Vs. System Trading Card Game's Notes
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Hey guys,
We strive to keep the competitive environment for Vs. fair and fun, and the arrival of infinite combos has made us decide to issue an errata on the Marvel Evolution card "Black Box".
It has been too easy to pull off combo decks with this card, and the card's intent of providing a simple recursive and anti decking element to the game has been lost in the face of its combo potential.
The text of the card now reads:
"Shuffle up to three target cards not named Black Box from a single player's KO'd pile into his deck. If you control an X-Force character, draw a card."
We don't take the addition of functional errata lightly, but the lack of possible interactions and solutions has meant we needed to act swiftly and absolutely concerning this.
This change will be reflected in the upcoming CRD, and will be updated on the FAQ.
Thanks and good games,
Ben Seck
Vs. System R&D
We strive to keep the competitive environment for Vs. fair and fun, and the arrival of infinite combos has made us decide to issue an errata on the Marvel Evolution card "Black Box".
It has been too easy to pull off combo decks with this card, and the card's intent of providing a simple recursive and anti decking element to the game has been lost in the face of its combo potential.
The text of the card now reads:
"Shuffle up to three target cards not named Black Box from a single player's KO'd pile into his deck. If you control an X-Force character, draw a card."
We don't take the addition of functional errata lightly, but the lack of possible interactions and solutions has meant we needed to act swiftly and absolutely concerning this.
This change will be reflected in the upcoming CRD, and will be updated on the FAQ.
Thanks and good games,
Ben Seck
Vs. System R&D
Hey Vs. fanatics,
Welcome to the final week of Marvel Evolution previews! It's been a fun ride, and I hope you have enjoyed getting a sneak peek at all the goodies in this set. The final week of previews highlights a couple more boutique teams, Starjammers and the Purifiers. This week will also highlight a couple of cool non-team stamped cards (generics).
The Starjammers are a band of interstellar pirates, lead by Scott Summers father, Christopher Summers. Using his pilot codename of Corsair as his hero name, he formed the Starjammers after escaping the slave mines of the Shi'ar Empire with some former prisoners. In attempting to create this mini-team for Marvel Evolution, I wanted to make sure that the team felt "piratey". Apart from adding "arrrr" to the end of text boxes, we decided that discard - a theme that hadn't really been explored since the Future Foes would be a good representation of piracy, but decided that it would have to have more "targetted" discard to differ the play patterns from Future Foes, as well as more benefits from the discard. As the leader of the Starjammers, Corsair embodies his team well:
Welcome to the final week of Marvel Evolution previews! It's been a fun ride, and I hope you have enjoyed getting a sneak peek at all the goodies in this set. The final week of previews highlights a couple more boutique teams, Starjammers and the Purifiers. This week will also highlight a couple of cool non-team stamped cards (generics).
The Starjammers are a band of interstellar pirates, lead by Scott Summers father, Christopher Summers. Using his pilot codename of Corsair as his hero name, he formed the Starjammers after escaping the slave mines of the Shi'ar Empire with some former prisoners. In attempting to create this mini-team for Marvel Evolution, I wanted to make sure that the team felt "piratey". Apart from adding "arrrr" to the end of text boxes, we decided that discard - a theme that hadn't really been explored since the Future Foes would be a good representation of piracy, but decided that it would have to have more "targetted" discard to differ the play patterns from Future Foes, as well as more benefits from the discard. As the leader of the Starjammers, Corsair embodies his team well:
Potentially devastating over turns, Corsair can rip the heart out of a strategy that relies on a particular card in hand. Note that you can't play anything after the player who controls Corsair has named a card, since it happens in the resolution of the effect. Look for cool unusual discard powers this week, as well as a way to take advantage of your opponent's discarded cards.
The Purifiers are what I like to call an "amalgam" team. By this I mean that it is basically a kind of retool thematically of an old team, in this case Sentinels. the Purifiers are a group that seeks to "Purify" the world of mutants, much like the Sentinels tried to do a few decades ago. What makes the comparison more stark is that both Nimrod and Bastion are affiliated with the Purifiers - which means that it was a perfect time to bring them back into the Vs. mythos.
As you can see, Bastion bears striking similarity to his previous incarnation. But he's a new villain for a new era, and comes with Shift (added thanks to the fact that he originated from a different timeline) and a more targetted power. Instead of working with just Sentinels, his fuel is any army character, and as you'll see tomorrow, the army character of choice for this man-machine is a little 1-drop called the Purifiers. Most of the engine of the entire team involves using these army characters as fodder to achieve victory. Bastion is more than willing to walk over a few of the devoted to achieve his goal of the elimination of the mutants.
With the release of MEV next week, this brings my part in the previews to a close. But this isn't quite the end, with a few more blogs/podcasts showing previews:
18-Nov Full Body Transplant http://fullbodytransplant.
19-Nov Lost Hemisphere http://losthemisphere.word
19-Nov Seventh Soldier of Apathy http://vsexplosion.blogspo
20-Nov The Inky Blot http://theinkyblot.wordpre
20-Nov Lost Hemisphere http://losthemisphere.word
21-Nov Brave and the Blog http://thebraveandtheblog.
