Confusing Card of the Week #12 – Game Mechanic “Timing”

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

Today we’re looking at Timing. Timing is a game mechanic and we are going to look at a few examples.

First we will use Black Widow, Tsarina and Marvel Girl, Humanity as examples from this post, here.

Black Widow, Tsarina says, “When Black Widow attacks, she deals 2 damage to your opponent. Your opponent can prevent this by spinning one of his characters down one level.”

Marvel Girl, Humanity says, “When you are attacked, you may spin up Marvel girl one level. If you do, gain 2 life.”

So, if my opponent attacks me with Black Widow, and I have Marvel Girl in the field, what happens first?

We look to the DC Rulebook on page 21 and find this:
“Timing Conflicts
If there is a conflict of timing (e.g., both players want to use an ability simultaneously), the person whose turn it is always resolves their effects first. If simultaneous effects are controlled by the same player, that player chooses the order of those effects. Once activated, an effect is always resolved entirely before the next effect begins. You cannot use an effect after your opponent starts an effect but before it resolves. The only exception to this is when an effect redirects or prevents damage, but those situations are clearly spelled out in the card text.“

Long story short, my opponent is the ‘turn player’ and so my opponent gets to trigger Black Widow first. After Black Widow’s effect resolves, I can then trigger my Marvel Girl’s ability (if my life total is still above zero).

It’s possible to KO an opponent with Black Widow’s ability before Marvel Girl can trigger her ability.

Now let’s look at another Timing example with Storm, Wind Rider and Dr. Doom, Reed Richard’s Rival as examples from this post, here.

Storm, Wind Rider says, “When fielded, reroll up to 2 opposing characters. Each die that does not roll a character goes to your opponent’s used pile. Storm deals 2 damage to your opponent for each die moved.”

Doctor Doom, Reed Richard’s Rival says, “While Doctor Doom is active, each non-Villain character gets -1A and -1D (no matter how many Doctor Doom dice you have fielded).

My opponent has Doctor Doom and a Mystique, Raven Darkholme active. I field Storm and choose Doctor Doom and Mystique. My opponent rerolls both of them and does get not a character on either one. The two dice go to my opponent’s used pile and my opponent takes four damage. Storm gets -1A and -1D until the end of turn. If she is on her level one side, she would be KO’d and sent to the prep area.

Any dice fielded after Doctor Doom has left the field would not suffer from his static effect.

Taken from the FAQ:
“Q: Please explain the interaction/timing of “When Fielded” and “While Active” effects.
A: Characters are fielded when they are moved from the reserve pool to the field zone (by paying their fielding cost or through any special effect). An effect that occurs while the character is “active” is described as an effect that takes place when one or more of that card’s dice are in the field. See the Tournament Rules – Active and Fielded section in the rulebook on page 19. For example, Hawkeye Longbow’s effect would activate only when you pay the character’s fielding cost and move the die from your reserve pool to the field. Doctor Doom Reed Richards’ Rival’s effect would stay in effect as long as that character die is in your field zone.
For “When Fielded” effects, you ask “Was the character fielded?”— If “yes”, the effect occurs immediately as they are fielded. This will happen simultaneously with any static effects already in the field (like Doctor Doom Reed Richards’ Rival’s -1A/-1D). So, if I field Hawkeye on his Level 1 or 2 face (with 1 Defense), if there are no other defense modifiers on the field, it would play out as:
1) Hawkeye deals his attack value (which is being modified Dr. Doom RRR by -1) to target character.
2) Dr. Doom’s RRR modifies Hawkeye’s Defense by -1 KO’ing Hawkeye.
So, effectively, Hawkeye uses his effect just as he is KO’d.”

Quick links for reference:
Marvel Girl vs Black Widow
Storm vs Dr. Doom

I don’t have a rating for a game mechanic and I won’t be doing a rating at this time for the cards mentioned in this post.

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Confusing Card of the Week #9 – Stealth Ops, Basic Action Card

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

Today we’re looking at the Stealth Ops, Basic Action Card from the DC War of Light Starter Set.

Ruling
The main focus of the confusion is the ability text for the Action.
Example:
I have a Magneto that is level three in the field. His attack is six and his defense is eight. I rolled Stealth Ops on a Pow side. I use Stealth Ops on Magneto. He is now considered to be level one and is unblockable this turn.

Any ability that can affect a level one character, will now affect that specific Magneto die. Since Magneto is considered to be level one now, his attack and defense are equal to his level one side. His attack is four and his defense is four for this turn.

The Global is fairly straight forward on this Action. You pay two Masks and you can spin any character down one level. You may only spin characters down that are above level one. Sidekick dice cannot be spun up or down as they only have one level.

Here is the official Stealth Ops Ruling.

Competitive Play Rating
I cannot see Stealth Ops, as a Action, being useful in the competitive scene. The Global could get this Basic Action Card some play on a very small number of teams. Some of the major drawbacks are that it takes two Masks to use the Global and it can be used against your characters as well. Even though Mask Energy is a highly used energy type, using two for one effect on one character die is expensive. Spinning certain character dice down can be a bad idea as well. This card would require a particular type of combo and strategy to be useful and strategies that require several cards are typically slower and not good for competitive play.

