Dice Masters fans! There’s an unassuming card in Marvel Dice Masters: The Mighty Thor that caught our eye, and we wanted to make sure she’s on your radar!
That card is Crystal: Aerokinesis
Crystal changes a fundamental probability you encounter in Dice Masters – instead of having a 1 in 6 chance of rolling the Sidekick face, now you’ve got a 1 in 3 chance of doing so. Once you factor in your reroll, that means you’re more likely to hit a Sidekick face than not. You might’ve seen our recent article on her here [linked]. Today’s team is going to be more laser-focused than last time.
Crystal is a huge opportunity for teams that are trying to make Sidekicks super. Cards in many sets give Sidekick dice a boost, but making them show up more frequently helps all of those other effects get much stronger.
Let’s check out some of those cards that get a boost from Crystal.
Wong
Both 3-cost versions of Wong give boosts to all your Sidekick dice. One allows you to catapult them into your opponent’s dome and do X damage for each Sidekick you sacrifice, the other gives them all +1A and +1D. So depending on whether you’re striving for direct damage or a combat oriented win will help you choose between these guys. Conveniently both versions of Wong described here have Ally meaning that they count as Sidekicks themselves.
Jubilee: Mallrat
Jubilee has enormous potential to begin with. She’s a 2-cost Bolt character die that is like Human Torch: Johnny Storm but for Sidekicks only. With Crystal, every Sidekick die you roll has about a 55% chance of turning into 1 damage directly to your opponent. That can turn into a win for you pretty quickly! The Dice Masters community has already demonstrated some excitement for Jubilee – DM Armada has a great video on their YouTube about Jubilee: A Real Firecracker and her combos! One of the cards they highlight makes sense on this team too – Cosmic Cube: Energy of the Beyonders. The turn you roll an action face on Cosmic Cube is probably the turn you’ll win the game because of Jubilee. Even if your opponent is at 20 life, with 7 activations of Jubilee (tough, but not impossible) you’ll be able to win.
Jarvis: Butler
Jarvis can deal some pretty meager damage. Unless you’re fielding a TON of character dice – in which case he’ll be ready to vacuum up a Hand Ninja or Loki!
The Bifrost: Bridge Between Realms
This play is a combo that will impress your friends the first time they see it. First, you buy a die that your Sidekicks want to have in the Field Zone. Then, field a Sidekick die, The Bifrost will field your freshly purchased die. Finally, use the Bifrost’s Global Ability to spin the Sidekick back to energy and spend them.
Pro-Sidekick Global Abilities
There are plenty of abilities available to players via Globals that will help make the most of Sidekick dice. Heimdall will let you roll extra dice for a low cost, but only once per turn. Captain America will let you field plenty of Sidekicks but at a high cost. White Tiger can provide an extra once-per-turn Global to get you Sidekick dice at the cost of giving one to your opponent. STAR Labs will let you Prep a Sidekick AND field one, but the cost can be challenging. Last but not least, Billy Club: Tool of Justice is STELLAR removal and it potentially lets you spin your Sidekick dice back to an energy face after you’ve taken advantage of fielding them.
Putting it all together
We came up with this fun team we’re calling SkyMall – we hope it inspires you to build your own team with Crystal!
BACs
Characters/Actions
The goal for the team is to get 2 dice to stick: Jubilee and Crystal. From there, you’ll be spending energy to roll extra dice, field extra Sidekicks, and use miniature fireworks to bring your opponent to 0. Heimdall, Professor X, and Ring all have Global Abilities that do a great job of synergizing with Jubilee. We almost included Wong, but the explosive nature of how the team plays meant that we decided to include Cosmic Cube instead. Shriek’s primary purpose is to stop anyone who gets in Jubilee’s way. The team feels a little pie-in-the-sky when it comes to consistency until you start rolling in Crystal. Insect Plague may be a dead card in most games, but can also swing things in your favor if lots of Sidekick dice end up in your bag. Big Entrance is a strong card for you to take advantage of, but you can probably outrace teams that don’t utilize it themselves without ever bringing it. The most expensive character you’re utilizing in most games is a 3-cost. Some games you’ll only ever buy Jubilee, Crystal, and a Cosmic Cube. In terms of efficiency, Billy Club is great because it serves two important purposes for you – rerolling opposing dice as well as getting Mask energy.
If you were completely unhampered by your opponent, your ideal early game would probably be:
T1 – Chalkboard Global, Jubilee, (Heimdall Global going 2nd)
T2 – Chalkboard Global, Crystal, Heimdall Global, field Jubilee
T3 – Field Crystal, maybe buy a Cosmic Cube (with Chalkboard Global), field a Sidekick, spend energy on Globals (Professor X, Heimdall) every turn from here until the end of the game. Most of the faces on your Sidekick dice will be turning into damage.
Key play – You’ll be able to use Professor X’s Global to field a Sidekick, then Billy Club Global to spin it to a Mask, and on your opponent’s turn use that Mask to field another Sidekick die or pay for Heimdall’s Global.
Overall, there’s a lot of depth to your options on how to build or play this team. We hope you get a chance to give it a test drive for yourself at your FLGS. Until next time, keep rolling!
