Disclaimer: *Cough cough* Please know that whatever I review about this set is nothing personal, I have no hate for any character, it's purely strategic and tactical about the game.
Also, there might be some words that you might not understand from this article, these are terms we used in the game,
Beefy - Strong stats
Ramp - Effects that allows you to roll more dice
Ping - Dealing damage to a character
Pump - Additional stats to a character
Spill damage - Damage from overcrush
Swarm - Having way more characters in the field than your opponent and attacking with all of them. Not to be confused with the Swarm Keyword.
New Keywords
Crossover - Characters that have 2 or more printed energy on their cards are crossover characters. If you want to purchase a character with crossover, you need to spend at least one of each type of energy they require, you cannot reduce a cost to avoid paying each type of energy require to purchase that die.
Example: Hal Jordon is a 2 cost crossover character that requires 1 mask and 1 bolt to purchase, you cannot use a cost reduce effect to reduce it's card to 1 cost, because you need to spend at least 1 mask and 1 bolt to buy his die.
Crosspulse - Crosspulse ability can be found on Crossover characters, if you purchase that crossover character with only their required energy, you get to use their crosspulse ability.
Impulse - When you purchase a character with Impulse ability, you may immediately trigger it's impulse ability.
Synergy - When a character with synergy is active, whenever you could use global ability, you can use their synergy ability.
Characters/Action cards
Since there isn't any starter set, there will be no basic action card for this set.
We kick things off with Amanda Waller. For 2 cost, she is a cheap villain, and also she can be a strong attacker if you are using a Suicide Squad team, just have 4 attacking Suicide Squad character and she gets an instant +4A, which is really powerful for a 2 cost character.
Instead of having a villain affiliation, this version of Amanda has the Suicide Squad affiliation, which makes it easier to trigger her ability. The more Suicide Squad character you used as a blocker, the more defensive she gets, which can make a really good blocker, just block with 4 Amanda Waller dice and each of them gets +4D instantly before counting the others Squad members. For such a low cost she is a great blocker, not just the early game but the late game as well.
Instead of boosting her own stats, this version of Amanda Waller simply pump all your character's attack when your Suicide Squad dice goes to the used pile. There are a few ways for your character to go to the used pile, you could sacrifice them, if you do so, your character's gets the pump. That additional 1A may seem very little, but if you have a lot of characters in your field and if you place a lot of Suicide Squad dice in your used pile, that is a lot of Pump from the help of a 3 cost character. Suicide Squad character usually sacrifice themselves to use a certain ability, so if you are using Suicide Squad team, don't forget about Amanda Waller.
I can't believe that we are actually seeing more Justice League characters after the JLA set. Barry Allen is the first crossover character that we are seeing in this set. His stats is decent, his ability can be very powerful, but you need to use them at the right time and with the right way. You could make him a really good blocker by giving him +2A +4D using his synergy ability and as many time you want. You could make him a great attacker by making him unblockable or give him overcrush and then pump him with his synergy ability. Either way, you need a lot of bolt and fist energy, so do try to build characters that produce those energy around him.
Instead of spending Bolt and fist energy to pump him, this version of Barry Allen helps to pump other bolt and fist characters instead. The ability is decent but for a 5 cost character, the pump might be a little low. If you think you can make use of the pump, then go ahead and use him.
I just love foil cards, and I am so glad wizkids is finally doing it their cards. Anyway, as much as I like foil cards, I need to admit that this is not one of the greatest super rare cards in Dice Masters history. For the fact that it is a 5 cost and it's ability triggers only when you purchase Barry Allen die using only fist and bolt energy. This can be a hard thing to accomplish, but at the end of the day, it's just to field him at level 1. If you are desperate for a attacker to win the game, then having him in your team would help, but other than that, it's too costly to buy him for no other effect. Sorry Barry, can't help you much.
This is by far one of the best protector against opposing character's abilities. There are plenty of character abilities that targets, so Batgirl would definitely be helpful if you want to protect your characters against those ability. If you are afraid of your characters getting ping or unable to block or get knock out when your opponent's character triggers their ability, look no further.
This version of Batgirl defend againist global abilities instead of character abilities. The drawback is that you can only defend your mask character instead of all your characters, so if you want to defend your characters against global abilities, use Human Paladin: Lesser Emerald Enclave instead, unless you are playing draft, then if you are playing only mask character, you can consider this version of her.
This version of Batgirl protects herself by being immune to being targeted, not to forget that this version is cheaper. If you need Batgirl to be in the field or you want to attack with her and doesn't want anything to happen to her, this version of Batgirl would be better.
If you are playing a more defensive team and your opponent is getting a bit aggressive, Black Adam would stop the aggression. Usually your opponent won't mind attacking, especially if that character has an attacking ability or has overcrush, but your opponent might think twice if Black Adam is active, because it that attacker goes knocked out, it goes to the used pile, and it will weaken his/her entire dice management. If you source of offense is more on using action die and dealing your opponent damage instead of attacking with your characters, Black Adam will help you more.
If you are playing a villain team, Black Adam will boost them significantly. Regenerate is an annoying ability, it allows a character to be very aggressive and it still has a chance to return to the field despite being knock out, it makes the opponent hard to clear your field if all your characters have regeneration. But be careful, use him only if you are using a pure villain deck instead of using villain converter global, because his ability works both ways, so your opponent's villain gain regeneration as well. If your opponent isn't playing any villain, then it's time to send out Black Adam.
This version of Black Adam is very lethal, if a character that is knocked out goes to the used pile will affect the owner's dice management, then sending that die back to it's card is even worse. But be careful, because Black Adam's effect will affect you as well, but fear not, you can build a team of characters with impulse and crosspulse to support you. Since characters with Impulse and Crosspulse only triggers if you purchase their die and after that, they don't really provide any other ability, so sending them back to their card is actually not a bad thing given that you can use their Crosspulse and Impulse ability again. This is a great rare card and it should be the one to look out for in the draft.
Nothing special about this version of Black Canary, just that she has the JLA affiliation, so if you need more JLA characters that are cheap and have decent stats, you can consider using her.
This version of Black Canary supports the crossover characters. That additional 2A 2D pump will greatly benefit your character, and since it's not a global, your opponent can't use it and since this is not a synergy effect, you don't have to keep her active to do so, just simply purchase her die and you get to pump one crossover character. You definitely can consider her if you need this kind of pump for your characters.
This version of Black Canary is more deadly. Usually when you would want to make a character unblockable, you would use action die or character's ability to do so, but there is a chance you might not be able to roll the action or character die out, this version of Black Canary makes your life easier, if you want to make a level 1 character unblockable, you can simply buy her die and trigger her impulse ability.
I have to say, for a 4 cost character, his stats is pretty good. One way to use him is to build him around a team that relies a lot on action die and also place some characters that can only be blocked by sidekicks as your attacker, this way each time you use an action die while Captain Cold is active, you can make an opposing sidekick unable to block. As easy as it sound, it is very hard to pull off this way of playing as it is not easy to keep using action die every turn and if your opponent have more than 5 sidekicks in the field, you are going to have a hard time playing. There are other ways to counter sidekicks, but this way is not an efficient way to do so.
This version of Captain Cold gets stronger each time you use an action die, however, you need to make use of him with his increased stats, overcrush and unblockable would be a good way to use him. So if you really want to use him, you need build him around action die.
This version of Captain Cold is more expensive but if you use an action die, it allows you to make an opposing level 1 character unable to attack or block instead of a sidekick. Even so, your opponent just need to spin his/her character up to avoid Captain Cold's effect. For a 5 cost to only target level 1 character is too costly and I would recommend you to use other cards instead.
For a 2 cost action die to deal 2 damage to a target character die is decent given that only you can purchase this die. If you need some cheap action die, you can consider this.
This is a more expensive version of the Cold Gun but it deals more damage and it's continuous, so you could use it to damage a character whenever you want, so it's better. Plus if you roll on the burst sides, you can prevent that character from blocking or attacking, which can be crucial if use it at the right moment. For 3 cost, this action is really great.
This version of the Cold Gun works almost the same way as the uncommon version, but instead of making the character unable to attack or block, you simply blank it's text, this could also come in handy when it comes to countering an active, attacking or blocking ability. The fact that it is continuous means you can choose to blank that's character's text anytime you could use a global ability if you roll on the burst sides. For 3 cost, this action is great, I love action cards that only I can buy.
Clayface's stats is awesome at level 3, his level 2 is decent, his level 1 is weak, but fear not, you can use his ability to change his stats, if your opponent has a character with better stats than Clayface, simply copy it during your clear and draw step. Once he has the great stats, you can give him overcrush for him to deal some collateral damage.
This version of Clayface is dependable on your opponent's character, in a constructed format, your opponent might not have any crossover character and even if they do, for a 6 cost character to copy an ability for only a turn, that ability has to be worth it. To play safe, I won't rely much on Clayface purely on the fact that I don't think crossover ability are that powerful that every player will have at least 1 in their team for every game.
