Trinity War – Zatanna Figure Review

~Amber

The sexiest thing to grace the Justice League Dark has made her way into Trinity War.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

I’m personally more a fan of her traditional Magician’s Costume (as my 2014 con cosplay can attest to) but this is a very sexy sculpt all the same and it nicely showcases her Nu52 costume. It also gives us a bit of show with her powers. The action pose is great though I’m a little worried about the stability of her back leg there. I foresee many a Zatannas coming off their bases.

The Dial

Zatanna is 120pts for 6 clicks of health with the Wing Symbol, 6 Range with 2 Targets and the Justice League and Mystics Team Abilities. She has the Generic Celebrity and Mystical Keywords along with the named Justice League Dark and Shadowpact keywords.

Zatanna’s dial is like nothing we have ever seen in Clix before. Her trait introduces a brand new mechanic that is so incredible thematic for her I’m beyond words how excited I am to test this out. Ananym allows you to play Zatanna in two distinct ways. When you place your characters on the map for the beginning of the game you can choose to either play Zatanna forwards or Backwards. Playing her forwards starts her on click 1 and turns her dial clockwise while taking damage (going from click 1 to 2 to 3) When you play her backwards Zatanna starts on click 6 and turns her dial counterclockwise when she takes damage (going from click 6 to 5 to 4) Due to the nature of this power her stats work in a U pattern starting higher and ending high. This also allows you to chose which one you’d like to play in a Tournament as your choice will come after you’ve seen your opponent’s team.

Forward

Forward Zatanna is an attacker, her first click having 9 Movement with Running Shot, 11 Attack with gnignitS skcigaM, 17 Defense with Energy Shield/Deflection and 3 Damage with Outwit. Her Special Attack Power gives her Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Precision Strike which will help her get around many of the more annoying Defense Abilities. She keeps this power set for another click before switching to her mid dial power set which includes Pulse Wave, Toughness and pleH mehT. This Special Damage power allows use to give Zatanna a free action to choose either Barrier and Perplex or Enhancement and Probability Control, the chosen powers last until her next turn. The next click has Pulse Wave, Toughness and Support. Then we get into her Support clicks which has Sidestep, Telekinesis, Defend and Support and her final click has pleH mehT instead of Support.

Backward

Backward Zatanna is a support heavy character, as you can tell from turning her Forward dial. Her top dial (click 6 in this case) has a 9 Movement with Sidestep, 9 Attack with Telekinesis, 17 Defense with Defend and 2 Damage with her Special Damage Power that allows you to choose from Barrier and Perplex or Enhancement and Probability Control. The only thing that could make this better is having a slightly higher Defense to go with that Defend. This moves along to Sidestep, Telekinesis, Defend and Support before gaining two clicks of Pulse Wave and Toughness with the first having Support and the second regaining pleH mehT. She finishes off her dial on the offensive with two clicks of Running Shot, sgnignitS skcigaM (Precision Strike and Penetrating/Psychic Blast) Energy Shield/Deflection and Outwit.

Overall this is an incredibly fun and versatile figure. She may be a little costly at 120pts but with Mystics mixed into the mix she’s going to be punishing opponents for hurting her as well. I can’t wait for the confusion she’ll cause though when players forget which way her dial is turning (I’m evil, I know) She can be either a good attacker or a fantastic support piece for a Justice League Dark team and thankfully doesn’t have any powers that require her to be on a Theme Team. Being a Super Rare she may not be ideal for sealed but can be of much use in constructed. I think her point cost will keep her out of Competitive play unfortunately.

Trinity War – Frankenstein Figure Review

~ Amber

Magicians, Monsters and Mystics Oh My! Justice League Dark continues it’s invasion of Trinity War.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

The last time we saw Frankenstein was in the Arkham Asylum set where he looked like the classic Boris Karloff monster. Much like most things the Monster has been updated within the Nu52 universe and given a more modern monster look, which apparently includes some body armour and a torn denim jacket. The action pose is nice looking though this is going to be one of those sculpts that will be impossible to find a straight sword on.

The Dial

Frankenstein is 93pts for 8 clicks of health, Indomitable and 4 Range. He has a whole whack of keywords including the generic Monster, Past and Soldiers ones along with the named Creature Commandos, Justice League Dark and Seven Soldiers keyword – one of which is brand new.

