Top List! Top 10 of the 100’s

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

It’s time for another Top List article! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and this one was suggested by John P. on Facebook.

To celebrate my 100th Confusing Card of the Week article, all of the cards on this list have a collector number of 100 from their respective sets. I was really surprised to see how many good cards were on this list. There is a mix of uncommon and rare cards from ten different sets. But wait, there are currently fourteen sets released that have a #100 card, so what about those other four? Well, they just missed the mark and will end up on the ‘Honorable Mentions’ list.

Now, remember, I’m only comparing the card abilities, stats, etc. of these cards with each other. I am not comparing their other versions.

I based my list off of several different criteria:
~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
~ Would I play this card today?
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
~ Are the dice pretty? Just kidding! I do like pretty dice, but it’s not necessary.

And by the way, thank you RetroBox. I love using your website. It makes my research go so much faster! I think your site is one the most visited sites on my computer.

Let’s kick this off with the four cards that just missed that tenth place spot.

Honorable Mentions

14. Captain America: Superhero from Uncanny X-Men

Heroic: When fielded, Captain America may pair up with a different Heroic character until the start of your next turn. While Captain America is paired up, he and his partner each gain +4A and +4D.

So, not the worst Heroic ability, but it’s Heroic…

13. Rhino: Persistent Vengeance from Amazing Spider-Man

When fielded, you may KO target Sidekick. Send it to the Used Pile. If your opponent’s Spider-Man is active, you may do this twice instead.

This guy costs too much for his ability.

12. Drow Assassin: Paragon Humanoid from Battle for Faerûn

At the end of the attack step, knock out all adventurers engaged with this character.

His ability is too conditional for most games where there are very few Adventurers used. Though, he is great for in set games. But that’s not enough to make my top ten list.

11. Black Widow: Killer Instinct from Avengers VS X-Men

When fielded, spin one target opponent’s character down to level 1.

Back in the day when all we had was AvX to use, she was great if you didn’t have Tsarina. I even used her instead of Tsarina on several occasions, but now, she seems a little lack-luster compared to the rest of these cards. She does make the top of the ‘Honorable Mentions’ list though!

Top Ten of the 100’s

10. Spectre: Blinded By Sin from War of Light

While Spectre is active, all character dice except Spectre must attack each turn.

So if you’re using this card, you’re likely only buying and fielding this guy. His ability keeps all of those nuisance characters out of the field, unless he’s blanked by a DWiz or the Shriek that’s coming in the Maximum Carnage Team Pack. But, if they’re blanking him, they aren’t going to be able to blank your other dudes! He could be a great decoy, or a great back up win condition. I would say that your team needs to be built around this card and the contingencies that come with him in order to make the team viable. That’s one of the main reasons he’s sitting at the number ten spot. But I still feel like he’s more fun to use than the cards on the Honorable Mentions list.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
They’re about average.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Sure.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
I would say it can be useful.
~ Would I play this card today?
Maybe.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
I would definitely say that he needs a specific team.
~ Are the dice pretty?
They’re okay. They’re easy to read, which is good.

9. Jay Garrick: Guardian of Keystone City from Green Arrow and The Flash

While Jay Garrick is active, the first time you field a BOLT or SHIELD character die each turn, you may take 1 damage and move a die from your Used Pile to your Prep Area (2 dice if the character is BOLT and SHIELD).

Why is this guy better than the many that came before him? Because he’s cheaper to purchase and field, and his ability works with lots of characters in the game. I don’t like that I have to take damage to move the die from my Used Pile to my Prep Area, because life is a very important resource and if I were going to spend it on something, it’s gotta be good. I could see someone pairing this card with Vicious Struggle, but there are better methods for making that Action lethal. I think he’s a good alternative to Reclaim, if you really need your BAC slots, but you need a way to mitigate that damage. I don’t see this card on any Rush/Blitz type teams because if you’re buying a four cost Jay Garrick, you’re not buying your two and three cost rush characters.

I think this card has some potential, but it’s not overflowing with it. I think he’s a good casual play card, but I don’t see him making any competitive lists anytime soon. Maybe a pilot out there can find a good use for him.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
I think his purchase cost is okay, but since he’s a crossover character, I think his level three fielding cost could have been a one instead of a two.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Since you want him to stay active, his defense is great.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
It’s useful for what it does.
~ Would I play this card today?
Better than a maybe – possibly.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
I don’t think I’d slap Jay on any team of mine, but I think he needs a more fine-tuned build. I don’t think he needs a team dedicated to his ability though.
~ Are the dice pretty?
They’re one of my favorites from Green Arrow and The Flash. I love them!

8. Taskmaster: Mimic Anyone from Civil War

When Taskmaster blocks or is blocked, change Taskmaster’s A and D to match that of any target character die in the Field Zone until end of turn. (Each Taskmaster die may target a different die.)

I think this ability is interesting for various levels of play. You could change his stats to help keep him alive, or change them so he’s KO’d. Putting him on a team with dice that have stats like Hulk or Thanos is great, but you want to use a force block Global like Wasp: Fashionista or Giant Spider: Greater Beast to get the use of his ability. Then you want to give him Overcrush so he can deal damage over the blockers.

The more I look at the card, the more unusual he becomes. I would love to see a team build with him that makes the most of his ability. Feel free to share one in the comments if you’ve played him and like him!

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Stats – yes. Ability – depends.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Hard to determine that really.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
It’s useful, but also situational. I don’t think it’s too situational, because you can manipulate the conditions of his ability on that card with a Global.
~ Would I play this card today?
Maybe, it’s not really my kind of card.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
He could be added to any team really. His ability is reliant on other card abilities.
~ Are the dice pretty?
Definitely not. I don’t like the color and his die image is just, okay.

7. Solomon Grundy: Died on a Saturday from Justice League

KO any character of a lower level engaged with Solomon Grundy after damage is dealt.

I like his ability, but I don’t like that I feel I need him on level three all the time. I would not recommend using a Global like Mutation/Polymorph or Giganta because then your opponent can just spin their dudes up to save them from Grundy’s ability. His ability is great if you pair it with Wasp: Fashionista or Giant Spider: Greater Beast.

Those Globals help you get specific characters dice out the field wither through combat damage or Grundy’s ability. And I guess if he’s KO’d while level one or two, it’s not so bad because he could come back next turn at level three.

He also makes for a great blocker, because his stats are good and if he blocks a character with bigger stats on a lower level than his, he can still take them out. He’s not a far reach with his purchase cost either, which is a plus.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
I think it is for the most part.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
I would like to have seen maybe one more point of defense on all his levels for better survival against multiple blockers, but overall I think it’s fine for single blockers.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
It’s definitely useful, espicially when paired with a force block card. It’s situational only in that it affects lower level character dice, so you want him on level three if at all possible.
~ Would I play this card today?
Most likely.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
You could actually put this card on any team with a force block and he would do well. You definitely don’t need the force block, but it helps.
~ Are the dice pretty?
Yuck – no way. But they fit his character, so no real complaints. I think a pink sparkly die would look out of place with him. I like his image though!

6. Killer Croc: Out of the Depths from Batman

When fielded, KO all level 1 and 2 character dice with A less than Killer Croc.

So why did this guy beat out the other four cards and make my top ten? His ability paired with his stats could wipe an opponent’s entire Field Zone. His purchase cost is expensive, but I would pay that price to wipe their Field, leaving them open for an attack. This card is easily paired with Small Step for Man from the Superman Wonder Woman Starter.

This puts all characters in the Field Zone at level one, but when you field your Killer Croc, you’re likely taking out all of their characters. You can use a Global like the one on Giganta: Standing Tall to spin your surviving character dice back up. This card has potential and possibilities – it only needs the right pilot and the right build to make it happen.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Absolutely. If he was a six cost – he’d be too good.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Totally. At level one, you’re KO’ing all opposing level one and two dice with an attack of three or less. Seems good to me!
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
I’d say it’s very useful, but slightly situational – which there are ways of fixing.
~ Would I play this card today?
I would love to play this card – TODAY!
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
I don’t think he requires a team built around him, but he may need a team with cost reduction or ramp/churn because he is expensive. But he’ll potentially win you the game if you get him!
~ Are the dice pretty?
Totally not. I am not a fan of the color of these dice, but I get why they chose the colors. I do really like his dice image though.

