Exception cards: Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamatto should be considered an AJ Special. Hawkeye's Arrow Assault should be coded GJ.AB (offensive) - These card function the same as an AA Special in every way except that they specify what type of Power type the second attack must be. The additional attack cannot be a Teamwork card, Ally card, Tactic card, or an 'Any Character' Special.
AC (defensive) - This type of Special lets the player shift the attack from the target to a different front-line Character. The selected Character may now defend as is normally allowed under the rules. This Special would have to be discarded as unplayable if there were no other front line characters. NOTE: The selected character may not use any other Special to shift the attack.
AD (defensive) - These Specials allow a Character (or a Character's teammate if that is the case) to avoid a specific type of attack. Cards that allow a teammate to avoid an attack may be used to defend any of your Character's teammates, including your Reserve Character (however, unless specifically stated, the Reserve Character may not defend for a front line Character). "Avoid 1 attack made with a Universe card" would stop a Power card and a Universe card, a Power card and a Training Universe card, one attack from a Teamwork Universe card, an Ally card, or a Tactic card. It would not avoid a Special card played as a follow up to an Ally card. "Avoid 1 attack of # or less" or "Avoid any numerical attack" can only be used to avoid a numerical attack and cannot be used to avoid non-numerical attacks such as an AX attack ("Target may not attack for remainder of Battle"). "Avoid 1 {power type} attack" avoids any attacks made that contain the specified type(s). For example, the rule for AE Specials is that any two cards, once combined together to make an attack, are considered a part of each other. So, if one part is avoided, then the entire attack is avoided. For example, if an attack is made with a 4 Fighting combined with a 3 Strength, and an "Avoid 1 Strength attack" card is used to block it, the whole attack is avoided. "Avoid 1 attack that contains a power type icon" avoids any attack made with a card containing the specified icon. The specified icon does not need to be in use and this Special will still block it. If a character is under the influence of a "-# bonus to all actions" Special, and a teammate has a "Teammate may avoid an attack of # or less" Special, the number looked at to determine if the attack can be blocked is the unmodified attack number. If an AD Special is drawn for the Reserve Character, and a Special is already placed on the Reserve, then this Special does not have to be discarded as unplayable.
Exception card: Blob's Blubber Block and Scarlet Spider's Scarlet Saviour should be considered an AG Special.AE (offensive) - This attack acts as a level # of a designated Power type. It also has the option of adding a Power card (of one or more power types), usable by the Character using the Special, to the level # for one combined attack. The skill type(s) to combine are limited to those listed on the Special. This Power card cannot be a Multipower card. This attack would now be considered a single attack with an attack value equal to the sum of the two cards. For example a level 4 Fighting Special combined with a level 4 Energy Power card would be a level 8 attack consisting of both Fighting and Energy.
AF (offensive) - Cards that affect the Venture total add or subtract a given number of points from the Venture total during that specific Battle. Specials that add to a player's Venture total are not considered attacks but can be negated. Specials that subtract from the opponent's Venture total are considered attacks, although since not targeted at a specific Character, cannot be avoided (e.g., AG Special), but can be negated (e.g., AO Special). These Specials have no direct impact on the number of Mission cards that are Ventured before or during the Battle. These points are added to or subtracted from "Hits from Current Battle" during the 'Determine Venture Winner' phase.
AG (defensive) - "Avoid 1 attack" allows a Character to avoid any type of attack. When used to avoid a Teamwork card, it will only avoid one of the three possible attacks and does not prevent the follow up attacks from occurring. "Teammate may avoid one attack" allows a teammate to avoid the attack, including the Reserve Character, and cannot be used to avoid an attack on the Character playing the Special.
