Dice Masters fans!

It’s been a few months since the Marvel Dice Masters: Spider-Man Maximum Carnage Team Pack hit stores – and tons of players have enjoyed it, from the art of a classic storyline, to the exciting mix of characters. One card has rocked the competitive metagame – Shriek: Sonic Beam. We wanted to talk strategy about using or countering Shriek. In case you’re unfamiliar with her, check out the card:

Dice Masters | Shriek: Sonic Beam = Sonic Queen

Why she’s good:

For starters, she’s a 3-cost Bolt villain. There is actually a ton of competition in this cost-space, but a lot of the strategies that utilize Bolts or villains drive you to play many different ones, or field multiples. Shriek could easily be one of four Bolt characters on your team, or one of five villains.

Even though Shriek can combo well with other cards, she can work quickly and autonomously. In many games you’ll find yourself utilizing just one copy of Shriek’s die, with your opponent trying to eliminate her. If both teams are prepared, there’s a decent amount of jockeying for position with fingers crossed for some good rolls.

Shriek can slow down all kinds of teams – aggro, combo, or control. By slowing them down you might be able to outpace them or get your own strategy to fully fire off. Either way, such a large potential change in tempo from a single 3-cost die is a worthy investment.

Shriek is also able to counter dice that are further up the cost curve than she is – so after your opponent has invested 5 or 6 energy into some daunting dice, you can field Shriek to shut them down!

Specific combos:

Despite it being true that she doesn’t need other dice to be effective, there are some cards that are effective on their own but extra good with Shriek.

Dice Masters | Shriek: Sonic Beam = Sonic Queen

You might recognize him from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but he plays well with lots of characters in Dice Masters – Shriek is no exception. Utilizing Shriek with The Collector will allow you to maximize the advantage offered by fielding a character during your opponent’s turn before their attack step – you may be able to temporarily stop your opponent’s strongest abilities.

You might buy yourself a turn, or cause your opponent to expend some resources to eliminate Shriek. Once you’ve managed to get The Collector out, you’ve got some incredible power and flexibility by also having Shriek on your team for just an extra bolt during your opponent’s turn.

Dice Masters | Shriek: Sonic Beam = Sonic Queen

Players may affectionately know him as Nobby, but make no mistake: he’s going to take advantage of every quality villain you can manage to field. Shriek will be able to slow down the game and let you field Nobby for extra damage – and you’ll get to do that repeatedly as your opponent is trying to overcome Shriek.

Dice Masters | Shriek: Sonic Beam = Sonic Queen

Shriek can get to work scary fast. If you go 2nd, rolling four energy means you’ll be able to use the Chalkboard Global and Prep Shriek for your 2nd turn. Your opponent may need to immediately rethink or diversify their game plan – and you’ve only invested your first turn!

 

How to adjust:

Whether you’re using Shriek yourself or only encountering her on opponents’ teams, being ready to play your team a little differently is easier if you’ve thought about it before.

Ignore Shriek until it matters

Sometimes you can just keep buying dice, fielding characters, and building toward your win condition without trying to counter Shriek. It’s instinctive for plenty of people to think, “That character is doing something bad to me – I need to stop them right away!” That’s a huge pitfall, because some solutions to Shriek (like damage from a Global, or KOing via a character ability, etc) are only temporary answers, and she’s easy to re-field on a subsequent turn.

Waiting until the turn you’re ready to win the game is often a great plan for stopping Shriek. If you’re not going to win, you still might be able to turn the tide so much that when your opponent fields Shriek again they’ll be left feeling like they have no good choice of who to blank!

Use a character of your own to ignore Shriek’s text

Dwarf Wizard or your own Shriek are great choices for this. Wonder Woman: Reflections is a strong choice as well, but plays in a different economic space. Most notably, Wonder Woman stops a TON of effects, making her a powerful addition to many teams. However, unlike Dwarf Wizard or Shriek, Wonder Woman has a downside in that you’ll be stopped from using some effects as well. However, some planning during team building can make this an easy downside to avoid.

Don’t try the same trick twice

Lots of Dice Masters fans are playing against the same people time and time again – at their FLGS or local kitchen table. If you show up with the same game plan all the time, someone else is likely to show up ready to counter what you’re up to. Be unpredictable! By constantly trying new strategies, you’re much more likely to be unhampered by tactics that would’ve defeated the old you.

Conclusion?

Go enjoy building some neat Dice Masters teams! We’ve given you some things to think about, but we hope you come up with some on your own – whether it’s using some pack-fresh pulls or your favorite cards in your collection. Get together with some friends and put those teams to the test to figure out which cards you like the most!