It’s now only three weeks away to MetaX launch, and there is a lot to look forward to. Coming up this week we have SDCC, with Panini Games providing Demos and free promos each day of the convention. This will be a huge chance for people to get a look at the game, and it will be exciting to see how the four days pan out.

But before then, we’ll take a look at a few more Justice League previews to help build anticipation.

Team Attacks are something everyone should take at least one look

at, and today’s character adds more fuel to that fire. Amanda Waller’s effect shows a little more of the flavour that can come into the game. Her affiliation with teams like the Suicide Squad is replicated here by her ability to allow your villain characters to link to a team attack as soon as they enter play.

This can be a strong strategy when teamed with Nightwing, and villains that help you generate either MP, via Poison Ivy, or provide some tech against high ranked characters, like Mr Freeze.

She’s no MP slouch herself either. Providing an impressive 4 MP when played, which goes a long way to help resource Team Attack strategies. This is definitely a card to consider if you’re looking to add some villain effects to your Nightwing team attack deck.

Then for today’s battle card previews, we have a couple that could team up together in some aggro or mid-range decks, or be

selectively used in control decks.

Having your opponents characters in a “pushed” position takes away some of their lingering threat, so being able to force your opponent into a position where they may not have the defenders they plan to respond with can help you win some extra VP.

Our 3 Intelligence Battle Card gives your opponent something else to think about when they are declaring their attacks. With this card potentially looming as a defense, the threat of not having a defender is just another way you can have your opponent searching for answers.

Adding an extra 3 MP to your resource pool just adds to the value in the card, and it’s definitely something that could see a range of uses.

And then finally, our 6 Strength Battle Card will see a fair bit of play

in more aggro decks. With another push effect to add to the card pool, teaming these two cards up in consecutive turns could leave your opponent either locked down into not declaring attacks to save defenders, or having to go for broke and seeing who can push to 7 VP the quickest and leaving no one in reserve.

These two battle cards would be in the list of cards making up a lot of decklists.

This week before SDCC, look for our next Intro video which will explore the characters in the Evil United, how they combo together, and some suggestions to add to the decks via some of the booster characters.

Game On!
– Trent and Kristel

There’s no escaping the fact that action efficiency is paramount in most games. But in MetaX, where every card in your hand must be carefully planned, and used, it carries an enormous significance if you can extend the use of the plays you make.

Today’s previews are some great examples of this, and not only that, they were some of my favourite cards in testing.

“Combat Mastery” creates huge value in all the battle cards in your hand. For only one cost, each battle card can be assigned to any of

your characters on that turn, and then your opponents turn. AND it replenishes itself in hand.

While you sometimes want to reduce the amount of events you play, this card in hand can create some great actions for your decks, and would suit any type of deck. Having the right battle cards at the right time is a hard thing to master so two turns of not worrying will help put your opponent off balance at least for that long.

If you are looking to mix up some high and lower ranked Characters, and not have to worry about some of those high ranked Battle Cards becoming dead weight, this is a great card to turn to.

Next up, the 1 Special +2 MP Battle card. The amount of times in decks that rely on certain characters being in play as long as they can, that this card has saved me and caused my opponent an enormous amount of frustration I can’t begin to count.

So you can look to save a character, or block that big swing 7 rank Battle Card, and live to fight another turn. That can be crucial for characters like Nightwing.

And it gains you MP, which is awesome for control or combo decks that might rely on events to help their strategy.

It’s rank won’t help you win any awards for KOing character’s, but this card is mostly there to help you pressure your opponent in other ways.

Finally, we have my favourite character (for effect) in the game. Deadman replaces himself in your hand with a crucial battle card from your discard pile. While it helps provide that information to your opponent as well, he’s certainly a character that can help a lot of mid-range, tempo, or control decks find some of those high value battle cards for later use.

Having two stats, and a rank 5 stat, he comes out on average with most characters in the set, but with those stats being 2 Strength and 5 Special, he has access to some great combo battle cards like the one previewed on the Panini Games Facebook page.

Deadman does have some great uses, so I’m hoping to see him played a lot.

This week on our YouTube learn to play series we’ll be starting to take a look at the starter deck character combos, and adding some suggestions for expanding the play on those with booster pack cards that have been previewed. You can check these out and subscribe here.

Game on!
– Trent and Kristel

While most of your deck in Meta X will be made up of characters and battle cards, it’s also important to add events to help smooth out your game play. Events offer extra ways to advance your strategy, either by creating a powerful effect that would have synergy with your characters, or maybe even help you search out the right card that you need that turn.

We’re looking at three events today that offer some pretty powerful effects, but they each have their own place within different deck archetypes.

“Knockout” will cost you half of your maximum MP, but this card is definitely one to look at in a range of different decktypes.

Because you are controlling the effect, you can swing this to your favour as best you can on the turn you want to create the most impact. If you have a full board of three characters, it might offer you the chance of KOing a character with damage attached for something in your hand that might be more important in the current gamestate.