21-Nov The Kamiza http://the-kamiza.com/vs/
Please use this facebook page to comment on your favorite game, as well as give us feedback into what you like about Marvel Evolution (or anything else we do). It's a please to make this game for the fans, and we continue to want to make sure you enjoy it as much as possible.
Catch you on the flipside,
TBS
Hey Vs. True Believers!
As we near the end of the Marvel Evolution preview season, our eyes turn towards some of the "boutique" teams of the set. "Boutique" is a term we use for the non-main teams of a set, who merit inclusion because of flavor, fan favoritism or just mere coolness. They usually are smallish teams - and so only get a couple of non-characters and a few iconic characters to fill out their roster. But that doesn't mean that we don't work to make them cool, and you'll see this is the case for both the Horseman of Apocalypse and the newest entry into the Vs Universe, the Runaways.
The Horsemen of Apocalypse first made their debut in the mini Age of Apocalypse set highlighting the +1/+1 counter theme that was rife in that set. When we were working out how we would implement their comeback, Billy came up with the great idea that nearly every "Horseman" had appeared in one of the highlighted teams in Marvel Evolution, so he decided to embed all their characters via the main teams in the set. This wasn't the case for Apocalypse himself, so he is the singular "Horseman affiliation only" in this set. Shift seemed like a good fit for the team, since the team originated from an alternate history. But we decided that the +1/+1 counter theme had been used a great deal lately, and they needed another angle. So one I thought about the team that was missing from its initial iteration, is that the team didn't feel like they were heralding the coming of Apocalypse. So I decided to address that with the following card:
As we near the end of the Marvel Evolution preview season, our eyes turn towards some of the "boutique" teams of the set. "Boutique" is a term we use for the non-main teams of a set, who merit inclusion because of flavor, fan favoritism or just mere coolness. They usually are smallish teams - and so only get a couple of non-characters and a few iconic characters to fill out their roster. But that doesn't mean that we don't work to make them cool, and you'll see this is the case for both the Horseman of Apocalypse and the newest entry into the Vs Universe, the Runaways.
The Horsemen of Apocalypse first made their debut in the mini Age of Apocalypse set highlighting the +1/+1 counter theme that was rife in that set. When we were working out how we would implement their comeback, Billy came up with the great idea that nearly every "Horseman" had appeared in one of the highlighted teams in Marvel Evolution, so he decided to embed all their characters via the main teams in the set. This wasn't the case for Apocalypse himself, so he is the singular "Horseman affiliation only" in this set. Shift seemed like a good fit for the team, since the team originated from an alternate history. But we decided that the +1/+1 counter theme had been used a great deal lately, and they needed another angle. So one I thought about the team that was missing from its initial iteration, is that the team didn't feel like they were heralding the coming of Apocalypse. So I decided to address that with the following card:
Each of the four cards that are referenced in this card are what I called "Version Legend" Plot Twists. Each Horseman in the set has one of 4 different versions (Death, Famine, Pestilence and War) and they each allow you to play one of the plot twists. Each Plot Twist is particularly powerful, so much so that they can only be played once per game! As the week goes by, you'll see each of these powers and one of the Horsemen who can use them. And if you are able to play them all? You will be able to save up to 8 resource points! This is a card that's power will come into clearer focus as this week progresses.
From one of the "oldest" teams in comic to one of the youngest...
The Runaways inclusion in the set has a lot to do with the fans. To those who are unfamiliar with the comic, they are the sons and daughters of an evil crime society called the Pride. The kids band together to defeat their parents, and try to undo some of the evil their parents have wrought on the world. Now that is out of the way, the Runaways were designed to work on a different axis from the average game of Vs. One of the most popular unusual decks has been those that have been built around Emperor Joker, and I thought it would be cool and fun to have a team that attempts to "deck" their opponent. Unlike other games, you don't lose the game as soon as you run out of cards - so we needed to add a way of winning the game with this strategy.
Old Lace provides the method and the solution to win with this strategy. But Old Lace isn't the only way you are going to run your opponent out of cards...
Victor Mancha provides a remarkably quick way to empty cards out of your opponent's deck. He may look pretty innocent, but his power stacks up alarmingly quick! But there as you will see throughout the week, the Runaways have a few ways of making this unusual strategy happen!
That's all from me this week - stay tuned to the following sites for more Horsemen and Runaways:
11-Nov Beta Ray Blog http://betarayblog.wordpre
11-Nov Seventh Soldier of Apathy http://vsexplosion.blogspo
12-Nov DarkseidRevenge http://www.darkseidrevenge
12-Nov Doom's Throne Room
13-Nov The Jank Has Chosen http://jankhaschosen.com/
13-Nov VS-Blog http://malone.blogs.com/vs
14-Nov Planet Kalee http://casualvs.wordpress.
14-Nov It's A VS Life http://onyxweaponvs.blogsp
Join me next week where we will look at some of the other cool things that are in MEV!
Good games,
TBS
Vs. Peoples of the World Unite!
This week of previews brings us to Weapon X. In the Marvel milieu, Weapon X has two significant incarnations: one is a Canadian Government sponsored Super Soldier program that spawned Wolverine, Deadpool and Sabretooth; the second is another dimension-travelling Super Team (ala the Exiles), that was also gathered by the Timebroker to repair the timestream, but they are much more like a "Wet" team, who attempt to achieve their goals no matter the cost. We decided to incorporate both incarnations of this team in their treatment in Marvel Evolution, and each section of the team works in a different way.
