Behind the scenes, the HeroClix team has been working on some big picture changes to improve our tournament formats and processes. We wanted to share these changes after US Nationals to avoid any confusion about whether or not these changes would impact that event.

Also:

• General Tournament Changes 
• Errata/Watch List Updates 

Patrick Frazer

WizKids has given me the go-ahead to announce a major update: rotation is being extended by an extra year for most pieces. This marks one of the most impactful changes to Modern HeroClix since the shift in map size. Let’s break down what this means for everyone who loves HeroClix.

Previously, the Modern format operated on a shorter rotation window, typically after 2 years of appearances at the World Championship. With this new update, figures from main sets will now remain Modern legal for three years, which will more closely align to that of Convention Exclusive and other Promotional Figures that have typically had a longer life in Modern.

This extension offers players more time to experiment with strategies, refine competitive builds, and a larger figure pool should lead to more viable builds in the metagame. In particular, players who are clamoring for a team they love (Great Lakes Avengers?) are more likely to see the lineup in Modern.

For retailers, we want to make sure that they’re able to restock and sell HeroClix product for months after its release to support their communities who are still building collections and teams. WizKids doesn’t want retailers to feel like aligning with our goals for availability should be introducing inventory risk for them when the product shifts from Modern to Silver legality. As much as all of that is true for sealed product, it is extra true for the retail partners who support their HeroClix communities with a robust inventory of single figures.

One of my favorite parts of a three-year Modern window is the ability of the team to intentionally design EVEN MORE set-to-set connections. Rather than operating in relative isolation, main sets can now interact with future sets in a more meaningful and sustained way.

This opens the door to:

· Keyword synergies that last longer

· Thematic mechanics that evolve over multiple sets

· Characters and teams receiving extended support

· Strategies that develop over time

As a competitive player, I’ve spent many hours building teams that just didn’t have the goods. Maybe it was missing that secondary attacker or didn’t have the support needed to shine on the big stage. Now instead of throwing the build in the garbage, I can place it on the backburner, knowing that help could very much be on the way, more so than ever before.

In practical terms, this means a team built today may still receive new tools a year or two from now. That level of continuity strengthens both gameplay depth and narrative cohesion from set to set. Longer legality means designers can think in arcs rather than snapshots.

For example, a mechanic introduced in one release can be revisited, refined, or expanded upon in a later set which I think will be. Teams that may have felt incomplete before rotation will now have additional opportunities for support.

We’re already seeing hints of this interconnected philosophy in recent design choices. Themes are carried forward while certain mechanics appear positioned for future reinforcement. Let’s take Beast Boy for example.

We saw a couple iterations in Masters of Time, a few more in Lantern Legacy, and we can expect even more in the upcoming Batman: Fight for Gotham. Now Beast Boy (MoT024) has the trait: “TIME TO GO JURASSIC-SIZED When Beast Boy hits, after resolutions you may give him a Transform token and roll a d6, adding the number of his Transform tokens to the result. 7+: Remove any Transform tokens from Beast Boy, then replace him with a character named Beast Boy on the same click number”

This version of Beast Boy was designed to synergize with his set mate, MoT070

But also with future versions of Beast Boy like the ones we saw in Lantern Legacy that have almost the exact same trait. Fight for Gotham brings us another handful of Beast Boy options, more than doubling what we had in Masters of Time and Lantern Legacy combined, although with a different trait.

The new batch brings us the trait: “CONDUIT OF THE RED: At the beginning of your turn, you may replace Beast Boy with a character named Beast Boy of equal or less points on the same click number. If you don’t, heal him one click.”

While the traits aren’t the same, almost every Beast Boy in Modern is 60 points allowing them to synergize across all three DC sets that will be Modern Legal for the 2026 World Championship. We don’t know how many DC will be legal for the following year, but we can certainly assume it will be more than 3. And even if we don’t get more Beast Boys, this guy will make sure every set brings us even more options to tinker with.

Now this is just one character, but Wizkids announced at the Championship Clix Open that we’d be seeing a theme for the HeroClix sets released this year, with the theme being Anti-Heroes and the Thunderbolts set releasing later this year. Among those sets we’ll see connected mechanics, new terrain types, and add some of the bad boys to your favorite teams.

With the announcement of the extension of modern, comes a need for a more vigilant watchlist. We plan to release a watchlist quarterly, with me personally taking a leadership position and being more hands on and proactive with the results. If you think there’s something worth keeping an eye on, please e-mail us at gamefeedback@wizkids.com.

As a player I’m incredibly excited for the extension of rotation as I expect a more diverse competitive scene, longer running design trends, and more complete rosters for keywords that could use a bit more love. Who doesn’t want more time with their figure? I’m excited to hear what you guys think, so let me know!

Jimmy O’Brien

Pulp is a format that we love internally, and we’ve been working on improving.

The first step that we took was to begin having a playtest team specialize in playtesting with a focus on the Pulp format. The results of that first step are likely to impact future product, but we wanted to see improvements to the Pulp format faster than that, so players can enjoy this format more at their local venues, sooner.

