Spoiler-y goodness has hit the internet once again – this time it’s in the form of a preview vid of the upcoming X-Men: First Class set by Tom Vasel over at the Dice Tower. You can find it over here:
As usual – I’ve give it a watch over and noted my first impression, gut-instinct stand outs from the preview. Here’s the top picks I’m looking forward to playing with…
Morph – Change of Heart
I reckon this guy could make for a few fun casual combos to experiment with.
There’s tonnes of high cost BACs with interesting ** game-texts that this guy could tap into, and while I think there’s a little bit of rules clarification that will come out of the woodwork around some interactions (How would he work with ‘Delayed Blast Fireball’?), he’s still got loads of potential if it comes together the way I think he does.
One idea immediately springs to mind when thinking about drafting this set: get him on a team loaded with the new “Awakens” key word and drop a ‘Field Promotion’ or ‘Focus Power’ in the mix.
I’m going to be having a good look through some lesser used, expensive BACs to see if there’s some ** game-texts to be taken advantage of with this guy.
Scarlett Witch – Careful What You Wish For
Well… after much lamenting the loss of ‘Constantine – Anti Hero’ and the fear upcoming Action cards in the Guardians of the Galaxy set, we’ve got some interesting Action hate in the form of this card.
In the current meta I can see her being real useful. She can really mess with staple Action Dice like ‘Kryptonite – Green Death’ and ‘Captain Cold’s Cold Gun – Frozen Firearm’. I also suspect that by the time this set is released there will have been quite a bit of experimentation with some pretty potent Action jiggery pokery from the Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy set – so she can’t come around soon enough as the meta-evolution we’re about to see for as a few months now is going to be ready for her.
It’s also a fun ability – it’s got a bit of a dramatic, “hold your breath” moment kind of thing going on, which I love. She doesn’t just outright cancel Actions, she does it with a bit of flair.
Also – notice the ‘Villain’ affiliation symbol flip flopping continues for Marvel sets – after jumping back to the Hydra symbol for the Guardians of the Galaxy set following the red ‘V’ use in the Maximum Carnage team pack we’re apparently back to the red ‘V’ again for this set too… what’s could it mean?
Boom Boom – Mutate 35
If you’re planning on using at least one Global a turn, this could be a fun card to have a play around with using.
I’ve long been a fan of “death by a thousand cut” strategies, and, while one damage doesn’t sound much, my experience of playing with ‘Human Torch’ and ‘Black Manta’ teams tells me it soon adds up.
At a two purchase cost ‘Boom Boom’ can enter play for you nice and early, as soon as your second turn with a ‘Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard’ Global even, which means you can start your cheeky ping nice and early. There’s lots of good Globals, in both Modern & Golden formats, that get good regular usage turn after turn, and ‘Boom Boom’ can turn them into even more of a strategic advantage.
She could also make for a nice addition to a draft team, especially if you’re playing an “any Basic Action” event.
Lots of fun to be had here.
Pyro – Bonfire of Vanity
The Bolt Burn Villain card pool gets yet another little boost to it’s ranks in ‘Pyro’, and the Uncommon is the one that’s caught my eye.
I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at a Bolt themed Villain team for a while, but every time I step closer to making it another great candidate turns up in some spoilers like this bad boy.
Rolling two or more Bolts in your Roll and Reroll Step is not all that much of a stretch in my reckoning, especially in a Bolt-centric build with some cheap Bolt characters to use for ramp (like ‘Foot Ninja – Shredder’s Army’, for example), and a guaranteed hit of two every turn will soon catch up with your opponent.
Get him paired up with someone like ‘Firefly – Watch the World Burn’ and you’ve got a use for all the Bolts you’ve been rolling too to maximise their use and to amp up the burn.
I might finally get around to my Villain Burn team when this guy arrives.
Jean Grey – Professor’s Protege
This one caught my eye as an interesting way to lock out your opponent.
She’s not cheap – both purchasing & fielding costs are high – but she could be worth her weight in gold against teams made up of weenies. There’s the potential to prevent a lot of stuff on your opponent’s team from ever hitting the field, especially at lvl 3.
Your opponent want to use their ‘Shriek – Sonic Beam’? Nope. Just rolled your D Wizz on his 2nd level. Sorry. (#notsorry) Want to field a Sidekick now you’ve bought your SR ‘Darkseid’? Not likely.
If you were really so inclined (It’ll take a lot of set up) you could completely lock your opponent’s fielding options down by paring Jean Grey up with cards like ‘Lockjaw – Fiercely Loyal’ or ‘Penguin – Bully’ to deliver even more restrictive damage.
Jubilee – Mallrat
As Super-Rares go in a set; this one has got quite a bit of playability to my mind, and I’m be keeping my fingers good & crossed on the day my Grav Feed arrives for this one (Unless, of course, one of the yet to be revealed Super-Rares has even more playability)
I think there’s a nice opportunity with this card to make a pretty annoying casual team, combo-ing it up with ‘S.T.A.R. Labs’ Global and an ‘Unstable Cannister’ Global to field & KO Sidekicks over & over (Perhaps with the ‘Boom Boom’ above for good measure) to repeatedly deliver that lovely ping.
—————-
There we go folks – everything that caught my eye on the first viewing. I’m certain there’s some juicier stuff I’ve just not clocked when I watched the vid so feel free to drop a note in the comments below with any of your Top Picks from the preview. Can you see any cool new combos that these new cards open up? Any particular card you’ll be looking for in drafts? Let me know.
Thanks for reading,
