Good lord, Rebirth just came out and we’re already full-swing into previews for the next set! I guess I better get on those DC team builds pretty quickly then. Let’s kick things off with my favorite figure of the set: The Murder Machine.

As I covered in my Rebirth set review not too long ago, this set is quite better than it looks on the outside. I know I say that a good amount about sets, but this one in particular had a huge feeling about it thanks to all the 10-attack and 17-defense figures running around. It constantly seemed like most of the set was designed a long time ago and most of the previews didn’t do too much for folks. Thankfully as with any DC set, there are a handful of seriously good figures.

I didn’t like the Dark Knights in general, as is the case for most DC chase series for me, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some serious gems with three of them pretty much being guaranteed competitive figures. Today we’re talking about my favorite of the three and how we can make this guy really nasty.

What’s interesting about today’s team build is that it utilizes a figure from Earth X that I kept meaning to build around but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Then someone on HCRealms private messaged me saying they valued my input and asked what I would build around said Earth X figure. That sparked this article, so I’m really happy that they reached out to me (as I always am). So who is this mystery figure? Well, you’ll have to wait and find out – or just be a spoil-sport and scroll down to the team build.

The Murder Machine comes in at either 200 or 100 points and a respective 8 clicks or 5 clicks of health. He has 7 range with two targets, no team ability, Indomitable, and a nice assortment of Keywords with Armor, Dark Knights, Monster, and Robot. Special powers-wise, he’s a beefcake with a whopping 3 traits, a special damage power, and improved targeting which destroys blocking terrain. Pack it in, it’s gonna be a long one.

The Murder Machine (okay for the rest of the article I’m dropping “The”. Annoying). has some very strong stats and power combinations that make both point levels quite good.

Movement starts out strong with 10-Running Shot before swapping to Sidestep on click three, dropping to 9 on clicks four and five, and finishing out with an 8 on his last three. His attack also very good with 12-Energy Explosion up front at 200 points, dropping to an 11 right away on click two, swapping to Blades on click five, and dropping to a 10 on click six. Defense is consistent and amazing with 18-Invincible for four freaking clicks and then shifting to 17-Invulnerability. His damage is similar with 4 and his special for four clicks, and then 3-Outwit for the other four clicks. It’s an easy dial to cover which is nice and basically plays in two ways: Energy Explosion Sniper Beefcake or Somewhat Mobile Claws and Guns Beef Boi.

Let’s just dive right into this literal wall of text for his traits and special. First up is one of the two shared traits in the chase series:

RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR LIFE: Once per turn, when The Murder Machine targets and hits a single opposing character with a close attack, after resolutions deal each other character that is adjacent to either The Murder Machine or the target 1 penetrating damage. (Includes friendly characters and usually the target.)

This trait is ridiculous. There’s some serious firepower here and stretches out further just what these Dark Knights are capable of. Free damage is always, always a good thing and is usually a big reason why figures are competitive. The Dark Knights up this by dishing damage to multiple targets rather than just 1, and with a larger area of effect than the Shredders (yes, I realize this is triggered on an attack and not movement like the Shredders). However, Murder Machine is more of a ranged figure, so the Reckless trait isn’t going to do too much for him. He wants to stay back and take shots, so this is more of an insurance plan for him that says “if you base me, you’ll die quicker”. The downside to this trait is that you never want to have your allies next to him, so Empower is not a power you want to bring to the table. Enhancement is fine, but if you do get based, make sure you have them run away before making that attack.

Next is the other shared trait:

WE WILL NOT HIDE IN THE SHADOWS ANYMORE: When The Murder Machine occupies clear terrain and is targeted by a range attack, modify defense +1. // When targeted by an opposing character that can use Stealth, modify defense +1. // When targeted by an opposing character occupying hindering terrain, modify defense +1. (The modifiers stack.)

Without Stealth and this awesome trait, there’s no reason for Murder Machine to ever sit in hindering terrain, so against ranged attacks he’s always rocking at least a 19-defense up front at either starting line. That’s enough in my opinion but if you happen to be facing off against a Stealth character or a team that likes to hide, this is going to get much better making Murder Machine pretty tough to hit by himself. Basically you’re getting +1 to defense against ranged attacks most of the time.

Finally, the trait that makes Murder Machine absolutely worth it:

THE ALFRED PROTOCOL: KNOCKBACK. When The Murder Machine KO’s an opposing character (does not include KO’s by Knockback Damage), after resolutions he may make an attack. (Can trigger multiple times per turn.)