5. Superwoman: Amazonian from World’s Finest

If you spend at least BOLT BOLT BOLT to purchase a Superwoman die, immediately roll that die and place it into your Reserve Pool.
Global: Pay 1. You may convert any amount of your energy to BOLT this turn.

So, the only thing holding this card back from making it any higher on the list is her level three fielding cost. I think a two would have been fine because her defense is low. Killer Croc is a two to field on his level three side and his stats are 7A/7D. I definitely don’t think a two fielding cost would break this card at all. I do like her ability, especially if I’m hoping for energy to buy more of her or other dice.

Her Global is the shining point of her card though. This Global allows you to keep your energy on it’s current face and spend it as that energy, or spend it as a Bolt. The Global cost one generic energy too, making it a very handy energy fixing tool for Bolt-centered teams.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Yes, but her level two and three fielding cost are high.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
They aren’t as good as I’d like them to be. I’m not asking for zero and one fielding costs across all levels, but a three is a little steep for this type of ability. Her Global is what shines the most.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
The ability is useful, but too situational.
~ Would I play this card today?
I have definitely played this card and her other versions. I would play it on the right team.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
She doesn’t need a specific build, but building around her is helpful.
~ Are the dice pretty?
They’re colored thematically and they have a pretty shimmering swirl. I also like her die image.

4. Sangan: Sacrificial Fiend from Yu-Gi-Oh!

When this monster gets knocked out, you may pull two dice from your bag. If both are monsters, put them into your prep area; otherwise return them to your bag.

I like this guy a lot in Golden Age. There are so many ways to manipulate the dice in your bag, not mention, KO a character. He’s got low enough defense numbers on all levels that your opponent may not want to attack into him or block him. You can easily KO him with Magic Missile/Unstable Canister, Fabricate, or Blue-Eyes.

I’ve used this card in the past and I like him. There are other ways to prep dice, but this could be more attuned to someone’s play style than the other cards.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Yes, he’s easy to KO and you can manipulate your bag to increase the chances of drawing character dice.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Definitely.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
It’s definitely useful, but may require the right timing.
~ Would I play this card today?
I have used him before and would use him today.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
~ Are the dice pretty?

3. Spider-Woman: Playing Both Sides from Age of Ultron

When fielded, deal 2 damage to one opposing character with a printed fielding cost of 0.

I like cheap characters with good stats and good abilities. She can easily take out nuisance characters like a low level Dwarf Wizard or Oracle, or just clear some Sidekicks out of the way for your attack. Even though her fielding costs are not the best, as long as she’s level one or two, it’s manageable.

She also has a great defense for those times you really need her to stay in the Field Zone as a blocker. The higher the defense, the less damage that gets through from dice with Overcrush! And even though she’s not the kind of card I would use, I can’t bump her down on the list because of her overall potential. She’s got a great ability for those annoying Oracles and DWiz’s and I like her for that.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Definitely for her ability, and I guess the higher fielding cost on level three evens this card out some.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Level one and two are fine. Seeing as how she’s not expensive to purchase, I can’t complain too much about her level three fielding cost.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
There are lots of zero fielding characters that are really good and used often. I would say she’s more useful than situational, but her ability requires a specific condition.
~ Would I play this card today?
Probably, but she’s not really my play style – I just see her overall potential.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
She can fit on any team without having to build around her directly.
~ Are the dice pretty?
They aren’t ugly, but they aren’t my favorite.

2. Oni: Greater Giant from Faerûn Under Siege

When fielded, you may put target Action die from target opponent’s Field Zone, Prep Area, or Reserve Pool into the Used Pile. Cancel any effect of that die.

I just covered this guy for my 100th Confusing Card of the Week article. I absolutely love this card. There is not near enough Action removal or Action hindering in the game and I think this card is probably one of the best for Modern Age. He was almost number one on this list because of how much I like him, but his situational ability is what held him back. If your opponent isn’t using Action dice much, he’s just a big hitting character die for four energy.

Even though his situational ability has held him out of the top spot, it’s what propelled him to the number two spot. That’s because for every player that doesn’t use Actions regularly, there are almost twice as many that do. And with Unstable Miracle growing in popularity in my area, Oni could be a great response to it. It won’t stop it completely, but it helps stifle some of that Boomerang action. There just aren’t enough Action-reliant teams out there for him to steal that first place spot.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
Yes.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
Yes, but level three might have been able to get away with a fielding cost of one.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
His ability is situational, but it’s a common situation to come across, making his ability very useful.
~ Would I play this card today?
I wouldn’t hesitate if I thought the meta would include half or more Action-based teams.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
He can find a spot on any team without needing his own support.
~ Are the dice pretty?
They are gorgeous! I love the color and his die image is perfect.

1. Lockjaw: King’s Best Friend from Deadpool

While Lockjaw is active, before your Clear and Draw Step, name a non-Sidekick die. If you draw that die, gain 1 life and each of your Lockjaw dice gets +1A and +1D.

Lots of folks love the common Lockjaw, but this Lockjaw can actually get some use from his attack and defense bonus, because it happens on your turn and not your opponent’s turn. There are plenty of ways to manipulate a bag to increase your chances of drawing the right die. You are always allowed to look in your bag before you draw too, but you have to shuffle those dice up really well before you draw.

I love that he has life gain and a stat buff with his ability. Life gain is definitely useful later in the game, as is a stat buff if you’re hoping to get some damage in. Lockjaw makes for a great blocker too, which is good since you need him active before your turn starts to get the use of his ability. I feel like this card is a little underrated because everyone focuses too heavily on the common version. This guy has a place on a team out there and I hope more folks try using him.

~ Is the purchase cost even with the stats and ability?
I think they’re generous.
~ Are the stats in line with the ability?
More than generous.
~ Is the ability useful or is it too situational?
Highly useful, but may need some bag manipulation to increase the odds of calling the right die.
~ Would I play this card today?
I would put this card on any team that had room for him.
~ Can I use this on any team or does it require a specific build?
He’s a great card that doesn’t need any support.
~ Are the dice pretty?
Not really. I don’t dig the colors, but they’re thematic and the die image is cute.

Final Thoughts

While most of these cards are just good in casual play, there are a few gems for competitive play hidden away. One being that great Oni card! I’ve gotten a few ideas for teams from the cards on this list and I intend to build one of them for our Modern Age event this Saturday. I’m really happy that John P. suggested this article. This was a lot of fun to write and research and I look forward to doing another Top List article in the future.

What are your favorites on the list?
Would you place a card differently?
Let me know what you think!
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty!

Thanks for reading and thanks again to RetroBox for the use of their site!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Review! Handcrafted Wooden Dice Tray

Greetings Fellow Dice and Clix Fans!

 

A friend of mine that plays Dice Masters decided he would try his crafty hands as making dice trays. While I’m more of a tower person, I’m totally not opposed to using a dice tray for the other various games I play, like HeroClix and Dragoborne. Dice trays are super convenient and very mobile, where towers need assembly or careful transport.

I can honestly say that I was impressed with the quality and speed of his work. He uses various types of wood and can stain or paint the dice trays to suit. He stained the one for me and then coated it with a beeswax finish. Oh my goodness! It’s so soft, I almost want to cuddle it like a stuffed toy! I would most certainly recommend staining as opposed to painting because it looks so natural and it’s just gorgeous!

 

 

Details

These are the details on the dice tray you see in the pictures. Measurements are not going to be exact as this is handmade and not mass produced, so each dice tray will be slightly different. The measurements will all be very close though.

