With the digital game finally on its way to getting every variant, it seems like an opportune time to actually discuss all the variants.
Which ones do you like best, or like least? Which ones feel like upgrades, downgrades, or total game changers? What variants do you wish existed?
Villain variants are up for discussion, too.
Which ones do you like best, or like least?
I'm a fan of Young Legacy. It makes Legacy a more active participant in the game.
My least favorite is DW Setback. It takes a lot of fun out of playing the deck. When the variant became available on the video game my dislike was enhanced with the unlock conditions to get him.
Which ones feel like upgrades, downgrades, or total game changers?
F5 AZ is an upgrade to me since you can use it turn one for a benefit and it's only better if you have a Isothermic Transducer out.
DW Setback is a total downgrade since Setback needs his tokens to use a majority of his cards. I understand there is less "Risk" now but it slows down his game a lot. Turning him from a fun hero to one that just hopes to draw Looking Up.
I feel the XPW Argent Adept and Dark Conductor Argent Adept change his playstyle alot. You trade in an ability that allows you to use most of your Ongoings to one that isn't setup dependant. On the flip side you are now more setup dependant to actually use any of your Ongoings.
What variants do you wish existed?
I wish there another set of variants for the Dark Watch team that was more individual to each of the characters. Mr Fixer should have a Black Fist variant, Setback should have one from when he decided to come back to help the F5 against Miss information, Expat should have one post her time with the Scholar, and Nightmist should have one related to her power growth close to the Be the Gate story/being a mentor to Harpy.
Once upon a time, I was writing a guide to all of the Variants. Never ended up finishing it, unfortunately.
Favorites of mine are Team Leader Tachyon, Fugue State Parse, Xtreme Captain Cosmic, Dark Watch Expatriette, and both Termi-Nation and Freedom 6 Bunker.
Un-favorites include Dark Watch Setback, Eternal Haka, Horus of Two Horizons, and Prime Wardens Tempest.
For villains, I love Skinwalker Gloomweaver--he feels like the apocalyptic challenge that Gloomweaver should be. Not really a fan of Mad Bomber Blade, as so many of his card plays boil down to "Ignore this card and put it under Blade. Now he deals more damage.".
One of my favorite promo cards is G.I. Bunker. He's down a point in health, but if you're dealing with a villain/deck that has alot of single-target DR users, he nullify's that threat. And he still has all the normal Bunker stuff, making him plenty useful in my book. F6 Bunker has his specialized usages as well versus Ongoing heavy decks, and works well for those who don't really care for Bunker's mode cards and thus gives them another use.
As for one I dislike? I don't know if I have one like that. All of the promo cards have their uses, some are just easier/more fun to play than others I suppose. Example: DW Setback may not seem as fun compared to his regular form, but if you have him placed before a hero that's known to do self damage(Nightmist), or if you are partial to using one of his self-harm strategies but want a little bit of a buffer for that first hit...
I'm really eager to play with Visionary Unleashed since that version gives her some desperatly needed base damage, and I'm still incredibly curious on how the variants for all the OblivAeon heroes will effect their playstyles...
- Which ones do you like best?
DW Setback is going to get a TON of hate in this tread when talking about least favorite or worst variants. I've tried for a long long time to figure out ways it can be good, or ways it changes your decks playstyle. I havn't found it yet. It's really the only variant card in SotM that makes zero sense in any/all situations while having zero synergy with its own deck (the argument can be made its clear anti-synergy when talking about the cost of losing the base innate power).
But looking on the positive side, only having one objectivly bad variant card out of so many others is a pretty big win for >G.
My 3 favorite variants:
My 3 least favorite variants (excluding DW Setback)
@PlatinumWarlock: No time like the present; I've always loved your guides in general. :D
PW Tempest is a pretty team-dependent character, but works great in that context. You really want to use PW Tempest with the other Prime Wardens, since between the DR, card draw, and power uses everyone else can grant, Tempest can basically get a lot of free or low cost extra card plays, with a lot of those being powerful one-shots and ongoings.
I'm impressed! I'm happy this variant is getting love!
I know where this is coming from but so far stats show it only does slightly better than the base version of the Naturalist. Though if this one could be redone I'd probably say it could stand to only allow card draw instead of the option of a play/draw.
That works.
- Favorites
Extremist Sky-Scraper, Requital Captain Cosmic, Extreme Fanatic, Omniton-U and Eternal Haka.
- Not So Favorites
PW Captain Cosmic, F6 Tempest and Rook City Wraith. (although I still play each of these situationally)
- Upgrades
Cosmic Omnitron.