Like Vulture Prime (who I covered just a few weeks ago), Murder Machine has the capability to down an entire team in one turn, and he’s rocking a much more solid stat line to do this by himself whereas Vulture needs some help. Thanks to Energy Explosion, Murder Machine can generate an absurd number of free attacks if he targets a bystander or retaliator swarm. While there are a good number of figures that are played in competitive that have reducers, preventing him from going off by himself, 4-damage is nothing to scoff at, and there’s nothing that says you can’t soften targets up before Murder Machine cleans house. Kockback is an added benefit that I feel a lot of people are going to skip passed.

I’ll address the Vulture comparison shortly, but first we need to see the final piece of this figure with his special damage power:

TECHNOMORPHING: Probability Control, Shape Change.

No, that’s not good at all. Let’s give the big cannon with solid defense values and powers a roll-out for targeting and Probability Control. This power jumps him from a solid figure to a stellar figure and the fact that you get this at either starting line is fantastic.

Put all these together and you end up with an incredibly solid attacker at either 200 or 100 points that can serve as two different rolls. At full points, Murder Machine is a terrible threat that takes an awful lot of effort to take down, requiring at least 3 big hits of which he has to fail Shape Change on two of them. At 100 points, he plays more like a typical sniper that has a fantastic first click but you really don’t want him to take any damage. Even if he does, he’s still incredibly strong and those 5 clicks won’t feel very overcosted thanks to the damage he’ll be pumping out.

Now regarding the debate that seems to be raging: why would I play Murder Machine over Vulture? Let me start by saying that it’s up to you who you play, but I think both of these figures will be staples on the competitive stage once rotation hits. Vulture might have a better edge since he gets to use Charge after each KO and can generate more stacks of attacks thanks to the Octopus arms, but Murder Machine has some better timing since he doesn’t need to be equipped and he can take a hit a lot better than Vulture. Once Vulture engages, if he doesn’t wipe a team, he’s done since he’ll be hip-deep in enemy territory. Murder Machine on the other hand has range on his side making him an overall safer play that doesn’t require you to risk the whole game on one figure. Shape Change and Probability Control also factor into this as Murder Machine is generally harder to hit as well. He also doesn’t take that Prime slot.

Of course that doesn’t make him better. Vulture has a better chance at wiping a team because of how insanely mobile he is while Murder Machine doesn’t get to move once he starts killing. Stealth is also a nightmare to Murder Machine as he has no way to break through it and can completely dampen his strategy. I don’t feel that Outwit is a logical argument against either because it screws them both pretty hard, but I will argue that it hurts Vulture more. Outwitting Charge on Vulture completely stops him from working whereas Murder Machine doesn’t need any of his powers to function. He either hits with his high numbers or he doesn’t.

Again, it’s dealers choice and they’re both incredibly good, but I think people aren’t giving Murder Machine enough credit.

Tools For Success

Mobility is probably the biggest weakness for Murder Machine. While those two clicks of Running Shot are fantastic at 200 points, it’s not great that at 100 he starts with Sidestep, or that he drops so suddenly at full points. Equipment to fix this would be a great first step. Something like the Goblin Glider to give him Hypersonic Speed (and actually be able to melee figures to trigger his Reckless trait) or Exospex (I know, I know) will work wonders on him. Likewise, you could use Mjolnir to give him melee from 7 squares out so that once again you can trigger that Reckless trait.

Support powers are going to work wonders no matter what you bring to the table. Probability Control comes with him so it’s not as highly desired, but is always good. Outwit will help to neutralize reducers to make him go off easier or counter out the opposing Outwit to keep his Invincible intact. Perplex is a godsend with starting numbers like his as you basically just go to win harder mode.

Transportation is another way to alleviate his rather low mobility once he loses Running Shot or at the lower starting line. A taxi works well since he doesn’t fly and Sidestep pairs nicely with that at 100 points. I really like TK as it serves as a way to get him into combat quicker, equip on turn 1, and can group enemies together to make his Energy Explosion really pay off.

Secondary/Tertiary attackers are going to depend on what point value you’re playing him at. 200 points doesn’t leave you a lot of room and you’ll want a good support line to make him hit hard. At 100 points it’s a good idea to run someone else that can supplement more damage and help to weaken enemies. I recommend playing him as a ranged attacker, so tie-up figures work well with him, but other ranged characters with Enhancement could be great as well.

More than anything, Murder Machine desperately wants to win map roll. Elevation and hindering terrain are going to hose him a lot, so a theme team is almost necessary. That’s going to be pretty hard to do though with Monst- oh wait. No it isn’t. Well it’s not like he has any other good Keywords. Oh wait, Robot? Okay yeah, this should be very easy.

You might have noticed that the header of today’s team build said 19/20 Modern. Moving forward, all new team builds will be using the coming rotation as a baseline, meaning I won’t use any figures that will be retiring in July. This will help to keep these builds more relevant in just a couple months.

The rest is business as usual; 300 Modern.

