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.
The Samantha Wilson Global Ability
Typically, in this article series, I highlight a single card; however, today I want to highlight a single Global Ability, one that happens to be on all three rarities of one character card.
Let’s talk about The Samantha Wilson Global Ability (SWG for short).
This Global Ability jumped Out of the Shadows and on to at least two teams at DM Worlds in Memphis this year (specifically, those teams played by our very own jourdo and ccm00007)…and, fittingly as today is Thanksgiving on Canada, I think both of these folks were thankful to have her on their teams at Worlds.
Samantha Wilson is a character from The Mighty Thor (TMT), which was/is available in both Gravity Feed and Draft Pack forms. She is either a 4 or 5 cost Shield character, with (fittingly) the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliation.
Each card has a unique ability, and each ability is interesting and useful, but I think the common and uncommon versions are the most playable. In fact, there are a few articles here on our site dating back to 2018, where common Samantha Wilson was a key part of each of the builds. Here are the links, so you can go back and check them out:
But what I want to talk about is her Global Ability.
The SWG reads: Pay Shield. Prevent 1 damage to target character die or player.
In a direct damage meta, like the one we are currently playing in, this Global Ability is something that is super strong, and can be game changing.
Why is this special?
There are a few things I like about the SWG ability.
First, the cost is very reasonable; for just one shield, you can prevent one damage to a die OR a character. It’s a pretty fair trade, in any meta. You can prevent a damage directly to your life bar, potentially saving you from dying; you can save a character that would be KO’d. However, in our current meta, this Global Ability becomes even stronger. The damage you prevent can come from anywhere; an action die, a character coming through unblocked, a character ability…as long as you have a Shield (or Question Mark) energy, you can pay one to prevent one damage.
Second, this is a reactive ability, which means that it supersedes the queue. When your opponent triggers damage, you can interrupt to use the SWG ability. You don’t have to wait until priority is passed. You can refer to page 25 of the X-Men Forever rulebook to learn more about using reactive Global Abilities.
Last, but certainly not least, this ability can be used as many times as you want, provided you have enough Shield energy.
We’ve talked (and talked and talked) about Iceman: Right on Schedule in this column many, many times, and discussed some of the counters to his ability. The SWG is a counter that I had not yet thought of, as it’s a card I had never played with before I saw it at Worlds. I own all three rarities; they’re in my card binder. But it’s not one I had ever pulled out, and I personally had never drafted TMT, so it didn’t really jump out at me.
As you may remember, a couple of key ways a player will trigger Iceman will be to use a Magic Missile/Unstable Canister Global Ability, or a Thrown Brick Action die, each of which deals 1 damage to Iceman. If you have Samantha on your team, you can use a Shield each time a Magic Missile bolt is used, and prevent the damage. With the damage to Iceman prevented, Iceman’s ability will not trigger.
Iceman isn’t the only card this could work with; in fact, Hulk: Power of Attorney (which comes from the same set as Samantha, and is often triggered by the same type of actions and globals), would be very sad to see the SWG ability sitting across the table.
What else can she do?
Our very own ccm00007 talks about Samantha Wilson’s Global Ability in his Worlds article, which you can check out here.
What do you think about this Global Ability? Have you used it in any of your own builds? Are there other cards you’ve thought about, that might benefit from the protection of the SWG? We’d love to hear from you, let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments.
Thanks for reading, and a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.
-jbouwme
The SWG is a wonderful call back to an earlier DM era, when the original Vibranium Shield Global (which the SWG is a verbatim reprint of) was used to counter people pinging their Hulk: Green Goliath’s and obliterating your field or killing you with Nova pings. Jimmy used to always rave about the Vibranium Shield global to those of us who would listen, and it’s nice to see it finally get it’s due in it’s Samantha Wilson incarnation!