Master of holograms, indeed! Anyone who has faced a KnightLight deck has likely run into the power of Dr. Light at one point or another. There’s nothing quite like feeling as though you’re about to win a game, and then suddenly facing every single character you had previously KO’d. And your opponent always happens to have the initiative. Or heck, even if he or she doesn’t, there’s usually plenty of reinforcement to make sure that it doesn’t matter.
Well, here we have mini Dr. Light, a version for the Emerald Enemies who, instead of being hell-bent on destroying those pesky Teen Titans, is hell-bent on wiping Green Lantern right out of Sector 2814!
Mini Dr. Light is a smaller drop than his bigger brother, yet he ironically represents a later incarnation of the character. It’s the same old pesky Arthur Light who hated the Titans, failed to defeat them, and lost control of the Fearsome Five to Psimon, who then booted him out (bad Psimon!). Eventually, Arthur ended up dead on Apokolips while fighting for the Suicide Squad. Simply put, he was convinced that he would make a great hero. And, like everything else, Dr. Light took it on in a fit of zealotry and decided to attack Apokolips by himself. Parademons have big guns, and, well . . . the rest was history.
But these are comics! Real life doesn’t apply, and neither does death! Dr. Light found himself in the netherest of netherworlds, where he was tortured by resident demon Biff O’ Stoffles. (No, I didn’t make that up, I swear!) He was reunited there with former science lab buddy Jacob Finlay, whose spirit had haunted Arthur and blamed Arthur for his death. Biff decided it would be fun to resurrect and kill both of them every day! (Someone had obviously been reading too much Dragonlance before sitting down to write these stories . . . )
Anyhow, Biff became bored—could you honestly stand being with Dr. Light day and night for eternity? I didn’t think so. So, Biff resurrected both of them—for real this time—and sent them back to Earth, where Finlay promptly died again.
Still with me? Good. So how does this tie into Green Lantern? Well that’s the trick. Dr. Light was refused reacceptance into the Suicide Squad (it defeats the purpose of the Squad if you keep coming back to life, right?), and in his depression after failing once again at that challenging hero thing, he ran into Hal Jordan and decided that he could prove his prowess by taking out the mighty Green Lantern of Earth. But things never seem to work out for Dr. Light, do they? I mean, here is a man who got thrown out of the Fearsome Five after he created the whole darn group in the first place! So what happens this time? He gets trapped in Green Lantern’s power battery!
One year later and Green Lantern is Hal no longer. Scrub Green Lantern Kyle Rain Man . . . erm . . . Rayner is polishing the lamp when this genie pops out! That may or may not be an exaggeration, but either way, his free lodgings at Hotel Jordan turned Dr. Light into an actual Dr. Light. That is to say, he exited as pure light. This meant that Dr. Light could now fly, which our friendly Fearsome Five version couldn’t, and the new skill is reflected on his Emerald Enemies version. He also has Willpower, thanks to his exposure to Hal’s ring and the power battery, though all the will in the world doesn’t help Dr. Light accomplish anything in the comics. But I digress.
He’s not quite as beefy as his previous version, but his holographic power is still there. This time, he creates smaller holograms, allowing you to revive a single KO’d character, but there are some limitations. They have to be 1- or 2-drops, they have to be unique (no character with the same name in play), and he has to activate to use his power. These are some pretty hefty restrictions, but you will still find a lot of use for him in your deck. As you may or may not have noticed (depending on whether or not you’ve seen the various previews on the boards and in the gaming magazines), one of the Emerald Enemies’ greatest strengths is off-curve deck play. There are character abilities that cost a KO’d resource and there are characters, like Major Force (seen in TCGplayer), who thrive when you’ve KO’d resources. This means that you can play Dr. Light on a later turn and still bring in an extra 2 resource points for free. And an extra drop never hurts, especially when that drop comes in to play readied.
Heck, you could build an Emerald Manhunters deck with Sleeper Agents (seen in Inquest), Major Force, some KO effects, and Dr. Light. Imagine, if you will, a 12 ATK/12 DEF Major Force combined with Sleeper Agents and a certain Emerald Enemies character who can KO resources to give a nice little combat boost. Now, on turn 5, you could potentially have a 14 ATK/14 DEF Major Force, a couple of Sleeper Agents, and a 4-drop in play. Factor in a turn 6 with 3 resources, a Dr. Light . . . and ta da!, a 2-drop in addition.
On the flip side, there are one or two characters, including a specific 2-drop, that thrive while you have a lot of resources in play. This means that Dr. Light can potentially bring in a late game surprise, and you’ll still have some points left over for other recruits.
However you work him in, Dr. Light will always be a factor. He may not be the best or the brightest, but his illusions and holograms always are!
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.
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