Carol Danvers, more than meets the eye. New Carol joins the ranks of actually transforming characters. Binary form on her 4 threat version kind of attempts to be that but obviously didn’t have a distinct model for it so doesn’t work like the transforms of Ant-Man and friends. Cosmic Carol does now (and the models, especially the binary form, are incredible). It’s also the coolest transform mechanic yet if you ask me.
Take a look:
So unlike others Carol doesn’t choose to transform as an active or reactive superpower and instead has the innate superpower to transform when she starts her activation with 6 or more power. Note that that’s not optional. Luckily her binary form is incredible and transforming back is rather easy. She has to spend (or loose) power down to three or less and can then do it freely. All her attacks being spenders and getting the classic Danvers size 4 enemy/terrain throw in binary form makes spending power very easy. She also has a 0 power charge which is simply incredible. She also adds immunities to Stun and Stagger on top of her always on immunities to Incinerate and Poison. So when you Stagger Carol in normal form be sure to not put her on 6 power because she will be able to just remove it per the transform which as a “start of the activation” effect would happen before the first action she’s taking (correct me if I’m wrong here).
Her less exciting normal form is all about getting her the power she needs to transform. Both attacks are builders with good ranges, triggers and dice and when defending against energy and mystic Carol has a defensive pierce which gets her power (that one stays in binary form). On top of that she gains a power whenever she is damaged by an enemy attack (that one doesn’t stay in binary form).
Overall Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger looks two tonnes of fun and also very strong which you should expect from a 5 threat. She notably has about 0 synergy with Cap 1. She would probably benefit from Sam but if you want to bring a 5 threat into the roster usually going as wide as possible is a different question. Especially as you’re more than likely bringing Hulk, too. Hulkbuster is always more of a corner case leadership but with 4 physical defense and gaining additional power for being damaged it’s usually also not all that necessary for her. Cap 3 is probably her best Avengers leader as she has good triggers on every attack and even a size unrestricted throw on her “Warbird” Spender in binary form.
But as good as that might be I think her single best leadership will be She-Hulks A-Force as it will all but guarantee you to get into binary early and it can help her effectively stay in it. In normal form your opponent has the options of either attacking Carol directly giving her power through damage and her abilities or if they ignore her once per turn you just give her a power when someone else on the roster was attacked. Of course playing a 6 and a 5 makes your roster quite tall but luckily A-Force has two pretty good affiliated 2 threats in Okoye and Core1 Black Widow, to help mitigate that.
A 15 threat core of She-Hulk, Cosmic Carol and Spider-Woman also sounds like a tonne of fun. The tactics card “On Patrol” mentions Carol Danvers not Captain Marvel so Cosmic Carol can play it (unlike Fan Club).
There is also a new Carol (or Thor) and Tony Stark team up card:
It’s a pretty cool “free” attack for Tony but has to be set up very carefully to maximise the effect. You also have to be willing to spend 5 of Carols important power to make it happen. I think it’s a fun kitchen table card that is by far and large best used on Hulkbuster who increases the area of effect a lot and is also much harder to displace. But I don’t think we will see the card in any competitive rosters. But as always I’m happy to be wrong about that.
That’s it for today folks. Next we’ll take a look at Crossbones, Merciless Merc.
See you then and cheers from Germany 🍻