Review! DC Dice Masters Superman Wonder Woman Starter

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

WizKids is about to release its annual DC Starter, Superman Wonder Woman, and I’m super excited about the characters that it brings back as well as the new characters it introduces! Be sure to check with your friendly local game store and reserve your copy today. The Monthly Solicits page currently shows a release date of July 12, 2017.

You can find my review video with Mr. DDK on YouTube, here.

Starter Box

Box Contents

~ Superman Wonder Woman Rulebook
~ 2 Dice Bags
~ 12 Basic Action Dice
~ 16 Sidekick Dice
~ 16 Character Dice
~ 24 Character Cards
~ 10 Basic Action Cards
~ 4 Action Reminder Cards
~ 1 Rules Insert Card

Rulebook

This is the first time we’re getting the first turn rule change detailed in a rulebook. It was announced on November 7, 2016 and you can find it on page 2 and 8.

Rules Insert Card

The rules reminder card is a great quick reference tool for all the affiliations and keywords in the set. This particular rules insert details the first turn rule change.

The back of the rules insert card has a bump for tournaments, which is a great promo piece.

Keywords

You will not find any bold text keywords in this starter. There are plenty of character abilities and a few Globals between the Basic Actions and Characters.

WizKids has a comprehensive list of Keywords on their site. You can also find expanded descriptions for all the keywords on The Reserve Pool‘s site.

Affiliations

We don’t have any new affiliations in this starter, but there are some returning ones.

Justice League
Team Superman
Villains

Characters

I’m thrilled to see an Amazon, even if she’s from a different tribe than Diana, she’s still an Amazon. I hope WizKids will eventually add an Amazon affiliation along with many of the other notable Amazon characters. I think all of the versions of Artemis are interesting. Her two When Fielded abilities are very manageable with her TFC (Total Fielding Cost) of two. She’s got really good stats as well, and a purchase cost of five isn’t totally out of reach. I think my favorite version is Renouncing Olympus. I don’t build teams that are centered on keeping Sidekicks in the Field, and this is a great way to keep my opponent from building up a wall. Did I mention that I love having another recognizable Amazon character in the game?

Cheetah is one of my favorite Wonder Woman villains. I love all of her abilities and they all fit the character. She’s not an expensive character to purchase and her TFC is three with a fielding cost of one on all levels. She only has one When Fielded ability, but I don’t think her fielding costs are an issue at all, especially when you factor in her stats as well. I think I want to try using Goddess of the Hunt on a new Villain team I’m brewing. She seems like she would fit best with that build. But each version can easily find a place on a team somewhere!

I’m super thrilled to see another Wonder Woman villain in the starter! Even though she isn’t my favorite Wonder Woman villain, I do like her in the comics. I didn’t like her versions from the Green Arrow and The Flash set, so I was glad to see her back again. Her abilities are very thematic for her character and I like them all, but Standing Tall is definitely my favorite! It just so happens that Standing Tall is the only character card with a Global in the starter. Her Global fits with her ability perfectly! You can give her Overcrush with Upgrade – Proton Cannon from the Iron Man and War Machine starter to help her punch through your opponent’s defenses. Her dice stats are the same as her previous set. She’s got really good stats and her fielding costs are great too! My villain team is going to end up having a bunch of Wonder Woman villains on it!

This is Jimmy Olsen’s debut! Signal Watch and Superman’s Pal are both good for any team that uses Superman or Supergirl. It just depends on your team build and play style. Seeing Is Believing is definitely interesting… but I’m not believing in him. It stops him from being targeted by opponent’s Globals, and stops damage from non-targeting Globals which is cool, but it only prevents Jimmy from taking the damage. And it only works while Superman or Supergirl is active. I just feel like the ability is over complicated and probably not worth using. At least I can build a decent Team Superman team now that we have Conner Kent in the Batman set and Jimmy Olsen! I have too many teams to build and not enough time to build them.

