From Panel to Play: Adam Warlock

Welcome back true believers! In today’s From Panel to Play a powerful new addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy affiliation. This new character is going to help that team of space faring misfits to battle enemies far and wide, including Thanos himself, on more even footing.

Rather than sit here stargazing, lets peer into the makeup of an entity that was genetically engineered to be perfect. Adam Warlock was a being of incredible might and power from his original creation. Immediately after being “born” he destroyed the facility that created him, escaping his creators and has only grown more powerful as time went on. He now wields magical powers, both the more conventional type and the more personal Quantum Magic and uses them to help upheld his moral code.

Adam Warlock joins Marvel: Crisis Protocol as a Peerless character, a being of such power you are unable to include him in a squad with another Peerless character. Even if you could though include him with another though, measuring the power he exudes comes in at a whopping 7 Threat. Thankfully that investment includes 15 Stamina spread across both sides of his card and various superpowers that will help keep him battling it out across the tabletop.

Before diving too deeply into his attacks and superpowers, we need to discuss a core concept of this character. Adam Warlock is a Gem Bearer and similar to Thanos, The Mad Titan, he can bear any of the six Infinity Gems. Unique to Adam Warlock though is the Infinity Gem: Bonded Soul.

Although you are not required to take it, given that it doesn’t add to his threat value like a normal Infinity Gem does, you will more often than not see Adam with this Gem. It provides a host of benefits; empowering Adam every time either an enemy or allied character is taken out of the fight and protecting his entire squad from losing power due to enemy effects.

At an even more basic level though, it means that he is gaining 2 power during the power phase due to the Infinity Gem’s core rules. This benefit will enable him to showcase his power in ways he otherwise couldn’t.

Adam wields a mighty weapon, known as the Karmic Staff, that allows him to focus his energies in ways he otherwise can’t. A Karmic Blast allows him to punish enemy characters pushing forward on a nearby secure objective while both sapping their power and empowering him.

Digging deep into his personal magics, an empowered Adam Warlock is also able to unleash a Quantum Bolt. Although it costs half of the total power a character can have, this far-reaching attack will crush unsuspecting enemies under its Mystic power. If they somehow survive the assault, they can then be thrown away a full medium move, meaning they could be almost half the battlefield away from Adam! Although good for a long-distance fight, this attack will also be useful for those fights where several of your squad members are bunched up around the secures as it allows him to remove a damage or condition from potentially your entire squad.

As we begin to look at his superpowers, we see the first big synergy with the Infinity Gem: Bonded Soul card. Universal Translation allows him to place himself within Range 2. With the Bonded Soul card, he will be starting every round with the power to use this superpower. This means he could move, place himself and then attack several positions even on Round 1. Once he’s dug into the fight, he can correct his position with this and then attack twice. It’s a powerful option to have available to this character.

Cosmic Energy Construct is also a superpower that’s quickly enabled by the Infinity Gem: Bonded Soul card. This superpower allows him to protect either himself or another squadmate within Range 4. Surprising your opponent with an additional two defense dice they weren’t expecting to deal with can mean the difference between carrying that civilian to safety or dropping them into the clutches of the villain.

One of his most powerful abilities, as evidenced by the 4 Power cost, is his ability to manipulate timelines. Chronokinesis allows him to substitute the current reality for an unknown future, causing both the attacker and defender of an attack to reroll all of their dice.

Last, but not least (especially when he might be almost half your squad) is his Being of Immeasurable Power superpower. On top of the aforementioned Infinity Gem rules, this superpower means he shrugs off the attacks of lesser beings, taking one less damage from any enemy effect.

That just about wraps up this box for us, although we’ll take a peek at one more of the Team Tactic Cards included in the box. The introduction of a long-awaited new Leadership for the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Although Adam Warlock doesn’t natively have a Leadership for the affiliation, he is able to leverage his powerful Cosmic Awareness to bring one to the battlefield.

Continuing the theme of the Guardians ability to think on their feet and adapt to any situation, this Leadership brings a new dice changing mechanic to the game. Starting off with a Block result, this leadership allows allied characters to swap a current die result with whatever result is currently sitting on the leadership card. Although it only allows one swap per turn, it can allow you to guarantee specific trigger results in an attack, swap out poor defensive results or a variety of other possibilities. It also supercharges Adam Warlock even further by allowing him to use Infinity Gem powers at no cost. What do you think you could get him to do when he starts with 3 power every round? We can’t wait to find out!

You can pre-order Adam Warlock, Moondragon and Quasar right now at your favorite local game store or at the Asmodee Web Store!

Check back with us soon when we will cover Moondragon and Quasar! Until then, Atomic Mass Games Signing off!