While Frankenstein’s stats are pretty average, you’d expect at least a little more damage out of the Monster, though thankfully the only stat that really drops is his Movement. On the top of his dial he has a 9 Movement with Charge, 10 Attack with Archangel’s Sword, 17 Defense with Toughness and 3 Damage. His Special Attack Power allows him to use Blades Claws Fangs and on a result of 4 to 6 hit characters can’t be healed for the rest of the game (even if this power is lost) This does make up for his lower Damage and giving his Blades an extra effect makes it more beneficial to roll for. If you’ve read my reviews before you know how much I loath having Blades Claws Fangs on a click that already deals 3 Damage. It gives you a 50% chance of doing more damage, a 1 in 6 chance of doing the same amount of damage and a 1 in 3 chance of doing less damage (which with the rampant use of damage reducers is likely not to do any damage at all) However this allows you to have a 50% chance of keeping that character from healing the rest of the game and may be worth that extra risk.

His second click has the same power set and on his third click he loses Charge to gain Necronauts, he keeps Archangel’s Sword and Toughness and gains Outwit. This power set remains for the following click as well. His Special Movement Power there allows a mini advance on a Justice League Dark Theme Team. If Frankenstein or a Friendly Character KOs an opposing character 50pts or more all characters with the JLD keyword can be given a move action as a free action. The next two clicks he keeps Necronauts and gains Combat Reflexes and Close Combat Expert. Frankenstein is already a character that you want to keep in people’s faces despite his lowered (or lack thereof) damage reducers. I personally love seeing this combination. He gets +2 to his Defense for being in Close Combat, bringing that 16 Defense up to an 18 and he can then increase his Attack, which at this point is a 9, to an 11 or to a 10 and his Damage to a 5 or if you’re really confident bring that Damage up to a 6. This is where you see Frankenstein shine.

His last two clicks he doesn’t have any Special Powers but he does have Sidestep to go with that Combat Reflexes/Close Combat Expert combo and his final click gives him Regeneration to try it all over again – a Maximum Regen roll bringing him back to his Archangel’s Sword/Outwit click.

Overall Frankenstein is a good Bruiser for the Justice League Dark team and considering so many of those are finesse-y Ranged Combat Attackers it’s nice to have someone you can through into the fray while sniping with your others. He’ll be a good piece to pull in sealed even though his Necronauts power may not be as useful in that format and he’ll definitely be a good addition to a JLD team. There’s nothing that makes him stand out too much for Competitive Play but someone may find a way to manipulate that Necronauts power.

Trinity War – Power Ring Figure Review

~ Amber

We’re getting treated to a whole subset of Crime Syndicate and it makes me very, very happy.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

Not the worst sculpt out there and much better than the last time we saw Power Ring (if only because of those horrid flight stands placed precariously on peanut bases) Looking at the sculpt we can likely expect Power Ring to be one solid piece with the translucent green plastic there being flat on the back like we’ve seen in the past. It’s definitely easy to see that this is the evil twin of Hal Jordan as the sculpt uses the design of Earth 3 Power Ring from Nu52 – whereas last time we had Harrolds version of Power Ring in the Justice League set.

The Dial

Power Ring is one of the less expensive figures of the Crime Syndicate coming in at 70pts for 6 clicks of health, the Wing Symbol, Sharpshooter, the Crime Syndicate Team Ability and 6 Range. He has the generic Cosmic and Herald keywords alongside the named Crime Syndicate one. He has a singular trait, The Ring is Killing Me – when Power Ring is given a non free action that’s not a move action roll a D6, and on a 1 or 2 deal him 1 unavoidable damage. It’s nice and thematic for the character but that trait alone might keep him out of competitive play.

Looking at the dial itself Power Ring has average stats that don’t drop too drastically as he gets damaged. On top dial he has 10 Movement with We’re Going Somewhere? 9 Attack with Telekinesis, 17 Defense with Energy Shield/Deflection, and 3 Damage with Power of Volthoom’s Ring. His Special Movement power allows for a nice little taxi, he can use Phasing/Teleport and when he uses Carry he can carry up to 3 characters that share a Keyword with him regardless of their speed symbols (which will allow him to bring Ultraman, Superwoman and Deathstorm into the fight) His Special Damage Power is a Perplex that shuts down others’ Perplex. He can use it normally and opposing characters within 6 squares can’t use Perplex to target a character of a higher point value than their own. This is actually rather effective given that most Perplexers are lower on the point spectrum. This also doesn’t specify which type of character, so your big bruiser won’t be getting that stat boost from his support piece if Power Ring is close by.

