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Pojo's Marvel VS Card of the Day

Shape Change
 

DC Origins


Date Reviewed: 8.05.04


Constructed Average Rating: 3.1283
Limited Average Rating: 2.8


Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

 

IQ

Shape Change

 

Constructed

 

Here’s my new favorite plot twist. Ever since I saw this card in the sneak peek at Origins I’ve been trying to come up with new ways of using it. I love this card in Titan decks because of it’s utility and still like it in a lot of other decks because it works well with Avalon Space Station and it thins out your deck. I play it over Acrobatic Dodge in a lot of decks but I am a pretty weird player so I don’t know if I stand alone when I think this card is a lot better than most people think.

 

4/5

 

Limited

 

I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to repeat everything I said yesterday about Acrobatic Dodge in limited. There just aren’t a lot of cards that can help your attack and defense in limited and this card and Acro Dodge are some of the better ones so I stick by my if you see them get them statement.

 

5/5

 


Nakaiya21

Shape Change

 

First off let me say that this card is in every way superior to our previous card of the day, Acrobatic Dodge.  Shape Change will come into play mostly in a Teen Titian deck because of the obvious character Garth.  Is everyone following along?  Shape Change (along with the location Tamaran) is just so good at getting cards into your KO’d pile for his sweet little effect to retrieve.

 

Let’s take a look at turn three with a Titans deck when you do not have initiative.  Let’s just say for s**t’s and giggles that you got to recruit your little green guy Beast Boy this turn.  Have a Shape Change in your resource row?  One in your hand too?  Wow.  Opponent attacks, Shape Change one…not only is your Beast boy probably saved, but that’s a one +1/+1 counter on him.  They attacked him again for some reason…Shape Change number two, that’s two counters now.  It’s your combat phase and Beast Boy gets his turn to have a say in things.  Beast Boy attacks, gets himself a third counter making him a 6/6 on only your third turn…astounding.  Doesn’t sound too bad for a combo that’s real easy to make happen, plus you got a few new KO’d cards to retrieve in another two turns when Garth hits the stage.

 

In my humble opinion this card only lasts for the one attack (the text completely leaves out how long this modifier lasts so we have to guess the shortest time possible before we get the card errata on this one).

 

So, put the top card of your deck into your KO’d pile.  Target defender you control gets -X ATK and +X DEF, where X is the cost of the card put into your KO’d pile this way.  At the very least you get +1 DEF, best case +7.  Will you end up tossing away a card you were really wanting?  Maybe.  Either way it’s going to be up to you to play this or not.  Some up-sides, some downfalls but overall a good card I say.

 

Ratings

Constructed – 3.1415/5.0…..Pi can change shape too ;-)

 

Limited – 3.5/5.0….Defense is especially nice here.
 

Johnny Blaze Shape Change – Again another plot twist that lowers your attack to pump your defense. This card combos well in a Team Titans deck. Hopefully the card you discard you can get it back from Garth or another way. Titans has many options and this card just adds to the Titans theme. Otherwise, this card can be risky to run. I would much rather play a regular plot twist and not take the risk of discarding a card that I need for next turn.

Constructed – 3.5/5 In a Titans deck. 2/5 in any other deck Limited – 1/5 Not a good idea to discard cards for this effect in draft where your card pool is limited to begin with.
 
Jason
Bunch
Shape Change could be the new Acrobatic Dodge...or at least it really wants to be. Dodge is an automatic -3/+3, while Shape Change could conceivably be as big as -10/+10. There are two major drawbacks to Shape Change though...for one thing, its too random. If I need something pumped up by 4 Def, and I pull something that costs 3 or less, I've wasted 2 cards, and I'm still taking damage. Secondly, even if I get a high enough cost card to save my character, that card is now in the KO'd pilem where it probably does me no good at all. Granted, Garth and Reconstruction Program can help get stuff back, but that's still extra cards. Base of Operations, Clocktower, and Night Vision help this card out some more, but Acrobatic Dodge is still better.

In Limited, this card is hurt more because you're not going to see too many high drop cards, and if your only 6 or higher drop gets put in the KO'd pile from this effect, you're not getting it back. If its an all DC draft/sealed event, you won't be getting Acrobatic Dodges, but its still going to be a crapshoot as to whether this card helps you or not.
Too risky.

Ratings:
Constructed - 2.5/5
Limited - 1.5/5
 
Paul Hagan
Shape Change
 
Earlier in the week, we reviewed Acrobatic Dodge, and I gave it an extremely high rating.  Shape Change is no Acrobatic Dodge.  Yes, I understand that you have a shot of giving a character -6/+6, but it also has a shot of giving -1/+1, which just doesn't cut it.  I really hate relying on luck to make it past any given attack, and Shape Change has a lot of luck attached to it.  I might play it in a deck that has a lot of high recruit-cost characters, such as Big Brotherhood or Doom, but other than that, Acrobatic Dodge makes the cut above this.
 
In limited, I would be more inclined to play Shape Change, especially since a larger number of cards in your deck will have a higher recruit or threshold cost.  A larger defense seems better in limited that constructed.
 
Constructed Rating: 2.5
Limited Rating: 3.0
 
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