The Book of Korvac

[Ericth74]

Thanks for the tests @Karat

[Ericth74]

Korvac is 6-8 in testing so far. The troubling thing is half the wins and losses are big time blowouts. I'll have to think on which direction to go.

[IAmBatman]

I'm with Karat in that lessening the frequency in which you can use the Eruption would help him have fewer blowout wins in certain match ups. I could see the change to 2 unblockables as well.

[Ericth74]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I'm with Karat in that lessening the frequency in which you can use the Eruption would help him have fewer blowout wins in certain match ups. I could see the change to 2 unblockables as well.

Sure, I can test that. But he's also been blownout more often than he has won so I'm not sure that will help that out.

[IAmBatman]

Hmm, true. Could always lower Time Loop's roll or up his life to go with that.

[Ericth74]

Yeah may need to turn some dials. I think the base is solid but in need of a few tweaks

[IAmBatman]

Agreed! He was really fun when I played him.

[Ericth74]

Going to shoot for a couple more tests here with the following changes after discussing with Karat and Bats:

Up life to 14
Drop Time Loop to 12 on d20 roll
Make Cosmic Eruption a once a round power and switch to 2 unblockables instead of 1
Also clear up that markers are a max of 1 and don't stack.
Chance Drain Marker to Pink Siphon Markers to not conflict with Rogue.

[Ericth74]

Feedback from Toyhandle who tested with Karat.


GAME 1:
Korvac zoomed into a pile of my figures for eruption, but ended up tying himself down, so Etrigan was hacking away at him, and Question was removing or looking at his Order Markers, while Batman was safely 5 spaces away. Question and his smoke pellets deterred Korvac from attacking him and Constantine, so only Etrigan was being attacked.
The turn efficiency of the Occult team was able to keep markers off themselves and prevent Korvac from healing.
The dice were really in my favor this game, as I was either rolling a lot of skulls or Karat was rolling bad defense.
One other thing to note was that I feel Korvac’s team was at a 200pt disadvantage, as Spider-Man Transformers is probably better suited to work with a team of huge figures, rather than a solo huge figure, so he wasn’t pulling his weight.

GAME 2:
As close as it gets. Probably could have gone either way. Ghidorah’s Once Per Round special attack and lightning wings were handy for bypassing the move and attack reduction from Siphon Markers, and it was very noticeable when he only had attacks of four to use. Against a single figure, its pretty easy for Korvac to keep a unit Siphoned, unless he’s struggling to wound. There wasn’t really a reason for Korvac to use Eruption this game, and Ghidorah never engaged for Time Loop.

GAME 3:
I built this team thinking that Booster Gold would get to test out the Temporal Defense Time Loop immunity. It might not be the best team, but the idea was to keep OM 3 on him, use it for Temporal Defense necessary, have Hawkwoman put it back on either his card or Canary’s. Sadly, I moved Cyborg way outside of protection, and he was two-shot, so I definitely could have positioned them better. I also probably could have used the Temporal Displacement marker better.

After killing Cyborg, Korvac just sat there using Eruption every turn, whittling down all my figures so I could never defend, use Temporal Defense to protect, or receive enough wounds to trigger Canary Cry. Reducing Hawkwoman's attack to 4 made her useless for getting JL markers back on cards, especially compared to Booster Gold's double attack of 4. And Black Canary's reduced attack made her useless when granting extra turn effeciency. On top of their attacks being reduced, I only rolled a high of 3 skulls all game, so it was pretty terrible all around.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY:
Draftability, not really a factor. Karat and I were discussing whether or not he’s a 1000pt figure. After Game 1, he was thinking no, but I already mentioned I thought Korvac was at a point disadvantage. Game 2, he was very well balanced, and game 3, was a landslide.
Game 2 didn’t feature Eruption or Time Loop, which are probably the two biggest balance issues, so I do think 1000 is probably the right point value.

Time Loop was only rolled for 3 times in game 3, and didn’t land. I don’t remember how much it was used in Game 1, but it returned Etrigan to low ground once, possibly twice.
I’m a huge fan of Doom and the Illuminati, which are all 14 based rolls, so I’m pretty used to the feeling of that roll value being one that is very hit or miss, which is why those teams try hard to boost them, and/or roll often enough to make them happen eventually.
Time Loop doesn’t end your turn like Pit Trap, or Spectre’s Withering Gaze 14, so its not the most devastating effect ever. But its really anti-melee, and Eruption is already anti-melee. And the move reduction and attack reduction are also anti-melee, so I don’t mind having the roll high.