As his dial turns he flip flops between power sets. Click two has Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Willpower and Enhancement, the following click returns to We’re Going Somewhere?, Telekinesis, Energy Shield/Deflection and Power of Volthoom’s Ring then the next returns to Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Willpower, and Enhancement. I’m not a huge fan of flip flop dials but they can be useful in remembering a character’s power sets. His last two clicks switch power sets again giving him Phasing/Teleport, Willpower and Power of Volthoom’s Ring.

Overall he’s not a horrible piece and comes out above the previously previewed Green Lantern, if only for his lower Point Cost, built in Probability Control and his ability to shut down opponents Perplex. His Trait may be a hindrance but with strategic maneuvering and lucky dice rolls it may not be too troublesome. He’ll be fun to see used as a Taxi for the Crime Syndicate but may not be enough to worm his way into Competitive play.

Trinity War – Green Lantern Figure Review

~ Amber

Too Soon? Naturally in a set featuring the Trinity War we get to see the Green Lantern of the Government Sanctioned Justice League of America but after getting one in War of Light how does Simon Baz match up?

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

There are actually very few flying sculpts in this set which puts this one a bit apart from the others we’ve seen so far. He’s in a typical Green Lantern show off your ring pose with a nice whoosh of translucent green plastic underneath. Given that there’s no need for a Construct slot this time around I actually prefer this sculpt of Simon to the one given out during War of Light.

The Dial

Simon is 96pts with the Wing Symbol, 7 Range, The Justice League Team Ability and the Green Lantern Team Ability (which could allow him to carry up 8 characters in a move action that doesn’t count towards your action total for the turn) He has the named Green Lantern Corps. and Justice League of America Keywords.

At the top of his dial Simon’s stats are at the standard for clicks these days with an 11 Movement with Charge, 10 Attack with Telekinesis, 17 Defense with Willpower and 3 Damage with Enhancement. The following click sees the same power set with a slight drop in his Movement. Click three is almost the same though he now loses his Charge. By click four we see a change in his power set. He gains Running Shot, Willpower Through My Gun, Protecting My New Friends and Ranged Combat Expert. He keeps these for the rest of his dial, though his final click he loses Running Shot.

His Special Attack Power gives him Improved Targeting: Ignore Hindering, Ignore Opposing Characters, and may make a ranged attack targeting an adjacent opposing character. This does give him a lot of versatility when it comes to targeting opposing characters and does match well with both Running Shot or Ranged Combat Expert (two powers that can’t be used together and always bothers me to see on the same click) His Special Defense Power allows him to use Barrier and Combat Reflexes. When he uses his Barrier he can place an extra marker next to each Friendly character within his range so long as they also have the Justice League of America keyword (these extra markers don’t need to be adjacent to any of the other Barrier markers) This is a great defensive power and can be a very effective barrier, even just a single square of blocking terrain can do a lot to mess with Line of Fire. The biggest downside of both of these powers is that they are hidden halfway through his dial.

Overall this Green Lantern comes across as a very expensive support piece. His top dial is rather average and all of his good powers are deep into his dial. With the fact that he has no damage reducers he may be taken out before you ever get his points worth out of him. He can be a good Taxi with his Green Lantern Team Ability and you can easily get use out of his Telekinesis but there are many figures that can do the same or more for less. Coming on the heels of the War of Light Simon Baz this one falls a little short.

Trinity War – Blue Devil Figure Review

~ Amber

Justice League Dark is all over these previews, and it’s starting to get a little blue.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

Even though this version of Blue Devil is definitely of the redesign featured in the Nu52 he’s very reminiscent of the first time we ever saw him in Collateral Damage. He’s got his staff out and in a good fighting stance that makes him look ready for whatever gets thrown at him. The last time we saw him he was perched on top of one of those hideous flight stands and though he doesn’t fly this time around it reminds me of just how happy I am that those stands are gone.

The Dial

Blue Devil is 135pts for 7 clicks of health, 6 Range with two Targets, the Mystics Team Ability and the named keywords Justice League Dark and Shadowpact with the generic keywords Monster and Mystical. He has two traits, Demon Hunter and Supernatural Exorcism. The first trait allows adjacent friendly characters and friendly characters with the Justice League Dark keyword to ignore the Mystics Team Ability. This allows Blue Devil to ignore it as well as he is considered friendly to himself and is a character that has the JLD keyword. His second trait is Blue Devil’s biggest draw. When an opposing character is damaged by Blue Devil and a “Stop Click” is revealed, after actions resolve deal that character 2 unavoidable damage. The most important things to keep in mind is that this works each time Blue Devil damages a character and their stop click is revealed. This doesn’t have to come from an attack, which means this will activate with both Poison (should he gain it somehow) and his Mystics Team Ability. The other thing to keep in mind is that there has to have been an action to resolve for the 2 unavoidable to be dealt. This means that his power isn’t going to go off again if another Stop Click is revealed after the unavoidable damage is dealt – so he won’t be one shotting Sodom Yat (trust me, I checked)

