The Book of Meggan

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

I think V was planning to get the Initial here while I work on Waller.

Yep, I already started planning out games and I'll hopefully have it done within the next few days.

[Arkham]

I can get some done as soon as it goes up.

[Arkham]

Edit: Nvm, found my answer.

[Arkham]

How would it work if Meggan copied a power such as Poison Ivy's Pheromone Seduction 17? If she successfully took control of an enemy figure, once she loses the power after her turn, would the figure go back to the opponent? If not, would the figure go back when she's destroyed, even though she no longer has a power that states that?

[Dysole]

When I queried dok about it he said that the figure would return. Think of it like this. Poison Ivy or Purple Man state that as long as they are within X spaces of them it works. Meggan takes the power and so now it becomes within X spaces of Meggan. However, she loses that power after her turn is done. There is now nothing keeping that figure under your control.

~Dysole, informationally

[IAmBatman]

Purple Man has that X spaces restriction, but Poison Ivy doesn't:

Originally Posted by Pheromone Seduction 17

Before moving, you may choose a Unique Hero figure within 2 spaces of Poison Ivy. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 17 or higher, take control of the chosen figure and that figure's Army Card and remove any Order Markers on that Army Card. If Poison Ivy is destroyed, control of all Pheromone Seduced Hero figures returns to the players who controlled the Hero figures before they became Pheromone Seduced.

The X spaces is only a restriction on the ability to attempt the roll to begin with, not to retain control.

[Viegon]

Yeah, there's nothing in the text to imply a figure would switch back when Meggan loses the power. Its the same if Ivy gets negated after Seducing a figure; the figure wouldn't switch back automatically, and in fact wouldn't switch back once she's destroyed because the power that made that happen no longer exists.

I'd actually argue the same for Purple Man. Pheromone Control tells you to check to see if the figure is no longer within range at the start of the turn, but by the time the next turn starts, Meggan will no longer have the power and therefore no power text is telling you to switch them back.

At least, that's how I'd rule it (and if we go with something different, the game I ran with Poison Ivy yesterday isn't going to be of much use ).

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I thought I would disagree with the Purple Man ruling, but looking at the power text, I think you're right, Viegon. Both powers would end up being permanent control situations, IMO.

[Karat]

I agree with that ruling as well.

[Viegon]

Alright, I got four games in for her Initial. I skipped on the Hero and Squad tests because they don't offer anything useful for Meggan (the whole point of her is synergy, so games without it doesn't help). There were some other builds I was interested in running, but I didn't want to hold her up so I figured I'd go ahead and post these and we could go from there.

It's worth noting that luck was pretty lopsided in these games; for the first two the dice favored Meggan's team for sure, while in the third the Mutants had some of the most absurdly good luck I've seen. The fourth game was pretty balanced for luck.

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Meggan

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Meggan, Magneto (II), Destiny, Professor X, Sage, Jean Grey (1,210 points) VS Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Human Torch (Johnny), Aurora (1,200 points)

Spoiler Alert!

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: 3 wounds to Mr. Fantastic, 1 wound to Human Torch.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Empathic Metamorph: Chose Magneto (gaining Outcast synergy).
Power Mimicry 13: Rolled for 6 times, 13+ successfully rolled 3 times; order of use:
- Copied Magneto; used Magnetic Assault to inflict 2 wounds to The Thing.
- Copied Magneto; used Magnetic Assault to inflict 2 wounds to Human Torch.
- Copied Magneto; used Magnetic Assault to inflict 2 wounds to Aurora.

GAME SUMMARY:
The game was pretty much decided before the first round was over. Magneto pulled Reed away from Sue on the second OM, and then Reed failed his Fantastic Leader roll and was locked down by Psionic Grip, leaving him exposed. Following that, Meggan dealt a lucky 3 wounds to Reed with her attack (5 attack dice versus 6 defense), which allowed Magneto to finish him off with Magnetic Assault, losing the Adventurers an OM. After that, Magneto and Meggan teamed up for mass auto-wounds while Jean locked down the opponent (she didn’t miss a single Psionic Grip roll until the end when Invisible Woman got free for a single turn). This meant Torch never got to use Flame On or his SA and that Thing never got an attack. Aurora attempted a rush at the end of the second round, but Magneto pulled her away from Xavier before the round ended. It took the Mutants only 4 rounds to clean-up the Adventurers.

I expected the Mutants to win this one, Magneto and Jean backed with so much support are dangerous even without Meggan’s help. However, due to very lopsided luck, the Adventurers weren’t able to do anything and it was an easy blow-out, which really doesn’t give us much input. It did show how crazy the potential for 4 Magnetic Assault rolls per turn is, but with how luck played out, the Mutants would have won without Meggan.

