It’s preview time again! Let’s start it off by looking at the card itself. Or, at least a picture of the card . . .



With 8 ATK and 8 DEF, Krypto’s stats are above average for a 4-drop. He’s got flight and range. He’s got a drawback that doesn’t allow him to attack by himself. Then there’s all that stuff at the bottom—weird words like “cosmic” and “invulnerability” that we should probably talk about. All right, I think it’s time to take this puppy to school.


Lesson 1: “Stay”

In other words, Krypto’s not allowed to go out unless someone’s holding the leash. And by “go out,” I mean, “smash face.” The Superman set is full of characters with huge stats and powers that are really . . . uh . . . powerful. In order to crank up the juice on these guys, we had to balance them with drawbacks. Krypto’s is, of course, his inability to attack without a friend. I’m sure someday we’ll do an Imperiex Probe-destroying* version of the Last Dog of Krypton that has no such restriction, but until then, Team Superman players should get used to saying, “Here, boy!”


Lesson 2: “Sit”

As in, 8 ATK/8 DEF for 4 resource points is a huge body for your opponents to try to get through. Maybe Krypto’s not the most efficient attacker, but when you don’t have the initiative, it’s like he’s got no drawback at all. Very few 4-drop characters can stun Krypto without help. All too often, an opponent will be forced either to use an ATK-pumping plot twist, or to team attack, just to trade with Krypto. Best of all, because of his invulnerability, the first time Krypto gets stunned you won’t even feel it. Which brings me to . . .

Lesson 3: “Heel”

As in, what I really mean is “heal,” but that wouldn’t fit the whole dog-training theme. You see, Krypto has invulnerability (at least temporarily). This means that when he becomes stunned, you don’t lose endurance equal to his cost.

Here’s the entry for invulnerability from the Superman box topper. You know, the sheet that comes inside the top of every booster box that explains new rules additions to the Vs. System.

Invulnerability: Some characters have the keyword “Invulnerability” in their text box. Normally, when a character becomes stunned, its controller loses endurance equal to the character’s cost. When a character with invulnerability becomes stunned, its controller does not lose endurance equal to the character’s cost.

You’ll still suffer breakthrough endurance loss, but then again, Krypto’s DEF is so high that the breakthrough will usually be minimal.

By now, you’ve either gone to another site to see what people are saying about Krypto on the boards, or you’re probably wondering what this whole “cosmic” thing is about.

Here’s the box topper entry on cosmic.

Cosmic: Some characters have the keyword “Cosmic” in their text box. A character with cosmic comes into play with a cosmic counter. As the character becomes stunned, it loses its cosmic counter. While a character has a cosmic counter, all game text after the word “Cosmic” is active.

Think of cosmic as an on/off switch. While a character has a cosmic counter, its cosmic power is turned on. While it doesn’t have a cosmic counter, its cosmic power is turned off.

As a character becomes stunned, it loses its cosmic counter. While a character is stunned it cannot receive a cosmic counter.

A character that already has a cosmic counter cannot receive an additional cosmic counter. Once it loses its cosmic counter, it can later receive a new one.

A character that does not have the cosmic keyword cannot receive a cosmic counter.


The cosmic mechanic is another tool we can use to give characters terrific, if temporary, powers. It also gives players more tactical decisions—do I want to stun your largest character, or do I want to take out your cosmic dude to get rid of his annoying power?

Because Krypto’s invulnerability is cosmic, you’ll only save yourself the 4 endurance once. That is, unless there were some way to put a cosmic counter back on a character.**

I hope you liked today’s preview of Superman’s best friend. Check back next week for more previews, and be sure to come back next Friday to meet another cosmic character that really sucks.

Send questions or dog germs to dmandel@metagame.com.


*Check out the “Our World at War” crossover series to see Krypto at his most super-doggiest. Or, better yet, say mean things to Dave Humpherys until he explains the storyline to you and/or cries.

**I’m not saying nothing.