Stealth Ops, Basic Action gets a competitive play rating of one out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating
Stealth Ops is a decent Basic Action overall for a casual setting. The Action ability and Global can be utilized with slower combo cards more effectively in casual play. The only drawback is that your opponent can use the Global against your own characters. You can counter that by playing certain characters that are better or still good at lower levels, like Beast, Mutate #666 or Beast, Genetic Expert. I can confidently recommend this card for beginners and advanced casual players.

Stealth Ops, Basic Action gets a casual play rating of three out of five stars.

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Confusing Card of the Week #6 – Red Tornado, Lab Creation

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

Today we’re looking at Red Tornado, Lab Creation, from the DC Justice League set. His wording has more than just a few folks confused.

Ruling
Not much to explaining Red Tornado’s ability, but his wording made people ask the question; if you draw three Sidekicks and one Character die, how many dice do you draw? You would put the Sidekicks into your Used Pile and then draw four new dice to add to the character from your first draw, giving you a total of five dice to roll instead of four (before adding Prep Area dice).

If you draw four Sidekicks, you would move all four to your Used Pile and draw four new dice. That would give you a total of four dice (before adding Prep Area dice).

There isn’t an official ruling posted on the Forums as of right now. But should they put one up, I’ll be more than happy to edit this post and add it.

Competitive Play Rating
Red Tornado has an interesting ability on him. Unfortunately, his fielding cost brings his competitive rating down. He would be extremely useful if he would’ve had a much cheaper fielding cost, like a one/one/two instead of one/two/three. I know some of you may be thinking, ‘that’s only one more on level two and level three, so why’s that a problem?’

Fielding cost can ruin a turn if you aren’t prepared for that level three side to pop up. Let’s say you draw Red Tornado and three Sidekicks and you have no other dice in your Prep Area. So you roll and reroll and end with a Shield, Mask, Sidekick, and Red Tornado on level three. See the problem there? There is no way to field him and  it’s almost a wasted turn. I’ve had this type of roll happen to me more than just a few times and in the competitive field, this is not something you can afford to have happen.

Red Tornado could be useful as a distraction though. Your opponent may want to get him off the field to keep you from utilizing his ability and that could cause them to waste an Action or ability on him. If you can find a spot for him, Red Tornado could be an asset, but a difficult one to reap the benefits from. I could see him used on a rogue team, but he’s not one I would consider to be a rogue card.

He is a Bolt Energy character which can also be useful if you don’t roll a character because of Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s Global. There are a few other Bolt Globals out there that he could be used for too. He has a potential usefulness, but he could be hazardous while rolling minimal dice.

Red Tornado, Lab Creation gets a competitive play rating of two out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating
This card is absolutely great for casual play. While his wording can be confusing at first, it can be easily explained. He makes a great card for beginners with his unique ability, his beefy stats, and his purchase cost of four. He’s good for demo games as well since he’s a great example of card text bending game rules.

His fielding cost isn’t that big of issue in casual play because of how good his stats are, his purchase cost, and how beneficial his ability is. He’s a well-rounded card for casual play and I highly recommend beginners adding him to their teams.

Red Tornado, Lab Creation gets a casual play rating of three out of five stars.

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Confusing Card of the Week #1 – Captain Cold, Leonard Wynters

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

Here is our first Confusing Card of the Week. I just came across a forum post about this Captain Cold, Leonard Wynters from the DC Justice League set and thought that he would be a good one to start off with. We’ll take a look at his ruling as well as rating him for competitive and casual play.

When you first read this Captain Cold, you may think, ‘man he’s awesome against flood teams!’ – as I did when I first read it. But after looking more into it, I realized he can be good, but not ‘that’ good.
Ruling
He forces your opponent to pay 1 energy – any type – to be able to declare an attack that turn. Now, at first glance, I thought it meant 1 energy for each attacker. But that’s not the case. Captain Cold’s ability means that they just have to pay 1 energy and they can attack with all the characters they want to attack with (that are able of course).

This is because there is only one ‘Declare Attackers’ step. You declare an attack with all the characters you want to attack with, at one time. This would mean only one opportunity for Captain Cold’s ability to work.

Here is the link to the official Captain Cold Ruling.

Competitive Play Rating
As far as this card being playable, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing him on any competitive teams any time soon. I feel like he’s too clunky for most teams. His purchase cost isn’t horrible, but his fielding cost is awful for the speedy teams I’ve seen. There are plenty of other characters with better fielding costs and similar stats, or better stats. I know there are characters with high fielding costs on some competitive teams, but they have much better abilities and/or stats. Captain Cold would be more of a problem for you than your opponent.

Captain Cold, Leonard Wynters gets a competitive play rating of zero out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating
He would make a good character for a casual, fun team. His ability isn’t too overpowered that it would discourage new players or make a game unbearable. His fielding costs and stats are fairly decent for casual teams as well. While his ability is a minor annoyance, it helps to teach players about energy management. ‘Do I save this energy to be able to attack this turn, or do I buy a character with four cost over the three cost character with that one energy?’

Captain Cold, Leonard Wynters gets a casual play rating of three out of five stars.

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