Confusing Card of the Week #104 – Casey Jones: Lunatic Vigilante

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Casey Jones: Lunatic Vigilante from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box set.

Ruling – Ability

Casey Jones has an ability that says he cannot be blocked by Sidekicks or Villain character dice. This ability works only when Casey Jones is attacking and it applies to each of his attacking character dice.

A die can be given the Villain affiliation through a card effect, and that would make that die unable to block. This will only work if the die is given the Villain affiliation during the Main Step, before Casey Jones attacks. If a character die is given the Villain affiliation after they are assigned as a blocker, it will have no effect on that die being able to block.

Character dice with the Ally Keyword cannot block Casey Jones because they are considered to be Sidekicks while in the Field Zone.

Villain Affiliation

The Villain affiliation has two different affiliation icons. One is a red Hydra logo, commonly found in Marvel sets. The other is a stylized V, commonly found in DC sets and the TMNT sets. There have been Marvel sets that featured the V on their Villain cards.

   

Both of these symbols have the exact same meaning and are interchangeable. If a card has the V in the text box, like Casey Jones, it applies to characters with the Hydra logo as well.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Casey Jones is a Fist type character card.
~ He does not have an affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #12 of 58.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There isn’t a ruling for this specific card, but you can find the cross-IP terminology, here.

Basic Information

You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

I like characters that can’t be blocked because it puts pressure on your opponent to find a way to stay alive long enough to get their team to go off. I like Casey Jones because he’s a cheaper character with a good ability, and his stats aren’t terrible. I like using him and characters like him as a back up, in case my original plan goes wrong or doesn’t work. He tends to scare some folks when they’re using mostly Villains and Sidekicks/Allies. There are also Globals that can make a character die into a Villain so they can’t block. He’s best paired with a Global like the one on Lantern Power Ring: Energy Projection in Golden Age. For Modern Age, you have to use the Monument to Evil: Basic Action Card, because it’s the only card with a Global that grants the Villain affiliation. It works, but not as well because it requires a Mask and Fist energy where all the other Villain making Globals require one energy.

He seems fun to pair with Batwoman: Code of Honor. You make him a Villain and both of them are practically unblockable while attacking together. It’s a combo I’ve been thinking about and I hope to put it into action soon to see if it works well enough in a casual setting.

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

Need to look up a card? Be sure to check out DM RetroBox! It’s the best searchable card database I’ve found for when I’m at the computer.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #102 – Colossus: Armored Up

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

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

Ruling – Ability

Colossus has a When Attacks ability. This type of ability will trigger only when the character’s die is assigned as an attacker and will also trigger from each of that character’s attacking dice. For example: I attack with two Colossus dice. Each die trigger’s the When Attacks ability.

Colossus’s ability says that when his die attacks, any character that would be assigned to block, must first take two damage.

This ability has a very odd timing window in regards to how the Attack Step works. In the Attack Step, you assign your attackers first and after each attacker has been assigned, any When Attacks abilities will trigger. This is where Colossus’s ability will trigger. However, the damage will not be dealt at this time.

After assigning attackers, blockers are assigned. Because of Colossus’s ability, before a character die can be assigned to block, it must first take two damage. The defending player will choose a character die that they want to assign as a blocker, but before assigning that die, it’s dealt two damage. If the die survives the two damage, the defending player can then assign it to an attacking character die as a blocker.

Damage accumulates on character dice and when they have accumulated damage equal to or greater than their defense, the die is KO’d. Damage does not reduce the character die’s defense value.

Colossus’s ability does not target and it does not deal damage to all dice in the Field Zone. It only affects a die that would be assigned as a blocker – not dice that could be assigned as blockers.

Colossus’s ability is not optional. It automatically triggers when he attacks and will automatically affect any die that would later be assigned as a blocker.

Colossus’s damage will happen before the blocker can be assigned. When Blocks abilities will not trigger until the character that’s being assigned to block has survived the damage from Colossus and is then assigned as a blocker.

Character dice that are being assigned as blockers do not need to block Colossus specifically. His ability says it affects any character die that would be assigned to block – meaning his ability would affect a die that is being assigned to block any attacking character die.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Colossus is a Fist type character card.
~ He has the X-Men affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Rare and is #89 of 124.

Examples

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

Example One:
Attacking with two Colossus dice.

Game State
~ I have two level one Colossus dice (5A/5D) in the Field Zone.
~ My opponent has a Sidekick and a level two character with 1A/6D in the Field Zone.
~ I am entering into my Attack Step.
(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ I assign my two Colossus dice to attack, moving them into the Attack Zone.
~ Colossus’ When Attacks ability is triggered. Damage is not done to any dice yet.
(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ My opponent chooses to block with their Sidekick and their other character die, but before they can be assigned as blockers, they must each take two damage from each Colossus die.
~ The Sidekick takes four damage and is KO’d. My opponent places the die in their Prep Area.
~ Their other character die (1A/6D) will also take four damage, two from each Colossus die. Their character is not KO’d and can now be assigned as a blocker.
~ My opponent assigns their remaining character to block one of my Colossus dice. They move their blocker to the Attack Zone and place it in front of the attacking Colossus they want to block.
(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ My blocked Colossus die will assign five damage to the character die blocking it. That character has previously accumulated four damage and it will be KO’d.
~ The blocking character assigns one damage to the Colossus it’s blocking. This is not enough to KO my Colossus die.
~ My unblocked Colossus die will deal five damage to my opponent’s life total and then move Out of Play.
(Clean Up)
~ Character dice that were KO’d by combat damage during the Attack Step are now placed in the Prep Area. My opponent’s blocker will be moved to their Prep Area.
~ Characters blocked, but not KO’d are removed from the Attack Zone, but stay in the Field Zone. The Attack Zone is part of the Field Zone, but only attacking and blocking characters can be in the Attack Zone. My Colossus die will be removed from the Attack Zone and placed back into the area labeled as the Field Zone.
~ All effects end unless otherwise specified (like a While Active or ‘End of Turn’ ability).
~ All damage is cleared.
~ End of turn abilities will resolve.
~ My turn is now over and my opponent’s turn will begin.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
WORF doesn’t have an official ruling on this card yet.

