From Panel to Play: Moondragon & Quasar

Welcome back true believers! In today’s From Panel to Play we return to the Guardians of the Galaxy affiliation and cover Moondragon and Quasar, rounding out the character pack they share with Adam Warlock.

First up we’ll be exploring Heather Douglas, better known as Moondragon. This psychic martial artist from Earth owes her current life to Thanos. Although he got her here by causing the death of her parents when she was young…so its more revenge that she owes then thanks. She now travels the stars, battling foes and adventuring alongside other heroes such as Quasar and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Moondragon brings a new dimension to the Guardians of the Galaxy in the form of a low threat Mystic focused brawler. She has a relatively average stat line for her Threat level, but she is on the sturdier side of those characters with 12 total Stamina. Similar to her father, Drax, she wants to be up close and personal to the fight!

Having trained her powers with the Priests of Pama, her first line of offense is a lightning quick Psionic Barrage. Although this attack doesn’t pack much force behind it in a single blast, due to the Rapid Fire special rule she can often fire off two attacks in a row before the enemy knows what hit them.

When she has a moment to prepare herself though, she can unleash a power stemming from the insidious invasion of her mind by the Dragon of the Moon. This attack has a relatively short range, which her higher Stamina values should help her reach, but it packs a powerful punch for her Threat level. It not only has the chance to Hex her target, denying them value from their critical results, it bends the opponents own fear against themselves, adding successes to her results for any failures they roll.

Of great value to a brawling character such as Moondragon, we have more than half of her superpowers focused on her standing toe to toe with her opponents. The following three superpowers also synergize together perfectly, allowing her to be a singular pain in the opposing characters side when she has been powered up.

She can Charge forward with her medium movement for a small power investment, allowing her to quickly insert herself into an awkward position while still firing off an attack. Even better, due to her Psionic Barrage automatically granting her a power per attack, she can set herself up to mess with the minds of any enemy characters within range 3. When she is close enough to an enemy character performing an attack, she is able to spend a single power to reroll one of their dice. This superpower may not seem powerful at first, but it allows her to deny the opponent critical results in their dice rolls, which allows you to selectively deny the opponent much of the power of their attacks by turning off whichever of their special rules you desire. Having spent years of her life training at the Shao-Lom monastery has also shaped her fighting habits, allowing her to better protect herself in these situations. This superpower allows her to consider Blank results as successes when being attacked at close range.

She isn’t entirely one dimensional though. She does bring some support powers to her squadmates through two avenues. She is able to Shield Mind herself or allies within Range 4, protecting them from the mental suggestions of their opponents attacks or superpowers. Even more interesting though, is that at the cost of increasing her threat value to 4, she can equip the Infinity Gem: Mind.

This means that given the power she generates in the power phase due to having an Infinity Gem, she could potentially Charge up the field, attack a character twice with her Psionic Barrage (which will generate two more power no matter what!) and then use the Mind Gem to advance either that character or another character short towards her teammates, setting them up to pile on the pain!

Continuing a common theme for Guardians of the Galaxy Team Tactic Cards, Moondragon also brings two new and interesting team up cards to the affiliation.

We’ll start by taking a look at what she can do with her dad (or at least, the entity reborn with his soul).

 

This card has so many potential applications it’s hard to quantify all the ways in which it could be useful. It’s a heavy power investment, but being able to spread it however you wish across two characters makes it as flexible as it could possibly be. From allowing both characters to double team a single strong foe, to allowing you to attack a character on the opposite side of the battlefield or reposition Drax to undo an enemy throw, there are numerous possible ways to get value out of this card.

We’ll finish up by looking at what she can do with her partner.

When these two are together, their relationship allows them to transcend their limits. You can benefit from this card in many different ways. Maybe you want to have them hunker down on an important secure objective, refusing to be moved or perhaps you want them to lead the offensive by daisy chaining their Charge superpowers for a reduced cost. Many options exist to have this card help showcase their powers.

Let’s move on to reviewing the other member of this power couple and take a look at Phyla-Vell as Quasar.

Phyla-Vell is…complicated; the daughter that never was, brought into existence by the temporal disturbances of her insane brother destroying and recreating the universe. She has a history of greatness to live up to with her father being Captain Mar-Vell, the originator of many great heroes bearing the name Captain Marvel. Wielding the powerful Quantum Bands, she now joins Marvel: Crisis Protocol as the hero Quasar!

Quasar brings a new 4 threat powerhouse to the Guardians of the Galaxy affiliation, providing a durable character with above average defenses. Her Flight superpower and medium speed means that there is little in the way of terrain that will impede her bringing her sword down on the enemy.

Her Quantum Sword is a powerful energy construct that she wields with deadly accuracy, piercing through her enemies’ defenses.  Even when they are blocking perfectly, Quasar is able to find the tiniest gaps in their form.

Her sword not only allows her to engage an enemy one on one, it also allows her to unleash Nega-Quantum Blast Wave’s. This powerful attack will drain her of energy quickly, but it unleashes a Beam of energy that pummels her foes, lighting them on fire and blasting past any defense they can bring to bear.

In a similar vein to her romantic partner mentioned earlier, she also wants to be able to stand toe to toe with her opponent. This means she will be Charging into battle with her first superpower, both moving and attacking for a small power cost and an action. This action economy can be pivotal to the success of these brawling characters.

The Quantum Bands provide her a power seldom seen or recreated across Marvel: Crisis Protocol. This superpower allows her to drain an enemy character of up to four Power, almost half of what a character can possibly hold. To add insult to injury, she also causes them damage if they are unable to pay the power bill.

Of course, a character rushing into battle might need a little help now and then, which we see in her final two superpowers. Able to erect a powerful Force Field that protects against physical or energy damage, she can buffer herself against the retaliation sure to come her way.

Lastly, as a being born of both Kree and Titan genetics, she is more durable than most people. She doesn’t bring the average damage reduction superpower to the fight though; she has a more flexible version at the cost of a power when she wants to use it. Assuming she is still standing after being damaged by an enemy, she is able to remove either one of the damages she suffered or a special condition currently plaguing her.

Power up your ship and be ready to join these characters in the stars by Pre-ordering your Adam Warlock, Moondragon and Quasar character pack from your local store or the Asmodee webstore today!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!