Exception cards: Cable's Cover Fire, Captain America's Mighty Shield, Mr. Fantastic's Protect Teammate, Nightcrawler's Bamf!, and Silver Surfer's Energy Protection, Wonder Woman's Gift of Flight, and Supergirl's Telekinetic Shield should all be considered AD Specials.AH (both) - If played offensively, no attacks of that particular type may be made against the Character that has played the Special. If played defensively, the attack that was defended against is avoided and no further attacks of that specified type can be played against the Character who played the Special for the remainder of the Battle. Specials that avoid Universe attacks may be used to avoid 1 attack from a Teamwork attack and prevents the follow-up attacks of that Teamwork from being made on the Character who played this Special (although other front line Characters may be targeted). The Vision's AH card must first be played defensively.
AI (offensive) - This Special allows the player to select one of the opponent's placed cards and have it discarded immediately. When the card indicates the opponent must discard a placed card, then any card meeting the designated type may be selected (even one placed on the Reserve Character) The term "placed" implies that the Universe, Power, Ally, Tactic or Special card being targeted is assigned to a particular Character. This card cannot be used to remove the effects of a Universe card from an attack directed against a Character. Once a Universe card is used for an attack, it is no longer considered "placed," and therefore this Special would have no effect. This card is considered an attack against the targeted character and may be avoided or negated. If the card targets the opponent and not a specific character, it may not be avoided but may be negated. Cards that are 'in play' on a character are not considered placed and may not be targeted by this Special. If this Special is drawn in a hand where the opponent has no placed cards, it must either be placed or discarded as unplayable.
AJ (offensive) - This Special allows the player using the card to look at a specified # of cards in the opponent's hand or from the top of the opponent's Draw Pile for up to a minute as their offensive card play. After that offensive card play phase is over, no more looking is allowed. This card may not be avoided but it may be negated.
AK (both) - Such a card may be played with three of the four types of Universe cards: Universe, Training, and Teamwork, but not Ally. In the case of basic Universe cards and Training cards, the result of this Special would double the bonus that is applied to the Power card. For example, if the Universe card were to read "8 Fighting to Use, +2 to Fighting," this Special would alter the Universe card to be "8 Fighting to Use, +4 to Fighting," and enable a Power card that is played in conjunction with the Universe and the Special to receive such a bonus. In the case of a Teamwork card, this Special would allow no modification to the "{ x } to Use" portion, or to the "Acts as { x } attack" portion, but would alter the bonuses allowed to both teammates. For example, if a Teamwork card were to read "6 Fighting to Use, Acts as a 6 Fighting attack. +1 to First teammate, +2 to Second Teammate," this Special would change the bonus and enable the teammates to make attacks at "+2 to First Teammate, +4 to Second Teammate." In all cases, the normal rules for how and when to play a Universe card, Training card, and Teamwork cards still apply. Only the character playing this Special may play the Universe card. This Special may be played defensively with a Universe card.
AL (offensive) - If the card states "Remove 1 hit from that Character's permanent record" then only that Character may remove one card from their permanent record. If the card states "Remove 1 hit from the permanent record of any one teammate", then only a teammate may do so and not the Character playing the Special. If the card states "Remove 1 hit from that Character's Hits from Current Battle" then only that Character may remove one card from their Hits from Current Battle. If a "permanent record" Special is drawn in a particular hand in which any Character who can benefit from this Special has no permanent record damage, the Special must either be placed, if possible, or discarded as an unusable card. The card may not be used "after the fact" to bring a Character back to life. If a Character takes more than 20 points worth of damage, or is the victim of a spectrum KO, the Character is out of the game instantly, and may not remove a hit or have a hit removed in order to bring that Character "back to life." One variant of this Special acts as a level # attack and only allows the permanent record to be altered if the attack is successful (i.e., is not successfully blocked). This type of Special can be used as an attack only and does not need to be discarded if the Character who can benefit from this Special (if it does hit) has no permanent record damage.
AM (both) - This Special grants a bonus (+1, +2,
etc...) to a Character for certain actions for the remainder of the Battle.
Cards that affect the player's Character's ability to defend may be played
offensively (thereby affecting that Character's ability to defend for the
remainder of the Battle) or defensively (combining it with a Power card
against an attack). Cards that affect all actions of a player's Character
may be played as above or offensively as an attack in conjunction with
another Special or Power card attack. Note: In no cases may this Special
be played in conjunction with a Universe card attack. A Universe card attack
may follow on the player's next turn, but cannot be played in the same
attack.
