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Marvel Team-Up Reviw: Take 1
Mark Slack & Anthony Calabrese
2/14/2007 
 Click here to discuss this article!Marvel Team-Up is one of the coolest sets to come out in a long time. There have been some exciting sets and some powerful sets lately, but there's been a relative lack of characters we've all heard of. Now we've got some Spider-Man, we've got some Dr. Octopus, we've got some Hulk--we've got something for everybody. We've also got me and PC Indy 2006 winner Anthony Calabrese taking a look at the set. Without further ado...
Mark: Aaaaugh, my eyes! Whose idea was that art? That is just wrong. This must be what free characters will look like from now on. After the Frankie Raye Experience™ it’s hard to blame UDE for cranking it back a little. This is generally better than Lois Lane. Indebted is much more flexible than this and doesn’t leave a peon on the field to get crushed later. If Aunt May had 1 ATK, or if Spider-Friends and not Marvel Defenders were the ‘exhaust my guys for effects’ team, I’d be a lot happier with her. I doubt she’ll make the cut in any sort of Spider-Friends deck in Constructed. In Limited, she’s also subpar, but only because there’s only one cost she can search for unless you happen to open a Spider-Man, Stark’s Protégé. Aunt May adds a little flexibility if you have a bunch of Spider-Men, but not so much that I’d be willing to discard a card and spend a slot in my deck playing this, in most cases. If you have a Stark’s Protégé she becomes somewhat more playable. Anthony: She's worth consideration in any draft deck that's running any of the Spider-Friends Dual Loyalty guys, as long as she'll have something to search for. On a side note, whoever sent Galactus the Golden Girls first season DVD for Christmas... are you happy now?
Mark: Yep, that’s pretty straightforward. This is your average two-cost guy. A 2/3 in this set seems to be a bit below average in this set in particular. There are quite a few +2 ATK pumps, and quite a few more 5-DEF 3-drops, which makes her somewhat useless in gaining an early advantage combatwise in Limited. At least there aren’t many 3/2s. That ability, though, makes her playable, and you can always use her as a pseudo-combat pump later in the game by team attacking with her. I don’t think you’ll ever actually be impressed by her, but she’ll do her job admirably. Anthony: Hmm, adds to your stunned character count and puts cards in your KO'd pile. Sounds more useful in Underworld than anything else.
Mark: On what planet does Blade get stunned by Howard the Duck? Relatively strong ability, but the cost is very, very steep. Easily playable but not gamebreaking in Limited. In Constructed, yes, it’s annoying, but discarding a card a turn to keep a character exhausted (as opposed to exhausting a character, which is infinitely better) is too steep a price to pay. If Spider-Friends had any good way of generating card advantage, he might be OK, but the best way is Ego Gem and the best target for Ego Gem is Black Cat. He might see play because he’s randomly useful, but I’d rather be playing Black Cat in any mono-SF deck and Night Thrasher in most team-up decks. Anthony: Excellent ability for an evasion deck...too bad he doesn't have evasion. Value goes up in limited due to Marvel Defenders' backup characters.
Mark: Random 7-drop for Limited #1. Why would you rather have this than Stark’s Protégé? I guess the ability to toss around a Spider-Dodge is decent, but I’d much rather just exhaust my opponent’s characters. Anthony: In limited, he's fine, making planning out a turn more difficult for your opponent on either initiative. In constructed, no one can argue that your 7-drops need to do WAAAAY more than this guy. But I dunno, he's a reservist, so like, I guess if you dropped a Hercules in a puddle on the way to the tournament, and you had this guy in your jacket pocket from the draft the other day, you could run it.
Mark: The Curse of the Spider-Friends 6-Drops continues! What is the Curse, you ask? The Curse is that if you are a Spider-Friend, and you’re a 6-drop, you’re required to suck. The only Spider-Friends 6-drop that’s any good is Mattie Franklin from Web of Spider-Man. The rest are Hooverville residents. No, the Marvel Knights Spider-Man is not dual-affiliated, thanks for asking. This guy is serviceable for Limited, I guess. He’s nothing special. The one practical application of his ability on offense is to remove reinforcers, which he’s okay at doing on turn 7. In exchange, you’re giving up your ability to get over your opponent’s 6-drop. If he could exhaust hidden characters, he’d be ten times better, but the Curse hath struck him down. If you’re losing, you could attack with Daredevil and exhaust your opponent’s entire team, saving yourself the ignominy of losing on your initiative, but you’re still going to die on turn 7. Wolverine is a better 6-drop for both Limited and Constructed. Anthony: If this guy makes the cut in your draft deck, you probably dropped the ball somewhere, there's much better options. If he makes the cut in your constructed deck...find another hobby.
Mark: I don’t like these guys very much. Both he and the other 3-drop with this ability, Mattie Franklin, are just giving up too much. Darkhawk is better than Mattie because he’s got a natural 5 ATK, and flight and range is always good, but the ability is almost completely worthless. I’d rather have Luke Cage or Ka-zar in a normal Spider-Friends deck or Punisher in a swarm deck. Limited only. Anthony: I wouldn't call his ability worthless... this guy can find its way into some strategies as a Coast City kind of effect to save you some endurance by letting you reinforce all day, but I understand that you normally want more from your 3 drop. That being said, 5/4 flight/range with a sometimes relevant ability is nothing to complain about when trying to stay on-team in limited. In constructed, I wish this guy cost 2 so I could protect my Air-Walker with him.
Mark: Somehow I doubt that I’ll be blanking my opponent’s DEF very much with this. How often are they going to get out of a 17 ATK on turn 7? The original Elektra with this ability was good because you could attack upcurve with her. I don’t foresee that happening all that much on or after turn 7. That said, a concealed-optional 7-drop with 17 ATK is an unholy beatstick for limited. She could have had a blank text box and still been playable. For Constructed, I’m pretty sure Spider-Friends will still be playing defense on turn 7, so Stark’s Protégé it is. The Sentry is better as a finisher/control card on turn 8, so Elektra doesn’t really have a place. Anthony: From now on, for any cards that you say everything there is to say, I'm just gonna throw out Pure Jank™ combos. Team up with Marvel Knights and Revenge Squad, and use Bizarro Ray to stun their defender, ready Elektra, and then Swan Dive!
Mark: If you look close enough, when you open a pack for draft, you can see a little voice bubble pop open above Nightstalker’s head that says ‘Splash me! Splash me!’ Honestly, the Syndicate/Spider-Friends teamup, featuring the hidden Spider-Friends dudes plus Speedball and the Syndicate aggro drops, is probably one of the best draft archetypes for this set. Even if you don’t team up, Nightstalker isn’t teamstamped, so you’re still in business. Constructed, not so much. For Spider-Friends, he’s just a guy with no evasion. For Marvel Knights, he’s just a guy with no concealed. No dice. Anthony: I think this guy is a fine addition to any draft deck; He's fine on one, and he makes underdropping not as painful in the late game. Any team can be happy with +3 ATK for 1 resource point that you don't have to commit to one guy like an equipment. He's a fine 29th or 30th card for any generic draft deck. Click here to discuss this thread!
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