Understatted characters are almost *always* bad, because their conditional pumps aren't always going to happen unless they're exceptionally easy to make happen (see: Arsenal). And Hawkman is particularly understatted - he's not just a point of DEF or ATK lower than average, but 1 of ATK and 2 of DEF.

Barring a slate of effects at every drop that make his ability worthwhile, he's simply pretty bad all around.

Aw, give it a rest, chdb. You're swiftly becoming the new Fry. :ermm:

Hey, Fry spoke truth as often as not. Guess what - Carter Hall is a *bad card*, unless your entire deck is built to make him good. In which case you're probably playing a bad deck.

As for the rest of the previews thus far: Wildcat is a good card, verging on great. Zatanna is very solid. Phantom Stranger - apart from being the wrong team, STUPID STUPID UDE - is excellent. Dr. Psycho is interesting (but very risky to use indeed), and Check and Mate! is a lot better than people give it credit for (it's a great anti-swarm card). Deathstroke is probably going to be bad, and Superman is mediocre. So we've got an average slate of cards so far. Not bad, although not living up to the "this entire set is broken" hype we were getting.

Don't make me send you two to the corner!

Anyways, I'm going to take another stab at filling the empty slots for the JSA:

DCR-001.Al Pratt*Atom
DCR-002.Alan Scott
DCR-003.Albert Rothstein*Atom Smasher
DCR-004.Batman, Earth 2
DCR-005.Captain Marvel
DCR-006.Carter Hall*Hawkman, Eternal Champion

DCR-025. Ted Grant*Wildcat, Golden Age Pugilist
DCR-026. Ted Knight*Starman
DCR-027. The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero

Also, seeing as though the Earth 2 Supes' preview mentioned that Earth 2 would be a sub-team, I fully expect Huntress, Robin, and Wonder Woman to also appear with Bats in the set.

Carter Hall is eh, he is a 9/8 when he attacks though. It'll be interesting to see how he might work out with the rest of the jsa stuff. We cannot be fully descisive until we see all of their stuff cause they might be able to do some pretty interesting things with exhausted characters.

You'll look awful silly if he joins the JSA after Infinite Crisis, which is what Kergillian has hinted at (though is he one of the priviledged at UDE who gets to know secrets?).

Fair enough, but I've read the first two post-OYL issues of JSA so far (they're pretty bland), and he doesn't show up in them either. That having been said, who knows, they're fighting the Gentleman Ghost, and it would be very much Geoff Johns to say "hey, GHOST! PHANTOM! That's like the same thing! They should fight!"

I'm sure we'll get a good weasling out of...er, I mean explanation for it after the set comes out.

Except Geoff Johns isn't writing the current JSA story. :)

I know, but it would be a very him thing to do. Pulling forth one's inner Geoff Johns, if you will.

Though I refuse to believe - despite the credits :) - that Paul Levitz is writing it either. Paul's a fantastic writer and knowledgable in his DC characters so I'm sure it's not him who's mixing up the established backgrounds and characterizations of Dr. Mid-Nite (previously a devout Catholic who spent an entire story arc convincing Mr. Terrific of an afterlife) and Mr. Terrific (who outright refused to believe the Spectre - the entity involved with Terrific's "creation" even - was a "ghost" as it contradicted science). Bah...next thing we'll see the Phantom Stranger go from being an honourary JLA member to being put on a JSA card... :)

DCR-072 Conjuration

On Metagame

See, now THAT is a good card. I don't even have to speculate on the rest of the set and what good Shadowpact characters exist, because a turn 7 Dr. Fate is pure sexiness.

Conjuration may be one of the most interesting cards to be previewed in a long time. Just... wow!

You might be able to drop him on 5 or 6, with a little luck and some life gain. ;)