The "Exiles adversary" section of the team shows a different facet of Shift, where you spend Shift counters to get powerful effects. Sabretooth is a great example of this:
This week of previews brings us to Weapon X. In the Marvel milieu, Weapon X has two significant incarnations: one is a Canadian Government sponsored Super Soldier program that spawned Wolverine, Deadpool and Sabretooth; the second is another dimension-travelling Super Team (ala the Exiles), that was also gathered by the Timebroker to repair the timestream, but they are much more like a "Wet" team, who attempt to achieve their goals no matter the cost. We decided to incorporate both incarnations of this team in their treatment in Marvel Evolution, and each section of the team works in a different way.
The "Exiles adversary" section of the team shows a different facet of Shift, where you spend Shift counters to get powerful effects. Sabretooth is a great example of this:
While three shift counters may seem a little steep, those who have been keeping score will note that they definitely come cheaper than the average resource point, and the ability to get a non-exhaust KO for the cost of forgoing your first and second drops might actually be worth it! Also, you get the option of a 7-drop character to boot!
But the special part of Weapon X involves the final keyword of Marvel Evolution - Hunter! In Marvel Universe you saw the first incarnation of Weapon X, where their powers involved naming characters, and getting special powers against them. I wanted to maintain that thematic and mechanical identity for them, but the wordiness of the Marvel Universe powers was problematic. So we decided to have a simple keyword for them that could capture the majority of what they had as a team. That keyword became Hunter.
The definition of Hunter is:
"When this card enters play, choose an opposing character. That character becomes hunted by you."
* Becoming hunted doesn't do anything by itself, but other cards refer to it.
* Each player may only have one hunted character that is hunted by them at any one time. If another character becomes hunted by you, all other characters stop being hunted by you.
* A character stays hunted by you:
- until it leaves play or another character becomes hunted by you
- even if it becomes stunned or loses its powers
- whether or not there are any hunters in play
But what kind of bonuses can you expect? Look no further:
A classic Wolverine power, but updated for a new team. Each time you play a character with Hunter means you can choose a new character to be hunted by the team with each new addition to the team. In addition, there are other avenue for changing the hunted and impressive powers to take advantage of! As the preview week unfolds, you will see a more complete picture of "Hunter".
With two "new" keywords, Weapon X only has one legend, but he's a doozy! Welcome Deadpool!
Deadpool has a habit of "breaking the fourth wall" in his comics, so I decided that his powers should also "break the walls" of a Trading Card Game. As you'll see with his Legend cards, each of them has a unique power, breaking different rules of the game. We'll start off with a relatively tame preview, but one that is unique in its own way!
Well that enough from me this week - you'll be able to see this weeks previews at the following fine establishments:
4-Nov
Pi's Comics/VS/Whatever
http://comicvswhatever.blo
The Kamiza
http://the-kamiza.com/vs/
The Inky Blo
http://theinkyblot.wordpre
5-Nov
Evolution's Peak
http://evolutionspeak.word
VsNotDead
http://vsnotdead.tumblr.co
6-Nov
VsRealms
http://vsrealms.com/
The Kamiza
http://the-kamiza.com/vs/
7-Nov
TCGplayer.com
http://vs.tcgplayer.com/
VS Gauntlet
http://vsgauntlet.wordpres
The Ring Has Chosen
http://vsrealms.com/
Come back next week, when the end has finally come!
Cheers and Good Games,
TBS
Hey Vs. gamers!
After a few weeks of the good guys, I think that it's time for the the bad guys to take center stage! This week focuses on the Marauders and their legends. The main theme of this team is getting an opponent's characters stunned, and while this might seem like an obvious thing to want to do, in practice it presents interesting decisions on both attack and defense.
Lets take a "Random" example:
Exhausting any character is a powerful power that is usually reserved for rares, but this incarnation of Random can do it - as long as an opponent has a stunned character. This means that you'll need to do a little bit of work on your off-initiative to construct a situation where Random isn't the first one stunned. But the payout is significant, and it often means that you are able to create a no-win situation where the order of attacks essentially "turn on" Random's power. Also, if you are able to direct stun any of an opponent's characters, you'll essentially get a Mystical Paralysis every turn - a payout well worth a little effort. As a quick aside, you'll find that many of the Marauders have their histories entwined with the Brotherhood - so each of those characters, aside from being dual-affiliated with the Brotherhood, are reservists - so you can play them effectively with your cards from The X-Men set!
After a few weeks of the good guys, I think that it's time for the the bad guys to take center stage! This week focuses on the Marauders and their legends. The main theme of this team is getting an opponent's characters stunned, and while this might seem like an obvious thing to want to do, in practice it presents interesting decisions on both attack and defense.
Lets take a "Random" example:
Exhausting any character is a powerful power that is usually reserved for rares, but this incarnation of Random can do it - as long as an opponent has a stunned character. This means that you'll need to do a little bit of work on your off-initiative to construct a situation where Random isn't the first one stunned. But the payout is significant, and it often means that you are able to create a no-win situation where the order of attacks essentially "turn on" Random's power. Also, if you are able to direct stun any of an opponent's characters, you'll essentially get a Mystical Paralysis every turn - a payout well worth a little effort. As a quick aside, you'll find that many of the Marauders have their histories entwined with the Brotherhood - so each of those characters, aside from being dual-affiliated with the Brotherhood, are reservists - so you can play them effectively with your cards from The X-Men set!
