In principle, legacy cards have been a F.U.N. way to bring some old fan-favorites back into Modern/Silver play and rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).
In practice? These reviews get harder and harder. And my hopes that WizKids fixes their QA problems remain unanswered. But I’m going to try a much easier short version look at these cards this go-’round.
By set number:
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L018 MYSTIQUE
(X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2013???)
THEN: She had traited Shape Change that made her completely immune to attack that turn on a 6, SP Mastermind that worked on higher-cost keywords and also reduced the total damage, and SP Leadership and Perplex. But for 82 points, she wasn’t doing much else.
NOW: Now 40 points, she’s still got Mastermind, Shape Change, and adds Super Senses. But she’s also immune to being targeting at all by non-adjacent foes unless they started next to her or started on a themed team. She loses her Perplex, gaining instead Outwit and Poison — both meshing well with her ability to hide sometimes in plain sight.
F.U.N.? She’s a key example of a piece that never quite worked right in her weight class, which makes her a great choice of a legacy.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have the fig so I’ll be looking for the card.
L020 HIT-MONKEY
(Deadpool+X-Force, 2017)
THEN: With Running Shot, Sidestep and Stealth (via SP), and Precision Strike paired with a trait that boosted his AV and damage on Precision Striking targets, Hit-Monkey was indeed a potential Killer of Killers. His mediocre values, though, meant he rarely was. Not without a lot of help. At least he was cheap at 40 points.
NOW: A cheaper still 30 points, he gains IM:Elevated, The Target trait (score an extra 25 for KOing a marked enemy) along with +1 AV and damage vs. Assassins … +2 AV if that Assassin has The Target trait, too. Same SP.
F.U.N.? Seems OK but not game-breaking. A good addition to Assassin themes.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have the piece and the card comes in the Multiple Man Play At Home kit and I’m sure I am getting that one.
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L036 SHIKLAH
(Deadpool+X-Force, 2017)
THEN: She had a bad vampire dial. Starting on click 4 but also with basic Running Shot, she was so unlikely to ever use her Steal Energy to heal past her start line. MAYBE if you played her with a Deadpool you’d get to use her “Protect My Idiot Husband” trait to place adjacent to ol’ DP and close combat that way. But good luck hitting with 10 AV; esp. since click 4 is the only one of her base dial that DOESN’T have Prob Control. Her sole SP, only seen on the extreme ends of her dial, allowed her to swap into the more powerful 053 Shiklah. But both clicks were hard to land on. And did you even own the Super Rare, anyway? Generally a waste of 80 points.
NOW: No need to own a whole other piece: Her SP is now STOP clicks that give her a permanent +2 to her stats. But before that, now her trait places a Deadpool next to HER. And best of all, her Steal Energy finally works from range, too. And just 50 points this time.
F.U.N.? Like Mystique, she’s every way an upgrade in design. I would never play the original. I could play this!
AM I GETTING THIS? I don’t love the character but have the piece. So maybe.
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L042 FANTOMEX
(Wolverine and the X-Men, 2013)
THEN: Though he was sometimes soft-shelled and a hefty 142 points, ol’ Weapon Plus here was as meta a figure from his debut until his retirement as any, being one of the first able to attack remotely via a FREE generated bystander, E.V.A. — which had Flight, 8 speed, Super Senses and Outwit. So Fantomex could hide in Stealth (which used to be a lot more difficult to handle), then send EVA moving 8 squares and Running Shoot using his 5 range from it — possibly ending up a full 20 squares away from his target. It was gross.
NOW: Trimmed to 100 points, he loses his SP Shape Change and gains Sidestep PLUS the ability to poof into hindering 3 squares away. Making E.V.A. is now a POWER and he can only remote-shoot targets she’s adjacent to. She also doesn’t give him Toughness anymore and has Prob instead of Outwit. A lower 50-point line lacks the Running Shot+Sidestep+poof SP. But both have a trait allowing Fantomex to assign 10-point equipment for 0 points.
F.U.N.? Weapon XII is a good example of the other style of legacy: a piece that was once highly popular and endemic to a style of play — and a little more meta than Heroclixin’ likes. But this remake is way more fair than the old version.
AM I GETTING THIS? Although he’s not a fave, I have the piece. We’ll see.
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L049 DEADPOOL AND BOB
(Deadpool, 2014)
THEN: Though a whopping 200 points, D+B were a perma-Stealthy duo (back when Stealth was a lot harder to deal with than today) with double Prob when attacking or targeting an adjacent attacker. Having 7 range and IT:Characters, they could light up the enemy with 4 damage Duo Attack. Late dial, a “Ridiculous Regeneration” SP made them a tough KO. Oh, and they had a cumbersome Word Balloon mechanic.
NOW: That’s over; it’s canceled. So is the Stealth and conditional Shape Change. And the duo attack. And the Prob. Along with 120 of their points, so they’re only an 80-point package deal. What’d they keep? The improved targeting remains. A Sheep Gun remains (used to be one of the Word Balloons). The Ridiculous Regen remains (and is better). And the old Prob special is morphed into an auto-nerf of defense when they shoot (or -2 when using Hydra TA)
F.U.N.? More than the original, which was both a points sink and a little bit of an un-F.U.N. factor aside from the goofiness of the premise.
AM I GETTING THIS? I have the piece but am not a huge Deadpool fan. We’ll see if this card falls into my hands for my Hydra swarm.
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L050 HELLCOW
(Deadpool+X-Force, 2017)
THEN: She made our “Worst of” list that year.
