OVERPOWER RETURNS

Sometimes games die. Since the 90's, gaming culture has been filling their graveyard (zone) with the corpses of Yu-Gi-likes and Poke-clones, trying to catch the CCG wave that Magic the Gathering and its industry-leading competitors have been doing for the last 30 odd years. 

In 1995, the trading card company Fleer threw their hat in the ring, making a game about superheroes fighting each other that was mechanically unlike anything on the market. You could have Iron Man zap Batman, and then kick Spawn in the teeth. Like many properties of that era, it was mishandled into the ground, and fell victim to the Marvel Comics bankruptcy. By the year 2000 Fleer had moved on from the project, leaving the game's community to fend for themselves. 

As it turns out however, the Overpower community was very good at that, and spent the next twenty years building a tournament scene, collector market, and dozens of Facebook groups where the game is alive and well. Then in 2023, a handful of fans banded together like something out of a feel good movie, and formed the company that became Lazarus Rising Games, who took over the Overpower license and relaunched the game just this year.

(If you're interested in actual deep lore, here's the wiki, a podcast, another podcast, a youtube video, and another youtube video, (with a how to play video for good measure.)

So the game is back, but is it good? As someone who tried learning and playing it and it's clones during the wilderness years, Yes. Games that came about in the Wild West era of the 90's often were designed and patched semi sloppily, and for the longest time those decisions weighed heavily on how the game was played and its rules interpreted.

With this new beginning, the rules, card designs, and formats have all been given a much needed refresh, making the game feel on par with many of the contemporary offerings (everything is still compatible with the old game, but its nice to not have new players be beholden to. Having now played Overpower's verison of Limited Draft and Modern Age Constructed formats, I wanted to celebrate the revitalization of the game with some cardboard corner-esque chitchat about some of the powerful new strategies that are shaping this brand new meta.

With Lazarus Rising's inaugural set, Edgar Rice Burroughs and The World Legends (say that three times fast,) we've been treated to some of the strongest characters this side of history and the public domain. We begin with world-reknowned detective, one Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock is a control character through and through. While his grid leans heavily on that high 8 intelligence, Sherlock's suite of specials has two negates (think counterspells from Magic), a fog he can pop on himself and one foe, and a pair of medium strength attacks that let him land hits in suits he'd otherwise be poor in (energy and brute force,) for surprise spectrum KO's.

Having faced off against a Sherlock last week, I was particularly impressed by the hand stripping ability of Probability Evaluation, which gets doubled by 221-B Baker Street, one of the free to play location cards of the set. This could be a strong build around if you want to pressure your opponent with other sort/reveal effects like Angry Mob: Modern Age's Ransom Your Secrets, Dr. Watson's All Cards on the Table, or Merlin's Archimedes. 

If you think that's a shock to the system, wait until you get a load of the King of Olympus!

Zeus may have a pretty sturdy grid, but his inherent ability is what we're really looking at. In Overpower, players have to discard their dupes before they can start trading blows, so having the ability to keep a Thunderbolt in each hand (he's got two) each hand? That's nuts! It leaves him wide open, but if you're throwing 9's at your foes, those guys probably have other things on their minds besides punching Zeus back!

Reports from recent Overpower events are saying that some Zeus decks are running as many as 10 Thunderbolts, a move that sounds absolutely fearless to me! With a deck being between 51 and 57 cards minimum, that should average out to 1.5-2 copies per 8 card hand, meaning that if you believe in the heart of the cards, you too could live the electric dream!

Next up is Victory Harben from the Edgar Rice Burroughs universe, who might be one of the more underestimated cards of the set.  With a fairly modest grid, she's no slouch on the front-line, but notice that her inherent makes her cost more if she's put in reserve? Its because half her specials can be thrown from the back! Victory strikes me as a super healthy support character, who helps her team draw into more cards, dodge attacks, and surprise foes with her zesty 7 energy suckerpunch. Even once she's up front, Victory has plenty of gas to demolish any leftover characters your starting team didn't finish with her Archery, Knives, and Jiu-Jitsu. I mean, she did learn from the best (Tarzan and the Emperor of Pellucidar,) so what else would you expect?

Perhaps the only better back-row choice is big-daddy Cthulhu, who can throw two specials and four different teamworks from reserve. He's also great (old one) from the front, since most of his grid is 6+, and he's got an 11 that is nigh-undefendable. If you want to go for the absolute beatdown, picking an elder god isn't the worst choice you'll make this week.

Also, if that isn't an iconic image, I don't know what is! Speaking of iconic, art has historically been very important to the culture of classic Overpower. While today's game has little in the way of physically collectable pieces (what with the advent of digital illustration and all,) it still finds ways to speaking to that tradition with the appearances of some legendary Joe Jusko art. Check out that Tarzan!

If any of that piques your interest, get a load of this; the entire game is playable at common and uncommon rarities (it is a CCG after all.) The rare spots are reserved for alt arts and other goodies, making this relaunch a super-accessible (see what I did there?) game to get into as far as deckbuilding is concerned. Heck, print out some decks and try it out for yourself, (you'll see why we're so psyched.) and maybe someday we'll see you for our Weekly Wednesday Overpower events.

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Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite game is the game you just read a heckin' essay about (my deck is Wicked Witch, Merlin, Headless Horseman, and Mina Harker in reserve. It is not good, but at least I've got all my blorbos, ya know?)