Round One: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Meggan and Jean move out, pulling Magneto along.
ARMY 2: Reed, Sue, Thing, and Johnny move up and fail.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Jean moves up but fails to pull Meggan along; Magneto tosses both Johnny and Reed for a wound each.
ARMY 2: Reed fails his roll and gets locked down by Psionic Grip.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Meggan moves up and puts 3 wounds on Reed with her attack; Magneto finishes off Reed.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Reed.

Round Two: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Torch is stopped by Psionic Grip and fails his attack.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Meggan fails to Mimic but still puts 1 wound on Torch; Magneto tosses Thing for 1 wound.
ARMY 2: The Thing is locked down by Psionic Grip.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Meggan fails to Mimic and does no damage with her attack; Magneto tosses Thing for another wound.
ARMY 2: Aurora uses Supersonic Flying to get within range of Xavier.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Magneto double tosses Aurora for a pair of wounds; Meggan finally Mimics Magneto and double tosses Thing for two wounds.

Round Three: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Meggan and Magneto team-up to kill Torch.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Torch.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Magneto finishes of Thing with a couple of tosses and Meggan does the same to Aurora.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Torch.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Magneto moves outside of Xavier’s range and next to Invisible Woman, but fails both Magnetic Assault rolls; Jean uses her TK to pull Magneto back within Xavier’s range.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Aurora.

Round Four: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Magneto attempts the same strategy as before, this time dealing two wounds to Sue and positioning her next to Jean; Jean then uses her TK to pull Magneto back within range and put 1 wound on Sue.
ARMY 2: Sue avoids Psionic Grip and charge Xavier, putting 1 wound on him.
ARMY 1: Xavier: Magneto kills Sue with a double toss.

Professor X with 1 wound, Sage unwounded, Destiny unwounded, Jean Grey unwounded, Magneto unwounded, Meggan unwounded.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Meggan, Batman (II), Robin (Damian), Robin (Dick), Valkyrie, Sage (1,160 points) VS Hand Ninja x5, Gamora, Lady Deathstrike, Lady Shiva (1,150 points)

Spoiler Alert!

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage:
Shurikens+Power Boost: all 5 wounds to Gamora, 1 Ninja.
Shurikens+Power Boost+Deadly Shot: all 6 wounds to Lady Deathstrike.
Power Boost+Deadly Shot: all 4 wounds to Lady Shiva.
Just Power Boost: 1 Ninja.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Empathic Metamorph: Chose Batman (to be able to use the Shurikens and for Sidekick bonding).
Power Mimicry 13: Rolled for 3 times, 13+ successfully rolled 2 times; order of use:
- Copied Robin (Damian); used Deadly Shot in combination with the Shurikens, Power Boost, and height to kill Lady Deathstrike in 2 attacks.
- Copied Robin (Damian); used Deadly Shot in combination with Power Boost to kill Lady Shiva in 1 attack.

GAME SUMMARY:
Batman picked the Shurikens, Smoke Pellets, and Grapple.

Meggan’s team spent the entire first round getting ready (Sage Power Boosting Meggan, Bats giving the Shurikens to Meggan, and Valkyrie getting into position). Gamora rushed with the Ninja, hoping to take out Valkyrie with Godslayer. However, winning initiative, Meggan borrowed Damian’s power, combined it with the Shurikens from range, to put 4 wounds on Gamora. Gamora did manage to get 2 wounds on Valkyrie with her next attack, but failed Godslayer, and went down the next turn to another attack from Meggan. Lady Deathstrike was nearby and was able to get close enough to kill Dick in a single turn. But Meggan, now with everything set-up, was able to combo Deadly Shot with the Shurikens and 4 attack (Power Boost and height) to kill Lady Deathstrike in a single turn. To end the second round, the Ninja finally got a needed advantage: they dealt a single wound to Meggan, knocking the Shurikens away. Winning initiative the next round, Shiva picked up the Shurikens to keep them safe while the Ninja put 2 more wounds on Valkyrie. However, this backfired as Meggan, combining Deadly Shot with Power Boost for a 5-die attack, killed Shiva, sending the Shurikens back to her team; Damian immediately picked them up and passed them to Batman. With no heroes left, the Ninja didn’t have much hope at this point. They did manage to finally kill Valkyrie, but Batman and Damian teamed-up and steadily worked their way through the Ninja horde; due to some good rolls on Shadow Strike, the Ninja didn’t even get a single wound on Batman before all dying.

Round One: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Deathstrike and Ninja advance.
ARMY 1: Sage Power Boosts Meggan.
ARMY 2: Gamora and Ninja advance.
ARMY 1: Batman passes Meggan the Bat Shurikens and moves out with Dick.
ARMY 2: Gamora and Ninja charge.
ARMY 1: Valkyrie positions.