Now lets get to the Marauders' Legends!
Historically, we have chosen each team's legends based on some fairly simple criteria - importance to the team, importance to storyline and just general "mainstream awareness". Now with Marauders, we were faced with a dilemma. Which characters do we choose for "Legend" status? Mr. Sinister was the leader of the group (though he died relatively early in the Messiah Complex storyline) but has a fairly low name recognition among non-comic readers. On the other hand, Mystique has a high recognition in the fame stakes (mainly due to the movies) while having a relatively low popularity. Gambit was a fan favorite for many years, but it just felt weird to have his first incarnation as a Legend to be as a bad guy. Ultimately we just decided to load up the Marauders with all these guys, and make sure their treatments as Legends do each of them justice.
We attempted to give each of these iconic characters some new ground to cover that felt thematic, yet still fit within the structure of the team:
Mr. Sinister - Mr. Sinister is the master of power manipulation. He generally is able to supress character powers and affect the opponent's ability to play his tricks. This makes him a prime weapon against Energize and activated abilities.
Gambit - Gambit is the king of direct stuns and thievery. Many of his character cards and plot twists deal with out of combat stuns and taking things from an opponent. You can see his former power set in the following preview:
Mystique - As previously seen in Marvel Legends, Mystique is the queen of subterfuge. Many of her powers involves name manipulation and also involve some amount of KOing. "Identity Theft" is a perfect melding of these two concepts, and also provides them in a powerful package:
So before I give too many previews away, I'll have to go now! Enjoy Marauders week, and you can find previews on the following blogs/webistes this week:
28th October
Beta Ray Blog
http://betarayblog.wordpre
Darkseid Revenge
http://www.darkseidrevenge
29th October
It's A VS Life
http://onyxweaponvs.blogsp
Planet Kalee
http://casualvs.wordpress.
The Jank Has Chosen
http://jankhaschosen.com/
30th October
The Kamiza
http://the-kamiza.com/vs/
Brave and the Blog
http://thebraveandtheblog.
TheBritishInitiative
http://ukvssystem.wordpres
31st October
The Kamiza
http://the-kamiza.com/vs/
VsNotDead
http://vsnotdead.tumblr.co
Scythe Castle
http://scythecastle.wordpr
Until next week, when we see all the different incarnations of Weapon X!
Good games,
TBS
Hey Vs. fans!
After the excitement of two new teams and keywords, you'd think that Marvel Evolution had nothing left! But fear not, this week's preview features X-Force and his main team, X-Force. While the other teams highlighted new keywords, X-Force was more workmanlike in its approach to a team theme, focusing around "combat plot twists" - which is really just a official sounding way of saying playing plot twists during an attack or defense. While traditionally plot twist heavy team-themes have centered around control decks such as Doom, a team such as X-Force can't mess around waiting for the game to come under control - it takes the bull by the horns.
After the excitement of two new teams and keywords, you'd think that Marvel Evolution had nothing left! But fear not, this week's preview features X-Force and his main team, X-Force. While the other teams highlighted new keywords, X-Force was more workmanlike in its approach to a team theme, focusing around "combat plot twists" - which is really just a official sounding way of saying playing plot twists during an attack or defense. While traditionally plot twist heavy team-themes have centered around control decks such as Doom, a team such as X-Force can't mess around waiting for the game to come under control - it takes the bull by the horns.
Cable is a time-traveler, and so is a prime candidate for the Shift keyword. Also since X-Force concentrates on playing a lot of plot twists, he allows you to get maximum efficiency in that arena.
Cable has been a pseudo-Legend of sorts with Marvel Legends with "Bodyslide" being a pillar of many X-Men strategies. Cable gains full Legend status with Marvel Evolution, having over 3 non-character Legend cards as well as a dual Legend card with his buddy Deadpool! All his new versions have the shift keyword that was previewed last week - it is present as a thematic nod to the fact that he is a time-traveler.
Domino, often Cable's partner has the ability to manipulate the probability of an outcome. You can also control your destiny with her as every plot twist you play in combat becomes a Fizzle!
Domino is a longtime partner of Cable in the comics, and she returns with the X-Force, showing her probability altering mutant powers in this incarnation. She has a "restriction" on her power that is present on many X-Force characters: "while in combat", but I'm sure you'll agree that her power is well worth the effort.
A simple yet effective combat plot twist, it essentially melds "Duck and Cover" and "From the Shadows" into one neat package. It shows the versatility of the X-Force, both good on offense and defense!
While "Born to Run" is a simple plot twist, it reflects the simple power and flexibility that is present in many X-Force PTs. In combination with Domino, you can negate a pump as well as add +2 DEF during an attack. Combined with the fact that it can be a "From the Shadows" in a pinch, this is a card you'll be wanting to have 4 of in this deck.
Come back next week where you'll find Mr. Sinister's disciples lurking!
Good games and happy previews,
TBS
Hey guys,
Hope you've been excited about the previews so far! With the X-Factor previews in the books, you've already been introduced to the new keyword "Energize"! But as you might have heard, we've got a few more keywords under our sleeves. I'd like to introduce you to "Shift"!
