Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2012 DC Comics Deck-Building Game Martian Manhunter Promo Card



I visited Rob Kelly's The Aquaman Shrine today, which had a post on Cryptozoic Entertainment's DC Comics Deck-Building Game. It appears to harken back to '90s CCGs like Magic: The Gathering and my own much loved Overpower card game, but more loose and self-contained like poker. What made Overpower great was that you built a team of four characters with specific powers who had to work well together in order to defeat opposing teams through strategy or raw power. Based on this review, each player chooses one hero each between Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, or Cyborg, then villains turn up through random deck draws, and whichever player ends up with the most victory points in an every-man-for-themself contest wins. Also, while each hero has a special power that works throughout the game, if Aquaman draws a Lasso of Truth, he can use it. That would bug the crud out of me.

Anyway, Rob made a crack at the end of his post about the lack of any Firestorm cards in the game, needling his buddy Shag from The Fire and Water Podcast. In this new age of Cyborg rounding out the Affirmative Seven JLA, Martian Manhunter has lost his once obligatory presence in these things. Still, I decided to run a search out of curiosity, and sure enough, the Alien Atlas plays a unique role. A playable Martian Manhunter character card is available as a promotion to get fans to buy the $40 set directly from Cryptozoic, which based on message boards ticked off fans who pre-ordered elsewhere for the same product.

In the DC Comics Deck-building Game, you take on the role of Batman™, Superman™, or one of their brave and heroic allies in the struggle against the forces of Super-Villainy! While you begin armed only with basic combat maneuvers, you will add new, more powerful cards to your deck as you go, with the goal of defeating as many of the DC Comics Super-Villains as you can. In the end, the player who has accumulated the most Victory Points from the cards in his or her deck wins the game!

**Receive a Martian Manhunter Promo Card while supplies last!**

Game Box Contains:
214 Game Cards
7 Oversized Hero Cards
1 Rulebook
Number of Players: 2-5
For Ages: 15+
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
    Features
  • Play as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, or Cyborg. The Justice League is ready for action!
  • Each DC Comics Super Hero has a unique special ability that will open up different strategies to the player.
  • Card combos, strategy, and fun abound in this game where every card features amazing fan-favorite art.
  • Compatible with other Cerberus Engine: Heroes games, a common card back means you can mix your whole collection together for the ultimate throwdown!
I find it odd that they used pre-Flashpoint art for J'Onn, and I don't know whether he's got a cool power or not, but I'm just happy he's in there somewhere.

5 comments:

Anj said...

I used to play Magic alot ... a lot.

I wonder if there are Supergirl cards in the mix.

mathematicscore said...

MM will never have the respect to be placed in proper costuming. EXPLETIVE.

Diabolu Frank said...

What gets me is that this is another Ed Benes looking thing, which is not a style well suited to the character, and is even more anachronistic than the similar Brightest Day magnet from a couple of years back. I assume DC provided this outdated clip art, because it would otherwise have been much easier and more dynamic to pull an image from any given New 52 appearance.

LissBirds said...

Well, at least he's a selling point for the full deck. That's got to mean he's marketable somehow.

Anonymous said...

There are a few Supergirl cards in the deck. her power allows you to take a Kick card (+2 power) at no cost. The game has a MM card but it's not a playable character, just a hero/power card. He allows you to use the super villain attack for that turn he is played.