Spoil Me Rotten on Shattered Timelines

Okay, I'm a fiend for spoilers.  I'm the guy who reads the MoviePooper site before going to the theater.  My wife hated when I accidentally spoiled DC's "52" storyline for her, and I was almost on the couch for a week.

I'm buying ST regardless.  I figure I'll wait a week or two till the Kickstarter craziness dies down, then put in my order.  Till then, I'm dying to know about the awesome.

So, if you please:  spoil me.  Spoil me rotten.  What's awesome about each deck?  Equipment?  Neat one-offs?  How do they play?  What looks lethal? Give me all the gory details!

Iron Legacy is a "campaigning villain", meaning that every time you play against him, your actions in the current game carry forward into the next time you play him. He comes with a set of envelopes that are opened at key points based on certain card plays. Those envelopes include instructions that can not only change Iron Legacy's deck permanently, but can potentially change other decks permanently.

Just kidding: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/105134/risk-legacy

But seriously ...

The most surprising new deck to me is Silver Gulch. It is the first environment deck to have setup text, which involves revealing Role cards until there is a role card for each of the heroes and the villain. These role cards give secondary objectives. If the heros can meet all of their secondary objectives they win the game, but if the villain meets his/her secondary objective, then the heroes can't win the game that way.

You didn't believe that, did you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang!

I was familiar with the whole thing about Risk: Legacy, so I got that one immediately.

You almost had me with the second, as I haven't played Bang! before.  It sounded really plausible and neat.

in all seriousness, though, make with the goods!  ;)

Final Wasteland has a card that goes beyond destroying cards, actually removing them from play.

Time Cataclysm's Typhoon card directly references the Typhoons that kept the EE/Infernal Relics Kickstarter rewards from being delivered on time.

Kizmet uses cards that are marked Jinx and Lucky. Miss Information uses cards that are marked Diversion and Clue.

I already ordered my copy on GTG website but i know it will still be a few weeks before they ship it since they still have alot of kickstarter rewards to ship out( it stinks i didnt know about this game back then). Anyway I'm most interested in any new gameplay mechanics in the Heros. Both AA and nightmist had neat mechanics we hadn't seen do any of the 3 new heroes play uniquely?

Chrono-Ranger has a neat "Bounty" subtheme that gives him bonuses when attacking and/or defeating certain targets. He only has like six of these cards in his deck, but has ways to fetch them both from his deck and from his trash. Also, just about every one of his one-shots includes a rider that pings something for 1 damage, which adds up fast even without buffs.

My only play of Omnitron-X so far was hampered by both poor draws and then not being the recipient of damage (it makes sense in context). He's all bout his Plates (like Fixer's tools, he can only have one in play but can swap them) and Components. He does very much capture the flavor of a hero version of Omnitron, though (and the reverse is also true of Iron Legacy).

The Scholar, on the other hand, is the tankiest tank who ever tanked. He is all about drawing cards and regaining HP. He has some offense (including "Know When to Cut Loose", which is similar to Haka of Battle or Tachyon's big burst move) but if your enemies like to pick on the healthiest hero it will be very hard for them to do much with him around.

Omnitron-X is able to deal damage, play a few cards, and even heal everyone while skipping his play and power phase to draw an additional card for your draw phase! Though if he were to take 5 or more damage in a single turn, all those lovely components will be wiped away to never be heard from again! Until of course he plays Reset, which rechuffles his trash into his deck so he can redraw everything he has lost thus far. But with a plating in play, he'll be reducing so much damage that it's not too likely you'll take 5 damage in a turn.

I was really hoping Omnitron-X has some drones to command around.

Yeah but I never drew the right platings for the damage Miss Information was throwing at us. Until I did, and then they got destroyed by whatever. It was really awkward.

The 2 irreducible fire damage component did some work once we flipped her, though.

This sounds spectacular.  

In regards to Chrono Ranger–I recall reading that his nominally-weak base power was augmented by several cards.  How does this work in play, and how does it differ from Expatriette's Ammo or Fixer's Stances/Tools?

Does Omnitron X get his big brother's sorts of attacks (Interpolation Beam, Railgun, Disintegration Ray) or are they all new?  

Does The Scholar actually use his HP as a commodity, or is it more like, "You can keep beating on me, no problem–I'll just heal and let my allies do the work."?

