The Book of Double Down

[Arch-vile]

The Book of Double Down

C3G DC WAVE 51
LIGHTING UP THE NEW YEAR

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a modified DC Heroclix figure from the World's Finest set.
Its model number and name are #029 / Jason Blood.

An alternative sculpt used for this unit is a modified DC Heroclix figure from the World's Finest set.
Its model number and name are #016 / Warlock.​

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Character Bio - A con man and compulsive gambler, Jeremy Tell gained his powers following a card game in which he lost. Incensed, he attacked and killed the man who had beaten him. The man had in his possession a cursed deck of cards, which cleaved to Tell's flesh and burned off much of his skin. The cards now act as the top layer of his skin, and can be wielded as weapons.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Metahuman, Double Down has these Metahuman Synergies.
• As a Rogue, Double Down has these Rogue Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Double Down may modify the 20-sided die rolls of nearby Rogues with his Evening The Odds special power.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Rogues Faction Strategy Guide

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Arch-vile
• Second playtest: MrNobody
• Third playtest: LordVenoc
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Dr. Jekyll

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

NAME = DOUBLE DOWN
SECRET IDENTITY = JEREMY TELL

SPECIES = METAHUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ROGUE
PERSONALITY = DRAMATIC

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 115

DOUBLE BLIND SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 3.
Before attacking with this special attack, you may choose any number of skulls. If you roll the same number of skulls as you chose, all skulls rolled count as one additional hit. After attacking, you may place a wound marker on this card to attack with this special attack one additional time.

EVENING THE ODDS
Whenever you roll the 20-sided die for a Rogue you control within 5 clear sight spaces of Double Down, you may add or subtract 2 from whatever is rolled.

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

Comic Art:

Spoiler Alert!

Mini Pics:

Spoiler Alert!

Archie's:

Background:

Spoiler Alert!

Ideas: a city, a bar, a prison, a casino

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

Figure Tutorial:

Spoiler Alert!

Start with the Jason Blood Heroclix.

Cut off the flame and paint his hands a flesh color. Paint his hair brown. Use navy blue for his jeans, and a regular blue for his jacket. Use that same regular blue to draw a spades symbol on his face - the important part is keeping the symbol symmetrical so it looks right. His undershirt is teal, then paint a hearts playing card on his chest using red and white.

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

This is a Soundwarp draft I stole and edited slightly. A d20 booster will help a bunch of the Rogues (since a ton have a d20 power). Double Down has low defense and can self-wound with his special attack, so you'll want to pair him with defensive Rogues like Magenta and Weather Wizard. I'd aim for between 115-125 points, as those are unrepresented point values for Rogues.

Rogues with a d20 power:
Rainbow Raider
Murmur
Captain Boomerang I
Weather Wizard I
Mirror Master Evan
Magenta
Weather Wizard II
Girder

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

Truly this is the greatest and most best design ever created.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

He'll like Blacksmith with that special attack.

Cool design. Happy to see the Rogues continue to grow!

 

[Lord Pyre]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

Very cool design! For double down I'd probably always pick 3 skulls, especially with Blacksmith or Red Skull or whoever boosting his rolls. Takes away a bit of the gambling theme in practice, but it's there on paper obviously.

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

I think 2 skulls is what I'd go for most of the time. That gives you really good odds of rolling either 3 or 4 hits with a Blacksmith reroll. Of course risking it and guessing 3 skulls for the chance at 6 hits is certainly worthwhile.

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for initial)

I propose for initial testing

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Double Down (design)

I think 2 skulls is what I'd go for most of the time. That gives you really good odds of rolling either 3 or 4 hits with a Blacksmith reroll. Of course risking it and guessing 3 skulls for the chance at 6 hits is certainly worthwhile.

Yeah, that was my thoughts as well. Like if I roll 3 skulls, that's pretty good on its own. But I guess if you're in a Hail Mary situation, sure.

yea

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for initial)

Yea

 

[fret_gurglo]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for initial)

Yea

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for initial)

yea

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for initial)

this passes, thanks all

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (waiting for initial)

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Double Down

Army Test
Map: Cell Games Arena Ruins (custom)
Units: Double Down (115), Captain Cold 2, Magenta, Weather Wizard I, Tar Pit, Rainbow Raider (770) VS Nightwing, Starfire, Bunker, Arrowette, Empress (770)

Spoiler Alert!

Everyone moves up in round 1. Tar Pit grabs height to lock things down, while Double Down boosts Magenta & Weather Wizard. The Titans target Magenta early and are lucky enough with the d20 to kill her quickly. Titans take out Rainbow Raider quickly as well, though Double Down’s d20 modifier helped Rainbow Raider cut down Starfire’s attack prior to that. Double Down uses his special attack to wound Starfire, and Weather Wizard also puts a couple wounds on her.

