With the digital game finally on its way to getting every variant, it seems like an opportune time to actually discuss all the variants.
Which ones do you like best, or like least? Which ones feel like upgrades, downgrades, or total game changers? What variants do you wish existed?
Villain variants are up for discussion, too.
Which ones do you like best, or like least?
I'm a fan of Young Legacy. It makes Legacy a more active participant in the game.
My least favorite is DW Setback. It takes a lot of fun out of playing the deck. When the variant became available on the video game my dislike was enhanced with the unlock conditions to get him.
Which ones feel like upgrades, downgrades, or total game changers?
F5 AZ is an upgrade to me since you can use it turn one for a benefit and it's only better if you have a Isothermic Transducer out.
DW Setback is a total downgrade since Setback needs his tokens to use a majority of his cards. I understand there is less "Risk" now but it slows down his game a lot. Turning him from a fun hero to one that just hopes to draw Looking Up.
I feel the XPW Argent Adept and Dark Conductor Argent Adept change his playstyle alot. You trade in an ability that allows you to use most of your Ongoings to one that isn't setup dependant. On the flip side you are now more setup dependant to actually use any of your Ongoings.
What variants do you wish existed?
I wish there another set of variants for the Dark Watch team that was more individual to each of the characters. Mr Fixer should have a Black Fist variant, Setback should have one from when he decided to come back to help the F5 against Miss information, Expat should have one post her time with the Scholar, and Nightmist should have one related to her power growth close to the Be the Gate story/being a mentor to Harpy.
Once upon a time, I was writing a guide to all of the Variants. Never ended up finishing it, unfortunately.
Favorites of mine are Team Leader Tachyon, Fugue State Parse, Xtreme Captain Cosmic, Dark Watch Expatriette, and both Termi-Nation and Freedom 6 Bunker.
Un-favorites include Dark Watch Setback, Eternal Haka, Horus of Two Horizons, and Prime Wardens Tempest.
For villains, I love Skinwalker Gloomweaver--he feels like the apocalyptic challenge that Gloomweaver should be. Not really a fan of Mad Bomber Blade, as so many of his card plays boil down to "Ignore this card and put it under Blade. Now he deals more damage.".
One of my favorite promo cards is G.I. Bunker. He's down a point in health, but if you're dealing with a villain/deck that has alot of single-target DR users, he nullify's that threat. And he still has all the normal Bunker stuff, making him plenty useful in my book. F6 Bunker has his specialized usages as well versus Ongoing heavy decks, and works well for those who don't really care for Bunker's mode cards and thus gives them another use.
As for one I dislike? I don't know if I have one like that. All of the promo cards have their uses, some are just easier/more fun to play than others I suppose. Example: DW Setback may not seem as fun compared to his regular form, but if you have him placed before a hero that's known to do self damage(Nightmist), or if you are partial to using one of his self-harm strategies but want a little bit of a buffer for that first hit...
I'm really eager to play with Visionary Unleashed since that version gives her some desperatly needed base damage, and I'm still incredibly curious on how the variants for all the OblivAeon heroes will effect their playstyles...
- Which ones do you like best?
DW Setback is going to get a TON of hate in this tread when talking about least favorite or worst variants. I've tried for a long long time to figure out ways it can be good, or ways it changes your decks playstyle. I havn't found it yet. It's really the only variant card in SotM that makes zero sense in any/all situations while having zero synergy with its own deck (the argument can be made its clear anti-synergy when talking about the cost of losing the base innate power).
But looking on the positive side, only having one objectivly bad variant card out of so many others is a pretty big win for >G.
My 3 favorite variants:
My 3 least favorite variants (excluding DW Setback)
@PlatinumWarlock: No time like the present; I've always loved your guides in general. :D
PW Tempest is a pretty team-dependent character, but works great in that context. You really want to use PW Tempest with the other Prime Wardens, since between the DR, card draw, and power uses everyone else can grant, Tempest can basically get a lot of free or low cost extra card plays, with a lot of those being powerful one-shots and ongoings.
I'm impressed! I'm happy this variant is getting love!
I know where this is coming from but so far stats show it only does slightly better than the base version of the Naturalist. Though if this one could be redone I'd probably say it could stand to only allow card draw instead of the option of a play/draw.
That works.
- Favorites
Extremist Sky-Scraper, Requital Captain Cosmic, Extreme Fanatic, Omniton-U and Eternal Haka.
- Not So Favorites
PW Captain Cosmic, F6 Tempest and Rook City Wraith. (although I still play each of these situationally)
- Upgrades
Cosmic Omnitron.
- Downgrades
Heroic Infinitor.
- Wish Existed
I agree with Powerhound on the additional variants for the darkwatch members.
I may come back to it after OblivAeon comes out, but it's really time dependent.
In addition to my "real" job, I'm also working on a supplement for my first rpg, the corebook for a second rpg, two active board game prototypes that I've been pitching to publishers, a third board game that I'm currently drafting, and freelance writing/editing work for a few other companies. It's been a busy few months…
I fully anticipate writing up some fan-material for the Sentinels RPG, considering that Chaosmancer and I are local to one another and will likely end up playing it at some point. And, y'know…I might have put a bug in certain ears regarding working on a Dark Watch sourcebook in the future. (Nothing even remotely confirmed by >G; it was totally wishful thinking on my part, as I'd love to write on such a project.)
Heh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was pressuring/swamping you. More saying nobody would really mind a "late" guide if you ever got around to it again.
Some of my favorites are:
Young Legacy
All Fanatic variants especially Xtreme
Hunted Naturalist (though I do wish the power destroyed form cards)
TermiNation Unity
Captain Cosmic Brotherhood
FS Parse
Least Favorites:
DW Setback
Freedom 5 Legacy (too strong imo)
Freedom 6 Bunker (there are games it does almost nothing)
Variants I like well enough that I wish could be tweaked:
-Visionary Unleashed’s power can be fun, but it makes her Ongoings with powers on them all feel like the same card… I wish the power intereacted with her cards more.
-Freedom 6 Tempest: I think he’s be a lot more interesting if he could let other heroes get the draw.
-DW NightMist: Really wish this power gave the option to discard 1 of the cards revealed or could affect other heroes. If you use this power 2 rounds in a row you’re likely to already know 2 of the 3 cards it will reveal.
The ones I’d call major upgrades:
FS Parse
All Freedom 5 variants
All Tachyon variants
Prime Warden Fanatic
The ones I’d call major downgrades:
Freedom 6 Tempest
Dark Watch Setback
Dark Watch NightMist
Which variants do I wish existed:
-Cleverest Legacy
-Additional DW variants like Powerhound suggested
-Variants of alternate reality heroes that didn’t make the cut for OblivAeon missions
-A variant of Young Vanessa (The Dreamer)
Thoughts on villain variants:
Skinwalker Gloomwraver and Cosmic Omnitron are both really fun.
-Heroic Infinitor and Trickster Kismet would be more fun if they were harder.
-Bomber Blade is fine but it renders a lot of his deck the same… I wish the flip side used targets.
-Gloom Spite is to me worse than the original. His flip back drug mechanic is so hard to trigger it feels clunky. Flipping Spite can result in so much damage that it intestivizes saving Victims even less than the base version in my view.
I like the NightMist variant. I wonder if that has to do with not prioritizing the Amulet with vanilla NightMiist.
That's the biggest flaw with vanilla Nightmist, but her DW variant is simply too slow for me. It's not bad, just needs more synergy
I will be honest. I prefer reading the forums more than posting my thoughts. But I really like this topic and think my views are different from the some.
Most Liked Variants:
PW Argent Adept: I really like the additional setup that this gives. Plus with the right Ongoings you can help your teammates too.
DW NightMist: I prefer this version of NightMist because I like playing spells with her. With this base power, I can draw the right card and know how strong my next spell will be.
Dark Visionary: I really like the control this offers. Being able to fully know what the Villian or Environment is going to do helps all.
Least Liked Variants:
EoW Bunker: The power is too situational which means sometimes you can have a dead power phase.
PW Capt Cosmic: I really prefer either base or Fused version better. Each allows a quicker set up and most times I only see 1 card return from PW power.
F6 Wraith: There are very few times I want to and can hit 2 targets for 1 damage. Especially since it is melee damage, not projectile.
No worries or pressure felt whatsoever. There just aren't enough hours in the day. 
I feel guilty a lot in not getting the chance to do much stuff compared to everyone else. Better to be busy than not getting to be busy, trust me.
I kinda like F6 Wraith because she gets to be useful before you can get fully setup. Also Twist the Ether or any sort of team damage boost makes her pretty sweet.