Dimensions (Inches):
Outside Wall – 6 3/4′ x 6 1/8′
Floor (Inside Wall) – 5 1/2′ x 6′
Outside Height – 1 1/2′
Inside Height – 1′

I took some pictures for size references. That is a Skyscraper Wonder Woman HeroClix figure that’s standing in the tray. These trays would make for a great HeroClix box to transport your pieces between matches, and also roll your dice in!

 

 

Stain Color: Cabernet

Finish: Beeswax

Floor Cover: Bare

Price:
For a dice tray identical to this one (stains can possibly be interchanged), he charges around $20 not including shipping. Shipping prices will likely vary, so be sure to check with him on the shipping.

If you want a dice tray that’s sanded and ready to be stained or painted, he charges around $15 not including shipping. Now, that’s just a bare bones tray – no paint, no stain, no finish – just assembled and sanded. It’s stain and paint ready though, so if you want to get crafty on your tray, you can!

Additions

Normally, the sound of dice rolling on wood can be loud and distracting, but this dice tray has a nice, soft sound to it. I still wanted to add felt to the floor for that additional sound buffer, and also to help that gorgeous stain color stand out. I grabbed a few sample colors to see which one I would prefer:

 

 

I couldn’t possibly decide between them so I made three floor covers that I can change out. I actually like all three colors equally. They all have their own charm about them. And the felt fits so well because of the size of the tray, that I don’t have to glue it. It doesn’t move or buckle when the dice roll across it.

 

 

Craig also told me that he can do wood burning as well, so he can burn designs into the sides of the tray or into the floor of the tray and seal it. Anything extra that he does will increase the price of the tray.

Contact Info and Ordering

Craig just recently created a Facebook page so that players from across the country can get in touch with him to place an order or ask him about making a custom piece. You can find it listed under Daten’s Game Supplies.

If you want a dice tray with different dimensions or a completely different custom item, you will have to discuss the pricing with Craig.

Final Thoughts

Even though I prefer towers to trays, I have discovered that I actually can use a tray like this in a variety of games. This tray made for a great HeroClix team tray to carry my team around between matches and as a dice tray to roll my dice in during the matches. I even plan to use it when I play Dragoborne, to roll my three tiny dice in. I can roll them, then set the tray to the side until I’m ready to assign the dice. This tray will definitely come in handy! Mr. DDK is absolutely tickled with it. He told me that he was feeling a little accessory neglected because I had a tower and he didn’t, but he’s totally a tray person so everything works out! He used the tray and put it over his Reserve Pool while he was playing and it kept everything neat and tidy.

One of the things I love most about this accessory is that it’s all hand crafted and all the materials are local materials. He uses beeswax from a local beekeeper and he uses mostly aged and reclaimed wood. He is very good at his work and he aims to please his customers!

If you would like to see it in action, check out these two videos from our Saturday Dice Masters featured matches, Round Two and Round Three.

What do you think of the Dice Tray?
Are you a Tray or Tower person?
Do you have a unique accessory or an accessory you adore?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty!

As always, thank you for reading and watching. I wouldn’t be doing this without all of you out there that are reading my articles and watching my videos. You’re all awesome!

Roll on Dice Masters!
Clix, may your crits never be misses and your probs never wasted!

Review! DC HeroClix – Skyscraper Wonder Woman Colossal Figure

Greetings Fellow Clix Fans!

 

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Skyscraper Wonder Woman Colossal figure this past weekend, and even got to play with her!

In the comics, the giant robot Wonder Woman was a creation of the Sinister Seer of Saturn. He was determined to get revenge against Wonder Woman and to accomplish it, he wanted to embarrass Wonder Woman with this colossal doppelganger.

In HeroClix, she is definitely an enormous piece as you can see in the picture below. Fugitoid is your average sized HeroClix piece and she towers over him! Her dial fits into four squares instead of one square like Fugitoid, and most other figures.

Asthetics

This piece is really pretty and very well done. I love her sculpt and I think the lasso spin-effect is really cool looking. This is one of the few pieces that I’d love to have on a shelf and not just as a playing piece. The colors are bright and vibrant and the dial is easy to read as well. As far as being comic accurate, she is really close to her comic counterpart.

I don’t have much to say on the cosmetics because she looks so amazing! There isn’t much else to cover!

Game Play

As I mentioned earlier, I got to play with this piece this weekend. We were playing a 400 point Modern Age Highlander event. For our local venue, the Highlander rules state that you can have the same Title Name, but the Real Name must be different from other Title Names and Real Names. If there isn’t a Real Name listed, then you can use as many of those pieces as you can fit on your team. We were also limited to only one Super Rare, LE, Prime, etc. We were not allowed to use Resources or Relics.

I used her on her 350 point line and added Fugitoid to the team for 50 points, just to have two figures and the maximum amount of points. This also gave me a theme team for Robot.

As you can see on her dial above, she’s huge with her 19 clicks! Her last click is a stop click too, meaning she won’t get KO’d when she first turns to that click from damage. She also gets a wide variety of abilities throughout her dial. Some of my favorites are Running Shot, Hypersonic Speed, Impervious, and Combat Reflexes. Her special abilities are cool, but my favorite is The Trial of Ice. I like being able to give someone an action token or instead, slide them around the map to a more advantageous spot for my attacks or defense.

The biggest problem I had in my matches is the same one I always have when running a team with very few pieces – they get swarmed. Fugitoid was a great distraction for a brief moment, but then the focus was on Skyscraper. If they’re using Outwit or have a way to get around her defenses, she goes down a little faster than what you would think. That’s because she gets all the attacks directed at her and she doesn’t have any backup. I think she’s better on one of her lower point lines with some support pieces as opposed to the big 350 line without support. I plan to try her again in the future on her 225 or 100 point starting line with a few other dudes.

Final Thoughts

Is she worth buying?

~ For a casual player like myself, yes. She has multiple starting lines with various point values that can fit into many different teams. She’s fun to play with and while intimidating to see on the map, isn’t that scary when you’re up against her.

~ For a collector like myself, definitely! She’s a gorgeous figure and I would think any fan of Wonder Woman would love to have her on a display shelf.

~ For a competitive player, not sure. I’m not up to speed on the big meta teams and I’m not experienced enough to make that kind of judgement. I’ve heard the more experienced local players talk about how broken she is on her 15 point starting line, but again – I’m not on the same level of experience, so I don’t know if she’s broken or not.

Overall, I think she’s a piece worth having in most collections. The only major downside to playing with this piece is how to transport her. She definitely won’t fit in my box so I have to carry her in the box she came in to keep her safe. This leaves me with more stuff to keep up with and move around the store while swapping tables.

What do you think of the Skyscraper Wonder Woman?
Have you used her and what build did you use?

Thanks so much for reading! I would love to do more HeroClix articles, so if you have suggestions, drop me a line here or on my Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty!

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

Review! Accessories for Dice Masters – Team Box

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

About a month or so ago, as Mr. DDK and I were strolling around Wal-Mart, we happened upon some tiny boxes. They were cute, compact, and appeared to be the right size for cards and dice. I picked one up and instantly knew it would hold a full team of cards and dice. Mr. DDK was unsure, but when you’ve worked in a gaming store as long as I have, you just know these things. We decided to buy one and test it out. There were lots of colors and I wanted them all, but I wanted take one home and give it a good test run.

The handles snap over the extended part of the lid and all the boxes I have snap fairly tightly. I wouldn’t suggest throwing a loaded box as it would likely come open and spill everywhere, but dropping it on a table probably won’t cause a spill.

Colors (top to bottom): Purple, Berry, Blue, Mint, and Clear.

Team Box

We arrived home and I loaded up my current team’s cards and dice into the tiny box and snapped the lid into place. It was glorious. Not only did all ten cards and action reminder cards fit, so did all twenty character dice, eight Sidekicks, six Basic Action dice, an extra D6, and my pony life tracker. I went back to Wal-Mart and bought the remaining colors.

Here is the team box and its future contents.

Sleeved cards fit nicely in the box.

Sleeved cards will take up a little more space than unsleeved cards.

After the cards, the dice go in! And so does my Rarity life tracker.

