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!
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Roll on, Dice Masters!
Dice Dice Kitty 