See the first previews from Justice League below – along with a recap of the Team Attack mechanic and a link to our new Facebook group!

After you become familiar with MetaX through the Demo Deck and Sample Match, the Rulebook explains a few final aspects of the game. Today, we’ll walk through some examples of Team Attacking.

You can find a full breakdown of Team Attacking in the Rulebook’s “Section D – Victory Points.” In general, Team Attacks will allow you to spend MP to combine attacking Characters and gain Victory Points – even when defended. First, let’s walk through an example scenario:

Player A has Batman – Dark Knight (with Stats of 2 Strength, 7 Intelligence, and 6 Special) and The Joker – Certifiably Insane (with Stats of 2 Strength, 7 Intelligence, and 4 Special) in play, while Player B’s board has Superman – Man of Steel (with Stats of 7 Strength, 3 Intelligence, and 5 Special).

Player A declares an attack with Batman by Pushing Batman and playing a 5 Intelligence Battle Card (and using its effects). Player A can now pay (-) 5 MP to “Link” The Joker to Batman and perform a Team Attack. To Link to an attack, a Character must: a) be eligible to attack normally (did not enter play that turn), b) Prepped, c) have a printed Stat (on itself) that matches the Stat of the Battle Card played by the Lead Attacker. In this case, Batman is the Lead Attacker and played a 5 Intelligence Battle Card – so The Joker is able to Link due to having an Intelligence Stat (of any Rank) printed on his Character card.

Player A pays 5 MP and Pushes The Joker to Link to Batman. The combined attack value for a Team Attack is determined by the Rank of the Battle Card + the Rank of the printed Stat on any Linked Characters. The Joker’s Intelligence Stat has a Rank of 7, making this Team Attack’s total value = 12 (5 Intelligence Battle Card + Joker’s Rank 7 Intelligence Stat). Player A is now finished declaring attacks.

At this point, there are three possible outcomes:

1) Player B does not assign any defenders. The Team Attack would gain 1 VP (as if it was a normal single attack.)

2) Player B assigns Superman as a defender by playing a Rank 3 Strength Battle Card (and using its effects). Superman’s total defense value against this Team Attack is 10, determined by his Strength Stat with a Rank of 7 + the Rank 3 Strength Battle Card. Since Batman and Joker’s Team Attack value is higher (12 > 10), Player A gains a VP. Damage is then attached, with the lead attacker always receiving the defender’s Battle Card (3 Strength Battle Card to Batman as Damage, 5 Intelligence Battle Card to Superman as Damage).

3) Player B assigns Superman as a defender by playing a Rank 6 Strength Battle Card (and using its effects). Superman’s total defense value against this Team attack is 13 (Strength Stat with a Rank of 7 + Rank 6 Strength Battle Card). In this scenario, Player A would not gain a VP – and then damage would be attached.

Ultimately, the Team Attack mechanic provides a system-wide outlet to convert your resources (MP) into extra damage (VP). This is especially useful for breaking through in the late stages of a game, while also enabling a few archetypes based specifically around Team Attacking. Defensively, its a rare (but dazzling!) moment when a large Character is able to fend off a Team Attack and not give up the VP.

Nightwing (shown here in both Starter Deck and Uncommon versions) gains a Victory Point whenever he leads a Team Attack – though he exposes himself to Damage each time. Watch for his pairing with Batgirl in the Starter Decks for the start of a powerful Team Attacking strategy!

There are also Events that interact with Team Attacking, such as Strength in Numbers. Drawing two cards for the cost of one card and -1 MP is extremely efficient, and decks that Team Attack frequently gain unique access to this cheap effect.

Upper Hand is an Event with unconditional card advantage, and its cost demonstrates a nice contrast with Strength In Numbers. Events can be used to augment the strengths of your Character lineup, or to fill in a lacking gap!

Team Attacks can also be helped by certain Battle Cards, and this Rank 5 Multistat Battle Card provides even more fuel for the Team Attack archetype.

While the Ultra Rare versions of Superman (Last Son of Krypton) and Batman (Caped Crusader) feature powerful effects, they are more likely to only show up in specific builds. Meanwhile, Superman – Man of Steel and Batman – Dark Knight both offer extremely flexible abilities and extremely high Stats! By definition, Rank 7 Characters with three Stat types are the hardest to take down in the game.

Batman’s above average MP generation (for a Rank 7 Character) is welcome in many decks, and his ability clears a blocker for the turn – without opening up any slots for your opponent to drop a new Character! Keep in mind that you may only have up to three Characters in play at a time, so Batman’s tempo-oriented effect has significant upside in both the early and late stages of the game. Similarly, Superman’s draw effect is extremely helpful for stability in the beginning of the match – while also digging for specific “kill cards” when played late.

Today’s final preview is Harley Quinn – Former Psychiatrist. This version of Harley comes in both Uncommon/Starter Deck versions, and be sure to watch for her Cross Rare (“XR”) card in the coming weeks! Harley’s effect is one of the most powerful in the game, and her maximum Rank of 5 allows her to operate in several swarming builds – while also having synergy with The Joker.

On Friday, watch for a full list of fan-sites that will be rolling out additional MetaX spoilers – including the freshly launched official Panini Games Facebook page! Aside from extra previews on the Facebook page, we’ll also be running various promotions and giveaways – be sure to Like and Follow to stay in the loop!