It has everything to do with base Nightmist having a natural reliance on Amulet that is hard to give up with the DW promo. If you can wrap your head around not using Amulet and giving her other cards higher priority values, the promo can be fun for those who enjoy the meta game of planning out your magic values. Your mileage will surely vary on that.
Just going by the new variants, my faves are definitely XPW Captain Cosmic and Visionary Unleashed. They turn two heroes I would rather not play into heroes I absolutely want to play. I also adore Extremist Sky-Scraper.
I wouldn't say there are any overall I hate, though I tend to avoid playing DW Setback, PW Tempest and F6 Tempest. Also, I'm not a fan of how powerful Hunted Naturalist is. I've said before, you start playing him, and then regular Naturalist feels slow and clunky by comparions. :(
Xtreme Argent is also not a favorite of mine, save that I find I prefer him if I have to play Argent Adept in a team match. Being able to deal damage is far more useful than constantly having to set up, and you'll always have sacrificial ongoings! :D
I, too, have considered writing strategy guides for various incoming variants, but I haven't figured them all out. Specifically, Xtreme Haka -- Powerhound showed off that combo with Guise and the Scholar, that's the first way I've seen his power be particularly useful -- and Freedom Five Wraith. I mean, all the other Freedom Fives, with the possible exception of Tachyon, get excellent powers that are obvious upgrades or equally as awesome as their other power. Clandestine Funding I just cannot figure out how to turn into an asset. What's the upside to it? Guise can combo it to draw his whole deck, but otherwise, eh.
Speaking of Guise, Completionist Guise is stupidly powerful, and every time I figure out a good combo with him -- synergy with Captain Cosmic, the Fanatic Blender -- I feel really smart. :D
As for variants I wish existed, A) I wish everyone had at least three (including base), for better utility with Completionist Guise, and B) all the alternate versions of characters we've heard about in the Letters Page and seen in the ARG. Especially things like WWII Absolute Zero and Lazer Ryderz Captain Cosmic! (That's what we have customs designers for...)
I disagree. I dislike DW Nightmist but it's not because I can't redirect as easily, it's because I always forget what I've put on top!
(I also dislike it because she draws so much slower, and I'm not all that great with her in the first place)
One of my least played Variants is Horus: Ra. When I play Ra I want to burn things, not draw and discard cards. I get why it works, but not a favorite of mine since it makes it harder for him to deal damage.
I'll also throw PW Cosmic and DW Setback into the pile, but I also am not a huge fan of Golem Unity or PW Tempest, I don't like self-damage. Though, surprisingly, one of the new variants I got to try Setting Sun: Ra is amazing. Might have had something to do with playing him against the Ennead, but I felt soo powerful in that game.
I almost never use base Expat or Tachyon, prefering their variants in almost all circumstances.
One of my favorite Variants, and one of the most powerful, is Omni-U. I've had turns where I've easily pushed out more than 50 damage by playing Self-Destruct or Singularity with my base power use, so many instances of damage. Plus, if I get a bunch of stuff destroyed it's easier to get re-setup.
Characters that funny enough can be helped out by DW Setback. 
Yeah for promo talk!
Favorites:
Resolute. PW Fanatic is the single most amazing variant in the game for me. Such fun, synergy and chaos. It is perfect.
Desperate Prey. Yeah it is too strong, making already crazy strong Naturalist even better, but sometimes you have to choose between awesome and balance, and awesome won that time. The best step to balance it in my opinion is remove the draw option. Removing the card play makes it bad, the draw option, with his deck? It is gratuitous.
Reconfigure. So good. So much fun, and it is amazing with Cryo Bot (my favorite bot). Love using Volatile Parts as a key card and trading that golem army for a reliable and repeatable threat.
Thunderstruck. Such a cool effect, and Tempest has such strong powers anyway, so it works.
Bonus: Form the Head. Y'all can swing that energy machete as much as you want. I'll form the head. Such a fantastic promo. You will see.
Least Favorite.
Team Leader. Just don't like how it changes Tachyon, and frankly, a 15+ card hand just annoys me.
Anything else overly card draw focused.
Too good:
F5 Legacy, Bunker and Absolute Zero. They are all really good, but too strong.
Team Leader. I mean, yeah. Her deck is so good almost any impactful power is too good, let alone one that strong.
Arc of Power: I get the cost is legit, but once you get that down to 1 damage or redirect it it is game over, The rest of the team exists solely to keep Tempest alive, because Tempest has the game won if you do.
Turmoil. If Dark Visionary shows up it takes a ton of bad luck to lose.
Too weak:
Modulize (Termination Bunker): I know a lot will disagree with me here, but you are destroying a card that was worth playing in the hope that your top card is better than it. If you had better cards, why didn't you play them?
Absorption and Mitigate The 2 most problematic promos, Setback's came out before his deck, and Captain's original was infinite loop fodder and fixing it put it behind Fabrication in almost any conceivable game.
Variants I wish existed.
My favorite question ever. Here are variant powers that someone has created that I wish I had cards for.
Absolute Zero: Transmutation: Once before your next turn, when Absolute Zero would be dealt damage you may change the damage to fire and increase or decrease it by 1.
Argent Adept: Ballroom Blitz: Argent Adept deals 1 target X Sonic damage, where X is 1 plus the number of powers that have been used this turn.
Expatriette (I love every one of these)
Trademark: Discard a card. Search your deck or trash for Pride or Prejudice, put it into play and use its power now. If you searched your deck shuffle it.
Stockpile: Put 3 ammo tokens on this card. When an ammo card would be destroyed you may remove an ammo token from this card instead.
Hit and Run: Draw a card. If you draw an ammo card this way you may use a power now.
Nightmist. Wild Magic: pick a number 1-4. Draw a card, if that card's spell number is the number you chose you may play it now.
I am interested by people's favorites, in large part because so many of them are different from mine. And one in particular...
My three favorite variants are:
1. Prime Wardens Captain Cosmic, because his variant really changes how he plays, encouraging lots of dropping disposable Constructs instead of rapid-playing and hoping for the best.
2. Termi-Nation Bunker, because it makes Bunker a playable deck.
3. Super-Scientific Tachyon, because her base form is kind of wobbly and this one creates some neat synergies with card-searching people.
(Honourable Mention: Santa Guise is just weird and I love that.)
My three least favorite variants are:
1. Dark Watch Setback for undermining his style in favor of a boring sort of reliability.
2. Freedom 6 Tempest, whose 'blow my own stuff up for extra card draw' power doesn't work that well with his deck, which tends to rely on keeping stuff out to be great (since he doesn't get multiple plays as a rule.)
3. Prime Wardens Fanatic. This is obviously just me, but SO MANY of Fanatic's cards are designed for situational use, and are useless or actively counter-productive in the wrong setup. And you don't get to not play the top card of her deck. So every time I actually use her power, it's "Is THIS the time I accidentally End of Days my entire board, or Final Dive a construct instead of the bad guy, or Consecrate Haka's tattoos, or discard half my hand to do 3 damage to someone, or have to redirect an area attack to myself when I wasn't ready for it, or accidentally Chastise the minion I wanted to kill, or double-play a Limited card..." There are just so many ways for it to go wrong, and I don't generally play Fanatic to be a gambler.
The variant I would most like to see: a Tachyon variant whose power is "play a Burst card from your trash, and then shuffle it into your deck". Suddenly, managing your Bursts becomes tactical!
*EDIT* I missed the "villain variants" bit. Most of the villain variants are pretty great!
Most favorite: I'm going to say Dark Watch NightMist. Purely because it is the only variant that I enjoy more than her original power. Not to say I dislike her base power nor do I think it is more powerful.
I don't really have a least favorite, nor one I feel is an upgrade or downgrade. Sure, I feel Hunted Naturalist's Draw or Play is too much and I think I tried getting the Draw dropped off*, but I do not think it is that much better than the original. I also have no issue with Dark Watch Setback. In both versions I am likely to switch to Looking Up when I get it, so I don't have an issue with what I do until then. Plus the -2 damage has helped quite a bit in several games.
Game Changers: I'm going to interpret this as "changing the way I play the hero". This mostly holds true to heroes that heaviliy use their base power. Legacy, NightMist, and Parse are three that immediately come to mind. The Argent Adept is someone that isn't someone that relies on his base power but I feel fit into this. As his variants are still powers I will occasionally throw in at the end of chain.
What I wish existed: I wish all heroes had a second variant. Ambuscade would have also been fun to have a variant. Each standard expansion has a villain that has a variant, so it would have been awesome to have Ambuscade to have one to represent the Mini-Expansion villains.
