Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #149 – Power Girl: Kara Zor El

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Power Girl: Kara Zor El  from the DC Harley Quinn Team Pack.

Ruling – Ability

“While Power Girl is active, if you control at least one Villain character, at the end of your Main Step, roll an unpurchased Basic Action Die. If it rolls an energy face, Power Girl cannot attack. If it rolls an action face, Power Girl gets +2A and +2D (until end of turn). Return the unpurchased Basic Action Die to its card.”

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

There is another condition to Power Girl’s ability, besides her die needing to be in the Field Zone, and it must be met in order to use her ability. You must also have at least one active Villain character die. The Villain can be from Marvel or DC because the Marvel Hydra Villain logo and the DC Stylized V Villain logo are interchangeable. Evil characters from the D&D sets are not Villains unless otherwise stated.

Once the two conditions are met, you must activate Power Girl’s ability. You must activate it at the end of you Main Step, before your Attack Step. (See the Turn Summary picture below.)

At the end of your Main Step, if you have Power Girl and an active Villain die in the Field Zone, you choose any Basic Action die that’s still on the card and roll it. If it rolls an energy face, that Power Girl die can’t attack. If you rolled and action face (the face with the Pow!), then that Power Girl die will get +2A and +2D until the end of the turn. The Basic Action die is then returned to the card.

This ability is not optional unless you don’t meet the requirements to activate the ability.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Power Girl is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Team Superman affiliation.
~ She has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #18 of 24.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)

There is not a ruling for this specific card.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion

I’m not a huge fan of Power Girl as a character and I’m definitely not a fan of the ability on this card. If I’m going to use a character that costs five energy to purchase, it’s going to have an ability that I can benefit from. The best you get out of her ability is a +2/+2 and there are much better ways to get that to happen. There’s a 50/50 chance that your Power Girl is going to get benched that turn too and I don’t like that at all. But, I had some folks ask me about this card so I thought I’d feature her this week. But take my word for it – there are better cards for Team Superman!

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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #143 – Jay Garrick: The Crimson Comet

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Jay Garrick: The Crimson Comet from the DC Green Arrow and The Flash set.

* Note – There are two other articles that may be beneficial to read prior to this article. One is Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #141 – Hal Jordan: Green Lantern’s Light for Crossover character explanation, and the other is Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #142 – Free Chimichangas: Delicious for Impulse.

Ruling – Crossover

For a full breakdown of Crossover character dice, see my Confusing Card of the Week article about Hal Jordan: Green Lantern’s Light, here.

Ruling – Keyword Ability: Crosspulse

We’ll discuss this card’s individual Crosspulse ability in the Ruling – Ability section below. This section is focusing on the keyword and not the ability granted by the keyword.

WizKids Keywords Page:

“Crosspulse: Crosspulse is a special version of Impulse found only on Crossover Characters. When you only spend the matching type of energy to purchase them, you get to use their Crosspulse ability.“

You can read about Impulse, here.

When you purchase a die with the Crosspulse ability, you will be able to activate the bonus listed as the Crosspulse ability. Crosspulse abilities vary from card to card.

All of the energy used to purchase the die must match the energy types of the Crossover die you’re purchasing. You can use Wild energy to purchase a die with Crosspulse and it will count as the required energy and allow you to trigger Crosspulse.

For example: If I were wanting to purchase Jay Garrick, I could purchase him normally with one Bolt, one Shield, and two Fist energy. If I do, his Crosspulse ability will not trigger. If I purchased him with one Bolt, one Shield, and two Wild energy, his Crosspulse will trigger.

You do not need to have a copy of the die active in the Field Zone (which isn’t possible in some cases), you only need to purchase the die to trigger Crosspulse.

You can reduce the purchase cost to the minimum, which would be a Bolt and a Shield energy for Jay Garrick, and still trigger Crosspulse. Crosspulse only requires that you spend specific energy types to purchase the die, not a specific amount.

Ruling – Ability

“Crosspulse – When you purchase a Jay Garrick die, all of your character dice in the Field Zone gain Fast (until end of turn). (You can only use a Crosspulse ability if you paid this character’s purchase cost using only their energy types.) (Character dice with Fast deal combat damage before non-Fast characters.)”

When you purchase a Jay Garrick die using only Bolt and Shield energy, his Crosspulse ability will trigger and all of your character dice that are in the Field Zone will gain Fast until the end of the turn. Only your character dice that are in the Field Zone at the time you purchase Jay Garrick will gain Fast. Any character dice you field after purchasing his dice will not benefit from his Crosspulse ability.

