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. This episode, we’re digging deep into the HALL OF JUSTICE and examining the Super Friends!

As most of you know, this set is very different from others in terms of the chase series because there’s a whopping twelve pieces this time, more than any other set! Thankfully, WizKids jumped back to one chase per brick to help people track down more of these and drop their price on the secondary market a bit. Because there are twelve of these suckers, I’ll try to cut the writing about each of them because let’s face it, no one wants to be here all day for one article. To be fair, almost all of these chases are worth having because of their shared trait; troubalert.

TROUBALERT: COME IN, BATMAN!: SIDELINE ACTIVE: Friendly characters have “FREE: If this character critical missed this turn or made the third attack this turn to miss all opposing targets, place a character from your Sideline that can use a TroubAlert trait adjacent on its blue starting line.” // At the beginning of your turn, if CHARACTER NAME started the game due to the TroubAlert trait, roll a d6. [4-6]: Deal them 1 unavoidable damage.

This is a monumental trait as it allows players to stock up their sidelines to the full 15 characters after they’ve filled in their ID summons, basically giving you a ton of utility for free. While they can be KO’d and give up points, and actually have a mechanic that hurts them over time, they are still insanely valuable for the overall game.

So this Chase or Pass is going to run a little differently. Rather than a Casual/Competitive rating on whether you should get them, I’m going to go with Own for Team and Own for Sideline. This will allow you pick which you like the best strictly for their sideline abilities or which are worth getting as a real team player.

I’m a little bummed that Avengers: Infinity brought back translucent bases for the chases and we’ve already ditched them after just 1 set. Phooey!

Let’s get this show on the road!

60/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 4 Range (Single Target). Batman Ally Team Ability. Batman Family, Justice League, and Super Friends Keywords.

This is a rather good Batman dial with some great strengths and defenses to keep him safe. 11 attack for 60 points along with Outwit goes a long way and allows Bruce to hit much bigger targets. The Stealth/18 Combat Reflexes does a fantastic job of protecting him. Batman also brings situational power-picking which he has to use Smoke Cloud at least once to access, basically bringing his own terrain with him to hide in. Picking up Pulse Wave with 11 attack, 3 damage, and Running Shot is a pretty solid investment for 60 points. At 30, he loses some numbers and runs Sidestep instead of Running Shot, but he’s still very much worth the cost. Plus, he pushes into Probability Control!

Unfortunately he doesn’t ignore any type of terrain for movement, so the Running Shot with only an 8 value will trip him up if he hides in hindering for Stealth (which he should since a naked 18 against range is risky). While he does push into Sidestep to help with that issue, you lose a number in every one of his values. Regarding his occasional weakness, the weakness against Perplex does hose him a bit seeing as the X-Men are so popular right now. Bats most likely won’t be able to touch these guys and he’ll take a serious beating from them. Luckily the Outwit should be able to help him cancel that out, but it does force him to use his Outwit defensively.

Own for Team: It’s a pretty respectable Batman for 60 points, and at 30 he’s a hell of a support piece for Batman Family and Justice League teams, still holding a single click of Pick-a-Power. I would say he’s worth picking up.

Own for Sideline: Limited Pick-a-Power, Outwit, and dinging himself into Probability Control with Stealth to keep him safe makes him one of the better call-ins. For sure, pick him up.

30 Points/20 Points, 4/2 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). Batman Ally Team Ability. Batman Family, Justice League, and Super Friends Keywords.

Robin might not have the offense of Batman, but he doubles down with the defense, adding Shape Change to his Stealth/Combat Reflexes combo. Unfortunately for the boy-wonder, his 30 point dial really isn’t worth playing as you’re essentially getting an immobile piece that just brings Incapacitate with a 10 attack. Now at his 20 point line, things get a bit better. Sure, he’s only 2 clicks long, but he brings one of the cheapest Perplex pieces to his Keywords, and with the Stealth/16 Combat Reflexes, he’s a bit safer than your standard support piece. He also has a trait that allows him to keep coming back to life, much like the Fast Forces April O’Neil from TMNT2, so you can almost guarantee you’ll have Perplex the entire game.

