Z?

So I was discussing my disappointment in the Hulk stuff. Most of them… they aren’t BAD cards. They’re just a little more middle of the road than I’m used to from Vs. A word, if I may, about Vs as a set of mechanics.

The thing that makes me love Vs is that it has depth. Every game has its core set of equations. For L5R, it’s a combination. If X>39 At Point in 00:00, If Y<-19, XX=5 or if Z=0 where X=Your Honor, Y=Your opponent’s honor, Z=The number of your opponent’s province, and XX=The number of elemental rings with different elemental keywords. That’s it. L5R through poorly written math. Magic, in retrospect is simply ‘X<1 where X=your opponent’s life total’. Vs is a midway between as X>(Y>0) Where X if your endurance and Y is your opponent’s endurance. It’s not 4 equations to worry about, but it’s still more complicated than X<1.

The reason I love Vs is that there are a myriad of options opened up by the simple (0<Y). It opens up Kamikaze possibilities that allow you to drop your own endurance below 0 to win. It allows more freedom of form, as your opponent is your opponent instead of you against your opponent and the rule book. The simple exclusion of the rule book as an opposing force has a huge impact.

Vs is a game whose design philosophy is, in essence, controlled chaos. Design says ‘Here are your inputs. Solving the forumla is up to you’. I can mix teams, formations, team-ups, ongoing plot twists, and other mechanics to effects I want. I, for myself and by myself, am the sole arbiter of the proper solution to X>(Y>0). MUN -8 brought that freedom of expression to the table. You could drop Cap on 2, Mr Fantastic, Flexible thinker=Eureka to get Cap’s shield on 3, Then Clash of Worlds/Champion License on 4, then teamp-up Avengers and F4, and flip pier 4. That gives you an ability to exhaust up to 4 people every turn(depending on your ability to find said shields). That’s just one example, and I believe the next 5 days will show a dozen more premutations of X>(0>Y)=Z.

Warbound seems to play as seen. MUN -7 seems to be finding Z by looking in the back of the book. These are, like all of my MUN thoughts, based on a view of less than 5% of the whole product. Still, with this new slew of cards, strategies, and solutions for Z, I think the summer is going to be very exciting for the Artists of Vs. Tell a friend: It’s going to be amazing.