essentially does no damage has no ability to move and attack and is essentially useless if not for his support powers. At 25 points Splinter has Sidestep, 11-Attack, and Empower, with only 2-Damage. Where he shines is his ability to give +1 attack to all other friendly characters this turn if he hits with an attack. How that’s going to happen with no move and attack, Willpower, or ability to traverse the map with say Leap/Climb is beyond me. If you get him to hit though, a free Perplex to attack for all of your other characters ain’t so bad.

THE RARES

We find what I consider the best piece in this set in the rare section. The Rare section seems to be where we start to find pieces that are play worthy. And there’s 2 that will definitely be played this coming weekend.

#23 Shredder Clone is the best piece in this set. Any time Wizkids makes a piece that can deal damage without needing to roll any dice I and everyone else begins to think of ways to break that piece. Shredder Clone is no different. One of his Traits allows him the use of Sidestep and the ability to deal 1-penetrating damage when he moves to each adjacent opposing characters after the action resolves that wasn’t next to Shredder Clone when he began his movement. Give this guy the Lust relic and watch him continuously deal 1-penetrating damage to all those figures bunched around a Bizarro Green Arrow.

He also has INSANE survivability. At 75 points he is 6 clicks but for another 10 points he can be replaced when KO’d with Shark Shredder who give him another 4 clicks of life. 10pts for 4 clicks?! I’ll take that any day. Shredder Clone also has a trait which allows him at the beginning of the game to choose an opposing character that isn’t the lowest point character on the opponents force. Every other character that wasn’t the chosen character gets -2 to their attack when attacking Shredder Clone. This effect lasts until the chosen character is KO’d. Do you know how many people play FF Atomica and a Colossal Retaliator? How about Juston Seyfert, Ultron Drone, Jarvis, Captain America, etc. Just choose the character that essentially never attacks and is just a support piece and watch your opponent cry. If you want to see them cry you a river place this guy on a team with Chase Wonder Woman who decreases the opposing figures attack and damage by an additional -1 against Shredder Clone.  Keep in mind that his trait also affects ID character Call-Ins.  Oh, and Shredder Clone has an 18-Defense, 12-Attack, and Blades, so after he’s based your team and dealt 1-penetrating damage with Sidestep he has the potential to then 1 shot a secondary attacker. This piece is a MUST get.

#026 Michelangelo or Space Mikey is a great support piece for 75 points. He has Probability Control, Free Smoke Cloud, and the ability to give friendly figures in his Smoke markers Sidestep. Stealth doesn’t matter as much any longer because of so many pieces that ignore Hindering Terrain for Line of Fire Purposes, but Hindering Terrain still stops a lot of pieces from being able to maneuver well such as Quicksilver and HAHAHA Joker. Space Mikey also has the potential of an 11 swing Running Shot with an 11-Attack and 3-Damage. That’s decent for his point value. Where I see him shining is when he’s placed on a Robot team like Batman/Superman Robot + Juston Seyfert.

THE SUPER RARES

Because this set is small there are almost as many Super Rares as there are Rares. With 5 Super Rares and 8 Rares I was hoping the Super Rares would outshine the Rares but they don’t. Only one is playable and he’s really just for shenanigans more so then resourcefulness.

#028 Leonardo had the potential to be Godlike. He has a trait that makes it to where if at the beginning of the game an opposing figure has something equipped to them you both roll 2d6. If your result is higher than the equipment is removed. The sad thing is a removal is not scored. The only way you can score that equipment now is if you completely wipe the opposing team. Another issue is that in 300 Limited objects aren’t instantly equipped. I wish his trait read “once per game” instead of “at the beginning of the game.” He’s still a decent piece though. On certain maps he has a 12 attack Psychic Blast for 3 damage and a 13 attack on his 2nd click.

THE CHASES

We finally get to the chases. I always wonder how Wizkids comes up with the idea for which figures should be declared chases in a set or what the theme should be. In this set the Chases are multiple iterations of Shredder. This normally would upset me because I like disparity but it seems to be that they did this with the Shredders. And they all look SO cool.

#032 Claw Shredder stands by the idea that in this game point consistency on a figure is nonexistent. At 90 points he is 6 clix of life with Charge, 11 attack, 3 damage, Exploit. Normally I would consider this figure a trash piece and move on, but he has the same trait as Clone Shredder where he can move next to people and deal 1 penetrating damage. He also has Giant Reach of 2 and after he’s hit a character he can make it to where they can’t attack on their next turn. And if that wasn’t enough he doesn’t die. When Claw Shredder would be KO’d for the first time each game he instead is put on click 4 which switches Charge and Exploit for Flurry and is placed by the opponent adjacent to an opposing character. Normally just 1 of these abilities would have me thinking about playing the piece but all 3 make him a must own.