*This is something I have done frequently in playtesting. As I do not find the option between drawing and playing to be an interesting choice. I find a more interesting choice to be use an ability that will allow me to also play a card even if I do not have one I want to play or skippng my play and power phases to draw an additional card during my draw phase. The only hero I do not find this true with is Guise, due to how his deck works.
Freedom Five is kinda like that. I mean, you're basically always going to get "Nimble Strike without the draw", but at least the first hit's free.
I'd like to speak up in defense of PW Captain Cosmic. When I'm playing the base version, I'm constantly frustrated by losing Constructs to large damage I never saw coming, or having them activate a whole one time before they die.
With PW, I can turn a lost Construct into something useful. The first couple, I get myself set up with Destructive Response and whatnot. Then maybe I get lucky with a few in play, and I draw into a Construct Cataclysm or Conservation of Energy, and then suddenly everything is going to die. Because I get to keep playing Constructs as I destroy them, and draw more to replace them, and then I get to do a huge hit to something! It's amazing!
Absorption won't always work, since maybe you rolled him into a game where there's not a lot of area or lowest HP damage, but I find I prefer its promise to "Gee, there goes my third Dynamic Siphon, into the trash, what I wouldn't give for Sustained Influence right now…"
PW Cosmic is like TN Unity in that he's best when you anticipate mass carnage on a regular basis.
And I wish we had more villain variants.
In advance: Sorry for making this post too long.
I'm going to act cool and answe the question in regard to each team (I don't have F5 variants ;():
Prime Wardens:
Favorite 2: PW Tempest, followed by PW Fanatic
Least Fav. 2: PW Captain Cosmic ,then PW Haka (Nothing wrong, I just like the others better)
Most Improved: PW Captain Cosmic. He doesn't spam constructs, but he gets a bit more out of them so they arent just lowest target fodder.
Most Negatively Changed: PW Tempest. Instead of getting the AoD damage Vengeance-style villains despise, you can play extra cards, but at a considerable cost. This doesn't do much if Tempest has a bum hand,
Craziest Change: PW Fanatic. This is a very fun way to play her, and whatever she plays can completely mess you up, especially if you pull an EoD.
Dark Watch:
Favorite 2: DW Fixer, then DW Expatriette
Least Fav. 2: DW Nightmist (never understood her), DW Setback
Most Improved: DW Fixer. Hate the price, love the item. None of the three I remotely can play well are better, but this is the least saddening to play.
Most Negatively Changed: DW Setback. Idk if it's just me, but I need tokens to play well.
Craziest Change: DW Fixer. He has to destroy the things that were once important to him, but in severing that connection, he is more powerful than he was before. Vanilla Fixer was better, but this man uses Bloody Knuckles better than anything I've seen before.
Freedom Six:
Favorite 2: EoW Bunker, and afterwards is Price of Freedom Wraith (Not nesc. the power, but the story...)
Least Fav. 2: Sac Tempest, and Golem Unity (Don't hurt her!)
Most Improved: TLT. Nothing to say, other than the woman is a cheat code.
Most Negatively Changed: Sac Tempest. The draw is nice, but I already have a card that lets me do that without giving up my babies.
Craziest Change: AZ. Who knew you didn't have to do a lot of math (at least, in the beginning) to get this guy right?
Termi-Nation:
Favorite 2: Bunker and Unity
Least Fav. 2: AZ and Unity
Most Improved: Bunker. (He-man voice) I HAVE THE POWER!!!
Most Negatively Changed: AZ. I can't work with him like this. Maybe someone smarter, but I just can't.
Craziest Change: Unity. Flips the script on golems.
Finally, i have a parody to the first verse of Bad Day by Daniel Powter about a variant that I'm always sad to play. See if you can guess.
Where is the damage we needed the most/You kick up the myths and the magic is lost.
And maybe you're sunfire's gone, they say /They tell me your fun has gone away
It's much too hard to carry on...
Favorite variants:
Least favorites:
Wish List:
Fabrication vs. Absorption.
Fabrication gives you the equivalent of a card draw with the option of playing the drawn card. It does so at the same rate as playing cards. So for each card played, you get a second card play without depleting your hand.
Absorption delays return until constructs are destroyed, and then requires 2 triggers of its effect to get the equivalent of Fabrication.
But when you consider that you are both putting fewer cards into play and advancing your deck more slowly, and that while Fabrication gives you card play no matter if you have constructs in play or not, while Absorption does nothing unless you already have constructs, the impact over the course of the game is in favor of Fabrication.
The only way to get comparable cards in play is to use conservation of energy.
The only time that absorption shines is when your construct gets destroyed, and others will follow, and you use a one-shot to destroy the other doomed constructs and gain benefit from you destroying them instead.
There are few villains that will pull such a maneuver multiple times in a game, yet also let you acquire a decent number of constructs to cash in.
Ideally, PW Cosmic can predict when his constructs will be wiped and thus use other powers without losing the benefit of Absorption. If you can do this reliably, you can use fewer turns of your innate and use Crest or Weapon and actally come out ahead in overall impact. I'm not able to do that.
I'm not saying you shouldn't like it, or prefer it, just that he has 3 of his 4 innate powers based on card play, and one of them is demonstrably least efficient in cards played per turn, and that power is Absorption.
I also find it interesting how people differ in how they view promos. I really dislike playing Redeemer Fanatic, although it has value and is objectivsly a good promo for changing how you play the deck, and I actually enjoy the situational utility of EoW Bunker and DW Setback quite a bit, eventhough they aren't as efficient as other innate powers.
For me, I don't like base powers that are easily replaced by cards in the deck. For example, I prefer the variants of Haka, Ra, Tempest, etc. because each deck has a card that is simply better (and replaces) the power of the vanilla version.
My favorite variants:
F5 Bunker - Bunker is generally my least favorite character to play. I actually have fun playing him with this variant and I think it makes him a really good team player
Extremist Sky Scraper- I love base SS, but boy does this card rock and complete change her playstyle. Each base power has a very powerful effect but it can be really hard to stay in teh desired stated.
PW Fanatic - exactly how Fanatic should play. Better to burn out than fade away...
XPW Tempest - biased pick, as it's the one card in teh game I actually was able to contribute some ideas to that made the final version. However, I do love how unique this effect is compared to anything else in the game
I'm a HUGE fan of Team Leader Tachyon, and i feel it's a gigantic change, to the point I often forget about her original form. I tend to lean to the idea that PW Haka changes his playstyle up fairly decently, making him a beatstick of doom into a support/damage. being able to play the Haka of cards on others has proven very juicy indeed!
as for downgrades? either the DW Setback or Mr. Fixer (not too many people are kosher with having their setup being torn down for a little extra damage, and results in Fixer having only a couple times of doing something)
OH! and Villain variant? Gloomweaver/Spite, especially with the Challenge mode. it's a nice little story set-up that just keeps kicking you down, and it's gloriously beatiful!
Whenever I play DW Fixer, I have him as either the first(free shot since no one has anything to lose yet) or last position, and I know there's going to be a few turns that will be dedicated to either set-up or one-shots with no power usages from ol' Slim. Normally I find that if you talk with your team-mates they can every-so-often play a card that they don't mind being eaten, like maybe Expat has a duplicate gun in hand and has nothing to play next turn, or maybe Omni-U has things it wants to blow up. Not all that different as to when Unity is playing with Equipment-heavy heroes and needs things to eat every so often.
I don't have strong impressions of most of the vairants. I choose based on how I feel like playing with the hero at the time. The only one I have a strong impression of is Team Leader Tachyon, which is too powerful for my taste.
Standouts for me:
Some random specific comments:
Citizen Dawn. Hands-down. She's my favorite Villain deck to play against, and I so wish there was a promo version of her. One idea I had is to reflect that period of her story when she's hiding on Insula Primalis, sending her Citizens out into the world to wreak havok. It could be something like putting all her One-Shots and Ongoings in her trash to start, and she has no HP on her front side. When her deck is shuffled, flip her over, she has HP, and she plays a bunch of cards immediately to join the fight.
I wish we had promo/variant versions of both Citizen Dawn and Grand Warlord Voss. Since we already have Cosmic Omnitron and Mad Bomber Blade, I've always been a bit disappointed that the other two villains from the base set don't have alternate versions as well.
I envision a variant Voss being something like "Voss: On the Run" – After the successful revolt by the Dok'Thorath rebels, the Voss is now a hunted war criminal and the fleet has been sent to catpure him and bring him back for trial. Instead of being shielded by his minions and his alternate win condition of trying to get out 10 minions, this version would highlight Voss as a warrior, dealing AoE damage to all targets (heroes, other villains, and environment) while trying to avoid the warships. He could be using experimental new tech that absorbs the powers of the minions that he takes out himself, making him stronger as the game progresses (although that mechanic could be a bit too similar to Mad Bomber Blade).