Ruling – Keyword Ability: Fast

WizKids Keywords Page:

“Fast: Characters with Fast deal combat damage before other characters, all at the same time, instead of at the regular time for combat damage.”

A die with Fast will deal its combat damage before character dice without Fast. If two or more character dice have Fast, they all deal their combat damage simultaneously, but before character dice without Fast.

If an attacker with Fast is blocked by a character die without Fast, the attacker assigns and resolves its damage first and could potentially KO the blocker before it can assign and resolve its combat damage. For example: I’m attacking with a Sidekick die that has Fast from Jay Garrick’s Crosspulse. My opponent blocks my Sidekick with one of their Sidekicks, which doesn’t have Fast. My Sidekick will deal its combat first, which is enough to KO the blocking Sidekick. The blocker was not able to deal damage to my attacking Sidekick because of Fast.

If an attacker with Fast is blocked by a character die with Fast, they assign and resolve their combat damage to each other, like normal, but before the other character dice in that combat.

If an attacker with Fast is blocked by a character die with Fast and another without Fast, it may be possible for the attacker to KO the blocker without Fast before it can deal its combat damage to the attacker. But, the other blocker with Fast would also assign and resolve its combat damage at the same as the attacker.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Jay Garrick is a Bolt and a Shield type character card.
~ He has the JSA (Justice Society of America) affiliation.
~ He has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is a Uncommon and is #62 of 124.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)

There is not a ruling for this specific card.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion

I think Fast is an underappreciated keyword. I love using characters with Fast, and I actually used this Jay Garrick more than a few times. This particular card is a great card for casual play and draft, but he’s not going to see much Golden Age competitive play.

I like that he’s not really expensive to purchase, and you can use Blue-Eyes White Dragon Global to reduce his cost so you only need a Bolt and a Shield to purchase him and still get his Crosspulse trigger. Fast characters are very useful as attackers and blockers, especially since there are Globals that force dice to attack and Globals that force dice to block.

For the next casual event that comes your way, give some consideration to Fast and test play with it – especially if you haven’t before!

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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #141 – Hal Jordan: Green Lantern’s Light

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Hal Jordan: Green Lantern’s Light  from the DC Green Arrow and The Flash set.

Ruling – Crossover Cards

“Crossover: Crossover characters have two or more types of energy. To purchase them you’ll need to spend at least one of each type of energy they require. You won’t be able to reduce their cost to avoid paying each type of energy to purchase their dice. They count as every type of energy you must spend to purchase their die.“

Crossover cards are cards (characters or non-basic actions) that have two or more energy types included in their purchase requirements. Hal Jordan cost a total of two energy to purchase and his energy requirements are one Mask and one Bolt. You can use Wild energy to pay the purchase cost if you don’t have a Mask and/or Bolt. For example: I have two Wild energy in my Reserve Pool. I can spend both Wild energy to purchase one Hal Jordan die.

Some Crossover cards have purchase restrictions on them, such as: “You may not use Wild energy to purchase this die, this text may not be ignored.” This only applies to the Crossover cards with the restriction listed in the card’s text box. If this type of restriction is not in the card’s text box, you may use Wild energy to purchase that Crossover die.

Crossover cards are considered to be all energy types listed on their card. A Crossover card with all four energy types is considered to be a Mask, Bolt, Fist, and Shield type character or action card. Hal Jordan is considered to be a Mask character and a Bolt character. Anything that affects a Mask character will effect Hal Jordan. The same is true for Bolt characters, because he is also a Bolt character.

When a Crossover die is on a dual energy face, you may spend one of the energy types and spin the die down to the one generic energy face. Whichever energy type you didn’t use will no longer be available; you will only have the one generic energy remaining. For example: If you have a Hal Jordan die showing a Bolt/Mask energy face, you can spend the Mask energy for the Global on Heimdall and spin your Hal Jordan die to the single generic energy face. You can no longer use the Bolt energy that was previously on the Bolt/Mask face, as a Bolt energy.

