Imperiex who?

The answer to the Destroyer of the Universe has arrived! After all, while it would be nice for you to beat me with your foul, turn 9 Imperiex, he does you little good if I remove him from the game before you have actually a chance to use him. Sure, it costs me my 7-drop, but your Imperiex only made it into play because you had no characters, whereas I still have my 8- and 9-drops!

Just what am I talking about? Why, that would be today’s Superman, Man of Steel Preview! Today’s Special is Strange Visitor, Sharon Vance. She reflects her comic counterpart to the letter, and she can change the face of the game when she hits the board.

Let’s take a peek at her, shall we?

This card is rather ironic, as Strange Visitor actually sacrificed herself in the comics (Superman, Vol. II, #179, to be exact) by giving all of her energy to Superman so he could defeat Imperiex! Oh, clever UDE!

Before I examine the card more closely, let’s take a peek at exactly who this Strange Visitor really is.

It all started in Superman, Volume II, #139. Dominus attacked Kismet and beat the stuffing out of her. Kismet, often referred to as the Lord of Order, was well named. She was essentially the right hand of fate, providing every sentient being with the choice between good and evil. Thomas Aquinas, eat your heart out!

(For those unfamiliar with St. Thomas Aquinas, he was a 13th century Catholic philosopher and theologian (and Dominican friar in his spare time). He put forth, among other ideas, the hypothesis that God did not govern our choices, but rather gave us the will to choose between good and evil. He thusly preserved our freedom as human beings and gave us the power to choose our own path.)

Anyhow, Dominus was jealous and wanted her job, so he decided that if she didn’t give it to him, he would simply have to take it—hence the fisticuffs.

Superman, who didn’t approve of Masters of Reality hitting helpless Lords of Order, and his sidekick Waverider (don’t tell him I said that!), basically transported Kismet back in time. There they hid her as Clark Kent’s childhood friend, Sharon Vance. Or should I say, in Sharon Vance.

Got all that so far? Good. So what does this have to do with Strange Visitor, you ask? Well, it’s funny you should ask that. Kismet’s powers suddenly started showing up in poor Sharon, and so Sharon took up Supes’ old energy/electro containment suit (thanks to our friendly neighborhood packrat, Professor Hamilton) and became a super heroine named Strange Visitor, fighting alongside Supes himself.

Skip through some crime-fighting, world-saving, and a bit of a soap opera, and we reach the war against Imperiex. This occurred in the Our Worlds at War saga, when Kismet revealed to Superman that she had merged with Sharon Vance. Then, Strange Visitor served up an energy milkshake to Superman, sacrificing her life (or so it was assumed) to create the character we fondly think of as Our Worlds at War Superman. This gave Supes the power to take down the pesky, controlling, “I’ll destroy the universe if I can’t have it” (-sniffle-) megalomaniac, Imperiex.

So, there you have it in a nutshell. Now, let’s look at the card a little more carefully. Strange Visitor has loyalty. This makes sense, as she was a close ally of Superman. Also, since this is a Sharon Vance version and not a Kismet version, she isn’t very likely to team up with anyone else.

Flight and range, along with an average ATK, make her a decent drop. At 13, her DEF is a little low, but not horribly so—it won’t lose you the game. While Strange Visitor is superhuman because of Kismet’s godlike powers, those powers are still restrained by a human body, and the character reflects that restriction.

It’s her ability that’s the real kicker, though. Without it, she’s just another average 7-drop. Her ability can be vicious as long as you play your cards right (bad pun alert!). The strength of it lies in the fact that it’s activated and it targets, allowing you to take out a specific threat. It also removes the targeted character from the game, so recursion is not an issue. For those that don’t already know, removing a character from the game does not KO the character, but rather completely removes it so that you cannot get it back. For now, at least . . .

Her restrictions are a potential disadvantage. The first restriction is that it must be used during the combat phase. This won’t help Imperiex’s controller, as you can still use it before his or her attack step even if you don’t have the initiative. You can’t use it before laying down a resource, though. The second restriction, which says that the target must have a cost greater than the number of resources you control, means you’ll purposely not want to lay down a resource (or find a way to eliminate one of your own) if Imperiex is not the target. A card like Ka-Boom! is one possibility, as is flipping a location that you already have in play. This way you can use Strange Visitor to take out your opponent’s 8-drop and keep yours in play. This strategy works nicely against Apocalypse, especially if you have the initiative. If your opponent KO’s two of your resources, you merely have to turn around and mulch Apocalypse, then use your own 8-drop to do some stomping. Also, if your 8-drop is Apocalypse, you have a nice bit of board advantage for a couple of turns.

All in all, while this card was clearly created with Imperiex in mind, it works nicely against Doom and Apocalypse decks, too. You merely have to protect her for one or two turns before you can use her in a way that will all but guarantee you the win. Sacrifice is often necessary to win a battle, and she is the perfect sacrificial lamb. Yes, Sharon Vance sure is a Strange Visitor!