This week the Marquee is upon us! Starting tonight!
Prepare for classic battles from the golden age of clix!

The set officially hit shelves 2 days ago, so this is the shortest time between release and marquee ever. That means many of the figures and especially cards will still be new to people as they pull them.
Fortunately for the cards, we got to see them 2 weeks ago and the new rules arb has already posted a ton of clarifications. That definitely helps make my job here easier.

To see all the dials for all the figures in the set (including LE's and Chase), check out the Origin dial thread. All the figures in one place, without all that clicking back and forth on WK site.

If you missed any parts of this review series, they're all linked here:

Part 1 - Commons
Part 2 – Uncommons
Part 3 – Rares
Part 4 – Uniques
Part 5 – Cards

These reviews are intended strictly for sealed, 300 point games with only this set.

Click ‘Read More…’ below for the full review.

Welcome to the final part of the Origin Primer.

The cards here aren’t rated with Smileys since they’ll depend almost entirely on if you have figs to play them on (Feat cards), if they’ll help your team (BFC’s), or if you have points to burn (Pogs.)
So, without further ado….

Part 5 – Cards:

Battlefield Conditions, Feat Cards, & Bystander Tokens


Battlefield Condition Cards

Communications Breakdown
Before the beginning of the game’s first turn, the player playing Communication Breakdown chooses one combat value; that combat value cannot be modified during the game. When rolling a six-sided die for Leadership, subtract 1 from the result.

This card can have huge potential, if you don’t play figs yourself that this will nerf!
If you don’t pull any Perplex yourself, this could restrict any your opponent might have.
Also note that it says ‘Modified’ values, so it won’t affect replacements like Defend or JSA. Blades/Claws/Fangs is also a replacement value, not a modifier.
But the real catch for this card is that CCE and RCE are modifiers! You can effectively eliminate those two powers if you so choose! (However, so many figs have them that you may end up hurting yourself.)
This could help you limit the number of opposing figs that can hurt your Inv/Impervious characters.

The Leadership aspect is secondary. There aren’t a lot of figs with it, and it doesn’t account for much on smaller teams anyway.

Critical Strike
At the beginning of each of the first player’s turns, place a strike token on this card if there are fewer than six strike tokens on this card. When a friendly character is attacking a single opposing character and the result is a critical hit, you may choose to deal damage normally, or deal damage equal to the number of strike tokens on this card and then remove all strike tokens from this card.

This can be an interesting card, but because it comes from the randomness of dice rolls, your opponent has just as much chance of using this against you. Unless you have PC on your team to somewhat limit your opponents’ chances of rolling Crit Hit, this card could be a risk.
Also note, you add a token at the start of the First Player’s Turn, not at the start of every turn. And it is the responsibility of the person playing this card to keep track of it.
Also a suggestion, you can use a 1d6 to keep track of the tokens.

Mistrust
When characters that have the same team symbol or team ability are adjacent to each other, modify their defense values by –1, to a maximum of –1.

If you’re not playing a team without a lot of TA cohesiveness, you can definitely play this card to your advantage. For starters, the JSA TA alone will activate the card because it requires teammates to be adjacent to share their defense!
Beyond that, you can base a target with your own fig (with the same TA) in order to bring their defense down. Just keep in mind that it works both ways, so they’ll get a shot back at you.

Protect the Innocent
Once per turn as a free action, you may choose to remove from the game a bystander token adjacent to a friendly character. No victory points are scored for the removed bystander token.

This can be an interesting card to play whether you use any Bystanders or not.
If you do play Bystanders, you can use it as a shield one turn, and then remove it from the game next turn to get it out of the way without burning an action or losing points.
If your opponent is playing any Bystanders this BFC will prevent them from being tie up pieces or even from using them to activate the Suicide Squad TA.
If you don’t happen to play any Bystanders yourself, this is a card that can’t hurt you and can really only help (in the right situations.) (Unless your opponent uses that strategy against you to remove pogs and then shoot you in the back. )



Feat Cards


Compel
Prerequisite: Mind Control
Cost: 15
When the character uses Mind Control, it can target a single friendly character that has already been given an action this turn. If the attack succeeds, after the action is resolved deal 1 unavoidable damage to the target .

