Marvel Evolution, Three. More. Days......

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OKAY! I'm going nuts! I have just posted the entire set spoiler, and have gotten a look at most of what the set has to offer. I am very impressed with the power of this set. Move on over Marvel Universe, with your wimpy Hulk. And I can't wait to get my hands on this stuff and build away!

I have just ordered myself as many Runaways rares as I could get from CoolStuffInc, so I got some decent stuff. And the one thing I am most excited about? My girlfriend, Adrienne, will be learning the ways of this great game through this set! I will be teaching her to play this weekend, and we will draft my six boxes (later this week when we get our boxes) to really tune her skills. She's really interested in this, which surprises me to no end. The guys at my shop were pretty shocked when I told them.

So, my overall view of the set is a good one. I can definitely say that much. I will go over each team one by one here:

X-Factor:

Cyclops will make X-Factor even more annoying than those damned Illuminati. With all the X-Factor Exhaust abilities, along with cards such as Mutant Town Messiahs (PT, Cost 3, Ready target X-Factor defender you control), and Energize, you have a pretty nice stall. Too bad Galactus isn't modern. Hopefully we will be getting a nice game finisher here. (Although the drop Cyclops should be enough to burn the pants off your opponent). Multiple Man/Jami Madrox will be very cool. I am very happy I bought 10 of the one drop from MVL before they sold out everywhere. This will definitely come in handy later on. Multiple Man will have some good flow with S.H.I.E.L.D./Crime Lords (HYDRA) army decks that like to abuse Cut Off One Head. Lots of nice recovery effects reminiscient of X-Men also. Not much I don't like about these guys.

X-Force:

This is pretty much a revamp of X-Statix, with most of them dual-affiliated with X-Force and some characters just X-Force (or another dual with X-Force). This team will be very plot twist heavy and the attack phase could be pretty brutal for their opponent. However, I don't see this team being one for the top eight decks in the future. Cable is pretty sweet though. :)

Marauders:

I don't see many people who want to do Gambit legend, but Mystique and Sinister are creating some buzz. The Sinister deck has the ability to shut down a player's field by negating effects, mill their deck by X-Gene Decoded, and nailing their opponent without taking lash-back from stun (Malleable DNA). Mystique will be a lot like Mimic, except she will actually take on their names, or even straight out steal their character from the opponent. All good stuff.

Exiles:

Talk about a rare heavy team, geesh. I really like this team, it is a lot like SHIELD was in MUN, when it comes to amount of characters compared to other featured teams. Exiles' shift ability is so amazing, and M'Kraan Crystal just sped that up. To build the rare-heavy version, you will need some moolah, since their team searcher is already at the same value as DLS's Mobilize.
Panoptichron is amazing. Blink is cool (Warp Shards is gonna be tricky). Mimic is wacky ( I like Five in One ). Nothing bad about this team that I can even come up with. (And almost forgot Wolverine Squad.....talk about WOW)

Weapon X:
Cool team all around. Their legend is easily Deadpool, who seems like a really interesting character to abuse. There will be plenty of Deadpool's hitting the field on turn 5, but wait, tat's a seven drop! Hey! Yeah Trouble with Clones is busted, but is oh so much fun. And that's Deadpool inside and out. Fun. *And a little crazy in there* And Mesmero is sick...so...so...sick...

Runaways:

YAY! I have been waiting for this team. The deck out strategy is not one often visited in VS. But when they try something new, boy do they do it right. These guys (and girls) are going to tear some decks apart. Some people say "Ooh, well I will just Messiah Complex my stuff back, thanks for the free card." Then you go, "Oh hey look, I teamed the kids up with big daddy Mr. Sinister, and he has a present for you! X-Gene Decoded! Was that a Messiah complex I just hit? Oh Yeah!" Or even by themselves, they will tear peoples' curves up like there' no tomorrow. Great team design. *claps*

Purifiers:

New Sentinels, different name. These guys will eff...... you..... up. I'm thinking a SHIELD/Purifiers team-up with this one. And the old sentinels will just love their new shiny buddies, I'm sure. The only thing I don't like is that there is not a full curve and the team is not represented by very many cards.

Horsemen of Apocalypse:

Meh. Good luck playing all the rider cards and dropping Apoc for zero. It almost reminds me of some kind of messed up Exodia (from Yu-Gi-Oh) alt-win thingy. You have to play four cards, drop the fifth for free, and hope he doesn't get smashed. A much better HoA team could have been made. I believe the old theme should have been kept (well it's not really "old").

Starjammers:

Future Foes, aaarrrgggghhhhh! This will be a fun team to play. And good hand control is always great for card games.

So overall, I give the set an A-. To reach the A+, it would need a better HoA team, in my opinion. But the set does not seem to be as broken as the doomsayers have been spewing over the past two months. Told you so. :P

Peace.

MEV Runaways Preview! Molly Hayes!

My Marvel Evolution preview is.. Molly Hayes, of the Runaways!

First off, I am honored to do a preview and this is my first one. Thanks TBS, for letting some of the lesser known bloggers to do an MEV preview. I am excited about this set, and Runaways just sold the set for me. I really liked the idea of a deck out team, and I'm sure once I build the deck, it will make me reminisce about the days of the Dragon Ball Z CCG back in the day.

Molly Hayes. For those of you who do not know about the Runaways, they are a band of kids who discover their parents are actually villains and they have inherited their powers. They use these powers to steal from their parents and fight against them. I was recently introduced to the series (so I don't have extensive knowledge of it... yet), and I am hooked! Molly's powers are super-strength and invulnerability. In the series, she is the youngest of the Runaways (until Klara Plast of course), and is one of the more intelligent Runaways (even though she does not show it at times). She can use her powers only by conciously activating them, and they do not last very long, as she gets tired quickly and passes out. (Caffeine has helped her with this problem :) ).

On to the card itself...

I'm glad there is a common for the team at least, haha. I know some people have made comments on Realms about this being an all-rare team due to its power. I actually like this card though. It may not be of extreme value on the turn it is brought out. Which is most likely turn six, unless we get some cards for Runaways to jump that curve (I hope not). Your opponent might not be decked by turn six, but you can bet they will be soon if you hit them with this big slugger while her team-mate Victor Mancha is on the field. For a six drop, she has pretty solid stats with no drawback whatsoever (minus the no flight/range thing). Once you deck your opponent, this character will be VERY difficult to get rid of. We don't get many characters in this game that plain out cannot be stunned. Usually we get "can't be stunned while attacking..etc".

So, there is my preview, and I hope you enjoyed! Hope to see you on the Realms soon!

(Not being able to check VSrealms at least once today is making me all obsessive-compulsive, rrraaawrrr!)

Brandon (HeraldofDoom)