Hey HeroClix Masterminds! We’ve tried to walk through the process from beginning to end on some of the other changes to the rules and PAC we’ve described in preparing players for the changes that are coming in the 2021 HeroClix Rules Update, but for this one it’s simplest to start at the end: we’re eliminating the differences between Named and Generic Themed Teams.

For players who enjoy creating their own teams of Cosmic or Animal themed heroes we suspect this will be a big win. For players who prefer named themed teams – stay tuned because these changes represent a buff to ALL themed teams.

Keywords are part of the connective tissue from set to set in HeroClix. We talked about reusing mechanics from set to set in a recent Design Insight article, and this change is in keeping true to that.[...]

I think this has been coming for a long time

I think they need to work on this wording a little bit. The way the last line reads now, it sounds like they can always get 3 more than their opponent can get, so if the opponent has +1, I can have +4. That's not the intention, but the grammar is wonky.

Hopefully this will be fixed by the time WW80 comes out.

I am not seeing your point here. The wording seems pretty clear to me. If your opponent has +1, the maximum you can get is +4.

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I don't like the rules change much. Actually the only thing I object to is making Named and Generic theme teams the same. I get that it makes life simpler for the design team, and for newer players as well, but it pulls a lot of flavor out for having a Named theme team.

I see their point on the flavor of Named theme teams being reinforced by Traits, but frankly the WK design team has not proven to be trustworthy over the years to continue this kind of mechanic beyond a couple sets. That can make it very difficult to build a decent Named theme team that has that mechanic that is supposed to pull them together. So often when I'm building say a Justice League team, I end up with a hodge-podge of pieces that have the special "Justice League trait" and those that don't. With the rules change, this cross-set JL team won't play much different than an Animal or Monster team (in fact, it'll probably be less efficient).

WK also typically only includes one special team Trait on a character, which makes sense for some, but for characters who are members of multiple teams, it really limits the character and discourages using them on any but the team they have the Trait for. That's not normally a huge deal other than the loss of flavor if you use the character for a different team, but with this change it makes it just a little bit worse.

That's my only gripe, but it's a big deal to me. If I felt like I could trust WK to continue team traits consistently across sets, I'd be behind it. Obviously Modern is their focus, and within that microcosm of the game, this issue mostly goes away...you're not using characters from older sets anyway. But outside of Modern, their statement that " Legion of Doom and Justice League feel very different from one another when you put them on the table." doesn't hold true, IME. Not because of team Traits anyway.

As a strictly Named theme team player (outside of sealed or some wonky tournament), this is a big deal to me. It's not the worst (IMO) of the new rules, but it's going to impact my enjoyment of the game when I do get to play it.