Eruption though basically made Game 3 not much of a game. Korvac just sat there rolling unblockables and healing. Karat had the idea of making it once per round, roll 2 dice against figures within 2 spaces. That seems a lot more interesting, IMO, as its something both the player and the opponent have to plan around. It’d be explosive and exciting, but there’s a lot more decision making involved this way, as it forces Korvac to have to attack sometimes, which is the trigger for so many abilities, that it facilitates fun and interesting gameplay.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT:
Certainly an Avengers Level Threat with lots of tricks up his sleeve. Siphon Markers are interesting, in that sometimes its better to try getting them on figures that probably wouldn’t take a turn, so the Opponent has to take a turn they don’t want to take, or give Korvac free healing. Or Korvac can try putting them on figures he knows will be coming for him, to make their incoming turn that much more inhibited.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I think he was probably 1000 points in the previous iteration, but I still think going once per round on the Eruption is the right idea just to make gameplay more interesting. It's just such as easy default go-to otherwise that it dumbs down the game a bit.

[Ericth74]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Korvac

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = KORVAC
SECRET IDENTITY = MICHAEL KORVAC

SPECIES = ENTITY
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = DEITY
PERSONALITY = AMBITIOUS

SIZE/HEIGHT = HUGE 10

LIFE = 14

MOVE = 8
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 8
DEFENSE = 7

POINTS = 1000

POWER DRAIN
Start the game with 3 Pink Siphon Markers on this card. Figures other than Korvac with a Drain Maker on their card subtract 2 from their Move and Attack numbers. Anytime a figure receives a wound from Korvac you may place a maximun of 1 Siphon Marker on its card. After an opponent takes a turn with a figure they control with a Siphon Marker on its card, or when that figure is destroyed, return that marker to this card. At the end of the round remove a wound from this card for each of your Siphon Markers on other cards.

DOUBLE SHOCK POWER
Korvac may subtract 4 from his Attack number to add 4 to his Range number. If he does, after attacking, he may attack one additional time.

COSMIC POWER ERUPTION
Once a round, instead of attacking, you may roll two unblockable attack dice, one at a time, against each figure within 2 spaces of Korvac.

TIME LOOP
If an opponent's figure that does not have the Temporal Defense special power ends its movement adjacent to Korvac, you may roll the 20-sided die, if you roll 12 or higher, place that figure onto the space that it occupied before that move. Figures moved this way do not receive any leaving engagement attacks.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

Army Test
Map: City Park
Units: 1000 pts - Korvac VS 1000 pts - Fantastic Four

Spoiler Alert!

R1 – Torch hit Korvac for 1 wound. Korvac kills a Tree doing a wound to Torch and Mr F. Thing hits Korvac for a wound. Korvac takes a LEA wound from Thing. Korvac Erupts doing 2 wounds each to Invisble Woman,Thing, and a Great Evergreen Tree, Torch and Mr F take 1. Siphon Markers on Invis, Torch and Mr F. Korvac heals 3 wounds.
R2 – Korvac Erupts and does 2 wounds to Invisible Woman, and 1 wound to Torch. Thing attacks Korvac twice doing 7 wounds. Korvac kills Torch. Thing hits Korvac for 1 wound. Mr F hits Korvac for 2 wounds.
R3 – Thing kills Korvac doing 4 wounds.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Mr Fantastic 2 wounds/3 Life left, Thing 2 wounds/4 life left

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Wakandan Royal Forest
Units: 1000 pts - Korvac VS 1000 pts – Illuminati – Dr Strange, Black Panther, Beast, Iron Man

Spoiler Alert!

Korvac slowly picked off members of the Illuminati, while taking advantage of his healing. Beast was the first member to drop, felt like a losing battle for them after that.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Korvac 4 wounds/10 life left

Other games:Played 3 more games vs the Frostastic Four using one unblockable for Cosmic Eruption and d20 of 13 for Time Loop and 13 life. Korvac went 2 and 1. Played 2 games against Heroes for Hire - Cage, J.Jones, Spider-Man 250, Thing 340. Went 1 and 1.


THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Feels like a 1000 pt figure most of the time.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Played 9 more games with Korvac and he went 5 and 4. I think I'm happy with changing to 13 life, keeping Cosmic Eruption at once a round but for 1 unblockable per figure and putting Time Loop at 13. Still had a couple of blowouts both ways but overall felt more balanced.

[Ericth74]

I feel like he's there. Updated the SP to reflect changes:
Life at 13
Time Loop set at a d20 of 13
Cosmic Eruption at 1 unblockable instead of 2.

I'd like one more set of tests here.