Confusing Card of the Week #96 – The Question: Find the Answers

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at The Question: Find the Answers from the DC Batman set.

Ruling – Gadgeteer Keyword

From the WizKids Keywords page:

Gadgeteer: When a character die with Gadgeteer attacks, you may roll a gear die or an action die with the Continuous keyword in your Used Pile.  If you roll a non-energy face, you may move it unto your Field Zone.  Otherwise, return it to your Used Pile.

I think there is a typo in on the WizKids Keywords page. Where it says ‘you may move it unto your Field Zone’, I think it’s supposed to say into and not unto. But I’m certain we all know what they mean.

Gadgeteer is a new Keyword in the Batman set. This ability only works when the character with Gadgeteer attacks and only if you have a Gear or Continuous action die in your Used Pile. Gear dice will have the Equip Keyword on their card.

You cannot use the Gadgeteer ability for a non-Continuous action die.

When your Gadgeteer character attacks, you get to choose a qualifying action die from your Used Pile and roll it. It can be a Basic Action die or a Non-Basic Action die, so long as it’s Gear or has the Continuous keyword.

After you roll the action die, if it shows an Action face (non-energy face), you get to move it into your Field Zone. Moving a die is not the same as using it, much like moving a character die is not the same as fielding it. If it shows an energy face, you must return it to the Used Pile. The image below shows where you can find the different faces on the Die Face Reference part of the card.

This ability is optional and not mandatory because it uses ‘may’ in the text. If your Gadgeteer character attacks and you have a Continuous die in your Used Pile, you are not required to use the Gadgeteer ability. If you forget to use it and the Attack Step has moved into the Assign Blockers portion, you have missed your opportunity to use Gadgeteer.

Ruling – Ability

The Question’s other ability works like a While Active ability even though it doesn’t say While Active. 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.

 

Whenever you use an action die, The Question gains +1A and +1D until the end of the turn. You can use multiple action dice on the same turn and his ability will trigger for each one.

What is considered ‘using’ an Action Die?
~ When you have a non-Continuous action die showing an action face in your Reserve Pool and you use it for it’s effect, moving it Out of Play, that is considered using it.
~ When you have a Continuous action die showing an action face in your Reserve Pool, using it means putting it into the Field Zone. When you activate a Continuous action die for it’s effect, that is not the same as using the action die because the die was used by fielding it.
~ Abilities that say ‘use an action die’ or ‘use the effect of an action die’ are all considered to be using an action die.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ The Question is a Mask type character card.
~ He has the Justice League affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Uncommon and is #75 of 124.

Examples

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

Example One:
Gadgeteer and Using Action Dice.

Game State
~ I have one level three Question (2A/4D) die in the Field Zone. I also have two Kryptonite: Green Death dice, one Unstable Canister die, and one Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” die, all showing action faces, in my Reserve Pool.
~ My opponent has two Sidekick die in the Field Zone.
~ It is currently during my Main Step.
(Main Step)
~ I use one of my Kryptonite dice, moving it Out of Play, and target one of my opponent’s Sidekick dice. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D.
~ I use my other Kryptonite die, moving it Out of Play, and target my opponent’s Sidekick die again. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +2A and +2D.
~ I use my Unstable Canister die, moving it Out of Play, and target that same Sidekick die which KO’s it. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +3A and +3D.
~ I use my Cold Gun die, moving it to the Field Zone. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +4A and +4D.
~ I activate my Cold Gun die, moving it Out of Play, to target my opponent’s second Sidekick die which KO’s it. This does not trigger Question’s ability.
(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ I assign my Question (6A/8D) to attack, moving him to the Attack Zone.
~ The Question’s Gadgeteer ability triggers when he attacks and I check my Used Pile for Continuous action dice. I have one Turtle Van and one Bat-Signal die in my Used Pile and I choose the Turtle Van Basic Action and roll it. It lands on an Action face and I move it into my Field Zone.
(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ My opponent does not have any blockers to assign.
(Attack Step – Actions and Globals)
~ I do not use any Action Dice or Globals.
~ My opponent does not use any Globals.
(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ The Question assigns all six of his attack to my opponent and my opponent loses six life. The Question die is immediately moved Out of Play because he attacked and was not blocked.
(Clean Up Step)
~ Character dice that were KO’d by combat damage during the Attack Step are now placed in the 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). The Question will lose all of the +1A and +1D bonuses he gained this turn.
~ All damage is cleared.
~ End of turn abilities will resolve.
~ My turn is now over and my opponent’s turn will begin.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
You can find a relevant ruling about similar text for using an action die, here.
You can find a relevant ruling about Continuous actions and abilities, here.
You can find a relevant ruling about While Active text being missing from the card, here.