Omni X does have a few of his older villan forms weapons (though not as high of damage.) The real fun part is his components are not limited, and can add up to do some real craziness. Sadly, he does not have drones, though he does have a couple high power attacks where he blows up his own equipment and components to do big damage. Last game i had him able to either draw or play 2 cards at the stard of his turn (i had both coil beams, one inervation beam, one focused plasma cannon, and 2 of the draw or play beams out) and yes, his platings can really tuin a villans day, and he gets cards that allow him to pull them from his deck.

Yes, he can blow up his own equipment and components.  Note, he said "his own equipment and components" and not "his own equipment and his own components."  Can have a lot of fun with that card.

Note that O-X's Singularity is not limited to just his own stuff. Makes for a spectacular game-ender, and unlike Wraith's Inventory Barrage it hits every non-hero target too.

My only play of Scholar so far was definitely of the "whatever, man, I'm good" variety. He mostly uses cards in hand as a commondity from what I could tell, as all of his "elemental" forms require a discard for upkeep.

Some (one?) of Ranger's bounties increase his damage to that target. He also has a psychotic "Bloody Knuckles"-style ongoing that increases ALL of his damage – given and received – by the number of bounties he has in play (with a power that lets the card destroy itself, like some of Ra's stuff) and an equipment that deals damage equal to bounties. Mostly where his move differs from Fixer's Strike is in frequency thanks to all of his one-shot riders, although I wasn't playing with him so I'm not really sure.

Out of curiosity, how are the three new heroes in terms of ongoing and environment destruction? I ask because I know that is one of the more important qualities for a balanced team of heros to have.

I know Ranger has a weird one-time power (think "grenade") that can pick off an E/O card and O-X has a version of his previous model's Terraforming Beam. Off the top of my head, I don't think Scholar has anything.

I concur.

I've played him in two games so far. One of the first things I noticed was that his element cards are not marked as Limited, which can get downright burly if you have the cards to discard each turn to keep them out.

Game number two was against Miss Information, who was just wrecking us–especially after she flipped. Unity's golems were toast between Miss I. targeting lowest hit point hero targets and her retaliation ability. Omnitron-X lasted a while due to us fighting in Pike Industrial Complex where all damage was being converted to toxic and he had the appropriate plating out. Eventually, though, it was just The Scholar surrounded by the inert bodies of Chrono-Ranger, Omnitron-X and Golem Unity. Using their incapacitated powers to let him either draw or play a card on each of their turns fueled his hand, and even though he wasn't doing a lot of damage at any one time he did whittle Miss Information down to 0 while ending the game at 24 hit points himself.

I will say that if you like drawing cards and running through your deck, this is the guy to play. I went through about 3/4 of the deck in the first game (without the benefit of fallen teammates letting me draw a card on their turn).

Chrono Ranger has a Temporal Grenade equipment card that when used can deal up to 3 targets either energy or lightning damage then will destroy 1 environment or ongoing card and then finally destroy itself.

Omnitron-X has a Bio-Engineering ongoing that can destroy 1 environment card and deal 1 target 2 energy damage. Omnitron also has a one-shot Disruptive Flechettes that destroys up to 2 ongoings and will deal all non-heroes 2 damage.

Chrono-Ranger and Omnitron-X are quite capable of ongoing and environment destruction.  The Scholar is not.

Chrono-Ranger is capable of buffing his nominally weak base power to the max, enhancing it with (under extremely optimal conditions) +8 to damage.  He doesn't have to use that power, though.  He has several really cool powers, and a useful card for fetching them.  I insist, however, that his base power is perfect, both mechanically and thematically, for reasons that you will understand when you actually see his deck.  (Or when somebody here blurts it out.)  (Or when somebody here takes another comment and puts 2 and 2 together.)

The Scholar is a great tank, equaling or exceeding Nightmist's powers.  He does not use his life as a commodity.  He uses his life gain as a commodity.

Wow Chrono ranger sounds like alot of fun and i look forward to Omnitorn X ,unfortunately i havent ordered the scholar cause he sounds pretty awesome. I have a question though the Scholar sounds great but he almost seems invincible, has any1 lost a game with him? Maybe he is beatable but everything you guys are saying about he sounds unstoppable

Well I've only played with him the one time but I did wonder why they put an incapacitated side on him.

its hard, but yeah ive seen a game lost with him. Spite - the deck milling can be really detrimental to him. I still have a feeling though that once he starts getting more in the stats project, he'll be up there with Legacy

I just looked at the stats and actually the Scholar has been recorded as being incapacitated 3 times and he has been played 7 times thats actually alot but we will see what his numbers are after every1 has him

So, the most obvious thing about the Scholar is his tanking capacity, which is quite notable.  But, that's not the only thing he does.  He draws a lot of cards, which are important to maintain his Elements.  He also has access to some powerful team support abilities, and a grab-bag of variably potent one-shot attacks. 

