Review! Batman TAS Villains OP Cards

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

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

Organized Play Kits

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

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

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

Participation Prize

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

Harley Quinn: Tough Cookie

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

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

First Place Prize

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

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

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

Fellowship Prize

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

 

The Joker: The Laughing Fish

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

Final Thoughts

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

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

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series

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

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

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

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

Thanks so much for reading and please remember to subscribe!

Roll on, Dice Masters!

 

Confusing Card of the Week #95 – Captain America: Anti-Reg

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Captain America: Anti-Reg from the Marvel Civil War Starter set. I wanted to go with a patriotic theme since today is Independence Day here in the US, and what better character to choose than Captain America himself!

Ruling – Resistance Ability

Resistance is a keyword that can be found in the Civil War set. A character with Resistance will grant you some kind of benefit if a character you control was KO’d. These benefits from the different Resistance abilities will vary and the keyword can be found on characters, Basic Actions, and non-Basic Actions.

Any game effect that KO’s a character could trigger a Resistance ability. For example, Fabricate – if you have Captain America active and you Fabricate two characters, you will gain the benefit from his Resistance ability and gain one life at the end of your turn. Another example would be if your opponent used the Unstable Canister Global during your turn to KO one of your Sidekick dice while you have Captain America active.

When you Sacrifice a character die, that is not the same as KO’ing them, which will not trigger a Resistance ability.

If a character with Regenerate is successful in regenerating, you will not gain the Resistance ability. Regenerate is a considered a KO replacement effect.

Captain America’s Resistance 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.

Captain America’s Resistance ability says that as long as he’s active at the end of your turn, if a character die you control was KO’d this turn, you gain one life. This ability only checks that the requirements were met and not how many times they were met.

This ability is not optional and you must gain life if the Resistance ability was triggered. You cannot go above 20 life, so if you’re already at 20 life, you will not gain life.

Ruling – Ability

Captain America has a second ability on his card and it is also a While Active ability. At the end of your turn, as long as Captain America is active, you spin each of your Captain America dice up one level.

In the picture above, you can see the sides of the dice as shown on the bottom of Captain America’s card. All character dice levels are displayed in the same place on character cards. The first three images are of the energy faces and do not have levels. The first character face is Level 1, the second character face is Level 2, and the third character face is Level 3. This is the same for all character dice, except for basic Sidekick dice. Basic Sidekick dice don’t have a character card and while they are in the Field Zone, they’re only Level 1.

If an ability instructs you to spin a character die to a different level, always reference the character card to confirm the correct level, then spin that character die accordingly. Basic Sidekick dice do not have multiple levels and they cannot spin to a different level.

This ability is not an optional ability. At the end of your turn, you must spin all of your active Captain America dice up one level from their current level. A level two Captain America die will spin up to level three and a level one die will spin up to level two. Any level three Captain America dice will not be affected by this ability because they are at the maximum level for a character die.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Captain America is a Shield type character card.
~ He has the Avengers affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #4 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:
Triggering Captain America’s abilities.

Game State
~ I have a level one and a level two Captain America die in the Field Zone. I also have a Sidekick die.
~ My opponent has two Sidekick dice in the Field Zone.
~ My Attack Step has just begun.
(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ I assign my Sidekick die and my level one Captain America die to attack, moving them into the Attack Zone.
(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ My opponent decides to block with both of their Sidekick dice.
~ My opponent assigns the first Sidekick to block my attacking Sidekick, moving it into the Attack Zone and placing it in front of my attacking Sidekick.
~ My opponent assigns the second Sidekick to block my attacking Captain America die, moving it into the Attack Zone and placing it in front of my attacking Captain America die.
(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ My Sidekick deals one damage to the blocking Sidekick and the blocking Sidekick deals one damage to my Sidekick. Both will be KO’d.
~ My Captain America die deals two damage to the Sidekick die that’s blocking him, and that Sidekick deals one damage to Captain America. Captain America has a defense of four, so that one damage will not KO him. The Sidekick will be KO’d because it only has a defense of one.
(Clean Up Step)
~ Character dice that were KO’d by combat damage during the Attack Step are now placed in the Prep Area. My opponents two Sidekick dice go to their Prep Area and my Sidekick goes to my 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.
~ All effects end unless otherwise specified (like a While Active or ‘End of Turn’ ability).
~ All damage is cleared, so Captain America will no longer have the one damage from the Sidekick.
~ End of turn abilities will resolve. Captain America’s Resistance ability will trigger and allow me to gain one life if my life total is below 20 because a character that I control was KO’d this turn. His other ability triggers as well and my level one Captain America die spins up to level two and my level two Captain America die spins up to level three. Since both abilities happen at the same time and I control both abilities, I can choose the order in which they resolve.
~ My turn is now over and my opponent’s turn will begin.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
You can find a relevant ruling, here.

