When I found out that I would be getting a preview card for the upcoming Marvel Evolutions set, I was ecstatic, and that was an understatement. You see, I missed out on getting a preview card for Marvel Universe, so I was more than looking forward to this. I told Ben that I wanted a card that reflected my style. I didn�t just want a regular attack pump or searcher or a normal character. I wanted a card that had complexity, options, required some thought when played, as well as add a new dimension (pun intended) to the game. I thought the most interesting and challenging part of the game was deck-building, so I wanted a deck-builder�s card. He knew what I meant and out came this:

Just a quick background on the location: It is basically the base of operations for the Exiles team. The Panoptichron is a mysterious palace, said to exist outside space and time, from where you can observe and have access to any reality in the Marvel multiverse.

The Panoptichron was somehow found by the Timebreakers and while studying it they accidentally damaged several realities, setting off a chain-reaction. Being pacifists themselves they got the idea to gather heroes from various realities and basically force them to fix the damaged time-lines, and that is how the Exiles and Weapon X was born. Much later on a mission the Exiles got hold of a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal and managed to use it to teleport to the Panoptichron and take over. They now use the Panoptichron as their headquarters.

As you already know Shift is the new keyword in the set. For those of you who play Magic the Gathering, it is similar (but also different) to the Suspend mechanic, which is a really great mechanic. First, I think Shift is one of the best mechanics to come along since Reservist. It opens up a lot of different strategies, and helps you fix your curve if you miss your early drops. Second, I would like to congratulate UDE R&D for coming up with a great new mechanic. I just hope they can keep it going. Here is a refresher for those of you who don�t know:

* The keyword shift means:

Pay 1 or more resource points >>> Remove this card from the game shifted with that many shift counters. Use only if this card is in your hand.

* Cards have two additional powers while shifted:

Pay 1 resource point >>> Put a shift counter on this card.

Remove X shift counters >>> Put this card into play if you control X or more resources, where X is its cost. Use only during your recruit step.

Probably the best thing shift does is help you fix your curve. In standard curve decks, you almost never see a 1-drop, and sometimes, you miss your 2-drop as well. With shift, you can essentially save those resource points for a later turn and bring out a drop you might have missed, instead of letting the points go to waste. One of the coolest things you can do is drop two or more on-turn drops (say, two 4-drops on turn 4) if you miss your first two turns. Or you could shift in that 1-drop or 2-drop later in the game that you desperately needed in the early game. With Shift, you virtually don�t let any resource points go to waste, which is amazing game-wise. That should be good enough, but there�s more. From what I�ve seen, there are a variety of ways to add Shift counters without having to pay resource points, which is a deck-building challenge in itself. Thematically, it makes sense as the Exiles are time-travelers and inter-dimensional travelers.

Ok, now onto the card itself. As you can see, it is a location, and that means you can use it turn after turn. I think this card has some potential to be really good. I would go as far as say it will be a cornerstone of a shift deck. The first thing that pops out at me is that the card removed is shifted out of play. The character does not need to have the Shift keyword in order for it to be removed. This is significant because the real only way to shift a character in or out of play is to have the shift keyword. This means that you can team-up with a non-shift character to possibly get another use of a �enters play� effect again later in the game. Second, the character you are adding counters to does not have to be an Exiles character. That means you can splash non-Exiles in a shift deck. Third, you�re adding counters onto a character that is already shifted out of play. It could work as a character switch, as you can then shift that character into play and upgrade your character to a higher drop. Or, it could work as a way to save your board position by sacrificing a character in the early game to maintain, or strengthen, your board position in the mid to late-game. Here is an example of the first scenario:

1. You missed your 1-drop and 2-drop, but you used those 3 resource points to shift out a 5-drop with 3 shift counters.
2. Let�s say it is turn 5 and you have your 2-drop and your 4-drop in play.
3. You recruit a 5-drop and you activate Panoptichron to shift out your 2-drop and add 2 shift counters to your 5-drop in the �shift zone.�
4. You remove 5 shift counters from that 5-drop and bring it into play.
5. You just upgraded your 2-drop to a 5-drop, to go along with your 4-drop and your other 5-drop� on turn 5.

Here is the second scenario:

1. It is turn 4 and you have a 4-drop and a 3-drop.
2. You have a shifted 5-drop in the shift zone with 2 shift counters.
3. It is your opponent�s initiative and you know that your board will get stunned after he gets through his attack step.
4. Instead of losing your board, you activate Panoptichron to remove your 3-drop to add 3 counters to your shifted 5-drop.
5. You don�t lose a character in the recovery phase. On turn 5, you recruit a 5-drop and shift in the 5-drop, to go along with your 4-drop.

The beauty of this, and shift for that matter, is that in both cases, the character you removed is not removed permanently. It is merely shifted out of play until you want to bring that character back into play another turn. Think of this as a super-substitute effect, where you are upgrading your character, and the character that left can still be brought back later on.

Now, if you can keep getting a character in the shift zone without having to pay resource points, then this location could be really powerful, as you would be able to upgrade your characters turn after turn. Another idea is to load up your "shift zone" with characters through the first 2-3 turns, and once you have Panoptichron online, you can just switch characters turn after turn:

1. Turns 1 and 2 you shift out a 4-drop, 5-drop, and a 6-drop (they each have 1 shift counter on them).
2. Turn 3, you recruit your 3-drop.
3. Turn 4, you recruit your 4-drop, then use Panoptichron to remove your 3-drop to add 3 counters on your shifted 4-drop. You then use the shift ability to bring it into play.
4. Repeat on turns 5 and 6, each time removing your lowest drop to bring another "on-turn drop."

These are just a few ways to use this location, and there are many more, and the one "combo" that I can think of is in conjunction with [Silver Surfer, Last Zenn-Lavian]. If there is an 8-drop with Shift, or a way to shift an 8-drop in the early game, you could essentially shift in that 8-drop on turn 7:

1. You recruit Silver Surfer, add a resource to your row
2. You have an 8-drop shifted with 3 counters or more.
3. You use Panoptichron to remove your 3, 4, or 5-drop from the game to add that many counters to your 8-drop.
4. You shift in your 8-drop� on turn 7, after you recruited your 7-drop� on turn 7.

One can hope, right?

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