It’s almost time for the Spider-Man Vs. Doc Ock Starter Set to release, so let’s preview a card that fans of the Marvel universe should find very interesting and in flavor for the character.

Punisher: Vigilante
Character, Spider-Friends, Recruit 4
7 ATK/5 DEF
Range
Activate, discard a Spider-Friends character card from your hand >>> KO target stunned character.


So he’s basically a Finishing Move on a stick. Since his power requires him to activate, making it work will take a bit of skill and timing on your part. He can’t attack and send a stunned character to the KO’d pile, so he’s best used on defense or when your opponent would otherwise not lose a character for the turn (by entering the recovery phase with but a single stunned character).

While defending, Punisher does very well standing behind a front row character. He has range, so if he survives the attack, he’ll be able to attack. However, chances are good that your opponent won’t be so accommodating. Which makes it doubly important that Punisher is protected by a front row character who can take down the opposition’s first attacker. Nasty Surprise and other ATK-boosting plot twists for defenders will do well in a deck featuring Punisher. Most of the time, your opponents will make attacks where their characters are going to come away from the combat with nary a scratch, so you’ve got to be running some cards in your deck that will ensure Punisher is never left without someone to use as target practice.

With his protector out of the way, Punisher is locked and loaded. It’s a Mexican standoff as your opponent looks for any tells or facial tics that might give away whether or not you have a Spider-Friends character in your hand to pay for the power. He or she will assume you do, of course, but Punisher's meager 5 DEF makes it tempting for him or her to attack. It'll be good for some breakthrough, but your opponent will certainly be losing that stunned character during the combat phase when Punisher drops the hammer and lets loose a hail of bullets at his woozy target.

When you have the initiative, the dilemma is all yours. To attack, or not to attack, that is the question. Punisher’s ATK of 7 is average, so chances are good there’ll be a character that he can take on, but with his low DEF of 5, he may not survive the encounter. Here again, finding strong allies among the rest of the Spider-Friends (or elsewhere) will serve him well. Feel free to send his teammates against the biggest and baddest your opponent has to offer. Take on that big, nasty, equipment-toting lynchpin of your opponent’s deck, then sick Punisher on it. Taking down your opponent’s best character makes up for not getting in that one extra attack, as chances are you were able to keep your best character, while the opposition surveys a field of early drop characters.

Note that when Punisher is attacked, if there is not a stunned character currently in play, he won’t be able to punish the attacker should he take it down. Once the attack has started to resolve, neither player has priority until after the attack is over. There are, of course, exceptions to this, with replacement effects like Toad’s “jump back to hand” power. But Punisher’s power is a simple activated power, so you can’t use it to get the character attacking him should he stun it, unless he somehow survives the attack.