Basic Information

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

This is one of my favorite Captain America cards that is currently legal for Modern Age. I love the art, love the die, and really dig the ability on it. There are plenty of ways to KO your Sidekick dice, like a force block Global, Fabricate, or even a burn Global. Captain America is one of those cards that just dares your opponent to Unstable Canister Global your little dudes. When they do and Cap sees it happen, you gain life back! I have yet to really be able to play with this card outside of Limited constructed events that we held for Civil War. I think I may try to add him onto a current Lockout League build I’m working on for Saturday. I don’t think he’s necessarily worthy of a competitive team spot, but I’ve seen much less deserving cards on highly successful teams in the past. I hope someone sees what a gem this guy can be and tries using him. His major downside is that atrocious fielding cost, but at least he’s not really expensive to purchase. A four cost character that just needs to stay in the Field is not a terrible purchase. I think the best place for this Cap to shine is in the casual and Limited areas.

I also want to take a moment to say Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Dice Masters here in the US. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun holiday!

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!

 

Review! TMNT: Heroes in a Half Shell Dice Building Game Box Set

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

WizKids has released another complete box set for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! This set is called, Heroes in a Half Shell. If you purchase this box set, you will get the entire set, max dice for each character, and a bunch of other goodies!

This box can be played as a stand alone product, added with the previous TMNT Box Set, or mixed in with the vast library of Dice Masters cards to enhance any team for various formats. This box set is great for casual players and seasoned players alike. If you’d like to take a look at the previous TMNT Box Set, you can find my review here.

You can find my review video on YouTube, here.

Dice Building Game Box Set

Box Contents

~ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rulebook
~ 4 Color Coordinated Paper Playmats
~ 4 Color Coordinated Dice Bags
~ 12 Basic Action Dice
~ 32 Sidekick Dice
~ 48 Character Dice
~ 48 Character Cards
~ 10 Basic Action Cards
~ 4 Action Reminder Cards
~ Collection Tray with Clear Cover

Rulebook

Both this rulebook and the one from the first box have the doubles start up rules in the back. The rulebook feels durable and looks really nice. It’s one I’d like to keep on me as my reference rulebook.

Keywords

There are several returning keywords in this set, but you won’t find any new ones.

Ally
Overcrush
Swarm
Turtle Power

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

Affiliations

We don’t see any new affiliations, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle affiliation returns in this box set. The other affiliation you’ll find is one that crosses over almost all other IPs, Villain.

Characters

If you haven’t seen any or most of the 2012 animated series, but plan to watch it later – you may want to skip reading some of this. I discuss lots of things from that series which could be seen as spoilers.

April makes her second appearance in Dice Masters. This time, she looks a little different. We now have the 80s animated version and the 2012 animated series version of April. She’s a Shield character and all of her versions have a cost of two. She has the Ally keyword on all three cards and each card does something directly related to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle affiliation. Please take note – she does not carry the TMNT affiliation herself! No Mere Damsel is absolutely my favorite of all three because she’s easy to purchase and helps reduce the cost of your other TMNT characters. A cheap character with Turtle Power seems really good for any team built around the TMNT affiliation. I don’t think any version of this April will make it into the unlimited scene, and it’s not likely she’ll see Prime play either unless someone finds a super awesome TMNT team build.

Casey Jones is back again as a Fist character with a purchase cost of two and three. Penalty Box is pretty handy for gaining life, but life gain is not all that prevalent in unlimited or Prime. I think he may be a nice tech piece for someone that can’t decide what their eighth character should be and it’s great that he has a Global already built in that helps his ability. I don’t like either of his other cards in this box. Penalty Box is not a bad choice for playing in casual or limited type event. Casey Jones would be an easy addition to any team that needs a cheap character. Although he’s not a Villain affiliated character, he could still be added to a Villain team and wouldn’t necessarily break theme because he was a vigilante that wasn’t always a friend of the Turtles.

Donatello is my dude! All of Donnie’s versions cost five energy, and we see the return of Turtle Power to the Turtle cards on Notice Me!. I don’t think Turtle Power is especially useful on characters that cost more than three or four. Something I like about all four Turtles is that they all have a version that does something similar to Intellectually Inclined. When they attack, they can each deal two damage to target character die or opponent if you pay an energy that corresponds to their energy type. Donatello is a Bolt character, so when he attacks, you can pay a Bolt energy to deal the two damage. I like that they all have a similar ability like that. Intellectually Inclined is my favorite of the three. Technologic would only be useful in a limited format where you’re only using the TMNT box sets. I don’t think that any version of Donnie will make it into unlimited play, but it’s possible that Intellectually Inclined might find a rogue home in Prime.

Foot Ninjas are back! They are Bolt characters that all have the Ally keyword and all cost three energy. Shinobijutsu has the Swarm keyword as well, but it has the same issue as the other Swarm Foot Ninja from the first box set – max of three dice. I find Swarm to be much more effective when you have four or more dice for the card. Shinobijutsu also works with Shredder, so if you’re playing this guy in a limited setting, he may be fun. But then I saw Stick to the Shadows and fell in love with this card. I’m the type of player that loves Overcrush or direct damage, like the type of ability damage on Stick to the Shadows. The only trouble you might have is getting two or three of them active at the same time to attack with. I can see this version possibly making a splash in the Prime format, but not likely in unlimited. I don’t much care for the ability on Glass Jawed.

