Ever face a figure or team you can't seem to take down? Then this is the series for you. We take a deeper look into those problematic pieces and Exploit their Weaknesses! In this edition, we look at a brand new, alternate universe Captain America!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this awesome figure and Exploit its Weaknesses.

Thanks for joining me in another installment of Exploiting Weaknesses! As with the other articles' precursors, Pulse Wave will not be discussed as it is almost always effective. If it isn't effective, I will point out why.

Here is the dial for reference.



Things that tell me I need to wear a flag more often:

- Long dial
- Super Leadership
- Great combat values and power combos
- Preparing for War Trait
- Mind Control and Knockback proof

Exploiting Steve's Weaknesses

Welcome to our discussion on one of our newest Con Exclusives! Talking with my fellow players this last weekend, this was one of the most anticipated figures this season. There are so many reason why this figure is excellent for its cheap 65 point cost. Let's dive right in!

6 clicks of life for only 65 points leaves us with 10.8 points per click which is just crazy! Compare that to the only other Cap at that point level at 13 points per click or even some of our 4 click friends (Dex-Starr!) coming in at 16.25 points per click, we can see that he is going to be very efficient. We combine that long dial with Indomitable and Energy Shield / Combat Reflexes so he can keep going and going. Trying to hit a 19 defense on a 65 point piece seems counter productive. However, when you see everything he does, you may have to bite the bullet and go after him. Outwit and Outsiders can take away those defensive buffs and help you out. Incap is another nice way to deal with the Indomitable. If he has already double tokened himself or he is planning on finishing off a figure next turn, you can slow him down by dealing the 1 penetrating damage or limit him from attacking respectively. Alternatively, he has exactly 3 clicks of ESD then 3 clicks of CR so you can go after him in close combat first and follow up with a ranged attack.

His awesome "The Leader We Need" ability allows him to take tokens off up to 150 points worth of character regardless of their actual point cost and adjacency. This is huge! An arguably support piece/tertiary attacker can now take tokens off my main attacker or keep my swarm team running? Yes please! There are so many possibilities for how this power can be used and you can't go wrong really. It doesn't say within range and/or line of fire so he can sit in you starting zone if you choose while everyone else goes out to do the dirty work. Regardless of how he is being used, if you get a chance to be near him you can use that handy Outwit to get rid of that power. 4 damage will also hit him right past it so you can try your hand at that as well. One thing that makes this power so good is also its weakness: it can't be the target of Probability Control. So by restricting us from rerolling if he is successful it also restricts him from rerolling if needed. This also means that everyone's favorite imp (Mxyzptlk) can't affect this roll as he needs to target a roll that can be rerolled.

Steve's base combat values are very nice, especially for this low of points. An 11 attack and 3 damage for most of the dial followed by 10s and 2s respectively is nothing to scoff at. He even has 17 defense with +2 modifiers for 4 of the 6 clicks which is really good too. Cap here isn't just stats; he has Running Shot or Charge and Precision Strike or Exploit Weakness so that no matter what click he is on he will get past reducers. The weak clicks, if you can call them that, are 3 and 6 as they do not have a move and attack power. Deal them just enough damage to help with that if you aren't able to deal with him in one attack. Outwit is a nice way to get rid of his threat range (8-9) and limit him to that nice little range of 5. Perplex is a great way to lower his combat values to less than ideal. You could use it to increase your defense but it could also be just as good to reduce that damage value down to a 2 or 1 and make him practically worthless as an attacker. There are some figures that inherently reduce the attack value or damage value of attackers so you can look to those to help out if you don't want to waste a perplexer for this purpose.

Preparing for War is a great little trait with the onset of special objects (using the equip mechanic) and downturn of resources. This nifty ability allows him to deal no damage with his attack to unequip the target's object and place it on his own card instead. Now this isn't equipped to him but is more like a bag of tricks he can pull out when needed. The beginning of turn allows you to choose any object on his card and officially equip it to him for that turn. Next turn comes around and he can choose a different object to equip. This is a great way to get rid of those nasty Pym Particles or Symbiotes but doesn't earn you points. It at least denies your opponent use of the points they did pay for the objects. Prep for War doesn't have a ton of uses yet but with the 25+ objects we are getting in the Thor set in August, it is no surprise to me that he will be highly sought after for a long time. To get around this ability, simply don't use or equip a character with an object. I know you paid for those points but weight the pros and cons. Is it better for you to use it and maybe get it stolen or just no use it at all? I guess you could also just try to stay out of his way but it is less efficient to run away from a 65 point piece than it is to forgo the equipment for this round and worry about the rest of the team.

Lastly Mr. Rogers has a different approach to Battle Fury. Battle Fury does many things, one of which denies Mind Control from targeting the user. Cap here (using his awesome trait) can also ignore Mind Control but in a better way - he also adds +2 defense to his teammates against Mind Control. Now that isn't a popular power but when it does show up, your opponent won't want you to take their 11 atk 3 damage figure to do unspeakable things to their force. That's what makes it tough for us to use him against our opponent. Not only that, we can't use an opportune Force Blast to get him into a better position. He just sits there and says "Bring It!" There are no ways around this, it is something we just need to deal with. Be aware of this and if your strategy depends on this, know you have an uphill battle and do what you can when you can.

So, what are we doing to Cap?

- Outwit and Outsiders to deal with stat boosting powers and his move and attack powers. Outwit his leadership too so he can't get his force untokened quickly.
- Incap to make sure he doesn't hit us on successive turns but to also force some extra damage when needed.
- 3 damage of close combat followed by 3 damage of range combat will allow you to avoid the stat boosted defense and KO him quickly.
- Alternatively, hit him for 4 damage or more so he doesn't have that Uber Leadership anymore.
- 2 or 5 damage will hit him off any move and attack powers and he then becomes a sitting duck.
- Perplex down his stats or use figures that do it automatically, turning him into an actual tertiary attacker rather than a secondary one at the discount price.
- Make sure to use your equipment wisely because there is a chance he takes it from you. If things are worse off for you with Cap having stolen your object rather than you using it yourself, just don't bother to equip it and go after the rest of that team.

That's all I have this time! Until next time, always look for the chinks in the armor and Exploit your opponent's Weaknesses!

Great right up, but can't you just Charge/HSS and cram an UHO in his face. Your not gonna miss a naked 17 defense and that's enough damage to one-shot him

Good write up. I can see how he'd be a pain if you don't deal with him sooner rather than later. What a great, low-cost dial! The only thing is that he should have toughness. Look at the guy; he's survived. I mean, survived!

ok write up..Pizza face owns this guy,,

Absolutely devastating when paired with token gens like devil dino because that leadership states 150 pts, so that means a free action clear on all your tokens across the map.

Not the Captain America I would choose to field on my teams. Its nice they made the Earth X version, i just wish he was more points and had better SP.

ok, i didn't care about this guy until this write up. taking tokens off pogs and other detachable figs is INSANE!! if i go to a WKo, i'll try to get him for sure.

So, quick question:

Does this Cap's "Planning for War" interact with characters like Proteus, Jocasta, or the various War of Light Entities in any way?

I don't think so. It specifies ".. if the equipped item was originally an object.."

"When Captain America hits an equipped character, if the equipped item was originally an object..."

The equipped item needs to have been originally an object - None of those you mentioned are objects.

Thanks for the heads up! I missed that part in the description.

Nice figure and write up. I'll never see him in mountainbilly land since he is a conex.

Does anybody think of Toxic Avenger every time they see the picture of this Cap?