Surprise and welcome back to another (early!) set review! Today I’m tackling the massive Avengers, Black Panther, and the Illuminati set, complete with all-new cosmic objects. We’ve heard people throw around that this is one of the most powerful sets in a long time, but does it hold up to that?

I can’t tell you how excited I am for this set to finally release. There’s so many good Marvel aspects here that we haven’t seen for so long and a bunch of my personal boxes are checked off. The Illuminati was perhaps one of the coolest stories in Marvel before Secret Wars went down and even though we can’t include members like Reed Richards, Professor Xavier, and Beast, there’s still a lot to work with (and we could see those members except Reed in the next X-Men set this year). Black Panther has become a huge icon of Marvel and it’s great to see Wakanda get more love. Elders of the Universe make their return! New Infinity Stones and Infinity Gauntlets! It goes on and on.

Before I jump into the review, let’s take a look at some statistics for those of you looking more into sealed. Powers like Outwit and Stealth are big deal but don’t seem as standard in Marvel sets than they are in DC. That being said, we need to track something else: Power Cosmic. There’s a lot of that here, or at least it feels like it. Keep in mind that I’m only tracking characters that start with these powers (or anyone with Power Cosmic).

Outwit: 2 Commons, 2 Uncommons, 3 Rares, 2 Super Rares, 0 Chases

Stealth: 5 Commons, 3 Uncommons, 3 Rares, 3 Super Rares, 0 Chases

Power Cosmic: 1 Common, 0 Uncommons, 4 Rares, 5 Super Rares, 4 Chases, 1 Ultra Chase

A surprising amount of all of these in this set with a decent chunk of Stealth in the common and uncommon slots. With that, I would give everyone in this set with Stealth a little bump in consideration when building your team. Power Cosmic is more common in this set, but chances are players will be running 1 or 2 figures maximum unless they get incredibly lucky, so Outwit is still a great power to run.

Alright, let’s get on with it! Remember that these are my personal reviews and they aren’t the definitive ratings of figures. It’s okay if you disagree with me! Also, I don’t like to say that any figure is inherently bad as we’re looking at comic book characters that some people might really love.

One last note – in case you weren’t aware, I write these reviews as figures are spoiled, so I don’t favor anything higher than the rest, nor do I compare them to others in the set. It helps keep me grounded and lets me look at these figures with a spotlight on them rather than bulking them all together. I feel this gives a more honest review about them.

I ALMOST FORGOT! Because I write these as things are spoiled, we had no idea which Gems or objects came with which character. Some of these might be correct, others may not. The Constructed scores are good as I waited to review certain characters until their items were finished. The Sealed scores may be off slightly, so if your figure comes with an item, possibly uptick them a bit.

ENOUGH LET’S GO!

COMMONS

001 IRON MAN

Constructed – I was really bummed that we’re losing the common Iron Man from What If… as I really dig that figure as a great common Iron Man, but this is one heck of a replacement! Tony kicks this set off with some wonderful values and powers (10-Hypersonic with 11-attack and 4-damage?), and has an amazing Regeneration power that doesn’t make you feel like you burned a turn using it. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Usually you have to pull at least an Uncommon if not higher rarity to get a devastating Hypersonic ranged figure. Iron Man doesn’t care about that and gives us a wonderful ranged attacker dial that will do almost all of your heavy lifting in a common slot. He’ll be a dominant force. Score: 5/5

002 CAPTAIN MARVEL

Constructed – A stellar common dial for Carol. Not too powerful but very efficient and possibly the most annoying cheap Hypersonic figure ever. Impervious and Precision Strike is one hell of a combo for something so cheap and pushing into Sidestep with Ranged Combat Expert rocks. Add in the Reality Gem and you’re getting another target with Perplex and TK for the early game. This dial is incredible. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Insane value for 45 points. Carol will be a dominating force for less than 1/6th of your build. You most likely won’t get the Reality Gem to help her out but that’s fine because she’ll be incredible without it. A must-use common. Score: 5/5

003 ELEKTRA

Constructed – So we’re getting Shifting Focus again and it’s back to Elektra. Color me unimpressed. Elektra is one of those characters that always does exactly the same thing, and its always sub-par in my book with this dial being no different. Without the other SF dial, this one doesn’t stand too well as she’s not all that fast, lacks Willpower, and is easy to hit on the approach. The healing is neat, but I’d rather spend my 75 points in other ways. Score: 2/5

Sealed – You probably aren’t going to pull a set of SF figures between 2 boosters, so I would leave this one in the pack. She’s an ordinary melee figure that has no bells or whistles to give her an edge, especially at 1/4th of your build. Score: 2/5

004 DORA MILAJE

Constructed – Teamed up with Black Panther, the Dora will be brutal pieces that will allow your Panther to take some hits and possibly smack back with some healing. Much stronger than Joker Thugs but also 4 times the cost. On their own, they’re not bad but are a bit slow to approach. In a group with a Black Panther, they’re good. Very good for a generic though and their dial and cost shows their skill. Score: 3/5

Sealed – There’s a decent number of Black Panthers in this set, but if you don’t manage to pull one, the Dora’s value will be limited. Still, you can’t be upset about a figure that can pump out 4-damage, Steal Energy at the end of the dial with 18-Defend and provides free healing when they go down for 40 points. Good filler. Score: 4/5

005 A.I.M. RED SQUAD

Constructed – Wait a minute, if I play an Avengers team I can run these dudes for 20 points and get Empower AND Enhancement? Who cares what the values are on the dial – these dudes are worth their weight in gold. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Pretty good chance at rolling a themed team in this set, but even if you can’t you get to pick every match whether you get Enhancement or Empower based on the team you’re fighting against. That’s some solid versatility for 20 points. Score: 5/5

006 DORA MILAJE MIDNIGHT ANGEL

Constructed – I like these generics a lot! Good stats, Willpower and Stealth to keep them pretty well protected for a 30-point figure and some serious damage potential thanks to Close Combat Expert. Wakanda Forever looks like a fantastic shared trait and can make a squad of these ladies terrifying. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You can’t ask for a more valuable dial for just 30 points in the common slot. The Dora will pull a ton of work and are fantastic candidates to tie-up your opponent or shift them in the direction you want, giving you instant healing if and when they go down. If left unchecked, they’ll dish some heavy damage. Score: 5/5

007 WAKANDA SCIENTIST

Constructed – 15 points is a good cost for a figure with Empower, although without a Wakanda team, they’re very basic. However, if you’re running a Wakanda team, these are amazing. Score: 3/5

Sealed – I love filler figures that are this low to easily fit into your team and have Sidestep to prevent them from eating your actions. They might break your theme, but adding +1 to damage to your team for 15 points is a good bet. Score: 4/5

008 NAKIA

Constructed – I like this support dial. You can pay 50 points and have a good shift click when she goes down, or keep her at 45 and give free healing to anyone on your team. Either way she starts off with a nice suite of Stealth, Willpower, and Perplex. A bit costly, but she’ll probably do well. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Perplex is strong in sealed and giving it to a character with Stealth and Willpower makes her much harder to deal with. Once Unlike other support figures that have some bite at the end of the dial, Nakia will always provide value as she can give your main attacker (or anyone else on your team that needs it) free healing when she goes down. If you open Malice too, a must-play. Score: 4/5

009 BLACK PANTHER

Constructed – Kevin brings Perplex and the PD team ability for 45 points which is okay but not fantastic. His Keywords are light and his dial is small, but combine him with the Uncommon White Tiger by adding that +5 trait and suddenly you have a fairly deep dial for just 50 points that takes at least two hits to take down no matter what. Score: 3/5

Sealed – A dream support figure if you have some range on your team. 3-damage means that Panther can throw some punches too (or take some shots thanks to his 6 range), and he can easily Perplex his own attack up. Willpower on a figure this cheap is a nice benefit, too. This is an example of a figure that you’ll probably end up with thanks to his points and you’ll be surprised at how good he is. Score: 4/5

