This week, I’ll be looking at splash characters from the Web of Spider-Man set. Often when making a deck, there are certain drops within your faction(s) where the available choices aren’t necessarily worth playing. Certain teams are weaker on some drops than others are. If you happen to play a lot of team-ups, then experimenting with splash characters can be useful. Often, one can splash a few characters from a different team and use that to an advantage. Midnight Sons and Hypnotic Charms make splashing advantageous, as you can use the former to get around loyalty issues and the latter to take advantage of team-stamped cards.
Rather than simply key off on team-stamped cards to use in your Marvel Knights deck, however, I’m going to look at characters that will fit nicely into just about any deck, even if you play no team-ups. These are the seven characters—one per drop—that you should consider splashing into a Modern Age deck if you feel that your own team choices are limited. Also included are a few honorable mentions/alternative choices to look out for. I’ve left 8-drops by the wayside, as I covered them in my Marvel Age Madness article two weeks ago.
Tinkerer
If you’re going to use a 1-drop at all, and you don’t need a card like Dagger, Child of Light for your strategy, then Tinkerer is your man. Since most decks don’t have 1-drops, it’s unlikely that your opponent won’t have fewer non-stunned drops than you will. That means that Tinkerer will go into turn 2 as a 2 ATK/2 DEF 1-drop and will continue to feed your other characters with counters for as long as you leave him alive. Granted, he’ll be a target, and you’ll probably want to make sure that he doesn’t stick around for too long, because the breakthrough factor could be harmful.
Still, as long as he’s in play and your opponent hasn’t played a 1-drop, it forces your opponent to take Tinkerer out, hope that he or she can take out more characters than you can, or face ever-expanding characters . . . and taking Tinkerer out means leaving a bigger drop open to a counterattack. Tinkerer is definitely a vicious little bugger, and he embraces the odd initiative—you can rip through your opponent on turn 3, creating a potential three-to-one board advantage and setting up a major thorn in your opponent’s side.
Black Cat, Master Thief
Black Cat and Bad Press walk hand in hand towards the sunset, leaving your opponent to spit epithet after epithet your way as he or she is forced to work around a very ugly 3-cost deficit in the plot twist department.
Black Cat is ideal because she has decent stats and is backed up by your friendly neighborhood evasion. This means that even in later rounds, if she’s still on the board and is targeted by that massive, über-pumped 5-drop (or higher!), she can simply evade and avoid causing you to bleed profusely. As well, once she’s stunned, she becomes a fun target for great plot twists, such as Tragic Loss, that can turn a stunned character you want to get rid of into a defensive boon.
Another 2-drop to consider is The Rose, Richard Fisk. He is similar to Black Cat, with a slightly higher DEF and a power that affects locations instead of plot twists. Although it’s a touch less useful (as most decks, especially in Marvel Modern Age, tend to run fewer locations than plot twists), The Rose’s power can certainly be annoying. The one drawback is that he doesn’t have evasion, but the 4-cost deficit when running The Rose and Bad Press can more than make up for that in certain situations.
Dagger, Tandy Bowen
I find that Dagger is highly underrated. She has range and decent stats, so she’s not a combat liability, and her ability can wreck an opponent. As far as burn goes, there isn’t much that outshines her in Modern Age, particularly as an opponent is likely to have five to six cards in hand on turn three. The drawback is that her ability is only useable on your attack step, but if you strategize so that you have the tools you need to keep her from being targeted or taken out early, that may not matter. Dagger is best used early and often, and you should try to ensure that she remains on your side until at least turn 5, using any means necessary to maintain a steady board. You don’t want to use her ability, only to end up down three characters in the process. She doesn’t work in every deck, but she can be a vicious splash if you work around her ability.
Other 3-drops to consider include Cardiac, Rhino, and Alistair Smythe. Cardiac is great when your opponent has the odd initiative, as he can activate on defense to take out your opponent’s 2-drop and force the opponent to use his or her 3-drop to attack Cardiac. Or, if the character has flight, you may push the opponent to fly over Cardiac into your 2-drop in the hope that you have no pumps. The major drawback is a very low DEF and an ATK that isn’t too large, either.
Rhino is solid if you can afford the endurance cost for at least two turns. You’ll want to try to keep him alive through turn 5, if possible. His major advantage is that he can attack up the curve with relative ease, freeing your 4-drop to pound on your opponent’s smaller drops. However, 4 to 8 endurance is a hefty price to pay.
Alistair Smythe has a very nasty effect, keeping your opponent from playing anything but a power-up for a turn, which could seriously hinder him or her. And if your opponent is playing a Spider-clone deck, it may wreck his or her entire game. His 5 DEF also makes him attractive, even if his ATK is a bit under par. The downside is that unless you really know your opponent’s deck, you need to play the even initiative to use his ability, or else you won’t know which character to name.
Dr. Octopus, Otto Octavius
When it comes to splashable 4-drops, they don’t get much better than Otto. He has average stats and an activated ability that allows him to reinforce himself, lowering any chance of him being a defensive liability. His attack ability, however, is what makes him so darn useful. When he attacks, he exhausts a target unprotected character. This can be used for several purposes, such as exhausting a potential attack threat and focusing on the smaller drops for greater endurance loss; forcing a character like the Sentinel Mark V to exhaust, thereby eliminating its built-in reinforcement ability; or forcing a character that needs to activate to use its abilities either to activate here and now or lose the chance (which works particularly well when you’re facing down that Green Goblin or that character riding a War Wagon). As well, if you have a character with flight, you can use Otto to exhaust its protector, and then fly overhead with your flyer and take out the support row character without worrying about a counterattack. Also, because it’s an ability that kicks in as you’re already attacking, you’re not wasting a potential attacker to exhaust one of your opponent’s.
