Call Out and Overcrush is a powerful combination, which makes
the best Strike card in the game. There are still plenty of downsides to Strike in general, and this card in particular. I wanted to see if I could put together a team that could overcome them and be viable/competitive in Golden Age Constructed event.
What Did You Play?
The Team: When Grodd Strikes.
If I use Call Out on a Sidekick when Grodd has Strike active I’m going to do 5-9 damage depending on Grodd’s level and whether my opponent actually chooses to block with the Sidekick. A smart opponent is going to choose to block under most circumstances, because if the Grodd die ends up stuck in my field the Strike ability becomes irrelevant, and Grodd isn’t nearly as much of a threat.
So the first card added to the team (after Grodd himself) was
Attack with Grodd, make the blocking die a Villain, and Grodd’s damage is doubled. Blocking with a Called Out Sidekick becomes a lot more painful in those circumstances.
As Grodd is himself a Villain, SP//dr’s effect applies to him. Which reduces his effective defense, making him easier to KO, and consequently re-field, bringing his Strike ability back into play.
Cone of Cold was my first BAC, primarily for the global, but the action itself can be useful, and if I have SP//dr active, it’s a way of KOing my Grodd dice if it’s needed.
I needed a Villian Maker global for the plan to work, and since this was a Golden Age event there actually were some available to me. I opted to go with Lantern Power Ring.
I added 1-cost Morphing Jars and 1-cost Poxwalkers, partly as fuel sources for the Lantern Power Ring and Cone of Cold globals.
I also added Kree Captain, thinking his global and some Poxwalker dice on double energy might allow be to buy a Grodd die for 5.
Wonder Woman: Child of Clay went on the team because a team that relies this heavily on a single attacking die is very vulnerable to the Kate Bishop/Static Field/Blink – Transmutation/Distraction global.
The last two slots went to Atlas and Resurrection for the Prep globals. When your game plan relies on buying a 6-cost, you need to be able to buy the 6-cost.
How did the games go?
Game 1:
Half X-Men, Half burn damage team (Tabaxi Rogue, Instant War) and the new Jubilee which does 2 damage when fielded – a fit for both sides of the build.
I rolled a bunch of early masks, spending them on Morphing Jars. I got a little bit of early damage in, and did get a SP//dr out. However, whenever I was able to field a Grodd, I never had enough to get lethal, and it seemed preferable to keep Grodd alive to block.
He got Tabaxi Rogue out, which allowed him to deal me plenty of burn damage between multiple uses of both Instant War and the Tabaxi Rogue global.
He took me down to 1 life, then finished me off with the Tabaxi Rogue global when I passed priority.
0-1
Game 2:
Bye. That’s one way to get in to the win column.
1-1
Game 3:
Old school Justice League team. He was also running Superhero Registration Act as one of his BACs, which proved a handy way to get Grodd off the field.
Between SRA and my Prep globals I was able to buy my first Grodd on Turn 3 and get him out on the following turn. My opponent always seemed to have exactly one non-Sidekick die in his field during this game, so I kept calling it out with Grodd to disrupt my opponent’s plans. Between the +2/+2 from Strike and the Cone of Cold global I was still dealing 6 or 7 damage each time I attacked with Grodd, despite the higher D.
So when I hit him with Grodd’s Strike ability for the fourth time, it was all over.
2-1
Game 4:
‘Unofficial’ game against Jourdo’s latest version of a Chaos Warp team.
I got a couple good shots in early with Grodd, then he managed to keep saving masks to bounce Grodd back with the Kate Bishop global.
I have Wonder Woman on the team for exactly that kind of circumstance. But to use Grodd’s Strike, Wonder Woman needs to be in the field at the start of the turn where I field Grodd. And between his Mimic, and one turn where I had a brain cramp and blocked with her allowing her to be KO’d by Jourdo’s use of the Cone of Cold global, I was finding that difficult to arrange.
In fact, I never did manage to arrange it. He’d attacked with everything, which essentially KO’d my entire field – but he hadn’t been able to save a mask. So when I was able to field a single Grodd die, that gave me lethal.
3-1
Post-Mortem:
I pretty much ignored SP//dr after the first game. Getting Grodd dice out ASAP and hitting hard and fast with them seemed to work better.
I was surprised how little use the Kree Captain global saw on the night from anyone. It was generally easier for me to use the Atlas and Resurrection globals to buy Grodd for 6, then get the 3 total fists I’d need to buy him with the discount.
What I should probably do if I play this team again is take Kree Captain off and replace him with a force block such as
If SP//dr is active, I field a Grodd, use the Wrecker global on a Sidekick, then Call Out that Sidekick when I attack with Grodd – that’s a minimum 13 damage.
What’s your favorite Gorilla Grodd card? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks for reading, and Happy Rolling!
Son of L