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“The Future’s So Bright … Part 1”
Don’t you just hate articles that don’t have any bearing on anything and are
just full of hot-air and speculation?
Errrr … I mean “love”.
Yeah, you’ve caught me. This column isn’t going to help you play better, build
better decks or even burping louder/longer/to the national anthem.
What I want to do this time around is talk about the possible future of Vs in
terms of future expansions and teams.
About six months ago some people were talking about how much they wanted Upper
Deck to do an Avengers and Justice League of America set. They wanted the –
arguably – biggest, strongest and most popular characters from the two
respective universes to be represented in their game.
Some others thought such a move would be foolhardy, because Upper Deck would be
blowing their wad too early. They suggested that by releasing sets based on
these characters, Vs would hit its peak too soon.
Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, then you
probably know that the next two Vs sets to be released will be Avengers and JLA
respectively.
Oh no!!!
Or, oh yeah!!!
Personally, I’m very much in the “oh yeah” camp. I don’t want to wait for my
goodies … I want them all as soon as possible. I can’t wait for these bastions
of super heroics to be represented in Vs.
Nor do I hold any significant fears for the future. There is still a wealth of
material to draw on from both the Marvel and DC universes on which to make new
teams and expansions.
Some or all of the speculation that will follow may in fact come to pass. It is
important to stress, however, that I have no insight into the inner-workings of
Upper Deck and have no idea if any of my prognostications will prove correct.
I’ll outline my predictions for future expansions, as well as the teams they
might contain. I’ll also come up with a tonne of goofy names for them.
They are in no particular order, except that I’ve broken them up into the two
different companies. This column will feature Marvel ideas, with another article
to follow about possible DC sets and teams.
MARVEL EXPANSIONS …
 American Patriots
The teams …
American Patriots – featuring Captain America his allies and SHIELD
Axis of Evil – featuring Red Skill, HYDRA, AIM and other villains from the
Captain America mythos
Thunderbolts – featuring the team of bad guys turned good … kind of, initially
led by the evil Citizen V (Baron Zemo) and later Hawkeye
Masters of Evil – featuring the team that became the Thunderbolts, as well as
its later incarnation
I think this set would be cool for a number of reasons. There’s plenty of
potential for army shenanigans with the two main teams and plenty of espionage
flavour. I think “Spy” would be a good name for a keyword mechanic.
Meanwhile, the dual nature of the other two teams could provide a lot of
flavour. I like the idea of “who would win in a fight between two teams
comprising the same characters … one good and one evil?” I’d love the idea of a
deck where one team could become the other, with either the Masters of Evil
redeeming themselves with good deeds or the Thunderbolts showing their true
villainous colours and seizing victory.
I would envision Iron Man as the Patriots’ eight drop, with Cap as their
seven-drop. And everyone will want to own their own Bucky … right? Right?
*Crickets Chirp*
Thunderbolts mightn’t be the biggest profile team in Marvel-dom, but neither was
X-Statix and Vs players have accepted them. Also, in the beginning, the
Thunderbolts were much more popular as a comic than the ill-fated X-Statix.
Gods of
Asgard
The teams …
Asgardians – featuring Thor and his Asgardian allies
Enemies of Asgard – featuring Loki and Thor’s “rogues gallery”
Symbiotes – featuring Venom, Carnage and all the little symbiotes they’ve
spawned over the ages.
Slingers – featuring Ricochet, Hornet, Dusk and Prodigy
This would be a set of mythical proportions. Yeah, I know that’s a bad pun.
There’s little to not like about playing with a deck full of gods (and not the
New variety, either). Thor is one of the most powerful characters of the Marvel
Universe and his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, could be the difference in many games.
Loki’s team would be full of trickiness, which would lead me to think that
they’d be great at manipulating plot twists, as well as having some serious beef
to counter the might of the God of Thunder.