NOTE: This card does not affect the character's power grid but only
numerical cards played by the character. When played along with an attack,
the Special card that grant the character a bonus stays for the remainder
of the battle, regardless of if the attack succeeds. When played along
with an attack, Specials that grant a character a negative bonus do not
stay for the remainder of the battle if avoided or negated.
AN (offensive) - This card is an attack and allows the character the option to attack the opponent's Reserve Character. The Reserve does have the opportunity to defend, should the correct Special or Power card be available. If the hit is successful, the damage counts towards the Venture total and is considered a "hit from the current Battle." The hit would then become part of the Reserve Character's "permanent record" at the end of the Battle.
AO (both) - These Specials may be used to negate the effect of a Special card as it is being used to attack (i.e....avoid the attack), they may be used to remove a Special card that has already hit and become part of the "permanent record," or a Special card that is a "hit from the current Battle," they may be used to cancel the benefits, or penalties created by other Specials, and may be used to otherwise cancel, delete, negate, or otherwise void any Special card that has been played, even if the Special is not an attack Special. It cannot be used to counter a Special that your opponent played in reaction to your action. For example: Character A attacks Character B and Character B plays an "Avoid 1 attack" Special card, the player controlling Character A could not play an "AO" Special to negate the avoid. In addition, this Special can be played to negate the effect of another Special played by the opponent against any of the Character's teammates. If used to remove a Special after the turn on which it the Special was played, then any other benefits that might have been attained are not negated. For example, if an AE Special (combined with a Power card) hit the player's characters and the player chose not to block the attack with the AO Special, later in the Battle, if the AO Special is used to negate the AE Special, only the AE Special is removed from the hits, not the Power card that it was combined with. If a character is KO'd with a Special, this Special cannot be played afterwards to negate the effects of the KO'ing Special to bring the Character back. But, this Special could be used to negate the KO'ing Special to remove the points from 'Hits from Current Battle', affecting the Venture Total.
AP (offensive) - Specials in this category act as attacks that cannot be defended by cards that bear the indicated icon. This includes Power cards, Universe cards, Specials, Multipower cards, Tactic cards, and Specials bearing the icons. If the cited Power type icon is on the card, it cannot be used to defend against the AP Special.
Exception card: Rhino's Rhino Charge should read "Acts as a level 6 Strength attack, cannot be defended by a card with an Energy icon."AQ (offensive) -These Specials act as a certain level # attack. The Power type of these attack Specials must be declared as they are attacking the target Character. Once the Power type is declared, the target Character may defend against the number and/or the Power type. If the attack is successful, then the Power type may be changed at any time. If the Power Type is not declared, the target character may choose to defend whatever Power Type is most advantageous.
AR (offensive) - These Specials act as a certain level # attack. Cards of this type act as certain Power type attacks as designated on the card. A variant of this Special gives the Character who plays the Special the Power Grid of the target Character if the attack is successful. Players need to be watchful when this variant of the Special is played and the attack is successful. Once the attack is successful, the entire Power Grid of the Character who played this Special changes to that of the target Character. This type of attack may leave unplayable cards in the player's hand since that Character's Power Grid has changed. If this is the case, the unusable cards do not have to be discarded and can be used for bluffing purposes.
AS (offensive) - The majority of this type of Special are high-numbered Power attacks. However, there are a couple of variations that do require some details on how to play them. "Acts as a level # attack, { Character } may not attack for remainder of Battle" means that after the Character plays the attack, he or she cannot attack or do anything to the opponent for the remainder of the Battle even if the attack is blocked or avoided. The Character may still defend and play Specials that do not affect the opponent or the opponent's Characters. If the attack is negated, however, it is as if the attack never took place and therefore the Character may make subsequent attacks. "Acts as a level # attack. +1 for each hit on Character's permanent record" means that for every card (not point) currently on the Character's permanent record (not the 'hits to current Battle'), the level # attack gets a +1 bonus to hit.
