Welcome to a special edition of our previews for the Fantastic Battles Arc for Vs. System 2PCG: The Fantastic Battle! Today we are going to look at just one card – arguably our most ambitious yet and unarguably our longest rules entry to date!

First of all, you will note he is our first Omega Level Mutant — but not our last!

For Pocket Universe, get comfortable for some rules – but it’s worth it!

Franklin is one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. So powerful he has been able to, from a young age, create a Pocket Universe. Here’s what happens when he does that:

• Move each character other than Franklin to the side of the playing space. They are now in a separate part of the game.

• • A Pocket Universe has only front and back rows (no resource row).
  • When the characters are moved to the Pocket Universe, they stay in the same rows they were in in the original universe. They keep all their counters and their orientation (ready/exhausted; face up/face down).
  • The Pocket Universe is still in the same overall game as the original universe. So, cards don’t “appear” or “leave play” when they move from the original universe to the Pocket Universe or vice versa.
  • Cards in the Pocket Universe cannot attack or otherwise affect cards in the original universe and vice versa.
  • The Uniqueness rules don’t apply across the Pocket Universe and original universe. (For example, you could have a Human Torch in both universes.)
  • Note: Your hand, deck, KO pile, and out-of-game piles can be accessed in both the original universe and the Pocket Universe (more on this below).

• Each player who has characters in a Pocket Universe will take a separate turn in that Pocket Universe after their normal turn (before the next player’s normal turn and including the turn Franklin creates the Pocket Universe).

• • First take your normal turn. During this turn, ignore the Pocket Universe.
  • After your turn is over, you then take a Pocket Universe turn. During this turn, ignore the original universe.
  • The cards you play on a particular turn can only affect that turn’s universe.

A Pocket Universe turn sequence is a little different than a normal turn, as follows:

• Start of turn
  • Note that there is no Draw Phase.
• Recovery Phase
• Formation Step
  • Note that there is no Build Phase because there are no Recruit Points or resource rows in a Pocket Universe.
• Main Phase
  • This works just like a “normal” Main Phase in regard to combats.
  • You can play Plot Twists from your hand to affect a Pocket Universe.
  • You can discard Locations from your hand to generate a power symbol in the Pocket Universe. (Since the Pocket Universe has no resource row, there are no Locations to turn face down to generate a power symbol.)
  • You can discard characters from your hand to Power Up characters in a Pocket Universe.
  • When a character is KO’d in a Pocket Universe, they go to the normal KO pile. Similarly, if a character leaves play due to an effect, it works the same as if the character were still in the original universe. For example, if an effect returned the character to its owner’s hand, it would go to that hand as normal.
• End of turn

If there is more than one Pocket Universe in the game, each player will take their normal turn first, then a Pocket Universe turn for each Pocket Universe they have characters in, starting with the first Pocket Universe created, then the second, etc.

• Cards in one Pocket Universe cannot attack or otherwise affect cards in another Pocket Universe.

When Franklin leaves play, the characters from each Pocket Universe he created pop back into the original universe part of the game, in the same rows and with the same orientation they were in their Pocket Universe.

• If this leads to more than one character with the same name on your side, KO all except one (your choice).

Whew! That was long! I hope you liked/read it! We debated about trimming it, but it’s sort of awesome in its length! Like the Grand Canyon, you don’t understand its immensity until you see it in its full glory!

So, no questions, I assume? Pretty straightforward stuff… (Mark, please disable comments and phones everywhere). It will all be fine!

Before Mark had a chance to lock down the comments, a few questions popped up.

1) What happens if a character in a Pocket Universe temporarily leaves play and then re-enters play? (Some examples of effects like this are Elektra (main character), Singularity (supporting character), and Doorman.)

When the character re-enters play it will go back to the same Pocket Universe it left. If that Pocket Universe no longer exists, it will go back to the “Main” universe instead.

2) If a Main Character is KO’d and replaced by a new one (i.e. Sinister Six), which Universe would it appear in?

The new Main Character appears in whichever Universe the previous one was KO’d in.

3) If Dark Phoenix is recruited while there’s a Pocket Dimension, does her Deconstruct the Universe affect it?

Yes, Deconstruct the Universe does affect Pocket Dimensions. This is because Deconstruct the Universe affects the game itself, not just the characters in play. (Characters in a Pocket Universe are in a separate part of the same game.)

Hope that helps!

Join us next week as we fill out the ranks of the Fantastic 4!

Vs. System 2PCG: The Fantastic Battles releases on May 13th!