The biggest problem i had with the JLA team was a lack of a good 6 drop. Batman has no flight or range and you must power character up BEFORE you negate PT. So nth metals don't even help with that since your opponent can just wait for it to resolve before playing effects.

I'm also not too impressed with their 7 drops either. Aquaman(no flight or range) doesn't really have alot to bring back most of the time and Wonderwoman conflicts with Batman the same way nth metal does. Also if i'm using Bat and Supes then if i get to 8drop martian manhunter he's also less then impressive with no other willpower in play.

It seams like JLAs late game is just a mess where their early game is incredible. I ultimately scraped the late game JLA for the late game GL which is now WAY better. Green Arrow/Martian Manunter on 5, Sinestro on 6, Guy Gardner on 7 and god forbid Mogo on 8. Can make good use of Satellite HQ and Oa. Guardians reborn and Wall of will aren't bad... need to spend some time playing with teleport tube.

Well, from what i've been experiencing (and my 'clear the field' comment was aimed strictly at the JLA as a mono team) is total clearance on turns 4 and 5, with me losing nothing of importance due to Disband the League, and turn 6 Batman coming out and ending the game.

I know it won't last, but i haven't gotten past turn 6 yet and haven't even USED a Glass Jaw yet!

Ally can be good, I played a sealed with Blue Beetle, who fetched me Booster Gold on 1 and then Nth metal for him on 2, THen played Scott Free Mr Miracle.

Whenever Booster attacked or defended he got +1 Def from his ability, a power up, and was invulnerable.

poor cosmic.. i gotta defend it cuz it is unpopular, and i like playing devils advocate.

comsic is a good idea intheory, a way to give incredibly powerful effects, costed with a oft-times one-shot use, the porblem is that that there are very few comsic effects that actually are powerful enough to warrant such a restrictive handicap.

i think we may see cosmic done right in the heralds of galactus set.

Hawkman alone does wonders to the viability of the Ally deck.

Hal Jordan isn't as bad as a lot of people think, as he opens the way up for some decent amount of break through on your opponent.

They still haven't got cosmic right. Look at powergirl from JLI. Rare* 14/14 while protecting a character, after she is stunned she just becomes a 12/12 flyer.

I'm sorry but thats just a big *yawn* for me. If i'm going to have an ability i lose at first stun i want it to be damn near awesome for the one turn in which i have it. Not a lousy +2+2 and afterwards they become average. They need to give good characters a cosmic ability. Not have a character be good entirely based on his cosmic ability.

Zauriel= Good
Powergirl = bad
Wonderwoman = sorta good (8/7 flight with willpower)
Valkyra = bad

Basically they still need to be useful once they lose their counter. They need to be a GREAT character with cosmic and then a good character without it. Not a good character with it and an average one without it.

Its a strong clever mechanic that just hasn't been done well at all with the exception of a few.

Valkyra's can afford to be a little less impressive, given that the New Gods can slap the counters back on with some regularity. She also rewards playing other Cosmic characters, like Power Girl, for example.

Power Girl's pump isn't big in a vacuum. However, when you take into account her team's little bomb, Running Interference, you realize that she can force a hard decision. If you fly over her, RI can completely stop your attack. If you just fight her first, you're still going to burn an attack pump to hit her, and she'll be within a power-up of stunning your character, even with the use of a trick like CDtL or the like. She's not amazing, but the JLI can't have Tasmanian Devils, Martian Manhunters, and Rocket Red #4s at every drop in the curve.

Ally is basically trading cards in hand for pseudo plot twist effect, the only problem however, is that it is a combat based ability, therefore theres no way a dedicated JLA deck can deal with control decks.

Yeah orryst is correct the biggest problem with ally has always been the combat only timing. Its other problem is that (apart from the hawks) there really isnt any great synergy between ally effects. Even if there was you would require a strong board position to get any impressive chains resolving.

I think the Cosmic effects in DSM aren't "cosmic" enough. I mean, the whole idea was to represent a character of immense power in the game. I think the abilities granted by some cosmic counters were pretty weak IMHO, and didn't fully express how powerful the characters were.

I like the "stun a character and remove the Cosmic counter" mechanic. That balances the game.

Hopefully Galactus and his stable of interstellar weirdos will get it right.

Synth

I think Cosmic's greatest crime is that it really soured ther invulnerability mechanic. Invulnerability is pretty damm good but when its cosmiced it just seems pretty weak.

Give it some time... I think that Ally may be best exploited with the use of some older teams...(Titans).

Team attack with my 5 guys, New Teen Titans, recur that, New Teen Titans again, Fire says take 20. Tamaran...Garth...TTG...Could be good...

And of course, BHood is obvious as well...

Fire people.... its all about Fire.

Ally Is good look at this for Synergy:

Faith
Hawkwoman
Hawkman
Firestrom

You power Up Once, PAy 2 End to draw a Card and pull A nother Hawkman from your Deck to power Up again. because of Firestorm Your Dont loose Hand Size, you get +3 attack while only loosing 2 End. With Firestorm milling through your deck you are more liekly to find your Other POwer up effects and More Importantly a Blindsided. Just something to Throw out there.

Also Zantanna + John Stewart Is soooo good.

John stewart also Helps flash by allowing you to play Battle Of wills.

Ally and Lost City doesn't work if that's what you're suggesting. Lost City replaces the power-up so the Ally effect never triggers. If you're suggesting effects like Nth Metal then that's different but it's not related to the Ally mechanic.