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Re: The Book of Cosmo (Public Playtesting)
Spoiler Alert!
NAME = Cosmo
SPECIES = Dog
UNIQUENESS = Unique Hero
CLASS = Telepath
PERSONALITY = Loyal
SIZE/HEIGHT = Small 3
LIFE = 3
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 3
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 5
POINTS = 160
CONTINUUM CORTEX
After revealing an Order Marker on the card of a figure you control and instead of taking a turn with that figure, if Cosmo is in your Start Zone, you may remove any number of unrevealed Order Markers from this card. For each Order Marker removed, you may choose a figure you control. If the chosen figure is not in your Start Zone, you must place it on any unoccupied space in your Start Zone. If the chosen figure is in your Start Zone, you must place the chosen figure on any unoccupied space on the battlefield not within 3 spaces of a Start Zone. Figures moved by this special power will not take any leaving engagement attacks and cannot be placed adjacent to any enemy figures.
TELEPATHIC PARALYSIS
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, when rolling attack dice against a figure without the Mental Shield special power, you may remove one unrevealed Order Marker at random from the defending figure's card if at least 2 shields are rolled.
PSYCHIC DEFENSE X
Once per round, if Cosmo or any friendly figure within 3 spaces of Cosmo is attacked by a figure that does not have the Mental Shield special power, and at least 1 skull is rolled, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card. If you do, the attacking player's turn immediately ends and the attacked figure receives no wounds.
C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM
NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (Cosmo)
- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
Pass, with the exception of his mental attack triggering defensive powers like counterstrike and kryptonian defense while other mental attacks do not.
- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
pass
- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
pass
- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak.
Pass, the double X OM block combo of Loki, Cosmo, & Prof. X is certainly very good and won their match up, but it required a lot of good fortune for the telepath team as well so I do believe it is beatable and balanced.
- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
pass
- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
pass
- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
pass
- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
pass
- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
Pass, I’ll note here though that his normal attack isn’t really all that useful. He really is defined and costed based on his support powers, which are quite good.
- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
Pass, I’m not the pod play master around here so his ability to easily teleport out a 3 figure pod to a prime spot on the board at the start of the game, then continue adding figures to the pod in the following rounds, should be explored a bit more.
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Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? yes, powers all worked fine, nothing seemed broken.
- What should be the unit's point value? His cortex teleportation is pretty sweet, and the X block is always useful, but I wouldn’t put much stock in his attacks and the 3 life is pretty easy to go through considering all the auto-wound powers and figures throwing 5+ attack dice. I’d drop his points down some if left as is. Maybe 140?
- Give a brief preview. I’m putting Cosmo in a Guardians build along with CA to double up on the bonuses. With cap revealing OM1 each round to trigger his bonus, I can either attack with him or leave him where he is and teleport up more allies. Not sure if Cosmo will get a chance to take advantage of the +2 att. bonus as Bug & Groot will be leading the charge with Cosmo sitting back ready to recall Groot when he gets cut down. If both CA & Star Lord are both still in play once Groot is taken out or recalled to heal up, I’ll send Cosmo up to see what I can do with this OM removal power. Nightwing will certainly be a good card to remove OM’s from as it may lead to a Titan Go! block.
Map: Yellowstone Throwdown 3.1
Units: Cosmo, Star Lord, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Capt. America, Bug (1200) vs. Nightwing, Superboy, Raven, Starfire, Wonder Girl, Tempest, Lightning Bolt x2 (1200)
Spoiler Alert!
Continuum Cortex usage: R1: OM1 revealed on CA, all 3 other OMs revealed on Cosmo, CA, Star Lord, & Rocket are teleported out of SZ to HG in middle of map. R2: OM1 revealed on CA, XOM revealed on Cosmo, Groot teleported out of SZ onto a water tile adj. to CA. R3: OM1 revealed on CA, XOM revealed on Cosmo, Bug teleported out of SZ onto HG adj. to Star Lord & Rocket. R6: OM1 revealed on Bug, Groot just took a quick 5W so the XOM is revealed on Cosmo who brings Groot back to the SZ.
Telepathic Paralysis usage: Only revealed an OM on his card and attacked a figure twice when they also had an OM on their card: (1) 2 skulls & 1 shield, blocked by Nightwing’s 1 shield defense. (2) 2 shields & 1 blank, removed the 3OM from Nightwings card.
Psychic Defense X usage: Nightwing reveals the XOM, Raven moves up and uses Soul Self, Starfire moves up & att. Groot, rolls 4 skulls on 4 dice, Cosmo reveals X to shut her down, preventing 2 more attack rolls by Starfire from happening as well as preventing Nightwing from moving up. / Starfire att. Cosmo, Cosmo uses X to stop her 3 attacks from happening.