First newcomer card – Hamato Yoshi. Hamato Yoshi suffers from an identity crisis over the various canons for TMNT. In one canon, he was the man that owned Splinter. Splinter watched and mimicked his movements while he was practicing martial arts. Splinter mastered the martial arts from his cage. Splinter went on to become the mutated rat we all know and love. In another canon, Hamato Yoshi was the adversary of Oroko Saki (Shredder) and was followed by Saki to the US. Yoshi was later exposed to mutagen causing him to mutate into a rat-man because he was mostly in contact with rats since he was living in the sewer with them.

Now, as for card abilities, I don’t like any of them. None of these type of cards fit how I play. All of the versions are expensive Shield type characters, and even the Global on Shidoshi isn’t good enough to justify adding him to a team. If you’re looking at him for limited or casual play, I’d probably go with Shidoshi. He would help your other attackers get through and with his huge defense, he might just survive!

Karai is another new character to Dice Masters. She’s no stranger to fans of the comic and the 2012 animated series. Her card art comes from the 2012 series. She’s a four cost Fist character without an affiliation, and all of her versions do something in relation to Sidekicks. I really like Dark Lineage, because she could help slow the damage coming from Front Line teams. You have to keep her in the Field Zone though, which is not easy to do since Front Line typically runs Imprisoned (in unlimited) and they would snatch up any Karai threat. I could see her being really useful in Prime, casual, and limited. I’m not excited about Torn Between Two Worlds, but she could potentially eliminate a threatening Ally. I like anything that’s cheap to purchase and buffs my Sidekicks, like Uneasy Alliance. My favorite is definitely Dark Lineage, even though I like Uneasy Alliance a lot.

Leatherhead – the Cajun Gator that’s typically a villain in the TMNT universe, but becomes an anti-hero of sorts in the 2012 series canon. All the fun, conversational characters seem to cost the most… He’s also a new character to Dice Masters. He’s a five and six cost Shield character that does something with TMNT characters on all his versions. Of all of them, I like I Guarantee! the best, but none of them seem good for unlimited or even for Prime. In a limited format where you’re only playing with the TMNT boxes, I Guarantee! would definitely be my pick for a Villain team. He’s got some really beefy stats too and his fielding cost isn’t bad.

Leonardo is our next Turtle in the box. All of his versions are five cost Fist characters. Fearless Leader has Turtle Power, which like I mentioned before, I don’t like on a five cost character – even in limited. Multifolded Steel is kind of interesting, if you somehow found a way to use the TMNT affiliation effectively. Plight of the Eldest is by far the best of the three. He has that cool ‘burn’ type ability that you can pay a Fist energy to use when he attacks. Just like with Donnie, I don’t think Leo is gonna see any unlimited play, and possibly only a rogue status in Prime. As for casual and limited, I could totally see someone finding a use for one the Leo cards.

Metalhead makes his debut in the Dice Masters world. This character has a majorly distorted backstory. And like his backstory, his abilities are all over the place. Rogue Robot, purchase cost of five, gets an attack and defense buff for each other non-Metalhead TMNT affiliated character die – not character, but character die. This could potentially make him a monster of an attacker or defender. I’d say he’s probably my favorite of the three, but he’s not going to see any unlimited play and most likely not any Prime play either. His place to shine is limited and casual. Dissociative Identity works with other non-Metalhead TMNT character dice, making that die unblockable when he attacks. I don’t see him making it into unlimited or Prime either. Upgrading the Arsenal is probably the best candidate for Prime, but I doubt he’ll even make it to a rogue status. When he’s fielded, you can deal damage to a Villain die equal to his attack. It’s good, but not great. I still prefer Rogue Robot for fun stuff.

Here’s the party dude, Michelangelo! His five cost Turtle Power version on Booyakasha! is at the bottom of my list. Insatiable Appetite is the direct damage ability version, and since Mikey is a Mask character, this makes him very useful. Chuck and Chuck II: The Sequel has a very situational ability. There are ways to manipulate blockers and attackers to help ensure that situation happens, but it takes a lot to set up and use. Insatiable Appetite is my favorite and it looks like all those similar burn ability Turtles are going to my preferred versions. I don’t think any of Mikey’s cards will see any unlimited play and maybe only a rogue status in Prime, just like his brothers. For casual and limited, Insatiable Appetite is the way to go!

Rude dude Raphael is a five cost Shield character with the awesome ‘burn’ ability on Nightwatcher. He also has Turtle Power on Controlling His Temper, which is not exciting. Second Son could be useful in limited because he keeps your TMNT affiliated characters safe from being targeted by opposing action dice and Globals. I like Second Son a little more than Nightwatcher because his ability could be somewhat useful in a Prime format, depending on what TMNT affiliated character you can effectively use. As far as unlimited goes, there isn’t much that can break into the current meta unless it’s cheap and fast. I would love to give Second Son a try in casual and limited.

