In anticipation of GG a friend and I were proxying the figures we are waiting for in GG just to see how they played. Stranger is absolutely awesome. The team I was running was Stranger, 35 pt IG (no space) and Cosmo. TK + normal sized stranger to drop pulsewaves on people, colossal to keep turning the gauntlet / attacking, it was awesome. I'm considering slapping the full IG on him and playing him with Tarot. The other team that dominated the night was Mole Man, Fast Forces Bizarro, Tarot, Astral Dr. Strange (incap), full IG on Bizarro. First turn of the game Bizarro has 6+2 move 7 range running shot, so with a successful (6 or better with possible prob from Tarot) mind control from Mole Man, Bizarro runs 8 shoots for 7, then can take a second shot with the Power gem RCE for 6 more damage. It was just ridiculous. Plus his dial is solid the entire way down. Those are my two best teams at this very moment.

April 18th brings us the Destroyer as well, who I think will be an amazing gauntlet candidate and 1 man army. I can also see 300 point Ziran the Tester being a dominant fig, even with the weak defense, due to the versatility and power of multiattack.

I hate when these threads get too long, bc it is so tough to keep up, but i think a true player in the new meta is Cyborg Superman. He has been tough to deal with. Even with a full gauntlent he still has enough room to bring some buddies. Just having trouble of who to team him up with. thinking dirk, maybe one low key attacker and/or leech. Tarot....i dont know just some ideas.

Where is Bizarro getting +2 on his Running Shot on the first turn?

Space Gem.

I can see Cyborg Supes doing well for sure. I think that the 125-175ish range might be the ideal for a Gauntlet candidate because it allows so much more support. Stranger is nice and all but will he have the necessary support to take on some of the top teams? It gets worse when you talk Imperiex or WL Sinestro.

I think I would aim towards WC's with him to take advantage of his TA. Also he needs either Prob or Perplex to make his damage stick. So...
Cyborg Superman + Full Gauntlet 190
Agent Coulson - Perplex, SHIELD, and of course can't attack him until Cyborg is KO'd.
Rick Jones - Wild Card TA so you can have two shield and potentially bump Cyborg's damage to a five( Shield Power Action), his range to an 8, and his attack to a 12 (two perplex). Also you have the outwit if needed. And he can turn into Captain Marvel who has respectable stats and Prob.

Mole man and The Stranger will definitely see a lot of playtime. Ziran should see quite a bit too.

When you say "runs 8 shoot for 7" you mean 7 range right? Because his damage is still 4 I think.

Yeah, I was referring to his 6+2 movement 7 range, so 15 square threat range opening shot. He has 11 attack 4 dmg, 6 w Power gem RCE. Being able to double his output with mole man is just awesome, and he actually is a mobile monster with good damage output so that he can protect mole man from getting killed right away. With that MC from mole man Bizarro has a weak Multiattack thing goin on.

Ziran is going to dominate games, he is basically a no-brainer. The only thing I see slowing him down is losing map choice and being a huge colossal trying to maneuver around an indoor map. Even if you land the first hit on him he is just so so deadly every single click of his dial all the way until that final click of 10 attack 3 dmg pulse wave with MULTIATTACK!

I realized I respond a lot on this thread but don't post a lot of teams. So I'll try to remedy that.

My Top Post July 1st Turtle and Turn Pick:
1) The Stranger 213 + IG 15 (Reality Gem) + 2x AIM Renegade 68. Pretty basic, you have the Renegade's alternating Barrier while Stranger turns the Gauntlet. He takes Colossal to let him keep pushing. If they leave you alone you take Regen on click 2 and use it. If they get close then even with the Stranger behind them he can see (colossal) so the opponent gets -2 Defense thanks to Hydra, Stranger get's +2 damage thanks to Enhancement, and with a Prob (reality Gem) you have a decent shot of making it stick. Obviously once you hit 2-3 you use the ability to pick 2 powers per turn to go to town on the opponent.

I kind of imagine this will be a fairly common team. One could sub in the Chase Doom for a similar result, AND be theme.

