It has been a LONG while since we last did one of these, but with 2022 coming to a close, we thought it might be time to reflect on what we saw and played over the last 365 days. While the game was still coming out of the post-pandemic world, we did get to witness the great boat race between the major releases. We didn’t get flooded with product, but we did get to play with some cool cards. With Secret Wars appearing to be delayed until 2023, we think it is safe to pick out some of the stand outs from the Class of 2022.

From an actual release point of view, we saw:

The Dark Phoenix Saga Draft Packs
Dark Phoenix Organized Play Kit
Superman Kryptonite Crisis Draft Packs

We at DM North wanted to take a bit of time and look back at what our favourite releases from 2022 were. There is no hard and fast criteria here. Each of us looked at all of the cards released and came up with out personal lists of what we feel the Top 5 Cards were for us.

ccm00007’s Top 5 Favourite Cards

2022 was a memorable year for me in more ways than one. But from a Dice Masters standpoint, it’s the year where I climbed to the top of the hill and won the World Championship. But even with that in mind, I mostly wanted to focus on the support cards and the enablers of shenanigans rather than the big bad bruisers.

Anti-Monitor – Mobius

So let me get this straight. I attack with this guy, KO any number of my own characters, force you to KO that same number of characters, and open the gates wide open to win? This is the only “win condition on a card” on my list, and it deserves its spot. With the right supporting pieces (see jourdo’s list for a couple of good ideas), there is so much you can do here. Steal opposing characters to KO, use “When KO’d” effects to further diminish their board, combine with other removal if necessary to completely wipe out any blockers… But at the same time, it’s a 5-cost, and requires you to KO as much of your own characters as you remove. It’s strong without being unfair (as opposite to, say, Master Mold…).

Dark Phoenix – Malevolent

For this card, it’s all about the global. And if I’m honest, this isn’t just about the global itself (which I’ll get to in a moment), it’s about what this represents: before this card was printed, the only way to get this global ability was to track down a 2015 rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon (with matching die for the rare card!). And here we have this ability printed on a common card from a collectible set, readily available for all. Major hats off, Wizkids. Great call.

On to the global ability itself, this enables so darn much. Any “when fielded” ability can trigger every turn, and you can get extra characters for cheaper. “When KO’d” abilities can trigger at any time, even after blockers are declared. Fielded sidekicks become a resource, and the global gives you ramp as your KO’d dice are rolled on future turns. Amazing ability and (rightfully) a key piece of the competitive meta.

Radicalization – Basic Action Card

There is no way I can leave this card off my list. I love affiliation-based shenanigans. And by being able to give X-men or Brotherhood affiliations to any character, it enables so much chaos. I can give X-men to SR Mystique and turn my X-men into built-in removal, I can give Brotherhood to a character when preparing to attack with R Sabretooth, I can give an affiliation to a character with Retaliation (in Golden)…and those are just obvious examples. This card’s competitive impact is a bit limited at the moment, but it has lots of room to grow, especially as future sets add more Teamwatch cards to abuse this with.

Robin – Flying Grayson

My favourite card from the entire Kryptonite Crisis set. Robin is such a complete package; you get to field something for free with his global AND you get someone who can reliably KO most threats when he’s fielded, at a great purchase cost. Fielding discounts are usually overlooked in competitive play, but combining this discount with removal made Robin into an instant competitive staple, and one I love to see in the game. Plus, he’s a Bat-Family character, so if ever I want to revisit my old Bat-Rush team in Golden Age, he’s clearly the obvious Robin to include. Just an amazing card on so many levels.

D’Ken – M’Kraan Crystal

That will be a surprising pick to most of you, I’m sure. When the card came out, I wasn’t sold on it, at all. I thought it was too expensive for what it did, that it wouldn’t have enough of an impact.

I was wrong. So, so wrong.

D’Ken is a brilliant control card that directly counters the “alpha strikes” that currently dominate Modern Age (e.g. Master Mold, Barry Allen). By limiting the damage you take to 7 per turn, he gives you a turn or two to recover and have another shot at victory. Which, in competitive play, is often all you need. And because he doesn’t fully shut down your opponent’s team, your opponent still gets something out of their attacks, meaning you can’t just sit on D’Ken and stay put. It keeps the game moving.

What also makes this brilliant is that Wizkids allowed this ability to work when D’Ken is in the Used Pile. From a design standpoint, it’s a stroke of genius. He’s hard to counter (can’t use a force attack against it) without being impossible (e.g. you can use Mutation or Typhoid Mary to get around him if you play carefully). And if you’re up against D’Ken, it forces you to play strategically and methodically to get around him. This card makes Dice Masters more strategic and makes it a richer game to play. Looking forward to see what this does in an environment that isn’t as “aggro wins” as we’re seeing right now.

So hats off to whoever designed this one. Brilliant card.