News! Spring Rainbows for WKOs!

Greetings Fellow Wiz-Fans!

 

Guess what?! We have a third round of WKOs coming this May! You can find the info here and here! For Dice Masters fans, this is huge because WizKids has announced that the format will be a Rainbow Draft! This is the first event of its type for Dice Masters. We’ve always had the Rainbow Draft format and we’ve always had draft side events, but for the main event to be a draft – that’s a first and really awesome!

What’s not awesome is how far and few between the events seem to be right now. The closest one for me is over five hours away. That’s not feasible for me to do in a single day. I can handle a three hour drive, one way, but not five or more. I hope they add more locations for many of those areas lacking a closer location.

It’s still really super awesome that WizKids is officially recognizing Rainbow Draft as a competitive level format with this round of WKOs. This is another huge step in the right direction for the game as a whole.

The prizes for the spring WKOs appear to be the same prizing as the other two rounds of WKOs. I have absolutely no issue with this as this helps players that couldn’t make it to the previous events. It gives those players an opportunity to play for those cards that many of the constructed competitive players already have. I do not like having a tournament season where each event has different prizes. Some players may get overwhelmed if they feel like they have to travel all the different events just to try for different prizes. If someone already has the prizes and they don’t want to go play again, then they don’t have to. If someone already has the prizes and they still want to play, they can because they can trade duplicate prizes. I hope that they don’t alter the prizes for the spring WKOs because I feel like it’s more beneficial to have the same set of prizes for the whole tournament season. We will get a chance to play for different prizes at Nationals, Worlds, and the Origins side events.

Now, for Clix, my limited knowledge of official events is going to show. I’m not sure if they’ve ever done a sealed event as the main event at a WKO before or not. I do know there are sealed side events and that sealed is format in Clix, just like Dice Masters has a sealed format. I think it’s really cool that they’re doing that for Clix this time around. I told Mr. DDK that this makes me want to try a Clix WKO Sealed event – but since there isn’t one close enough, I sadly won’t be able to.

I love that they offer the con exclusives at WKOs too. I know a couple of players that want that cool Spirit of Vengeance Hulk thingy and he’s only $15! I wanted the Turtle Van, but I wasn’t able to get one and now I’m having trouble getting one. I would recommend that you pick up those con exclusives if you’re really want them!

I’m excited about this announcement for the upcoming Spring WKOs, for both Clix and Dice Masters! I hope that this trend continues and WizKids continues to support sealed events as official competitive formats.

Thanks for reading!

Dial it up and roll on!

Confusing Card of the Week #81 – Shiklah: Succubus

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Shiklah: Succubus  from the Marvel Deadpool set.

Ruling – Ability

Shiklah has a While Active ability. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Shiklah’s ability says that while she’s active, you move a Sidekick die from your Used Pile to your Prep Area, but only at the beginning of your turn. If Shiklah is not active when your turn starts, you can not use her ability even if you field her later that turn. The beginning of your turn is before your Clear and Draw Step, so if you don’t have any Sidekick dice in your Used Pile before your Clear and Draw Step, you won’t be able to use her ability.

Ally characters only count as Sidekicks while they are in the Field Zone. Allies do not count as Sidekicks anywhere else, so you could not move an Ally character with Shiklah’s ability.

Any dice put into your Prep Area before your Roll and Reroll Step, cannot be rolled during your Roll and Reroll Step. Sidekick dice that are moved using Shiklah’s ability are not eligible to be rolled during the Roll and Reroll Step on the turn they are moved. They can be rolled that turn using other game effects such as Momentum or X-23.

Shiklah’s ability is not optional because it does not say that you ‘may’ move a Sidekick die from your Used Pile to your Prep Area. As long as she’s active at the beginning of your turn and you have any Sidekick dice in your Used Pile, you must move one into your Prep Area.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Shiklah is a Mask type character card.
~ She has the Deadpool affiliation.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Rare and is #112 of 124.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Shiklah’s ability.

~ I have two Shiklah dice in my Field Zone and three Sidekick dice in my Used Pile. I have no dice in my Prep Area.
~ At the beginning of my turn, before my Clear and Draw Step, I must use Shiklah’s ability. I move one Sidekick die from my Used Pile to my Prep Area.
~ (Clear and Draw) I move any leftover dice from my Reserve Pool and place them into my Used Pile. I draw four dice from my bag and place them in my Prep Area – but keeping them separate from the Sidekick die I just moved there.
~ (Roll and Reroll) I roll the four dice that I drew this turn, but not the Sidekick that was put into my Prep Area at the beginning of my turn.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF) does not have a ruling for this specific card.

You can find a ruling about dice placed in the Prep Area before the Roll and Reroll Step, here.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Ratings

You can find a guide to my ratings, here.
These are personal opinion of the card being showcased and not an official reflection of current major meta.

Golden Age Rating

I would be really surprised to see this card make it onto any competitive level Golden Age team. There are way too many other cards that are much more effective and easier to utilize. I can’t give her a zero rating though because she is an alternative form of churn that doesn’t rely on a Global. While she’s not the best option for churn, she can’t be shut down by Global nullification like PXG can.