This version of Clayface copies a crossover character, but that character doesn't lose it when Clayface copies it, so you can have Clayface copy one of your crossover character's ability without fear that that character will lose the ability. Even if you don't want to use Clayface for his ability, you can keep him in your team because his global ability is great. Each turn, during your turn, you are almost guaranteed to have 1 mask energy face as long as you have a sidekick die in your reserve pool, and the fact that you can pay 0 energy to do so makes it even better, if you need mask energy for your gameplay, you can just keep a spot for this version of Clayface purely for the global.
This version of Cosmic Treadmill is better use as a source of offense. You can potentially deal 4 damage to your opponent for using this action if luck is on your side. Even if you don't roll any energy to deal damage, you would get characters from those 2 dice that you reroll, so it's a consolation.
If you don't like to deal direct damage to your opponent, and you prefer to deal your opponent damage through combat, then this version of Cosmic Treadmill will be more suitable for you. For each Cosmic Treadmill action you use, you have a chance to pump up +4A to all your characters in your field, that can be deadly if your opponent does not have enough blockers to block them.
This version of Cosmic Treadmill helps you to buy more action die on the turn you use this action. If luck is on your side, you can reduce up to 4 cost from every action die you purchase for the turn, that could really help your action team a lot. If you are not the kind who likes to depend on luck, then you might not want to use Cosmic Treadmill, this action is go big or go home.
Finally we see more Teen Titans. Cyborg here is a great blocker because characters that he block and knocks out will go the used pile, so your opponent will not attack aggressively when Cyborg is active. This is a great blocker and would be better for a Teen Titan Combo.
This version of Cyborg spins up a target Titan up a level each time he blocks, you could use him to make your Titans character stronger but there are other ways to spin up a character, so you can use other version of Cyborg that are stronger for your Titan team.
This version of Cyborg is a great blocker as well, he can block up to 2 characters, that alone is awesome, his second ability says that he cannot take more than 2 damage from non-crossover character he blocked, that won't be a hard task as crossover characters are not that common in a full constructed play, so you can be sure that your Cyborg is almost invincible while blocking, also, he will counter any non-crossover character with overcrush. Apart from that, he also have the free shield converter global, so if you need shield energy, you can keep him in your team.
Deadshot can be a team supporter, reducing villain or Suicide Squad die by 1 can make a difference and since his defense is low, you can keep fielding him and trigger his ability over and again. Don't worry about your opponent making use of the cost reducer ability because since it's a fielding ability, it does not last until your opponent's turn. So if you need a decent attacker and a cost reducer for your villain or Suicide Squad, you can consider Deadshot.
The teamwatch ability is back! However, for Deadshot wise, he is literally expandable, if you are playing a Suicide Squad team, you can consider sacrificing him to knock out a target level 1 character. That is legit a suicide.
If you are playing a Suicide Squad team, you might want to consider this version of Deadshot. Each time your Suicide Squad character is knocked out, you can draw a die, if your dice management is well such that all the die in your bag is Suicide Squad die, he will be a great ramp for your team.
Deathstroke is back! His stats is really awesome at level 3. For him, you need to play on increasing his stats and give him overcrush or unblockable to make him deadly.
This version of Deathstroke is a good counter against a sidekick team, however, it is not easy to get 6 energy that is just shield and fist, so it can be challenging triggering his crosspulse. Once you do so, your opponent's sidekick is totally wipe off. If you are really afraid of the sidekick combo, you can keep Deathstroke in your team, but you need to ensure you have the necessary energy when you want to counter your opponent's sidekick.
This version of Deathstroke supports the action team instead. If the action die you need to win the game is somewhere in your bag, you can use Deathstroke synergy ability and search and roll that action die. If your action team is set up, you can use his synergy as many time and roll as many action die in your bag as you want. Again, I have to warn you, this is not easy to set up, so if you are not confident, you don't have to use him.
For Diggle's stats, it would be really worth it to purchase him at 1 cost, given that he is super defensive. So if you are playing a crossover team, you can keep Diggle inside just to purchase him at 1 cost.
This version of Diggle allows you to use shield energy as wild instead, which is very powerful especially when you need a specific energy sometime in the game. Wild energy is really powerful and being able to convert shield energy into 1 is really great.
Diggle is a great blocker and his ability is very powerful if you are using a crossover team. Maybe getting him knocked out while blocking seems ridiculous given that he is so defensive but with Kal-L or Ant Man global, you can simply switch his stats and allow him to get knocked out. Once he is knocked out while blocking, you can immediately purchase a crossover die for FREE, if that character is a 6 cost character, you get to purchase him for FREE, if that character has impulse or crosspulse, you get to trigger their ability as well. If you can use him well, Diggle can help you purchase a lot of high cost character for free in a blink of an eye.
This version of Doctor Light helps you to get rid of a levle 1 villain upon fielding. Her ability may seem weak without any help from any global, but if you can convert a character to a villain and spin that character down to level 1, she can get rid of anyone for you.
If your opponent have a lot of sidekicks in the field, you can use Doctor Light to prevent them from blocking. This would allow you to swarm your opponent and win the game. She is decent, but if I would use her, I would include her in my JLA team purely because her ability is not strong enough to be use in every team.
This version of Doctor Light is a pure counter to the sidekick combo, so if you are afraid of sidekicks, you can use her in your team.
Felicity is a cheap character that can fit into any team that requires help to spin up or down characters. Cheap and decent character, great supporter.
This version of Felicity helps you to get wild energy, which can be crucial in the game, so if you need some help tilting your luck, you can count on Felicity.
If you need to tilt your luck even further, you can use this version of Felicity, she will just give you an additional reroll. For 3 cost and no fielding cost required, she is definitely worth the cost.
Firestorm's ability will be at it's best when you have a lot of characters in your field. If you have 10 characters in your field, Firestorm can knock out almost any character when he attacks. So if you intend to use Firestorm to help get rid of an opposing character, you need to build up your field, fast.
Firestorm can be a beast here, the trick here is not to have 4 characters of different energy type to trigger his ability, but rather 2 crossover character or simply 1 white lantern. If you do, Firestorm will have a potential 10A 12D when he attacks, that is really powerful coming from a 4 cost character.
This version of Firestorm needs each energy character in your field for his ability to reach it's peak, similarly, use 2 crossover character or a White lantern to ease your preparation. Once you set things up, each Firestorm that attacks can deal up to 4 damage to your opponent. That's really deadly, even if you haven't finish setting up, he will still deal a minimum of 1 damage each time he attacks, so that's not too bad either.
The second part of Giganta's ability is a bonus, when you give her overcrush and if she can't be blocked by sidekick dice, you have a higher chance to deal more spill damage. The main thing about her ability is the choice to spin her up a level each turn, so you are almost guaranteed a Giganta at level 3 when you field her. Once she is at level 3, make sure to give her overcrush so she can do some collateral damage.
This version of Giganta drains blockers instead, you could use other characters to prevent sidekicks from blocking then spin your Giganta up using her ability and force your opponent to block her with more than 1 character, that will surely drain up his/her blockers. Characters that can only be blocked by 2 characters is great especially if you are using overcrush. Her global can come in handy as well, it works best for her as you can keep spinning her down with her global and spin her up again using her ability and triggers the second part of her ability. Plus, this global only works on the owner's character, so you don't have to be afraid that your opponent is using this against Giganta.
Well, if you don't want to prevent sidekicks from blocking her or drain your opponent's blocker, then just use this version of Giganta, it's simple, spin her up whenever you can and she gain overcrush, just like that. The global is still available on this card so it works extremely well with her ability, a character with 6A 6D and guranteed overcrush is worth 5 cost.
A vanilla character with great stats, but I would prefer to use other version of Grodd for the fact that they have excellent abilities.
This is so sick! Grodd doesn't even need to attack, he just have to stay in the field and all your characters, including him, gets overcrush! Plus, all your other characters gets +1A. Usually I have a lot of expectation for a 7 cost character, and this is one of those that meets my expectation. You can just set up your characters with high attack value in your field and the moment Grodd is active, you can just attack with everyone, imagine 10 characters with 7A, all having overcrush, that probably would overkill your opponent.
As mentioned, crossover characters won't be very common in the constructed format, so Grodd will most likely be unblockable when he attacks. However, I still prefer the uncommon version, I mean, come on, giving all your characters overcrush is just pure devastation. However, if your need the fist energy converter global, you can use this version, that would help your team if you are relying on fist energy.
With some many action dice in the game, it's hard to prepare for a counter against all of them, there are some that prevents your character from blocking, some deals damage to them, some blank their text and some just do more ridiculous stuff. Having Green Arrow in your team is a safeguard, you can use his synergy to change the target of the action die. This safeguard is not cheap though, as much as it is useful, you need to first field Green Arrow and then keep a mask and a shield to use the synergy effect. There is another alternative, which is Storm global, it allows you to change target from an action die as well, but since it's a global, your opponent can use it to change the target back to the original. Still, the latter would be much cheaper, but if you really don't want your opponent to change the target back, then you can consider using Green Arrow.
Green Arrow's attack value is amazing, but he is rather weak when it comes to his defense value. His ability helps him to boost his defense value each time you field a mask or shield character, when his defense is high enough, you can give him overcrush and you don't have to be afraid that he will get knocked out so easily. You could flip his A and D around using Ant Man or Kal L global once his defence pump is way more than his attack. I see potential in this card.
