Sometimes the basics aren’t enough. Sometimes you need a little something extra when it comes to your choice of team ability. And when that happens, you need an Alternate Team Ability. But which one suits your play style, and why should you even play it? Hopefully I can help you with that.

This time on Alternate Team Spirit: Justice League Dark!

Greetings, my fellow Clixers, and welcome to another episode of Alternate Team Spirit! I know I promised you a Green Lantern Honor Guard team, but then I saw the new ATAs from the JL52 set and decided to cover a brand-new ATA while it was fresh. Therefore, sit tight for Justice League Dark!


While I myself am not a fan of the idea of rebooting continuity completely, it did spawn a few wicked ATAs, and we’re covering the one based around the mystical version of the Justice League spawned from the continuity upheaval. Thankfully, though, Wizkids has finally decided to use only one Justice League keyword from here on out, meaning that this ATA only requires one keyword, as opposed to Justice League (Silver Age) or Justice League International. But how does this one work?

Justice League Dark emphasizes the control aspect that most of the characters actually involved in this team feature, modifying your opponent’s figures ranges by -2 as long as two characters using the team ability are adjacent to each other. The fortunate part is that the Justice League Dark don’t have their own keyword, as that would lead to you running a team of secondary attackers and support characters without some kind of muscle to back them up. As it stands, you have several options for your primary attackers without breaking keyword; which ones you use are up to you.

In Action
The great part about the Justice League Dark is that you don’t have to use just the base team, which opens up options for mixing and matching team members from several different Justice Leagues to determine your optimal build. We’ll only be building one team today, but it should be enough to showcase this ATAs ability.

jl52002 R Batman
Team: Batman Ally
Range: 5
Points: 119
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City, Justice League, Martial Artist

9 11 17 3

9 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 9 18 2

8 9 17 2

7 10 16 2

7 10 16 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Drop in from the Roof: Batman can use Leap/Climb.

(Defense) Tempered and Trained: Batman can use Toughness and Combat Reflexes.

Batman is a really good figure. Permanent Stealth and Leap/Climb make him a very mobile figure that can’t be shot as long as he occupies hindering terrain, and he has the movement to make it from one piece of hindering terrain to the next. His defense power basically gives him a 19 defense in close combat, and combines that with Toughness to make him even more durable; he switches to straight Toughness when he loses this power (with a defense of 18!) followed by Combat Reflexes to keep that 18 against close combat for the rest of his dial. An impressive track of damage powers, combined with a full dial of movement powers and a good lineup of attack values, makes him a brutal and comic-accurate piece for his points.

jl52004 R Green Lantern
Team: Justice League
Range: 7
Points: 72
Keywords: Green Lantern Corps, Justice League, Soldier

9 10 17 3

8 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 15 1

9 9 17 2

10 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Ineffective Against Yellow: Green Lantern modifies his attack and damage values by -1 when attacking a character displaying a yellow power in their dial.

(Attack) Green Constructs: Green Lantern can use Barrier, Incapacitate, and Telekinesis.

My original call was going to be for the DC 10th anniversary Oracle, but then I realized that the team had no figures with a range longer than 5. Green Lantern is the answer to that. He really is all about range, with almost all of his powers being usable at or effective at range. His trait shouldn’t come up as much as you think, since most yellow powers are not the most effective for direct combat. He also has Telekinesis and Barrier combined in one power, which lets him manipulate character placement and the battlefield’s terrain, whichever you choose. He’s also your best partner to activate the ATA, especially if you have him carry around Constantine. He’s the ranged attacker this team needs, and is good at it.

jl52019 U John Constantine
Team: Mystics
Range: 0
Points: 59
Keywords: Justice League, Mystical

7 9 16 2

7 9 15 1

6 8 15 1

6 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Riding the Synchronicity Highway: John Constantine is a wild card.

(Attack) Mystical Wards: Other characters can't use Probability Control.

(Damage) Sheer Cunning: John Constantine can use Outwit and Perplex.

John Constantine was one of the most highly anticipated characters out of the JL52 set, as can be evidenced by the number of times the word “Finally” was used in his Units section page. He’s pretty good too, able to shut down the Probability Control ability just by being there. The only downside to this ability is that most of his actual teammates use that ability at some point or another on their dials, meaning that you want to play him with some other Justice League members if you don’t want to bugger up some of your teammates. Or, you can push him to get to a combination of Outwit and Perplex; in Golden Age, the Brilliant Tactician feat makes him a star. Riding the Synchronicity Highway means you can have up to three team abilities on John at once (his Mystics team ability, whichever ATA you have on your team that he can use, and one of your friendly teammates’ team ability such as Batman Ally in this team), which opens up all kinds of options. He’s a pretty good support piece, but don’t expect him to win the game by himself.

ffsm003 R Steel
Team: Superman Ally
Range: 5
Points: 100
Keywords: Armor, JLA, Justice League, Metropolis, Scientist

9 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 3

6 9 15 2

6 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

For 100 points, Steel is a great secondary attacker. He has kind of a short range for his Running Shot attack, but his Outwit makes up for that; use it to shut down opposing powers for your other characters. His next click’s kind of a downer, as he has a low attack, low defense, and no move-and-attack powers. He gains Charge, Super Strength, and his attack and defense both go up on his third click, which makes him into a nice brick to support your primary attacker (probably Superman, or maybe him and Batman both). He switches to a small crowd-control mode after that, with Earthbound coming into his dial late, though he does regain Outwit on his last click. A solid piece all around, though not something you should build your team around by himself.

ffjl002 E Superman
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 125
Keywords: Justice League, Metropolis, Reporter

11 10 18 4

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

9 9 17 2

9 10 16 2

9 10 16 3

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Knockout Punch: Superman can use Charge. When he does, he breaks away automatically and all hit characters are knocked back 1 square after actions resolve.