Basic Information

You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

Mr. DDK brought this card up to me in a conversation a week or so ago. I thought is was a very interesting card and I realized just how weird and confusing his ability could be. While I like this ability, it could be a problem against certain characters that have abilities that trigger from them being damaged, like Babs, Hulk, or cards with the Vengeance Keyword. This is definitely not my type of card, but Mr. DDK thought it was kinda neat. It practically shuts down the Sidekick blocker walls.

I don’t think this card has a place in the major metas, mainly because of his cost, but also largely because his ability could backfire on you if your opponent has a card like Babs (which is very popular!). I would love to see someone come up with an interesting use for this card and if you do or you already have, please feel free to share!

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

Need to look up a card? Be sure to check out DM RetroBox! It’s the best searchable card database I’ve found for when I’m at the computer.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #83 – Ranx: Malevolent Metropolis

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Ranx: Malevolent Metropolis  from the DC War of Light set. This randomly selected card is brought to you by DM Retrobox.

Before we get into the game related part of this week’s article, I want to briefly talk about who Ranx is. I’m not that familiar with the DC Universe – or more specifically the Lantern part of it. I had no idea who Ranx was, so I went to Wikipedia for some answers. In short, Ranx is a sentient city that is often viewed as a villain of sorts. It is classified as a planetoid and has many unique abilities, including powers granted to it by the yellow power ring. I found this character to be interesting and if not for Dice Masters, I probably wouldn’t have known Ranx existed.

Ruling – Ability

Ranx has an ability that can be used during the Assign Blockers part of the Attack Step. Due to the nature of the ability, you may only use the ability if the character is active.

Ranx may block any number of Bolt type character dice that are attacking you. Those characters must be assigned as attackers in order for Ranx to block them. If you choose to use Ranx’s ability to block multiple Bolt characters, you may not block a character that isn’t a Bolt character. Characters with abilities like the one on Ranx may choose to block normally or may use their special blocking ability, but not both.

You may choose to use the ability or choose not to use it for each individual Ranx die that can block.

Standard Sidekick dice are not considered to be any energy type and would not be eligible for Ranx’s ability if you choose to use it. An Ally that is a Bolt type would be eligible.

A Crossover character that has a Bolt in its energy type is considered a Bolt character.

When a character is blocking more than one attacker, you do not get to deal your blocker’s full amount of damage to each blocked character. You can choose to assign all of it to one attacker or divide it among any number of blocked attackers.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Ranx is a Shield type character card.
~ It has the Villain and Sinestro Corps affiliations.
~ It has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #96 of 142.

Examples

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

Example One:
Using multiple Ranx dice.

~ I have two level three Ranx dice (4/8) in the Field Zone. My opponent has five Bolt characters, a Mask character, and two Sidekick dice in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent attacks with all five Bolt characters, the one Mask character, and the two Sidekick dice. My opponent moves all the attackers into the Attack Zone to show that they are attacking.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign one Ranx die to block all five Bolt characters, moving it into the Attack Zone in front of the five Bolt characters. I assign the second Ranx die to block the Mask character, moving it into the Attack Zone in front of the Mask character. The Sidekicks are unblocked.

Example Two:
Assigning damage while blocking two or more characters.

~ I have one level three Ranx die (4/8) in the Field Zone. My opponent has two Hal Jordan dice (level one 3/2 and level two 4/3) and one Sidekick die (1/1) in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent attacks with both Hal Jordan dice and the Sidekick die, moving them into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign my Ranx die to block both Hal Jordan dice, moving it into the Attack Zone in front of the Hal Jordan dice. The Sidekick is unblocked.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) Ranx assigns three of its four damage to the level two Hal Jordan die and the last point of damage to the level one Hal Jordan die. This is enough to KO the level two Hal Jordan, but not the level one Hal Jordan. The two Hal Jordan dice assign their combined total of seven damage to Ranx, which is not enough to KO Ranx. The Sidekick die assigns and resolves its one damage to my life total and is then placed Out of Play.
~ (Clean Up) The KO’d Hal Jordan die is placed in the Prep Area. The characters that are not KO’d are moved out of the Attack Zone, back into the Field Zone. All effects end. Dice that are Out of Play are moved into the Used Pile.

Official Sources

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

You can find a ruling about a similar ability, here.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Ratings

I am temporarily removing my ratings from the Confusing Card of the Week articles. I plan to redo my ratings system and improve it!

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

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

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Review! Annual Marvel Starter – Iron Man and War Machine

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

WizKids has decided to make starters an annual release instead of releasing them with each gravity feed (I can’t tell you how happy my wallet is right now!). I feel like this is a really good move on their part because it makes it easier to format a rotation and also makes it easier and more affordable for new players to enter into the game. To my understanding, Marvel and DC will each have an annual starter release.

You can find my review video on YouTube, here.

Starter Box

Box Contents

~ Iron Man and War Machine 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 Reminder Card

Rulebook

Standard rulebook, but it does not detail the first turn rule change. WizKids had already announced that the earliest rulebook to detail that change would be the DC Superman/Wonder Woman starter rulebook.

Rules Reminder Card

The rules reminder card is a great quick reference tool for all the affiliations and keywords in the set.

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

Keywords

There are several returning keywords in this set, as well as a new one.

Returning Keywords:
Ally
Continuous
Fast
Iron Will
Overcrush

New Keywords:

Suit Up – NAME
Suit Up is a new keyword ability in this starter. Each character with Suit Up has the name of another character or characters directly after it. When you purchase a character die with Suit Up, you may KO the named die in order to field the Suit Up die at level two.

Suit Up can only happen when you purchase the Suit Up character die. It replaces the location of where the purchased die will go. If you purchase the die and place it into your Used Pile and continue with your turn, you will not be able to back up to use Suit Up.

I really like Suit Up because it lets you field that character die at level two, even though you have to KO another (specific) character to do it. This ability can be particularly useful with characters that have a When Fielded or When KO’d ability, like Pepper Potts: Stark International for Rescue’s Suit Up.