010 S.H.I.E.L.D. DIPLOMAT

Constructed – This might seem like a gimmick figure that’s just downright bad. However, you’re getting 18-Defend and Perplex for just 20 points. As far as having to Perplex an opposing character, you can easily target someone that you aren’t planning on dealing with like a support figure, or upping the defense of someone that you aren’t going to hit. You can get around this easily. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Nothing to hate on this dial. Perplex and 18-Defend for 20 points is fantastic. Same thing as above; this is an easy issue to work around. Score: 5/5

011 ANT-MAN

Constructed – Looks like the traitor mechanic is going in every set now, which is fine because the flavor rocks. I super dig this version of Scott as a solid size-changer for other figures on your force at just 30 points. 5 Clicks for 30 points is pretty damn good, and the Guardians of the Galaxy Keyword makes him a shoe-in for my collection. On the board though, he’s a bit above average. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Size changing for 30 points could be a huge benefit to help you protect figures better from ranged attacks or make anyone on your team become a taxi. That’s some good tech for such a low cost, and you get 5 clicks, too. Score: 5/5

012 CRYSTAL

Constructed – Crystal is a very meh dial with the current design. Her values are below average after just two damage and she doesn’t do anything special as her Smoke Cloud is a costed action. Free Quake is cool, but not with these values and ES/D as her defense. That said, pushing her to Perplex is very good with the new Inhumans from Earth X. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Not what you want from a 50-point dial. You’re practically paying that much for a Taxi that can throw down a Quake and then get eaten as soon as you pass the turn. If you really want to run her, push her as soon as you can. Score: 2/5

013a BLACK WIDOW

Constructed – This dial would have been exceptional if it had Stealth. I still like it, but it’s a bit too heavy in points for how easy she is to one-shot KO, although with the Space Gem equipped, Natasha will be a fantastic taxi for Avenger teams (who thought we would ever say that sentence?). Perplex saves her from a bad score. Score: 3/5

Sealed – You most likely won’t have that Space Gem to push her value, but Natasha has an exceptional dial for just 35 points and great Keywords to make her fit on practically any theme team you could try and build. She can be a total pain with an 18-Combat Reflexes thanks to her Perplex, Incapacitating two people every other turn Score: 4/5

013b BLACK WIDOW

Constructed – The 60-point line seems a bit overcosted for what you’re getting, but that 30-point line is brutal. Yelena will serve as a fantastic support figure that can run in, turn off a defense power from an adjacent character, then Sidestep away into safety. Indomitable is a nice sugar coating. A nice silver bullet to Protected: Outwit figures. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Outwit is technically a better power, but Yelena is a good figure to pull if you don’t find yourself with any. Stealth, Shape Change, and Combat Reflexes is a lot to break through in sealed, so I can see her being a supreme nuisance. Try your best to play her at 30 points. Score: 3/5

014 HULK

Constructed – It’s like WizKids has someone with a PHD figuring out new Hulk dials because they’re always impressive now! While swarms will destroy this Hulk, most teams won’t be able to deal with the healing mechanic he has built in along with his huge offensive stats and that massive 5-Outwit on his first two clicks. What a fantastic common! Score: 5/5

Sealed – Do you really need to read this? If you open Hulk, you’re going places Kid. This dude is going to ruin Sealed. Score: 5/5

015 YELLOWJACKET

Constructed – What we have here is a mediocre melee figure that can tap into either Outwit or Perplex until he takes 1 damage and then he’s slow and clunky. And I can’t help but dislike that he’s 55 points rather than 50. Not a fan of this Hank Pym. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Sealed is a much better environment for Hank as the choice between Outwit or Perplex gives him a lot of versatility and both are supremely good powers that can turn the tide. But he’s a bit expensive for either of those, so I would only draft him if you absolutely need one of those powers for your primary attacker and you have a gaping 55-point hole. Score: 4/5

016 WINTER SOLDIER

Constructed – Even with the chance of Bucky permanently falling into an enemies hands, this is one scary dial for 45 points. 11-attack and 3-damage with Running Shot, 5 clicks of health, and Regen at the end (with some nice Sidestep/Ranged Combat Expert Clicks sprinkled in) is hyper aggressive, just how Bucky should be. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good Winter Solider with reprogramming, and this honestly feels exactly like who the character is. To me, this is a legacy dial. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Who cares that he can change sides; look at that value! Bucky will do a ton of heavy lifting for such a low cost that you’d be crazy not to run him. Unless of course you were very lucky in your pulls. Score: 5/5

017 VOYAGER

Constructed – Black Widow looked like a neat taxi for Avengers teams, and then Voyager came in and completely ruined her. This is a fantastic Avengers support figure that has some wonderful tricks up her sleeve. At either starting line (depending on your opponent), she’s got some killer value. Whatever you do, do not push her though. 17 with no powers is dangerous. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Voyager’s usefulness will heavily depend on how many characters you pulled that share a Keyword with her that you actually want to play. If it’s more than 2, she’s a solid. Thankfully even if you don’t have that, she’s still a very capable taxi/Perplex/Outwit/TK figure. Score: 4/5

UNCOMMONS

018 IRON MAN

Constructed – This is a neat idea to represent Tony when he was in a coma from the second Civil War and uploaded his consciousness into Riri’s suit/as a hologram. There’s some good value here with Leadership in a 6-square area and a perpetual support figure that can keep coming back and back (assuming you have enough copies as this does specify each needs to be on your sideline). However, with the new “Mercy Rule”, this could get very expensive and could shut you out of the game. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Leadership within 6 squares, a great taxi, and Outwit or Perplex on every click is pretty cool, but 50 points is a decent chunk to pay for that. He’s not an auto-include but don’t pass on him either. Think about what your team needs and if Stark can fill that role. Score: 3/5

019 CAPTAIN MARVEL

Constructed –Confession: I hate Karla Sofen a ton, so I already don’t like this dial. However, I have some backup as Karla is pretty easy to hit and take down for 100 points. 17-defense on most of her dial is not good at this price point, and hurts even more that she lacks Indom. That Perplex she has that she could use to up that defense? You’re going to want that for her attack because again, it’s average at 10. Justice Like Lightning is back which is neat though. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Large movement, Perplex, Flight, and a fairly long dial with Steal Energy is a lot better than in constructed. I still wouldn’t want to run her since she’s eating 1/3rd of your team, but if you have nothing else, you could potentially make her a large threat, especially with more Perplex or some ranged support. Score: 3/5

020 ELEKTRA

Constructed – The common Shifting Focus Elektra might not be all too unique, but this one is dynamite! Getting to make up to 3 free attacks is pretty boss, and typical for her character, her attack values spike mid-dial. The opening clicks aren’t great with that 10-attack, but some Perplex can turn her into a monster. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Elektra should be able to pull her weight at every click of her dial, and sealed is full of smaller point characters to get teams up to the build total, so she should have no problems KO’ing a few characters and triggering her trait. Score: 5/5

021 AYO

Constructed – I can pay 30 points for a hyper-efficient Blades figure with Leadership? What exactly is the issue here? Oh wait, I can pay 20 points for the same dial?! Good lord this is fantastic fodder. Just be cautious on that 20-point line as her betrayal trait is a replacement effect for when she’s KO’d, so she won’t trigger her Wakanda Forever trait, so you will lose that free healing. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Plain and simple; if you have the points open, fill that hole with Ayo. If you can manage her at 30, go for it. If not, she’s still a spicy attacker with some surprisingly good durability and longevity for 20 points. Score: 5/5

022 A.I.M. WHITE SQUAD

Constructed – These A.I.M. generics are fantastic with this dude having both Outwit and Perplex for just 30 points on an Avengers (or other) theme team. Their first click is a little worrisome, but the Support and Defend click on pushing they get supremely good. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Just like with the common Red Squad, it doesn’t matter if you can theme these guys or not. You get to choose Outwit or Perplex and you get a healer every game for 30 points. Solid. Score: 5/5

023 ANEKA

Constructed – A great captain for the generic Midnight Angels, Aneka is a vanilla dial that has some good offensive capabilities. But hold on a minute. Is she really 50 points for a four-click dial? That seems out of place compared to the other dials in the set. It’s too bad because she looked pretty good. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Defend with 18 is pretty nice in sealed, and Aneka also brings Flight and Sidestep to the party, so she’s a great center-of-the-team figure that can risk her neck to provide a last bit of aid via free healing once she goes down. Not the best use of 50 points but not bad either. Score: 3/5