Dealing 2 damage to every opposing character can be lethal if you use it at the right time, this crosspulse ability does supports your overcrush character, when you trigger Arrow's ability, you have higher chance to deal more spill damage and hopefully win the game, or if this can wipe out your opponent's field, your remaining character can swarm in and win the game. Still, I always expect more from super rare card and this is not the best super rare i ever seen. Nevertheless, it has the potential if you can use it right.
Finally, we get to see a 2 cost green Lantern affiliation character. Hal Jordon's stats is great for a 2 cost character, nothing to dislike about him, so if you need a cheap green lantern, look no further.
If you are using a crossover team, this version of Hal Jordan will be a great blocker since he can block 3 characters. Sorry to exaggerate but it's THREE CHARACTERS! That's coming from a 3 cost character, any character that can block up to 3 characters is always a good blocker.
If you are playing a crossover team and you want to ramp more die, this will be a good way to do so. Having to draw 5 dice in a turn, not counting the dice in your prep area, will give you an upper hand against your opponent. No complains here.
Huntress is just a simple decent character, her level 3 stats is not too bad, if you need a cheap villain with decent stats, you can keep her in your team. It is not too hard getting a wild, especially if you can roll 8 8 sidekick dice per turn, so your Huntress is likely to be at level 3.
I am not hating Huntress ability, but with Parallax global, you don't really have to spend 4 cost on a character and still need to field her just to reroll your sidekick dice.
This is a great ramp for any team. The chances of you not rolling a wild energy especially in a draft is pretty high, so if you don't get any wild energy in your first roll, you get to ramp a die immediately, and if you do, that's not a bad thing, wild energy is never a bad thing. If you want to guaranteed to draw and roll that additional 1 die, you can keep your sidekicks fielded, that way, you won't get any wild energy rolled.
Jay Garrick can be really annoying especially when you have the energy to cancel your opponent's global when he is active. Global abilities are essential in the game, and cancelling it will waste your opponent's energy and affect their plan.
Fast is a very powerful ability, especially if your characters have overcrush. You can keep Jay Garrick in your team and when you want to give fast to all your characters, you can use his crosspulse ability.
This version of Jay Garrick acts as a ramp for any team. To put any dice from your used pile into your prep area can give you a huge boost on your next turn if you picked the right die. Although you need to take 1 damage to do so, if you really need that die on your next turn, what's one damage to you. Plus, if you field a crossover bolt shield character, you get to ramp 2 die while taking only 1 damage.
Katana is a cheap and decent character. Her ability is not really that fanciful giving that you can only trigger her ability if her die is in your prep area, not anywhere else, but still, it can come in handy during times in need. Plus, she is a 2 cost JLA character.
Katana can get into your field really fast if luck is on your side, still I would use her mainly because she is a 2 cost Team Arrow member, but who knows, you might get lucky during the game.
This version of Katana requires less luck to field her immediately. She can be very lethal in the early game when your opponent has no character in his/her field. You can just purchase her die with 2 energy and a wild and she will immediately appear in your field. She can be very aggressive in the early game, and still can provide you with some good stats and energy in the late game. This is one of the super rare to look out for in the set.
A 3 cost character that can use Intimidate is really good, although her intimidate ability is limited to 5 cost or high non-villains, but it can help you to remove those beefy or power guys for 1 turn when you field Killer Frost.
This version of Killer Frost is amazing, it is not hard to knock her out, so you can use her as a blocker or go aggressive with her. Your opponent will have to declare attacker very carefully because if that character knocks out killer frost, it goes into the owner's bag and you won't want your high cost character to end up back in your bag. Your opponent would also declare blockers carefully if Killer Frost is attacking, because if the blocker knocks out Killer Frost, it will also end up in your opponent's bag. Flip her stats with Ant Man or Kal L global and give her overcrush, and if your opponent has no villain in the field, either she will deal more spill damage, or your opponent's die will end up in his/her bag, either way, you gain the upper hand.
I would want to promote this version of Killer Frost but your opponent is going to have characters that are 4 cost or below in the field at any point of time, so it is not likely for Killer Frost to be unblockable, I would still prefer to use the uncommon version instead.
King Shark has really good stats, so to sacrifice him to deal 2 damage to all opposing character can seem a little heartache especially he is a 6 cost character. You can keep him in your team and when you need to deal damage, you could do so, however, with Characters like Hulk: Green Goliath, it makes King Shark seems a little weak.
King Shark has a great stats so for him to drain blockers will be appropriate. Quite a decent character, but unfortunately not the best 6 cost character out there.
This is the best version of King Shark. You don't need to play a crossover team, you just need to have 1 crossover character active and King Shark gets +2A and +2D with overcrush, now that's a deadly shark.
This version of Martian Manhunter counters every villain's fielding and attacking ability, you could convert a character to a villain to ignore it's attacking ability as well. If you are afraid of a villain team, you can use Martian Manhunter to counter them.
If you have a villain converter global, you can use it to make your opponent's character unable to block, and your characters can have a higher chance to get unblocked or deal more spill damage from overcrush. Despite that, this ability works both ways, so your opponent can convert your characters to a villain and while Martian Manhunter is active, your converted villains cannot blocked as well, so use it with caution.
I never like a fielding ability given to a character with very high defense value. Martian Manhunter's intimidation is great, given that he will deal damage upon intimidating a character, however, it's hard for him to exit the field and use his intimidation again on your next turn. If you can make him exit the field easily, then use villain converters global to assist him with his ability.
Merlyn has a great attack value, so give him overcrush and he deal some damage and you don't have to worry about him getting knocked out. He can also act as a great blocker against overcrush damage since his attack is decent enough to knock out characters with decent defense value before they can deal spill damage.
This is a great supporter for a crossover team. Instead of pumping a character's attack, Merlyn allows you to reduce another character's attack and pump a crossover character's attack. It helps with overcrush and reducing a character's attack will prevent that character from knocking out your characters easily during combat this turn.
Characters that can only be blocked by crossover characters is useful in a full constructed format given that not everyone plays crossover characters. Merlyn stats might be a little weak for a 5 cost attacker, but you don't have to use him for his ability. Merlyn possess the last and final converter global. This will aid any bolt team or any player who needs bolt energy.
Power Ring has a decent stats, but if your opponent doesn't play a villain team, he can get very powerful when his attack increases. For 4 cost and unlimited attack power, he is quite the dark horse.
For 4 cost character to deal your opponent 1 damage upon fielding seems a little weak and the fact that he is not really easy to leave the field makes things worse. All your opponent need is to have 1 villain active and your Power Ring is useless.
If you want to use this version of Power Ring, you need to make sure that you only have villain characters in your field, that means no sidekick. His fielding ability only grants him additional 2A and 2D if you fulfill the ability requirement, which isn't a lot and it would be a waste if you can't utilize it during this turn.
Zoom stats are rather weak for a 5 cost character but the fact that he does not allow anyone of your opponent to use Fast is impressive. If you are playing a team of overcrush and you don't want characters with Fast to counter them, you can keep Zoom in your team.
This version of Zoom just force your opponent to keep 1 energy to ignore his ability every single turn. The purpose of him is not just making your characters unblockable, but rather to drain your opponent's energy every single turn.
This version of Zoom is like the uncommon version, but instead, your opponent needs to pay 1 energy to attack every single turn. This can drain his/her energy as much as well, but the end of the end, your intention is to drain your opponent's energy if you are using Zoom, so use the cheaper version instead, this version is strong but there is a chance that your opponent is relying on non-combat damage, so he/she doesn't need to attack at all.
I am not a fan of guys with high defense getting a fielding ability, and for Ra's Al Ghul, his ability would be great the targeted character's attack stay at 1 as long as he is active, unfortunately, that's not the case. You could still make good use of him by fielding him and target a character, then flip that character's stats using Kal L global, and probably ping that character to knock it out. Still, it's a bit too much effort just to knock out a character.
This version of Ra's is better, but to trigger his ability, you need to make him unblockable, once you do that, you could affect your opponent's roll by preventing him/her from rerolling a targeted die. It all comes down to luck though, if your opponent roll is so perfect that all the dice he/she rolls comes out with his/her desired outcome, there is nothing much you could do. Still, there is a potential that you will drastically change your opponent's game with Ra's.
I think I have stressed enough about the fielding ability. If you really want to give a high defense value character a fielding ability, at least make it great. This version of Ra's can help you to knock out a character, but only if it's level 3. Unless you specifically spin up a character, other than that, the ability is rather weak coming from a 5 cost character.
This action is used more on gaining life. If you build a team around mask and shield energy characters, you are likely to gain more life when you use this action. Your dice management need to be good as well, you don't want to have no related dice in your bag when you use this action. The global here is the game changer, adding a die into your prep area instead of the used pile will boost your next turn significantly, imagine being able to roll a die you just bought for the next turn, that would be crucial move.
This version of the Chalkboard is a form of ramp. For a 5 cost action to ramp 3 dice is great but manage your dice well so that you are guaranteed to ramp 3 dice for this action. You can use professor X global to assist you so your sidekick dice are nowhere near your bag when you use this action.
