(Metagame Archives) Marvel Knights Preview: Doop, Ultimate Weapon

Mike Flores

A powerful offensive card that can fluster your opponent and end the game, this version of Doop might really be the Ultimate Weapon. Much like the comic book that spawned him, Doop breaks all the rules.

First of all, Doop, Ultimate Weapon is absolutely enormous for his threshold cost. An admittedly expensive 8-drop, Doop is as big in front as a 10-drop Dark Phoenix! If Doop comes down on turn 8, he should be able to take out almost any character the opponent recruits, and still be able to do a little breakthrough, even while facing the opponent’s biggest giant. This use for the X-Statix mascot can yield a great tempo swing, but let’s be honest . . . often, assuming you have the initiative, you’ll want to use Doop to hit the smallest character on the opposing squad. You know . . . the Destiny or Bolivar Trask cowering in the back row.

Moreover, Doop’s being a concealed character offers a measure of insurance on that last turn of the game. Often, you’ll drag the game to turn 8, play out your huge guy, and lose anyway. The opponent has the initiative and sets you up for a series of stuns that leaves you without potential attackers, taking away your options and undoing your hard work. But not with Doop. Concealed ensures that Doop will stick around for your combat, even if you don’t have the initiative. So, even in games where the opponent knocks you below 0 endurance, the Ultimate Weapon gives you a potential ray of hope. Look to use Doop’s formidable 25 ATK for the best possible breakthrough with which to end the game, like the Red scourge of communism at the end of the eighth turn . . . I mean eighties.

Flying is also a great feature for the weapon to end all weapons. I mean, sure, of course he flies—he doesn’t have any legs. As the Ultimate Weapon, flying allows Doop to pick the right on-board character to strike. He can break up formations on the initiative and play bully while the opponent is stuck playing fair.

The odd part about this Ultimate Weapon is his miniscule DEF. Of course, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Didn’t Doop get his brain sawed out by some terrorist Russians?” Or perhaps you’re saying, “Didn’t Thor put the whammy on the little with Mjolnir straight to the gray (green) matter?” Well, while the answer is yes to both (maybe indicating his low DEF), Doop walked (floated) away from those trials to take pictures another day (for one last issue, anyway), didn’t he? In game terms, this means that while Doop might get stunned by any defender bigger than the venerable May Parker, his invulnerability won’t leave you on the wrong end of his 8 threshold come endurance loss time . . . I mean, that could be pretty embarrassing.

What it comes down to is that Doop is a very well composed and dangerous threat.

How else could he have ended the Cold War?

 

That’s right. Lovable Doop, X-Statix’s very visible cameraman and one of the most dangerous entities on the planet, was built for a specific purpose! Though his old buddy Wolverine probably knows what’s what, Doop’s own teammates are clueless until another super soldier fills them in.

Thematically, the concealed Doop “hides in plain sight.” Even though he is, perhaps, the most visible member of the world’s most famous and wildly popular superhero team, people aren’t coming after him for the right reasons. While Captain America may be worried that Doop might be the target of a terrorist attack or fall into the wrong hands, the Brotherhood ends their own series in a failed attempt on his life. As a political statement, that’s kind of like assassinating one of the former members of 98 Degrees to spell out their disapproval of boy bands or reality television.

A gelatinous blob of nothing? Hood Brother, you’d better head back to the Savage Land, or maybe study in Genosha so you can get a clue!

Doop is there for every X-Statix battle, just as you’ll want him on the table when you play with Marvel Knights. The thing is, the opponents are too busy shooting at Mr. Sensitive and the Anarchist to notice that the huggable floating booger with the camera might just be stronger than the Scion of Asgard himself.