Normal Attack Damage Dealt: None.
Damage Taken: 1W from Tempest water tile power. 1W from Nightwings normal att. 1W from Raven’s Soul Self W transfer.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Nightwing w/2W, Starfire w/1W, Tempest & Raven @ full life won w/the 2 Lightning Bolt spells still available.
Recap: CA, Rocket, & Star Lord teleport out to HG in the middle of the board into a nice little pod. Groot & Bug teleport up in the next two rounds. The Guardians are all set up in a commanding position and the Titans are at a disadvantage. To make matters worse, Superboy takes 4W in one attack and goes down after having previously taken a W saving Wonder Girl. Yet the Titans manage to overrun the Guardians position and send them running back to their SZ in fear. At the end of the day the reality here is that Rocket is worth maybe 75 points and Raven is worth closer to 240. Titans win pretty easily in the end. Don’t see why people are concerned about Cosmo’s attack being boosted by Star Lord, CA, or anyone else. If you draft an army with Star Lord or CA, you are going to have much better boosted attack options than Cosmo. Cosmo really only gets his attack dice rolling once the team boosters are already taken down, and then at the end of the game when you are hoping to do something with his attack you find it lacking. That being said, after having played them together I’d rather just see Cosmos basic attack bumped up to 4, but reduced to range 1. Then have his mental attack power turned into a SA of 4. That way the odds of OM removal are set and as a SA several defensive powers will not trigger. Looking ahead at the next tests and it seems odd that Cosmo’s mental attack is the only one that isn’t a SA and awarded the defensive defying boosts that come with being a SA. You are still going to want to play Cosmo with Star Lord. I really felt like this game was one of the best performances I have ever had while playing Star Lord and I never once put an OM on his card. Being able to teleport him out onto some prime real estate at the start of the game and then dropping his allies onto the board inside his aura was just about perfect. I just shouldn’t have bothered with Rocket, his covering fire accomplished nothing and I would have been better off had I just sent Bug up in the first group and started attacking right away with his double attacks of 7. Much more potent than the one attack of 6 Rocket game me once.
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Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? yes
- What should be the unit's point value? He seemed to have a much bigger impact on the game in this one even though he never attacked even once. They won with plenty of points to spare so I can’t say he didn’t pull his weight, not sure if his impact was really 160 points though or if Loki’s impact was just much higher than 420 points in this game, but 160 didn’t feel that far off considering everything he contributed as a support unit.
- Give a brief preview. Looking to explore his telepath synergy a bit here as well as trying to double up on the X defense power with Loki providing a 2nd X OM. The drawback will be two of your numbered OMs will have to be on Loki, but Prof. X gives you two activations with the 3rd numbered OM. Having 4 activations while being able to block two player turns each round should give them a chance to chip away at the high defense Fan4 without getting overrun. Once Loki goes down and only 1 XOM is left in play, Cosmo will try to even the playing field by knocking an OM off of Reed.
Map: Yellowstone Throwdown 3.1
Units: Cosmo, Prof. X, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Loki (1150) vs. Fan4, Iceman (1150)
Spoiler Alert!
Continuum Cortex usage: R1: Loki reveals OM1, Comso reveals OMs 2, X, & X to teleport Loki, Prof. X, & Jean Grey out to the middle of the board on HG. R2: Loki reveals OM2, Cosmo reveals X, teleports Cosmo up adj. to Jean.
Telepathic Paralysis usage: Never attacked even once.
Psychic Defense X usage: R3: Shuts down Bobby with an X reveal, stopping 4 activations in total. R4: Shuts down Bobby with an X reveal, stopping 4 activations again. R5: Shuts down Ben with an X reveal, stopping him & Reed from attacking. R7: Shuts down Ben with an X reveal, saving Charles. R8: Shuts down Ben with an X reveal, potentially saving Charles. R9: Shuts down Ben with an X reveal, potentially saving himself.
Normal Attack Damage Dealt: Never attacked even once.
Damage Taken: None.
Telepath Synergy usage: Boosted Prof. X SA by 1, attack did 1W to Reed. Boosted Jean by 1 when she rolled an 11 to prevent Ben from moving, Charles was also adj. though. Boosted Prof. X SA by 1, attack did 2W to Sue. Boosted Jean by 1 when she rolled an 11 to move herself across the water and adj. to Sue.
R1: After teleporting Loki, Prof. X, & Jean all out to the middle of the board, the Fan5 move up rather quickly but try to stay just outside of Jean’s range. Loki moves out onto a shadow tile to engage with Johnny in an attempt to keep him from going after the telepaths but he just takes the LEA and hits Loki for 2W, moving adj. to Jean & Charles to set up another Flame On in the next round.