Round Two: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Meggan fails to Mimic, but using Shurikens plus Power Boost puts 4 wounds on Gamora; Dick kills a Ninja.
ARMY 2: Gamora puts 2 wounds on Valkyrie; Batman uses the Smoke Pellets in response to the Ninja, repositioning his team and preventing the Ninja from doing any damage.
ARMY 1: Meggan uses Shurikens plus Power Boost to kill a Ninja and finish off Gamora; Damian moves up.
ARMY 2: Deathstrike kills Dick; Ninja fail.
ARMY 1: Meggan Mimics Damian and uses the Shurikens plus Power Boost to kill Lady Deathstrike; Daman just repositions.
ARMY 2: Shiva and Ninja put 1 wound on Meggan, knocking away the Shurikens.

Round Three: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Shiva grabs the Shurikens and the Ninja put 2 wounds on Valkyrie.
ARMY 1: Meggan Mimics Damian and using Deadly Shot with 5 attack kills Shiva in a single attack; the Shurikens get knocked next to Damian, who picks them up and passes them to Batman before failing his attack.
ARMY 2: Ninja fail.
ARMY 1: Meggan kills a Ninja; Damian kills a Ninja and gets sent back to base.
ARMY 2: Ninja put 2 wounds on Valkyrie.
ARMY 1: Meggan fails; Damian kills a Ninja and gets sent back to base.

Round Four: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Bats and Damian kill 2 Ninja.
ARMY 2: Ninja kill Valkyrie.
ARMY 1: Bats and Damian kill 1 Ninja.
ARMY 2: Ninja fail.
ARMY 1: Bats and Damian kill 1 Ninja (Damian gets sent back).
ARMY 2: Ninja fail (1 dies to Shadow Strike).

Round Five: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Bats kills 2 Ninja; Damian moves up.
ARMY 2: Ninja advance.
ARMY 1: Bats and Damian fail.
ARMY 2: Ninja fail (1 dies to Shadow Strike).
ARMY 1: Bats fails; Damian kills a Ninja and gets sent back.
ARMY 2: The last Ninja dies to Shadow Strike.

Batman unwounded, Sage unwounded, Damian unwounded, Meggan with 1 wound.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Meggan, Destiny, Sage, Poison Ivy, Robot, Doctor Light (1,000 points) VS Professor X, Silver Samurai, Cyclops, Marrow, Harpoon (1,000 points)

Spoiler Alert!

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: 1 wound to Harpoon.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Empathic Metamorph: Chose Destiny (for Outcast synergy).
Power Mimicry 13: Never got a chance to use.

GAME SUMMARY:
The die rolls were extremely absurd this game. Robot began moving out with his pod, but before they could get set-up, Silver Samurai teleported in and killed Robot in a single turn, losing Meggan’s team an OM. Opening the next round, Silver Samurai and Cyclops teamed up to kill Doctor Light in one OM, followed by taking out Poison Ivy the next turn, and Meggan on the third turn of the round. Sage Power Boosted Destiny but couldn’t do any damage before dying in the third round, while Destiny did manage 3 wounds to Cyclops before going down the same round.

Round One: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Marrow and Harpoon move up.
ARMY 1: Robot: Ivy and Meggan move up.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Cyclops and Samurai fail.
ARMY 1: Robot flies out with Doc Light.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Cyclops fails but Samurai kills Robot.
ARMY 1: Turn lost on Robot.

Round Two: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai and Cyclops kill Doctor Light.
ARMY 1: Ivy puts 1 wound on Samurai and 1 on Marrow.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Harpoon and Samurai kill Ivy.
ARMY 1: Meggan puts 1 wound on Harpoon.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai and Marrow kill Meggan.
ARMY 1: Turn lost on Meggan.

Round Three: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Sage Power Boosts Destiny.
ARMY 2: Xavier moves up.
ARMY 1: Sage fails.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Marrow kills Sage and Cyclops puts 1 wound on Destiny.
ARMY 1: Destiny puts 3 wounds on Cyclops.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai kills Destiny.

Xavier unwounded, Silver Samurai with 1 wound, Harpoon with 1 wound, Marrow with 1 wound, Cyclops with 3 wounds.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Meggan, Destiny, Sage, Poison Ivy, Robot, Doctor Light (1,000 points) VS Professor X, Silver Samurai, Cyclops, Marrow, Harpoon (1,000 points)

Spoiler Alert!

