Welcome to Frogtown: Take a Loki this card!

When DC Legends was being spoiled, I was able to get my hands on a doozy of a card to spoil. Mirror Image was an interesting idea, giving you a relatively cheap search card in the mold of Secret Origins, but has a very specific drawback. In addition to having to play an opponent’s character, it is necessary that they pack multiple copies of the same character.

This card is also a generic card, but it is in many ways, the mirror image of Mirror Image. While Mirror Image allowed you to create an evil doppelganger of a character that your opponent packed multiples of, this card changes your opponent’s choice of drop between his various 1-ofs.

It’s important to read it carefully. My initial reading was way off the mark, thinking this was a card that would be much more difficult to pull off. However, in case the card text is a bit too daunting, here is a very simple explanation of what the card does:

Your opponent has to replace one of their characters with either another version of the same character OR another character at the same drop. This is going to be based on what ends up revealed first. Like with Mirror Image, it is important to understand what kind of deck your opponent is playing to really make use of this card.

One example, would be World’s Finest, the deck that ended up in 1st place of the top 8 for Mega Weekend Chicago. On turn 5, there is Superman, Metropolis Marvel; Superman, Man of Tommorow; and Cassandra Cain, Death’s Daughter. The Metropolis Marvel is especially difficult to deal with, but with this card, you’d likely end up with someone that is easier to go up against.

There are other situations where it is useful. A character like Radioactive Man, Containment Suit for example. Certain characters accumulate counters, either with +1/+1 counters, or even a character with Cosmic-Surge. By forcing an opponent to replace a copy of, for example, Beast Boy, Garfield Logan, even if is replaced with another copy of the same character, the number of accumulated +1/+1 counters lost is still relevant. In fact, the best use of this card may perhaps end up being a means to eliminate a character with a ton of +1/+1 counters. With the number of effects we’ve seen starting to pop up in Marvel Universe, in addition to the ones from the Age of Apocalypse set and from the Doom Patrol, that give out +1/+1 counters.

Another thing we’ve started seeing is legendary equipment. This card, even if it replaces a character with another version of itself, will eliminate any equipment attached to the first character. While this suffers some of the problems that other equipment hate have faced, namely that it targets the equipped character, this is still only really an issue tied to BPRD Signal Device and Cloak of Nabu. Also, with some characters, like Quicksilver, Inhuman By Marriage, being targetted by multiple plot twists during the Build Phase, being forced to replace him can also cause some irritation. Combined with characters that would prevent the opponent from playing plot twists effectively during the combat phase, such as Batman, Problem Solver, would mean that the opponent may not be able to feel as safe using the turn long plot twists.

Another interesting use would be to annoy a player who is substituting out their legend to avoid replacing him. For example, a World’s Finest type of deck is replacing their 3-drop Batman with Barbara Gordon <> Oracle, Hacker Elite because they are about to recruit Batman, Cape and Cowl. If you wait for the right moment, you can even play this card while Batman, Cape and Cowl is waiting to come into play. You are running a bit of a risk that your opponent is running more copies of Batman, Problem Solver and Batman, Founding Member than they are running copies of Oracle.

Yesterday’s card, the Winter Soldier, adds an interesting twist to this card. On the one hand, using this against the Winter Soldier would either get rid of him completely, or at least reset his sniper counter count. On the other hand, using it with the Winter Soldier gives you a way to get another sniper counter by forcing an opponent’s character into play, without actually giving him extra characters.

However you use it, make sure to make frog puns when you play the card. After your opponent is forced to replace a useful or countered up character, make sure to ribbit in.

Task Force X - Where Many Teams Have Gone Before

One of the problems with coming up with an idea for the theme(s) of the Suicide Squad is difficult. With so many teams, many ideas have already been done. The X-Statix have done the theme of characters dying in on a regular basis, the Society kill off their own characters at the drop of the hat, Villains United has a similar theme of throwing it’s characters away. There are tons of concealed teams, each with variations of the theme. For Task Force X, I’m going to try and blend a lot of previous ideas and bring them into a single theme.