024 SHURI

Constructed – Interesting that Shuri has a Bizarro dial (backwards). She starts off very weak and is a bit overcosted. If she takes a hit though, she can turn into a vicious attacker with lots of tricks up her sleeve. However, she has to be run with a Wakanda team to get the full benefit of her trait, and she has to take a hit to become worthwhile. That’s too high a cost for me to drop 60 points in todays game. Score: 2/5

Sealed – There’s no guarantee you pull any Wakanda pieces even if that’s a major theme to the set, so Shuri has a chance at being a large paper weight and a huge cost. Enhancement is good, but not at 60 points, even if you can syphon Prob/Perplex/Outwit or any other power from a friendly character. Score: 1/5

025 MALICE

Constructed – A fantastic Silver Bullet for this set, and a decent dial on her own. Malice never drops below a 10 attack and has some nice Steal Energy/Regeneration clicks at the end of her dial. The free penetrating damage to anyone on the map on KO is cool and can be a wrecking ball to a Wakanda figure (Gauntlet Panther anyone?). A little too easy to take out for my liking though. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Chances are pretty good that you’ll be facing some Wakanda figures, so having a figure with 12 attack and Blades for 50 points that significantly drops said Wakanda figure when she’s KO’d is pretty good. The Steal Energy/Regen at the end of the dial should give her some great survivability. Score: 5/5

026 WHITE TIGER

Constructed – This dial feels very much like a common, and I suspect he plays that way, too. Thankfully he moves through hindering terrain so his Stealth will actually help him quite a bit. I would probably only keep him on my sideline for the added trait on the common Black Panther. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Without the common Panther to morph into this guy on KO, this is a very sub-standard dial for 50 points. There’s nothing exciting here and unlike the common Panther, he doesn’t have too many options, but he’s 5 more points. Score: 2/5

027 EVERETT K. ROSS

Constructed – 30 points for a +2 Perplex is insanely good and is pushing the boundaries for what we’ve expected for cheap support figures. While he does have risk, he can target any stat unlike figures such as Starfox. Add in the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability and you have one hell of a figure for 30 points. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Double Perplex is nothing to pass up. If you have the points, you should without-a-doubt run Everett. Score: 5/5

028 BLACK ANT

Constructed – Eric is gonna stick around for quite a long time, and he’ll be one tiny pain in the butt while he’s alive. Riding shotgun like old-school Despotellis and using Poison every turn with an 18-Toughness, Shape Change, and Tiny Size is going to be incredibly annoying to deal with, and he’ll be able to use that Hydra ability quite a lot. I love the last-ditch Pulse Wave with 11-attack. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Eric’s best use in Sealed is going to be moving right up to a ranged character and sticking on them all game, preventing them from making attacks. When they move, you can place him in a square that’s going to further annoy your opponent, and Poison will be a huge benefit. I would potentially push him to gain Outwit for maximum shenanigans. Score: 4/5

029a BLACK PANTHER

Constructed – I dig the way they worked the movie suit into the game with he FREE Quake that will get to happen at least once unless he’s Outwitted. This is an okay dial for T’Challa, but the missing Stealth is strange (although Team Player can help there with a certain Bat friend). His versatility thanks to all the Gems in the set (or a gauntlet) can make this dial go a lot further, so he’s got some serious potential. Score: 4/5

Sealed – There’s two things that happen for you if you open this Panther. 1) You opened a Gem or *gasp* a Gauntlet and whoever you opened it with you don’t really like and Panther becomes a very good 100 point dial, or 2) You opened no Gems or Gauntlets and you have an okay dial that costs a good chunk of your team. So, two scores. Score: 4/5 (option 1) -OR- 3/5 (option 2)

029b BLACK PANTHER

Constructed – This seems like more of a comical dial than something that’s actually worth playing. Easy to hit, doesn’t deal much damage aside from the luck of the Blades roll, and Mind Control with minimum range? His best use is as a mobile Probability Control figure that can pump out Ancient Warlords, but even those aren’t that big of a deal. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Not the best dial you want for sealed, but you shouldn’t be upset about a figure with Indomitable, Perplex, and Probability Control that picks up Outwit late in the dial. Panther will always have a use on your team, and the Warlords will be pretty clutch in this setting since you’ll always be able to pump them out. Great as a tertiary attacker or overall support figure with some teeth in melee. Score: 4/5

030 MEDUSA

Constructed – A bit easy to KO, but there is some insanely good value here thanks to the living hair bystander basically giving you two versions of this dial for 50 points. With careful planning on when you generate the Living Hair (after using Sidestep or moving in general), you can pull a lot of value out of her, and it does give her basically a 13-square swing on attacks. Not as good as the Earth X Super Rare, but damn close. Score: 5/5

Sealed – An absolute bargain for 50 points. Not only are you getting two characters that can break any reducer in the set, you’re also getting Leadership to offset her cost, and a bystander that can act every turn for free without worrying about pushing since Medusa can just spit out another one. This is a crazy-good dial for sealed play. Score: 5/5

031 THOR

Constructed – What a delightfully vicious Thor dial for an Uncommon! Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with this guy. Invincible to kick things off, huge values (4-damage with Enhancement?!?, Indomitable, a meaty dial with big reducers all the way through (and big damage). This is a great uncommon and one of the best we’ve seen for as long as I can remember. Combined with the Time Gem and you get to add Probability Control to an already impressive brick. Score: 5/5

Sealed – This is the type of dial that dreams are made of. Most times, Thor will outclass any rare or Super Rare that he’s pulled with as he can easily pull his weight class and then some. If you happen to open up another ranged attacker, his value skyrockets. Score: 5/5

032 EITRI

Constructed – I don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t want to play Eitri. You get to cheat an equipment onto the board at the beginning of the game which can easily be cheesed with three insanely good pieces of equipment, plus you get to add it to your starting area and break the rules even further. Then you get Perplex on top of that, and 50/50 free healing for Armor, Robot, or Vehicles. Just like Splitlip, Eitri is wonderful in his age of equipment. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Amazing in constructed, not so much in Sealed. Chances are if you opened equipment you’ll want to use it on the character it came with or someone else with a trait, so you’re not going to use his Master Smith trait. So you’re getting a Perplex figure with maybe some healing? Not terrible but a little overcosted. Score: 2/5

033 POSSESSOR

Constructed – Pretty good super Outwit figure with some good stats. What’s strange is that in this set, this dial doesn’t seem all that good for 95 points. That’s crazy though because this is a good dial. Hopefully you can get him to click #0 though as the starting Toughness and Sidestep is a little lackluster for his cost. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Outwit on a sniper is always good in sealed, but you’re also getting someone to deal with all the Power Cosmic figures in the set that you’ll undoubtedly be up against. He’s a wonderful silver bullet that will most likely do very well. Score: 5/5

034 PROXIMA MIDNIGHT

Constructed – A wonderful ranged figure with a seriously long dial and good stats, along with the return of the killer Cull Obsidian trait makes Proxima a welcome addition to the legacy of the character. The best part is that she doesn’t need her WKO item to be good since she has the effects built into her kit. Proxima is a figure that you’ll want to hit with every chance you get because she never stops with her offense. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You don’t get a lot of figures under Super Rares that continue to be a huge threat on every click of their dial, and Proxima does just that. She can stop opposing characters dead in their tracks thanks to her spear granting immobile and dishes a ton of damage. Run her with some good Perplex figures and you won’t need a Super Rare or Chase to sweep games. Score: 5/5

RARES

035 RESCUE

Constructed – The 0-damage is a huge turnoff, but Rescue has some nasty tricks up her sleeve. A once-per-game multi-target Blades from range with a whopping 12-attack and Running Shot that can also use Incapacitate in the same attack and has Outwit makes her one of the scariest alpha strike pieces I’ve ever seen under 100 points. The potential to token down 2 characters and dish 12 damage for 70 points while possessing an insanely tanky defense is quite good. It’s just a shame that she can only pull that trick off once. Score: 5/5