Steve Trevor, ally and love interest of Wonder Woman, is making his debut! I like all three cards. Bachelor in a Bind doesn’t have ability text, but did you see those attack stats and fielding cost?! He only cost two to purchase making him a fantastic card for lots of teams that need those cheaper dudes. The Man from A.R.G.U.S. is actually really cool. Steve Trevor has a defense of one on all sides, but he has a 2/3/4 attack line. If you have Wonder Woman active and way to give Steve Trevor Overcrush, he becomes an instant threat. Themysciran Liason is fantastic! You can purchase Wonder Woman for three less when he’s KO’d. With that defense line of 1/1/1, it’s not hard to KO him. His ability will allow you to purchase Wonder Woman outside of your Main Step, and then you get to Prep her too! Perfect!

Finally! A Supergirl I can get behind! Her dice at the exact same model as her World’s Finest dice, but a reversed color scheme. I definitely prefer these dice and this card art to the WF versions. All in the Family feels like it should have been a Flip card. I like her ability, but I wouldn’t want to put her on a team and then not face off against a Villain team. I like Guarding National City, but I hate having a TFC 5 or higher on characters that have a When Fielded ability. Aside from that, she cost seven… I Have All Your Powers! has to be my favorite Supergirl card and ability. I like to give dice Overcrush or make them unblockable. She’s the perfect card for me!

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, it’s Superman! Superman’s die is the same model as his World’s Finest die, but not the same color style. I prefer the other color style, but I like his stats which are the exact same as Supergirl. Superman has abilities similar to Supergirl’s on some of his cards. Phone Booth also feels like it needed a Flip side and Symbol of Hope does not have an ability that appeals to me for the cost of the character. Living in a World of Cardboard seems kinda cool, but he needs Overcrush or to be unblockable. Sounds like a job for me! Oh, and he’s Justice League – not Team Superman. Guess I need to start looking at Justice League characters now too.

Wonder Woman is the epitome of awesome and now we have some Dice Masters cards to reflect that. With Child of Clay, you can use Unstable Canister on your team and no longer fear it being used against your characters. She’s easy to purchase, but you don’t want her leaving the Field if you can help it. She has a TFC of three which is isn’t horrible, but most of the time I end up rolling the highest level face when I don’t want it. Her fielding costs fit for the stats she has on each level. Ambassador of Peace is another Global stifling ability that stops both players from using Globals on their character cards. This would be better if it just stopped your opponent and not you too. It doesn’t stop either player from using the Globals on Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard or S.T.A.R. Labs, but it stops a player from using Parallax’s Global if it’s on their team. Reflections is probably the most powerful of all three cards. She stops one of the biggest meta cards – Lantern Ring: Limited Only By Imagination. She does cost five, but if I see Ring across the table, I’m going for Wonder Woman first.

Character Thoughts

There are plenty of great beginner character cards in this starter. There are cards that work very well with other cards in the starter, and then you have other cards that make for great additions to existing teams or good starting points for new players to begin building a team with.

There are at least two character cards that I see potentially making it into the Modern Age meta. One of those is Wonder Woman: Reflections for her amazing Lantern Ring stopping ability, and the other is Steve Trevor: Themysciran Liason for his ability to help you get Wonder Woman easier. I’m not totally sure about Steve Trevor, but he is definitely handy. There is a third character that very possibly could find a foothold in Modern Age meta, and that’s Giganta: Standing Tall. With the upcoming X-Men First Class set, she could come in handy.

Team Superman definitely got a needed boost in this starter. For all those folks out there that are struggling to make a Team Superman team function, you’re definitely going to want Jimmy Olsen. I believe that with the addition of Conner Kent from Batman and Jimmy Olsen from this starter, those casual Team Superman builds are going to be running a lot smoother.

Basic Action Cards

Now it’s time to take a look at all ten of the Basic Actions cards that you’ll find in the Superman Wonder Woman starter. Five of these cards are revamped cards, and five are completely new cards, though some of them have similarities to previously released Basic Actions.

