#033 Superman

Finally, we’ve gotten to the last Shifting Focus characters. If you haven’t been convinced that these are great pieces yet, then I don’t know what to tell you. My biggest issue with this piece, is that it’s the worst of the shifting focus Superman, and it’s the rarest one! Just because it’s not as good as the others doesn’t mean its not good though, it has a lot of things going for it, the first of which is its range. 8 Range is a ton in this set, with his running shot, that’s a 12 range swing. The second thing that makes him shine is the Superman Ally team ability, which lets him bust through stealth, which, as I’ve said before, is huge in this set.His last useful element is the flying symbol. I haven’t mentioned it until now, but there’s a serious issue in this set with mobility. There really aren’t that many taxi’s outside of the Hypersonic Superman, and Alura, so pulling him can completely save your team from a Hypersonic Tentpole piece’s reign of terror, by granting just a little more mobility. In terms of his values, they’re all solid, except for his defense which drops from a 17 to a 16 after a single click. He’s also depending on Energy Shield/Deflection for protection, making him really vulnerable, especially to every other version of Shifting Focus Superman. This of course, doesn’t really matter as long as you pull a 001 Superman. Otherwise, he’s a simple piece, hits character’s with 2 tokens for a little more, and busts through stealth and reducers. For 90 points he’s really good, but understand you’re mostly paying for a way through stealth.

Strength’s: Stealth Busting, Gets Through Reducers, Shifting Focus

Weaknesses: Low Defense Values

Where to Draft: 4/5 – 5/5 – I can’t recommend drafting him all the time. If you have a chance at another Superman for him to shift to, then definitely go for it. If he’s packaged in with someone who you feel more comfortable playing, or an Alura or Major Force, it might give you better odds of having a decent team by grabbing a tentpole early.

Final Score 3/5

#034 Batman

Just like Superman before him, this is by far my least favourite Batman. Strangely, his damage and speed are higher than Superman’s on his first click. Now even though I don’t love this Batman, he does bring a few new toys for the Shifting Focus Batman’s utility belt. Now he has the ability to ignore Elevated for movement, and has 2 bolt Incapacitate and Energy Explosion. Now that might seem like a good combination, “I can incap a group of people!!” You might be thinking, but sadly, Energy Explosion only activates when the target of the attack is dealt damage, not allowing for some mass Incapacitating. Instead, it does allow for one interesting application as Incapacitate CAN do damage if a target has 2 tokens on them. Batman can dual target that character, and another character, putting a token on one, dealing 1 penetrating damage to the other, activating his Energy Explosion, to give 2 damage to any characters adjacent to the one dealt the penetrating damage. It’s not going to happen very often, but it does offer a little flexibility and surprise. Other than that, like Superman before him, Batman relies on Energy Shield/ Deflection. I just can’t find a reason to use him without the other Shifting Focus pieces. His values are good, except for his damage which wouldn’t allow him to break through reducers, and he has some basic powers. He’ll be good against the swarm teams that some players are forced to build, but without Batman Ally to give him stealth, he’s a sitting duck after making an attack.

Strength’s: Useful Powers, Decent values

Weaknesses: Not a lot of varitability

Where to Draft: 2/5 – I just don’t think he’s going to give much to your team that an uncommon couldn’t.

Final Score 2/5

#035 Elasti-Girl

Elasti-Girl is a really solid piece, with strong values, the ability to carry, and be carried, and the ability to surprise people with the new size rules and punch someone 3 spaces away. I’m going to get this out of the way right now though, there’s almost never a reason to make her Tiny. It’s way more useful for her to carry people than to be carried 80% of the time, and making her Tiny makes her way more vulnerable to attacks with the -1 to all values even negating the bonus for being tiny. The real question about pulling Elasti-Girl is, 100? or 50? Both point values are great. At 100 she starts out with an 11 attack as a colossal with 4 damage, 18 defense and 11 speed, giving her an edge on most pieces she would be facing. Her powers are a little less exciting, with Charge only on 2 clicks of her dial, and having no attack powers at all. If this makes her 100 point value a little less exciting, can I interest you in a 6 range charge, 10 attack, 4 damage, with 3 range punch for 50? Yes, at 50 she’s just as good, easily outhitting any character around her point value. At the end (and the middle of her 100 point dial) she also gets regeneration, keeping her alive for a little bit longer, and speaking of keeping her around, yes, she is a member of the Doom Patrol, so she has a chance at staying alive through Weird Resurrection. At 100 points you have to roll an 8 or lower, giving you a very likely chance of keeping her around.