Shiklah: Succubus gets a rating of one out of five stars.

Modern Age Rating

I could see Shiklah finding her way onto a few teams in the Modern Age format. She’s a more delayed form of churn, but if you keep her active, you’re always gonna have at least a Sidekick in your Prep Area every turn. I’m not quite convinced that she’s better than a rogue team character. She’s got a unique ability that requires her to be active at the beginning of your turn. This gives your opponent a whole turn to get rid of her if they want to. She can be blasted out of the field with a Cold Gun, or even bolted with the Global on Unstable Canister. But I guess if your opponent is spending their resources for that, they aren’t spending them on anything else.

Shiklah: Succubus gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Rating

I’m not crazy about this card in Prime either. Her defense stats aren’t the best if you’re looking at an uncommon or rare Cold Gun across the table from you. It can take her out on two of her sides and mess with your churn flow. Personally, I’d rather use Stepford Cuckoos than Shiklah because I’m guaranteed a character or Sidekick die with Cuckoos, where Shiklah relies on there being Sidekicks in the Used Pile. She’s not a first pick for me in any format. She’s not a terrible card and I’ve seen others use her effectively for their team, but I’m not feeling her for my teams.

Shiklah: Succubus gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

I do not like this card for casual play. She causes so much confusion, like Lockjaw does if he KO’s dice with his ability. I just had a discussion about X-23 and this card with several different folks, trying to explain how the dice moved via her ability interact with dice drawn for the Roll and Reroll Step and with X-23. She’s a great card to use for X-23, but the confusion over the Roll and Reroll Step makes her very difficult for beginners to use. I’ve watched advanced players get confused over this card, and Lockjaw too. Many players do not realize that they can’t roll those dice that were just placed there on that turn. It’s a very common mistake and one that I know I’ve made several times. I do not recommend beginners use this card right away. I would recommend that players on a more advanced level try using her with cards like X-23 and Momentum to help teach other players.

Shiklah: Succubus gets a rating of two out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #80 – Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card  from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell Box set.

Ruling – Ability

Nefarious Broadcast is a Basic Action. If a card ability would affect an Action Die, Nefarious Broadcast could be chosen for the effect. One such example is Constantine: Antihero.

When you use a Nefarious Broadcast action die, it will cancel any Global effect that is currently still in effect and prevent the use of any Global ability after its use. Global abilities that have a lingering active effect are the only ones that will be affected by Nefarious Broadcast. Examples include the Globals on Transfer Power and Bane.

Certain Globals that are used before Nefarious Broadcast will not be reversed by its use. This is because the effect is not an ongoing or active effect. Examples include the Globals on Professor X and Unstable Canister.

As soon as a player uses Nefarious Broadcast, neither player will be able to use any Global abilities until the next turn.

Nefarious Broadcast can be used in the Main Step or during the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Nefarious Braodcast is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have any affiliations.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #54 of 58.

If you purchase either of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Box Sets, you will have one copy of each card in the entire set, as well as the maximum number of dice for each card.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Nefarious Broadcast during your Main Step.

~ I have a Nefarious Broadcast die in my Reserve Pool and a Sidekick in my Field Zone. My opponent has one Fist energy in their Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) After completing all the game actions I want to do at this time in the Main Step, I pass priority to my opponent so that they can use Global Abilities. They spend their Fist energy to use the Global on Bane. They target my Sidekick with the Global, which will make my Sidekick attack this turn.
~ (Main Step) My opponent passes priority back to me and I use my Nefarious Broadcast die. This will remove the active effect from Bane’s Global that would force my Sidekick to attack. My Sidekick no longer has to attack. Neither player can play Globals until the next turn.

Example Two:
Using Nefarious Broadcast during your Attack Step.

~ I have a Nefarious Broadcast die and two Fist energy in my Reserve Pool. I also have a Sidekick in my Field Zone. My opponent has one Fist energy in their Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) After completing all the game actions I want to do at this time in the Main Step, I pass priority to my opponent so that they can use Global Abilities. They spend their Fist energy to use the Global on Bane. They target my Sidekick with the Global, which will make my Sidekick attack this turn. My opponent passes priority back to me, and I decline to do any further game actions in the Main Step.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I must assign my Sidekick as an attacker. I move my Sidekick die into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent doesn’t have any characters to assign as blockers.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I am able to use Action Dice and Globals at this time. I decide to use my Nefarious Broadcast die (sending it Out of Play). This removes all active effects of Globals, but there currently aren’t any. Neither player can use Globals until the next turn. I was saving my two Fist energy for the Global on Anger Issues, but now I can’t use it.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My Sidekick will deal one damage to my opponent. My Sidekick is moved Out of Play.
~ (Clean Up) All dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile. All effects end unless otherwise stated.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF) does not have a ruling for this specific card.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Ratings

You can find a guide to my ratings, here.
These are personal opinion of the card being showcased and not an official reflection of current major meta.

