At first glance, the globals on NOGG (if you're new to the blog, Green Goblin "Norman Osborne") and Silver Surfer are pretty different. One deals damage at the expense of a bolt and a sidekick, the other has you spend two life and a shield to prep a die.

You're well versed in this already, in all likelihood, especially if you read Evan's recent article that analyzed all of the global abilities.

And really these two globals are pretty different if you look at them conventionally.

But why would we do that?

We're Not So Different, You & I...

Surfer moves dice to your prep area, and you get to roll them next turn. That much is certain.  NOGG's ability is geared towards dealing damage. But even though the methodology is different, he puts dice in your prep area, too.

Use Green Goblin to damage one of your own characters, to knock them out. You have to KO a sidekick to do this, so that's one die in prep. And, of course, whatever you KO goes to prep as well. Perhaps a Storm, another Sidekick, a Gambit, or some other useful "when fielded" die, it doesn't really matter, though Storm is my favorite mid- and late-game.

So for a bolt, you end up with two dice in your prep area, and one of them may have a useful trigger when you field them the next time. The drawback: you needed to field something extra to do it, since you have to have a sidekick in play to knock out.

This probably doesn't amount to saving or creating energy so much as banking it for later, but if it gives you a big turn, it's absolutely worth it. If it gives you the means to cycle through a killer "when fielded" character, then again - worth it.

Compare to Silver Surfer, which costs a shield and two life for a single die in your prep area. The advantage here is that the die comes from your bag, possibly thinning it out for later. On the other hand, this will be a random draw - the dice that NOGG preps will be random.

Surfer gives you one less die and two less life.  I've been one for taking that bargain (especially early). In a close loss, though, that two life could make a difference.

Perhaps, then, it's worth looking at NOGG for this purpose.

I Want Numbers, Mrs. Landingham!

Ok, I may be the only fan of The West Wing here, so I'll stop using headings like that.

I don't have a way to quantify the loss of life from Silver Surfer. I think I'd put it at a relatively high level - there are so few ways to mitigate lost life, and two damage is 10% of your health.

Otherwise, the cost is a shield energy in return for a random, unknown die from the bag. This is pretty straightforward.


SCENARIO I

Compare to NOGG. For NOGG to work as a Surfer replacement, you must field a sidekick at some point prior to activation of the global. This will give you at least one die in the prep area since you had to knock it out, and then the damage goes elsewhere, to an opponent's character. At this point, the cost has been one bolt and one fielded die in return for one die in prep.


SCENARIO II

But let's get creative and say that we're cycling another one of our sidekicks here. Now the cost is two fielded dice and a bolt, and we have two in prep. That'll do nicely.

This method also gives you an advantage when facing something like Wind Rider, which is especially dangerous against Sidekicks. They'd likely be cleared anyway, so they might as well benefit you rather than doing up to four damage.


SCENARIO III

Where it gets trickier in quantifying the cost is when we KO one of our own non-sidekick dice. Let's again take Wind Rider as an example here. Once she's in the field, most players are trying to prep her so that she can be rolled again. Using NOGG gives us one more gadget on our utility belts for accomplishing this.

Pay the bolt, KO your sidekick, apply the two damage to Storm, and now the Sidekick and Storm are prepped. This means that for that cost, you have a spare die to roll for energy and the potential of four more damage from Storm. You didn't pay any life and you didn't give your opponent any sort of advantage by KOing (really should be KingO) their own dice.

One thing that adds to the expense here is the fact that you may have to pay for fielding Storm, both in the first instance and then after the reroll that this eventually gives you, but that's the price you pay for the powerful ability.

* * *

In both Scenario I and II, we've simply "banked" dice by putting the sidekicks in the field to use later. In Scenario III, we get more for our buck, getting a character like Storm in prep who we want in prep so that we can use her ability again.

With Surfer, we get the same benefit as Scenario I, but trading two life instead of the die. And it has to be emphasized again that Surfer offers a random die rather than the selection that you get with NOGG.

Green Goblin is also an inexpensive purchase and the ability makes him a worthwhile die to field - in some was, he can feed his own global through that.

Is using NOGG like this fast enough? In the early game, I think that it's viable if the character that you're building dice and rushing to is that important. In the mid- and late-game, it's situational. If the sidekick is there to be used, then go for it. It could give you the push that you need. I don't think it becomes a focal strategy by any means, but it does provide you with the option to do something useful and get a "when fielded" character back to prep - or at least give you two more dice to roll on your next turn.

Of course, just like any global, you're giving your opponent this same ability as well...