Welcome back to Chase or Pass, a series that talks about the expensive pieces from sets and whether or not you should chase these pieces down or pass them up. Arguably the biggest set of the year has released with the return of Chase equipment, so this seems like the most important article in the series. So, what’s the verdict?

Unlike many of the last few sets (and honestly very similar to recent Marvel trends), the Chase theme for Avengers, Black Panther, and the Illuminati is… odd. We have two Avengers 10M B.C. chases, two Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Avengers, Red Skull, a sentient Cosmic Cube who does pair with Red Skull in storyline, and finally an Annihilation Thanos from 2006. That’s wildly different than normal and I would say there isn’t a set theme for these figures. It’s more of a smorgasbord of “who can we give high-level objects to?”

Speaking of objects, there’s some high-caliber, heavily competitive new equipment in this set meaning these Chases are most likely going to fetch top-dollar for a while, especially with Nationals approaching quickly. This is a whole new world when it comes to which figures you track down and which you pass up as there won’t be a clear window where their prices will dip. A good showing for any of the Chases or the items they come with can have a tremendous effect on their prices in the secondary market, and since Nationals is so soon after release, there won’t be a true “cooling off” period for prices. Chases and items that are desirable will continue to bring in a ton of cash or trade fodder.

Since most of these figures comes with an object, I think it’s my duty to do things a little differently this go-around. However, that doesn’t mean making a post for each Chase and each object; that would be 12 different entries and that’s insane. Instead I’ll be featuring a separate paragraph for each figure about their item and the playability outside of using it with the figure it comes with. I’ll also do a short highlight with the casual/competitive aspect of each chase to have a nice sum up of the object.

So with that bit of information and probably yet another large article ahead of us, let’s sail into the cosmos.

185/200 Points (with Item), 8 Clicks, 8 Range (Single Target). Hydra and Power Cosmic Team Abilities. A.I.M., Hydra, Skeleton Crew, and Soldier Keywords.

A very different take than we’re used to seeing with Red Skull and fueled with the Power Cosmic pumping through his veins. Red Skull starts things off with a brutal opening of Running Shot, Pulse Wave, and Invincible with some solid numbers and while he does dip into Impervious after just 1 click, he keeps some steady values and has an overall beefy dial. His Leadership power (with Perplex built in) gives him the ability to Mind Control enemies from anywhere on the map for free giving him some huge power swings that hide the overall value of his dial. His solemn trait is punishing to anyone foolish enough to challenge him and even tries to take a swing whereas many figures today would only get a benefit if they took some damage. To top it off, Johann has the Power Cosmic team ability to keep his big defensive powers safe and his long range will let him be a powerful sniper if he isn’t using Pulse Wave, furthering how versatile he can play.

Red Skull will dominate; as long as you can keep him healthy. While the middle dial is still quite strong with Outwit and a brutal Poison power that should theoretically pump out a lot more damage than it would seem, Skull becomes incredibly slow (especially on his last two clicks with a paltry 4 with Earthbound/Neutralized basically paralyzing him in place) and his damage capabilities tank hard. The Hydra team ability isn’t very helpful either with Red Skull eating a ton of your points, but that’s not really a negative aspect to the dial; more of an added bonus that’s nice to have in a pinch.

The Skull’s cost to tack on a Cosmic Cube brings him to 200 points, but the Cube that comes with him is not very good for him since he lacks the Cosmic Keyword (Kobik’s is much better for him), so he has a 33% chance of dropping it if he uses it which is not what you want from a Chase figure. But that’s okay because on a Cosmic figure, this item will be fantastic. It seems a bit complicated, but you’re getting a pick-a-power object that additionally modifies a non-range value by +1. While your opponent does get a small choice in what you get to pick, you’re always going to win. One could argue that your opponent will always pick speed so that you modify perhaps the weakest value once the game is underway but doing so gives you access to things like Pulse Wave, Invincible, Probability Control, or anything else game changing. They sacrifice a lot to stop a +1 increase to a stat that will matter. This cube is deceptively good, even for its 30-point price tag.

Casual: Sure, Red Skull will be a fun figure that could be a nightmare to knock off his top clicks but doesn’t feel like a complete dominating force. Once he’s taken some damage, he feels like less a mountain to climb and more of a typical challenge.

