Editor: Webmaster. Monday 1st November 2004.
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Editor: Webmaster. Monday 1st November 2004.
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Lois Lane
Hmmm. Does Lois Lane really need any introduction? Capable and determined, Lois obtained international renown as an investigative reporter at the Daily Planet. Her close relationship with Superman is amplified by her marriage to his alter-ego Clark Kent. Lois is unremarkable in a lot respects, probably understandable given the stature of her husband. Unremarkable is something that comes to mind when I consider this card. A lot has been said about the effects of character search cards in the Vs System. Lois Lane, Star Reporter is basically a slightly improved Twist of Fate. Where Twist of Fate could obtain unaffiliated characters like Apocalypse, Lois Lane only finds Team Superman characters. However, Lois brings her own 1/1 body to the table as well. If you can spare the resource point for her, you don’t have to discard the extra card. Hmmm. For me, Lois Lane signals that R&D are satisfied with this power level of character search across the board, and that the mechanic found on Twist of Fate and Lois may be what we should expect in the future. Alternatively, maybe such a mechanic has been confined to these teams because R&D sees them as too powerful to grant their own tutors. If so, I think Signal Flare was definitely a mistake. For the purposes of this review it is fortunate we have had the experience of playing with Twist of Fate. Now Twist of Fate is a decidedly average card for a number of reasons. In comparison to the character search cards available to other affiliations, such as Signal Flare, or Bat-Signal, or even Optitron, Twist of Fate is not very good. This is because the investment in the card does not provide a guaranteed return. However, deck manipulation in the Vs system is at a premium, particularly in Curve decks where missing a drop between 4-7 spells death, and for that reason it is unlikely a Spider-Friends deck would leave home without it. I can see a similar situation occurring with Team Superman. Lois may not shape up in comparison to other searchers, yet she will probably still make the cut due to the importance of even bastardized forms of search. Apart from that, unless there is a specialized mechanic that refers to Lois, or a strategy involving a specific number of characters regardless of size, Lois is likely to be a mediocre, but compulsory, addition to Team Superman. In Limited, Lois has more relevance. In most circumstances, this will be because Limited decks are only half the size of constructed decks, so digging four cards deeper will reveal a significantly larger portion of the deck. Although uncommon, so not something to expect to find in any given pack, Lois could be a quite decent pick depending on the rest of the set.
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