Before I get into it too much, I want to dispel one of the misconceptions of Pulp with an opinion shared by most of the HeroClix team: The target audience for Pulp is HeroClix players that love when the game is minis-based, and less add-on based. When we say “add-ons” we mean all the different things HeroClix has let you add to your force over the years that have been fun to collect and often incredibly powerful: ID cards, Resources, Tarot Cards, Equipment, and more. Those items, in aggregate, are a key part of the HeroClix experience, but sometimes it’s fun to take a break from them. Players that are looking to return to HeroClix, perhaps after 5 or 10 years, will enjoy a “soft landing” by returning via Pulp or Battle Royales instead of Modern.

Structurally, the team identified a few different areas of improvement for Pulp.

1) Bring “easy-to-collect” Product Into the Format

Players who begin playing HeroClix with a Starter Set or return to the game with a 400 are likely to want to play those figures often as they work on mastering the game. If their local venue seeks to mix up the formats offered during a month (Battle Royale, Modern, Battle Royale, Pulp) players might only be able to utilize some of these pieces on a very limited basis. Allowing these isn’t going to break the format, usually.

Similarly, Pulp has traditionally been limited to the four-or-five figure booster sets. Going forward, Pulp is being opened up to include any set with dial information printed on the card. Combined with the next point, this will allow players to experiment with some older, but fan-favorite, fast forces and gravity feeds previously not allowed in Pulp.

2) Extend Pulp through Silver Age

Since Pulp isn’t usually targeting brand new players, allowing teams to be legal longer and letting teams accumulate more combo potential leans into a lot of what makes the format fun and minis-driven.

When a game piece asks for a character named “Vision” or has the Avengers Team Ability or has Phasing/Teleport, players will enjoy selecting among a wide pool of choices to find the perfect puzzle piece for their next force.

3) Ban More Minis

Sometimes the team will intentionally design a piece or two as part of our introductory SKUs to be significantly above the curve in terms of efficiency and power level. The HeroClix team wants players to be able to continue to use some of these pieces as they grow their collection. These aren’t usually the strongest pieces in the metagame, but they tend to do a great job of muscling out commons or uncommons that might fill the same role.

If it turns out that such a piece feels unchecked, or disproportionately narrows the number of viable theme teams available, then we will move to ban that piece quickly.

Our new Pulp team has already proposed changes to the ban list to account for this new direction of Pulp. For a full list of all game elements banned in Pulp, please visit the WIN HERE.

4) Nurture Pulp Championship Events

During 2027, the team plans to cultivate more opportunities for players to enjoy playing Pulp as a constructed format, especially in areas outside of the United States. We’ll be announcing those plans as they become available.

With these changes taken together, Pulp will look like this:

· 300 points

· Characters must be non-prime; with a white, green, or silver rarity tab, or else come from a 400 or starter product

· All characters are treated as being Unique

· Any set with dials displayed on character cards is legal (Superior Foes of Spider-Man being the oldest legal set)

· Other than characters, the only other game elements that may be used in Pulp are maps, standard terrain markers, and any generated game elements depicted on a character’s card.

Jimmy O’Brien

Silver Age has been challenging to manage well. WizKids has relied on a small number of tournament partners, and some strong individual contributors to help steer the format. The challenge of the task, in our opinion, has outgrown the process we had in place to manage the format.

As a result, we’ve tapped some really brilliant players from the community to form a Silver Age Format Committee. These players will provide ongoing feedback and analysis of the Silver Age metagame, and they’ll also be making recommendations of “do’s” and “don’ts” for the game design team to continue to make Silver Age exciting.

The first big task for this Committee is to evaluate the changes WizKids has been considering for Silver Age:

· Moving the default point total from 400 to 300

· Keeping or eliminating the 50% point floor

In no particular order, I wanted to take the chance to introduce you to the Silver Age Format Committee:

Ryan Rebmann

Sable Creech

Rylan Celentano

Danny Meachum

Jacob Bishop

Silver Age had a few goals during its inception.

· Allow players to enjoy their figures longer, master their favorite strategies, and wait for a perfect game piece to release to make that team finally work

· Give players a high-powered constructed format to enjoy

· Give players a constructed format that feels like a change of pace from Modern

The in-person experience at HeroClix World Championships 2025 gave the HeroClix team a ton of awesome consumer feedback to work off of. The summary of the feedback was heartening – “we want to play more HeroClix!”

That means a lot of things: more turns in games, more rounds in events, more formats, and more tournaments of all levels. The Format Committee is going to be incorporating this feedback as well as our initial goals into their work on refining the format. Our goal of working with them is not just to make the format more fun, but to make the format easier for players to jump into.

The HeroClix Team

The map menu for the 2026 HeroClix World Championships will consist of the following maps:

ROC 2026

Bluebell Town Square

Syndicate’s Ascent

Thousand Ocean Voyager

Spider-Verse

Alchemax

The Tangle

DC Starter 2026

Big Belly Burger

Marvel Starter 2026

X-Jet Hangar

DC Starter 2025

Kord Industries Lot

Marvel Starter 2025

The Annex

Venom

Island Prison

Klyntar

Fight for Gotham City

Blackgate Prison

The Batcave

The Clock Tower

Dockside Amusement Park

The above map menu will be used for all constructed events, both Modern and Silver Age. While some Silver Age fans may be disappointed that longer maps are not being used, we feel that 2×2 maps lead to more dynamic games that are easier for players to practice for.

