Out of the Shadows…Adam Warlock: Hero of Counter Earth

Out of the Shadows…is a series of articles highlighting fun, helpful cards that aren’t getting a lot of attention.  They may or may not be meta-worthy, but are definitely worth looking at for casual play.

Adam Warlock: Hero of Counter Earth

This week, I want to focus on one of the cards from the Infinity Gauntlet (IG) set.  Adam Warlock: Hero of Counter Earth is a 4 cost mask with the Infinity Watch affiliation.

Adam’s ability is an Energize ability.  His ability reads: Energize – Move target character die from your Field Zone to your Reserve Pool.

Let’s review how Energize works.  From the Keywords page:

Energize:  Whenever you roll this die on one of its double energy faces, you must use its Energize effect (this isn’t optional). During the Roll and Reroll Step, only check at the end of the Step. The character with Energize does not need to be active for the ability to trigger. (MDM11)

This definition tells us that the keyword Energize is a trigger.  Once you meet the condition of the trigger (rolling a die on one of its double energy faces), the effect will happen, and therefore, each die with Energize may have a unique effect.  Dice with Energize therefore have 5 amazingly useful faces…3 character and 2 effect.  This effect will happen any time you roll a die on its double energy face.  You can also review information on Energize on our YouTube channel.

In Adam’s case, if you roll him on a character face, you get a character with awesome stats.  If you roll him on double energy, you get to move a character from your field zone to your reserve pool.

Why is this special?

So, let’s talk about why this ability is useful.  My first (and probably obvious) thought is it would be super handy if you had a character with a when fielded effect.  If you can move that character from your Field Zone to your Reserve Pool, you can re-field that character and trigger the when fielded effect again. Provided you have the energy to pay the fielding costs, this is better than KO’ing a character or cycling it through your used pile and/or dice bag, as that would require you to roll the character on an energy face again.

A quick search through the Dice Coalition Team Builder shows me there are 36 cards in the Infinity Gauntlet (IG) set that have when fielded effects.  Here’s one with a particularly useful when fielded effect that you might want to repeat: Ghost Rider: Hellfire reads when fielded, deal your opponent X damage, where X is equal to Ghost Rider’s printed fielding cost. 

This Ghost Rider can be expensive to field, depending on his level, but his fielding cost is also his strength; he hits your opponent for direct damage based on that value.  Once he’s in the field, your opponent will probably try to block him and keep him in the field to prevent you cycling him for more damage.  In a constructed team, you could include cards to offset paying the fielding cost, such as the Kree Soldier: Stagnant Evolution or Roboute Guilliman Global Ability.

What else can he do?

Thinking a bit outside the box, maybe you have a different reason you’d like to remove a die from the field zone.  If you have an effect that is while active that could be temporarily detrimental to your own game state, and need to remove it before refielding the die; or perhaps you’re running MOD Andy’s favourite Aquaman (see image) and need to gain some life by moving a character on a character face from your reserve pool to your used pile.  Maybe you’re playing in a draft or sealed event and you just need a character with good stats.  Adam can help.

I’d love to hear from you, let me know your thoughts or questions in the comments below.  Have you played with this Adam Warlock?  What would you pair him with?  Or is this Adam a hard pass for you?  Until next time!

-jbouwme