[{"header":"teamwork: a dangerous tool"},{"text":"In the current state of the metagame, I feel that teamwork is the most powerful MC ability. It requires no cards to be played for activation and has high potential payoff, making it extremely versatile in all stages of the game. Turns 1 &amp; 2 it can squeeze out an additional power to possibly make that 4 power hand&nbsp;into a 5 power one for a crucial game-defining purchase. Mid and late game you can chance upon an opponent\u2019s power card or even SuperVillain. This can have a big impact for the small price of a VP token.&nbsp;&nbsp;"},{"image":[{"src":"svu871979svuln.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Anyone who has ever used&nbsp;the Teamwork&nbsp;mechanic knows&nbsp;the regret&nbsp;you feel after hitting an opponents Vulnerability or Weakness card, possibly&nbsp;even multiple times&nbsp;over the course of a game. Teamwork incorporates a risk with each VP token&nbsp;given out, and this risk should not be taken lightly. Measures can be made to minimize this risk, usually&nbsp;by tracking the location and counts of enemy Starters and Weaknesses, etc,&nbsp;but most of the some level of risk still&nbsp;exists. If only there was a reliable&nbsp;way to check an opponent\u2019s top card..."},{"header":"Enter Rorschach!"},{"image":[{"src":"ror52651ror.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"Rorschach is the ultimate compliment to the Teamwork ability. His ability drastically minimizes its risk and multiplies its payoff two-fold. Rorschach was introduced into the game during Crossover 4, before Teamwork existed.<\/p>His ability is in essence using Teamwork, but instead of paying a VP he pays by having you discard a card. The main&nbsp;thing that puts it all together is that once Rorschach plays an&nbsp;opponents card, he returns it to the top of their deck, ready and primed to be played again by&nbsp;the Teamwork ability right away.<\/p>"},{"image":[{"src":"scl134481sclay.jpg"},{"caption":"Sounds like clayface to me."}]},{"text":"The sequencing is simple. Maximizing it however, requires a lot of attention. First, evaluate which opponent is most likely to provide you with a powerful card, or least likely to provide you with a useless card and then&nbsp;'Rorschach' them. Count their Starters and Weaknesses, and pay attention to what cards your opponents have in their deck, and what cards they have cycled through to optimize your odds&nbsp;for making&nbsp;an explosive play. Once you take the first shot with Rorschach, assess the situation again, and optimize from there based on the new information you have. If you hit&nbsp;a great card, you win big, since you can now effortlessly play it again&nbsp;by following up Rorschach's ability with a Teamwork. The rest of the table will begin to audibly mumble at this point.&nbsp; The advantage brought about by this&nbsp;'double play' can vastly influence the outcome of a game depending&nbsp;its timing. Hard hitting attack cards become ten times more satisfying when they aren't even your card, and then you get to&nbsp;do it again! On turn one, if you're not going first, you have a small chance to land on someone's first purchase and double play it, allowing you to reach ridiculously above average power early in the game."},{"double":[{"src":"mag433733magic.jpg"},{"src":"pan32743pandora.jpg"}]},{"text":"Using Rorschach, I have managed to buy these cards on turn one. Needless to say, the game will go very well for you when you are buying heavy hitters like these early in the game."},{"text":"Sometimes you won't hit their best card, what if you just&nbsp;hit a vulnerability or weakness with Rorschach? Don't fret, you still&nbsp;scored a minor victory because you&nbsp;didn\u2019t give them&nbsp;a VP for nothing! Now if you really think you need some extra power, you can use your Teamwork on a different opponent for another shot at it.<\/p>So far I've been&nbsp;talking a lot about Teamwork, but since Rorschach doesn't have the Teamwork ability, we need to choose another Main Character who does...<\/p>"},{"header":"enter mirror master! "},{"image":[{"src":"mma640462mmaster.jpg"},{"caption":"His facial expression truly captures the essence of the combo."}]},{"text":"Mirror Master provides Rorschach with Teamwork, which is already compelling. His primary ability however makes the 'double play' even sweeter. If you happen to land on a Hero, Villain or Equipment via Rorschach, Mirror Master will give you an&nbsp;additional power when you play it for the second time. As if it already isn't insulting enough to be mooching off an opponent's card twice, you can also get an extra power for your troubles."},{"text":"Mirror Master's&nbsp;primary ability is often viewed as being slow and clunky, as it is difficult to reliably trigger until later in the game, and&nbsp;therefore it can cause you to have a slow start and&nbsp;sometimes be a non-factor until its to late.<\/p>While it isn't the driving force of the combo, you should always seek opportunities for squeezing extra power through it. Do not undervalue Kicks. By themselves, they don\u2019t give additional power, but by playing a Kick from your hand first, they pave the way for playing other 3 cost cards to get extra power off of.&nbsp; Time Travel can also give off boosts, so pay attention if there are any chances to gain extra power from them as well. Some specific cards (which I will cover below) also greatly enhance this strategy.