Dear Reader,
Today we have been blessed with a new rotation of cards, a few new formats, and a lot of confusion as to what that means for our lists.
Atomic Mass Games has given us two new formats, which they are calling Time Lines: Standard and Extended. In today’s article I will be looking at the two formats and how I see it affecting Web Warriors. Before I go much further, I think changing a game slightly and new formats is good for pretty much any game. I know that some of us are looking at this from a sky falling perspective, but stagnant waters become putrid as they say and games that stay the same are not long for the world.
I won’t spend too much time on Extended as it allows…well everything. This allows crazy plays like Drop Off for our offensive lists and the dreaded Hired Muscle makes a return. If you like no holds barred everything in your collection allowed brawls, then this is your format. It’ll be rough if you are not prepared, but there is a certain amount of fun in having the world’s resources at your fingertips to utilize.
The Standard Format sees new banned/restricted cards and a rotation of cards out of the format entirely. This is where some of us are going to have a moment to think about the future, because we lost the ability to use a good chunk of cards or some of our cards were banned/restricted. Before we move on, let’s see what is out of the format entirely:
- Acute Senses
- All You’ve Got
- Battle Lust
- Bitter Rivals
- Blind Obsession
- Climbing Gear
- Drop Off
- Extreme Conditioning
- Field Dressing
- Heavy Ordinance
- Hired Muscle
- Medpack
- No Escape
- Reversal
- Seeing Red
- Tactical Analysis
- Unearthly Rage
- Web Barrier
Some of these are not a big deal as they were already banned, so they won’t affect us too terribly. However, the loss of Medpack, Climbing Gear, Field Dressing, and potentially Bitter Rivals if you like to roll that way is a pretty heavy blow. Web Warriors delighted in taking some damage and then healing back 3 with medpack or having one of your warriors get bodied, brought back on last round to Field Dressing a character back with a ton of power now to score more points, or to be that person who steals an objective with Black Cat, Dr. Voodoo, or Miles. Also of note, Web Warriors seem to be the only faction that lost a team tactics card in the form of Web Barrier. I have always been on the fence about Web Barrier as it is a bit more tricky to use, but when you use it correctly it changes the game and I am kind of sad that S.H.I.E.L.D. still gets to use it, but hopefully we will get a reprint of it in the near future to bring it back into the fold.
However, this does open new avenues for us too. We no longer need to worry about a Field Dressing’ed Hulk back to the field if we were able to down him, or a hyper reaction turn with Seeing Red and Grunts, and we now still have access to Spider Tracker while the rest of the game is down a Climbing Gear and Extreme Conditioning which increases our natural speed and movement while keeping us ahead of pursuers more easily. In addition, while we still have to worry about Marked for Death, the loss of Blind Obsession in the game is a pretty major one for a group of characters who are all about surviving and control. The loss of Blind Obsession also removes a bit of offensive force from your opponent’s arsenal to better help us do what we want to do. Overall, while losing some major cards like Medpack hurt quite a bit, I think we are going to be in an overall good place once the dust settles.
All New All Different Banned and Restricted
TIMELINE: STANDARD
RESTRICTED:
• Infinity Gem: Reality
• Infinity Gem: Space
• Team Tactic Card: Advanced R&D
• Team Tactic Card: Brace for Impact
• Team Tactic Card: Disarm
• Team Tactic Card: Indomitable
• Team Tactic Card: Patch Up
• Team Tactic Card: Sacrifice
BANNED:
• Crisis Card: Mystic Wakandan Herbs: Fact or Fiction?
• Crisis Card: Panic Grips City as Evacuation Efforts
Continue!
For our banned cards, I am not too worried about them being lost. Panic could probably be brought back considering what made it so ridiculous was Hired Muscle, which is lost to us completely to Extended. However, Wakandan Herbs was forged by Satan in the pits of a dying hell star to torment and tempt man. It’s a scenario that has to have a plan and if you get to the point first you probably win.
The pool of restricted cards is much smaller than before, but each of them is fairly good. The restriction of Advanced R&D does restrict some early plays for us depending on which characters are used and I am certain it will continue to see play in most factions. I am surprised to see Disarm as one of the cards as well as Sacrifice. Sacrifice has its uses and completely turn a game in our favor, so I presume it will still be used in many Web Warrior lists. Brace for Impact and Patch Up are still restricted, so no surprise there and no one is surprised to see Brace’s baby brother, Indomitable, make it to the restricted list.
What’s more, Reality and Space Gems are now restricted. While this does not affect our core Web Warriors, it does change how we splash. Corvus with a Reality Gem has been a go-to splash for some Web Warriors for a while now as Great Responsibility allowed him to be fantastically durable and murdertastic at the same time. Now, with the Reality Gem, he is going to take up one of your restricted slots.
What This Means for Us
The problem I see is in what you take. Medpack was mandatory and Brace made for a fantastic second restricted card as Great Responsibility doesn’t allow for re-rolls on collisions and not all of our units have Spider Senses. However, Indomitable, Sacrifice, Disarm, and Advanced R&D are all strong competitors for your second slot. I am not a big fan of Patch Up since we already have some issues with power and Patch Up is much more restrictive than Med Pack ever was, which changes your game plan a bit. Personally, I will be testing out either Brace/Corvus Reality in my initial lists to see how it all works out. However, I do see Disarm becoming a staple in our lists if Rapid Fire lists become more prominent.
Overall, I think we came out alright. We still have All Webbed Up and a good chunk of tactics to help us survive. Our healing will need to come from Aunt May’s Wheat Cakes or splashing in characters like Wong or Doctor Strange. However, Doctor Strange does make a fairly decent Web Warrior by giving us more defense, healing, his own defensive re-roll, and enemy displacement, so he may not be a bad inclusion. Spider Tracker still allows us to get out of sticky situations where Climbing Gear’s hole was left. So, don’t give up on your favorite webbed team and get out there and swing!
Till next time Webslingers