On the top of his dial Blue Devil has 9 Movement with Running Shot, 11 Attack with Hellfire, 17 Defense with Invulnerable and 3 Damage. The Hellfire ability allows him to use Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Energy Explosion, and yes, these two powers do work in conjunction with each other to make for a deadly combo (Penetrating Splash Damage anyone?) As his dial turns his stats stay decent with the biggest drop being in his Movement as he ends his dial at a 7. His attack only goes as far as 9 but his Defense goes as low as 15 (though with Energy Shield/Deflection that is a potential 17) and his Damage drops to a 2 but stays steady. His second click is much like his first though his Invulnerability turns to Toughness. The next three clicks sees his Running Shot turn to Leap/Climb and his Hellfire to Super Strength. He keeps his Toughness and gains Probability Control. His final two clicks he regains Running Shot and Hellfire while picking up Energy Shield/Deflection.

Overall he makes for a good Secondary Attacker or possibly a Primary one depending on the format. He’s great on a Justice League Dark theme team though can fit well into a Monster or Mystical team. His biggest impact on the Meta game may just be his existence, a throw back to Jason’s recent Meta Lab episode where he spoke about how a character’s mere existence can alter the Meta. He may become a go to piece in a Meta game prevalent with Kyle Rayners.

Trinity War – Shazam! and Freddy Freeman Figure Review

~ Amber

Primes, primes and more primes. Earth’s Mightiest Prime. Today we’re taking a look at Shazam! And Freddy Freeman, the Rare Prime set from the upcoming Trinity War set.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

As far as Captain Marvel sculpts go this one is definitely one of the better looking ones. There have been some bad ones in the past. Using his Nu52 costume Billy’s got his hood up and his cape billowing out. There’s a streak of lightening as if he just called upon the power of the Wizard Shazam. The weird thing about this sculpt is that the lightening seems to be under his cape. I’m sure it was just easier for design purposes to have it be a part of his legs and back but then to put his cape on separately afterward makes for a strange appearance.

The Dial

Shazam! comes in at 183pts for 8 clicks of health with the Wing Symbol, 3 Range, the Mystics Team ability and the named Fawcett City Keyword along with the generic Mystical keyword. He has a singular trait, Pure of Heart, which allows him to use Defend. This is an interesting choice of design considering for the majority of his dial he only has a 17 Defense which seems to just be the standard now. Granted his Defense never dips below 17 once he’s activated which might make that Defend more useful late game than it will be early on.

At the top of his dial Shazam! has what is often referred to as an activation click. Which usually results in small stats with little to no powers. Shazam!’s activation click has a 7 Movement with Neutralized/Earthbound – which keeps him from using his Wing Symbol – 8 Attack with A Gift from the Wizard for My Friends, 15 Defense with Combat Reflexes and 1 Damage with Outwit. The most intriguing part of this click is that Special Attack Power. Give Shazam! A free action and choose one adjacent friendly character. Deal Shazam! 1 unavoidable damage and modify that friendly character’s combat values until your next turn even if this power is lost (which it will be) What makes this so interesting is that it gets Shazam! off his activation click with a simple free action instead of two non free actions (pushing) while also giving a boost to one of your other characters. There’s no real downside to it, except perhaps for the fact that Shazam! Is one click closer to a KO.

On his second click we see a much stronger dial and power set, what is to be expected from a character like this. He has 12 Movement with Charge, 11 Attack with Quake, 17 Defense with Impervious and 4 Damage with Probability Control. After this one really impressive click he seems to lose all his mojo and his stats drop to average levels. His Movement plummets to an 8, with a small boost to a 9 at one point and finishes off with a 7. His Attack drops to a 10 with two random clicks of 9. His Defense stays somewhat steady at a 17 with some random clicks of 18 thrown in there. The only thing constant about his dial is that his Damage stays at 3 for the rest of his dial though again that’s really just become the average these days.