Favorite:
TLT
PWAA: He's always useful, but I have fewer "now, what do I do?" opening hands with him.
FVAZ: Get those ongoings ut quickly!
FS Parse
Least Favorite:
DW Nightmist: Nightmist herself has always been difficult for me to understand (though I'm getting there), this variant I'm still struggling to use.
Golem Unity: 4 damage is painful.
Sacrifice Tempest
Most desired variant?
I wish Setback had a variant. It's too bad they never made one, because he's definitely one of my favorite characters to play.
He does have a variant though it is based off the Dark Watch team.
I agree with Blackfang, it's such a shame they never made a variant for Setback. We all agree there's no variant, right? Just the normal awesome Setback. That's what he deserves.
great googly moogly
It's a shame he was left in the DARK, WATCH out, maybe one day we will get one!
Thoughts on a few of them;
Termi-Nation bunker I find works best with Turret Mode, or rather, coming out of Turret Mode. Use the first power usage for bosted damage, then destroy Turret Mode and switch in something new. Bunker kind of has an 'ideal' in his other variants, but TN is all about swapping and I think it's cool getting what amounts to a whole second turn all at once.
I love XPW Argent Adept. One of the best things about the base version is him letting other heroes play or use powers out of turn, and he can do that first turn, no matter what. He is awesome at the front of the queue -- put him with TN AZ and get a boosted Cold Snap out first turn with no risk. Let Scholar play a form and heal himself back up to do damage in a heartbeat -- or Know When To Hold Fast and still get a power usage this turn. It makes AA a little less reliable where his songs are concerned, but his base power does two of the best functions his songs have, in an order that's normally harder to do.
Now, PW Captain Cosmic I rarely use. Most of his deck is constructs, so if they're getting wiped out often enough for his power to be used, chances are you're facing mass damage so any construct you play now is just going down, too. I'd rather pump out more with his regular power most of the time.
Edited to add: XPW Captain Cosmic is awesome with some power boosts. Just did a game where he all but soloed Gloomweaver thanks to Legacy. If you can keep his constructs out, it's a power that only gets stronger as the game goes on and is amazing for focusing down a target.
I don't think I've used base Expat except by accident or in a Weekly One-Shot since unlocking her DWD variant.
I too enjoy PW Fanatic, though I'm usually careful to put her out front so that an ill-timed End of Days doesn't wreck everything.
I love PW Tempest. He actually gives me a reason to use his Elemental Subwave Inducer, and my biggest problem is always running out of cards.
PW Haka is fun -- especially if your opening hand is Savage Mana and Rampage -- but I tend toward his base version for consistency.
I, too, avoid DW Setback like the plague (rat). DW Fixer, though, I like using, even if there are turns I have to hold back. He's great with some heroes, though -- Setback seems to accumulate Ongoings that aren't needed, and he's great to pair with PW Fanatic.
Yeah, Hunted Naturalist is too good. Especially if you can get a form out and keep it out.
I really like how Scholar of the Infinite changes his priorities. I always try to play him as a tank.
DW Nightmist... yeah, that's another tough one. I like her better when she has some outside card draw and/or can get out-of-turn power uses (I, too, constantly forget what's on top). I almost always default to regular Nightmist, though.
I don't think I've used base Tachyon on purpose since TLT came out. I mainly use SST when I'm playing a 'gimmicky' game (i.e., have Sentinels play all the things).
That's more or less off the top of my head. Unfortunately I don't get to play the physical game often, so some of the newer variants I haven't gotten to test out. I, too, don't really get F5 Wraith, but I have seen F5 Tachyon clean house.
How's that breeze feel, Powerhound 2K?
is your head nice and cool?
I'm sorry that sarcasm doesn't translate well in pure text.
I did try to help you out a bit (since I picked up on what Blackfang was going for)...
Hence my further reply. No need to pile on.
No need to pile anything on, wouldnt do any good anyway. It'll just land right behind him as it passes over his head 
For Setback, I'd kind of like to see another 'the same but more' variant, like TN is to AZ. Maybe something that gives you 2 unlucky tokens and an extra draw/play or discard. Something that really ramps up the chaos of his deck.
It's interesting how our perspectives differ, because I saw the damaging base Power as being very important to Parse.
I mean I know there are people who rely on the Wraith for her infrared eyepiece, while I typically go straight for the throwing knives/razor ordnance + targeting computer. There’s no wrong way to do it!
I go for Infrared first because of the card draw, so I can get to the 2 damage dealers faster.
I always find with variants that lose their damaging power that I always run into a case where it would have been nice to have that damage instead. I'd say the one I feel this the most about is Haka. Though I like the Eternal Haka better than the others simply because I have better odds of getting to his damaging equipment cards and while doing so I fill up my hand for a strong Haka of Battle.
Smoke Grenades and Stun Bolts for me. What can't hurt you can't incap you.
Ditto for me, or if I'm feeling very silly MEGA COMPUTERS FOR ALL
There are some environments I bring Wraith into just for that. It neuters the Enclave of the Endlings, Final Wasteland and Dok'Thorath almost completely.
The best variants - in terms of raw power - are pretty well agreed upon: mostly some amalgamation of TL Tachyon, Grandpa Legacy and Hunted Naturalist. I personally think Hunted Naturalist is the best hero in the game by some distance. When he's got a form out, he basically does the work of 2-3 heroes at twice the efficiency.
The most interesting variants are the ones that highlight the less-popular cards in the deck and take them from meh-to-great. Omnitron-U makes Self-Sabotage and Singularity game-winning plays. Felicia Legacy makes Surge of Strength a lot better. Prime Warden Tempest values Otherworldly Resilience and Elemental Subwave Inducer a lot more. Termination Unity gets more milage out of Flash Forge and Bee-bot, etc.
*Sigh* Poor DW Setback gets no love.
More cards for me, I guess.
I think DW Setback has an awesome costume, if it makes you feel better. While the yellow probably fits his sunny personality better, he still looks pretty awesome in black.
Agreed, but Parse can usually make up for the lost damage with Critical Multiplier, so it's only in a very rare round 1 where I absolutely need that 2 damage to take out something awful when it matters, and of course the same goes for default Legacy over Young Legacy. Haka and Ra, sure (although when I use Horus Ra, it's because I want Flesh of the Sun God and/or Imbued Fire), and Tempest definitely.
The costume on the concept art for DW Setback is really awesome, I agree.
It's just a shame they never actually made the variant.
The joke is old.
Kingdom Hearts 1 fans called, they want their joke back.
This breeze is great.
I mean, does the card deserve it? If you have a difference of opinion from everyone else on this variant, I would sure be happy to hear it. I keep thinking there must be something I'm missing.
The most interesting variants are the ones that highlight the less-popular cards in the deck and take them from meh-to-great. Omnitron-U makes Self-Sabotage and Singularity game-winning plays. Felicia Legacy makes Surge of Strength a lot better. Prime Warden Tempest values Otherworldly Resilience and Elemental Subwave Inducer a lot more. Termination Unity gets more milage out of Flash Forge and Bee-bot, etc.Yes, this is core to what I personally believe a great promo power does. I love Redeemer Fanatic because it gives very different priority values for usually lesser used cards in her deck (the discard for damage and the big draw card). Eternal Haka puts more emphasis on his haka chants than nomal. DW Nightmist has way more reliance on spell manipulation instead of amulet and handsize managment. Argent PW changes your song chains.
I was thinking Matrix fans, but okay.
Every fandom has that joke.
Every single one.
Before there was a huge clean-up a while back, every franchise on TV Tropes had at least one entry like, "Discontinuity: There was no live-action movie/last season/animated adaptation/one wonky episode from the first season"
I did, earlier in the thread.
Yes, losing access to a viable gain in unlucky tokens early on in the game is a detriment. But I don't think many of us depend on it once we get 'Looking Up' or 'Friendly Fire' or any other of his token gaining cards, which normally happens pretty quickly. Once you hit that point you can consider Mitigate to be a little bit of a shield for Nightmist or Golem Unity, or any other hero that has a tendency for self damage. I'd be more likely to use 'Mitigate' mid to late game than I would 'Risk', that's for certain.
I understand why most players dislike using DW Setback, but I just don't think he's as bad as most believe him to be.
I understand everyone has their opinions. I'm just saying "DW Setback isn't as bad as he seems to most people" is mine.