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage:
Normal Attack: 2 wounds to Silver Samurai.
With Plant Animation: 1 wound to Professor X, 2 wounds to Silver Samurai, 1 wound to Marrow.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Empathic Metamorph: Chose Destiny (for Outcast synergy).
Power Mimicry 13: Rolled for 3 times, 13+ successfully rolled 2 times; order of use:
- Copied Poison Ivy; failed Pheromone Seduction, used Plant Animation to inflict 3 wounds.
- Copied Poison Ivy; failed Pheromone Seduction, used Plant Animation to inflict 1 wound.

GAME SUMMARY:
A better showing for Meggan’s team, but still an overall loss. Robot got everybody in place quickly, and the Mutants weren’t able to do enough damage fast enough, so Meggan got three attempts to use Ivy’s powers. The first two times she successfully mimicked, but failed Pheromone Seduction both times, and the third time she failed altogether. She did manage some wounds with Plant Animation, but it wasn’t enough. She went down in the second round, and the Mutants just kept on going. They took out Doctor Light and Poison Ivy in the third round while only losing Silver Samurai, and then they finished the other three in the fourth and final round, without taking any more casualties.

Round One: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Xavier moves up.
ARMY 1: Robot: Meggan and Ivy advance.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Marrow and Samurai move out.
ARMY 1: Robot carries out Doc Light.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Cyclops fails and Samurai advances.
ARMY 1: Robot: Meggan and Ivy position.

Round Two: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Robot: Meggan Mimics Ivy but fails her Pheromone Seduction; however, Plant Animation puts 1 wound on Xavier, Samurai, and Marrow.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai puts 1 wound on Meggan and Cyclops puts 2 on Doc Light.
ARMY 1: Robot fails; Meggan Mimics Ivy again, but again fails Pheromone Seduction, and this time Plant Animation only puts 1 wound on Samurai.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai and Cyclops put 2 wounds on Meggan.
ARMY 1: Robot fails; Meggan fails to Mimic but still puts 2 wounds on Samurai.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai kills Meggan and puts 3 wounds on Ivy; Cyclops puts 2 wounds on Doc Light.

Round Three: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Samurai kills Doc Light and Cyclops puts 1 wound on Ivy.
ARMY 1: Robot kills Samurai; Ivy puts 1 wound on Xavier.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Harpoon puts 1 wound on Ivy; Marrow fails.
ARMY 1: Robot and Ivy put 2 wounds on Marrow, 1 on Xavier, and 1 on Cyclops.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Harpoon kills Ivy and Marrow puts 2 wounds on Robot.
ARMY 1: Sage Power Boosts Destiny.

Round Four: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Harpoon kills Robot and Cyclops puts 2 wound on Destiny.
ARMY 1: Turn lost on Robot.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Harpoon and Cyclops kill Destiny and put 2 wounds on Sage.
ARMY 1: Sage put 3 wounds on Harpoon.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Cyclops kills Sage.

Professor X with 3 wounds, Harpoon with 3 wounds, Marrow with 2 wounds, Cyclops with 1 wound.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Meggan seems pretty balanced to me. There are some really powerful combos you can build around her, but most of them are very expensive and hard to set up, and Meggan herself is relying on 20-sided die rolls; plus, she’s pretty fragile, so unless you back her up with defensive figures, your opponent can often wreck any of those strategies by taking her out. I wouldn’t mind seeing her cost come up 10-20 points to play it safe though.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Meggan is pretty awesome. She is so flexible, you can toss her into pretty much any build, and you can attempt to make some pretty crazy fun armies with her as a center-piece too. When everything falls into place and she gets to pull off a super turn it’s just so much fun, but her low stats and D20 reliance keeps that from happening very often. Overall, from me.

[Yodaking]

I see Sage was in every one of her armies and Destiny in 3 of the 4. If the three of them are always going to be together we should consider raising her d20 roll. I'd rather see us try and figure out a way to make is so easy for her to work with Destiny though. 55 points for +3 to your d20 roll, and Meggan can copy all of the d20 roll powers, is a auto draft. I don't get very excited about creating a mandatory two figure team in C3G that is not traditionally associated with one another in the comic books. Maybe have her copy either the class or species to start the game but not both, then make her a Neuri instead of a mutant. Then she can become a mutant or an outcast for the entire game but not be both a mutant and an outcast at the same time without Magneto II also in tow.

[Arkham]

I wouldn't personally raise the d20 roll. Destiny can be killed, and it's already difficult for her to copy a power, go use it, then potentially have to spend a turn just to get back into position to attempt again. I'd say a point increase of 10 is fine, but anything more and you're risking making her too swingy for her own point value to even make her worth drafting. She also has 4 life and defense, so for her point value with no defensive abilities, she's not necessarily a giant threat that can't be stopped.