SOmething to consider in Gauntlet races is the durability of the weilder. Some of these short dials will be big liabilities in dual-gauntlet fights.

Another reason I like Lobo with it.

Abin Sur 50
Tomar Re 80
Sargon the Sorcerer 57
Ice 47
Klaw 60

Barrier love team with +2 to map roll. Klaw, Ice and Tomar can drill with their reach, Sargon can possibly swap E1's starting Heavy for some good old Gold Kryptonite (if you go against that flash-strike) and gives Mystic to Klaw with possible PC and perplex. Ice can even freeze someone like Magog or E1 Supes.

Abin Sur does a nice job of carting the non-Tomar's around if worse comes to worse.

Thoughts?

I'm wondering if the Utility Belt will be the ultimate Silver Bullet Resource dial?

One thing I've been thinking of, and I'm not sure if it's been said:

Larfleeze + full Gauntlet + Cypher

What does Larfleeze get with a full gauntlet?

Protection from outwit and willpower! The two things that he pretty much needs to be any credible threat.
Power Gem brings his damage to a 5 (helps since this can be used with the orange constructs). Soul Gem gets some usage in too.
+2 from space Gem helps him run away.
Reality and Time help out in evasion.


But if the name of the game is seeing who can keep away and 'spin the fist', Larfleeze is the perfect passive-aggressive coward to do it.

The thing about Larfleeze, in my experience, is that it's really easy to just beeline for him and mess him up. True, the full IG will help him a lot, but I still think he needs someone to tank for him, which is hard to get in 48 points.

This is really intriguing, though I don't think it will perform well on the 'big stage'. I think it could do very well locally, however, and it sound slike great fun to play.

is there a possibility of the gauntlet being nerfed eventually when all gems are available? Maybe they can have teams that both have gauntlets fight for them in the middle of the map! LOL.

My take on the gauntlet is that it will polarize gameplay to tentpoling more than ever now. It's not really as bad since the choices for tents are pratically inumerable. I really like the MOE hype.

Zemo
Earth Man+IG

If you can find a way to hide until your gauntlet kicks in, you should be able to outspin majority of your opponents with MOE. Earth Man is pretty meta against Cosmic keyword. That's a good chunk of characters who are good candidates for IG including Imperiex who gets mentioned a lot here for some reason. Shutting down their Standard Speed Powers takes out HSS from the gauntlet once you both get to full which will probably happen eventually. The negative modifier on defense stacks with the boost from IG so hitting any cosmic figure should be pretty cake.

edit: assuming everyone rolls the same, both of you should get to special 3 after 7 actions which MOE can achieve in 7 turns instead of 10 with everyone else. Zemo also has Leadership top-dial so he can actually take extra tokens off about a third of those 6 turns after your first which means Earth Man should be taking about 1 or 2 damage from MOE on average after 7 turns to power up.

sm023 E Earth Man
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Range: 6
Points: 98
Keywords: Future, Green Lantern Corps, Legion of Super Heroes, Legion of Super Villains

9 10 18 3

8 10 17 3

8 9 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Attack) Absorbancy: Give Earth Man a free action and choose a standard Attack power that an adjacent character can use. Until your next turn, he can use that power.

(Damage) No Place to Hide, Alien!: Opposing characters with the Cosmic keyword can't be given power actions to use standard Speed powers. Those characters modify their defense values by -2 when attacked by Earth Man.


ca054 V Baron Zemo
Team: Master of Evil
Range: 6
Points: 150
Keywords: Masters of Evil, Past, Scientist, Soldier

8 11 17 3

8 10 16 3

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 17 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 17 2

5 10 16 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Master of the Masters: Whenever a friendly character uses the Masters of Evil team ability, roll a d6 that can't be re-rolled. On a 4-6, that team ability does not deal 1 unavoidable damage for this action.

GG Dr. Strange
+Gauntlet 40
13 GG014A Astral Dr. Strange
13 GG014A Astral Dr. Strange
13 GG014A Astral Dr. Strange
13 GG014A Astral Dr. Strange

Pretty good team i think. The astral forms provides map control and can basically get a first shot on just about every character in the game.

They also provide your opponent a great way to score points and a 50% chance to put tokens on Dr. Strange without ever having to attack him directly.

Hmm. What about White Lantern Sinestro + Full Gauntlet.

Sure having all the gems isn't much a big deal, but giving him an extra +2 for his running shot + SS + Prob (especially on those LIVE! clicks).
He's tough to take out as is.

And what about Blob? IF you need a figure that can't be OHKOed, give him full Gauntlet and he's not going away any time soon.

Blob was my first thought, as well, but while he will likely still be standing when the game is over, you'll probably still have lost the game. His ATK values are crap, his speed is crap, his range is non-existent, his AC is crap, and his damage output is laughable. Basically any other gauntlet wielder will easily outpace, out-range, out-move, out-position, and outclass him in singularly every aspect. He's too slow to move around the board (even if you do give him hypersonic and his gauntlet shows "3"). He can't be taxi'd at all, either. Basically, you play Blob and you're just putting bullseyes on the heads of all your other characters, because Blob isn't anything close to a threat, himself, and isn't worth trying to kill in the allotted time-frame.

Which while not a problem now that he has willpower, will be a problem in spinning the gauntlet since he'll spend most of the time clearing every time he loses an astral projection or two.

