Marvel Crisis Protocol Tactics: Cosmic Ghost Rider

The Guardians of the Galaxy were the affiliation that got me hooked on Marvel: Crisis Protocol, and at the time, Cosmic Ghost Rider was the absolute boogieman of the competitive scene.  I never played the game well enough to really take advantage of his brokenness, and he has since seen a card update, which toned him down considerably.  Despite what you may have read in other places on the Internet, the reports of Frank’s death have been greatly exaggerated. 

Let’s get this out of the way up front: because of his Ready to Roll ability, do not count on CGR to reliably score you points.  If he can, that is just a bonus.  Instead, you need to focus on doing what CGR does do pretty reliably: remove opposing models from the board, which he becomes even better at if he has a Psychosis token and counts failures as successes.  After turn 1, he should have plenty of power to do what he needs to with his I’m the Spirit of Vengeance, Bearer of the Power Cosmic, and Just a Bit Unstable ability.  With his 65mm base, even just spending 1 Power to place within R1 of himself with his Interstellar Hellcycle ability can net him enough movement to still be able to attack twice with his Hellfire Blasters attack.  

Ideally, after Round 1, you will have enough power and be in place to use his Chains of Cyttorak ability and then attack twice on your newly incinerated target of choice.  Sending 12 energy dice into an incinerated opponent is hard to stand up to.  This should also reliably give you at least 2 more power a turn to fund your Chains ability.  And if you can get a couple of good rolls during the Cleanup Phase, you might even get to use his incredible Mystic attack Power Cosmic Penance Stare.  This attack is insane.  It’s 12 dice at Range 2 and your opponent doesn’t gain power for any damage they suffer due to this attack.  Additionally, if you hit the magical Yahtzee of Crit/Hit/Wild/Block/Skull you change all of your opponent’s Block results to Skull results.  This attack can feel bad if it doesn’t land, but depending on the affiliation you are playing, you can mitigate some of that.

Affiliations

Cosmic Ghost Rider is affiliated with both the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Order.  While one of his specific Tactics Cards is Black Order affiliated, I don’t think that is his best home.  That affiliation is already down 8 threat with Thanos, and Corvus’s leadership doesn’t help CGR much at all (since he doesn’t benefit from Dazing or KO’ing opponents), and with the current set of Crises (and lack of an E Secure layout), going extremely tall with your Squad is not a great recipe for success.  Hoping to just table your opponent with all of the speed out there in MCP is rough.  

Guardians, however, are an entirely different story.  Even with CGR, Guardians can still go fairly wide with their squad thanks to having a 3-threat leader, and access to two affiliated 2-threat characters.  Additionally, in every Power Phase that Star Lord is on the table, you give CGR a Winging It token and forget about it.  Allowing him to re-roll 2 of his attack dice (that’s where you want to use them with CGR, not Defense or Dodge) really helps keep him consistent.  He also enjoys affiliations that can feed him Power (Black Bolt Inhumans, Xavier X-Men, etc.), or can otherwise make his power economy more efficient.  

Tactics Cards

CGR has two Tactics Cards associated with him, It’s Time Travel…Don’t Ask, and Servants of the Titan.  I’ll start with Servants. It’s cute, but not likely to find its way into your 10. For starters, it is limited to only Black Order.  Second, I don’t like having to spend power on a slot machine when I don’t have to, especially when said slot machine can also damage CGR.  

The best part of Time Travel is Baby Thanos riding shotgun on CGR’s interstellar Harley.  While it is Unaffiliated, I still don’t think this card makes its way into your Roster.  Spending 5 Power from CGR to score 1 VP if he has a Psychosis Token is not a good trade, when he could use that 5 power so much better, murdering other characters on the table.  Sleeve it, adore Baby Thanos, and keep it there.   

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