Among sanctioned tournaments, perhaps the most fun can be had at Sneak Previews. The serious players there tend to relax a little and enjoy experimenting with new interactions, while the new and casual players have a fantastic time cracking packs and reveling in piles of exciting new cards. I'm no different; I love Sneak Preview events, and was absolutely crushed to miss the last two while away on vacation. Not this time, though—my bags are staying firmly unpacked. The Sneak Preview weekend has already been marked off on the Garrett family calendar as “Daddy's busy,” and over the next couple of weeks, I (like you) will be eagerly awaiting the preview articles that come each day. Here's today's little gem: 

When I received notice of my allotted card for preview, I took one look at Power Girl, Child of Crisis and was knocked sideways by the quality of the art. Michael Golden never fails to deliver, with strong, vibrant colors featuring in all of his best work. This (along with the foil version of Prismatic Shield) is perhaps my favorite piece from him to date.

After I got over the initial assault on my senses, I decided to do what I always do at preview time—head over to that ol' faithful, wikipedia.com. Having a minuscule knowledge of comic lore, I always fall back on Wikipedia to fill in the Grand Canyon-sized gaps in my knowledge of the subject matter. The more I read about Power Girl, however, the more confused I became. 

Power Girl is Supergirl—except she's not, because Power Girl is from Earth 2, which doesn't exist anymore. Power Girl is Superman's cousin, but not the “proper” Superman, the Earth 2 Superman; except she isn't that, either, because in fact she's a descendant of an Atlantean sorcerer. During all these continuity flip-flops, she managed to find time (when presumably not suffering from some trans-dimensional character psychosis) to fight the good fight as part of the Justice Society of America.

We've already seen a couple of versions of Power Girl. The Justice League of America expansion brought us Power Girl, Karen Starr as a member of the JLI. While she did not share the ally mechanic that is so prevalent on that team, she certainly was built to work well with her teammates. The same could be said for the next version of her character, Power Girl, Earth 2. This time she was affiliated with the JSA, and continued the theme of working well with others.

The newest version of Power Girl squeezes both of her previous team affiliations onto one card and makes an interesting contribution to the overall strategies of both the JSA and the JLI. The Justice Society of America has previously made attacking up the curve quite an effortless endeavor. A few of my initial thoughts were centered on having Child of Crisis in play alongside Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific, enabling Richard Tyler ◊ Hourman to smack the living tar out of an opposing 6-drop. (Of course, that's without having played any attack pumps, and forgetting the obligatory T-Spheres.) The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea, especially considering my latest piece of jank, a JSA/Skrulls deck. But the fun doesn’t stop there! If you can rustle up a couple of copies of Brothers in Arms, things can get very nasty very quickly; even one copy will typically allow a JSA 1-drop to beat down an opposing 6-drop if things are going okay. Overall, she adds some rather nice aggression to the JSA “attack up the curve” deck.

On the JSI side of the coin her impact is perhaps not quite as potent, though she fits into the “four resources or less” strategy very nicely. When first recruited she provides a strong, global attack pump, after which you ready her for combat, simultaneously returning your resource row to its optimal configuration. Power Girl certainly has her uses, providing an incredible aggressive boost to any team with whom she's affiliated. Perhaps there might be room for her in a combo deck based on The Wrecking Crew. I'm very excited about her potential uses in Constructed, but what about when you open a pack with her in it at the Sneak Preview?

Legacy cards tend to have a bit of a bad reputation in Sealed Pack play, but I actually wouldn't mind opening this one. There are more and more ways to team-up your characters with each new set, and I don't expect Legion of Super Heroes to disappoint in that respect. There has also been a fair bit of respect given to off-curve strategies in Sealed play, so KO’ing a resource needn't be a terrible thing. I'm making these assumptions having seen no other cards from the set, of course, so knowing my luck none of the teams will have any characters at drops 1-3, and my prognostication will make me look like a dolt. I guess there's only one way for all of you to find out—head over to UDE.com, find yourself a couple of Sneak Previews to attend, and make up your own minds about Power Girl, Child of Crisis.

Have fun, everyone!

Steve