Jason
Bunch |
Amulet of
Nabu
Cloak of Nabu
Helm of Nabu
Going into next month's PC Indy, one thing is
one every deckbuilder's and player's mind: Fate
Artifacts.
DC Modern (Justice League and Infinite Crisis)
has almost nothing in the way of equipment hate,
and so the Fate Artifacts are going to be all
over the place.
Today, we'll be looking at all three Fate
Artifacts.
The strategy behind any deck with the Artifacts
is to get all three Artifacts on one character,
then use that character to smash massive amounts
of face. A character with all three Fate
Artifacts equipped gains flight, range, and
+4/+4, it can't be targeted by your opponent's
effects, and it also gains the identity Dr.
Fate. Assuming you equip the Amulet and Cloak
first, then when you equip the Helm of Nabu,
you'll also be able to draw three cards, then
discard three cards.
All three equipment cost 0, and all are
Concealed-Optional, meaning you'll be able to
equip them whenever, and to whomever, you want.
Considering the massive amount of power these
cards have, and the fact that they're all
commons, expect the Fate Artifacts to be all
over Indy.
To keep the Artifacts from being too out of
control, all three pieces are Unique, meaning
that you can only have one of each copy in play
at any given time.
Before PC San Francisco, there were decks that
could use characters with alternate methods of
attaching equipment in order to abuse the Fate
Artifacts by bypassing the Uniqueness rule.
Upper Deck acted quickly and changed the rules
on Uniqueness for
equipment:
705.3 As part of attaching a unique equipment to
a character, that character's controller puts
each other object he or she controls with the
same name as that equipment into its owner's
KO'd pile. This is not the same as KO'ing those
objects.
For instance, if you already have a character in
play that is equipped with, let's say Helm of
Nabu. If you were to recruit Steel, John Henry
Irons, and then use his ability to bring another
copy of Helm of Nabu out of the KO'd pile and
equip it to himself, then the first Helm would
be KO'd.
However, one copy of the Artifacts in play is
more than enough of a headache to deal with.
There are very few ways to deal with the
Artifacts once they're in play. In Silver and
Golden Ages, you've got cards like Meltdown,
Misappropriation, Jester, Superboy, and
Commissioner Gordon. There's nothing like that
in DC Modern though. The only way to deal with
the Fate Artifacts is to stun the equipped
character, then get the character off the board.
No Mercy, Death Trap, Removed From Continuity,
etc. However, odds are that your opponent will
have more copies of the artifacts, so be
prepared to do this two or more times in the
course of a game. You'll also have to team
attack or burn a lot of pumps in order to get
past the +4/+4 that the Artifacts give them, as
well as any defensive tricks that the opponent
has.
In Limited formats, the Artifacts are still good
as individual cards, but the odds are a lot
harder of getting a complete set, and there are
fewer ways to make sure that you get all three
cards in hand in order to put the complete set
on a character. If you don't have a set, then
the best one to play on its own is the Amulet of
Nabu. +1/+1 plus Flight and Range is good for a
0-cost equipment, and additional Artifacts will
just make it bigger. Cloak of Nabu is good for
dodging cards like Watch The Birdie, I Still
Hate Magic, and Relentless Pursuit, especially
for hidden characters. Helm of Nabu is the most
situational of the three, as you'll probably
only be able to cycle one or two cards at the
maximum, and gaining the Dr.
Fate identity doesn't do much for you. The +1 is
negligible, as you can get that from other cards
easier.
In short, the Fate Artifacts are going to be a
force to be reckoned with for the near future,
so be prepared for them. They're easier to deal
with in Golden and Silver Age, but DC Modern is
where they're going to be at their most
dangerous. They aren't a staple for every deck,
but any deck that can work them in will have a
lot of power at its disposal.
Rating: 4/5
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