so i was thinking about ultimate evil

[gameplan.exe]

@KObossy, yeah, as I said initially, that's the one part that trips me, too. I honestly don't like that either, I just like the idea of it. Since the Event card is indefensible, I thought maybe the Special could/should be the same.

but, then again, that not-negate-able part of DoW is the worst part of that card, so... pro'ly better without that last parenthetical 

[Hotobu]

And again, how can I get the same Event played 3 times?

Easy. Apocalypse from a Battlesite. Bishop and Marauders on a team. Event is played. Bishop puts it back in the deck, Apocalypse card is played from Battlesite, Marauders plays Temporal Anomaly again with Malice. Same event 3 times.

[gameplan.exe]

And again, how can I get the same Event played 3 times?

Easy. Apocalypse from a Battlesite. Bishop and Marauders on a team. Event is played. Bishop puts it back in the deck, Apocalypse card is played from Battlesite, Marauders plays Temporal Anomaly again with Malice. Same event 3 times.

Oh right, the BQ; good call.

Then again, the Apocalypse card wouldn't really be getting it into play 3 times, would it? The BQ/HD are getting it into play the 2nd and 3rd times. Changing the Apocalypse card to pull from either the Draw or Dead Characters pile would actually let it be played a 4th time...

now:
Event is played at the start of the first hand (1) and Bishop pulls it back.
Event is played at the start of the second hand (2) and Marauders plays Bishop's card to pull it back.
Event is played at the start of the third hand (3).

then:
Event is played at the start of the first hand (1) and Bishop pulls it back.
Event is played at the start of the second hand (2) and Marauders plays Bishop's card to pull it back.
Event is played at the start of the third hand (3).
During the fourth hand, Apocalypse plays his card to pull the Event back (4).

Now, on the other hand, you could get a single Event into play twice in the same hand with this hypothetical card, and that's pretty cool:
Event is played at the start of a hand (1) and Bishop pulls it back, then Apocalypse could put it back into play (2).

There aren't a ton of Events that would really benefit from a double-up, but there are some. The KO Event, drawing additional cards (draw3, draw2 keep dup', search for first card with a ___ icon, etc), removing hits... now THAT has some allure!

[thetrooper27]

Sounds like a busted special if you ask me... man, all I thought of was searching for an event and how cool that would be relating to apocalypse, and you guys practically have built the new deck to beat!  Someone please build this deck with this new special card, (I highly suggest it be a negatable special card), and post the decklist for others to try out with some feedback.  Try it against a tier 1 OP deck.  I would take a stab at it myself, but I promise it won't be a good deck in my hands. Promise.  Not to mention, I have no one to play it against right now.

[breadmaster]

trooper...i love your idea for taskmaster

i was tweaking it a bit, and came up with this:

opponent must reveal all special cards in hand.  this special acts as any one revealed card for remainder of battle

this is not opd.  it has the potential to be really powerful!...too much so?

[Hotobu]

And again, how can I get the same Event played 3 times?Easy. Apocalypse from a Battlesite. Bishop and Marauders on a team. Event is played. Bishop puts it back in the deck, Apocalypse card is played from Battlesite, Marauders plays Temporal Anomaly again with Malice. Same event 3 times.
Oh right, the BQ; good call.

Then again, the Apocalypse card wouldn't really be getting it into play 3 times, would it? The BQ/HD are getting it into play the 2nd and 3rd times. Changing the Apocalypse card to pull from either the Draw or Dead Characters pile would actually let it be played a 4th time...

First of all the Apocalypse would be doing a lot to get it into play. By taking the Apocalypse card out of the equation you're leaving the order of the shuffled event, Temporal Anomaly, and the BQ special up to randomness. The Apocalypse special eliminates a lot of that randomness. Furthermore I realize that allowing to draw from the Dead Character's pile would cause some issues which is why I said the clause to "remove the event from the game" should be added. If you want to try to get the same event multiple times, with random draws fine, but playing that card to force the issue shouldn't be an option.

trooper...i love your idea for taskmaster

i was tweaking it a bit, and came up with this:

opponent must reveal all special cards in hand.  this special acts as any one revealed card for remainder of battle

this is not opd.  it has the potential to be really powerful!...too much so?

That's a bit too abusable not to be an OPD because it's got two strong effects. You get to see their specials and have it be identical to one of them. The only drawback to it is its randomness, but playing it at the top of a hand should give you at least 3 decent cards to chose from. It has to be an OPD when you consider that, and the fact that there's a strong chance that it can be used to mimic an OPD special. In some cases you may even have your choice of multiple OPD specials. That combined with getting to see part of a player's hand puts it in the OPD category. This has the potential to be as strong, if not stronger than Morph's Power Mimic which is also an OPD.

[thetrooper27]

I would make the Taskmaster special a OPD.  But other than that, I think its really neat idea.  I don't usually play specials that let me see my opponents hand (what do you guys think of them?), but this one would be awesome.  I do think that seeing the hand and duplicating a special would be quite powerful, but make it a OPD and you have something unique to Taskmaster that might get him in a deck or two!  I like it.  Anyone else?

