Trying to make up for time

Hey,

        I couldn't get to Kansas City this weekend. I was snowed in. It seems it is going to snow again here in Topeka. I tried doing an mp3 to avi online conversion but it wouldn't go down. My windows movie maker was acting up on the laptop. I've tried a bunch of stuff and it hasn't resolved. I hate to be so behind.

       After doing some thinking about ASM I realize more and more that there really isn't that much "new" tech as there is "old" tech wrapped in new packages. I've looked at Man-thing and see there is a lot of old poison tech there. You can do some things similar to LAMP but just not quite LAMP. I see some other tech that would be really strong in the monster theme team route in 500-800 pt games. Mystical has gotten off it's two year dominance break and has come back to be one the top keywords in the meta.

       What does this mean? It means that the best things you can do as a player is not to force something to be there when it is not. The next thing is to really be honest about what teams you are weak against and teams that you really want to develop for the next month and a half. Remember what I said a couple of posts ago, we are on Lab Day tech now. There is nothing that strong from prize support other than NML to fight tooth and nail for. If you are interested in a GL tank team do it. If you want to play with poison, give it a try. If you want to see how strong mind control is in the meta then play what you see fit. I would say you need to look at going back to basics and polishing those element so you can be prepared for the next big thing and that is team dials.

      As it stands right now team dials can be a mixed bag. We know that a full Titan's dial is immune to psy-blast and mind control. We don't know how they will compete against something like Galactus or Tester in bigger point games. What is clear that there may be some openings to abuse player weakness who pop of figures from the main base. The solo figures are on the corresponding point range dial. Don't let people convince you that they can play a full point popped off Robin or Raven at 300pts. They can't. They have to click to the corresponding color on their dial to the point level you are playing the team dial. This means that a person playing a Rookie team dial could easily give the opponent more than 300pts if they get sloppy with the separation mechanic.

    Last thing I want to present to you is that the IG is making a come back. I see a lot of figures in ASM that really key off with a partial or full gauntlet. Baron Mordo may never be Sorcerer Supreme but he can really wield a gauntlet in uncanny ways at a cheaper price point than Stranger. We also see that Collen Wing and Misty Knight duo can get a lot from the IG. With their deep dial they will be hard to kill before they get +1 stats or goodhood. Terrax likes the IG for the soul gem mainly. It gives him a lot of control to stay on click 2 if he chooses. He stays on a dial click with soul gem and just takes damage for not turning and he can stay on that one click and possible even heal up a bunch with  several k.o's from major earthquake power.

That is it for today,
Thanks for reading.

Spider-Man pairings v4

Hey,

        I'm working on some tech right before you on Spide-Man. So I wanted you to see my thinking as I work out some tech. I'm not guarantying  that this is the best way sort out meta. I'm just showing you some raw thinking process.

Round 1 Starting Questions
How can Spider-Man morph work best?

To many Spider-Man's to use them all.
Is it best to pair off the Spider-Man's?
Can I also play AE'S? --> If yes how many Spider-Man's can I have?
What is the best starter option?
Do I need theme?
What bases am I trying to cover?
What holes does he fill the most?
What can I not cover?

Round 2 Thoughts small answers and observations

Support power every click in order
1.(1a,1b,50,55,57,)
2. (1a, 1b,24,51,55,57)
3. (1c,24,51,55,56,57)
4. (1a,50,55,56,57)
5. (1a,51,52,55,57)
6.(1c,52,55,)

A lot less support options on click 6 than on any other click.
Click 2 and 3 gives the most options.

Only spider-man 1a, and 1b have an 18 defense on a click.

You can get 11 attack on all 6 clicks if you could access several different clicks.

Longest range options is 6. Most targets are 3.

Is support Spider-man worth it?
Can I do a perma 3 damage Spiderman-morph? Yes

I can keep one perma stat or have flexibility.

What is the best stat or effect to keep?

Progression in trait changing
ID CRISIS>FREQUENCY>ARMOR
Two clicks taken to Armor.
Frequency is the best middle ground if points are not the issue for easy flexibility and easiest to manipulate dial. 

Round 3

Stand out things.
Dusk to heal up.
#54 very one of the most offensive options
Ricochet can do some long range damge with barrier help.
1b is an offensive option.
1a is more support. 

Round 4 Clusters
Lets limit to 3 figures.
List starting morph and end morph

Ricochet>Dusk>Gf Spidey
Can attack at range then get in close with Dusk. Spidey can get within  4 range and then do an attack to lower attack values.

Dusk>1a>#55
Support into more stealth support. Then you pick up some cool tricks with #55 with range 6 and 2 targets.

Is a devolve a better option. Go Armor down to ID
24>54>1B>Prodigy
No damage taken. Keep Super Strength. Also a level of damage reduction in a lot of cases.