His power sets are only slightly more impressive than his stats which isn’t saying much. On click three Charge is replaced with Shazam!, a Special Power that gives him Flurry, Side Step and the Quintessence Team Ability. While it’s nice to get Quintessence to make up for his noticeable lack of Indomitable it’s paired with a set of powers that just don’t seem worthy of the title Earth’s Mightiest Mortal. With this he has Super Strength and keeps the Impervious and Probability Control. On the next click he keeps his Special Movement Power and switches back to Quake, Impervious becomes Invincible and Probability Control becomes Perplex. Next we see Charge return, paired with Super Strength and more Invincible and Perplex. His Special Movement Power returns paired with Super Strength but his Invincible drops to Invulnerable and we see a return of Outwit. This power set continues on with Super Strength switching to Quake once again. His final click has Charge (with a lacking 7 Movement) Regeneration and Probability Control. At least this can give you two chances to try and heal him back up.

Overall this dial comes across as lacking. He’s pretty hefty on the points for such low stats and the absence of any Justice League related keywords keeps him from getting any help from his friends (who seem to be really big on exclusive team building in this set) Between an activation click, a trait that doesn’t come across as useful, mediocre (at best) stats, unreliable and sometimes confusing powers (not a single click of Hypersonic Speed?) Billy’s falling flat on his face. I understand that this is the rebooted Shazam! (not even Captain Marvel anymore) that’s still learning to wield the powers of the Wizard but when you know his history, when you know that he got folded into the DC world after a lawsuit claiming he was a copyright infringement on Superman, it’s hard to look at this dial and be impressed or even satisfied. It’s hard to say until I see him play, just where he’ll fit in.

Next up we have the B version of this Prime set, Captain Marvel Jr. or as he’s known here, Freddy Freeman.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

It’s almost a shame that the second time we get to see Freddy he’s the same sculpt as Shazam! But even then he’s looking much better than he did in Crisis. For the purposes of this Prime set the only difference is the paint job, putting Freddy in his traditional blue instead of Billy’s red. The pose and sculpt much like the a version is great looking but I’m still weirded out by the fact that the lightening bolt is in between him and his cape.

The Dial

Unlike the other two Prime Sets we’ve reviewed for this set Freddy is actually less points than his a version. He comes in at 112pts for 6 clicks of health with the Wing Symbol, Indomitable, the named Fawcett City, Outsiders, Teen Titans and Young Justice keywords and the generic Mystical Keyword. He may be less points and slightly less health but when I think of a rookie Captain Marvel, a dial like this is definitely what comes to mind.

On his top click Freddy has 11 Movement with Hypersonic Speed, 11 Attack with Super Strength, 18 Defense with Impervious and 4 Damage. As his dial moves his stats lower but not to unreasonable levels, his Movement goes down to an 8 but at the end of his dial that’s not that much of a hindrance, his Attack never dips below a 10, his Defense never drops below 17 and his Damage only has two clicks of 2, yet at a time where his damage value doesn’t matter as much. For his following two clicks he has Charge instead of Hypersonic Speed paired with Super Strength, invulnerable and he gains Exploit Weakness. On his last three clicks he gets Hypersonic Speed back, gains Call the Lightening and trades Invulnerable for Toughness. His Special Attack power however is what’s going to make all the difference. This allows him to use Pulse Wave as if he has a Range of 9 (which basically becomes an Area of Effect of 5) After actions resolve you then heal him of 1 damage for each character hit character. Pulse Wave is already a devastating power but a Pulse Wave that heals you? That’s just epic, especially considering that he can easily get back up to his top click while using it.

Overall this is a nice piece, he’s low enough on the points to fit him into a lot of teams while being able to use him as a good primary or secondary attacker. He has a good splattering of keywords that can fit him into a fair amount of teams. He can’t be relied on for a sealed (only because of the chances of pulling him are fairly low) but he’ll be a good constructed piece. His appearance in the Meta game may very well depend on how well that Special Attack power performs for him.

 

Trinity War – The Outsider a and b Figure Review

~ Amber

We’re back with more Trinity War previews and this time around we have an invasion from Earth 3.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

As far as evil butlers go this sculpt of Alfred is pretty on par. He may not be holding a serving tray this time around but he’s still imposing enough to make you feel like this is a guy you shouldn’t be messing with. Also this is a man in a purple suit, no one messes with a man in a purple suit. Pimp Alfred FTW.

The Dial

The Outsider comes in at 66pts for 5 clicks of health with 3 Range, both the Crime Syndicate and the Calculator Team Ability, and the named Crime Syndicate and Secret Society of Super Villains keywords. His singular trait, A Different Kind of Butler, allows The Outsider to take one unavoidable damage instead of a friendly character taking an action token for the use of Probability Control. This will work with both the Crime Syndicate Team Ability and Theme Team Probability Control. Not to mention if you come up against Pandora from the Convention Exclusive Trinity of Sin Team Base. This can help turn Outsider’s dial to reveal his Special Attack Power.

