If you aren't acquainted with DC Deckbuilding, please read my ryview of the base game here, and read my ryview of the expansion, Forever Evil, here.
Now that you've read up on how the game works, let's get down to the statistics for the expansion.
I had previously believe that the game was quite unbalanced. Some supervillains seem much stronger than others based on anecdotal evidence, and I wanted to prove that theory.
Here's a breakdown on the perks from each supervillain:
Bane: If the first card you play during each of your turns has cost 1 or greater, you may destroy it. If you do, +2 Power.
Pictures of these are hard to track down. So this will be representative of the group... [2]
Bizarro: When you destroy a card, gain a Weakness. During your turn, you may put two Weakness cards from your discard pile on top of the Weakness stack. If you do, draw a card.
Black Adam: The first time you play a Super Power during each of your turns, you may destroy it. If you do, draw a card and gain 1 VP.
Black Manta: You may put any cards you buy or gain from the Line-Up on the bottom of your deck.
Deathstroke: +1 Power for each card you destroy during your turn.
Harley Quinn: During each player's turn, the first time you pass a card or discard a card, draw a card.
Lex Luthor: At the end of your turn, draw an extra card for each Hero you bought or gained during your turn.
Sinestro: When one or more foes fail to avoid an Attack you play, gain 1 VP. The first time you gain VPs during each of your turns, draw a card.
I know you have things to get back to; just bear with me [3]
Based on my initial thoughts, this is how I would have thought the supervillains stacked up (from best to worst):
1) Deathstroke
2) Sinestro
3) Bane
4) Lex Luthor
5) Harley Quinn
6) Bizarro
7) Black Manta
8) Black Adam
Now on to the statistics. I held a round robin tournament where each character played all 7 other characters. So there were 28 games in total. Here's the list from the win statistics (from best to worst):
1) Black Adam
2) Sinestro
3) Bane
4) Harley Quinn
5) Bizarro
6) Black Manta
7) Lex Luthor
8) Deathstroke
This was figuratively literally my face when I saw the standings... [4]
The first thing you may notice is that my 1) and 8) predictions were literally flip flopped.
Everyone else is milling about in the middle of the pack. A few minor surprises, but really it was just the first and last place that floored me.
Strictly speaking, based on my prior knowledge, I have 3 hypotheses regarding the unexpected outcome:
1) Black Adam (and other seemingly weak characters) are likely more powerful when you know how to play them properly, like a very steep learning curve
2) The heroes are somehow actually meticulously well balanced and I never gave Black Adam his credit before
3) Since I usually based who went first based on their relative power in my head, perhaps going first makes a big difference in the outcome
I will be collecting similar data for the Base Game where I'll be keeping track of who goes first.
Feel free to share your thoughts/experiences/criticisms/loving whispers.
Until next time,
Ryan
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