Rambling MEV Thoughts…

So the new set is out, and complete spoilers are literally everywhere. The team I’ve been wanting to play in VS since day one, Runaways, is out and more than competitive. Although getting the rares together might be a problem (isn’t it always?) I suspect that Nico Minoru and her pals are going to make an excellent showing in Hobby Leagues everywhere from now on.

Also, I have to thank and TBS and Mr. Zonos for letting me preview not one, but three amazing cards. It would have been nice to preview Runaways, but honestly I think Mystique and Nightcrawler are a little more my style. Marauders is definitely going to get some play from me, right after I can throw together some decent Runaways and Starjammers decks.

• I LOVE STARJAMMERS! Even with only a handful of cards they are totally playable, and with the right team-up they will be very annoying.
• We got a Beak card. We got a Fantomex and Stepford Cuckoos card. Life is good.
• Having an uncommon tutor and all, I think Marauders are going to be the most played team in the set. There is a very potent deck to be made, even without all of the triple legend stuff.
• Arkham Discard is really, really okay with 6-drop Gambit.
• And I don’t know why people are complaining about the Gambit legend. Some of his cards are absurdly powerful, and you can always play 2-drop MVL Gambit over the MEV 2-drop.
• I have read the Shift rules a million times and I still don’t quite get it. I’m glad I have so many copies of Empire’s End and Clandestine Operations.
• Really simple (and effective!) utility cards like 2-drop Beast get me more excited than you’ll ever know. I may have to throw together an X-Babies deck for Random Punks.
• 4-drop Cyclops will also likely show up in Nu X-Babies.
• Vertigo is really, really powerful. Combat is basically dead in this game now.
• The Cable legend looks like a lot of fun. I wish I weren’t poor.
• The fact that I can’t build an OG X-Factor curve (Iceman, Jean, Cyke, Beast, Angel) without teaming up with X-Men really kind of bothers me.

And that’s mostly it! I  can’t wait to start playing with the new cards (I think a lot of pre-releases in the area are probably next week due to the holidays) but I’m already brainstorming on some clever uses for these cards. Excellent stuff.

Exclusive MEV Previews: Nightcrawler, Brimstone Cowboy and In Ze Munich Circus!

Apparently the set is out, the cards are spoiled, and the party is over… but I’ve never been on time for anything. Lasst uns gelganen die Feier aufgerustet…

Pretty much since his creation Nightcrawler has been one of the most popular X-Men ever. A lot of that is owed to the distinctive look given to him by Dave Cockrum. But much moreso than other X-Men who look cool and generally lack in substance (I’m looking at you Psylocke) Nightcrawler has a rich history and a lot of interesting character bits to draw from.

Chief among those is his devout faith, and his generally pacifist nature. This, and the nature of his teleportation powers, have made him an invaluable supporting player within the group for years. How many times has Nightcrawler teleported someone out of harm’s way over the years? Answer: A lot.

Now we finally have not one, but two cards to show our furry blue friend doing what he does best!

FoxNews.com: Intentional?

I need to confess to a guilty pleasure of mine.

Every night before bed I log onto FoxNews.com to check the headlines. More often than not the headlines are the same as on every other news website, but sometimes I get lucky and find pure gold. You see, despite how you feel about the network and their close political ties, Fox News maintains one of the most hilarious websites on the interweb.

The prime example of this, and the one that brings me the most joy, is the enormous image headline they maintain on their front page. No matter what crisis the country is currently, or how many people have died, FoxNews.com always manages to display the poorest taste imaginable. I honestly can’t tell if it’s intentional or not, which makes it all the more wonderful.

‘Sensationalist’ doesn’t even begin to describe the situation. I mean, for the duration of the election their front page featured fear-mongering quotes by Sarah Palin, and an unhealthy obsession with international pirates. Here are a few of my favorite examples:

So are they are in on the joke or not? You decide!