
I agree with many of the comments here. This is a fantastic card, and has soooo many practical applications within Basic. (Nick Fury and Avengers Mansion, just to name a few . . .) Don't overlook this one, and I'm glad Basic got some love!!!
I agree with many of the comments here. This is a fantastic card, and has soooo many practical applications within Basic. (Nick Fury and Avengers Mansion, just to name a few . . .) Don't overlook this one, and I'm glad Basic got some love!!!
3 damage (and piercing!) for one resource is far above the curve, but you have to pay 3+card up front before you can start getting that value. Four shots of the Element Gun is twelve damage for a cost of 7+card, which is about the "break-even" point compared to most attacks. It's probably worthwhile to play the Element Gun you get from your Setup ability (especially since it enables Sliding Shot), but depending on how long it takes you to find it, it may not be worth playing your second Element Gun.
One approach to building and playing would be to create a deck that's intentionally light on attacks, with the idea that you will play out your second Element Gun and just throw cards at the villain's face. The advantage to this strategy is that you'll have more consistent access to thwart/defense/ally/whatever you're putting in the deck slots that would otherwise have been attacks. You'll have less potential for burst damage, though, and your sustained damage output will be low until you find that second Element Gun.
Generally, a hero with a stat line of 2 ATK, 2 THW, 3 HP costs 3 and has a positive ability. In order to be as good as that, Tony here needs to be discounting at least two upgrades, so you'll want both several types of upgrades (since they're all limit 1 per ally) and multiple copies of each (so you can assemble them in a timely fashion). And then you want Call for Aid and/or other allies who are exceptionally good to play upgrades on (e.g. Ronin). And probably something that can restore HP on your huge investments. So this is not a card to throw in any old deck, but it can be good in the specific archetype.
In addition to all the Avenger upgrades, if you go with Star-Lord and/or Honorary Guardian, you get access to all the Guardian upgrades and Guardians of the Galaxy as well. Play an upgrade for 0, immediately draw a replacement card? VALUE!
For being such a staple card introduced in the Core Set, I've never loved this card. The primary reason is that it costs 4, i.e. your whole hand. You generally want to play the Mansion as early as possible for maximal effect, but that means you likely don't have resource generators to help with the cost, meaning you are spending one of your critical early turns doing nothing but playing the Mansion. If you can eat the cost of a Villain Attack, the gained Threat, an extra turn with a Minion out, or Side Schemes doing their thing, it's usually worth it.
The problem is that in some scenarios you just can't afford to take that kind of tempo hit.
Once you play it, it's amazing to have out. An extra card is not simply another resource, it's another option to deal with the situation at hand.
A primary caution is that you do NOT want to have it vulnerable to being discarded by Caught Off Guard.
I'm on the fence on rating this card.
It's either an A: Provides extra cards in a game where card draw is king. Provides an additional option every turn instead of simply more resources.
or a B: Avenger's Mansion is now an option among many options for extra resource generation, and with the availability of 2-cost resource generators and the Quincarrier, the Mansion may be too expensive for your particular Hero.
Similar to Godlike Stamina for Asgardians, Reboot is so good that it might just be considered an extension of Vision's Signature Pool. He's the only Android Hero with the only Android Signature, and Reboot is amazing on both of these.
While usable on the available Android allies, none of them are particularly worth building around.
Jocasta (Protection) - Not worthwhile to heal her for a single point of damage, and the heal won't cover a 2nd THW.
Machine Man (Basic) - With 1/1 stats, not worth it. It's expensive to boost his stats, and the boost lasts for single activation, not the entire round.
Protector (Protection) - Prohibitively expensive to keep her going, as you have to pay a Mental resource to use her worthwhile power (ATK) with double consequential damage.
Victor Mancha (Protection) - Can't attack or defend, and you can't interrupt during the Villain phase to ready him to defend again.
Ironically, the only Android Ally worth including Reboot for is Vision (Leadership). Reboot could easily turn Vision into an awesome Voltron type. Imagine a Vision with Inspired, Reinforced Suit, and maybe a Skycycle. It might not be the most efficient build, but it would be fun!
Vision (3), Inspired(1), Reinf. Suit (1), Skycycle (1), Reboot x3 (3), 3 boosts (7 cards, 12 resources total)=40 damage. Could add Sidearm (1) for an extra 8 damage.
An S card for Vision: Should always be included, probably x3. Cheap readying and a heal is too powerful to ignore.
For non-Vision Heroes: Likely a C, too niche to be worth while without a very specific build.