The lid fits perfectly, even with dice forming a second layer.

Side view of the sealed team box.

These make great demo team boxes. Each team fits perfect into one box.

They stack perfectly too.

Or you can slide your team box into your dice bag, if it’s big enough.

Mine fits snug in my smaller bags.

I love these boxes for demo teams. I put together a Batman Family team and a Deadpool team as demo teams. Each box holds all the cards, dice, an extra D6, and the dice bag. And because they’re in such an awesome little compact box, I now have more space in my tackle box. I can also keep these boxes in my car with my spare playmats, so I always have demo teams on me without needing to tote my entire duffel bag everywhere. And since these boxes are clear, I can easily see what teams in the boxes without having to open them like I would a deck box, risking a spill.

There are plenty of uses for these adorable boxes. Stickers seem to take well to the smooth plastic too, which is great for someone who loves to sticker their boxes – like me!

FAQ

These are the questions that I’ve been getting from my locals. My locals absolutely love these boxes too!

What are the dimensions?
Roughly 3.5 x 4.75 x 1.5 inches.

Where can I find them?
I found all of mine at Wal-Mart. I’m not sure where else these can be found in person, but it appears that Amazon has them too. I found another site that also has these same boxes, called Classroom Direct.

How much are they?
Amazon is super overpriced and definitely don’t go through Wal-Mart’s online site either! I would only use them if it was a last resort! I got all of mine for $1 each at Wal-Mart. It looks like they are normally $1.23 when not on sale. Classroom Direct was the cheapest online site that I found for them.

What other colors are there?
There are the colors I found and I think there is a reddish-pink one and a green one out there in the wild somewhere.

Bar Codes

If you take the bar code to your local store, they can probably tell you if they have it in stock or if they can get it.

Final Thoughts

WizKids – this a great example of how you can package a Team Pack and get the max number of dice for each character in it. I know it works – I did it.

For anyone out there that carries around demo teams or extra loaner teams, I would highly recommend checking out these boxes. There are so many other uses outside of Dice Masters too, so if you find something you like better or just get tired of the boxes, you can easily find another use for them. And they’re so affordable, it won’t make you cringe if you do replace them later. I’ve definitely gotten my $1 worth of use out of all of them, likely ten times over already. Functional accessories are the best kind!

There are even smaller boxes than these that I use to hold my HeroClix Relics. I’ve used it for almost a year now and it was only $0.88! I never knew there were boxes that would accommodate Dice Masters.

This is my Relic Box for HeroClix. The figures are to help with size comparison.

I’ve got a brief video on my YouTube channel that shows just how easy these are to pack, unpack, and use. Be sure to check it out!

What do you think of the cute, tiny boxes?
Do you have a unique accessory or an accessory you adore?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty!

As always, thank you for reading and watching. I wouldn’t be doing this without all of you out there that are reading my articles and watching my videos. You’re all awesome!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Review! Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Dice Masters

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

I couldn’t choose just a few of the cards so I decided to scan all the different cards we opened in our Unboxing Video tonight, which you can find on my YouTube channel.

One quick note – the previous version of Ronin was spelled with an ‘i’ and Ronan the Accuser is spelled with an ‘a’. These appear to be two different characters in the Marvel Universe, which I was unaware of until now. I feel silly – but now I know!

Rules Insert

Affiliations

All of the affiliations in this set are returning affiliations. Marvel Knights only had two cards with that affiliation and both were OP cards: Daredevil and Punisher.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Spider-Friends
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Marvel Knights
Villains

The Avengers affiliation can also be found in the set, but it wasn’t listed on the Rules Insert. I’m not certain if there are other affiliations in the set that aren’t listed because I haven’t seen all the cards in the set yet.

It’s also worth noting that the Villains are using the Hydra logo in this set, unlike the “V” in the Maximum Carnage Team Pack. I’m hoping this was just a weird release timing thing and that they aren’t going to continue to use the Hydra logo for Marvel Villains. I definitely prefer the “V” instead.

Keywords

You can always find updated definitions for keywords on the WizKids Keywords page or in The Reserve Pool’s Lexicon.

New!

Call Out
Infiltrate

Returning

Deadly
Intimidate

We noticed two keywords that were not on the Rules Insert. I’m sure there are a few more that are in the set and not on the Rules Insert. The two we found are:

Ally
Fast

Card Scans

I divided the scans by rarity and you can click on the card images to get a better look. Look for my Gravity Feed Review on or shortly after August 30, 2017 for a list of my favorite cards!

Commons

Uncommons

Rares and Super Rare

Final Thoughts

There are cool new abilities that look like fun to play around with, and I’m super thrilled to see the return of the Marvel Knights affiliation and I hope we see more of those characters in the future. I think I’m most looking forward to using Call Out, especially with that Star-Lord! I’m so excited to be able to rebuild my Guardians of the Galaxy theme team for Modern Age. I was very sad when all of my GotG characters rotated out, except for Drax from Amazing Spider-Man. I cannot wait for this set to release so I can start building. I already have my pre-order in for a gravity feed! I see lots of cards with some really interesting potential for all levels of play.

Be on the lookout for my gravity feed article with my full list of pulls! I will have it up sometime on or shortly after release day. We plan to do a live unboxing for that as well.

Thanks for reading and please remember to like, follow, and subscribe. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to do these early reviews and unboxings!

Thank you, WizKids, for giving me the opportunity to spoil these awesome cards for the Dice Masters community!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Review! Batman TAS Villains OP Cards

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

My FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) finally got the new Batman: The Animated Series Villains OP Kit in. This OP Kit was due out on June 28, 2017 according to the WizKids Solicits page. I highly suggest bookmarking that page! You can keep up to date on the most accurate release info because it comes straight from WizKids. It’s not always perfect, but it’s far more accurate than asking the distributors. Our OP Kit was delayed due to an internal error with the distributor. But now that we have it in hand, I want to do a short review for it and show folks these cool cards that they could get!

Organized Play Kits

An Organized Play Kit (OP Kit), is a package of special promotional prize cards that stores can purchase to use as prize support for their local level events. These kits are paid for by stores, so most events that have OP prize support will have a small entry fee or require players to purchase a small amount of product as an entry fee. My FLGS asks players to to purchase at least two booster packs of Dice Masters or pay one dollar for their entry fee. If a player were to purchase a starter, that would cover the entry fee and they wouldn’t be required to purchase the boosters as well. This type of entry requirement works great for our locals. Different venues may have different requirements so check with your FLGS to see what they require for their entry fees.

Most OP Kits come with twenty participation prizes, five fellowship cards, and five first place prize cards. The kit is set up to support four-five weeks of organized play.

OP events are suggested to be run as Rainbow Drafts, but our locals could not do a Rainbow Draft for each week of the entire kit. Most of our local events are constructed, but we try to get drafts in where we can. Be sure to check with your FLGS to see what formats they host for their OP events.

Participation Prize

Participation cards are usually given to all players that participate in the event. I usually give out the participation prizes to all players, even if they received one from the previous OP event. This may be different at each venue based on how many players and kits the store has available.

Harley Quinn: Tough Cookie

This is the participation prize for the Batman TAS Villains Kit – and yes! That’s an alternate art version of the rare Harley Quinn from the Batman set! That’s so awesome that such a great card is the participation prize! You only need to attend an event to get one of these cards.

While she’s active, at the beginning of your turn, if you control at least two different Villain character dice, your opponent loses one life and you gain one life. This is such a good ability because she makes your opponent lose life and not take damage. Losing life is different from taking damage and while damage can be negated by many card abilities, losing life usually can’t. And you gain life too, which is also great! Villains are very strong in Golden Age, and this card helps boost them a little in Modern Age. She’s not expensive to purchase, her fielding stats are great, and her combat stats aren’t too bad, but her defense stats are the important ones and they’re decent. You probably aren’t going to attack with her since you want her active at the beginning of your turn.

First Place Prize

The first place cards are given to the player that wins the event. These cards are typically new cards and not alternate art or reprint cards.

