How do you use this card?
It's mainly useful because when a Villain plays a card (during the regular play step) that has an end of turn trigger, the trigger will go off the turn it was played, while a start of turn trigger won't trigger until the next turn. So by turning end of turn triggers into start of turn triggers, you can delay the effects for a turn and you get a chance to deal with the cards before they trigger.
The downsides are:
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Villains that play cards at end of turn now play the extra card at start of turn, and that new card will get to activate it's end of turn and start of turn triggers on its first turn in play. (And start of turn triggers are often much worse than end of turn triggers).
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If Sub-Zero Atmosphere gets destroyed, then all the triggers go back to being end of turn triggers, which could mean that an end of turn trigger triggers twice in one turn.
So it can be a dangerous card, and tricky to use well, but used well it can help protect you from damage by minions and things.
It is amazing against Grand Warlord Voss, but not so happy against Citizen Dawn. Everything that triggered at the beginning, if a Devastating Aurora triggers, now triggers again, at the end. Ouch.
One of the reasons I haven't used it was my first and only usage was against Voss in the digital game, and it seemed like minions that came out normally still got their attacks despite said attacks supposedly being moved to the start of the villain turn. It seemed like it wasn't having any effect at all.
First and foremost it is a situational card but when those situations happen it is great. I'm going to use an example I like best with Apostate. You play Sub Zero Atmosphere and on Apostate's turn he does the following in order:
- Deal his damage
- Any cards in play with an end of turn affect trigger in the order they were played if any.
- Play a villain card like Corrupted Effigy
- Apostate's turn ends with no further actions
Usually if Corrupted Effigy were played there would be a groan as Runes of Malediction would come out due to Corrupted Effigy but since end of turn affects occur at the start of turn it no longer gets to trigger until the next turn Now you have a whole round to deal with Corrupted Effigy and likely won't have to deal with Rune of Malediction for a while.
Where this card is bad is when a villain plays a card as part of their end of turn actions. Since the card comes out at the start of the turn it would still get to do it's normal action right then. Omnitron, the Chairman (while the Operative is active) and Advanced Voss are times where it's best not to play it.
Were you playing against him on Advanced? Because if you were, then his extra play moves to the beginning of the turn, and that minion will trigger normally. So instead of Play (normal) -> Play -> Minions you get Play -> Minions -> Play (normal)
No, I was not. It was one of my first four games ever.
Thanks for the example, Powerhound.
Then I'm not sure. Either it was being buggy, or you were confusing new minions with ones already in play, I'd guess. If you notice something like that happening again, do what you can to screen shot it so that we can take a look.
It was a year ago. I'm mostly not concerned with resolving that (if it was a bug it was probably found by now). I am mostly looking for how the card is used effectively.
A key item to point out is that if AZ is incapped before the villain's turn ends they'll get to do their affect again. So watch out for his health and watch out for villains which do mass Ongoing Destriction.
Good to know.
Have to admit, it's a card I don't use very often.
The main reason I brought it up was that I think I ended up with two in my hand during the weekly challenge thing and couldn't see any use for them against Spite.
Not too helpful against Spite as he doesn't play any cards that would give much benefit from being start of turn always. All you'd get is some drugs not triggering the first round they were played. Sub Zero Atmosphere is better for villains that play multiple targets or at least Ongoings with end of turn affects that you can destroy that round.
Here's a list of every standard villain and whether or not I would use Sub-Zero Atmosphere on them.
- Baron Blade - Totally, I just have to make sure not to let Absolute Zero get killed or destroy the Sub-Zero Atmosphere by Devious Disruption.
- Citizen Dawn - With deck manipulation and in an Environment that will not cause her to play cards, I would totally play it against her. If either of those two conditions are not meant, then I will definitely not play it.
- Grand Warlord Voss - Totally still play it, even if Advanced runs the risk of him playing one of his two ships, thus taking additional damage or destroying a Hero ongoing. It at least stops his normal play.
- Omnitron - Never will I play it.
- The Chairman - After The Operative is incapped.
- The Matriarch - Yes, it will help stop Munnin and Huginn from bringing eachother back. Since they are the Mask of the Matriarch are the only cards that have an end of turn, it can also work as a good sacrifice to Horrid Cacophony if need be.
- Plague Rat - Not much of a reason to. It'd only prevent a little bit of healing he would do if someone new is infected and Plague Locus is in play.
- Spite - Could cause problems if Upsilon is not in play and is played at the start of his turn. Only benefit would be some drugs would not trigger for a round if played on his Play phase.
- Akash'Bhuta - It's risky, coming down to deck manipulation, how many cards she'll probably be playing, and how many other Ongoings I can get in play. If I feel I can prevent the destruction of Sub-Zero Atmosphere, then i'll go for it.
- Apostate - Totally play it! The only time it might turn out bad is if something else causes him to play cards or Runes is destroyed and brings back multiple Imps without the means of destroying them before his turn.
- The Ennead - None of their played cards will do anything at the End of their turn, so no reason.
- GloomWeaver - No Ongoing destruction to worry about destroying it at a bad time, so go for it!
- The Dreamer - Pre-flip it's great. Post-flip it is dangerous, fortunately she destroys Ongoings when she flips so it can go.
- Iron Legacy - It's hard to judge when he'll take out Absolute Zero.
- Kismet - None of her played cards will do anything at the End of their turn, so no reason to play it.
- La Capitan - If you can keep crew numbers down and the Ship is destroyed, then totally play it.
- Deadline - It gives his Catastrophes a better chance to trigger, don't do it!
- Infinitor - No Ongoing destruction, so it's safe.
- Kaargra Warfang - No nasty Start of Turns and will only occasionally destroy 1 of Absolute Zero's cards, so as long as multiple other cards can be kept in play, then i'd do it.
- Progeny - It's risky, I probably wouldn't do it.
- Ambuscade - No Ongoing destruction, totally will!
- Chokepoint - None of her played cards will do anything at the End of their turn, so no reason to play it.
- Wager Master - No opinion, I cannot play against him because of having cards that are different sizes.
Timing can be critical, too -- a little deck manipulation and I slipped it in during a fight with The Chairman just before Prison Break was played -- all five Underbosses came out, but didn't do any of their damage or pull the Thugs out, so they went right back in the trash without much fuss and I ditched Sub Zero Atmosphere right after.
Thank you for that list.
If you're worried about AZ going down, Sub-Zero Atmosphere is also good fodder for Fueled Freeze if you want to do damage but there aren't a ton of villain ongoing cards for you to tear up.
I always assumed it was in his deck as a personality card that makes you think twice before putting the top card of his deck blindly into play with Omnitron or Scholar or in Atlantis.
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Wager Master - No opinion, I cannot play against him because of having cards that are different sizes.
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