Analyzing The New Jackal

Greetings everyone, and welcome to our first article in 2019! Rather than diving into a team build, I figured it would be fun to talk about one of the new characters coming out in Earth X. Let’s talk about Ben Reilly, the Jackal!

This iteration of Ben Reilly is one of my favorites. In the comics, he takes on the mantle of The Jackal after being resurrected by the original Jackal (as seen in Superior Foes of Spider-Man) and further develops the technology to resurrect people who have passed with one caveat; they have to take a pill every day or they’ll wither to dust (I think I got that right. It’s been some time since I read the story but I loved it immensely. Anything with Dan Slott is amazing).

Anyway, the new Jackal dial in Earth X represents this character and has the ability to heal your own characters for free, but it adds some negatives to them. Last week on Clix Fix, I talked about how much I like this figure and how exciting he is to me. Pieces that can always become better with every set means you get so much replayability out of them, and they tend to stick around after rotation because of how they can evolve over time. Today I want to talk about figures in Modern that will benefit heavily from him.

In case you haven’t seen his dial, you can check it out here:

Ben has a pretty great dial on its own if I’m being honest. 75 points means you have plenty of room in a 300-point game to add on any kind of offense that you want, be it one-man army or a few medium-range fighters. The combination of Stealth, Combat Reflexes, Shape Change, and Outwit gives him some fantastic options to stay safe and keep doing his thing, so you don’t have to worry about your opponents just sniping him out on turn 1 and turning your strategy to crap. If he does get knocked down, he has a fairly fierce dial and good damage potential all the way through and has some of the best generic Keywords with Scientist and Monster. This makes up a great package with very few weaknesses.

Obviously the reason why Jackal is so good is that he offers the option of free healing from 1, 2, or 3 clicks with no cost attached. No rolls, no costed actions – all Jackal cares about is if the character is adjacent, which isn’t hard to do (especially if Jackal has his own taxi). Also, Jackal doesn’t say that characters with Degeneration tokens can’t be targeted by his own effect, so if you play him properly, you can heal any figure back up to their top click in a maximum of 3-4 turns based on their dial-length.

The downside of this trait is that if the character is damaged, they take unavoidable damage equal to the amount you healed them, so you want to pick characters that have strong reducers or big defense numbers. The other aspect that most people will look passed is that the character can no longer be replaced either, so Shifting Focus is a no-go, as are any promotion-type figures like Clayface Prime.

That’s a pretty small trade-off if you ask me, even if it hands out unavoidable damage. With the right characters (or a vast array of disposable characters), Jackal can give your team so much more raw power that he’ll easily outweigh that 75-point cost.

I’m obviously not going to be able to cover every character he’s good with, but I’m going to talk about some of my favorites.

EDIT: My sincerest apologies. Apparently I overlooked the part where Jackal can only work with characters of 75 points or less. I’ll leave the original text, but I’ll grey out figures that don’t work.

Figures with lots of evasion, like Spider-Man or SFSM044Carnage

Sure, Carnage only has Shape Change from the Alien Symbiote and no Super Senses, but this guy has an awful lot of hurt that he can put out as well as his own way of healing up, so you’re going to get a ton of value from giving him some free healing. Even better, Carnage has mid-dial Flurry/Blades which gives him two chances to KO characters, so Jackal can easily roll up to him on his last click while he’s based, heal him to click 3 or 4, and then let Carnage heal back up to full. No reducers hurts, but Carnage doesn’t really care because the “unavoidable” portion of Jackal’s trait won’t matter to him. He’s simply trading clicks. A risky play to kick us off, but it’s full of lethal potential.

The original idea of using characters with lots of evasion still works, but Carnage is over the 75 point cost that Jackal checks for. Look for cheap Spider-Men or The Flash as good examples.

Mastermind-based figures that are a pain to deal with, like JW059 The Joker

Mastermind got a big boost (in some ways), and figures that are tough to get through their Mastermind are a great choice as they can simply pawn off opposing attacks to someone else. A figure like The Joker from Joker’s Wild is best at his top clicks and is even harder to KO when he has Joker Thugs around. Finally hitting this guy off of his Mastermind clicks can be a tedious choir and having him heal back up to full for free can burn a heck of a lot of time. They don’t theme together, but I feel like this would be a scary team to play against.