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

New!
Stark Industries

Returning

Avengers
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Spider-Friends

Characters

So… I like all three of Howard Stark’s cards. I can think of several teams that each one could find a home on. Brilliant is definitely going to find a home on my casual version of Hugs that I played at the WKO. I can easily take La Jinn off the casual team build and put Howard Stark in his place. I guess Iron Will is a good benefit too, I just haven’t seen it used much. I love Expert Businessman for any of my Overcrush teams (and I have several). Father is great for any Sidekick/Ally based team because he can’t be the target of Globals on his burst side. They’re all fairly good in their own way and I’m sure folks can find at least one of these that they like. I want to throw a reminder out there for sacrifice – A sacrificed character will go to the Used Pile and not the Prep Area. I’m sure folks can find a way to use this to their advantage, but it’s something to keep in mind when playing Brilliant or Expert Businessman. They also require that you do it at the start of you turn, which is a specific timing and reduces the amount of shenanigans, but they’re still really good cards. Howard Stark could also find a place on a S.H.I.E.L.D. team. His costs are low and he’s a Mask character too. There are plenty of uses for Mask energy, even in Prime.

Rocket Powered Punches is really the only one of the Hulkbuster Iron Man cards that I like. I’m sure there are plenty of folks that like Model 36 for his ability to barrel through those cost six or higher characters, and Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good’s ability to gain life from KO’ing a six or higher cost character die, but those are not my style. I prefer to Suit Up a cheap Iron Man into Rocket Powered Punches. It could really throw off your opponent’s game if they aren’t expecting it! I don’t think these cards are going to see much play in unlimited, but depending on the pilot, we might see some make an appearance into Prime.

Celestial Slayer is definitely my favorite of the three because it’s got the ability and Global of the other two versions in one card, but it rightfully cost one more to purchase. If you like just the ability or just the Global, you could get one of the other two for one less on the purchase cost. To use the Global, you don’t really need to purchase the die, so what would hurt to use Celestial Slayer instead of Earth X? I love cost reducers of all kinds, and the fielding cost on some of the Stark Industries dudes are kinda high. Spinning one dude down to decrease that fielding cost could be the difference between some wasted energy and being able to buy a cheaper dude. One energy can make a difference. I’m a little excited for future Marvel sets to see what new Stark Industries characters we get! You could definitely build a solid, casual Stark Industries team just form this starter, but the prospect of improvements is always exciting.

I like Version 2.0 because he’s a cheap Stark Industries character. Waldoes is too, but I’m not sure his Suit Up is all that useful. Spider-Man: “Public Menace!” is the only Spider-Man I can think of to use with Iron Spider: Waldoes. You could always use Iron Spider for itself. I’m not sure I like Waldoes at all. Hopefully we’ll end up with a better Spider-Man in the future that we could pair with him. For a Stark Industries team, I’d much rather use Version 2.0 though. Too Cool For Words, not Iceman, looks fun but he may be a little harder to maneuver as a four cost on a Stark Industries team. If there were other two or three cost Stark Industries characters, other than Rescue, I would definitely consider Too Cool For Words instead of Version 2.0. All of these Stark Industries characters make me excited to try this theme team out! Worth noting, Iron Spider is the name of this card, but the one in the Amazing Spider-Man set is Iron Spidey. That means you could use both, but Iron Spidey will not work for Suit Up.

Oh my! An Avengers Ally!!! This could be rather useful. I really like all of Jarvis’s cards, but Chief of Staff is probably my favorite, even with a purchase cost of five. I think he needed to be expensive though, because it’s not too hard to field a bunch of zero-low fielding cost characters and then drag the game out because you just gained a bazillion life. I’m glad his purchase cost is five, and it doesn’t mean he isn’t viable in certain formats, just that he’s got the right cost for his ability. I really like that Butler has that Global that we saw on Iron Manor, but if you’re using Jarvis with Avengers, it’s not going to be all that useful. I guess that’s why he has that direct damage ability on him that does ability damage to a character die equal to the number of character dice you fielded that turn – and it counts Jarvis, so you’re doing at least one damage. I think I like Loyal Confidant and Chief of Staff equally. It just depends on the team, really.

Mark 1616 is perfect if you need a cheap Stark Industries character, but she only has a max dice of two. Resilient and Catching a Jet are both awesome for using their Suit Up abilities with their other card abilities. You purchase a Rescue, KO a Rescue in the Field Zone (sending it to the Prep Area), and then field the purchased Rescue at level two. Next turn, I get to roll that Rescue that I just KO’d and hopefully get to use her other ability. I really like Resilient more than Catching a Jet, but they each have their place. I would likely use Resilient on Stark Industries team, or almost any Prime team. Her ability works whether she’s active or not… How good is that?! It’s similar to Rescue: Stark’s Equal from the Civil War set, just hurting and not healing. Too bad you can’t use both on one team.

Model 5 is a cheaper Suit Up character with the Stark Industries affiliation. No other frills, just Suit Up. He’s okay, but I like Deep Space and #14-C much more! I can’t decide which one I like better. I guess Deep Space would be my pick if I didn’t want to add a six cost character to my team, and he’s got some potential for life gain. #14-C has that possible KO avoidance and Overcrush on two sides.Such tough decisions with Space Armor Iron Man!!! I like two too many!

And yet another dilemma. I like all three of War Machine’s cards. I like Model II because he’s the cheapest and has Fast. I like “Rhodey” because he also has Fast, he has the additional ability to do direct damage to my opponent if he KO’s a character with combat damage, and he only costs one more to purchase. There are plenty of ways to boost an attack stat in Dice Masters, making this guy pretty good. I’d likely pick him over Model II, unless I just couldn’t put a four cost character on my team… But honestly – I usually have room for four cost characters. I also really like JRXL-1000, and not for his Suit Up. He’s Fast, and Sidekicks can’t block his level one side. You can always boost that attack stat to do more damage, and he only costs four to purchase.

Character Thoughts

I like lots of these characters, especially for a more casual setting. I think these are great characters for a new player to start with and build off of. There are lots of fun gimmicks and different types of abilities that make the game interesting. I think any player could enjoy building and using a Stark Industries team for any fun local event.

On the more competitive end, I think one or two characters might squeak into the unlimited and Prime formats, but overall, not many are going to find a place in the most competitive metas at this time.

I would still recommend purchasing at least one of these starters for some fun characters to build teams with. For a new player, I definitely recommend the starter for the characters, or even two starters for the max dice.

Basic Action Cards

This starter has some really interesting Basic Action Cards that are new to the starter, and it has some revamps of older Basic Actions Cards. If the characters weren’t enough to prove this starter is worth buying, hopefully these Actions will!