Sealed – For the exact same reasons above, she’s incredible, but even more-so since most of the time your opponent won’t be able to recover from a possible huge damage dump and double Incap. She’s also a great taxi and killer Incap figure with Outwit on her own, so you won’t feel the sting of 0-damage so heavily. Score: 5/5

036 DOCTOR MINERVA

Constructed – Let’s face it, Minerva’s cost is so high because of the influx of Kree from the Captain Marvel set and how heavily she can influence those figures. That being said, her value is heavily reliant on what your opponent brings to the table. There’s a chance that Minerva could end up handing out a power you don’t want that much, and even if it’s something you like, she can easily be KO’d herself and you lose that power. Her dial is very average for 75 points. I might try her but I suspect she gets hit hard first and you’ll wish you had played something else for those 75 points. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Kree isn’t a subtheme in this set, so Minerva feels out of place by a long shot. Hopefully you don’t open her as she’s basically a Running Shot figure with poor range, average stats, and some Outwit. Score: 1/5

037 ELEKTRA

Constructed – Okay wow, three Elektra’s. Well, this one is absolutely necessary and suddenly makes the other two must-haves. If you aren’t a fan of Elektra (like me), you might have to swallow your pride because suddenly this grouping looks fierce now that they have a resurrection mechanic that comes in with Regeneration. That’s some crazy value. However, you are stuck with this figure for the rest of the game and her top-dial stats really aren’t that great. Score: 4/5

Sealed – You absolutely need at least one other Elektra to make this version worth playing in sealed. If not, this is a bloated dial that’s giving you Leadership with some Blades and average values for an above-average cost. Score: 1/5 | (5/5 if you pull another Elektra)

038 OKOYE

Constructed – Okoye feels like the badass that she is and makes me want to collect Wakanda now. The War Rhinos are fantastic and the fact that you can have 2 per Okoye on the map which are also taxi’s is fantastic. Her stats are good, her powers will make her mean at every click, and she’s nasty with other Wakandans. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Tons of value here for 65 points. Not only are you getting Leadership but you’re also getting a constant source of bystanders with some surprisingly good stats and powers. Once your opponent does get to Okoye, good luck living as she pushes into a very mean offensive dial that’s pretty tough to hit thanks to her 18-defense. Good chance you’ll have someone to cart around with the Rhino’s too. Score: 5/5

039 A.I.M. BLUE SQUAD

Constructed – Looks like Old Man Steve got a new replacement! This rare generic figure brings a lot to Avengers (or any other keyworded) teams with Probability Control, Leadership, and 3-square range for said Leadership and other powers for just 40 points. Mastermind up front will make sure this dude sticks around. I love the push into Barrier and Enhancement. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Probability Control is always good to have in Sealed, but you’ll need some kind of Mastermind fodder or a good front line to keep him from going down in one shot. If you can keep the Blue dude alive, he can pull a ton of weight for his meager point cost. Score: 5/5

040 ENIGMA

Constructed – Enimga has some serious opportunity to jam up your opponent’s plans with the ability hand out Immobile for free (no rolls required), and then planting herself firm with Impervious, Super Senses, and Shape Change. However, Enigma won’t have Impervious when she initially goes in, so that’s a little scary since her values are average. Her taxi ability is a nice plus on her kit though. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Immobile can tank a sealed team, so having a 65-point figure that can move anywhere she wants in 10 squares and just stop people every other turn is brutal. The fact that she serves double duty as a taxi too is really good, especially since she can carry other fliers. She’s a huge team-player. Score: 5/5

041a FALCON

Constructed – YES, another Champions figure! Joaquin is actually very good, especially for his low point cost. It takes at least three moderate hits to put him down for good, and you have to spread them out over at least two turns since his STOP click also grants Immune for the turn. Great presence and his pick-a-power is fantastic. Redwing is a welcome addition and a killer bystander. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Joaquin will do everything you want for sealed; he has a good bystander, can serve as a taxi early game, and has Hypersonic with good values to be a nuisance. And he’s incredibly hard to KO, which is something you always want in sealed. Score: 5/5

041b FALCON

Constructed – Falcon isn’t really 75 points; He’s 75+X because you absolutely have to play some Captain America with him because his value skyrockets. Having two autonomous figures (one of which can use Close Combat Expert with Charge and the other has Hypersonic with a resurrection mechanic) is stupid good for 75 points. Falcon has a long dial and great defenses, and looks like the absolute perfect example of the figure as a best friend to Steve Rogers (or himself from Nick Fury, Agent of Shield!). Score: 5/5

Sealed – At the time of this writing, there’s two Cap’s in the set; the Chase. That means if you open Sam, you’re most likely not going to gain autonomous on him, but that’s fine because this is a ton of hurt for his 75-point cost. He won’t obliterate like other rare Primes in the past (Odin), but he’s very solid. Score: 4/5

042 BLACK BOLT

Constructed – We just got a very good Black Bolt, but by god this one gives him a run for his money. At either point value with either Gem, Black Bolt is a force of destruction. Top-dial he’s mobile artillery, gunning down literally everyone he can see for 3 damage (and thanks to the Reality Gem, he’ll have a 13-attack from Perplex). At his 100/95 point cost, he can manipulate the board so heavily every single turn and draft people into his Pulse Wave range. I hate to say it, but I think this Blackagar is better than the previous Midnight King. Score: 5/5

Sealed – So you pulled Black Bolt and you have the Reality Gem. Great, play him at the full 150 points because Black Bolt is going to slaughter enemy teams, no question about it. When you don’t need a 13-attack to guarantee hits, you can sit comfortably at 19-Impervious. It’ll take a ton of work to chew threw this dial, all the while he’ll be destroying anything he sees. Score: 5/5

043 CAPTAIN AMERICA

Constructed – Go ahead and throw away any of your non-valuable Captain America’s because good god is this Steve amazing. He can engage any way he wants, brings Prob to the party, has a 20-defense almost all the time, and can pull a token off of any friendly character on the map in addition to regular Leadership. And he ends with Outwit? Hold me down. Score: 5/5

Sealed – *Pulls up chair* So, you didn’t open the Time Gem (Kudos to those of you who got this). That’s okay because this is one beefy dial for not a whole lot of points. Cap will spearhead any team and kick ass doing so thanks to stellar values, huge defenses, and engaging however best suits you. Now if you did open the Time Gem, you have an all-star that should dominate games. Score: 5/5

044 NAMOR

Constructed – I like these dials that can play very differently based on the points and equipment you provide for them. Top-dial with the Time Gem, Namor is a deadly melee attacker as usual, but he’s a bit easy to hit for my liking, and his attack values drop pretty significantly for his cost. At his lower value with the Power Gem, he’s a nasty silver bullet to snipers and can pull a ton of damage on his own. Still, his defenses are just a bit too low for my liking and his cost. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Namor’s playability will depend on what other figures you open as he’ll play significantly different. His defense is a bit too low for my liking, however he can dish a ton of damage before he goes down, and the Flight/Indom will help him serve two rolls. Situational, but he’ll usually be a good fit. Score: 4/5

045 SPIDER-MAN

Constructed – Ya’ know, I’ve never truly liked any Iron Spider dial, and that changes now. This is the power level that I expect Peter to have while also piloting an Iron Man suit. HUGE values up front, 11 square reach on Flurry with 4-damage, hard to hit thanks to two roll-outs and Invulnerability, and able to swap to Stealth or multi-targeting to change how he fights. His 85-point dial isn’t bad either as you still get the massive punch but lose a little of his defenses. I need this dial and I can’t wait to add him to the Spider-Family. Score: 5/5

Sealed – It’s so incredibly hard to deal with Stealth/Invulnerability/Shape Change/Super Senses in sealed, and when you tack on 12-attack, 4-damage, and Flurry with Giant Reach: 2, you have a must-play figure that will undoubtedly be the star of the show. Don’t sleep on Peter – he is a rock star. Score: 5/5