This version of the Chalkboard helps you to pump a character instead. You can use this action in times of need, if you have a character unblocked or have overcrush, you can use this action and give that character that additional pump to deal more damage. It's a 2 cost action with unlimited potential to pump your characters, so I would consider using it if my team revolve around shield and masks energy.
This version of Roy Harper will benefit Team Arrow, characters like Green Arrow have really great attack but weak defense, so giving them fast while they have overcrush would be great, plus, Roy Harper's himself is also from Team Arrow, so he can give himself Fast.
This version of Roy Harper will guarantee your Team Arrow's character at maximum level as long as you have the energy to spin them up. There is no limit to how many characters you can spin up, so keep some energy and when you field Roy Harper, you can spin all the Team Arrow characters you want to maximum level.
Unfortunately, Roy Harper doesn't get to keep his momentum, this version of him isn't as good, because not every player plays Teen Titan. Plus, even if your opponent does, he/she can pay 1 energy to ignore his effect, so you kind of waste his fielding ability.
This version of Star Labs allows you to deal damage to a target character according to a bolt or shield character's attack. So you could potentially deal up to 10A to a character by using this action. The great thing about this action card is the global, especially in a format where you can't use professor X global, you can use the global to ramp your sidekick die and field a sidekick at the same time, this will keep your sidekick dice away from your used pile so you have a chance to draw more powerful dice, also, there is no limit to how many times you can use the global, so you could ramp 4 sidekick dice and field 4 sidekicks in a single turn as long as you have the energy to do so.
This action is great as you can give a bolt or shield character regenerate and you could do so anytime you want since it's continuous. The bonus part about this action is that you have the chance to gain up to 3 life if you regenerate that character at level 3.
For a 2 cost action to pump all your shield character's 2D and give your bolt characters fast is amazing, plus, if you roll on the burst sides, you get both effects on all your bolt and shield characters. Fast is lethal when use the right way and the defensive pump will prevent your characters from getting knocked out easily, and all of this is coming from a 2 cost action, so no complaints here.
Speedy is a cheap character with great attack value. She is another great addition to Team Arrow. Her ability supports characters with overcrush, you could sacrifice her while she is blocked so she could deal 2 damage to a blocking character, thus you are able to deal more spill damage. Nothing really too powerful but for a 3 cost character, it's decent. You don't have to trigger her ability if you don't want to though.
With such a high attack, you it's really great for Speedy to possess Fast.
Speedy is great to support overcrush character, when she attacks, she deals any blockers 1 damage. And this ability stacks, so 4 Speedy that attacks will deal 4 damage to any blocker, so you probably will deal more spill damage. For the cost, it's a great ability.
This version of Static is great if you are using Parallax global. Without the global, Static will guaranteed to deal at least 1 damage to a character when your opponent roll dice during the roll and reroll step, and if he/she rerolls 2 or more dice, he gets to another 1 damage to a character. So bring in parallax global so each time your opponent rolls more than 2 dice, you get to ping his/her character. Not a bad ability, and you can add him to the Titans team.
This version of Static works the same as the common version, just that the outcome is you spinning your Static die up instead of pinging a character. I would prefer the common version as there are other ways to spin up your characters.
If you want to knock out a sidekick, this wouldn't be an efficient way to do so. Because if your opponent is playing a sidekick combo and he/she has pumped their sidekick and would take 1 damage to prevent Static from knocking out the sidekick, so it wouldn't be worth all your effort just to knock out a sidekick.
Superman has really great stats, so if you are playing a JLA team, you can use him so he can act as the beefy guy in your team. He has the potential to go 14A 15D.
Now that there is the Chalkboard global, you can go ahead and use better version of Superman and use that global to add the Superman die into your prep area. For 7 cost and no other ability, this is a waste of energy. Sorry Superman.
This version of Superman is cool, you get to add him into your bag upon purchase. But that's not all, he helps you to reduce action die by 2 cost, so that's not too bad. You can consider him if you are playing an action combo.
If you have ways to spin up Atom every single time, then you have the chance to keep dealing 3 damage to a character each time you spin Atom down to level 1, so it's quite a good deal.
This version of Atom works the same way but instead of deal damage, he helps you to ramp dice. It's not too bad as well, you could get rid of the weaker die that you drew.
This version of Atom helps you to spin up a character to level 3 instead, which can be very efficient if you can spam his ability and if your characters are at their best at level 3. Basically, Atom needs to be spun up in order for him to use his ability, so you need to find ways to do so. He is not the best character but it's a great add on for the Titans team.
Weather Wizard have very weak stats for a 4 cost character, and for him to deal only 2 damage to a character when fielded doesn't seem very appealing, so I would rather use other stronger villains.
This version of Weather Wizard is better, your chances of getting blocked by non-crossover character is quite high in full constructed format. You need to make use of his increased stats such as giving him overcrush. However, if you feel that his stats is still weak even after getting pumped, feel free to swap to another character for your team.
An unblockable Weather Wizard is the way to go if your opponent has no crossover character. However, his stats is really weak, I can't stop emphasizing about this because for a 5 cost character, I would expect him to have higher stats. So even if he is guaranteed unblockable, it would be quite expensive to buy him for his stats.
First of all, I am glad they actually made White Lanterns. Secondly, White Lanterns are one of the hardest character to buy because you need to use all 4 different type of energy to buy them, and you cannot use wild energy to do so. As for Batman, he does allows you to ramp die and gain life every turn if you manage to roll 2 or more wild energy, if you have plenty of sidekick dice to roll, this shouldn't be an issue. Not a bad ability, but not the best super rare either. Despite that, you can definitely keep him in the team for the die ramp and life gain.
Global ability is essential in the game, to deal your opponent 1 damage each time he/she uses a global can drain his/her life very easily. This is not exactly a great super rare card because the fact that there are other characters, Wasp: Founding Avenger, that does the same, but it definitely is useful for your team.
This is one of the best super rare card in this set. This can annoy the hell out of your opponent. Imagine each double energy your opponent rolls will be spin down to 1 energy because of Sinestro, how annoying is that. This can easily counter as crossover die because a crossover die is useful because it has the 2 different energy on 2 sides of a die but if it is spun down to a single energy face, it provides a generic energy instead. When Sinestro is active, your opponent is going to have a hard time accumulating energies.
I love Wonder Woman, but this card effect just makes her weak. An impulse ability is great if you have at least 4 dice on the card so you can trigger the ability more than once, however, for Wonder Woman, you need to use the 4 different energy to buy her, which isn't an easy task to do, and the only thing you can do is to knock out a villain die. If your intention is to knock out a villain die, there are plenty of ways to do so, and most of them are more effective and easier to set up.
Here we have another version of Wonder Girl, her stats is decent and her cost is super cheap, so if you need more cheap Titans, look no further.
This is an even better version of Wonder Girl especially if you are using a Teen Titan Team. For Wonder Girl to cost only 1 generic energy is super worth it, and it's not hard to trigger this ability given that most Titan character can be active in the field in a short period of time.
The only 3 shield energy Teen Titans as of now is Cyborg, Robin and Wonder Girl from WOL, and you clearly can't use that Wonder Girl if you use this one. So you need Robin and Cyborg to support Wonder Girl. Both of them have up to 2 fielding cost, so you can potentially pay 1 energy from Wonder Girl's teamwatch and gain a potential of 2 life. You need to see what kind of style you wish to play, if you want a more defensive Power Girl, use the WOL ones, if you need a cheap Titans, use the common or uncommon version in this set, if you need her to be a supporter, use this.
This version of Zatanna allows you to change your luck a little each time you field a fist or mask character. That reroll might change the game, however, it's not as easy to trigger her ability and it does takes some effort to set her up, and all these just to reroll dice. I would rather you using the parallax global if you really need to reroll dice.
Crosspulse ability is great but the ability needs to be very powerful to motivate you to save energies for the crosspulse. Zatnanna ability is not that bad, but if you need more sidekick dice in your used pile, simply use professor X global.
This is another fantastic super rare in this set. Zatanna can help you to counter any sidekick team, all you need is to keep her active and use her synergy to force your opponent to reroll all his/her sidekicks in the field. The chances of them being gone are very high and if the sidekick rolls into fist or mask energy, Zatanna get to deal them 1 damage as well. For 3 cost and even if your intention is not to get rid of your opponent's sidekick, you can simply try your luck to deal your opponent damage, if that character is an Ally with mask or fist energy, your chances of dealing them damage increases! This is another Super Rare card to look out for in this set.
Conclusion
Is this the best set I have ever seen in my life? Not really, but it does impress me nevertheless. It's a tradition for DC sets to keep a certain affiliation to that set and never release the affiliation to another set. We only saw JLA in JLA set, the lanterns and titans in WOL, Batman Family and Crime Syndicate in WF set. This set brings a lot of familar affiliation back and include a few new ones, which is why I am so happy because for Marvel we have plenty of Avengers and X-Men characters and DC seems to be lack of JLA and Teen Titans characters.
The new keyword is very unique and interesting though, and also they brought back some old keywords such as teamwatch, which is great. I like the effort that Wizkids has put in for this set. Which comes to my main point, the FOIL CARDS! I love the foil cards, it makes your card look really valuable to collect and it makes you feel a little happier when you open a foil card, even if it's a common foil.