Speaking of cheap, Renet Tilley is only a three cost Bolt character with decent abilities for all her cards. This is her first appearance in the universe of Dice Masters. Now, Renet has been around for a long time, but most folks don’t have a clue who she is. She has a lot to do with time traveling, which already scores her some negative marks in my book (as a character outside of Dice Masters). I don’t like needless time travel and she was a careless Time Master in the 2012 series. She is a friend of the Turtles, but she does not have the TMNT affiliation on her cards. As far as her card abilities go, 79th Dimension of Null-Time is definitely my favorite. Being able to spin that Cold Gun over to a burst face is HUGE! She’s likely going to see play in both unlimited and Prime. Impeccable Timing has an interesting ability that I need to play around with before saying I like it. Apprentice Timestress is a lesser version of Kang: The Conqueror or Scarlet Witch: Controls Probability. I can see all of her versions finding homes in limited and casual play, but 79th Dimension will most likely make it into unlimited and almost certainly into Prime. As a side note, the t on the end of her first name is not silent.

Shredder is a huge iconic Villain in the TMNT universe, so his cards deserve to be huge in purchase cost and have outrageous abilities that you’ll probably never get to go off. Surprisingly, Shredder has two versions that only cost six to buy. I know, it’s still a six cost character, but I expected him to be seven and eight costs. Scarred is interesting, but most likely not as useful as he could be since he costs six and then you need to Field him. His monstrous eight cost version, False Bushido, is not worth the effort it takes to get that ability to go off. Dining on Turtle Soup! is easily my favorite of the three. There are Globals that can force a character to attack, or better yet, force multiple characters to block and only attack with Shredder. That seems so silly and fun – I really want to build around that for our next event. Getting him into the Field could be difficult, but that’s when Polymorph Mutation comes in handy. He seems like a fun casual character, but I don’t see him making any team in unlimited or Prime.

Slash is another of those Villains turned anti-hero later in the 2012 series. I kinda wish we had a version that wasn’t a Villain for that reason since they used the 2012 series art for the card. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m super excited to have Slash in our Dice Masters world. He’s a Bolt character with a purchase cost of five on all cards and each version has an ability that has something to do with ‘burn’ type ability damage. Specimen 6 deals damage equal to his attack to target opposing character die that isn’t blocking him. I like it, but I don’t love it. He won’t see unlimited play and I doubt he’d make a rogue status in Prime. Portal from Dimension X deals damage equal to his level to an opponent when he’s KO’d. You can pair that with Blue-Eyes or a Fabricate keyword to get some direct damage in to your opponent. It’s a relatively expensive way of burning your opponent and I don’t see it being used in unlimited or even Prime. Never Liked the Name “Spike” has a when KO’d ability as well. He deals damage to your opponent equal to the total amount energy in their Reserve Pool. I could see this being used in unlimited, if he didn’t cost five to purchase. I’m not sure how much Prime play he’ll see since there aren’t many effective or useful ways to KO your characters to get the most out of his ability. I like this version the best though, because I can easily use him in a casual setting and have fun with him.

Tiger Claw is a new character to the TMNT universe, as far as I can tell. This is also his Dice Masters debut. There are several other tiger/cat mutant like characters, but I think this specific character didn’t come around until the 2012 series. Tiger Claw is another one of those expensive Villain characters, but one of the abilities and the stats almost make me want to attempt to play this card. I feel like Lost Humanity is too expensive for his ability, and Kraang Experiment just doesn’t seem good to me. I don’t like KO’ing my opponent’s character dice like that because it gives them more dice to roll on their next turn. I don’t see either of those two versions making it into unlimited or Prime. Seeking Vengeance is the version that I like the best and I’m a sucker for pricey characters that I can’t play in unlimited. I love Cheetah: Cursed Archaeologist, and Seeking Vengeance’s ability and attack stats are double that of Cheetah’s. Unfortunately, his cost is double too. I don’t think this card has a place in the current unlimited meta and I’m not sure he’ll make it in Prime either. As for the casual scene, this guy looks like loads of fun for a Villain team!

Triceratons are a race of alien creatures that look like a triceratops-man thing. In almost all the TMNT universe canon, they’re strictly villains, which makes them Villains in Dice Masters! I welcome Triceraton to the Dice Masters universe! Triceraton is a Fist character with purchase costs of four and five. Cretaceous Crusher is the only four cost and he has no ability text. There are definitely cheaper Villains with better abilities for unlimited, and probably Prime too. But if you really need a four cost Villain with no ability, here he is! For limited play, he’s a great addition to a Villain team since he’s one of the cheapest. Orders from Captain Zorax gets a bonus of three to his attack, but only when he attacks. That would make his level one attack a total of six, and his level three attack a total of eight. That’s not too shabby. Loyal to a Fault has one of my favorite words as his keyword – Overcrush. I’d like to be able to buff his attack stat if I were to use this version, and there are definitely ways to do that. I think I like this dude better than the other two versions. For unlimited and Prime, I can’t see any Triceratons making the cut. For casual and limited, I think these guys are a great addition to Villains.

Character Thoughts

Renet Tilley is by far the most useful of all the characters in the box. Foot Ninjas and Karai are also good. Is the box worth purchasing for just those three characters? Maybe, depending on how bad you want or need those abilities. If you’re not excited yet, wait until you see the Basic Action Cards.

Basic Action Cards

The biggest selling point for this box set is probably the vast assortment of Basic Action Cards. Sure the characters fun and some are possible meta dudes, but with revamps of some major meta BACs in this box, I can’t think of a better argument to buy a box or two – that’s right, I said two.

