Creating our first Essential Collection proved more difficult than I first imagined. At first, it sounded sort of like a starter deck. Make some simple cards, make sure there’s a curve of characters, throw in some pumps, and you’re done. As it turned out, the product wasn’t going to resemble a starter deck at all. In fact, the list of objectives for the product was daunting: make sure the individual teams play well by themselves and against each other, that they team-up with each other (and other teams) well, that they are good enough to compete with our other teams without blowing them out straight from the box, that they are simple enough for new players and complex enough for existing players, and that there are enough generics (or generic effects) that players of all stripes would take a hard look at all the cards.

Of course, with “Iron Man” Lead Designer Matt Hyra at the helm, all of these issues were accounted for. For those of you out of the loop, Matt is a wellspring of creativity. In fact, in the time it takes for you to read this sentence, he will have already created a new game engine from scratch. Matt did an excellent job creating mechanics and flavor for his solo Vs. System lead design (Justice League of America), and he did another outstanding job with the Hellboy Essential Collection.

All of us were responsible for ensuring that there were a few cards for each style and flavor of deck out there. Being the off-curve advocate that I am, some of the higher-ups thought it would be amusing if I talked about some of the powerful off-curve hate in the set. Of course, everyone thought this was very funny. Some people . . .

 

Liz Sherman, Pyrokinesis reminds me most of Shocker, Vibro-Shock Villain (himself a breaker in a bunch of off-curve mirrors), except Liz is better suited for more controlling decks. Once you’ve invested your 3 resource points into Liz, she’s ready to go at a moment’s notice, allowing you to play your natural curve without having to stumble to get her out the moment you want the stun. Also, there are some nice interactions with her return-to-hand cost. Not only does she work pretty well with Enemy of My Enemy (use Enemy to find Liz on turn 3 or discard her to find some other character after you’ve returned her for the stun), but the return-to-hand cost also allows you to go off a little bit against off-curve decks. For example, if she’s already in play, you can use your sixth turn to stun three 3-drops on either side of the initiative. I can’t think of another 6-drop with that sort of off-initiative impact against off-curve, and her power and flexibility should make her a prime choice anytime someone is looking for a little extra action against rush decks.

Inner Sanctum takes a page right out of the X-Statix loner playbook. Loner strategies often have difficulty keeping down an opposing board (by being limited to one attack per turn), and Inner Sanctum ensures multiple off-initiative stuns if you control only one character. Against curve decks, it has a pretty finite window of opportunity, but against off-curve, you can reasonably expect the Sanctum to be online for the entire game. And if you somehow find a way to fire off multiples, either by readying it or replacing the copy, then you could easily blow away an entire squad of little drops off initiative. Best of all (or worst, for people like me), there isn’t an effective way to play around the card; the other deck can either pass its initiative or suck up a bunch of stuns. Speaking from experience, neither option is that appealing.

A common theme for these two cards is that they both fit well into loner strategies. The Sanctum does so in a very straightforward way, while Sherman’s return-to-hand cost facilitates keeping one character in play. Both teams have a bit of loner action on them, creating possibilities for mono-team or teamed-up loner decks. So for those of you out there who are upset that Orphan and company will be leaving Silver Age, no need to fear—your beloved play experience will be sticking around for a long time.