I’m not a fan of this card. Suit Up is too new and there are only ten cards with the keyword. I guess if you were playing in a semi-limited type format where players were supposed to use Iron Man and War Machine cards, then I could see someone possibly using it. This card is likely not going to be in the unlimited major meta or even Prime, unless Rescue finds a place, which I doubt too. One thing that I do like about this card is that it causes loss of life and not damage. That’s typically a big deal because you can’t effectively redirect or avoid it. Life loss is a mechanic you would need life gain to overcome.

Cone of Cold from Battle for Faerûn has been revamped! It needed it too. They updated the wording and for those that didn’t want Dungeons and Dragons Dice Masters, they now have access to this BAC. It’s a great way to spread the damage around, but if your opponent only has one character die and you have two, your dice are getting blasted too – unless that’s what you want. I like that both Cone of Cold cards say that you can’t use that action if there aren’t at least three character dice in the Field Zone. I like that Global for teams that use a force block ability as well. Overall, I like this card for both the Action and the Global. The revamping of the wording makes it much easier for newer players to understand.

Wow! What?! This card is so crazy. This Action Die hangs out in the Field Zone and slowly depletes each player’s life if they don’t attack. Hypervelocity causes loss of life and not damage, which is a great way to get damage across with minimal resistance. You have to keep an aggressive streak or you’ll start to lose life as well! It looks like action removal is going to be a major addition to many teams, because unless this is on one of the two burst sides, it’s not leaving! There isn’t a ton of action hate in Prime – if any… so watch out for this in Prime. Folks may be adding some life gain cards to their team to help balance that loss of life.

Here is yet another great direct damage card. This card is ability damage and not loss of life, so any abilities to reduce, alter, redirect, etc are viable for folks to use against this ability. I still really like this card for some of the Prime Storm: Extra Lightning teams floating around. It’s not a huge deal if your opponent doesn’t field many characters because it’s still going to do a minimum of two damage. It’s a little expensive to purchase against a team that doesn’t look like it’s going to be putting dudes in the Field Zone though.

Here we have a revamp of Smash! from AvX. They have updated the wording on this card as well. I love seeing these older BACs being revamped. This makes them available for Prime, and also more easily accessible for new players. I’m not big on using Smash! for the action, but the Global is great against Overcrush. If Turtle Van isn’t your style, you can always go for Smash! if Overcrush is a problem you’re running into.

This is a revamp of Surprise Attack from Age of Ultron. This is another card with updated wording that definitely reads better than it’s AoU version. I haven’t used this card a lot in the past (if at all…), and I guess this is an okay BAC, but there are definitely better ones out there. I’m still not a fan of this particular card, but even so, glad they revamped it for newer players!

Upgrade BACs

The last four BACs in the starter are all called Upgrades and each have a specialization. They all cost two energy and they each have a risk/reward for using them on specific energy type characters. I like this idea a lot and I can’t wait to try some of these on some Prime teams! These also make for great limited additions when you can’t decide what to use and you don’t want to bring Power Bolt because your opponent may want to buy it too. I also really like that they called them all Upgrade – Specialization. That leaves room for them to make different BACs that have a name like Smokescreen that’s different from Upgrade – Smokescreen.

Upgrade – Fortification
The name sounds stout and sturdy, like a character with Iron Will. When you use this action, your character will gain Iron Will. The risk to doing this is that you will lose two life if that character is not a Shield energy type. It’s a risk vs reward type of card, so if you want your Gorilla Grodd to have Iron Will, it’ll cost you two life. And since it’s loss of life, you can’t get around it as easily without life gain. I like this Upgrade because you don’t typically see Iron Will on any team. There are several characters with Iron Will, but they just aren’t worth playing in a competitive meta. I think this Basic Action may make Iron Will a more usable keyword.

Upgrade – Proton Cannon
Wow, that sounds like it could shoot thru anything, like a character with Overcrush. This Upgrade will give one of your characters Overcrush, but if they aren’t a Fist type character, they get KO’d at the end of the turn. This is another risk vs reward, but for certain teams, that risk may actually be the reward. I think Lady Bullseye: Attack on Two Fronts just got a a Proton Cannon attached to her.

Upgrade – Smokescreen
This Upgrade sounds like something a ninja would use to sneak away or sneak around a bunch of folks. When you use Smokescreen on a character die, that die gets +1A. If it’s a Mask type character die, it can’t be blocked. So there isn’t a risk on this Upgrade because you get the +1A no matter what. You benefit more if it’s a Mask type character die that you use it on. I can think of a few Mask type characters that would great to pair this with.

Upgrade – Unibeam
And lastly, the Unibeam. It sounds like something a character would use on a more focused attack, maybe to take someone out before they had a chance to do anything to them. When you use Unibeam on a character die, it gets +2A – not too shabby for a two cost action. But if that character die is a Bolt type, it gains the Fast keyword. That sounds about right for a Unibeam! So like Smokescreen, no real risk, just an even better reward for using it with a Bolt type character die.

BAC Overview

There are quite a few new BACs that I really like, mainly the Upgrades, but a few others too. I like the assortment of abilities on the BACs, and I’m really digging the increased use of loss of life instead of just throwing damage in there. With the increase in abilities that use loss of life or paying life mechanics, we might actually see an increase in the use of cards that have life gain. Hypervelocity is definitely my favorite of all the Basic Action Cards and I can’t wait to start building around it!

Action Reminder Cards

There’s nothing super special about the reminder cards. They’re Cyan, Orange, Pink, and Gray.

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 pretty 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.

Final Thoughts

The only negative thing I have to discuss about the starter is the number of character dice. I’m not sure if WizKids is entertaining other options or not, but I would like to see this changed in the future. I would be okay with certain characters only having a max dice of two while most of them have a max dice of four, and then changing the packaging to accommodate the extra dice. The TMNT characters have a max dice of three… but a box big enough to hold more than four of each. I’d pay five more dollars just to get max dice with my characters. If Mr. DDK and I both want to use Howard Stark with max dice, we will have to buy four starters… Maybe releasing the starters in the big box format, like the TMNT boxes, would be a solution to the max dice issue because they would have plenty of room for the dice. They could keep a lot of the characters as a max dice of four, and reduce some of the more expensive characters to max of two and put the max dice for each character in the box. I have never found a moment that I wished I had three Splinter, Shredder, or Krang dice… they could have easily been a max of two to allow for a fourth die on the cheaper dudes, like the Foot Ninjas. Maybe this is something WizKids can look into doing? I’d rather buy two big box releases, like TMNT, than four starters to accommodate two players.