The Joker still works as an example here, but he wouldn’t be able to use The Jackal’s healing.

EAX058 Loki

Yep, Loki is brand new, but I feel like this is a fantastic choice. Loki has a big 18 Invincible up front with Mystics and Probability Control and a trait that lets him reroll dice. Loki might be lacking the evasion and an 18 isn’t too difficult to hit these days, but with a lot of ways to influence dice rolls and Mystics to put out more damage after hitting him, Loki will be a tough customer to deal with on his top click twice.

Again, Loki is much too expensive to use The Jackal.

SWB007b Thanos

Jackal will be a godsend to Thanos. We all know that Thanos is most powerful on his top clicks where he has access to Running Shot and that fantastic 18 Invincible that you can’t do anything about thanks to Power Cosmic. He’s incredibly difficult to deal with once he starts getting KO’s, but sometimes you’ll play against a team that’s built well and can get that crucial first hit on the Mad Titan. Jackal gives Thanos an insurance policy that’s highly worthwhile, and if Thanos happens to get a KO out of it, the odds are in your favor that he’ll never be touched again since he’ll be sitting at a 20 defense with all kinds of options.

This is perhaps the biggest bummer on the list since Thanos benefits the most from The Jackal’s free healing. Damn.

SWB028 Maestro

His own Perplex will help Maestro stay at huge numbers on defense and his traited Steal Energy means that on his last click combined with Jackal, Maestro can heal all the way back to click 2, undoing pretty much everything that’s been plugged into him. That’s a massive swing and while it’s an ideal scenario, it’s a terrifying one.

Maestro would have been sweet, but again he’s just too expensive.

SWB037b Captain Marvel (or other Vampire Dials)

The big issue with vampire dials is that if they end up taking damage before healing passed their starting line, they tend to bomb out and become a paper weight. Jackal gives them a new lease on life by automatically pushing them back up closer to their starting point, which is usually pretty easy because most vampire dials aren’t that deep. With Captain Marvel in particular, she heals into an otherworldly dial with good defenses and Prob, meaning she has a higher chance at staying up there.

Vampire dials still work well with The Jackal, but Captain Marvel being 100 points won’t work. Bombshell Batgirl would be great though.

SWB058 Thanos

Like the Prime in the same set, the Super Rare Thanos suffers from having his best abilities on his top clicks, and the colossal stamina means that a good amount of games, the only damage he’ll take is from himself. Jackal can make sure that Thanos can heal back up at any time, and with Thanos’ long dial, he can more than likely keep him in the game permanently. Invincible with Prob is perhaps the best choice you can make to team up with this guy.

Not as good as Prime Thanos, but again I missed the 75-point cost threshold.

BTAS047a Killer Croc

Let’s face it, we all like that POWER: Make 3 close attacks power Croc has mid-dial, but most of the time, he’s going to get knocked right passed those. This is a great way to bring him right back to mid-dial while based and nailing a crucial hit for 9 damage that bypasses Shape Change. This is much more of a risky option than others on the list (like Carnage), but the payoff is sweet.

BTAS053b H.A.R.D.A.C. Batman

Mid-dial STOP click characters are a fantastic way to abuse Jackal, even if the token removal after damage will assign unavoidable damage to blow passed it. H.A.R.D.A.C. Batman shifts dramatically in playstyle, and he becomes a lot harder to deal with on his top click. Not as dramatic in power as some of the others on this list, but still a good option.

BTAS056 Clayface

Here’s a figure that I will most likely play with Jackal. Clayface gets exponentially harder to hit the more he succeeds at Shape Change (and he has another rollout via Impervious or Super Senses on most clicks), so having the ability to heal back up to full health or a back into his Uncontrolled Shifting power gives him a lot more value. Not to mention that Clayface has a long dial, so it’ll be miserable to burn though again. Plus, they’re both Monsters.