Hello Anger Issues! I can’t tell you how happy I am to see a revamp of Anger Issues that will be legal for Prime. I have an attack buff and Overcrush all in one Action with Haymaker. This card is really high on my list of favorites for the BACs in this box. It’s a great card for all different formats from unlimited and Prime to casual and limited.

I did a quick search on DM RetroBox for a card that did something similar to this and I couldn’t find one. This ability seems really familiar to me but I can’t find where I’ve seen it. Ingenious Tactics is an interesting card. Using this action die will prevent all combat damage to each of your attacking character dice. I really like this BAC, but I’m not sure how I’m going to use it yet. It’s handy for keeping your dudes in the Field when your opponent’s blockers will likely get KO’d. I’ll be playing around with this to see if I can find a use for it, but the one major deterrent is the cost. If I’m paying five for an action, it better be AMAZING.

Everyone is going crazy over this BAC. I don’t think folks are going to realize how much of a risk it is to use it until they try it on a team. Everyone went crazy over Pizza! until they realized how much is clunked up their bag and wasn’t as useful as they thought. I don’t think this die is gonna clunk up your bag or slow you down, but the risk you run by using this on your team is that your opponent can nab all of them before you even have a turn. I really love the ability on this BAC, but if my opponent brings this and I go first, I’m stealing all the Momentum.

Welcome to Prime, Polymorph. This revamp made me happier than Haymaker. I’m a big  Poly-Player so it’s safe to say that Poly is getting replaced with Mutation. I love Turtles, so if I can replace a card with a TMNT version, I’m so going to. I don’t think this card needs much of a review since it’s a major unlimited meta card. Now it gets a shot in Prime, which I imagine it will be on many teams out there.

Okay, several folks aren’t excited about this BAC, but I am. When a character is sacrificed, it doesn’t get KO’d, therefore it doesn’t gain the advantage of a When this character is KO’d ability. Mysterious Shredder Transport only costs three to purchase and has a great benefit. It’s a form of removal, which is not something we have a lot of in Prime. In an unlimited format, sacrificing characters could gum up someone’s bag or ruin someone’s plan. I really like this card and I’m totally gonna test it.

Nefarious Broadcast is another BAC that I think could be highly useful. It can clear buffs or other active effects that come from Global Abilities and stop Globals from being used for the rest of the turn. This hurts you too, but if you’re not relying on active Global effects or planning to use any Globals, then you have nothing to worry about. It only cost two to purchase, so it’s an easy turn one purchase on a bad roll. I imagine someone will find a way to work this onto a team in unlimited and I can see it being used in Prime – especially since there are buff Globals available in Prime. For casual and limited play, it could be useful but completely depends on the local meta.

Escape Incarceration, minus the Resistance, has found its way into Prime… wait – it’s already Prime-Legal. Reclaim does cost one less than Escape Incarceration, which could be what makes someone choose Reclaim over Escape Incarceration. Escape Incarceration didn’t take off in unlimited, and I don’t see Reclaim finding a foothold either. As far as the Prime format goes, it’s possible we could see Reclaim over Escape Incarceration. A really bad roll on turn one could leave you with only two energy instead of three – and the wrong energy type too. This wouldn’t be a bad backup option and may be more useful to you than Nefarious Broadcast. In a casual and limited atmosphere, this BAC is definitely one I’d recommend over Escape Incarceration. It’s simpler to use and cost one less to buy.

This is a revamp of Enrage from Uncanny X-Men. I can’t say that I’ve ever found a use for Enrage in an unlimited format where Invulnerability was available to me. There are plenty of taunt Globals out there, so the best thing about this BAC is the Global. This gives us a Bolt energy buff Global for Prime, which I don’t think we had. There are times where I’d rather have a Bolt buff than a Fist buff Global. It’s not a BAC that I’d toss to the side and forget about, but it’s not one that’s high on my list of BAC’s.

This BAC is a revamp of Transfer Power from Uncanny X-Men, and a combination of Monster Reborn‘s ability and the Global on Mystic Box from the Yu-Gi-Oh! set. Transfer Power is a very useful card in unlimited, and now we have a revamp of it for Prime. I imagine that Splinter’s Teachings will see lots of play in Prime. For casual and limited, this is an awesome card, and not just for it’s Global. Like its predecessor, it only cost three to purchase, making it a good buy on your first turn if you don’t get the right energy for your characters. I would definitely recommend this BAC for both the competitive formats as well as casual and limited play.

Here is my second favorite BAC in this box set, the Magic Missile revamp. I love Mutation, but Unstable Canister is a close second. The major difference between Unstable Canister and Magic Missile’s abilities are that Canister references a TMNT affiliated character and Magic Missile references an adventurer. This BAC will allow Batman Family Bat-Bomb to go off easier with a more reliable way to KO Alfred dice in the Prime format. It’s also great for Storm: Extra Lightning on a Prime team. For a casual or limited format, this is a great card. BACs that cost three or less are ones that I prefer.

