Everyone's Thoughts on the Variants?

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
21

Just going by the new variants, my faves are definitely XPW Captain Cosmic and Visionary Unleashed. They turn two heroes I would rather not play into heroes I absolutely want to play. I also adore Extremist Sky-Scraper.

I wouldn't say there are any overall I hate, though I tend to avoid playing DW Setback, PW Tempest and F6 Tempest. Also, I'm not a fan of how powerful Hunted Naturalist is. I've said before, you start playing him, and then regular Naturalist feels slow and clunky by comparions. :(

Xtreme Argent is also not a favorite of mine, save that I find I prefer him if I have to play Argent Adept in a team match. Being able to deal damage is far more useful than constantly having to set up, and you'll always have sacrificial ongoings! :D

I, too, have considered writing strategy guides for various incoming variants, but I haven't figured them all out. Specifically, Xtreme Haka -- Powerhound showed off that combo with Guise and the Scholar, that's the first way I've seen his power be particularly useful -- and Freedom Five Wraith. I mean, all the other Freedom Fives, with the possible exception of Tachyon, get excellent powers that are obvious upgrades or equally as awesome as their other power. Clandestine Funding I just cannot figure out how to turn into an asset. What's the upside to it? Guise can combo it to draw his whole deck, but otherwise, eh.

Speaking of Guise, Completionist Guise is stupidly powerful, and every time I figure out a good combo with him -- synergy with Captain Cosmic, the Fanatic Blender -- I feel really smart. :D

As for variants I wish existed, A) I wish everyone had at least three (including base), for better utility with Completionist Guise, and B) all the alternate versions of characters we've heard about in the Letters Page and seen in the ARG. Especially things like WWII Absolute Zero and Lazer Ryderz Captain Cosmic! (That's what we have customs designers for...)

22

I disagree. I dislike DW Nightmist but it's not because I can't redirect as easily, it's because I always forget what I've put on top!

(I also dislike it because she draws so much slower, and I'm not all that great with her in the first place)

23

One of my least played Variants is Horus: Ra. When I play Ra I want to burn things, not draw and discard cards. I get why it works, but not a favorite of mine since it makes it harder for him to deal damage.

 

I'll also throw PW Cosmic and DW Setback into the pile, but I also am not a huge fan of Golem Unity or PW Tempest, I don't like self-damage. Though, surprisingly, one of the new variants I got to try Setting Sun: Ra is amazing. Might have had something to do with playing him against the Ennead, but I felt soo powerful in that game.

 

 

I almost never use base Expat or Tachyon, prefering their variants in almost all circumstances.

 

One of my favorite Variants, and one of the most powerful, is Omni-U. I've had turns where I've easily pushed out more than 50 damage by playing Self-Destruct or Singularity with my base power use, so many instances of damage. Plus, if I get a bunch of stuff destroyed it's easier to get re-setup.

 

 

24

Characters that funny enough can be helped out by DW Setback. :slight_smile:

25

Yeah for promo talk!

Favorites:

Resolute.  PW Fanatic is the single most amazing variant in the game for me.  Such fun, synergy and chaos.  It is perfect.

Desperate Prey.  Yeah it is too strong, making already crazy strong Naturalist even better, but sometimes you have to choose between awesome and balance, and awesome won that time.  The best step to balance it in my opinion is remove the draw option.  Removing the card play makes it bad, the draw option, with his deck?  It is gratuitous.

Reconfigure.  So good.  So much fun, and it is amazing with Cryo Bot (my favorite bot).  Love using Volatile Parts as a key card and trading that golem army for a reliable and repeatable threat.

Thunderstruck.  Such a cool effect, and Tempest has such strong powers anyway, so it works.

Bonus:  Form the Head.  Y'all can swing that energy machete as much as you want.  I'll form the head.  Such a fantastic promo.  You will see.

Least Favorite.

Team Leader.  Just don't like how it changes Tachyon, and frankly, a 15+ card hand just annoys me.

Anything else overly card draw focused.  

