I haven’t covered much Elseworlds as of late, so let’s change that. Al is quite the Super Rare and has already made somewhat of an impact in competitive, so let’s see what fun things we can do with him. Sim Sim Salabim!

Did you get that reference?

Overall, I wasn’t personally that impressed with either 15th anniversary set this year. I felt like they had a lot more potential but ultimately fell a little short. Granted, there were some very good pieces in both sets, but on the whole, they felt a little stale when compared to sets like Deadpool & X-Force and Avengers Defenders War. Pulling packs with up to 3 versions of the same sculpt was a total buzzkill and didn’t really live up to the celebration aspect they were aiming for. Anyways, I felt that Elseworlds was just a little bit better than What If…, but I think that’s due to the fact that we had just gotten a ton of the same characters in What If… just a month prior in ADW.

Of the pieces in EW, Al Jhor Dan was an automatic advancement into the competitive scene. While Goblin King is a better pick-a-power figure at 15 less points, Al has his own bag of tricks, and better keywords, to secure him in the scene. Today I want to look at some more LGS-friendly options you can use with him. Like I do with all my team builds centered around a single figure, let’s break him down first.

Al clocks in at 90 points, which is a little high considering that’s roughly a third of your build, along with the fact that he only has 5 clicks of health. He’s got 7 range with a single target, no team ability, and standard combat symbols with the addition of Indomitable. He’s got a single trait along with a Special Damage power, and has some great Keywords with Green Lantern Corps, Mystical, Past, and Ruler.

His dial is pretty easy to talk about as there isn’t much there. 7 Sidestep for three clicks, dropping to a 6, and surging to a 10 Phasing on his final click rounds out his movement abilities. His attack is vanilla the entire dial with a 10 on his first three clicks, and a 9 on his final two clicks. For defense, he starts with 18 Energy Shields, swaps to Barrier on click three, and ends with a 17 Regeneration (yes, that’s four clicks of 18 defense). His damage is 3 across the board, and he has his Special Damage power on his first three clicks.

Overall, he has a somewhat lackluster dial, sans the high defense and consistent damage values. It should be noted that he does start off with almost the exact same setup as Jakeem Thunder, except he doesn’t have Prob. While this will take a hit when the new rules come around at the end of this month (since you won’t be able to Sidestep and then call in an ID character), It’s still very good.

Like many higher-rarity figures, Al gets his real firepower from his trait and Special Damage power. Let’s look at the trait first:

GENIE OF THE LAMP: Give Al Jhor Dan a free action. Choose a standard power and choose one of the following: “wing symbol”, “dolphin symbol”, “giant symbol”, or “tiny symbol”. Al Jhor Dan can use the chosen power and has the chosen symbol until your next turn.

While he isn’t viewed as highly as Jakeem or Goblin King because he only gets to pick one power (basically relegating himself to either offense or defense but not both), picking a power is still incredibly good. Al also doesn’t have any restrictions on what he can pick like his Mystical buddy Jakeem does. The second portion of his trait gives him some unique adaptability as well. Playing against range? pick Tiny. Need to carry someone? Wing Symbol it is. How about taxi’ing a Flyer into battle? Giant Size this dude. And for that rare chance you get stuck in a water-heavy map, Dolphin symbol will keep him quick. There’s a new type of versatility here that really makes him strong in his own way.

His damage power is quite nasty as well:

1001 (KNIGHTS OF EMPIRES): Al Jhor Dan can use Perplex. If he uses Perplex to modify the same character and same value as during your last turn, he can modify it by +2 or -2 instead.

Perplex is always good, and gives him a pseudo-Jakeem dial as he trades the Prob for a different support power, albeit not quite as good. The kicker here that if you plan property, you can get a +2 to any combat value on any character (or -2 if you really want to hurt someone). By himself, this gives Al a 20 defense, or a 21 from range if you don’t plan on using his buffing on anyone else. Or it gives him a 5 damage. Or a 12 attack. Or a 9 range. The only fault I see with this power is that you have to plan 2 turns ahead to gain it’s full benefit, which in a competitive sense just isn’t going to happen. The best thing you can do is use his Perplex like you normally would, and maybe 2-3 times a game you’ll get a double-up. You should never choose to double buff a stat because you might as well commit to what you already buffed. Use the Perplex normally at it’s normal strength before buffing a worthless one!