His stats are mediocre at best but if The Outsider is doing your attacking you’ve probably got bigger problems to worry about. Starting out he’s got Stealth with an 8 Movement, Smoke Cloud with a 9 Attack, Willpower with a 16 Defense and Outwit with 2 Damage. This power set is the same on the following click. This keeps him away from the battle, throwing up some Smoke Cloud’s to help your other characters while keeping himself free of pushing damage. He’s not amazing for his Outwit, given that he’ll be using the minimum 6 Range for the power but it could still come in handy if someone shows up in your face.

On click 3 we see his powers change. Stealth becomes Phasing/Teleport, Smoke Cloud becomes Dimensional Portal, Willpower becomes Energy Shield/Deflection and Outwit becomes Support. Dimensional Portal allows you to give The Outsider a power action to place 2 friendly characters that share a keyword with him into squares adjacent to him and then use Smoke Cloud as a free action. These friendly characters won’t be able to be given a Non Free Actions until your next turn. Now that’s not to say they couldn’t have been given a Non Free Action already. They also can be anywhere on the map before pulling them back to you. Might be a good way to smash face and then get the hell out of dodge.

He keeps this power set for another click until you get to his final click where he regains Stealth, maintains his Dimensional Portal and gains Regeneration to give you a chance to do it all over again. Keep in mind that a maximum Regen roll will bring The Outsider back to his top click.

Overall he’s a very nice Support Piece that helps from far away. He soaks up any Prob action tokens you might have been taking and isn’t really afraid to take that unavoidable damage given that his powers just get better. He’ll likely become a target given what he can do but he’s also not the kind of guy you want to throw into the fight to begin with. The only downside is the fact that his Dimensional Portal has to be characters that share a keyword with him but there are enough tricky ways to acquire keywords out there if need be.

Now we turn to the Prime version, who though not an evil version of Alfred Pennyworth is still named the Outsider.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

As is customary the b version of a prime set is the same sculpt with either a change in colour or limb. In Michael’s case, he’s both. His suit is now white and he has a different head than Alfred did. He’s still got that don’t mess with me pose and vibe. A man in a white suit is much more dangerous than one in a purple suit, he’s more likely to have many scary men on his payroll to do the dirty work for him. Unlike Alfred who comes from the Nu52’s version of the Crime Syndicate in Trinity War, this Outsider hails from the Flashpoint storyline (that created the Nu52 universe in the first place).

The Dial

The b version on this prime comes in at 117pts for 6 clicks of health with the Hypertime Team Ability, 5 Range, Indomitable, Improved Movement: Ignore Hindering, and the named keyword Flashpoint and the generic keyword Ruler. His first trait Sinkhole, is twofold. At the beginning of the game you may reduce all elevation levels by 1, with none going lower than 1 – so basically you can flatten all the buildings on the map (or bring an elevation 3 down to a 2, 4 down to a 3 and so on and so forth) It also allows him to use Quake and if he has two action tokens he can use it as a free action. This can be a very potent trait and can help eliminate some of the disadvantages of losing map choice.

His second trait, Indian Empire of Crime is just awesome. He ignores other character’s Shape Change (take that Star Sapphires) damage he deals can’t be transferred (no Mastermind for you) and he can’t be targeted by opposing characters’ outwit unless they are adjacent to him.

His stats are actually pretty average for clicks these days and don’t drop too drastically as his Dial turns. At the top of his dial he has 10 Movement with Charge, 11 Attack with Super Strength, 17 Defense with Impervious and 3 Damage with I’m Not One of You and I Don’t Belong Here. This Special Damage Power allows him to use Side Step while adjacent to an opposing character and can break away for free. This works nicely with his trait that keeps opponents from Outwitting him unless adjacent.

This power set is present for the next click and is followed by two clicks of Flurry, Precision Strike, Toughness and Outwit. The next click he keeps the Flurry and Precision Strike (which is a very nice combo) but loses toughness and that outwit returns to his Special Damage Power. His final click, Charge and Super Strength return and we see Probability Control for the first time.

Overall he’s definitely more of an attacker than his A version. It’s actually rather nice that none of his powers are dependent on keywords and he’s just as strong regardless of the team you put him on. Being able to level elevation is also a nice touch when you don’t care to put him on a theme team. There’s nothing that at the moment screams Meta but he’ll definitely make for a good close combat attacker.

