DC Origins made its debut at several prerelease tournaments here on Friday night. A great deal of players in Saturday’s $10,000 event played in those tournaments to gain advanced knowledge of the new set, reasoning that preparation would equal victory.

The response to these new cards was overwhelmingly positive. Players couldn’t say enough good things about the DC Origins set. Joey Pruett from Weston, Ohio, commented, “I was really impressed. I like the fact that they keyed down some of the strengths and weaknesses, but they added some real nice abilities to some of the characters. It’s good.” Jaime Mojica from Lake Worth, Florida, added, “It’s awesome! There are a lot of really nice cards, especially characters that have good effects, and there are plot twists that really complement other cards. Hopefully, this will change the game to everyone’s benefit.”

Many players also expressed concerns about the power level of DC Origins. Billy Zonos and Patrick Yapjoco from Orange County, California, said “There are a lot of powerful abilities that overshadow Marvel Origins. It feels like it makes a lot of Marvel cards obsolete.” It is unfortunate to be caught in a situation where you can’t do anything to win the game, no matter what cards you draw. Having access to cards that shut down powerful aspects of the Marvel cards is going to be quite interesting.

Jason Kittrell from Cookeville, Tennessee, commented, “I think that there’s going to be a lot of changing formats, that these tournaments aren’t going to be run by only one deck.” Diversity is an essential part of every card game, and the Vs. System is no different. Giving players more cards with which to construct decks will certainly open up the metagame to new and different ideas. John Rich from Gainesville, Florida, summed it up by saying, “The best thing about the new set is that it opens up the environment to other choices besides the three basic archetypes. The game structure completely changes with the new cards, and it will be fun to break some of those.”

Many players were also quite excited to add DC Origins cards to their Constructed decks. Brandon Charnesky of Auburn Hills, Michigan, said, “I can’t wait to get more cards and build a Constructed deck.”

A few of the individual cards really stuck out from the rest of the set. Mega Blast seemed to be a favorite card of several players. Jeff “Tank” Boeing from Cincinnati, Ohio, joked, “Bye-bye, Savage Beatdown, hello, Mega Blast!” The common plot twist packs a powerful punch, giving a support-row character range and +4 ATK. Roy Thomas of Barnesville, North Carolina, added, “I can’t say enough good things about Mega Blast.” It’s quite possible that the Blast will replace Savage Beatdown in several aggressive decks.

Brendan Davis from Jacksonville, Florida, said, “I feel that the plot twists are simply trying to outdo the ones in the last set.” In the case of Mega Blast, it seems that just might be the case.

However, not everything about DC Origins is completely overpowered. Chris Starr of Boyton Beach, Florida, was concerned about the effects of the cards amid his praise of the DC Origins set. “The only thing I didn’t like is that a lot of the DC characters and effects kill the Marvel cards that are out there. Like Superboy from Teen Titans, [he] makes the FF equipment deck obsolete.”

The new team affiliations are quite popular as well. Robert Leander from Boca Raton, Florida, said “I like the team affiliations a lot, especially Teen Titans, League of Assassins, and Gotham Knights.” A big part of the Vs. System’s appeal is the ability to play with your favorite team of characters, and that’s the best aspect of the game for a lot of players. Such as James McHale of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a self-proclaimed old comic reader from way back. “The new set’s great. You also have more ways to play the teams together, which will make things very interesting, especially for the judges.”

DC Origins will certainly add a great deal to the Vs. System environment. It’s going to be fascinating to see how players react to the new characters, plot twists, and locations, and how they build their decks with the brand-new cards.