Exception Card: Kingpin's Sumo Knowledge and The Ray's In a Blaze of Power should be considered an HR Special.AT (offensive) - This Special allows the player playing the card to draw a new card from the top of his or her Draw pile. The sequence of play when playing this card is 1) Play the Special, 2) Place it on top of the Dead pile, 3) Draw top card from Draw Pile, 4) Place new card in hand. This counts as your action for this turn. The newly drawn card does not have to be discarded if it is a duplicate of a card currently placed or held in hand.
AU (offensive) - These Specials force the opponent or target Character to discard certain placed cards. When the text of the card indicates the opponent as the target, then it can only be blocked with by negation (as with an AO or DO Special). Reserve Characters are included in the phrase "all Characters" and they may be selected as the target to discard placed cards. When the text of the card indicates a target Character, then the attack can be avoided as well as negated and the Reserve Character cannot be targeted. In the case where the target Character has a Special Card in effect that allows him to have more than the usual number of cards "placed" to him, all of those cards are discarded as well; however, the Special that allows the additional "placed" cards is NOT discarded as it is "in effect" and not "placed" to that Character. If the Special indicates that the playing Character can choose between the cards that are placed and the ones that are in the opponent's hand (in the case of a tie between the number of cards that are placed and the number that are in hand), then the choice must be made without knowing what the cards in the opponent's hand actually are. (This Special cannot be used defensively to avoid an attack made with a card that was placed. Once the card is used to attack, it is no longer considered placed.) If this Special is drawn in a hand where the opponent has no placed cards, it must either be placed or discarded as unplayable.
AV (offensive) - This type of Special prevents the target Character from making any attacks during the Battle. The Character may continue to play defensive cards or offensive cards that do not target the opponent or the opponent's Characters. This attack may be avoided or negated. The correct wording of AV Specials is: "Target Character may not attack for remainder of Battle." (i.e. When the card reads target opponent, it really means target Character.)
Exception card: Longshot's One in a Million should be considered a CV Special.AW (offensive) - Cards that affect the Venture total for a specific Battle add or subtract a given number of points to a player's total sum of successful "hits from the current Battle" done during that specific Battle and are added during the "determine Venture winner" phase. (See also: AF Specials.)
AX (offensive) - When played, it not only prevents a target Character from attacking for the rest of the Battle, but the Character playing the Special is also prevented from attacking that Battle. Even while affected by this Special, the Characters may still play non-attack Specials and defend themselves. If, during the course of the battle, either affected hero is KO'd, the effect of the Special remains in play for the remainder of the battle.
Exception card: Jean Grey's Mind Over Matter should read "Jean Grey and target Character may not attack for remainder of Battle"AY (both) - A Special of this type modifies the actual Power Grid of the Character, and not the Power cards or Special cards that the Character might play. For example, a Character with an Energy skill level of 6 (as shown on their "Character Card") can play Energy Power card level 1 through 6. After playing a Special that reads "{ Character's } Energy skill increases to 8 for remainder of Battle," that Character could play Energy Power cards ranging from 1 to 8. The number on the Power card remains the same. Specials of this type can be played offensively and defensively. They may be played in combination with a Power card to make a higher level attack or defensively with a Power card, as a reaction to an attack in an effort to raise a Character's skill levels so that they may attempt a defensive action. If the Special indicates that the bonus is in response to defending a certain type of attack, then the card may only be played defensively, as an avoid and the bonus to the skill follows. In the event you have this Special either placed or in your hand, during the draw phase, if you draw a Power card that would otherwise be unusable by your Characters but can be used if this Special is played you do not have to discard it as unusable. When played offensively, this Special cannot be played on the same turn along with a Universe card. When played defensively, it may be played with a Universe card. This Special may not be played defensively if it is not essential to the defensive move (ie.raising one's fighting skill to 8 while blocking with a 3 strength).
AZ (offensive) - This type of Special is a variation
of an AV Special and plays identically, except for the condition that may
cancel the Special's effect.