There are a lot of cool cards in Vs. that work by supporting themes. Oa is one example of a great, straightforward card that can make or break victories with its raw power and simple synergies. These are the cards you’ll most likely see winning local tournaments, and that’s fine and good. Most cards fit into this category, and that holds true for virtually any TCG.

However, occasionally a card comes along for which it is very difficult to discern a set purpose. It slinks around in the background of the set it’s released in, generally doesn’t see immediate play, and may or may not get tinkered with. These cards are essentially enabling agents that let a player do something he or she couldn’t otherwise do. They’re unique and specialized and they quickly get slipped into the toolbox of the creative strategist, even if they don’t see immediate play. A great example of this is Micro-Chip. Before his release, players couldn’t easily protect cards like Rigged Elections, nor could they trade resource points for the ability to reuse plot twists. I remember several months ago that Eric Bess, from whom I leeched my previous inspiration for the Fight to the Finish article, emailed me about how excited he was that he could use a Wild Ride twice. I nodded, intrigued, and then shuffled Micro-Chip to the back of my “to do” list. Smarter people, like Jason Hager, did not make the same mistake.

This article was actually going to be about Micro-Chip, but I felt that with all of the environmental shifts we’ve seen over the past two weeks (thanks to the coming of a DGL-inclusive Golden Age and the domination of the Dr. Light/Rama-Tut deck), focusing on a card that seems to be tapped out right now wouldn’t exactly satisfy readers looking for the new hotness. So instead, I’ll use Micro-Chip as an example of a successful subtype of cards in the design process and will then demonstrate a more up-and-coming card in the same category: Lacuna.

I’ll come out swinging¾Lacuna thrills me. The sheer number of uses for this versatile and nichey character excites me like a crisp mountain breeze on a pantsless day. I’m a tech fiend, and for me there is nothing more exciting than unrealized potential in deliciously concentrated single-card form. Lacuna does so many different things and has so much to offer that I’m going to break her down into three segments: her base stats, her activated effect, and her affiliation sharing effect.

We’ll start with the simple stuff, which means looking at Lacuna’s cost and stats. Her 2 ATK/2 DEF stats are far from impressive, but at the same time, she’s no Aunt May. She’s capable of being a valuable part of any early or mid-game team-attack and she can stun two levels up the curve in most cases if she’s packing the benefit of a Nasty Surprise. Not fabulous, but not useless either.

Her cost is what makes her shine in the current global environment. Being a 2-drop means that not only is she a low investment of resource points, but she also won’t take slots in a deck away from more important cards. Any way you slice it, there just aren’t many team-up decks that are particularly 2-drop reliant. That means Lacuna can slip neatly into a variety of strategies, both those available right now and those that will be available in the future (and remember, we’re all about future potential with this kind of card).

But of course, her cost also makes her compatible with Dr. Light, Master of Holograms’ effect, and that’s really the source of most of the buzz surrounding Lacuna at the moment. As soon as she pops into play, she instantly teams up with the Fantastic Four if you have one member of their team on board, and she can therefore immediately get the benefits of Cosmic Radiation. This allows her to grab extra copies of Marvel Team-Up as needed without requiring an additional F4 team-up, giving you more options and generally making it easier for a Jar player to run Hornet.

While Stephen Silverman won $10K Philadelphia without Hornet (he ran Gone but not Forgotten to gain near-infinite endurance instead of dishing out near-infinite damage), Hornet seems slightly favorable in the mirror. A turn 4 Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius sitting across the table still spells the end of your combo potential (as he cuts off your from-hand Cosmic Radiation loop at the knees with his effect), but it’s of note that while both infinite loops require a plot twist to work (Gone but Not Forgotten for the infinite endurance and a team-up for Hornet), you can Lacuna for the Marvel Team-Up needed for Hornet. That saves you the use of Boris*, which in turn gives you a slight edge because you’ll have more search power for Have a Blast! Uber-specialized? Sure. But Jar will be a big issue for you if it isn’t already, and these thoughts are worth having.

Of course, her cost also makes her susceptible to Flame Trap, Sunfire, and Firestar. While these aren’t particularly relevant in the Jar matchup, they’re something to consider when placing Lacuna in other decks.

Let’s take some time to look at her activated effect. It’s the most straightforward component of the card and reads as follows:

Activate --> KO a resource you control. If you do, search your deck for a card named Marvel Team-Up, reveal it, and put it face down into your resource row. Shuffle your deck and discard a card.

Lacuna’s effect lets you team up more effectively with fewer team-ups occupying space in your deck. You can also gain access to more team-ups than normal if you’re willing to commit cards to multiple activations, which can be handy in decks using three teams (and is why she sees play in decks like Evil Medical School).

While the discard cost can look a little steep, remember that you can replace face up resources with her effect, so if you play it carefully you’re not really losing card advantage. That said, Lacuna just seems to be crying out for play with some of the “draw when this character hits the field” cards from the new starter decks.

Let’s look at the coolest part of this card: the affiliation sharing effect.

While in play or in your deck, hand, or KO’d pile, Lacuna has the team affiliations of each character you control.

Ahh, now this is the part I like best! A lot of people misread this part of Lacuna and interpret it to mean that she only gains team affiliations when she hits the field. While it’s great that she does that and can thus reinforce or team attack with virtually anyone, the really intriguing part of the card comes when you realize that she also shares those affiliations everywhere else. She can be fished out of the deck with team-stamped character search cards. Effects like Signal Flare and Bat-Signal can search her out once a matching character is on your side of the field.

Her ability to attain extra team affiliations in the hand means that she can be discarded for costs like that of Sabretooth, Feral Rage or be revealed for costs like Wolverine, Logan’s. This is of course dependant on your already having a same-team character in play, but it’s an interesting option. One can imagine an all-star deck of characters that require reveal and discard costs, especially ones required for effects, satisfied by a single card. I created an entertaining little combo deck a while back called “Mine, All Mine!” that used Lacuna for effects like Mad Hatter and Lilith, locking the game on turn 5 with Neutron and then just taking characters. While Lacuna hasn’t reached an apex of exploitability in this regard, it’s again another dollop of icing on the creamy combo cake.

Mimicking affiliations in the graveyard is even cooler. Sure, you can look at Lacuna as a one-shot contribution to causes like Club Dead, but how about juicing more damage out of Highmaster’s direct burn effect by making her a Manhunter? Or better yet, dropping her in the KO’d pile and then using her as a catchall for Hypnotic Charms, allowing all of your characters to be instantly teamed up with a single copy? Pretty neat. Again, this is the only card that allows for tricks like this to be executed.

Lacuna is seeing some play in major decks now. Jar, Evil Medical School, and New School are all using it, but watch for it to become seriously high-impact as more and more effects get released that can exploit Lacuna’s many powers. The possibilities for exploiting her are boundless, and she’s the kind of character who will become more and more powerful over time.

-Jason Grabher-Meyer

*Granted, this assumes you aren’t drawing your entire deck via Valeria Richards anyway, in which case the theory is of course moot.