Strength’s: Great Values, Taxi, Hard to Put Down

Weaknesses: Weak Powers

Where to Draft – 5/5 – Elasti-Girl is just a really solid piece that can shut down a lot of the more expensive pieces. It’s a shame not playing her, She makes it so easy with two point values!

Final Score – 5/5

#036 Toymaster

Toymaster is good. He’s 30 points of support, with a focus on robots. He gives adjacent characters +1 Attack, (and +1 defense if they’re a robot) and he has Support, with a 9 attack, but decreases the roll if he’s not fixing up a sweet bot boy. What’s the issue here? There aren’t many robots outside of the Metal Men, and while, you’re more than likely to pull a single Metal Man, they themselves need other Metal Men to really find success. Outside of helping out Robots, he’s incredibly weak, offering a neutered support, and +1 Attack to adjacent friendlies doesn’t get him very far. Outside of this set, he’s gonna be great, inside it, if you pull him, hope to god you have some Metal Men. The other issue with him is that, he’s taking up the slot where the big power players fall. Pulling him instead of Mary Marvel is a real tragedy, because his strength lies within the robot keywords. I’m not saying he can’t be helpful, it’s just hard to make due with a 30 point piece that heavily strengthens a single keyword.

Strength’s: Has Support

Weaknesses: Needs some robo buddies to be truly effective.

Where to Draft: 2/5 – If he’s your rare, there’s probably better options. Support is always a great power to have, and if you feel that your team needs it, run him.

Final Score 3/5

#037 Nightwing

Nightwing is a really good secondary attacker, but he’s also very vulnerable. In terms of defense, you’re relying completely on Combat Reflexes and Stealth, which is a great combination, unless your opponent can see through hindering. Nightwing’s dial is actually a little sparse, he has no attack abilities, Leadership for a single click, and Outwit on his last two clicks. He shines with his trait that allows him to use Sidestep, and allows him to use it a second time and attack for free when he has no tokens. This is going to be killer in swarm teams. Nightwing can keep up with other pieces without spending any actions, and he fend people off with free attacks each turn. The reason this is so insane, is he can also be carried. If a Superman carried him up, he could still Sidestep twice and attack. Then next turn, since he still doesn’t have any tokens he can do it all again, and then make another attack. The danger here is that, with the damage depletion modifier, Nightwing’s multiple attacks won’t be dealing much damage. He only has 3 damage on his first click, falling to 2 for the rest of his dial. This means that Nightwing has a very hard time getting through any reducers, causing him difficulty in dealing with bigger targets after he’s been hit once. Nightwing thrives as a free attacking piece that doesn’t need actions to be successful, he has Leadership to take tokens off of his swarm, and Police team ability to assist with ranged attacks, but if he’s the centerpiece of your army he’s going to struggle a lot. You’re either going to need a ton of support for him, or a swarm to assist him.

Strength’s: Free Action Machine, Supports Swam Teams

Weaknesses: Mediocre Stats, Lack of Powers, Reducers Destroy Him

Where to Draft: 4/5 – It’s easy to get a swarm team when drafting in this set, and if you pull Nightwing, then try to pull smaller pieces for him to lead. He can be crazy effective in a team like this, since he doesn’t need to take actions.

Final Score 3/5

#037B Nightlantern

Nightlantern has been the big piece to discuss ever since it was released. Is his ability to make “entity-lite” figures worth the steep investment? In sealed, it definitely it. Nightlantern himself is an incredibly solid piece that has one major weakness: his mobility. He’s 7 clicks long, but only has movement abilities on 3 of those clicks making him lose a lot of strength after taking damage. On the other hand, his values are high, and he has Stealth from the Batman team ability, giving him some great defensive abilities. He also has the ability to support other character’s on his team with Leadership, Perplex and Telekinesis. He’s a very solid 150 points. About his trait, there are some very strong entity pieces in this set. The Hypersonic Superman, Lead with his Impervious, Iron for Super Strength, there’s so many useful abilities locked down in the Commons and Uncommons. Be warned, only standard abilities can be used, not special ones, and the Entity character must be less points than the person it is possessing. Other than that, he’s really strong in sealed, and if you pull him, it’s a must play.