Competitive: I don’t see Red Skull making a presence as he’s just a bit too costly for what he does. If he had the Cosmic Keyword he might have had a shot, but there’s just too many ways to defeat him in this setting for his high cost.

Cosmic Cube 007: A fantastic item that requires a Cosmic character and a large point investment but has the ability to break that figure. This is a fantastic way to make any figure stand out. I would track this down if you play Cosmic teams.

100/115 Points (with Item), 6 Clicks, 8 Range (Double Targets). Power Cosmic Team Ability. Cosmic, Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Thunderbolts Keywords.

Most people probably don’t know who Kobik is as she’s a pretty new character – she’s a sentient Cosmic Cube that the Red Skull used to reprogram Steve Rogers into believing he was Hydra and had the form of a little girl. This dial matches that description as Kobik is bursting with powers but isn’t capable of much offense; she’s all about screwing things up for your opponent and rewriting the game using two traits. The first lets you swap team abilities for an ally and an opponent until your next turn (regardless of range), essentially taking away their team ability for the entire game while the other is extremely powerful letting you swap out one of your characters on your force for someone on your sideline with the same name. If that character happens to be the same points or less than who you’re taking off the board, you get to use the replacement characters’ starting line basically giving you a free top-dial heal. I guarantee you that someone will find a way to break this trait.

Kobik is fast and she’s incredibly adept at supporting your team with Probability Control, Perplex, and her combo of Super Senses and Shape Change with a 19-defense and said Prob Control will make her a total pain to deal with. However, once she does take some damage, she drops off fairly significantly, but you’re still getting 6-clicks of Probability Control that’s going to create chaos the entire time she’s on the board. With her high attack values to start, Kobik can easily be buffed via Enhancement to become a strong secondary attacker rather than pure support, but she’s still incredible at that task alone. She’ll require a strong team build to become a star.

Her Cube doesn’t quite have the power of Red Skull’s but it’s completely safe with no chances of dropping or pre-requisites, and can provide some of the strongest passive buffs depending on what you need. A placement of 3 squares (not requiring lines of fire), seeing through elevated and hindering terrain with +2 to range, or handing out action tokens or penetrating damage for free are all options that you’ll want in any game you play. You also don’t have to worry about your opponent mucking up what you want to do; you just get to do it. Kobik will profit a lot from this Cube as it will help keep her from eating your action tokens to get her into the fight, and this will be a more well-rounded piece of gear for all your team builds than Red Skull’s Cube.

Casual: Most people aren’t going to be upset that you brought a 100/115-point figure that pretty much only does support to a game, so you should be more than safe. That being said, once they experience what Kobik is capable of, you might get some scowls if she returns in another event.

Competitive: This is a tough one, but I think Kobik could find her way into competitive with the right team. The ability to completely wash away damage on a character and dip into a new power selection is incredibly appetizing and she provides so much control for her cost while giving you a great point value for an ID battery that’s tough to KO.

Cosmic Cube 008: Incredibly solid and much better than it seems on paper. Sure, 30 points is a bit high for these effects, but chances are any character you equip with this thing is going to rock the house.

135/150 Points (with Item), 7 Clicks, 8 Range (Double Targets). Avengers and Power Cosmic Team Abilities. Armor, Avengers, Illuminati, Scientist, and Stark Industries Keywords.

Iron Man suffers from an issue of identity crisis in that this dial really doesn’t know what it wants to do. It starts off strong with some good values and reducers up front but drops off in all regards with just a single click of damage. He also starts the game with Sidestep rather than Running Shot requiring a push to get there but sacrificing so much more (although he does gain Outwit over Leadership which is technically better for him). Once Tony takes a few clicks of damage, he drops into this odd position of Force Blast with Impervious and Perplex which makes him more immobile than the character has ever really been outside of a common. Finally, he ends on a couple shut-down clicks with Plasticity, Incapacitate, Outwit, and mostly returning to his opening stats.