[breadmaster]

well, it's not reveal the whole hand, just specials, so that carries it's own risks.  the opponent would know taskmaster has this available and place the good (all?) specials.

i've used the reveal hand opds.  they can be useful, but on the whole, aren't worth putting into decks.  you're down a card when presumbably you want to venture big (taking advantage of the reveal).  if you have a previous card advantage, they can be good

as for the AJ specials (reveal a specific part of hand), they almost never show up in decks

the reason i kept the taskmaster card non-opd, is that he doesn't appear on a site, and he could use a kickass card.  also, the copy only lasts the battle, so if you don't ko someone with it, it's only good for venture

[Hotobu]

Well making the effect only last the battle weakens it, but the way you have the special currently worded that affect is not necessarily obvious.

Also if there is going to be an "Ultimate Evil" set Abomination, and Mephisto need to be included of for no other reason than the fact that they're on Battlesites. If Mephisto is only going to get one 8 it definitely needs to be in intellect. The current 8 intellect characters *suck a lot when compared with their E/F/S counterparts, and it doesn't help that they're very much outnumbered. Another idea would be to give Apocalypse an 8I alt. Not only would this make him more attractive, but his Ageless Evil special would be incredibly strong. It'd be killing two birds with one stone to give him a better grid, and make one of his specials better.

Oh also on the subject of Apocalypse what I forgot to mention before is one of my gripes with that special is that he doesn't have much in terms of defense. I think every character should have at least one reliable defensive option. Yes he can shift an attack away from him, but the attack still has to be dealt with.

...and finally when it comes to *sucking a lot. Dracula needs more than one special to make him viable... ugh...

[gameplan.exe]

First of all the Apocalypse would be doing a lot to get it into play. By taking the Apocalypse card out of the equation you're leaving the order of the shuffled event, Temporal Anomaly, and the BQ special up to randomness. The Apocalypse special eliminates a lot of that randomness. Furthermore I realize that allowing to draw from the Dead Character's pile would cause some issues which is why I said the clause to "remove the event from the game" should be added. If you want to try to get the same event multiple times, with random draws fine, but playing that card to force the issue shouldn't be an option.

well, whatever. I'd never use the card anyway, because no way no how is Apocalypse ever anything, if not a bad guy. And, as you all should know by now, #badguysarelosers

[thetrooper27]

So why doesn't the Taskmaster card count for anything other than venture if it doesn't ko someone?  Do the other DY specials work the same way? (That wouldn't be cool!)  Maybe it could be non-opd and copy non-opd specials revealed?   But I don't like the idea of it doing nothing beyond venture if it doesn't ko someone.  It should be whatever it copies in the permanent record!!!  The idea of a special like this is cool though, so we should continue to work on this one.  A non- opd for Taskmaster would be cool because he has limited specials worth playing, and I'd like to see him in a deck... and for the record, he isn't very good on Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 either... just saying.  Apparently, some guys have no luck.

I would like to see an 8I Apocalypse... Give him a cool inherent ability, and one awesome special and suddenly he could be in all kinds of cool decks.

If every character needs a reliable defensive option, then Juggernaut needs something... but I'm okay with him not having one if he gets one more cool OPD or a nice non-opd offensive card. 

[gameplan.exe]

...
So why doesn't the Taskmaster card count for anything other than venture if it doesn't ko someone?  Do the other DY specials work the same way? (That wouldn't be cool!)
...

I didn't go back to read the card proposal, maybe the wording alluded to it being battle-lasting. As for the other DY cards, they copy for the whole game. If it copied a level 9 AS, then it acts identical to that for as long as it is in play.

The only issue could have been if the card was a non-OPD, because the other DY cards could be "barrowing" the OPD=FROG rule. So, if the Taskmaster card is a non-OPD, maybe it gets reduced to FROB only.

On that note, I absolutely thing the Taskmaster card should be OPD. If for no other reason, than that it can copy another OPD. That would mean that you could potentially copy a OPD twice with Taskmaster, which would be an imbalance.

[thetrooper27]

Yeah... I like the idea of it peeking at the specials in opponents hand, copying one of them just like a DY, and making it OPD. 

Maybe in a few cases, we could make 2 cards for certain villains that just plain have shotty special cards.  Give Taskmaster another OPD copies a special card placed to an opponents character.  That's 3 great OPD's he would have, one good one, and lots of versatility.  Just throwing ideas around here...

[Hotobu]

Another OPD wouldn't help Taskmaster. He needs a good card that he can keep throwing out like a Lil' Colossus or something.

[thetrooper27]

You're probably right... but 3 OPD's that copy specials would be pretty neat, and would fit Taskmaster thematically. 

How about a non OPD special that acts as any non-opd card on the table with a fighting icon to attack.  He doesn't have an 8, so that could be good... lots of characters have 8Anypower special cards... he could copy level 8 fighting power cards, HY's and AR's that have a fighting icon.  Even GJ's that have fighting icons.  That way, you couldn't abuse big attacks, like 10's and 11's, but give him that versatility that Taskmaster should have.  He can do anything that Cap, Daredevil, Wolverine, Spiderman, and anyone else can do, with limitations on flight, energy blasts, and superstrength, of course... making it duplicate only cards with a fighting icon are true to his power!  Whaddya think?  Thumbs up, soldier?