I dunno, but is it me or is it we're seeing a lot more concealed then evasion by a large margin?

I agree. A Civil War set would have been good for casual sales. And imagine if they had '300' starters the last 2 or 3 weeks (just make them all 'Human - Physical').

Ha... I finally thought of a good 4th trait:

Element or Elemental (but too close to Mental)

You could put some of the water guys in there.

But how would one classify Superman?

Alien - Energy (since his power is derived from the sun)

or

Alien - Energy / Physical

Ack. Problems already.

That's where the 'multiple traits per character' idea would come into play.

So they could actually out it as:

Alien, Physical, Energy, etc.

Concealed is better for two reasons:

1.) There are a lot more Concealed characters than there are Evasion characters. Concealed had good characters with it and interacting with it practically from the get-go: Elektra-3, Luke Cage 4, Daredevil-5. The introduction of Concealed-Optional only increased the trait's usefulness, and more and more characters got introduced with the trait, and the law of averages says the more Concealed characters there are, the more GOOD Concealed characters there are. Evasion, on the other hand, showed up in MSM, then basically did next to nothing other than the occasional guest appearance until MXM when they refeatured it with the Morlocks, and then it went on hiatus AGAIN until MTU, where it's only getting a partial refeature.

2.) Concealed and Evasion both do the same thing (keep your board integrity) except that Concealed does it better, because to attack a Concealed character you need an effect and to attack an Evasion character you just need to be able to attack and stuff.

Agreed.
Evasion is basically only better if you are dealing with direct stun abilities. Otherwise, concealed is almost always better.

Legend of the Five Rings does this for its trait system, although admittedly sometimes on the really major characters the list of traits gets redonkulous.

I think the goal is to keep it to as few traits as possible, though. Ideally you can do any character with three traits, tops: preferably one from category A (Type) and one to two from category B (Powers/Abilities).

So A would be

Human
Mutant
Metahuman
Alien
Magician
Spirit
Creature
Robot
Undead

That covers most of the bases. And B would be

Energy
Physical
Mental
Genius (for Batman, Iron Man, Brainiac 5, et cetera - Mental isn't quite right to describe them)
Master (the physical equivalent of Genius, for Shang-Chi, Batman (again), et cetera)

I'm pretty sure you can describe any character in comics with those traits.

EDIT TO ADD: The more I think about it, the more I firmly believe this is exactly what the game needs to provide continuity between sets.

CHDB: You nailed my point completely. Since concealed and evasion are fundamentally the same thing - except concealed is better most of the time - shouldn't we do away with this trait?

Personally, when I first learned this game I was so confused as to why you would ever evade a character.

Probably, yes. Evasion's major function is to give characters activated vengeance powers at this point. I think it can go the way of, say, banding in Magic.

I have to echo chdb's sentiments here. Ever since this thread went up, the concept has been growing on me non-stop.

I'm not for the elimination of ANY keywords. I do support, however, UDE using a "block" type release method that allows them to spread keywords and their mechanics across multiple sets ala Cosmic in MHG, LoS and MTU and Substitute in LoS, MTU (and hopefully, World's Finest).

I think comparing Evasion to Concealed is a bit off base outside of the "board advantage" arguement. Evasion provides a means to stunning your own characters for effect (be it a Vengence ability or for any PT, character or location-based modifier) that is rarely seen in the game outside of Chomin's ability.

Besides, I like my Morlocks, Spider Friends Evasion and Society/EmpJoker Mill deck and would like to see some support for them in the future.

So are character powers - such as Havok-4s - that are costed for "Stun this character -> Do something." There's no particular need for the Evasion keyword at all at this point; its original purpose (board integrity) has been almost completely made redundant by Concealed, and tacking on the additional plan of turning it into an ersatz payment power variant is just overly complex and unnecessary.

Evasion is more of a reset button than an actual board presence mechanic. The character is still stunned, but the result is different come recovery phase. Nasty/defense pumps are the usual suspects.

Complex? How so? We're talking about the oldest "add-on" mechanic in the game... one that never reeked of "complexity" until this particular discussion (could be wrong... you could link me to a previous discussion if so).

Again, the mechanic has a purpose. Calling for UDE to axe keywords and mechanics simply because a few people that are posting here do not utilize them is a bit overboard.

If you want to discuss a mechanic that could be better designed/redesigned or done away with, you should be talking about Leader.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch on the "reset" factor. Evasion is wonderful for making your opponent misplay effects and does screw with combat math... which is extremely helpful in some matchups. Also, it does provide a way to maintain board integrity against "unfair" effects like out-of-combat stuns.

Just as an example: the Justice League.

Superman: Alien-Physical-Energy.
Batman: Human-Genius-Master.
Wonder Woman: Magical-Physical-Mental.
Green Lantern: Human-Energy.
Flash: Metahuman-Physical.
Aquaman: Metahuman-Physical-Mental.
Martian Manhunter: Alien-Mental-Energy.

(I like "Magical" much better as a catchall for just about everything that's a demon or zombie or god, I've decided.)

Or, uh... the Mighty Avengers.

Iron Man: Human-Genius.
Ms. Marvel: Metahuman-Physical-Energy.
Wonder Man: Metahuman-Energy.
Black Widow: Human-Master.
Ares: Magical-Physical.
Wasp: Metahuman-Physical.
Sentry: Metahuman-Physical-Energy-Mental.

...hell, the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

Polar Boy: Alien-Energy.
Night Girl: Alien-Physical.
Fire Lad: Alien-Energy.
Color Kid: Alien-Energy.
Chlorophyll Kid: Metahuman-Energy-Mental.
Stone Boy: Alien-Physical.
Infectious Lass: Alien-Physical.
Porcupine Pete: Alien-Physical.