He's definitely a three difficulty.  He will always contribute with his tanking.  I can comfortably say that's not all he does, but if he doesn't get much opportunity to set up, that may be his biggest contribution to the game.  There is inherent tension between using his powers to get cards to keep his Elements, vs. using his power to heal and employ his Elements, and both can be valid choices. 

He's not immortal, sadly.  I figure he's likely to die either last, or taking sacrifice hits for others.  In some circumstances, other heroes with more consistent damage options are more likely to be able to finish the job. 

He sounds like the most interesting new hero I'm gonna have to order him soon. Also just wanted to say I love your strategy guides for Heros and villains flamethrower49 they are fantastic

I gotta say, pretty much all of the new hero promo cards have some incapacitated sides that really give me the feels. If you haven't seen them, they're rather depressing, particularly TL Tachyon, Eternal Haka, and Dark Visionary.

Also, Iron Legacy's Final Evolution card... major feels. Major feels right there. And people said the Rook City expansion was dark...

Any chance those images will be posted soon for those of us that were not able to get in on the Kickstarter?

Interesting choices. I agree on Tachyon, but Dark Visionary's incapacitated side doesn't do much for me. AZ's and Golem Unity's, on the other hand…

Golem Unity's is soul-crushing.

Iron Legacy's Former Allies card is feelstastic.

Good News: Y'know that cute picture we saw during the Kickstarter with all the heroes having a barbecue? Well, that is getting used as artwork in an actual card.

Bad News: It's getting used in the saddest possible context.

Any chance those images will be posted soon for those of us that were not able to get in on the Kickstarter?

Once I get my cards in the mail I'll be posting the ST updates, including the promo heroes.  So you'll be able to check them out there.

True, although there is still nothing more gut-churning in that deck than "Galvanized".

For those who don't have ST yet: you've seen this picture too.

Kismet fights by putting jinxes on players that often force them to change their tactics. The hero with the highest HP might start taking extra damage, or the hero that hasn't got many cards out yet might start hurting themselves every time they play a card. Her Talisman channels power from all the jinxed heros, making her increasingly more dangerous. The Talisman also lets her play extra Lucky cards and enhances her deck-stacking abilities.

BUT, if you manage to steal the Talisman, you can use its deck-controling power against her! Just be careful not to hold on to it too long or her attacks will grow more and more furious! She can't bear the thought of anyone else getting to use her powers.

Also, Inconceivable Obstruction was a card idea I thought up during playtesting, and its art and flavor text are one of my favorites.

Oh yeah, how did I forget that one?

All in all, this expansion adds a TON of story to the known SotM plot.

Is there any info on what precipitated the "Time Cataclysm" that began merging all of these timelines?  The comic geek in my is very interest how this all happened.

Is it Galvanised that uses the "throwing the Ring into the grave" pic? One of the cards must use that, right?

That's the one

Is there any info on what precipitated the "Time Cataclysm" that began merging all of these timelines? The comic geek in my is very interest how this all happened.

Yes, something did set off all the Time Cataclysm events.

No, we have not revealed what that something is.

We will.

. . . but not yet.

Awesome, thanks for the reply.

My money is on Cosmic Guy from Mists of Time, upper right section.

And most likely the same force that brought us Cosmic Omnitron...

My guess is Unity tried to 'improve' it.

The image of Visionary exploding is kinda scary to me. And I also chose Haka's because he spent hundreds of years guarding that library; it was basically his only reason for living. But in the picture, the library is totally destroyed. That BLOWS.

And yeah, Unity's too… I just don't like to think of her dying. Again. 

Well, obviously, it's you guys mucking about.

That or Tachy forgetting to carry the 2.

My Money's on the 2, but I bet it involves you guys, too.

Literally horrific

But Chrono Ranger's Incapacitated art is so awesome!  The guy isn't incapacitated as much as he's shunted elsewhere and unable to meaningfully contribute to a fight.  But he left his six-shooter for the rest of the team to use in case of emergency.  So cool.

The others mentioned are absolutely devastating, however.  Like Devastating Aurora devastating.

okay, no fair discussing the images without describing!  

Share all the feels, bro!

Platinum don't worry when Vengence comes out, and they reverse the order of shipping Kickstarter copies. You and I can talk about how awesome Vengence is while all the Brians and Aarons can complain about how they want more information  .

