Tuesday, October 13, 2009

DSM-2 Preview: New Genesis

Welcome back guys to VS Unleashed! Unfortunately, it seems through a communication accident that I failed to deliver yet another card to you guys. So, let's fix this.


Well, that's one powerful recovery effect! A free Muir Island for New Gods characters cost 3 or less. If that wasn't nice enough, if you've got everyone's favorite Highfather around, you get some endurance and a cosmic counter if they're cosmic. I believe we've found Mark Moonrider's favorite place in the universe.

Definitely a new twist on the original.


Let's compare them. The old one can recover any New Gods character you control, which can be especially convenient turns 5+. This one also gives a cosmic counter back even if you don't control Izaya or Takion <> Highfather. Especially useful if your opponent manages to stun the guy you use to accelerate resources. This one also has flavor text.

My Verdict: Both have their merits. If you're going for a NG/F4 burn deck, you'll want the DSM-2 version. NG/HoG stall, maybe you want the old one. If you're playing in a crazy format that doesn't allow your cards to have flavor text, you 1) can't play the old version and 2) need to beat over the head of the person who came up with that horrible format.

Alex "OSM" Lloyd doesn't resort to violence often, but when it comes to playing card games, you'll give him his flavor. You'll give him his flavor, and you'll like it!

Monday, October 12, 2009

DSM-2 Exclusive Preview: Orion & Dog of War

WOW, it's been a long time since I've written a piece here on good 'ole VS UNLEASHED! And what better way to reboot the blog than with a feature on some DSM-2 goodness?

Let's take a stroll down memory lane:



So, we had an 8-drop that stalls and negates and a plot twist that likes giving your team a small boost while fighting army decks and the related. I'm not sure how many of you were around back when DSM first came out, but let me tell you. This was one of the first sets that I got sealed/draft experience with, so this set holds a special place in me for it. Foolishly thinking that playing an 8-drop in a sealed deck was a good idea, always playing good guys without even noticing that they were remarkably weaker than the other teams in the set. But you know what? Sometimes it takes a mistake to learn how to do something right, and oh boy do these DSM-2 cards look just right.




Wow. That's a new take on Orion, that's for sure! Reminds me of The Sentry, Mighty Avenger from MUN. Downside, he's got cosmic. That's reasonable though, given the theme and oh yeah who the guy is. Another is that it's limited to your attack step. I'm ok with that, especially with his cosmic power basically giving himself a Pathetic Attempt that he can use over and over on himself. No Skreee!, no Spider-Man shenanigans, no Fastball Special. Team this guy up with Spider-Friends, use My Hero and stock up on recovery effects and cosmic counter effects and your opponent will be ripping their hair out! While you can wall off your opponent with any big character, using one that can't be targeted sure helps. Especially if he comes with his own legend support.

Dog of War 2.0. +2/+2 for any cosmic New God or It's Clobberin' Time! for Orion. Very nice. Giving a dude their cosmic counter back for the boost and that's just gravy. It's very cheap; there aren't too many generic ways of giving cosmic counters back. Terragenisis, The Power Cosmic Unleashed, Extended Family and We Are Legion are some common ways to do it. Dog of War fits in just fine.

So, yeah. Dog of War, welcome back to the Vs System.

Alex "OSM" Lloyd is an avid fan of the game and has contributed to the Vs System community for many years, writing articles for various fan set previews, decks, events, previews for the final UDE Vs expansion and more. He also likes Mango A-Go-Go fruit smoothies, but unlike TBS he don't earn $0.01 towards buying them whenever an Insanity deck is played in a constructed event.