(Edit: Spelling)
How strong or weak a variant is doesn’t really matter to me on it’s own, but what villain and mode I am playing. Weaker villains I want “weaker” stuff so the game is tense and vice versa.
Related to this is that if I am using a hero whose power isn’t that helpful, as long as the game is still tense, I don’t mind. In fact, it might do what was said above about what variants are meant to do, change the way the deck is played and put more of a priority on different cards.
If I randomize EoW Bunker against The Ennead, I will usually keep it. Not one of the tougher villains, and it will change how so play the deck. For example, Recharge Mode with the extra draw and -1 damage becomes more valuable. DW Setback falls into the same situation.
You know, nobody has brought this one up yet:
Setting Sun Ra.
I mean, holy heck that is a lot of power, at the direct expense of burning yourself out in more ways than one. He’s really interesting to have in a game. Couple his base power with a Solar Flare…
He’s also fascinating when incapacitated. The heroes have a one-time nuke at their disposal.
Setting Sun Ra just takes the idea of Ra and pumps him up to 11.
Even more deadly in Ennead matchups too.
I got a chance to play him at ACEN this year, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN!
FS Parse is pretty darned strong, and makes me even happier to discard than Critical Multiplier.
I'm not huge on KNYFE: Rogue Agent, but it can be a lot of fun, especially if you can stack the bottom of a deck.
Setting Sun Ra is my go-to when I need to win at team play. You have to watch out for Glamour, but otherwise, he will own the board, die, and then continue owning it.
Setting Sun Ra helped my team defeat Biomancer easily
Favorite variants:
Heroic Infinitor- This variant turns a villain I dread playing into one of my absolute favorite fights. It's not usually too terribly difficult, but I really love the thematic elements of the heroes helping Nigel out, rather than just beating on him. I do houserule his front side to say "If Infinitor flips, you lose the game" because that flipside is consistently brutal and unfun, in my opinion, to play against.
For the heroes, Requital Cosmic is by far the most fun hero variant in the game for me. When playing with friends, I just random a hero and hero variant. If I get Cosmic, I automatically play Requital. I just love doing really stupid stuff like putting Dynamic Siphon on myself and just machine-gunning cards into play. And you don't feel bad if you get board wiped, either because of the villain, or yourself. You just shrug and keep flipping cards.
F5 Tachyon: With the other Tachyons, I almost exclusively use either the base power or Research Grant. I never feel a need to switch between the two. With F5, there are turns where I actually have to think about which would be the more helpful action. And though she may take a while to build up, her damage output can be absurd.
Collector Guise because meta-shenanigans and when I get Oblivaeon, I'm playing the Harpy variant instantly. "I have no idea what I'm doing with this deck, but I'm flipping tokens!"
Variants I will rarely play: DW Nightmist and the "strongest" variants- TLT, Grandpa Legacy, Hunted Naturalist. FS Parse is creeping up there as well.
Only time I ever played him was an Advanced Ennead match-up, it was sick. I was pumping out damage like mad, and surprisingly I didn't feel too injured by the cards being removed from play which I expected to be a big hit.
Defintely want a turn or two to get out Flesh of the Sun God and some sacrificial ongoings though. Helps keep him going just a little longer.
My fav variant right now is extremist Skyscraper. I love how it both changes the way she plays and how it fits the lore of more but less stable power. I am also fond of the adamant sentinels, young legacy, and all three termination varients.
Oh gods yes!!! I want all of these!
So now I'm thinking about having those Dark Watch variants listed above.
Setback: Second Chances
Power: Consider. Discard a card. If you do, draw two cards. Add or remove an unlucky token from Setback.
We've got one Setback who does the random plays to boost his pool, and one who reduces his pool to protect people, so it seems like the third variation is one who has better control over his hand and luck pool. Not total control, because he's still Setback, but more tactical.
Mr. Fixer: Black Fist
Power: Kung-Fu. Discard up to three cards. Mr. Fixer deals X Melee damage to a target, where X is the number of cards discarded.
Mr. Fixer is limited by needing to do damage, and us not really wanting a power that's just "base, but better". This one replaces the "blow things up" damage power with a "focus your energies" power that conveniently gives you a use for all those Styles and Tools you aren't playing.
Expatriette: Reluctant Student
Power: Overwatch. Until the start of your next turn, the first time a Hero target takes damage each turn, Expatriette may deal the source of that damage 1 Projectile damage.
It's a version of Expatriette who's watching and learning from people, instead of charging in, and also kind of a neat power.
Nightmist: Gateway To Beyond
Power: Be The Gate. Another player may play a card. Nightmist deals herself 2 Infernal damage.
I may have lost good ideas by the time I reached Nightmist.
for "be the gate" i could imagine it being something as awesome as "another player may take one action now (play, power, OR draw)" seeing as she can port in anyone from an alternate universe, it could be pretty Boss to let someone do any one of the three. and since it's only one, wouldn't seem TOO breaking, eh?
I would add two other Setback promos:
Breakthrough (from Be The Gate):
Reveal the top card of your deck. One player may play a card of the same type from their hand. Gain an unlucky token.
Lucky Strike (From Quondo? Ahora!):
Deal one target 2 melee damage. You may gain or lose one unlucky token.
I always thought that to show how powerful Breakthrough is, you should make him a Legacy promo , His power would be something like, Draw two 2 cards, play one of them and shuffle the other into your deck
Don't forget, Mr. Fixer needs to have "Strike" in the power name for Overdrive to work. "Kung-fu Strike"?
Thinking about what “Be the Gate” actually meant, what about:
Place the top card of one hero’s deck on top of another hero’s deck. Nightmist deals herself 2 infernal damage.
Oh, that's right. "Kung-Fu Strike" makes sense.
And I've had a new idea for Nightmist, although it's a little complicated.
Power: Gateway To Beyond. Nightmist deals herself up to 3 Infernal damage. Put a hero variant card into play in any player's play area with HP equal to twice the damage Nightmist took. It cannot heal. If destroyed, remove it from the game.
You'll need a note that hero variant cards follow the same rules as the Sentinels, i.e. they count as a source of powers, but you don't get extra power uses off them. So every turn, Nightmist can hurt herself to provide both extra targets and extra power sources. She also can't redirect the damage away, because the gate is bad news.
My top three:
3. Termination Bunker: Base Bunker is too slow, GI Bunker is very situational (there's no one I'd rather have against Advanced Miss Information or Apostate, but against villains without much DR, he becomes very luck based), Engine of War is once again situational, but Termination seems to bring a lot of versatility to the character, allowing him to get the cards he needs faster and allowing him to better use various cards.
2. Dark Visionary: Deck manipulation, enough said.
1. Omnitron-X U: I love playing as Omnitron, but the fact he loses his components so easily to heavy hitters makes me wary to play him against certain foes. This variant fixes that problem, while still allowing him to get setup faster.
And my bottom three:
3. Freedom Six Tempest: Unlike one of the later variants I have listed, I never have trouble getting enough cards in hand for Tempest. It could be useful if you really like Vicious Cyclone, but I don't find myself using it that much (and besides, that's what Aquatic Correspondence is for).
2. Dark Watch Setback: People have already torn this one to shreds, I see no reason to say more on the matter.
1. Dark Watch Nightmist: Nightmist pretty much relies on having that extra draw power- without it, I just never seem to have enough cards in my hand to play her effectively.
Mostly focusing on things that haven't been said already, or that have been said and I disagree with:
The Sentinels base or Adamant versions are studier than you think and you don’t need Block to survive. It’s helpful for sure. I think Regeneration and TK Thump both are meant as a replacement to Block and do so in different ways. I like the extra card draw from Regeneration actually. The main piece it changes overall to me is that with Human Shield you need Durasteel Chains out or Mainstay doesn’t have any DR. Also, despite losing Block the Adamant Sentinels actually have just as good of a win percentage on the statistics project.
There's more to Tachyon than just spamming Lightspeed Barrage. Sure, it's lots of fun, but even without it she has a lot of utility skills and a respectable damage output (although she does have a problem with DR). And between Hud Goggles, Pushing the Limits, and Lightning Reflexes, drawing your bursts instead of discarding them only slightly delays how long it will take for them to reach your trash.
Also worth noting with the Naturalist- his base variant allows his forms to be easily destroyed as fodder. Sure, you don't always want to do this, but I won't mind sacrificing a form to help another hero, especially if my play for the next turn is something like Stomp, and I'm just looking to do the 4 damage. The Hunted variant is more '....reliant?' on having a form out to do his really rediculous stuff.
I do 100% agree with TN Zero. It's not a power I find myself wanting to use., for mainly the same reasons listed above.
See, I love TN AZ because it makes Impale and Cold Snap ridiculous and I love that.
