The Book of Black Swan

[Ronin]

The Book of Black Swan

C3G MARVEL WAVE 30
TOIL AND TROUBLE

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Avengers Assemble set.
Its model number and name are #045 / Black Swan.​

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Character Bio - Yabbat Ummon Turru was born into the royal family on her homeworld. When she was young, the Black Swans destroyed her reality and kept her. She was raised as a Black Swan, taught to destroy worlds and to worship Rabum Alal, the Great Destroyer. She became disillusioned when she discovered the true identity of Rabum Alal and left the Swans, destroying several realities on her own as she migrated from universe to universe.

Black Swan was captured on Earth-616 by Black Panther, and became a prisoner of the Illuminati. She supplied the Illuminati with information about ongoing multiversal crises, and did her level best to push Earth's heroes toward nihilism and embracing the necessity of destroying worlds.

She eventually succeeded with Namor. Namor recruited her alongside Thanos and members of Thanos' Black Order to serve in his Cabal, a team opposed to the Illuminati. Afterward, Black Swan continued to serve alongside some of her former Cabal teammates in a reformed Black Order.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Destroyer, Black Swan has these Destroyer Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Black Swan may choose a friendly Unique Hero that is a King or Visionary for her Black Counsel special power, replacing its class with Destroyer and any of its class-based synergies with these Destroyer Synergies.
• Black Swan may take a turn before Thanos or a Unique Destroyer Hero you control with her The Black Order special power.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a Nihilist figure, Black Swan interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a figure with a secret identity, Black Swan interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a figure with the Super Strength special power, Black Swan interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a flying figure, Black Swan interacts differently with these special powers.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Ronin
• Second playtest: Yodaking
• Third playtest: MrNobody
• Fourth playtest: Lazy Orang
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Scapemage
• Black Swan created by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting
• Comic art by Stephane Roux

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

NAME = BLACK SWAN
SECRET IDENTITY = YABBAT UMMON TURRU

SPECIES = UNKNOWN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = DESTROYER
PERSONALITY = NIHILIST

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 4
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 6

POINTS = 320

BLACK COUNSEL
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero you control that is a King or Visionary. For this game, the chosen Hero has the class of Destroyer instead of what is listed on its card.

THE BLACK ORDER
After revealing an Order Marker on the card of another Hero in your army that is named Thanos or is a Unique Destroyer, before taking any turns or using any other special powers, if there are no unrevealed Order Markers on that Hero's card, you may take a turn with Black Swan. You may not take any additional turns with figures other than that Hero.

EVERYTHING DIES
Once per game, after initiative is rolled, you may subtract X from all opponents' initiative rolls. X is the number of Unique Heroes in the game that are destroyed.

SUPER STRENGTH

FLYING

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Comic:

Spoiler Alert!

Background:
Something dark and cosmic-y. Maybe outright apocalyptic? It would be cool to do something with the 'two Earths smashing into each other' image, if we could figure something out there.

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Okay, didn't run her through the LCW recently, but I did a while ago, back when I thought she was gonna be lined up after Cassie. (Batman leap-frogged Swan to make it into the April Fools release)

Don't have mini photos, but I included the mini in an order with some of the new Earth X stuff, so I should be able to get some soon.

So here's kicking off the Black Order! And she's also setting precedent on what the Illuminati is gonna look like! (Kings/Visionaries)

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

I like that she's going first with the Black Order power, as she will let us test out that power with a few different types of figures right off the bat since she can recruit Kings and Visionaries for them. Between that and the Destroyer heroes we already have we should get a pretty good idea of how it might work in terms of game balance once all the Black Order is finished.

 

[johnny139]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Still happy with her, assuming the folks who workshopping her Black Order stuff are happy with it. Enthusiastic about Illuminati stuff!

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Still happy with her, assuming the folks who workshopping her Black Order stuff are happy with it. Enthusiastic about Illuminati stuff!

YK's on board, and I think LO was, last she weighed in. You three are the main folks I remember weighing in on Black Order stuff, so if you're all still feeling it, then I feel pretty good about where she's at.

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Everything Dies is a super power name.

 

[Lazy Orang]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Great to see Thanos and the Destroyers (which is a band name) getting some synergy at last! I still wonder about the no unrevealed OMs restriction with Black Order since it means she can't bond with regular C3G Thanos the round he respawns - I wonder if there's a better way.

The complete list of Kings is Black Panther, Aquaman (vI), Sub-Mariner, Ocean Master (conditionally), Solovar and Black Bolt, right? Can't think of any others. I know the only Visionaries are Avengers Stark and Ozymandias.

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Great to see Thanos and the Destroyers (which is a band name) getting some synergy at last! I still wonder about the no unrevealed OMs restriction with Black Order since it means she can't bond with regular C3G Thanos the round he respawns - I wonder if there's a better way.

No, but she can rig initiative for him when he comes back!

I think since people seem otherwise on board with the power, I'm willing to take that as a limitation of the synergy. Maw or Glaive might be able to help work around it.

The complete list of Kings is Black Panther, Aquaman (vI), Sub-Mariner, Ocean Master (conditionally), Solovar and Black Bolt, right? Can't think of any others. I know the only Visionaries are Avengers Stark and Ozymandias.

If only someone had made lists, and linked them in the OP.