The Riddler: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

Wow, what a sub-name but I totally love this Riddler’s ability! While he’s active, when your opponent’s Sidekick dice roll a Wild energy, they must reroll them. This card denies your opponent all their Wild energy so long as he’s active. That’s so crazy! Especially since he only cost four energy to purchase! He uses the Riddler dice from the Batman set and his stats are really good for a character with a While Active ability. I can’t wait to get this guy on a team with Harley Quinn: Tough Cookie. I’m such a sucker for these control type cards.

Fellowship Prize

The Fellowship Prize is an additional prize for a player, usually one that hasn’t won another prize yet. We used to take votes, but that took way too long. Now, we have each player (except the first place player) roll a D20 in the order of their standings and the player that rolls the highest number, gets the Fellowship card. We also require that players be present to be able to roll for the Fellowship Prize. Some stores give the Fellowship Prize to the player in last place and I’ve even seen stores draw names from a bucket. How you determine the Fellowship player is different for each venue so check with your FLGS to see how they choose their Fellowship player. 

 

The Joker: The Laughing Fish

I like that the Fellowship cards aren’t typically ‘must have’ cards in regards to abilities. That’s mainly because most Fellowship Prizes are given out randomly and are not always easy to obtain. I love the Batman Family affiliated side (side b), because it helps you field Batman for free since he’s got some awful fielding costs. The Villain side (side a) lets you field Harley for free which isn’t that exciting because she’s got really good fielding stats to begin with. This card is still really cool and definitely worth having for casual Batman Family teams that use a high fielding cost Batman. His defense is great for a While Active ability so you don’t have to worry too much about him getting taken out easily. He also pairs well with the Harley Quinn from this OP kit, since you can Flip the Joker to suit what’s going on with team’s current state. This card uses the Joker dice from the Batman set.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I love this OP kit. It’s got unique character abilities that can be fun to use in both casual and competitive atmospheres. Harley and Riddler make a great pair for a control player like myself. I love silly card combinations, even if they don’t make up my win condition. I got to play against someone using the rare Harley from the set and she definitely adds another level of concern for the player sitting across from her. The Riddler is just silly and is a super awesome control card. He could potentially make your opponent waste a DWiz or Shriek on him while your other pieces are wreaking havoc. The Joker could find his way onto some Batman teams if there’s room for him.

I love the art on the cards because they’re screenshots from Batman: The Animated Series, well, except for the Harley card art. That art is more in the style of The New Batman Adventures. I couldn’t find the exact image in a brief Google search, so I can’t confirm that it’s a screenshot, but it appears to be.

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series

While Poison Ivy obviously looks different, Harley Quinn looks much the same. I still like the art on the card, but I definitely wish it had been consistent with OP Kit’s theme of Batman: TAS. In the end, it’s a minor issue that doesn’t really affect much of anything. It’s just something I thought I should note for those that notice this type of stuff.

However, There is a misprint on the Harley Quinn card with her set number. Her number in the set is #94, yet the OP card has #95 which is actually Hawk: The Agent of Chaos. WizKids might announce an errata for her promo card number since it could matter later on, or they may not say anything about it at all. In the end, we all know exactly what card it’s supposed to be, so don’t be silly about it.

I give major kudos to WizKids for this awesome OP Kit. The last few kits have been fairly good with playable, but not overpowered, cards and abilities. I’m really impressed with how they’re handling all the aspects of the kits. I know that our locals definitely prefer this style of kit as opposed to the original AvX story line kits. My players are very excited for this event to start at our local venue!

What do you think about the kit overall?
Which card is your favorite?
Leave me a comment here or on my Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and let me know!

Thanks so much for reading and please remember to subscribe!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Review! Marvel Dice Masters – Maximum Carnage Team Pack

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

WizKids is about to release its third Team Pack, Maximum Carnage. So far, all three Team Packs have been Marvel. I mentioned this in the last Team Pack review, but I’ll say it again – I would love to see a DC Team Pack at some point. A Bombshells Team Pack would be awesome!

You can find the review video for the Maximum Carnage Team Pack on YouTube, here.

Team Pack

With this new Marvel Dice Masters Team Pack, you can replay or rewrite the way Maximum Carnage played out! Side with Carnage and some of the other devious and murderous Villains, or choose to side with Spider-Man and his allies and try to bring down Carnage before it’s too late! You can even build a team where Carnage and Spider-Man are on the same side and take the story clear off the rails! This Team Pack pairs well with any of the other Dice Masters sets and is a great way to boost your current team or start a whole new team build!

Pack Contents

~ 24 Character Cards
~ 16 Dice

Keywords

There are two returning keywords in this set, and no new ones.

Deadly
Regenerate

Affiliations

There are three returning affiliations.

Avengers
Spider-Friends
Villains

It’s worth noting that this Team Pack is the first time that we’ve seen Marvel Villains with the “V” instead of the Hydra logo for their Villain affiliation. I hope this wasn’t an accident and that they convert all Marvel Villains to the “V” so we can have a Hydra affiliation later!

Characters

Keeping the Bloodhounds at Bay has an interesting ability, but it’s highly situational. Your opponent has to roll and then reroll the character dice onto their level three side. If you have Black Cat active, they’re going to reroll those level three characters to try for a lower level or energy. Possessive and Nine Lives are both cards I would consider playing. Nine Lives is a great blocker! She’s got beefy defense on all three levels and she has a chance to Regenerate. Her attack stats are lacking, but this a character you likely will want to use for defense and not as an attacker. The same can be said for Possessive, which is my favorite of the three. It’s awesome to have a character with a defense like Black Cat’s and also have a While Active ability. Her ability makes her a big nuisance that your opponent may want to deal with while you’re building up to your win condition. She’s not an expensive character to purchase or field, which is another bonus!

Black Cat is a returning character, with a new design for her dice. Her die image is of her hand holding a diamond.

Captain America has the only Global ability in the set, on two of his three cards. S.T.A.R. Labs Global is much better in my opinion, but if you don’t want both Globals on your team, then Cap’s Global is okay. The benefit to Cap’s Global is that it only requires a generic energy and a Shield instead of a Bolt and Shield to use. “How “Bout a Hand, Son?” is a card I’d love to use on a Golden Age Flying Sidekick team. Behind You is a situational type card, but could be useful if you paired it with a Villain making ability or Global. My favorite is Squad Leader, who can give all of your Sidekick character dice Deadly until end of turn, when you field him. There is a minor text formatting error on Squad Leader – the Deadly keyword is not bold. Not a huge issue, but just in case someone tries to argue that it’s not a keyword – it is definitely a keyword.

Captain America is a returning character and has the same die design as his Civil War die, but a different color scheme. His die image is of him running and throwing his shield. The dice cannot be interchanged with previous versions.

No Pain, No Reign and Red Slayer have similar abilities in that they can use the abilities of another die when the appropriate conditions are met. No Pain, No Reign can use a When Attacks ability on another target character die when he attacks. Red Slayer can use a When KO’d ability on a target character die when he’s KO’d. Both are interesting abilities that could have their own uses if you build a team around particular abilities that trigger or activate when a character attacks or is KO’d. My favorite is definitely going to be Unfinished Business. I’m such a sucker for control cards and this similar to my beloved Oracle: Master Investigator. It only taxes them on your turn, not theirs, but it makes them pay two more instead of just one more. I see him being much more useful in Golden Age than the other formats. He cost five on all versions and he’s got some crazy stats. He’s got a 0/1/1 fielding cost and his attack and defense are fantastic! I like this guy and when we do a Golden Age event, he’s replacing Oracle on my team.

Carnage is a returning character with a new design for his dice. The die image is a profile of Carnage’s head and looks to be the same image for the set logo.