Also, there are no starter set, so the dice distribution when playing draft deviates a lot, so it makes the format fun again. I can't stress how satisfied I am with this set and I hope wizkids continues to impress us more so we can keep on supporting the game in the long run.
Swarm - Having way more characters in the field than your opponent and attacking with all of them. Not to be confused with the Swarm Keyword.
New Keywords
Crossover - Characters that have 2 or more printed energy on their cards are crossover characters. If you want to purchase a character with crossover, you need to spend at least one of each type of energy they require, you cannot reduce a cost to avoid paying each type of energy require to purchase that die.
Example: Hal Jordon is a 2 cost crossover character that requires 1 mask and 1 bolt to purchase, you cannot use a cost reduce effect to reduce it's card to 1 cost, because you need to spend at least 1 mask and 1 bolt to buy his die.
Crosspulse - Crosspulse ability can be found on Crossover characters, if you purchase that crossover character with only their required energy, you get to use their crosspulse ability.
Impulse - When you purchase a character with Impulse ability, you may immediately trigger it's impulse ability.
Synergy - When a character with synergy is active, whenever you could use global ability, you can use their synergy ability.
Characters/Action cards
Since there isn't any starter set, there will be no basic action card for this set.
We kick things off with Amanda Waller. For 2 cost, she is a cheap villain, and also she can be a strong attacker if you are using a Suicide Squad team, just have 4 attacking Suicide Squad character and she gets an instant +4A, which is really powerful for a 2 cost character.
Instead of having a villain affiliation, this version of Amanda has the Suicide Squad affiliation, which makes it easier to trigger her ability. The more Suicide Squad character you used as a blocker, the more defensive she gets, which can make a really good blocker, just block with 4 Amanda Waller dice and each of them gets +4D instantly before counting the others Squad members. For such a low cost she is a great blocker, not just the early game but the late game as well.
Instead of boosting her own stats, this version of Amanda Waller simply pump all your character's attack when your Suicide Squad dice goes to the used pile. There are a few ways for your character to go to the used pile, you could sacrifice them, if you do so, your character's gets the pump. That additional 1A may seem very little, but if you have a lot of characters in your field and if you place a lot of Suicide Squad dice in your used pile, that is a lot of Pump from the help of a 3 cost character. Suicide Squad character usually sacrifice themselves to use a certain ability, so if you are using Suicide Squad team, don't forget about Amanda Waller.
I can't believe that we are actually seeing more Justice League characters after the JLA set. Barry Allen is the first crossover character that we are seeing in this set. His stats is decent, his ability can be very powerful, but you need to use them at the right time and with the right way. You could make him a really good blocker by giving him +2A +4D using his synergy ability and as many time you want. You could make him a great attacker by making him unblockable or give him overcrush and then pump him with his synergy ability. Either way, you need a lot of bolt and fist energy, so do try to build characters that produce those energy around him.
Instead of spending Bolt and fist energy to pump him, this version of Barry Allen helps to pump other bolt and fist characters instead. The ability is decent but for a 5 cost character, the pump might be a little low. If you think you can make use of the pump, then go ahead and use him.
I just love foil cards, and I am so glad wizkids is finally doing it their cards. Anyway, as much as I like foil cards, I need to admit that this is not one of the greatest super rare cards in Dice Masters history. For the fact that it is a 5 cost and it's ability triggers only when you purchase Barry Allen die using only fist and bolt energy. This can be a hard thing to accomplish, but at the end of the day, it's just to field him at level 1. If you are desperate for a attacker to win the game, then having him in your team would help, but other than that, it's too costly to buy him for no other effect. Sorry Barry, can't help you much.
This is by far one of the best protector against opposing character's abilities. There are plenty of character abilities that targets, so Batgirl would definitely be helpful if you want to protect your characters against those ability. If you are afraid of your characters getting ping or unable to block or get knock out when your opponent's character triggers their ability, look no further.
This version of Batgirl defend againist global abilities instead of character abilities. The drawback is that you can only defend your mask character instead of all your characters, so if you want to defend your characters against global abilities, use Human Paladin: Lesser Emerald Enclave instead, unless you are playing draft, then if you are playing only mask character, you can consider this version of her.
This version of Batgirl protects herself by being immune to being targeted, not to forget that this version is cheaper. If you need Batgirl to be in the field or you want to attack with her and doesn't want anything to happen to her, this version of Batgirl would be better.
If you are playing a more defensive team and your opponent is getting a bit aggressive, Black Adam would stop the aggression. Usually your opponent won't mind attacking, especially if that character has an attacking ability or has overcrush, but your opponent might think twice if Black Adam is active, because it that attacker goes knocked out, it goes to the used pile, and it will weaken his/her entire dice management. If you source of offense is more on using action die and dealing your opponent damage instead of attacking with your characters, Black Adam will help you more.
If you are playing a villain team, Black Adam will boost them significantly. Regenerate is an annoying ability, it allows a character to be very aggressive and it still has a chance to return to the field despite being knock out, it makes the opponent hard to clear your field if all your characters have regeneration. But be careful, use him only if you are using a pure villain deck instead of using villain converter global, because his ability works both ways, so your opponent's villain gain regeneration as well. If your opponent isn't playing any villain, then it's time to send out Black Adam.
This version of Black Adam is very lethal, if a character that is knocked out goes to the used pile will affect the owner's dice management, then sending that die back to it's card is even worse. But be careful, because Black Adam's effect will affect you as well, but fear not, you can build a team of characters with impulse and crosspulse to support you. Since characters with Impulse and Crosspulse only triggers if you purchase their die and after that, they don't really provide any other ability, so sending them back to their card is actually not a bad thing given that you can use their Crosspulse and Impulse ability again. This is a great rare card and it should be the one to look out for in the draft.
Nothing special about this version of Black Canary, just that she has the JLA affiliation, so if you need more JLA characters that are cheap and have decent stats, you can consider using her.
This version of Black Canary supports the crossover characters. That additional 2A 2D pump will greatly benefit your character, and since it's not a global, your opponent can't use it and since this is not a synergy effect, you don't have to keep her active to do so, just simply purchase her die and you get to pump one crossover character. You definitely can consider her if you need this kind of pump for your characters.
This version of Black Canary is more deadly. Usually when you would want to make a character unblockable, you would use action die or character's ability to do so, but there is a chance you might not be able to roll the action or character die out, this version of Black Canary makes your life easier, if you want to make a level 1 character unblockable, you can simply buy her die and trigger her impulse ability.
I have to say, for a 4 cost character, his stats is pretty good. One way to use him is to build him around a team that relies a lot on action die and also place some characters that can only be blocked by sidekicks as your attacker, this way each time you use an action die while Captain Cold is active, you can make an opposing sidekick unable to block. As easy as it sound, it is very hard to pull off this way of playing as it is not easy to keep using action die every turn and if your opponent have more than 5 sidekicks in the field, you are going to have a hard time playing. There are other ways to counter sidekicks, but this way is not an efficient way to do so.
This version of Captain Cold gets stronger each time you use an action die, however, you need to make use of him with his increased stats, overcrush and unblockable would be a good way to use him. So if you really want to use him, you need build him around action die.
This version of Captain Cold is more expensive but if you use an action die, it allows you to make an opposing level 1 character unable to attack or block instead of a sidekick. Even so, your opponent just need to spin his/her character up to avoid Captain Cold's effect. For a 5 cost to only target level 1 character is too costly and I would recommend you to use other cards instead.
For a 2 cost action die to deal 2 damage to a target character die is decent given that only you can purchase this die. If you need some cheap action die, you can consider this.
This is a more expensive version of the Cold Gun but it deals more damage and it's continuous, so you could use it to damage a character whenever you want, so it's better. Plus if you roll on the burst sides, you can prevent that character from blocking or attacking, which can be crucial if use it at the right moment. For 3 cost, this action is really great.
This version of the Cold Gun works almost the same way as the uncommon version, but instead of making the character unable to attack or block, you simply blank it's text, this could also come in handy when it comes to countering an active, attacking or blocking ability. The fact that it is continuous means you can choose to blank that's character's text anytime you could use a global ability if you roll on the burst sides. For 3 cost, this action is great, I love action cards that only I can buy.
Clayface's stats is awesome at level 3, his level 2 is decent, his level 1 is weak, but fear not, you can use his ability to change his stats, if your opponent has a character with better stats than Clayface, simply copy it during your clear and draw step. Once he has the great stats, you can give him overcrush for him to deal some collateral damage.
This version of Clayface is dependable on your opponent's character, in a constructed format, your opponent might not have any crossover character and even if they do, for a 6 cost character to copy an ability for only a turn, that ability has to be worth it. To play safe, I won't rely much on Clayface purely on the fact that I don't think crossover ability are that powerful that every player will have at least 1 in their team for every game.
This version of Clayface copies a crossover character, but that character doesn't lose it when Clayface copies it, so you can have Clayface copy one of your crossover character's ability without fear that that character will lose the ability. Even if you don't want to use Clayface for his ability, you can keep him in your team because his global ability is great. Each turn, during your turn, you are almost guaranteed to have 1 mask energy face as long as you have a sidekick die in your reserve pool, and the fact that you can pay 0 energy to do so makes it even better, if you need mask energy for your gameplay, you can just keep a spot for this version of Clayface purely for the global.
