The Book of Cosmo

[Arkham]

That's a fair point. Now that the Start Zone restriction is on there, I suppose we could explore what options we have in terms of restrictions to maintain balance but not make it too good or too restricted.

Anyone have a suggestion on how to keep it balanced but less restrictions in order to make it work? @dok

[Yodaking]

yea

I'm not sure how often you would reveal #ed OMs to teleport more than 1 figure. You could just have Cosmo reveal the XOM and teleport just the one figure the #ed OM is being revealed on. I think giving up the one revealed #OM and the XOM is a fair trade off for teleporting that figure anywhere on the board. I recently played a game with Gamora where I had to run away with her and try to heal her back up some after unexpectedly taking a bunch of wounds. I managed to hide her behind a castle wall long enough to heal back 1W but then she was back in the fight again. The other team isn't going to just let you heal back up if they can easily pursue and try to finish you off. So this power would certainly be worth while if you can move a healing figure far out of reach and give them the time to heal back to full health. Then on offense, without an adj. placement restriction, there are quite a few units that need to start their turn adj. to an opponent to use a power (Flame On jumps to mind). Being able to teleport them adj. to any figure, especially next to one that does not have any OMs on their card, will be a pretty good trick and worth giving up one turn to set up. Just being able to drop a threat in behind your opponents lines alone can change the course of the game when your opponent suddenly finds themselves turning back to defend again a new threat rather than push forward and press an advantage like they had intended to do.

[Arkham]

It does have the "cannot place adjacent to an enemy figure" clause in it. But yeah, solid points.

[Yodaking]

Oh, missed that then. Still seems like a fair trade off to me even with that restriction. Particularly on the larger boards that some may use outside of a tournament. You often use an OM or two just moving up and not attacking anyone anyway. So using an OM to move exactly where you want to end up in one go is pretty nice. The revealing of all your OMs on one turn to move 3 figures up all at once really only benefits pod armies and those defensive pods are usually the most problematic in competitive games. Thus the change to an XOM reveal and thus limiting it to one figure being teleported per turn should actually keep the points in check. It also prevents you from teleporting back two 1 life remaining heroes at once only to watch them both get healed back up to full life.

[dok]

Originally Posted by Arkham

I honestly didn't know the difference between unoccupied and empty, so whichever seems more reasonable and balanced we'll roll with.

"Empty" means no glyphs either, so that seems like the safer option.

As for making the power stronger/more efficient, there's plenty of options. Not really sure what your goal is. As it stands it's fairly situational, just because the "instead of taking a turn" restriction is pretty hefty.

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I'm okay with that trade off. Leave him in the SZ and make use of his ability to send out or recall the other members of the team as needed, or join the team in the fight directly and he can use his psychic powers to aid the team instead.

This was my thinking. Giving him two distinctly different uses will make him interesting to play, especially if you can find a way to use both at different points in the game.

I agree that the cost for Continuum Cortex is high, but the most recent version has a nice amount of flexibility (as long as Cosmo is in the Start Zone) that I think it will see plenty of use.

Yea from me.

[TrollBrute]

Still not a big fan of Telepathic Paralysis, but I seem to be the only one, so Yea.

[Yodaking]

Rules lawyer question: Can you opt not to reveal a #OM when it is your turn, then on turn 3 reveal all the OMs and move 3 figures out at the end of the round in hopes of winning initiative.

Also Ozy seems like a good buddy to have. Then you can teleport in when you know your opponent is about to miss a turn.

[Viegon]

You have to reveal your OM at the start of your turn; you can't hold them back to be used for special powers.

[Arkham]

@dok @Dysole

Any balance concerns or armies you feel could be easily abused by the design?

[Dysole]

COMPETITIVE REVIEW BOARD CHECKLIST

Competitive Concerns
Does the design offer worrisome Order marker movement or efficiency? No. He removes OMs, so slight Loki synergy.

Does the design offer superior Auto wounding? No.

Does the design cause the prevention of abilities (Blob, Polaris, Meteorite)? I'm gonna put Telepathic Paralysis and Psychic Defense under this banner.

Does the design move other figures? Continuum Cortex has the infinite range (minus start zones) that was a problem on Indigo-1 but having to sacrifice OMs to move any number of figures is a significant drawback to infinite range. Still could see a start zone bomber go nuts with this.

Does the design boost other figures (outside of a narrowly defined set)? No.

Does the design have one or more excellent defensive powers? Pyschic defense is excellent even if it is only once per round.

Does the design auto destroy or take control of other figures in a way that unbalances the design? No.

Does the design have any other concerns? I thought it was a lot worse when Ozymandias could take advantage of it, but there just aren't enough OMs for him to really abuse it. Maybe Ozy + Loki + Cosmo + Rogers + Cable + Liz Sherman or something, but even that feels like there are more efficient ways to make it work.

Summary of Any Competitive Concerns/Suggestions for Changes:
If we end up keeping the start zone bombers in check, there shouldn't be any problems with this design

~Dysole, who thinks it should be a good design, but it is significantly worse than she thought it was when she thought Ozy could abuse Continuum Cortex

[Arkham]

This passes to Initial Playtesting.