Golden Age Rating

Nefarious Broadcast is definitely not a plug-and-play type of card. It needs a team built specifically around not using Globals, or using a minimal amount of Globals. You also need to time the use of this die just right or you could make some serious misplays. I think I might be a little generous with the rogue rating in Golden Age, but I bet there are enough talented pilots out there that they may be able to find a way to make this card useful in format dominated by Globals.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Modern Age Rating

Modern Age isn’t as Global heavy as Golden Age, but it has its fair share of decent Globals. Nefarious Broadcast still needs to have a team built around it to be most effective. I think Nefarious Broadcast will see more use in Modern Age than Golden Age, but because of its need for a particular team build, it’s still just a rogue card.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Rating

Prime’s lack of dominating Globals leaves Nefarious Broadcast in the collector box for me. There are definitely good Globals, but none that would warrant putting Nefarious Broadcast on your team instead of another critical BAC. I’ve stopped using Oracle: Master Investigator in Prime, because she’s not that useful in this format. I don’t think Global-hate is very useful at this particular time in Prime.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of one out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

I think this card is a little more confusing than it needs to be. I’m not sure if it’s because folks are overthinking how it works or if WizKids needs to clarify the wording a little more. Trying to explain Globals to a new player can be challenging in itself, and then when you throw in the active effects and instant effects, it could leave their head spinning. But once a player has a better understanding of the game, I don’t think this card would be a big issue. I wouldn’t recommend a beginner use this card, but players at the advanced skill level and higher shouldn’t have too much trouble with understanding this card. This card is a great teaching tool to teach players about active effects and instant effects.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Event Report! Dyersburg Comic and Pop Culture Convention

Greetings Fellow Dice and Clix Fans!

 

Dyersburg is not a huge town, so for it to have its very own comic convention is kind of a big deal. My FLGS (where I volunteer) had a booth set up and even hosted one of the guest artists the night before the convention. Mr. John Lucas was kind enough to sit at the shop for a few hours and do some sketches and commissions the night before the show.

Normally, I don’t publish pictures of myself, but how could I ask Mr. Lucas to be in a picture with the sketch he did for me and not be in it myself? Everyone knows how much I love Ponies and Pinkie in particular. Just about everyone knows I love Deadpool too, and those two are like two chimichangas in a fryer. How could I not ask for PinkiePool as my sketch?! Mr. Lucas insists that she be called DeadPony though.

How amazing is that sketch?! He even signed the card for me too. I purchased a Doctor Strange print from him while he was at the store – which is an amazing piece of art! We had several other fans come in for sketches, autographs, and prints as well. Friday night before the convention was already turning out to be awesome!

Saturday started off busy and stayed that way up until the end. The first ever Dyersburg Comic Con was a great success on all sides! Vendors left happy, artists were busy, cosplayers were in abundance, con-goers left smiling and happy with arms of goodies, and Mac’s BBQ was soooo very good. I have to thank the convention organizers for bringing in such a wonderful food truck. Con-goers didn’t need to leave the grounds to get some really good food at a reasonable price. Not to mention, it was super convenient for the vendors too!

There was a steady inflow of visitors all day long, which was really nice because it kept the venue buzzing with activity. Our booth was in the lobby, where we had space to put up the tournament tables, and we were decently busy all day long. There were lots of great conversations from visitors and fellow vendors alike! Santiago Cirilo (Julio from the Walking Dead) was a featured guest, and he would stroll around the convention and talk to everyone. I’ve never seen an actor do something like that at a convention without loads of security and about fifty feet between them and their fans. He was really nice to everyone and everyone seemed to enjoy talking to him.

Being busy was a blessing and a curse at the same time. There were two of us running the booth, but we were very busy, leaving little time for either of us to sneak away and browse the convention hall. There were a few artists that I didn’t really have an opportunity to meet because they were visibly busy when I made my brief scuttle around the vendor hall.

I was able to speak with Joe Staton, Rick Burchett, Larry Cathey, Jim Hall, Wade Moore from Brainstoms Laboratory, and Brad Moore (death metal artist). I was regrettably not able to make it to the booths of Mr. Holmes, Jacob Rougemont, or Kelly Williams. I was really sad about that because I love speaking with writers, authors, and artists of all kinds at any convention I go to. I did speak with Mr. Holmes for a few minutes before the show, but only because he let me use some of his tape. It’s very difficult when you’re a vendor to make it around the convention and spend some quality time in conversation and browsing. I still had tons of fun and I wouldn’t have changed anything about the day. Mr. Lucas even stopped by our booth briefly before he needed to return to his table.

There was costume contest that happened right in the lobby and we had front row seats to it. I was happy to see so many independent cosplayers in attendance! There were a couple of groups there as well, like the Midsouth Garrison of the 501st Legion and Costumers for Christ. Those two groups are super awesome and I’m so glad we were next to them in the lobby.

We were going to host a Dice Masters Prime event as well as side events, but everyone was so excited about this first ever local convention, that we didn’t have enough players to meet our minimum number. I am also aware that many of our players, far and near, were not going to be able to afford both the convention ticket and the tournament entry fee. We are working on a strategy for next year to remedy this. We also want to incorporate some HeroClix events for next year as well. I’m hoping we can work something out that will be beneficial to our players and to the convention managers as well. We did host some open gaming with board games that went really well, and that may also be something that we promote for next year.

