To the best of our knowledge, no one has actually succeeded at time travel. I say “to the best of our knowledge” because I haven’t actually discounted the possibility that someone has actually figured out how to travel through time. If we view time as another dimensional aspect like space, then it should theoretically be possible for us to travel to the past and future. Wouldn’t that be cool?

I suppose it would be neat to actually see our planet’s history firsthand, and at the very least, we could answer three very pressing questions:

1)     Did humans really evolve from apes?

2)     Was Nero really playing his fiddle while Rome burned?

And most importantly…

3)     Who stole my burrito out of the office refrigerator last week?

What sounds cool in theory, however, quite often is not so great in reality. While traveling back in time to find the answers to difficult questions does indeed sound appealing, there is something that we have to keep in mind: the past sucks! I’m not trying to disparage the past in any way, shape, or form—if we didn’t have the past, we wouldn’t have the present. But it’s important to note that the present and future are always going to be better than the past because they are products of improvement over the past. Hollywood movies may try to romanticize the past by showing us the lives of such amazing people as William Wallace, Johnny Cash, and Tommy Ashton with a normal haircut, but there are a few things that the past did not have:

●         Electricity;

●         Microwaveable burritos. . . or even microwave ovens, for that matter;

●         The National Hockey League;

●         Vs. System (very important).

Of course, as difficult as the past might be, it would probably be much easier to handle than the future. Even though you'd have to cope without the Internet if you traveled to the past, you'd at least be aware of what you were giving up. The future, on the other hand, is totally unpredictable! Much like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get from the future. It could be something as grand as an end to disease and hunger (and free burritos for all), but there’s an equal chance that if you take a jaunt into the impending, you’ll find that times have taken a turn for the worst. You might discover that your best friends and teammates have renounced their good intentions and become evil!*

This is kind of what happened to Vic Stone.

Let me give you a little background on the future Mr. Stone and the version “Titans Tomorrow East”. In the Teen Titans: The Future is Now storyline, Connor Kent ◊ Superboy gets sucked through a wormhole into the 31^st century. Fortunately, Superboy is aided by the heroes of that time period, the Legion of Super Heroes. For a while after his jaunt, Superboy has total memory loss and can't tell anyone where he came from, but Saturn Girl does a mind probe of Superboy to determine that he's from the 21^st century. Armed with this knowledge, the Legion helps Superboy return to the time portal to make his way back home.

Unfortunately, while Superboy was hanging out in the 31^st century, a villain known as The Persuader had caused a bit of pandemonium. Wielding his atomic axe, The Persuader cut a hole in hypertime (a DC conception of the barrier between universes). This allowed members of the Fatal Five to team-up and form the Fatal Five Hundred. Talk about your problems multiplying a hundredfold!

So Superboy does what any good super hero would do: he has the present-day Teen Titans take a jaunt to the 31^st century to help the Legion deal with the Fatal Five Hundred (which explains the inclusion of the Teen Titans in the Legion of Super Heroes set). The two hero teams duke it out with the Fatal Five Hundred, causing the Legion to become lost in the timestream and the Teen Titans to be hurled back into the past. . .

. . . just not far enough back into the past. They arrive about ten years into their future, where they encounter their future selves. Superboy has become the new Superman, Wonder Girl is now Wonder Woman, and Robin has taken up the mantle of Batman. But that’s not all that’s changed. . .   

The future Titans have also had a change of heart about the use of their powers. In this time period, the Titans are actually the rulers of the western half of the United States (thanks in large part to Raven telepathically controlling the West Coast**). When the present-day Titans find out about this, they freak out and head east.

In their travels, they manage to cross paths with the Titans (Tomorrow) East, led by none other than Vic Stone ◊ Cyborg 2.0. Cyborg has assembled several former Titans, including Bumblebee and Terra, to oppose the Titans West. Cyborg explains how this sad state of affairs came about, and offers to aid the time-displaced Titans in getting back to their present. A fight ensues when the Titans West try to keep the present-day Titans away from the cosmic treadmill (the nifty device that the speedsters use to travel through time and other dimensions). While the factions fight to a standstill, the good guys are able to get the treadmill up and running so that they can leap back home.