Just like April, Robin is scored each time he is KO’d, so the points can rack up rather quickly and put you into a deficit. Regarding his occasional weakness, it’s honestly pretty mellow. Robin isn’t going to be doing much attacking with his low numbers to begin with, and his defenses can only save him so much. Most Plasticity pieces don’t have a lot of movement or are paired with something like Hypersonic Speed to get-in and get-out, so your opponent will have to commit hard to take him out.

Own for Team: Pass. If he wasn’t a Chase and didn’t command prices even remotely close to what he is, he would be a neat support piece for his Keywords.

Own for Sideline: Another Pass. Bringing in Perplex is good, but not when he can keep awarding 20 points over and over again. He’ll also have to roll every turn to take damage and give up even more points.

50/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Atlantis, Justice League, and Super Friends Keywords.

6 clicks for 50 points is almost always an amazing deal, and while Aquaman might have average values, he does bring a lot to the party. Exploit Weakness and Charge give him a fairly decent chance at getting in a lucky hit to cripple a much larger piece, and his 3 damage will make sure he can even punch through Invincible. At his 30 point line, he shifts to more of a support role with Mind Control and Empower, but he’d be much better if that Super Senses started a click earlier. Perhaps his best use is generating free Water terrain which both offsets his occasional weakness and gives him a +1 defense against range almost constantly. He also has some great bystander generation, and while his fish can’t knockback bigger characters, they can tie them up for breakaway, or work wonders for the Secret Six (hello King Shark!).

The real problem with Aquaman is that he’s so average for a chase. Nothing here wow’s you except for his sculpt and while he does have the ability to generate water, King Aquaman does a better job of that. Generating bystanders? Plenty of others that do it better for less like Penguin from Joker’s Wild or Maxie Zeus in the same set (I’ve REALLY come around to like that guy). His occasional weakness forces him to place his water in such a way that he barricades himself off less he essentially drops to a 15 defense and becomes easy pickings for points.

Own for Team: If you don’t own King Aquaman for a few select teams (or even Bizarro Aquaman), there’s some merit to picking him up. Otherwise, hard pass.

Own for Sideline: Mind control is neat, but remember that you’ll have to burn that water terrain to have any shot at making it count. I would rank him above Robin, but still passable.

100/40 Points, 7/3 Clicks, 6 Range (Single Target). Superman Ally Team Ability. Justice League, Kryptonian, and Super Friends Keywords.

Like Bruce, Clark has a decent Superman dial for only 100 points. There’s some good movement here along with Flight, some solid numbers for punishment (4 damage with Super Strength), and he ages quite well with some nice spikes in attack values and powers. Mid-Dial Hypersonic Speed with Precision Strike is nothing to complain about. 6 range and the Superman Ally Team Ability makes him a decent backup sniper as well if melee isn’t a good option. His ability to hand out action tokens for free and more importantly demolish blocking terrain gives him a nice trick that’s quite useful. At 30 points, he’s a little less useful, but still fairly strong since he keeps the special damage power on his top click.

Chase Supes has an issue that many before him have had; no Outwit protection on a big brute that has to dive to deal damage. Since he’s only working with Invulnerable, it’s not that difficult to punch through his reducer and get him into Toughness. His occasional weakness isn’t too bad, however if he tries to fire at someone with ES/D, they max out at +3 defense basically making them impossible to hit. Superman isn’t all that great as a Sideline call-in either since he doesn’t do much and another member of the team brings quite a bit more (coming up next).

Own for Team: At chase prices, he’s a pass. This isn’t a $30+ dial for Superman, even with the high damage value.