I'm kind of curious how FV Tachyon ends up in the grand scheme of Tachyon variants, 1 melee damage repeated by removing bursts from the trash could be absolutely useless or monumentally powerful, depending on the set up. Actually, thinking about an actual turn, if Legacy can give her +2 total and it is late game she could play 3 lightspeed barrages for 17 each, then follow with 16 instances of 3 damage, for a total of 99 damge in a single turn, that isn't bad. Of course, it is always a question of getting those bursts in the trash.
I'm going to chime in as someone else who has trouble figuring out TN AZ versus being pretty good with regular AZ. If you happen to start with Impale or Cold Snap TNAZ is ridiculous, but otherwise normal AZ is just better IMHO.
Playing the XPWs in the digital game finally has been interesting. XPWAA is weird in that you're very likely to end up just using his card power and ignoring the rest of his deck unless you're playing a very long game, but man is it one heck of a power as you're pretty much doing from turn one what would usually take three of his cards to pull off.
And XPW Fanatic is just awesome; nuke all the things, basically. It is a close race with PW Fanatic since hey more power uses and card plays, but it's still a tossup between the two.
Still figuring out the rest of the XPWs, though. XPWCC is neat but weak to DR, and Haka and Tempest are both really situational.
Ran a game of all XPWs against Akash'Bhuta, because of course I did. It was pretty fun. Fanatic's power worked well with any of her cards that are supposed to damage her. I still prefer Redeemer, though.
Yeah the XPWs are pretty fun against Akash. Argent's nemesis bonus actually has a point to it, Tempest's power lets you pick and choose which limb to worry about more strategically, and Fanatic and Cosmic are both great for nuking down limbs or Akash herself.
Haka's power I still struggle with figuring out, though. It's sometimes hard to predict for sure who's most likely to get hit, and even with the healing he often ends up very quickly incapped if you do guess right.
A few things I'd like to agree and disagree with
They all are really fun to play, I just need to know how to play AA like he's AA, and need a solid way to cut through DR.
Personally, I find I'd rather be playing TLT or Super-Scientific than F5 Tachyon. She's a little underwhelming. That said, if you don't have a damage bonus, the best strategy I've found is to pull out Research Grant and dump those Burst in your trash fast as you can. Then, when you've got a dozen or so saved up, do like you said: spent your turn Lightspeeding, then Blitz the crap out of whatever remains.
Of course, the best strategy is to play her alongside Completionist Guise. Super-Scientific to dump Burst in her trash faster than anyone's business, switch to F5 to Blitz things, switch back to play all those Burst cards on the bottom of your deck. 
Rinse and repeat.
I've found I really love Xtreme Cosmic, maybe it's been luck but I've had no problem getting 4 or 6 constructs in play and just machine gunning down targets. Played a game with him and Legacy against Voss, LEgacy boosting allowed me to just barely get past Voss's front side DR, so I stayed on that side and just tore into Voss. Think Chrono-Ranger was in that fight too.
And Xtreme Tempest's ability to just pick a target and shut it down is incredible. Plus, he's still tempest, so when that doesn't work out for you he can still do all the crazy stuff tempest normally does.
Honestly, they may currently be my favorite variants for those respective heroes.
In games that arent covered in tons of AoE damage, XPWCosmic is awesome. I especially love putting Autonomous Blades on him, one card for 3 Damage. And as for the DR problem, well that's what Cosmic Weapon is for. :)
Thunderstruck is almost ZEALOUS OFFENSE, so I will pretty confidently say it is a fantastic power.
It is a hard game power, so it won't stand out in matches the heroes are rolling to a big win, but it can keep bad board states from burying you, and that is usually better in the long run.
Thunderstruck is fantastic against those items that may not even do damage -- things like Corrupted Effigy or Huginn or Muninn, or La Paradoja Magnifica. And in Vengeance style, there's any number of extra villain effects you can shut down (looking at you, Stolen Gear).
Thunderstruck and Jack Handel worked well against a really rough Voss game I played a couple days ago. Has anyone messed around much with FV Wraith? I find it's quickly become my favorite of her variants. Especially if I know her stuff is safe, like against Ambuscade, I'm much more likely to pitch an extra Utility Belt to give Absolute Zero or Parse a draw.
Oh. Wow.
I like that XPW Haka renders Termi Nation AZ much more playable in Vengeance mode because this is my favourite variant of AZ right now and you face so many instances of damage.
A Black Fist Fixer Variant idea I've been playing around with:
Reckless Strike: Mr. Fixer deals 2 Melee damage to a target. That target deals 1 Melee damage to Mr. Fixer.
I think I posted something similar to the Kung Fu Strike idea in a prior thread about Dark Watch variants, calling it "Balanced Strike." It definitely makes the Toolbox a high-value card in Fixer's deck. Mine highlights the Wrench or Driving Mantis.
If you would‘ve asked me about Captain Cosmic some weeks ago: I don‘t choose him often
Now: I LOVE Requital/Xtreme CC
He makes Captain Cosmic into one of my favourite decks. When playtesting him, he was just so much fun. EVERYHTING EXPLODES.
The more I'm getting to use her, the more I'm loving Extremist Sky-Scraper. Proportionist is usually a good play already, but dang, it gets triggered one way or another two or three times a turn with Extremist. I was just swimming in cards within a coupld rounds, which helps fuel everything else she can do.
Being able to kill only one Environment card instead of needing to do all of them is also nice.
Edit: All that said, not a great person to bring against Kaargra Warfang -- not unless you're facing an environment filled with targets. Portja ended up with all the titles and therefore doing indiscriminate 7+ HP damage to everyone and wiping the board of everything BUT Kaargra in one turn. Sadly Sky-Scraper did exactly enough damage to herself to incapacitate, otherwise she might have pulled it off.
One thing I'm loving about Requital CC is it's actually teaching me to use his own construct-destroying cards. You have to -- either because the power doesn't give you a choice, or to limit how much hurt the power's bringing down on him. But I'm finding it's much more fun to keep cycling out the constructs for new ones, rather than just building and maintaining; plus it makes Unflagging Animation both A. extremely useful and B. all but certain to make it onto the field.
Three words: Twist the Ether. I put Kaargra in the ground earlier today.
I mean, you don't even need that, don't forget she can do tons of single-target damage while small. But it's great being able to go, oh, all these hits against the villain targets are sonic for that plus-one, and all the collateral damage? Oh, that's melee or something, no damage boosts here!
I finally got to try Extremist and Requital. It was a quick and easy game so not a lot of gain, but I think I definetly love Extremist and am less enthused about Requital compared to XTREME.
Still, definetly need a lot more playing, I barely got anything for Extremist SS other than Relinking, Explosive Reveal, Emergency evac, ect, so it was hard to do anything after turn one or so and I never got to see what proportionist does with this variant.
For sheer activity Hunted Naturalist gets my nod. Turns when you can play all the effects on Bestial Shift, Primal Charge, and Natural Form's Power rock.
I do a bad job with all the Dark Watch variants save Expatriette.
Twist the Ether doesn't help much when every strike she's doing is boosted by +4 thanks to all the titles she's got, particularly if one of them is Mindbreaker.
I did restart once I saw the writing on the wall (Sky-Scraper doing 7 damage to everything, Kaargra was at 15 and everyone on the hero team was already at 4 and under), and managed a win (with, again, everyone on the hero team at 4 and under).
She's hit-or-miss, for sure. But, perhaps intentionally, she will end up with a ton of titles. She can get Chaos Lord with several cards, Death Caller trivially if the environment plays targets, both Reckless and Indiscriminate through normal play, The Living Weapon any number of ways, The Mindbreaker and The Unbreakable with Thorathian Monolith, and once you have all that, Champion is all but guaranteed as well–although she's a danger to everyone at that point, and yeah, it might be tough to beat Kaargra if she's in play before Sky-Scraper takes out the whole party.
I had my easiest Kaargra game ever by doing exactly this, but I also had FS Parse and Dark Visionary to keep Get Back In There from hitting the table. We won 6-20, with half of the Bloodsworn favor coming from Idesa (who I could have blocked but didn't care at that point). Sky-Scraper personally earned 17 favor across the 3-round game, 10 favor on her third turn alone. (The other 3 were a Back-Fist Strike that killed a weakened Idesa and a Decoy Projection that earned Stonejaw.) But we had plenty of health left and I have no doubt we could have taken Kaargra down too.
