Duo Figures: The Revenge

(Originally, I was going to write about the Top 10 figures in Avengers Movie, but Wizkids gave us some much better to talk about. That article will be up some time in the near future. Maybe. Onward and upward is how we do it around here, and Wizkids is keeping us busy with new stuff all the time now.)

Today, Wizkids announced two new abilities that will be added to the 2012 HeroClix rulebook of great importance to the future (and past) of the Duo Figure mechanic. Split and Merge are new abilities added to the Duo Attack symbol and the fist attack symbol, respectively that allow for the replacement of figures found on a Duo Figure dial with individual representations or the replacement of two (or more) figures individually to be replaced by a Duo Figure that represents those same characters. Instead of trying to explain the mechanics of this without reference, I will simply reprint the mechanics as presented by Wizkids here.

Merge -

When this character is adjacent to other friendly characters that each represent one distinct qualifying character listed on a Duo character’s character card and all of them have no action tokens, give this character a free action to replace all of them with that Duo character, the same number of clicks from its starting line as this character. The combined point value of the qualifying char acters must be equal to or greater than the point value of the Duo char acter (unless that Duo character previously used the Split ability to be replaced by these same characters). The Duo character can’t use the Split ability this turn. This ability can’t be countered. 

Split - 

Give this character a power action if it has no action tokens. Replace this character with one or more qualifying characters each from a different entry listed on this character’s character card. The qualifying replacement character(s) must have either qualifying name and total no more than this character’s point value (unless those characters previously used the Merge ability to be replaced by this character). Replacement character(s) are assigned an action token and can’t be given an action this turn. Replacement character(s) begin a number of clicks from their starting line equal to the number of clicks from this character’s starting line. This ability can’t be countered. 

Whew. That's quite a mouthful. Still, with minimal need for explanation, these are fairly straightforward rules changes. Which I like. They add a new dimension to the game, but aren't going to be something that will take over the entire tournament landscape. Why? Because Duo Figures themselves never did that. Either they cost enough to seem overcosted, or are so economical that it might not be worth the trouble to split the duo into two (or one, because you can do that) figure(s).

There are many other rules implications and figure interactions that will come into question as these new mechanics roll out. In fact, there is a thread up just for that purpose on hcrealms.com right now, headed up by Norm "nbperp" Barth seeing heavy rotation on the board (as one might expect). I'm sure this discussion will be ongoing until it releases with the 2012 PAC, as GenCon is right around the corner. As new wrinkles pop up, I will update this post if they are 'news worthy'.

I spent some time looking at the existing Duo figures we have and considered some of the best and worst options (in my opinion, of course) for team building were one to take advantages of these new abilities, coming soon to a PAC near you.

5 Good Reasons to use these abilities -

World's Finest - What's not to like about World's Finest being Split into any Superman or Batman with a real name of Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne? At 500 points you can do some pretty hilarious stuff with this figure, just be sure to do it before click 7 or 8, as most Batman figures top out around 7 or 8 clicks. Obviously, you'd need to be playing a pretty high point game in the beginning to make this worth doing but hey - the "Real Names" on World's Finest are Superman and Batman. NOTE: This may or may not work since the name on this figure is "World's Finest", but I will do some further research and post the results here.

Thor and Loki - at 362 points this one has some real possibilities and you could stay reasonably within Modern Age or near Modern Age (IE Hammer of Thor's pending 'retirement'). One combo I liked was Hammer of Thor Super Rare Loki and Avengers Movie Gravity Feed Thor. Another one is FCBD Thor and Super Rare Loki from the Frost Giants team pack, also from Avengers Movie. With these guys, though we are just scratching the surface. Thor is set to get at least two versions in the upcoming Chaos War set and these may turn out to be even better choices than those.

The Flashes - Another high point but not terrible duo, you can actually get some fully powered versions of Barry Allen and (recently absent in comics and clix) Wally West on the map. I even have a team of Flashes I could use to try this mechanic out already built.

Cap and Bucky - This one Wizkids used as a possible example, and it was a good one. You could split this one into the Movie versions of Captain America and Bucky (50 points), with the Cap being the Howling Commandos team pack version at 70 points. More likely, though, I can see the amazing Hammer of Thor Rare Cap being the Cap side of the duo. You could also split them into two Captain Americas, as the Bucky Cap from Captain America gravity feed is also 50 points. Convenient.

Iron Man / War Machine - 150 or 160 Point Iron Man from Avengers Movie and FCBD War Machine at 137 could easily meet this and you'd get a pretty awesome split out of it.

This isn't an exhaustive list. I didn't want to go into every 'good' duo figure Split/Merge combo, just highlight some possibilities.

3 Maybe Not as Good Reasons to use these abilities - 

Any Duo under 138 points. In general, the figures that could go onto a Duo character and vice versa are more than 50% of the cost to split or merge them. Of course, if there is a duo with figures cheap enough below the 138 pt 'threshold', then it would be cool to go nuts.

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold - This is a great figure. So great it is easily greater than the sum of it's parts. However, it is an 82 figure which means there aren't too many Blue Beetles or Booster Golds in more modern eras of the game cheap enough to merge or split into that would make it worth doing. Sure, the old Hypertime versions of both would LOVE to Merge into this duo, but because of how great the duo is, why would I bother doing that rather than just play the duo itself?

The Flash and Green Lantern - 200 points even. Sounds like a winner, right? Well, it is and it isn't. Barry Allen and Hal Jordan usually come in around 120-180 give or take a few points, by themselves. To get them both, you'd have to go back to Justice League to get decent versions worth splitting into. Obviously, they are good versions to merge into this figure. And this figure is somewhat broken.

Again, this list isn't exhaustive. Also, it is purely opinion. There isn't enough data to make a true prognostication on how good this will or won't be in practice. Also, I don't think this will be the catch all band-aid mechanic it is already being touted by some to be for quick and cheap healing of characters.