Here is what the keyword will read in the rules:
* The keyword Shift means:
"Pay 1 or more resource points >>> Remove this card from the game shifted with that many shift counters. Use only if this card is in your hand."
* Cards have two additional powers while shifted:
"Pay 1 resource point >>> Put a shift counter on this card."
"Remove X shift counters >>> Put this card into play if you control X or more resources, where X is its cost. Use only during your recruit step."
* Note - putting a character into play using Shift DOES check the uniqueness rule (like Substitute and recruiting does)
This might seem like a mouthful, but there it essentially means that you can pay for the resource cost of a character with Shift over a few turns. So you could use resource points on turns 1 and 2 to put Shift counters on Blink, and have her come out on turn 3 (or 4,5,6 etc).
The power of this mechanic is it allows you not to waste resource points that you otherwise would have done if you had missed a drop. But even more subtle is the ability to make sure that you will be able to better choose when your characters enter play, rather than have it determined by the randomness of when you draw it. Exiles are expert at taking advantage of coming into play at the right time! Ilyana Rasputin <> Magic is a great character at showcasing this:
Hope you've been excited about the previews so far! With the X-Factor previews in the books, you've already been introduced to the new keyword "Energize"! But as you might have heard, we've got a few more keywords under our sleeves. I'd like to introduce you to "Shift"!
Here is what the keyword will read in the rules:
* The keyword Shift means:
"Pay 1 or more resource points >>> Remove this card from the game shifted with that many shift counters. Use only if this card is in your hand."
* Cards have two additional powers while shifted:
"Pay 1 resource point >>> Put a shift counter on this card."
"Remove X shift counters >>> Put this card into play if you control X or more resources, where X is its cost. Use only during your recruit step."
* Note - putting a character into play using Shift DOES check the uniqueness rule (like Substitute and recruiting does)
This might seem like a mouthful, but there it essentially means that you can pay for the resource cost of a character with Shift over a few turns. So you could use resource points on turns 1 and 2 to put Shift counters on Blink, and have her come out on turn 3 (or 4,5,6 etc).
The power of this mechanic is it allows you not to waste resource points that you otherwise would have done if you had missed a drop. But even more subtle is the ability to make sure that you will be able to better choose when your characters enter play, rather than have it determined by the randomness of when you draw it. Exiles are expert at taking advantage of coming into play at the right time! Ilyana Rasputin <> Magic is a great character at showcasing this:
Ilyana is from Earth 4210 - she was sent by the Timebroker to replace Blink, team leader, when the Timebroker sent her home. She met her unfortunate demise to Hyperion.
As you can see - the turn she enters play is of vital importance to when her power is useful. You can put her into play on turn 4 (along with another 4 drop if you paid Ilyana over the first few turns), and ensure that your board will stay in play! Being a hidden 4-drop almost ensures her power triggers at the start of the recovery phase if you want it to.
But Shift has a few other tricks up its sleeve:
Blink is the leader of the Exiles, a dimension roaming Marvel team that is sent from reality to reality to try a fix all the bugs in the various versions of Marvel Earth! She is one of the two Legends highlighted on the Exiles team.
Blink is the leader of the Exiles team, and is one of the two showcased Legends on the team (the other is Mimic). Her power is potentially extremely powerful, representing almost 3 resource points if you shift characters with each resource point you have on turns 1 and 2. Combine this with her own Shift power, and you can save her power until such a turn that you can get upwards of 5+ resource points if you can hang on long enough! You better believe that the Exiles will be the masters of Shift manipulation.
But this is only one facet of a very interesting power. Shift is meant to represent a few different top down thematics, but it does focus on extra-dimensional power, as well as moving through space and time. So watch out for the Exiles and the Shift keyword - you'll play games of Vs. like ones you've never played before! Shift is also an integral part of the Weapon X team - but they'll have a different way of taking advantage of this brand new power.
Look for previews this week at the following websites:
14-Oct
The Ring Has Chosen
http://vsrealms.com/
Ranma's Blog
http://ranmavs.blogspot.co
15-Oct
Pi's Comics/VS/Whatever
http://comicvswhatever.blo
Majestic's VS Page
http://www.geocities.com/m
16-Oct
Lost Hemisphere
http://losthemisphere.word
Evolution's Peak
http://evolutionspeak.word
17-Oct
TCGplayer.com
tcgplayer.com
It's A VS Life
http://onyxweaponvs.blogsp
Enjoy Exiles Week!
TBS
Marvel Universe Preview: The Illuminati
By “The” Ben Seck
I’m a big fan of “legend” cards. They represent an important tool to the Vs. System from a designer’s standpoint, because they:
• allow us to create a distinct tier of popular characters over normal characters. It is important that Wolverine is inherently “cooler” than a second-rate character.
• enable a greater power level than is normally allowed. As a game designer, I appreciate how difficult it is to design and develop a game where several key card types basically do not have a resource cost, but merely an opportunity cost.
• encourage players to fill their decks with the legend characters. While the entirety of comic lore may be interesting to fanboys, most players would rather see the popular characters duking it out than [Ahmed Samsarra] fetching yet another location.
• allow us to represent a character’s power set more accurately. Each card is able to represent an actual power or signature move of the hero (or villain) and ultimately gives more flavor to each legend character.
