Character review – Green Goblin

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Carrying on the theme of green from yesterdays Hulk article, today we’re going to take a dive into the new and updated character card for Green Goblin. Plenty of long time Spider-Foes fans will be happy to know that their lacklustre leader is getting a considerable buff – And that their leadership is really quite powerful now.

If you’re not already familiar with him, in the comics Norman Osborn is the father of Peter Parker’s best friend Harry – and Spider-Man’s long-time enemy. When Norman became the Green Goblin, he went on a maniacal rampage, forging a deep obsession as he continues to stalk and hunt Spider-Man. With access to various deadly Oscorp technologies, the Green Goblin is a very dangerous enemy to Peter Parker, and Spider-Man knows he’s always got to keep an eye out for him.

In Marvel Crisis Protocol, the Green Goblins weaponry and Unstable Psyche are represented exceptionally well. Green Goblin is one of the fewer characters that changes quite a lot from his Healthy to Unhealthy side, so I’ll start by breaking down his leadership ability and stat line – Before looking at his character card and the differences either side.

Oscorp Weaponry

As the CEO of Oscorp Industries, Norman Osborn has access to literal billions of funding for various weaponry research programmes – And gene manipulation experiments like those that led to the Lizard and the spiders that gave Peter Parker his powers. In game his leadership ability Oscorp Weaponry represents his ability to provide his allies with Oscorp Tech. There have been some changes from how the leadership used to work, to how it now works!

Previously, to use the leadership ability a model would have to spend one power when modifying opposing defence dice when they were attacking. They would then be able to reroll one opposing defence die. Now however, the leadership bonus is free, meaning you don’t have to spend a power to use it. It is now limited to once per turn, so if a model attacks twice during its activation they will only be able to use the ability during one attack. However, this still works when counter attacking with models like Venom, as enemy turns are still separate turns. Due to quite a few of the Spider Foes being quite power hungry, the leadership didn’t see much use previously, despite it’s strength. Now though, as you’ll be able to use it for free, the leadership is a lot better, and across a game it is going to have a huge impact on the number of blocks an opponent rolls.

Green Goblin (Healthy)

Starting off by looking at his stat line and defences, you can see that he changes quite a bit between sides. On both sides, he is a four threat character that is size three and moves Medium. On his healthy side, he has seven stamina, and on his injured side he has five, which overall gives him an above average twelve stamina in total. On his healthy side, Green Goblin has a solid if slightly average set of defences with 4/3/3, but on his injured side his Physical defence drops down to three and his mystic defence jumps up to five, leaving him with 3/3/5. This shows Normans mental health deteriorating as he becomes more and more manically obsessed with Peter Parker. His Physical defence drop shows his recklessness and rage whilst his Unstable Psyche means he is effected less and less by attacks on his now broken mind. I think it’s really interesting to see characters whose stats change so much between sides, and it really adds a bit of flavour to the miniatures and their rules.

Attacks

On both sides of his character card, the Green Goblin has two attacks. The first attack on his healthy side is Pumpkin Bombs. This zero cost builder is a range four physical attack, that now throws five dice instead of the previous four. Pumpkin Bombs comes with a bunch of special rules – Before choosing a target Green Goblin can choose whether the attack’s type is Physical or Energy, and after the attack is resolved Goblin gains power equal to the damage dealt. If you roll a wild, you get the Bag of Tricks trigger, which means that before damage is dealt you can give the target Bleed, Poison or Incinerate. Before this was a pretty decent builder – the ability to dish out Incinerate being a really powerful trigger. Now with the additional dice, it has that extra hitting power that a four threat character like Goblin deserves, and being able to choose Physical or Energy as the type will make a huge impact against targets like Hawkeye or Venom.

Goblins spender is Night of the Goblin. For four power, you get a range three, seven dice attack – That before choosing a target you can choose to be either Physical or Energy. After the attack is resolved, if the target suffered at least one damage they gain Poison and Incinerate. This is a pretty expensive spender, and it’s basically a buffed up version of Pumpkin Bombs. Throwing seven dice into the lower defence of your choice is no joke, and if you’ve already given the target Incinerate with you Pumpkin Bombs this could be devastating. Imagine hitting Venom with seven energy dice, and he is only rolling one in return! That’s a recipe for fried Symbiote!