Out of all the excitement and the fun of the day, I think what made me smile the most though, was seeing the faces of con-goers light up when they came across a treasure they were looking for.

I hope next year is as big a success as this year was for everyone! If you’re interested in attending or being a vendor next year, keep an eye on the Dyersburg Comic and Pop Culture Convention website!

Thanks for reading!
Thanks to all the convention organizers, guests, vendors, and con-goers for making our first local convention a success!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #79 – Shocking Grasp: Basic Action Card

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Shocking Grasp: Basic Action Card  from the Faerûn Under Siege Starter set.

Ruling – Ability

Shocking Grasp is a Basic Action. If a card ability would affect an Action Die, Shocking Grasp could be chosen for the effect. One such example is Constantine: Antihero.

When you use Shocking Grasp, it deals one damage to a target character die. If the damage that Shocking Grasp does would KO that character, you can place the Shocking Grasp die in your Prep Area instead of Out of Play. If the character is not KO’d by the damage from Shocking Grasp, you must place the Shocking Grasp die Out of Play.

Shocking Grasp can target one of your opponent’s character dice or one of your own character dice. Players will sometimes target one of their own Sidekick dice or a character that has a When Fielded ability and KO that character with their own Shocking Grasp. This will enable them to reroll their character die next turn, as well as the Shocking Grasp die.

You can use other means to deal damage to a character with a defense larger than one, and then use the Shocking Grasp die to deal the final point of damage, allowing you to put Shocking Grasp into your Prep Area. Shocking Grasp must do the damage that KO’s the character in order for you to place the Shocking Grasp die in your Prep Area.

If you use Shocking Grasp and the damage KO’s a character, you are not required to put the Shocking Grasp die in your Prep Area. Putting the Shocking Grasp die in your Prep Area after KO’ing a character with it is optional because it says that you ‘may’ put this die in your Prep Area.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Shocking Grasp is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have any affiliations, but it does have the Neutral type symbol.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #34 of 142.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Shocking Grasp during your Main Step.

~ I have a Shocking Grasp die in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I use my Shocking Grasp die to deal one damage to my opponent’s Sidekick. This KO’s the Sidekick, which allows me to place the Shocking Grasp die in my Prep Area instead of sending it Out of Play.

Example Two:
Using Shocking Grasp during your Attack Step.

~ I have a Shocking Grasp die in my Reserve Pool and a Sidekick in my Field Zone. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my Sidekick as an attacker, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns their Sidekick to block mine by moving their die into the Attack Zone and placing it in front of my Sidekick die (to show that it’s blocking that die).
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I use my Shocking Grasp die to deal one damage to my opponent’s Sidekick. This KO’s the Sidekick, which allows me to place the Shocking Grasp die in my Prep Area instead of sending it Out of Play. My opponent declines to use any Globals.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My Sidekick was blocked by my opponent’s Sidekick. Even though I KO’d that Sidekick, my Sidekick will not deal any damage to my opponent.
~ (Clean Up) My Sidekick returns to the Field Zone because it was blocked and not KO’d. All dice Out of Play are moved into the Used Pile. All effects end unless otherwise stated.

Example Three:
Using Shocking Grasp on one of your own characters.

~ I have a Shocking Grasp die in my Reserve Pool and a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I use my Shocking Grasp die to deal one damage to my Sidekick. This KO’s the Sidekick (sending it to the Prep Area), which allows me to place the Shocking Grasp die in my Prep Area instead of sending it Out of Play.

Example Four:
Using Shocking Grasp on a character with more than one defense.

~ I have a Shocking Grasp die and one Bolt energy in my Reserve Pool. I also have a level two Storm die in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I spend one Bolt energy (moving it Out of Play) to use the Global on Magic Missile, dealing one damage to my Storm’s two defense. This means she can only take one more damage this turn before she’s KO’d.
~ (Main Step) I use my Shocking Grasp die to deal one damage to Storm. This KO’s Storm (sending her to the Prep Area), which allows me to place the Shocking Grasp die in my Prep Area instead of sending it Out of Play.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF) does not have a ruling for this specific card.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Ratings

You can find a guide to my ratings, here.
These are personal opinion of the card being showcased and not an official reflection of current major meta.

Golden Age Rating

Shocking Grasp definitely has its uses, but it’s a card that requires a specific team – especially in Golden Age. You could just throw this card on any team, but you likely aren’t going to get the full benefit unless the team has an actual use for it. A good character with a When Fielded ability and a low defense is a good reason to look at Shocking Grasp. It not only helps you churn your character, but it also gives you a bit a churn/ramp by letting you prep the action die if you KO its target. Sometimes it’s better to use an action die than bring a nasty Global. I can easily give this card a rogue rating for Golden Age. It’s a great card in the hands of the right pilot.