I really do like the starter contents though. I like how fun and easy the characters are to use and understand. I love the new and revamped BACs. I really hope they continue to make different ‘Upgrade’ styled cards for BACs. Those fit very thematically in the starter and all of them have fun and interesting abilities, especially for a draft team! I love the idea of a Stark Industries themed team and can’t wait to build it and play it – after I buy a second starter for the additional dice I need. I like the Suit Up ability too, but I hope they continue it and add more of the needed characters with abilities that will have better synergy. It’s still a fun and unique ability to play around with and I plan to use Rescue and her Suit Up in my Stark Industries team.

This is a great starting place for a new player. You can add a Team Pack to the starter and roll with it!

What are your favorite cards?
What cards do you think will make it into the unlimited 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.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Confusing Card of the Week #74 – Turtle Van: Basic Action Card

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at the Turtle Van: Basic Action Card from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box set. This is in celebration of the release of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half-Shell box set that’s due out tomorrow!

Ruling – Ability

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

Continuous is a keyword found on Action cards. When you use the action die, it is placed in the Field Zone and will remain in the Field Zone until the ability is activated or triggered. Activating or triggering the ability is not considered ‘using’ the die. Using the die is when you move it from your Reserve Pool into the Field Zone. It can remain in the Field Zone after your turn.

Turtle Van’s ability says that you can send Turtle Van to your Used Pile and prevent all damage to a target blocking character. This ability targets a single character die when you activate it. You may target one of your character dice or one of your opponent’s character dice. When activated, the target blocking character die will take no damage from the character it’s blocking. It will also be protected from any Globals or abilities that would damage it after the activation of Turtle Van.

There is a specific timing window for when you can activate Turtle Van. You can only activate the ability on a Turtle Van die after blockers have been assigned, during the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step. If you’re the active player, you will have priority to use Actions and Globals. If you’re not the active player, you will have to wait until your opponent passes you priority before you can activate Turtle Van. That means your character can still take ability damage before you’re passed priority and able to activate Turtle Van.

When you activate Turtle Van, it will go directly to the Used Pile, as per the card text.

Turtle Van has a special interaction with Overcrush. Overcrush will only work if all of the attacking character die’s blockers have been KO’d or removed by an effect. If the blocker is still present, but the damage to the blocker is prevented by an ability like Turtle Van, Overcrush will not work.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Turtle Van is a Basic Action with no energy type.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #58 of 58.

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

Examples

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

Example One:
Using Turtle Van on your turn.

~ I have one Turtle Van die and a level three Gorilla Grodd: Force of Mind die in the Field Zone. My opponent has a Sidekick die in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my Gorilla Grodd as an attacker, moving him into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns their Sidekick to block my Grodd, moving it into the Attack Zone in front of my Grodd die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I activate my Turtle Van, targeting my opponent’s Sidekick die and placing my Turtle Van into the Used Pile. The Sidekick will take no damage for the rest of the turn. I don’t activate/use any other Actions or Globals, and my opponent doesn’t use any Globals.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My Grodd’s seven damage is assigned to the Sidekick, but the Sidekick will take no damage. The Sidekick assigns its one damage to Grodd, but it’s not enough to KO him.
~ (Clean Up Step) Both character dice are returned to the Field Zone. All effects end and all dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile.

Example Two:
Turtle Van interaction with Overcrush, on your opponent’s turn.

~ I have one Turtle Van die and two Sidekick dice in the Field Zone. My opponent has a level three Gorilla Grodd die in the Field Zone. My opponent has one Bolt energy in the Reserve Pool and has Magic Missile: Basic Action Card.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent assigns Gorilla Grodd as an attacker, moving him into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign both of my Sidekick dice to block Grodd, moving them into the Attack Zone in front of the Grodd die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) My opponent has priority on Actions and Globals, so they use their Bolt energy (moving it Out of Play) to activate the Global on Magic Missile and target one of my blocking Sidekick dice. The Sidekick is KO’d and placed in my Prep Area. My opponent passes priority to me and I activate my Turtle Van, targeting my remaining blocking Sidekick and placing my Turtle Van die in the Used Pile.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) Grodd’s seven damage is assigned to the Sidekick, but the Sidekick will take no damage. The Sidekick assigns its one damage to Grodd, but it’s not enough to KO him.
~ (Clean Up Step) Both character dice are returned to the Field Zone. All effects end and all dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile.

Official Sources

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Unlimited Competitive Play Rating

Overcrush is not a huge deal in the current meta, but as soon as you don’t bring an answer for it, you’ll face off against a rogue Overcrush team. This action isn’t just good for stopping Overcrush, it’s also handy in preventing your opponent’s blocking character from taking damage and getting some crazy effect to go off or even save one of your own blockers from being KO’d. I could see someone adding this to a team if they’re worried about Overcrush and it’s not a terrible card. But since Overcrush isn’t a major meta thing, I can’t give Turtle Van more than a rogue rating. It’s useful for other things besides stopping Overcrush, but there are also tons of other really good BACs out there that someone may want to use instead.

Turtle Van: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Play Rating

Turtle Van has been a huge deal in our local Prime meta. Everyone has an Overcrush team of some kind and Turtle Van is a great tech against it. If other meta scenes even slightly resemble ours, then I could see this particular BAC making it onto lots of teams. It’s also great for stopping double damage that a character may be dealing with against Lady Bullseye’s ability. I really like this card and I’d be surprised if it didn’t make at least Prime rogue status, even with the new versions of Polymorph and Magic Missile coming out tomorrow in the new TMNT Box Set.

Turtle Van: Basic Action Card gets a Prime rating of four out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

I’ve seen this card in lots of casual matches. It’s not a super confusing ability, but the tricks of how to use it against Overcrush are not as apparent to new players. Learning to use the card in that way is something that comes with experience. The one major thing about this card that confuses players is the Continuous part. Even after some explanation, beginners and less experienced players still have a hard time understanding that action dice do not stay in your Reserve Pool – you can’t use action dice on your opponent’s turn. Newer players confuse using an action die with activating an action die’s ability. That’s really the only thing holding Turtle Van back from a five star casual rating. I still recommend this card to our newer players because it’s a great way to learn how to use action dice and how/when to activate Continuous action dice. Don’t discourage new players from Continuous actions just because they can be difficult to understand at first. If you’re a newer player reading this, I encourage you to add at least one Continuous action to your team and play with it. There are lots of great Continuous actions out there, including Turtle Van!

