From Panel to Play: Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger

CP143Captain Marvel

We’d tell you to put on some sunglasses, but we’re not sure they’ve yet made a pair that can stand up to the glow of a binary star. Maybe try to just squint a little as we take a look at Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger in today’s From Panel to Play.

Even as a child, Carol Danvers had always dreamed of flying through space and seeing distant stars. When all she could do was sneak peeks at rocket ships and daydream about life as an astronaut, she never even considered that one day she herself would be wielding power equivalent to that of a star! She has always had the spirit and drive of a true hero, though, even well before she was able to make use of her superpowers.

Prepare yourself to dig in, as we have a lot to cover in today’s article. As can be expected of a 5 Threat character, this new version of Carol Danvers has a host of rules to discuss. You don’t have to worry about any changes between her Healthy and Injured sides, however, she is a brand-new Transforming character, which means we have two complete character cards to cover!

Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger’s Normal form has 4 Physical, Energy and Mystic defense alongside 7 Stamina on both her Healthy and Injured sides. This woman has come ready to fight and isn’t going down easy. Not only does she have a strong foundation, she has a host of superpowers that are going to enhance her resilience to damage, which we will touch on a bit later.

To start things off strong, we’ll take a look at her two attacks. Her Photon Blast is sure to leave more than a sunburn as it lances out from Range 4 with a 5 dice attack. Not only does this Energy attack provide her Power equal to the damage she deals, a Wild in the roll will allow her to zip around the battlefield with the Pursuit special rule. This rule provides her a Short Advance toward the target character, allowing her the option of repositioning herself.

Even if the glow of her Binary form hasn’t blinded the opponent, she may still just deafen them with her Sonic Boom. This Range 3 Physical attack hits with a Strength 6 and costs zero Power to use. It also provides her Power equal to the damage she deals and is a Concussive strike, meaning a Wild in the attack roll will cause the target character to lose 1 Power.

Now that we’ve covered her attacks, let’s start taking a look at those resilience enhancing superpowers we mentioned earlier. You won’t have too many decisions to make when using her superpowers, as they are all innate superpowers that work automatically to help defend her.

Her Enhanced Energy Absorption is an innate superpower that allows her to change an attacker’s Critical, Wild and Hit results to a Blank for every Wild in her defense roll. Not only does this work against Energy attacks, it also now works when she is defending herself against Mystic Attacks! As an added bonus, she will gain 1 Power for every die she changes this way.

Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger often has a cocky, confident attitude during a fight and isn’t shy about letting her opponent know when they aren’t giving her much of a challenge. You Call That A Punch? is an innate superpower that provides her 1 Power anytime she takes damage from an enemy effect. Since you gain Power for damage from enemy effects anyways, this is a great way to double dip on the Power generation. She also still has the innate superpowers Flight and Immunity to Incinerate and Poison in her normal form.

Now, you may have noticed that almost every single rule we’ve mentioned so far has in some way been providing her Power. You may have also noticed that we haven’t yet mentioned anyway for her to spend that Power.

Well, Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger spends her Power by storing it up for the first half of the fight. Once she has that Power ready to go, Higher, Further, Faster is an innate superpower that triggers at the start of her activation. When she starts her Activation with 6 or more Power, she transforms into the Binary form of her character! You’ll notice that once she has the Power available, she just can’t help herself and has to transform into her Binary form, ready to rearrange the battlefield.

Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger’s Binary form has the same base stats as her Normal form, but access to two new attack options and a host of superpowers. Her Binary Blast is a Range 2, Strength 6 energy attack. It does cost her 1 Power to use, but it allows her to Push any character (regardless of size!) Short and can also Incinerate them if she rolls a Wild during the attack. This short-range wallop is just the first of the control elements she now brings to her team.

Warbird is an explosive new attack available to her Binary form. This attack costs her 3 Power to use, can reach out to Range 3 and hits with Strength 8. It also provides two different special rules to change up the board state. It allows her to Place herself within Range 2 of the target character and, when she rolls a Wild, it allows her to Throw the target character Short (again, regardless of its size). Something to note is that because both of those rules share the “after this attack is resolved” timing, you can pick the order they resolve in. Whether you want to Throw the enemy character first to get a little more distance for Captain Marvel’s placement or you want to Place her first and then throw the enemy off an objective point, the option is yours! If that wasn’t enough, this Energy attack also has the Explosive rule when she rolls a Critical and Wild. This means before damage is dealt, other enemy characters within range 2 of the target character will suffer 1 damage.

Now, let’s take a look at the superpowers available to Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger (Binary). First up is an active superpower called I’m Just Getting Warmed Up. Every good workout starts with a good stretching session and Carol likes to start things off with a little bit of dynamic movement that involves throwing size 4 characters or terrain Medium. You don’t stretch too far right from the get-go, so the items she’s throwing do have to be within Range 2 of her, but since it only costs 2 Power to use, it’s an amazing option to have available.

Recognizing the power she has at her fingertips; Captain Marvel always likes to be in the vanguard of the fight. Once her Binary form is active, she rushes into battle whether the enemy is Ready or Not…This active superpower doesn’t cost her any power to use and allows her to perform two actions for the cost of one! When using this superpower, she makes a move action followed by an attack action.  Luckily for the enemy, she can only use it once per turn.

A true sight to behold is Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger exploding with energy as she transforms into her Binary form at the start of her Activation, shouting Ready or Not…as she charges a heavily fortified enemy objective, smashing one opponent with a Warbird attack and throwing them into the distance before smirking at their buddy, telling him I’m Just Getting Warmed Up and then creating a pile of bodies by Throwing him into the first guy! That last enemy character sitting on the point? That guy gets a Binary Blast right in the face and is Pushed off, leaving Captain Marvel in sole possession of the objective. All of that? All of that just happened with the bare minimum Power available to her when she transforms into her Binary form.

As can be expected, her Binary form also shares the previously mentioned Enhanced Energy Absorption. It works the same way in this form as it did in her Normal form, which as a reminder means she can change an attacker’s Critical, Wild and Hit results to a Blank for every Wild in her defense roll during an Energy or Mystic attack and doing so nets her 1 Power per die changed.

Now, as we get near the end of the amazing options available to this character, astute readers may have noticed there is a bit of a downside to this form. Although her Binary form is very good at spending Power, it doesn’t have many options available for generating Power. She can still gain Power from other rules and damage from enemy effects, but other than Enhanced Energy Absorption, she doesn’t have any rules that give her a choice about gaining Power.

When she finds herself getting low on Power, she can just tell her opponent I Don’t Need a Powerup To Kick Your Butt. This zero cost reactive superpower triggers when she either spends or loses Power and allows her to Transform back into Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger (Normal) if she has 3 or less power after the effect is resolved. She’ll then be ready to power herself back up!

Whew! Almost done, we hope you’ve gotten as excited about this character as we are. We will wrap things up by mentioning that her Binary form shares the same Immunities that her Normal form does (Incinerate and Poison), as well as the innate superpower Flight. She however gains Immunity to Stagger and Stun as well! Something to remember is that when a character gains an Immunity, if they currently have the condition they are now immune to, they immediately remove that condition. Neat little trick when going Binary allows to you remove a Stagger that otherwise would have impacted your activation!

When you’re ready to stand up to injustice no matter where in the universe it may be, be sure to pre-order your copy of the Earth’s Mightiest Core Set at your local game store or through the webstore today. Also, be sure to check back later for yet another installment of From Panel to Play, the series where we give you your first look at how your favorite characters transition to the tabletop in Marvel: Crisis Protocol.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!