Thanks again for checking out Clix Bait! It’s going to be another long one this week, so feel free to submit your complaints by following the link to the Facebook page and sharing your thoughts with everyone. I’m still looking for a logo, so if you have some time, submit your ideas to clixbait @digitaledengames.com (or your cool customs…I’d love to spotlight your work). Finally, follow the link to the YouTube channel and you’ll see it’s been pretty busy lately. I welcome you to subscribe.

I had a good time today playing some Pauper at Broken Door Games, in Morehead, KY. I streamed matches from the event, so you can find them by going to the YouTube channel and checking them out. While technically it was early, the judge allowed WWE pieces for the event, which made for an interesting field. We had a WWE team, and Onslaught team, a Brotherhood team, a Juggernaut, and a Sentinels team just to name a few, so there was plenty to pick up. So what did I learn?

Hey kids, a character with battle fury can’t be carried! I remembered this in the third round, after I had been using Amelia Voght to carry Blob with the Bloodaxe and DR Sabertooth. So yeah, I felt pretty crappy about that, but it’s also taught me I don’t like my Brotherhood build anymore. I’m sure there are other takes on the team, but the one that I had been plotting to use is out.

Onslaught is troublesome. His free actions along with the inability to target him from further than four out just makes him tricky to approach. In my match against the team, I wish I had placed the Dune Buggy closer to his starting area so as to encourage him to move out. In general, I have to do better on my placement of the Dune Buggy overall, because I tend to hamstring myself more than my opponent. Truth to tell, however, I don’t believe I’ll be using it at States.

Scientists are for real. While the version Randy Carter played today was no quite what he was planning on playing, it still did quite well. And there are enough scientists out there to allow for tweaks and personal playstyle choices, so if you haven’t got your team for States settled, remember that scientist is a good keyword, and perplex is probably more powerful than you think.

Of course, mentioning that we ran with WWE pieces probably raises your curiosity about how potent they were. They are really good, but no one at the event felt they were unstoppable. Yes, the inability to make ranged attacks against them is problematic, but it’s not insurmountable. If anything, it’s adding a new level of depth to player strategies, since it changes your approach to your opponent. Good stuff, but not game-breaking.

Anyway, with this week’s discussion of the black powers, the blog’s going to be pretty long this week, so I’ll leave the opening at that. We’ll be looking at an Onslaught Pauper team this week, and talking about the aforementioned black powers. I’ve also got another look at the work of Don’t Punch the Bears before a peek at the fringe. So with that…

Team of the Week – Monster Onslaught

This is a team that I’ve been looking to talk about for a while now, just knowing what a big deal Onslaught is. I just hadn’t seen a build that I really liked until this one won Gongaii Game’s Pauper Circuit event on October 15^th. I knew there was going to be a good monster build for Onslaught, and Jeff Polier gave it to us. I will note that I have changed the build that won the event to reflect what he MEANT to play, rather than what he ended up having to play (he accidentally grabbed Phobos instead of Deimos for the actual event).

Link: Jeff Polier – Monster Onslaught

So let’s start with what that mistake cost him. He ended up making breakaways more difficult, but had he actually run Deimos, opposing characters would have a -1 to hit within 4 of him. Combine that with Onslaught’s trait of being unable to be targeted from more than five squares away, and you’ve gone a long way to protect your money maker. Yeah, you can make your life easier by taking out Deimos, but then you have to deal with the mystics damage for doing it. In the meantime, Sabertooth is charging with a 12 attack, and evading a lot of attacks thanks to the map bonus. And so many things the team does for free. Onslaught has a great set of choices for free actions (and can start the game by TKing the Bloodaxe to Sabertooth), and Dr. Frankenstein can do free heals, and gets to add one to the result if he hits. His attack value may be low, but since he has the monster keyword himself, he can perplex his own attack before making the attempt for support. So this is just a really well-rounded team.

The doc does drop fast, and neither he nor Deimos are adding much to the mix offensively, but I don’t think 85 points is too much to spend on solid support. Onslaught’s trait only protects him, so expect potshots at Doc Frank, especially. While Sabertooth’s defensive numbers are pretty good, with some solid perplexes and precision strike, he can find himself in a bit of a spot due to a lack of damage reduction. And the only time I like Juggernaut anymore is against Onslaught, as so many of the things he does for free are things that Jughead just doesn’t care about.

But, since Juggernaut seems poorly suited to take on a lot of the other teams, I think come states you’re going to see less of him than we once expected. That being said, this is a good team that gives you a lot of options, and is probably a lot of fun to play! I look forward to seeing how it does in states!

