This card. . .  I mean. . .

It’s something else, isn’t it? 

I’m in a unique position over here, because I get to preview cards that I didn’t actually develop. I wasn’t here during the development of Legion of Super Heroes, so it’s kind of nice that I got to have the same reaction as all of you did when you saw this card for the first time—wow, does the finished product look good. I remember that when I got here, one of the first things I had to do was “catch up” by reading the sets that haven’t come out yet but are all old news to the guys here in R&D. It’s kind of weird because it’s like seeing into the future and looking into the past at the same time. When I saw this card, I kind of did a double take. The conversation that followed was something like this:

Me:  “Hey, guys, how good is Darskseid-4? It seems pretty insane.”

Everyone:  “Insane.”

Yep, pretty much just as I’d expected—it was, in fact, the Bootenheimers (which means awesome to the normal people that speak actual English out there). And that’s before I even realized all the implications this card actually has or saw any of the other cards that the team had to offer. I can’t talk too much about the supporting suite of cards, but I can tell you this much: as good as this guy is in a vacuum, he’s even better than that with his supporting cast. Even disregarding his minions, Darkseid is excellent on his own. Besides his amazing power, he has a lot of other stuff going for him.

First, if you haven’t noticed already, our friend here has 6 ATK / 9 DEF! That’s pretty big for a 4-drop, isn’t it? If you consider the default 4-drop character to be 7 ATK / 7 DEF (and that’s being a bit generous, I think) you have 14 total points of ATK and DEF. Not only is 6 ATK / 9 DEF equal to 15 total points, but you also get them where they really count. 9 DEF is a lot for your opponents to try to slog through on turn 4, especially when you’re drawing cards every time they try to do any work. There aren’t many characters at that point in the curve who naturally have 9 ATK and can stun Darkseid without any help, so when your opponent plays a plot twist to help out and hopefully stun him, you get a free card. If you run any defensive plot twists you can potentially use those, forcing your opponent to struggle to keep up with ATK pumps and allowing you to draw more cards.

Another thing that works well with Darkseid’s stats and power isn’t obvious at first; there are actually Darkseid characters at every drop from 4-8. That means you’re going to be packing plenty of power-ups, which in turn means that a good portion of your deck will be useful when you draw it. That’s no small deal, let me assure you. If you remember the old days of Bastion, you know how important it is to be able to use your resources—including cards in your hand—efficiently. Getting extra cards into your hand is even better than that, though. The characters that you can’t use as power-ups (and even the plot twists that are always going to be useful) can be used to fuel other effects like Dark Matter Drain. It’s a win/win situation; you’re going to be able to put every card you draw to good use!

Last but definitely not least, this card is really fun to have in play. A true villain, Darkseid loves to put his opponent in the squeeze and watch them squirm while he toys with them. Watching your opponent think about whether he or she can afford to play a plot twist and give you an extra card to work with is pretty awesome. Even if your opponent does decide to use plot twists from the resoursce row and let you draw the cards, you can replace those resources and make them have to do it all over again! BWA HA HA HA HA! 

Take my word for it—you’re going to love playing with this guy.