Compared to team-stamped cards, legend cards give us a lot more action. But when I was faced with the Illuminati, a “team” of legends, how would I be able to represent this while being cooler than merely team-stamped or just “legend-stamped”?
[Image of Iron Man, Protector of the Reality Gem MUN-232]
Here is a version of Tony Stark you won’t see in the movies. (By the way, Iron Man was the best super hero movie in a loooooong time. If you haven’t gone to go see it, you are missing out.) Everything looks normal until—hey, wait, what’s it mean to be a “member of the Illuminati”? Let’s have a quick look at the text that will be on the Points card in Marvel Universe!
MEMBERS OF THE ILLUMINATI:
The six members of the Illuminati are: Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, and Sub-Mariner, regardless of their versions. To be "different" members of the Illuminati, characters must have different names.
Traditionally, we have grouped characters by team affiliation, but thematically, the Illuminati is a team that has been around for a long time, so why don’t we have a way to have this team already exist? When I first pitched this idea, I wanted to “stealth” in the Illuminati team, because in the comics this was a team that no one (outside of its membership and Black Panther) really knew existed. This implementation would allow deckbuilders to have the entire history of Vs. available to them to build the deck, something that would be much harder to do if we just created the Illuminati affiliation. Also, in Heralds of Galactus and Marvel Team-Up, we hinted at the existence of the Illuminati in the versions of the characters, so it would be clunky and undesirable to have these characters not be able to be put into an Illuminati deck. Finally, it meant that we could make these cards more powerful—there is no team-up to “cheat” having a name (other than characters like Mystique and [Basil Karlo ◊ Clayface] . . . and a plot twist in Marvel Universe!).
For the sake of being comprehensive, here is a current list of characters who are members of the Illuminati (not counting characters such as Mystique) in the Golden Age format:
Name Version Cost Card #
Black Bolt™ Illuminati 2 MHG-092
Black Bolt™ King of the Inhumans 5 MHG-093
Black Bolt™ Devastating Decree 8 MHG-094
Black Bolt™ Enemy Within 1 MUN-254
Black Bolt™ Protector of the Space Gem 3 MUN-229
Black Bolt™ Ultimates 7 MUL-???
Dr. Strange™ Stephen Strange 7 MMK-009
Dr. Strange™ Ally of The Four 6 MVL-153
Dr. Strange™ Founding Father 5 MTU-048
Dr. Strange™ Sorcerer Supreme 8 MTU-049
Dr. Strange™ Illuminati 6 MHG-213
Dr. Strange™ Master of the Mystic Arts 7 MVL-111
Dr. Strange™ Protector of the Soul Gem 4 MUN-230
Dr. Strange™ Secret Avenger 2 MUN-010
Iron Man™ Tony Stark 4 MAV-016
Iron Man™ Invincible 6 MAV-015
Iron Man ◊ Cobalt Man™
Avenger in Disguise 4 MAV-097
Iron Man™ Illuminati 3 MHG-138
Iron Man™ Protector of the Reality Gem 5 MUN-231
Iron Man™ Mighty Avenger 4 MUN-095
Iron Man™ Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. 7 MUN-096
Iron Man™ Ultimates 5 MUL-???
Mr. Fantastic™ Reed Richards 2 MOR-055
Mr. Fantastic™ Stretch 5 MOR-056
Mr. Fantastic™ Scientific Genius 7 MOR-057
Mr. Fantastic™ Doom’s Adversary 4 MHG-147
Mr. Fantastic™ Stringbean 2 MVL-170
Mr. Fantastic™ Flexible Thinker 3 MEX-007
Mr. Fantastic™ Critical Thinker 4 MVL-171
Mr. Fantastic™ Dimensional Explorer 6 MVL-172
Mr. Fantastic™ Leader 7 MFF-007
Mr. Fantastic™ Illuminati 5 MHG-108
Mr. Fantastic™ Protector of the Power Gem 2 MUN-232
Mr. Fantastic™ Haunted Genius 4 MUN-102
Mr. Fantastic™ Ultimates 3 MUL-???
Professor X™ Charles Xavier 5 MOR-019
Professor X™ World's Most Powerful Telepath 7 MOR-020
Professor X™ Mental Master 8 MMK-191
Professor X™ Mutant Mentor 1 MMK-181
Professor X™ Illuminati 7 MTU-061
Professor X™ Idealistic Dreamer 2 MVL-023
Professor X™ Headmaster 4 MXM-019
Professor X™ Friend of Mutants 7 MXS-007
Professor X™ Protector of the Mind Gem 3 MUN-233
Professor X™ Mutant Benefactor 1 MUN-276
Sub-Mariner™ Ally of Doom 7 MOR-121
Sub-Mariner™ Namor 5 MXM-213
Sub-Mariner™ Illuminati 4 MHG-150
Sub-Mariner™ Atlantean Monarch 5 MFF-019
Sub-Mariner™ Uncertain Ally 5 MVL-178
Sub-Mariner™ King of Atlantis 3 MTU-067
Sub-Mariner™ Neptune's Fist 6 MTU-066
Sub-Mariner™ Protector of the Time Gem 3 MUN-234
Sub-Mariner™ The Avenging Son 5 MUN-247
Sub-Mariner™ Ultimates 5 MUL-???
