After last week’s…less than stellar outing, I wanted to go all out on the shenanigans this time. So let’s go for a name that strikes fear…and a method that will cause confusion. Let’s bring out the…
Puny God Catcher
The Team: With that name, I wish I could’ve put a Hulk in here.
Now, to clarify right away: I’m not running the 3-cost God Catcher at a local event. I’m not THAT much of a monster. Or I should say…I’m not enough of a monster to do it twice. Instead, we’ll focus on the jankier 2-cost God Catcher.
Be warned: this is a convoluted one. The idea is to use the 2-cost God Catcher, find a way to get those 10/10 tokens, use Transfer Power to give that 10A to an opposing character (and thus leave my God Catcher with tiny stats, hence the team’s name), then do Transfer Power again to give that 10A to an Angel that will hopefully be unblockable after using a God Catcher action. Note how Angel also gives me shields, very handy when using Transfer Power!
The question is: how do I create those 10/10 tokens? Well, my opponent must attack, so a force attack global is a must. I should have some bolts from God Catcher, so I put in Doomsday. But in addition, my opponent must attack me with 7A or more. Doomsday can get to 7A at level 3 (and I can give an opposing character his A with Transfer Power), but how do I get him there? The answer is: Orion. This global is the best way for me to spin my characters up. Plus, Orion himself can get over 7A, so I may not have to purchase Doomsday at all. Plus, Orion gives me bolts, which this team needs.
For this to work, I am going to need a lot of energy to trigger Transfer Power repeatedly, use Doomsday, etc. So I need a strong and reliable ramp engine. First, I put in Mimic and Professor X. I copy a sidekick with Mimic, and every sidekick I field subsequently allows me to draw and Prep 2 dice. That ramp can get out of control in a hurry, especially with Professor X’s global allowing me to field sidekicks reliably. I wanted one more thing: a way to fix my bag and guarantee that Mimic hits the field on T3. I put in Starfire. Note how I put Starfire and not Lilandra, because I can use Starfire’s global even if I purchase an action (like God Catcher) instead of a character.
For the last two cards, Wonder Woman is there to stop my opponent from using my Transfer Power against me. It also serves to counter any Static Field shenanigans that might happen. As for Raised Shields, it serves as a backup plan. If necessary, I can give my big characters Overcrush instead of relying on unblockable Angel dice. Plus, Raised Shields’ global can come in really handy.
So before I get to how things went, some important points on how to run this team in the early game:
During your first two turns, you want to purchase a God Catcher and a Mimic, field a sidekick (with Prof’s global if necessary), and trigger a bag reset on Turn 2. This guarantees you draw God Catcher and Mimic on Turn 3, and if the sidekick is active, you can immediately target it with Mimic to start your ramp engine. Going second you will have a spare energy – you can go for Orion instead of God Catcher in that scenario. Resist the temptation to use Starfire on Turn 1 – you want that perfect bag on T3 to use Prof’s global immediately to get your ramp going.
And with all of that said, on to the games!
Game 1:
I started off against SR Spidey + Team up. Good news: if my opponent sets up, he’ll give me God Catcher for sure. Bad news: if that happens and he attacks with too many characters, I’m probably dead. So my plan was simple: don’t let him build up a board and force attack Spidey every chance I got. As a result, his bag became messy, and while that was going on, I got my Mimic ramp going. Eventually, I managed to get God Catcher + Orion on the board and did my shenanigans to get a God Catcher token. Because my opponent’s field was lean, I immediately got to attack with more characters than he could block, and I did Transfer Power shenanigans to get God Catcher and Orion’s damage through. I won.
1-0
Game 2:
My next round was against an intriguing WWE team based around Tag Out. What was intriguing is that while the team wasn’t as fast as mine, he could generate a fair bit of shields. Because I couldn’t get to Wonder Woman easily (by the time I could’ve purchased her, I would’ve had to leave myself vulnerable to him stealing huge stats on me), he was able to use Transfer Power as well as me. On top of that, he was using the 3-cost Lita to pick off my Mimic and limit my ramp. It took me a fair bit of time to set up and have enough shields to make my strategy work. But eventually I did, and got one chunk of 10 damage through with Angel. Shortly after, he almost had enough energy to just win outright by using my stats against me (one shield short), but then I forced his Tag Out characters to attack, and on the following turn I managed to eke out enough damage to win.
2-0
Game 3:
Next up, I faced a team that’s a mix of Collector + Nobby and Black Canary + Danger Room. Which is all well and good, except…his dice didn’t roll for him. The only non-sidekick character he fielded all game was C Doomsday (from WF)…that couldn’t attack or block without another villain active. Meanwhile, I got my ramp going, almost too well (took bag burn more than once), got everything I needed, and eventually got 2 God Catcher tokens on the field by forcing his only sidekick to attack after giving it my Doomsday’s attack with Transfer Power (hey, I had to go Doomsday seeing as he had Doomsday too). I won.
3-0
Game 4:
My last game was against Ultraman. Oof, rough one to end the night on. Yes, it’s the same team that beat me last week. It took her a bit longer than usual to get Ultraman, so while that was happening, I was setting up. At one point, she managed to get Boom Boom, Dwarf Wizard and Ultraman on the board and rolled a Kryptonite. That SHOULD have been lethal…except I saved energy for Transfer Power and had bolts to force attacks. I ended up forcing people to attack, not blocking all three characters and took…4 combat damage. Good thing too, because I took 13 damage between One Against Many and Boom Boom’s damage. The following turn I had God Catcher, Orion, and enough characters to sneak lethal damage through. I won. Barely.
4-0
Post-Mortem:
-That team’s shenanigans were messy and required a lot of energy. I originally didn’t have Mimic ramp in there. It was a last minute addition, and a crucial one. (thanks Shadowmeld for the chat on Wednesday – if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have thought to add more ramp)
-I was slightly concerned about Orion’s fielding costs, but seeing as I was always going for Mimic ramp early, I typically had Mimic active by the time Orion hit the field, so his fielding penalty never became a problem.
-Because I was saving up a lot of energy for globals (which was necessary), I often ran out of dice to draw after using Mimic ramp. Heck, one game, the only life I lost all game was bag burn. Unfortunate side effect of using ramp primarily to use globals.
-I didn’t use Raised Shields (the action) at all. Using Transfer Power to swap huge stats on my unblocked characters was far more reliable. That is surprising; I guess it’s because I forced my opponents to keep a lean field with force attack globals. I was lucky no one was running Static Field or the like tonight.
-Don’t forget that Mimic can target any active character. In the late game, targeting God Catcher or Orion with him to give Mimic huge stats is great complementary damage.
-Very important: if you’re playing with or against Transfer Power/Splinter’s Teachings, you need shields. When there are big stats on the board, save your shields as much as reasonably possible to use that global, whether offensively or defensively. Of course, this requires situational awareness. If your opponent has a Wonder Woman: Child of Clay, no use trying to save shields for that global. But if there isn’t an obvious counter, saving shields at the right time can and will make the difference between victory and defeat.
So overall, back in the win column, but these games were intense. We’re taking next week off because of an event that forces most of us to be away. Our ban list can be found here. With what’s banned now, what would you run next time?
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