I was wondering if any people who have done some play-testing or seen a fair share of games already would be interested in sharing some of the more powerful current modern age team builds, archetypes, or combos?

I know a lot of people hate having this discussion because they feel power team builds inspire too much cookie-cutter team building and take fun out of the game but this IS a competitive game and a HUGE community of players and resources. So if anybody is willing to open up that discussion it would be cool if we could get a thread going collecting this information for the more bloodthirsty and competitive crowd.

done a ton of testing and i started quite a few threads about the modern meta teams but i will post a few i have seen do quite well

sc batman
edward nigma
gcd

2 cap
2 scarlet witch
3 gcd

zoom
chief
lyssa drak
scarlet witch

metron
scarlet witch
alfred
marvel girl

2 thing
2 lightspeed
si spiderman

2 jason blood
dr strange
wiccan

cap
namor
scarlet witch
gee

I haven't gotten to do any playtesting yet, just alot of theory-crafting. So far I think the list that Blitzkriegpop posted is the going list that we've come to find here on the realms. I'm sure there are others out there that haven't come to light yet.

One that I saw in another thread is CR Spectre. He is a beast to take down and with Quintessance, he's safe from being outwitted. Not sure that I think he can handle the Valkyrie or Cap teams as they are more mobile and able to hit him from range first. I think Metron might be the Quint piece in the meta right now.

2x Lightspeed
1 Namor
1 Lyssa Drak
1 G.C. Det.

Well, at the moment I have built 24 Modern Age teams that I feel are pretty good. A few I took from some threads around here, like the BA/Shazam, Despero, Drak team, absolutely brilliant. Most I built myself. I am just starting to PT them, when I do I will definitely share what I have learned. So for teams at this second, I don't have a much to contribute.

As for archetypes, I think that as most people expected, we will see a rise in Stealth and Outwit once again. Likewise we will therefore see a rise in Stealth-busting and Outwit proof teams. It's hard to predict too much because we haven't actually entered the modern age yet. We have seen all the figures that will make up the format, but we haven't seen the Erratas and clarifications concerning ATA's and objects. That alone will make a huge difference. If for example the Fantastic Four ATA remains legal, cheap, and copy-able by wildcards then we expect to see a whole lot of FF/WC teams. Especially when one considers the Replace then Modify rule. Likewise if GoG remains about the same then we have a nice solid solution to the problem of your opponents Outwit. And we can expect to see Rocket Raccoon as a WC staple. We may however see some fairly serious errata.

As far as combos, I haven't seen a whole lot of them, but the few I have have impressed the hell out of me. The best combo so far? Inertia and Inertia, and maybe some Inertia. Watching your move values go from 8 to 1 is aggravating. Having it done on a map like Arkham where you can't see your opponents guys and are almost completely unable to do anything is rage inducing. Not since SIF have we seen something that can sometimes literally give your opponent no chance at all to win. I have yet to find that perfect team with Inertria (Although I have a few real good ones, and someone sometime will find it), but just his existence will change how people build their teams for tourneys.

I hope to see this thread keep going and will do my best to help it along.


Cheers,
Jon Id Schultz

mr. schultz please post some of these 24 teams so we can compare and prepare as a community and as for despero, shazam&black adam, lyssa drak can see that being pretty good . esspecially using desperos pull power to put them adjacent to shazam and they use the duo attack for possible 9 clix without an object ! amazing ! the only thing that worrys me is the soft defence of the whole team and may get picked off on an open map

This thread has taken off a lot more than I expected it to and a lot of the information is really helpful to give me (and I hope others) a good starting point. Thanks guys!

no problem at all thats what we should do as a community is share and expand knowledge and back to a topic jon brought up 2 inertias could acctually kill alot of teams on the right map (arkham ) making map choice important so we are looking for a good bruser with the future keyword for theme only problem ....there isnt one. main problem is lack of damage dealing so points will have to be spent for a high damage character that is affordable enough(shazam & black adam and ms. skrullvell come to mind ) it will break theme but it would be worth it imo

I'm putting a little more stock into Black Flash as it's a COMPLETELY anti-anti HSS piece.

