’Lo, everybody!
PC Atlanta is coming up incredibly soon (a little more than a month away), and I’ve still got ground to cover before it hits. I don’t want to leave you guys high and dry before the PC, so I’d better dispense with the pleasantries and get down to business.
Hope you don’t mind.
Identity Crisis - This card is insanely powerful. It also costs 9. You tell me which matters in a Sealed Pack format.
Infestation - The potential power locked in this card is fully realized if you manage to get the Injustice Gang Army deck. You really have to try to get this archetype, because it won’t fall into your lap. If you do decide to force the deck, this will be one of the cards to keep an eye out for.
Justice League of Arkham - Okay, first the good. It’s a Team-Up. Sometimes, you find yourself needing a Team-Up to make your deck complete, and this card will be there for you. However, the reason it will be there for you is because it costs 4 and it isn’t stamped for a team that’s heavily represented in this set. Most people will be gobbling up Justice League Task Force, Funky’s Big Rat Code, and Gang Up to fill their Team-Up slots. I recommend you do the same.
Justice League Task Force - Now that’s the good stuff. A Team-Up for a major team that has an ability that enhances the team’s main theme. Hot stuff! While I believe that Team-Ups are a necessary part of a balanced breakfast, I don’t advise taking them too early. Look for this around the middle of the first and second packs. If you really need the Team-Up in the third pack, take it as high as you want.
Lead By Example - This is a nice, standard combat pump. At its base, it’s nothing spectacular. If you managed to get a deck that can really abuse its leaders (Secret Society is good about this), it can be a rather solid bonus. It’s not a card I’m hoping to see when I open my packs, but I wouldn’t say no if my deck were built to abuse it.
Look-Alike Squad - Legacy card. Next.
Magnificent Seven - Here it is, one of the cards that I went on and on about in my JLA team breakdown. This is one of the plot twists that makes the archetype work. A good JLA deck will be dying to take advantage of its many ally abilities, and this card fits the bill perfectly. Not only do you get the power-up, but you also get to draw a card if it’s early in the game. Outside of the JLA ally deck, this card is rather lackluster. There are many other cards that generate abilities far larger than this for their respective teams. Take that into consideration when looking at this card for your deck.
Matter Convergence - Hmm . . . Okay. First off, it’s a rare. Secondly, it’s a semi-legacy card. To get the real punch from this card, you have to be playing Anti-Matter. That’s a little unlikely. Lastly, it moves a character to the hidden area. This is something you generally want to avoid. Simply put, skip this card.
Membership Drive - This card makes me happier and happier the more I play with it. It can be used early. It breaks the equity between characters of the same cost. And—this is important for the Secret Society players out there—it puts a counter on a character. It’s not a really early pick, which I think should be reserved for stat modifiers and KO effects, but it is a solid mid-pack pick.
Midnight Cravings - I really feel this card. Although, I might rename it “5 A.M. Cravings.” Now, while I can empathize with what the Manhunter is going through, I can’t really empathize with anyone who plays this card in Sealed Pack. In this set, the willpower loss is negligible. The -1 DEF is slightly useful. It forces your opponent to use a card that is guaranteed to be much better than this one in order to save his or her dude. However, if this card is that much worse than just about anything your opponent could play to save his or her dude, why is it in your deck? This has been your daily moment of Zen.
Mysterious Benefactor - Dr. Sivana, Gorilla Grodd, and Ultra-Humanite are just three of the reasons this card is good. Add in the other excellent leaders that are in the other teams, and you see why I like this card so much. I always stress how much you need cards that will stabilize your draws and make your deck more consistent. This is definitely one of the better ones.
New Era - Here’s another rare with an interesting ability. There are a few good locations that a JLA deck might consider playing. The Watchtower is a phenomenal location, and a mid-attack UN Building could take your opponent by surprise. New Era gets even better when drafted in a JLA / Secret Society deck. Secret Society has so many useful locations that it would love a way to ensure it gets its best ones. It’s a card that you might consider playing if your deck warrants it, but don’t plan to build your deck around it.
