Welcome back to Pyrahmancy, this is the first proper article here in a fortnight and it is late! Sorry about that. But it is still Thursday and it is still a 13 so lets get to it before it becomes a Friday 10…
51. Matt Hagen <> Clayface, Protoplasmic Prototype
Another Clayface; this version of Matt comes in one stat point behind Sondra, but his ability probably makes up for it. If your opponent has no characters to exhaust this is a free recovery – if they do, then they are left with the difficult decision of enabling your exhaust tech or allowing you that free recovery. This card is certainly a strong way of retaining board advantage if your opponent’s board is out statting you. Your 5 takes down their 4, then Clayface takes down their Jetpacked Thing leaving them the decision of allowing you to recover Clayface or exhaust their Power Gemed Mr. Fantastic… Either way they are loosing a character and you aren’t.
It is a little sad that both your 5 & 6 drop clayfaces would be Matt Hagens if you chose to play this over Sondra though…
4/5
52. Mr. Freeze, Heart of Ice
This card’s ability has a pretty high cost, and its usage is pretty restricted. However what it does for you is very impressive. With the potential to exhaust up to 4 characters this power really helps top out the exhaust curve. But even if you aren’t playing the exhaust deck this guy makes it virtually impossible for your opponent to reinforce his characters, whilst also taking their biggest guy out of the fight and allowing you to focus on causing breakthrough without having to worry about painful return attacks.
Because Two-Face has a similar non-targeted effect, which he gets for free, I think he is probably still the seven drop of choice for most Arkham decks, but this guy is a close second.
4/5 (might have been 5 if not for 2-face’s existence)
53. Mr. Zsasz, Tally Marks
This card packs some pretty nice off-curve hate. Once he has a counter he can shoot down a 1 cost attacker every turn without ever loosing it.
4/4 stats mean he is starting a little behind the curve but Roy was behind the curve to. I think an out of combat stun effects like this mean his actual stats aren’t too important. But this is mitigated anyway as a single trigger of his first ability puts him back on curve.
I can certainly see this guy being good friends with the thunderbolts, it is unfortunate that he competes with radioactive man’s slot but he certainly begs to go in a deck with Strategic Thinking and Heroic Effort. Maybe Ultron Prime and the Underground Movement have a new player.
4/5
54. Poison Ivy, Madhouse and Garden
A five drop whose power exhausts other 5 drops and only during your attack step doesn’t seem like a great return on investment to me. The fact that she can cause the character to KO is somewhat redeeming; as long as a lower drop can swing up the curve for you she can produce a nice swing in board positions, but nothing a hidden 1 drop & a Finishing Mov couldn’t achieve.
I can’t ever see a situation where I would rather have Ivy than Hush – much like in the Harley/KGBeast situation Hush can attack and exhaust a character, and his exhaust isn’t limited by cost. Sure he doesn’t have the KO effect but an extra attack probably results in an extra stun and thus an extra KO anyway…
2/5
55. Professor Hugo Strange, Malicious Masquerader
Everyone loves free characters right? Well actually what I often use free characters for is to pay exhaust costs – so having one at the cost of an exhaust somewhat negates that, but at least he’ll have a chance of sticking around for later turns. Having this guy on the board though does mean that you opponent can’t make any “on the dot” attacks without having (or bluffing having) an attack pump in reserve.
He is pretty good as a one drop in the exhaust deck and probably worth dropping onto the board for free off initiative. Not sure he is worth it otherwise though.
2/5
56. Scarecrow, Bone-Chilling
Another 5-drop Scarecrow. I guess it is in keeping with Vs. tradition. This guy’s ability is actually quite strong for one so simple. It locks out speedster tricks, allows you to keep guys exhausted to enable your exhaust based powers and keeps annoying characters out of the fight in future turns.
I don’t see the boost cost being relevant in a lot of games, but having the option open is always good especially if your opponent is pressing out Outsiders!
3.5/5
57. The Joker, All Smiles
If this were a one shot it would perhaps be one of the worst tutor effect in the game. However it is still a tutor effect and one that allows you to search for any type of card, and it is reusable. With the clayfaces and discard triggers this card might be put to good use, and discarding excess characters for “more gas” is never a bad thing. It certainly makes running one-of 5, 6 & 7 cost plot twists look more desirable. Appropriately I think this guy fits very well into an insanity deck but I’m not sure his inconsistency makes him worth the risk in a more “traditional” deck.
Perhaps in something with a lot of good recursion – like secret society – he could find a home.
3/5
58. The Joker, Stealing the Show
Wow, where to start on this one? I’ve heard people call out broken on this and others unplayable! What I think is you really need to think about what type of deck this can work in. Perhaps this could work in a more X-stall style exhaust deck but I think this card needs a more detailed unpicking than I can give it here. You certainly cannot just stick in a deck and hope it to be good for you though!
1/5 (Until someone builds “the deck”)
59. The Penguin, High Society
The first thing that springs to mind when seeing this guy is Tarnax IV. A single dual affiliated (non-AI) character out with Penguin and Tarnax turns two of your cards in hand into Devastating Blows that work on the defence two, a second with non-overlapping affiliations gives you a Beatdown/Nasty Surprise for the cost of any card in hand.
I would certainly be happy to replace the Ethan Edwards in my Skrull deck with this guy, but I’m not sure he is two useful in a straight Arkham deck.
3/5
60. The Riddler, Quiz Show
An interesting form of control, I think I still prefer the one drop but not having an exhaust cost is nice. Unfortunately there is not much control to back this up on team and whilst disruption is good, incidental, unreliable disruption is not likely to be good enough to include in a deck.
2/5
61. Two-Face, Bad Side
If you have ever played against Punisher – Captain America you already know how annoying his effect can be. Now this effect is limited to defenders only and it only works half the time, but it is printed on a two-drop! Just having this guy out makes planning attacks a nightmare for your opponent; there are no longer any “safe attacks”, even characters who cannot be stunned whilst attacking are not safe! This certainly a great two drop in any non-exhaust focussed AI deck.
4/5
62. Two-Face, Face to Face
Like Black masks endurance gain trigger I can see this guy triggering an awful lot during the course of a game. Remember this triggers off your opponent’s characters attacking and them being stunned (if not already exhausted)! Even with it being dependant on a coin flip I can see this drawing 3+ cards in lots of games, against teem attacking decks the potential for card advantage is massive – teen titans certainly aren’t going to like it – sure you can stun my board with Roy and TTG! but now you’ve burnt out most of your resources and I’ve got 12 cards in hand…
Definitely goes in the insanity build and I can see a strong case for him in any Arkam deck.
4/5
63. Two-Face, Big Bad Harvey
So mutual stuns on our six drops? Actually no I think I’ll just ready mine, saving me five endurance and using it to take down your 5 unharmed – how does that sound. Oh yeah and this power moves him hidden so I can make that attack even on the defence. Like the other two-faces, this ability only works half the time but it is so powerful it is most likely worth the risk, just make sure you don’t count in it unless you have to. 13 attack and range isn’t to bad either.
4/5
It is still before midnight in the UK so until next time…