 

 

Trinity War – Deathstorm Figure Review

~ Amber

Once upon a time Martin Stein was a Nobel Prize winning physicist who merged with a High School student to create the Super Hero Firestorm but in the twisted parallel universe of Earth 3 he’s a mad scientist who experimented on a corpse and became Deathstorm.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

This sculpt is beautiful. You’ve got a rush of flames keeping Deathstorm a flight, while he holds a fireball ready to strike. This is a much more powerful and imposing sculpt than we saw during Deathstorm’s first appearance in the War of Light set last year. Although that was the Black Lantern embodiment of the Firestorm Matrix not Earth 3 Stein. This version of Deathstorm comes from the Nu52 universe alongside others of the Crime Syndicate.

The Dial

Deathstorm is 150pts for 7 clicks of health with Flight, a Range of 7 with two Targets and the Crime Syndicate Team Ability (man I love this team ability, check out Ultraman’s review for a look at what the team ability does) He has the named Crime Syndicate and the generic Scientist keywords. He has Improved Targeting: Ignore Elevated and Ignore Hindering. You know what’s really awesome? Ignoring Elevated for Probability Control!

Top click Deathstorm has 11 Movement with Running Shot, 10 Attack, 17 Defense with Invulnerable and 3 Damage with Human Experimentation. Basically Deathstorm is a Dick to support figures. His Special Power allows him to use Perplex normally however if he’s targeting a character (friendly or opposing) that’s 75pts or less he gets to modify them by +2 or -2. It’s a great way to boost up anyone little on your team or really mess with your opponent’s support figures.

His stats don’t dip too badly and his Attack stays pretty solid his entire dial. His Movement power flip flops between Running Shot and Phasing/Teleport. By click 3 he picks up Energy Explosion which he keeps for three clicks. His Defense turns to Toughness for two clicks before he gains Absorb your Energies, which is gross! This Special Power gives him Energy Shield/Deflection alongside that Toughness and if that click is revealed after he took damage from a Ranged Attack, after actions resolve, roll a D6 and heal him that much. *insert Amber’s shocked face at awesome powers here* I don’t think we have ever seen a D6 healing that did not have some kind of reduction to it. This power first shows up on click 4 which means he has a 2 in 3 chance of getting back up to the top of his dial.

EDIT: A recent Rules Clarification just made this power even more awesome. That being the difference between turning to a click (the click you land on after damage is taken) and revealing a click (clicks that are shown even if they are passed by) What this means for Deathstorm is that he doesn’t have to land on one of those three clicks for his power to activate. So long as one of those clicks were shown while taking damage and that damage came from a Ranged attack, he’s going to be doing some healing.

Then his final click gives him Regeneration. He also has two clicks of Outwit after losing his special Perplex power.

Overall this character is great and I can’t wait to play him. I’m super stoked to have the Evil Trinity back (Ultraman, Super Woman and Owlman) but I think he’s my most anticipated Crime Syndicate character so far. He’ll be decent enough to pull in sealed and he’ll do great on a Crime Syndicate theme team. Basically just keep him at a distance and he’ll treat you right.

Trinity War – Firestorm Figure Review

~ Amber

Burn Baby Burn. Firestorm is next up for our Trinity War Previews.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

Reminiscent of the sculpt we saw in The New 52 Justice League, Firestorm gives us a fun, powerful sculpt, showing off some of his powers in an enraged pose. While listed on his card as the convergence of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, this particular sculpt has Ronnie dominant over their shared body and sporting the yellow costume we first saw Jason wearing when Firestorm was first rebooted for the Nu52 universe (Firestorm being one of the few storylines that they decided to build from scratch rather than leaving their origins in place)

The Dial

Firestorm comes in at 140pts for 7 clicks of health with Flight, 7 Range and two Targets and the singular named Justice League of America keyword. He has a single trait that some of you may find familiar. We saw this trait nearly word for word on Marvel 10^th Anniversary Iron Man (although Iron Man had protection from relics as well) The CH2=C(CH3)CH=CH2 trait says that when he would take damage from a character assigned a resource, he ignores that damage and instead rolls a D6. On a 1-3 he takes 1 unavoidable damage and this power can’t be ignored. In today’s game where nearly every team has a resource on it (so long as the format permits it) this gives him a fair amount of protection – although he doesn’t have that extra layer Iron Man has with Impervious. It’s also fairly safe to assume any rulings that were made for Iron Man will hold true for Firestorm (not causing an opponent’s Book of the Skull to spin or possibly taking extra damage on Mystics)

