Marvel: Crisis Protocol -- Drax and Ronan the Accuser Digital Unboxing (Exclusive)

Drax the Destroyer

First up is Drax the Destroyer, the final member of the Guardians of the Galaxy to appear in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. As you can see below, Drax has a Threat Cost of 3 and acts primarily as an offensive threat with some minor board manipulation ability. Drax's primary Blades attack has a Strength of 5 and deals the Bleed special condition. If the target already has Bleed, then Drax's Blades attack becomes even more effective, as he can reroll two attack dice during the attack.

Drax's other two attacks cost Power to use but allow him to push targets around the board. Headbutt deals Stun and allows Drax to push the target away. Meanwhile, Titan Killer gets stronger the more damage Drax has taken, and the player can also throw a target before damage is dealt. Note that Titan Killer can deal additional damage if Drax tosses the target into something, making this a very powerful attack.

Drax's three superpowers make him even more formidable. Drax's innate " I Can Take It" superpower decreases the amount of damage he takes from any enemy attack by 1, while the "Driven by Vengeance" superpower allows Drax to mark the character that dealt damage with a Vengeance token. If Drax targets a character with a Vengeance token with an attack, he adds 3 attack dice when dealing out damage. Hypothetically, that means that Drax's Titan Killer attack can have up to 11 attack dice and makes Drax extremely dangerous late in the game.

Drax's final superpower, "The Destroyer," gives him the ability to throw a nearby character or terrain feature. This means that Drax can throw or push up to three targets per activation....which allows him to be used as a board manipulator in a pinch.

We'll note that Drax's healthy and injured stats and powers are identical, so we've only included his healthy stats below.

Ronan the Accuser

Ronan the Accuser is a powerful and unique character that can dish out a ton of damage and turn the tide of battle using his unique Judgment special condition. Under normal circumstances, a character gains power equal to the amount of damage they take from an attack, which gives them the chance to counter with even stronger attacks or superpowers as the game goes on. However, the "Judgment" special condition prevents a character from gaining any power when they suffer damage from enemies. Ronan can only afflict the "Judgment" special condition when either he or a nearby allied character takes damage, but he can effectively sap an entire opposing squad of one of their primary sources of Power.

It's easy to see why Ronan is a 4-Threat character based on his Judgment superpower alone, but he's also a terribly impressive offensive threat too. Ronan is a Special Condition-inflicting machine, as he can deal Shock with his Universal Weapon, or Stun and Stagger with his Kree Justice attack. Kree Justice also deals unblockable splash damage to all nearby enemies, which means that Ronan can really punish enemy squads that cluster together.

Ronan's final superpower, "The Accuser," gives him a final retaliatory attack when he gets Dazed or KOed. Ronan can immediately move and target the character that injured him with a final attack, meaning that he can really punish an enemy for knocking him out of a battle.

Ronan is also an Infinity Gem bearer that can use the Power Gem in scenarios, and is naturally immune to Poison. He's also got solid all-around defense stats, so players should find lots of ways to include him on their teams. Like Drax, Ronan's stats and abilities are the same whether he's healthy or injured, so we've only included the "Healthy" side of his character card below.

The Power Gem

The Drax and Ronan the Accuser Character Pack also includes the Power Gem, one of the six all-powerful Infinity Gems. Like other Infinity Gems, the Power Gem costs an additional Threat to equip to a character. Holding an Infinity Gem gives its holder an extra Power at the start of every turn, and the Power Gem gives its holder an extra 2 Power instead of 1 Power during the Power Phase. Giving Ronan the Power Gem means that he'll have enough energy to use his Judgment superpower every turn, with enough extra energy to guarantee that he can use his Kree Justice attack every other turn.

Team Tactic Cards

The Drax & Ronan character pack also comes with two new Team Tactic cards - Unearthly Rage and No Matter the Cost. No Matter the Cost allows a player to take damage to reduce the cost of an attack. While the card art depicts Captain Marvel, No Matter the Cost is a great card for Drax, as you can use the card to increase Titan Killer's attack dice and turn it into a free attack.

Unearthly Rage is another great Team Tactic card that can boost any character's attack strength when it's close to a group of nearby enemies. If a character is within 2 of two or more enemy characters, it can add two attack dice to its next attack. Because both Drax and Ronan have the ability to push opposing characters around, a player can use them to set up another character to use Unearthly Rage and maximize its effects.