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Try this Battery In Your Walkman
by Scott Gerhardt
April 28, 2005

     Because I like to sometimes throw some random commentary in my articles,  I’m gonna start this article by going off topic.  I couldn’t come up with a topic, but did just get done watching the American Idol results show – thus the Walkman reference.  I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence about this show, and I will apologize to anyone who reads this and don’t care a lick about the show.  You can go past the next paragraph, but I seem to get one good AI rant a year, and I’m choosing my spot.  

<American Idol Rant>
     So we’re now down to five.  How did we get there?  Constantine Maroulis sang “How You Remind Me” by Nickelback.  The audience thought it was the worst performance, and sent him home.  I disagree.  I went to the message boards.  People disagreed – a WHOLE LOT of people disagreed.  An incredible number disagreed.  So how did this happen?  Who knows.  I certainly don’t buy into random conspiracy theory.  I think he got the lowest number of votes – simple.  Now, at the start of the top 12, I picked Scott for top 2 and Anthony for top 5 – those were my only 2 real predictions.  Most people would have said I was on crack, and I’m not even sure how much I disagree now.  I like Anthony – I said he’d survive on the “Clay Aiken” factor – something that was not present in season 3.  I think his time is likely up at this point.  Scott I believed was the best in the competition, easily.  Now, I’m not so sure.  I think he was the worst last night, and I was resigned he was going home….but he didn’t, and was in the top 3 even after Simon told him, “Pack your bags.”  I don’t think the competition is rigged, but I don’t think I understand America either.  I guess I don’t really have a rant.  I wasn’t THAT behind Constantine, even though I liked watching him.  I just think America has made some questionable choices lately.  Maybe I just needed to get this out of my system.  *whew*  Better.
</American Idol Rant>

On to the card. 
     I mentioned a bit about Willpower last week and how while it didn’t DO anything, it does plenty.  I mentioned Willpower didn’t only affect characters, but there were plenty of things that could take advantage of Willpower.  This week I want to show you something that could potentially be one of the strongest commons to see print since the advent of the game.  I give you, Central Power Battery.

      This card is ridiculous.  Well, let me qualify that.  This card COULD be ridiculous.  Unfortunately, it needs two things.  First of all, Green Lantern Characters need to be good.  This is certainly yet to be seen, but we’ll assume.  Furthermore, these good Green Lantern characters need to have Willpower.  Seeing it’s the big mechanic of the set, I do suppose we’ll see a few of those as well.  So, why is this good?  Well, I hear drawing cards is nice.  You’ll find that in most TCGs, if you can draw, you can win.  This game is not an exception.  Now in general, the battery is not good on offense.  On defense, though it allows your characters who are about to be stunned to turn into card drawing machines.  I would think that in the later stages of a game you could very easily be drawing 2 extra cards a turn on defense, and maybe even 1 on offense depending on the situation.  These extra cards become power ups, plot twists, and that late drop you need to hit.  It helps smooth the curve.  In limited, you absolutely must play it if you go Green Lantern – there is simply no reason not to.  Depending on your format, can your imagine such fun things as a team up with Green Lantern, Fantastic Four, and comboing this card with Cosmic Radiation?  On offense, you can clear their board, then draw 3 cards (average).  Now, I remember from another game where playing one card would allow you to draw three, and it was pretty expensive. 

     Honestly, the possibilities are endless.  Being able to draw cards is very important in a TCG, and having a good renewable card drawing engine, if the cards allow it, could be very abusive in several decks.

     That’s it for the previews for this time around.  This Saturday will be the preview tournaments.  Myself, along with the www.ShuffleAndCut.com crew (cheap plug – we’ll take it) will be at the one in Costa Mesa, CA.  Come and say hi to us!

     Until next time, keep playing!

Be sure to cover all your Vs System, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and more needs at www.ShuffleAndCut.com.  Hope to see you there soon!