Top Five Flavorful Characters

I'm kinda running on empty blogger-wise today. Pretty sure I blew most of my creativity on my review of Casanova #12 over at read/RANT, so I thought I'd throw up some examples of character cards in VS that I think do an excellent job of portraying their comic counterparts.



5. Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist (DJL)
Seems right up Lex's alley. One of the things I've always enjoyed about Lex as a character (which is subject to change from time to time) is that the general public doesn't realize that he is a truly evil man. They only see the business tycoon and, well, philanthropist and not the sociopathic and obsessive genius behind the scenes. He gives out good tidings to other players in the form of letting them draw two cards, but every deal Lex makes comes with a catch. Well done here.






4. Captain America, Loyal Patriot (MVL)
This one's pretty self explanatory. Cap's got a shield, thus the shield counter. Cap throws his shield, thus activating and losing the shield counter. Cap makes sure that no one dies on either side of whatever fight he's involved in, thus no one gets stunned during the attack. Simple, and elegant. I'm still not a huge fan of the art choice here, which is not to say that the piece itself is bad. Dan Jurgens does good work, but a card based so heavily on the importance of Cap's shield with the shield itself being barely visible in the art? Seems a little silly. Still, the flavor is excellent.






3. Black Bolt, Devastating Decree (MHG)
I mean, come on! It's Black Bolt letting loose! Of course he's going to KO pretty much the entire board. As opposed to Cap, the art is what really does it for me on this one. It makes you almost feel bad for Lilandra, but she's tough. The card's pretty simple in its execution, and fantastic if you've got the Inhumans working to the best of their ability. It makes perfect sense that the apex of the Inhumans curve is Black Bolt letting loose. It's not something he likes to do, nor is it something he does particularly often, but if the Inhumans are pushed hard enough and threatened to some true capacity, Black Bolt's going to make sure that everyone's going to have to go through him, which you really don't want to do. It's a really pretty foil, too.



2. Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin (DCR)
You piss off Slade, you pay the consequences. And those consequences will most likely involve very sharp swords and death.













1. Galactus, Devourer of Worlds (MHG)
As if this were even a question. Galactus is my favorite character in the history of comics. I love the idea that he's a holdover from the previous universe. I love that he is eternal and part of the cosmic balance. I love the Heralds. I love all of it. It's so nice that R&D completely nailed both versions of Galactus, but the nine is of course the standout. He comes to your planet (player), he devours your planet's energy (endurance) and is satiated (gains said endurance) Plus, the fact that he's a full on EA in all forms is a stroke of genius. It's great artwork from Bryan Hitch, and more importantly, it's a card deserving of the power of Galactus.





Well, that's all I got for today. I'll probably do a more in depth write up on the three or so decks that are still in the running for Champs this Sunday, and I also hope to throw up an article on the pros and cons of the self-milling strategy in current silver or modern age decks. Stay tuned!