Is it just me, or have I seen Requital CC called Fused CC, and if so, why do we call him Requital? (Assuming I'm right,) We don't call Dark Visionary Turmoil Vis. Also, we call F6Tachy Team Leader, but I've never heard F6 Tempest called Sacrifice Tempest, always Freedom Tempest or F6 Tempest. In short, why do we use the names for variants that we do and use different standards for different variants?
Whatever sounds best, I think. Team Leader Tachyon is catchier than F6 Tachyon. Also, for most of them, it wasn't always obvious what their official name should be, I think.
Variants I see named after their powers:
Team Leader Tachyon
AZ Elemental Wrath
Requital Captain Cosmic
Redeemer Fanatic
Bitter Fixer
Of these, DW Mr. Fixer is the only one that has a subtitle on their card.
I still think the best name for Fused/Requital is Super Cosmic Bros., but it never caught on. :(
I always wished that cards like Fused Cosmic and Redeemer Fanatic had been given subtitles in the same way we have Parse: Fugue State or Rook City Wraith, at least printed on the card.
Yeah, Requital doesn’t have a subtitle (subname?) I know Fused was a popular name for him. In the video game, his name is Captain Cosmic Requital, so that’s probably as official as it’s going to get.
I generally follow the thought process of: Cheesy personal/fan nickname > Subtitle on the card > Official digital name > Whatever sounds catchiest.
Just so long as you don't call him "Requiem" like I keep doing. D:
All this discussion just makes it sound like Christopher and Adam designed Extremist Sky-Scraper PERFECTLY.
I was surprised how much Extremist Skyscraper relies on Proportionist for card draw. I'm used to being able to use regular Skyscraper's base power to always draw plenty of cards when she gets low. But now with my Extremist games, I'm fishing for Proportionist as hard as I can so she can draw, and before I get it, It's a struggle to have more than 3-5 cards in hand, and half of those are links I got back from my trash. My first game with her, I won before she finally found proportionist, as the last 2 cards in her deck, and I'd been using her normal power lots, so that means they were really stuck together in the middle of her deck somewhere. I was pretty frustrated.
I was pleasantly surprised that I'm rarely stuck with her Large sized power with no environment targets in play. I was afraid I'd be stuck there for a turn or two like I am with normal skyscraper, but it's more often her normal power that results in her being large, so you can use another card to switch sizes before you have to worry about either skipping the power use or hurting your team.
I haven’t found that to be the case for me. I don’t normally use the normal sized power often playing base Sky-Scraper so the loss of that power really didn’t bother me much. I don’t feel I play Proportionist any more with Extremist than I do the base version.
Proportionist definitely gets triggered a lot more with Extremist, though. I almost never choose to destroy a Link with Tiny's base power, half the time Normal makes her change size one way or another, and sometimes I need to get rid of that environment card, damage or no damage.
He should have been called Composite Cosmic... Or Captain Composite.
Add to the list of "bad scenarios with Extremist": Silver Gulch playing two Explosive Wagons at the same time. If you can't shut down the damage on them... owwww....
Well, if you can manage to get a couple Aggression Modulators on the one you destroy first...
Yeah, I love any skyscraper in silver gulch. Attaching an aggression modulator on one and then throwing it at the bad guys is so fun. 2-3 obsidian fields can be much harsher.
I think Enclave of the Endlings is the best match for Extremist Sky. Almost exclusivley targets to blow up, and her links make them super fun to take over.
So, playing around in the video game with the F5 variants released so far:
This is the first version of Bunker where I use his base power almost every turn, even if I have Flak Cannon in the opening draw. It's also resulting in me actually using his non-Turret mode cards more often. A play phase, getting someone else a card play and then drawing two cards (and DR) because Recharge Mode was on top of Bunker's deck? Good stuff.
I had a friend play F5 Tachyon in the physical game, so I knew what I was getting into here. Not a bad power, sorta like an at-will Hyperspeed Barrage. If she has any damage boosts, though, it becomes insane. Being able to Hyperspeed Barrage and then do double or triple that damage on the same turn is nuts.
F5 Wraith synergizes really well with all the card draw she gets, though I have to be careful about not running out of cards, considering that it stacks. It's fantastic paired with Infrared Eyepiece and the Utility Belt, and everyone likes extra card draws.
I've played F5 Absolute Zero before and he's by far my favorite version of him. Fishing for his ongoings doubles his set-up speed, and with his modules out it doubles as a damaging power. Being able to reliably put out Subzero Atmosphere on turn one no matter what can be a godsend and shrinking his deck makes it so much easier to find his equipment cards.
I haven't yet gotten a chance to play with F5 Legacy, but I can already see the possibilities. Extra card plays are always good, and being able to remove an environment card without actually destroying it is great for places like Rook City and Silver Gulch. The one downside of F5 Legacy is that without Galvanize, Tachyon's Blitz loses a chunk of potential damage.
F5 Legacy is arguably the strongest variant. I mean, yeah, you don't get the pure villain-destroying insanity that is the base version, but extra card plays (and the occasional "this environment card is just not a problem now" move) is so versatile!
Unfortunately, I usually play Legacy specifically for that +1 bonus, usually when an enemy has damage reduction (usually on Advanced or Challenge), or I have another hero who does lots of instances of 1 point of damage (Tempest, F5 Tachyon), or against Kaargra (for Favor). Ironically, F5 Legacy is best used with F6 Tachyon, so that it's more likely there will be extra cards available to play.
Vanilla Legs and XPW CC. The damage is insane
Xtreme Haka’s base power pairs wonderfully with Legacy’s Heroic Interception, effectively making the whole team invulnerable for a round - if played just right Haka can even redirect the damage from H.I. and be immune to it!
Well, I’ve been using this combo extensively, assisted by AA, Scholar of the Infinite, and Visionary - against the Matriarch i had to ease up a little to let some damage through - the Scholar wasn’t able to use some of his coolest tricks!
Varients I really like:
Dark Conductor Argent Adept: I think this power is really unique and versatile. If you can combine this with some deck stacking, it's a really powerful tool to both get extra plays and to avoid some especially harmful Villain / Environment cards.
GI Bunker: Situational, but I seem to often run up against lots of damage reduction and this power is invaluable for those.
XPW Captain Cosmic: I often find myself with base CC where I have 3-4 Constructs in play but don't have a way to deal damage (I never seem to get a Cosmic Weapon when I need it) and his base power is nice, but really hit or miss. XPW gives me a little more consistency.
Best of Times Chrono Ranger: I have a love / hate thing going on with CR. I think his deck is fun to play, for the most part, but can be underwhelming whenever I have to deal with a lot of damage reduction. BOT gives me some more versatility where I can temporarily stack bounties on a new target on the fly. Plus there's nothing more fun than chaining The Whole Gang!
Extremist Skyscraper: I love links! So having both her Normal and Tiny cards play with those is a lot of fun for me! I also really enjoy her Huge card giving consistent Enrivonment destruction comboed with damage that won't backfire on you when you have buffs.
PW and XPW Tempest: PW is a great way to nova a Villain to death or, comboed with some Healing, just a good consistent extra play. And although I haven't really been able to leverage XPW into being as useful as I think it can be, I'm still enamoured with its potential
Visionary Unleashed: I'm not the biggest fan of Visionary's deck. I never seem to have the thing I want when I want it. But she has several solid Ongoings and Unleased lets me turn those into consistent damage.
Variants I dislike because they're significant downgrades
All Dark Watch: I hate Dark Watch. I really, really, really, really hate them. Setback has been talked about here enough, but I agree with all of that. Nightmist just plays too slow, plus if you have to use her power on consecutive turn, it just doesn't give you much. I hate having to sacrifice Equipment or Ongoings to Fixer. I think it's usually better to stack him up with some buffs and use his base power than to have him or another charcter be relegated to feeding his DW power. And although Expy's DW power can be useful if you're not able to shoot someone, those times are relatively rare and even when they hit, you're probably better off getting an extra play over +1 next turn.
KNYFE Rogue Agent: I suppose you could use some deck stacking to make sure you have bottom cards that you want, but it seems like doing damage will be the better option almost all of the time.
Variants I dislike because they're too good or otherwise don't fit my playstyle
Elemental Wrath Absolute Zero: I'm a much bigger fan of base AZ than most people, so I don't see EW as a straight up upgrade. Plus I typically use him to tank, and EW's inability to target himself is always frustrating to me
Team Leader Tachyon: I don't particularly care for Tachyon's deck. But TLT's power is so useful that I often find myself using her to just give everyone more draws while I build up for Lightspeed Barrage, which is pretty boring for most of the game.
Dark Visionary: Same as TLT. I don't like her deck, so most of the time I'm playing her, I just skip my play and use the power.