Own for Sideline: Somewhat playable, so I’ll say dealer’s choice. With a Perplex or two and a Heavy object, Superman could be a surprisingly big 5-damage hit basically for free. The fact that he pushes into Leadership can be a huge advantage as well, and he keeps that 10 attack for two clicks.

70/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Amazon, Justice League, and Super Friends Keywords.

This is a much more playable kit than Superman; Hypersonic to start things off, a higher attack value for longer, 2 passengers, and Shape Change to help keep her a little more safe than Clark. While she does dip in defenses a lot quicker, she’s going to get you more bang for your buck (and that’s 30 points cheaper than Superman). Her occasional weakness is nothing to worry about since most characters that are played with TK these days are low-cost support pieces that usually won’t be attacking anyway. While her special attack power isn’t as good as Clark, it does punish teams that like to group up. At 30 points, you get Leadership(!) along with her special attack to token down enemy teams, and a nice combination of Charge and 10 attack for 3 damage.

Wonder Woman does lack Flight though, so that’s 1 point for Superman over her. As I mentioned above, she does only keep Invulnerability for just 1 click, so she’ll suffer quite a bit once she does take a hit or fails her Shape Change roll. Since she doesn’t have range, she loses another point to Kal-El as she’s strictly a melee piece, although the Hypersonic does a decent job of countering that aspect. The ES/D on her 30 point line after just 1 click is a little scary on a figure that’s design to dive.

Own for Team: At either point level, she’s pretty solid. Run her as a secondary attacker for some surprising damage, or at 30 to bring Leadership and some surprise damage. Not a must have, but pretty good.

Own for Sideline: Just the fact that she comes in and mitigates her actions with Leadership is worth it enough for me. Sure, you lose the Super Strength from Superman, but I’ll trade that for Leadership. Chase!

60/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Justice League and Super Friends Keywords.

Flash seems to always get a great dial when he’s higher rarity, and this is no different. Hypersonic Speed with Flight, 11 attack Precision Strike, and 3 damage with Prob is outstanding, and easily worth his 60 point cost. 18 Super Senses might not be the big deal it was so many years ago, but that Prob essentially gives him a nice bump. At 30 points, he’s still an all-star suffering a -1 in value on each of his stats, but keeping all of his powers, mainly Prob. He does drop down to 9 attack which is a little scary after just 1 damage, but he picks up TK and Pulse Wave with a range of 4, so he’s basically a fantastic little support piece with some nice offense on his top click.

While his first click is strong, he drops a bit once he takes a single hit since he only has an 11 on his top dial, same with his 3 damage. His occasional weakness is also fairly deadly since a TON of characters have Sidestep these days so he has to be very selective in who he goes after and where he ends his movement. The limited Pulse Wave is nice, but with 9 attack, 1 damage, and Hypersonic Speed over Sidestep, there aren’t a lot of ways to utilize it (although it will counter out their Sidestep to offset his weakness).

Own for Team: 100% worth it at either point level. He’s a terrific tertiary attacker at 60 or a superb support piece at 30 that can do some serious damage with some Perplex.

Own for Sideline: You get Probability Control… for free. Chase!

70 Points/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 6 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Green Lantern Corps, Justice League, and Super Friends Keywords.

Hal is one of the few characters that isn’t so great at his higher point level, but is outstanding at his lower cost. At 70 points, you get access to his Bystander (which does require a POWER to bring in), but the rest of his dial is rather clunky. The TK is nice, but not really worth the 70 points. However, at 30 points, this guy is nuts. Sidestep, TK, Barrier, and Enhancement gives Green Lantern 4 different ways to help his allies. His occasional weakness is very easy to deal with (and fantastic in flavor); he only suffers from characters attacking him/he’s attacking if they have Phasing/Teleport, Pulse Wave, Defend, or Support, powers that aren’t very common except for maybe Phasing. Oh, and he pushes into Running Shot + Pulse Wave for just 30 points.