Too good:

F5 Legacy, Bunker and Absolute Zero.  They are all really good, but too strong.

Team Leader.  I mean, yeah.  Her deck is so good almost any impactful power is too good, let alone one that strong.

Arc of Power:  I get the cost is legit, but once you get that down to 1 damage or redirect it it is game over, The rest of the team exists solely to keep Tempest alive, because Tempest has the game won if you do.

Turmoil.  If Dark Visionary shows up it takes a ton of bad luck to lose.

Too weak:

Modulize (Termination Bunker):  I know a lot will disagree with me here, but you are destroying a card that was worth playing in the hope that your top card is better than it.  If you had better cards, why didn't you play them?

Absorption and Mitigate  The 2 most problematic promos, Setback's came out before his deck, and Captain's original was infinite loop fodder and fixing it put it behind Fabrication in almost any conceivable game.

Variants I wish existed.

My favorite question ever.  Here are variant powers that someone has created that I wish I had cards for.

Absolute Zero:  Transmutation:  Once before your next turn, when Absolute Zero would be dealt damage you may change the damage to fire and increase or decrease it by 1.

Argent Adept:  Ballroom Blitz:  Argent Adept deals 1 target X Sonic damage, where X is 1 plus the number of powers that have been used this turn.

Expatriette (I love every one of these)

  Trademark:  Discard a card.  Search your deck or trash for Pride or Prejudice, put it into play and use its power now.  If you searched your deck shuffle it.

  Stockpile:  Put 3 ammo tokens on this card.  When an ammo card would be destroyed you may remove an ammo token from this card instead.

  Hit and Run:  Draw a card.  If you draw an ammo card this way you may use a power now.

Nightmist.  Wild Magic:  pick a number 1-4.  Draw a card, if that card's spell number is the number you chose you may play it now.

 

26

I am interested by people's favorites, in large part because so many of them are different from mine. And one in particular...

My three favorite variants are:

1. Prime Wardens Captain Cosmic, because his variant really changes how he plays, encouraging lots of dropping disposable Constructs instead of rapid-playing and hoping for the best. 

2. Termi-Nation Bunker, because it makes Bunker a playable deck. 

3. Super-Scientific Tachyon, because her base form is kind of wobbly and this one creates some neat synergies with card-searching people. 

(Honourable Mention: Santa Guise is just weird and I love that.)

 

My three least favorite variants are:

1. Dark Watch Setback for undermining his style in favor of a boring sort of reliability. 

2. Freedom 6 Tempest, whose 'blow my own stuff up for extra card draw' power doesn't work that well with his deck, which tends to rely on keeping stuff out to be great (since he doesn't get multiple plays as a rule.)

3. Prime Wardens Fanatic. This is obviously just me, but SO MANY of Fanatic's cards are designed for situational use, and are useless or actively counter-productive in the wrong setup. And you don't get to not play the top card of her deck. So every time I actually use her power, it's "Is THIS the time I accidentally End of Days my entire board, or Final Dive a construct instead of the bad guy, or Consecrate Haka's tattoos, or discard half my hand to do 3 damage to someone, or have to redirect an area attack to myself when I wasn't ready for it, or accidentally Chastise the minion I wanted to kill, or double-play a Limited card..." There are just so many ways for it to go wrong, and I don't generally play Fanatic to be a gambler. 

The variant I would most like to see: a Tachyon variant whose power is "play a Burst card from your trash, and then shuffle it into your deck". Suddenly, managing your Bursts becomes tactical! 


*EDIT* I missed the "villain variants" bit. Most of the villain variants are pretty great!

27

Most favorite: I'm going to say Dark Watch NightMist. Purely because it is the only variant that I  enjoy more than her original power. Not to say I dislike her base power nor do I think it is more powerful.

 

I don't really have a least favorite, nor one I feel is an upgrade or downgrade. Sure, I feel Hunted Naturalist's Draw or Play is too much and I think I tried getting the Draw dropped off*, but I do not think it is that much better than the original. I also have no issue with Dark Watch Setback. In both versions I am likely to switch to Looking Up when I get it, so I don't have an issue with what I do until then. Plus the -2 damage has helped quite a bit in several games.

