Welcome back to SGP, where the hype train for the new Asgard box is rolling at thunderous speed.
Today I want to talk about the in-house and outside of affiliation safe grab options for an Asgard roster.
Now this whole article has the caveat that in two weeks Ministravaganza will take place and we have ” designing Team Tactics Cards” as a point on the schedule. I don’t believe Eyes on the Prize will make it out of this unharmed… maybe it will be restricted or leave the game completely or even deny first round use or something. We will see.
For the purpose of this article it is still fully legal as is.
With that out of the way let’s start with the in-house options for Asgard:
Angela (5)
Medium base, long mover can do it without Eyes. Her turn two isn’t affected super much as she can manage with two power. It’s more a question of if you want her out of the fight and even more if she even makes the roster.
Beta Ray Bill (4)
Universally believed to be the premier user of Eyes. His turn 2 is pretty terrible when he does it though and under both Loki and Jane he might be totally fine just standing on the midline anyway.
Hela (4)
Probably the actual best user of Eyes. Hela doesn’t want or need to be in the thick of it and is much less defensive than Bill. She needs to blast people with Claim Souls starting round 2 (otherwise she will die quickly) and should be able to do that from range 4.
Loki, Prince of Lies (5)
Flying under the radar of all the hype around him and the other new releases is that Loki 2 is a Long Mover with 2 power per round. Which makes him a potential Eyes target. It is the most expensive at 5 threat and a TTC but Loki will be back flush on power by his next turn if you run his leadership most likely.
Loki, God of Mischief with Space Gem (5)
Space Gem Loki 1 has enough power to use the Place from the Gem move, pick up and move back (or move, move place is probably often the better way to do it). It is 5 threat and you of course have to be willing to play Loki 1 over 2 for it. Doesn’t need a TTC however.
Thor, Hero of Midgard (6)
Maybe even less obvious than Loki 2, new Thor is a potential Eyes on the Prize user. You probably wouldn’t want to do it with him but it might catch an opponent off guard if you do.
Outside of affiliation we have some more options:
Amazing Spider-Man and Namor, the Submariner are both 5 threat medium base Long movers like Angela and thus don’t need Eyes to grab safely.
Supreme Strange, Ulik, Corvus Glaive with the Reality Gem and (costing him a point of damage) Red Skull, Master of Hydra are all 5 threats with multiple power per round and medium base Medium movers who can use Eyes.
Oh and we also have Hulkbuster and She-Hulk at 6 threat who can also do it with Eyes as well as Malekith at 7 who can also do it (Mal and HB are large Base Medium movers with multiple power per round). I don’t think you’ll reach for them for this specific purpose though, especially not in Asgard.
And of course there’s always the somewhat safe grab of Toad, who can grab an extract from range 2 and slippery away if he doesn’t get one shot (and takes at least 2 damage).
None of the three Asgard leadership allows for any models who aren’t natively able to safe grab (with and without Eyes) to become one.
Outside of Toad who is always a consideration for any roster trying to score out I don’t think going outside of affiliation makes a tonne of sense for Asgard, because you are already looking at multiple in affiliation 5s.
Overall I think Eyes stays in the roster if it isn’t banned come Ministravaganza and even if it is restricted it might still be worth a consideration as you have no less than 4 in faction targets for it. The tier list of users for me probably now is:
Hela: this is a big part of why I think she holds on to the roster slot against the more durable Sif.
Loki 2: He has such easy ways to gain power back (if you run his leadership which is very likely if you play him) that his turn 2 will barely be affected.
Beta Ray Bill: Bills turn 2 suffers a lot from doing in the play in round 1 and Asgard doesn’t really offer him a way of generating power back quickly. As I said above he is also kind of OK just surviving the midline anyway.
Thor 2: The least desirable option, but an option nonetheless.
That’s it for today.
I’ll focus my games on Spider-Foes now until I have the new models in my hands. Then it will be all Asgard all the way for quite some time.
Cheers from Germany 🍻