It also gives you another outlet to clear your opponents board, when matched with characters like Zatanna and Deathstroke. And with a range of characters that can shut you down with some of their constant effects, like John Constantine who was revealed today on the Panini Games blog, you can expand the ways you deal with your opponent’s strategies.

Our next card will please anyone who is looking at the Team Attack mechanic to build their deck around. “Don’t Go It Alone” offers a

huge bonus for no MP, so if you are feeling a little resource starved in your Nightwing Team Attack deck it offers a way to surprise your opponent for a team attack they may not have planned to deal with.

By allowing the team attack link at no cost, it also offers aggro or midrange decks a little more ammunition during mid to late game if they need to push through a VP.

And our last event card for today’s reveal is a resource monster, but if you build your deck to help mitigate its cost, you’re rewarded quite well.

“Microscopic Victory” is anything but small in its impact. At a cost of 9 MP, you’ll be wanting to use this card sparingly. But if you have an engine to help build MP quickly, think Poison Ivy and Shazam, you’ll be maxing out your MP within a couple of turns again.

Even one VP can swing the tide of the game, as the chess game of

play and counter-play unfolds between the characters on the board. You could also look to add it to decks that take advantage of Harley Quinn’s effects to gain you VP outside of unblocked attacks.

Hopefully these cards will give you a little bit more of an idea of the balance between cost and effect that event cards play.

Don’t forget to check out our Learn to Play series on YouTube, and keep up to date on all the information about the game on the Panini Games website.

Game on!
– Trent and Kristel

It’s time for universes to collide! Meta X (pronounced Meta Cross) is due for release on the 4th of August. But before then, we have a taste of things to come. Thanks to the team at Panini Games we have

some previews to help build things up to release.

As part of the “Evil United” starter decks, Sinestro is unleashed with the energy of fear. And his effect does create something to fear if he

is played. His effect negates the next time the opponent has a chance to draw a card, and this includes on their draw step at the beginning of the turn.

Denying your opponent even one card can twist those next turns to your favour. It could mean that they can’t play a character to generate more MP, or they may not draw a battle card to attack or defend with, allowing you to get an upper hand on VP.

He doesn’t generate much MP, to offset against the strong effect he creates when played, but his stats do open him up to accessing some awesome battle cards. With his two different stats, and a high rank of 6 on Special, you’ll need two cards on average to KO him.

Sinestro also comes with as an alt art uncommon, as shown below.

Teaming up with Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, and Harley Quinn is none other than Brainiac. He also comes with starter and uncommon alt art cards.

Like most of the villains in the “Evil United” starter deck, he doesn’t create much MP when played, but he makes up for this by being an on demand MP generator by having the effect to push and generate 4 MP.

The downside of having to KO one of your characters can seem a little rough, but if you had a full board of characters, and someone with damage attached who might be KO’d within the next turn, gaining MP might be a much better option.

The villain starter is slow to generate MP, so Brainiac goes a long way to helping that, so you can access strong Event or Battle Cards.

And with his 7 Intelligence stat, there are a few high impact battle cards he can use to help swing the game in your favour.

One of these cards is the 7 Intelligence, -1MP Battle Card here. Being a Rank 7 battle card, it allows you to KO nearly every character in the game with one hit, and this is only made better by it’s low cost. You would normally see a cost of around 3 MP for a 7

rank card.

But the effect you want to use intelligently. Being able to set up your next 3 draws, pick what card your opponent might gain as a VP, or being able to put cards to the bottom that may not have impact at that point of the game is a very strong effect.

Keep an eye out for more reveals. Below you can see the alt art versions of the starter villains cards. In our next learn to play series video, you can catch a few of my favourite cards from playtesting.

Subscribe here to see more of our learn to play series.

Game on!

TAK Games is delighted to announce we have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement for Australia with Panini America, Inc., covering all new card and strategy games to be created under the Panini Games brand.

Our partnership starts with the highly anticipated launch of Meta X TCG (pronounced Meta Cross) featuring DC’s Justice League in August 2017. Solicitations for pre-orders will be forwarded to stores this week.

Meta X TCG’s gameplay is simple enough to teach players the basics within a few minutes, but the depth of play will excite even the most veteran players out there! The ability to add more universes to the initial release of Justice League will help broaden appeal and guarantee game longevity.

TAK Games’ mission has centred around driving deep and meaningful interactions between players and stores, built around a robust organised play system. Our core focus is to provide people who want to play our supported game bases with what they expect for tournament play, and retailers with quality games that will have people returning to their stores time and again.

With Meta X, everyone can look forward to even more opportunities to engage in organised play. Store based tournaments will be supported on launch with large scale regional events to be held prior to the end of 2017. Meta X and other Panini Games titles will be promoted via conventions, social media and other mediums to build the player base. Expect a massive presence at PAX Australia this year, with demos, giveaways and tournaments to be supported throughout the 3-day event.

TAK Games are thrilled to have this opportunity to work closely with the talented team at Panini Games, and we look forward to seeing more people enjoy the games and events to follow.

Game on!