I think a team based on the villainous Symbiotes of the Spider-Man story-lines
would be very popular. The focus would be on Venom and Carnage, while there
would be plenty of army potential for their spawn. Perhaps “spawning” could even
be built into their powers as a team theme (hey, I’m a poet).
Finally, the Slingers have already made a minor debut in Vs but I figure they
deserve a run on their own as a supporting team in an expansion. I don’t know if
they have ever encountered the likes of Venom and Carnage, but there’s still a
link there. Just to make Pez (paslaria in the forums) happy, they’d have a
Spidey somewhere in their midst.
 Gamma Warriors
The teams …
Hulk – featuring Hulk (duh), along with Rick Jones, She-Hulk and his other
allies
Hulk Busters – featuring The Abomination, The Absorbing Man, The Leader and the
US Army
Starjammers – featuring Corsair and his band of space pirates
Shiar Empire – featuring Gladiator and the Shiar Imperial Guard
The Hulk deserves a proper opportunity to SMASH in Vs. As one of the most
recognisable characters in Marvel comics (even among the wider community), Hulk
would have a broad appeal. I’d love to see a “Rage” keyword that makes your men
HUGE (but maybe at a cost, since Hulk has a bad habit of demolishing things). I
also think they could do some fun things with the dual nature of Bruce Banner
and the Hulk. There are more than enough stories where the Hulk has transformed
most unfortunately from one to the other and even stories where the two personas
have been split.
Hulk’s enemies usually come in two varieties … big and beefy, or small and
annoying. I’d like to see both represented in Vs with the likes of The
Abomination and General Ross and the resources of the US military harrying Hulk
when all he really wants is a bit of peace and quiet.
While on the topic of Hulk villains, I’d be most impressed with an un-affiliated
Maestro – the future Hulk, who has slipped into megalomania and taken over the
world.
The Grey Hulk (AKA Mr Fix-It) could be a free agent too.
The Starjammers and Shiar Empire are from the some of the X-Men’s cosmic
adventures. There are plenty of interesting characters to explore, including
Corsair, who is the X-Man Cyclops’ father, and Gladiator, the super-powerful
leader of the Shiar Imperial Guard.
 Iron Men
Iron Men – featuring Iron Man, War Machine and allies
Iron Nemeses – featuring Mandarin, Count Nefaria, The Living Laser, Titanium Man
and Iron Man’s other rogues
New Mutants – featuring Cannonball, Boomer, Sunspot, Magik and plenty of others
Hellfire Club – featuring the White Queen, Sebastian Shaw, Shinobi Shaw, The
Hellions
“Tech” or “Upgrade” would be interesting possibilities for a keyword. Iron Man
would be all about toys and tech. Tony Stark has the means to get anything he
needs to fight evil.
I saw a cool suggestion on another forum once that proposed the idea of Tony
Stark being represented by a one-drop character, with a range of Iron Man suits
as equipment. He could tutor for one when he first comes into play with a boost
mechanic. It’d be important, however, that the suits couldn’t be KO’ed by plot
twists or effects, since Meltdown would wreck him, not to mention She-Thing.
I don’t know much about Iron Man, which probably shows in the fact that I can’t
think of a cool name for his villains, so I won’t go on about them.
I think the New Mutants would be an awesome Vs team. They would be Marvel’s Teen
Titans and I love the idea of promoting the fact that Magneto was once their
headmaster!
Meanwhile, the Hellfire Club would make a good foil for the young mutants. It’ll
give Emma Frost another version or two for fan boys to drool over. The Hellions
(another teen mutant group) could come under their wider affiliation. The
Hellfire Club also has some army potential with those guardsmen that Wolverine
used to tear apart in those stories, and I’d expect the Inner Circle to be able
to utilise the hidden area to reflect their shadowy manipulations.