If you want to use both energy as their types, you must spend the energy collectively. For example: If you have a Hal Jordan die showing a Bolt/Mask energy face, you can spend the Mask energy for the Global on Heimdall and the Bolt energy for the Global on Unstable Canister, but you must announce that you’re doing that and place both energy Out of Play. You then resolve each Global in the order you announced them and you may not do anything else until you have resolved both Globals.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Hal Jordan is a Mask and a Bolt type character card.
~ He has the Green Lantern affiliation.
~ He has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #20 of 124.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)

There is not a ruling for this specific card.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion

I am literally at the convention hall for Origins at the time this article is posting! I scheduled this article to post so that those who didn’t attend the convention would still have something to read. I get lots of questions about how to purchase Crossover cards and how to use their energy faces. Like the Troll from last week, I wanted to feature a card that focused solely on that aspect without the distraction of an additional ability. What better Crossover card to pick that Hal Jordan?!

I’ve seen that there is still much disagreement over how to use the energy from a Crossover character, but I have always ruled it the way I’ve described in this article and will continue to rule it that way until WORF states otherwise. You are able to collectively spend generic energy from basic action dice to purchase a character die and use a Global, so there is no reason it shouldn’t work for Crossover dice.

Crossover cards can definitely come in handy, but they can be difficult to utilize depending on the card. There are definitely some Crossover cards that are better than others, but there are lots of great cards too that fit better on some teams than others. It really all comes down to how you build your team and what your play style is.

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!

I want to wish much luck to all of the players that are participating in Nationals Qualifiers this year at Origins! I hope everyone has fun and I’m sorry that I won’t be playing Dice Masters with any of you this year, but I have lots of work to do this year at Origins – and I’m probably doing it right now!

Need to find a card? Check out The Dice Coalition‘s Team Builder!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #126 – Punisher: Bringing Down The Exchange

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Punisher: Bringing Down The Exchange from the Marvel The Mighty Thor set.

Ruling – Ability

“While Punisher is active, each time a character die you control is damaged during an opponent’s turn, deal 1 damage to target opponent.“

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

Punisher’s ability will only trigger while she’s active during an opponent’s turn and only when a friendly character die is dealt damage. For example: I have two Punisher dice and two Sidekick dice active in the Field Zone on my opponent’s turn. My opponent uses a Global ability to deal two damage to one of my Sidekick dice. My opponent will be dealt one damage.

Punisher’s ability will trigger for each instance of damage to each character die, not necessarily for each point of damage. For example: My opponent has a Force Beam basic action die with a burst. They use it on their turn to deal two damage to all three of my character dice. I have an active Punisher die and three character dice that are damaged. Punisher will deal three damage to my opponent. If my opponent had used Force Beam without the burst, the damage that Punisher would deal would still have been three damage.

Even if Punisher is KO’d by damage, her ability will still trigger. This is because she was still active when her ability was triggered.

Punisher’s ability is not optional and will trigger each time one of your character dice are dealt damage during an opponent’s turn.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Punisher is a Bolt type character card.
~ She does not have an affiliation.
~ She has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is an Rare and is #119 of 136.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There is not a ruling for this specific card.

Ruling about abilities triggering when the character is KO’d, here.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion

Pairing this card with Cosmic Cube: Energy of the Beyonders could be a very nasty combo. But, I don’t think this particular combo will see any kind of competitive play because Cube teams usually work much, much faster. Punisher’s purchase cost is the biggest drawback for competitive play. I wouldn’t be surprised if it popped up in some local scenes though. I also would not be surprised to see folks using Punisher as a Cube-deterrent card either. Why would I want to use my Cube while my opponent has an active Punisher, just to help kill myself?! You aren’t really relying on your opponent to damage your characters with that type of strategy. You would want to save energy for Globals that deal damage to target character dice, and damage your own characters during the turn your opponent used a Cube or two.

If Babs or Hulk: Green Goliath were still major contenders in the competitive scene, I’d say Punisher might have a place. Most major competitive scenes have drifted towards direct damage to the player instead of going for the character dice. Punisher’s defense leaves something to be desired for a character that has a While Active ability because she can be very easily KO’d. She’s also an easy target for DWiz, Cold Gun, Shriek, and even Blob.

Most casual scenes don’t see those crazy blanking cards, so Punisher definitely has a chance to see some play in those areas. Give her a try some time on a casual team!

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
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Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #125 – Thor: A God Amongst Men

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Thor: A God Amongst Men from the Marvel The Mighty Thor set.

Ruling – Ability

“While Thor is active, when you would take damage, redirect that damage to Thor.“

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

While you have at least one Thor die in the Field Zone, when you would take damage, you must redirect that damage to Thor. Redirecting damage changes the intended target of the damage to Thor, but it does not change the source of the damage. For example: My opponent uses a Get Thee Hence action die and targets me. I would take one damage, but it is instead redirected to one of my Thor dice instead.