046 ENCHANTRESS

Constructed – Very different dial than our last Enchantress in 2017. This “Amora” dial is all about offense while providing a ton of support powers, although I don’t think I’d play her for 90 points. She seems like a must-play at full value figure as her stats and mobility dip hard at the lower cost. That’s okay though because at 135, this is a scary dial that should be able to topple anything she comes across. Just don’t let her take a hit. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Play her at 135. You’ll have a great primary attacker with all the support you need built in at her full value, but the lower dial is a bit too slow and costly for what she does and hurts tremendously if she takes a hit. I wouldn’t say the 90-point dial is out of the question, but I would only run it as a last resort if your team desperately needs a support figure. Score: 4/5

047 TITANIA

Constructed – You’re never going to want to play Titantia without her Power Gem as she gets so much more powerful for only 5 additional points. She can throw out a ton of damage (5 for 100 points or 4 for 75 points), and can follow up with a brutal Close Combat Expert afterwards for potentially 7-damage. No click on this dial is bad, sans the 17-defense values. Her attack does tank a little for my liking, but nothing the Power Gem can’t help with. Score: 4/5

Sealed – If Titania comes with her Gem in sealed, you play her. Anytime you have a figure that can one-hit KO 5-click dials, you run that figure. Titania is playable at both point values with the Gem, so you can easily work her in if you open something better. The only reason to ever bench her is if you open up something amazing that pairs even better with the Gem. Score: 5/5

048 ASTRONOMER

Constructed – Tons of support for an already great Keyword. A huge Phasing dial, double TK that improves defenses, and Prob with Regen at the end makes a great dial that might look a little expensive, but then you also realize he has 11 range and sees through hindering and elevated terrain. This guy is fantastic at throwing objects! Gems will make him so much better, too. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Incredibly efficient as Astronomer can serve as either an attacker or support figure depending on what you need. 11 range is a game-changer, and depending on how much support you open (Perplex or Enhancement), you could potentially have the best sniper to ever grace sealed. I can only imagine having this guy with a support team and opening something like the Power Gem on top of that. Score: 5/5

049 GARDENER

Constructed – Very interesting take on Gardener, and a super-cheap dial for someone so important. By himself he’s a pretty neat character and has a cool dial that can generate permanent hindering terrain, something that will really help some teams. Paired with the Time Gem and against a team with an added game element, Gardener is absolutely worth his points as a super-support piece that’s tough to pin down. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Hindering terrain can greatly mess with the numbers in sealed, so being able to generate a piece that’s permanent every single turn is absolutely worth the 45-point cost. If he manages to hit opponents, handing out Battle Fury (or taking it away) can be a game-changer. There’s a decent chance you’ll get to turn him to click 0 as well. Score: 5/5

050 TRADER

Constructed – Assuming you have all the gems, you get to greatly change Trader’s roll in what he can do and what powers he brings for the low cost of 50 points. What I love about Trader is that he can walk up to people and trade items with no rolls or cost. It just happens. That can be devastating. And if that item is KO’d on unequip and you lose him, you dealt a massive blow to your opponent by taking their item away. Dial-wise, he’s not all that but I’m okay with it because he’s only 50 points. At least he has Perplex to help his team while he’s at it! Score: 3/5

Sealed – Every single item in this set is Equip: Any, so Trader should give you a ton of mileage if you pull an Infinity Gem. That player who got lucky and pulled a Gauntlet? Cool, I’ll take that. Trader’s Perplex will also be handy and he’s actually a decent tank if he gets to click 0 for his point cost. Not the best figure around but he can be a clutch play in the right matchup. Score: 4/5

051 CORVUS GLAIVE

Constructed – Corvus is a hell of a pain to put down and has some vicious stats for his 90-point value. While the huge item damage potential does look fantastic, you’re almost always going to want to pop those items for free Regen instead to keep him trucking along. I love that they made him 90 points so that he can equip his glaive for an even 100. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Killer stats, brutal damage capabilities throughout the entire dial, and an endless supply of objects is a steal for 90 points and that’s not even mentioning his Indomitable and Leadership. The free Regen at the end of the dial for three clicks gives him a super long dial, too. Get him in the fight and never stop swinging that glaive. Score: 5/5

SUPER RARES

052 IRON MAN

Constructed – There’s potential for a solid hit with Tony thanks to that Outwit up top and 4 damage. As one of the few specialized dials in the set that changes based on which Gem you’re using, he’s always going to be 150 points, and will play very differently. Overall the dial isn’t bad, but I don’t think it’s worth his massive point cost. If you do want to play him, I would go with the Reality Gem to give him Perplex as that will help him a lot more than +1 to movement. His special power with the Space Gem is very good, but I think Perplex is overall more desirable, and you end up with triple target Energy Explosion with Reality. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Tony’s huge point cost isn’t so bad in sealed and he should be able to dismantle most teams by himself. His value will heavily depend on if you have one of his two items. I don’t think there’s a reason to skip on him as he has some killer value up top, but don’t simply auto-play him. Some commons in this set seriously outmatch him (Hulk). Score: 3/5

053a DOCTOR STRANGE

Constructed – Strange looks a little weak for his 115 or 120 point cost, but then you realize that with the Soul Gem, he’s rocking a 21 defense from range, and a 20 for melee if he uses his own Perplex on himself. He’ll be a pain to put down as most hits won’t take him out entirely and his Steal Energy from any attack thanks to the Gem (and healing allies) along with Prob will give him a much better chance of sticking around. It’s just a bummer he starts with 10-attack for his cost. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Thankfully you can use Strange’s own Perplex to mitigate that 10-attack and he’ll be a beast to hit since he has big range and movement. The lack of Willpower will hurt though, so make sure you’re incredibly careful with your placement. Stephen will be tough to put down if you play him right, but I wouldn’t immediately play him because you opened a Super Rare. Score: 3/5

053b BARON MORDO

Constructed – A nice silver bullet to equipment-based characters. Mordo takes the recent Mystical rerolling capabilities one step further and creates a huge 13-square bubble of re-rolling opponent’s re-rolls with his own Prob to boot. Mordo has some decent stats, but I’m just not feeling this as a Super Rare Prime for 100 points. Honestly I would rather play Spider-Woman with Mystical. Score: 3/5

Sealed – As long as you have some meat shields to stop people from getting to Mordo, he will be an annoying glass cannon that will almost always hit for 4-damage, and he provides a ton of support for his team thanks to Flight, Sidestep, and Prob. There will most likely be a ton of equipment on the board, so Mordo will be a risky play to tackle as he can steal their items if they miss or dish penetrating damage if they hit. Score: 5/5

054 LOKI

Constructed – Two Super Rare Loki’s in a row! I’m not feeling this dial. Loki is all about chances and he has to hope he’s lucky. Stealth, Shape Change, and Super Senses are all very good and make him tough to hit, but if he does get hit, you’re losing a lot of health for almost 200 points. His Infinity Sword is insanely good, but you have to be hit or either 1, 2, 4, or 5 damage to land on it, then roll a 10 or higher, then roll a 5 or 6 on Blades. It’s not gonna happen. Even with a Gauntlet or Gem, I don’t see Loki making this happen. He’s big, bulky, and slow. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Probably worth playing at his lower cost as you’ll have a decently long dial with Mystics, Probability Control, and a good sniper dial with some aggravating defenses. Just keep him safe and you’ll do fine. I wouldn’t go near his 170-point line though. Score: 3/5

055 CAPTAIN BRITAIN

Constructed – As usual with Brian, he’s fantastic for his points… as long as he doesn’t get hit. Once he does, the Captain will fall hard and fast. Thankfully his trait will make him a pain to actually hit since he’ll remove action tokens when he takes damage and more often than not he’ll hit harder. The best part of this dial is the Empower/Enhancement/Leadership power, so I suspect this is a good figure to play at 90 points. Score: 4/5

Sealed – I love this dial for Sealed. He’s got all the elements of being a brutal primary attacker for a relatively cheap cost while helping anyone else you run on the team with him. I would almost always run him at 135 points unless you have something that truly outclasses him. Either value is going to be a good day for you. Score: 5/5

