Elseworlds is finally upon us, and the very last preview we got for the main set was a tremendous new Super Rare in the form of Green Lantern. Our oath-sworn friend has seen quite a lot of tournament play, and this new version is no different. Let’s take a look at this new Lantern and see what she brings to the table.

Coming in at 45 points, this Super Rare doesn’t seem like a whole lot based on just the dial. With only 4 clicks, no range, no team ability, standard combat symbols, and a big 0 on attack and damage, one might wonder why this character is worthwhile. It all comes from her trait:

ONE LAST EARTHLY MISSION: When another friendly character is KO’d, place a Resurrection marker in a square they last occupied. Give Green Lantern a free action when she is adjacent to a Resurrection marker, you may choose the name of a friendly character with a point value of 10 or more that has been KO’d and hasn’t yet been chosen this game. Replace the Resurrection marker with a KO’d character with that name and give Green Lantern an action token, if possible. Turn the KO’d character to any click it have been on this game. At the beginning of your next turn, remove that character from the game but don’t score it.

There’s some big new vocabulary in this character and some things we’ve never seen in the game before, but the short and sweet of this character is that she has the ability to resurrect your fallen allies from the grave for one last hurrah.

Here’s how she works (or at least how it seems like she works): If she’s on the board and one of your other friendly characters is KO’d, you place a special marker in the square they occupied. Notice there isn’t anything here to say that the square is blocking or hindered meaning like Quicksilver’s Speed Shadow marker, characters can enter that square (in fact, this could be a very handy strategy). As long as that character is 10 or more points, you can give Green Lantern a free action when she’s adjacent to one of these squares and pick any character that’s been KO’d this game that hasn’t been picked by this effect previously. That character is turned to any click number that they had during the game and are removed from the game at the beginning of your next turn without being scored.

Essentially, you’re turning your KO’d characters into ID summons, but you don’t need to give anyone a power action to bring them in. There’s still the threat like with ID summoned characters that they can be KO’d and scored again because the language on her trait only prevents the points if they’re removed from the game at the beginning of your turn (again, my interpretation and I could be wrong here).

It’s incredibly important that these characters can only be brought back on a click that they were on during the game as this prevents something like a 75 point Goblin King being resurrected on click 1. You would only get the option of bringing him back on one of his four clicks as he never saw higher clicks.

The biggest aspect of Green Lantern is that you don’t have to resurrect the piece that was KO’d in a particular square. If you have three characters that have been KO’d, you can resurrect them in any square with one of these special markers. And unlike ID cards, there’s no limitation as to how far away these characters can end up from Green Lantern.

One last thing; calling her in as an ID character on a Green Lantern ID really isn’t worthwhile. I’ve seen a few people talk about this, but take another glance at her power. In order to place the special resurrection markers, she has to be on the field. The only way you could capitalize on her as an ID character would be to call her in on a turn where a piece is going to push to KO, or flat out KO from game effects at the beginning of your turn and getting one last hurrah out of them. Really not worth it and it takes a lot of things to make it work.

Now that we know what she does, it seems like the next step is to hunt for some good options in Modern to capitalize on this effect. Since she’s only 45 points, it’s pretty easy to fit her on a team which is great. I’m not going to build a team with her, but I will cover some great synergy with her.

Colossal Retaliators – This is quite possibly the biggest way to abuse Green Lantern because these characters are cheap, can deal a huge chunk of damage, and have a tendency to go down in one hit. While you can only use one retaliation power per turn, image throwing your Atom out there, smashing the enemy team for 2 penetrating damage, and then doing it again the following turn after they take him down. That only takes up 60 points of your team and it’s pretty disgusting.

Chameleon – While it might not be worthwhile for competitive teams to field her on their main force due to the fact that your opponent controls how worthwhile she is (since they have to KO your pieces), Chameleon is a great option because he doesn’t force you into character. If you’re playing against a stall team that wins off of very little points, you obviously don’t need her. However, if you’re playing against a team that is experienced at wiping people, then she could very helpful. This is a great option if you want to play her but don’t want to commit to her very narrow purpose.

Characters with Strong Mid-Dials – One of the biggest problems with characters that are incredibly powerful on their mid-dial is that they have to land on those clicks to get your points worth. Often times, these characters will lack Charge, Running Shot, or Hypersonic Speed, so this is a great way to make sure they’re used effectively. If your opponent KO’s a piece that you needed one more turn to ‘activate’ them, but they’re still adjacent to that special marker, Phase GL over to that spot and resurrect them on their god click and dish out some harsh payback. The uncommon Iron Man from What If is potentially a great option here since his last click is actually really strong for his low point cost.

Zatara 048 (World’s Finest) – Themed, Mystics team ability, an incredibly strong Perplex/Prob power and TK is already a great setup for Zatara, but the reason why he’s particularly strong with Green Lantern is for those insanely good middle clicks, mainly click 4. Zatara gains access to a 4 damage Pulse Wave with a locked damage value and doesn’t hit friendlies that share a keyword with him. Being able to hit your enemies entire team for 4 unavoidable damage is a huge play, and is probably well worth the extra 100 points you’ll give up (since Zatara KO’s himself afterwards).

LE Doctor Octopus – One of the big issues with Doc Oc is that he’s incredibly squishy and often times will get to do his trick of 4 attacks in a single turn just once before he bites the dust. If only he could pull that off a second time! Seems like he would be an ideal candidate to raise from the dead, Outwit a power in your way, and cause complete havoc to a hopefully wounded enemy team.

Pieces You Love to Sacrifice – There are plenty of figures in the game that have a brutal effect if you throw them at your opponent to meet their maker early. While you’ll end up giving points for them twice in a row, you’ll also have the option of triggering those effects twice in the same game. Goliath from Civil War would be great as he not only heals your entire team 1 click, but he also comes back with a special Charge, 12 attack, and 4 damage.

Shredder Elite Chases – All four of these chases have a built-in way to resurrect themselves the first time they would be KO’d, so they’re already hard to take down. Now you’re adding yet another way to bring them back to life, which of course lets them Sidestep dealing more free damage, and you get to place them on their best click for damage to really make their third presence worthwhile.

Green Lantern is a really strong piece, and although she probably won’t see much or any meta play, she’s still a very strong option for only 45 points. We’ll have to see what people pair her with as an effect like this is just asking to be abused.

I’m sure there are a ton more options that Green Lantern can take advantage of, and if you have an example that I didn’t cover, list it in the comments below. Are you looking forward to this character or do you think she’s too gimmicky and won’t see play at all?

My apologies for missing last week; I’ve been buried lately and it was a task to get this article out as well as I’m currently at San Diego Comic-Con. Hopefully things will return back to normal in August, so until then remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!