First of all, the core of Task Force X are the people that never go into the field. Whether it be Amanda Waller or General Wade Eiling, the person pulling the strings is probably chilling out in the hidden area, unconcerned about their own safety, safe in the knowledge that danger is at arms length. Of course, they have gotten involved in certain missions, especially when they’ve found ways to be on the same level as the rest of the metahumans. General Eiling, taking control of the body of the Shaggy Man, was recently enlisted in Waller’s latest version of the team, and a machine allowing The Wall to take control of Chemo meant that both were involved in the front line fighting, although Amanda was safely inside a nearby ship remote controlling the walking meltdown that is Chemo. This theme could work sort of like an inverted version of the Hellfire Club [or Kang, or Hellboy, etc] where a single concealed character rules over the visible minions with an iron fist.

There are other characters, namely Deadshot, Rick Flag and Bronze Tiger, that are constant members of the team. In the case of the latter two, they work for the government directly, instead of being coerced into the group because of criminal activity and threats of bodily harm. With Floyd Lawton on the other hand, he seems to just be extemely lucky, or unlucky depending on the way that you look on it. Despite being put on tons of suicide missions, and a desire to die in a spectacular fashion, he has so far ‘failed’ to end up as one of the casualties of Task Force X. These characters that constantly return from missions will likely have abilities that aid them in doing so, such as powers of recovery, or avoiding stuns. Also, as the field commanders, they should be taking advantage of the bad things that would happen to the unfortunate saps that aren’t supposed to make it out. I’m thinking of some combination of the Morlocks benefitting from stunned characters (or perhaps a leader ability that gives other characters vengence powers, or some other “this happens when someone else is stunned” and a number of effects that benefit from KO’ing characters, perhaps even taking a page out of the Hellfire Club book by having Hellion effects that can combine two benefits off the same character being KO’d.

Anyway, I’m still working on Multiplex, one of the newer members of the Suicide Squad, whose duplication powers were being taken advantage of by Amanda Waller by providing staff for her facility until a real staff could be hired. It’s going to be Multiple Man-esque, so if Stu recovers from his murder, and I can get this bag off my face, I’ll hopefully have Multiplex up soon.

Task Force X - Building a Team

When all else fails, go with what works. While I could do a contest, I’ve instead decided as a way of pushing myself to get some content up to go with some card design. It’s fun, and honestly, I’m more of a DC fan, so while I’m excited about Marvel Universe, I’m not the person that can really talk about the mythos involved.

So, to start things off, I’ll go with my Legend that I submitted to the Ring Has Chosen: Amanda Waller. The basic idea was for her to be the core legend for a Suicide Squad team affiliation. I decided that, while we do have Punisher, Suicide Run … having an ENTIRE team called “Suicide Squad” might get shot down by Upper Deck, so Task Force X fills in as an alternate name if necessary.

The basic idea of the team of course is generally treating MOST of your characters as dispossable assets, but also being able to press [but not THAT kind of press] people into service against their will to some extent.

This means stunning, KO’ing and removing characters you control from the game, perhaps also bouncing them to hand [you do have both Captain Boomerangs having been members of the team]. Also, you want to be a team, sort of like the Skrulls, that is built with teaming up in mind. It would probably be more like the Wild Pack or Doom Patrol more so than Skrulls, and will probably have solid synergy with Secret Society. I may try to avoid covering too much of the same ground, but it might be hard.

Anyway, here is Amanda Waller’s Legend content for now. Hopefully I’ll have a bit more to add soon. I’m pretty sure the Stu will be very interested in what I have in store for Multiplex.

Start of Submission -

This is a legend, that doubles as a sub-team. The Suicide Squad is led by the Wall, and, like the Skrulls, is a perfect team to get small status, because of their, shall we way, recruitment methods. Thus, the basic concepts of Amanda Waller’s cards are involved in coercing other teams to join her cause.

