Ghost Rider, in comics, has gone through more host characters that Wolverine has guest appearances, so it's only fitting that two of his forms are geared around churn. It might be tempting to pick up Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance for the dice draw, but the truth is that the value of knowing exactly what you're going to get cannot be undervalued.
Here I'm going to be talking in a more open-ended fashion about how you might want to bring Brimstone Biker to your team, and the sorts of characters that can most benefit from his amazing ability.
The High Cost of Fielding
One of the reasons that Ghost Rider is not a particularly interesting include in his Johnny Blaze (common) form is because he's just really expensive to field! His TFC is at 6, the highest currently in the game, and his stats might be nice, but they aren't THAT nice. I'd rather have a Beast, a Mr. Anger, or a Tsarina, thank you very much.
Instead, think of that as the cost of getting exactly what you want on deck for next turn, otherwise, consider Brimstone Biker as 2 bolt energy waiting to happen. Some very nice high end cards have bolt energy, like Cyclops and Phoenix, with a few other really great cards in the 4-5 bolt range.
Brimstone Biker is about getting what you want, right on deck.
The Ability
Brimstone Biker has the somewhat innocuous ability: 'When fielded, select a die from your used pile and place it into your prep area (you cannot select a die that paid to field this die)'. This means you can take a die you just spent, or a die that you just purchased, and pull it to your prep area. This is fantastic. There's a lot of benefit to churning through your bag, but that's to get what you want to rise to the top. With Brimstone Biker, you don't have to go at it the long way, you can take a short cut.
Using this Ability to Best Effect
Dragging someone out of the used pile is pretty nice, obviously, but what does that really mean for you when you're playing?
That Canucklehead you just rammed through that did 5-8 damage to your opponent last turn? Put it back on deck! That's what it means. That Tsarina that your opponent let through to try to get her off the table can come right back next turn. You get to pay the cost of fielding him today, to get exactly what you need tomorrow.
Maybe that's a little anti-thematic though, because I'm pretty sure the idea behind Ghost Rider is to pay tomorrow for what you want today. Still, I'm not going to quibble on thematic grounds.
The absolute best way to use him, in my opinion, is to buy a die you really want out (Canucklehead, If Looks Could Kill, etc), field Ghost Rider, and bring it right over to the prep area. Who needs churn when you can neatly pick up exactly what you want from the friendly neighborhood used pile?
If you have nothing in your used pile that you want to bring back, absolutely focus on rolling Ghost Rider as energy unless you really need him out to block. He's just not that great for the cost. Buy that Nova, buy a Hawkeye, splurge for a Cyclops.
The absolute best way to use him, in my opinion, is to buy a die you really want out (Canucklehead, If Looks Could Kill, etc), field Ghost Rider, and bring it right over to the prep area. Who needs churn when you can neatly pick up exactly what you want from the friendly neighborhood used pile?
If you have nothing in your used pile that you want to bring back, absolutely focus on rolling Ghost Rider as energy unless you really need him out to block. He's just not that great for the cost. Buy that Nova, buy a Hawkeye, splurge for a Cyclops.
Wrapping it Up
The best aspects of Brimstone Biker is that you are going to be able to use that high TFC not just to get a 'good die with cheap stats' (which he's not, really, see Dave's upcoming/previous post on the matter), you're using him to do something even better than churn. I don't think BB is a real solution that you can use and bring zero other churn to the table, but when it comes to getting that die in a clutch, he's really the only choice right now. With only a few other dice (Human Torch: Matchstick, and Hulk: Annihilator) who facilitate bringing specific dice from Used to Prep/Reserve, I don't think we'll see his match in this department for a long time.
Brimstone Biker also is a bit of a safeguard against those times when the character dice are just not with you and cannot roll their character faces, as well. There are just so many times when Brimstone Biker is going to be a really helpful tool in your arsenal, that he has a lot of compelling reasons to include him in your sideboard.
Ive tried and continue to try utilizing Brimstone Biker but I just can't seem to ever get him to work for me. I haven't figured out when the best time is to purchase him. Do you wait till you already have stuff in your bag you want to see more often? Do you purchase him early to setup for when you do you purchase the bruiser character to put it right in the prep? Im just having bad luck of when I draw him and what he rolls. One of the things I like about this game is trying to mitigate the luck that is involved and I just haven't figured that out with Brimstone Biker yet.
ReplyDeleteI like him in the... 'early-mid' game. Something that is going to end up in your 3rd bag refresh (4th at the latest) and you aim to use him for energy if you have nothing in your used pile.
DeleteIn your 4th-ish bag you want to be churning (either through characters or KOs) to buy a Big Guy, whoever that is, and then you're looking to get BB to double dip you or pull the new purchase out early.
So you want to have BB already cycling through your bag when you buy your closer.
I'll agree with Katie - I prefer to try to get my BBs 'earlyish', but not as a priority. My first couple of turns will usually be spent buying some cheap, effective characters (Beast, Black Widow, NOGG, etc.), and then I try to focus on some more midrange purchases to firm up my lines, solidify my churn options, or start getting the main combo of my squad ready. He can be a nice to-have for your third bag of dice, especially if you worry about suddenly needing a Storm or something, but I feel you're going to have your buys a little more rigidly defined for cheaper characters your first five turns, and be a little more pressed to buy things while dropping energy into fielding a basic line. As such it'll be hard to squeeze him in (both for buying and fielding) without impacting your overall readiness at that point, so I think looking to get him into your fourth bag is a more solid plan.
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