If you have more than one Thor die in the Field Zone and a source would deal more than one damage to you, you would choose one Thor die to redirect that source’s damage to. You can’t split a source’s damage unless an ability or effect specifically tells you that you can.

If there are multiple sources dealing damage to you simultaneously, such as from unblocked attackers, you would redirect all of that damage to your Thor die. If you had multiple Thor dice in the Field Zone, you can choose a different Thor die for a different source. For example: My opponent is attacking me with a Hulk (7A), another Hulk (6A), and a Sidekick (1A). I have two Thor dice in the Field Zone on level one (6D) and level two (8D). I do not block so that all of the attackers would deal damage to me. I now redirect that damage from each source to whichever Thor die I choose for that source’s damage. I redirect the seven damage from one Hulk to the level one Thor die. I redirect the six damage from the other Hulk to my level two Thor die. I then redirect the one damage from the Sidekick to my level one Thor die. Now that I have redirected the damage, it resolves simultaneously. My level one Thor die will take eight damage and be KO’d, and my level two Thor die will take six damage but not be KO’d. I could have redirected all three sources of damage to one Thor die, or redirected the damage to both Thor dice in such a way that they would both be KO’d.

When you redirect damage from an attacker that’s not blocked, it does not become blocked. The attacker is still unblocked and will go Out of Play when the damage is resolved, then to the Used Pile during Clean Up.

Attacking characters that are not blocked will not take damage from Thor because he’s not blocking those characters. The damage is being moved from the player to Thor.

Thor can redirect any type of damage, but he can’t redirect loss of life. Losing life and paying life are not considered damage.

Thor’s ability is not optional. When you take damage – any damage – it is redirected to a Thor die. Thor’s ability would have the word ‘may’ in it if it were optional to use.

Ruling – Global

“Global: Pay [Bolt] [Bolt]. Once per turn, deal 1 damage to target character die.”

Thor’s Global is only able to be used once per turn, per Thor card. If you and your opponent both have the same Thor card, you may use each Global once.

To use this Global, you must spend two Bolt energy. You may spend one die showing two Bolts or two dice showing any combination of Bolt and Wild energy. Energy spent for this Global on your turn will go Out of Play. Energy spent for this Global on your opponent’s turn will go to your Used Pile.

Thor’s Global can only target a character die, unless an effect says otherwise. This Global does target, so if an ability prevents a character die from being targeted, you can not target that character die. If there are no legal targets, you can’t use Thor’s Global, because you can’t use a Global for no effect.

Thor’s Global will deal one damage to a target character die. If the character’s defense is one, then the die is KO’d when it’s damaged by this Global.

This Global can be used by either player during the Main Step or during the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Thor is a Bolt type character card.
~ He has the Avengers affiliation.
~ He has a Max Dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #87 of 136.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There is not a ruling for this specific card.

Relevant Rulebook Text on Redirecting:
“Other powers redirect a game effect (usually damage). When an effect is redirected, the target of the effect changes from its original target to the new one as described in the game text…”

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion

This is a whopper of character and I thought he’d be a great feature this week since I’ve seen some discussion about him recently. His Global is a little lack luster when compared to other Globals that deal direct damage to characters, because his has a ‘once per turn’ limitation and it cost two Bolt energy. Unstable Canister outshines his Global, so it’s safe to say that we won’t be seeing him on teams for that reason – unless he’s the only option for that type of Global.

But that ability of his is just silly. His ability is like a supercharged Ronin: Between Employers. Ronin can only redirect one source per turn, but he is much cheaper at a cost of three versus Thor’s seven. Thor’s purchase cost is appropriate for his ability, but it’s still a little expensive for competitive play. If you have a way to effectively ramp up to seven energy to buy Thor, I would have to wonder why you’re buying him and not a win condition. If you’re playing casual settings, you may see some folks playing this card. I highly doubt we’ll be seeing him outside of the casual scene, even though he’s got an ability worthy of a Norse God.

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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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Marvel Dice Masters The Mighty Thor Release Day Special!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

I have a ‘mighty’ cool treat for you today, courtesy of WizKids! In celebration of the release of The Mighty Thor set, they’ve sent me a few ‘worthy’ card scans to share! And before you start wondering when you can get your hands on this set, it’s available right now! You can find foil booster packs and draft packs at your friendly local game store.