The versions represent her recent role as White Queen of Checkmate, in addition to her temporary role as Black King of Checkmate that occured between the end of Infinite Crisis and One Year Later’s start of the UN run Checkmate.

Amanda Waller

Version: Black King

Cost: 6

Atk: 11 Def: 14

Task Force X/Checkmate

Concealed

Loyalty

When Amanda Waller enters a KO’d pile from play, you lose the game.

Remove a character you control from the game -> Recover target character and move it to the concealed area or visible area.

“After Maxwell Lord’s death, Amanda Waller took control of Checkmate until the future of the organization was decided.”

Amanda Waller

Version: White Queen

Cost: 4

Atk: 6 Def: 8

Task Force X/Checkmate

Concealed

KO a character you control -> Return target non-Plot Twist card from your KO’d pile to your hand.

“As White Queen, her use of Task Force X had to kept off the books.”

Amanda Waller

Version: The Wall

Cost: 2

Atk: 2 Def: 3

Task Force X/Revenge Squad

Concealed

Activate, stun a character you control -> Search your deck for a character with the Task Force X team affiliation, reveal it to your opponent, and put it in your hand.

“Under President Luthor, she served as Secratary of Metahuman affairs.”

Her abilities include a variety of effects that represent retrieval [for the first two] and reorganization for the last one. And of course, she works from the shadows and uses the members of the Squad for her benefit.

Now, her additional support cards. The Location is the easiest one, it will function as a team up. The wording is to avoid giving the team a midnight sons ability, instead allowing other characters to join your team, not so much to take advantage of other teams cards.

Belle Reeve, Team-Up

Location

Cost: 2

Flip only if you control Amanda Waller.

Affiliated characters you control have the Task Force X team affiliation.

Activate, choose a team affiliation -> Characters you own with that team affiliation gain the Task Force X team affiliation this turn.

Operation: Salvation Run

Plot Twist

Cost: 4

To play, exhaust an Amanda Waller you control.

KO all stunned characters.

“Hey, I think you’ve locked us in too.”

Basically, representing the most recent plan of the Suicide Squad, and the last part is of course tied to how they’ve sent Deadshot and other members of the Suicide Squad to the planet along with everyone else.

I would have included an equipment, but I can’t think of how the remote detnator would best be used … and it was more of Rick Flag using the remote than Waller. So, the sub team would probably have a few more characters to fill out their curve, namely Bronze Tiger and Rick Flag, and dual affiliate many of the mainstays like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, etc.

Call In The Reinforcements

Ok, I was just looking at Barry Allen <> The Flash, Crimson Tornado and a thought hit me about how useful it would be to give him reinforcement for the entire turn, and how it was unfortunate that Keystone City didn’t do that. I then jumped to Batmobile, Burn Rubber as a card that could accomplish that with Batman, Founding Member on turn 5. Suddenly a deck started forming before my eyes. Batman on 3, Barry on 4 and Superman, Metropolis Marvel on 5, using Brains and Brawn in addition to Barry’s activated ability to have my visible characters stick around. Martian Manhunter, Founding Member on 6 provided extra reinforcement for the group. The early drops can be filled by Aztec; Dinah Laurel Lance <> Black Canary, New Wings; Ray Palmer <> The Atom, World’s Smallest Hero and Roy Harper <> Red Arrow, Coming of Age. Turn 7 would be Hal Jordan, Fearless, with a back-up of Superman, Founding Member that can be helped out by a copy of Cadmus Labs that can be fetched with New Era. Or, a better card would be the DCX A Clash of Worlds, since that would also allow Martian Manhunter, Last Martian on turn 8 without losing the 6 drop. Wonder Woman, Ambassador of Peace would be a useful alternate on 4, and to round out the mag seven, Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis would fit on 6, although Batman, Cape and Cowl is also a nice addition.

