Been a while since there’s been a Watch List for us to care about. But here goes:

 

Tri-Sentinel (WizKids MP18-G001) and Iceman (X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga G025)

Both have powerful effects that occur after a Colossal Retaliation. Trouble was, according to the wording, the actual attack didn’t have to happen for those effects to activate. Heroclixin’ thought the attack should be necessary, and now WizKids agrees.

 

Black Widow (Black Widow Movie 017)

This was one of those cases where even though I love the character (I’m a BW completist), the fig is way too good for the character. She can:

• quasi-Outwit standard powers not on dial even against “PROTECTED: Outwit” targets AS WELL AS nixing stat modifiers like CCE, Reflexes, ESD, RCE, CLOSE Object Attacks, SHIELD TA, Enhancement, Empower and I’m sure something else I’m forgetting … up to 5 times per game.
• Bring in a free Widows Recruit (006) who can Poison and tie up with Plasticity …  up to 5 times per game.
• resist KO via a STOP click that ALSO immediately heals her up to 5 clicks.
• nix rerolls of her team’s attack rolls of 10 or higher and enemies’ attacks of 4 or less if she’s on a themed team (easy with Avengers).

That last bit was the only change WK opted to make, by making the reroll immunity cost 2 of her 5 Tradecraft tokens. Heroclixin’ thought maybe making all her SPs once per game effects would be better. But that’s a lot of errata text.

 

Valeria Von Doom (Fantastic Four 063) and Venom Groot (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 058)

These both had a gross exploit that allowed them to deal mass damage with KNOCKBACK, of all things. Both got errata that essentially limited the effect to defensive use only, and once per turn. Heroclixin’ approves.

 

Spider-Man 1776 (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 067)

Though he wasn’t even on the initial list, he needed to be and WizKids elected to make a change. Before, he could reduce your action total -1 just by being on the map. An errata now requires him to hit with an attack first, and it only lasts for a turn.

This is exactly the change Heroclixin’ likes: High reward requires high risk. And it plays into the chase figure’s other strengths, as he boasts Outwit and prevents enemy Leadership and Autonomous within that 6-square range.

 

Oh, and there was one more on the list:

Captain Marvel (Captain America and the Avengers 054)

Unlike Black Widow, this figure *doesn’t* feel too strong for the character, even though she:

1. can deal free damage with a Hypersonic flythrough even if her Prob doesn’t yield a hit;
2. can drop a Perplexing, Flurrying, Blades/Claws/Fangs-ing cat flerken pog;
3. has 2-3 STOP clicks with PROTECTED: Outwit for even more immunity.

All that just seems very Carol Danvers to Heroclixin’. So she got no changes. WizKids agreed.

(Meanwhile, that Black Widow can lock this Carol down — something Widow should NOT be able to do.)

———

I can’t fully congratulate WizKids on these moves. The knockback and colossal fixes were essentially due to unintended reactions, but in truth Heroclixin’ thinks Colossal Retaliation is an unbalancing factor in the game as is. Our fix: Placement for Retaliation should be limited to the character’s printed speed value. No risk, no reward.

That should be the true north for any dial design in this game — that and character accuracy. And that’s why the Black Widow chase remains somewhat odious even to me, a fan of the character. Her basic dial is almost perfect as is, and any ONE of the traits would be perfection. But to get all three was two too many. And the Valeria and Groot have similar issues; even without their free-damage ability, they’re both massively efficient pieces — she in particular improves any team she’s on, and Groot is a little bit of immortality when teamed with any Venomverse fig.

But Spidey 1776 is the kicker, a figure that never should have made it out of testing. He’s a bit like bad ol’ Felix Faust (WizKids D-022), just nerfing the basic game just for being on the team and even more punishing if you dare to try to address him in-game.

But that’s enough griping. Lord knows 2020 has been filled to the brim with that.

Next post: the first of two Pocket Checklists for the upcoming (and delayed until January 2021) House of X set. Then: an announcement on Heroclixin’s annual end-of-year Top Ten lists.