While I’m super bummed that Clayface is too expensive, Man-Bat thankfully is right on the money.

BTAS057 Man-Bat

Figures like Man-Bat basically are played for one purpose, and many times those figures lose their value once they take some damage. In this case, you can get Man-Bat back to his top three clicks from anywhere on the dial, basically resurrecting your team mechanic and getting back into the game (as well as picking one of his 11 attack clicks instead of 10 on top-dial). Even better than Clayface, you can go Monster or Scientist here. Zatanna from the same set is a good pick here as well.

BTAS060 Hawkman & Hawkgirl

Already a total pain to KO completely, Jackal will give these two a constant stream of free healing to keep them in the game. Since their KO trait is a replacement effect, you can load them up with tokens from Jackal to keep them on top-click all game, with virtually no worry if they take damage.

And so the “unkillable” characters I picked start to become invalid. The next two would have been amazing.

Game Boss: Flashing Red Figures (TMNT4024 Shredder/TMNT4034 Krang)

Like the Shredder Elite, these two have a KO replacement effect, except that it triggers twice per game. That means both of these idiots can be healed back to click 1 or 2 (based on the opponent’s team) each time they resurrect. Imagine having to chew threw these dials three times…

Unfortunately BOTH of these guys are too expensive to use. I suppose that’s for the better.

XXS035 Darwin

You’ll need to pick defensive powers really well, but reviving Darwin each time he hits a STOP click, even for just 1 click of health to get him back to click 2 will turn this mutant into the absolute bane of pick-a-power teams. Couldn’t you accomplish this with a typical Support character that’s themed? Sure, but since he has STOP clicks, the healing would be reduced, and you’d have to spend an action to do so. Jackal will heal him for free, and it bypasses the reduced healing from STOP.

SSX057 Kid Gladiator

I built a team around this guy last year, and man would Jackal have helped. You absolutely need to keep K.G. on his top clicks to make him good, especially once he starts raising his combat values. Jackal gives him a great way to stay up top and keep racking up tokens to hit that 20-defense with Impervious.

Eh, I suppose it’s for the better. I still don’t really care that much for Kid Gladiator, but it would have been a nice pick for him.

HQ018 Poison Ivy (or other Super Senses/Shape Change Figures)

Ivy is a total pain to deal with thanks to her double roll-outs and her ability to token down figures after using Mind Control, so giving her a themed figure that can bring her back up to full health works wonders. Any figure that has a double roll-out (or has a way to gain Impervious on top of this) is going to be a wonderful selection to avoid the unavoidable damage.

HQ054 King Shark

Sure, King Shark has only one roll-out with Shape Change on top click, and he relies on having 5 other characters to break him, but this pick is all about value (much like Carnage). King Shark takes a huge hit when he takes some damage, so healing him back up to his first click to trade a potential 10 damage before inevitably going down seems very much worth it to me.

HQ062 Batman, God of Knowledge

Yet another figure that’s only really good on his top two clicks. With high defenses, Jackal doesn’t have to worry about a cheap Support figure getting into position and then hoping to roll well on the next turn; he can just boost Bruce back to full. With Batman’s Impervious, Stealth, and MEGA Outwit, he shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping healthy.

HQ063 The Flash, God of Death

I don’t think he’s as good a pick as Batman, but anyone who’s played this Flash knows that he takes a big hit after his first click. Like Batman, his defenses are high, but unlike almost anyone else on this list, Flash is rocking a 19 defense up front printed.

HQ066 Lex Luthor, God of Apokolips

You can’t have both of them at 300 points, but Lex is a god on that top click and I’ve played entire games strategizing how to hit him even once. 18 Mastermind with Quintessence, Invincible, and Outwit make Lex a terror to deal with, and I can only imagine having to go through that click twice.

HQ067 Wonder Woman

Like the Flashing Red figures from TMNT4, Wonder Woman has a fantastic replacement effect for KO’s that relies on her friends dying before her. Unfortunately, a lot of people will simply gun her down first. Jackal will prevent that by giving her a steady dose of healing and constantly bringing her back to her top click. She has no fear of dying from the degeneration tokens if one of her allies dies while she’s on the map, so you get a lot more value out of her.

