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.
Zatanna: Magical Lineage
Zatanna: Magical Lineage is a character from the Mystics (MYST) team pack. As is typical with team packs, there are three versions of this mask character in the pack, and this version is a 3-cost.
Zatanna: Magical Lineage has a while active ability. While Zatanna is active, when a character die spins up, deal its controller 1 damage. She also has a Global Ability. Pay 1 fist. Once per turn, on your turn, spin target character die up 1 level.
Why is this special?
We’ve got a couple of fun things going on with our Zatanna here. I really like how her Global Ability plays into her Character Ability. If you have Zatanna fielded, and your opponent decides to use her Global Ability to spin up a character, that opponent will take a damage.
I also enjoy that you can spin a “target” character die with the Global Ability. That means that on your turn, you can spend a mask to spin up one of your opponent’s dice, and that opponent will take a damage. Little paper cuts always help when it comes to getting that final push to lethal damage.
In general, spinning characters up a level is something that is happening often in the current meta, and using our Zatanna will help prevent the characters from spinning, messing with your opponent’s spinny win condition(s) (see below).
What else can she do?
Out in the wide world of Dice Masters at this very moment, there is a Basic Action Card that has a uniquely worded Global Ability. While word on the street is that this may be errata’d someday soon, that hasn’t happened yet. As a result, we, the Dice Masters community, are doing what we do best – taking advantage of this while we can!
Meet Energy Field, paired with our good friend The Atom: Professor.
The wording on the Energy Field Global Ability implies that you can spin down the same character that you are spinning up. When The Atom: Professor is active, you can spend 10 masks to deal 20 damage to your opponent, winning the game.
Can you spin The Atom: Professor 10 times in a turn? Maybe. It could be possible, with lots of ramp, but more than likely it will take you a few turns to kill your opponent simply by spinning this die.
EDIT: On Tuesday, July 9, 2019, WizKids posted an errata to the Global Ability on Energy Field. It takes effect on July 12, 2019 everywhere except Canada, where it will be permitted for the Dice Masters Canadian Nationals Event on July 13, 2019. You must spin down a different character than you spin up. This is still a very strong Global Ability when paired with The Atom.
You can find the updated ruling HERE
If you’re up against an Atom team, and our Zatanna is active, every time The Atom spins up, The Atom’s controller will take one damage. One damage is only 50% of The Atom’s damage output, but if you, as the defending player, has a way to mitigate some of the damage…perhaps with your friend and mine, Black Widow: Agent in play? You’d be reducing The Atom’s damage from 2 to 1, and then your opponent would be taking the same amount of damage as you are.
Or there’s our good friend Ant-Man: Petty Thief. Ant-Man has an Awaken ability: Ant-Man is unblockable (until end of turn). Awaken abilities occur when a character die spins up one or more levels. Your opponent may think twice about spinning Ant-Man to make him unblockable, if by doing so, your opponent will take a damage himself.
This is one of those double-edged sword cards – it doesn’t specify “opposing character” – so that means if you, as a player, spin up your OWN dice, you will also take a damage. Spinning up that die needs to be absolutely necessary, as you will hit your own life bar. A crafty opponent may be able to use her Global Ability against you, if she is active. If you put Zatanna on a team, you might want to consider something that protects you from Global Abilities, or makes Global Abilities more challenging to use. Watch this space for future articles to talk about some of these cards.
What do you think about this Zatanna? Have you put her on a team? What was the result?
We’d love to hear from you, let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments below.
If you have a card that you think should be pulled Out of the Shadows, let us know!
-jbouwme
Thank you for this article. The Atom: Professor is one of my favorite new cards in the Justice set. I am going to have to re-think how I use it. I still haven’t gotten around to trying Zatanna: Magical Lineage out. Maybe I need to do so soon…
You’re welcome, glad you found it helpful! If you plan to use Zatanna for her global ability, just remember you don’t want her to be active, or when you spin your Atom, you yourself will take damage!
I think one of the easiest ways to manage the errata on Energy Field is to get 2 Atoms active, so you can spin one down to spin the other up, and vice versa.
You may also want to look at one of the other Zatanna’s in the set: Being of Magic. Let us know how your build works out!