Turtle Van: Basic Action Card gets a casual play rating of four out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
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Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #67 – Captain Cold: Rogue Leader

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

During the month of December, I’m featuring a different cold/ice/snow related card each week to celebrate the winter holidays. Today, we’re going to take a look at Captain Cold: Rogue Leader from the DC Green Arrow and The Flash set.

I’m also adding a new Prime Rating to each of my Confusing Card of the Week articles. They will follow the same rating system as the Unlimited Competitive Rating, since Prime is also a competitive format. You can find a breakdown of how I choose my ratings on my sticky article, Helpful Sites and About this Blog.

Ruling – Ability

Captain Cold has a While Active ability. While Active abilities will work regardless of how many of that character’s dice are active in the Field Zone. Think of this ability like a light – it’s either on or it’s off.

Captain Cold’s ability involves the use of Action Dice. Action Dice are any dice that do not have attack and defense stats on them. There are Basic Action Dice that all have a Pow! symbol on them and then there are Non-Basic Action Dice that have symbols related to what the card is. Captain Cold’s ability will trigger when you use any type of Action Die, as long as he’s active. The image below shows the difference between Basic and Non-Basic Action Dice. There are many more Non-Basic Action Dice, but all Basic Action Dice have the same image in different colors.

While Captain Cold is active, when you use an Action Die, a target opposing Sidekick will lose the chance to attack or block for that turn. His ability is not optional and if your opponent has a legal target for Captain Cold’s ability, you must target that character.

Any die that is considered a Sidekick is a potential target for Captain Cold’s ability. Ally Characters count as Sidekicks while they’re active in the Field Zone, meaning they can be targeted by Captain Cold’s ability.

Action Dice normally can only be ‘used’ on your turn. When you use an action die, the die is moved from your Reserve Pool and either placed Out of Play or into the Field Zone depending on the type of Action Die you’re using. There are special abilities that allow you to use an Action Die on your opponent’s turn. One such example of this is Mr. Mxyzptlk: 5th Dimension. His ability says:

“While Mr. Mxyzptlk is active, when an opponent uses a Basic Action Die, you may use a copy of that Basic Action Die.”

When you use a copy of a Basic Action Die with Mr. Mxyzptlk’s ability, it satisfies the requirements for Captain Cold’s ability allowing you to target an opposing Sidekick and prevent it from attacking or blocking. This is one way you can benefit from Captain Cold’s ability on your opponent’s turn to stop a Sidekick from attacking you.

As a side note, Mr. Mxyzptlk: 5th Dimension only allows you to use a copy of a Basic Action Die and not a Non-Basic Action Die that your opponent uses. You need to pay very close attention to wording when playing characters like Mr. Mxyzptlk and Captain Cold.

You won’t benefit from using Captain Cold’s ability during the Attack Step because characters are already assigned to attack and block before you’re able to use Action Dice. You can still target the Sidekick, but the ability won’t have any effect on a character that’s already declared as a blocker.

Miscellaneous Card Information

Captain Cold: Rogue Leader is a Bolt Character and has the Villain affiliation. This card also has a Max Dice of four.

Examples

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

Example One:
Using Captain Cold’s ability during your Main Step.

~ I have two Captain Cold dice active. I have a Kryptonite: Green Death die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has an Oracle: Master Investigator and an Alfred Pennyworth: MI-5 active in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I use my Kryptonite (sending it Out of Play) and target Oracle.
~ (Main Step) I use Captain Cold’s ability to target Alfred, making Alfred unable to block.

Example Two:
Using Captain Cold’s ability during the Attack Step.

~ I have two Captain Cold dice active. I have a Kryptonite: Green Death die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has an Oracle: Master Investigator and an Alfred Pennyworth: MI-5 active in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign one of my Captain Cold dice (3A/3D) as an attacker, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns Alfred (1A/1D) as a blocker and places him in the Attack Zone in front of my Captain Cold.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I use my Kryptonite and target Alfred. I target Alfred with Captain Cold’s ability, but he’s already blocking and can’t be removed as a blocker with Captain Cold’s ability. I don’t use any other Actions or Globals.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) Captain Cold assigns his three attack to Alfred and Alfred assigns his one attack to Captain Cold. Alfred is KO’d but since I used Kryptonite on his die, he doesn’t get his ability and will go to the Prep Area.

Example Three:
Using Captain Cold’s ability during your opponent’s Main Step.

~ I have a Mr. Mxyzptlk: 5th Dimension and a Captain Cold active. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) My opponent has a Power Bolt Action Die and uses it to deal two damage to me.
~ (Main Step) Mr. Mxyzptlk allows me to use a copy of Power Bolt and I choose to do so, dealing two damage to my opponent. Captain Cold’s ability triggers and I target the Sidekick my opponent has active in the Field Zone, making it unable to attack this turn.

Official Sources

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

You can find a ruling that relates to the interaction between Captain Cold and Mr. Mxyzptlk, here.

You can find a ruling that explains the interaction of abilities like Kryptonite’s on characters already declared as blockers, here.

Unlimited Competitive Play Rating

Captain Cold just doesn’t have what it takes to see major meta play. His ability, with the required use of an Action Die and being limited to only Sidekicks as targets, is definitely not suited for Unlimited. His TFC of six is expensive for what he does and his stats are not worth using this character over another with a more useful ability. There are other ways to accomplish what his ability does, but on a larger scale and more effective as well – Cloudkill. I don’t see this card making it out of any binder or box for a competitive event like WKO.

Captain Cold: Rogue Leader gets a Unlimited rating of zero out of five stars.

PDC Prime Play Rating

I have limited experience with Prime at the moment, so I could very possibly being missing something or have overlooked something. I don’t think Sidekicks – even Allies – will be a huge problem in Prime. If Captain Cold targeted any character, and not just a Sidekick, then he would be much better. Even then, he still wouldn’t hit the rogue team list for me because of his Action Die requirement. I bumped his rating up to a one star instead of zero stars for Prime because there are still many unknowns about the Prime format, but I still can’t recommend this card for Prime play. His TFC for the stats are not impressive and his ability just doesn’t cut it.