Titans take out Tar Pit. Weather Wizard kills Starfire. Double Down guesses 2 skulls correctly twice to kill Bunker with his special attack. Empress kills Weather Wizard. Arrowette kills Double Down. Cold kills Nightwing. Empress kills Cold.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Empress (1 wound) and Arrowette (1 wound) win.

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Army Test
Map: Cell Games Arena Ruins (custom)
Units: Double Down (115), Blacksmith, Girder, Weather Wizard I, Magenta, Captain Cold I, Trickster I (900) VS Cap(240), Winter Soldier(240), Black Widow(230), Falcon(190) (900)

Spoiler Alert!

The Rogues are quite a bit slower moving up with Blacksmith instead of Cold 2, so I’m immediately noticing his d20 bonus might not be the best to build around in this army.

The Avengers put a couple wounds on Weather Wizard and Cold, while staying out of Magenta’s aura. Double Down moves up and self-wounds to put 3 wounds on Falcon with his special attack. Falcon moves in to kill Weather Wizard, and Bucky wounds Magenta. Cold kills Falcon.

Cap kills Magenta then Cold. Double Down risks it all and wounds himself to guess 3 skulls against Cap, which he gets, inflicting 4 wounds upon Cap, though Bucky kills him afterwards with Got Your Six. Cap puts a couple wounds on Girder. Blacksmith kills Cap. Girder and Blacksmith kill Winter Soldier. Black Widow puts up a fight but falls just before she can land a killing blow.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Blacksmith (3 wounds), Girder (5 wounds), Trickster (0 wounds) win.

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Army Test
Map: Cell Games Arena Ruins (custom)
Units: Double Down (115), Blacksmith, Weather Wizard 2, Captain Cold I, Top (700) VS Luke Cage (190), Daredevil II (200), Stick (160), Moon Knight (150) (700)

Spoiler Alert!

Double Down stays in reserve while the other Rogues attack first. The Rogues take out Daredevil, largely thanks to a Tornado that Weather Wizard whipped up that slung Luke far away. Moon Knight kills Cold and Luke heavily wounds Blacksmith. Top and Blacksmith kill Luke, then Moon Knight kills Luke and Blacksmith. Moon Knight whiffs an attack against Double Down then Double Down kills him by guessing 2 skulls on his special attack.

Stick kills Double Down. Stick kills Weather Wizard.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Stick (1 wound) wins.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: He’s a fun Rogue. The d20 boosting is definitely helpful to the faction, and Rainbow Raider especially appreciates it. His special attack is swingy but powerful when it hits. Double Down is pretty fragile, especially when self-wounding, so he’ll fall quickly. But having other higher priority figures on your team such as Weather Wizard or Magenta can help him survive longer.

He felt balanced at 115. Definitely some high end potential with his special attack, but it requires luck and usually self-wounding to get there.

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

I'll propose for public testing

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

Yea

 

[fret_gurglo]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

Yea

 

[LordVenoc]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

Yea

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

yea

 

[Lord Pyre]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

Yea

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (vote for public testing)

Thanks all. This passes

 

[Arch-vile]

Re: The Book of Double Down (public testing)

In-person con testing with MrNobody:

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Double Down

Army Test
Map: Sacred Shrine
Units: Double Down (115), Blacksmith, Weather Wizard 2, Captain Cold 1, The Top (700) (MrNobody) VS Android 17, Android 18, Krillin (700) (Archie)

Spoiler Alert!

The Androids defeated the Rogues in this match, though Double Down got a sweet 3-skull roll (doubled) which dealt 3 wounds to Android 17. Notably Blacksmith’s rerolls didn’t help Double Down here - he rolled 3 skulls naturally on his first attack, then rolled 0 skulls twice on his second attack.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Android 17 (4 wounds) wins.

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Army Test
Map: Cell Games Arena Ruins (custom)
Units: Double Down (115), Weather Wizard I, Captain Cold 2, Magenta, Rainbow Raider, Mirror Master Evan, Tar Pit (900) (MrNobody) VS Vegeta base, Vegeta SSJ, Great Ape (900) (Archie)

Spoiler Alert!

Double Down boosted a lot of d20s this game, especially being handy to Rainbow Raider to allow him to choose between two options for Rainbow Ray. Magenta also appreciated Double Down’s d20 boost once during this game. Double Down got one 2-skull roll (doubled to 4 hits) which dealt 2 wounds to Base Vegeta. However the Rogues’ downfall was that Captain Cold fell quickly, and once the Great Ape entered the field he simply couldn’t be taken down while he dealt with the remaining Rogues one by one.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Great Ape (2 wounds) wins.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: I’ll let @MrNobody give his thoughts as he played Double Down here! I just wrote up the report.

 

[MrNobody]

Re: The Book of Double Down (public testing)

I dug him! I think realistically he could go down 10 points, but I think at 115, the solid block with the Top may be more valuable in the long run. Great pairing with Rainbow Raider!