<\/p>"},{"header":"a general overview of this combination"},{"text":"Primary Strengths:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Rorschach optimizes the effectiveness of Teamwork while simultaneously acting as a (usually) free Teamwork"},{"caption":"Maximum effectiveness can be achieved with essentially nothing but a single card which is often a Starter"},{"caption":"Independent of the Line Up"},{"caption":"Benefits from opponent's powerful cards"},{"caption":"While many other MC combinations have a relative power cap or maximum benefit, this one does not"},{"caption":"Benefits when opponent's are playing with Teamwork MCs because it can provide you with free information"}]},{"text":"Secondary Strengths:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Can disrupt your opponents by forcing them to shuffle if they have no deck"},{"caption":"Benefits from an opponent who is destroying their Starters"},{"caption":"Weaknesses, filler cards and cards that miss their proper combo timing can still be useful at all stages of the game by discarding them to Rorschach"},{"caption":"Slim chance to play an opponent's non-starter twice on turn 1 & 2 if you are not going first, leading to explosive early power"}]},{"text":"Weaknesses of This Team:"},{"list":[{"listType":"bullet"},{"caption":"Discard effects; Unlike other MC combinations that don\u2019t usually care about discarding their Vulnerabilities or Weaknesses, these are important to you. The more cards in your hand the better, as you need fuel for Rorschach. Discarding cards makes you lose flexibility, which is a great strength of this combo."},{"caption":"Can be slowed by heavy Weakness counts, albeit not as bad as other MC teams such as Green Lantern, etc."},{"caption":"Destroying a lot of Starters can undermine the value of your cards. If you have no Starters, in order to Rorschach you will have to discard something like a Kick to use Rorschach, and potentially hit a blank. This will create chances to lose power instead of gaining it as the game progresses."}]},{"header":"Important Cards"},{"double":[{"src":"iri905289iris-wes.jpg"},{"src":"par180550parasite.jpg"}]},{"text":"As a Rorschach Teamwork combo, information is your #1 friend. It helps you maximize the potential of every turn. Cards that reveal your opponent\u2019s top card, such as Iris West are a great utility, whereas other cards like Parasite can give you information as to what isn\u2019t on the top of an opponent\u2019s deck. These type of cards are&nbsp;useful because you gain information&nbsp;and&nbsp;then you can&nbsp;make a better educated decision for your Rorschach\/Teamwork. Make sure and pay attention to reveals of any sort, possibly due to&nbsp;attacks or an opponent's effect, as you can consider all of this information&nbsp;and make a well informed decision based on it."},{"double":[{"src":"xra595354xray-vis.jpg"},{"src":"eye46672eye-beam.jpg"}]},{"text":"X-ray Vision and Eye Beams open up the ability to triple play someone's&nbsp;top card. X-ray Vision even shows all of your options. Even if you just find a&nbsp;mediocre card like Catwoman [Hero]&nbsp;that still equates to +8 power after Mirror Master boosts (+2 power from playing it the first time, and then +3 power from the 2nd and 3rd times due to the +1 additional power from Mirror Master)."},{"double":[{"src":"nth66512nth222.jpg"},{"src":"chl197390chloro.jpg"}]},{"text":"In some cases, such as Chlorokinesis, you might want to discard an opponent\u2019s top card if you are disappointed with your options and think a better card sits below. You also could use Nth Metal Mace as a scouting tool instead of its traditional role as a deck cycler, just don't use it on someone with a deck full of Heroes, so again you must pay attention to your opponent's decks as much as your own."},{"image":[{"src":"mol950738moloch-t.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"One sadistic combo is to play a good&nbsp;opponent's card with Rorschach, then destroy it with Moloch! Teamwork their next good card beneath to apply salt to wound.&nbsp; Repeat as necessary until they concede. "},{"double":[{"src":"log963720logan.jpg"},{"src":"ele766136element-.jpg"}]},{"text":"Garfield Logan once in play will be a permanent buff to Mirror Master's primary ability. Even with nothing hands, Logan can convert a Punch into one of the three card types that trigger Mirror Master, so that the second punch you play will be seen as (for example) an Equipment,&nbsp;turning it into +2 power. "},{"text":"Element Woman is the&nbsp;four card types simultaneously when played. This means she will trigger Mirror Master a whopping three times by herself when&nbsp;played after another four cost card, effectively making her +5 power. "},{"header":"Final notes"},{"image":[{"src":"ror414705ror222.jpg"},{"caption":""}]},{"text":"The draft phase should be considered when using this combination. Similarly to Golden Glider, it has the largest advantage if picked first. If picked first, it will go last in turn order, providing it with the largest amount of information and potential good cards to be played on the first turn. An opponent with a 5 punch first hand that buys an expensive card on turn one is the dream, as you are guaranteed to hit either a punch or the card they bought. *This combo loves to play against Black Manta! Enjoy double playing whatever they bottom decked if the timing works out! It's there fault for playing it,&nbsp;so no guilt for you! "},{"text":"This strategy might sound underwhelming at&nbsp;first glance; &#34;Aren\u2019t I just going to hit Punches all game?&#34; you might ask.&nbsp;This can very well be the case if you are extremely unlucky. Mind you, that's still something as a Punch gives a bit of Power, and that's basically your&nbsp;worst case scenario.<\/p>However, the calculative Rorschach player can fish out non-Starters&nbsp;time and time again, producing great&nbsp;results courtesy their very likely-to-be-annoyed opponents.&nbsp; This team&nbsp;is capable of great things, and can turn a game upside-down if given&nbsp;the opportunity or a stroke of luck. While it may not provide players with guaranteed results, it does provide unlimited possibilities.<\/p>Give it a try! It's a lot of fun.<\/p>"}]