Superman Sealed Review

Those of you who read the Superman Marquee Primer on HCRealms.com may be interested to read this follow up report, featuring the figures I rated after seeing them in play.


I played in a 400 point, two booster sealed event and pulled Darkseid, Libra, and Hope Taya as my force. Darkseid was a must play, and it came down to who else would fit. Hope was a shoe in for my team, and if I had anyone cheaper I would have tried to shoehorn Element Woman in as well. As it was I went with the not so obvious choice of Libra because he can attack immediately following Darkseid's Boom Tube.

The following are the teams I played against, and how I think they performed.

First Round:
Sun Boy - Performed exactly how I expected him to. He hit once and then crumpled like tissue paper. Opening Pulse Wave caught me by surprise (I had chosen to Outwit Manchester Black's TK instead), but fortunately he only rolled a 7 on his attack, hitting my Mastermind fodder.

Manchester Black - got his TK/PB Outwit often. Didn't get to do much, but put the hurt on Hope. I can see where he'd be a good figure to field, just not against the team I was playing. I think I rated him right, though maybe he's closer to 3.5 stars. When he gets based he's absolutely shut down.

Lois Lane, Superwoman got chased around the board by Hope. I was trying to get an Alpha Strike on her, but my opponent was far too clever to let me. Lois probably transformed a little too late in the game - by the time she had changed she was stuck with two tokens on her and had to clear while Darkseid set up and followed through with Omega Beams to vaporize her. She's sub par for this set unless you can push her and get her into battle right away.


Parasite couldn't counter any of Darkseid's powers. He got Mind Controlled by Libra to attack Manchester, and then was vaporized in short order by the Omega Effect. Parasite could have been more formidable against another team where he could have Outwit... something.

I think only Libra was KO'd this round. My opponent hadn't played much and was a little rusty. His combination of figures wasn't horrible, and with some strategy he could have really made a dent in my force (Parasite, for instance could have used Super Strength stolen from Hope).


Second Round:

All-Star Bizarro Moved a little too close on his first turn. Darkseid's Boom Tube, and Outwit, and an a followup attack from Libra for 3 damage softened him up. Bizarro pushed onto his 16D Impervious, and Darkseid finished him the following round with Omega Beams. Bizarro was more of a threat to me than Supergirl and had I not memorized his dial he could easily have torn me apart.

200 point Supergirl lasted the longest, but had to push to keep up (and away) from Darkseid. She also did enough damage to KO all my Mastermind fodder, and at one point if she landed one attack roll could have won the game by dealing 6 clicks to a bare defensed Darkseid. Overall a solid performer on her front dial, but one that fades fast.

Hope Taya Performed as expected - a minor annoyance who dealt a little damage and was quickly seared out of existence by Omega Beams. For the cost, and outstanding figure.


Third Round:

Seven Deadly Brothers - proved annoying. "Deal with me" he said, leaping next to Darkseid and shutting down the Omega Beams. Hope Taya softened him up before Darkseid opened a Boom Tube to reposition the team away from Imperirex's oncoming drills.


Brainiac 5 - put himself in the line of fire and suffered a round 2 Omega Beam. After Boom Tubing away from the drills Libra finished off the Colluan. B5 Proved to be a minor annoyance with Outwit/PC/Perplex and i could see where the Double Outwit (from Imperirex) wrecked may teams before me.

Imperiex was feared. Drills, high defense, and massive damage made Darkseid cautious on approach. Imperirex's downfall was positioning - Hope Taya destroyed blocking terrain that opened a line of fire for Omega Beams. Rather than retaliate, 'Rex repositioned the drills and the stony lord of Apokalips finished him with more Omega Beams.

Again, only Libra was KOd (notice a theme?).

Final Round:

Seven Deadly Brothers (x2) - fell fast to Omega Beams, but served their purpose - blocking Line of Fire to Zod and Non. In that sense they were better than I expected (but not great!).


Non - Left himself open to Omega Beams and didn't move close enough to charge on his second turn (he's a little slow). He fell, but not before dealing enough damage to KO Hope and injure Libra. Indomitable made both Zod and Non capable of pumping out a lot of damage very fast. Darkseid was angry that he could not counter Non's Super Strength.

Zod - suffered a dose of Omega effects, but then came back strong, critically hitting Darkseid. Darkseid never made the attack rolls necessary to recover and so Zod made Darkseid kneel before him. Had I been thiking strait, I would have based Zod and shut down his Psychic Blast. As it was, I didn't want to waste an action when I could have fried Zod at range. Whoops.

As far as impressions of my team go:

Libra was chosen over rulers Maxwell Lord and Princess Projectra ONLY for sharing another keyword with Darkseid to use with Boom Tube. Libra never used Mastermind so he could get to Probability Control faster. Libra never stole energy but did Mind Control once. Despite being on a winning team Libra did not do much to help win, except act as a meat shield. Libra did throw up all over himself (rolling a crit miss) on the first attack of my first round. I attribute it to motion sickness after being Boom Tubed, though it was, in effect, an accurate showing for his dial. I am unconvinced this figure will do well in constructed, as his performence in sealed was marginal at best.

Hope Taya earned her 40 points in every game, either hitting once for 4, or by tying up opponents and forcing them to move away from her. Hope was a solid investment, and only ended up as a bullet shield once.


Darkseid proved to be a stony lord of Apokalips, decimating everything in his path. I got lucky in the fight with Supergirl and rolled a Critical Miss with him, bumping him to better defenses after he had lost his minions. He's surprisingly fragile, though annoyingly mobile. The combination of Phasing/Teleport followed by a free "minion" attack really proved annoying to my opponents and let me get a first strike in when needed. It also felt dirty, like cheating the NAAT rules. Off his top dial, his attack values drop to average and he becomes less of a threat.

In every game my opponents let me get away with Psychic Blasting through damage reducers only to Outwit something more important. Had they based Darkseid, his PB would have been shut down forcing him to choose to use Outwit on damage reducers or move away. You don't win a lot of games by running, and so I wasted a lot of time frying the small guys - Hope, 7DB, etc. While the remainder of my team tied up the opposition.

In all, I feel like everyone at the venue had solid pulls and the set played well, if only lending itself to some very fast games. Oddly no one pulled a Common Superman.