As I said, the 70 point line is the big downside to this dial. You essentially want to play this higher dial to push him to make him worthwhile, swapping to Running Shot + Pulse Wave with Perplex to help raise his attack value to 11. But that’s a lot to pay for pretty much an activation character with average values. The downside to his lower point cost is that he’s very easy to one-shot with just 17 and Barrier to save him. Any character will be able to make his reign short-lived.

Own for Team: He’s pretty much the definitive low-cost support piece in today’s game, so I think he’s worth picking up.

Own for Sideline: There’s just so much value here to bring in. If you’re getting pummeled, you can get a free Barrier piece to help you breathe. If you need reach, you can bring him in and TK your primary attacker out. Sniping? +1 damage. Taxi? Sidestep + Flight. Totally worth it.

50/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Justice League and Super Friends Keywords.

This is a very average dial with average values, except for that dreadful movement value, but there’s some fantastic potential if you can spend the turns to grow Apache Chief up to colossal size, and then keep growing him. If you can manage to keep him around, a 50 or 30 point piece with a 13 attack and 6 damage is insanely good, plus he’ll be able to hit people pretty much anywhere on the map if you grow him large enough. Empower on most of his dial is helpful as well since he can carry in another melee piece. At 30 points, he’s essentially the same thing as his higher cost with a little smaller values, only 1 click of Charge, and the same ability to become a real menace. His occasional weakness isn’t bad either; sans the dreaded Mini Shredder, there aren’t a lot of tiny characters that are causing chaos right now.

Again, the big issue with Apache Chief is that you have to wait, at least three turns to gain any kind of benefit. And if you do grow him, which you should, he becomes the biggest target on the board with only 18 Toughness to protect him. Like a lot of retaliators, it’s not too difficult for your opponent to snipe him out while he’s doing his thing before he becomes valuable.

Own for Team: Another 6 clicks for 50 points that can potentially grow to 13 attack and 6 damage? Where do I sign up?

Own for Sideline: It’s a tough call. The potential for big damage is great, but it’s a risky play since he can go down so easy before he gets going. Dealer’s choice here, but I lean on picking him up.

50/20 Points, 5/2 Clicks, 4 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Justice League, Politician, Scientist, and Super Friends Keywords.

The first thing I see on this dial is the lack of any movement power and Willpower. The Atom is slow, but he does bring three of the best support powers in the game with him in Leadership, Outwit, and Prob. Pulse Wave is a fantastic power to have up front with that 11 attack, so he’s got some threat to him as well. Atom will be great in combat with standard figures, but is awful at dealing with retaliation characters thanks to his occasional weakness. At 20 points, you do lose all those meaty support powers, but he’s a pretty good buy with Charge, 10 Super Strength, Super Senses, and Battle Fury and with a 3 click lifespan.

That missing movement power is massive for a defect; sure he has Pulse Wave, but he’s never going to use it since his enemies can just run away from him. He might bring a lot of support to the party at 50 points but that’s pretty much all he’s going to do, and that’s a lot to pay for those three powers. His 30 point line does indeed have some bite, but it’s not very long lasting since he immediately drops to a 9 attack with just 1 damage. Since objects are limited and there are so many special objects that are worth running these days, you’re not going to get much mileage out of him.

Own for Team: He’s a pass for me. The super support damage power is neat, but not good enough as a chase. At 30 points, he’s mediocre.

Own for Sideline: He’s like a worse version of Superman and Wonder Woman, so he’s a pass.

80/40 Points, 6/3 clicks, 7 Range (Two Targets). No Team Ability. Justice League, Scientist, and Super Friends Keywords.

Flight, Running Shot, Pen/Psy, 17 ES/D, 7 Range, and 3 damage all look pretty good for 60 points, decent at 80 points if not a little overcosted, but add in his double Perplex and he’s pushed into better waters. Sure, he can’t double Perplex damage, but that’s okay because he’s essentially 10 points more than Red Leader, but isn’t a Prime and can actually dish some nice damage. As long as Firestorm stays back, he’ll pour the heat on and when he’s tokened down, he can pump his allies up or bring his defense to a fat 19. At 40 points, he has the highest cost-to-click ratio of the bunch, but that’s because you get Prob with a pretty decent click of Sidestep, Energy Explosion (with two targets), and Toughness. If he takes 1 damage, that’s a-okay since he picks up the double Perplex and Phasing to make him a great taxi/support piece.