Doppleganger!!! I loved Doppleganger in the comics and I’m so excited to see him in Dice Masters. All of his versions do something nasty involving Sidekicks. Living Fractal is really cool in that you can steal their Sidekick that they rolled, but the downside is that you can’t steal their Ally dice from their Reserve Pool. Ally character dice are not Sidekicks until they enter the Field Zone. That makes him a little less cool, but he’s still useful for stealing their Sidekick dude(s) on their turn. With the way this card reads – if your opponent uses Parallax’s Global to reroll an Ally that’s already in the Field, and it comes up on a character face, you can steal it. That makes him significantly better. I like Predator too, but he’s kind of situational unless you’re using Ra’s al Ghul’s Global from the Batman set. Then you can control who’s a Villain and who isn’t. My favorite is Six Arms because you can blow up all your opponent’s Ally dice and Sidekick dice just by fielding this guy, and then deal damage to your opponent as well! He only cost four to purchase, where the other two version cost five each. He also has great fielding costs and great stats too. I really like this guy and he may find himself on my Villain team.

Doppleganger has made his Dice Masters debut in this Team Pack! His die is a new design and his die image is the outline of his eyes.

Iron Fist… I know you were in Maximum Carnage, but did we need another Iron Fist so soon? I don’t particularly like any of Iron Fist’s cards in this Team Pack because they don’t fit my play style. All of his abilities have something to do with you having or spending Fist energy. Sensei is similar to Beast Boy: Animal Magnetism from War of Light with a few differences, but still fairly similar abilities. Beast Boy lets you roll Sidekicks from your Used Pile in an attempt to get Fist energy, and he also gets a defense boost. Iron Fist cost one less than Beast Boy and has better stats overall. Let the Silence Speak lets you deal damage to character die, that isn’t blocking, equal to Iron Fist’s attack for the cost of a Fist energy. You can pump his attack up to make that a lethal blow on big defensive characters. Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch lets you pay as much Fist energy as you want to deal that much damage directly to a character die, but only once during your turn. He only needs to be active for you to be able to use that ability. Out of the three Iron Fist cards, I like Let the Silence Speak the best.

Iron Fist is a returning character with the same die design as his promo card, but instead of opaque green, his dice have a shimmering green color. His die image is his face mask. The dice cannot be interchanged with previous versions.

Oh – my – goodness. Sonic Beam is my new best friend! She’s a new Dwiz – but better! She cost the same, has better stats overall, and doesn’t have to target a die! She is the answer to that pesky Raven on those Ring Teams. Raven protects dice – not cards – so Shriek can maneuver around Raven. I love this card so much right now. But what is this next card? Dark Empathy ignores all text on opposing character cards when she’s fielded!!! Wow!!! She cost one more to purchase and you need to field her to gain that benefit, but oh my Pinkie Pie! She’s a monster! And then we have Sandra Deel who stops both players from activating Globals when she attacks. I like her, but I think I’d rather use Wonder Woman: Ambassador of Peace from the Superman Wonder Woman Starter instead. Sandra Deel is still good though – because she prevents the use of lots of combat oriented Globals, like Blink-Transmutation.

This is Skriek’s Dice Masters debut! Her die is a new design and her die image is a profile of her head with her hair hanging down.

There are a few other Spider-Man cards that I would rather use than these, but I do like Better Way. He’s useful against those nasty blocker types that always seem to get in the way. Staying True is cool, but I wish he kept his ability until the start of your next turn, so he would help defend against Overcrush characters. War of the Heart is great for those teams that use a lot of Alfred Pennyworth: MI-5 dice. He pairs really well with Captain America: Squad Leader from this very Team Pack. Spider-Man has great stats overall and all his versions cost four to purchase. He’s a great character for any casual game.

Spider-Man is a returning character with the same die design as his Avengers vs X-Men and Uncanny X-Men dice, but with a different color scheme. His die image is the spider emblem from the chest of his suit. The dice cannot be interchanged with previous versions.

We’ve only seen one other four cost Venom card, so it’s great to see that all three of these cost four! Corruptor is cool, but situational. There are cards that spin dice down, but it seems like an awful lot of work for a single When Fielded ability. Lethal Protector has a controlling ability that I can get behind! You only need to give a die the Villain affiliation if it doesn’t already have it and field Venom and steal it for the turn. My favorite of Venom’s cards is My Other. His purchase cost is great for this ability and you can attack with him or Fabricate him, and then use him again later! His stats are great, but can be troublesome if you’re wanting to use his When Fielded abilities multiple times. But he does only cost four to purchase, making multiple die purchases affordable and beneficial!

Venom is a returning character with the same die design as his Civil War dice, but with a different color scheme. His die image is a side profile of his head with his tongue lashing out. The dice cannot be interchanged with previous versions.

Character Dice

You only get two of each character die in the Team Pack. If you’re wanting to put three or four dice on a particular character, you will need to buy a second Team Pack (or trade, exchange, etc.). It’s never a bad thing to have duplicates of the character cards, but I’d rather just have max dice in one purchase.

There isn’t a die in this Team Pack that I don’t like. Even the simply designed Doppleganger has a ‘cool’ look to it. My favorite dice are Spider-Man and Black Cat. I love Spider-Man for his coloring and Black Cat has the perfect die image for her character! I also like that they’re reusing some of the previous designs and stats for some of the characters instead of popping new ones out all the time. And I’m a huge fan of the new Iron Fist die color. The promo die was a plain, opaque green and this one has that really pretty shimmer-swirl green. That also helps players tell the two dice apart for competitive level events. I also love that they used (or appears they used) Carnage’s die image as the set image. And Shriek has a really pretty image on her die too and is close to being a favorite of mine as well.

Final Thoughts

Team Packs are marketed as add-ons for starters; to help boost your starter cards or even as jumping on point for a new team build with the help of some booster packs. I think WizKids has done an excellent job with this Team Pack and out of all three of the current Team Packs, this is by far the best! The Doctor Strange Team Pack was okay and the Defenders Team Pack is one that I want to forget, but this new Maximum Carnage Team Pack is a must have for any player, in my opinion.

Not every Team Pack needs a meta breaking card. If most of the Team Pack has playable cards for casual players and then one or two that might appeal to competitive players, then I feel like it’s a good product. In my opinion, this Team Pack is formatted the way that every Team Pack should be. There are affordable characters; all the characters have good stats; lots of the characters have interesting or unique abilities; there is a potential meta card (or two… or three… or more); all of the character choices are appealing and thematic in regards to the Maximum Carnage comic story; and all of the dice are pretty, amazing, or cool in some way.

This is a great Team Pack and I can’t wait to play with these cards!

What are your favorite cards?
What cards do you think will make it into Modern Age or Prime 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 especially to WizKids for allowing me access to the product for this article and my review video!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

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!

 

Round Table Show Notes – Batman Gravity Feed

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

I wanted to post the show notes here so everyone could see what we were referencing in the round table video. You can find that video, here.

 

Batman Round Table Show Notes

 

Segment One – General Stats (Aaron and North)

1. Purchase Costs
   a. Commons (40)
   (2) 11     (3) 9     (4) 10     (5) 9     (6)
   b. Uncommons (40)
   (2) 5 (3) 10     (4) 14     (5) 6     (6) 5
   c. Rares (36)
   (1) 1 (2) 2     (3) 12     (4) 8     (5) 7     (6) 4     (7) 2
   d. Super Rares (8)
   (2) 5 (3) 10     (4) 14     (5) 6     (6) 5
2. Energy Type Totals
   • Shield 10/10/8
   • Bolt 10/10/9
   • Fist 10/10/10
   • Mask 10/10/9
   • Crossover 4
   • Non-Crossover Super Rares – Two Shields, One Bolt, One Mask

3. Fielding Cost
(1) 11 (2) 6     (3) 6     (4) 10     (5) 2     (6) 1     NBA – 4
~ Catwoman and Robin have the same fielding costs of 0/0/2.

4. Character Stats
~ White Lantern Dove on level 3, she’s a 4/10, with a purchase of 4.
~ Conner Kent, cheap Team Superman character with good stats.