And that, my friends, is why you should never attempt any unsupervised time travel—you just never know when you might run into evil future versions of yourself!

But now, on to the card. As you may have noticed, the new Titans cards from the Legion of Super Heroes set integrate the cosmic mechanic into their strategy. This is certainly an interesting deviation from the prior Teen Titans archetype, which thrived on exhaustion and team attack effects. Still, Cyborg 2.0 is an excellent example of how this once-maligned mechanic can be a powerful force in the new era of Vs. System.

One category of effects that has found much favor with Vs. System players since the inception of the game is out-of-combat stun effects. Some of the most powerful Teen Titans characters from DC Origins made their impressions by being able to stun characters without having to attack. Terra has a tremendous combo with USS Argus that allows Titans players to draw extra cards and stun smaller characters for the simple cost of an exhaustion. Of course, there’s probably no activated stun effect more infamous that the one belonging to Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Sharpshooter. “Arsenal Abuse” ran rampant in Vs. System Golden Age Pro Circuits and $10K’s for a very, very long time.

More recent sets have introduced a different take on out-of-combat stuns. Characters like Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker and Lancer give “stun bonuses” to characters that manage to attack and stun opposing characters. These effects, while not as flexible in use as traditional out-of-combat stun effects, can create much more advantageous positions because they allow players to essentially stun two characters on a single attack.

Cyborg 2.0 is very reminiscent of Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, Super Spy in effect. While Cyborg 2.0 does indicate that the team attackers must have cosmic, his effect is a bit more open-ended because the team attackers do not have to be Teen Titans characters or even include Cyborg 2.0; any two team attackers with cosmic that stun an opposing character will trigger Cyborg 2.0’s effect. I know that you’re all dying to pull out that “Blue Abuse” deck now and toss in Cyborg 2.0 to lay some heavy beats with those Soldiers of New Genesis.

Cyborg 2.0 also boasts the new substitute mechanic. For a character with an attack-based triggered effect, this is grand news indeed. Consider the following dilemma: You are stuck with even initiatives, and as a result Cyborg 2.0 would probably become stunned if you recruited him on turn 3, denying you the chance to use his triggered cosmic power on turn 4. Normally, you would be left with a difficult choice—recruit Cyborg 2.0 on on turn 3 and in all probability have him lose his cosmic counter, or underdrop on turn 4 just to get him into play.

How about neither? The substitute mechanic allows you to play a different 3-drop on turn 3 to take the opposing attack on your opponent’s initiative. After your opponent has had his or her chance to attack, you can retaliate by bringing Cyborg 2.0 into play via substitute, complete with his cosmic counter. Now you’re free to swing for the fences as two cosmic characters of your choice tear up your opponent’s board, thanks to dependable old Vic Stone!

Get ready, people—Cyborg is back, and he’s toting a big gun. With a few cosmic allies at his side, Cyborg 2.0 can help you clear your opponent’s board with minimal losses to your own. Much like his friends from the past, Vic Stone and the Titans of Tomorrow are sure to be a board-controlling force to be reckoned with in Legion of Super Heroes!

*As I’m sure will happen to TAWC if I don’t quit making fun of them in my articles.

**Much the way Nancy Pelosi does now. Wait a minute. . . have Raven and Nancy Pelosi ever been seen together? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Michael Barnes (AKA BigSpooky) is an avid Vs. System player who is a founding member of Team Alternate Win Condition (TAWC). When he isn’t concocting crazy deck ideas that no sane person would think of, he occupies his spare time working as an accountant in Dallas, TX. Any questions, comments, suggestions, or alternate timelines that you might have for Michael can be sent to him at BigSpooky1@hotmail.com.