You can also gank off a support piece or 2, fall back and force the opponent to come after you. Total A-hole move, but he kicks the nuts off Inertia and Zoom

the only problem is that he takes up half a team and can't get through Invuln/Inperv

or Lightspeed + Ulik (have Flash kick the EW figures arses)

I'm liking it a bit better than double Impossible Man right now.

Black Flash - 150
Ulik - 118
Lightspeed - 25
Lila Cheney - 6/Indigo Lantern - 5

The reason I love the Despero/Shazam/Drak team is because it does give Shazam/BA a legitimate chance at a KO before they get outwitted or knocked off HS. I don't think it's the best team in the world by any stretch, but is absolutely a blast to play.

Teams? Sure. Here are some of the ones I haven't seen mentioned in other threads. I did make the 14-16 "original" teams in about an hour total. So they may obviously require some tweaking, which is part of the reason for me PT'ing them. Any comments, criticisms or suggestions are also welcome.

1)
KC Superman 238
Dr. Alchemy 62
A basic team. However it can be brutally effective, especially on the right map. One can't be afraid to push Superman though. Alchemy's Barrier can be invaluable in out-positioning your opponent for that first crucial tk-charge.

2)
Wizard Shazam 183
Dawnstar 60
Harbringer 50
Yellow Lantern 5
=298
Wizard Shazam is at a huge deficit without any move and attack up front. Enter Harbinger. Move her, next turn push to swap with Shazam and now she has PC for you too. I originally added a TK'er but found the 90pt expenditure for support pieces too much. If you move up Harbinger all the way, and Shazam all the way, then next turn Shazam will be able to see the back of the opponents starting area. Lantern is for a +1 attack which helps Shazam a lot.

3)Skrull Ms Marvel 168
Talia 86
Checkmate Knight White 29
Amadeus Cho 10
Val Cooper 7
=300
Spy theme team. A lot of people tout Talia as the Ms. Marvel killer, I see her as Ms. Marvel's assistant. Double stealthed outwit, HS, PB with an Enhancer and ability to pull out a 3rd outwit. Not to mention plenty of MM fodder for Talia. What more can you ask for?

4)Zoom 130
Chief 63
Lyssa Drak 72
Howard The Duck 35
= 300
I have played this time for a long time now. I have seen others do similar builds with Scarlet Witch in the last spot. However as attractive as Barrier is it isn't as effective as this to me. The 5 damage flurry of Zoom is a lot more potent than 4 damage flurry. I know, you're saying "by 1 damage twice." Yes and no. Let's ook at Namor, a 4 damage attack -2 for Inv, he takes 2. Still has Inv, so another 2. He took 4 damage. With 5 damage it gets reduced to 3, now toughness so 4. That's 7 damage he took vs 4. Herc is the same way. A lot of characters become a lot less lethal after a flurry for 5, whereas after a flurry of 4 each, they are still deadly. Look at KC Superman and Metron for the best examples.

5)
Immortus 157
Danger 124
Amazon... 19
= 300
Not the best team, but always interesting. Before Inertia this team was the closest one could come to a real lock on the opponent. Opponent can't modify stats within 10 of Danger's LOF, nor PC if Immortus can see them. Also, they both pack PC, great if one gets onto Regen. Does great against teams like Impossible Man (no outwit on Danger, sorry), and Cap/GCPD teams. As Cap is back to 10 attack, 3 damage, and 18 defense.

6)3x Inertia 198
2x Thunderer of Qward 100
I wanted something with an ok range that could do penetrating damage. A good defense at range is also key. Qward was a natural fit.