Preview #1 – Beta Ray Bill: A Worthy Opponent

First up, we’ve got a Guardians of the Galaxy affiliated character, Beta Ray Bill: A Worthy Opponent.

This is a whopper of a character! He’s got some huge defense stats and his attack is sure to pack a punch! As an added bonus to his glorious stats, when Beta Ray Bill attacks, he can KO a Bolt character die that’s the same level or lower as his die. If you have multiple Beta Ray Bill dice to attack with, each one gets to KO a Bolt character that’s equal or lower level than their level. I know his purchase cost is high, but there are plenty of ways to lower that purchase cost a little. One way is to use Big Entrance: Basic Action Card. Using that action die will reduce his cost by one and also put him in your bag when you buy him. You could get lucky and find a Big Entrance card in one of The Mighty Thor draft packs!

Preview #2 – Enchantress: Fatal Attraction

Next up, we have an addition to the Mystics affiliation, Enchantress: Fatal Attraction.

If simple brute force isn’t what you want, Enchantress is a card you might want to look at. She’s got a high purchase cost, but just like Beta Ray Bill, you can reduce it with cards like Big Entrance. Her ability is a really good one if she’s on your side! She’s got the ability to tax your opponents when they try to use a Global Ability or an action die. Her ability doesn’t say basic action die, which means she forces them to pay that one extra energy for ANY action die they try to use! She also taxes the Global Abilities they try to use too, which could give you an advantage if your opponent is relying heavily on Globals or action dice. If your opponent isn’t using a lot of Globals or action dice, Enchantress can still deal a decent amount of damage to them with her high attack stats. She’s got the wit and the muscle!

Preview #3 – Hela: Even in Death…

Next up is a very menacing looking Villain, Hela: Even in Death….

Hela is a super tough character with her huge stats, so it makes perfect sense for her to have a While Active ability. She’s a really useful character if your opponent is using Immortal characters.

“Immortal: Except when purchased, when this die would go to the Used Pile, instead add it your bag.”

When an opposing character with the Immortal keyword is KO’d, you get to Prep a die from your bag. It’s usually beneficial to roll more than four dice at the start of your turn, because this gives you more opportunities to purchase crucial elements of your win condition or it can provide the energy you need for a super important Global Ability, like Hela’s. Hela’s Global is a double edged sword though. You need a loophole to prevent your dice from being chosen by your opponent. One way is be sure all of the dice you don’t want back on their cards are in your bag or Reserve Pool before using her Global. Another is with the Global on True Believer: Basic Action Card from the Amazing Spider-Man Starter. This will only help one of your character dice in the Field Zone, but that may be all you need!

Preview #4 – Pepper Potts: Behind Every Great Man

With this next card, we see the return of the Stark Industries affiliation. I’m super excited about this because it’s the first set we’re seeing it in, outside of the Iron Man and War Machine Starter! Thank you, Pepper Potts: Behind Every Great Man, you are my hero today!

Rescue: Resilient and Rescue: Catching a Jet needed a new Pepper Potts and I’m so glad we’re getting her! This Pepper Potts is particularly handy while you have Iron Man active. Her stats get a nice boost as long as Iron Man is also in the Field Zone. She’ll become a 4A/4D on level one, 4A/6D on level two, and 5A/5D on level three – all with a zero fielding cost! You just need to be sure to bring an Iron Man – in case your opponent didn’t bring Iron Man to the battle. I like Iron Man: Secretary of Defense because his Enlistment ability puts your opponent in a tough spot!

Conclusion

While I’m not a fan of the more expensive characters, I totally have my eye on that Enchantress and Hela for her Global! I’m a control player and they’re both my type of cards. My favorite of all four of these cards is most definitely Pepper Potts! I can’t wait to get my hands on one and build a team with her, Iron Man, and Rescue. Now, we need a new Iron Man! I’m super excited to see what I get from my draft pack display that I’ll be picking up from FLGS later today. I’ll be posting an article with my pulls and an unboxing video soon! Keep an eye on my YouTube channel for it.

Huge thanks go to WizKids for allowing me to bring you these previews and I hope that you’re just as excited as I am for what The Mighty Thor set will bring to the game!