300 Modern Murder Machine Team – 19/20 Modern

The character I talked about in the beginning of the article was none of than the Super Rare Iron Man from Earth X! This guy pairs incredibly well with Murder Machine. He’s not much to start with as he just has Barrier and Force Blast with no movement, attack, or damage, but he does have the ability to bring in Iron Avengers which is very good and helps to supplement Murder Machine with everything he needs. He’s also incredibly difficult to score points on as he has a fantastic STOP click that turns him into a monstrous ranged attacker on his own. Plus he gets even more stupid on the Stark Tower map from the same set.

(+5 points) IRON AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE BONUS: The bystaners printed on this map are “Iron Avengers.” At the beginning of the game, choose a friendly character of 50 points or more. That character has “POWER: Roll a d6. If the result is odd, generate the matching Iron Avenger in the square equal to the result if that Iron Avenger isn’t already on the map. If EAX#056 Iron Man is on your starting force, he must be the chosen character. If so, he can’t otherwise generate Iron Avengers. Instead, this Location bonus is a FREE action and he generates an Iron Avenger on any result (not just on odd number results).

Because this is a beginning of the game effect as is Iron Man’s own ability to bring in two Iron Avengers at the start of the game, you can stack them to where you get the Iron Avengers first and then Tony becomes the star of the map stopping his production of Iron Avengers normally. You’ll only get to pick from his original three of Steelbow, Monolith, and Sting, but it’s totally worth it.

So now you can throw out 6 different pogs, all with Flight and Indomitable, with a host of different abilities. My favorites are Crimson Sage for Probability Control, Bolt for Hypersonic harassment, and Steelbow for some legitimate great ranged damage, but your picks may vary.

The map is pretty great too; indoor so your Monolith will do a great job at blocking lines of fire, and very little hindering terrain for Stealth. The elevation is kind of a bummer, but it’s not too bad.

Next up is I.S.A.A.C., and this should seem very familiar as I included him on my last build with Black Bolt, so I won’t go into too-much depth here. Basically I.S.A.A.C. gives us a ton more pogs to work with including one with Barrier (which gives us Barrier every turn – read more on that in the Black Bolt Team Build here). I.S.A.A.C. is also incredibly hard to KO so that gives us yet another big point denial figure that has some wild abilities and powers of his own. Perplex on click 1 is amazing, and Outwit against anyone in a starting zone can completely ruin some teams. Like Tony, I.S.A.A.C. switches on when he hits his STOP click and becomes a very scary melee attacker.

For equipment, I went with Exospex as it’s just the best equipment for him. You can pickup Stealth to keep him safe after destroying some rubble, Pulse Wave to hit super hard, Running Shot to help him engage, Charge to take to your fists, or Hypersonic Speed to get the best of all worlds. If you don’t have this mythical eyewear, I would go with the Goblin Glider as my immediate backup or Mjolnir as a secondary option. Those are both very good options.

For ID cards, you have wonderful options thanks to three very different point values on your team. While Murder Machine shouldn’t be calling anyone in, Iron Man is perfectly capable of doing so at 125 points, as is I.S.A.A.C. at 50 points. I went with Cyclops and Jean Grey as the summons of choice. We can’t afford a Headmaster/Wanted card, so it’s two student cards meaning Wolverine is out. Cyclops gives us another fantastic ranged attacker and Jean can do some crazy tech, especially at her full 90 points. Like most teams, these can easily be swapped out for whatever you have or want to use.

This team has some insane board-flooding potential thanks to the Iron Avengers and I.S.A.A.C. pogs you’ll be popping out. Monolith works wonderfully to get Murder Machine his spex on turn 1 (move up to pick up, Sidestep back, Murder Machine Sidesteps). I.S.A.A.C. creates potentially the best protection ever. It’s a solid team that I feel plays even better than it looks on screen and I’m looking forward to playing it soon.

If you want to play Murder Machine with a Monster team, I would recommend Venom Cap at 50 points (good luck – I still don’t have one), Barbatos at 100, and some good support like Dr. Frankenstein or perhaps Surtur to share that sweet 12 attack value. If playing Murder Machine at 200 is more your style, I would absolutely go Monsters with Dr. Frankenstein for some healing and a lot of cheap retaliators to boost your theme team roll, or even including Venom Cap again to gain a named theme team. There’s a stupid amount of choices with Monsters right now, but you have to have deep pockets if you want to go that route.

What are your thoughts on this team? What would you change or what have you tried that worked well? Is he your personal favorite of the Chases? Let me know in the comments section!

If you weren’t aware, we showed the very first previews of Black Panther and The Illuminati over on Two Clicks From KO last week, so that’s something you should absolutely treat yourself to. Aaron had a great write up about them so I encourage you to check it out. That set is going to be massive, so what Rebirth figures do you want me to build around before we get swamped with more Marvel? Let me know!

Cheers, everyone!