BAC Overview

Wow! Talk about a loaded box! This box has all the major BAC abilities that anyoen could want! Oh, except for Big Entrance… I love that card almost as much as Polymorph. I would love to be able to use it in Prime. Here’s hoping it’ll see a revamp in the Superman/Wonder Woman starter. But really, you couldn’t ask for a better comprehensive assortment of BACs. Not only does this help new players that can’t afford all those different starters, but it helps other players that didn’t want to purchase D&D products. Good call, WizKids.

Action Reminder Cards

The four Action Reminder Cards are color coordinated with the four Turtles, which is a nice touch. It makes it easy for players to use their favorite color of the four, or play with their favorite Turtle’s color.

Paper Playmats

Just like the previous box set, the paper playmats’ artwork and color coordinate with the four Turtles. There are lots of reminders and tips on the playmats to help new players.

Dice Bags

The four dice bags are the normal paper bags that we’ve seen in the previous box set and other starters. The dice bags have artwork and colors that coordinate with the Turtles, just like the first box set. I love that they do that, making it easy for anyone to pick their favorite Turtle and represent them. #TeamDonnie Purple for me please!

Action Dice and Sidekick Dice

You’ll get enough Sidekick dice for four players as well as four different colors of Basic Action Dice. The Actions are color coordinated with the four Turtles, just like the bags and playmats.

As with the first box set, each of the Turtles have their very own dice designs. These are the dice for each of the four Turtles from the first box set.

These are the dice for the four Turtles from the new Heroes in a Half Shell box set.

I think I like the first set’s dice best, but images on the second set’s dice are cool too. They used silhouettes of the Turtles from the 2012 animated series.

Storage Box

The picture on the right shows the box with both sets of dice and cards, including both sets of Sidekicks and Basic Action Dice.

The first box set didn’t have the clear tray cover which caused lots of transporting issues. Dice would slide and bounce all over the box, and even jam themselves in such a way that the box lid would lift up and possibly spill the contents everywhere. I’m so happy that WizKids added the clear cover to this box. I can put all of my TMNT dice in this second box and not worry about the box lid coming off just because the box tilted or slid onto its side in the car.

Final Thoughts

There were major improvements from the first box set. I loved the first box, but I’m in love with this one. When a new player joins our group, this is going to be the very first product that I recommend for them to purchase – not just because I love TMNT so much, but because you can’t find a better assortment of vital and useful card abilities in any other Dice Masters starter or box set. If you’re new to Dice Masters or you’re trying to help a new player with recommendations, this is the product to look at. Many of these cards are great for casual and limited play, but also highly useful in the new PDC Prime format and even unlimited.

Aside from the obvious usefulness of many of the cards for unlimited and Prime, I love how the cards work so well together within the box too. A new player can combine both box sets for even more Turtle fun! These two boxes make for a great purchase for any Turtle fan that wants to play a game using their favorite TMNT characters but doesn’t want to jump all in to the larger world of Dice Masters.

WizKids has done some amazing things with the additions of the Box Sets, the yearly Starters, and the Team Packs. It makes the game more affordable for folks that also play other collectible games, therefore keeping those folks in the community. It also allows players like myself to expand into the other games that WizKids produces, like HeroClix, where I wasn’t able to before. I really feel like WizKids is on the right track, so long as they can better balance their release dates. That’s another growing pain that younger games experience and the balancing act will come with time. They’re just now introducing the yearly starters, so once they find the best form of product releases, the release date balancing should improve. I’m excited for what the future holds for Dice Masters. I hope that WizKids decides to branch out into other IPs and release them as all inclusive Box Sets.

What are your favorite cards?
What do you think of the Dice Building Game box?
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!

Review! Preview of the Marvel Deadpool Super Rares

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

WizKids recently spoiled eight of the super rare cards from the Marvel Deadpool set. The Reserve Pool has done a two part review (Part 1 and Part 2) of the super rares and discussed them on their Podcast as well. I thought I’d write up a Preview/Review article for these cards as well. Most of the recent sets have only had eight super rare cards, so it’s safe to assume that these are all the super rare cards in the Deadpool set. But, WizKids could surprise us and throw in a few more.

I do not have pictures for any of the cards, but you can see all the cards in TRP’s Part 1 Review and TRP’s Part 2 Review articles. I haven’t read their articles yet, because I don’t want subliminal influences for this article. I fully intend to read both of their articles as soon as I’ve finished and published this article.

Standard Super Rares

These super rares all have one energy type and a purchase cost of five, except for Multiple Man. Most of the cards have a maximum of four Max Dice, with the exception of Multiple Man.

Deadpool: Why Isn’t There A Hero Affiliation?

Deadpool is a five cost, Fist character with the Deadpool affiliation and his text reads:

“When Deadpool is KO’d, KO target opposing level 1 character die.”

Deadpool has TFC (Total Fielding Cost) of three (0/1/2) with stats of 2/4, 4/4, 5/5. I don’t see anything spectacular about his fielding costs or stats.

Deadpool’s ability is okay but you need to use him in conjunction with another character or action that spins or makes characters level one to get the most bang for your chimichangas. The best card I can think of (off the top of my head) to pair with Deadpool is Stealth Ops: Basic Action Card. Deadpool can be particularly useful to get rid of a problem character, like an Oracle: Master Investigator. This could take up two card slots on your team for a combo that you may not use, and in a competitive setting, I feel the game is too fast right now for something like this.

