Crime Lords Guest Article: Boy, is my face red.

Behold, the insanity spreads! Crime Lords Month continues to rock your socks - yes, yours! Check ‘em right now, you’ll see them rocking! If they’re not, it’s only through sheer force of will, as they try not to reveal their sentience to you.

It was only a matter of time before Speedy92286 (not to be confused with Beverly Hills 90210) succumbed to the lure of Crime Lords Month, and took to the keyboard with a fire not unlike something hot and burny.

Behold the singed fruits of his labour as he ponders everyone’s favourite Nazi, The Red Skull…

The Red Skull, nemesis of Captain America, and under direct command of Adolf Hitler himself, was a force to be reckoned with during WWII. Like Captain America, he was frozen, being brought back in a more modern world. Unlike Cap, who was found by SHIELD, Red Skull was discovered by HYDRA, and the war between the two from decades before still raged on.

There were several people who took the mantle of Red Skull, but the true Red Skull was Johan Schmidt. Unlike the other two, he withstood the test of time, and became a recurring threat, even coming back from the dead to make sure his diabolical plans were set into motion.

When the polls for what legend should be given ‘Super Legend’ treatment, I was surprised at the list. I was definitely expecting Cap and Hulk, since both Avengers and Warbound were confirmed for the set, Annihilus, for who else would be there for Annihilation wave. Even Iron Man, though a surprise, did not catch me off guard, or peak my interest as much as the final character to vote for; Red Skull. So you can imagine who had my vote.

At first I only voted for the Red Skull because my friend Jack told us all to vote for Captain America. My first thought was, “Well, I love bothering this guy, so let’s go with Cap’s arch-nemesis!” After some thinking, and some research, I realized that my choice was the correct one, that a Red Skull legend would be my favorite legend of the set.

I have to admit, I had never built a Crime Lords deck before. This is mostly because my best friend Mike took all the cards and made a rather annoying deck that constantly gives reinforcement and defense boosts, meaning it is impossible to beat him most games. The only thing about that strategy is that he never attacks, waiting to abuse reinforcement to do any real damage, and just stalls till 8-drop Apocalypse from Origins, then Galactus to win.

To me, this is not what the Crimelord team’s strategy should be about. It should be aggressive, hard-hitting, and I believe Red Skull should be able to give this old team a push in the right direction.

Now let’s look at the only Red Skull the game has seen so far:

He is a three drop of standard stats, 4/5 with range. His ability, when coming into play at the cost of a mere three endurance ensures your team-up is a great ability. Especially if you wish to not use mono-crime lords, this guy is very vital.

His flavor text makes me think that the people supporting the theme of Red Skull legends will either be people that are powerful and defend Red Skull, or Red Skull himself has some way to steal characters for a turn, or even the game.

Since I am very hyped up about the legend deck, let’s see if I can conjure up something along the lines of what I just said, shall we?

Powerful? Yes. On turn four, if it is your initiative, you can possibly steal every character on your opponent’s side of the field. This can ulitmately destroy your opponent’s field, especially if they are a weenie deck, and it opens up the floor for Red Skull to do some attacks of his own.

The reason for him giving adjacent characters the Hydra affiliation, is because the Skull was one of the main people to make Hydra the force it was. I was tempted to say Crimelord and Hydra affiliation, but then again, the Crimelords themselves aren’t really a group, more then just the general street baddies in the Marvel Universe that the Marvel Knights fight against.

I know I might be entirely off with the strategy of Red Skull, and he might just empower the reinforcement theme. I don’t really mind if he does, as long as it is done properly and fun to play. As long as people fear the Red Skull, like they do in the comics, I am more then happy to embrace whatever strategy he is given.

-Speedy92286

It’s a safe bet that Red Skull will be wreaking havoc with us once Marvel Universe gets released - he was one of the options for Super Legend status after all - but will he follow the sort of theme suggested by Speedy92286? Will he be as powerful, or will his scarlet noggin slip past us unnoticed? Bring on Marvel Universe! Whoo! Rock on, Fellow Lost.

-Gday