This version of Cosmic Treadmill is better use as a source of offense. You can potentially deal 4 damage to your opponent for using this action if luck is on your side. Even if you don't roll any energy to deal damage, you would get characters from those 2 dice that you reroll, so it's a consolation.
If you don't like to deal direct damage to your opponent, and you prefer to deal your opponent damage through combat, then this version of Cosmic Treadmill will be more suitable for you. For each Cosmic Treadmill action you use, you have a chance to pump up +4A to all your characters in your field, that can be deadly if your opponent does not have enough blockers to block them.
This version of Cosmic Treadmill helps you to buy more action die on the turn you use this action. If luck is on your side, you can reduce up to 4 cost from every action die you purchase for the turn, that could really help your action team a lot. If you are not the kind who likes to depend on luck, then you might not want to use Cosmic Treadmill, this action is go big or go home.
Finally we see more Teen Titans. Cyborg here is a great blocker because characters that he block and knocks out will go the used pile, so your opponent will not attack aggressively when Cyborg is active. This is a great blocker and would be better for a Teen Titan Combo.
This version of Cyborg spins up a target Titan up a level each time he blocks, you could use him to make your Titans character stronger but there are other ways to spin up a character, so you can use other version of Cyborg that are stronger for your Titan team.
This version of Cyborg is a great blocker as well, he can block up to 2 characters, that alone is awesome, his second ability says that he cannot take more than 2 damage from non-crossover character he blocked, that won't be a hard task as crossover characters are not that common in a full constructed play, so you can be sure that your Cyborg is almost invincible while blocking, also, he will counter any non-crossover character with overcrush. Apart from that, he also have the free shield converter global, so if you need shield energy, you can keep him in your team.
Deadshot can be a team supporter, reducing villain or Suicide Squad die by 1 can make a difference and since his defense is low, you can keep fielding him and trigger his ability over and again. Don't worry about your opponent making use of the cost reducer ability because since it's a fielding ability, it does not last until your opponent's turn. So if you need a decent attacker and a cost reducer for your villain or Suicide Squad, you can consider Deadshot.
The teamwatch ability is back! However, for Deadshot wise, he is literally expandable, if you are playing a Suicide Squad team, you can consider sacrificing him to knock out a target level 1 character. That is legit a suicide.
If you are playing a Suicide Squad team, you might want to consider this version of Deadshot. Each time your Suicide Squad character is knocked out, you can draw a die, if your dice management is well such that all the die in your bag is Suicide Squad die, he will be a great ramp for your team.
Deathstroke is back! His stats is really awesome at level 3. For him, you need to play on increasing his stats and give him overcrush or unblockable to make him deadly.
This version of Deathstroke is a good counter against a sidekick team, however, it is not easy to get 6 energy that is just shield and fist, so it can be challenging triggering his crosspulse. Once you do so, your opponent's sidekick is totally wipe off. If you are really afraid of the sidekick combo, you can keep Deathstroke in your team, but you need to ensure you have the necessary energy when you want to counter your opponent's sidekick.
This version of Deathstroke supports the action team instead. If the action die you need to win the game is somewhere in your bag, you can use Deathstroke synergy ability and search and roll that action die. If your action team is set up, you can use his synergy as many time and roll as many action die in your bag as you want. Again, I have to warn you, this is not easy to set up, so if you are not confident, you don't have to use him.
For Diggle's stats, it would be really worth it to purchase him at 1 cost, given that he is super defensive. So if you are playing a crossover team, you can keep Diggle inside just to purchase him at 1 cost.
This version of Diggle allows you to use shield energy as wild instead, which is very powerful especially when you need a specific energy sometime in the game. Wild energy is really powerful and being able to convert shield energy into 1 is really great.
Diggle is a great blocker and his ability is very powerful if you are using a crossover team. Maybe getting him knocked out while blocking seems ridiculous given that he is so defensive but with Kal-L or Ant Man global, you can simply switch his stats and allow him to get knocked out. Once he is knocked out while blocking, you can immediately purchase a crossover die for FREE, if that character is a 6 cost character, you get to purchase him for FREE, if that character has impulse or crosspulse, you get to trigger their ability as well. If you can use him well, Diggle can help you purchase a lot of high cost character for free in a blink of an eye.
This version of Doctor Light helps you to get rid of a levle 1 villain upon fielding. Her ability may seem weak without any help from any global, but if you can convert a character to a villain and spin that character down to level 1, she can get rid of anyone for you.
If your opponent have a lot of sidekicks in the field, you can use Doctor Light to prevent them from blocking. This would allow you to swarm your opponent and win the game. She is decent, but if I would use her, I would include her in my JLA team purely because her ability is not strong enough to be use in every team.
This version of Doctor Light is a pure counter to the sidekick combo, so if you are afraid of sidekicks, you can use her in your team.
Felicity is a cheap character that can fit into any team that requires help to spin up or down characters. Cheap and decent character, great supporter.
This version of Felicity helps you to get wild energy, which can be crucial in the game, so if you need some help tilting your luck, you can count on Felicity.
If you need to tilt your luck even further, you can use this version of Felicity, she will just give you an additional reroll. For 3 cost and no fielding cost required, she is definitely worth the cost.
Firestorm's ability will be at it's best when you have a lot of characters in your field. If you have 10 characters in your field, Firestorm can knock out almost any character when he attacks. So if you intend to use Firestorm to help get rid of an opposing character, you need to build up your field, fast.
Firestorm can be a beast here, the trick here is not to have 4 characters of different energy type to trigger his ability, but rather 2 crossover character or simply 1 white lantern. If you do, Firestorm will have a potential 10A 12D when he attacks, that is really powerful coming from a 4 cost character.
This version of Firestorm needs each energy character in your field for his ability to reach it's peak, similarly, use 2 crossover character or a White lantern to ease your preparation. Once you set things up, each Firestorm that attacks can deal up to 4 damage to your opponent. That's really deadly, even if you haven't finish setting up, he will still deal a minimum of 1 damage each time he attacks, so that's not too bad either.
The second part of Giganta's ability is a bonus, when you give her overcrush and if she can't be blocked by sidekick dice, you have a higher chance to deal more spill damage. The main thing about her ability is the choice to spin her up a level each turn, so you are almost guaranteed a Giganta at level 3 when you field her. Once she is at level 3, make sure to give her overcrush so she can do some collateral damage.
This version of Giganta drains blockers instead, you could use other characters to prevent sidekicks from blocking then spin your Giganta up using her ability and force your opponent to block her with more than 1 character, that will surely drain up his/her blockers. Characters that can only be blocked by 2 characters is great especially if you are using overcrush. Her global can come in handy as well, it works best for her as you can keep spinning her down with her global and spin her up again using her ability and triggers the second part of her ability. Plus, this global only works on the owner's character, so you don't have to be afraid that your opponent is using this against Giganta.
Well, if you don't want to prevent sidekicks from blocking her or drain your opponent's blocker, then just use this version of Giganta, it's simple, spin her up whenever you can and she gain overcrush, just like that. The global is still available on this card so it works extremely well with her ability, a character with 6A 6D and guranteed overcrush is worth 5 cost.
A vanilla character with great stats, but I would prefer to use other version of Grodd for the fact that they have excellent abilities.
This is so sick! Grodd doesn't even need to attack, he just have to stay in the field and all your characters, including him, gets overcrush! Plus, all your other characters gets +1A. Usually I have a lot of expectation for a 7 cost character, and this is one of those that meets my expectation. You can just set up your characters with high attack value in your field and the moment Grodd is active, you can just attack with everyone, imagine 10 characters with 7A, all having overcrush, that probably would overkill your opponent.
As mentioned, crossover characters won't be very common in the constructed format, so Grodd will most likely be unblockable when he attacks. However, I still prefer the uncommon version, I mean, come on, giving all your characters overcrush is just pure devastation. However, if your need the fist energy converter global, you can use this version, that would help your team if you are relying on fist energy.
With some many action dice in the game, it's hard to prepare for a counter against all of them, there are some that prevents your character from blocking, some deals damage to them, some blank their text and some just do more ridiculous stuff. Having Green Arrow in your team is a safeguard, you can use his synergy to change the target of the action die. This safeguard is not cheap though, as much as it is useful, you need to first field Green Arrow and then keep a mask and a shield to use the synergy effect. There is another alternative, which is Storm global, it allows you to change target from an action die as well, but since it's a global, your opponent can use it to change the target back to the original. Still, the latter would be much cheaper, but if you really don't want your opponent to change the target back, then you can consider using Green Arrow.
Green Arrow's attack value is amazing, but he is rather weak when it comes to his defense value. His ability helps him to boost his defense value each time you field a mask or shield character, when his defense is high enough, you can give him overcrush and you don't have to be afraid that he will get knocked out so easily. You could flip his A and D around using Ant Man or Kal L global once his defence pump is way more than his attack. I see potential in this card.
Dealing 2 damage to every opposing character can be lethal if you use it at the right time, this crosspulse ability does supports your overcrush character, when you trigger Arrow's ability, you have higher chance to deal more spill damage and hopefully win the game, or if this can wipe out your opponent's field, your remaining character can swarm in and win the game. Still, I always expect more from super rare card and this is not the best super rare i ever seen. Nevertheless, it has the potential if you can use it right.