As for casual play, this card with Stealth Ops or another similar type card, might be a fun combo to play with. I don’t think it’s overpowered for a casual setting, and this gives Deadpool super fans a chance to use their beloved character with a fun gimmick, befitting of Deadpool.

Overall, I’m not crazy about this card, but he could be fun in casual play.

Lady Deadpool: Earth 3010

Lady Deadpool is a five cost, Shield character with the Deadpool affiliation and her text reads:

“While Lady Deadpool is active, when you use an action die, you may pay BOLT. If you do, you may immediately use the ability of that action die a second time with the same number of bursts.”

Lady Deadpool has TFC of three (0/1/2) with stats of 3/3, 4/4, 5/5. Her fielding costs and stats are close in line with Deadpool’s, so they’re about average for a five cost character.

Lady Deadpool’s ability is very powerful for anyone using a team focused on Action Dice. At the cost of a single Bolt energy, you can use the ability of Action Die you just used. We don’t have an official ruling on how abilities like this work with Continuous Action Dice, but this is how I would rule it:

Her ability says that you can use the ability a second time. Effects end at the end of turn, so if you copy the ability of a Continuous Action Die and you don’t actually use the ability, you can’t save it. You need to use the ability immediately and if you can’t or the ability won’t go off until after your turn ends, then the copy of the ability fizzles. Lady Deadpool doesn’t add an additional copy of an Action Die. She only allows you to use the ability of an Action Die that you’ve just played.

Lady Deadpool would be very useful with Polymorph, Vicious Struggle, Kryptonite: Green Death, or any other Action Die that could be useful multiple times. Actions like Delayed Blast Fireball wouldn’t be beneficial because the effect would clear at the end of turn. I think Lady Deadpool has the potential to see some competitive play, even with her purchase cost of five, but she could be a little too confusing for beginners in casual play.

Multiple Man: Pile On!

Multiple Man is a two cost, Mask character with the X-Men affiliation and his text reads:

“Swarm (While this character is active, if you draw this die during your Clear and Draw Step, draw and roll an extra die.)”

Multiple Man has TFC of four (1/1/2) with stats of 1/1, 2/2, 4/4. His fielding costs are not perfect, but for a character that only costs two energy, his stats aren’t terrible.

Multiple Man is definitely my favorite super rare of this set. He’s also the only one to have a max dice count of SIX! That’s right – a Swarm character with six dice!!! And he’s a Mask character on top of it. All of my locals know how much I absolutely love Swarm and I’m super excited for this super rare. I’m not crazy about his fielding costs, but you only need to get one of him in the Field Zone anyway. I think he’s got great potential for competitive play and I don’t think he’ll be an issue with casual play. He’s not overpowered and he helps ramping with or without PXG. I do like that his level three side is a 4A and 4D. Swarm characters are typically victims of Magic Missile, but on level three, Multiple Man won’t fall easily!

One important note about Swarm – it works as a While Active ability, which is like a light (it’s either on, or off). You only need one Multiple Man in the Field Zone to get the full benefit of his Swarm ability.

X-23: Blades of Rage

X-23 is a five cost, Bolt character with no affiliation and her text reads:

“When X-23 attacks, roll all dice in all players’ Prep Areas. For each energy rolled, X-23 gets +2A. (Count energy symbols, not faces that show energy.) Return all rolled dice to their respective Prep Areas.”

X-23 has TFC of six (1/2/3) with stats of 4/2, 5/3, 7/4. Her fielding costs are high and her defense is low. Even with her attack of five and seven on her level two and three sides, I’m not a fan of her stats at all.

I don’t know that her ability is good enough to get her into top tier play. I could definitely see her on some rogue teams in competitive play though. She’s a Bolt character, which is really good with Bolt/Ring as an additional win condition. I may try to experiment with her and Stealth Ops on a Bolt/Ring variant. There are usually always dice in the Prep Area and she has the potential to be a beefy attacker.

I think she could be fun for some casual play as well. Her ability isn’t all that confusing since they clarified that she counts energy symbols and not faces in the card text. Her costs and stats are decent for casual play, and it’s pretty clear that she’s an aggressive type character with her attack being high and defense being low on all faces.

Crossover Super Rares

All four of these super rares cost six energy and require you spend at least one of each energy type to purchase them. You can use Wild energy to purchase these, unlike the White Lantern characters that specifically state on the cards that you can’t use Wild energy to purchase them. None of these characters have an affiliation. All of the Crossover super rare cards have a maximum of one die. Their dice are unique to their cards, so if you get your hands on one of these, make sure you keep up with the die!

Captain America with Mjolnir: Worthy

Captain America with Mjolnir has a TFC of five (1/2/2) with stats of 4/5, 5/6, 7/7.

“While Captain America with Mjolnir is active, the first time you use a Global Ability each turn, deal 1 damage to target opponent.
While Captain America with Mjolnir is active, the first time you use an action die each turn, deal 1 damage to target opponent.”