Unfortunately for Firestorm, he has one of the worst occasional weaknesses. Outwit is so strong these days, and the one-two punch of taking out his Perplex and then gaining +2 attack against him means his goose is cooked from just one power. He’s also fairly fragile with just 17 ES/D protecting him when he’s almost always going to want to use that Perplex on his attack or an ally.

Own for Team: I’m a sucker for +2 Perplexing, and either side of this dial are quite decent even for the somewhat higher points.

Own for Sideline: He’s like The Flash, but he pushes into a better click thanks to that Perplex. Get him. I need to.

50/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Justice League and Super Friends Keywords.

If you like characters that are all about diving in and asking questions later, Hawkgirl is your go-to. A long dial for a cheap melee piece with Exploit Weakness and bystander generation that pops out birds with Flurry is pretty good, and her 9 movement Charge with Flight will let her get pretty much anywhere to hit. Her occasional weakness is completely avoidable, so you’re really looking at an efficient melee piece. If she manages to land on her non-Charge clicks, she can put out quite the hurt, and the fact that she keeps a 10 attack or higher on every click is a blessing. At 30 points, this is a beefy dial with lots of aggression. Thankfully she has Super Senses for much of her dial, so her weakness coming back to bite her isn’t the end of the world.

But that weakness will come back to bite her. +2 attack against her all from just choosing to attack her first is huge, and essentially pushes that 17 defense to a 15, and the 16 on her lower cost to a 14, putting her in Hypertime defense values. Unlike Aquaman, she can’t generate birds for free, so you have to choose whether you waste time creating them or using Hawkgirl to bash skulls.

Own for Team: It’s a 50/50. She has some great aggression, but she’ll go down quickly if she fails her Super Senses roll. A lucky player will have a field day with her.

Own for Sideline: She’ll immediately suffer a -2 to attack once she’s summoned in, so she’s a character that you bring in, hope she stays around, and hope she doesn’t roll for self-damage. If you can manage that, she’ll be a god for free. Again, Dealer’s choice, but I side with yes.

50/30 Points, 6/3 Clicks, 0 Range (Single Target). No Team Ability. Justice League and Super Friends Keywords.

Hawkman has the exact opposite dial of Hawkgirl, favoring Sidestep and Close Combat Expert with Combat Reflexes over the Charge-Heavy/Super Senses, but he does pick those up through the dial. I like this a little better because he can serve as a taxi that can put out a big chunk of 4 damage on his terms and keep action tokens from himself until he needs to commit. Once he does wade into the enemy team, he can give himself a POWER and potentially give out tokens to everyone around him.

Just like Hawkgirl, it costs Hawkman an action to do this, whereas Superman and Wonder Woman can hand out tokens for free. The biggest hit to Hawkman is that he has by far the worst occasional weakness, giving out +2 defense against his targets or +2 attack to his aggressors if they don’t fly. Most characters don’t fly, so that means Hawkman essentially has a 9 attack and 15 defense for 50 points, and an 8 attack with 14 defense for 30 points. Why would I ever want that?

Own for Team: He’s totally passable. The Close Combat Expert can mitigate his weakness, but then you’re only hitting for 2 damage for 50 or 30 points.

Own for Sideline: Same issue as above. Everything he brings to the table as a summon can be accomplished by another member of the Super Friends. Pass.

What are your thoughts on this new line of chases that are basically free to use? Do you think I made some good calls or should I make my way to the Legion of Doom? Is there a Super Friend that you think is much better than I made them out to be? Let us know in the comments section!

See you next week at Clix Fix and remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!