It’s not all bad though; Tony is a fantastic stealth breaker and he’s more about the long game rather than getting in quick and getting his hands dirty. He would much rather slowly creep up and take big shots, carrying his friends and pulling off tokens, than rushing in and getting his hands dirty. It’s not that the dial is bad; it’s that it plays so differently than we’re used to with him. He’s also got a nice trick up his sleeve that allows him to KO an equipped Infinity Gauntlet to stop a KO and putting him on click 6, perhaps his best non-top click, mobility aside. But is it worth KO’ing a 30-point object that gives him his true power identity to revive on this click?

Tony’s Gauntlet is incredible granting any power in the game at will, with a 33% chance of granting another, or a 33% chance of dealing its’ wearer 1 unavoidable damage. On Iron Man, this pushes him from okay to excellent, though unless you roll a 5-6 and get to pick a second power, you’re probably going to pick something you wish he had to begin with like Running Shot, Hypersonic Speed, or some other tool to help him get there rather than pilling on damage. On it’s own, the Gauntlet gives any character the ability to straight up pick any power which is fantastic and could see a resurgence on older pick-a-power figures (like Jakeem Thunder until retirement in a month) that are no longer relevant. 30 points is a lot, but there’s no limit on what the Gauntlet can do.

Casual: While you must play him with his Gauntlet to be worth anything, Iron Man doesn’t feel too powerful. If anything, he feels a little weak for his points even with the Gauntlet. A good player will be able to make him perform accordingly, but he should be completely fine for casual play.

Competitive: I don’t have high hopes for Tony. He’s lacking too much, and he declines too quickly for how much he costs to add onto your team.

Infinity Gauntlet 009: A powerhouse item that will be a staple until it retires. It’s a little scary that you can kill off the bearer and it’s a whopping 30 points, but you get so much value, and it’s a great offset for the insanely overpowered Exospex as these should actually be more readily available.

135/150 Points (with Item), 6 Clicks, 6 Range (Single Target). Avengers Team Ability. Avengers, Illuminati, and Soldier Keywords.

Steven breaks our Power Cosmic/8 Range party! Ah, welcome back to the highlight, Cap. The first previewed Chase (which was shown right here on our blog!) is still as mighty as he was when first revealed, even after the entire set has been spoiled. Cap brings some incredibly strong stats (11-attacks all the way through the dial), damage, maneuverability, and extreme survivability for his cost which makes Iron Man look like he really was sitting around in a cabin while Steve was doing all the work. Cap has an awesome suite of powers that make him incredibly fierce to come across and capable of dealing damage equal to what you think Cap could do with a Gauntlet, which isn’t even required.

Obviously the best part of this dial is Cap’s trait which makes him take a maximum of 1 damage from attacks which everyone focuses on and makes him insanely tanky thanks to Invincible and Impervious, but also has another brutal effect of Barrier, but he can use it as FREE to generate 1 marker giving him much stronger defenses and/or control and makes him a more well-rounded character. His attack power, present on all 11-attack clicks, not only gives him knockback, but adds 10 to the amount pushing anyone cap touches all the way across the board and most likely into terrain or off elevation. Even if they don’t take damage, he’s forcing opposing characters to work their way back into the fight while he clears and just does it again. Once you finally do work through that dial, which isn’t as weak to swarms as you might think once again thanks to his reducers, he has an insane 19-Defend with Support to help bring his allies back from the brink. He’s the complete package.

The lack of Power Cosmic hurts him a lot, but that’s fine because you absolutely play him with his Gauntlet that gives him not only Power Cosmic, but the ability to protect himself or any other bearer from 6 different powers COMPLETELY. Since it’s PROTECTED, that means Cap, or whoever is wearing the Gauntlet, can’t even be targeted by these powers. That is way better than it seems, especially when you notice that opposing Probability Control is one of those, as is Pulse Wave. Now this Gauntlet does decay over time so you don’t want to use it ever turn unless you’re feeling lucky, but once the fighting starts, it will be so painful for your opponent to deal with something that protects you from so much. The chance of unavoidable damage isn’t that big of a deal either as you’ll protect yourself from a lot more damage than you could possibly deal yourself. Hell, it’s worth it just to give Power Cosmic and never even activate it.

Casual: Brutal and borderline broken for casual games. I would be cautious about how much you use Steve in your friendly games as he basically won’t ever go down, and you still have half your build to play with.