Thanks so much for reading and remember folks, if you like the content I provide, be sure to click that like button! Every follower and subscription matters!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #118 – Basilisk: Greater Monstrosity

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

I’m back! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and started the new year off in good spirits! Now, it’s back to work and back to my regularly scheduled Confusing Card of the Week articles. I want to start the year off with a monster that will hopefully keep the bad spirits away for the entire year!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Basilisk: Greater Monstrosity from the Dungeons and Dragons Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Deadly Ability

WizKids Keywords page:
“Deadly: Character dice that are engaged with a character die that has Deadly are KO’d at the end of the turn (even if the character with Deadly has been KO’d or leaves the Field Zone).“

Supplemental Definition:
“Engaged: A character blocking or being blocked is engaged with the opposing character.”

Any character die that blocks or is blocked by a character die with the Deadly keyword, will be KO’d at the end of the turn, during the Clean Up Step. This applies to all character dice that are engaged with a Deadly character die.

If the blocked/blocking character die with Deadly is KO’d or removed, the character dice that were engaged with it are still KO’d at the end of turn.

For Example:
I have a single level one Basilisk die in my Field Zone. If I attack with that die and it’s blocked by three character dice, all three of those dice will be KO’d at the end of turn. Even if my Basilisk die is KO’d, all three of those blocking character dice are still KO’d at the end of turn.

Ruling – Ability

Basilisk has an additional ability on its card that says:
“When Basilisk attacks, target opposing character die must block this turn (if able).”

This ability triggers for each individual Basilisk die that attacks, but only when they attack. When a Basilisk die attacks, it will target one opposing character die and that die must block the Basilisk die.

If an ability would prevent a character die from being able to block, then it does not block the Basilisk. This falls under the general game rule of “can’t beats can”, which means any ability that prevents something from happening will overrule an ability that tries to force it to happen.

The Basilisk’s ability does not prevent the opponent from choosing additional blockers. The opponent can choose other blockers to block the Basilisk aside from the forced blocker, but all the blockers will be KO’d at the end of turn because of the Deadly keyword on the Basilisk’s card.

This ability is not optional. If there are legal targets to choose from, the Basilisk must choose a target.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Basilisk is a Bolt type character card.
~ It has the Monster affiliation and Evil alignment.
~ It has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Uncommon and is #58 of 136.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There isn’t a ruling for this specific card.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

The Basilisk is a nasty dude. If you pull him in a draft or use him in a limited type event, he could be very problematic for your opponent. He can take out the biggest threat in your opponent’s field, thanks to the Deadly keyword. One downside to this guy is that your opponent will get the chance to reroll the guys you just KO’d on their next turn. When using the Basilisk to clear dice from the field, you want to be sure you’ll benefit from it without helping your opponent – if possible. Letting them reroll a Shriek or DWiz might not be a good idea, depending on what their targets were to begin with.

Basilisk is not expensive to buy, which makes him great for drafts. He’s also got decent defense overall, but that fielding cost is not the best for a character that’s likely going to need to be fielded a few different times in a game. I still think he’s a great draft pick, and possibly even decent for a limited format that uses only D&D sets. His fielding cost is what will likely keep him from seeing a lot of major meta play, but seeing him across from you is not out of the realm of possibility!

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Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #117 – Angela: Hunter of Demons

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Angela: Hunter of Demons from the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy set.

Ruling – Infiltrate Ability

WizKids Keywords page:
“When a character die with Infiltrate attacks and is not blocked, you may choose to remove that character die from combat and not deal combat damage to your opponent. If you do, that character die deals 1 damage to your opponent and the die remains in your Field Zone instead of going to your Used Pile.”

Infiltrate is an ability that allows you to choose between dealing combat damage as normal, or keeping your character active in the field and only dealing one ability damage to your opponent instead.

Infiltrate damage is dealt after blockers are assigned during the Attack Step. After blockers are assigned, you can choose to activate the Infiltrate ability on each character die that has Infiltrate. When you activate the Infiltrate ability, the dice are immediately removed from the Attack Zone and placed in the Field Zone. The Attack Zone is still part of the Field Zone, but only attacking and blocking dice are placed here to show they are in combat.

Infiltrate damage is considered ability damage and not combat damage. If another ability would affect damage being dealt to a player, this damage can be affected. If the ability specifies combat damage, Infiltrate damage cannot be affected by that ability.

If a character die is blocked, they cannot use their Infiltrate ability, even if the blocker is removed prior to combat damage being resolve. Once a character is blocked, they are considered to be blocked for that entire combat.

If a character die is not blocked, that die can use it’s Infiltrate ability to deal one damage directly to the opponent. If they do, that die does not deal any combat damage.