Yes, next time they will start with the Zs and work in reverse order.  Right up until they get to the Jeffs, and they will stop and do all the International orders.

So, if you all want to know (and I assume that the thread has already warned fully that there are SPOILERS) here's what's on Final evolution.

Remember the reason Legacy turned into Iron Legacy, which happened after his daughter was brutally murdered? Final Evolution is the depiction of that event. It's got Baron Blade with a knife dripping in blood and you see Legacy's hand in the forground crushing something in it. What really gets me are BB's crazy eyes. He's turned up the cre-cre to "Here's Johnny" levels. It's the exact opposite of The Joker shooting Barbara Gordon, but just as moving. 

In other news, I think heroes and villians are pretty cool! I don't think La Capitan has been mentioned, so I might as well talk about her. Her "thing" is stealing your stuff, and that makes it harder to damager her, as you need to try to get your stuff back, I guess? At any rate, she has loads of really cool crew members, all from various corners/timelines of the world. There's a samurai, a knight, an RAF airman, a Viking, a muskateer, an Amazon, and even an acrobat. It seems La Capitan is an equal-oppurtunity employer, which makes sense, given her backtory. She's the only one I've faced so far, and she's like Citizan Dawn in that she can start pretty hard, but one you whittle her down, she gets easier. And like citizan dawn, she likes "taking" your ongoings/equipments (how she can steal ongoings, don't ask me)

See, that's going to be an issue if that happens.  My first name is Andrew!

Any other image spoilers for us without?  The Final Evolution one sounds pretty epic!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

*is named Brian*

Then again, I'm a playtester, so that STILL won't happen! =3

…At any rate, she has loads of really cool crew members, all from various corners/timelines of the world. There’s a samurai, a knight, an RAF airman, a Viking, a muskateer, an Amazon, and even an acrobat…

I wonder how that would compare to a swordsman, a navigator, a sniper, a chef, a doctor, and archaeologist, and a shipwright…

Really depends on how many of La Capitan's crew can use haki. It is plot hax.

Probably not very well considering their captain is made of rubber.

It sounds like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (insert music), but with a ship instead of a time-traveling phone booth

all that's missing are some dead presidents…

Let us not forget a musician

[size=18][font=RedStateBlueState BB]What now, hero?! What has your legacy wrought?![/font][/size]

Is anyone else creeped out by the Time-Crazed Prisoner? I really think his flavor text is hinting at future events. It's always the crazy people who know the truth (in comics).

He says "It will be here soon!" Anyone else think that sounds like foreshadowing? Perhaps that huge cosmic force that we've heard is so mysterious? (We need a name for that thing)

His wall also says "The child is the center." Dreamer, perhaps? I can't think of any other children besides that blonde girl we've seen twice in Rook City and Iron Legacy's deck.

Gah, I just get the feeling this expansion is loaded with foreshadowing easter eggs.

maybe the child is the center is Young Legacy, and the 'It will be here soon' is the time point convergance where Baron Blade murders her, and causes Iron Legacy.

Maybe. I feel like the "it" refers to an actual thing, rather than an event.

And if the "child" is Young Legacy, I also feel like he wouldn't refer to her as a child, more like "the girl". But I realize the "child" makes it more specific since she's among the younger heroes.

The prisoner might be talking about all that, sure. I just feel that a crazy guy who has seen all of space and time would be more focused on huge events, ones that might include cosmic beings like the one Nightmist sees crushing Earth.

I think the "it" is the thing that leads to the final wasteland. Whatever "it" is, i dont know. 

I thought Plague Rat's plague led to the Final Wasteland. Like his infection spread so much, leading to the abundance of rat-beasts. There's not really any evidence to support this idea, though. It was just a general rationalization.

Isn't the Infection thing sort of covered in Chrono Ranger's backstory? He stepped through the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey portal thingy in Silver Gulch and ended up in the Final Wasteland, where he promptly lost an arm to a rat beast and was saved by hiding inside Con, who explained how in years past there was some other rat beast (Plague Rat, of course) who caused an infection to spread among the humans, wiping them out/turning them into more rat beasts, which meant that all the nasty critters that had been secretly hiding away in mountains and jungles and stuff grew bold enough to start stomping around the land themselves and laying waste to everything. So Chrono Ranger goes back in time to wipe them out before it happens, and especially Plague Rat because it was the infection that was the main thing to cause everything to be so messed up in the first place. And because it was a rat monster who ate his left arm.

Oh, so I didn't make that up: that's actually the true fact. Good to know. It made sense to me.