Dusk is great because of regen. It allows rebound.
Dusk comes up a lot.
Forced to not think about Dusk. Other tech?
#54 is easy to put in due to offense.

Round 5 Standout
#1a,#1b,Dusk, #54, Ricochet.

Every other piece might be the bridge or hole fillers for these figures. Continued role playing or diversity is in question.

Thanks for reading my thought process,
Edward Shelton

Shows and lol'ing myself

Hey,
     

        Hope you are enjoying the new episode that has just went up. I'm really happy to have Alex on my last show. We had a lot a lot of fun. Right now I will say that the meta will be in minor flux but not a major changes. If you like your current stealth/cop car/utility belt meta nothing much is changing that. But there are some things that are making things a bit more fun.

      With out much hyper competitive prize support I will say people have no incentive out side of No Man's Land to play hyper meta. I actually think we can go into Lab Day mode for the next few weeks.

Go out. Have fun. Play something weird. Re-power up for next set and go win the Bat Cave.

Check you later,
Edward Shelton aka Darklogos

The meta break down

Hello,

           I had a great conversation with my heroclix mentee Silent Scream last night. We had a good conversation on the current break down, on first look, impacts of Amazing Spider-man. I'm not going to run down everything but I will list out my top ten buys and top ten meta pieces for the whole set. This list is in no certain order.

Buys
1. Dusk
2. Brother Voodoo
3. Ancient One
4. Ricochet
5. Wong
6. Johnny Blaze
8. Terrax
9. Madam Web
10. Texting Everyone Spider Girl

Meta Changers

1. Dusk
2. Brother Voodoo
3. Texting Everyone Spider Girl
4. Scarlet Spider
5. Madame Web
6. Jennifer Kayle
7. Frankenstein Monster
8. Terrax
9. Dracula
10. The Ancient One

I will say that morph mechanics will be pushed a bit in the local meta. The main problem will be how are we going to solve for stealth. Texting Everyone Spider-Girl is going to hurt the reign of stealth quite a bit. But without her there is nothing other than melee that really deals with the power of SoG and the Bat sets. We have nothing that threatens resource dials or vehicles. Catwoman's stock did go up a bit. Cheap damage is still good. The only minor shake up will be mind control and how it coming back into the meta foresight. Will people actually use Brother Voodoo or just pass up on him due to mind control not being easy to use?

I have purchased all my primes, super rares, and chases I want from the set except 1 and I think his price will come down. I hope everyone gets what they want in their pulls. Let me know what crazy cool deals you all struck to get those pieces that you want.

Thanks for reading,
Edward Shelton aka Darklogos

Round 2

Hello,

         Today I am going to go into why I said some things I said in my last posts. First off Doctor Voodoo and Brother Voodoo do two very strong things. The first is Doctor Voodoo, he can hit a character and the damage taken by that character is penetrating damage for the rest of the turn. This is huge in large point games and it gets around a lot of traits that ignore psychic blast/penetrating ignoring traits out there. Doctor Voodoo has descent stats but team him up with the Ancient One he all of sudden gets a lot more awesome. Then look at Brother Voodoo. He can mind control, not take feedback and both he and his target get plus 1 attack. This means he has an 11 attack to mind control. Also he can move and then mind control or attack and then mind control. Having free mind control with one token is way better than people think.

        Dan is working on some secret Dracula tech. That is all I can say. Is that a bat that just flew by?

        If you haven't looked at Wong or the Ancient One you are really missing out on some of the best support from the set. I think that Wong will be great in 400pts or higher mystical teams. Being able to boost Dr. Strange stats is awesome. It makes the Secret Invasion Dr. Strange super strong. Ancient One is ok if you think it is okay to make your opponent reroll their super senses and impervious rolls is just ok. He can use leadership to remove tokens from other mystical figures under 150 pts. When he dies he makes several figures really really strong. SHAZAM! Oops I wasn't supposed to say that.

       Lets just say I like all the chases. I've got the 2 main ones I like. Nothing more to be seen here...

Thanks for bearing with me,
Edward Shelton aka darklogos

It's so amazing.

Hello,

          Spider-man set is out. I have yet to get a brother or doctor voodoo...yet. I am on the case. 

          So far I can say that the main meta changing piece is Madam web. She is strong on all dials. Easy to kill but strong. Morph abilities in this set are way better than I first thought. Dan Morrand is already finding cool things to break in the set like Dracula.

       I will say my favorites so far are Wong and the Ancient One. Both make great support for Dr Strange. I hear some talk on the prime Hobgoblin. I'm up in the air on him right now.

    There is not a lot of stuff that is broken but a lot of stuff that is fun. The progress in the meta will be morph abuse. So save up for those chases.

Check u later from my phone,
Edward Shelton aka darklogos