In every set there’s always a great card that just doesn’t apply to the set it comes in. This is one of those. Out of all the figures in Origin, the only one worth putting this on is Mr. Mind. And in the rare instance where you pull both this card and that Unique, you have to consider that Mr. Mind is already nearly 70 points for 4 clicks of life. Do you really want to tack more points onto that?


Coordination
Prerequisite: Any TA
Cost: 6
Lines of fire to and from the character are not blocked by characters with the same team symbol

If you pull a ranger and some teammates with the same TA, this card could be hugely useful for only 6 points. It means that you can shoot through your own guy, Trick Shot-like, but for far fewer points.
Just keep in mind that the Lines of Fire are clear from and back to this character. (Unless the character in question has Stealth!)


Disintegrate
Cost: 7
When the character is given a close combat action, before making the close combat attack, remove from the game an object adjacent to the character or an object carried by a character adjacent to the character.

This is a great card for disarming an opponent of their weapon. Per the wording of the card, the attack doesn’t even need to succeed. An excellent use of only 7 points, and playable on basically anyone.
Finally there’s a cure to persistent hypersonic dumpster syndrome!


Dissent
Prerequisite: Outwit
Cost: 18
When the character uses Outwit, it may choose to counter a team ability possessed by a single target opposing character as if that team ability were a power, instead of countering a power.

An awesome use of 18 points. There aren’t a lot of figures in this set with Outwit, but if you pull one (and choose to play it), and this card, then you’re in a good place. Largely because there are so many figs with Team Abilities here.


Entrench
Prerequisite: Defend, Enhancement
Cost: 5
Friendly characters adjacent to the character ignore knock back and critical hits.

Another card that isn’t playable because there are a total of 3 figures in the whole set that can use it, and even then only for 1 or 2 clicks each.
Besides that, the card has a mediocre benefit at best and you’re going to forget that you have it at the one time in 3 games that it even comes up.
Don’t even bother.


Mercenary
Prerequisite: No TA
Cost: 25* ()
Before the beginning of the game’s first turn, choose a team ability possessed by a friendly character. The friendly character cannot be a wild card, and cannot possess a team ability that cannot be used by wild cards or possess a team ability that is granted by a feat. The character can use the chosen team ability when adjacent to a friendly character with that team ability and a higher point value.
*Minus 5 for each friendly character with the chosen team ability, minimum cost 10.
With so many good TA’s in this set, you’re bound to find a good use for this card. Make sure though that it’s worth the cost. Also keep in mind that the effect only works when adjacent to a higher cost teammate with the chosen TA. This is good for JSA (who already have to be adjacent), but not necessarily as much for, say, Mystics.
Lastly, keep a close eye on the cost of the card. It is -5 for every teammate with the TA. That means if you make your build total with the card and your 3 JSA teammates in mind, then you only needed 10 points.
I had a whole paragraph here on watching out for the cost of the card when changing TA’s, but then it was pointed out to me that the way the card is costed is completely counter-intuitive, and rather than give myself an anyrism trying to explain the logic here, I can only point you to the thread on WK forum to try and sort it out for yourself. Good luck.

The one thing I will recommend is that you check your opponents’ teams before the start of the game to make sure they’ve properly accounted for the cost of the card.


Pounce
Prerequisite: L/C, DV 1 or 2
Modifiers: AV + 1, DV + 1
Cost: 15
Give the character a power action. Move the character up to its speed value and make a close combat attack as a free action. After resolving the attack, the character takes 1 unavoidable damage.

An oldie but goodie. This is one of the original feat cards to come out in Mutant Mayhem, and its good to see it stand the test of time.
There are a number of figs in the set that can use this, and it’s proven its worth over and over. So if you have a good candidate for the card, play it.
Note – Even though the card has been out for a couple years, some people still aren’t clear on the Leap/Climb movement aspect – L/C is only the prerequisite, you are not actually using L/C when you move with this card. Therefore hindering terrain will hinder you, and you’ll have to stop when moving adjacent to an enemy.
It’s tricky, but thems the breaks.