Basic Information

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

I like this version of Question better than the other two versions. It’s easy to build up lots of action dice for a single turn with Boomerang or even Scarlet Witch: Hex Bolts from the Doctor Strange Team Pack. Since I love Overcrush so much, using Proton Cannon just makes sense, because his stats can become massive! I love that he has Gadgeteer too, which can help you get your Continuous action die back in play. He’s got a great purchase cost and while his attack stats are not the best, his stats can get a boost and even be swapped with Kal-L’s Global. I think this card is great for casual play and possibly good for a rogue team in Modern Age competitive play too.

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!

Confusing Card of the Week #90 – Jessica Jones: Ladies’ Night

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Jessica Jones: Ladies’ Night  from the Marvel Defenders Team Pack.

Ruling – Ability

Although her ability doesn’t say it, it acts as a While Active ability. You can find that ruling here. 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.

Jessica Jones says that whenever one of your character dice are targeted by a Global or character ability, she will get +1A and +1D. Her ability is not limited to opposing Globals and character abilities. If you target one of your own character dice, including a Jessica Jones die, her ability will trigger. Her ability does not target, so she would not get additional bonuses from her ability triggering.

Her ability will trigger each time one of your character dice are targeted by a Global or character ability, and not just once in a turn.

When Jessica Jones’s ability is triggered, it will apply to each of her dice that are active at the time it was triggered.

Action dice abilities can affect Jessica Jones and characters friendly to her without triggering her ability. Targeting her, or a character friendly to her, with a Global on an Action card will trigger her ability.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Jessica Jones is a Fist type character card.
~ She has the Defenders affiliation.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #17 of 24.

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:
Jessica Jones and a friendly character targeted during my opponent’s Main Step.

Game State
~ I have a level three Jessica Jones die and a Sidekick die in the Field Zone.
~ My opponent has a level one Shredder: Dining on Turtle Soup in their Reserve Pool and two Bolt energy.
~ It’s during their Main Step.
(Main Step)
~ My opponent pays one energy, sending it Out of Play, to field Shredder.
~ They use Shredder’s ability and target my Sidekick, which is now KO’d and placed in the Prep Area and I lose one life.
~ Because a character die I control was targeted by a character ability, Jessica Jones gets a +1A/+1D.
~ My opponent spends their last Bolt energy, moving it Out of Play, for the Global on my Unstable Canister Basic Action Card. They target my Jessica Jones die.
~ My Jessica Jones die takes one damage from the Global ability, but because a character die that I control was targeted by a Global ability, Jessica Jones gets a +1A/+1D.
~ My Jessica Jones die now has a +2A/+2D, making her attack an 8 and her defense a 5. But because that die has taken one damage this turn, she can only take 4 more damage before she’s KO’d.
~ My opponent passes priority to me, but I choose to not use any Globals. I return priority and we move into the Attack Step.
(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ My opponent assigns Shredder to attack, moving his die to the Attack Zone.
(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ I assign Jessica Jones to block Shredder, moving her die to the Attack Zone in front of Shredder.
(Attack Step – Actions and Globals)
~ My opponent does not use any actions or Globals.
~ I do not use any Globals.
(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ Shredder assigns his four damage to Jessica Jones’s remaining defense of four.
~ Jessica Jones assigns her eight damage to Shredder’s defense of four.
~ Both characters are KO’d.
(Clean Up Step)
~ Character dice that were KO’d during the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step are moved to the Prep Area.
~ All dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile.
~ All damage on character dice is cleared.
~ All effects end unless otherwise stated.

