by Jay Solomon
Hello, and welcome to a special iteration of Why Don’t I Play This Piece?. Today I’ll be looking at some not often used pieces, which are either good in general, or that have gotten a boost due to retirement, which should help rectify their previous inactivity. With Nationals coming up, I wanted to take a quicker look at a bunch of different pieces, and without further ado, here is my list of fringe figures, or characters made better by the recent retirement to watch out for:
60 CWSOP010 Yellowjacket
The main reason that Yellowjacket is on this list is the potential to Perplex a bunch of Giant-Girls before they all do their Colossal Retaliations. Being able to up either all their Attack or Damage values seems good, and Yellowjacket can also function as Theme Team Probability Control user, or backup ID card summoner.
80 CWSOP101 Captain America
Like a bunch of pieces on this list, Captain America is here due to having a lot of STOP clicks, which can now no longer be cut through via a Green Arrow call-in.
80 CWSOP102 Iron Man
As with Civil War Captain America, Iron Man is here for longevity, as well as starting Leadership and good stats. Both Civil War LEs can call in almost any relavant ID now as well.
130 SFSM046 Mephisto
With even more pogs available than when he first came out, Mephisto can put in a lot of support work, as well as his annoying repositioning, as well as attacking with his monterous stats. I wouldn’t play him at the lower points though, with it being simply too easy to score him now. He’s even harder to kill now than he was before, with his STOP and Invincible capping his damage so that he will land on his first of two KO clicks, with a 19-Defense along with Regeneration and Shape Change.
100 SFSM054 Devil Dinosaur
Yet another relieved former victim of Green Arrow, Devil Dinosaur is annoying to kill, makes a bunch of great pogs, and is arguably better now than when he came out, thanks to his being able to be TK’d. There have also been some great additions to the Animal keyword recently, such as King Shark and Tribbles.
SFSM056 Chameleon
While retirement has taken away some Disguise options, Chameleon can continue to be relavant today. In addition to his versatility, his “I KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE, SPIDER-MAN” trait can be quite useful, shutting down Shape Change via the Mirror of Mysolljh, Symbiote, or being chosen by Uni-Mind are potentially useful, as is shutting down replacement effects such as Shredder Clone, Uni-Mind, and others.
Also, my previous articles about good, currently modern Chameleon disguises are here:
Team Tactics – Chameleon Disguise Tips & Tricks (updated) – Jay Solomon
Team Tactics – Chameleon Disguise Tips & Tricks (Updated) – Jay Solomon
Team Tactics – Chameleon Disguise Tips & Tricks (Updated Sept. ’17) – Jay Solomon
Team Tactics – Chameleon Disguise Tips & Tricks (Updated Feb. ’18) – Jay Solomon
75 JW003B Anarky
With all the pogs and colossal retaliators available, being able to both control the map and easily KO the short-dialed threats can be invaluable. Special terrain has also helped Anarky, with the ability to manipulate the map even more boosting his effectiveness.
45 JW063 Bizarro Joker
Bizarro Joker is incredibly annoying, with his Plasticity, healing, and STOP clicks. TMT weapons have given him yet another boost, with the potential ability to get Blades/Claws/Fangs to go with his 11-Attack and make him an actual attacking threat.
50 JW066 Bizarro Green Arrow
With the chase Hawkeye gone, it’ll be much harder to deal with Bizarro Green Arrow. There are also a bunch more tools in the Monster toolbox now, as well as the Asgardian Shield to further boost his defenses.
35 DXF019 Dr. Killebrew
Dr. Killebrew can go well with the Sam Cap teams and increase damage output and Outwit defenses, such as in the case of a Wolverine call-in. For example, if you play Overdrive, Sam Cap, and Killebrew, you can Perplex Wolverine’s Attack with Captain America to activate Dr. Killebrew’s effect. Wolverine will then be Flurrying for 12-Attack and 5-Damage for each attack.
25 DXF059B Wiz Kid
With Sam Cap being so good post-rotation and a selection of great taxis that can ignore speed symbols, Wiz Kid should be able to see some play. Also, while the X-Factor keyword isn’t amazing right now, the fact that Pip the Troll is one of those aforementioned taxis and shares that keyword with Wiz Kid could be useful in the future.
wkMP17-007 Pym Pocket Tank
Even without the ridiculous amounts of damage it used to do, the ability to disrupt formations can be incredibly effective, especially against certain builds, like Sam Cap and team being carried by Overdrive, or Giant-Girls, or other swarmy builds.
30 UND002 Dr. Frankenstein
In short, Dr. Frenkenstein will be a support piece for all the relevant Monsters, with his Support as well as Perplex.
60/40 UND008 Zombie Abraham Lincoln
Zombie Abraham Lincoln is on this list solely for his Four Score and Seven Years ago special power. If you play him with Monsters, specifically the bystander generating retaliators such as Carnage and Groot, you should be able to hand out lots of free tokens, especially with Groot’s Walking Wood bystanders, thanks to their Flurry.
50 TREKOS044 Trelane
With Mr. Mxyzptlk gone, I imagine that we’ll see his new replacement show up somewhat, with his Cosmic keyword also being quite currently relevant.