Segment Two – Cosmetics (Hannah)

• Art
  • Batgirl – gorgeous
  • Batwoman – gorgeous
  • Classic art is great for a few cards, like The Riddler and Ace.
  • The Penguin – super creepy in a cool creepy way.
• Foils
  • Catwoman – Diamonds
  • The Joker – Crazy Eyes
  • White Lantern Dove – gorgeous
  • Firefly – well done and very pretty
• Dice
  • White Lantern dice are a different color from previous White Lantern dice, but the Black Lanterns are all the same.
  • Cool Dice – Batwoman, Mr. Freeze, Owlman, Dove, Utility Belt

Segment Three – Abilities and Globals (Jamie and North)

• Jervis and his confusing wording.
• Batwoman (u) and Ra’s Global (c) – Kat
• Bat Signal (r) and The Riddler (r) – North
• Red Hood (c) (for Hannah) and Rip Hunter (c) – Travis
• Parademon (u) – Jamie
• Darksied (sr) – North

Segment Four – Highlights (Aaron and Jamie)

• The Flip mechanic is really fun in casual games and could be better than folks give it credit for in a more competitive setting.
• Drafting – can be difficult if your plan goes awry, but it’s still really fun.
• There are plenty of cheaper characters that have decent abilities, or just good stats, that can help existing affiliations.
• The synergy between the character abilities in set is really good, and it blends well with already existing character abilities.

Card Scans

All of these cards were ones we talked about from the Batman set. These first two scans are not mine. I borrowed them from Google.

These are my scans.

Thanks for checking out the show notes and watching our second episode of DDK’s Round Table!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Review! DC Batman Gravity Feed and Promo

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

The Batman is here! I was excited for this set because of the characters that it could potentially bring. I wanted a Batwoman card, really bad, and we have her in this set! The Batman set does not have a starter or collector’s box – only a gravity feed. Here’s my review and pull list from the new DC Batman set!

You can find a checklist for the set, here. I like printing mine so I have them handy during drafts.

Promo Card and Pack Insert

WizKids has been offering a blank sketch card with their Gravity Feeds recently. The promo for this set is Batgirl: Carrying the Mantle. I really like that they’re offering a variant incentive for large sealed product purchases. Since it’s only a variant, players that only want functional copies of cards won’t feel like they’re missing something. For collectors, this is a great incentive for them to make a larger purchase.

They chose a card that’s also the participation prize in The Animated Series OP Kit, which I thought was a little disappointing. But, it is a free ‘thank you’ incentive for buying a whole feed and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, so it’s the most minor of complaints.

I much prefer the rules insert to the WIN promotional card. You can find the insert online, here. Make sure to check the WizKids Keywords page to see the current and updated wording on Keyword Abilities. My only real issue with this particular insert is that they put Swarm on the card and not Boomerang. Swarm has already been featured outside of the D&D sets and I didn’t think it needed to be on the insert, but Boomerang definitely does!

Gravity Feed

Commons

We pulled 112 common cards; 9 of our commons were foil. We didn’t get any duplicate foil commons. I highlighted the ones we pulled foils of with red text, and the total includes the foil version.

x2     #01     Ace the Bat Hound
x2     #02     Bane
x3     #03     Bat Signal
x2     #04     Batarang
x3     #05     Batgirl
x3     #06     Batman
x4     #07     Batwoman
x4     #08     Big Barda
x3     #09     Catwoman
x3     #10     Commissioner Gordon
x3     #11     Conner Kent
x3     #12     Darkseid
x1     #13     Dove
x3     #14     Firefly
x3     #15     Harley Quinn
x3     #16     Hawk
x3     #17     Hawkgirl
x3     #18     Huntress
x3     #19     Hush
x3     #20     Jervis Tetch
x3     #21     Killer Croc
x2     #22     Mister Miracle
x3     #23     Mr. Freeze
x3     #24     Nightwing
x2     #25     Orion
x3     #26     Owlman
x3     #27     Parademon
x3     #28     Ra’s al Ghul
x3     #29     Red Hood
x2     #30     Rip Hunter
x3     #31     Robin
x3     #32     Talia al Ghul
x2     #33     The Joker
x4     #34     The Penguin
x3     #35     The Question
x2     #36     The Riddler
x2     #37     Thomas Wayne
x3     #38     Two-Face’s Coin
x3     #39     Two-Face
x3     #40     Utility Belt

Uncommons

We pulled 50 uncommon cards; 9 of our uncommons were foil. We pulled all but three of the uncommons and none of our foils were duplicates.

x2     #41     Ace the Bat Hound
x1     #42     Bane
x2     #43     Bat Signal
x0     #44     Batarang
x1     #45     Batgirl
x2     #46     Batman
x0     #47     Batwoman
x1     #48     Big Barda
x1     #49     Catwoman
x2     #50     Commissioner Gordon
x1     #51     Conner Kent
x2     #52     Darkseid
x1     #53     Dove
x1     #54     Firefly
x2     #55     Harley Quinn
x1     #56     Hawk
x2     #57     Hawkgirl
x1     #58     Huntress
x1     #59     Hush
x1     #60     Jervis Tetch
x1     #61     Killer Croc
x1     #62     Mister Miracle
x1     #63     Mr. Freeze
x1     #64     Nightwing
x1     #65     Orion
x1     #66     Owlman
x3     #67     Parademon
x1     #68     Ra’s al Ghul
x0     #69     Red Hood
x1     #70     Rip Hunter
x1     #71     Robin
x1     #72     Talia al Ghul
x1     #73     The Joker
x1     #74     The Penguin
x2     #75     The Question
x1     #76     The Riddler
x1     #77     Thomas Wayne
x2     #78     Two-Face’s Coin
x2     #79     Two-Face
x2     #80     Utility Belt

Rares and Super Rares

You won’t get all the rares in one feed, but you get a good amount of them. We pulled 16 rares and none of them were duplicates; 4 of our rares were foil. We also pulled two Super Rares, which are foil.

#84     Batarang
#87     Batwoman
#88     Big Barda
#89     Catwoman
#91     Conner Kent
#92     Dove
#95     Hawk
#96     Hawkgirl
#98     Hush
#99     Jervis Tetch
#100     Killer Croc
#102     Nightwing
#104     Parademon
#109     Talia al Ghul
#113     Thomas Wayne
#116     Utility Belt

#120     The Joker (Super Rare)
#124     White Lantern Superman (Super Rare)

New Ability Keywords

Boomerang – Action dice with boomerang are re-rolled after they’re used. If they reveal an action face, add them to your Prep Area.

I really like this ability. You have a fifty-fifty chance at getting to add that action you just used to your Prep Area to roll next turn! There is a huge opportunity for this ability to do some pretty cool stuff with other abilities like Back for More from the Deadpool set. It just depends on what Back for More ability you use.

Common Ground – When a character with Common Ground attacks with at least one Villain character die, you get to use their Common Ground ability.

So I think this particular mechanic is going to be a lot of fun in casual settings. I don’t think there will be a huge showing in the competitive metas, but I like how Common Ground works and seems like it might be a lot of fun to use with the Flip cards like the common Catwoman and rare Nightwing.

Flip – Character cards with Flip have two different faces, with different affiliations and abilities. All dice in all zones are represented by the face up side of the card, regardless of which face the card was on when the die was fielded or purchased. At the beginning of each of your turns, you may flip any card with the flip keyword to its other face. There also may be game effects that direct you to flip cards. Only cards with two faces may be flipped.

I think this particular mechanic has huge, and I mean HUGE, potential. We have a good spread of it here in its debut set with lots of casual level cards, but the potential that some of these Flip cards have is so awesome. There are definitely some Flip cards that should be carefully considered for meta teams. I’m excited to see how folks build with them and build around them too!

Gadgeteer – When a character die with Gadgeteer attacks, you may roll an action die with a Continuous effect in your Used Pile. If you roll an action face, you may move it into your Field Zone.

So, I really like Boomerang, but Gadgeteer is super amazing! I would love to be able to get a Cold Gun back into my Field Zone instead of having it cycle through my bag. I think this is a really useful ability and I love that WizKids did two different abilities for Continuous and non-Continuous Actions.