I'm not sure what Leech and Harry Leland have to do with the capture ability, but in terms of removing Kid Zoom...

Both Harry Leland and Star Boy have the same trait:

MASS INCREASE: Opposing characters within 4 squares of XXXXXXX can't be given actions to use Charge, Running Shot, or Hypersonic Speed and halve their speed values when given a move action.

I've always felt Mass Increase was a better ability than Kid Zoom's "Stop" because:

1.) It's a trait, so Outwit is not a cure.
2.) The only real "cure" is to move away from the figure with the AoE and
3.) not only does Mass Increase negate move and attack, but it restricts actual movement as well making it harder for someone to do #2.
4.) the trait stacks with other traits.

My problem with Nightcrawler has mostly revolved around his ability to ignore all terrain features and characters for movement. Outwit the HSS and he can still just walk through a wall away from your anti-stealth OW figure. But with Mass Increase in play...

Consider when your movement is cut in half, you've got a huge issue but you can manage. When it is cut down to 1/4, then you're in real trouble. Nightcrawler drops from an impressive 7 down to a meager 4, putting the "crawl" back in his name.

The key is filling out the rest of a team to take advantage of limited movement. In any event, back to the OP I quoted: is Leech viable?

I think you have to find the perfect build for Leech, one that doesn't shoot yourself in the foot with him. In my own experience, I've been frustrated by the little guy, but he can't ever seem to run/be carried/teleport evacuation away from me before I can push to KO him. And I will push to KO him. And he will be KO'd with only 3 clicks.

The problem with Leech is the big target on his back. Now, in a perfect setting, on the perfect map (lots of blocking) with the proper backup, he might do well. This involves blocking LoF to the li'l guy at almost all times. But for my money Harry Leland is the cheapest alternative, with the deepest dial.

A quick comparison with Star Boy:

Star Boy can use TK, is a Wild Card, and has some limited use as a taxi/dual incapper. Star Boy's ESD gives him a better defense at range, and he has better damage values (more 2's than Harry).

Harry Leland has a better overall defense - you can't Outwit raw numbers. Harry's damage is less, and his range is less - Incap is reduced to a 4, but if he hits, he practically locks a target in place. Harry has Plasticity which almost always makes him a force to be dealt with, if he chooses to get into base contact.

The biggest factor, aside from price, that sets Harry apart from Star Boy is that Harry can be carried. Star Boy's effective swing is 4+ his speed value, and it will never change in a round where he's not TK'd or placed via some other means.

Harry can be picked up by a figure like GSX Angel and taken across the board with a 16+ swing on that power. If need be, Harry can then chase someone down on his own, seeing as how he won't have tokens from being carried. Star Boy doesn't have the luxury of being passed around by fliers and will always have mobility issues because he can't be carried.

That's my take on the "Mass Increase" anyway. Both Star Boy and Leland are better than Leech, though I do think Leech has a place, it is just too hard to work around Leech currently.

I forgot about about that trait on the Astral Projections. Also another thing I forgot was that the Concentrate on an Astral Projection SP isn't even top-dial.

What about Duos?


gx055 E Cable / Deadpool
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 247
Keywords: Six Pack, Soldier, Weapon X, X-Force

10 11 18 4

10 11 17 3

11 10 18 4

9 10 17 4

9 9 16 3

9 9 16 3

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Four Guns are better than Two...Giant Shoulder Pad: Cable / Deadpool can use the Sharpshooter ability. They can make ranged attacks against non-adjacent targets when they are adjacent to an opposing character.

(Speed) I Hope This Is 'Good' Kind Of Alternate Universe: Cable / Deadpool can use Phasing/Teleport. When Cable / Deadpool uses Phasing/Teleport, roll a d6 that can't be rerolled. If you roll a 1-3, opposing characters modify their defense values by +1 this turn. If you roll a 4-6, opposing characters modify their defense values by -1 this turn.

(Attack) Don't Screw Everything Up Like Usual: If Cable / Deadpool use Phasing/Teleport when they have no action tokens, after actions resolve they can use the duo attack ability as a free action.

(Damage) Choose Me! I'm Way Cooler: (non-optional) Once per game when this power is first revealed, choose Cable or Deadpool and this character has "standard attack symbol". If you chose Cable, this character can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Telekinesis and modifies his damage value by +2. If you chose Deadpool, this character can use Perplex and Regeneration and modifies his attack value by +2. This power can't be countered.


gx056 E Colossus / Wolverine
Team: X-Men
Range: 0
Points: 190
Keywords: Armor, X-Men, Warrior

10 11 18 4

9 11 17 3

9 10 17 3

8 10 17 2

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

8 9 16 3

7 10 16 3

7 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Fastball Special: Give Colossus / Wolverine a ranged combat action as if they have a range value of 8. If that attack hits, after actions resolve you may place Colossus / Wolverine adjacent to the target character and then give them a close combat action as a free action, modifying their damage value by +1 for that attack.

(Defense) Which One'll It Be, Bub?: At the beginning of your turn, choose one: Heal Colossus / Wolverine of one damage, or Colossus / Wolverine can use Invulnerability until your next turn.

Duo attack can really benefit from the IG modifers. Fastball Special seems pretty good with IG too.

I love that Gauntlet.

Sooooo many figures that were previously "just for fun" can come out and play in competitive games now.