Back to Iron Man. This version of the multimillionaire shows off the fact that the Illuminati are now custodians of the Infinity Gauntlet, each with an Infinity Gem. The Illuminati will highlight a very heavy control strategy, working in the shadows, and they will show that you don’t always need force to win every fight.
But a team isn’t just made up of characters. We needed to have some cards that tied this group of legends together. How about making it easier to find them?
[Insert Image – Secret Government MUN-244]
Utilizing the new plot twist boost keyword, this is six legend cards all in one. With the precedent from Heralds of Galactus and Marvel Team-Up, this card sets up the top of the deck with an Illuminati of your choice, but if you are playing the dedicated deck, you’ll get a [Bat-Signal] effect.
And finally, when you have a team of legends, it would be remiss not to have a legend-stamped plot twist or location for each of them! Each Illuminati legend has one name-stamped plot twist or location in Marvel Universe (Iron Man has a couple more because he is the designated legend on a highlighted team). Here’s Mr. Fantastic’s addition:
[Insert Image – The 100 Ideas MUN-238]
An effect reminiscent of [Thinking Outside the Box] from the wayback machine of Marvel Web of Spider-Man, this is a power that is very potent, especially if you have a character like [Mr. Fantastic, Critical Thinker] to ensure that you are definitely getting a card that you need. The 100 Ideas also serves as a way to recover a card that you may have mulliganed at first but you later need in a pinch!
Just to whet your appetite, here are the names of the other Illuminati legend-stamped cards:
Atlantis: Sub-Mariner Location
Essence of Zom: Dr. Strange Plot Twist
Silent War: Black Bolt Plot Twist
Realm of the Mind: Professor X Plot Twist
I’m done here for the week, but the Illuminati week is just getting started:
• The Ring Has Chosen podcast (www.vsrealms.com) premieres one of the most powerful plot twists ever—and it has the same name as an equipment card!
• Steve Garrett (www.the-kamiza.com) shows another powerful Illuminati plot twist that has the potential to shut down some of the most powerful characters.
• Joe Clarke (http://poppythecat.wordpre
• Alex Millard at Planet Kalee (http://casualvs.wordpress.
See you next week, when we’ll delve into the seedy underbelly of secret organized crime.
Good games,
TBS
By “The” Ben Seck
I’m a big fan of “legend” cards. They represent an important tool to the Vs. System from a designer’s standpoint, because they:
• allow us to create a distinct tier of popular characters over normal characters. It is important that Wolverine is inherently “cooler” than a second-rate character.
• enable a greater power level than is normally allowed. As a game designer, I appreciate how difficult it is to design and develop a game where several key card types basically do not have a resource cost, but merely an opportunity cost.
• encourage players to fill their decks with the legend characters. While the entirety of comic lore may be interesting to fanboys, most players would rather see the popular characters duking it out than [Ahmed Samsarra] fetching yet another location.
• allow us to represent a character’s power set more accurately. Each card is able to represent an actual power or signature move of the hero (or villain) and ultimately gives more flavor to each legend character.
Compared to team-stamped cards, legend cards give us a lot more action. But when I was faced with the Illuminati, a “team” of legends, how would I be able to represent this while being cooler than merely team-stamped or just “legend-stamped”?
[Image of Iron Man, Protector of the Reality Gem MUN-232]
Here is a version of Tony Stark you won’t see in the movies. (By the way, Iron Man was the best super hero movie in a loooooong time. If you haven’t gone to go see it, you are missing out.) Everything looks normal until—hey, wait, what’s it mean to be a “member of the Illuminati”? Let’s have a quick look at the text that will be on the Points card in Marvel Universe!
MEMBERS OF THE ILLUMINATI:
The six members of the Illuminati are: Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, and Sub-Mariner, regardless of their versions. To be "different" members of the Illuminati, characters must have different names.
Traditionally, we have grouped characters by team affiliation, but thematically, the Illuminati is a team that has been around for a long time, so why don’t we have a way to have this team already exist? When I first pitched this idea, I wanted to “stealth” in the Illuminati team, because in the comics this was a team that no one (outside of its membership and Black Panther) really knew existed. This implementation would allow deckbuilders to have the entire history of Vs. available to them to build the deck, something that would be much harder to do if we just created the Illuminati affiliation. Also, in Heralds of Galactus and Marvel Team-Up, we hinted at the existence of the Illuminati in the versions of the characters, so it would be clunky and undesirable to have these characters not be able to be put into an Illuminati deck. Finally, it meant that we could make these cards more powerful—there is no team-up to “cheat” having a name (other than characters like Mystique and [Basil Karlo ◊ Clayface] . . . and a plot twist in Marvel Universe!).
For the sake of being comprehensive, here is a current list of characters who are members of the Illuminati (not counting characters such as Mystique) in the Golden Age format:
Name Version Cost Card #
Black Bolt™ Illuminati 2 MHG-092
Black Bolt™ King of the Inhumans 5 MHG-093
Black Bolt™ Devastating Decree 8 MHG-094
Black Bolt™ Enemy Within 1 MUN-254
Black Bolt™ Protector of the Space Gem 3 MUN-229
Black Bolt™ Ultimates 7 MUL-???
