This is the season when Heroclixin’ usually mourns our favorites leaving Modern Age. But last year, Heroclixin’ board member Sceritz made a good point: We F.U.N. folks usually don’t even play Modern Age competitive, where retirement matters most. So in truth, there’s not much we’ll actually miss at all.

But there might be some stuff that we certainly won’t miss seeing when we do brave the meta.

 

5-Figure Booster Sets (including Organized Play game elements associated with each set)

• Marvel HeroClix: Civil War …….. is FINALLY ENDING

I liked playing a full roster of the core Young Avengers members in Modern Age. But that’s over now, with only title characters Loki and Kang remaining (and, weirdly, EX Spider-Girl 001, who’s never been on the team). Taylor for some reason really likes the Pro- and Anti-Registration keywords.

• Marvel HeroClix: Superior Foes of Spider-Man ……. is now posterior

Taylor is broken up about this Spider-set retiring. Even getting a ton of new superior foes in Earth X this past winter doesn’t soften the blow.

• DC Comics HeroClix: The Joker’s Wild ……. is an old joke

Even though he hasn’t been relevant in Modern Age competitive for more than a year, Jakeem Thunder fading into the Golden Age is a little sad for me.

• Marvel HeroClix: Deadpool and X-Force ……. living up the “EX” in the name

Scooter is going to miss Wiz Kid. Or he would if he still played competitive.

• Marvel HeroClix: Avengers/Defenders War ……. calling a truce or something

Just when enough Wakanda keyword stuff hits Modern to actually make W’Kabi and throne-bound Black Panther 058 and even the Wakanda Warriors playable, here they go into retirement. There’s also a few more figs in this set that really make me melancholy to see retire.

• Marvel HeroClix: What If? ……. this mediocre set rode into obscurity?

Good damn riddance to Goblin King, who WE HAVE NEVER LIKED. And the rest of this set, with one personal exception, was not especially relevant.

 

Fast Forces Packs

• Marvel HeroClix: The Amazing Spider-Man and his Greatest Foes Fast Forces

That Kingpin piece made Sinister Syndicate so much more playable. He’ll be missed.

• TMNT HeroClix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell – Fast Forces

Somehow the Turtles’ ability to nix powers with hits never made much of an impact. Probably because they had to be up close and lacked the speed or pushability to leverage the SPs.

• DC Comics HeroClix: Batman and His Greatest Foes Fast Forces

One of my favorite Batman figs ever is from this set. BYE, FAVORITE BATMAN

• TMNT HeroClix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Return – Fast Forces

I only collect Donatello figures to use on an ALL-DONNY team so this one, that requires his brothers to work, never made it into my hands and can go somewhere.

• Marvel HeroClix: Uncanny X-Force Fast Forces

I kinda liked the Cable as a budget option next to the 120-point common, but this set was all about Domino at 25 points for Prob Control. Now you have to pay 30 or more for cheap built-in Prob.

• Marvel HeroClix: Deadpool and the Mercs 4 Money Fast Forces

None of the three of us ever played any of these pieces. Maybe never even SAW them.

• Marvel HeroClix: Marvel Knights Fast Forces

These never affected Modern Age, so whatever.

 

Starter Sets

• Marvel HeroClix: What If? Starter Set

I suppose Taylor might miss the Spider-Man in this set, which made his top 10 Spidey list. But no one else cares that this is retiring.

 

Micro Sets

• TMNT HeroClix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell

Sceritz used Armaggon to good effect back in 2017. But we won’t be sorry to see Renet Tilley gone with her Prob everything ways.

• TMNT HeroClix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Return

OMG SHREDDERS CAN DIE IN THE GOLDEN FIRE.

Sceritz didn’t think they were THAT bad. But he still thinks they were bad.

• Marvel HeroClix: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Yondu and Groot were the only ones with any meta potential and neither fulfilled any of it.

• DC Comics HeroClix: Wonder Woman

It’s sad that the so-called “mass market” versions pretty much never got released. And now the set’s rotated out.

 

I’m always less sad about Convention Exclusives and Limited Edition Game Elements leaving Modern, due to their lengthy lifespan before retirement. Three to four years is plenty.

• WK D-016 Batman
• WK DP16-001 Hawkman
• WK DP16-002 Red Robin
• WK DP16-003 Ace the Bathound
• WK DP16-004 Batman (bomb)
• WK DP16-006 Batman (surfing)
• WK DP16-007 Shark
• WK DP16-008 Arrow Cycle
• WK DP16-009 Arrow
• WK DP16-010 Diggle
• WK M-017 Doctor Nemesis
• WK MP16-001 Cosmic Daredevil
• WK MP16-002 Man-Spider
• WK MP16-003 Rocket Raccoon & Groot
• WK MP16-004 Punisher Van
• WK MP16-005 Punisher
• WK MP16-s101 Smoke Bomb
• WK MP16-s102 Frag Grenade
• WK MP16-s103 Flash Bomb
• WK MP16-s104 Molotov Cocktail
• WK MP16-s105 Handgun
• WK MP16-s106 Semi-Automatic
• WK MP16-s107 First Aid Kit
• WK MP16-s108 Sniper Rifle
• WK MP16-s109 Flamethrower
• WK MP16-s110 Rocket Launcher
• WK MP16-s111 Gatling Gun
• WK MP16-s112 BFG
• WK MP16-s113 Surveillance Device
• WK MP16-s114 Riot Gear
• WK TP16-001 Casey Jones
• WK TP16-002 Shredder
• WK TP16-003 Turtle Van
• WK WK-003 Jack Frost
• WK WK-004 Grey Gage

 

Monthly Organized Play Sets

• January 2016 Sinister Syndicate (M16-001 Doctor Octopus, M16-002 Rhino, M16-003 Mysterio)

That Doc Ock was a HUGE meta figure for a while that we’re not unhappy to take a well-deserved rest. But for me, losing the last Modern Mysterio is a sadness.