056 KANG, THE CONQUEROR

Constructed – How perfect is his title?! Anyway, Kang takes the Title mechanic and throws it out the window generating a very different set of effects. He requires a lot of setup but Kang has the potential to be a seriously disgusting figure with some of the best mobility to ever grace the game and free healing basically every other turn if he wants. Prob up top, the typical great stats and powers on the dial, and a KO effect that has a 50/50 chance of working each turn makes him a very interesting character that looks like he will be a blast to play and a menace in the right hands. Score: 5/5

Sealed – It’s much harder for teams to commit to an all-in play and often times players will take a little time setting up and not pushing their characters. That’s all music to Kang’s ears as he can take small pot shots and setup his mid-to-late game to become untouchable. Popping his ultimate with just a few time portals can win the game for you. Score: 5/5

057 RUNE

Constructed – Not a bad dial by any means, but certainly not better than the insane vampire dials of Ms. Marvel and LE Supergiant. The crazy-good Shape Change power is fantastic and Rune will probably be a nightmare to face off against with a gauntlet equipped, easily becoming worth the 100 points. If you can get to top dial with a gauntlet or even a Gem equipped, Rune will feel unstoppable. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Good chance to hit someone of 100 points or more or with Power Cosmic in this set, so you should click into an incredible dial for 85 points. You most likely don’t have an item to equip to him, so you have to play the dial as-is. Just make sure you hit first because otherwise Rune is playing from behind and will never claw his way out. Score: 4/5

058 THE HOOD

Constructed – Parker’s value depends heavily on what items you possess in your collection. If you have all the Gems, he is going to be a total workhorse for 100 points that’s absolutely brutal to face. However, if you have an Infinity Gauntlet, The Hood becomes a god. For 110 points you get a 4-man taxi with Stealth for him and his buddies, and he can make attacks for free whenever he moves. Plus you get Mystics with Invincible, and a chance to remove his own tokens along with his own Leadership. Parker has gotten shafted in the past, but this guy is no joke. Score: 4/5

Sealed – This environment is even more dependent on what you have as you’ll need a good loadout to make Parker worth his points. Without any Gems (or a gauntlet), this is a mediocre dial with mediocre values. But if you have one of his three favored Gems, multiple Gems, or a Gauntlet, then he becomes a must-play figure. Score: 3/5*

059 LOCKJAW

Constructed – This dial reminds me a lot of the Fast Forces Galactic Guardians dial; lots of health for low points and a dial full of Plasticity. This is a very good Lockjaw. He doesn’t care about taking unavoidable damage for carrying anyone in the game since his dial is big and has a STOP click, and he’s surprisingly annoying to deal with. The FREE Incap power is okay but chances are you won’t get to use it. I would expect Lockjaw to become the new Overdrive as he’s only 5 points more, can carry fliers, and has Passenger: 4. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You have some people you need to carry? You do?! Of course you do! Good, run Lockjaw. Use him as a taxi for all your support, jet your offensive guys, or even as a brutal tie-up figure. He’s a good boy. Score: 5/5

060 MAXIMUS

Constructed – I hate this dial with a passion. Why would I ever want to play a figure that has a high chance of completely stopping whatever he can do for 90 points? Unlike Earth X Loki, Maximus has more bad results for himself than good. Roll a 1-2 and you’re stuck with a 90-point TK/Perplex figure. Roll a 3-4 with an action token and you’re stuck. No thank you. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Maximus’ only benefit is that he can possibly multi-Perplex, but in an environment where doubles are almost impossible to land, you’re probably not going to get there. That means that you’re paying 90 points for a TK piece with friendly Perplex. Bench him unless you have nothing else. Score: 1/5

061 TASKMASTER

Constructed – Tony is one of my favorite villains, and it always feels like they get his dials right. This dial feels like they dumped four Taskmaster dials into one because holy crap it’s awesome! From jumping to multiple teams, to wildcard, to good values, and the amazing list of powers he can utilize and then turn off for opponents if he attacks them (read: doesn’t have to hit them), this is one glorious Taskmaster dial. So much utility here. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Pick-a-power figures usually do extremely well in sealed, and while Taskmaster isn’t quite a pick-a-power figure, he makes the cut because of how versatile he can be. At just 1/3rd of your team, Taskmaster will do a ton of heavy lifting and chances are he can counter anyone your opponent is running. A must-play if I ever saw one. Score: 5/5

062 CHALLENGER

Constructed – He’s expensive to play and I don’t like that he has a melee-focused dial at this point value, but good lord is Challenger a gigantic threat. If he manages to get to click 0, he’s going to be a brutal challenge (I swear I didn’t mean that) to take down, and his STOP click has the potential to decimate entire teams. I love the flavor of the Pyramoid hunting from the comics. It’s great flavor and it makes this dial a lot stronger than it seems. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Honestly, this dude is a god in sealed. Chances are you’ll be able to take out anyone that gets close enough to a Pyramoid and KO them before they can remove it from the map, and then just absorb it from the counterattack to stay top-dial. The amount of work that has to be put into this dial to KO him is absurd, and you still have 125 points to work with that they’ll need to chew through. Score: 5/5

063 CHAMPION

Constructed – Uhhh… yeah this guy is nuts. Champion is capable of dishing 14-damage on his opening strike, which should allow him to delete practically anyone in the game, assuming they aren’t built like a tank. As long as you can keep Champion healthy, he’ll be a workhorse. If your opponent happens to have an additional game element, his value goes through the roof. Score: 5/5

Sealed – 14-damage in one engagement for 100 points? There’s simply no need to go into detail here. You open Champion, you play him. End of discussion. Score: 5/5

064 THE COLLECTOR

Constructed – Instantly competitive on Cosmic teams. Collector is insane in that he can move 8 squares and then yank a piece of opposing equipment onto himself for free within 7 squares. Add in the Perplex from his Gem and that’s a 16-square swing that he can snatch items from. That means he’s also rocking an 18-Impervious and brings TK to your team to help start things out. Collector was big from the moment he was revealed and he will dominate in this item-heavy metagame. Score: 5/5

Sealed – The good news that in this set you’ll probably get him to click 0. The bad news is that most forces aren’t going to put their objects on the field; they’re going to have them equipped from the start. But that’s fine because Collector can strip equipment and take them for himself very easily. Plus he also gives you TK and Perplex for the low cost of 60 points (assuming he comes with his Gem). Score: 4/5

065 GRANDMASTER

Constructed – A good ranged attacker with sold stats (thanks to the Mind Gem) and Probability Control. His defenses do tip a bit too much for his cost, and his power is very gimmicky, though it can easily be exploited with enough Perplexing to either your opponent’s attack value or your allies’ defenses. It’s a nice way to throw out some free damage and heal Grandmaster, but that penalty is mighty high. He’s a fun figure, but not the best which makes perfect sense. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Not usually a place where you want to gamble with free damage hitting an 85-point figure. Grandmaster is a great support/ranged figure though and the fact that his special power is a choice, you don’t have to use it unless the odds are heavily in your favor. Keep En Dwi Gast safe and you should do fine with him. Score: 4/5

066 RUNNER

Constructed – 99% of the time, you’re going to have +1 to attack and damage on top click as most characters aren’t rocking a printed 12-movement these days. So, you’re getting a 14-Hypersonic Speed, 11-attack, 18-Invulnerability, 4-damage character with Flight, Passenger:2, Phasing, and he can displace opponents massively if he rolls a 10 for 70 points, and he’s Cosmic. One could argue that he drops pretty hard, but they would be searching for reasons to say he’s not amazing. Score: 5/5

Sealed – As I mentioned above, you’re going to get that +1 to attack and damage, and you have a good shot at getting click 0. Even if you don’t get that, you’re still getting an insane taxi that will do some massive damage for such a low point cost. Score: 5/5

067 EBONY MAW

Constructed – We’ve seen some characters lately that do something to anyone they hit throughout the game, but I feel like the Maw is better than all those who came before him with triple target Mind Control and 8-range handing out continuous free damage every turn no matter where they are. Tack on an insane TK power that makes objects attack hurt massively, and an Outwit/Perplex that has a 50/50 shot at triggering again and you have a nasty support figure that hides an evil offensive side. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Ebony Maw will provide you with so many tools; TK, Outwit, Perplex, Mind Control, and a heavy disadvantage to anyone KO’ing him. Sure, you’re paying a third of your team for someone with 1 damage and no movement powers, but Ebony Maw will prove to be a masterful figure that’s impossible to take down in the right hands. Score: 5/5

