The Book of Bane (II)

[IAmBatman]

I would say it was neither important to change it nor to keep it.

[Arkham]

FTR, I'm completely ok with him being changed back to Mastermind. Looking back, it was just a tossed out idea someone suggested, rather than anything pushed for for any real crucial reason.

That of course would require a vote and card update + reprint for people though, so perhaps some possible pushback there as we tend to try to not do that unless absolutely necessary. But if there's a good reason to do so, it may be worth pursuing?

All that said, I don't know that he'd make a great Antagonist or Mastermind synergy inclusion anyway, fwiw. He wants to be the center piece of any army he's in, and then the remaining pieces being who he takes turns with, neither of which are Antagonists or Masterminds.

[IAmBatman]

Antagonist Joker is a decent fit with him in Misfit builds.

[toyhandle]

Joker (IJ), Bane, and some Misfits or Criminals works the same whether or not Bane is an Antagonist, because Bane can’t take turns with Antagonist Joker, so he’ll want at least a couple figures with the classes he can work with, meaning Joker ends up with the max # of IJ markers anyway.

As a Mastermind, testers found themselves choosing decent filler units, like Bodyguards, or Clock King, who don’t work with Antagonists. Same with Penguin (II), and the A tier Hired Guns. Even if he lost both Hired Guns tests, I see no reason to make him worse by stripping him of his ability to work with them.

[Arch-vile]

I don’t really mind one way or another, but I’ve used Bane alongside the Injustice League designs and he works pretty well there. Going for One Last Hit combined with Pounding Fists really can put the hurt on an enemy combined with the IJL’s other defense reductions. Antagonist synergies are pretty solid nowadays.

[Arkham]

From my understanding, there was still a desire for a Mercenary leader version of Bane, so perhaps let that one do more stuff with bodyguards and henchmen etc.?

[toyhandle]

No doubt there can/will be a Bane (III/IV/Mastermind/??), and I don't think Antagonist is a worse descriptor than Mastermind. I’m not griping that he doesn’t work with the aforementioned units, I was just confused why he was reassigned Class in a way that creates anti-synergy with a number of what he was tested with, is all. I would think that is only done when a unit works too well with the original synergy.
But if it doesn't matter one way or another, I see its a wash.