Analysis of Moonstone's Recent Black Buff - Is She Now a Keeper?

Moonstone is my favorite character, and when I heard she was being buffed, I was really excited. However, I still admit that she still isn't a high tier character.

 Her black is cheaper, which is the most important improvement. The previous black move was one of my favorites, because it was so unique and produced so many interesting and fun results. The fact that it was also a single target stun was the icing on the cake. It just cost way too much. If they reduced the cost some, I think you are on the right track. Instead, we get another "answer to enemy special tiles" move. These used to be rare (basically Captain America's overwrite, then we added Loki and Daredevil) but now it seems like every new character can either destroy or steal enemy special tiles. I guess added Moonstone to this list gives another option, but I don't think its that special anymore. As for the black power firing itself, its better, for sure, but I personally prefer moves that destroy enemy special tiles and cause damage based on that over moves that steal the tiles. I do think the cost is a little more in line with expectations though.

 Moonstone's red remains much like her old black: A potentially awesome move ruined by its cost. Her red has the potential to be a beastly nuke, it can OHKO pretty much anyone if the board is set up. The problem is that it has a fairly high cost to charge, and then further requires even more red tiles to sit on the board for damage. This makes it one of the slowest moves in the game. You could possibly charge with the new silver magneto purple, I guess...

 Moonstone's purple, on the other hand, I think is one of the better powers in the game. It is a great counter to hero character's that place countdowns or strong special tiles. You can completely nullify something like a Magneto countdown or Sentry's Sacrifice attack tile with it. I always thought this was cool. When her purple has no targets, it does solid single target damage and has a great potential to set up cascades. This has always been my preferred use, and I still think it fits that role spectacularly. In fact, in my view, unless the special tiles is particularly strong, I don't think Moonstone's purple is an efficient use of AP to remove. A regular Daken tile, for example, doesn't warrant using Gravity Warp. If you have a Falcon boosted Daken tile, that changes things, or if you are going to pull one of Blade's attack tiles into a cascade with others, maybe you can make the argument. This reveals the real power of her new black, it has solid synergy with purple. It can either completely eliminate the special tiles and let her purple function as damage, or it can at least reduce the number of enemy special tiles and make Gravity Warp much more predictable. The counter to Moonstone has always been more than one special tile, her new black really helps here.

 As a cover to keep or toss, her HP isn't great... but she is frequently boosted and her covers are somewhat easy to come by as frequent progression rewards for both PvP and PvE events. If you are a beginning 2 star player, she might be the first character that you can get a full set of covers for. She also is really great against 2 star Daken, the bane of the beginner player. However, you will soon find that there are easily 5 other 2 stars that vastly outrank her, so if you are conscious of your total roster slots, you will probably want to replace her. CStorm, Daken, Ares, OBW, and Thor are all objectively stronger, I'd say Wolvie is a little more well rounded (plus his heal helps budget players).

2 Star Character Guide: Captain America (Modern)

Captain America's Modern cover is a strong 2 star character with beefy health and interesting power mechanics. He is a strong PVP competitor and a powerful PVE choice. His covers don't appear in the story, but are a good PVP award. Yellow - Sentinel of Liberty: Captain America's Yellow power is very expensive, but also incredibly useful. It requires 19 AP to activate at level 5, but it turns 4 tiles into strength 166 protect tiles. With over 650 full points of damage reduction, this can really slow the enemy team. Additionally, it creates yellow protect tiles, so you can use it to set off critical combos, or erase enemy special or countdown tiles. A since each is individually so strong, using two to set off a combo and leaving two behind still provides significant protection. During PVP, there is always the risk that the other team wipes them quickly, and at 19 required AP this one doesn't often come around until later in the match. In the PVE, it is mostly effective for creating critical tiles or eliminating enemy countdowns. Red - Star Spangled Avenger: This move allows Captain America to deal damage and then create a countdown timer which returns all but one of the AP spent. The damage isn't very high, topping out at 627, but the fact that after three turns it returns almost in full means this move can often be chained repeatedly. Additionally, the countdown tile can be created on an enemy special tile (depending on the moves level, at 5 any tile can be targeted) so it can be used offensively. In PVP, this move is effective in conjunction with a stun move, or to destroy enemy special tiles, but getting through three turns without removal can be tough. in PVE, this move is ridiculous, as it often won't be destroyed, and can be used repeatedly. Blue - Peacemaker: Captain America's Blue move is Peacemaker. This move stuns the enemy target only for 2 turns, and then creates a 3 turn countdown, which returns all but 2 of the AP used. Like his red move, the countdown tile can be created over enemy special tiles, an added bonus. In PVE this is a strong move, as it can be used to prevent an eminent enemy attack, and it is easy to get the AP returned. In PVP, this move by far works best after the first two opponents have fallen. The countdown is only one turn longer than the stun, so the enemy can basically be infinitely stunned, unless they remove the timer. This can also be used to destroy any of the story events against a single, overpowered opponent. PVP Summary - A strong but not outstanding choice. Two of his powers are easily countered by PVP opponents, and the third takes a ton of AP to trigger. PVE Summary - An excellent choice, as two moves are essentially free once used for the first time and the third is outstandingly versatile. Team-Up: Weak. Sentinel of Liberty takes a lot of AP to trigger, and Star Spangled Avenger and Peacemaker require multiple uses to be truly effective, which is impossible here. Match-ups: Anyone with complementary colors. Counters: None in particular, Modern Captain America is well rounded.

Roster Advice - 3 Stars Falcon and Kamala Khan

I received a question from a budding 3 star player about roster composition regarding two new pickups: Captain Falcon and Kamala Khan. This player already had a decent 2 star roster and held quite a few underleveled 3 star characters. Although both Khan and Falcon are squarely within the support category, both are strong enough to warrant a spot over a lot of other 3 star covers. Falcon rates highly in my book. Falcon is strictly a support character, but he is extremely efficient in a variety of matchups. Even if your team isn't creating a lot of special tiles for him to boost, as long as you hang onto 5 blue AP he can destroy enemy tiles pretty well. My only gripe is that his powers trigger frequently and it can make matches take forever. He doesn't rely on specific pairings nearly as much as most other support characters. Khan I have less experience with but her healing at five covers can make it extremely difficult to kill enemy teams and requires no AP, her Green damages the entire team which is always a huge bonus, and her purple is a green generator, and you should never overlook moves that generate tiles. On this particular user's roster, I recommended both Falcon and Khan over Doc Ock, Colossus, Ragnarok, and Squirrel Girl. I recommended that this user hand onto Daredevil, especially post buff. Questions about your roster? Post them here and I will answer in a future post.