Shocking Grasp: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Modern Age Rating

I haven’t seen a bunch of teams that would find this card as an easy plug-and-play in Modern Age. I think this is a very useful card for the same reasons that it’s useful in Golden Age. If Bat-Family finds a meta spot in Modern Age, I could see this card potentially finding its way onto a few variants of that team, but probably not with a majority of them. It can be a good way to KO a level one Alfred, but Unstable Canister provides clearer and more effective option. Someone that’s staying away from Globals would be more likely to use this card. Again – great card, but requires the right pilot, which is why it earns another rogue rating.

Shocking Grasp: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Rating

At the time of writing, this card was not legal for play in the Prime format.

Casual Play Rating

Shocking Grasp has text that’s very easy to understand for most beginners. I’ve seen several players asking about advanced tactics and strategy with this card so that’s one reason why I thought I would feature it. I’ve also noticed that the text on this card can be slightly confusing for those that do not speak and/or read English very well, which was another reason I chose to feature this card for this week’s article. However, the language barrier issue is not part of my consideration for my casual rating system. I wanted to put this article out there to help my friends in other countries to better understand this card. I know it’s easier for many of my friends to translate my articles than it is to translate card text. I’m here for all players across the world. I hope this article helps shed some light on this card for anyone out there that may be having trouble with it. I also hope it helps newer players with some uses for it that they may not have noticed before. I can easily recommend this card for players of all skill levels.

Shocking Grasp: Basic Action Card gets a rating of five out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Tournament Report! March 11, 2017 – Lockout League Week Two of Six

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

This is week two of six for our Lockout League season. If you aren’t familiar with the Lockout League format, it’s a really fun format that allows for more creativity as the weeks progress. Each week, the first place player will have their entire team added to a Lockout List. Players cannot use any card on the Lockout List while building a team for that week. We tried something different this time (suggested by Brett). We started this Lockout League with a pre-Locked List. Players voted on cards from the previous season’s final list and the cards with the most votes started our Lockout List. Pre-Locked List is Italicized.

Characters
Half-Elf Bard: Master Lords’ Alliance
Elf Thief: Lesser Harper
Lantern Ring: Limited Only By Imagination
Oracle: Master Investigator
Constantine: Hellblazer
Black Widow: Tsarina
Guy Gardner: Blinding Rage
Zatanna: Inverted Incantations
Blue-Eyes White Dragon: Monstrous Dragon
Professor X: Trainer
Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard: “Only Zatara Can Reach The POINT”
Ring: Lesser Gear
White Tiger: Mystical Amulet
Green Goblin: “Gobby”
Dwarf Wizard: Paragon Zhentarim
Red Dragon: Lesser Dragon

BAC
Cloudkill
Vicious Struggle
Resurrection
Magic Missile

I want to apologize in advance for the poor quality photos. I have to take screen shots from the videos because I don’t have a decent camera since my phone was stolen. I will add DM Retrobox links for each of my opponent’s teams.

And because of the weather roller coaster we’ve been experiencing the last two months, many of our players are still out sick or now have sinus issues (a small part of what caused my headache towards the end of the night). We had four players, so I volunteered to stay on the camera so that everyone could get on at least one video (even though I think most of the locals would rather play off camera). You can find all the videos on my YouTube channel in the March 11, 2017 playlist.

My Team

I apologize for the lack of a team picture, but at the time I published this article, I didn’t have a camera to take the picture with. I tried to get a screen shot from a video, but I couldn’t get a decent one. I’ll try to update the article with a picture later.

You can find my team here, on DM Retrobox.

This is my classic Guardians of the Galaxy team, with a slight tweak. Blue-Eyes is banned already, so I had to replace him. I thought Stepford Cuckoos would be a nice addition, to help me clear their field a little so that my attackers could get through. I also added Reclaim in the place of Hulk Out, and Big Entrance in the place of Polymorph. I love my GotG team and I wanted to give it a go in Lockout League.

Round One

You can find my opponent’s list, here.

Never under estimate the power of a super intelligent gorilla and his Sidekicks. I knew I needed to hit North early for as much as I could, but Grodd came in full blast with way too many Sidekicks. Grodd is an overwhelming piece when he’s been turned loose on your opponent. I just couldn’t get enough going to take out North before I was overrun by Grodd and his Overcrushing, 2A Sidekicks. Lady Bullseye played a huge part in his victory against me as well. She’s a great early game pressure piece to distract your opponent while you work up to Grodd. The Guardians fell to Grodd in round one.

Record after Round One: 0-1-0

Round Two

You can find my opponent’s list, here.

This is another team that needs to be hit fast and hard. If the game drags out too long, this burn team can easily take the victory. Storm is a titan among mortals with Unstable Canister, and even Superhero Registration Act (SRA). When Hannah plays SRA with Storm in the Field, I take one damage. Then I have to decide if I’m going KO a character or let her draw three dice. When you know she has the chance to draw one to three Unstable Canisters from SRA, you typically want to KO a dude so she only draws two dice. She was desperately lacking Parallax though, because with SRA, you only get the single roll on those dice you drew. Missing the roll on a couple of Canisters is what enabled me to seize a victory in this round. The Guardians built up their force and then went for the victory with little character resistance, thanks to the Cuckoos.

