Custom VS Hijinks: Rebooting the Legion, Part 2

Sorry for being out of circulation for a while, work and the weekend piled up like a swarm of Infernal Minions and I’m still plenty exhausted. A blog is as much personal discipline as it is the sharing of random thoughts, apparently. Almost midnight over here, but I really needed to see this launch off the presses before I caught some much needed slumber.

Mr. Brian Rutty commented that he was curious to see where I was going with this revamped Legion concept, and I’d have to say I’m still undecided about that, since I’d want to give fair card presence to as many Legionnaires as I can, but also pay homage to those who’ve distinguished themselves a little more than the others. Well, considering the nature of the Legion and its focus on equal treatment of its members, that’s probably just one character in the Waid version (although I suppose a high-drop Brainiac is also perhaps in order): Supergirl.

(Disclaimer: I realize this should be Kara Zor-El <> Supergirl, but the templating on the card wouldn’t allow the full name to display properly, so I went for aesthetics over accuracy.)

Headlining the comic book for about four story arcs, and hailed as the most powerful Legionnaire for the time that she spent with them, Kara Zor-El had the unfortunate fate of standing out without ever fitting in, finding herself a thousand years in the future in an age that worshipped her as a legend. As such, it seemed appropriate (and really, just big fun) to crown her as the Legend character for the Legionnaires.

4-drop Supergirl is a formidable addition to the Legion’s ranks, with the full complement of Press, Unity, flight, range and above-average stats, balanced out slightly by her Loyalty. Given the core strategy of the Legion, however, it won’t be difficult for her to be flying high as a 9/10 beast with Invulnerability. At a full Press with 5 resources, she keeps things comfortably on-curve, outsizing a fair number of 5-drops.

She’s tough stuff, but hardly the finisher that the Legion would need to seal the deal. Enter her 6-drop version, which does sport Press but could just as easily come down by herself to wreak havoc under the right conditions.

We all know by know how potent a +2 ATK bonus across the board is, and Supergirl gives it to everyone, even herself, making her a monstrous 15/13 while everyone else gets more dangerous under her leadership.

Being the Legionnaire Legend, it only makes sense that she would receive Legend plot twists that function best when she’s played in her own team, although not without their uses in other instances, with other incarnations of Supergirl:

Might of Krypton serves two purposes in a Legion Press/Unity build – it makes Supergirl HUGE for the turn to really slam into the opponent, perhaps after all of her teammates have attacked, and be really difficult to stun on defense, and it allows you to return your other Legionnaires to hand, either for another Press chain or simply to avoid massive breakthrough. Note the tension it creates with the 4-drop Supergirl, who loses her +2/+2 and Invulnerability if Might of Krypton takes away too many Legionnaires from the field.

And if she wasn’t hard enough to stun already, Last to Fall makes it downright impossible. It has its obvious use on the attack to help preserve your board presence, but of course it is much more potent on defense, stopping one attack cold, but unlike Indestructible, Supergirl can attack right back if given the chance. I was going to template it like Last Stand to make it more fair, requiring two or more stunned characters, but what the heck, it’s Supergirl.  You can only play Last to Fall once each turn, if that improves balance matters somewhat.

Hoping to fill out the rest of the Legion curve tomorrow, get into the skinny of their plot twists, locations and equipment, and round out the rest of this discussion. Pleasant dreams until then.