I need advice on a DC team

[Tyger]

Hi,

I'm playing in a 300 point DC head to head tournament at the end of the week. I'm not that great with DC, so if there is anyone out there who could help me, I would be very appreciative.
I am thinking of using an experienced Flash (82) and pick from Catwoman, some Man-Bats, and maybe an Arcane. I think TOMorrow is an underrated character, so I'd like to use the Veteran version (28) of him. There is also Riddler, and Medics, and I'm just not sure what to use.
Is Darkseid (150) or Brainiac 13 worth using even though they are over 100 points?

Thanks for the help.

[SgtHulka]

It all depends on who you're up against. When I'm building a DC team the first question I ask myself is: how will I deal with r/e Batman and v Nightwing if they're on the same team? This is the reason, IMHO, you don't see a ton of TOMorrows being fielded. Yes, TO is a great piece, but he can't touch Batman or Nightwing because of their team ability. I think one of the versions has Energy Explosion, so if your opponent is silly enough to taxi Batman, you could EE Batman's taxi and nail Bats with some splash damage. Flash is a good choice vs. Batman/Nightwing, assuming you can perplex his damage up to two. The reason is he can use Hypersonic speed to run past Batman and hit him for two on the way (or Nightwing). Two clicks will remove Batman's or Nightwing's Outwit, and so long as you put some distance between you it will prevent Batman from CCE'ing you. So I'd stick someone with perplex on your team. Just be sure that if you use this strat you don't place Flash in a position where the other of the dynamic duo can outwit him after he's knocked the first of the duo off they're outwit.

The second question I ask myself, if I'm building a 300 point team, is: how will I deal with LE Superman? Most people jump up and down and yell "outwit". But that's much easier said than done, especially if Superman has a taxi (r. Booster Gold or e. Man Bat). It takes only 2 clicks to knock most figures off their outwit, and a well-played Superman will never let you get close enough to both outwit and strike with someone he didn't just strike (iow, he'll only let an outwitter get close enough if he knows he'll knock him off of outwit). This is where Darkseid comes in. Yes, he's expensive, but not as expensive as LE Superman. He's got a ton of outwit, and he's got impervious, which means when Superman tags him the best he'll do is 1, which won't knock him off of his outwit. Finally, Darkseid also has psychic blast and mind control, so he doesn't ever have to outwit Superman's impervious. He only has to outwit Hypersonic. So Darkseid is an expensive piece, but he's a custom-made Superman killer.

I tend to blow off medics when playing DC. That's partially because I still don't have any Checkmate medics, but it's also because straight DC tends to emphasize close combat, which makes getting back to your medics far more difficult than marvel. For the 19 points you invest in a medic, who spends most of the time sitting in the corner waiting for people to taxi to him, you could invest in a Robin or Huntress who with stealth and leap/climb can go on medic-hunting duty. Another choice might be someone like LE TOMorrow or Desaad, who gain support later in their dials. In these cases you can be aggressive with them b/c you don't mind them getting tagged. So you have medics that do something other than just sitting in a corner all day.

Brainiac is difficult to make work because of the Batman Team Ability. He's only got a click or two of imperviousness, so you don't want to push him. And he's got RCE so he's not that effective base to base. You could taxi him base to base with Batman, mind control Batman, and force Batman out of the hindering terrain, but then you'll have to push next turn to take advantage of it by tagging Batman with RCE. If this is your plan to get Batman out of cover, you're better off spending a mere 33 points on the Mad Hatter and the rest of the points on other RCE'ers like TOMorrow or Huntress. Finally, Brainiac's excellent team ability is useless against Batman/Nightwing due to the fact that even when in base to base combat you can't use outwit. Against someone else, like Bane (another popular character), Brainiac can be great, but in a tournament setting you've got to be prepared for several different forces.

Those are just my thoughts, I hope you find them moderately useful.

[fearman111]

One way to negate the Batman team ability is Force Blast. Taxi Blue Beetle base to base with Nightwing, blast him 2 squares out of hindering, then let Brainiac 13 fire away.

Then there's Bane - a total monster in hand to hand combat. Taxi him next to Nightwing, and punch his lights out.

fm