Clones/Variants

The introduction of Clones and Variants added new depth to OverPower, but with the price of some new and potentially confusing rules.

Variants
A Variant Character card is a new Character card that may have a slightly different power grid and/or a different Inherent Ability from the "original" Character card, as well as different artwork. The term Variant is used to identify a Character card that is essentially the same charatcer as the original in the comics. A standard was adopted that can easily determine which characters are considered Variants.

For example, Shadowcat: Age of Apocalypse, is a Variant of Shadowcat. The " : " in the character name means that, in OverPower, this character is considered the same person as any other Character card with the same first name. Because they are considered the same person, they may not be used on the same team together. Also, these variants may be used in place of the original character on a Location card, when used as either a Home Base or a Battlesite. Variant Character cards have full access to the original Character's Specials, as they are considered the same person. All 3 stat Character cards, those printed before IQ, are considered to be a Variant of the 4 stat version, or vice versa. It does not matter which is the original and which is the Variant.

Clones
The term Clone was originally used to identify what are now known as Variant character cards. Clone was first used because the Spider-Man Clone Saga was still so fresh in many people's minds. Nowadays, a Clone is a Character card that has access to another Character's Specials, but only through an Inherent Ability. To use an explanation using comic editorial, a Clone is considered a different person from the original. Because they are different people, a Clone may not be used in place of the original on a Location card. If the Inherent Ability is removed from play somehow, then the Clone would not be able to play those Specials.

The Clone Rule
The Clone Rule is an OverPower Legion ruling on the different types of Character cards with which you may build a deck. The Clone Rule is as follows:

No two identical Characters may be on the same team. It should be noted that a particular 3-Rank Character is considered identical to his 4-Rank counterpart; therefore, it is not possible to have the 3-Rank version of Spider-Man and the 4-Rank version of Spider-Man on the same team. However, it is perfectly legal for opposing players to have identical Characters to each other.

Team X
Team X is slightly different from all the other clones, as they count as a clone for three different characters. If you follow the editorial explanation to the exact letter, it would make more sense if they qualified as a Variant, which is why the editorial explanation is not used to explain any rules in OverPower. I only use that to make some things clearer. Team X may not be used in place of Wolverine, Sabretooth, or Maverick on a Location card, and that makes Team X a Clone and not a Variant. Also, the Specials that Team X may play is granted through an Inherent Ability. Team X may be used on a team with Wolverine, Sabretooth, or Maverick, or any combination of those three.

X-Men: Original Team
X-Men: Original Team did not really need to be printed with the :. It also probably does not matter that this Character card is considered a Clone.

Home Bases
You can only have a character or their variant(s) on a Home Base. A clone can never be used.

Battlesites
You can only have a character or their variant(s) on a Battlesite. A clone can never be used.

If you are using a variant, any specials that they are allowed to use can be put underneath a battlesite. The most popular character to use this strategy would be Storm: Neutralized because she is allowed to have Morlocks' non-OPD specials even if Morlocks is not on the location card (i.e. Wakanda).

Using a Battlesite that has a Original/Variant + Clone
An example would be having Beast in your team and using Onslaught's Citadel as a Battlesite (which has Dark Beast). Since Dark Beast can play Beast Specials and Beast is on your team, you may still use Onslaught's Citadel as a Battlesite but you are not allowed to put ANY Beast Specials under the Battlesite. These two characters are considered to be variants. They are not the same character but have access to the same Specials. Because one character on your team may play Beast Specials, you are not allowed to have any of his Specials under the Battlesite. Even if you are not using certain Specials in your Draw Pile, you may not have any under the Battlesite.