This week fans got what they wanted from the boys over at UDE, Annihilus and his wave of destruction. I think most were pleased with the cards churned out to support the new incarnation of the Negative Zone, I know VSU was and he definitely showed his knowledge of Annihilus with his exclusive preview on TCGplayer. Well after weeks of preview my blog was starting to get really long and trying to keep up with daily previews and letting you all know my take on the cards along with my weekly comic reviews the task was becoming daunting. This week I decided to wait till the very end. Doing so also enabled me to get back on top of creating the MWS sets. The MUN, DCX, and MUL sets are all up to date and I suggest that you all download them and start preparing for Worlds which is right on the heels of New York. If you haven’t updated any of the old sets and they are listed here on the blog I suggest you update those as well. Rapidshare sucks I know and I am in the process of creating one huge download file for Megaupload and Rapidshare for everyone, give me time, until then you will have to settle for Wiiman’s VSbase files as he updates them.



Now onto the reviews, let’s look at the Negative Zone locations as the team really hinges on these primarily. If you do not control the Negative Zone locations then your team suffers greatly. That should not be a problem though as there are 4 Non-Unique Negative Zone locations in Marvel Universe, couple that with the other Negative Zone Locations in the game and you have a new Deep Green Deck, which also brings us to another preview Card Thanos, The Mad Titan, but more on that later. I have to say I am happy that Ahmed is out of the Modern Age rotation as I would hate to see him around at Worlds. Negative Zone, Prison Alpha shows a potential team-up at the very least a bid by R&D to keep the games color wheel down to a minimum. But for flipping this bad boy you get to play around with characters on the board and move them around. This ought to be great for anyone trying to get directly at your opponents endurance, but other than that you really have to look at the team and question when the timing will be right to use it. Negative Zone, Gateway packs a really delightful punch for a 2 card discard cost. I can see how this could play into an S.H.I.E.L.D./ Negative Zone team-up, bounce those characters and use them as fuel for the fire.



We got to preview not just one, but two incarnations of Annihilus, an 8-cost and a 5-cost. The 5-cost version, Annihilus, Anti-Matter Master, has definite stamps to it, the character has to be hidden and you can only use it during your attack step, which also makes it difficult to figure out what initiative you want, even or odds. The 5-cost definitely shows how Negative Zone characters work with the Negative Zone locations. If you don’t control one then your characters are hindered, but this also works well with Negative Zone, Prison Alpha if you are playing against decks without hidden characters. It definitely is not a bad incarnation of Annihilus. I actually like it better than the 8-cost version, Annihilus, The Living Death that Walks. The 8-cost version has a Juggernaut like effect where it pretty much guarantees the game will not be going into a turn 9, even if it does it is almost a point of concession because you are left crippled if not totally lobotomized, remember the Negative Zone locations are Non-Unique.



My favorite character from the Annihilation series on the side of evil was Blastaar. I just like the lion-bear look. Versus pumped out a new 7-cost incarnation, Blastaar, The Living Bomb Burst that keeps with the Negative Zone team theme of out of combat stuns. You really can’t complain about out of combat stuns. This one suffers from the same Negative Zone location controls. The team is at this point acting in the same manner as the Galactus Raid Decks. The locations are going to fuel this team. There is not going to really be a way to control the use of Negative Zone locations, you would really be packing your deck specifically against these locations. As VSU Dragon pointed out you can’t even pack enough Pathetic Attempts to deal with all these effects, so stop saying PA beats this and that. You probably won’t even draw into all four PA plot twist in any one given game. Now in limited this team could be completely hindered, both versions of Negative Zone locations we have seen have been rare and using these characters during the turn they come out relies on you controlling that location.



Along with Blastaar we got everyone’s favorite seeker of the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos. Surprisingly it is a 3-cost version of Thanos, The Mad Titan. His ability is very Ahmed like, but to the next level. It works well with his Underworld affiliation as well because it plays with the KO’d pile. I really think this card has been the most flavorful of all the preview cards released thus far. I mean the ability was chalked up to both team affiliations and fits well with both teams, does that mean there is a possible team-up that can be pulled into the picture that may be playable, I can’t say, I am not a huge fan of either team and have only built one Underworld deck just because of the Ghost Rider cards, Zarathos and Noble Kale.

Today we got plot twist support card for Annihilus that is sure to be in every Annihilus based deck, Swarm of Annihilus.



I thought the team was already showing the potential for enough out of combat stuns, but they went and added more. Pathetic Attempt will not be enough to keep up with all these effects in the game. You could have up to 8 Negative Zone locations in play and use this card, the potential for this team is raising to new heights and I am sure all fans of the Negative Zone are happy to see these effects.

Well that is my take on the Negative Zone week that we just experienced. Look to the right and you should see Marvel Universe (MUN) in the MWS sets. That’s because all cards up till today’s preview are ready for play. I will not be updating this file daily. Next Friday come back and find more Marvel Universe in your MWS sets. I hate OCTGN, but Flashback is creating sets for those who adore it. Again, don’t forget to join Darkseid.servegame.com on MWS to play with all the other VS fanatics. If you haven’t pre-order any MUN product please do so, it is really pre-orders that drive the supply for the product and if we love the game do what you can to help out.
Later this weekend I will be posting Comic Book reviews for JLA #21, JSA #15 and the Mighty Avengers #14. I know many of you have probably been wondering what have been up with the DC titles, but other than these two I haven’t had much reason to post anything DC related. Final Crisis kicks of this week and I thought it best to prepare you all for the torrent of comic reviews that will be coming this year along with the Marvel Titles. Vote for Darkseid Revenge and enjoy.

Almost forgot you can now enjoy my reviews and rants over on TCGplayer as well. Just look for the featured blogs and hopefully I’ll get spotlighted. I want to thank Mike for putting that into the works, which also gives a place for discussions for any of my comic reviews. Clicking on the title to any article will take you directly to TCGplayer forums where you can feel free to get in on the discussion.