Record after Round Two: 1-1-0

Round Three

You can find my opponent’s list, here.

I was not looking forward to battling it out with Mr. DDK. My slight headache had become a full blown migraine by this match and I’m ashamed to say that I did not give it my all against him. His team is devastatingly effective though with Lyssa Drak and War Machine dealing their burn damage to the opponent. She-Hulk is a great finishing piece with Lady Bullseye as extra damage backup. I kinda wish I had made him play on camera all night because his team would have been much more entertaining to watch than mine. The Guardians fell really hard against Travis’s team.

Record after Round Three: 1-2-0
Final Standing: 4th

Final Thoughts

I love my Guardians team, just as much as I love my Justice League team. But with the announcement of rotation, both those teams are now going to be solely Golden Age. Our local scene is going to focus mainly on Modern Age and Prime, but we plan to host Golden Age events from time to time. A few players want to play their Bards, and I want to be able to play my JL or Guardians again. I want to remind folks that just because the big WizKids events will likely only be Modern Age, doesn’t mean you can’t play Golden Age locally.

Even though I had a nasty headache/migraine most of the day, I still had fun in most of my matches. I can’t wait for our third week of Lockout League! I have no clue what I’ll be playing, but I’m brewing some more theme-team type stuff. That’s the stuff that’s really fun to play!

Updated Lockout List

New Additions are Italicized

Character Slot
Half-Elf Bard: Master Lords’ Alliance
Elf Thief: Lesser Harper
Lantern Ring: Limited Only By Imagination
Oracle: Master Investigator
Constantine: Hellblazer
Black Widow: Tsarina
Guy Gardner: Blinding Rage
Zatanna: Inverted Incantations
Blue-Eyes White Dragon: Monstrous Dragon
Professor X: Trainer
Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard: “Only Zatara Can Reach The POINT”
Ring: Lesser Gear
White Tiger: Mystical Amulet
Green Goblin: “Gobby”
Dwarf Wizard: Paragon Zhentarim
Red Dragon: Lesser Dragon
Captain Cold™’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm”
Constantine: Antihero
Lyssa Drak: Future Sight
Wasp: Fashionista
Lady Bullseye: Attack on Two Fronts
She-Hulk: Sensational
Professor X: Recruiting Young Mutants
War Machine: “Rhodey”

BAC
Cloudkill
Vicious Struggle
Resurrection
Magic Missile
Cone of Cold
Hypervelocity

What are some changes you’d make without changing the spirit of the team?
Have a build you like better?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

You can find videos from this event and many other events on my YouTube channel.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Tournament Report! HeroClix Golden Age Highlander

Greetings Fellow Dice and Clix Fans!

 

My FLGS likes to change up the format each week to give players an opportunity to build something different and try something new. The one rule that’s remained a constant though has been the Highlander rule. The Highlander rule at my FLGS is that no two characters on your team can have the same ‘real name’. You can use two Batman characters, but their real names have to be different – like Bruce Wayne on one and Dick Grayson on the other.

Special format rules for the event:

~ Highlander (Different Real Name)
~ 400 points
~ You can only use one Super Rare, LE, or Prime.
~ You may use any number of Rares, Uncommons, and Commons.
~ No Resources, Relics, etc.

My Team:

So I knew I wanted to go with a TMNT team of some kind, whether it be TMNT Ally, TMNT Villain, or whatever. I knew I could do a theme team with all the TMNT stuff I have. I tried to do a team with Irma at 60 points (S2), Shredder (S1), Krang (S1), and Monsterex (S1), but the points were off too much, by like 35. So I tried to knock Irma down to her 25 point version. That put me right at 400, but I wasn’t feeling the team. I scrapped the team and stared at my pieces.

I had decided to go with TMNT Villain and I wanted to make them work. So I looked over all my pieces with the TMNT Villain keyword. I knew right away that I wanted to use Krang. I have only played with him once and I didn’t use him right. I wanted to play with him again and this time, not go Colossal right out of the gate.

So, Krang was added to the team at 170 points, leaving me 230 points.

I really wanted to play with Monsterex again too. He was another piece that I botched while learning to play with him. He added 125 points to the team, leaving me with 105 points.

I started looking at all the TMNT Villains that I had left and chose the ones I really wanted to play. I was torn between Shredder (S1), Rat King (S2), and Chien Khan (S2). They all have their appeal, but the one thing that pushed Rat King into the lead of this rat race, was his Pawns In My Game ability. I like Mind Control shenanigans and this is probably one of my favorite Mind Control specials besides Circe’s from Superman and Wonder Woman. I pulled her in my sealed for that event and boy was she a hoot!

Rat King was added to my team at 100 points, leaving me with 5 points to spare. We were not permitted to use Resources or Relics, and I didn’t have any 5 point TMNT Villains, so I went with a build of 395 points. I had one Super Rare and two Rare pieces on my team, meeting the restrictions on rarity for this event.