Example Two:
Jessica Jones die targeted during the Attack Step.

Game State
~ I have a level three Jessica Jones die and a Sidekick die in the Field Zone. I also have one Fist energy and one Bolt energy in my Reserve Pool.
~ My opponent doesn’t have any characters in the Field Zone and no energy in the Reserve Pool.
~ None of my characters stats have been altered.
~ We’re moving into my Attack Step.
(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ I assign my Jessica Jones die and my Sidekick die to attack, moving both of them into the Attack Zone.
(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ My opponent does not assign any blockers.
(Attack Step – Actions and Globals)
~ I spend one Bolt energy, moving it Out of Play, to use the Global on my Unstable Canister Basic Action Card and target my Jessica Jones die.
~ Jessica Jones takes one damage and her ability triggers because one of my character dice was the target of Global ability. My Jessica Jones die gets a +1A/+1D.
~ I spend my Fist energy, moving it Out of Play, to use the Global on my opponent’s Haymaker Basic Action Card and target my Jessica Jones die.
~ Jessica Jones gets a +1A from the Haymaker Global and her ability triggers because one of my character dice was the target of a Global ability. My Jessica Jones die gets a +1A/+1D.
~ My Jessica Jones die now has a +3A/+2D making her attack a 9 and her defense a 5.
~ My opponent does not use any actions or Globals.
(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ Both of my character dice are unblocked. They each deal their attack directly to my opponent.
~ My opponent is dealt 10 damage and both of my character dice are immediately placed Out of Play.
(Clean Up Step)
~ Character dice that were KO’d during the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step are moved to the Prep Area.
~ All dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile.
~ All damage on character dice is cleared.
~ All effects end unless otherwise stated.

Official Sources

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

Ruling about abilities that need the character to be active, but the card doesn’t say While Active, here.

Basic Information

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

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

Out of all the cards in the Defenders Team Pack, this Jessica Jones and Iron Fist: Holding Back the Storm are the only cards I like. I went straight for Iron Fist instead of test playing Jessica Jones because I loved his ability. But after playing with him a little and trying to make him work, I think Jessica Jones is the route I need to go.

When playing a card like this, you want to bring Globals that tempt your opponent into using them on your dudes, like Unstable Canister. They can target Jessica Jones as much as they want, but unless they have some other way to deal her damage, she won’t get KO’d by Canister Global strikes alone. Using Haymaker isn’t a bad idea either – or Goliath if you want to use a different Basic Action besides Haymaker. You don’t have to rely on your opponent to use Globals/character abilities on your characters. You could just pump her up on your own and then give her Overcrush for those potential blockers. You could make her unblockable with an ability like the on Silver Sable: Hero for Hire. And because it targets, it buffs her stats too.

For the competitive scenes, I think she might fall just short of being a top tier card. It’s not her purchase cost that’s the issue – I think it’s very reasonable for her ability and stats. There is way too many Cold Guns out there that can take her out. Her ability doesn’t trigger off of Action abilities, just Globals and character abilities. But even if it did trigger off of Action abilities, a Cold Gun shuts her down before she attacks. You would need to put pressure on your opponent with multiple Jessica Jones dice, which can be difficult since she cost five to purchase.

I don’t think she’s too overpowered on her own for a casual setting, but I would be mindful of what your other locals are playing.

I like this card and I think she’s probably the best card in the Team Pack. I can’t wait to give her a go this week! I might even pair her with some of this crazy new Batman stuff. And just because I don’t think she’s good enough for meta competitive play, doesn’t mean I won’t try her!

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!