The HeroClix Team

BANNED:

WBX1-001 Betelgeuse

One of the most controversial figures of recent years, Betelgeuse has been a prominent force in shaping the metagame. While he was set to retire after the 2026 World Championships, the oppressive nature of the “Eggs and Juice” team at Origins (Betelgeuse and two VNM 014b Eganrac, plus equipment and One-Shots) led us to remove him from the metagame. However, Betelgeuse was providing a stabilizing force to the metagame, so with his removal we will need to take action against other figures.

MSV 040 The Spot

The Spot is a powerful attacker and placement figure that has already been banned in Silver Age. The Spot is heavily dependent on FREE actions to function, however, and with Betelgeuse removed, we believe he will become oppressive element in Modern, and are removing him as a precaution.

LL 002d.1 Kyle Rayner

Similarly, the Team-Up card for Indigo Lantern Kyle Rayner is banned (the normal card is still legal). This card, alongside a sidelined 002c Kyle Rayner and a Life Foundation One-Shot, enabled a combo where a single character could make a number of bonus attacks equal to the number of characters on your team. Such a team could not function well in a metagame containing Betelgeuse, but needs to be removed from the game should it have guaranteed access to the unlimited FREE actions it needs to function.

WATCH:

While no action is being taken against the following characters at this time, the WizKids team has some concerns regarding them and will be closely monitoring their performance at upcoming events.

BP 052 Hadari Yao

SPV 059 Mysterio

MoT0 41b Reverse-Flash

S&D 043 Captain America

X97 037b Cable

X97 041b Rogue

MVP25-005 Phoenix Force Thor

MVP26-001 Iceman

ERRATA:

The following errata are effective immediately.

DCX 037 Black Flash

Original:

A QUICK DEATH: SIDELINE ACTIVE – When an opposing character is dealt damage from an attack by a character with the Speedster keyword, after resolutions deal that opposing character 1 unavoidable damage. If that character is not KO’d, immediately heal them 1 click. // When a character is KO’d by this effect, after resolutions generate Black Flash from your Sideline on click #8 in your starting area. If you do, this game Black Flash isn’t scored when KO’d.

Errata:

A QUICK DEATH: SIDELINE ACTIVE – When an opposing character is dealt damage from an attack by a character with the Speedster keyword, after resolutions deal that opposing character 1 unavoidable damage. If that character is not KO’d, immediately heal them 1 click. If an effect would change the number of clicks healed by this effect, it can’t be changed to a number less than 1. // When a character is KO’d by this effect, after resolutions generate Black Flash from your Sideline on click #8 in your starting area. If you do, this game Black Flash isn’t scored when KO’d.

FGC 516 Talia Al-Ghul

Original:

TECHNIQUE: ASSASSINATION: When Talia Al-Ghul damages an opposing character with an attack, after resolutions deal that character 1 unavoidable damage. If that character is not KO’d, immediately heal them 1 click.

Errata:

TECHNIQUE: ASSASSINATION: When Talia Al-Ghul damages an opposing character with an attack, after resolutions deal that character 1 unavoidable damage. If that character is not KO’d, immediately heal them 1 click. If an effect would change the number of clicks healed by this effect, it can’t be changed to a number less than 1.

Explanation:

Black Flash, paired with the MCT s007 Bloodstone, has proven to be a far more serious threat than other “Reaper” type effects. Speedsters are typically difficult to tie down, and teams using this combo can too easily play keep away from effects that would try to remove their equipment, all while Black Flash himself is safely on the Sideline. Given the non-interactive nature of this combo, we are changing Black Flash’s trait so that the healing can’t be reduced below 1.

While we don’t foresee Talia being an issue in the same way, we are issuing her an identical errata to keep these “Reaper” traits in modern symmetrical.

FGC OS002 Bola

Original:

EFFECT: When a friendly character hits with a range attack, you may have each hit character gain Immobile until your next turn.

Errata:

EFFECT; When a friendly characters hits with a range attack, you may have a hit character gain Immobile until your next turn.

Explanation:

Playtesting initially undervalued the ability for game elements like FGC 037a Alfred to restore used Utility Belt One-Shots, and with it the potential for Bola combined with Pulse Wave to lock down enemy teams. We are issuing Bola an errata so it can only tie down one character at a time, will continue to monitor Bola across upcoming events.

While we strive to avoid making changes to figures after they have been released, if possible, our ultimate goal is to have a fun, friendly, and healthy game paired with a positive gameplay experience for both our casual and tournament players. We do reserve the right to revisit and make changes to any game elements highlighted in previous Watch Lists, especially as new game elements are released. Thank you to our players and play testers for providing your feedback on how we can further improve the game of HeroClix.

– The WizKids Team