Strength’s: Solid Dial, Possession Character, Stealth.

Weaknesses: Low Mobility.

Where to Draft: 5/5 – He’s too good to pass over.

Final Score 4/5

#038 Condiment King

Condiment King is a waste of a rare slot. He’s built for one thing, and one thing only, tie-up. He’s a really good tie-up piece, but I can’t really suggest using him in a 300 point sealed game. I think there are better tie up pieces, like Copper, that don’t cost nearly as much. Condiment King also sports Force Blast, Poison and Exploit, allowing him a little more damage potential on the character he’s holding onto, as well as a starting click with Running Shot, Double Target Incap, to let him get a hit off before he ties someone up. I just can’t recommend using him. Maybe he holds Mary Marvel down for a turn or two before she kills him, maybe he protects a unit from a Hypersonic Superman from getting close. He’s just so specified, and he’s not a piece you can build a team around.

Strength’s: Strong Tie-Up, 18 Defense when targeted, weakens adjacent character’s.

Weaknesses: Kind of expensive for being so Niche.

Where to Draft – 3/5 – He’s a good tie up piece, but before you pick him up, you have to have something else to benefit from his tie-up.

Final Score 2/5

#039 Crazy Quilt

Not to be a broken record, but Crazy Quilt, like Condiment King before him, and Toymaster before him, is an okay piece, stuck in a bad rarity. Crazy Quilt is really useful, but again he’s just not dependable without other pieces, making him a little hard to swallow in draft. Crazy Quilt, unlike his brethren before him is actually a really successful piece regardless of what else you draft. Crazy Quilts entire purpose is in his trait. Before choosing your color, take a quick look at your opponents cards, and either find the color most shared between their character’s, or find the character who the negative defense modifier will have the biggest effect on. Being able to reduce the defense of the opponents tent-pole, even by 1 can be a huge difference. Otherwise, Crazy Quilt is a fine secondary attacker, having a great mind control ability, and Penetrating/Psychic Blast. You play him for his ability to lower the defense of characters, but you get a decent 4 click attack at the same time.

Strengths: Cheap, decent values, His Trait

Weaknesses: 4 clicks long, The Trait is limited by your choice at the beginning of the game

Where to Draft – 4/5 – Unlike Condiment King, you can build a team around Crazy Quilt, he can make the mass of generics in this set just a bit better at taking down bigger pieces.

Final Score 4/5

#40 Element Man

Element Man has basically every power in the game, and he’s unstoppable because of it. Mary Marvel is good, but I think the best rare in this set has to be this guy. Right off the bat, his trait is giving him Giant Reach, Plasticity, Shape-Change, and limited Phasing/Teleport. For 100 points that’s a lot of traited abilities, especially when on top of that, he has the Outsiders team ability. The combination of Super Senses and Shape-Change is great defensively, but on top of all of that, his attack power gives him the ability to choose an attack or defense power (or both and take 1 damage). With that, Element Man has the ability to counter almost anything in the game, either by taking damage reducers, or by whipping out Pulse Wave at the most inopportune times for your opponent. When he loses his attack ability, he gains Flurry, making him even more dangerous at a distance. The thing that holds him back is a lack of mobility, only spouting Sidestep to keep him going, and some less impressive values. His values aren’t low enough to impend him, they just aren’t any better than average.

Strengths: Pick a Power, Metric Ton of Traited Powers, Outsiders

Weaknesses: Low Mobility, Average Values

Where to Draft: 5/5 – This guy is just a killer. For 100 points he’s a third of your team, and he can handle almost anything thrown at your team. Plasticity reduces the effectiveness of Hypersonic pieces, Pick-a-Power not only allows him to grab Pulse Wave to get through any armour, but defensive powers to keep him alive, either through Willpower or Regeneration. This guy is unstoppable, just keep him alive.

