THANOS.

There was a lot of bellyaching about Nightcrawler (Web of Spider-Man) and his ability to kidnap a target to a prearranged killbox far away from its backup. That misbegotten mechanic suddenly made soft, immobile characters and tactics like Metron and the Shield Disruptor top-level stuff. But there were ways to slow the elf down: super turtling in the start zone or rushdown so the killbox can get overwhelmed immediately after its done its worst to Nighty’s victim.

That #$%#$ don’t work when the kidnap tactic works from the STARTING ZONES. On TURN TWO.

Thanos (Galactic Guardians 049) can do just that, isolating your top two figures some 20 squares away from anyone friendly, giving his killbox IN THE STARTING AREA (no need to actually, y’know, position) easy free shots on them.

And lest you think “Well, he just made it easy to counterattack him,” he can swap your guy’s usually high Attack Value with the usually lower Speed Value.

Meanwhile, the rest of your team is likely at LEAST two rounds from being able to effectively help out.

At least that’s a chase piece, and thus not all over the place. Unfortunately, the regular Super Rare Thanos (Galactic Guardians 046) is as torrid in his own way, thanks to this trait:

“AVATAR OF DEATH: Other characters can’t be healed.”

Steal Energy, X-Men/Titans TA, Regeneration, Support…all useless until he’s gone. And with his sky-high stats, self-healing and powers, that’s a tall order for a lot of teams.

Neither of these match up to Thanos the Colossal (Infinity Gauntlet 008), regardless of which “Issue” you’re “reading”:

1. Multi-Attack and a choice from  THREE 150-point figs to add to your force AFTER seeing what the other side’s packing AND deal half the team free damage;
2. Double-Incap a foe and dump ‘im in their start zone;
3. Kill the other team’s keywords and, if in base, team abilities…and oh yeah, a free 100-point brick/Perplexer in Terraxia;
4. Nerf a successful attacker’s stats -1;
5. Penetrating damage is just regular damage.

I mean, sheesh. How torrid can you get?

As it turns out, even more so. Stay tuned.

The countdown continues.

Resources were a new mechanic for 2012. Neither quite a feat, nor quite a special object, the Infinity Gauntlet combined the randomness of relics with the steady boost provided by the best feats.

Trouble was, it was better than ANY feat or relic — so much so that it became pointless to try winning a top-level tournament without paying the 40 points for the fully loaded version.

Here’s why:

• Anti-Outwit. Who needs Fortitude? Ignore the black damage power.
• Willpower. Any character that was hobbled by the fact that it couldn’t afford to push…well, it wasn’t hobbled anymore. Or balanced.
• Random extra powers. With a full complement of Infinity Gems, a Gauntlet wearer could sport a short ton of powers (Steal Energy, TK, Mind Control, PC, Super Senses, Phasing, Carry, Incap, etc.). Not something to count on, but certainly not chopped liver.
• Special Powers 1, 2 and 3. Within just a few rounds, suddenly that fig that you already had difficulty dealing with because your Outwit was useless and it kept acting 2 of 3 turns…well it just got more difficult to deal with. With SP #1, that random extra Gem power need not be so random anymore. Then SP #2 not only adds +1 to all stats — ALL! — but it also allows the player to pick any one power from the PAC.
• Worse still, Both SPs do not require the dial to turn like the rest of the Gauntlet does, allowing the wearer to just. Sit. There!
• Worst of all? SP #3 ups the ante to +2 to all combat values on top of the pick-a-power ability, and the wearer can use ANY of the attached Gems.
• For the rest of the game.

A more balanced — and comic accurate — approach to these Special Powers would be for them to require the Gauntlet dial to turn with every action. Why? Because no one EVER holds the Gauntlet long. The less-than-cosmic can’t handle the power (see Nebula) and the powerful are either too wise to do so (Adam Warlock) or bore quickly of omnipotence (Thanos).

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Barely any better is the Utility Belt. Much more random than the Gauntlet, it would seem to be a much more balanced piece.

It’s not.

It grants massive stat boosts about every other roll. Its attachable items grant some neat abilities for absolutely minimal cost (1 point).

And with just three of them, HEY! You get Willpower…for just 11 points.

Not done. You can get reloads of items, or take a double action to switch to your favorite click on the Belt (like the one with +2 stats and OUTWIT, maybe?) or add brand-NEW items, get free uses of existing ones or even drop one to make it a Relic.

One more thing: You can add a costume granting some MORE powers essentially for free (so far, we’ve got the Suit of Sorrows, which gives Super Strength and Battle Fury).