Pick-a-Power pieces have always been strong, and it’s a shame that the two big pieces in modern are kind of overshadowing Al Jhor Dan. He’s pretty strong in his own right and deserves a look. As long as you play him well and keep him relatively safe, he can be a very good piece.

Let’s sum Al up a bit before we move onto the team builds with the ‘ol Positive VS. Negative analysis.

Positive: Pick-a-power. Indom. Good defense and damage. Mega Perplex. Keywords. Size shifting.

Negative: Shallow dial. Low attack values for point cost. Has to pick between offense or defense. Mega Perplex requires over-commitment to gain full effect. Slow.

The biggest hindrance to Al is that he’s pretty good on his first two clicks and pretty much either falls apart or completely dies off after one good hit. As long as you can keep him healthy, he’s worth his investment. The problem here is that you’re already dropping 90 points, and you’re going to have to pay a decent chunk more to offset his squishiness. However, if you can get around these negative aspects of him, you have a really good piece that won’t cause people to be upset that you played him at your LGS. He’s fantastic in that you don’t have to play the best piece in the game right now and you still get a decent chunk of what Jakeem does. Oh yeah, and you get your prime slot if you want.

So what does Al Jhor Dan need to succeed in this world? I’ve talked at lengths about the fact that he can’t go offense and defense at the same time, so a dedicated reducer would probably really help and push him into the higher tiers. A possessor is the best option here, with the Hulkbuster Torso being the next best option based on your points. Maps will probably help him as his Sidestep will allow him to stick to cover when it’s not his turn and going giant-sized in a indoor map will negate the downsides. I always talk about mobility in my team builds because it’s the biggest factor; if you get to the enemy first, you’re probably going to hurt them. Al is no different here. With no move-and-attack powers, he can either pick one and work with his vanilla dial, or you can use some kind of transport. TK would be my go-to so you can pull off some nice plays like a Pulse Wave and then Sidestep into safety, but a taxi (like the new common Green Lantern) could be very good as well.

Both team builds today are going to be 300 Modern with no Resources. Supreme Intelligence could be very good on Al as it gives him Stealth early and moves into more support powers, and the Teleporter could give him some fantastic inspiration powers, but I don’t really want to go that route.

300 Point Modern Al Jhor Dan Team – No Resources

Mystical has always been one of the top generic theme teams out there, and this team takes full advantage of keyword with a +4 theme team to make sure we have a good chance at winning map roll.

Eclipso and Brainiac are pretty much the only two options we have for a possessor that actually grants powers, and with Sidestep on most of his dial, Eclipso is actually the better option. With Stealth, Impervious, and Shape Change, this gives us 3 different defensive options to utilize so that we can always be protected, and we can take the “Jakeem defense” of Invincible + Shape Change on turns we aren’t attacking. He also gets Prob and Running Shot later in the dial which will help us be aggressive. Brainiac is still fine, but I believe Eclipso is the better option.

Zatara was an automatic for me and I knew that I wanted to put him on the team as soon as I started this build because he has a very nice interaction with Al Jhor Dan. Like Al, he has a +2 Perplex, but his only depends on sharing a keyword. While he can’t pump damage up, you can use Zatara to increase Al’s defense up to a 20 at all times, and then use Al’s own Perplex to modify either his attack or damage for bigger attacks. Zatara also has TK, so he does everything we need him to do to have Al succeed. Finally, if he takes a hit, he can sacrifice himself and Pulse Wave for a locked 4 damage that doesn’t effect anyone on our team. He’s an expensive addition, but well worth the points.

I knew that I wanted someone with either Outwit or Prob (preferably the former with the new Outwit rules coming) on the team, and The Wizard seemed like an amazing option. Able to push into whichever of the 3 big support powers and the ability to produce Tigers is a steal for only 50 points. I seriously think this piece is undervalued.

Green Lantern is pretty much a shoe-in for any Mystical team (or anything he can theme with) as he’s absolutely bonkers for his 35 point cost. Not only can he taxi around Zatara so that we’re saving his actions for TK, he can also wall in front of Al so that it’s even harder to deal with him. Remember, it’s all about keeping Al alive, and Green Lantern does exactly that. He also reduces target’s defense values and shuts down Stealth, furthering out number boosting. If you don’t own one of two of these, get them.