Final Score: 5/5

#41 Mary Marvel

Goddamn, I just finished covering a must play piece and now we come to another must play piece. Mary Marvel is excellent. She starts with Hypersonic Speed, Super Strength, Invincible and Probability Control. The only thing that’s underwhelming is her 17 defense. Later in the dial she loses the Hypersonic for Charge but her values are super solid throughout her dial, ending in a stop click that gives her a super Regeneration, allowing her to get back up to full. The one thing that sours it, is that the stop click only works the first time she reaches it. Now that’s worth 150 points, a super solid Hypersonic beater, but wait, there’s more. She can’t be Outwitted, Perplexed or Probability Controlled by opposing characters that are lower points than her. She’s basically unstoppable.

Strengths: Fantastic Powers, Solid Stats, Stop Click Regen, Unoutwittable

Weaknesses: 17 Defense Opening Click

Where to Draft: 5/5 – She’s just so good, possibly better than any rare. You must play her if you pull her.

Final Score – 5/5

#42 Gold

Gold is the leader of the Metal Men, and for that he gets Leadership. Now, at 50 points, that Leadership isn’t going to be good for much other than increasing your action limit for the turn. What Gold brings to the table besides that, is a 7 range, 10 attack, Running Shot. With the Sidestep he gets from other Metal Men, Gold becomes a really decent ranged attacker able to threaten most of the characters in this set, and only for a 50 point investment. He only has Running Shot on his first and last click, so it’s not entirely reliable, but even when he doesn’t have it, as long as there’s another Metal Man, (especially Tin), he can really do some damage.

Strength’s: Powerful secondary attacker for 50 points.

Weaknesses: Needs Metal Men to be really effective.

Where to Draft: 4/5 – Unlike the other cheap rares, Gold can actually put up a bit of a fight, and his improved Leadership can seriously help the swarm teams common to this set.

Final Score 3/5

#43 Mercury

Mercury has Telekinesis for 25 points. That’s just fantastic as long as you have someone to use it with. Unlike his Metal Men brothers, he doesn’t need them around to be a must include. If you have a big costed character, this guy will get him into the fray, or out of it. It’s hard to talk much more about Mercury, he’s basically just 25 points for Telekinesis, it should be clear why that is useful.

Strength’s: 25 points for Telekinesis, Improved Super Senses.

Weaknesses: No Willpower.

Where to Draft- 3/5 – Yeah, I know I said he was great, but if you don’t have someone to use Telekinesis on, there’s not a huge point in drafting him.

Final Score- 5/5

#44 Doc Magnus

Like most of the Metal Men, Doc Magnus needs other Metal Men to be really effective. Every other Metal Man acts like a Taxi for him, dragging him around the battlefield, letting him heal up any ally. Unlike Toymaster, who’s Support is less effective if it’s not a robot, Doc Magnus’s Support only gets better when near Metal Men. He’s a good character just to have someone to heal up your team. Once again, he can’t be the centerpiece of your team, but you’ll always find a place for him.

Strengths: Support, Can be Carried

Weaknesses: He’s vulnerable to attacks, Metal Men really help him

Where to Draft- 3/5- He’s a good piece, but you need something to Support before you can worry about a piece that only Supports.

Final Score 3/5

#045 Etrigan

Like his alter-ego Jason Blood, Etrigan suffers from having a slightly unfocused dial. His first click is the only one sporting dangerous move and attack, but his other clicks allow him a few tricks. Being able to use free Smoke Cloud is definitely a fun trick to weakening opposing character’s and protecting friendly characters with Stealth. Later in the dial he becomes a solid tie-up piece, stopping character’s from targeting him if he’s adjacent to another opposing character. The thing I didn’t mention with Jason Blood is their shared trait, a copy and paste of Shifting Focus. If Etrigan is on his first click, Jason can be a good switch, but otherwise, Etrigan is almost always better. Having Mystics in this set is also great, as it can slowly chip away at bigger characters making people think twice about striking you.