Example:
Attack Step – Assign Attackers
~ This is where attacking dice are assigned.
Attack Step – Assign Blockers
~ This is where blocking dice are assigned.
~ Any dice with Infiltrate can be activated in this step after all blockers have been assigned and those dice with Infiltrate are not blocked.
~ Once activated, the dice will be removed from the Attack Zone, remaining in the Field Zone, and your opponent will take one damage from each dice with Infiltrate. Those dice are no longer considered to be attacking.

Ruling – Ability

Angela has an additional ability on her card that says:
“While Angela is active, your character dice with Infiltrate cannot be blocked and deal no combat damage.“

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

While Angela is active, any character dice that have the Infiltrate keyword will not be able to deal combat damage. This means that any of your dice that have Infiltrate will not deal damage to a character die that they’re blocking. The dice with Infiltrate will still take combat damage from any dice they block.

You will also not be able to deal combat damage to your opponent with any character dice that have Infiltrate. You can choose to not activate a character die’s Infiltrate ability while Angela is active. If you choose not to activate Infiltrate, that character die will deal zero combat damage to your opponent and then go Out of Play.

Example:
I have one level two Angela (4A/3D) and one level three The Spot: Dr. Jonathan Ohnn (2A/3D) in the Field Zone. Angela and The Spot have Infiltrate.
Attack Step – Assign Attackers
~ I assign The Spot to attack, moving his die to the Attack Zone.
Attack Step – Assign Blockers
~ The Spot cannot be blocked because of Angela’s ability.
~ I now choose if I want to activate Infiltrate.
~ If I choose to activate Infiltrate, The Spot will be removed from the Attack Zone and he’ll deal one damage to my opponent.
~ If I choose not to activate Infiltrate, we move to the next portion of the Attack Step.
Assign and Resolve Damage
~ If The Spot’s Infiltrate was activated, then there isn’t anything to assign or resolve in this step.
~ If I didn’t activate Infiltrate, The Spot will assign and deal zero damage (not 2, because of Angela’s ability) to my opponent and immediately be placed Out of Play.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Angela is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Guardians of the Galaxy affiliation.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Super Rare and is #117 of 124.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There isn’t a ruling for this specific card.

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

I featured Angela: Art of the Hunt (uncommon) a little while back, but I noticed several questions popping up about this specific Angela, so I decided to feature her this week.

I know that a lot of folks get nervous when they can’t deal combat damage to their opponent or even to blocked attackers. But, this Angela guarantees that you can get your Infiltrate damage done. And with cards like Black Widow: Spider’s Bite out there, I think it’s a fair trade off. There are a few inexpensive Infiltrate dudes that can help you get more dice in the Field quicker than trying to buy multiples of Angela or Black Widow.

I’ve played a team using Angela, Black Widow, and The Spot – and I love that team! I haven’t played it much lately, but I need to revisit it now that a bazillion more sets have dropped in the last few months. It can be a very deadly combo if played effectively and that’s what I’m working on now!

There is a decent combo using Angela and True Believer’s Global too. The idea is that your attackers will be unblockable because they have Infiltrate. Once you get to the Globals part of the Attack Step, you use the Global on Angela and now your unblocked attackers can deal their combat damage to your opponent for a finishing blow.

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Is there a combo that seems too good to be true?
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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #115 – Yuan-ti Pureblood: Epic Humanoid

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Yuan-Ti Pureblood: Epic Humanoid from the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Attune Ability

WizKids Keywords Page:

“Attune: While a character you control with Attune is active, when you use an action die, that character deals 1 damage to target player or character die (no matter how many of that character’s dice are active).”

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

Attune triggers when you use any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die. Using a Continuous type action die requires you to place the die in the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool. If you activate a Continuous die’s ability from the Field Zone, this is not considered using it. For example, activating a Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” after it’s in the Field Zone is not considered to be the same as using it. Using it would be placing the Cold Gun die into the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool.

While a character die with Attune is active, when you use an action die, the character die with Attune will deal one damage to a target character die or player. For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone when you use an action die, your Yuan-ti Pureblood will deal only one damage total (not three damage) to a target character die or player.

Attune abilities are mandatory and not optional. When you have an active character with Attune and you use an action die, you must deal one damage to target player or character die, even if you would be forced to target one of your character dice or yourself.

Ruling – Ability

“While Yuan-ti Pureblood is active, when you purchase an action die, trigger the Attune ability of all active character dice.”

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is a While Active ability. While you have at least one Yuan-ti Pureblood die in the Field Zone, you will trigger her ability when you purchase an action die. Her ability triggers when you purchase any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die.

