I can't believe this guy is worthy of Wielding Mjolnir
Sorry Thor.
Aren't all you folks that were bitching about Captain America's Shield not having the WEAPON trait back in the day happy this didn't happen to you? lol
This card has simply been outclassed by so many other Protection cards (Jump Flip, Hard to Ignore, Not Today!...) that at this point nothing in the game can save it from oblivion. A conditional 1-2 threat removal (I'm not really considering 3, since you can only reliably get it if you're playing Phoenix, Spectrum in Photon form, or max level Ironheart) for 2 ER is just too low. For reference, compare it with To the Rescue!, which is a Basic card with a non-conditional threat removal / ER ratio of 0.66, and with Chase Them Down which is an Aggression card with a conditional threat removal / ER ratio of 2.
Also, it's a THWART Event, not a DEFENSE, so it cannot benefit from cards like Flow Like Water, Defensive Energy, or Nerves of Steel.
To solve all of its problems, I house-rule it as a 0-cost card. This makes it a thwart with a conditional threat removal / ER ratio of 1-2, which is either acceptable (if it's 1), good (if it's 2), or very good (if it's 3), but never too good since it's conditional.
Well, it was released four years ago with Gamora, so it probably was designed with her in mind. Playing this triggers her Precision hero ability which can deals one damage to any enemy after a thwart event, helpful for pinging off toughs. It can be played for "free" with her Keen Instincts upgrade too. Comparing this to To the Rescue or Chase Them Down doesn't make sense because those are hero action/response after attacks, and this card is played during the villain phase. You can't compare threat/ER ratios when they invoked in different phases; it's not a fair comparison. Thwarting during the villain phase is rarer than the player phase. It's not a matter of chosen this versus something else, you can have "better" thwarts in your deck and the same time for the player phase.
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erikw1984
· 29
The problem is exactly this, True Grit ONLY works with Gamora, and even then there are much better 1-cost thwart Events that can be used to trigger Precision (Clear the Area and Multitasking, just to name a couple). But I don't really follow you on the different phase argument. What difference does it make if the event is played during the villain phase or the player phase? You say it as if playing it during the villain phase is somehow better, but you're not really gaining anything from the different timing, are you? Or am I missing something? Anyway, I can see niche uses for True Grit for heroes that can defend well and have a decent THW score, like Captain America or Nightcrawler, but I'm still not sure if I'd choose it over Jump Flip or Not Today!...
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Michebugio
· 13
I would play this with any hero that is in Protection, has high thwart, and is actively defending all the time. Cards like Repurpose and Surveillance Specialist make it easier to get high thwart. If you're Spiderwoman running Justice/Protection, you could always slap Heroic Intuition on your self, or let someone else apply it to you in multiplayer. Cable is another good candidate with 3 thwart. It similar to Askani'son and can be played in the same response window has that. I wouldn't say removing threat during the villain phase is better, per se. It's just something that's rare, and could be useful. Hard to Ignore is similar, but can only be used on the main scheme, whereas this can be used on any scheme. In a way, it negates the first step of the villain phase.
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erikw1984
· 29
With this card, we now have 4 Protection cards that do ALMOST the same thing with finicky differences, the other three being True Grit, Jump Flip and Hard to Ignore.
True Grit is probably the worse of the quartet. For 2 ER, you remove at most 2 threat (well, 3 if you're playing Phoenix, Spectrum in Photon form, or max level Ironheart), which is a mediocre ratio. It also hasn't any particular synergies with other Protection cards, since it's a THWART Event, not a DEFENSE. The silver lining is that you're not limited to removing threat from the main scheme, but it's not saving the card from utter mediocrity.
Jump Flip and Hard to Ignore are arguably on par with each other, each suited to slightly different scenarios but also capable of synergizing well with each other. Jump Flip is more flexible as it's not dependent on defending using other means than itself, but it has an annoying energy resource requirement (which nevertheless works well with Nerves of Steel), while Hard to Ignore has a better threat removal / ER ratio in the long run but has a no-damage requirement that makes it better suited for high-defense heroes who like to defend a lot, in conjunction with Armored Vest, Expert Defense, Desperate Defense, Never Back Down, or Riposte. However, the big drawback here is that both only remove threat from the MAIN scheme, which sometimes can be very limiting.