This is a revamp of Dimension Door from the Dungeons and Dragons: Battle for Faerûn set. I mentioned this in the video and I’ll say it again; this card should have been called “Boom Tube” to fit with the theme. I know they make references to ‘dimensional doors’ in various media, but I really want this card to be Boom Tube. The art is Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (I think) jumping through a Boom Tube, so at least there’s that.

But as for the card ability – I love it. I don’t like the purchase cost, but if it was any less, it’d be too good. I want to pair this card with that awesome Giganta and just make her totally unblockable. This card also pairs well with the Supergirl: I Have All Your Powers! in the starter.

Misdirection is a new Basic Action as far as I can tell, but it has similarities to Teleport. I definitely prefer Misdirection over Teleport for tons of reasons. With a purchase cost of two, this a great card to add to your team if you don’t like Mutation. The additional Prep ability on the burst and double burst is absolutely great! We have definitely been missing those additional dice in the Prep Area. I could totally see using this with some Back For More cards because of that prepping ability. I really like this card and it very possibly could see some Modern Age meta play.

Plot Twist is a new Basic Action, with a really unusual ability. So, WORF, I’m totally going to be asking you about this card. Do I draw from my opponent’s bag, or do they? Can I look in my opponent’s bag before drawing or does that still go against the general rule that you can’t? Do they roll the character dice or do I?

My assumption is that you draw the dice from their bag and roll the characters. I don’t think you would be allowed to look in the bag before you draw because it’s not your bag.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of someone taking my dice bag from me and drawing from it. It just doesn’t feel right… I don’t feel comfortable drawing from my opponent’s bag either. It’s like a safe zone that you know you’re opponent can never violate… until now! This is not a card that I will ever play. I would totally be okay with my opponent drawing the dice, letting me roll the characters, and then fielding any characters I roll for free. Since the card doesn’t specify, I believe that any energy you roll would go to your Reserve Pool, which you could use at your discretion until end of turn.

This is a very powerful card and I’m glad it cost five to purchase. Potentially denying your opponent the chance to draw those two character dice on their next turn could be devastating.

This is a revamp of Resurrection from the Dungeons and Dragons: Battle for Faerûn set. You have no idea how happy I am to see this card back. The next one I want back is Nasty Plot, which was a highly underrated card. But for now, I’ll be content with Resurrection. While most use it for its Global, the action ability is not without its benefits. It does cost four to purchase, so it’s a die I don’t buy unless I’m in desperate need of a boost.

This is a revamp of Save Civilians from the DC Justice League set. I have never liked this card. It cost too much for what it does. You have to field a Sidekick to get the ability to trigger – after you use the action die. It works for each Sidekick and that you field, and an Ally will trigger this ability. That’s the only saving grace for this card. Sure, it gets you dice in your Prep Area, but you have to roll this die and roll Sidekicks (or Allies) on the same turn. I feel like it’s too much work for not enough pay off.

Small Step For Man is a new Basic Action that can be punishing for both players, unless you’re planning ahead for the X-Men First Class set… and using Giganta. I didn’t make the connection with how good this card can potentially be in the future until after we filmed the review video. I’m now looking forward to using this card later! This ability is not a targeting type ability either. There are very few abilities in the current Modern Age meta that don’t target. This is a great way to get those troublesome characters onto a lower, more manageable level.

This is a revamp of Take Cover from the Marvel Avengers vs X-Men set. This card is all about the defense. If you’re worried about your characters getting KO’d, then you better be looking at Take Cover. If the die is rolled on a burst or double burst, you can give a character a total of +5D. If that’s not enough, just pay as much Shield energy as you have and they get even more defense! This card pairs well with those other cards that swap the attack and defense of a character.

Read carefully! This is not a revamp of Teamwork. Team Up is a new Basic Action. There are a few abilities and Globals that give affiliations to characters that could potentially make this a huge nuisance to play against. Team Up only cost four to purchase and if you’re already using three of four different affiliations, you could beef up each of your characters for some massive damage. Now imagine this card paired up with a card like Gorilla Grodd: Force of Mind where all those attacking characters have Overcrush and an additional +1A. I think I just found a new Basic Action for my Grodd team!