“So you want to use her Steal Energy to get up to fighting strength. But her AV is too low and she lacks the moving attack skills to [get] close before she starts taking hits. And her STOP clicks notwithstanding, it doesn’t take much to knock her off the board. She has a secondary use as a medic, true. But she’s too pricey at 50 points for either of her roles. Put this bovine out to pasture.”
NOW: Bessie is trimmed to 30 points and gets a couple of additional traits to boost keyword allies’ AV and DV and, via her new FREE mini-Smoke Cloud STOP SP, she has an easier time of hurting and healing foes and friends, respectively.
F.U.N.? Another great choice for a legacy. Maybe not meta, but Monster is a strong keyword.
AM I GETTING THIS? Yes. I collect vampires for Halloween-style games. And the concept remains too funny.
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L050 WOLVERINE AND X-23
(Deadpool, 2014)
THEN: This duo was a mess. They couldn’t be shot at until they had 2 tokens or were next to a wounded enemy. But their DV was a putrid 17 or lower. Their Flurry Blades SP couldn’t roll lower than 3, and their damage SP could FREE heal. But with only Stealth or that inconsistent invisibility to protect them, their whopping 168 points was really easy to either focus on or simply outmaneuver.
NOW: With more than 100 points slashed off, surprisingly a lot remains: the same Sidestep, worse conditional invisibility (no Stealth, and any action token makes them visible). But the attack SP allows their 2nd BCF roll’s minimum to match the previous one. And their old damage SP is now a choice of range or Battle Fury or AV +1. Best is that their FREE healing is traited now — no longer vulnerable to Outwit or appearing too late to work — and matches their number of action tokens.
F.U.N.? Another good legacy, making an unworkable fig decent.
AM I GETTING THIS? I collect Wolverines so yes.
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L053 PROFESSOR X AND MAGNETO
(Wolverine and the X-Men, 2013)
THEN: This duo was an early keyword cheater, giving Brotherhood and X-Men each other’s keywords and team abilities. And they also effectively had a duo attack of Mind Control+Psychic Blast — IF the first attack hit. That was a little difficult with only a 10 attack at their 133-point price. An overcomplicated SP Leadership power came too late in the dial.
NOW: Rather than granting allies the two team abilities, the 80-point new version juices each up if the team has at least 3 allies with the ability. The attack SP bears Telekinesis and Penetrating/Psychic Blast, plus a potential +3 AV or DV depending on how many of each team ability is on the squad. The other SP is still too late, but at least along with Leadership it also grants Shape Change and Perplex this time.
F.U.N.? Looks great for thematic teams — IF they have the proper TAs. It won’t just work for the keyword or with wild cards.
AM I GETTING THIS? I acquired the fig and so I’ll be low-key looking for the card.
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L057 TIAMAT
(Deadpool, 2014)
THEN: Despite a scale-crushing price of 255 points, this was a meta-level Power Cosmic tentpole able to attack for 5+ damage every single turn if he hit.
NOW: Slimmed down to 150 points, he lost his old Hypersonic-lite ability that allowed him to get that needed early shot, leaving only Charge. But he still gets the bonus attack if he hits, and if he hits again, he drops an action token. Less of a sure thing than before. Good thing he has a Pilot trait with which he can use a Deadpool’s attack and damage powers.
F.U.N.? This one keeps the flavor of the original without being quite as potentially busted. But the lower cost really increases the aid he can roll with on a team.
AM I GETTING THIS? I never owned the piece and never heard of the character, so no.
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L059 WEAPON X
(Captain America, 2011)
THEN: He had a cute “countdown” mechanic that left him Immune and Immobile in the starting area for the first several turns before breaking out as a Charge Blades piece. OK but not worth the 72 points without investing even MORE points to get him into the fight in Turn 5.
NOW: He’s only 40 points, so him still having the countdown isn’t as tough a pill to swallow. He also has a new trait that allows adjacent allies to either speed upon slow his emergence to the fight. But because he gets Adamantium tokens each turn he ends in his tank, the longer he stays the stronger he gets. At minimum (1 turn), he’ll have Invulnerability. At most, he’s Impervious to penetrating damage with +3 to all his stats (7 turns).
F.U.N.? Given the speed of competitive games, I don’t see him being a meta piece.
AM I GETTING THIS? MAN! I collect Wolverines so I wish I could have reacquired this ahead of the legacy announcement. Just kept missing the few that popped up for sale.
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LG021 KRAKOA
(X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga, 2019)
THEN: A rare Stealthy colossal and one with the dreaded Colossal Retaliation on top of all but one of its cost lines of 70 to 600 points (400 being the exception), it could also attack via the hindering it made after CR. Still a little hard to work with since it wasn’t especially strong for the points.
NOW: He makes Plant terrain markers and, as FREE, can effectively “Outwit” through any of them — his or others’ — and the same power on multiple targets. He also still has Retaliation, but uses Pulse Wave instead of Quake, and generating the aforementioned Plant markers next to each hit instead of his own squares. 300, 250 and 150 points are his known point costs.
F.U.N.? But c’mon WizKids! How do you forget to put the one point cost everyone cares most about — the lowest one? It’s almost like there was maybe some question about how to price it and so they left it blank — and because they don’t have a “This is the final word” copy editor like me in charge, the thing remained blank. And so now I wait to see if there will be errata. (EDIT: The errata came — a full TWO WEEKS after release — and he HAS NO low point cost. He’s 150 and up.)
AM I GETTING THIS? Probably! I have two of these figures. And because the card comes in the Wolverine and Deadpool Play At Home kit — and I collect Wolverines — I’ll pick this one up.
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Another legacy card set review in the books! Hope you get the ones you want!