By David Eber.
Well, just last Thursday I got done tearing through my boxes of Flashpoint, and I was curious to hear some first impressions people have of the set. Here are mine:
In Flashpoint, there seems to be a general increase in the power level of the cards. Following along the same lines of Netherworld, once again there are a number of cards that either reduce the play value of older cards (or make them obsolete), while others are of the "must use" variety (or at least "must try"). I would be very suprised if Flashpoint did not become a significant part of most Fist decks in the future. I'll break it down into areas where I feel there were the most significant additions or changes.
One of the more persistent complaints about Fist is that it is weak as a two player game, mainly because once one player pulls ahead it is hard to pull him back down again. Jose has responded (and rightly so) that this is because most people don't appropriately plan for these situations with "comeback" cards, i.e., cards that can be used to reverse a losing game. Well, Flashpoint almost goes overboard in providing these cards. I don't know how many cards contain the phrase "If your opponent is closer to victory conditions than you are" or "If opponent is one site away from winning". Examples that spring to mind include Birdhouse Cafe, Rainforest Grove, Who's the Big Man Now?, Glimpse of the Abyss, Drop Troopers, and Trust Me, I've Got a Plan. While not all of these will immediately turn the game around, there are enough of them out there now that you can use several of them together to make a comeback.
Flashpoint seems to really encourage larger site structures, as evidenced by the new battlefield sites, and by cards like Spawn of the New Flesh. Who's the Big Man Now and Glimpse of the Abyss will stretch out your own structure, while Disinformation Packet will do it for your opponent, and Anomaly Spirit will benefit you when your opponent's structure grows.
All the new Feng Shui sites are cool, with Night Market topping the list. Once again, Flashpoint follows the lead of Netherworld by giving us useful sites that aren't too weak to be played. Oddly enough, the Marsh may see a little more use because of all the new vehicle states. Low body sites that turn to produce effects really get hurt by Flashpoint. There are quite a few cards that screw with low body and/or sites that turn. Smart Missle is the best example of this I can think of, though BuroMil Ninja, Rocket Scientist, and Redeemed Gunman also come to mind.
I'm not initially impressed with the Battlefield sites, but I haven't used them yet so I'm reserving judgement.
Lots of new ones, all of which have some special ability. Hacker is easily the best of the bunch, and may in fact possibly be overdoing it a bit. If you consider 3 cost characters to fit this category, then the Plama Trooper and the Encephalon Screamer are both incredible cards in this category. The only drawback is that there are few to no foundation characters that provide the secondary resources for the factions that use them the most, so don't dump your Sinister Priests and DNA Mages yet.
Lots of them, and most of them way cool. Some of them ridiculously cool. However, more interestingly are the new crop of cards that penalize opponents for playing events, or at which at least benefit you in some small way if they do. These include Night Market, Registry of the Damned, Red Monk, and Gibbering Horror. Also interesting are the new "Gambit" events which provide resources, and which thus serve to counteract the effectiveness of decks that toast.
Lots of them, and most of them way cool. Especially a lot of Tank and Weapon States. Also, cards such as Spirit Pole, Tank Warfare, and Slo-Mo Vengeance finally allow you to recycle states (as opposed to cards that allowed you recycle anything). Also, cards like Kar Fai's Crib, Grease Monkey, Ex-Commando, and Both Guns Blazing let you get more for your states. Of course, there is the equal and opposite reaction, as evidenced by cards like Shaolin Surprise and Righteous Fist (which, incidentally, put a hurting on the Ascended's #1 card: Shadowy Mentor).
Lots of them, and so on . . . Oddly enough, not much new that deals with them, so those Cabinet Ministers and Thunder on Thunder's suddenly seem more useful (my play circle was never big on edges to begin with, though now that may change).
Without going into the whole rarity debate, the claims that Daedalus made about the rare characters being cool but not overpowered are essentially true. In fact, very few of the ones I've seen really excited my interest all that much, and I've seen most of them. I suspect that Destroyer may have originally been one of the rares that was reduced to uncommon status, and this is a good thing.
The Dragons got the most beef in this set, with the Architects a close second, both in the number of new cards created for them and the power of those cards. The exception to this are the unaligned cards, which really got the most new cards. The Architects got a bunch of new stuff, little of which I've had the chance to try out (though what I have played or have had used against me is way cool). The Dragons also got a lot of cool new stuff which mainly augments what they do best already: kicking butt and coming back to kick more butt. There's a real obvious combo already laid out in this faction involving the Ex-Commando, Both Guns Blazing, and Slo-Mo Vengeance.
The Jammers got the next most cards, and are now much stronger for it. These included a number of good mid-range characters like Rocket Scientist and Chimpanzer, and a number of cool events like Monkeywrenching and The Underground, which when combined with other cards can produce some nice combos. I still don't know how well they stand on their own, so I'll have to give them a try.
The Hand got less cards than the Jammers, but the cards they got, along with the Chi cards really upped their power level condierably. They now have a number of mid-level characters, such as Cop on Vacation and Red Monk, awesome (or at least interesting) events like Blood of the Valiant, Flying Windmill Kick, and Drunken Stance. Until now I had felt that the Hand were one of the toughest factions to construct a two-player deck for. Now I can't wait to experiment with their new stuff further.
The Lotus and Ascended got about the same number of new cards. Nothing bad, but generally nothing to write home about either. The Destroyer, Glimpse of the Abyss, and Open Season may be exceptions. Just a Rat is pretty cool, and the Ascended now eats itself with Lodge Politics. The Four Monarchs barely got squat.
Flashpoint is a great set with a lot of new, powerful cards and a lot of cards which compensate for past mistakes or serve to provide counters for common (and possilby abusive) strategies. Abilities like Ambush and Assassinate have become a lot cheaper to come by, which may make older characters such as Shadow Creeper and Buro Assassin less viable. Counters for some of the more typical (and frustrating) cards such as Mole Network, Inauspicious Reburial, and Shadowy Mentor, now have cards which counteract them or blunt their effectiveness, while players who love events now have a little more to worry about. Some of the older cards may be made obsolete by this set, while some of the cards in here are perhaps a bit too strong. However, overall the set is well designed, full of interesting and powerful cards, and should provide a lot of new and exciting possibilities for Fist players. In general, unless you like the Monarchs, you should enjoy this set.
Last modified: June 18, 1997.
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