Deep Dive: Venom!

 Today I'm taking a much closer look at the new Venom set already celebrating pre-release events across the country. My inspection will search out the best and worst this set has to offer and how well it plays with others (as in other sets).

I'm going to start with one of the most fundamental points in team building, the keyword. The big winners for keywords in this set are no surprise. Well, except that monster beats out symbiote by just one figure. Those numbers from my count are 55 and 54 respectively. 

The biggest loser for keywords in this set is Wild Pack. What? What a left field appearance but then it usually is. Here is my attempt at building a silver team for Wild Pack.

Credit HCUnits

Yeah, that's not going to work. It feels like this is one of those keywords that gets slapped on when someone happens to think about it. 

There are a lot of keywords that only appear once in the whole set, but that doesn't mean they aren't playable in modern with good current options. All of the X keywords are great and there's a sentinel as well. Guardians of the Galaxy gets a nod with Marvel and she's no slouch either. Watch out for Thunderbolts, they'll sneak up on you. There are 7 new options for Thunderbolts and Brute gets a heavy nod as well.

As another surprise Max Carnage gets just 11 tying it with animal. And animal crosses sets much better.

Most versatile pieces. These are the ones that can lend well to the most teams without being tied down too much to one keyword. 

For commons I'm handing this to Jeff the Landshark. What a great easy to place tie up piece. Great swath of keywords and not tied to any of them so that he is only really great with one of them. At 20 points he's a bargain and easy point filler. Yeah, I know, Klyntar, but he comes in at a close second for me because of Jeff's defense power on top of the rest.

For uncommons I'm saying Sliver gets it. She has some really good options with her switching dial type in mid game. Perfect for when someone gets too close. She has plenty of team options and doesn't absolutely require one to be at top form or most useful. I think she'll be exceptional on Avengers, however.

For rares it's Agent Anti-Venom. Yeah, a prime, sorry. And like I said, watch out for Thunderbolts, they are a sneaky success in this set lending to teams across two other sets. Messing up super senses and shape change in range is strong. He has six keywords and all of them are strong in this set. Then he adds a dash of healing to his team followed by being able to copy an opposing team ability. If that isn't versatility, I don't know what is. I think he's a hot contender for the meta.

In Super rares it's a tougher choice. All the super rares are great in their own ways. But several of them are best either against certain keywords or with certain keywords and that takes them off my list. So I'm giving this one to Scorpion (a). He's a great addition to all six of his keywords, has two team abilities, and a bargain point cost. While he's good for all of them, I think he'll really shine with brutes.

And finally, I come to the chase department. The chases for this set are all legit one-man armies and tent poles or damage hoses. But I narrowed it down to one choice over them all and it was squeaky margins. I chose Carnage God of Symbiotes. While his top points are heavy, he can support his own weight. His second point value makes him fit decently with any of his keywords. And he in no way requires certain keywords to be at his best.

What are your thoughts on these choices? Agree? Disagree? Let me know in comments and we'll see you on the next roll out.