Characters die all the time. Jean Grey did it (in some versions of the story). Superman did it. Hundreds of comic book characters kick the bucket at unexpected and epic moments. And yet, very few of them seem to stay dead.
The concept of the heroic figure making a surprise return from beyond the grave is a staple of the comic book medium. Readers fall in love with favorite characters, even sometimes following those characters’ exploits during their entire lives. You grow up with them, you learn from them, and to some extent, you even feel like you know them—imaginary near-friendships complete with nicknames like “Spidey” and “Goldilocks.” If your puppy died, wouldn’t you miss it? Wouldn’t you miss that puppy even more if it had laser eye beams, telekinesis, and a utility belt?
If someone killed my crime-fighting laser-puppy, I know I’d want it back.
That’s what happens in comic books. Fitting with that theme, it often happens in the Vs. System, too. Those friends and foes you thought were gone come back to fight the good (or evil) fight and turn the tide.
Recursion—the ability to return cards from the field or discard pile to your hand or deck—is an important part of any TCG. It offers both resiliency for certain strategies, and security for your minimal deck inclusions (let’s all hug our single copy of Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria). It also provides resource advantage. A game with recursion is a bit more fun than a game without recursion, so it’s lucky that Vs. System offers the mechanic.
Today, we’ll look at cards that return characters from the KO’d pile and the field to the hand. Next week, we’ll look at the same for plot twists, locations, and equipment cards.
Field-to-deck recursion is under-represented in the Vs. System. Sure, Boris can run back to the deck in a pinch and toss out a plot twist, but Boris’s primary goal is not to run from wasted Savage Beatdowns—he’s a search tool. As such, cards that happen to have recursive costs attached to their primary effects are not included in this article.
Characters that bounce themselves back to the hand are not included either, both because of limited utility and suspicious intent. Though it can be useful to send Donna Troy ◊ Wonder Girl or Scarecrow back to your hand, I personally regard those effects as a cost. The same goes for cards with a similar effect, like Boomerang. Sure, they can be used to one’s own advantage, but they just don’t fit the mold of purposeful recursion.
This leaves eight pieces of dedicated character recursion in the current Vs. System. Four return characters from the KO’d pile to the hand, and four return them from the field to the hand. Let’s examine each in detail, beginning with KO’d pile recursion.
The most common all-purpose character recursion card is Reconstruction Program. Pseudo-costed to work wonders in Sentinel variants, Reconstruction Program also functions perfectly for any deck running single copies of late-game beasts. The best example of its non-Sentinel use is the most obvious—a single copy is often played in Doom Control decks, as Reconstruction Program can save Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria if he’s KO’d either by an opponent or by your own Gamma Bomb. Reconstruction Program brings Dr. Doom back to the hand so he can be recruited again, triggering his comes-into-play effect. It’s more than just a cool combo—it lets you get away with running just one copy of Dr. Doom, Lord of Latveria. It’s a simple premise that can translate well into other decks.
Reconstruction Program has gained some utility since the introduction of the boost mechanic. Characters with optimal boosts, combined with a Reconstruction Program in your resource row, often improve your ability to hit drops. Puma and Bane, The Man Who Broke The Bat are prime examples of characters who you can send to the KO’d pile from play and then reuse later to cover drops you would otherwise miss.
Similar to its use in Doom decks, Reconstruction Program is also great in Xavier’s Dream decks. It can recycle Jean Grey, Phoenix Force each turn to quickly earn those three dream counters.
