Maxima comes from a galaxy far, far away. The planet Almerac, to be precise. She was a princess, the eldest daughter of the reigning Almerac family. But her eerie similarity to Leia of Alderaan ends there, as Maxima gained the throne, and with a fist of fury and a temper to match, quickly consolidated her empire. Once she had established total control of her world, she began to look toward the rest of the galaxy; expansion is always good and the real estate market was hot. But first she decided that she needed to maintain her established rule by furthering her house, and to do that, she needed a worthy mate who would produce only the best offspring.

Maxima was a fierce warrior who ruled from a position of strength, and she needed a mate to match. When she received word of Superman’s deeds on Earth, she decided that his heroism and battle prowess made him worthy of her attentions; he would marry her and produce her children. She was also genetically able to bear his children, which Earth women were not.

So, Maxima went to Earth and offered Superman a place at her side. He rejected her hands-down. He didn’t want any part of her despotic rule, nor did he wish to breed baby fascists. Maxima cursed Superman and vowed mortal enmity. Eventually, however, her rage abated and she sided with Superman. She even joined the Justice League to fight Brainiac and his Warworld when Brainiac set his sights on Earth. She remained with the Justice League through the epic battle against Doomsday that seemingly cost Superman his life.

After his return, Maxima again offered Superman her hand, hoping that her fight on the “good side” had proven her worthiness to him. But Superman, married to Lois Lane in the interim, rejected her again. The humiliation was too much for her to bear, and she threatened Superman’s life, claiming that their next meeting would be a war that went beyond words. Maxima joined the Revenge Squad with the goal of humiliating Superman through defeat as much as he had shamed her through rejection.

Although Maxima would later side with Superman and the League again in the war against Imperiex to avenge the destruction of her home world (and would even give her own life in the battle), the card we’re examining today reflects her time in the Revenge Squad.

The Revenge Squad has been on the verge of something big since its initial release in the Superman set. Cards like Revenge Pact, Bizarro, and General Zod were a sign of things to come, and Lex Luthor’s various guises were the backbone of what could have been a competitive tier 2 deck. But it lacked that little bit of oomph. The Green Lantern set helped; Death of Superman was a complete hoser of Blue Abuse (and Kang decks in the current metagame) and Hostage Situation helped to find the ongoing plot twists that made the deck tick. But it was still lacking the pop to push it into the limelight.

That may change very shortly. This set has multiple dual-affiliation Revenge Squad characters, one of which we recently saw on Metagame.com in the form of Lex Luthor, Evil Incorporated. These cards may well serve not only to make Revenge Squad more viable, but also to make it a valuable team in a two-team deck.

And then we have Maxima, Empress of Almerac. Our previous choices for Revenge Squad 4-drops were Dominus, Hank Henshaw, Metallo, and Parasite . . . nothing that particularly stood out as being fantastic. Maxima may not be the best 4-drop in the game, but she’s certainly vicious, and much more so than these fools. She is Maxima at her haughtiest. The picture alone shows that—she’s holding Superman in chains and on a leash like a dog, stroking his head as though the world’s most powerful hero were the royal pet.

Maxima has flight and range and is a sickeningly good Sealed or Draft character because she fits into any team—she has the affiliation of every other character under your control! This reflects her switching of allegiances, her knowledge that  one often needs allies where enemies once stood, and her manipulation of various “teammates” to suit her goals. She can fit into any team because she knows that each team can benefit her in different ways, be it by helping her to gain Superman’s hand, helping her to take down Superman, or helping her to save or avenge her planet.

What this means in Sealed Pack terms is that she becomes an ally to any team you have; she’s a great addition to just about any team because she automatically provides you with a team attacker and reinforcement and she has flight, range, and decent stats. There’s nothing like cracking a legacy rare and actually being able to use it. And if you happen to be playing ongoing plot twists, her ATK boost is just gravy.

More important than her Sealed Pack prowess, however, is that she fits nicely into Lex Luthor’s Revenge Squad plans. She begs you to play the Revenge Squad in its originally intended way—exploiting ongoing plot twists. She’s a tad underpowered at 6 ATK, but she gains +1 ATK for each ongoing plot twist you have in play! If you’re playing Revenge Squad the way you should be, then you’ll have at least two to three plot twists in play by turn 4. All you need is one to make her ATK average. And every extra one you have in play pushes up her ATK that much more. If you have three in play by turn 5, she can take down just about any 5-drop. The flight and range also mean that she can reach just about any character.

Maxima is all about aggression. If you play your cards right, she has the power to exploit them, turning her rage into enough attack power to take down those above her. This frees up your higher drops to sweep down the curve and allows cards like the new Lex and Death of Superman to do their work and eliminate the threats altogether. She’ll be your 4-drop of choice in Revenge Squad decks, or you’ll be the one in chains before her, heading back to Almerac to work in the salt mines . . .

NEXT WEEK: JLA 101

Questions? Queries? Comments? Send ’em along and I’ll try to get them answered in the column! Email me at Kergillian (at) hotmail (dot) com.

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