<table><tr><td width="100" style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://www.realmsradio.com/images/trhc2.jpg">

<a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=11967951"><img src="http://www.pcgamerpodcast.com/assets/chicklet_itunes.gif" border="0"></a></td><td>The Ring Has Chosen: Episode 2

The Hellboy review part II

We discover the crossover that gave Marvel such a big Ego ..... Gem

And the newest location on the Checkmate roster "Hell"

Or some cardboard facimily

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Hellmate

1 Connie Webb
3 Harvey Bullock, Bishop
4 Sidney Leach
3 Sarge Steel
4 Ahmed
1 Christopher Smith <> Peacemaker
4 Hellboy, Anung Un Rama
1 Abe Sapien, Icthyo Sapian
1 Annihilation Protocol <> OMAC
1 Huntress
1 Johann Kraus, Free Spirit
1 Hellboy, Right Hand of Doom
4 Brother I Satellite
4 Checkmate Safehouse
2 Brother Eye
1 BPRD HQ
1 Slaughter Swamp
1 Satellite HQ
1 Dr. Fate's Tower
1 Rook Control
1 Kang Kross-roads
2 Threat Neutralized
4 Knightmare Scenario
4 Pancakes
4 Enemy of my Enemy
1 Transmutation
2 Knight Armor
1 Cloak of Nabu
1 Concussion Grenade

ok, about a half and hour into the cast and first thing i have to say is

ECHO!!!!!!!!

Squire is echoing hardcore. if you guys are using an Internet Phone, something like Skype or Ventrillo, if you use Headphones instead of your computer speakers that should cut out the echo.

more to come latter, i'm sure.

oh and Paul, its HECKMATE, not Hellmate...

We do use headphones. I'm going to try new software for next week. I really worked hard on the editing this week, but there were certain elements I could not repair.

I'd also like to add that the 'click' was something we thought we had fixed, and obviously did not, so we're (probably Cliff actually, since he's much more motivated than me) going to work on all of the sound quality.

Thanks, in advance, to everyone for putting up with our rookie mistakes and we'll keep trying to improve the show.

The echo [while noticeable] was the only thing technical that was still a problem, in my opinion. So it is a huge step up from the first one, which considering it's the second one, is pretty good. Improving by leaps and bounds on that front, and should be perfect in no time at this rate.

Also, I agree with the idea that, especially recently, the remakes have been revisiting older themes. While, depending on how good the themes were, they may not have given TOO much support, they still have added to them.

Examples:

X-Men -> Recovery and swarmy/team-attack themes were reinforced in the set

Brotherhood -> The Reservist synergy with TNB wasn't really caught right away, but if nothing else, it enabled the ability to drop down a resource and/or get the ongoing into the row. This also worked with their location heavy themes. More unique low drops helped TNB, and more copies of big names helped BBH, and there was the power up plot twist.

Doom -> He got a bit of plot twist control, plot twist search, and plot twist reuse to add to those themes.

DE -> Face down resource/resource replacement

Titans -> Not only did they add some elements of the team attack theme, the Ravagers support Terra and Roy and Starfire in the off initiative evil vein, while the new Terra, Aquawoman and even First Date work with the Argus theme.

Spider-Man -> Defense pump, negation/avoiding targetting and exhaustion effects all make a return

Syndicate -> Top Heavy and Suicidal

Underworld -> Feeding off the KO'd pile.

Heck, even the mini refeature of Crime Lords worked to some degree with their "good while defending/with reinforcement" elements ... a Reinforced Black Tarantula could be deadly especially as he can turn defense pumps [like via the Kingpin] into attack pumps.

I can see the Squad getting their ongoing 'plan' get solidified, but they'll likely get other elements as well. They have other less developped themes that could be added to. The "Bizarro Ray" theme, so to speak, that reduces the defense of opposing characters [which gives them some synergy with the Anti-Matter and Crime Lord teams, and the Void :)]. They have quite a few locations for a team based around ongoings ... and interesting ones at that. Giving them more of an Inhumans 'face up row' theme instead of only ongoings ... could encourage a bit more use of those locations. At the moment they have a 2-drop, a 3-drop, a 4-drop and a 6-drop that 'care' about the ongoing theme ... they could likely include at least a 1-drop and 5-drop that could help towards the smoothing out. An Ahmed/Ivy type for ongoings would be great.

It's not just the echo - It's the fact that they'e out of synch. It's REALLY noticable when they read the decklist.

The echo is out of sync ... the 'original' part that is heard softer sounds to be in sync ... unfortunately, the echo comes out louder and is delayed [and thus out of sync]. So it's all one problem in that regard. Eliminating the echo should get them back in sync [although some volume adjustment might be necessary to get them to about the level that the echo was at.

Is the Cloak that much better than Signal Device?

Ahmed can search out Cloak via Dr. Fate's Tower while you cannot for Signal Device. You can remedy this with Jaime Reyes, but you can't Enemy for him which puts another level of constraint on deckbuilding.

Sidney Leach does allow you to fetch for it though.

Another good one guys and thanks for the help on hellworld hopefully it'll be good enough one day for you guys to feature it as deck of the week.

Well if you need another equip search other than Sidney Leach, how would Cannibal Tech work?

I think Kate Corrigan is a better two drop simply because she helps ensure Ahmed. Kate is essentially a proxy for Ahmed. The fact that she bounces is pretty irrelevant since your going to be bouncing Syndey if you did recruit him/her/it. She also has 'synergy' with Brother I Satellite/B.P.R.D HQ.

Another reason that I'm kind of meeh about Leach is that if your opponent plays Blackheart on four, it's a bit risky to bounce Sydney Leach to turn on Hellboy. You risk Zinco/Level 12 Intelligence -> gg.

Signal Device is better I think, but the considerable ease you get from Cloak gives it the thumbs up in this instance I think. Don't forget: Hellboy by himself is an incredibly powerful way of protecting your king.

I'd probably run a Weapons Lab too. Hellboy with 2 Knight Armors is a bit troublesome to stun.

BTW: I'm trolling this thread because I've been playing a lot of EHB in anticpation of today. I hope I can make it!

Mostly I like Sydney because he gets me my equipment, and puts a warm body on the field till Hellboy shows up to be a beast.

So, is today your Hobby League, or City Champs?