Not on My Watch - This card is an interesting one. There are a few very good 1-cost plot twists that will make it into every deck that can get its hands on them. That makes this a very good reactive card. Using it to save breakthrough endurance loss is also a good game-changing effect. Also, it’s very easy in this format to have a character with more than one team affiliation. However, it’s still a reactive card. I’m generally not a fan of cards that require your opponent to do something first. If the opponent doesn’t do the prerequisite, this becomes a dead card. Another card I’ve already looked at, Balance of Power, is a reactive card. What makes it better is its lack of restriction. With Balance, all your opponent has to do is play a plot twist. With this card, it has to be a plot twist of a specific cost. That makes it a little worse in my book. Thankfully, it has a second ability that will always find a way to be useful. This is another one of those good mid- to late pack cards.
Plasma Blast - Those crazy Russian scientists, they really know how to build ’em! Plasma Blast is a very good plot twist, especially in a JLI deck. At the bare minimum, it shrinks your opponent’s character a bit so that your guy can get over it. Early in the game (or even late if you have the JLI restriction deck), it makes the character really small. Look for this card early if you plan on going JLI, and near the middle of the pack for everyone else.
Poisoned! - I love cards with exclamation points in the title. Remember, kids, punctuation is there to let you know how to say the word. Anyone can be poisoned, but it takes a particularly nasty strain to poison! someone. I was expecting fireworks and explosions. Instead, I got snakes and sparklers. This card should be considered as a last resort. The -1 ATK may prove useful in limited situations, but not enough to make this card very playable.
Power Siphon - Acrobatic Dodge was a first pick in its day, and nothing has changed. This card is a first pick for an Injustice Gang deck. Sadly, it’s a rare now, so you won’t get to use it frequently. I hope you appreciate those times when you do.
Rallying Cry! - Now here’s an exclamation point worth exclaiming over. It makes your guys bigger and gives them range. What more could you ask for in a card? Pick it high and don’t look back.
Recharge the Sun - This was a really cool story arc and a very flavorful way to represent its final act. However, just because something is cool and flavorful doesn’t make it a playable Sealed Pack card. Sadly, this is one of those cards. Willpower doesn’t have the presence here that it did in GLC. This makes it a little harder to come up with the characters to stun. On top of that, there’s a considerably smaller GL contingent in this set, so that makes it much harder to find a character to ready. This is one of those legacy cards that would have been neat to see in the set it was designed to be played with, but it’s almost completely useless in this set.
Reform the League - Drool . . . This card is a reusable ally enabler. How nuts! JLA decks should be clamoring to get a hold of as many of these as they can. Keep your eyes open for these and take them high.
Resistance is Useless - Okay. Unless you’re putting together an unaffiliated deck (don’t laugh, they do exist in Sealed Pack), this card is pretty useless. I’m not really a fan of cards that only give +1 ATK / +1 DEF and aren’t power-ups. This card falls into that category, so I’m not that big a fan of it.
Roll Call! - Bueller? Bueller? Anybody? Hmm . . . never mind. This card will at least gain you some endurance. It’ll also improve your draw, which, as I’ve already said, makes me a very happy guy. Even better than all of that, if you happen to be the lucky guy drafting JLA/Secret Society, you get to add more cards to your KO’d pile. What a treat! Oh joyous day! I like this card, but I wouldn’t be too worried about picking it up early—it’ll go around.
Forty-four plot twists down, and a mere twenty-one to go. One way or another, I will get you whipped into shape for this PC, soldier. Make sure you come ready to learn. Don’t forget that it isn’t just listening to what I tell you, it’s trying what I tell you. You may come to your own conclusions. You may already have come to your own conclusions and disagree with me. All I ask is that you take what I say seriously and give it some real thought. If you don’t, you’ll only be hurting yourself. I have two more installments to go, so make sure you’re here over the next couple of weeks to catch all the analyses.
Questions and comments can be sent to the_priceis_right@yahoo.com.