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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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You’ve seen the new boost mechanic on a few preview cards by now, but it’s not the only way to get rid of some pesky extra resource points anymore. With Mad Hatter, you can spend a resource point when you’re good and ready, not just while recruiting him. Jervis Tetch is the first card to see print (so far) that can take control of other players’ characters. You know how you always feel sad when a character you control gets stunned or KO’d? Get ready to start thinking like an evil mastermind as you maneuver your newfound pawn into all sorts of risky situations. Got a plot twist or location that requires you to stun a character you control to get its effect? You’ve got a guinea pig. The treacherous possibilities are only limited by the deviousness of your mind.
Ok, so it only grabs a 1 or a 2 cost character, and you can’t use it before turn 3 (so far), but it’s still plenty useful. Stealing Beast away from a Turbo-Gamma Bomb deck will give Doom fits. If your opponent is playing a rush/weenie deck, it’ll be useful throughout the game. If your opponent’s team is good at keeping characters alive (like the X-Men), then you can get rid of some troublesome reinforcers in the late game to allow your big guys to come a-crushin’. Fantastic Four–Valeria decks tend to use a lot of small guys and equipment. Grabbing the 2-drop Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards will put a crimp in their equipment-gathering plans pronto. Grabbing an equipped character gets you a whole lot more than your 1 resource point should have allowed.
If you want to take full advantage of Mad Hatter’s ability, you’ll want to take the initiative on the even turns, so you can use him on turn 3 after your opponent has done his or her recruits for the turn. In fact, he often times works better as a surprise turn 3 drop when you recruit last. If your opponent isn’t expecting to have a character stolen, you might come away with much more than you bargained for. Say your opponent played a 1 or 2 drop and paid the character’s boost cost. Stealing that character for just a single resource point will be a bargain. Boost powers usually just last for the turn in which the character was recruited, so you’ll have caused the boost to be wasted . . . or taken advantage of for your own purposes.
I know it can be hard to let go, but you’re going to have to give the character back at the start of the recovery phase. Just be sure that you give it back in much worse shape than you received it. You won’t have any trouble giving it back stunned. Even if your opponent declines to attack it, you can send it on a suicide run into a bigger character if no other option exists. Better yet, forget that whole giving it back routine. Try to get it KO’d. I’m sure you’ll find a way. If you do ship back a stunned character, look on in delight as your opponent tries to find a way to make sure he or she doesn’t recover any character with a cost of 2 or less. He or she certainly won’t want to see a repeat performance of the fun you had at that last character’s expense. It’s downright demoralizing, I tell you!
Mr. Tetch’s stats aren’t so good, but he’s not supposed to be up there duking it out with the bruisers. He’s a combo-breaker, a thorn in the side, and a great way to wreck your opponent’s attack and defense plans. What he’s not so good at is getting much use out of characters with activated powers. If he sets his sights on a character with an activated power, the owner will undoubtedly add the power to the chain, so you’ll end up stealing an exhausted character. It will be rather difficult to stun, as you won’t be able to attack with it, and your opponent surely won’t attack it. Feel free, however, to grab a character whose activated power can only be utilized during the combat or recovery phase. If it has a recovery phase power, put the effect that gives it back to the owner on the chain at the start of recovery, then activate it.
Don’t think it’s all roses when you have control of a character that you can’t team attack with or reinforce (assuming that you aren’t stealing an Inmate). Your opponent may decide to cut his or her losses and pound some big damage through the character, knowing that you can’t reinforce it. You might want to pack a Burn Rubber or two. Better yet, keep a World’s Finest face down in your resource row, waiting for the opportune moment. Oh, yeah. World’s Finest. You’ll just have to guess what that does.
If you have anything clever to say, feel free to email me at mhyra@metagame.com.
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