The game revolves around a basic "hit" limit for characters: one to stun, two to KO, three to kill. That's true of everyone from Aunt May to Superman to Galactus (or the Anti-Monitor, if you prefer). A very high Defense value mitigates that--it's harder to knock out someone who's invulnerable--and there are cards and character powers that affect that too. But...
...maybe we can have an optional rule to address this.
I'm talking about Stacking.
Under this optional rule, players may recruit a second copy of an active character and play it *on top* of the already-active character (we'll call this one the primary, to avoid confusion; the stacked-on-top will be the secondary).
The game effect is:
- the character gets +1 on attacks and D, using the higher value between the cards (if there is a difference)
- the character is able to use the special abilities, skills, and team affiliations of both cards (but all weaknesses and vulnerabilities carry over too), and
- any successful attack affects the secondary first; once the secondary is KO'd, it is discarded and the above benefits are lost.
There is a big caveat: the secondary MUST be the same person. That is, you can stack Peter Parker/Spider-Man on top of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but you cannot stack Miles Morales/Spider-Man on Peter Parker. Similarly, you can stack Connor Kent/Superboy on Connor Kent/Superboy, but not on Jon Kent/Superboy.
- Note: these can be different versions of the character with different special abilities; that's allowed under this rule. You could have Peter Parker/Iron Spider on Peter Parker/Spider-Man because... they're both Peter Parker. You can have different models of Batman stacked as long as they are all Bruce Wayne under the mask.
Let's anticipate some questions:
Q1) Could you stack Kon-El/Superboy (the 1993 version) on Connor Kent/Superboy (the current version)?
A) Under this rule, yes, you could. Because they are the same person, even if at different points in their lives.
Q2) Could you stack an alternate universe version on a main universe version?
A) Under this rule, yes, you could as long as it is the same person. You can't stack Calvin Ellis/Superman on top of Clark Kent/Superman; they aren't the same guy.
Q3) Could you stack a third card?
A) Ooh, here's where things get interesting. Give it a try! Just remember, if you want to stack three Supermen, that's a HUGE number of points you're investing in your deck. That could easily rule out having other characters in place to help fight your battle. But, some people like the idea of having one guy stand against a whole lot of enemies, so if you're interested, give it a try. Rules would be as above for a tertiary card added on.
I think three would be the absolute limit, though.
Q4) Can you stack in the staging or holding areas?
No. A character must be active on the battlesite to be stacked. You can't build Mega-Supreme in the staging area and then spring him on the site fully stacked.
Q5) So what now?
A) If you find this idea interesting, please playtest it. Let me know here or on the WildStorms CCG Facebook page what you found, good or bad. If we get some good feedback, we'll troubleshoot and publish a revised Optional Rule for the game.
Errata:
It will be fun to see how this works with characters that are already stackable (e.g., Maul, Dozer, Max Faraday, etc.). There's real potential to see some nigh-unbeatable combinations. Do we need plot twists to unstack characters?
I like this idea. Question: If both primary and secondary characters have the same ability, like rage or teleport, does the character get rage twice (+6C, -2D) or a second teleport? Or a once per turn, forgo to recruit ... do they recruit 2 characters?
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