My Top Blitz Pick:
1) Magog 172, Cosmo 52, Astral Strange + Gauntlet 28 (Space), Tarot 47
Tarot free moves up. Next turn you double TK up Magog with a heavy, move tarot again and she should now have Perplex or Prob to help Magog hit. Tarot has support. Another consideration is Leech for Tarot who you TK up first so the opponent can't Barrier or do any power actions. If he finds Stealth than he could give serious problems to Ziran or any team that relies heavily on power actions. Also Morg could make a decent Sub for Magog.

Honorable Mention
2) Black Bolt 193, Cosmo 52, Astral Strange + Gauntlet 28 (Space), Gleek 21. Sure gleek gives them a +1 to Defense (probably) but I get the perplex for a +1 to my attack on ALL of their figures.

Top Tentpole Pick:
1) Ziran. His multi-attack might be just enough to make him viable without a Gauntlet.

Other Teams:
1) Loki 220 + IG (Soul, Reality, Power) 30 + Agent Coulson 50

Other Notes:
I feel like Thanos will make an appearance to counter all the "healing" we start seeing.

I also think Leech is a great counter to Barrier but haven't found his home yet.

One thing I would say about playing Magog is that he needs the 40 point IG or not be played at all. Full IG gives him the indom and immunity to outwit that he desperately needs. I also don't see Magog being that huge of a player anymore in high level play because he has 0 prayer of taking out Galactus or Ziran. Leech can be used well, but is pretty fragile, and wont do much against blitz teams.

As for barrier, I don't think it will be that much of a worry in the high-level meta since any HSS fig will destroy a barrier team. It is also extremely hard to fully protect yourself with barriers such that both your gauntlet fig and your barrier figs are all completely protected. Yea its a good strat against a fig like Galactus since he only gets 1 attack a turn but against teams with either 2 hitters, any mobility, a MoE or Colossal with IG (Like stranger) that will beat you in gauntlet turning, plus probably some other strats I can't think of right now, will mess up a barrier based turtle team. A better strat imo, and the one I plan on using with stranger, is to pair him with Cosmo or Tarot and use high movement phasing to run around the map to safe spots and play rope a dope.

I guess my thought is that the new "turtle" team is more of a float like a butterfly, get to #2, pulse wave like a bee team.

Remember the +/-1 that your opponent gets only lasts until the end of their turn. If they decide to up their own defense, it will go away when Black Bolt attacks. They will either use it to lower your defense or up their attack or damage, or possibly speed or range if you are too far away.

People have mentioned Cyborg Supes a few times, and he is absolutely an amazing figure to put the gauntlet on. After playing him quite often it seems the best strat to taking him down is to A: Play no objects and B: Shoot objects before shooting him, and take out his support before taking him out. His attack isnt great so he will likely have a prob controller around to help out, or at least some hydras (here's lookin' at you beekeepers), so take them out first before trying to hit his ridiculous defense through shape change, imperv, and possibly time gem SS. Without help his offense is a little lacking and all you need to do is 1 click to take neutralize him pretty well, so without the objects to heal him back up, he is pretty manageable. He also doesn't have psychic blast so while hard to hit, he finds people with imperv/senses/shape change just as hard to hit as he is.

Hmm, I don't agree. In fact I don't think he's a good choice for the Gauntlet in fact. He's not a defensive piece, sure +2 to stats will make him Godly, but +1 and any power doesn't do a whole lot. He isn't taking HSS because he wants to use Exploit, so instead he's taking... Prob maybe? So basically even hitting 2 on the Gauntlet is him spending 40 points for something he can gain from some perplex and a prob. Yes 40 is still cheaper than what you can get it for in Modern, but then you are also waiting, I don't see him as that kind of piece.

Ziran would need a nice wide open map to have a chance at first strike. With Leech on the team he should have 0 chance at First Strike. So Magog gets first hit, even without Exploit he can deal 4 after Invuln. Ziran can't Multi-Attack or PB (based) Magog so he can only do 2 damage if Magog misses his Imperv (Ziran has 48% chance of doing damage). Magog can now do another 2 (or 4 if he wants to try to Break away). Which will put Ziran on essentially the same click. If Ziran uses Colossal stamina and takes one he gains Prob but is down to 3 damage. So he's going to have trouble pinging Magog to death while Magog can do much more damage. So Ziran will really need to be pushing to Run, and try to set up a PB shot on Magog. Which still might not save him. And this ignores the rest of the team who might actually be doing things like setting up Barrier and pinging him.