 

Game Changers: I'm going to interpret this as "changing the way I play the hero". This mostly holds true to heroes that heaviliy use their base power. Legacy, NightMist, and Parse are three that immediately come to mind. The Argent Adept is someone that isn't someone that relies on his base power but I feel fit into this. As his variants are still powers I will occasionally throw in at the end of chain.

 

What I wish existed: I wish all heroes had a second variant. Ambuscade would have also been fun to have a variant. Each standard expansion has a villain that has a variant, so it would have been awesome to have Ambuscade to have one to represent the Mini-Expansion villains.

 

*This is something I have done frequently in playtesting. As I do not find the option between drawing and playing to be an interesting choice. I find a more interesting choice to be use an ability that will allow me to also play a card even if I do not have one I want to play or skippng my play and power phases to draw an additional card during my draw phase. The only hero I do not find this true with is Guise, due to how his deck works.

28

Freedom Five is kinda like that. I mean, you're basically always going to get "Nimble Strike without the draw", but at least the first hit's free.

I'd like to speak up in defense of PW Captain Cosmic. When I'm playing the base version, I'm constantly frustrated by losing Constructs to large damage I never saw coming, or having them activate a whole one time before they die.

With PW, I can turn a lost Construct into something useful. The first couple, I get myself set up with Destructive Response and whatnot. Then maybe I get lucky with a few in play, and I draw into a Construct Cataclysm or Conservation of Energy, and then suddenly everything is going to die. Because I get to keep playing Constructs as I destroy them, and draw more to replace them, and then I get to do a huge hit to something! It's amazing!

Absorption won't always work, since maybe you rolled him into a game where there's not a lot of area or lowest HP damage, but I find I prefer its promise to "Gee, there goes my third Dynamic Siphon, into the trash, what I wouldn't give for Sustained Influence right now…"

29

PW Cosmic is like TN Unity in that he's best when you anticipate mass carnage on a regular basis.

And I wish we had more villain variants.

30

In advance: Sorry for making this post too long.

I'm going to act cool and answe the question in regard to each team (I don't have F5 variants ;():

Prime Wardens:

Favorite 2: PW Tempest, followed by PW Fanatic

Least Fav. 2: PW Captain Cosmic ,then PW Haka (Nothing wrong, I just like the others better)

Most Improved: PW Captain Cosmic. He doesn't spam constructs, but he gets a bit more out of them so they arent just lowest target fodder.

Most Negatively Changed: PW Tempest. Instead of getting the AoD damage Vengeance-style villains despise, you can play extra cards, but at a considerable cost. This doesn't do much if Tempest has a bum hand,

Craziest Change: PW Fanatic. This is a very fun way to play her, and whatever she plays can completely mess you up, especially if you pull an EoD.

Dark Watch:

Favorite 2: DW Fixer, then DW Expatriette

Least Fav. 2: DW Nightmist (never understood her), DW Setback

Most Improved: DW Fixer. Hate the price, love the item. None of the three I remotely can play well are better, but this is the least saddening to play.

Most Negatively Changed: DW Setback. Idk if it's just me, but I need  tokens to play well.

Craziest Change: DW Fixer. He has to destroy the things that were once important to him, but in severing that connection, he is more powerful than he was before. Vanilla Fixer was better, but this man uses Bloody Knuckles better than anything I've seen before.

Freedom Six:

Favorite 2: EoW Bunker, and afterwards is Price of Freedom Wraith (Not nesc. the power, but the story...)

Least Fav. 2: Sac Tempest, and Golem Unity (Don't hurt her!)

Most Improved: TLT. Nothing to say, other than the woman is a cheat code.

Most Negatively Changed: Sac Tempest. The draw is nice, but I already have a card that lets me do that without giving up my babies.

Craziest Change: AZ. Who knew you didn't have to do a lot of math (at least, in the beginning) to get this guy right?

