Is This OPD Too Strong For Actual Use?

[Karmanal of Zert]

In The Marvels expansion that never came out Thunderbolts were supposed to get a new OPD ("Hawkeye") that was to make target opponent -10 to Venture for the battle. At first glance I thought that was way too powerful even for an OPD, especially because of the existing OPD that makes opponent -6 (or character +6) to Venture for the battle. But I gave it some more thought, and given that I always I felt the latter was somewhat weak for an OPD (and it's companion non-OPD that makes opponent +/-3 was an unusably weak card, which I expect most here will agree with my on) and the fact that there is already an existing OPD that is a 10 attack (which may be easier to block than the hypothetical OPD in question [which obviously wouldn't count for damage or Venture total, which may balance that out] but not by much if you really think about it) led me to thinking my original reaction may have been an over-reaction. It is an OPD after all, and there are some OPDs I think are stronger than that, like Captain Mar-Vell's Universal Alignment. So now I'm tempted to try it out by making my Star Trek: The Next Generation Hero's Captain Picard Special a +10 to Venture for the battle, and I'm really curious as to what others think as far as this being too powerful of a card for actual use. Any and all opinions would be appreciated!

[BigBadHarve]

I don't think it's an imbalanced card. It's a decent card, but it's also one that targets a character, which means it can be avoided. The Other cards that add 6 to venture are OPD, but they can only be negated.

Also the ten venture attack doesn't actually hurt the target of the card in any way, it just affects venture, so if you're playing against an assault deck, it won't mean much as they're aiming to put on the hurt and don't care about venture.

The key is balance, really.

-BBH

[Karmanal of Zert]

Agreed.

However I'm pretty sure you're wrong about an Avoid 1 attack being able to block this hypothetical OPD. The ones that already exist read "Opponent -6 to Venture total for this battle", and I'm pretty sure that since the target is "Opponent" instead of "Target character" that a character couldn't defend it with an Avoid.

The way I think of it a 10 attack can only be blocked by a Power card with a Basic Universe card (which would pretty much never happen since everyone avoids using BUs), an Avoid (or teammate avoid, though most of those are limited to attacks of 9 or less), or a Negate. Out of these, if my above logic is correct, only a Negate would be able to block the hypothetical OPD in question. Now a 10 attack is pretty hard to block as it is, and at first the fact that this OPD would seem to be more than twice as hard to block had me still shying away - but then I realized Captain Mar-Vell's Universal Alignment is a clearly better OPD (moves multiple Mission cards) and that that also can only be blocked by a Negate. So all of a sudden it didn't seem like as ridiculous of a card as it did at first glance.

I think the balance is achieved in that it's a 10 that is harder to block but does absolutely no damage, counting only for Venture. But I still can't help but wonder if this card would've made it to the final cut if the Marvels ever actually got released.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[BigBadHarve]

Agreed.

However I'm pretty sure you're wrong about an Avoid 1 attack being able to block this hypothetical OPD. The ones that already exist read "Opponent -6 to Venture total for this battle", and I'm pretty sure that since the target is "Opponent" instead of "Target character" that a character couldn't defend it with an Avoid.

The card actually reads "Target character's team is -10 to venture for the battle."  Since it targets a character, you can avoid it. But it's not a numerical attack in the traditional sense, so you couldn't block it with a boosted power card, or a numerical avoid.

You are right about the other venture cards, like Dr. Doom's 'Villainous plot,' which reads that 'Opponent is -6 to venture.'  That card doesn't target anyone, and therefore the opponent can't avoid it.

-BBH

[Karmanal of Zert]

You're right, I was looking off of the similar Lex Luthor OPD, not the actual Marvels list. But that logic still wouldn't apply if I did my idea for Captain Picard which was a +10. Though perhaps that means I should consider making it identical to the Marvels card so that it could still be avoided more easily. But then again, when you do it that way it becomes precisely as defensible as a 10 attack OPD (assuming no one is using BU's) but without the benefit of doing any damage at all if it hits, which makes a big difference. This is really becoming quite the conundrum! I wish we actually had Picard here to help us with this one.


Post Merge: July 22, 2011, 04:22:10 PM
So whaddya say, BBH? Would you let someone you were playing against use a +10 to Venture OPD home-made, or do you think it'd be too hard to defend for too many Venture points, and thus too strong for actual use? Anyone else's opinion would be appreciated as well!