This is the Omnitron-X base power which is potent but the bottom of the deck instead of the top. Even without being able to stack a card play, for a lot of heroes an extra card play is better than the base two damage power. It’s different compared to dealing damage but I wouldn’t call it a significant downgrade. I’d moreso call this power odd for a deck focused on damage.
KNYFE has so much damaging one-shots in her deck that you've got pretty decent odds of doing damage with Rogue Agent's base power anyway.
Im responding to you and Powerhound together since you both raised similar points. It’s probable that this is more an issue with my particular play style than I initially believed. I tend to undervalue blind plays more than others probably do. So if I have a choice between reliable damage or a random play, even if that random play will likely result in equal or greater damag, I’ll favour the reliable damage because of how uncomfortable I am with the uncertainty of the random play. But PH is probably correct when he says it’s not a clear downgrade.
As to PH’s point about Omni-X, I see his power as slightly better despite their apparent similarities. First, I think that Omni-X’s deck is more likely to yield an acceptable play because he has more non-limited equipment and ongoing than KRA does. And the fact that OX takes from the top is an advantage because even if you have to discard the card, then you at least are able to get rid of a bad card you would have drawn, whereas if you discard from the bottom, then that would be a bad card that you were unlikely to see for a while.
I’d agree OX power is better overall but I’d still take a blind play from bottom that I have a choice to play or not than a two damage power given a choice. While it doesn’t have added bonus of milling a bad draw it does get you access to cards you might not have otherwise gotten to. There are some heroes you can work with to stack the bottom of a deck like F5 Tachyon or know what’s there already Parse through Updated Intel.
Even outside of stacking the deck, you can play the odds with blind plays. Using it on herself is not so great, since she has a lot of duplicate limiteds and self-harm. But using it on The Sentinels or Unity gets consistently good results, and that’s one of my favorite simple combos.
And every once in a while, the blind-bottom play gets you a card you really wanted, but otherwise would never have seen.
It is damn nice when the first turn of Extremist Skyscraper ends with her lucking into Proportionist from the power use.
Blind plays are almost always good for The Sentinels, as most of their deck is one-shots, most of which have the ability to deal damage, and thereby triggering Tactics which gives you out of turn power use.
I've had some fun games with Sentinels, Omnitron-X, Fugue State Parse, Rogue Agent KNYFE and SS Tachyon.
The only real danger there is that SS might throw away one of their Ongoings, but aside from that it's just an unending storm of damage.
Now you can use F5 Bunker or Dark Conductor AA instead of SS Tachyon. Or Greatest Legacy or XPW Adept to just double up on one of the other powers.
Ok, here are my rankings for each hero, from most to least favorite.
Finest–FF–Greatest–Newest Legacy
F6–FF–SS–Original Tachyon
FF/RC/F6/Original Wraith (/ = the same or very close)
FF–F6–WW2–Original–TN Bunker
FF–Original–TN–F6 Absolute Zero
TN/Original–F6 Unity
Original–PW/XPW/DC Argent Adept
PW–Eternal/Original–XPW Haka
XPW–Requital/Original–PW Captain Cosmic
XPW/PW–Original/Redeemer Fanatic
XPW/PW–Original–F6 Tempest
Original–Dark Watch Setback
Original/Dark Watch Mr. Fixer
Original–Dark Watch NightMist
Dark Watch–Original ExPatriette
TBA Harpy
Sunset/Original/Horus Ra
Dark/Unleashed/Original Visionary
Original–Infinite Scholar
Original–Completionist–Santa Guise
Original/Best of Times Chrono-Ranger
Omnitron-U–X
Original–Rogue Agent KNYFE
Hunted–Original Naturalist
Fugue State–Original Parse
Extremist–Original Sky-Scraper
TBA Benchmark
TBA Stuntman
TBA Void Guard
TBA Luminary
TBA Lifeline
TBA Akash’Thriya
TBA La Comodora
The Sentinels:
Adamant–Original Dr. Medico
Adamant–Original Idealist
Original–Adamant Mainstay
Original/Adamant Writhe
The Freedom 5 Varients are definitely strong - had a game vs Advanced Dawn and it took a while to get her to flip back, due to needing 6 Citizens, and everyone nearly died after my careful set up with Legacy protecting everyone was nuked halfway through Dawn’s turn by Citizen Autumn taking out all of his ongoing before several of the others let rip. Only saved by Citizen Winter double healing Absolute Zero before both Citizen Summer and Hammer hit him for 6 and he reflected to kill them both before they hit anyone else...
So with Dawn at full, 7 Citizens out and my whole team below 4 hp times were looking a little tough! Enter Tacyhon. With Obsidian Field and Inspiring Presense in play, she was able to bring Dawn from full to zero in one turn with 2 Lightspeed Barrages and Blitz for 3 each time - Crazy!
My favourite of the new Varients so far has been Captain Cosmic: Requital - makes it much easier to get some significant constructs out, as well as letting him do some of his other damaging effects, but I’ve also been enjoying Setting Sun Ra and Visionary Unleashed.
Dark Watch Nightmist is probably my least favourite. I didn’t get Nightmist at all for the longest time, but then I had some games where she just clicked, and suddenly I saw the raw power she’s capable of. After that revelation, the DW varient just seems a little weak by comparison (especially against any Villains that discard cards from the deck, etc).
First-time poster here with quite a few thoughts.
Favorite variants:
Least favorite:
F6 Tachyon, Dark Vis, and Hunted Naturalist deserve to be on both of these lists; I both love and hate them because they're too powerful.
Game-changing variants:
Variants I'd like to see:
Welcome to the forums
I feel this applies to TermiNation AZ. Freedom Five AZ sets up much quicker with being able to pull out Ongoing cards and with Isothermic Transducer you get 2 damage to deal out or Cryo Chamber out you only take one damage to pull out an Ongoing Card
I want to agree, as that makes sense, but this hasn't lined up with my experience. My guess is I'm reluctant to play any of FV's damaging one-shots before he gets a full setup out to get as much use as I can out of them by using them to boost Thermal Shockwave or Coolant Blast, while I'm happy playing them on TN before then if Violent Shivers is active.
The self damage to search and place any Ongoing in play from his deck helps with getting to those modules if you don’t start with one. Depending upon the villain it can help immediately reduce damage all heroes take by getting Sub Zero Atmosphere out round one for sure.
At least one place XPW Tempest is useful is against Citizen Dawn. Since most of her citizens do their nasty things at the end of the villain turn, he can turn off their effects without sending them to the trash and causing her to flip. This is admittedly a niche use, since most of the time you're probably better off just killing the target to get rid of it's effect, but his power can also be helpful if you just don't have enough damage to accomplish that in a round.
I actually feel like FV Bunker's power thematically suits him really well. Tyler Vance is a tactician. By revealing his teammates cards and then deciding which one to play, he's assessing what his teammates are able to do and then having them execute the best course of action.
XPW Tempest can nullify the extra card play from La Paradora Magnifca against La Capitan and allows you to focus on crew members. Against the Dreamer it means Tempest can use his base power without worrying about damaging the Dreamer.
Basically if the target has no DR and has an end of turn effect that you don't want happening, XPW Tempest is pretty useful.
He's a good choice when you have another hero you desperately want to set up very, very quickly. You sacrifice AA's own setup, though, which makes it an odd choice–sort of a compromise between PW AA and, say, Omnitron-X. He's unfocused, but he's a good choice in the video game or if you're equally happy to set up someone else as yourself.
I love PW Haka! He has so much card draw that I rarely have this problem. And the versatility of using Haka cards on other targets–not just heroes–is easy to miss. Shield or Restore the Dreamer (especially in Challenge Mode), boost the damage of a hero with a damage rider (like Hypersonic Assault), or just make sure the team's tank has the highest HP despite an "oops" moment. And don't forget you can play a Haka card and discard just one card to cycle through your deck faster and get to that Taiaha or Mere.
I agree–it says something that the "best" Bunker is the least Bunker-like Bunker. He's one of my least favorite heroes, and this variant makes him playable by just helping everyone else instead. G.I is the only other version of Bunker I play, and only against the specific villains with massive damage reduction.
Now I'm curious, could you use XPW Tempest with Imbued Vitality to stop Hero Ongoing end of turn effects, like Unflagging Animation or Gatling Gun?
No, it only works on "A Non-Character Target".
Edit: Oh, I misunderstood. That's a good question.
I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Iiiiiiinteresting idea!
In defense of Dark Watch Setback, he does keep Nightmist from hurting herself too badly. Xtreme PW Haka and Legacy together are kinda broken. And there’s something to be said for the consistency of original Naturalist. But my favorite variant of all time? Super Scientific Tachyon (of course)/