Dr. Strange™ Stephen Strange 7 MMK-009
Dr. Strange™ Ally of The Four 6 MVL-153
Dr. Strange™ Founding Father 5 MTU-048
Dr. Strange™ Sorcerer Supreme 8 MTU-049
Dr. Strange™ Illuminati 6 MHG-213
Dr. Strange™ Master of the Mystic Arts 7 MVL-111
Dr. Strange™ Protector of the Soul Gem 4 MUN-230
Dr. Strange™ Secret Avenger 2 MUN-010
Iron Man™ Tony Stark 4 MAV-016
Iron Man™ Invincible 6 MAV-015
Iron Man ◊ Cobalt Man™
Avenger in Disguise 4 MAV-097
Iron Man™ Illuminati 3 MHG-138
Iron Man™ Protector of the Reality Gem 5 MUN-231
Iron Man™ Mighty Avenger 4 MUN-095
Iron Man™ Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. 7 MUN-096
Iron Man™ Ultimates 5 MUL-???
Mr. Fantastic™ Reed Richards 2 MOR-055
Mr. Fantastic™ Stretch 5 MOR-056
Mr. Fantastic™ Scientific Genius 7 MOR-057
Mr. Fantastic™ Doom’s Adversary 4 MHG-147
Mr. Fantastic™ Stringbean 2 MVL-170
Mr. Fantastic™ Flexible Thinker 3 MEX-007
Mr. Fantastic™ Critical Thinker 4 MVL-171
Mr. Fantastic™ Dimensional Explorer 6 MVL-172
Mr. Fantastic™ Leader 7 MFF-007
Mr. Fantastic™ Illuminati 5 MHG-108
Mr. Fantastic™ Protector of the Power Gem 2 MUN-232
Mr. Fantastic™ Haunted Genius 4 MUN-102
Mr. Fantastic™ Ultimates 3 MUL-???
Professor X™ Charles Xavier 5 MOR-019
Professor X™ World's Most Powerful Telepath 7 MOR-020
Professor X™ Mental Master 8 MMK-191
Professor X™ Mutant Mentor 1 MMK-181
Professor X™ Illuminati 7 MTU-061
Professor X™ Idealistic Dreamer 2 MVL-023
Professor X™ Headmaster 4 MXM-019
Professor X™ Friend of Mutants 7 MXS-007
Professor X™ Protector of the Mind Gem 3 MUN-233
Professor X™ Mutant Benefactor 1 MUN-276
Sub-Mariner™ Ally of Doom 7 MOR-121
Sub-Mariner™ Namor 5 MXM-213
Sub-Mariner™ Illuminati 4 MHG-150
Sub-Mariner™ Atlantean Monarch 5 MFF-019
Sub-Mariner™ Uncertain Ally 5 MVL-178
Sub-Mariner™ King of Atlantis 3 MTU-067
Sub-Mariner™ Neptune's Fist 6 MTU-066
Sub-Mariner™ Protector of the Time Gem 3 MUN-234
Sub-Mariner™ The Avenging Son 5 MUN-247
Sub-Mariner™ Ultimates 5 MUL-???
Back to Iron Man. This version of the multimillionaire shows off the fact that the Illuminati are now custodians of the Infinity Gauntlet, each with an Infinity Gem. The Illuminati will highlight a very heavy control strategy, working in the shadows, and they will show that you don’t always need force to win every fight.
But a team isn’t just made up of characters. We needed to have some cards that tied this group of legends together. How about making it easier to find them?
[Insert Image – Secret Government MUN-244]
Utilizing the new plot twist boost keyword, this is six legend cards all in one. With the precedent from Heralds of Galactus and Marvel Team-Up, this card sets up the top of the deck with an Illuminati of your choice, but if you are playing the dedicated deck, you’ll get a [Bat-Signal] effect.
And finally, when you have a team of legends, it would be remiss not to have a legend-stamped plot twist or location for each of them! Each Illuminati legend has one name-stamped plot twist or location in Marvel Universe (Iron Man has a couple more because he is the designated legend on a highlighted team). Here’s Mr. Fantastic’s addition:
[Insert Image – The 100 Ideas MUN-238]
An effect reminiscent of [Thinking Outside the Box] from the wayback machine of Marvel Web of Spider-Man, this is a power that is very potent, especially if you have a character like [Mr. Fantastic, Critical Thinker] to ensure that you are definitely getting a card that you need. The 100 Ideas also serves as a way to recover a card that you may have mulliganed at first but you later need in a pinch!
Just to whet your appetite, here are the names of the other Illuminati legend-stamped cards:
Atlantis: Sub-Mariner Location
Essence of Zom: Dr. Strange Plot Twist
Silent War: Black Bolt Plot Twist
Realm of the Mind: Professor X Plot Twist
I’m done here for the week, but the Illuminati week is just getting started:
• The Ring Has Chosen podcast (www.vsrealms.com) premieres one of the most powerful plot twists ever—and it has the same name as an equipment card!
• Steve Garrett (www.the-kamiza.com) shows another powerful Illuminati plot twist that has the potential to shut down some of the most powerful characters.
• Joe Clarke (http://poppythecat.wordpre
• Alex Millard at Planet Kalee (http://casualvs.wordpress.
See you next week, when we’ll delve into the seedy underbelly of secret organized crime.
Good games,
TBS