Welcome back to SG Protocol.
Today we take a closer look at the newest From Panel to Play which featured Black Panther, Chosen of Bast (we gonna call him CoB, Mystic Panther or T3 for the rest of the article) and some of the new TTCs in his box with Namor (who I’m really waiting for them to show off).
CoB is potentially the fastest version of T’Challa yet because by the looks of it he’ll have a 50mm base and that combined with an M move and Wallcrawler can, on terrain heavy boards, be faster than the 35mm L move without Wallcrawler of his other two versions.
Pounce also becomes further with the bigger base.
His attacks are good Mystic attacks with his Spender having high potential to threaten everyone with low Mystic defense. Hitting the Finisher trigger without outside help is a 58% chance. So you should get it fairly often but you should never rely on it.
Inside of the Ancients is the unique new ability of CoB and it is interesting though with his 3/3/3 stats he doesn’t really stand out as a Pay to Flip character. The rerolls of course help with that specifically but paying 2 for them feels very costly. Not a bad superpower to have by any means but more something that can bail you out if forced to than something to build around in my opinion.
What helps keep CoB alive is the combination of the two innate superpowers Stealth and Superior Agility.
Overall he looks like a fast objective runner that tries to stay back from the enemy as much as possible and than seeks an enemy with low Mystic defenses and explode on them. Pounce, spender (full reroll builder if you get the trigger), builder/spender if you got back power, is a lot of damage potential. Mystic Panther will now really withstand any dedicated counter attack though so be sure to daze/ KO your victim.
T3s biggest weakness appears to be power generation for me. He only builds power from getting damaged or his range 2 builder, which isn’t where we wants to be most of the game I think.
Something new and nice to see is AMG including the affiliation tags in the Panel to Play:
This makes Black Panther, Chosen of Bast the version of T’Challa affiliated in most places.
Let’s see what each possible leader can do for him:
Wakanda
Spirit can turn him online immediately but Wakanda Forever probably isn’t as strong for him than for most other Wakandans because outside of his own activation he probably doesn’t want to be in range 2 of anyone.
Black Panther: Impossible.
M’Baku: He helps getting the Finisher trigger on the Spender to a 65% average.
King T: Impossible.
Killmonger, Usurper: The additional Attacks dice also lifts the trigger to 65% . Using the herb to give CoB an additional power seems OK but he really doesn’t like the damage with his low health pool.
Avengers:
Sam Wilson: Perfect fit. While the traditional Sam, eggs, sausage and Spam list isn’t really popular anymore CoB fits that play style very very well.
Steve Rogers: One cost pounce is pretty good I’d say. Here the competition with classic Black Panther is probably the biggest.
First Avenger: Not really a good fit. Only having a trigger on the Spender and having (perceived) power issues isn’t a great combination here.
Hulkbuster: T3 isn’t particularly resilient so the collision reduction is nice but it probably won’t help him a lot over the course of the game.
Defenders:
Daredevil: Very good fit. While not a center line brawler by any means CoB can hunt back point holders, or extract runners well and likes the reroll(s) on his attacks.
Doctor Strange: Power appears to be an issue and spending it before the attack is always a high ask. Not really a good fit I’m afraid.
Midnight Sons:
Being able to play Siege of Darkness is never a bad thing but having 2 power spare on CoB isn’t as likely.
Blade: The bump is good with the bigger base and can help you get into (or of out) range when you lack the power for Pounce or of you can fund both give quite a long distance of actionless movement.
New TTCs:
King’s Command:
Spending 4 power on your leader to turn one Wakandan attack into (min) a Gainer per turn for the round seems… Weird. Especially considering the extremely high quality of Wakandan tactics cards. It looks best on King T who is always swimming in power but he then doesn’t want a lot of the Wakanda affiliated characters in his squads and spending 4 power on him to gain 1 each on M’Baku and Shuri is very much not worth the hassle.
On all other leaders I think the opportunity cost is just too high for the reward. Could be more interesting if we see any changes to Spirit of Wakanda and/or Advanced R&D.
Vision of the Ancestors:
If you play King T anywhere you staple this card to him. It’s kind of insane. He is already one of the most killy 5 threats in the game and this cranks his output up to 11 while also helping him stay alive which can sometimes be an issue for him.
It’s still good on classic Black Panther but he doesn’t have the same amount of Power as the King so it’s less of a sure play. Probably nice to pop on a freshly flipped Panther and combined with Mantle.
For CoB it’s not a card I would consider personally.
And yes Shuri can play the card. If you’ve found a reason to do it you’d be the first. Congratulations!
Strength and Cunning:
The art is cool I guess?
If anyone can tell me who M’Baku and Panther are fighting there that would be helpful for the “characters on TTCs but not yet in the game” article.
The card very much falls in the “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze” territory for me. Spending 6 power total on two characters that can spend the power pretty well otherwise, for a very mediocre effect that only has a very specific use case is just plain bad.
In theory M’Baku throwing himself into an enemy character is pretty nice, especially since he is size 3 and getting an out of action move on CoB is nice too. But the chances that an S throw will be enough to reach an opponents model who picked up the token are already slim and then having CoB closer to that opponent might also not be where he wants to be.
Not a card I would ever consider for a Wakanda roster.
That’s it for today. I’m hoping we get Namor or the backside of Shang-Chi next week.
Cheers from Germany 🍻