As I explained in earlier articles, plot twists fall into very general categories. Stat modifiers are the combat plot twists that affect either ATK or DEF. These will be the bread and butter of your plot twists and should be some of the first ones you look at during a draft. KO effects are some of the most powerful cards in the game and are consequently few and far between. If you get a chance to pick one up, almost never pass. Team-ups make up the third category and are an integral part of any nutritious breakfast. The remaining category has a multitude of different abilities and thus can’t be described as anything other than, well . . . “other.” It’s got such classics as The Ring Has Chosen, Mystical Paralysis, and Panacea Potion. They’re really good effects that don’t really fall into any specific category.

I have a lot of cards to cover and very little space, so I’d better get started.

Air Strike - A Flying Kick with the potential to make a character even bigger. This card is fantastic. Since it’s a common, you should have a chance to get multiples. Keep your eyes open for them.

All Too Easy - In a good Injustice Gang deck, this card is a wrecking ball. In a bad Injustice Gang deck, it’s a Savage Beatdownesque card. Cards of that power level don’t come around often. The character you use it on will stun, but if he’s taking down a character three times its size, who’s going to complain?

Attend or Die! - This is a nice little gem at the rare slot. It’s not an overwhelmingly powerful card, but it’s still very useful. Late in the game, the Secret Society deck should hopefully have a KO’d pile chock full of goodies. This will let you select the best character for the job and recruit it straight from the KO’d pile. While it’s a good card, it isn’t worth picking until the middle to late portions of the pack.

Balance of Power - It’s a unique type of Fizzle that can stop an opponent’s combat pump. It does nothing unless your opponent plays a plot twist, but in the later stages of the game, it will almost always be useful. However, I am from the school of thought that prefers proactive threats to reactive answers. I would rather play a combat pump of my own over this card. If you get your hands on a late one, feel free to take it. If you need a few extra cards at the end of your deck, this is one worth considering.

Bizarro Ray - Hmm. It’s an ongoing plot twists that effectively gives one character -1 DEF each turn. It’s not exactly the type of high performance I expect out of a plot twist in my deck, so I’ll have to pass.

Bulletproof - I like cards like this as a 29th or 30th card. It has a minuscule effect, but when timed right, it can be really powerful. At best, it forces an attacker to stun. At worst, it forces your opponent to waste a card that is probably better than this card to force the stun. Either way, you get an advantage. While it isn’t powerful enough to be an early pick, it is worth considering for later slots.

BWA HA HA HA HA! - This card’s a rare, so it won’t come up often. It’s a good answer to an early plot twist from your opponent. It’s JLI team-stamped, so obviously it’s only useable if JLI characters make up the majority of your early drops. It’s not that high a pick, but it might make it in as a 30th card. The downside is that it’s a reactive card that’s only really useable during a short window in the game. Its value goes up a little if you manage to get the resource-limited JLI deck.

Conscription - A legacy card. I’ll skip it.

Controller Sanction - At first glance, this appears to be another legacy card. However, it does have an interesting home in a JLI resource restriction deck. It makes an attacker unstunnable (which is an excellent ability) and sets back your resource production. I really like it in a JLI deck, but it’s unplayable in anything else.

Counterstrike - This is one of the marquee cards in the set. It’s an amazing combat pump that provides a long-lasting benefit. What more could you ask for? This card is a first pick.

Counterterrorism - I’ve been laughed at for my opinions on this card. I think it’s awful in most decks. However, in a Secret Society deck, counters abound. This card really has a chance to shine in a Secret Society deck. It isn’t one of my favorite cards, but depending on your deck, it is worth trying out from time to time.

Criminal Mastermind - This card is a must-have for Injustice Gang decks. It provides the extra cards that IG decks need to fill your opponent’s hand up. If you are planning to go IG, you can first pick this. Regardless, it should be a very early pick.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Team-Up - Okay, good news first. It’s a blanket Team-Up that forces all of your characters to be the same team. This is good because you get all of the benefits of being teamed up, including team attacking and reinforcing. The bad news is that now your team-stamped effects no longer work. That’s the major downfall of blanket Team-Ups. Play this accordingly. If you don’t have many team-stamped effects and need a Team-Up, play it. If not, stay away.

Death Times Five - This card is a really interesting one that has really grown on me since I first opened it at the Sneak Peek tournament. It’s a versatile card. If you get an opportunity to force through a bit of extra endurance loss, it can be used for that. If you can’t reinforce a smaller character, you can use it to save some breakthrough. All in all, it’s a useful card that should be taken in the mid- to late portion of a pack and played as a 28th or so card.

Death Trap - Here it is! The Sweeping Up for JLA. This card is a first pick all the way. Putting a character back into your opponent’s hand is effectively the same as KO’ing it. If you’re Injustice Gang, it’s better than KO’ing it. This card is phenomenal and should be treated as such.

Die for Darkseid! - This is a neat little effect. First off, notice that it doesn’t say a “non-stunned” character you control. This means that you can treat your stunned characters as the fodder they are and simply chuck them at your opponent’s head for 4 endurance loss. It’s a nifty little card that can fill the later slots in a deck. It’s also useful for combating the powerful Gorilla Grodd.

Disband the League - This is one of those ongoing plot twists that I said you would see. It’s a decent ability that turns one otherwise unusable resource (stunned characters) into something useful (power-ups). It’s not the best card in the world, but with the ally mechanic featured prominently in the JLA’s theme, it can be very useful if you have no other way to team up.

Divided We Fall - I’m not sure what to think of this card. It seems good. You have to trade down, but you get to steal an opponent’s character. Also, since you’re Secret Society, you probably have cards like Gorilla Grodd and Darkseid, Heart of Darkness in your deck, so the character you steal won’t be around for your opponent to get back. Regardless, this card’s a rare, so it won’t come up often, and I’ve honestly never played with or against it. It seems good, but I’m just not sure.

Funeral for a Friend - This is a tough one. I’ve heard people call this a bad Crowd Control. That’s not taking all of the information into account, though. Flight and range are much more prevalent in DC-based sets than they are in Marvel-based ones. This means that when you’re lining your characters up to take advantage of Funeral, you stand a greater chance of being able to make a successful attack back than you would with Crowd Control. As for the cost being steeper, as long as you have a small character running around to KO, it isn’t all that bad. And the endurance swing caused by this card can be huge! I’m not ready to dismiss it yet, although I will admit that I’m not fully on its side, either.

Funky’s Big Rat Code, Team-Up - This is the Secret Society Team-Up, and it’s a good one. It puts a whopping three cards into your KO’d pile, which is a lot to work with. This should be picked rather early when playing Secret Society.

Gang-Up, Team-Up - While we’re on the topic, this is the Injustice Gang Team-Up. It isn’t as powerful for the team’s main mechanic as Rat Code is, but the extra card is still very useful. This card is best in multiples.

Glass Jaw - No One Escapes the Manhunters was a first pick. I Hate Magic! was a first pick. Glass Jaw is a first pick. ’Nuff said.

H’ronmeer’s Curse - I don’t see this card being useful except on the rare occasion when your opponent manages the IG Army deck. Ninety-nine percent of the time, this stays unplayed.

Hero’s Welcome - This card is fantastic. Not only do you get a JLA character card from your deck, you even get a power-up for it if it has ally. Efficiency at its best.

That’ll do it for this week. I still have two more installments of plot twists to go over, so stay tuned. Until next time, if you need to reach me, email me at the_priceis_right@yahoo.com.