Captain Cold: Rogue Leader gets a Prime rating of one out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

While I don’t think this card is particularly useful, it’s not overly complicated. I think if you paired Captain Cold with the right cards, he might be mildly useful. I could see him with Foot Ninja: Ninja Syndicate and White Tiger: Mystical Amulet. You could use White Tiger’s Global to make them add a Sidekick to the Field, which increases Foot Ninja’s attack and defense, then use an Action Die and make that Sidekick unable to block. That’s a lot of things going on, but most casual teams that I play and see played locally have many facets to them. But my casual ratings are based on the complexity of the card and how difficult the card is for a new player to use, and not only how good the card is. Captain Cold has complex uses with cards like Mr. Mxyzptlk, which may not be immediately noticed or even understood by a beginner. That combo is a great way to teach those particular uses to a player and help them to better understand card wording.

Captain Cold: Rogue Leader gets a casual play rating of three out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on?
Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
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Special thanks to The Reserve Pool for the use of their site.

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Tournament Report! December 10, 2016 – Limited 10 Pack Sealed Event

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

We played a limited event this past Saturday and this type of format is becoming a local favorite. Each player pays a $10.00 entry fee and they are allowed to choose ten boosters from any set that the store has in stock. Players can mix and match if they choose, but the best strategy is usually to choose ten from the same set. We had Battle for Faerûn, World’s Finest, Green Arrow and The Flash, and Deadpool in stock.

My Team

You can find my team here, on DM Retrobox.

I chose all ten packs from Deadpool. When I opened my packs, the cards I saw that stood out were several Deadpool affiliated characters, and one Lady Bullseye. I was definitely hoping for at least two of her dice, but I only pulled one, so I had to figure out something else. I volunteered to run the store that night so that the owner could spend some time with his family at a Christmas party. When you’re working and trying to build a team, you don’t always get the same amount of time as others to build. I threw a bunch of dudes together and hoped for the best! I picked all the Deadpool folks – without reading them, Free Chimichangas because it gives a defense boost and Deadly, Multiple Man because he has Swarm and I had two dice for him, and Lady Bullseye because – why not? Knowing my time was extremely limited on building, I grabbed Hulk Out and Resurrection for my two Basic Actions. I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a little ramp and Hulk Out to go with Lady Bullseye isn’t a bad idea.

Round One

My round one opponent had decided to build from the D&D stock. I loved having both Resurrection Globals to use, and that definitely helped me. I was not excited to see that Magic Helmet on my opponent’s team. It was a great counter piece to my Dogpool. I realized I had made a mistake when building my team by adding Outlaw. I only had one die for her, which made her a totally useless character. I could always use her for fodder, but her ability was bunk for me. I also made a huge mistake during this match. I was so focused on buying all of my Deadpool characters (except for Outlaw), that I neglected to buy any of my Hulk Out dice. This gave my opponent an opportunity to use his Big Entrance die and the three energy he rolled to buy all three of my Hulk Out dice at once. I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull off a victory in this match when he started fielding big characters, like his Minotaur, but some well placed blockers and well timed attacks left him practically defenseless. My characters were beefy on defense and heavy on attack stats, helping me find a path to victory. It was a glorious game of agonizing over when to attack and how to block. These are the games that make you feel good, regardless of who won and who lost.

Record after Round One: 1-0-0

Round Two

I found myself sitting across the table from Mr. DDK in round two. I always have the hardest time defeating him in any game, constructed or otherwise. I was fortunate though, that he missed my Resurrection Global for a turn or two because he didn’t notice it, which I feel slowed him down a little. He hit me pretty hard with a level three Angel Dust, but I blocked most of his other attackers. Letting Angel Dust through was a good choice because she went to the Used Pile and she had to cycle back through his bag. I only needed my Kidpool this game, because my opponent brought that glorious Anger Issues Global. Add a Hulk Out or two into that mix and it was game over for Mr. DDK. I considered myself very lucky that some of his dice didn’t roll for him and most of mine rolled on the side I needed or a side that I could use. He did some major damage though, so it wasn’t a cake walk. I did feel like I could lose the game on any turn if he rolled what he needed. That’s the nature of the game though. It was still a fun match with some back and forth and attacking/blocking strategy.

Record after Round Two: 2-0-0

Round Three

I apologize for the picture. I totally forgot to snap a picture before we packed up, but he was kind enough to unpack his stuff before he left so that I could at least get a pick of his cards. It was totally my fault that I didn’t get the picture I wanted and I have to thank my opponent again for doing this for me.

This game was incredible. I was fielding characters left and right, and he was constantly attacking me with his Purple Worm. It was pretty intense for several turns, because one misplaced blocker could have put either of us in jeopardy. I took a chance on one of my last turns and attacked when he had several characters. I knew he couldn’t clear my field completely so I’d have some blockers left if he rolled his characters back up. My two Deadly Deadpool dice were very useful this entire match, and even more on this particular attack. I was left with several character dice after the combat was done and my opponent was rolling all of those characters I KO’d on his turn. I was hoping only one or two would roll. He rolled his dice and none were characters. He rerolled the character dice, and luck was on my side – they all came up energy! I will not turn down a victory, but I do not like winning when my opponent has no options and can’t defend themselves – even if it’s because of a bad roll. But aside from how the game ended, the rest of the game was tons of fun. I’m very happy my opponent came to play and he ended up in third place for the event.

Record after Round Three: 3-0-0
Final Standing: 1st

Final Thoughts

We only used ten packs for our first sealed event a while back, and part of me thought that ten packs wasn’t enough. After playing this format a second time with only ten packs, I think ten is probably going to be the magic number. Some players will end up pulling great cards that have wonderful synergy together, and some won’t pull anything that works together at all. It’s not what you pull, but how you use it – with a bit of luck. I definitely had some luck on my side for this event. My team did not have anything that actually worked together for a super cool effect. Lady Deadpool and Kidpool were about all I had, and Lady Deadpool’s ability only made her cheaper to buy – nothing else after you had her. Kidpool worked with any of my Deadpool characters. You don’t have to have a team that functions like a constructed team in an event like this. Everyone is working with what they’ve pulled so everyone is kinda on the same page. Even pulling a Super Rare doesn’t guarantee you win – I had one rare (Dogpool) and I didn’t use his ability a single time. The rest of my team was common and uncommon, and I just threw everything together without really reading most of the cards. In my opinion, the Deadpool set is really good for limited events like sealed and drafts. Everyone is so used to drafting with sets that have cards with crazy good Globals or they play way too much constructed, that they don’t see how much fun this set is. I’m so glad I picked Deadpool to use in the sealed and I would totally do it again.