R2: Things don’t go as planned though when Charles wins initiative, Emma att. Johnny via Charles for 1W, then Jean throws Johnny back adj. to Loki for 1W, then attacks him from HG for 2W and takes him down. Jean tries to keep Reed from engaging Loki but fails to stop him and Loki accidently moved too far out so Charles can’t protect him either. Thing hits Loki for 1W but the God of Evil just puts it on Sue instead. Cosmo teleport up within 3 spaces of Loki but doesn’t have an X to spare this round. Loki hits Ben for 1W. Reed hits Loki for 2W.
R3: Charles moves up to get within 3 spaces of Loki & unleashed a mental blast, dealing 1W to Reed. Charles shuts down the Fan4 with an X reveal. Loki deals 1W to Iceman, who is standing in the shadows. Cosmo shuts down the Fan4 with an X reveal. Loki puts 2W on Reed. Ben clobbers Loki for 2W.
R4: Cosmo shuts down the Fan4 with an X reveal. Loki puts 1W on Iceman. Reed rolls low and Ben only rolls 1 skull so Loki rolls def. and blocks, Reed rolls 4 skulls though so Charles burns his X to save him. Loki finally gets blocked when attacking. Reed rolls a 19 and no one can stop him, Ben clobbers Loki for 1W, but the God of Evil saves himself and puts that W on Sue. Bobby & Reed can’t score another hit on Loki. Jean tries to throw Reed but fails to Jean & Emma both att. Bobby but get blocked.
R5: Loki hits Bobby for 1W. Reed rolls a 4, but Ben rolls 6 skulls and Cosmo shuts him down. Loki puts 1W on Bobby again and takes him down. Reed rolls a 7, Ben rolls 6 skulls again, Charles shuts him down. Jean throws Reed into the water but fails to deal a W, she & Emma att. Ben instead, both blocked. Reed rolls a 1, Jean tries to keep him from moving but fail, he moves back up adj. to Loki but on a shadow tile this time, scores 1W and takes down Loki!
R6: Reed rolls a 15, Ben tries to move but Jean holds him in place, Sue att. Charles, blocked, Reed moves adj. to Cosmo (in shadow) and att., blocked. Jean fails to throw Reed, but att. Reed (in Shadow) from HG for 1W, Emma then att. Reed and finishes him off, costing them 2OMs. Charles wheels up into shadow 3 spaces away from Sue while adj. to Cosmo, uses his SA on Sue, 2W!
R7: Sue moves into shadow 4 spaces away from Charles & att., 2W! Jean tries to move herself over the water and adj. to Sue but fails, she & Emma both att. Ben and get blocked. Ben tries to move but Jean holds him in place. Jean fails to move herself adj. to Sue again, her & Emma are again blocked when attacking Ben. Ben moves adj. to Charles, rolls 9 skulls on 10 dice, gets shut down by Cosmo. Jean moves herself over the pool of water and puts down adj. to Sue in shadow, att. Sue but misses, Emma att. Sue, 1W, Sue goes down.
R8: Ben att. Charles, rolls 4 skulls & gets shut down by Cosmo. Jean fails to throw Ben, att. for 2W, Emma att. for 1W. Ben crushes Charles in his wheelchair, costing them an OM. Ben moves adj. to Cosmo (both in shadow) and deals 2W. Emma att. Ben and gets blocked.
R9: Ben att. Cosmo, rolls only 2 skulls, but Cosmo can’t risk it and shuts him down. Jean throws Ben into the water for 1W, then att. from HG and finishes him off for the win.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Jean Grey & Emma Frost @ full life, Cosmo w/2W won.
Recap: This was a real fun game for the telepath team, not so much for the Fan5. The Human Torch was the only figure they had that could deliver W’s without rolling attack dice (which would trigger the X reveal) and he went down right away to a rash of poor luck. Then they just kept on getting shut down again and again. When they did score some wounds Loki was able to redirect them back to Sue a couple of times. Loki pulled his weight and then some in this one, not only providing the 2nd X OM but he scored a W on just about every attack he made and saved himself with the God of Evil power, buying his team another X OM block and himself two more attacks, which he used to take down Iceman . The Fan5 just were not rolling the best defense dice in this one. Then the little telepath pod + Emma in the SZ was pretty effective with their powers and attacks so even once Loki went down they were still able to maintain the momentum. Taking down Reed Richards was big there as had he stayed in play I think this may have gone the other way. It also ended up helping that two of the telepaths didn’t need clear sight to att. Sue. Cosmo never attacked even once but his ability to get everyone up into the middle of the board was pretty important to his teams strategy and then his support effects were really useful, from the X blocks on defense to the telepath boosts to d20 and attack rolls, he played a key role in this one.
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