Black Widow, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. has got a lot going on on her card, but there is one thing that I think has gone under the radar a bit.

Her free attack is a bit unusual:

We’ve seen a few Spender attacks that create two attacks on the same target, but this is the first free attack that does.

Initial reaction suggests that 4 dice isn’t great, especially on physical which tends to be a higher defense. But the dice variance is pretty high in this game. Have a look at a typical 4 dice attack against 4 defense.

Looks pretty mopey, right? Nearly 50% of no damage? Only 1-in-8 of 3+. “Not ideal”, you’re thinking. But chaining two of them together gives more opportunities for dice spikes. And that translates to something really interesting:

Two of them together are really close to the same as a 6 dice attack. You know, the sort that 5 threat characters like Thor and M.O.D.O.K. have.

It gets even more pronounced if you can get her against a 3 physical defense character:

Better damage than Thor. Okay, there’s no wild throw, but she costs two fewer threat!

Power generation

The other aspect of this attack is the power generation. Unlike a lot of free attacks you get a straight two – unless you daze or KO with the first attack. That’s reliable power generation. If you compare with Thor, against defense 4, Thor will get more power 33% of the time. But he will get less 48% of the time. Against 3 defense characters it swing a little more Thor’s way: more power 41% of the time, fewer 37% of the time. But Widow remains consistent: she will get two irrespective of damage.

Cabal

The Cabal leadership ability gets more interesting the more attacks you have. We saw before that Agent Widow has a 52% of doing at least one damage against 4 def – the triggering condition for the Cabal leadership. With two attacks she can gain up to two additional power with these attacks – on top of the two she already gets.

Doomed Prophecy

Agent Widow has rightly been touted as a great target for Doomed Prophecy. Two attacks at 8 dice vs 4 defense:

That’s pretty spicy. If you can get it two Automatic Pistol attacks with it even better!