Competitive: Steve should be a shoo-in for competitive play. Not only does he have a ton of versatility and survivability (making him a wonderful ID battery), he can use Iron Man’s Gauntlet to give him even more offensive capabilities, or just use his own making him incredibly difficult to KO.

Infinity Gauntlet 010: I think the other Gauntlet will be better for your everyday team, but this one is much stronger for a tentpole figure as it gives them the best team ability in the game along with ridiculous protections.

85 Points, 6 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Animal, Avengers, Deity, Past, Wakanda, and Warrior Keywords.

Without a doubt, this is the strongest of the Avengers 1M B.C. Chases that we’ve seen so far. Black Panther is an incredibly annoying and precise shadow that will cause so much frustrations. But is this Panther really worth the buzz he’s getting? Like his ancient teammates, he has some very strong traits and is similar to the Prime treatment where his stats seem very high for how cheap he is to field. Three traits give him Ultra-Stealth in printed hindering terrain making him basically immune to ranged attacks on the right map, Blades/Claws/Fangs while shutting it down for opponent’s within 3 squares, and the typical Ancient Incarnation trait that will pull tokens off of him when another Black Panther hits. Couple these traits with his impressive Hypersonic Speed, 12-attack with Precision Strike, 19-defense with Super Senses, and 3-damage Battle Fury, and you have one very good agile attacker, and he’s the best of the 1M B.C. figures to pair with another version of the character for that Ancient Incarnation trait.

That’s great, but let’s break down what this dial actually does. With 3-damage and no way to utilize his Blades outside of basing an opponent (or them basing him), he’s dealing average damage (although the Precision Strike is nice). Hypersonic is amazing, but with only an 8-speed, he’s not going to run your typical Flash routes and will instead be subject to either being moved/placed close to the fight and waiting a turn to pounce, or just staying completely aggressive all game and never retreating no matter what happens. Once he does take some damage, he does keep up some strong offense with Charge, Blades, and Exploit Weakness mid-dial and Flurry, Blades, Battle Fury at the end.

Make no mistake, this is an incredible dial and he will be absurdly annoying to deal with, but you have to change your perception of what he’s accomplishing. Black Panther is not your primary attacker – he’s a secondary attacker that will carve through backlines like no one’s business. Playing two of them isn’t going to offer you the same offence that two Iron Fists did in Secret Wars: Battleworld.

Casual: Even with that last statement, he’s still so incredibly frustrating and quick that casual players will probably hate playing against him. Playing him with any other Black Panther will make him pretty busted.

Competitive: There’s a very good chance that Black Panther will see play. A pair of them only eats 170 points and his Keywords are very good making it easy to build around him with a theme team. Having a pair of Precision Strike quick kitty’s that never need to clear is very good.

140 Points, 7 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). Power Cosmic Team Ability. Avengers, Cosmic, and Past Keywords.

Starbrand, the least known character of the 1M B.C. lineup, is one beefy boy with immense stats and Power Cosmic to back him up. Like Black Panther, he’s rocking three traits; Ancient Incarnation to pull tokens off of himself, one that stops all Hypersonic attacks within 3-squares of him, and a KO effect that empowers a random character when he goes down in the fight. One of these is very good and that would be the shutting down Hypersonic attacks – since the trait says he and allies can’t be attacked by characters using Hypersonic Speed, it doesn’t matter how the opponent wants to engage. If they’re using a speedster, you just don’t care, and that’s a fantastic ability.

However, Starbrand’s other two traits are very iffy. His Ancient Incarnation is the hardest to pull of as we only have three Starbrand’s in the game, and his KO effect has a chance to give an opposing character +1 to all combat values for the rest of the game. That’s very dangerous as he’s strictly a melee figure and can be picked off before he ever gets a chance to smash with his big values.