This is a revamp of The Outsider OP card, with updated wording. In the video, we were discussing the Prep part of the ability. If you draw a die that isn’t a Villain, it goes to your Used Pile. If that die was a Sidekick, the Sidekick goes to you Used Pile and The Outsider action die goes to your Prep Area. That’s such a confusing and complex ability that I don’t want to buy the die and use it, just to save me from having to explain how it works… But I’ll be happy to use that Global! It goes really well with my Two-Face: Double Deal, or a Hit-Monkey: He’s A Hitman. Who’s a Monkey. turned Villain!

Truce is a new Basic Action that could become very useful against those characters that can’t be targeted, like Raven: Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos! You would want to use characters with a When KO’d ability like Alfred Pennyworth: MI-5 or even Steve Trevor: Themysciran Liason from this starter. This ability does not target your opponent’s characters, so it gets around that Raven ability. Truce is only a purchase cost of three, which is very affordable. And you don’t necessarily need characters with abilities, because your plain Sidekicks will work for either end of this ability.

BAC Overview

Half of the Basic Actions in this starter are revamped cards with updated wording. Most  of those revamped cards are ones that needed to be brought back into Modern Age for various reasons. The only BAC that I don’t like seeing revamped is Save Civilians, but maybe there’s something coming down the pipeline that I don’t know about that makes this card more fun. With only two Starters each year, there need to be mostly good BACs and none of those silly ones.

I really like most of the new BACs as well. I cringe at Plot Twist every time I read it. It makes my soul ache. The idea of some strange hand reaching into my dice bag is just too much for me to take! That may sound silly to many of you, but for someone like me that suffers from varying degrees of social anxiety, it’s a big deal. I surely don’t want to stick my hand in a strange bag either. That card is very unsettling to me.

But overall – the Basic Actions are really good and well worth investing in the Modern Age copies of the revamps.

Action Reminder Cards

There’s nothing super special about the reminder cards. They’re Blue, Purple, Orange, and Red.

Dice Bags

I most definitely like the artwork bags more than the plain colored bags. I like to collect these bags too.

Starter Dice

Sidekick and Action Dice

You get a standard assortment of Sidekick Dice and Action Dice.

Character Dice

You only get two of each character die in the starter. If you’re wanting to put three or four dice on a particular character, you will need to buy a second starter (or trade, exchange, etc.). It’s never a bad thing to have duplicates of the character cards and BACs.

Giganta’s dice are not easy to see because of her icon color. I love Jimmy Olsen’s camera as his dice icon, but I wish his die wasn’t such a flat green. Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor have the best looking dice out of all of them.

Final Thoughts

We haven’t had a starter that was this awesome since World’s Finest. It works within itself, but can also be easily integrated with current teams. Many of these cards can be the corner stone for a completely new team! The characters are all thematic in choice and abilities. The card art is beautiful on all the cards and the dice are pretty, overall.

I also think there are several must haves for the Modern Age meta, one of them being Wonder Woman: Reflections for her Lantern Ring stifling ability. That ability is just too good and I plan to use three or four of her dice for a particular build I’m thinking about. Steve Trevor and Jimmy Olsen are also great characters and purchasing two of these starters for max dice is probably not a bad idea. I also think Misdirection and Truce have their own places in Modern Age. If you’re not interested in the characters, the Basic Actions alone are worth the purchase.

This is definitely the starter to buy if you’re new to the game, and totally a worthwhile purchase for veteran players as well. WizKids has done a great job with this starter and I can’t wait to get my hands on another one!

What are your favorite cards?
What cards do you think will make it into the various metas?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Special thanks to WizKids and The Reserve Pool for the use of their sites. And a very special thanks to WizKids for sending me this starter to review and discuss with all of you!

Roll on, Dice Masters!