I really like this ability and his combat stats. What I’m not a fan of is his purchase cost being six and fielding costs. I almost wish they had kept with the White Lantern restriction of not being able to use Wild energy for the purchase cost and left the purchase cost at four. It looks like the best options of reducing the costs of these cards would be Blue-Eyes White Dragon: Monstrous Dragon or Big Entrance: Basic Action Card.

But if you can get this Captain America in the Field Zone, he is a force to be reckoned with. Using Polymorph could help you get him into the Field Zone without paying his fielding cost. He doesn’t have to be spun up from level one necessarily, because his level one stats aren’t bad. His defense of five will help keep him safe from most direct damage, which is great since he only has one die. Overall, I like this card and think he’s good for casual, and has potential for competitive.

Charles Xavier, Juggernaut: Brains and Brawn

Charles Xavier, Juggernaut has a TFC of four (1/1/2) with stats of 2/4, 5/4, 7/4.

“When Charles Xavier, Juggernaut, attacks, name a die and draw a die from your bag. If it is the named die, add it to your Prep Area and spin this die up 1 level. Otherwise, add it to your Used Pile.”

I think others have mentioned this, but I’m going to say it as well – Charles Xavier, Juggernaut does not have Overcrush…  I don’t think any of the Juggernaut characters have a built in Overcrush. His stats are great for Overcrush on his level two and three sides, and his fielding costs for these stats aren’t terrible. If you build a team and use this character, you probably will want to add something like the Hulk Out: Basic Action Card to give this character Overcrush. His actual ability isn’t something I’m crazy about and would only be useful if you could almost guarantee what you would draw. There are far better ways to Prep dice and I really don’t feel like this card is worth adding to any team, casual or competitive.

Phoenix Force Magneto: Nowhere Is Safe Anymore

Phoenix Force Magneto has a TFC of six (1/2/3) with stats of 6/6, 7/7, 9/9.

“When fielded, reroll X active character dice you control. After you do so, target opponent must reroll X active character dice they control. (Your opponent chooses which dice.)”

I like being able to control things and this ability is almost more valuable to me than Storm: Wind-Rider, even though he doesn’t do damage like she does. He could help clear the Field Zone better than Storm does. His biggest drawback is his purchase cost of six, but those combat stats are pretty amazing. But if you combo this card with Parallax‘s Global, you could get your characters back into the Field Zone if they rolled up as energy from his ability. I could see this card sneaking onto a few competitive teams, especially since a lot of teams use Parallax. And even the Elf Thief: Lesser Harper could be beneficial to help get rid of energy your opponent rolled, thanks to Magneto’s ability. I don’t like playing the Lottery and the Lottery hates me… Every time I use Parallax’s Global, I feel like I get ripped off, just like buying a lottery ticket. That’s why I don’t play either Lottery, usually…

But for a casual setting, not sure I’d recommend this guy. He’s expensive and his ability is a When Fielded ability, meaning it may be harder to use him multiple times. You could always Fabricate with him, but even that’s limited to four if you bring four dice for the Golem. You could attack with him, but if they have a blocker, they’re going to block him for sure. And then, when you do cycle him, you need to pay to field him again. In a casual setting, that’s a brutal fielding cost on level three. Most casual teams don’t get more than four or five dice per turn, so spending all the energy on fielding him could hurt a casual team. It also hurts a ton when you roll too many Sidekick faces and not enough energy to field that level three Phoenix Force Magneto die.

Wolverine Lord of Vampires: The X-Vampires Will Feed

Wolverine Lord of Vampires has a TFC of six (1/2/3) with stats of 4/4, 6/6, 8/8.

“While Wolverine Lord of Vampires is active, when an opposing character die is KO’d, he deals 1 damage to target opponent and you gain 1 life.”

The first cards that come to mind, as combo cards, when I read this ability are Delayed Blast Fireball: Basic Action Card, Hulk: Green Goliath and Magic Missile: Basic Action Card. Any of those cards could form a great combo with Wolverine Lord of Vampires, especially later in the game when you’re down on life. Effective life gain could be a huge game changer! I don’t like that I need one of every type of energy to purchase him, but at least I can reduce his cost and use Wild energy too. I could see someone trying to sneak this guy onto a competitive team, but I don’t think he’s fast enough for the current meta to be the focus of a team. I could definitely see someone using him as an alternative win condition.

 For casual play, I think this guy could be fun to play around with, but I would be cautious in building around him. If you’re playing casual, you don’t want to run combos that could hurt your local casual scene. I think this card falls into that danger category because when paired with the right cards, he could potentially devastate an opponent.

Final Thoughts

So, I’m most excited about Lady Deadpool and Multiple Man. I’m not super excited about any of the Crossover super rare characters. I’m fairly confident that these are all of the super rares for the Deadpool set and I hope they don’t add anymore. I also hope they don’t add chase cards like the full art Black Lanterns and full art Zombies. While those cards are cool, I’ve never personally seen one pulled from a pack and we opened tons of those two sets. I only have one full art chase card, and I got that in a trade with a friend.

Overall, I think there are several playable super rares. And even if they may not make top tier, I think that they could still make their way into the competitive scene.

What is your favorite super rare from this set?
Do you think any could change the meta?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thank you for reading!

Roll on, Dice Masters!