Greetings from Tennessee, Metagame readers! I’m here to give you a tantalizing taste of what you’ll see in your Sealed Pack card pool at your local Infinite Crisis Sneak Preview.

Let me get my introduction out of the way before I show you a common that you’ll be happy to find in your sealed pack. My name is Doug Tice. I was introduced to Vs. System in October 2004 and was almost instantly hooked. Over the past eighteen months or so, I have played a lot of Vs. and gained a pretty strong understanding of the game. After a miserable performance at $10K San Francisco earlier this year, I resolved to get focused on my Vs. System play. The folks at Metagame.com apparently took notice of my recent hot streak, where I picked up my first Constructed $10K title and my second Sealed Pack $10K title, so they’ve asked me to share some insights on Sealed Pack play.

I have always been envious of the writers who get to preview a card, and I’ve always wondered what I could do to be included in that “cool club.” Well, I guess this is my initiation, and I couldn’t be happier. Once the set is released, I will be able to meet you back here at Metagame.com for many more card analyses, Sealed Pack strategies, and theories about Infinite Crisis Sealed Pack play. For now, though, I am pleased to present Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero.

When I first saw this card, a number of questions came to mind. I don’t presume that the questions that first popped into my head are the best or only approach to analyzing and evaluating a card, but I can at least suggest that when you see a card for the first time, you should try asking yourself similar questions.

Question 1: What is a card’s identity?

This question is pretty specific in this example, but a more generic question would be, “What about this card do I not understand?” In this case, I initially didn’t know what a card’s identity was. I asked around and learned that identity refers to the part of the card name to the right of the diamond. For instance, Dick Grayson ◊ Robin, Sidekick could be discarded to power-up Spoiler ◊ Robin, The Girl Wonder and vice versa if you have Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero in play.

Question 2: What from the comics inspired this card?

I had not read a comic book in many years until my local game store owner and Vs. System enthusiast Donnie Noland brought my attention to a comic entitled “Countdown to Infinite Crisis.” What he found interesting about this comic (and the series to follow it, “Infinite Crisis”) was that its release was going to be coordinated with the release of the new Vs. System expansion, Infinite Crisis. The idea that I could learn the storyline of a new card set as I was learning to play with the cards appealed to me, so I bought that comic book. Since then, I have bought, read, and enjoyed a number of the “Infinite Crisis” comics that followed.

At the risk of oversimplifying the storyline or revealing that I actually didn’t grasp the first thing about it when reading the comics, I will try to give a high-level summary of what “Infinite Crisis” is all about. The DC Universe has multiple dimensions, each one with its own versions of the same worlds and heroes and villains. Somehow, those dimensions got crossed, and this allowed characters to exist across multiple dimensions. In each of these dimensions, the scenarios and outcomes are different. For instance, in one dimension, Connor Kent might be a lackadaisical spirit, unwilling to embrace his role as Superboy. In another dimension, an overly ambitious Superboy Prime is the Superboy character. The “Infinite Crisis” storyline spans across the DC Universe, ultimately inspiring Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero.

Question 3: Does this card hold its own when compared to its predecessors?

This is where I think most competitive gamers’ card evaluation process begins. In contrast, I’d imagine that the most dedicated fans of a given comic would argue that starting with question number two is most important. Once you read my explanation of question number four, I hope you will see why I think both perspectives are valuable. So, how does this card stack up to its predecessors? Well, for starters, this card is an 8 ATK / 6 DEF character with flight and range. Others may argue differently, but I still think that the average stats for a 4-drop are 7 ATK / 7 DEF with either flight or range. The added ATK offsets the slightly lower DEF of the character. And his ally power goes one step further, not only offsetting his low DEF, but also adding potential tricks to your other characters in play. Sealed Pack play is all about tricks, so I say yes, Katar Hol does at least meet, if not exceed, the grade necessary to make my deck.

Question 4: What suppositions can be made about the rest of the cards in this set based on the answers to questions 1, 2, and 3?

Without seeing more of the cards in Infinite Crisis, I can only guess what the rest of the set will look like, but to me that’s part of the fun.

Supposition 1: I think it is highly possible that there will be more than one character that shares an identity with all of your favorite superheroes from the JSA. For the sake of having an example, let’s just say that there is a 6-drop character in Infinite Crisis named Antonio Sullivan ◊ Hawkman, Best Hero Ever. Since I am a competitive gamer and occasionally think like one, I like that I can recruit my 6-drop Antonio without replacing my 4-drop Katar Hol, and still have the option to discard Antonio to power-up Katar Hol and trigger his ally power.

Supposition 2: This character is printed with an ally power. From playing with cards from the JLA set, I know that I want to trigger as many ally powers as possible from one power-up. I suppose that the ally power will be strongly represented in Infinite Crisis.

Supposition 3: Although this seems like a stretch to me, I suppose that non-character cards might say something to the effect of, “While this card is in your hand, it has the identity of [fill in the blank].” Something similar to this would make Katar Hol even more valuable, especially in Sealed Pack play.