For support cards, the New Era theme that I’m fond of would work for this deck. Keystone City still has a chance of helping out in this deck to provide additional reinforcement. Batcomputer, Criminal Database is useful from the early turns, and the concealed Batman should be in play all game hopefully. The Watchtower is a natural, especially with both the Batcomputer and Mightiest Heroes. I’ve already mentioned a possible one off with Cadmus Labs. United Planets HQ is a good posibility for teaming up with one of the subteams to allow, for example, Batmobile, Burn Rubber, to reinforce one of the JLA members. I’m not sure if there is a team other than Gotham Knights worth teaming up with, outside of including Deterent Force in the deck. 31st Century Metropolis may be a better idea, allowing me to splash Superman, Bulletproof if I expect it to go that long. Then again, if the stall in the deck works well enough, I could always go with Silver Surfer, Last Zenn-Lavian into a 9-drop with an alternate win condition [or Darkseid, Dark God with Endgame]. No matter what, I need to team up to use the Batmobile, so I’ll have to include something there, and it might as well be a location to synergize it with New Era.

 Plot Twist wise, Batman is the most reliable legend, making From the Darkness and At Your Service definite plays. I also want Superman to work like a second Barry Allen, so both Indestructible and Brains and Brawn have a place. Bring It On! is also just an amazing card for this deck, Atomize less so as the theme past 3 is to keep the characters in play indefinitely. Mightiest Heroes and New Era were already mentioned as search for the deck. Crisis Averted is one card I would heavily consider, perhaps forgoing the early return to hand drops for instead more of a concealed presence. The Atom would be the main 1-drop at that point, and Gypsy, Illusionary Operative would actually be the 2-drop of choice. Again, if the team-up is with Gotham Knights, that can mean that Alfred Pennyworth and Harvey Bullock, Gotham Central could make their way into the deck along with Bat Got Your Tongue? and Bat Signal. Now, the deck could easily duck into World’s Finest territory, and I’d rather keep it JLA centric, so I’ll try not to go too far into the Gotham Knights pool.

Characters (29)

4 Barbara Gordon Oracle, Data Broker

1 Roy Harper Red Arrow

4 Batman, Founding Member

2 Hal Jordan, Founding Member

4 Barry Allen The Flash, Crimson Tornado

2 Aquaman, Fouding Member

4 Superman, Metropolis Marvel

3 Martian Manhunter, Founding Member

2 Aquaman, Lord of Atlantis

2 Hal Jordan, Fearless

1 Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

Plot Twists (27)

4 Mightiest Heroes

2 Heroes of Two Worlds

2 Brains and Brawn

2 From the Darkness

2 At Your Service

3 Mobilize

4 Bring It On!

4 The Hook-Up

4 Crisis Averted

Locations (3)

3 Batcomputer, Criminal Database

Equipment (1)

1 Batmobile, Burn Rubber

The Hook-Up was used to not only synergize with the various cards that put something on top of the deck, but also to make a bit of extra use out of the various characters in the deck. The characters are there to make sure that Heroes of Two Worlds works for each turn of 4 and up. At Your Service would rarely net Batman on 3, but with Barbara Gordon it is possible to get the Hook-Up off on turn 3 to enable a search for him, or have a copy of her available to do so. For the most part, it will allow for searching for the location, equipment or plot twists that the deck is looking for later on. Barbara is in the deck to increase the Gotham and JLA presence early, but also to exhaust to Crisis Averted mostly, although she can occaisionally trigger her ally ability.

Statement of Principles

This is just a sort of mission statement for the blog. I want to keep up the concept that I got into for VsSystem.com, which was a look into my head as far as deck building is concerned. I’m a tangential type person, with lots of connections firing off in my head. I’m not sure about other people, but my brain is probably suprisingly similar to Wikipedia … with tons of interconnections that spiral outwards like the Wide Wide Worlds of Web.