It's kind of funny that Chrono-Ranger's and Plague Rat's primary environments are both extra add-on decks. I'm not sure just yet why, since I really need a nap right now, but I will still say it's funny.

"it" could also specifically refer to the events that caused the time cataclysm since chris specifically said that something specific causes the time cataclysm but that it hasn't been revealed yet. (now i have to search for the link to the post he made....will edit this and add that link if i find it)

edit: here is the link https://greaterthangames.com/comment/21435#comment-21435

I am absolutely convinced that it hints at future expansions/events When I discovered this card, I metaphorically speaking circled it in red.

I only read/studied all the cards once, but there are many of them that feel like "foreshadowing", or seem mysterious to me. I would bet we will better understand them in a few years.

Like, for instance, the bounty card, I think it is " No executions", that puts the target back in the deck rather than destroying it - who is this man ? And who are the people on the bounty card that destroys a 4 HP or less target "The whole gang"? Or the 4-eyed critter on "by any means" and many other cards…

There is a F.I.L.T.E.R agent (I think it is the Spy in the time cataclysm deck) who says "time to collect specimens" or something like this - I think/hope it is a hint at a future "F.I.L.T.E.R as ennemies" expansion… It would explain Unity's incapacitated side.

Last game, I sent some time thinking about the Scholar's "Proverbs and Axioms" card too … It probably isn't foreshadowing, though.

"Fixed Point" leaves me to belive the child is in fact the dreamer, and the flavor text also says something like "as far as I can tell, all timelines/realities have this one event in common, and the card art has her in it.

I thought that one was Akash'bhutha.

It is.

And the man on No Executions is one of the Citizens. Don't know which, though. Looks like Truth or Dare.

It certainly would. I do hope you're right. That would be a lot of fun.

Speculation threads like this are super fun for us, mostly because the entire plot arc of SotM has been planned out for quite some time now, and it is fun to see what you guys pick up on and what you don't :)

Am I the only one who read this post and thought…isn't this how most of us have been reacting to Shatterted Timelines? 

(yes I'm still waiting for my copy shakes fist)

I knew I had seen this face somewhere

Well I hadn't seen many other posts going into hardcore speculation. Well, I probably did see them, I've just forgotten already. Either way, I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't stop thinking "Reveal your secrets to me!"

Are Citizen Truth and Citizen Dare the same person? I kinda got that impression, but I don't know if it's been confirmed.

Flavor text is a hint, too. "Bigger than anything  you've ever seen" or something to that effect.

And the fact he's seen in Akash'Bhuta's deck and she's seen again in his.

I think the "it" on the time crazed guy does refer to a thing cause on the very top of his card on the wall it says " it sends it's servant" which implies some creature or cosmic force is behind the time cataclysm and that first it will send a servant then it will come in full force. This card has me very intrigued and excited!

Maybe the servant is already here, then, and it's a hero/villain we haven't suspected...

I like the card too, but it's a little weird that there are two of them in the deck.  Two identical crazy people in the Block?  Unlikely.

Maybe he it's just one but he interacts with the heroes up to two different times, leaving them confused with riddles and ramblings each time. 

I imagined multiple people are affected by whatever makes them crazy - especially as they will likely shuffle back around, again. With the Rogue I similarly imagined there are multiple people who have an impact on the situation in this way, and that the character implied in the art and flavor text is just one of them.

Yes that's true perhaps the servant is here already it would be neat twist if it was a hero

This.

Since FILTER is pulling people in and out of the different dimensions all the time, and The Block keeps changing locations throughout dimensions, it's likely there's more than one prisoner who went crazy by being exposed to this cosmic force. The actual art itself is just one guy's cell.

So not multiple personality disorder then?

Another thing on the prisoners wall caught my eye, well three things specifically. Right under his health it says "concentric worlds", I assume this refers to the layout of the "multiverse" itself. Then we have the big circles in the center with "each will fall". Finally on the left side of his window we get the whammy, "ALL WILL END AS ONE".

I think it is fairly obvious whatever "it" is, the endgame is combining all the multi-verses into a single world, which will end horrendously badly for everyone involved.

Not necessarily: just look at DC now, at the conclusion of Flashpoint. Everyone ended sort-of-kind-of okay in the end; only difference is that there's only one universe now. The transition will be traumatic though, as far as comic book stories go.

Excluding Earth Two, of course.  But DC isn't terribly focused on what they're trying to do with The New 52...

I'm with the bulk of you guys, though.  I'm pretty sure this will have something to do with the big cosmic thing on Nightmist's Mists of Time card.