Last month’s “Avengers Assemble” set introduced a new game mechanic: Avenger’s ID Cards. These cards are randomly distributed in “Avengers Assemble” boosters, will be distributed in “Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D” boosters next month, and are also part of this summer’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” storyline event. All that is to say, they are here in numbers!
So what do they do?
ID cards expand the sideboard in Heroclix by allowing players to call in a particular Avenger for one turn. Sideboards are not completely new in Heroclix, but to date they have been confined to characters who can call in drones (e.g. CW 208 Ultron), can morph into a different figure (e.g. TT 038 Changeling), or have similar powers. Now, any team can have a sideboard.
There is a limit to this sideboard. A team cannot have more ID cards than it has characters on the team. Three figures on your team means you can play up to three ID cards.
How do they help?
1) ID cards let you bring in a character for one turn. This means whatever powers the have are now at your disposal and helps you fill in gaps that might exist on your team or respond to unforeseen situations.
2) ID cards have an “Inspire” effect that differs from character to character. As long as they are on the map, all adjacent friendly characters receive the effect. In the case of Falcon, all friendly characters get +2 speed. Ronin gives friendly characters +1 attack.
How do they work?
When building your team, a player pays five points to put an Avengers ID Card on their team. This is a unique mechanic, so it does not affect your ability to use resources, special objects, relics, or standard objects. ID cards are their own thing.
At the beginning of each game, the player chooses a character to place on the ID Card. This character must have either a matching Card name or a matching real name. For example, a player can use Falcon with his card as long as the piece is either named “Falcon” OR has the real name of “Sam Wilson.” Characters can use most Hawkeye pieces with the Ronin card even though the character names do not match, since “Clint Barton” is one of the real names on the ID card. Because you can choose at the beginning of each game, this lets you choose after seeing your opponents team. This is especially helpful for characters with multiple versions, like Iron Man. You can pick the figure who will be the most useful, so make sure to bring options with you to a tournament!
When a player chooses to use an ID card, the opposing player scores the five points used to put the card on the team. Each card is unique (so no multiple Sandman cards) and can only be used once per game.
The character calling in an ID character must meet a few requirements:
1) It must be at the beginning of your turn. This does not end the beginning of your turn, so the ID character can still use beginning of the turn effects like Poison or Leadership.
2) The calling character must be of an equal or greater point value than the ID character.
3) The calling character must have no action tokens.
Once on the board, an ID character is immediately removed
1) At the beginning of the next turn
2) If they are removed from the map any other way (e.g. if they are carried)
3) If they are not within five squares of the character who called them (Note: this means that an ID character cannot carry the character who called them)
Conclusion
So far, I love the ID Cards and think they add a great new element to the game. I have used one to have Justice use Telekinesis on Thor to land a powerful hit. I have used Falcon to land a final hit and knockout the Hulk. More ID Cards will just mean more options and combinations, so I am looking forward to what the rest of summer brings. Grab some ID Cards and bring in reinforcements!