Repulsor
Prerequisite: Force Blast
Cost: 10
Modifier: AV -1
When the character succeeds at a ranged combat attack against a single target opposing character, after the action is resolved the target is knocked back.

The love affair with Force Blast continues. Though finally (IMO) we get a FB card that works at range. Sweet.
Being a Seth designed set, there is of course Force Blast to be found. Though surprisingly less than normal. And in nearly every case its only for a couple clicks late in the dial when AV’s are already down. Since the modifier on the card also reduces AV by 1, this might not be the most useful card in this format. But don’t dismiss it entirely, there are plenty of good Force Blast figs who will have a ton of fun with this in constructed play.

Keep in mind though, just like with Pounce, here Force Blast is only the prerequisite. You are not actually using the Force Blast power when you use this card. You are just making a normal ranged attack that now also causes knockback.


Thwart
Prerequisite: Outwit or Mastermind
Cost: 15
Give the character a power action. Place a thwart token on a target feat card assigned to a character that is 10 or fewer squares from the character and to which the character has a clear line of fire. The target feat is ignored until a character to which it is assigned is given a power action specifically to remove the thwart token.

There’s a handful of Outwit in the set, but practically no Mastermind to be found. Also, the probability of someone pulling a game breaking feat card along with a figure that makes it awesome is so slim as to be negligible. So spending 15 points on this card, in this format might not be the best use of points. Also keep in mind the mechanic of the card; for one thing it costs an action to use, so you can’t do it after moving or being carried – as you can with regular Outwit. Also, you can always just Outwit the prerequisite for a feat as well. (For most feats anyway.)
There’s no doubt this will be a good card in constructed play, but in the Marquee it will be questionable at best.


Triage
Prerequisite: Support
Cost: 10
When the character succeeds at the attack roll for Support, the resulting healing can be divided among the target and any other friendly characters (none of which may be adjacent to an opposing character) to which the character is adjacent and that the attack roll would hit (ignore all combat value modifiers). The target must be healed of at least 1 damage.

Now, back to the cards that completely don’t apply to the set they come in…
With Exp Mr. Miracle being the only fig in the set with Support, and only on two clicks a the end no less, this card simply will not come into play.
It would have been awesome in Collateral Damage with Dr. Midnite, but here.. not so much.

(and yes, I’m aware that Alfred has Support, but good luck pulling him. )


Bystander Tokens

Legionnaire – 4
President Horne – 4
Mister Tawky Tawny – 6

These are the ‘throw away’ bystanders in the set. Both of the 4 point pogs aren’t good for much other than tie up or blocking line of sight (IE: taking a hit so your big gun doesn’t have to.)
Bystanders will actually be good for blocking LoS on the JSA map because there is so much blocking terrain to use in conjunction.
Mr. Tawky Tawny (worst. name. ever.) is still cheap enough to use as a tie up/throw away piece even at 6 points. And if you somehow get to pull off an actual attack with him, more power you. (Though how an upright tiger-dude didn’t get BCF is beyond me.)
The thing to look out for though is the Protect the Innocent battlefield condition card. This won’t affect your team total (figs removed don’t count), but it might force you to change your strategy.

Dane Dorrance – 7
Sarge Steel – 8
Amanda Waller – 12

These characters do a little more than just soak up damage, they have actual attacks and even range! Dane is pretty good for 7 points with a 16 defense. His aquatic movement ability won’t come into play on this map though. Sarge Steel’s 1 point more gets him some significant differences; 6 range, 9 AV and 2 damage. Nothing overly impressive, but not bad for 8 points either.
Miss Waller is a little more tricky at 12 points. She’s easy enough to KO and 12 points could mean the difference between winning and losing. Plus, if someone plays Protect the Innocent, you’ll end up with at most a 288 point team, which maybe you could have used those 12 points for something that wasn’t negated by a BFC.


That’s it for the Marquee Primer Review!
Good luck in your games, and in your pulls!

Excellent write-up as always, and a fine capper to the primer week.