While he doesn’t live quite as long as other Supermen and lacks the Hypersonic Speed and ridiculous stats of the higher-point versions, this Superman is perfect for a lower point game. He has very good combat values for his point cost, combined with a very attractive mix of powers and abilities, including Indomitable and a full dial of damage reducers. His single special power is just awesome, letting him break away automatically when he uses Charge and knock back anyone he hits, whether it be a single target or a group hit by his late-dial Quake. He makes a great addition to any Justice League team, and can push seldom-used Reporter teams over the top.

So right now we’ve got 485 points of characters and team ability, what are we to do with the other 15? My personal recommendation is the Globe of Ultimate Knowledge if you want to keep it Modern Age, since you really can’t go wrong with more Outwit, and the Black Lantern to grant you some healing. If you want to go Golden Age, I’d recommend Life Model Decoy on Green Lantern, as he’s the only figure that can neither heal nor reduce damage. So, looking at the two possibilities, we have:

Batman – 119 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Green Lantern – 72 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
John Constantine – 59 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Steel – 100 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Superman – 125 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Globe of Ultimate Knowledge – 10 points

Or

Batman – 119 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Green Lantern – 72 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
-Life Model Decoy – 12 points
John Constantine – 59 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Steel – 100 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points
Superman – 125 points
-Justice League Dark – 2 points

Final Assessment
One of two Justice League ATAs to use the new single keyword, Justice League Dark punishes range-dependant teams as long as you can keep two teammates together. It’s definitely something worth considering if you’ve got the points for it.

That’s all for this one; come back next time when Object of Desire looks at an old-school stinker that has gotten better with the new crop of maps. Until then, happy Clixin’!

When the ATA was first revealed, like with Secret Avengers, I felt really unsure about the idea of just any Justice League member being able to technically become a member of Justice League Dark (maybe it could've been the first ATA to require two keywords, Justice League and Mystical?). But the more I think about it, the more excited I get at the idea of just imagining all these other Justice League alumni guest-starring on the team just for fun. So I'm stoked about teams like the ones detailed here.

Thanks for the article! I'm a big fan of both this and Object of Desire, and I'm always excited to see what you got next!

Id liked to.see the article.have the actual justice league dark. Not just putting one figure on and calling it a JLA dark team.

That's the problem though, you can only really make one Justice League Dark team, and that's just using the ones in New 52. You can swap out some characters and use some older versions, but generally, there's just one team, and it's pretty obvious how to go about making it (Deadman, Constantine, Zatanna, Shade, and possibly Xanadu). I'm all for some creative takes.

And the bigger problem is that Enchantress is completely backwards with her keywords. The 250 point version if the villain from the first arch of JLD, yet the keywords that the 50 point version SHOULD have, got dumped on that version as well (which makes absolutely no sense for the character).

Well, Shadowpact I can see, because she was definitely a big-hitter on that team, but I really wish you had the option to "hold her back" on Shadowpact teams. I can't vouch for Suicide Squad and Justice League is definitely off-kilter.

This will be a fun ATA. I like the surprise factor. You know your opponent will forget you have it.

I just love this ATA. I don't use ATA too much but when I got this at Gencon I was excited for it. Made a team with this ATA the other day and it was awesome especially with the new52 Green Arrow.

...and Mindwarp (in theory)

So you could go....

JL Dark
12 JL Dark ATA
62 Madame Xanadu
59 John Constantine
55 Shade the Changing Man
52 Deadman
90 Zatanna
45 Mindwarp
375

Leaving 25 points for extra fodder

I would run the back half of Shade with the 10

Part of the problem though is JC crushes your own PC off of Mindwarp and reduces the Theme Team bonus making him little more then a tie up piece (which perhaps is all he did in the comics).

If I were running this I might run the Green and Red Kryptonites to take advantage of the short range from the ATA. Green Kryptonite plays in to your one sided PC and heavy perplex.

Red Kryptonite also might work well for you with Xanadu.

Globe of Ultimate Knowledge could work.

And using the Infinity Gauntlet would not be terribly unthematic.

I find this ATA to be really under-costed. I could see it at two points, if say the affected opposing character had to be within line of fire, or within a certain number of squares. But for just 2 points and having any two of the ata using friendlies side-by-side affects the entire board and opposing teams? Worth more than two points for sure.

One problem with your modern age team. The Black lantern is no longer modern age legal as it was from Brave and the Bold.

joeracer read my mind. i know there aren't many figs... but seriously, only using ONE figure, and it's not even a character who would have worked with the others? At least Zatanna would have fit with the others. . . but gotta get that meta in I guess...

I'm planning on running the above team as stated at some point, along with the 250-point Enchantress with the JL Dark ATA and the Full Infinity Gauntlet on her. This brings the total to 667, with the last 30 points being rounded out by two (2) Eagle Horde Tokens from LOTR.

697 on a 700-point build.