by LANDIS
Anyone think SuperVillains should pack more of a punch? They’re supposed to be able to bring many of the Superheroes, cities/civilizations, and sometimes whole worlds/galaxies/universes to their knees. And yet some of their cards First Appearance Attacks (FFAs) feel more like Wiffle Ball than Major League play. Once gained and added to your deck they are appropriate in stature and their abilities are forces to be reckoned with but their First Appearances often lack the pain and magnitude worthy of them.At least that’s how my bro-in-law and I felt after playing countless games with the Original/Main set, with the Heroes Unite set, and with both sets combined. It seems the SuperVillain’s First Appearance Attacks are both to weak and too often defended against. Does anyone else agree? Why or why not? If yes how are some ways you’ve addressed/augmented them?
As gluttons for punishment, he and I devised a way to beef up the SuperVillan’s FAAs and make them harder to defend against. We call our masochistic modification “Double Trouble”. It’s a simple solution that maximizes the carnage that SuperVillain’s FFAs inflict while giving players new opportunities for strategy, cooperation, and/or backstabbing. Here’s how it works...
“Double Trouble”:
Each SuperVillian’s FFA is tweaked to have doubled impact (see details for each SuperVillain below) and requires two defense cards in total to avoid. If one player has two defense cards they can avoid the attack alone (while other players may still be attacked). If they have only one defense it is insufficient and the FFA is successful (It’s all or nothing, a player can’t avoid half an attack with one defense). However, if two more players each have one defense and wish to work together (in true Justice League SuperFriend Fashion) more than one player can each play a defense card and all who play a defense avoid the attack, since two or more defense cards are played. Now for the SuperVillian’s “Double Trouble” FFAs…
Main/Original Set:
The Anti-Monitor: Each Player reveals his hand, choses two cards with cost 1 or greater from it, and adds both cards to the Line-Up
Atrocitus: Each player puts two random cards from his/her hand under his/her Super Hero, face down. When this Villian is defeated put each of these cards on top of its owner’s deck.
Black Manta: Each player discards the top two cards of his/her deck. If you discard cards with cost 1 or more choose one: Destroy them, or discard your hand.
Brainiac: Each player chooses four cards from his/her hand and puts them on the table face down. Shuffle all of the chosen cards face down, then deal four back to each player at random.
Captain Cold: Each player flips his/her Super Hero, and all other cards in front of you (Locations, Vandal Savage, Force Fields, etc) face down until this Villain is defeated.
Darkseid: Each player discards four cards unless he/she reveals two Villains from his/her hand.
Deathstroke: Each player reveals his/er hand and destroys two Hero, Superpower, or Equipment cards in his/er hand or discard pile (When destroying two cards they aren’t required to share a card type).
The Joker: Each player puts two cards from his/her hand into the discard plié of the player on his/her left. For each card you receive with a cost of 1 or greater put a Weakness on top of your deck.
Lex Luthor: Each player gains two Weaknesses for each Villain in the Line-Up.
Paralax: Each player reveals his/her hand and discards all cards with cost 4 or less.
Ra's Al-Ghul: N/A (No FFA)
Sinestro: Each player reveals his/er hand and discards two cards for each Hero he/she revealed this way.
Heroes Unite:
Amazo: Each player passes two cards to the left and two cards to the right. Put cards passed to you into your hand.
Arkillo: Each player totals the cost of cards in his/her hand. The player(s) with the highest total gain six Weakness cards.
Black Adam: Each player destroys two Heroes in his hand or discard pile.
Graves: Each player puts two cards from his/her hand face down, then destroys those cards. If one player destroyed cards with a total cost higher than each other player, he/she draws four cards.
H’el: Each player reveals the top six cards of his/her deck. Choose two of them with cost 1 or greater, then destroy them. Discard the rest.
Hector Hammond: Each player gains the top two cards of the main deck. For each with cost is 4 or greater, they also gain two Weakness cards.
Helspont: Put Two Locations you control into your discard pile. If you cannot, discard four cards.
Mongul: Each player discards two Power Rings or four random cards from his/her hand.
Mr. Freeze: Destroy all Equipment in the Line-Up. Each player puts two Equipment from his hand or discard pile into the Line-Up.
Nekron: Each player totals the cost of the cards in his/her hand. The player(s) with the highest total destroys two random cards in his/her hand. Each other player chooses and destroys two cards in his/her hand.
Trigon: Each player destroys two cards with cost 1 or greater in his/her hand.
Vandal Savage: N/A (No FFA)
And last but far from least…
Promo Card:
Felix Faust: First set two cards in your hand face down in front of you, then the player on your left turns one face up. You keep the face up card, then pass the face down card and each other remaining card in your hand to the player to your left. Second, choose a card from that hand and add it to your face up card, then pass the remaining cards to the player to your left. Repeat this second step until no cards remain in players hands. Pick up the cards in front of you, they become your hand.
(Felix’s FFA is already pretty devastating so we didn’t want to magnify it too much, but to add an extra twist the first card you keep now has a 50/50 chance of bring your 2nd choice rather than your 1st.)
Footnotes:
*FFAs that target two or more cards affect as many targets as available. For example if you only have one equipment total in your hand and discard pile Mr. Freeze will make you add that one to the Line-Up. You don’t get to avoid the attack because you don’t have two targets to offer. Same is true for Black Adam and other similar cards.
Additionally you can’t avoid a Double Trouble attack by playing one defense and fulfilling half the expectation. For example you can’t reveal one Villain in your hand and play one defense to avoid Darkseid making you discard 4 cards. You must either reveal two Villains or play two defenses or discard four cards. Same is true for Helspont and Locations and Mongul and Power Rings or any similar scenarios.*
“Double Trouble” gives the SuperVillains FFAs the teeth you'd expect of SuperHumans and Criminal MasterMinds and makes for some exciting, shocking, and strategic gameplay that will add some novelty to whatever set(s) you’re playing with. We’ve had a lot of fun with it. In fact we love it so much we never play our SuperVillains without “Double Trouble” anymore (they just seem too gentle without it). Try it yourself and hope you enjoy (Feel free to ask clarification questions on how things work as needed, I’m happy to answer them). Let me know what you think/your likes and dislikes/your experiences with it if you try it. I’d love to hear how it goes!
This is just one way to spice things up and make your SuperVillains pack the Punch they deserve. Feel free to share your other creative ways as well. I just bought the Crisis Expansion and am excited to try the Crisis Cards and Impossible SuperVillains (who appear to have much mightier FFAs) but for those who don’t have it yet “Double Trouble” is something new to try for FFAs, let me know how you like it and share other things you’ve tried as well. Thanks!