7) Ultimate Iron Man 154
Edward Nigma 60
Talia 86
= 300
I needed a team for Nigma. I wanted to maximize the efficiency so I wanted someone who doesn't already have Ind. Also my main thought here was someone who can hit Ms. Marvel. Then I remembered Ult Thor, whom I haven't used since Avenger's Sealed decks. So really we just have your basic Anti-Stealth team.

8)Skrull Ms. Marvel 168
Inertia x2 132
=300

Ms. Marvel is always scary. I decided the Qwards were good, but maybe something was better. Ultimately you want someone that can't be shot from range, but has the option of either making a CC attack or Ranged as were are seeing a lot of high defenses with ESD or CR. So you don't want to be tied into needing a 10+ all the time to hit. Also Inertia is hampered a bit by Kid Zoom, so someone with Outwit or the ability to just hit him with a heavy for a KO was another consideration. Enter Ms. Marvel.

There are more, these look to be the best of the bunch (of the ones I built) on paper though. A lot of other good teams I stole as well, like the Capx2, GCPDx3, SWx2 team and Spectre/Gee/Mercury etc... those can all be found in the 300pt Modern Age front runner thread. Anyway, I am going to continue to PT and let you guys my results.

Cheers,
Jon Id Schultz

That is exactly the problem too. The best I can come up with is Future Batman, as with outwit, perplex and an object he can do some damage. However we run into a huge problem with him...
Inertia x3 198
Batman 64
= 262
So all we need is a 38 point future character... anyone? Yeah, me either. I suppose until the May 12th we could use Shrinking Violet. For more kick you can drop another Inertia for another Batman, giving us 40 points instead of 30 to find a future character ... ::crickets chirp:: Yeah, none of them either. However someday there will be such a character, or a 100ish point future character with some zing (Young Superman/Shazam'ish) and then Inertia will be an even bigger thorn. Because let's face it, you don't want to field a team with Tharok or Abra Kadabra as your heavy hitter (the only two legal future characters with even perplex to help out the Inertia's break through Imp/Inv.)

Cheers,
Jon Id Schultz

There's nothing in 300 point modern age for a future keyword theme team that would work well with multiple Inertia. I've gone over it again and again and it just doesn't work out really. If feats were legal it would be ridiculous.

Batman and Karate Kid offer good choices to break damage reducers. I just don't see a theme team with multiple Inertias going very far in high level tourneys. Non-theme teams are a different story. He's the best fig in BATB.

I'm not sure why you would want 3 Inertia. You are better off going with 2 Inertia and 2 Batman or Batman and Karate Kid. But it's still too short on points to work out.

A small update, I have a bracket going with the first round completed. Matches are 2 out of 3, first game on AA map, second on Great Arena, third, if needed, goes to the team that wins the map roll's advantage. 24 teams set up in a bracket. I am going to finish the tourney single elimination style to see how it plays out. Then I may re-introduce some of the teams I really like that already got knocked out (like the 2 x Inertia and Skrull Ms. Marvel team).

Anyway though, a few noteworthy things I have noticed. Impossible Man has not fared well. I picked up a few from my local store as I too was convinced in his viability. After all, between Super Senses, Shape Change and PC the opponent should fail to hurt him over 2/3's of the time. Unfortunately it really doesn't work out like that. Against a brick like KC Superman or Namor you have multiple Impossible Men trying to poison him to death. Unfortunately you need to use your outwit against him, and can easily have your Special Power, or SS outwitted. Also with a 12/11 attack to start and another target if you get your Shape Change you are left really hoping for some super hot dice rolls, or else it is over very, very quickly.

Another top seed to go down quickly was the 2x Cap, 2x Scarlet Witch, 3x GCPD team. Against any team with capable close combat characters it becomes a game of seeing if you can break away. If not you lose. Shootouts against a Danger team also seem hazardous to it.

Cheers,
Jon Id Schultz

i completely agree about impossible man he is just to easy to hit and hot dice are not my thing lol and you are right about the cap team and i beat it in the very same way