Superpowers

Green Goblin has four different superpowers on his healthy side – One active, one reactive and two that are innate. His first superpower is Hit and Run, which acts like a reverse charge. For two power and an action, Goblin immediately makes an attack action followed by a move action. Also this superpower can only be used once per turn, it’s a super powerful way to get the most out of Goblins two actions, and avoid any nasty counterattacks or counterstrike’s once the attack is resolved.

Goblins second superpower is Trick or Treat. For three power, when an enemy character ends an advance or is placed within four of Goblin, Goblin may use this superpower. Choose an interactive terrain feature of size three or less within two of the enemy character that was advanced or placed. The terrain feature is destroyed and the enemy character suffers a collision as if the terrain feature had been thrown at it. This is a really powerful out of sequence throw, and the huge range of four means you’ll be able to get this off more often than you might expect. Forcing an enemy model to dodge a size three terrain feature during their activation can really mess up their plans, as an incoming four damage can potentially stop most characters in their tracks. This gives Goblin a good amount of board control, where models will have to be wary of walking within range – Lest they find a Trick rather than a treat

Goblins third superpower is Arch Nemesis (Peter Parker). When attacking Peter Parker, this character may modify or re roll failures (Skulls) and may re roll any number of attack dice. This does come with the caveat that if there is a non-Dazed enemy Peter Parker within range three of Goblin at the start of his activation, then Goblins first action must be an attack action targeting Peter Parker, if possible. This superpower works against both core box Spider Man, and the Amazing Spider Man, so although it might not come up a lot, it is very powerful and will make your opponent have to seriously consider where they place their Parker, else he may just get squished by a Goblin

Normans final superpower is Flight, which helps with his manoeuvrability and means he doesn’t have to worry about climbing over terrain. Combined with Hit and Run, this makes Goblin quite a mobile character, and his Medium base adds that little more distance to his Medium move.

Green Goblin (Unhealthy)

On his unhealthy side, as mentioned earlier Goblins stats change around a little. Goblin also loses both the Hit and Run superpower and Trick or Treat. Instead, he gains Glider Ram and Unstable Psyche. The now enraged and reckless Goblin cares less for well laid plans, and is focused more on maximum carnage.

Attacks

On his unhealthy side, Goblins attacks remain mostly the same. The first difference is that Pumpkin Bombs goes from a five dice attack to a six dice attack, which makes his builder pretty tasty. Night of the Goblin’s cost is reduced down from four to three, but other than that it stays the exact same as it is on his healthy side.

Rather than using his Glider to Hit and Run, on this side of his card Goblin uses it to smash the faces of his enemies. For three power, Glider Ram lets you throw Goblin Medium. Goblin won’t suffer damage for colliding with another character or terrain feature, but characters he hits will still have to dodge out the way – And as Goblin is size three, that’s four damage. You can just use this superpower for some movement shenanigans, although as it is a throw you will stop when you make contact with anything – Whether it’s a tree or an unlucky enemy!

Goblin keeps Arch Nemesis (Peter Parker), and it remains the same as on his healthy side. It would of been really cool if it now gave him extra dice against Peter, as Goblin desperately tries to kill his long time foe.

Trick and Treat is another superpower that Goblin loses, but in it’s place he gains Unstable Psyche. This means that Goblin can no longer interact with or hold objective tokens. Although this is quite a big handicap, the second part of this power lets Goblin roll five dice in the Power phase. For each Crit, Hit or Wild, Goblin gains one Power. This means that most turns he’ll be gaining an extra two or three power in the power phase, so although he can’t help with scoring objectives, he will definitely have the power to throw his weight around and cause havoc to the enemy team as his mind slowly unravels.

His final superpower on this side is Flight, which again mirrors his healthy side.

Overall I think Green Goblin is a super interesting character that is going to see a lot more play. On his healthy side, his main role for me seems to be a mobile harassment piece, and should your opponent try to take him out, they then have to deal with a frenzied damage dealer. Outside of his own affiliation, I think it could be quite interesting to see the new Goblin with Brotherhood, although they are already a faction with some very good choices for damage dealers.

With the changes to his leadership ability, I think we will see a lot more people trying out Spider Foes. Being able to re roll enemy defence dice is huge, and it can act as an equivalent to pierce if you manage to remove an enemies success. I’m really excited to see more Spider Foes showing up, and my Web Heads are always willing to show the likes of Green Goblin and Doc Ock who’s boss! Please let me know your thoughts on the new Green Goblin and where you might want to try him out!

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