Hi guys! About two years ago now, I started playing Heroclix, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it! I tend to like to talk about my hobbies, via blogs, Youtube, etc., and so here we are. Right now the plan for the blog is to release an article every 3 days or so, with the first few posts coming in fairly rapid succession so that you all will know what kind of content to expect here. As with any blog, feedback and community involvement is key, so please comment on this and any other posts to drum up discussion over the content. Tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what you want to see more of, and what you want to see less of.

I would be remiss if I didn’t credit the most excellent blog, ClixFix, in providing fantastic HeroClix content quite regularly. I’m not doing anything here that the author of ClixFix didn’t do first, and doesn’t do better. Check ClixFix out here.

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Coming off the heels of Marvel’s most recent entry to their Cinematic Universe, I thought it appropriate to choose Doctor Strange for my first Modern Character Discussion. This is easy, as there are only three Doctor Strange available in Modern. (This will, of course, change with the release of next year’s Defenders War set).

First up, from 2015’s Mystics OP kit, we have WKM15-011 Doctor Strange. This Strange comes in at two point values – 150 and 75 – and has an assortment of very playable named keywords and my favorite generic keyword, Mystical. Looking over his power set, he’s obviously meant to be a supporting figure, and his powers do not disappoint.

Strange’s traits are quite nice. Traited Willpower is great, preventing your opponent from simply outwitting it as they could with a standard Indomitable. His Protective Auras trait is the stuff dreams are made of, allowing him to share Shape Change, Toughness, or Defense +1 with adjacent friendlies (of course, he gets it too). Protective Auras makes this an absolutely phenomenal defensive call-in for the Doctor Strange ID card, in fact I’d say that this is the best choice for an ID call-in for the character.

His Special Powers are great, too. The defensive power, Orb of Agamotto, is fantastic, not only granting prob during your turn, but multiple uses of prob to use against your opponent’s attacks. His second Special Power, Book of Vishanti, is equally impressive, granting one of the best heal powers in the game. Unfortunately, the special damage power is not available on top click for either point value, so you won’t be able to predictably utilize it.

Taking into account the Mystics Team Ability and the fantastic named keywords (players following the meta know just how good the Midnight Sons ATA can be) and you’ve got an excellent figure on your hands. At 150 points, he’s a bit expensive for a support piece, and doesn’t have the combat values to stand up as an attacker (though he’s got game as a secondary attacker, in a pinch), but he starts with that excellent defensive power that, coupled with his second trait, brings solid defense to your team. At 75 points, he more easily finds his way onto any number of named theme teams, and is well worth the cost, but you won’t have access to his special powers for the first half of your 4-click dial.

On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best, I’d rank the 150 point dial at 3 1/2 and the 75 point dial at a 4. At both dials, this is an excellent piece to play with.

When a new set is released, my friends and I have a somewhat strange habit of breathing a sigh of relief when we find that we don’t want the rarer pieces. This Doctor Strange falls into that category of rare pieces that I simply don’t want. He’s… Strange.

His trait, Retreat From My Friend’s Madness, is what gives him his identity. At any point on his dial, you can give him a power action (that deals no pushing damage – important since he has no Willpower) to turn him to click #11, his ‘astral’ form.

While on click 11, he has two special powers. His damage power, Try Not To Hurt Each Other, allows him to buff every character within 8 squares of him, giving +1 to a chosen combat value that isn’t damage. But it affects every character within 8 squares. Yes, careful positioning can help you try and affect only your characters, but is that hassle worth the slight benefit (plus the risk of buffing your enemies too?).

His second special – Concentration Broken – allows him to build up concentration tokens so that, once he is attacked by the enemy, he can go back to his physical form, all healed up and ready to go (possibly). However, is this really worth it? You’re putting a lot of time and effort into trying to heal up a relatively mediocre figure.

Maybe there’s something here I just don’t see. If I’m missing something, let me know in the comments. But as it stands, I rate this Doctor Strange a 1/2 out of 5. His combat values are mediocre, his trait and specials require too much finesse for too little gain, and his keywords are limiting. The only positive thing I can say about it is that the sculpt is great.

(For obvious reasons, I’m not including a screenshot of every power on this Strange’s card)

Ahh, the D20 Con LE. In any other world, I would have said that the M15-011 Strange was a great representation of the Sorcerer Supreme’s versatility with various spells, but the spellbook that this bad boy has available to him is, quite simply, unparalleled. Less popular in the meta when compared to his cheaper DC brother, Faust, this is still the only Doctor Strange to really have any impact on the Modern meta, utilizing the Midnight Sons ATA, his free action D20 roll, and ID call-ins.

While you don’t have too much choice with this Doctor Strange, there is a 1-in-20 chance that when you roll the D20, it will come up ‘ANY’, allowing you to pick any of the other 18 powers available to you (you do run the risk of rolling blank, providing no effect). Some of the highlights include:

SANCTUM SANCTORUM: Doctor Strange and adjacent friendly characters can’t be targeted by ranged combat attacks.

Doctor Strange and adjacent friendly characters can’t be targeted by ranged combat attacks. Give Doctor Strange a power action. Each player places all friendly characters in their starting area.

Give Doctor Strange a free action. Place an Energy Dampener token on each opposing character’s card. While an Energy Dampener token is on a character card, even if this power is lost, that character can’t be given a power action. Remove the token from a character’s card when that character is given a non-free action.

Replace all speed values with 3. This value is locked.

Once per turn, Doctor Strange may reroll a single d6, ignoring the original result. Doctor Strange must be within range and line of fire of the character for which the original roll was made. This ability may be used even if the original roll used 2 dice

Your force may be given any number of non-free actions. For each non-free action beyond your action total you use, decrease all opponents’ action total by 1 (minimum 1) on their next turn.

Those are some of the more “control”-oriented powers that you can pick, and at the end of the day you’ll want to pick the power best suited to any given situation. In other words, if you want to master this figure, you need to know what every power does, and where best to use each.

It’s worth noting that there’s a common misconception that you can sit on an ideal roll of the D20, as the trait doesn’t require you to ever re-roll it. The key here is that the trait grants you the indicated power ‘until your next turn’, meaning that you don’t get to keep using the same power without re-rolling.

All-in-all, this is the quintessential Doctor Strange. With the same phenomenal keywords as the OP kit LE, solid combat values and standard powers, and a baller trait that can absolutely warp the battlefield, there’s not much negative to say about this Doctor Strange, save that he’s much less predictable than his other representations. Although I think the OP kit Strange is probably a bit more my style, I can’t bring myself to rate this Doctor Strange any less than a 4 1/2 out of 5.

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And that does it for Doctor Strange in modern! With three different choices of figure and four different starting lines to play with between them, it’s easy to fit the Sorcerer Supreme on a wide number of teams from the kitchen table all the way up to the next WKO.

Thank you guys so much for reading! As I said in the beginning, please leave some comments here, as feedback is the number one driving factor in community driven sites such as this. And please, come back and see what other articles are being posted. In the next few days, in the spirit of giving examples of the various types of articles that will be posted, you guys should see a team build article (Hail Hydra!), and a Custom Dial Design article talking about my work-in-progress custom OP set, built around the game (and associated comic) Injustice, Gods Among Us.

Stay Tuned!