Monday, August 4, 2008

Thar be a storm a brewin.


Ah, good ole Weather Wizard and his shenanigans. So far there is only one Weather Wizard to be able to play this card, but if I were a betting man, I would say there will be a few out of this set.


The card itself is a lot like Dirty Tricks, but slightly different in that instead of all characters getting -1 atk only attackers get -1 atk. There is also a little add on that at the start of the recover phase you have to replace Sudden Storm unless you discard a card.







A little history.

Escaping a prison transport, Mark Mardon fled to his brother's house only to find him dead. Mardon's brother, Clyde, a scientist, had just discovered a way to control the weather before dying of a heart attack (although recent evidence implies that Mardon murdered his brother and either lied about or blocked out the memory of finding his body). Mardon took Clyde's notes and used them to make a wand to generate weather and embarked on a criminal career as The Weather Wizard, sometimes using his powers on a small scale (such as zapping someone with lightning) and sometimes a larger scale (imprisoning a town in winter), almost always facing defeat by The Flash (Barry Allen).

After Barry Allen's death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Weather Wizard went into semi-retirement for a while, until, during Underworld Unleashed, he teamed up with other Rogues which included Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Captain Boomerang, and Mirror Master, as part of a ploy for greater power. Ultimately, it ended with their deaths and the release of the demon Neron. They were later resurrected as soulless demons, by Neron to use against Barry Allen's successor Wally West, who manipulated Neron to return the Rogue's souls. The Weather Wizard and the others, save Heat Wave, returned to a life of crime.

Weather Wizard joined up with Blacksmith and her rogues. Through her, he learns he has a son from a one night stand with Keystone City police officer Julie Jackham. Their son, Josh, had exhibited internalized weather-controlling abilities and Mardon wanted to have the same ability without the use of his wand. He tried to kidnap Josh from Wally's wife, Linda and dissect him to understand out how his son gained that ability, but hesitated to harm the child when he notice that the child had "my eyes...my brother's eyes." He was stopped by Flash and sent to Iron Heights, but escaped. After Blacksmith's group disbanded, the Weather Wizard, along with Mirror Master and Trickster, joined up with Captain Cold, who declared himself the leader of the Rogues. Mardon was also the representative of the rogues for the Secret Society of Super Villains.

One Year Later, he and several other Rogues are approached by Inertia with a plan to kill the Flash (then Bart Allen). Inertia destroyed Weather Wizard's wand and used 30th century psychological therapies to remove the mental blocks which prevented him from using his powers without it. Though Inertia is eventually defeated, the other Rogues successfully beat Bart to death, Weather Wizard using his control over lightning to electrocute him. After Allen's identity was revealed, Mardon was surprised and horrified to discover that the Rogues had "killed a kid" (All Flash #1).

Weather Wizard is also one of the exiled villains featured in Salvation Run.

He was seen as the member of Rogues who joined the Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. In "Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge" #1, however, Weather Wizard and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game. Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used.

I will reserve the right not to make a deck until another version of the Wizard Wizard is revealed.


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