New Feature:
If you think this review is too long to read,
just skip straight to the scores and then read
the summary for a concise overview!
Yes, the summary now lives up to its name.
MegaMan is still a relatively new game. As
such, some of my terminology may be confusing,
as I plan on using the game specific terms to
refer to cards. For example, Energy refers to
cards in your deck, but Power refers to cards in
your Power Gauge. Confused? You can download
the current rule book
here,
from Decipher’s MegaMan TCG site. If something
doesn’t make sense, make sure the game meaning
is being applied to the word.
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Name :
MagicMan
Title :
Riddler
Set :
Power-Up!
ID :
1 C 3
Type :
NetNavi
Emblem:
[Ma]
Strength:
2
Defense:
2
Blast :
3
Effect :
Whenever you play a BattleChip, your blast is
-2.
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You fool! Do you honestly
think you can
withstand the mystic might of
MagicMan?
Here’s another Navi that I have
played and faced before.
Stats
: No
alternate or Ally version of MagicMan yet. Of
course, he is part of World Three, and they just
don’t seem that friendly, though he is somewhat
popular as a Navi. His Emblem is hard to
describe: every time I think I know what it’s
supposed to be, I realize I don’t.
Moving onto his side stats, he has the seemingly
“average” score of two for both Strength and
Defense. This means that he isn’t really better
or worse than most others Navis. His Blast is
three, which is a little high, and would
normally discourage Blasting. Then we go to his
effect and see why the opposite is true.
Card Effect
:
For every chip the controller of MagicMan plays
your Blast drops by two. Play a chip and you
become B1 instead of B3. This is really nice:
it allows you to Blast often. Just remember
that you need to try to maximize your Destiny
Numbers like you would with ElecMan.
Uses/Combos
:
MagicMan seems to live up to his theme. As you
would expect, he pulls stuff from out of no
where. What do I mean? Let us look at his
Navi-specific cards.
Invisible
is MagicMan’s personal BattleChip. It has a
solid Destiny 4. It requires just [B][B][Ma]
and gives a solid +4 to your Strength. Not good
enough? It also sends itself to the bottom of
your deck when used. So not only do you get
some solid damage, you “heal” yourself a bit.
Magic Block
is a Blue Resource that just needs [Ma] to be
put into play. To actually spend it is pretty
steep: you must discard two cards from your
hand. Still, for the effect, it can be worth
it: it cancels out a Blast Destiny. That
includes any cards that have already been used
to add to the Blast Destiny. This card is also
Destiny 4 and sends itself to the bottom of your
deck after use.
Mind Tricks
is pretty pricey, but when compared to another
card, you see why. This is basically MagicMan’s
personal version of Glide, At Your Service.
Both are Green Resources, but Mind Tricks
needs only four Power (and [Ma], of course) to
be put into play, instead of Glide’s five
Power. It’s not identical though: when you
spend Mind Tricks, you have to burn a
Power. This pays for two things Glide
doesn’t have: Destiny 3 instead of Destiny 1 and
that snazzy “place this card beneath your deck”
clause that is MagicMan’s specialty.
Odds Are Against You
has two purposes, in my experience. This Blue
Resource has that bargain requirement of [Ma],
when you Spend it, you burn a Power to make jack
up a NetNavi’s Blast by two until the end of the
next turn. Most effects in this game go away at
the end of the turn, but this one lasts a little
longer. In addition to the obvious, making it
too pricey for an opponent to Blast, it also can
be used if an opponent is smart and lowers your
Blast… after you already have played a
BattleChip. Still, that last bit will usually
only matter if Blasting would net you the win.
The downside is that is has a low Destiny 2,
which means it’s a risk to run. On the bright
side, it does recycle itself like most other
MagicMan cards.
Wheel of Magic
is a Green Event with a roughly average cost of
[Ma][Ma][Ma]. It has the rather nifty ability
of searching out not one but two cards from your
deck… when you play it and burn two Power. This
is one of the few Destiny 7 cards in the game
(as high as it goes). Just remember you are
also essentially dealing two damage to yourself
when you use this card.
The last of MagicMan’s personal
cards is his NetOp, Yahoot. Yahoot, Guru
is a Blue Resource with a paltry Destiny 2.
Fortunately it only needs [Ma] to be put into
play, and has a nifty effect: whenever you play
another MagicMan card, you get to place a card
from your hand into your Power Gauge. Now, what
did we just see? That MagicMan has a Destiny 7
card. Fantastic.
Players tend to favor MagicMan’s
Blue-aspect. This is a pretty good idea:
Green’s BattleChips are somewhat lackluster.
You might include something like Upload to get
back high destiny cards for Yahoot, Guru
to place in the Power Gauge. From there, I find
Blue’s control element to be excellent for
rendering an opponent impotent while playing a
BattleChip and Blasting about every other turn.
Yes, every other term: you’ll want your Power
Gauge to avoid getting low so you can build up
some killer combos. You may want to take
advantage of decks that make you shuffle your
deck (some of the Navi-specific MagicMan cards
do anyway) since the self-recycling ones go to
the bottom of your deck. Whatever card is on
bottom will never see play since you’d be dead
when you drew it.
Ratings
Casual :
4.5/5-Like GutsMan, this is one of the easiest
Navis to play. His stats Strength and Defense
make him less chaotic than GutsMan, but new
players must remember to watch their Blast while
running MagicMan. It’s easy to rush and play
something like AreaSteal followed by
Invisible, and forget to Blast in between.
MagicMan can still be vicious without access to
a lot of Rare cards, even his own Rare and
better ones.
Tournament :
4.5/5-With a better developed card pool,
MagicMan keeps pace. You’ll need a little more
skill, but not a lot more to bring his "A"
game. He tends to be great with control based
Blue decks.
Limited :
4.5/5-MagicMan is a little more reliant on
BattleChips from what I have seen, than GutsMan.
Still, he’s a top pick for Limited events.
Summary
MagicMan has solid stats, except for his Blast.
As long as you can play a BattleChip most turns,
he end’s up with a killer Blast of one. With
Green cards to search out cards and set up
combos, Blue Cards that give him killer control
factors, and cards that either recycle
themselves or set up for sick Blast Destinies,
you win so easy, it’ll seem like magic.