• February 2016 White Lantern Corps (D16-001 Martian Manhunter, D16-002 Jade, D16-003 Simon Baz)

With this retirement, we are once again Martian Manhunter-less! (and the other two as well, but nobody cares)

Good thing at least two versions of J’onn are on the way in the next year or so

• March 2016 Gamma Smash! (M16-004 Red Hulk, M16-005 She-Hulk, M16-006 A-Bomb)

Red Hulk was the only one I liked of this trio. Sceritz had She-Hulk among his faves one year, though. But neither made our Modern teams, so whatever.

• April 2016 The Brave and the Bold (D16-004 Green Arrow, D16-005 Green Lantern, D16-006 The Flash)

It’s unbelievable, but this retirement means there’s NO Green Arrow with the Justice League keyword!!!

• May 2016 Guardians of the Galaxy (M16-007 Star-Lord, M16-008 Gamora, M16-009 Drax)

I don’t care. I don’t think Taylor cares. Maybe Scooter cares?

Nah

• June 2016 Injustice League (D16-007 Captain Cold, D16-008 Sinestro, D16-009 Lex Luthor)

We’ve gotten some sort of replacement for all of these in Modern, so losing these isn’t much of a loss. (Though the Sinestro is a con exclusive colossal, so there is that)

• July 2016 Defenders (M16-010 Moon Knight, M16-011 Shang-Chi, M16-012 Shroud)

Meh. They’ll be remade sooner or later.

• August 2016 Justice League (D16-010 The Atom, D16-011 Aquaman, D16-012 Firestorm)

All these have remakes, though the newest Atom’s not so great.

• September 2016 Alpha Flight (M16-013 Vindicator, M16-014 Aurora, M16-015 Northstar)

This one hurts a little bit, but most of the Alpha Flight are Golden anyway, so they can join their fellows, eh?

• October 2016 Batgirl (D16-013 Batgirl, D16-014 Black Bat, D16-015 Batgirl)

It was nice running that Batgirl costume for Modern, but she was SO TOO MANY POINTS for what she does.

• November 2016 Toy Soldier (WK-006 Toy Soldier)

They all fall down.

———

There is a team I do truly mourn leaving Modern, though.

 

Because a thing I decided to do early on in this hobby was to build a competitive team composed solely of black characters. When I started, that was an impossibility. But with time and power creep — as well as an ever-increasing proportion of said characters in the game — it has become not only possible but difficult not to include some melanin-rich representation in some of the top meta builds.

And in 2017, I totally did it.

Jakeem Thunder [Joker’s Wild 053b] 140
+ Hulkbuster Torso 10

Captain America [Avengers/Defenders War 069] 70
Peace Machine [What If 043] 50
Iron Heart  [Avengers/Defenders War 071] 25

Prodigy ID card 3 —or— Storm ID/Wanted card 5

=298 points of All Black Everything. I would have taken this to Worlds. I made my friends playtest their squads against it.

 

Alas, Darwin helped make Jakeem nigh-unplayable and my ID choices simply aren’t strong enough in today’s sideboard meta. But I loved the moment.

 

 

So a recent prerelease event I attended had a second tournament in the “pauper” format where only commons and uncommons are allowed. I decided to run a Celebrity themed team helmed by the new Superman himself: Super-Man [Rebirth 016]!

He has this nifty trait where, at beginning of turn, he can pick a stat and boost it +2 for the round. I like the F.U.N. of it not being FREE to symbolize him having to focus his qi to get the upgrade. But somehow his 20 DV still seemed to get hit, and hard. Him not having Willpower was also problematic at 150 points.

I looked forward to running him with the rest of his Justice League China pals, possibly at his lower cost to start with Hypersonic. And recently, I did, in a solo game against most of the current lineup of the West Coast Avengers:

ADW chase Hawkeye
WK Kate Bishop
WK Gwenpool
Kid Omega
Miss America
Noh-Varr

F.U.N. team, but no match for the Justice League of China:

Super-Man [016] at 75 points
Super-Man [Fast Forces]
Bat-Man
Bat-Man [Fast Forces]
The-Flash
Wonder-Woman

By the end, only FF Super-Man had been KO’d. Not having to helm the force gave the 016 model the cover needed to make the most impact.

So maybe it has THE most unwieldy set name in the history of HeroClix. And maybe, despite us being huge BP fans, 2/3 of the Heroclixin’ board are not so excited about the set in general. But we still are bringing you our usual main set pocket checklist in the link below. Thanks as always to the Heroclix fanbase crowdsourcing the info (mostly at HCRealms.com) so we can present this resource to the players by the release date!

Click the link to download the PDF version, which contains four copies of the finished checklist. (The image at bottom is just an early mockup.)

Black Panther CHECKLIST

 

Welcome again to Heroclixin’s Flavor of the Week, where we highlight the odd figure that’s on our minds for whatever reason.

Taylor sez:

“With the new Avengers, Black Panther, and the Illuminati set out, that sweet Taskmaster 061super rare figure reminded me of another awesome Taskmaster: Civil War Storyline 026! Like Neapolitan ice cream, there’s a little something there for everyone, but nothing too special overall. Still my current favorite Taskmaster (even with the shiny new one out), he’s always worth a play on any team.”