Personally, I think that Not Today! is the best of the four. It's similar to Hard to Ignore in terms of what it does and how (and in fact it benefits from the same card synergies), but it's not limited to removing threat from the main scheme, intrinsically helps you reach the no-damage requirement, and it's a DEFENSE Event which benefits from cards such as Flow Like Water, Defensive Energy and Nerves of Steel. It synergizes well with its three brothers, but I would never include all four in the same deck (certainly not True Grit, and I would choose Jump Flip over Hard to Ignore only if my deck reliably provides a lot of energy resources and/or my hero isn't very good at avoiding damage entirely). Combine with Bait and Switch if you're playing Solo against heavy-scheming villains, or in multiplayer to be hailed as the definitive support hero (especially if there are no heroes with the Justice aspects).
I am surprised that this card has no reviews yet!
For me, it's an auto-include in any Aggression Thor deck. Thor becomes Aerial thanks to Mjolnir and loves to use it to take a Mean Swing or a Skilled Strike against the bad guys, so this card is basically a much better Jarnbjorn with improved resource efficiency (damage/ER ratio of 2, on par with Hand Cannon), AND you can play it for free with Team-Building Exercise since it shares the Aerial trait with you (EDIT: most likely you can't do this, see discussion below).
If you happen to have Mean Swing, Skilled Strike and Pitchback in your hand, you can turn a basic attack into a 12-damage wallop for only 4 ER, which is amazing value! 3 copies of each of those cards are enough to defeat both stages of most villains in the game when playing Solo.
Of course it's good for other Aerial heroes who attack a lot, like Nova (it's in his pre-built deck for a good reason) and Spectrum, and obviously super good for Aggression Angel who draws a card after playing it, slightly less so for Aggression Ironheart who doesn't attack as often. Grab it together with Dive Bomb and you'll have a solid backbone for any Aggression deck based on those heroes.
I would rule you can't use Team-Building Exercise with Pitchback due to TBE being a Hero Action and not simply a resource. Also, your combo is 9 damage, not 12 (every card will look like crazy value if you get to add your basic activation for free all the time :-)
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Stretch22
· 953
Regarding damage, you're right - I guess I got carried away with the calculations :) but I'm not sure I agree with your ruling about TBE. From the 1.6 Rules Reference, “Action is a type of triggered ability. Players are permitted to trigger action abilities during their turn, or by request during other players’ turns." I get your point, but the question is: can a Hero Action be triggered during a Hero Response? Nothing in the rules seems to explicitly forbid it.
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Michebugio
· 13
You can't do Responses outside of a response window, which occurs immediately after the triggering condition. By the time you can do an Action: ability again, the response window is closed. I admit this specific interaction is not called out in the Rules Reference, but the only discussion I could find online agrees with me (https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelchampionslcg/comments/wp50r8/question_about_teambuilding_exercise_and_similar/)
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Stretch22
· 953
Interesting discussion, and I see that the interaction between TBE and Pitchback is specifically mentioned: as you say, the main argument is that by the time you use TBE, the response window of Pitchback should be closed. This conclusion, however, seems to be an extrapolation from the rules rather than being confirmed by any specific sentence or rules interaction. The fact, however, that the rules state that only multiple "responses" (and not generically "actions") may be executed from the same triggering condition does seem to lead to the conclusion that responses are only cumulative with other responses and not with any other kind of action. Plus, now it's two against one, so I'll have to admit defeat! Too bad 'cause it did seem a nice interaction.
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Michebugio
· 13
I don't like this card.
This is the S.H.I.E.L.D. team card, but its not really a team card... every single other team card buffs, or otherwise deals with allies:
Mighty Avengers makes allies stronger.
Guardians of the Galaxy gives card draw when you upgrade allies.
Uncanny X-Men gives allies more health and makes them cheaper.
Uncanny X-Force makes allies better at thwarting and gives them longevity.
The upcoming Flight Squadron team card for aerial gives ally readies when playing aerial events.
Everything makes allies better, and you're encouraged to play allies to make use of the team card.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does none of this. It's an encounter card mulligan. While good, it has nothing to do with allies. Furthermore, it discourages you from playing allies as there is no buff to be found for them, and having an ally that doesn't have the right trait will completely disable the card. Instead of giving you something by playing a tribal deck, this card takes it away by not playing one. In fact, you can play this card and use it while having 0 allies on the field, not very team-player of you.
The main reason I don't like this card is that it's taking the space of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team card and therefore we wont get another one. This card should've been something else, perhaps another location support or a title, or anything else other than the singular S.H.I.E.L.D. team card. The other team cards are awesome and lead to interesting strategies, this one has none of that.
But for the power of the card as-is, encounter mulligan is strong and welcome in leadership, I just wish it wasn't the team card.