All this for a dirt-stinkin’-cheap 14 points, max. Its capabilities aren’t even fully known yet and it’s already warping the game.

Resources are torrid. But you need ’em if you’re going to face the top 3, coming next week.

One thing you always used to be sure of: If you saw a themed team of a certain type, you knew the other player was likely just a little more limited in what she could bring to the table than if she’d built a truly maxed-out team.

Used to.

But in 2012, even that was no longer any guarantee, thanks to the #5 most torrid thing in HeroClix this past year:

Keyword “wild cards”

It started with Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War 049) and her trait that allowed her to team up with Avengers — already one the most-populated and potent of the named keywords — and add her considerable talents without breaking the theme. This unprecented bending of the theme rules was mitigated by the fact that she didn’t actually add to the themed team bonuses; she can’t add to the map roll or use the theme Probability Control. But her being a Mystic and bringing her own PC made up for that little balancing act.

Then came Nightwing (DC 10th Anniversary 007), who not only doesn’t break theme teams, but actually gains the needed keyword in addition. So if you need a keyword to activate an effect, just make sure to assign it to the former boy wonder and let fly with the game abuse.

WizKids really should have at least, in the interest of character accuracy, limited the effect to DC keywords only. It’s like they learned nothing from the original Thunderbolts feat.

They still weren’t done. Gandalf (The Hobbit 002) also has the same trait. While the trait makes a bit more sense on him (after all, a wizard comes and goes precisely when he means to!) it should have been limited to generic keywords. Gandalf brings more general utility to teams than Nightwing thanks to first-click TK and Perplex. Thankfully, he’s not Modern Age-legal.

The three chase Skrulls represented a last bit of keyword “wild card” action. While they neither get nor grant keywords, they instead grant team abilities to all their fellows with the Skrulls keyword in addition to their inborn Skrulls TA. To that end, chase Spider-Man (Marvel 10th Anniversary 024) is the last link of the wild card keywords. Joined by the two previous pieces, he can turn fellow Skrulls into actual wild cards so they can copy Batman and Mystic TAs.

Torrid. Just torrid.

And now, number 1:

Donald Blake (Chaos War 010)

The Modern Age king of modern medicine, the mortal form of Thor is Heroclixin’s top medic. With his 11 AV, he’s not likely to miss many Support rolls, and a full dial of the power makes him pretty pushable.

He’s not very long-lived at four clicks and a max 16 DV, but he’s got his Alter Egos to lengthen his contribution to the fight. As needed, he can swap into one of the followingToughness-armored Thors:

• a Running Shooter with the power to cut off long ranges via his Blizzard SP;
• a Charging Weakness Exploiter with Willpower, or
• a Flurrying, Close Combating Expert

Only 33 points, Blake truly affects each and every game he sees. He’s the #1 medic of Heroclixin’.

But he’s only the Modern Age medic of choice. He’s tied with the Golden Age queen:

Ghost Widow (City of Villains 002)

With Flight, Poison, 18DV, Phasing, 6 range and Mystics TA-by-another-name, the Widow is a highly versatile medic that’s hard to KO with later Super Senses and Regen. At 54 points, she’s a LOT more expensive than Don Blake and her single-digit AV makes her less efficient as a medic. But with so many other things going for her, she manages to claw out a tie with Blake as the top medic in Heroclixin’!

Number 8

Guard of the Citadel (Lord of the Rings 20 )

Peregrin Took here climbs to #8 with Leap/Climb for that mobility that a good combat medic could use — and at a far better speed value than the #10 member of the list at less than half the cost at 29 points.

For the actual healing, his 8AV would seem to be too low, though. But he’s got a Special Power that first gives him Defend, enabling him to share his 16 DV with his potentially higher-defensed patient for an easier heal, AND it boosts his own AV +1 when healing, something that’s normally not allowed by Support.

A couple of clicks of Support and this SP make him pushable, and the latter half of his dial stays useful with Enhancement. Don’t let the small size fool ya; this hobbit stands tall.

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Number 7

The Atom (Blackest Night 005)

At 65 points, Professor Palmer seems too expensive to be a medic specialist — especially since you have to push off his best AV, damage and DV (at range, anyhow) to get Support via SP.

But it’s that SP that makes it all worth the push:

“INDIGO COMPASSION : The Atom can use Support. When he does, his attack value becomes 12.”
Coupled with 19 DV Willpower, it makes this Indigo Tribe member one of the game’s premier healers, easily. Shape Change helps him survive some attacks, and later he gets Outwit. So despite a bunch of near-dealbreakers, The Atom packs a nuclear punch in the Support stakes.

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Next will be another tie featuring a fella who often wears ties.