 Age of Apocalypse
AoA X-Men – featuring Magneto’s alternate reality X-Men
Apocalypse’s Empire – featuring he A-Bomb himself and all his AoA Horsemen
Generation Next – featuring the ill-fated younger heroes from that reality, led
by Colossus and a feisty Shadowcat
Human Resistance – featuring all the human Marvel heroes who never got the
opportunity to gain superific powers
While the last four sets might seem a bit pedestrian, since they would all be
predominantly expanded sets for characters which will appear in Avengers, AoA
would be a big change of direction.
I think it’d be important that the AoA versions of characters shouldn’t be able
to power-up their normal reality counterparts, which would have to be
accommodated in the game mechanics somehow.
I don’t think there’d have to be too many fancy gimmicks for a set like this
one, because I’m sure it’d be super popular based on its flavour alone.
I’m not sure how the Human Resistance team would work, since they would all be
relatively under-powered compared to the mutants. I think they’d work best as a
team that makes the most of limited resources and that could stand up to much
bigger enemies (like a good resistance movement should).
 Cosmic Encounters
Cosmic Defenders – featuring Silver Surfer, Quasar and Adam Warlock
Cosmic Threats – featuring Thanos, Death and Lord Chaos
Heralds of Galactus – featuring Galactus, Firelord, Terrax and others
The Kree – featuring all those crazy Krees
If bigger is better, then badder (I love using non-words) should be biggest.
That’s what Galactus is all about.
I think this would be primarily a bad guys set. You can’t deny the power of the
dark side (a point that I expect to be proven in the final installment of Star
Wars, with the Sith finishing very much on top).
Galactus’ smallest drop should be an eight-drop, with a lot of “cosmic” keyworded heralds to do his earlier bidding. A Silver Surfer herald, as well as
a Johnny Storm herald (from the recent comic storyline), would be pretty cool.
The Cosmic Threats are no less threatening with Thanos at the forefront. The
arrival of the Infinity Gauntlet to the Vs universe would be cause for many
comic fans to rejoice too.
To face off against these bigger-than-worlds baddies, we’ll need some really
souped up heroes. Silver Surfer leading his own team, along with some of the
other real power-houses of the Marvel cosmos, would fit the bill nicely.
Initiative-stealing would be a nice thematic continuation for the Surfer, I
think.
Finally, we’d have the Kree to open up some army action for this set. They
mightn’t be the most exciting cannon-fodder, but Upper Deck has proven it can
not only make the more lacklustre drones into interesting and playable
affiliations.
 Weapon X
Weapon X – featuring Wolverine (as Weapon X), Sabertooth, Deadpool, Maverick and
other products of the evil Canadian Government program
Alpha Flight – featuring Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, Puck, Sasquatch and yet
another Wolverine
Generation X – featuring Jubilee, Synch, Chamber, Husk, Banshee and White Queen
Phalanx – featuring killer, shape-shifting, alien robots
Weapon X would be a very cool set. I’ve heard that they are making a Wolverine
movie which will focus more on the Weapon X storyline. If that’s true, then this
would be a great scheduling tie-in.
Wolverine is undeniably one of the most popular comic characters ever created.
While some of us are a bit sick and tired of him, he’s even more appealing to
the less comic-oriented section of the Vs audience.
This would be another good set to highlight the “Rage” keyword (not really sure
what it does, but I think it sounds peachy) and could also have a “Regeneration”
mechanic.
Alpha Flight would provide some more Canadian-focused fun, with some interesting
characters in their ranks.
Generation X #1 was the first comic book I bought for myself as a collector
(rather than as a very young kid, who might have bought a Hot Stuff or Casper
book … and then scribbled all through it), so it’s no surprise that I’d like to
see those characters represented in Vs. Jubilee hasn’t even gotten a card yet,
so it’s her turn to shine. I’d also like to see Banshee get some more game time.
Phallanx are basically Marvel’s version of Star Trek’s Borg. The Borg are cool,
so by association Phallanx are cool. They were also the baddies that brought
about the formation of Generation X, so the flavour is apt. Oh, and they could
be army.