I’m also going to try to bring a bit of what I get some good feedback on about on the forums … some W.K. word killing. When the mood strikes, I will try to go to the blog and do a bit of, not exactly ranting, but pontification at length about the subject at hand. Since the blog is a bit more free form than an article, I can have the ability to do that kind of thing, and perhaps take it out of the forum threads, where it may be skipped as too lengthy or might derail things a bit too much. It might be a bit of egotism on my part, but a lot of the time I put a lot of stuff into one of those things, and while the whole “rep” thing is cool and all, it’s hard to really get feedback on it, especially since that would essentially derail the thread to talk about one post in particular.

Testing for now

The cat is out of the bag with Carlos letting people know about the VsSystem.com thing. The blog is a bit sketchy, but hey, why not? I have some ideas for decks for the Mega Weekend(s). I’m going to start working on them. It’s like a mini-spin doctorings of thoughts pouring out of my head. Less polished, and probably shorter, than the stuff for the Mothership, but hey, it’s a new medium for WaKo to explore and become addicted to (or get bored with).

Zoom zoom zoom

Ok, was thinking of deck ideas, and the basic JSA identity theme, combined with the Flash identity Legend, and the Hawk people identity/ally theme.

For a curve, there is definitely one for the Hawks, with 1-drop Hawkgirl and 2-drop Hawkman with the vengence abilities. The Ally Hawks are very important for the deck as well, filling the 3 and 4 drop slots. For the flash, there is Bart Allen at 3, Barry at 4, two options for Wally at 5, along with another version of Bart, and at 6 there are versions of Bart, Barry and Jay Garrick. That leaves 7-drop open, but with the ally theme, The Phantom Stranger is always a solid choice.

Plot twist wise, Terminal Velocity is a must have. In addition to Full Throttle, Need for Speed also works well with Terminal Velocity to re-ready the Flash. Heroic Rescue can be used with Keystone City to provide lots of reinforcment which can allow for Tag Team to be a reliable card in the deck. A Moment of Crisis is a natural of course. Double Play provides more identity based re-readying, which can be very interesting when combined with Bart Allen and his ability to join in on team attacks. Living Legacy provides a solid search card. Mightiest Heroes is a great tutor as well, especially with cards like JSA HQ, The Watchtower, Magnificent Seven and even A Moment of Crisis that can get that card into your hand. Justice United provides not only a team up for the main teams, but it’s secondary effect is very relevant for this deck. Reform the League can be useful, but may not be necessary with Hawks in play. New Era can help to make best use of the locations for the deck, which in addition to the ones already mentioned would also include Soul World and Watchtower. Battle Training and Stalwart Defense provided even greater benefit for characters that will attack multiple times in the turn. Taking up the Mantle provides a means for another character to gain the Flash identity, most likely Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero. With some rereadying effects not allowing a character to deal breakthrough, Brothers in Arm could come in handy.

Characters (28)

3 Prince Khufu <> Hawkman, Eternal Warrior

3 Barbara Gordon <> Oracle, Data Broker

4 Bart Allen <> Kid Flash, Generation Fourth

2 Kendra Saunders <> Hawkgirl, Eternal Heroine

4 Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero

1 Barry Allen <> The Flash, Crimson Tornado

2 Wally West <> The Flash, Keystone Cop

1 Wally West <> The Flash, The Fastest Man Alive

1 Bart Allen <> The Flash, Impulsive Speedster

3 Barry Allen <> The Flash, Founding Member

1 Jay Garrick <> The Flash, Golden Age Speedster

2 The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero

1 Martian Manhunter, The Last Martian

Locations (8)

3 The Watchtower

1 Hall of Justice

1 Keystone City

2 Soul World

1 31st Century Metropolis

Plot Twists (24)

4 Mightiest Heroes

4 Justice United

4 Terminal Velocity

3 Full Throttle

3 New Era

2 Taking Up the Mantle

2 A Moment of Crisis

2 Heroes of Two Worlds