There's the card. Good for you.
For those still with me, let's go over the character, first of all.
Blink is a character, like most of the Exiles, from a different dimension. See, Marvel is actually a multiverse where universes don't often interact. Unlike DC, with Flash running back and forth, and Crisis on Multiple Earths causing people to go back and forth all the time, these universes are pretty stable. Most of them are created as What if? type scenarios where as opposed to "A" happening, "B" happens and things work out differently. Time travel makes new universes often, where there is one where they didn't go back and then the one where they did. Professor X's son, Legion, was crazy, and in a misguided attempt to stop Magneto, went back in time to when his father and Erik were still friends, and tried to assasinate Magneto. Charles, being Erik's friend, dove in front of Legion, causing Professor X to die instead, causing an alternate universe where Apocalypse took over America and the Age of Apocalypse was born.
Clarice Ferguson is a mutant with teleportation abilities. Simply put, with the training she received, she can teleport things, including over fairly long distances. She can teleport even to the moon with difficulty. A prisoner, she was freed by Sabretooth, who became a mentor to her, much like the 616 Wolverine to Kitty Pryde, Jubilee and recently Armor. Joining him in the X-Men, she helped Magneto's team, and they fought against Apocalypse. Eventually, Bishop from 616 came to Magneto, revealing that the Age of Apocalypse never should have been and that it only came about because of Legion. As Bishop went back in time and stopped Legion, the Age of Apocalypse was thought to have come to an end. Blink, however, was plucked out of Earth 295.
The Exiles are a group of heroes, usually related to the X-Men in some way, that dimension-hop, fixing things and making them right. The founding members of the Exiles were Blink, Mimic, Nocturne, Morph, Thunderbird and Magnus. Blink became their leader, more because nobody else really would or could, and led the team for a long time, eventually finding Sabretooth from Earth 295, who was part of the dimension traveling Weapon X, which went around killing people to try to solve problems. She has been a main member of the Exiles, although is currently off the team.
Let's look at the card:
First off, I have to say that I do like the issue that the card takes its art from. Exiles 84 was a good issue. I am not the biggest fan of the Exiles (I only have a couple volumes), but I do enjoy certain stories more than others, and this was the beginning of a story I liked.
Anyway, just average stats with range, but look at that text-box. First off, I should explain Shift. I'm sure you know about this new keyword, but Shift is a way for people to pay for their characters in advance.
* 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.
Now, Shift is the main theme for the Exiles, and it is awesome. Generally, it means that you pay resources earlier, but Blink has a different concept in mind. One thing she can do is throw little javelins at people that she's imbued with the ability to teleport, meaning she can throw them at people to teleport them somewhere else. This can be used offensively, to throw the opponent into something dangerous, or a more common use, to allow people to rest before rejoining the fight. Whenever one of Blink's allies becomes injured during battle, she can move that person to a safer location, allowing him/her to come back later for a single measly resource point. Or, if you get the other Blink into play somehow (Shifting, like Substitute, does not get around uniqueness), you can get your other character back for free. And I'm sure there are other ways to manipulate those Shift counters.
The last way, and I'm sure one of the better ways, is to get rid of your opponent's characters. Now, sure, they can pay a resource point and get the character back next turn, but without a deck designed to do things like that, losing your 5-drop on 5, and having to pay a resource point the next turn to get it doesn't seem all that fun. You make them have to choose between getting their 6-drop out, or their 5-back, plus another 5. Sure, it seems like they got 10 resource points, but really, they lost one by having to replay one of their older characters.
Stategies? Well, with a card that can add a shift counter, like I said, on turn 5, shift your guys away, then get them back the next turn for free. Otherwise, you can always just use it as a way to pay 1 resource point and discard a card to recover a character. Now, if they go after Blink first, and I mean, who wouldn't, then you can use her ability on herself too. Also, you can keep getting your characters back the next turn and getting their "enter play" effects just like Bodyslide. With Blink, you are going to want to look for other cards to add counters, just so that you can make your guys come back for free. Otherwise, like your opponent, you are going to have to make decisions about what to do with your drops. If you would lose the character anyway, then if you have a useless card, you can always discard that and if you run into a situation where you have an extra resource point or don't have a character to play otherwise, you can always bring it back.
I got Blink, Earth 285<>Dimension, Jumper as part of Exiles week for the "Blink Legend" part of the week. Blink, as a legend, has a theme that relates to her powers. A lot of the Exiles (at the very least, all the ones this week) have the Shift keyword, as part of their dimension-hopping, but Blink gets both Shift, and abilities that make Shifting easier. Both of the characters this week (mine and the one that should have been at VsSystem.com, but was at Facebook) help with shifting, the 3-drop by adding to already-shifted characters and the 5-drop by getting a few of your guys Shifted out to save them for later, or even just to Shift some of your opponent's guys to another plane. Blink is all about teleporting her team places and teleporting enemies away when the fight gets too rough. Her cards all reference that and make her a powerful legend.
Anyway, this is an awesome card. It is versatile, in its helping your guys (if you can use shift counters) and hurting opponents (unless they have shift counters, in which it is then annoying).
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