Stun Token – Certain characters let you place Stun tokens on cards. While a card has a Stun Token on it, its dice cannot attack or block. The owner of the card with a Stun Token on it may pay two generic energy at any time they could use a Global Ability to destroy the token.

Now this is super cool and super thematic for Mr. Freeze and he should have had this ability a long time ago! It won’t remove text, but it could compliment the rare Cold Gun on a team. You could Cold Gun a character with troublesome text and put the Stun Token on the character that needs to attack or block to activate their ability. I love control cards and the Stun Token is a new mechanic I will totally be testing with.

Returning Keywords

Ally
Continuous
Fast
Intimidate
Regenerate
Suit Up (Not currently listed in TRP’s Lexicon.)
Swarm

New Affiliations

There are several returning affiliations like Villains, Batman Family, etc, but this is a brand new affiliation!

New Gods

Favorites

Here are several of my favorite cards from my Gravity Feed. Be sure to check out my Gravity Feed Unboxing video to see all of our pulls! Sorry about that video being backwards though… We didn’t realize that flipping the camera view on the phone would literally flip the image.

Firefly: Ted Carson (left) – It’s no secret that I like using direct damage (Nova and Colossus rares from AvX) to KO my opponent, so Firefly is definitely high up on my list. There are plenty of good, cheap Bolt type characters over all of the sets to make this card a star on a variety of teams. There are also lots of Bolt characters in this set that would make this particular card a really good draft pick. His purchase cost is only three, meaning you could easily buy him on your first turn. You just need to be sure you grab enough of those other Bolt dudes!

Huntress: No Rest for the Wicked (center) – Here’s another direct damage type card, but I chose this one as a favorite because she deals her damage to a character instead. I really like that she only cost one energy to field on her level two and level three sides. I think she would go well on a draft team with Firefly since she’s a Bolt character and she only cost three to purchase!

Orion: God of War (right) – So this guy – he doesn’t really go away. There aren’t many cards that remove characters without KO’ing them, but there are a few. This dude has got some pretty awesome stats and a decent ability for his purchase cost. I’m not sure how good he’d be in draft, but a casual team would show him the love he deserves! I already have a New Gods team that I’m cooking and this is one of my picks for that team.

Red Hood: Jason Todd (left) – Wow… this is familiar… where have I seen this before? Oh – Guy Gardner! But what’s this? He doesn’t have to attack each turn! Sure, he costs one more… but that’s just one more and he has better stats on level two and three. This is definitely one to watch for in a draft and also in the Modern Age and Prime metas.

Two-Face: Two Sides of the Same Coin (center, side a; right, side b) – My locals know how much I love my WF Two-Face, but this one actually gives him a run for his money. With Fast showing up on more cards and possibly becoming more popular, Two-Face’s Side A is really good. It even says ‘opposing’ and it’s not limited to an affiliation or lack of one! But if you’re against a team that’s not using Fast or Regenerate, no big deal! You just flip him over to Side B and he has Fast AND Regenerate! Crazy! Something else that’s crazy is that he’s a Bat-Family affiliated character on one side and a Villain on the other. This is such a fun looking card and I really want to try him out. He has the same dice stats as the WF Two-Face and also cost five to purchase, but that’s okay with me! He may get picked up really quick in a draft too – so be on the lookout for him. If you don’t get him, someone might use him against you!

Utility Belt (left, side a; center, side b) – Here’s another Flip card, but this time it’s a non-basic action card. The Utility Belt has to start the game with Side B down, but when you activate the ability on any burst face, you can flip it from Side A to Side B. It’s a Continuous action on both sides too, so if you don’t have a legal target when you roll it, you can field it and activate it later. I like the Utility Belt for it’s… utility. It’s a great way to boost your Bat-Family character’s stats and it only cost three energy to purchase. For a Continuous stat booster, I think that’s more than fair! You do need to send it to the Used Pile in order to activate it, but that’s why you should think about some Gadgeteer dudes.

Hawk: Might Makes Right (right) – I love this Hawk. Imagine a team with him, Dove, and Fabricate. You can increase Hawk’s attack stat and then Fabricate Dove for a little extra damage. Not that he really needs a stat boost. He’s an attack beast on level two and three. He’s still manageable for someone looking across the table at him, because his defense is only a 2/2/4. A Cold Gun can handle him on two sides, and then a Cold Gun plus a blast from an Unstable Canister Global. He’s not overpowered, but he is really awesome! He’s absolutely my kind of card!

Parademon: Strength in Numbers (left) – If I didn’t throw this guy in my favorites, then what kind of Swarm lover would I be? This is by far, my favorite Swarm character! I can use a whole team of Swarm dudes and just deal damage to my opponent when I draw a Multiple Man, Parademon, Mindless One, and whatever I can find with Swarm from FUS that’s still Modern Age. Those all have to be Swarm triggered draws, so I need at least one of each in the Field to get the full benefit of this ability. Like most other Swarm dudes, their defense isn’t the best. This poor Parademon only has a 1/2/2, but regardless, I still love him! It’s what’s on the inside that counts!

Ra’s al Ghul: Fighting Death Himself (center) – Ra’s has a pretty good ability, but I like him mainly for his Global. He shuts down those nasty Villain teams by removing what brings harmony to their strategy – their affiliation! This is the first affiliation removing Global and I love it! If Villains are an issue in your meta, throw this guy on your team! His ability works fairly well with his Global and like I mentioned before – it’s pretty good. I like control pieces, but I don’t like paying six energy for them. But he does have some fairly beefy stats too, making that purchase cost more justifiable.

Rip Hunter: Through the Vanishing Point (right) – Oh my Pinkie Pie. What’s happened here!?!!? This guy is ridiculous! He guarantees you the chance at that game winning piece and not just once, but every single time you draw it! No more botched rolls for that die, so long as Rip Hunter is in the Field. This card is absolutely ridiculous, especially for his stats and purchase cost too. It takes some effort to get rid of him and I expect that this dude is possibly going to see some major meta play. Control players like me will most definitely be looking into this guy.

Dove: The Light of Order (left) – We saw Hawk earlier, so here’s Dove! I absolutely love this Dove. All of her versions cost four so there isn’t a cheaper one that’s better to pair with the uncommon Hawk. This one helps a lot while you’re building up to buying Hawk. When your opponent attacks, they are attacking into an eight defense character. If you take damage from any source, you get to spin all of your Dove dice to level three. You can very easily have a wall of level three Doves by the time you’re able to purchase Hawk. I can’t wait to try this team out! It just seems like loads of fun!

Nightwing: Protector of Blüdhaven (center, side a; right, side b) – This Nightwing is just too good. It’s easy to put an Alfred in the Field so Nightwing can attack, and his stats are really good for a two cost character. While drafting, a common Catwoman is a must have for this particular card. She makes it that much easier to attack with Nightwing on either side. You could get a lot of damage in very early in the game. If you’re drafting and you see this dude – don’t pass him up!

Final Thoughts

With the lingering disappointment of the Defenders Team Pack, I really needed this set to be super awesome amazing fantastic, in order to bring my spirits up. WizKids did not let me down at all! I think it more than makes up for it. I can’t wait to start integrating these cards and begin my prep for Origins. I won’t be playing in Nationals, but I was thinking about playing in the World’s Qualifiers, just for fun. Using newer cards that haven’t been fully tested in a competitive meta is always fun!

This set looks like it will be so much fun to draft! I had loads of fun drafting Deadpool, even though many folks outside of our local meta don’t care for it. But Batman looks to be even more fun and super exciting! There are plenty of low cost characters as well as characters with decent or really good abilities that will make that first pick really difficult.

The foils in this set are absolutely gorgeous! Of the foils I’ve seen so far, the Joker is my favorite. He’s got some cool, crazy eyes! I can’t wait to get more of this set and I’m excited for the upcoming foil hunt for this set.

What are some of your favorite cards in the set?
How do you think the meta will shift, if at all?
What cards are you excited to try in a casual setting?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Roll on, Dice Masters!