I feel bad that I selected 4 BIG chase figures yet none of them will work. Dammit.

TMT002 Loki

I already love how difficult it is to deal with this Loki, and Jackal adds another level of mind games by randomly assigning degeneration tokens to all his illusions. Healing up the main Loki passed his STOP click will give you more options to generate illusions. It’s costly but good god is it going to be fun.

TMT040 Pluto

I hate this figure. He’s so freaking hard to deal with in casual games and has so many different ways to hurt you thanks to his double STOP clicks with Impervious and Regeneration and Mystics team ability. The only thing worse than fighting Pluto is when he has a healer, and Jackal will work wonders with him as he’ll easily be able to heal him back up to full in just two or three turns. If Pluto gets back up to his first click, you have to deal with 18 Invincible, Perplex, Probability Control, PROTECTED: Outwit, and Mystics. Ugh.

Honestly, this is a pick I’m GLAD that doesn’t work. I hate this guy.

TMT041b Odin the Destroyer

Another figure you won’t be able to pair with Jackal in 300 points, but holy cow would this be pretty much game-over. Odin is already an absolute bear to deal with if you don’t have Pulse Wave with a large attack value, so giving the All-father a way to heal back up to his top clicks is horrifying.

Add this to the list of “I guess it’s better this doesn’t work”.

TMT049 Thor Odinson

Big reducers and defense values, self-healing with his title abilities, and a big Hypersonic Speed with 7 range makes Thor a tough target to deal with. Your only hope if plinking him down, so giving him even more free healing is pretty absurd. Then again, Jane Foster is probably the best paired with him since she can be placed with his Title Ability, but Jackal is still a great option since there’s no rolling involved.

I’m not upset by this one. Jane is still a better option and is themed.

TMT058 Uni-Mind

It should be no surprise that Uni-Mind is here. Hitting him is the name of the game when you’re up against him, so giving the god-like entity a consistent ability to heal himself back up to either his top click or click 2 at 150 points is miserable. Luckily, Uni-Mind will probably need a lot more out of 75 points in a teammate for competitive play, so we won’t see this combination, but I hold that it’s a good combo.

Uhh…. yeah, I’m okay with this guy not being viable for The Jackal.

TMT063 Beta Ray Bill

Bill is the essence of hard to hit. The dude can reduce penetrating damage, has Probability Control, and he stops all targeting unless his enemy started close to him. He’s horrible to fight against, and I could honestly see Bill and Jackal teaming up as an even 300 points to be a brutal team that you have to continually hit Bill back down from full health.

I’m pretty bummed that Bill is too expensive. I think this was a good pick and made a pretty nasty team-up. Still valid verbiage if you can find another way to heal him up for free.

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I could keep going as there’s still Elseworlds, What If…, Avengers/Defenders War, the Wonder Woman Gravity Feed set, Guardians 2, Deadpool & X-Force, TMNT3, Joker’s Wild, and Superior Foes of Spider-Man still in Modern, but chances are those sets will retire this year (with an unknown on how What If… and Elseworlds will work). The point is I’ve listed quite a lot already, so I think you guys get the point, even if I did include two figures from older sets.

Which of these options do you like the best? Is there a figure you think is brutal with Jackal that I didn’t include? Hey, what about LE’s like Starro (shudder)? (EDITOR’S NOTE: He’s 100 points, you dolt!) Also, how do you guys like Jackal in general? Let me know in the comments section below!

You forgot about me!!! What gives? Oh wait, I’m 100 points. Guess I’ll just hang out over here….

Thanks for tuning in everyone! This was a fun article and it was neat looking into a character and thinking about different people to team him up with rather than just making a team. Earth X is looking pretty good, and I can’t wait to get my hands on some of the pieces. My sincerest apologies for all the incorrect information. I’ve never goofed this hard before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

See you guys next week over on Clix Fix, and until then remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!