From Panel to Play: Echo & Tigra

In today’s From Panel to Play we introduce two characters known for prowling battlefields before attacking with studied ease or animalistic precision, Echo and Tigra. These two characters, along with Ronin in the same character pack, are welcome additions to the Defenders affiliation and bring a wide variety of useful abilities to the battlefield.

Maya Lopez was born into the Cheyenne Nation but due to her father’s tragic demise, she was taken in by one Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. Due to her disability, she was first placed into a school for kids with special needs before her skills were discovered, necessitating a change in schools to one for gifted children. Seeing an opportunity, Kingpin set her on the path to destroy Daredevil for murdering her father which nearly succeeded due to her photographic reflexes that allowed her to quickly learn and execute the same fighting style used by her opponent. It was during this confrontation that she realized she had been set up–Daredevil was innocent and Kingpin was guilty. She turned away from Fisk and set out to find her own path.

As a character in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, Echo is a Threat Value 3 character with a long movement Speed, the Wallcrawler superpower, and fairly standard defensive stats. Her ability to generate Power on her own is not very strong, but she does not need very much to be effective.

Her first attack is Studied Strike, a short-range Strength 4 attack that will always generate 1 Power.This attack gains strength as it attacks a target repeatedly. If she uses this attack a second time against the same target, it will gain 3 extra dice as she incorporates her opponent’s defensive techniques into her own and learns to circumvent them to deliver devastating strikes!

Echo used her photographic reflexes to study Daredevil by watching videos of him fighting Bullseye. She didn’t just learn from Daredevil though. Bullseye is a long-range attack that can generate a little Power for her, but as he never misses, neither does she. This attack’s special rule prevents the target from modifying its defense dice.

Her final attack is I Know Your Moves Better Than You. Enemies targeted by this close-range attack will not count Critical results as successes, nor will they be able to add additional dice to their defense due to those Critical results. Additionally, after the attack is resolved, Echo can Advance Medium in any direction.

Death Dancer is a potent Innate superpower that allows Echo to gain additional successes in her attack and defense rolls based on the number of Critical results her opponents have in their rolls. For each Critical in the opposing roll, she gets to change one die to a Hit or Block. This can help guarantee a little bit of damage gets through before she slips away from the engagement to find another opportunity to attack. It can be particularly devastating when she uses I Know Your Moves Better Than You as that attack prevents her target from benefiting from their Critical results while Death Dancer allows her to benefit from them.

Aiding her in approaching or withdrawing from the fight is the Innate superpower, On the Prowl. This superpower grants her Stealth whenever she is near terrain features that are her size or larger, a handy way to escape notice until she’s close enough to spring into action.

After moving past Fisk’s treachery, Daredevil and Echo began working together. Parts of a Hole is from that time. For 1 Power spent during the Power Phase, Daredevil gains her On the Prowl superpower and Echo gains his Radar Sense for the rest of the Round.

While Echo’s skills are all hers, Tigra’s abilities were gained through a very different process.

Greer Nelson was a struggling college student when her mentor asked her to be a test subject in an experiment. The result of that experiment was Greer gaining superhuman physical abilities and senses. Using these new found powers she began the life of a superhero before being fatally wounded by Hydra. Her mentor used a mystical process to save her life and transform her into Tigra, a legendary half-human, half-cat warrior. As Tigra, her superhuman abilities were turbocharged and new abilities were gained including fangs, claws, and the ability to affect other people’s emotions.

Tigra is a Threat Value 4 character with a ton of power. Her solid defensive stats combined with her Superior Agility superpower give her plenty of time to deal damage while brawling with opponents. Additionally, her Long Speed ensures she can get into the fight quickly and easily reposition when necessary.

Her Feline Slash attack has surprising range along with the Pierce special rule that can up the damage on this otherwise solid Strength 5 attack. As an added bonus, it also has a triggerable Hex rule that will add that special condition to her targets. Her second attack is Sorry, No Autographs, an attack with excellent range and Strength that has a chance to deliver the Stagger special condition. After resolving the attack, Tigra can then be Placed within Range 3 as she bounds away from her prey like a cat teasing a mouse.

There is a long history in Marvel: Crisis Protocol of cat-like characters pouncing on opponents. Tigra has her own version of this in the Ambush Predator Active superpower. When she uses this 3-cost ability, she is Thrown a Medium distance, and if she collides with something she will not take damage. As a hunter, she often stalks her prey from above and leaps down onto them from nearby terrain features. If she should do that when using this superpower, she will count as Size 3 when resolving the collision.

Anyone who has ever played with a cat too long has experienced her next superpower. Mess With the Cat and You Get the Claws is Reactive to her being attacked. When used, she rolls 4 dice and deals one damage to her attacker for each Critical and Wild in the roll. If she’s attacked by someone that’s already hurt, this could be enough to leave them Dazed.

Greer’s transformation into Tigra gave her an Empathic Aura. This aura allows other allied characters near her to reroll one of their defense dice when attacked. She cannot benefit from this ability, but she does have the Superior Agility Innate superpower which is a good defensive ability that prevents attackers from rerolling or modifying their attack dice when attacking her. Her final ability is one she shares with Echo, On the Prowl, an aptly named superpower for a cat warrior.

The bond Greer has as the Totem of the Tiger God grants her many mystical abilities. When this card is played during her Activation she gains two powerful effects. The first effect allows Tigra to change the attack’s type to Mystic. The second effect is a short-range Place whenever Feline Slash deals damage to a target. As this Place is based on her position, it will be resolved even if the target is KO’d by the attack. With good timing, this card can set up the Ambush Predator superpower for a nasty one-two punch on your opponent’s characters.

Tigra and Echo will be joining Ronin in this upcoming character pack. Be ready for their surprise attacks that could come from any direction! Pre-order your Echo, Ronin, and Tigra character at your local store today or through the Asmodee webstore!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!