I have a confession to make. I’d never been to Gen Con before. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I did go to Gen Con SoCal last year, but I’m told comparing Gen Con SoCal to Gen Con Indy is like comparing something really small to something really big. At least that’s what I’m told. So there I was, winding my way through the serpentine corridors of the convention center hoping to find either the TCG hall (where the Pro Circuit would be held) or the UDE booth (where I would be doing some demoing). Unfortunately for me, the convention center is like a freaking maze! (I’m using “freaking” there more as an expletive, not as an action verb; i.e., the maze was freaking [out].) When I finally made it to the TCG hall, I was—

We interrupt this regularly scheduled post–Gen Con article to bring you this important Web of Spider-Man preview:

“It’s Hammer Time!”
Or “Getting a ‘Head’ of the Pack”
Or “The Guy’s Name is Hammerhead, so Give Me a Break; at Least I’m not Referencing that Ithorian from the Cantina at Mos Eisley”

I know, I know—the Web of Spider-Man set is awesome. Sure, there are two powerful new teams, a bunch of cards for the old teams, and even a few new unaffiliated characters, one of which may or may not be a short, fat Fantastic Four villain who likes moles. Yeah, there’s all that cool stuff, but so far there hasn’t been a lot of talk about the set on the whole. You see, Marvel Origins and DC Origins were “base” sets intended to introduce players to the game. Starting with the Web of Spider-Man expansion, most sets will be built around a theme or core mechanic. When I’m not in preview mode or otherwise talking about random stuff like robots or Antonio Banderas, I tend to write the design articles, so I figure it would make sense to talk about the Web of Spider-Man set’s theme.

There’s a pull in Vs. System toward building a “curve” deck, that is, a deck that that tries to play the largest cost character it can each turn. Common Enemy and Big Brotherhood are examples of curve decks. But some decks don’t follow a strict curve, usually because they want to recruit more than one character a turn. The Brave and the Bold and Wild Vomit are examples of curve-breaking decks.

There’s a nice tension between curve and non-curve decks, so we decided to really explore the weenie/anti-weenie dynamic. And while we did put in a decent amount of weenie hate (Sunfire and Firestar come to mind), we decided to push the envelope on weenie strategies. I’m not saying the high-end characters are weak (I mean, you guys have already seen the 7-drop Spider-Man and the gi-normous Sandman); I’m just saying the low-end guys are good.

Case in point: Hammerhead. He’s got 3 ATK and 2 DEF, which stat-wise already puts him in the upper echelon of 2-drops, but it’s his power that really makes this card a beating. If your opponent doesn’t have a character in play before turn 3, Hammerhead’s swinging for 5. Make that 9 if you lead off with a turn 1 Vulture (and don’t forget the 4 endurance you’ll gain).

I mentioned above that curve-breaking decks want to play more than one character per turn, but there are different reasons for this. The Brave and the Bold wants to abuse Alfred by re-recruiting him every turn while keeping pace with opposing characters through efficient characters like Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal or the Hawk/Dove tandem. Wild Vomit is a bit more direct, just wanting to spew out as many Sentinels as possible to pump up its Sentinel Mark IVs and Cover Fires and maximize Combat Protocols. While New Brotherhood decks generally want to curve out on turns 3–5, it often drops two 1-drop characters on turn 2 to get that extra +2 ATK from the titular ongoing plot twist.

Which brings me back to Hammerhead. He’s like your very own New Brotherhood on a stick. It’s a little known fact that Hammerhead throws a mean party, and he doesn’t skimp on the grub. The more characters that show up, the more +2 ATK bonuses he gives out. And he doesn’t even check IDs. If only there were some Sinister Syndicate character that came into play with a friend (cough, cough, Mysterio) or a character that made his own friends (cough, cough, Jackal) or a location that that gave a recruited character a body guard (cough, cough, Fisk Towers) or a way to expel air from the lungs suddenly and noisily, often to keep the respiratory passages free of irritating material (cough, cough, Cough).

I’m so excited about the Web of Spider-Man set’s weenies I feel like John Doe from Seven when he says, “I feel like saying more, but I don't want to ruin the surprise.” Only I’m not going to put anyone’s head in a box or anything.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled post-Gen Con Indy article already in progress.


—really impressed with the overall layout. I mean, I’d heard we were going to have the Batmobile and the giant Dr. Doom and Thing judging station, but it just all looked so awesome. They even had the Bat-Signal running up and down the wall. Yay!

All in all, Gen Con and the Pro Circuit were a blast. I had a great time and got very little sleep. Rather than give you the play-by-play of my experience, I’m just going to recount some specific stories and go over some issues.

I’ll be the Judge of That

Along with most of R&D, I was on the judging staff at the Pro Circuit. Though I’ve played in many tournaments for other TCGs (including some high level events) and have had lots of experience being around judges, I’d never before been on the other side of zebra suit in any official capacity. It was kind of surreal actually answering the call of “Judge!” as opposed to making it. Most of the rules questions I answered involved basic chaining. A frequent question was what happens if a Lost City gets Have A Blast!ed or Ka-Boom!ed while a power-up effect is waiting to resolve. (The character only gets +1/+1.) Occasionally I had to make an actual ruling (as opposed to explaining a rule) or call over The Chark (who was head judging the main event) for an appeal. Ove