Activated effects rule the current environment. Alfred Pennyworth and Boris are the backbones of The Brave and the Bold and Common Enemy respectively, and The Brave and the Bold and dedicated Teen Titans builds get a lot of their power from Roy Harper ◊Arsenal. In addition, Wild Vomit loves Senator Kelly and Longshot, and League of Assassins gets a lot of use from Hassim. The list goes on and on—in the current environment, effects make or break decks.

Though I’ve played many games, I come primarily from a Yu-Gi-Oh! background. “Negate ______” is a common sight to see on a variety of different Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Negation and countering are actually common in many games, but have not been utilized in the Vs. System thus far. In fact, if we’re looking at the important activated character effects that currently fuel the direction of the metagame, there are only three that offer negation effects. They are Utility Belt, Fun and Games, and Sentinel Mark II. Negation of activated character effects is a rare and valuable commodity—it’s one of the reasons that Curve Sentinel is so darn good. Despite the fact that negation has been available since Marvel Origins, it’s only now starting to get the attention it deserves. All three negation cards are worth examining.

Utility Belt is one of the most underrated cards in the game. That might not be something you hear often, but in my mind, it’s true. With each of the top three proven decks in the environment (Common Enemy, Brave and the Bold, and Titans) dependant on at least one key activated effect, the Gotham Knights have a great little piece of three-way tech in the form of the Utility Belt. Most players piloting Gotham Knights, either on its own or with Doom, League of Assassins, or Titans, aren’t running Utility Belt. However, I’m sure players will be in the future.

Utility Belt is awesome. It recruits for free, has no restrictions or costs (other than the requirement that it be attached to a Gotham Knights character), and negates any payment power effect. It can not only hose activated effects, it can also negate virtually any non-triggered or conditional/ongoing effect in the game . . . provided you can activate the character it’s attached to. Remember that activated effects are payment powers. Anything with an activation arrow preceding the effect is ruled as such. Utility Belt is not just limited to characters, either. If you keep USS Argus in play over the course of a turn instead of destroying it with Roy Harper ◊Arsenal or replacing it with Terra, then Utility Belt can render you completely cardless as long as both the Belt-wearing character and Argus stay in play. Optitron? I guess you just wasted your resource point.