Hot Takes: Kang the Conquerer and Iron Lad

 

A double feature of Nathaniel Richards in today's Hot Takes with Kang the Conquerer and Iron Lad. 

In reverse to the Panel to Play let's start with Iron Lad: 

Iron Lad is a very decent 3 threat. He combines a good stat line with the ability to heal himself, good attacks, the ability to reroll opponents attack dice (just against himself but still) and a terrain throw, that on this card again is some how not once per turn. Will Shick in the AMA after the Ministravaganza, where we first saw the front side of Iron Lads card, said he believed that that was a mistake but it is repeated here and on both sides of his card. If that is not a day one errata that can be quite strong. But arguably it is pretty unlikely for him to have multiple size 2 (or smaller) terrain pieces in range 2 of his small base often enough in a game for it to really matter. 

Right now he will be unaffiliated until we get the Young Avengers Affiliation hopefully later this year. 

Is he worth the 3 threat splash spot? Well maybe. His biggest competitor is probably Iron Man, who brings his amazing cards to the table and is probably overall more survivable. Iron Lad is the option with more offensive upside. After his update it's going to be interesting how War Machine will fit into the conversation. And maybe running all three will be a decent option then as well. 

I love Vision, both in the Comics and also in MCP. Bringing a TTC that relies on him KOing and having your 3 threat spending 5 Power at the right time is still a bit of a too steep price to pay for my taste. It gives a very nice nod to the story line as seen in the Panel to Play, but is not a competitive card at all for me. 

And now for the big guy: 

Kang has a pretty unsinspiring stat line for a 6 threat. Flight and the Medium base he comes on at least mean he is pretty fast. But what else has he got going for him?

His Builder is pretty fantastic at Range 3, with a reroll in Range 2 and very good Conditions aviable on a wild trigger. His Area 2 Spender is fine when he gets the conditions of but 6 dice and needing to deal damage is pretty unreliable. 

A 9 dice reroll any Spender seems crazy on first look but it costing 6 Power is extremely expensive. At least when its his first reroll of the turn it regains him a power. 

Basically infinite Recall on his stat card is nice but realistically spending 8 power on using it twice seems very unlikely to ever actually happen in a game. 

The terrain throw is good but not being to displace characters at all means Kang is very dependet on getting damage throw which is harder to do with throws nowadays. 

Neurokenetic Chronal Armor is fantastic. Getting a free "Bump", Healing one damage or removing a special condition (effectively making him Stagger immune) every time Kang activates is just straight money. It's easily the best ability on his card and has to be put to good use to get the most of Kang I think. 

And finally we have a new Cabal leadership: The Kang Dynasty. It gives an offensive reroll per turn (so good with characters that can make attacks outside of their own activation like Dracula and Sabretooth) and unlocks Skulls the by holding or contesting an objective token, just like with Miles. So (surpirising absoluty not a single person on this earth) Zemo will be the staple affiliated 3 threat for Kang lists. I'll have my first draft of one further down below because even if I'm not super positive on Kang here I am absolutey excited to get him and try him on the table. 

 

 

If I had the time, money and most of all: skill, I would get the pack twice and model the second Kang with a Pokéball that has Iron Lad coming out of it. Because that's what this card does. It can realistically only played by Kang at the moment as Iron Lad can't build up the necessary 12 Power to spawn a Kang. The question is, is a card slot and 6 Power from Kang (and the roster spot for Iron Lad) worth two attacks and maybe a throw from Iron Lad? Getting an addtional model for a round sounds absolutely fantastic until you realize he can't score any VPs as he is removed again before the clean up phase. A+ for style here but whether the juice is worth the squeeze remains to be tested. 

And now, as promised, my inital Kang Dynasty Cabal Roster (I actively decided against tripple bubble and not included Namor, even if that's probably the wrong call): 

 Characters (10)

* Kang the Conqueror (6)

Iron Monger (3) - he's the other reason I'm excited for the list 

Dracula (5) - reroll all on his Spender and the Counter attack means he has a lot of Synergy with the leadership, even though it will be hard to field a 6 and a 5 in the same squad

Sabretooth (4) - Counter Attack. Probably the least secure spot of the affiliated characters 

Baron Zemo (3) - What is better than infinite skull unlocked rerolls? Another reroll on top. 

Killmonger (4) - he can get loads of dice and a skull unlocked reroll is nothing to sneeze at. 

Ultimate Spider-Man (4) - Counter Attack and defensive rerolls, though he natively unlocks skulls there 

Tigra (4) - She's here as Kang's "bodyguard" as he'll gain a power for every defensive reroll he takes which she provides. Arguably Baron Strucker could play that roll affiliated for a threat less but he's pretty immobile which is why I decided to try Tigra first

X-23 (3) - has an innate reroll on offense and defense. Also gives me an excuse to finally buy her in her re pack as I've never been able to get her original pack. 

Bob, Agent of Hydra (2) - just an affiliated 2 threat and I like him better than Bullseye these days. 

Team Tactics (10)

Brace for Impact (R) 

Dark Reign

Chronal Manipulation

Patch Up (R)

I Am A Baron, After All

Recalibration Matrix

Usurp the Throne

Weapon X Program

Guns Blazin‘

Corporate Espionage

Secure Crisis

Mayor Fisk Vows To Find Missing Witnesses (H, 16)

Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (I, 17)

Lockdown! Security Systems Stymie Breakout (S, 18)

Intrusions Open Across City As Seals Collapse (C, 19)

M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home! (G, 19)

Extract Crisis

Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)

Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)

Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (N, 17)

Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)

Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? (C, 19)

That's it for today. 

Cheers from Germany 🍻