Strategy Bytes

Alrighty! Let’s get back to talking about powers. This week is a particularly interesting set – the black powers. Some of these are going to take a bit more detail than you will have read with the other power descriptions I gave you previously as I will have to make sure you know how a few other things in the game (like line of fire) work to clearly explain why some things work or don’t work (despite what many feel is common sense). And, there’s another new WWE power to discuss, so let’s get into this!

STEALTH: When it’s not your turn, hindered lines of fire drawn to this character are blocked.

Let’s first remember that this power specifies that it’s active when it’s NOT your turn. So during your turn, the opponent can see you in order to use probability control or other similar abilities. Also remember what it means to block line of fire – this means you cannot be targeted with anything except a close attack (as close attacks do not require line of fire, just adjacency). So, while your natural inclination is to believe that because you are standing right next to your opponent, and you can target him with a close attack, you should therefore be able to perplex or outwith that opponent. Sadly, that is not true. Most powers require line of fire, and since stealth blocks line of fire, many powers cannot be used on a character in stealth. Just keep telling yourself adjacency is not line of fire, and everything will be fine.

NIMBLE: Improve Movement: Hindering, BREAKAWAY +2. FREE: Move up to 1 square.

This is one of those new WWE powers, and gives you a few things – nothing that should cause many arguments at the game table. First off, you get to ignore hindering terrain for movement, which is nice. You also get a +2 bonus to your breakaway rolls, making it harder for you to get stuck. Finally, you get to move one square, like a lesser version of sidestep. But given the bonus to breakaway, I would say this is slightly more powerful than sidestep, despite the limited movement.

STEAL ENERGY: When this character hits with a close attack, after resolutions heal 1 click if one or more opposing characters were damaged by that attack.

There are a lot of interaction questions here that I was made aware of in the judges group that I harassed to get this write-up together. Flurry and quake make many players pause when they consider interaction with steal energy, and timing also is something that requires a bit of thought. Because this power triggers when this character hits with a close attack, flurry would trigger twice (assuming both attacks dealt damage) because it was two separate attacks. Quake, on the other hand, is a single attack, regardless how many characters were hit or damaged by that one attack, and therefore will only trigger once.

As for WHEN you heal that damage, remember that the active player chooses the order of resolutions, with the exception of pushing damage. Page nine of the rulebook specifically states “When a character becomes pushed, immediately after resolutions it is dealt one pushing damage.” So before any other effects, such as steal energy, are applied, you much first take the pushing damage. If this causes you to lose steal energy, don’t worry, the power has already been triggered, so you’ll still get the heal (unless you are KOed). Also remember, you don’t take the pushing damage, or damage from a crit miss, until BOTH attacks in a flurry are completed, as it is one action to resolve. You can choose to heal from steal energy prior to taking damage from the mystics team ability, possibly saving you from a KO.

REGENERATION: POWER: Roll a d6. Heal a number of clicks equal to half the result (rounded up).

Regen, in and of itself, is pretty straightforward. However, STOP complicates it a little bit. STOP specifically states that when a power contains the STOP keyword is showing on the dial, healing done by both regeneration and support are reduced by one. This is true whether or not the power with the STOP keyword is the source of the regeneration.

OUTWIT: FREE: Minimum range value 6. Target an opposing character within range and line of fire and choose either a standard power, or a special power printed on the target’s card. The target can’t use the chosen power until your next turn.

This one confuses a lot of people, especially since the most recent rules made several changes to how the power works. As with all of my discussions, I’m not going to reference how it used to work in the hopes to save confusion, and simply talk about how it works now.

First off, you are choosing a power. Powers are not traits, so you cannot outwith them. They are not inherent or improved abilities, so you can’t take away a character’s ability to ignore hindering for movement (unless it is granted by a special power and you outwit that power). Keyphrases are also not powers, so you can’t outwit flight, vehicle, or indomitable (however, you MAY outwit willpower, which is granted by indomitable).

So as that last bit should clue you in, standard powers granted by traits CAN be outwitted. An example would be in Jeff Polier’s team above, Dr. Frankenstein’s trait lets him use support as FREE. You can outwit support, even though you cannot outwit the trait that gives it. While special powers have to appear on your target’s card to be chosen for outwit, you can choose ANY standard power you like to outwit, whether the character possesses it or not. This is big when you consider equipment like Exospex – it allows you to pre-emptively block an unfavorable choice from your opponent’s list of powers to choose from. Can’t use means just that – regardless how the character gets the power, that character cannot use the chosen power.

In the case of special powers, your outwit will keep the character from using all aspects of that special power. On the down side, if a character loses that special power, and gains the standard power, or finds a means to gain that standard power other than the special power, then it can use that power. To use another example from Jeff’s team, let’s say you outwit Sabertooth’s special power, Ambush Predator. Through this power, he has charge, flurry, and stealth, and so could use none of those while the power has been outwitted. But if he take one click of damage, he loses Ambush Predator, and has charge showing on his dial. He may now use charge, despite it being part of the Ambush Predator power, as you never directly outwitted charge. He could also, were he equipped with Exospex, choose and use flurry, as again, that specific power has not been outwitted, but rather a power that granted him flurry.