Krang – TMNT Series One

This guy is silly. I love Molecular Amplification Chip. In my video (Round Three vs Hannah), I forgot to give him his two clicks. The camera battery died and I was able to catch my mistake while we paused for the battery to charge a little. I took a look back at the footage to be sure that Robin missed his attack because Krang’s defense was supposed to be lower when Robin attacked and his attack was a miss. I think I’m going to use my tiny dice as a way to remind me of things like that, when I need to push or take damage from abilities that I use.

I also love his Shapeshifting Hands – I used it to great effect in my match with Hannah. While Krang was in base contact with three characters and just out of reach of a fourth (Commissioner Gordon). I decided to activate Molecular Amplification Chip and made Krang Colossal. I then chose Quake as the standard attack power for Shapeshifting Hands, and attacked with a 13 attack on all four characters, dealing them all two damage and knocking them all back two spaces. I’ve never had something like that work in a game and to finally be able to pull off some silly shenanigans, made my day. I used it later in the match to give Krang Poison because Deadshot was in base contact with Krang.

Krang’s Probability Control is an awesome thing to have too. And if he ends on his click with IQ of 968 – Until He Gets Mad, you not only get Prob, but you get Outwit too. It also keeps his powers from being countered by certain pieces, which is totally handy.

Krang put in the most work on my team in all of my matches. I love this piece, and I see now why he’s a Super Rare. I won’t play him as much in our local scene, because I feel like he is almost too powerful and could potentially run off new players if I use him too often. I still love that ugly brain monster from Dimension X, though… never thought I would ever say that!

Monsterex – TMNT Series One

I seem to continue making errors while playing with this piece. Bailee’s Dreadpool almost blew him up in two hits. I was shocked when I realized he was on his list click and hadn’t died yet. But I really love the Which Monster Dominates? and Which Legend Controls? abilities. I need to learn how to use them effectively though and I think I made an error in my match with Hannah. I misread Blades/Claws/Fangs and thought that I couldn’t use it when I charged, but I think you can. When you Charge, you give the character a power action which could result in the character getting a close combat action as a free action. Blades/Claws/Fangs says that when the character is given a close combat action, you can use Blades/Claws/Fangs. It doesn’t say that you can’t use it when the close combat action is free action, so I assume that I could have used Blades/Claws/Fangs on my Charge. If that’s not right, let me know! Remember, I’m still a noobie here.

This piece is definitely confusing for someone that’s not an experienced player. I don’t know how Flurry and Blades/Claws/Fangs interacts. I assume that each attack made with Flurry will result in a roll for Blades/Claws/Fangs if I choose to use it. But then I wonder, can I Blades/Claws/Fangs with the first attack and not the second? So many things to research with this piece! I still love him and I’m still learning how to use him effectively.

Rat King – TMNT Series Two

Krang and Rat King are totally my favorite pieces on this team. I love that I can hide this guy in the hindering terrain and control your dudes that are six squares or less away from me with Pawns In My Game. He’s an additional Prob for this team and he has Perplex as well on his starting click.

I really love that he has the Mystics team ability, so if your close combat dude gets up in his face and hits him, you’re still taking one back. And he has a Poison too that helps against those melee dudes. Super Senses is a great way to possibly avoid damage and still get that Poison to tick. Against Hannah, I used this guy to control Batman and he smacked Looker while under Rat King’s control. I also used him to move Deadshot into close combat with Krang, hopefully to prevent him from shooting my dudes. There are so many things I love about this character.

I really want to pair Rat King with a character that can drop Smoke Clouds so that I have free reign to go where I choose and control dudes. I dislike having to take damage for Mind Control, but I guess without that drawback, it’d be a bit too powerful.

Conclusion!

I really enjoyed this team build, but I feel like it’s a bit too much for a normally casual scene – mostly because of Krang. I will definitely be looking into some different builds with Rat King and a Smoke Cloud character of some kind. I really like Monsterex, but I really need more game experience to understand how to use him to his full potential.

I have to give a shout-out to a new player, Bailee. She decided to play, just for fun. Between me, North, Hannah, and Jamie, we had more than enough pieces to loan her a team. She decided to buy one Deadpool and X-Force booster, just to see what she got. She pulled more than enough to make a team and ended up winning the whole event. She pulled a Dreadpool and made all of us jealous! But she did really well and she literally had zero Clix knowledge prior to her first match with me. We tied in that first round, only because Monsterex ran from Dreadpool! Hopefully she had enough fun to continue playing with us each week.

We have a sealed event scheduled for March 11, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to play or not. If I can’t play, I’ll definitely record featured matches from the event!

You can find the videos for this event on my YouTube channel.
Thanks for reading and remember to subscribe and follow me on social media!

May your crits never be misses and your Probs never wasted!

Confusing Card of the Week #78 – Iron Spider: Waldoes with Focus on Suit Up

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Iron Spider: Waldoes  from the Iron Man and War Machine Starter set.

Ruling – Suit Up Keyword

Suit Up is a new Keyword in the Iron Man and War Machine starter. Suit Up is an optional ability that allows you to field a die you just purchased by KO’ing another die. Suit Up only works for specific characters listed after the Suit Up keyword. For example, Iron Spider has Suit Up – Iron Spider or Spider-Man. When you purchase an Iron Spider die, you can KO an active Iron Spider die or a Spider-Man die to field the newly purchased die at level two. You can only KO character dice that you control for Suit Up.