 Marvel Mystics
Marvel Mystics – featuring Dr Strange and the more magical focused character of
Marvel
Demonic Forces – featuring Baron Mordo, Dormammu and some other demons
Heroes of 2099 – featuring Spidey 2099, Punisher 2099, Ghost Rider 2099 and the
X-Men of 2099
Villains of 2099 – featuring Doom 2099 and other future baddies
This might appear to be a bit too similar to elements from the Marvel Knights
expansion, but I think there’s a lot more that they could do. I think a keyword
revolving around the idea of “Astral” would be nice, as well as a mechanic to
represent scrying … or whatever it’s called when this magicians can see wherever
they want (I bet a fair few girls’ showers would get a look in).
Demonic Forces might be a little too similar to Underworld. As far as that goes,
I don’t see any big reason to necessarily give this team a new name … just
release a full compliment of new Underworld guys. I don’t know if that’d suit
Upper Deck, but either way I think there is enough here to run with. Hordes of
army demons would be sweet.
I’m not too up with the 2099 universe, but I’m sure there’s plenty of material
in there for a couple of teams.
 The Ultimates
Ultimates – featuring the Ultimate version of the Avengers
Ultimate Heroes – featuring Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil and others
Ultimate X-Men – you’re getting the drift
Ultimate Evil – yeah, all the Ultimate villains thrown in together
I thought I’d save this for a bit further down the article because I think it’d
be a huge set.
Like the Age of Apocalypse, I think some system would have to be developed for
powering up and such purposes (even if it’s just naming every character
“Ultimate Someone”).
I’d like to see a set like this be a bit edgier … kind of like the Marvel
Knights set, but even more so. The Ultimate universe is a lot darker than normal
continuity and it’d be great if that was reflected in the flavour and mechanics.
 X-Factor (or possibly Askani’son … although that’s a bit of a mouthful)
X-Factor – featuring the original team of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman
and Angel
Horsemen – featuring Apocalypse, War, Famine, Pestilence and all those
fun-loving guys
Askani – featuring Rachel Summers, Cable and the Askani Warriors of the future
Dark Riders – featuring Tyler Dayspring (AKA Genesis) and his team of evil
mutants
This one mightn’t be the most exciting set for a broad audience, but it’s
steeped in X-Men history. The set would focus on the events that lead to the
baby Nathan Summers being infected with the techno-virus by the evil Apocalypse
and ultimately whisked to the future by the Askani to save his life.
X-Factor comprises the same members as the original X-Men. Later incarnations of
the team had a dramatically different roster and if they were to make an
appearance in Vs, I’d hope maybe they could be named X-Factor II or New
X-Factor. This is because I don’t think the flavour of the two groups are overly
compatible.
Apocalypse’s team in normal continuity (apart from the AoA team) would generate
some hype and it would be excellent to see an Angel of Death (Archangel) that
was genuinely worthy of the title.
The Dark Riders are not the most interesting of villains, but being led by Tyler
Dayspring/Genesis (Cable’s adopted son from the future corrupted by Apocalypse),
they are closely linked to the other parties in the set.
Other Possible Teams
Well, whether you’ve realised it or not, I’ve suggested five years’ worth of
Marvel sets. I suppose you might think that I have (or Marvel Comics have) run
out of gas by then …
Not really.
Here are a few of the teams that could turn up in Vs on the Marvel side: Exiles;
Savage Land Mutates; X-Factor II (Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man and friends);
Marauders; Morlocks; Excalibur; X-Force; Young Avengers; West Coast
Avengers/Force Works; U-foes; The Defenders; and even New Warriors.
Without even breaking a sweat.
Anyway, I figure that’s enough for this installment. See you back here next time
for what we might be able to expect for the future of DC expansions.
*Bamf*
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Editor: James Paraha. Friday 20th May 2005.
