The Monsterpocalypse 2020 errata dropped recently – and with it a big change to the Ignite rule. We’re taking a look at the change and it’s potential impact.

In case you missed it, you can find the Jan 2020 errata here. There’s a lot of orange text indicating new changes – but there are really only 2 rules changes. Everything else is just typo fixes and some clarification on rules interactions.

The first rule change is on the Martian Command Post – the Resource Domination rule can now be triggered on a Unit turn. This is useful for units like the Reaper that have Power Hitter allowing them to spend power dice on attacks.

But we’re not here to talk about that….

Ignite – What’s the Big Deal?

A little history, a few months ago we learned about a new Destroyers unit called Scorchers. They were released recently with this version of the Ignite rule.

Then shortly after Incinerus was spoiled on a Dev Chat stream, showing a different version of the same named rule.

via Monster Room

The big difference being the new version affects Monsters as well as Units. While previously this rule only appeared on Incinerus, this errata gives Scorchers the updated Ignite wording – granting them the potential to damage monsters with ease.

The ‘Big Deal’

On a monster like Incinerus – Ignite fits thematically and is a cool way to get some extra damage. Lot’s of monsters have a way to potentially deal extra damage(Rapid Fire, Super Damage etc…) it’s a big factor in deciding what Monsters you bring to the fight. But now we have this ability on a 1 cost unit. Meaning it can be in any Destroyers list – it’s not tied to a certain build or Monster.

As a game goes on the city naturally becomes filled with hazards and rubble – it’s inevitable that at some point monsters will get thrown into buildings and be standing on rubble. This will allow the Scorcher to simply walk up and spend 1 Action die to set the rubble on fire dealing 1 damage to the Monster – that’s a pretty sweet deal.

Living the Dream

Things get taken up a notch when you add in some additional elements,

Opportunity will let you use the Ignite action twice in a turn – you’ll still need 2 different models though so your list should have 2 Scorchers for this plan. Keep a Statue of Liberty in your backfield to secure if needed. Then if the opportunity arises and the enemy is on 2 rubble tiles you can do 2 damage for a mere 2 action dice! Granted this is a very specific scenario – what are the chances they happen to land on 2 different rubble tiles?

If only Destroyers had a way to put out fires then they could do 2 damage with one hazard tile…

via Monster Room

Enter the Spitter with Extinguisher and Tharsis-5 who brings repair to all non-flying Martian units thanks to the Nano Construction rule! Now when the enemy monster lands in a hazard we can walk up and turn it to rubble. Let’s break it down.

Scenario: We’re playing Tharsis-5 and have a Statue of Liberty in our backfield. In anticipation of this moment we’ve been making sure to spawn martian units throughout the game – Reapers and Power Pods are good in their own right so this isn’t a bad plan. We’ve just ended our Monster turn by throwing the enemy into a midline building and they are now standing on a hazard. Both players have 10 dice in their unit pool.

We spend 2 dice and spawn 2 Scorchers

Move existing units around to secure the Statue of Liberty(spawning if needed)

Move 2 non-flying Martian units and the 2 Scorchers adjacent to the hazard

Repair the hazard to make it rubble, then Ignite to deal 1 damage to the monster

Repair and Ignite a 2nd time(thanks to Opportunity) dealing 2 damage for the low cost 4 Action dice! (plus spawns if needed)

How Realistic is This?

The above scenario does require some specific pieces to be in place(Repair/Extinguish plus a Statue of Liberty) but it’s not that crazy to pull off. You can litter the field with combustible buildings as well meaning you don’t need to worry about a 2nd Repair action. Bringing 4 Tokyo Triumphs is an ideal choice – as they will still do 3 damage to Monsters thanks to the Spire rule – and they are incombustible so they leave behind rubble.

While dealing an easy 2 damage on your Unit turn might not be frequent, the ability for the Scorchers to do 1 damage to a Monster will come up a lot. Regardless of your Monster choices, overall game plan or strategy, Destroyers should be bringing at least 1 Scorcher in every list and it will 100% be worth it.

Wrap Up

The ability for a unit to so easily damage a Monster goes against the idea of what a unit is ‘supposed’ to do, which has been the cause of players skepticism. While units have always had the ability to deal a single damage to a monster, it was through massing numbers and buffs to get a substantial dice pool.

What do you think of this change to Ignite? Is it fair to say the Scorcher should be in every list, or is it just an overreaction?

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