Finally, we get to see a 2 cost green Lantern affiliation character. Hal Jordon's stats is great for a 2 cost character, nothing to dislike about him, so if you need a cheap green lantern, look no further.
If you are using a crossover team, this version of Hal Jordan will be a great blocker since he can block 3 characters. Sorry to exaggerate but it's THREE CHARACTERS! That's coming from a 3 cost character, any character that can block up to 3 characters is always a good blocker.
If you are playing a crossover team and you want to ramp more die, this will be a good way to do so. Having to draw 5 dice in a turn, not counting the dice in your prep area, will give you an upper hand against your opponent. No complains here.
Huntress is just a simple decent character, her level 3 stats is not too bad, if you need a cheap villain with decent stats, you can keep her in your team. It is not too hard getting a wild, especially if you can roll 8 8 sidekick dice per turn, so your Huntress is likely to be at level 3.
I am not hating Huntress ability, but with Parallax global, you don't really have to spend 4 cost on a character and still need to field her just to reroll your sidekick dice.
This is a great ramp for any team. The chances of you not rolling a wild energy especially in a draft is pretty high, so if you don't get any wild energy in your first roll, you get to ramp a die immediately, and if you do, that's not a bad thing, wild energy is never a bad thing. If you want to guaranteed to draw and roll that additional 1 die, you can keep your sidekicks fielded, that way, you won't get any wild energy rolled.
Jay Garrick can be really annoying especially when you have the energy to cancel your opponent's global when he is active. Global abilities are essential in the game, and cancelling it will waste your opponent's energy and affect their plan.
Fast is a very powerful ability, especially if your characters have overcrush. You can keep Jay Garrick in your team and when you want to give fast to all your characters, you can use his crosspulse ability.
This version of Jay Garrick acts as a ramp for any team. To put any dice from your used pile into your prep area can give you a huge boost on your next turn if you picked the right die. Although you need to take 1 damage to do so, if you really need that die on your next turn, what's one damage to you. Plus, if you field a crossover bolt shield character, you get to ramp 2 die while taking only 1 damage.
Katana is a cheap and decent character. Her ability is not really that fanciful giving that you can only trigger her ability if her die is in your prep area, not anywhere else, but still, it can come in handy during times in need. Plus, she is a 2 cost JLA character.
Katana can get into your field really fast if luck is on your side, still I would use her mainly because she is a 2 cost Team Arrow member, but who knows, you might get lucky during the game.
This version of Katana requires less luck to field her immediately. She can be very lethal in the early game when your opponent has no character in his/her field. You can just purchase her die with 2 energy and a wild and she will immediately appear in your field. She can be very aggressive in the early game, and still can provide you with some good stats and energy in the late game. This is one of the super rare to look out for in the set.
A 3 cost character that can use Intimidate is really good, although her intimidate ability is limited to 5 cost or high non-villains, but it can help you to remove those beefy or power guys for 1 turn when you field Killer Frost.
This version of Killer Frost is amazing, it is not hard to knock her out, so you can use her as a blocker or go aggressive with her. Your opponent will have to declare attacker very carefully because if that character knocks out killer frost, it goes into the owner's bag and you won't want your high cost character to end up back in your bag. Your opponent would also declare blockers carefully if Killer Frost is attacking, because if the blocker knocks out Killer Frost, it will also end up in your opponent's bag. Flip her stats with Ant Man or Kal L global and give her overcrush, and if your opponent has no villain in the field, either she will deal more spill damage, or your opponent's die will end up in his/her bag, either way, you gain the upper hand.
I would want to promote this version of Killer Frost but your opponent is going to have characters that are 4 cost or below in the field at any point of time, so it is not likely for Killer Frost to be unblockable, I would still prefer to use the uncommon version instead.
King Shark has really good stats, so to sacrifice him to deal 2 damage to all opposing character can seem a little heartache especially he is a 6 cost character. You can keep him in your team and when you need to deal damage, you could do so, however, with Characters like Hulk: Green Goliath, it makes King Shark seems a little weak.
King Shark has a great stats so for him to drain blockers will be appropriate. Quite a decent character, but unfortunately not the best 6 cost character out there.
This is the best version of King Shark. You don't need to play a crossover team, you just need to have 1 crossover character active and King Shark gets +2A and +2D with overcrush, now that's a deadly shark.
This version of Martian Manhunter counters every villain's fielding and attacking ability, you could convert a character to a villain to ignore it's attacking ability as well. If you are afraid of a villain team, you can use Martian Manhunter to counter them.
If you have a villain converter global, you can use it to make your opponent's character unable to block, and your characters can have a higher chance to get unblocked or deal more spill damage from overcrush. Despite that, this ability works both ways, so your opponent can convert your characters to a villain and while Martian Manhunter is active, your converted villains cannot blocked as well, so use it with caution.
I never like a fielding ability given to a character with very high defense value. Martian Manhunter's intimidation is great, given that he will deal damage upon intimidating a character, however, it's hard for him to exit the field and use his intimidation again on your next turn. If you can make him exit the field easily, then use villain converters global to assist him with his ability.
Merlyn has a great attack value, so give him overcrush and he deal some damage and you don't have to worry about him getting knocked out. He can also act as a great blocker against overcrush damage since his attack is decent enough to knock out characters with decent defense value before they can deal spill damage.
This is a great supporter for a crossover team. Instead of pumping a character's attack, Merlyn allows you to reduce another character's attack and pump a crossover character's attack. It helps with overcrush and reducing a character's attack will prevent that character from knocking out your characters easily during combat this turn.
Characters that can only be blocked by crossover characters is useful in a full constructed format given that not everyone plays crossover characters. Merlyn stats might be a little weak for a 5 cost attacker, but you don't have to use him for his ability. Merlyn possess the last and final converter global. This will aid any bolt team or any player who needs bolt energy.
Power Ring has a decent stats, but if your opponent doesn't play a villain team, he can get very powerful when his attack increases. For 4 cost and unlimited attack power, he is quite the dark horse.
For 4 cost character to deal your opponent 1 damage upon fielding seems a little weak and the fact that he is not really easy to leave the field makes things worse. All your opponent need is to have 1 villain active and your Power Ring is useless.
If you want to use this version of Power Ring, you need to make sure that you only have villain characters in your field, that means no sidekick. His fielding ability only grants him additional 2A and 2D if you fulfill the ability requirement, which isn't a lot and it would be a waste if you can't utilize it during this turn.
Zoom stats are rather weak for a 5 cost character but the fact that he does not allow anyone of your opponent to use Fast is impressive. If you are playing a team of overcrush and you don't want characters with Fast to counter them, you can keep Zoom in your team.
This version of Zoom just force your opponent to keep 1 energy to ignore his ability every single turn. The purpose of him is not just making your characters unblockable, but rather to drain your opponent's energy every single turn.
This version of Zoom is like the uncommon version, but instead, your opponent needs to pay 1 energy to attack every single turn. This can drain his/her energy as much as well, but the end of the end, your intention is to drain your opponent's energy if you are using Zoom, so use the cheaper version instead, this version is strong but there is a chance that your opponent is relying on non-combat damage, so he/she doesn't need to attack at all.
I am not a fan of guys with high defense getting a fielding ability, and for Ra's Al Ghul, his ability would be great the targeted character's attack stay at 1 as long as he is active, unfortunately, that's not the case. You could still make good use of him by fielding him and target a character, then flip that character's stats using Kal L global, and probably ping that character to knock it out. Still, it's a bit too much effort just to knock out a character.
This version of Ra's is better, but to trigger his ability, you need to make him unblockable, once you do that, you could affect your opponent's roll by preventing him/her from rerolling a targeted die. It all comes down to luck though, if your opponent roll is so perfect that all the dice he/she rolls comes out with his/her desired outcome, there is nothing much you could do. Still, there is a potential that you will drastically change your opponent's game with Ra's.
I think I have stressed enough about the fielding ability. If you really want to give a high defense value character a fielding ability, at least make it great. This version of Ra's can help you to knock out a character, but only if it's level 3. Unless you specifically spin up a character, other than that, the ability is rather weak coming from a 5 cost character.
This action is used more on gaining life. If you build a team around mask and shield energy characters, you are likely to gain more life when you use this action. Your dice management need to be good as well, you don't want to have no related dice in your bag when you use this action. The global here is the game changer, adding a die into your prep area instead of the used pile will boost your next turn significantly, imagine being able to roll a die you just bought for the next turn, that would be crucial move.
This version of the Chalkboard is a form of ramp. For a 5 cost action to ramp 3 dice is great but manage your dice well so that you are guaranteed to ramp 3 dice for this action. You can use professor X global to assist you so your sidekick dice are nowhere near your bag when you use this action.
This version of the Chalkboard helps you to pump a character instead. You can use this action in times of need, if you have a character unblocked or have overcrush, you can use this action and give that character that additional pump to deal more damage. It's a 2 cost action with unlimited potential to pump your characters, so I would consider using it if my team revolve around shield and masks energy.
