Release Date: July 19th, 2017
What’s in the Set: 50 standard characters, a release day prize figure, a 6 piece Fast Forces and a Giant Skyscraper Wonder Woman colossal figure you could purchase
Chase Theme: Characters from Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns storyline
Major Keywords: The two dominant keywords in this set are Justice League and Past, while Batman Family and Gotham City make a strong showing
Set Impact:
Elseworlds came through quickly, just like What If? and had around the same impact, some solid characters to round out a lot of keywords as well as one or two pieces that dominated the competitive, and sometimes, casual scene. Chase figure Green Arrow was one of those. I had to play against this figure once, against kindhearted Jacob and it was one of my least favorite games ever; this character can’t be targeted from more than 2 squares away when it’s not double tokened and it can see through most everything, with an 8 range and takes away your defense powers when it hits, and it begins with a 12 attack, so it hits. It just ruined a game for me, and it was no fun getting dismantled and not being able to do anything!! He was played on quite a few tournaments winning teams in his day.
Sealed Play:
I feel like every set I’m talking about a character that does this exact thing and using them on my sealed team. Batman here can do the ole’ Perplex up every teammate he can see within 4 squares on the same stat- which for the first few rounds is always defense. His Leap/Climb allows him to get pretty much anywhere he wants, and he can hide in Stealth, so he has an advantage over Age of Ultron’s Hank Pym. But he’s not doing much else. I came across some tough customers in Sealed play, including Al Jhor Dan, Dale Suderman, Common Flash and King Aquaman Super Rare. I went 2-1 on this sealed and had a tough time moving my team around for some reason.
I played the over-costed Rare Flash for Hypersonic, but the kinda utility Diana Prince Super rare, along with Uncommon Superman as my heavy hitter. Mobility was still an issue for me, as half my team could not move and attack. Batman’s Perplex and Superman’s heavy damage was my best weapons, along with Diana Prince turning off Perplex and Outwit in close range.
Constructed Play:
This guy here, he’s a good one. He lacks the GL team ability but he’s more about attacking than his other Elseworlds versions. His “Power Battery is Draining” trait seems like a negative, but it is rare you could do more than 8 attacks in a game with the same character. The real sexy baby is the “To Fight Darkseid and Apokolips” as it allows him to be both an attacker and a support character. If it’s more important to push bigger threats into the map, start by using the Telekinesis. When it’s time for Hal to add to the fight, his devastating Pulse Wave with very good damage and just okay attack values is where it’s at.
I played him on an “Uncommons Only” build with UXM’s Juggernaut, Ms. Jakita Wagner from this set, Two-Face from Joker’s Wild, Red Tornado from Superman/Wonder Woman and a cheap 30 point Black Panther from ADW and had a great night. Red Tornado is the painted target on this team, as she can do major damage and disrupt the battlefield. I lost both her and Panther in both my games (had a 1st round bye) but GL could also carry figures into battle, Juggernaut and Jakita were brutal in the Charge game and Two-Face was a shocking surprise at how good he actually was, healing back to full in one game after taking some hard hits. I cleared both my opponents at this event (Sonya and Chris) wielding some good teams lead by Apollo from SM/WW and Lex Luthor from Trinity War.
Favorite Piece:
I absolutely love me some Planetary and when we were at Origins in 2017 and saw the display case for what was coming soon, and Elijah Snow was there, freezing up a wall, I fanboyed out. I do love Jakita in the book and wondered if she’d be as powerful as I was thinking she would. This feels like an economic way to do her dial but it’s quite good. Defensively, she’s weak. So, I learned to play her like a wrecking ball and just run in for the hit. It’s best to carry her in, then Hypersonic next turn, then move to Charge and Exploit (the rules were different back then.) You’re hoping to land at least one solid hit, then she will take some damage and hopefully get to utilize either the Perplex or Outwit. I’ve played her seven times now, usually in some kind of formation with Snow and Drummer, but also on Detective teams with Gotham City characters. She mixes well with that crowd, as they can block line of fire to her with their Stealth and usually have some Outwit or Perplex of their own to frustrate opponents. She’s a fantastic Uncommon and I’d love to see an updated to her card with a Legacy version or updates to all of Planetary, but that’s not super likely.
Closing Thoughts:
I was just as hyped for this as What If?, hoping it would bring all these cool alternate versions of characters from the strange Elseworlds books; but it was a carbon copy of What If?, using a handful of top characters in slightly different dial designs. I did think this set had a better mix of stuff though- a lot of neat Green Lantern alternates were here, but in the end, Planetary was what really mattered to me being in this set. I did not pull Elijah Snow, and had to purchase him later, but it felt great to have all three together on a team when I was finally able to field it. I played a handful of figures from this set a few times but more Planetary than anything. Without the inclusion of those characters here, this set is pretty boring and it even had an unexciting Aquaman for me to collect! I’d go 5/10 on this set.
bobombblast 