When you purchase an action die while you have an active Yuan-ti Pureblood character die, you will trigger each character die’s Attune ability. Attune abilities will only trigger once for each character, regardless of how many of that character’s dice are in the Field Zone, because Attune is a While Active ability.

For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, and purchase an action die, you will trigger the Attune ability of your Yuan-ti Pureblood. You will deal one damage (not three damage) to target player or character die. This is because all three dice are from the same character – your Yuan-ti Pureblood. Her Attune ability can only be triggered once, per instance, while there are any of her dice active in the Field Zone. If you were to purchase another action die, you would trigger her Attune ability a second time and deal one damage again.

This ability will also trigger the Attune ability on your opponent’s character dice. If your opponent has the same Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, you still trigger her Attune ability as well as yours, because the two character cards are considered to be different characters. One is your Yuan-ti Pureblood, and the other is your opponent’s Yuan-ti Pureblood, making them different characters for game effects such as this ability.

If you trigger an opponent’s Attune ability, you do not get to choose the target of that ability because you are not in control of the ability. Triggering an ability is not the same as controlling or using the ability.

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is mandatory. If you purchase an action die while she’s active, you must trigger the Attune abilities on all active character dice with Attune.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Yuan-ti Pureblood is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Monster affiliation and the Evil alignment.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Super Rare and is #132 of 136.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
You can find an official ruling for Yuan-ti Pureblood: Epic Humanoid, here.

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

Yuan-ti Pureblood is great for action centered teams, but if your opponent is using characters with Attune, her ability could become a nuisance for you. Her ability is still great and definitely worth trying out. She only cost two energy to purchase, but she can be blasted out of the Field Zone very easily. She’s got a defense of one on level one and level two, making her an easy target for Unstable Canister‘s Global. Her level three side is slightly safer with a defense of three, but she still falls victim to uncommon and rare Cold Guns.

I think she’ll be fun in casual play with the Satchel teams I’ve seen floating around, and she might even have a place in the major competitive meta, even though she could be troublesome against a similar team. I’m not sure I’d recommend using her as a main win condition in a draft, only because there are plenty of other characters out there with Attune and her ability could cost you in the end. But at the same time, because she’s so inexpensive, she could allow you to race your opponent to victory!

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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Roll on, Dice Masters!

Dice Masters Confusing Card of the Week #111 – Scarlet Witch: Careful What You Wish For

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Scarlet Witch: Careful What You Wish For from the Marvel X-Men First Class set.

Ruling – Ability

“While Scarlet Witch is active, during your opponent’s Roll and Reroll Step, your opponent must reroll any Action dice that land on an Action face and cannot reroll any Action dice on energy faces.”

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

While Scarlet Witch is active, only during your opponent’s Roll and Reroll Step, if they roll any action dice and those dice land on an action face, they must choose to reroll them. They are not able to choose to reroll any action dice that show an energy face.

Scarlet Witch’s ability applies to all action dice: basic action dice, non-basic action dice, equipment, etc. Anything that is considered to be an action die will be affected by her effect.

If you have Scarlet Witch active, any action dice that show an action face after your opponent rolls their dice during the Roll and Reroll Step, must be chosen by the opponent to be rerolled. They can choose any other dice, except action dice showing an energy face, to reroll with the chosen action dice.

If the rerolled action dice land on an action face after they are rerolled, your opponent does not have to reroll them again. Scarlet Witch’s ability only forces them to choose to reroll them once during the Roll and Reroll Step.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Scarlet Witch is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Villain affiliation.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Common and is #31 of 124.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
You can find a ruling for Scarlet Witch, here.

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

This Scarlet Witch could be powerful in almost any format where action dice are highly utilized. She’s a great soft counter for action dice teams or even a team that only uses one really powerful action die, like Lantern Ring: Limited Only By Imagination. With Scarlet Witch active, your opponent would essentially need to roll their action dice on an action face twice to keep them. Any action dice that are rolled on an energy face are stuck that way. Cards like Parallax will come in handy against Scarlet Witch, so if you’re using Scarlet Witch, don’t bring Parallax too!

I’m highly considering a spot for her on my Modern Age constructed team, mainly because there are so many good action dice out there that could be a problem. I plan to do some test playing with her very soon. It’s so difficult to test play right now because there are still so many sets scheduled for release and there could be something new or something better that would just take her place or make her obsolete.

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!