Two other splash-friendly drops are Will O’ the Wisp and John Proudstar. Will O’ the Wisp has average stats and flight, which makes him a useful attacker to have on your side. As well, his ability to gain a +1 ATK/+1 DEF counter every time he recovers makes him a valuable asset and a competitive attacker in later rounds. With evasion, you can manually stun post combat, essentially paying 4 endurance to give him a counter. And if you have a card or character that can recover characters, you can have him stun and recover twice in a turn, essentially giving you a 9 ATK/9 DEF 4-drop or a second 5-drop.
Proudstar is also great if you want muscle. A 9 ATK/8 DEF 4-drop is nicely above average. Just make sure to play him when you have the initiative, as it will be hard to protect him from hitting the KO’d pile if your opponent has first licks and even one pump. Proudstar is especially good in tandem with Sucker Punch, or in any deck that can throw down a Bamf!.
Daredevil, The Man Without Fear
When it comes to 5-drops, there aren’t many that you can splash smoothly. Daredevil is a boon to just about any deck, however. While his DEF is a touch low, his ability is just about priceless—it allows you to attack characters with a cost of 5 or more without stunning, which means that you can afford to take risks without rear of reprisal.
Daredevil is perfect in decks that focus on maintaining board presence, especially when combined with effects that prevent stunning while attacking. If you’re building a deck that is designed to take out as many of your opponent’s drops as possible while keeping as many of yours as possible around, you will not want to pass him up.
The other 5-drop to consider is Post. His 10 ATK/10 DEF stats are sickening, especially with the +2 DEF while defending. He fits nicely into any deck, even without team-ups, as long as you have one little trick—Mojoverse. It’s the combo that took a lot of people by surprise at PC So Cal, when Post was getting drafted fairly early on—much to the glee of those who didn’t see the danger. With Mojoverse in play, you chain its effect to Post’s trigger and he’ll lose his affiliation, meaning that when it comes time to stun a Brotherhood character, there won’t be any left on your side of the board. Since you’re unlikely to have any Brotherhood team-stamped cards to play, Post not having an affiliation won’t make much of a difference. And you get a 10 ATK/10 DEF 5-drop who defends as a 10 ATK/12 DEF character.
Venom, Eddie Brock
As far as 6-drops go, there aren’t many who are better than Venom, even amongst those who aren’t splashable. Venom’s stats aren’t anything to scream and shout over, though they are the norm for a 6-drop. What’s exciting about Venom is his ability—one that I think has been overlooked far too often. When Venom stuns a character, its controller must pay 6 endurance or lose the character. The two fabulous aspects of this are that the ability is not limited to defenders and that it creates a true dilemma for the opponent. What’s more important—a character or lifeblood? The first is what makes him especially nasty. You can attack, force a KO or endurance loss, and then sit back as the opponent attacks Venom, stuns his or character, and elicits the same dilemma.
Venom is especially good in a combat or a beats deck with many offensive and defensive pumps. The more of a chance he has to take down a major drop, the more likely you are to force your opponent’s hand. Even if the opponent pays the endurance, an extra 6 endurance loss is huge in later turns. And if you can boost Venom’s DEF and save him from being stunned, you have him on defense to make your opponent’s attack more difficult, as well.
The other two 6-drops to consider for splash are Mimic and Iceman. Many decks are already using one or the other as a splash 6-drop, including X-Stall decks that thrive on Mimic’s mimicking ability and Doom decks that use Iceman to gain major hand advantage.
Mimic’s ability isn’t quite as nasty in Modern Age as it is in Golden, as there aren’t quite as many powerful activation abilities to copy. His flight and range mimicking, however, are worthwhile on their own. Also, certain characters have abilities that can literally win the game for you if mimicked, such as Green Goblin or . . . Varnae! Imagine facing down an Underworld deck that splashes Mimic on turn 6 and has Varnae on the table on turn 7!
Iceman is useful against many decks, as a forced discard often truly hurts late game plans. I’m not sure how many decks will hoard cards, although Underworld has a lot of draw potential. Still, if you need a 6-drop and are looking for stall, this card can certainly be harmful.
Dr. Octopus, Doc Ock
If you have the odd initiative, there aren’t many 7-drops that are more useful to have on your side, especially in a beats deck. Not only does he (and any other Syndicate character you may have in play) have auto-reinforcement, but his attack ability is also capitol “N” Nasty. He either forces your opponent to push everyone into the front row, or to hope that Doc Ock doesn’t get through. If your opponent does push everyone to the front, you can potentially dish out massive endurance loss. Or, if the opponent tries to form to reinforce or leave only minor targets in the back, and you grant Doc Ock flight (through Made Men, for example), he can catch your opponent by surprise and go for the beatdown in back.
If you have the even initiative, you simply need to do everything you can to keep him alive. Your opponent, having formed before you, will likely have a juicy target in the back row. So, if you can keep Doc Ock from stunning, he can potentially wreck your opponent’s board and take the game, even on your opponent’s turn.
While many factions will have their own built-in 7-drop that is equivalent, or even better, than Doc Ock, some 7-drops are oriented towards very specific strategies (like Amazing Spider-Man, who counts on having high cost cards in your hand or at your fingertips to work) and won’t work in your particular deck. In these cases, look to Doc Ock as a substitute.
Also known by his screen name Kergillian, Ben Kalman has been involved in the Vs. community since day one. He started the first major player in the online community, the Vs. Listserv, through Yahoo! Groups, and it now boasts well over 1,300 members! For more on the Yahoo! group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Marvel_DC_TCG.