- Downgrades
Heroic Infinitor.
- Wish Existed
I agree with Powerhound on the additional variants for the darkwatch members.
I may come back to it after OblivAeon comes out, but it's really time dependent.
In addition to my "real" job, I'm also working on a supplement for my first rpg, the corebook for a second rpg, two active board game prototypes that I've been pitching to publishers, a third board game that I'm currently drafting, and freelance writing/editing work for a few other companies. It's been a busy few months…
I fully anticipate writing up some fan-material for the Sentinels RPG, considering that Chaosmancer and I are local to one another and will likely end up playing it at some point. And, y'know…I might have put a bug in certain ears regarding working on a Dark Watch sourcebook in the future. (Nothing even remotely confirmed by >G; it was totally wishful thinking on my part, as I'd love to write on such a project.)
Heh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was pressuring/swamping you. More saying nobody would really mind a "late" guide if you ever got around to it again.
Some of my favorites are:
Young Legacy
All Fanatic variants especially Xtreme
Hunted Naturalist (though I do wish the power destroyed form cards)
TermiNation Unity
Captain Cosmic Brotherhood
FS Parse
Least Favorites:
DW Setback
Freedom 5 Legacy (too strong imo)
Freedom 6 Bunker (there are games it does almost nothing)
Variants I like well enough that I wish could be tweaked:
-Visionary Unleashed’s power can be fun, but it makes her Ongoings with powers on them all feel like the same card… I wish the power intereacted with her cards more.
-Freedom 6 Tempest: I think he’s be a lot more interesting if he could let other heroes get the draw.
-DW NightMist: Really wish this power gave the option to discard 1 of the cards revealed or could affect other heroes. If you use this power 2 rounds in a row you’re likely to already know 2 of the 3 cards it will reveal.
The ones I’d call major upgrades:
FS Parse
All Freedom 5 variants
All Tachyon variants
Prime Warden Fanatic
The ones I’d call major downgrades:
Freedom 6 Tempest
Dark Watch Setback
Dark Watch NightMist
Which variants do I wish existed:
-Cleverest Legacy
-Additional DW variants like Powerhound suggested
-Variants of alternate reality heroes that didn’t make the cut for OblivAeon missions
-A variant of Young Vanessa (The Dreamer)
Thoughts on villain variants:
Skinwalker Gloomwraver and Cosmic Omnitron are both really fun.
-Heroic Infinitor and Trickster Kismet would be more fun if they were harder.
-Bomber Blade is fine but it renders a lot of his deck the same… I wish the flip side used targets.
-Gloom Spite is to me worse than the original. His flip back drug mechanic is so hard to trigger it feels clunky. Flipping Spite can result in so much damage that it intestivizes saving Victims even less than the base version in my view.
I like the NightMist variant. I wonder if that has to do with not prioritizing the Amulet with vanilla NightMiist.
That's the biggest flaw with vanilla Nightmist, but her DW variant is simply too slow for me. It's not bad, just needs more synergy
I will be honest. I prefer reading the forums more than posting my thoughts. But I really like this topic and think my views are different from the some.
Most Liked Variants:
PW Argent Adept: I really like the additional setup that this gives. Plus with the right Ongoings you can help your teammates too.
DW NightMist: I prefer this version of NightMist because I like playing spells with her. With this base power, I can draw the right card and know how strong my next spell will be.
Dark Visionary: I really like the control this offers. Being able to fully know what the Villian or Environment is going to do helps all.
Least Liked Variants:
EoW Bunker: The power is too situational which means sometimes you can have a dead power phase.
PW Capt Cosmic: I really prefer either base or Fused version better. Each allows a quicker set up and most times I only see 1 card return from PW power.
F6 Wraith: There are very few times I want to and can hit 2 targets for 1 damage. Especially since it is melee damage, not projectile.
No worries or pressure felt whatsoever. There just aren't enough hours in the day. 
I feel guilty a lot in not getting the chance to do much stuff compared to everyone else. Better to be busy than not getting to be busy, trust me.
I kinda like F6 Wraith because she gets to be useful before you can get fully setup. Also Twist the Ether or any sort of team damage boost makes her pretty sweet.
It has everything to do with base Nightmist having a natural reliance on Amulet that is hard to give up with the DW promo. If you can wrap your head around not using Amulet and giving her other cards higher priority values, the promo can be fun for those who enjoy the meta game of planning out your magic values. Your mileage will surely vary on that.