May the Power Protect You: Tommy Oliver (MMPR Green, Gift of the Dragon)

Caveat: I playtested a prototype version of Gift of the Dragon. Kind regards and thanks to Jonathan Ying and the rest of Renegade for letting me playtest!

I'm not going to lie, the instant I saw what Gift of the Dragon did I was concerned. Tommy's deck was built around Loner, how the heck would it work with something else? As you're about to see, I view the interaction between character ability and deck as incredibly important. The deck is the raw material that the character ability works upon. But Tommy was different, at least in my mind; the two elements were fused. His deck was built to rely upon Loner. Tommy was the only character who could not be torn apart. Right?

One of these days I will compile all the dumb things I've said about this game. It would fill a book.

Repeat it with me, children:

ARM CHAIR GAME CRITIQUE IS WORTHLESS

 

Very good! Again!

ARM CHAIR GAME CRITIQUE IS WORTHLESS

 

For those of you still confused: critiquing a game you have not played enough to understand is absolutely (defined here in an ironclad sense) stupid. Critiquing an element of a game you have not personally played is not quite as dumb, but it's still pretty bad. Telling the designer that you doubt the design based off of arm chair thoughts you had on the toilet because you were bored is about as bad as it gets. I do not brook exceptions to that rule. You may say that you do not care to try a game, or that the point of a game is offensive, or whatever, but if you have not played the game leave the design the hell alone.

Oh, if only we lived up to our own ideals! What a world it would be!

So, stupidly doubtful, I sat down and saw how he played. And, just like I usually am when poking at this game's mechanics, I was surprised at how well he played.

Gift of the Dragon is the subtlest character ability to date. You cannot understand at it on a random glance and see its true worth. Nor can you see it within a round of play. It has to play out, over the long term. You have to see what loaning a card to another person can actually do, over the course of at least a game, to see the moments that it enables, the likes of which you can get from literally no other ability in the game. The thing is that, unless you get  knocked out, the person you loaned that card to gets to keep it. So you can loan multiple cards, over the course of a game, as is necessary, and they stay around. Now, you may say "Why the hell would I want to do that?" Never, ever, underestimate constant effects in this game, since very little in this game stays that way. I can't even begin to go through all the permutations that could happen. What I am going to recommend are the two cards you should always give, without hesitation.

The most obvious card to give is Dragon Shield. I mean, why wouldn't you? Dragon Shield may cost an energy, but it boosts the offensive capability of the person who uses it. Giving it to a character who has enormous damaging boosting capabilities just makes them that much better. And, since you're not really not the damage dealing machine in this form, it doesn't make much sense for you to keep it. 

The other thing you need to give up pretty quickly is Dragon Rush, particularly to characters like Aisha (MMPR Yellow) or Rocky (Zeo Blue), who benefit from KOs. Yeah, I know, it means swallowing your pride, but there are other characters who can just flat out use that card better. And it's your job to give those characters the incredible power of that card, which lets those other characters become sweeper-lite. It will be very rare that you actually use any of your big moves while you're using Gift of the Dragon, because of the wonderful combos that can come up with other characters using those moves. Get used to it.

There are plenty of other ways to use Gift of the Dragon, but it's going to be hard to predict those permutations. Experiment, find out what works for you!

So what are you going to do while everyone's using your cards? Plug in the gaps. Solo Strike in particular will help you clean up cards that are not worth your team's time to kill, cards with 1 HP and the like. Dragon Rush can be used to much the same effect. You're not going out to be a rock star if you're playing Gift of the Dragon, so don't go and try be flashy. Without the power from Loner you just don't have that ability anymore, so hang back, let everyone get their stuff out, and be patient. Your time will come.

Gift of the Dragon Green Ranger is incredible, but it takes a lot of skill to use correctly. Don't expect to be the big MVP of the night, the guy who lands the clutch hit. You are that person's best friend. Help is your middle name. Every team has gaps, points where they just inevitably run out of cards, don't have enough life, or just flat out can't make the play. Your attack options don't run out. You are that last line of defense. Be the team's rock.