Marvel HeroClix: Mutant Mayhem New Game Mechanics: Feats by Jason Mical

Arguably the game mechanic that has sparked the most interest in Mutant Mayhem are the addition of Feats, a kind of card unique to the HeroClix game. And rightfully so: Feats are an extremely flexible upgrade to the game and, in the right hands, can take a "theme team" to ultra-competitive status. Ready? OK, here we go.

From the rules:
Feats reflect special training or other abilities that characters have. They are printed on cards, which describe how the feat is used, which character may use it, how much the feat costs to add to your force, any modifiers the feat provides to character abilities, and any prerequisites the feat has for use. Any character may use a feat as long as it meets the feat's prerequisites. If a prerequisite is a team ability, that team ability must be printed on the character's base; wild card team abilities, which mimic other team abilities, do not count. If a prerequisite is a power, that power must be showing on a character's combat dial in order for the character to use the feat.

Each feat also has a cost that is included in the cost of your force; you may play with as many feats as you like. Before placing characters, each player reveals his or her feats and places them off to the side of the battlefield. Multiple copies of the same feat are not cumulative, but if one copy is removed from the game, another copy in play may be used.

All feats are optional. Feats that modify a character's combat values apply only while the character is using the feat unless the card text says otherwise. Feats part of a player's force may target only characters friendly to that player.

Some feats say "Choose a character." This assignment must be made when a player builds his or her force, and the feat applies only to that character during the game. After the map is chosen and players choose their starting areas, but before players place their characters, you must declare such choices to all players; you may not change the choice later. In some cases, an assigned character may not be able to use the feat when the game begins because it will not meet the feat's prerequisite(s) until it has taken damage. If an assigned character is KOd, remove its corresponding feat(s) from the game. Each feat removed from the game is worth a number of victory points equal to its point value to the player who KOd the assigned character. If a player's entire force is KOd, any feat cards in that force that do not require assignment to a character or characters are worth a number of victory points equal to their point value to the player who KOd the last figure of that force. If a feat card does not require assignment to a character or characters, then only one copy of that feat card may be used as part of a force.

Feat text supercedes the HeroClix rules.

Analysis
At first glance, that may seem confusing, but let's look at a couple of feats and see exactly how those feats are used in game situations.

Three powerful feats, and so many ways to use them! No matter your play style - if you're fond of fielding the Fantastic Four no matter the odds, or if you're the most ruthless player for three counties, there's something to love in the feat cards. Remember, in a tournament you cannot swap out your feat cards between matches, so chose wisely!

When WizKids first announced "feat" cards, the two words that sprang to every True Believer's lips were "Fastball Special!" And there it is, in all its glory. Fastball Special is a pretty specific feat: more than any other in Mutant Mayhem, it relies a lot on team structure, and can be removed if one of the two participating characters leaves the game. This is somewhat reflected in its point cost; although it allows a single devastating attack, it costs little more than what players often have left over when building their forces. Although you can certainly perform Fastball Special with Colossus and Wolverine, you'll note that it is fairly flexible, allowing even for Giant figures to get in on the action. The attack and damage adjustments at the top of the card apply to when the feat is actually used; so after Piotr tosses Logan, Piotr's attack value goes up by 2 and Logan's damage dealt increases by 1.

Once you've used a Fastball Special, it's removed from the game and you cannot use it again unless you have a second Fastball Special card lying around. The good news is, since Fastball Special cost you 12 points to use, you've just secured 12 points towards your survivors; your opponent cannot get those points by KOing either character assigned to the Fastball Special. Before you go stacking 10 Fastball Specials on a Colossus and a Wolvie in a single event, beware: your opponent will wipe at least one of those characters out as soon as she realizes what you're doing, and then you lose all of the unused Fastball Specials - and those points do count towards your opponent's victory points.

Rip it Up is another fantastic feat, and the picture doesn't feature the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing for no good reason. This card was practically custom-made for Ben Grimm and buddies with similar powers. And yes, you read it correctly: every time a character with Super Strength moves, that character "rips it up" and grabs a chunk of terrain to use as a light object. Notice that it doesn't require you to choose a character, either, so you could conceivably build an entire team based on the premise of Super Strength and free light objects. It's fairly pricey as feats go - 20 points - but having an endless supply of light objects is worth every one. When combined with Charge, Rip it Up is a menace to turtlers everywhere.

Finally, Trick Shot. Hawkeye's Fan Club might be drooling, but those of you with a keen eye have noted the other optional prerequisite of Plasticity and are currently doing a little math. Trick Shot is another fairly expensive feat, but it is worth its weight in gold - or victory points. Although there aren't a lot of characters sporting Plasticity out there, the characters that are out there benefit so greatly from Trick Shot that laughing about it will only make it worse. But then there's the crew with Ranged Combat Expert. Aren't you glad you can send Wolvie in, claws bared, and follow up with Colossus tearing the ground to shreds? So are we.

That wraps up the New Game Mechanics for Mutant Mayhem. Tune in next week for a pleasant surprise, and after that, figure previews!