One of the new mechanics in the Marvel Team-Up set is paying ATK. This mechanic appears most frequently in the Spider-Friends team, with a couple of notable outliers. (Many of you have likely seen Dr. Octopus, Master of Evil, who can effectively pay ATK with each of his metallic arms to stun unsuspecting foes.) Within the Spider-Friends, this mechanic is supposed to represent them subduing their foes rather than smashing them to a pulp. It was a mechanic that was considered earlier for the Inhumans, to represent their lack of interest in interfering with others, but we ultimately decided to save it for the Spider-Friends. If this doesn’t excite you because you just like to “go beatdowns,” don’t worry— sometimes subduing a foe is the best way to set the stage for some face-smashing later on.

In case you somehow missed Yip’s preview, here’s the boxtopper info on this mechanic:

“Some character powers have a cost that requires you to pay an amount of ATK or DEF. To pay ATK or DEF is to lower that character’s stat until end of turn. You can pay X ATK or DEF only if a character has X or more of that stat.”

Just how prevalent is this mechanic? There are actually many more cards that reference paying ATK than there are cards that reference paying endurance in this set. Paying DEF is used a little more sparingly; I’ll let you guess which team this theme fits into primarily, and what it is supposed to represent thematically.

Like Dr. Octopus, Master of Evil, today’s preview card can be though of as an attacker who can spread out his ATK among several characters. While Daredevil is not literally attacking multiple defenders, his power is supposed to mimic such a scenario mechanically. A couple of well-placed billy clubs, and his enemies are out of commission for the turn.

I find this card very reminiscent of another popular Marvel Knights character, Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man. He was a favorite of many players for safely bringing the game to later turns. So what does the new Daredevil bring to the table? Unlike with The Spectacular Spider-Man, you don’t have to forgo attacking with your 6-drop to exhaust your opponent’s board. In my experience, Daredevil is almost strictly superior unless your opponent has hidden characters. Thanks to cards that keep your opponent’s characters tangled up all game (like Spider-Man, The Sensational Spider-Man and Gift Wrapped), there are usually characters into whom he can make safe attacks,

Many of you are probably thinking you’d rather end the game on turn 6 than prolong it by exhausting your opponent’s board. Then again, the Spider-Friends have access to one of the most powerful 7-drops in the game. Or should I now say that they have access to two of the most powerful 7-drops in the game? Both of them are excellent when you don’t have the initiative on turn 7.

That’s not to say that Daredevil can’t be used as a finisher. He makes an excellent first attacker, and can render your opponent’s board incapable of reinforcing or using activated powers against your future attacks.

Speaking of reinforcement, pay ATK powers are often best used in attacks where your opponent can reinforce. You can convert extra ATK into powerful effects instead of having it negated by reinforcement. For this reason, these powers often work best in your earlier attacks, when your opponent is more likely to be able to reinforce and you can use these powers to set up your subsequent attacks. You obviously have to be a little careful, because you don’t want to use up all of your extra ATK only to have your opponent surprise you with a defensive modifier for which you have no answer.

Thus far, I’ve spoken a lot about paying ATK in the context of attacking characters, but there are many characters with pay ATK powers that can be used at any time. These powers are very interesting when you think about scenarios where you are defending. Let’s face it— your opponent generally wants to make attacks where his or her attacker is not stunned but your defender is. If your opponent has made such an attack, the ATK on your defender is going to go to waste unless you have a Nasty Surprise ready. You may as well convert it into something useful.

For example, let’s imagine you had a 5-drop Deathlok with, say, maybe 9 ATK / 10 DEF. Let’s also assume his power was to pay 5 ATK to give him invulnerability for the turn. A card like that can really put your opponent in a quandary. He or she can attack Deathlok with a 6-drop and lose out on any stun endurance loss, or attack into him with a 5-drop and put the decisions (Do you want a mutual stun, or do you want to save 5 endurance and move on to the next turn?) into your hands. His 10 DEF may be daunting enough when combined with the threat of other defensive cards that your opponent may feel the need to team attack him. In this case, there’s a good chance you can use his power and still be left with enough ATK to stun a small team attacker.

As I’ve said, pay ATK is primarily a Spider-Friends mechanic. This mechanic gives the team a lot of flexibility in terms of how they use their combat modifiers. Cards that give increased ATK aren’t very hard to justify putting in most decks, but then again, if you’re paired up against a faster deck that your own, even a mighty Savage Beatdown doesn’t look so impressive unless you have enough to swing a lost endurance race back in your favor. Giving your 5-drop +5 ATK isn’t so exciting when your opponent only has a bunch of small characters. With this Spider-Friends team, you can convert these combat pumps into other diverse effects to take control of the game, and yet still have the luxury of using your combat modifiers for their traditional role of stunning characters and causing breakthrough in a time of need.