Termi-Nation:

Favorite 2: Bunker and Unity

Least Fav. 2: AZ and Unity

Most Improved: Bunker. (He-man voice) I HAVE THE POWER!!!

Most Negatively Changed: AZ. I can't work with him like this. Maybe someone smarter, but I just can't.

Craziest Change: Unity. Flips the script on golems.

Finally, i have a parody to the first verse of Bad Day by Daniel Powter about a variant that I'm always sad to play. See if you can guess.

Where is the damage we needed the most/You kick up the myths and the magic is lost.

And maybe you're sunfire's gone, they say /They tell me your fun has gone away

It's much too hard to carry on...

31

Favorite variants:

  • Termi-Nation Unity: I find her normal version hard to get going and hard to maintain, and Golem just takes way too much damage.  So much investment--either a play, a power and two draws, or a power, a draw and 4 HP, goes into playing one freaking 1-3 HP bot that just dies immediately.  Termi-Nation gets bots back out of the trash for the cost of just one power (usually), and you get a free draw out of the deal.  It's a problem when you have just one great bot in play and one in the trash, but usually if I have a bot in play I have other things to do.
  • Super-Scientific Tachyon: Thematic, fun, and powerful.  
  • Fugue State Parse: 2 points of damage never really meshed well with her overall mechanics.  Fugue State is brilliant, making her an even more formidable contributor to the team.  She sets up faster and helps other set up faster, especially those like Argent Adept that can put stuff on the bottoms of their own decks.
  • F5 AZ and F5 Bunker: I haven't played them yet, but they're great on paper, and I have a hard time making any other variant of them work, except GI Bunker, who I only every bring in to do one job and he doesn't do anything else.  I'm looking forward to them so much!
  • Fleshwalker Gloomweaver: The poster child of villain variant done right.  He's a legit challenge made out of a speedbump of an original.  Every card in his deck is still meaningful and thematically appropriate.  Most of the other variants wish they could be this good.
  • Cosmic Omnitron: Also a really potent and interesting variant.  His challenge mode gives me PTSD, though.

Least favorites:

  • Dark Watch Setback, Dark Watch Nightmist, Dark Watch Mr. Fixer.  Setback is obvious, Nightmist usually lives or dies based on card draw and can usually deal with the randomness (assuming a villain or other hero doesn't mess up her plans anyway), and Fixer is just too hard to maintain.  I'd add Expatriette but I don't like her base version any better--what she really needs is card draw, and nothing she gets helps with that.
  • PW Captain Cosmic, as stated by others. PW Fanatic works well until she doesn't; you need understanding friends when you play her, and it helps if you go first, but she's not "bad" per se.
  • Team Leader Tachyon.  Immensely powerful but boring as hell.  When you have cards that grant you powers, but you'd almost certainly never use them because your base power is so good, there's a design flaw.  When other heroes grant power uses and it's almost always best to give it to you, there's a design flaw.
  • Mad Bomber Baron Blade: Making it so that half the cards in his deck just don't do anything is not good design.
  • Tormented Infinitor: Good thought, poor execution.  Very swingy battle, and potentially very frustrating.
  • Trickster Kismet: She's still a speedbump.  I'm really hoping her challenge mode makes her an actual challenge.
  • Spite: Agent of Gloom: He's just wonky.  Some of his rules just don't seem to have any reason to exist.  It's not really worse than his original, though, which is also a tremendously unfun fight.  Beating either version is entirely about figuring out how to ride out his drugs, which are challenging but extremely predictable.