CHASES

068 RED SKULL

Constructed – He might not look too exciting on paper, but I’m betting that Red Skull is incredible on the field. If you don’t make his Leadership, you’re getting a Running Shot/Pulse Wave figure with great values and massive defenses. If you do make his Leadership, he suddenly becomes insanely good as he can Mind Control anyone on the map (and with a possible 13-attack, he’s going to hit). With this thick of a dial with the ability to drop a nasty bystander on anyone who tries to touch him (or does), he’s going to be annoying to play against. His own Cosmic Cube is better than Kobik’s, but he has a chance of losing it, so he’ll be better off with hers. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Look, you just opened a 12-attack Pulse Wave with Running Shot and 19-Invincible and Power Cosmic. Play him with his Cosmic Cube and annihilate anyone that comes close. The only thing a huge brick like him fails at in sealed is being out-actioned, but his Mind Control power will solve that for you. Score: 5/5

069 KOBIK

Constructed – I don’t think people are giving Kobik the credit she deserves; this is a very good figure with some dumb abilities. While her Cosmic Cube isn’t all that strong and certainly not worth the 15 points on an already expensive dial, her ability to swap team abilities anywhere on the map for two characters can be a game-changer, especially with so much Power Cosmic/Quintessence running around these days. She can also swap out one of your characters a la the Avengers Round Table once per game, which I guarantee will make a showing on some wacky competitive teams. If that wasn’t enough, Kobik is hard to hit and has some great utility with Super Sense and Shape Change along with Prob and Perplex. She’s not going to deal damage but she’s asking to be exploited. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Kobik won’t be as good in sealed as you’re devoting a third of your team to a fantastic support figure, since you can’t guarantee on team abilities being present or using her swap trait. She’s a chase that probably isn’t going to give an easy win, but a skilled player will still be able to utilize her powerset. Score: 2/5

070 IRON MAN

Constructed – Iron Man isn’t as brutal as the chase Captain America, but still very good. His Gauntlet is actually the one that was previewed with Cap, so he has options to pick powers which he’ll need as his dial isn’t as cram-packed as Steve’s. Iron Man also isn’t as durable even with his KO’ing the Gauntlet to save himself. This would have been a much stronger dial had he healed back to click 1 rather than 6 as he has no way to get himself back up the dial. That being said, you can easily give him Regeneration with his Gauntlet at any time to help him power back up. Values here just aren’t that good though for how expensive he is, especially with the lack of Willpower. Score: 3/5

Sealed – There’s simply no reason to not run a figure with high stats, pick-a-power (or possibly 2), stealth busting at 8-range, and a replacement KO effect for 150 points. That’s so much utility for half your build and a good player will be able to make that work incredibly well while someone that isn’t as careful or cunning might see Tony burn out fairly quickly. Score: 5/5

071 CAPTAIN AMERICA

Constructed – Our first reveal was absolutely a game-changer and competitive candidate. Cap is obscenely good with non-stop 11-attack values, taking only 1 damage from any attack, great powers, and the best knockback we’ve ever seen (add 10?!). He’s already painful with Sidestep and Ranged Combat Expert hitting for a potential 5-damage that can’t be downed easily, but pair him up with a Gauntlet and things get stupid. Cap’s only downside is his lack of Indomitable, but that shouldn’t be an issue because of how much value he provides and just how hard he is to put down. You have to hit this guy 6 freaking times, and most of those have to go passed Invincible or Impervious. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Thankfully not only did you pull a pretty much impossible-to-KO figure in sealed, you also opened a gauntlet. The smart play is to just run Cap with his Gauntlet and single-handedly take down anyone he comes across. Score: 5/5

072 BLACK PANTHER

Constructed – I guess we’re never getting a non-competitive high-rarity Black Panther again; welcome to the meta, ancient BP. HUGE values for his cost, Super-Stealth that’s protected from Pulse Wave, Traited Blades while shutting it off against his aggressors, and a low-cost that will allow him to actually use the Ancient Incarnation trait makes this one hell of a dial. When played in doubles like the 1M BC Iron Fist, Black Panther will be horrible to face. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Not much different here from constructed except that in the vacuum of sealed, it will be much harder to deal with his 19-Super Senses and basic immunity to ranged characters. If you have him on your team, prioritize those with high attack values as there are quite a few in this set, as well as anyone with Precision Strike. Score: 5/5

073 STARBRAND

Constructed – There’s nothing inherently bad about Starbrand; it’s just that compared to his other Avengers 1M BC buddies he feels very lackluster. You’re taking up virtually half your team for a pure melee figure that doesn’t do anything too special. Sure, his values and powers are pretty good, and the trait to shut off Hypersonic Speed for your opponents can be good, but the downsides are that when he does get KO’d, can give your opponent’s figure +1 to all combat values, and you’re paying 140 points to deal with Hypersonic Speed. At the time of this writing, there’s no Starbrand in Modern, so he’ll never get to use his Ancient Incarnation trait either. Score: 3/5

Sealed – An un-outwittable tank with superb values and powers plays a lot better in sealed when your opponents can’t plan for every contingency. 19-Impervious is going to be hell to break through, and if you open any Perplex to get that number even higher (or throw a Gem on him), he’s going to be even crazier. I still don’t like devoting so much of your team to pure melee, but he’s not a bad figure at all here. Score: 4/5

074 THANOS

Constructed – If you didn’t know already from the massive wave of gasps that came out when Thanos was revealed, this is an incredibly stupid dial that is honestly a mistake. There’s no reason an Ultra Chase should be this good as it does screw the economy of the game heavily. Too much to cover here without going on in-depth; all you need to know is that Thanos is possibly the best figure in the set and will have a permanent home in the competitive scene until his rotation. He’s incredibly undercosted and brutally efficient. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Odds are you aren’t opening this. However, if you’re the lucky one who does, you just won the event as long as you don’t whittle him away and make bad plays. Thanos should have absolutely no issues destroying anyone he plays against and has insanely good number boosting to back him up, along with a dial that never, and I do mean never, let’s up on offense. There’s not a single bad click on this dial that doesn’t make him capable of KO’ing pretty much anyone in the set. Score: 5/5

OBJECTS

S001 REALITY GEM

Constructed – There’s three very good additions on this Gem that give you some big bang for your buck no matter who you’re equipping it to. Perplex and TK are both fantastic powers, and giving anyone that doesn’t have 0 range another target is wickedly good. The 10 or higher effect on this Gem is actually insanely good because it doesn’t specify that you need to use the TK at no cost on the item generated; you can use it to move characters around which is fantastic. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Like all the other items on this list, it’s just not smart to leave this off of your team, even if you don’t like who it came with. It’s a fantastic suite of powers that will help any team. Score: 5/5

S002 TIME GEM

Constructed – Range increase is always good on someone who already has range as it just makes you better in every regard. Tacking on Probability Control though? That’s the real winner on this Gem. It’s 10 or higher effect isn’t all that great, but it doesn’t matter because you’re getting Probability Control, arguably the best power in the game. Still, is it on the same level as Mjolnir or the other hammers at the same cost? Score: 4/5

Sealed – I can give anyone on my team Probability Control for 10 points? Where do I sign up?! Score: 5/5

S003 POWER GEM

Constructed – This Gem seems p-r-e-t-t-y dumb. +1 to damage along with both Close Combat Expert and Ranged Combat Expert? That’s enough to make it worth its’ points and replace Scarface as the go-to bazooka, but then you also tack on free penetrating damage if you roll a 10 or higher? Monstrous. Score: 5/5

Sealed – What more could you want from 10 points on your team? Pick a figure that you want to make better in the damage department and apply. Score: 5/5