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

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Confusing Card of the Week #64 – Motorcycle: Vroom!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

Today, we’re going to take a look at Motorcycle: Vroom! from the Marvel Deadpool set. I get lots of questions about when a player can use an Action die, so I chose one of the newer Non-Basic Actions for this week’s CCW. This is also the only card with a Global Ability on it in the entire Deadpool set.

Ruling – Ability

Motorcycle will give a blocked character that you control +1A and +1D. This bonus will last until the end of turn.

The only time you can use an Action die is during your turn in the Main Step or after blockers have been assigned in the Attack Step. The timing for this die is specific. You must have a blocked character to be able to use this Action die. You can only use this die during the Attack Step, after blockers have been assigned.

You can only target your blocked character with this die. This ability does not allow you to target an opponent’s character. If you were to take control of an opponent’s character die, it would then be a legal target.

Action dice that are not used during the turn will go to the Used Pile during the Clean Up Step. If the Action dice are on an energy face, they stay in the Reserve Pool.

Ruling – Global

The Global Ability says that you can pay a Fist energy to remove a blocked character die from the Attack Zone. The Attack Zone is part of the Field Zone.

If you do not have a legal target for this Global, you cannot pay the cost for no effect. There must be a blocked attacker in the Attack Zone. The target can be either yours or your opponent’s.

Affiliations and Types

Motorcycle: Vroom! is a Fist Non-Basic Action and does not have an affiliation. This card also has a Max Dice of four.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario.

Example One:
Regular use of the Action ability.

~ I have one Sidekick in the Field Zone and one Motorcycle on an Action side in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my Sidekick to attack, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns their Sidekick to block, moving it to the Attack Zone and placing it in front of the attacker.
~ (Attack Step – Actions/Globals) I decide to use my Motorcycle Action and target my blocked Sidekick die, giving it a +1A and +1D. I pass priority to my opponent so that they can use Globals if they can or want to do so. They do not use any Globals.
~ (Attack Step – Assign/Resolve Damage) My Sidekick deals two damage to the blocking Sidekick’s one defense and the blocking Sidekick deals one damage to my Sidekick’s two defense.
~ (Attack Step – Assign/Resolve Damage) My opponent’s Sidekick took enough damage for it to be KO’d and it is sent to the Prep Area.
~ (Clean Up Step) My Sidekick did not take enough damage to get KO’d and will move back into the Field Zone. All dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile and all effects end (unless otherwise stated).

Example Two:
No legal targets for the Action.

~ I have one Sidekick in the Field Zone and one Motorcycle on an Action side in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign a Sidekick to attack, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent does not assign any blockers.
~ (Attack Step – Actions/Globals) I cannot use my Motorcycle because I do not have a blocked character to target. I do not use any Globals and neither does my opponent.
~ (Attack Step – Assign/Resolve Damage) My Sidekick deals one damage to my opponent’s life total and is moved Out of Play.
~ (Clean Up Step) My Motorcycle die is moved to the Used Pile. All dice that are Out of Play are moved into the Used Pile and all effects end (unless otherwise stated). 

Example Three:
Turn player using Global.

~ I have one Sidekick in the Field Zone and one Fist energy in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign a Sidekick to attack, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns a Sidekick to block, moving it to the Attack Zone and placing it in front of the attacker.
~ (Attack Step – Actions/Globals) I spend my Fist energy (moving it Out of Play) to use the Global on Motorcycle targeting my Sidekick. My Sidekick is moved out of the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign/Resolve Damage) There are no attackers to deal damage to the blocking Sidekick or my opponent. The blocker does not have an attacker to deal damage to. No damage is dealt.
~ (Clean Up Step) The blocking Sidekick is moved back into the Field Zone because it was not KO’d. All dice that are Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile and all effects end (unless otherwise stated).

Example Four:
Non-Turn player using Global.

~ I have one Sidekick in the Field Zone and one Fist energy in my Reserve Pool. My opponent has a Sidekick in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent assigns a Sidekick to attack, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign a Sidekick to block, moving it to the Attack Zone and placing it in front of the attacker.
~ (Attack Step – Actions/Globals) My opponent has a chance to use Actions. They don’t use any. They now can use Globals, but choose not to and pass priority to me. I spend my Fist energy (moving it Out of Play) to use the Global on Motorcycle targeting my opponent’s Sidekick. Their Sidekick is moved out of the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign/Resolve Damage) There are no attackers to deal damage to the blocking Sidekick or my life total. The blocker does not have an attacker to deal damage to. No damage is dealt.
~ (Clean Up Step) The blocking Sidekick is moved back into the Field Zone because it was not KO’d. All dice that are Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile and all effects end (unless otherwise stated).

Official Sources

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

You can find the ruling about using a Global for no effect, here.

The picture below is the Turn Order Summary from the back of the Civil War Rulebook.

Clean Up Step detailed on page 11-12 of the Civil War Rulebook.

Competitive Play Rating

This card seems to be pretty terrible for competitive play. One might think the Global would make it worthwhile, but even the Global seems poor. We have Distraction and Blink – Transmutation which are much better versions of the Motorcycle Global because they don’t require the character to be blocked in order for you to pull them back. The ability on the card isn’t particularly useful. Unless we have a rotation that includes sets all the way up to Faerûn Under Siege, I don’t see this card making it onto any serious competitive team.

Motorcycle: Vroom! gets a competitive play rating of zero out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

Motorcycle may not have the most useful ability or Global for the competitive scene, but I could see someone trying to use it on a casual team with the Deadly Keyword. This is great teaching tool for timing, but I can’t recommend this card for a beginner. A player with a better understanding of the turn order could probably find a fun use for this card. I still don’t feel like the card itself is particularly useful with other cards that do similar things or have better versions of the abilities.

Motorcycle: Vroom! gets a casual play rating of two out of five stars.

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