Wish List:

  • Dark Watch, though more for mechanical than story reasons.  They're all underwhelming.  Expat expecially--a new promo for her in the same vein as the F5 AZ and Bunker cards would make her so much more attractive to play.  Why do the Prime Wardens get 3 variants each and DW only get one?
  • Chrono-Ranger, also for mechanical reasons.  His variant is really niche and doesn't work all that well except in a few situations.  Something that helped him with his greatest vulnerability--lack of Bounties--would be really nice.
  • Kismet: A decent Challenge Mode for Trickster Kismet would do.  Anything to make her worth playing.
  • Deadline: Story-wise I can't see how this would make sense, except for an alternate reality Deadline.  But I'd love a good challenge for him too, he's far too easy.
  • Spite: Something to make him nasty but not make it the "endure the drugs" show.  Make the drugs be much more potent but expire on their own, maybe.
  • Chairman: I still really want an Iron Legacy/Freedom Six "Chairman," namely, Maia Montgomery.  Not sure how I'd want that to work mechanically, but that's a story I'd like to see in game form.
32

Fabrication vs. Absorption.

 

Fabrication gives you the equivalent of a card draw with the option of playing the drawn card.  It does so at the same rate as playing cards.  So for each card played, you get a second card play without depleting your hand.

Absorption delays return until constructs are destroyed, and then requires 2 triggers of its effect to get the equivalent of Fabrication.

But when you consider that you are both putting fewer cards into play and advancing your deck more slowly, and that while Fabrication gives you card play no matter if you have constructs in play or not, while Absorption does nothing unless you already have constructs, the impact over the course of the game is in favor of Fabrication.

The only way to get comparable cards in play is to use conservation of energy.

The only time that absorption shines is when your construct gets destroyed, and others will follow, and you use a one-shot to destroy the other doomed constructs and gain benefit from you destroying them instead.

There are few villains that will pull such a maneuver multiple times in a game, yet also let you acquire a decent number of constructs to cash in.

Ideally, PW Cosmic can predict when his constructs will be wiped and thus use other powers without losing the benefit of Absorption.  If you can do this reliably, you can use fewer turns of your innate and use Crest or Weapon and actally come out ahead in overall impact.  I'm not able to do that.

 

I'm not saying you shouldn't like it, or prefer it, just that he has 3 of his 4 innate powers based on card play, and one of them is demonstrably least efficient in cards played per turn, and that power is Absorption.

 

I also find it interesting how people differ in how they view promos.  I really dislike playing Redeemer Fanatic, although it has value and is objectivsly a good promo for changing how you play the deck, and I actually enjoy the situational utility of EoW Bunker and DW Setback quite a bit, eventhough they aren't as efficient as other innate powers.

33

For me, I don't like base powers that are easily replaced by cards in the deck. For example, I prefer the variants of Haka, Ra, Tempest, etc. because each deck has a card that is simply better (and replaces) the power of the vanilla version.

34

My favorite variants:

F5 Bunker - Bunker is generally my least favorite character to play.  I actually have fun playing him with this variant and I think it makes him a really good team player

Extremist Sky Scraper- I love base SS, but boy does this card rock and complete change her playstyle.  Each base power has a very powerful effect but it can be really hard to stay in teh desired stated.

PW Fanatic - exactly how Fanatic should play.  Better to burn out than fade away...

XPW Tempest - biased pick, as it's the one card in teh game I actually was able to contribute some ideas to that made the final version.  However, I do love how unique this effect is compared to anything else in the game

35

I'm a HUGE fan of Team Leader Tachyon, and i feel it's a gigantic change, to the point I often forget about her original form. I tend to lean to the idea that PW Haka changes his playstyle up fairly decently, making him a beatstick of doom into a support/damage. being able to play the Haka of cards on others has proven very juicy indeed!

as for downgrades? either the DW Setback or Mr. Fixer (not too many people are kosher with having their setup being torn down for a little extra damage, and results in Fixer having only a couple times of doing something) 

OH! and Villain variant? Gloomweaver/Spite, especially with the Challenge mode. it's a nice little story set-up that just keeps kicking you down, and it's gloriously beatiful!

36

Whenever I play DW Fixer, I have him as either the first(free shot since no one has anything to lose yet) or last position, and I know there's going to be a few turns that will be dedicated to either set-up or one-shots with no power usages from ol' Slim. Normally I find that if you talk with your team-mates they can every-so-often play a card that they don't mind being eaten, like maybe Expat has a duplicate gun in hand and has nothing to play next turn, or maybe Omni-U has things it wants to blow up. Not all that different as to when Unity is playing with Equipment-heavy heroes and needs things to eat every so often.

