Power Leech Errata

[gameplan.exe]

was the errata for Power Leech (that it must target a character, so it can now be AG-avoided), was that errata before or after the X-Men Edition was released?

I'm curious because everyone talks about how DoW was made to "create balance" with Battlesite decks, yet one of the best, existing Any Character cards was nerf'd pretty steeply (IMO).

I wonder how the balance would be if DoW could be negated (basically removing the last line of its text) and Power Leech was no longer required to target (meaning it could only be negated).

Mostly, I'm curious about that timing because it seems like TPTB decided Power Leech gave too much power to the Any Hero decks, or something. Any of our resident veteran players know when it went into effect?

[Demacus]

I believe that went into affect between JLA and Monumental, but I could be wrong.  It wasn't long after I.Q. though.  I DO remember that it went into affect before I got my hands on one, and I finally got one between Mon and Classic.

[Jack]

From my understanding it was nerfed at least in 1997 before Classic. Check the tournament guide because it's listed there as errata.

[gameplan.exe]

From my understanding it was nerfed at least in 1997 before Classic. Check the tournament guide because it's listed there as errata.

Who do you think I am that I have one of those fancy Tournament Guides?! o.O

lol, seriously though, I don't have one...

Anyway, so it was nerf'd after Battlesites? They determined that Power Leech gave Any Heroes too much umph! over Battlesites, so they take it down a notch, then decide that Any Heroes need more help... right? So, instead of undoing their previous super-edit, they decide to make a new card...? Am I getting this right? I try not to feel this way about most things, but I can't help but get the sense that I should have been in charge of that decision...

[Jack]

I have it scanned if you want a copy: http://overpower.ca/uploads/tournament_guide_final.pdf

I haven't had time to dig anything else up, it might have been nerfed before Monumental OP released, I'll have to check Legion newsletters for that.

EDIT:
Just browsing through the ones that John posted (which I'll mirror on my site soon), March 19961997's newsletter pointed out that Leech must target a character on the front line. It was to make Leech more defendable:

[steve2275]

nice goin jack

[Demacus]

It looks like this errata came out just before JLA, based on the article about Wizard in Top Hat and Tails.

[Jack]

JLA came out in February 1997 and this newsletter was mailed out in March, so yes, just after JLA. There were only 5 cards that could defend against it at the time (Beast, Scarlet Witch, Mojo, Holocaust and Morbius). The DO negates cannot defend this because it didn't target a character.

[Demacus]

So Power Leech was errated quite some time before Monumental's release. Still, Ncann has a valid point that they could have just as simply removed the targetting errata from Power Leech to give Any Hero decks a more fighting chance.  Pick an icon and your opponent might just toss all of his in hand activators.

[gameplan.exe]

So Power Leech was errated quite some time before Monumental's release. Still, Ncann has a valid point that they could have just as simply removed the targetting errata from Power Leech to give Any Hero decks a more fighting chance.  Pick an icon and your opponent might just toss all of his in hand activators.

Exactly. I mean, all of this seems like a moot-point, since there are no official tournaments anymore. Then again, it might be fun to change the defensive actions on these two cards, just to see how that "balance" turns out.

[Demacus]

Leech having nothing but a Negatable defense and DoW being a targeted attack that can be AGed away?  I'm not against it.

[BigBadHarve]

Leech having nothing but a Negatable defense and DoW being a targeted attack that can be AGed away?  I'm not against it.

That is an interesting idea - remove the errata on the Leech, and move it over to the DoW. DoW targets a front line character, still can't be negated, but now it can be avoided. Odds are it would still hit, but an AG from the battlesite could be used to avoid it. Likewise you could take the hit and subsequently remove it with a heal special as it would count as a hit on the target.

Something worth testing out for sure.

-BBH

[BasiliskFang]

Since leech targets, can it follow AA?

[breadmaster]

it cannot

anys have to be the first action taken.  they cannot follow an ally, and they cannot follow death from above (any AA)

[BasiliskFang]

True, forgot that.