Strengths: Strong Values, Interesting Special Powers, Mystics

Weaknesses: Limited Move and Attack, Switching to Jason Blood is only a good idea on click 1 or 2, No Willpower

Where to Draft- 4/5 – He’s not the best piece, and is totally outclassed by Element Man, but with a little finesse he has enough tricks up his sleeve to threaten most character’s in the set.

Final Score- 3/5

#046 Klarion the Witch Boy

Klarion is the best supporting character in this entire set. For 70 points he brings Probability Control, Perplex through his cat, 4 clicks of breaking damage reducers and a secondary attacker named Teekl. Teekl also isn’t tiny, so he can block lines of fire for squishyier characters. For 70 points he’s incredibly varied in the things he can do, and brings so many options to your team, that there’s no reason not to play him. Teekl comes into play with a 4 Charge, 10 Attack Blades, and Perplex, allowing him to put damage on any character in this set reliably, and is just one aspect of the chocolate box that is Klarion. Klarion himself has middling stats and low damage, though his powers allow him to get through reducers making it less of an issue. The last thing to mention is that, for Teekl, even if he’s targeted with Precision Strike, a 3 or 4 will allow him to reattach to Klarion without being killed, giving him a surprisingly high amount of survivability, and making it far less dangerous to use him to tie up another character.

Strength’s: Low point cost, Prob and Perplex, Summons a Secondary Attacker, Mystics team ability

Weaknesses: Middling stats, low damage.

Where to Draft- 5/5 – Klarion is a must play and a must draft. He just provides so many options for so few points.

Final Score- 5/5

#047 Ragman

Where Klarion was the jack-of-all-trades, Ragman is the master of none. His trait may let him increase his values by 1, but with no move and attack, and no reliable way of keeping him alive for him to make another attack, let alone Willpower so that he doesn’t have to push to do so, he is unable to threaten anything. With Telekinesis, Ragman becomes a lot stronger, because for 70 points his values are solid, and with his trait he becomes actually good. The best thing about Ragman is the mystics team ability, combined with Steal Energy, which in theory would let him survive more hits, to deal more mystics damage. The issue is that there’s a very low chance of him taking advantage of Steal Energy when he has to get an opponent to move adjacent to him, or waste a turn moving or getting taxi’d into adjacency. He’s not useless, or even a bad piece, but any piece with a ton of mobility is going to run circles around Ragman, and he won’t be able to do anything about it. Now, his start of the dial Stealth does work in his favor, forcing enemies to come to him, but since he can’t threaten anyone from Stealth except those who do come to him, it’s more of a waiting game than a strong strategy.

Strengths: Mystics with Steal Energy, Probability Control, Good Values.

Weaknesses: No mobility, Trait rarely can be used.

Where to Draft- 3/5- He’s not a bad piece, he’s just severely handicapped compared to other figures in this set by his lack of mobility.

Final Score 2/5

#048 Zatara

Zatara is a really interesting support character, who’s REALLY weak to Mind Control. Like his daughter before him, Zatara can be played forward or backwards, forwards has him starting as a really solid support piece, and backwards has him being a straightforward attacker. Honestly, his supporting clicks are far better than his attacker clicks, making it almost always a better option to play him normally. On his top click he has Telekinesis, Perplex and Probability Control, giving him a ton of control, his Perplex is even better on other Mystical characters. The real reason you’re playing Zatara is the 3 clicks in the middle of his dial. These clicks give you two options to proceed, and you’re gonna have to choose one. You can either Regenerate, or you can Pulse Wave. Now this Pulse Wave kills Zatara and massacres all opposing character’s while leaving friendly characters high and dry. While Regenerating gives you more chances for opponents to activate your Mystics. The big danger is, if someone Mind Controls Zatara on his middle clicks, they’re going to force him to sacrifice himself, exploding all of your other characters at the same time. It’s a huge swing in points, so just be wary.

Strengths: Great Support Powers, Choice of Secondary Attacker or Support Character, Super Pulse Wave, Regen, Mystics

Weaknesses: Mind Controlled Suicide

Where to Draft- 5/5 – He can fit on any team, you basically have to play him.

Final Score 4/5