Yes I agree with the JSA being nerfed for a WC.. That's mostly why I didn't really consider the sharing of values to much. Defensively Batman ally is going to often be the choice. While combat values can certainly be shared for attack purposes, Lighting Lad's 10 attack isn't horrible to start.

It stinks that wildcards went from being the most interesting and annoying pieces in the game to just falling into the herd. I certainly don't feel wildcard abuse was any worse than LAMP or those HSS attacks..

Just a different strategy.

Although like I've seen before it's entirely possible that when the game was designed wildcards were never intended to switch every action or whatever.

Of my top Wildcards of his point value I'd place these guys above him, just in my opinion of course:
SI - Iron Fist
SI - Spiderman
E-Spider-Girl
V-Ironfist
ULtimate Veteran Spidey
REV - Taskmaster
V-Spiral

REV-Jinx
E-Dawnstar
E-Karate Kid

LE - Positron

Top 5 of ALL wildcards? I don't know. But top 5 of DC perhaps.. Still there's no denying that the new Lightning Lad does have the makings of a great Wildcard piece.. But I still stick by my "solid" review since the changes that have come to wildcards.

I'm liking the review, a bit sad Garth didn't make the cut...but oh well. He's like Irene Adler, Great trade fodder no as useful as his rookie.

One of the best things with the rookie was the obvious Mystics abuse the 22pt WC can bring. Paired with Loyalty it's pretty brutal in high point games.

I've run a few LoSH teams even before the Starter set came out, even made Team of the Week with it. They worked out fairly well and even using only the LoSH figs Livewire was useful.

His new figure is brutal when paired with Exp Ult Hawkeye. After all you now have 130pts of anti-Stealth that can hurt your main guy. Now you need to shift focus to those two or they'll take you down just as easy as that KC Flash, Black Adam, Ms. Skrull-Vell...or what-not.

Drop a Protected on each one and it's down-right frustrating.

I will normally pass on the newest Livewire due to having to play against him on almost a weekly basis. Mainly because one of our players brings the same team almost every week. So unless I'm playing strictly LoSH I will pass on this version.

I loved the Garth Ranzz LE. A R+ fig that actually improved on the R but still cheaper than the E. He made so many teams of mine (with a Batman enemy to bring up his AV).

That is a great list of WC. I also agree with you that alot of those guys are better figures then LL at what they do, but none of them can do what he does. With the exception of a few on your list they all fill the same role. If you added him to your list and wanted a decent tie up piece that could dish out some damage to he would not stand out, but if you were looking for a mobile ranged attacker he would jump to the top of the list. I guess his range and double target versatility is what really separates him from every other WC brawler.

I forgot to mention this in my first post, but i really enjoy all of your reviews.

Positron? Ok I am officially done with this thread.

Bingo. What took the wind out of the sails of this old school nasty was a rule change, not any problems with how the figure was originally designed. Well, apart from being a blatantly unoriginal "phone it in" design job.

The rookie, and equally the LE, were textbook examples of dirt cheap wild card abuse. They were figures you loathed facing as they would invariably cause far more damage and hassle than the 22 points you'd gain from KOing them would justify. They *weren't* figures you laughed at your opponent for wasting easy KO points on.

This figure isn't just wildcard abuse, its keyword abuse. Specifically future and (mostly) teen. With Warbound. Carting along his little Batman team ability meat shield to both cover his flank and take the action burden, making Running pot Shots *every single turn*. It ain't broken, but anyone claiming it isn't effective either hasn't dealt with it or someone wasn't playing it right.

Actually Batman and PD were nastier. A short gunline of 3-4 Live Wires boosted to a 22 point respectable 9/10 attack, all providing stealth cover to the remaining 2/3 of your team. Ignore the gunline, or underestimate its chances of hitting, at your peril. Engage it and find your self in a quagmire for little point gain while the rest of your opponent's team goes to work.

Again, not being able to range attack (IMO a welcome change overall) was the only thing really nailing this figure's utility. If not for that, I've no doubt that an unretired retread of this figure would be as common on tournament teams today as this figure was in the old days.

You will be missed

Exactly.. If this review was written prior to rule changes you'd probably see much better remarks. But since the days of CJ the rules have changes so much that 90% of his utility is lost.. There's so many pieces since his day in a comparable point value that even without a wildcard TA will make your opponent squirm so much worse..

Positron looks like an okay figure, but what gives him more wildcard abuse-abilty than Lightning Lad?

It's my opinion that he's better because, he's got better values down the dial which mean she doesn't neccissarily need to be supported with a JSA/Defenders/Batman Enemy/Sinister Syndicate, etc piece.

Longer Dial

The defend makes him able to abuse a GL corp with some interesting results..

Once again.. Just one man's opinion here..

That doesn't at all support him as a better candidate for wildcard abuse. Just the opposite in fact.

It is an argument for him being a better over-all piece, but not for him being more wildcardable, which was the debated point.
(although I'd still generally go with LL for the longer range, extra target, and lower cost)

I remember when a sharable 17 defense was pretty awesome. Vet Dr. Fate used to be a head-ache for some. Now-a-days whens when even cheap generics like the Gotham Detective get 17 defense all on their own it isn't much to brag about. However, it's not nothing and I conceed the point that it does make Positron a better candidate for borrowing the GL TA than Lightning Lad.

I was just curious as to your reasoning.

No biggie.
To me the standard behind wild card abuse is a lot different than it was 2 years ago. Since we can only make use of 1 Ta per action now it (at least to me) means a wild card piece needs to be a bit more self sufficient so the things it can do with the wildcard are bonuses.

Back in the day where we could share ATA's and such I'd totally agree that LL is better.

I mean he was part of the FF right?
The problem is, the game did change, and the one mighty Wildcard pieces just don't hold up as well as they used to, and wildcard abuse by the new rules is just about gone anymore.

Considering Cramcompany used Lightning Lad in his competitive world's teams i would give that fig major props.

I've never played what I really consider to be a "wildcard abuse team". but then I've never owned a copy of the Alt FF card either.
However, I have played teams that take advantage of wildcards. I won a tournament last month with a BPRD-centered team and see Lightning Lad copying the Superman TA on a regular basis.
Wildcard-"abuse" is still viable, it's just not as borderline broken as it used to be.

Although I do still wish that at least some ATAs were copiable. Most of them were not that bad. I think that alt FF and Thunderbolts were the only two real problems there. Sorta ironic that the rules change happened well after both were retired anyway.

Lightning Lad is a TOP TIER figure, no two ways about it.

Even without Wild Card abuse, this figure has natural 3 damage at 10-range+ Running Shot...which means he can likely destroy any special object placed by opponents...all he needs is LoF.

His damage output is quite respectable, and at 70-points, he is relatively inexpensive for that range, that damage and that attack value. Sure he is hurt by stealth, but you CAN use the WC TA to beat stealth if you want, without having to rely on something like Mercenary or Trick Shot (or Bright Lights, Disbanded, etc.)

One of the last times I used Starter Lightning Lad, I simply had him able to copy Batman Ally...this didn't help bust stealth, but it allowed me to base opponents with him before he could get sniped!

Nobody has really mentioned that he's sporting the "Teen" keyword, and that given his sub-100 point cost, he's very ripe for "keyword abuse" coupled with his potential for TA abuse.