This team doesn’t have too much firepower, but it messes with the board quite a lot, and if you play Al correctly, you’ll pretty much be able to destroy anything you want since you have so much number boosting.

How about a different team that doesn’t use a possessor and is actually quite affordable and different?

300 Point Modern Al Jhor Dan Team – No Resources

I’m a firm believer that map choice will really help Al out, so I opted for a different theme of Past as another really great keyword.

I ditched the possessor for this build for those of you that don’t have access to these game elements as they can be rather expensive. Instead, I went with the Hulkbuster Torso which will give Al Invulnerability for his whole dial. It’s a bit easier to deal with than Impervious, but it’s better than having no reducers and wasting your Pick-a-Power on defense.

Devil Dinosaur is actually a really good pairing with Al and kind of swaps what his role is on the team. Now, rather than being that dedicated attacker like on the previous team, he takes a more support-level approach and acts as whatever Devil and his pogs need. He can get them into battle via Flight or Giant Size and boost them once they’re there. Drop Bears can get Empower if you don’t feel like rolling Blades (or you’re like me with terrible luck), MODOK’s get Enhancement, and Crabs get a TK buddy to throw them out into an immediate Pulse Wave. Al also serves as a healer for Devil so that if he does lose a click or two, you can keep him healthy.

Along those same lines, Dr. Fate is another really good option, and between he and Al, you can give all your pogs +2 to their damage output, regardless of which kind of attack they’re making. If you don’t need the help on the pogs, have him be a permanent taxi/buff piece for Al and start a pincer maneuver where the genie does become your primary attacker again.

I knew TK was the best route to go, especially with a piece of equipment that needs to be equipped, and there’s simply no one better in the game than Jean Grey. While she’s going to take a hit with the new rules (no Free Actions at the beginning of the turn), she can still be a brutal slingshot for Al so that he doesn’t have to risk himself and he can put everything into dealing damage. Check out this alpha strike scenario with Jean:

Turn 1: Al Perplexes up his damage and picks Invincible and Flight while sidestepping up to get him and Jean closer, while Jean TK’s the torso to him and he equips. Devil sends out three pogs and Dr. Fate positions for the attack.

Turn 2: Al Perplexes his damage up again (+2) and Jean TK’s him out. Dr. Fate chooses Enhancement to buff his damage to a +3. Al picks Ranged Combat Expert and Tiny Size, and dumps both into attack (now 12 attack, 6 damage), and fries a piece. Jean TK’s him back with a Power Action, and Dr. Fate flies back into safety to move some pogs up.

Is it the most game-breaking alpha strike? Certainly not, but it’s not bad either. Let’s not forget that you can choose to go attack instead, choose Hypersonic Speed and move up next to Dr. Fate and hit with a 12 attack and 4 damage while running back to Jean’s TK spot. It’s really effective, and Jean pushes Pick-a-Power pieces even further than they should go.

For ID cards, I would recommend pieces like Swordsman (who can give all your Drop Bears and Al Jhor Dan Flurry if he picks Blades) that Dr. Fate can call-in, or two 90-100 point pieces that Devil or Al can call-in. Devil is a very good summoner since he doesn’t really do much after summoning pieces, although he does have TK as well.

This team isn’t as tight as the previous team, but it’s got a lot of potential to change how it plays based on who you’re playing against. It’s also a lot easier on the wallet with Al being the most expensive piece to field and the only other ‘money piece’ being Devil Dinosaur.

How did you like the teams I built around this Emerald Genie? Feel I missed something that would work really well with him? Or did my teams just totally miss the mark? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

I’m trying to keep up with my dual-weekly articles right now, but I have a lot of work to do on the personal side of things. I also need to write another article for Apex Insiders, so there might be a day next week or the week after where I have to miss an article. Regardless, The Mighty Thor is looking to completely change power levels in the game, so you can guarantee that there will be a lot of content once that comes out.

I’ll see you all next week, and if I can’t post, I’ll be sure to let you know! I’ll try my best to at least write a small article if I need to take it easy for a week or two.