One minor thing that jumped out at me was that you skipped the prerequisites (CCE, WE & Poison) for Disintegrate.

Digression: Looking at the comments in Repulsor -- how there's less Force Blast in this set than we've normally been seeing in Seth's sets -- it has me wondering if Smoke Cloud is the new Force Blast since there's more than a little of it in this set, and if we might see some Feat to boost that in the next set or two.

That's why you attach it to Mr. Miracle Rookie. Start up as a tie-up piece then after a few hits/pushes start pouncing every one from the stealthy guy in hindering to the guy who likes to soar. Hindering terrain and elevated terrain have nothing on Mr. Scott Free.

As always, a great review. And as always, I have a few random comments:
One thing I'd like to point out: When using this card, your damage value is completely replaced by the number of strike tokens, should you choose that option. In other words, the figures that benefit most from this BFC are low-level figs - even Destiny can deal 6 damage to Superman with a Critical Strike, should the circumstances allow it.
Note that it says Team Symbol or Team Ability, so a Wildcard copying the TA of its neighbor would activate Mistrust, as would Mercenaries.
Just a quick note: "Ignoring critical hits" means a double-six is not an automatic hit anymore. Still not a very good card for this environment, except possibly on Jakeem Thunder.

i have read these since sinister.....i have never won. hopefully my luck will change if i pull a v mr. miracle.....

not just pulling alfred, but pulling alfred and triage with him.

Yeah Mercenary is going to be a card that confuses players for a loooong time. The 25 point option is just counter-intuitive and though I understand it, it will be hard for me to explain to other players.

IIRC, the ruling I heard was that when you "ignore critical hits" you're ignoring the "critical" part, not the hit part.
So if a 12 would still hit, you just ignore the extra point of damage, not the whole attack. (If a 12 wouldn't hit, then you're in luck, if you can call that luck.)

Question to the masses, what happens if Entrench is in play with Critical Strike BFC? Would you ignore the Critical Strike? (Would it even be aplicable?)

I just wanted to point out: You can only affect the bystanders that are adjacent to your friendly characters with this card... Meaning that yes, a single bystander trying to tie up one of your figs is gone in a snap; however, this won't necessarily nerf opposing Suicide Squad. An opponent could certainly get his bystander next to his SSquad fig and sacrifice it for healing before it ever gets to your turn.
Personally, if it doesn't leave me open for attack, I'd rather get the points for a bystander than not... but in the right situations (especially if you've pulled a tentpole piece for your Marquee force), this card could help the big guns stay free of the toadies.

I don't think you are giving Amanda Waller her due credit. Yes, she is easy to hit, as all pogs are (unless she's based with Jakeem Thunder, which is how I used her). But she can deal out pretty decent damage with 6 range, dual target, 9 attack and 2 damage. More importanty, she is perfect to use for Johnny Quick's CSA TA, as she is one of only a couple pogs with Willpower. I think she is more worth while than many figs in this set.

Thanks for the added clarification. I'm sure someone would have confused that.
It didn't occur to me because if its not my character, then its not a 'friendly.' Though I suppose that designation could get cloudy in multiplayer games.



Per the Suicide Squad comment, I meant that you'd have to base the pog, but didn't say that outright. In that particular case, it'd be better to use Protect the Innocent to get rid of it rather than KO. Also with only 3 actions per turn, you might not have enough to KO a pog and still make an attack.

Does that mean that if I do a successful Mind Control on a figure next to an opposing player's pog, I can use Protect the Innocent to remove it?

Still not sure if this is legal (the Judges at the even said it was ok though) but I used Communication breakdown to prevent my transporter Mirror master from taking the -2 on the transporter attack by selecting the attack value as the one than could not be modified.

I would really like to know if this was legal so I can use it again

I think what you are thinking of is nbperps preliminary ruling. He has recently posted a thread in the WK Judges forum with new (definitive) answers from Game Design:
Yes, that is legal. Comm Breakdown stops all modifiers - that is, anything that gives a plus or a minus to a given stat. The -2 to transporter attacks fall into that category.