On his opening click he has a 9 Movement with Running Shot, 10 Attack with Hydrogen? That’s an Easy One which is Precision Strike and Energy Explosion (beautiful combo), 17 Defense with Invincible and 3 Damage with Outwit. On his next click we see Running Shot turn to Phasing/Teleport, Invincible turns to Toughness and Outwit turns to Perplex. His Attack and Defense also getting higher, just to drop again the following click where we see his Running Shot and Outwit return. On click 4 his Attack jumps up again but his Special Power is traded in for Poison. We also see Phasing/ Teleport come back for two clicks and Ranged Combat Expert shows up for the majority of the rest of his dial. Clicks 5 and 6 see an appearance of Energy Shield/Deflection. On his last two clicks Poison is exchanged for Pulse Wave but he also gains Earthbound/Neutralized which will keep him from using his Flight. On his very last click he has Regeneration.

Overall this a very nice dial with his trait making him a little harder to kill in certain formats. He’ll definitely be more dangerous in constructed than sealed and may just find his way into the Meta, though with Batteries being the primary resource at the moment it’s a little easier to have a resource assigned to your team and still be able to deal some damage to him.

Trinity War – Tim Hunter Figure Review

~ Amber

The mystical and the magical are coming to Trinity War and are joined by the boy wizard Tim Hunter. Yet another character from DC’s darker Vertigo line that got folded into the franchise wide reboot of Nu52. Hunter is now seen alongside a vast array of other magical characters in Justice League Dark.

Courtesy of Heroclix.com

The Sculpt

For all intents and purposes this sculpt is pretty bland. For a character who has access to magic they could have done at least something more. Although having the stack of books in the background is a nice touch and keeps it from being just a random guy standing on a base. Also the only thing to say, yes this is Justice League Dark Tim and not Books of Magic Tim is his blue sweater (which I think is kind of funny)

The Dial

Tim comes in at 58pts of mediocre stats, with 6 Range, the named Justice League Dark keyword and generic Mystical keyword. Tim is one of those characters where you need to have his card for him to make any kind of impact. What I mean by that is, so much of his potential comes from his trait and his special powers that his stats come across as easily dismissible.

His trait, Expelled Unnatural Magic, makes it so that himself as well as any adjacent friendly character with the Justice League Dark keyword can’t be targeted by opposing characters’ Probability Control. This is a huge ability. Any time you can have control over an opponent’s powers makes a big impact on a game. Stopping a character from being ability to use a power just by existing is incredibly useful. Not to mention that this is a trait, something that’s not going to be countered.

On his top click he has Phasing/Teleport, although given his trait he’s likely going to be carried around more often than not. We also see both his Defense and Damage Special Power. His Defense power, Everyone’s Annoyingly Concerned for my Welfare, gives him a situational form of Defend. Before any Attack Roll is made (Not specifically against him, which will help him if he gets caught in the AoE of an Energy Explosion) he can replace his Defense Value with an unmodified Defense Value of an adjacent friendly Justice League Dark character. Once again you see the need to keep him close to other JLD characters.

Then you have his Damage Power, Mentored by the Trenchcoat Brigade, which allows you to give him a Free Action to copy all the powers possessed by a friendly adjacent Mystical keyworded character, so long as they have one or more action token, until the beginning of your next turn. Important thing to note on this is that you are copying the powers possessed by that character. You aren’t going to copy anything they are getting from outside sources, like relics, resources, entities, etc. It also stands to reason that you will copy Special Powers in the same way that Hope Summers does, where any instance of Character X’s name will be replaced with Tim Hunter.

These powers are present for three clicks, which is the majority of his dial. On his final click we see some impressive looking stats and power combinations. He has an 11 Movement with Running Shot, 12 Attack with Destined to be the World’s Greatest Magician, 18 Defense with Impervious and 4 Damage with Perplex. To top that all off his Special Power there gives him Energy Shield/Deflection, Probability Control, Pulse Wave, Super Senses, and Willpower. This is a whole whack of excellent powers making this Tim’s God Click. However if not played carefully, you may never see this click given the fact that he only has 4 clicks of health and the average character nowadays does 3 or more Damage.

Overall Tim can be a great support click but he’s really only good on a Justice League Dark theme team. So many of his powers and his longevity in the game are solely dependent on the team you put him on. He is not the character that you want to see in your pack during a sealed tournament