Not saying Ziran is dead in the water, he isn't. But will need to be very careful, and make wise decisions.
Turn 1 Stranger carries a Renegade to the Corner while the other Renegade moves under it's own steam. Turn 2, Barrier that is using the edge of the map to protect completely. Also a lot of maps let you do this in your starting area.

Not so much, see above.

What? 2 Hitters? Maybe. They can set up a strike that allows them to get into position without Stranger getting a shot off? Then be able to 1-2 punch? If so who do they shoot at, a Renegade? Will the retaliation leave them in a position to still win?

Why mobility? What if they beat me on the Gauntlet? Most importantly Stranger IS acting every turn, so you need to do so just to keep up, not win. What happens if you do achieve Godhood first, how does that stop barrier? I'm not following. Do you have a team in mind?

I think you are underestimating this type of team greatly, granted maybe "my" team is junk, but I think Barrier will rear it's ugly head once again.
Well, let's just say your strat works. You only have 1 character (Stranger) capable of breaking through the Barrier... so how do you win against "my" team? If I get to 3 first I catch you. If you beat me to it, I sit and wait. I'm not even seeing a reasonable way for you to even damage my team. Am I missing something?


Good catch. So even better for me actually.

Firstly, Magog gets lots out of the full gauntlet, perhaps more than any other character. Space gem lets him daisy chain with his trait, giving him 7 movement charge, and if he kills someone, another 7 movement charge. Power gem gives him RCE to give him a deadly ranged option. Reality and time are no-brainers that greatly enhance his survivability and ability to connect. Soul is amazing on magog especially with his trait since he is so deadly his entire dial. Even if he takes a lick all the way down to thse 4 dmg CCE click, he can KO one character, heal 2 or 3 depending on ranged or not, then running shot pulse wave. Mind gem isn't that useful but its 5 points at that point to give him power cosmic since you want all the other gems. I'm not sure how you don't see the massive value a full gauntlet adds to Magog...

As for your barrier team, say you hide stranger in the corner with a renegade, then barrier them both in like you said. Given the stranger team I mentioned with Cosmo I have a few options. One, move my stranger within 8 of a clear renegade but not 8 of your stranger, shoot the barrier and outwit your barrier. Next turn no barrier. This strategy would work with any team that could shoot a barrier then follow with outwit. Another option would be to use Cosmo to TK an object at a barrier then shoot with Stranger. A third option is to push Stranger to his second click along with Cosmo, take HSS, run diagonally to a barrier, hit it, then barrier my stranger with Cosmo. Next turn take Giant Size and Flurry as my powers, punch 1 hit a barrier, punch 2 hit a renegade. Re-barrier Stranger. Those are just preliminary thoughts with just the Stranger + Cosmo team I mentioned.

If using hypersonic speed, it depends on the figure you are using, sure, but the basic idea is run in, break a barrier token adjacent to stranger, then base stranger. He could pulse wave you and all his figs for 1, or try and swing at you with his 10 attack. Even though colossal he cannot make ranged attacks against adjacents so the hydra + enhance mean nothing. Stranger isnt very mobile to begin with, even less so on a barrier-centric team. Two supermen, for instance, would have an easy time dealing with the barrier strat.

As for Ziran v Magog + leech, you would need to find a sweet spot where leech is 6 away from Ziran, is in stealth, and Ziran cannot base him. If on the first turn of the game you cant find somewhere that meets the above criteria, you aren't going to win. Ziran will run out and shoot leech first if not in stealth, or run out and punch him if he can base him. Furthermore, yes, using leech to help Magog out against colossals is a good idea, but leech isn't necessarily that great against other teams and spending 35 points on him isn't always the best use of points. That said, I've considered using leech with Magog on this team:

Magog, Cosmo, Full IG on magog, 36 pts left.