S004 SPACE GEM

Constructed – Certainly not a bad Gem as giving Passenger: 2 with Phasing/Teleport is fantastic and can eliminate the need for running a specific taxi figure, but this Gem does feel slightly less powerful than others. That’s been the curse of the Space Gem as it doesn’t provide any real offense but has to be equal in points to its’ siblings to keep them themed. However, if you can land that 10 or higher hit, this thing becomes insanely powerful. Pair this with Mxy in Golden Age or Trelane in Modern age and you can build a dumb team for sure. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Didn’t open a taxi but got this thing instead? Cool, now your team is mobile! While it would be nice to open a more powerful Gem, this is still very good, but it’s not quite an auto-play. Score: 3/5

S005 SOUL GEM

Constructed – Honestly this is probably the best of the six Gems. Healing from all attacks is what makes Thunderstrike such a good item, but you’re also getting +1 to defense and if you roll a 10 or higher, you get to heal an additional click. Just like Thunderstrike, this Gem makes anyone instantly better. Score: 5/5

Sealed – If you open a lot of lower-point figures, it might not be worth your time to spend a turn getting to the Gem, then clearing, then another to equip it just to gain some slow healing and +1 defense. Now if you opened a workhorse figure, the Soul Gem becomes a must-play. Eh, all the Gems are must-plays in sealed to be honest. Score: 5/5

S006 MIND GEM

Constructed – Mind Control isn’t the greatest power to hand out as you need the right kind of figure to make it worthwhile, same with Incapacitate, though it’s nice to have those options. Thankfully WizKids also gave this Gem +1 to attack which helps a lot, and if you do roll a 10 or higher, you get a supremely good effect that can pay for this Gem multiple times over even if you only pull it off once. Score: 4/5

Sealed – +1 attack for 10 points is pretty good. Odds are you have someone this will pair well with if you opened it, so I would just leave it on that character as it’s most likely not worth the action economy to equip to this to someone else. The free Mind Control option will be clutch if you pull it off. Word to the wise though; don’t ever underestimate how good Incapacitate is in sealed. Score: 4/5

S007 COSMIC CUBE

Constructed – I can’t possibly be the only one that was confused by this thing upon first reading, can I? The first cube has some insane power behind it, but it has three big flaws. 1) it’s 30 points. 2) it has to be played on Cosmic characters (you’re not going to deal with the actions otherwise), and 3) almost every time you use it, you’re going to get +1 to speed, so ignore attack, defense, and damage. Now the plus side is that you gain access to any power that’s not in that slot. But still, it’s 30 points and absolutely needs to be on a Cosmic character. Ouch. Score: 1/5

Sealed – There’s a lot of Cosmic in this set, and thankfully if you opened this Gem, you probably have The Red Skull. Oh wait, he isn’t Cosmic… Oh well, it’s only 15 points to equip it instead of 30 and you don’t have to spend the actions to grab it. Unless you absolutely need a way to pick some powers, the Cube just isn’t worth playing on it’s own for 30 freakin’ points. Score: 1/5

S008 COSMIC CUBE

Constructed – All the abilities on this cube are really good; moving 3-squares for free, targeting through hindering and elevation with better range, and giving out free action tokens. These are all good things. However, there’s no way I would ever, ever pay 30 points to gain these benefits. I would much rather play a support figure like Alex Wilder or the numerous other good support figures in Modern for 30 points or less. Sorry, Cosmic Cube. You just don’t live up to the hype. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Same thing applies here. Unless you really didn’t open any good assortment of figures and you have this gaping hole of 30 points, you’re better off running a figure who can make attacks or provide some other support. Not to mention the actions it’s going to eat in sealed to get this thing equipped as the only way out of spending 2-3 turns equipping is if you opened TK or a taxi for whoever you want this on. Score: 1/5

S009 INFINITY GAUNTLET

Constructed – I hate that Exospex kind of ruined equipment moving forward as they were just too powerful. In a world without them, this Gauntlet would be killer. The chance at two powers for 30 points actually isn’t that bad, and unlike the specks, you get whatever power you want while keeping whatever you already had. It’s still a great object, but the 30-point tag compared to Exospex’ 12 is painful. Score: 4/5

Sealed – The Cosmic Cube might not be worth the 30 points, but the Gauntlet most definitely is. Giving your star-player or your secondary attacker any power you want to counter your opponent no matter what is absolutely worth those points. If you manage to roll a 5-6, you’re basically turning your figure into the best pick-a-power figure ever. If you opened TK or a taxi, you’re in even better shape. Score: 5/5

S010 INFINITY GAUNTLET

Constructed – This is honestly an odd choice of abilities for a fully powered gauntlet in my eyes. Granting Power Cosmic and protection from certain powers is nice (Pulse Wave and Prob are the big winners here), but it’s surprising that a 30-point object doesn’t give you any offensive capabilities at all. Don’t get me wrong, this thing is good, but is it really worth 30-points? I would have liked to have seen it give some form of combat value boosting for this cost as well. I like the other gauntlet quite a bit better, but this one is still solid. Score: 4/5

Sealed – You’re stopping an awful lot of damage from coming at you by eliminating the two big damage dealing powers and the great equalizer that is Pulse Wave and traditionally a golden ticket in sealed. Prob protection is icing and the Power Cosmic makes your character so hard to deal with that you basically get to make anyone a god. Just make sure their dial is worth tacking on another 30 points. Score: 5/5

S011 EGO GEM

Constructed – So you’re basically getting self-Perplex for 10 points. I don’t think that’s really worthwhile outside of Thanos himself as other items that cost this much (see: Infinity Gems) provide so much more. It’s neat that you can pick up multiple Gems in addition, but who is going to flood their team with the Ego Gem and two other Gems and hope that you can take a minimum of 4 turns to equip everything without the enemy team barreling down on you? I would much rather just equip a gauntlet. However, it’s amazing on Thanos since he already starts the game with it. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Doesn’t matter how good this item is in sealed because you pulled Thanos and you’re running it on him. There’s no point in scoring it so this will be my first ever Sealed Score: N/A

Bravo to those of you who read the entirety of this one! Okay, so the set seems really good. Let’s see how it breaks down by rarity and score with 3 being an Average figure. Remember that these are only for constructed.

Score of 1: 2 Figures | 2SR – 2% of the Set

Score of 2: 7 Figures | 2C, 5U – 9% of the Set

Score of 3: 18 Figures | 6C, 2U, 4R, 4SR, 2 Chases – 23% of the Set

Score of 4: 15 Figures | 2C, 4U, 4R, 4SR, 1 Chase – 19% of the Set

Score of 5: 35 Figures! | 7C, 7U, 10R, 7SR, 3 Chases, 1 Ultra Chase – 45% of the Set

50 of the 77 figures in this set are rated 4 or 5 – that’s astounding. 10 of the Rares are rated a 5 and we only have 2 scores of 1 in the entire set. And this isn’t even accounting for the items you can get! I would agree with those that are saying this set is one of the strongest we’ve seen in quite some time, and I hate to say it, but I hope the next X-Men set coming this summer is fairly weak because my wallet cannot handle this much awesomeness. WizKids is really upping their game!

So like always, the question pops up: should you go for sealed or singles? Sealed. 100% without a doubt Sealed. Unless you want only a handful of figures in this set and you don’t care about the items at all, get yourself a case or a brick at the very least (and please do so at your LGS – support them!). Since so many figures use the Infinity Gems (and the Gauntlets for that matter), the cost of the figures with those items is going to skyrocket. Chances are you’re going to see highly-priced Rares, Super Rares, and Chases just for their items if not for their dials. Plus, we have the first unarguable competitive Ultra Chase who at the time of this writing has sold for $400-$500. You open a Thanos and you’re in the green, free and clear (though if I pull one -I won’t- he’s MINE).

How do you think this set stacked up against some of the others as of late? Do you think this is a huge improvement over Rebirth, or do you think that the lower stats of those figures had an impact on the review and the overall reception of this set? Do you think this is actually an Infinity War/End Game set without using spoilers? What figures do you think I judged incorrectly? Let me know in the comments section!

Thanks for joining me on another huge set review! I’ll see you guys on Tuesday over on Clix Fix, and here again the following Tuesday for Chase or Pass: Black Panther and the Illuminati! Until then, remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!