 

[Lazy Orang]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Great to see Thanos and the Destroyers (which is a band name) getting some synergy at last! I still wonder about the no unrevealed OMs restriction with Black Order since it means she can't bond with regular C3G Thanos the round he respawns - I wonder if there's a better way.

No, but she can rig initiative for him when he comes back!

I think since people seem otherwise on board with the power, I'm willing to take that as a limitation of the synergy. Maw or Glaive might be able to help work around it.

Fair enough - rigging initiative for that crucial round is nice synergy.

The complete list of Kings is Black Panther, Aquaman (vI), Sub-Mariner, Ocean Master (conditionally), Solovar and Black Bolt, right? Can't think of any others. I know the only Visionaries are Avengers Stark and Ozymandias.

If only someone had made lists, and linked them in the OP.

Ah! Okay! Looks like I only missed Laufey (and Odin, but being an Event Hero he doesn't matter anyway).

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

I could see that Ozy bonding driving her cost up. May want some CRB input.
Point range?

 

[Lazy Orang]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

I could see that Ozy bonding driving her cost up. May want some CRB input.
Point range?

I doubt it - she's mostly providing bonding and Ozy's mostly good for his support powers (his combat abilities are pretty good, but pretty generic). He's not a bad choice, though, certainly.

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

It is more that you are providing a bonding option to one of the highest rated designs in C3G.

 

[Lazy Orang]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

It is more that you are providing a bonding option to one of the highest rated designs in C3G.

Yeah, I know, but I feel it's important to know why he's so highly rated. It's not because of what he actually does on his turn, and, due to the Order Marker requirement of Smartest Man in The World, Black Order won't trigger too often (he needs two OMs - if one of those is an X, she's not bonding with him). It'll be a nice backup to give him an ally and a bonus activation in late game, but generally I can't see her giving that much to Ozymandias.

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

That is why we have the CRB.

 

[Scapemage]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

I’m not too concerned about Ozymandius either. In my experience, Ozy likes the X, and here the bonding requires no unrevealed Order Markers. Absolutely needs to be tested, but I don’t think the current version will prove harmful.

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Ozy reveals the X at the start of the turn though, so he won't have any unrevealed OM's once he reveals his numbered OM to take a turn. I'm with Lazy here though that giving him bonding won't be an issue. Since his range is 1 and he has Stealth Dodge, I've found you don't really want to engage and fight with him until late in the game. Stealth Dodge is too good to give up just for a single attack of 5, and you want to keep him alive for his OM stealing power. Then late in the game is when you will find it difficult to spread out the OM's evenly to avoid having an unrevealed OM on your card. Plus he can give you an OM from your opponent making that much harder to avoid having multiple unrevealed OM's on a card.

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

I'm not too worried about Ozy. If we were planning on putting out a Black Order member with Temporal Defense or some other kind of high-value OM burn power, then looping Ozy in could be a little dangerous. Don't think we have anything like that in mind, though.

The main thing Swan gives him is a way to activate someone else on your one numbered OM you have to give Ozy, though, and there are other ways to do that. I don't think Swan and Ozy is a lot more dangerous than, say, Avengers Iron Man and Ozy.

Open to thoughts from @dok @Dysole @Soundwarp SG-1

 

[Dysole]

Shaky Ground

dok has loved including Rover or Zombie in an Ozy army to give you an option that doesn't require you having to waste Ozy's OM doing nothing. Black Swan is much much much better than either of them. This feels dangerous to me. I think Tornado is right to be worried.

~Dysole, who thinks if her cost is kept in check it could make it less worth it but she's a definite upgrade from the other options you'd normally run

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Black Swan bonding with Ozy for 1 turn more scary than Black Swan bonding with Doomsday for 1 turn (not that Doomsday is a great value pick, but he can throw down 7 dice when attacking and he wants to be on the front lines absorbing attacks)? The Black Order bonding is going to be a points driver with just the Thanos or Destroyer bonding options alone.

 

[Dysole]

Thought It Was a Natalie Portman Design At First

It's not that Ozymandias improves her. It's that she improves an army Ozymandias is in. As a classic scape example here, it's a bit like adding a valiant figure with a ranged special attack that can hit multiple figures. The figure pairs well with the 4th Mass, but the concerning part is that it now covers one of the bigger weaknesses of the 4th. I'd definitely want to hear dok's thoughts as he is much more experienced with Ozy than I am.

~Dysole, not saying it's broken, just that it's concerning enough to stop for a minute

 

[Lazy Orang]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Thinking out loud here, would adding a range restriction to the bonding solve the problem? Then Veidt couldn't just chill in his start-zone sipping champagne and petting his genetically altered lynx while she takes his turn for him.

 

[dok]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Dysole is on point. I would pick Black Swan over Zombie/Rover, setting aside point cost. Both of them are great cheap additions, though, so if Black Swan is north of 200 points I don't think she's making the best Ozy builds better in general. That's the thing we're really trying to avoid here.

Range restriction would be somewhat effective, but Ozy takes his turn either way so it's not too significant. You could have Ozy stalk Black Swan on the edge of the fight.

How does The Black Order interact with Riddle Me This? Which goes first? I have visions of Riddler + Black Swan + Doomsday dancing in my head. (This is not a major competitive concern, just one of those funny things I'd like to try.)

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Black Swan (Design)

Ftr, I'm envisioning Swan in like the 300+ point range.