This version of Roy Harper will benefit Team Arrow, characters like Green Arrow have really great attack but weak defense, so giving them fast while they have overcrush would be great, plus, Roy Harper's himself is also from Team Arrow, so he can give himself Fast.
This version of Roy Harper will guarantee your Team Arrow's character at maximum level as long as you have the energy to spin them up. There is no limit to how many characters you can spin up, so keep some energy and when you field Roy Harper, you can spin all the Team Arrow characters you want to maximum level.
Unfortunately, Roy Harper doesn't get to keep his momentum, this version of him isn't as good, because not every player plays Teen Titan. Plus, even if your opponent does, he/she can pay 1 energy to ignore his effect, so you kind of waste his fielding ability.
This version of Star Labs allows you to deal damage to a target character according to a bolt or shield character's attack. So you could potentially deal up to 10A to a character by using this action. The great thing about this action card is the global, especially in a format where you can't use professor X global, you can use the global to ramp your sidekick die and field a sidekick at the same time, this will keep your sidekick dice away from your used pile so you have a chance to draw more powerful dice, also, there is no limit to how many times you can use the global, so you could ramp 4 sidekick dice and field 4 sidekicks in a single turn as long as you have the energy to do so.
This action is great as you can give a bolt or shield character regenerate and you could do so anytime you want since it's continuous. The bonus part about this action is that you have the chance to gain up to 3 life if you regenerate that character at level 3.
For a 2 cost action to pump all your shield character's 2D and give your bolt characters fast is amazing, plus, if you roll on the burst sides, you get both effects on all your bolt and shield characters. Fast is lethal when use the right way and the defensive pump will prevent your characters from getting knocked out easily, and all of this is coming from a 2 cost action, so no complaints here.
Speedy is a cheap character with great attack value. She is another great addition to Team Arrow. Her ability supports characters with overcrush, you could sacrifice her while she is blocked so she could deal 2 damage to a blocking character, thus you are able to deal more spill damage. Nothing really too powerful but for a 3 cost character, it's decent. You don't have to trigger her ability if you don't want to though.
With such a high attack, you it's really great for Speedy to possess Fast.
Speedy is great to support overcrush character, when she attacks, she deals any blockers 1 damage. And this ability stacks, so 4 Speedy that attacks will deal 4 damage to any blocker, so you probably will deal more spill damage. For the cost, it's a great ability.
This version of Static is great if you are using Parallax global. Without the global, Static will guaranteed to deal at least 1 damage to a character when your opponent roll dice during the roll and reroll step, and if he/she rerolls 2 or more dice, he gets to another 1 damage to a character. So bring in parallax global so each time your opponent rolls more than 2 dice, you get to ping his/her character. Not a bad ability, and you can add him to the Titans team.
This version of Static works the same as the common version, just that the outcome is you spinning your Static die up instead of pinging a character. I would prefer the common version as there are other ways to spin up your characters.
If you want to knock out a sidekick, this wouldn't be an efficient way to do so. Because if your opponent is playing a sidekick combo and he/she has pumped their sidekick and would take 1 damage to prevent Static from knocking out the sidekick, so it wouldn't be worth all your effort just to knock out a sidekick.
Superman has really great stats, so if you are playing a JLA team, you can use him so he can act as the beefy guy in your team. He has the potential to go 14A 15D.
Now that there is the Chalkboard global, you can go ahead and use better version of Superman and use that global to add the Superman die into your prep area. For 7 cost and no other ability, this is a waste of energy. Sorry Superman.
This version of Superman is cool, you get to add him into your bag upon purchase. But that's not all, he helps you to reduce action die by 2 cost, so that's not too bad. You can consider him if you are playing an action combo.
If you have ways to spin up Atom every single time, then you have the chance to keep dealing 3 damage to a character each time you spin Atom down to level 1, so it's quite a good deal.
This version of Atom works the same way but instead of deal damage, he helps you to ramp dice. It's not too bad as well, you could get rid of the weaker die that you drew.
This version of Atom helps you to spin up a character to level 3 instead, which can be very efficient if you can spam his ability and if your characters are at their best at level 3. Basically, Atom needs to be spun up in order for him to use his ability, so you need to find ways to do so. He is not the best character but it's a great add on for the Titans team.
Weather Wizard have very weak stats for a 4 cost character, and for him to deal only 2 damage to a character when fielded doesn't seem very appealing, so I would rather use other stronger villains.
This version of Weather Wizard is better, your chances of getting blocked by non-crossover character is quite high in full constructed format. You need to make use of his increased stats such as giving him overcrush. However, if you feel that his stats is still weak even after getting pumped, feel free to swap to another character for your team.
An unblockable Weather Wizard is the way to go if your opponent has no crossover character. However, his stats is really weak, I can't stop emphasizing about this because for a 5 cost character, I would expect him to have higher stats. So even if he is guaranteed unblockable, it would be quite expensive to buy him for his stats.
First of all, I am glad they actually made White Lanterns. Secondly, White Lanterns are one of the hardest character to buy because you need to use all 4 different type of energy to buy them, and you cannot use wild energy to do so. As for Batman, he does allows you to ramp die and gain life every turn if you manage to roll 2 or more wild energy, if you have plenty of sidekick dice to roll, this shouldn't be an issue. Not a bad ability, but not the best super rare either. Despite that, you can definitely keep him in the team for the die ramp and life gain.
Global ability is essential in the game, to deal your opponent 1 damage each time he/she uses a global can drain his/her life very easily. This is not exactly a great super rare card because the fact that there are other characters, Wasp: Founding Avenger, that does the same, but it definitely is useful for your team.
This is one of the best super rare card in this set. This can annoy the hell out of your opponent. Imagine each double energy your opponent rolls will be spin down to 1 energy because of Sinestro, how annoying is that. This can easily counter as crossover die because a crossover die is useful because it has the 2 different energy on 2 sides of a die but if it is spun down to a single energy face, it provides a generic energy instead. When Sinestro is active, your opponent is going to have a hard time accumulating energies.
I love Wonder Woman, but this card effect just makes her weak. An impulse ability is great if you have at least 4 dice on the card so you can trigger the ability more than once, however, for Wonder Woman, you need to use the 4 different energy to buy her, which isn't an easy task to do, and the only thing you can do is to knock out a villain die. If your intention is to knock out a villain die, there are plenty of ways to do so, and most of them are more effective and easier to set up.
Here we have another version of Wonder Girl, her stats is decent and her cost is super cheap, so if you need more cheap Titans, look no further.
This is an even better version of Wonder Girl especially if you are using a Teen Titan Team. For Wonder Girl to cost only 1 generic energy is super worth it, and it's not hard to trigger this ability given that most Titan character can be active in the field in a short period of time.
The only 3 shield energy Teen Titans as of now is Cyborg, Robin and Wonder Girl from WOL, and you clearly can't use that Wonder Girl if you use this one. So you need Robin and Cyborg to support Wonder Girl. Both of them have up to 2 fielding cost, so you can potentially pay 1 energy from Wonder Girl's teamwatch and gain a potential of 2 life. You need to see what kind of style you wish to play, if you want a more defensive Power Girl, use the WOL ones, if you need a cheap Titans, use the common or uncommon version in this set, if you need her to be a supporter, use this.
This version of Zatanna allows you to change your luck a little each time you field a fist or mask character. That reroll might change the game, however, it's not as easy to trigger her ability and it does takes some effort to set her up, and all these just to reroll dice. I would rather you using the parallax global if you really need to reroll dice.
Crosspulse ability is great but the ability needs to be very powerful to motivate you to save energies for the crosspulse. Zatnanna ability is not that bad, but if you need more sidekick dice in your used pile, simply use professor X global.
This is another fantastic super rare in this set. Zatanna can help you to counter any sidekick team, all you need is to keep her active and use her synergy to force your opponent to reroll all his/her sidekicks in the field. The chances of them being gone are very high and if the sidekick rolls into fist or mask energy, Zatanna get to deal them 1 damage as well. For 3 cost and even if your intention is not to get rid of your opponent's sidekick, you can simply try your luck to deal your opponent damage, if that character is an Ally with mask or fist energy, your chances of dealing them damage increases! This is another Super Rare card to look out for in this set.
Conclusion
Is this the best set I have ever seen in my life? Not really, but it does impress me nevertheless. It's a tradition for DC sets to keep a certain affiliation to that set and never release the affiliation to another set. We only saw JLA in JLA set, the lanterns and titans in WOL, Batman Family and Crime Syndicate in WF set. This set brings a lot of familar affiliation back and include a few new ones, which is why I am so happy because for Marvel we have plenty of Avengers and X-Men characters and DC seems to be lack of JLA and Teen Titans characters.
The new keyword is very unique and interesting though, and also they brought back some old keywords such as teamwatch, which is great. I like the effort that Wizkids has put in for this set. Which comes to my main point, the FOIL CARDS! I love the foil cards, it makes your card look really valuable to collect and it makes you feel a little happier when you open a foil card, even if it's a common foil.
Also, there are no starter set, so the dice distribution when playing draft deviates a lot, so it makes the format fun again. I can't stress how satisfied I am with this set and I hope wizkids continues to impress us more so we can keep on supporting the game in the long run.
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