Concerning the dial, that part is absolutely worth his points if you’re looking for a bruiser. He has an uncharacteristically large Charge radius with Flight for a Hulk-type character, and massive values with Close Combat Expert up front. While he does start with Impervious, he actually gets more tanky with Invincible mid-dial and Quake while settling into a more moderately high speed value. The last three clicks on his dial give him a lot more staying power with Flurry, Steal Energy, Invulnerability, and Probability Control, so putting him down isn’t as easy as it seems on paper. With all that said, the real issue with Starbrand is that he just doesn’t really do anything for a Chase. I think most people would agree that they want a Chase to be unique in what they bring to the table, whereas Starbrand kind of feels like an efficient Super Rare or Prime.

Casual: This will be Starbrand’s playground by far. Big-point games to include the entire Avengers 1M B.C. team (once we get Phoenix), or in regular games as a destructive powerhouse will be his bread-and-butter. He’s strong enough to pull a ton of work, but basic enough that your opponent’s shouldn’t be too upset that you brought a Chase.

Competitive: No chance. Starbrand brings nothing to the table that another character can’t do better for less points. Not to mention melee-only figures don’t see play in Competitive.

160/110 Points, 9 Clicks/6 Clicks, 7 Range (Single Target). Mystics and Power Cosmic Team Abilities. Cosmic, Minions of Thanos, and Negative Zone Keywords.

Did we really need an Ultra Chase that’s competitive? I don’t think so, but lo and behold, here we are.

Most of the time, Thanos has a pretty high point cost and we’ve only seen that a whopping 3 times in regular sets before this in the last year, but not this time. No, this Thanos is all about brutal efficiency and not wasting a single point. His stats are god-like as are his reducers and growing power for how cheap he is compared to his other incarnations. Thanos starts off incredibly strong (even if he’s a bit slow to the fight), hits a small downtick mid-dial, and then surges back with incredible force before shoving off his mortal coil. This guy is all about slowly marching into the fight and then endlessly KO’ing figures until the map is clean.

Thanos’ special attack power will grant him nothing but Precision Strike in most games, but when there are bystanders or duplicate characters on the board, he becomes even more powerful, able to make free attacks and healing for bystanders that die off when whoever produced them is KO’d. That’s great and will serve very well with how many bystander producers we’ve seen in the last year, but it’s Thanos’ damage power that truly makes him incredible. Perplex that can’t target himself might not seem that great, but then you read on and see that if he targets an ally they gain Power Cosmic, and if he targets an opponent, they lose Willpower, PROTECTED: Outwit, and Protected: Outwit. So not only is Thanos all about wading into war slowly at just over half your build – he also buffs your allies extremely well or completely destroys opponent’s figures, all for free.

If that wasn’t enough, pumping out a Skreet bystander pushes him into undeniable domination. Autonomous with Pen/Psy (4-range), 19-Impervious, and a supped up Perplex for other characters, but she can choose to try and double the Perplex with a 33% chance that it becomes worthless instead. This would have been good even if that was the basic effect, but the fact that you can just choose to use regular Perplex and not risk the roll is gravy. So now you’re getting 2 guaranteed Perplexes on top of an already stupid dial. No, that’s not competitive at all.

But wait, there’s more! Thanos comes with the Ego Gem, an item that by itself is actually not that good as the Reality Gem grants Perplex for the same cost and the Ego Gem only benefits if you have more Infinity Gems on your team and you take the time to collect them. But since Thanos comes equipped with it FOR FREE (i.e. no point payment), he gets yet another modifier to his values and you can run a number of Gems with him to power him up even further. Is it the best item here? No, certainly not, but when it doesn’t count against your object count and lets you equip multiple Gems to Thanos to make him even more powerful, that seems pretty brutal to me.

Casual: Sure, play Ultra Chase Thanos in Casual. There’s no way you’ll get sour looks or people will actively setup their team super excited to play. Can you feel the sarcasm?

Competitive: I will be blown away if Thanos doesn’t see some serious play in competitive. With all the number boosting he brings to the team I just can’t see him as either a replacement for Starfox on Cosmic teams or even a new figure to build teams around.

Ego Gem: Thankfully Thanos’ item really isn’t that great on its own. It’s value comes from Thanos so you don’t have to worry about tracking this one down if you aren’t looking to drop the funds on the Mad Titan.

What are your thoughts on these Chases? Do you think I hit the mark or did I make a complete goof? Let me know in the comments below!

See you all next week on Clix Fix as I delve into a new Team Build. Until then, remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!