But wait! There’s one last thing to consider in regards to outwit – the difference between PROTECTED and Protected. PROTECTED names an effect, and that character now cannot be targeted by the effect. So PROTECTED: Outwit means that none of that character’s powers can be outwitted, since it is not a legal target for outwit. Protected: Outwit on the other had only applies to the power that it has been assigned to. STOP is a common place to see this. So a defensive power with STOP that provides toughness cannot be outwitted, not can toughness, but if that character has super strength that is not on that stop click, then super strength may be the target of outwit. All caps protects the character, lowercase protects the power.

Sorry for the length of that one…as you can tell, a lot of questions come up on these powers, and I wanted to be as clear as possible. Don’t hesitate to send any questions you might have to the Facebook page, and we can make sure everyone gets the answers they need to play well. Next week, we’re going to look at the orange powers – so I hope you’ll join me!

Miniature Mutations

I’ve talked about the work of Don’t Punch the Bears before (and you can follow this link to see all the cool stuff for yourself!), but I felt it needed a second glance. Well, that, and since I used some of their images today on pogs for the Iceberg Lounge, I felt it was only right that I plug the amazing artist!

And since that’s what got me to talk about it to begin with, let me share with you those great bystanders! Granted, I typically like to mod full out miniatures for my bystanders, but when I’m short on time, nothing beats the layout of Don’t Punch the Bear’s bystanders. And the art chosen is always pretty awesome, too! I also like the way that the art jumps out of the frame for some bystanders, like the way this seal’s flipper is breaking out of the frame, and helping to add depth and dimension to the art. Just a nice little touch that enhamces the quality of the work, in my mind.

Speaking of art jumping out of the frame, I especially love that aspect of this Astral Scanner token! Some people may complain that the way this was taken from a comic panel (as evident from the blocks above her head) makes it look less impressive, but I actually find those blocks make the framing more interesting. There’s a certain charm to it – I mean, you’re playing a superhero game, and this looks like you just ripped a hero from the comics and put it on the table. I love it!

Don’t Punch the Bears makes great bystanders, but there are maps, too! This is a great take on the Enterprise bridge (that’s the Next Gen Enterprise, by the way), with not only a great look, but a strategically interesting design. My only complaint would be with the conference room at one edge of the map – I’d like to see the entrances redone as door special terrain.

If you’re looking for new bystanders to liven up your table presence, don’t hesitate to reach out to Don’t Punch the Bears!

View From the Fringe

I like my clix super-hero based. What can I say, I suppose I’m a purist. Still, knowing that other pieces are allowed in the game, I have to look at other sets to realize all the tools that I might have at my disposal, knowing that if I don’t, I’m only voluntarily handicapping myself. Since I like a bargain, I was pleased to look at the Starfleet Ensign and recognize that it is great for the price!

OK, so he’s just two clicks for 20 points (15 if you don’t care what you get, but if I’m running him, I have a purpose!) with only one or two powers on his dial. But two of those powers make all the difference in the world! On the one hand, if you need a low point source for TK, here he is! I mean, this is definitively the cheapest way to get access to TK in modern, and he gives you some options, too! Because if you feel like you’re not going to be needing to TK that equipment to you, then you can start on a different dial, and enjoy having a perplex piece for just 20 points. Yeah, you could take sidestep with either incap or close combat expert, but really, I don’t envision a scenario where you would choose either perplex or TK.

As I mentioned, he’s only two clicks with no defenses at all, but for 20 points, I’m OK with this. What does bug me is the single keyword: Starfleet. Don’t get me wrong…he HAS to have that keyword, but I feel like he should have just one generic keyword. It would have been truly great (and appropriate in my mind) to allow him to choose during force construction one of the following Keywords: scientist, warrior, or diplomat (or something like that). So while what you get for 20 points is great, you’re going to wreck you theme.

But, as I mentioned, 20 points is a bargain, so I suppose I’m being unrealistically demanding. And this is not going to be the piece that you knew you wanted to use when you started putting together the team, but rather the guy that’s filling a hole that your points allow room for. This is that compromise piece…but it’s a solid compromise to make if you need that TK!

So I am tired, and have a lot of work to do getting ready to update Pauper standings and editing details on YouTube videos. I’ve got some personal time off, so I’m hoping to do another Talkin’ Pauper video, but I make no promises at this point. You’ll just have to subscribe to the YouTube channel so you get notified if I do it! Take care, and I’ll see you next week!