37

I don't have strong impressions of most of the vairants. I choose based on how I feel like playing with the hero at the time. The only one I have a strong impression of is Team Leader Tachyon, which is too powerful for my taste.

38

Standouts for me:

  • Super-Scientific Tachyon
  • Extremist Sky-Scraper
  • Prime Wardens Fanatic
  • Hunted Naturalist
  • Dark Visionary
  • Young Legacy
  • Omnitron-U
  • Fugue State Parse
  • Termi-Nation Unity
My least favorites:
  • All the alternate Wraiths
  • Freedom Six and Prime Wardens Tempest
  • Dark Watch Setback
  • Horus Ra
I guess the theme is that I like promos that combo up with their own deck in new and different (and potentially crazy) ways. I don't like the ones that just give a hero a slight extra ability to draw cards, or a reduced version of a power on a card that is easy for them to get already.

Some random specific comments:

  • The rest of the Dark Watch is tough. I like Nightmist; her power gives her an excellent degree of control. Mister Fixer and Expatriette, though...in many situations, their variant powers can really add some needed leverage to the game. But they often have to sit out extra rounds to set up. Dark Watch Mister Fixer does combo up really nicely with certain heroes in unexpected ways - Omni-U was already mentioned in this regard. He can also help clean up any side effects of Prime Wardens Fanatic.  :wink:
  • I don't have an aversion to Prime Wardens Captain Cosmic - and the suggestion in his strategy thread to put Augmented Ally on himself, to use his power at the beginning of his turn, really turned him around for me. All of a sudden, the Construct-destroying cards in his hand become amazingly awesome!
  • The Freedom Five variants are, of course, total ridonkulousness. Especially all played together. I mean, good grief. Might as well not even have a Villain deck in the game.
  • The Haka promos: honestly, they don't change my play of Haka that much. Soon as I have a Taiaha, I know what I'm doing. I might hit their base powers once a game in a particular situation, but it really depends on the situation. I like what Prime Wardens Haka does for his deck, though - it's a new and different option for him.
As for a promo I wish was in the game:

Citizen Dawn. Hands-down. She's my favorite Villain deck to play against, and I so wish there was a promo version of her. One idea I had is to reflect that period of her story when she's hiding on Insula Primalis, sending her Citizens out into the world to wreak havok. It could be something like putting all her One-Shots and Ongoings in her trash to start, and she has no HP on her front side. When her deck is shuffled, flip her over, she has HP, and she plays a bunch of cards immediately to join the fight.

39

I wish we had promo/variant versions of both Citizen Dawn and Grand Warlord Voss.  Since we already have Cosmic Omnitron and Mad Bomber Blade, I've always been a bit disappointed that the other two villains from the base set don't have alternate versions as well.

I envision a variant Voss being something like "Voss: On the Run" – After the successful revolt by the Dok'Thorath rebels, the Voss is now a hunted war criminal and the fleet has been sent to catpure him and bring him back for trial.  Instead of being shielded by his minions and his alternate win condition of trying to get out 10 minions, this version would highlight Voss as a warrior, dealing AoE damage to all targets (heroes, other villains, and environment) while trying to avoid the warships.  He could be using experimental new tech that absorbs the powers of the minions that he takes out himself, making him stronger as the game progresses (although that mechanic could be a bit too similar to Mad Bomber Blade). 

40

Favorite:

TLT

PWAA: He's always useful, but I have fewer "now, what do I do?" opening hands with him.

FVAZ: Get those ongoings ut quickly!

FS Parse

 

Least Favorite:

DW Nightmist: Nightmist herself has always been difficult for me to understand (though I'm getting there), this variant I'm still struggling to use.

Golem Unity: 4 damage is painful.

Sacrifice Tempest

 

Most desired variant?

I wish Setback had a variant.  It's too bad they never made one, because he's definitely one of my favorite characters to play.