I love Magog, and have been playing him with full IG since the IG card came out (friendly games of course) to great effect. In fact he is the figure that I find is most enhanced by a full gauntlet in every aspect, which is why I'm so surprised you disagree. There are a few figs I can see filling that 36 pt slot quite well, my current thoughts being: Leech, Roulette, or Matter-Eater Lad. I just worry that while Leech helps Magog against some teams, he doesn't help very much against others, such as most teams with TK, HSS, Superman TA, now the Avengers Initiative TA...etc

I'm not trying to argue Ziran is unbeatable, he isn't, but the argument you are making is less for Magog's worth and more for Leech's in shutting down multiattack. I think you could find better figs than Magog to use this strategy with if that's what you are going for. Ziran will always suffer from being huge, just like Galactus, and basically any team that wants to beat him is going to have to play off his massive size.

The Gauntlet adds a lot to everyone. I'm not saying it doesn't, but if I'm making a list of biggest gainers, he just isn't on it. I don't feel like a character with Charge/SS/EW should be using RCE especially when he has the same Charge range. Also you are acting like he's using all of them all the time which isn't the case unless he can get to 3. Also I don't think it's worth sacrificing the Alpha Strike, that might be the biggest thing.
So you're going to give me a free shot on your Stranger, and then just let me push the other Renegade for a Barrier? Uhm ok. Deal.
So you have to be within outwit range... so I outwit your TK as you can do nothing but just move there...
So I outwit your Barrier... it drops immediately, I attack and then set up my Barrier. Again, I'll take it!

So Stranger phases over two squares, carrying a Renegade, and the other one sets up the Barrier again.... Two Superman, maybe but I wouldn't be worried about that team very much. Mainly because it can break the barrier and KO a Renegade but can't handle the retaliation.
This is true. I'm fine with him basing Leech. He moves next to Leech. Leech gets TK'd away, Magog moves in and attacks. Ziran bases Leach, Tk Leach (heck 50% chance of him just walking away) rinse repeat. It won't last forever but I don't need forever and once he is on 3 damage he can't hurt Magog with Multi-attack.

When the Full Gauntlet is out I'll reconsider him with the Full Gauntlet, but I just think he's too soft, he needs to hit first, that's his whole shtick imo.
I 100% agree, Magog isn't my top choice for taking out Ziran. I was merely pointing out that him vs Ziran isn't the "auto-loss" you were making it sound like, far from it. But that's also part of the point, even a match-up I wouldn't want Magog can still win.

RCE is extremely useful for hitting figures you cant charge for whatever reason, on elevation, not a good idea etc...Also, pointing out that every single gem is extremely useful to Magog is hardly arguing as if he is using them all at once. They are each individually extremely useful to Magog, and even more importantly, the Power Cosmic the full IG gives is the most important, making him outwit immune and able to freely push.

Nope, no free shot. Re-read what I said, move my stranger within 8 of your clear barrier fig but not within 8 of your stranger, meaning your stranger cannot shoot mine but I can shoot your barrier fig. Also, it is certainly possible to place where Cosmo can have LoF to a barrier but place my Stranger between Cosmo and your stranger and become colossal so you cant outwit Cosmo since colossals cannot see over colossals.

Can't push to barrier, renegade only has 1 click of it, it would immediately drop.

Supes wouldn't need to worry about retaliation. Move both supes within 8 of a barrier, preferably out of LoS of stranger if possible. Next turn, run in 4, shoot a barrier in front of a renegade, run out 5. Either just outwit barrier at that point or kill that renegade using the other Superman. No possibility of retal unless Stranger took some form of move and attack and that point the barrier strat is over.

Well if you leave a place that leech can be based after turn 1, I activate multiattack, run in and base, and then swing at you as a free action. Bye leech. So, like I said, you have to immediately get him within 6 of Ziran to prevent the multiattack from ever happening, and he has to be in stealth. Not impossible, but also not easy.

Agreed he is a very offensive piece, but when you consider his weaknesses, every gem of the gauntlet helps round them out. The gauntlet makes it so he can wade into battle and have multiple lines of defense. Soul gem lets him heal back up and synergizes SO well with his trait. Full gauntlet turns him into a 1 man wrecking machine