The White Ranger is one of the most unique characters in the game: he doesn't have a dedicated role. Even Trini, who was the jack-of-all-trades of the original five, has at least something of a dedicated role: she piggy-backs others and combos with them. She has some form of focus. MMPR White doesn't have a focus. He has a little bit of everything. It can make him the lynchpin for any number of teams. Play Tommy if you want to fit in almost anywhere, regardless of what others have picked. He is the exception to the rule that character ability and deck, together, determine how a character plays.
Guardian Light is one those character abilities that's really useful, assuming it's remembered. Someone will be sitting there, taking damage, and they'll turn to Tommy's player and go "Wait, don't you have something to increase the number of shields on this card?" And the Tommy player will go "Oh, shoot, right! I do! Here you go!" Everyone laughs and the Tommy player is a little embarrassed. Don't worry; anyone who's played Tommy has been there. But that's alright. Other people can remember that ability if you want them to. They benefit from it, after all. More defensive teams benefit from Guardian Light since it allows them to get their combos off, whereas more offensive teams will be able to keep cards out of their discard pile.
Rallying Light is a very simple ability: lose all your energy, gain one! It's not very flashy, but I have a thing on this column for pointing out that not-flashy things are usually just as, if not more, important than the big damaging stuff and rerolls and whatnot. Rallying Light lets you keep your momentum going. You know you can afford to be more aggressive, because the energy pool will go just a tad bit farther. It's not something that impacts White Ranger's deck, but White Ranger isn't really about himself, but about his group. And having this once a battle buff helps keep the group rolling along. It's a nice little psychological bump.
Flash Kick is my favorite MMPR White card, full stop. This one card has saved entire fights for my group, particularly if you double it up. Re-rolls don't work on it, unfortunately, since those abilities apply to attack rolls. But when this thing lands? It feels so good. And it's pretty easy to recover as well. This card is a no-brainer, fire and forget when you get it! It's easily one of the most valuable cards in the game.
The other card I find myself gravitating towards all the time is Guardian Armor. It's the highest unconditional energy gaining card that in the game. It allows you to eat a hit and gain a good amount of energy. And the beautiful thing is that you don't have to be the one to take the hit, at least not right away! Just putting the card back on the top of your deck can be done for any number of reasons, like knowing that it'll be there for the next combat. Sure, you might eat a hit using it, but that's usually not the end of the world, not if it lets you get your group moving again.
Saba Slash is the most flexible power weapon we have to date. Roll five dice and divide the damage however you like. Well, I mean excepting GUARD, which works against anything with the word ATTACK in it, unless otherwise specified, which this card does not. But still, with that level of flexibility, it's hard to not use this card in pretty much any situation you can afford it. This card exemplifies what MMPR White is all about: being useful in any situation, at any time. I tend to use it with impunity.
The Tiger Zord's ability to play a zero-cost card after a Maneuver (read: Dragon Dagger works with it just fine) is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. Pair this up with a Maneuver granting another card and you can start a chain reaction of combos that let you get some serious momentum gain. The game just works so much more smoothly with the Tigerzord's existence that you can almost guarantee being able to outpace the enemy.
The White Ranger is the one character I know of whose deck and ability interactions are not intrinsically intertwined. A true jack-of-all-trades, the White Ranger fits into any and all groups pretty seamlessly, always filling in the gaps of your group construction. He may not be able to do anything as well as anyone else, but no one else has his breadth. The White Ranger is very much so the person to pick if you want to do a little bit of everything.
In the interest of clarity, I helped playtest Rallying Light. A sincere thanks to Jonathan Ying and Renegade for the opportunity.
EDIT: A heartfelt thanks to Tom Chorn for helping me further clarify a point I was trying to make on Guardian Armor.
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