#033 Mini Shredder is a variation of Claw Shredder. He is the same points, has the same traits, but instead of the special power where he makes it to where one figure he hit can’t attack the next turn mini shredder has Plasticity and Stealth. He also changes Charge, Exploit for Precision Strike and Empower. Although I can see this piece being played I would think it’s only going to be played by people who wanted to play Claw Shredder but didn’t pull him or couldn’t afford him and went with Mini Shredder as an alternative.

#034 Shiva Shredder is the closest we will ever get to having MK Goro in Clix form and I will be modding mine to look like Goro. Shiva Shredder is 90points, with the traits like the other Shredder’s to resurrect on click 4 and deal 1 penetrating damage to adjacent opposing characters that he moved next to. He has Charge, 10-Attack, and 4-Damage. He reminds me of the Bat Bane Chase from Streets of Gotham which saw some play back in the day. I’m skeptical however on whether this figure is good or will see play because I think his attack value is a little low, but his special power makes it to where he locks his damage value at 2 and then makes 4 close combat attacks using his printed attack value. This could be awesome if it weren’t for the fact that he has a 17-Defense with Toughness, and that there was another figure that already does infinite attacks. LE Shang-Chi has a 12-Attack and Precision Strike so he can have his damage go through defensive powers like Invulnerability and Impervious. Shang-Chi also has the potential to attack infinitely if he is Outsidered.

#035 Shark Shredder is a beast. He can be played at full value which is 130pts or as a replacement to Shredder Clone. At 130pts he has the ability to make an opposing characters attack -1 if they have modified it up. He also has the same traits as the other Shredders. I think his best power his ability on click 4 to continue using Claw Shredders power which is to not allow another figure that he hit with an attack to attack until your next turn. It also has Blades and Steal Energy on that click. His replacement to click 4 is not a starting line so he can he heal past it and with clicks 2 through 4 having that special power he has the potential of healing back up to 1st click. Opposing teams will be able to score 130 points off of the replacement instead of 90 but a good player will be able to decide correctly when it’s proper to replace or just take the KO.

IN CONCLUSION

If it weren’t for Shredder we would have a useless set like Non-Modern legal figures. The Shredders are necessary for current and future meta play and the other figures mentioned have some potential. I had labelled 3 of the Common figures as being worth owning. At a reasonable rate of $0.50-$1 per common figure the necessary good commons would cost $1.50-$3. The Uncommon section only had Splinter and he’s honestly a maybe for owning. Uncommon figures generally run for the same amount as a common and can be anywhere around $0.50 – $1.

The Rare section seemed to have more playable pieces with the best figure in the set being Shredder Clone. Rares are generally worth anywhere between $2-$5 unless they are played more. I would rate Shredder Clone as being worth $10-$15 because he’s like Krang in that he outshines every other figure in the set. Space Mikey on the other hand isn’t anything special and would go for the average rate of a Rare figure.

The total value for a CUR set is generally $30-$50. At the highest end estimated here the figures deemed necessary to be in your inventory would only come up to $24. That’s half of the price that it would be for a high end CUR set. Normally it could be argued that some of the other pieces have potential in the future but this set lacks powerful characters and focuses more on the select few mentioned in this article. Looking at the Super Rares we only have Space Leo who should go for about $15 because what he does is awesome but flaky.

This set relies solely on its Chases. All of them are good enough to play. Yet the problem is that each box generally comes with 2 Super Rares and an additional Rare, 3 Super Rares, or 2 Super Rares and a Chase. That means that the Chases are going to go for more than usual just from distribution problems. I expect the lowest cost one to be Shiva Shredder at $30, and the most expensive being Shark Shredder at $80.

As it stands this set is hard to judge on whether a box, case, or singles is worth it because of its distribution. In the past TMNT sets have come with only 3-4 types of booster distribution meaning that there were only say 3 different Bricks. Everything else was identical copies and plenty of players have pulled the exact same figures out of the same Case meaning that the Boxes were copies of each other. The question arises on whether it is worth it to spend $65 on a brick or $130 on a case. Should you pull Shredder Clone, and Shark Shredder in a case then I would say that you made your money back and then some, but if you don’t then you’ve essentially lost money. The same goes for a box and is even worse actually because if you pull only 2 Super Rares and an extra Rare you’ll just have more plastic trash taking up space. In the end it would be best to either just buy Shredder Clone and Shark Shredder if you don’t care for TMNT or aren’t a collector and a Case if you feel that you can trade and get some other figures from other sets that you might have been wanting.