A die that you field using Suit Up counts as being fielded for abilities that reference fielding.

The die you KO for a Suit Up ability counts as being KO’d for abilities that reference a character die being KO’d. Example: Vibranium Shield: Deflecting Bullets‘s ability would trigger when an Iron Spider or Spider-Man is KO’d for Iron Spider’s Suit Up.

The character die that is KO’d for the Suit Up ability must match the name. For example, you couldn’t KO an Iron Spidey die for Iron Spider’s Suit Up. Also, you wouldn’t be able to KO a Space Armor Iron Man for Suit Up – Iron Man.

* Note! *
You can use both Iron Spidey and Iron Spider on the same team. You cannot use Iron Spidey for Suit Up – Iron Spider. Iron Spidey is a different name from Iron Spider.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Iron Spider is a Fist Character.
~ He has the Stark Industries and Spider-Friends affiliations.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #11 of 34.

If you purchase the Iron Man and War Machine starter set, you will get all the cards, but not maximum dice for each character. You will need two starters for maximum character dice because those dice are not available in any other set.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Suit Up.

~ I have one level two Iron Spidey and one level one Iron Spider die in the Field Zone. At the beginning of my Main Step, I have a Sidekick, two Fist energy, and a Mask energy in my Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) I decide to field my Sidekick by moving it from the Reserve Pool to the Field Zone. The fielding cost is zero, so I do not need to pay energy to field the Sidekick.
~ (Main Step) I decide to purchase another Iron Spider die. I spend all three of my energy (moving it Out of Play). I decide to use Suit Up on Iron Spider. I KO my level one Iron Spider die that’s in the Field Zone and then field my newly purchased Iron Spider at level two.

Example Two:
Missing the Suit Up window.

~ I have one level two Iron Spidey and one level one Iron Spider die in the Field Zone. At the beginning of my Main Step, I have a Sidekick, two Fist energy, and a Mask energy in my Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) I decide to purchase another Iron Spider die. I spend all three of my energy (moving it Out of Play) and placing the Iron Spider die in my Used Pile.
~ (Main Step) I decide to field my Sidekick by moving it from the Reserve Pool to the Field Zone. The fielding cost is zero, so I do not need to pay energy to field the Sidekick. I realize that I forgot to use Suit Up on Iron Spider. I have to use Suit Up at the time I purchase the die, meaning the window to use Suit Up has passed. I am not allowed to use Suit Up and must continue with my turn.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF) does not have a ruling for this specific card.

You can find a relevant ruling regarding character names, here.

*EDIT*
New ruling from WORF today, here.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Ratings

You can find a guide to my ratings, here.
These are personal opinion of the card being showcased and not an official reflection of current major meta.

Golden Age Rating

While this ability is definitely unique and interesting, this is not a card I see being used in Golden Age. He’s a cheaper character with big attack stats, but his defense could get him blown up quickly and he doesn’t have any other benefit, like Fast. With Bard being the big dog in Golden Age, this card just doesn’t have its own place. It could be used on Bard teams, for that extra pow, but his fielding costs are a whole other issue. Bard teams like cheap to buy and cheap to field. He doesn’t quite fit the bill for Golden Age.

Iron Spider: Waldoes gets a rating of zero out of five stars.

Modern Age Rating

I don’t know if this card can find a place in Modern Age either. I think if someone is going to use Suit Up, it’s going to be on a different card, like Rescue or Space Armor Iron Man. He is a cheaper character, but we do have Unstable Canister in Modern. His highest defense is three – totally in the range to be blown up, which is very possible since Superwoman is a Modern Age card. There are still cheap cards in Modern Age with better stats and just as useful or better abilities that you could put in place of this particular card.

Iron Spider: Waldoes gets a rating of one out of five stars.

Prime Rating

As the pool of cards narrows, this card begins to look better, but still not completely awesome. Cheaper characters with decent abilities begin to get scarce when you approach Prime. One of the unfortunate things about this card for Prime is that there aren’t any decent Spider-Man characters to pair him with. We are limited to the three from Civil War and they aren’t the greatest with two of them being five costs and one being a four cost character. His stats aren’t any better than Iron Spider’s either. While I still don’t like him for Prime, he’s got the best chance in this format to make it on a competitive team.

Iron Spider: Waldoes gets a rating of one out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

Suit Up has a well written description on most of the Suit Up cards. I don’t think it’s too confusing of an ability, but many players do ask about using characters like Iron Spidey for Suit Up – Iron Spider and Space Armor Iron Man for Suit Up – Iron Man. After explaining that the names on the cards must match the names on the ability, players usually don’t have any further issues with it. I really like this card for casual play. He’s cheap and has big attack stats. That’s something that appeals to many beginners, and he also has a cool ability that could easily be used as a teaching tool for strategy and tactics. I can easily recommend this card for players of all skill levels.

Iron Spider: Waldoes gets a rating of four out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!