Today, we have a split preview for the new Kree mechanic, press. I’ll be talking about the mechanic itself and how it works, and Billy Zonos will be covering the flavor end.

Each new Vs. System expansion brings a unique set of design challenges. But sometimes, we go out of our way to make new challenges, too. The press mechanic is an example of this philosophy: a mechanic that is very flavorful and still has underlying design and development ideals, but isn’t necessary for the game engine. Basically, we do mechanics like press every once in a while simply because they’re a blast to play with.

Here’s the rules text for press:

Press

When you recruit this card, your next character costs 1 less to recruit this turn for each press card you recruited this turn, but no less than 1.

Additional costs to recruit your next character, such as boost, must still be paid in full.

As you can see, the full rules text is quite a mouthful. However, the mechanic is much simpler in practice. Let’s look at an example.

It’s my recruit step and I have 7 resource points. In my hand, I have press characters with costs 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, and 7 (quite a hand, I know!). Normally, I could recruit any combination of characters that add up to 7 (like 2 + 5, or 3 + 4, or 7). With press, I can recruit a 2-cost press character first, paying 2 resource points. This will reduce the cost of the next character I play by 1. I have 5 resource points left. Here are two of my options:

• I can recruit the 6-cost character, spending my remaining 5 points.
• Or, I can recruit a 3-cost press character for 2 points, reducing the cost of the next character I recruit by 2 (since I’ve now recruited two press characters this turn) and leaving me with 3 resource points.

If I choose the second option, I can follow it up with a 4-drop for 2 resource points and then the other 4-drop with my last resource point. If my goal is just to use all my resource points, my options are:

• Recruit the 2, then the 6 (paying 2 points, then 5 points)
• Recruit the 2, then the 3, then the two 4s (paying 2, 2, 2, and 1).
• Recruit the 7
  
  

Here are some things to think about when you have a hand full of press characters like this:

• You always pay the full cost for the first press character, so you will usually want to play the cheapest press character in your hand first. This will ensure that subsequent characters you recruit are reduced by the most they can be before they hit the minimum of 1.
• Each press character you recruit only reduces the cost of the very next character you recruit, so if you have a non-press character, you will usually want to recruit it last. Otherwise, the character you recruit after that will cost you the full amount.
• Any time you recruit a press character, it will reduce the cost of the next character you recruit by X, where X is the total number of press characters you’ve recruited at any point this turn.
• Since each character you recruit still costs you 1 resource point, press doesn’t allow you to get a higher number of characters into play than you normally could, it just allows you to get more characters of higher cost into play.

And now to Billy Zonos.

To understand the flavor of press, we need only look at today’s preview card:

He looks pretty angry, right? Well, he has a few solid reasons to be. How would you feel if you were constantly upstaged by a war hero half your age? Or if that same hero stole the girl you loved? Or if you were telepathically manipulated by your superiors to the point of insanity? How about dying in a vain attempt at revenge instead of in glorious battle like you so obviously deserved?

Colonel Yon-Rogg began his comic career as the commanding officer of the already famous Captain Mar-Vell. His jealousy was instantaneous. Yon-Rogg ached for the thrill of open combat, while Mar-Vell was the embodiment of martial prowess. The fact that his longtime crush, Una, had fallen for his rival only exacerbated the situation. Through the subtle manipulations of the Supreme Intelligence and Ronan the Accuser, Captain Mar-Vell was sent to Earth under Colonel Yon-Rogg’s command. It was a fortuitous turn of events that was never successfully exploited by the Colonel. After his reassignment, the Colonel’s career was plagued by a string of failures. The most notable miscalculations were the deaths of Una and Yon-Rogg himself.

Indeed, Colonel Yon-Rogg had quite a sordid history. Fortunately, this version is from a time in his life before all these heartbreaking and ultimately fatal failures. This is a Yon-Rogg in his prime! Back when all the hatred and jealousy was still boiling under the surface. Back when he still had a chance with young nurse Una. This is Colonel Yon-Rogg, Commander of the Helion! Press him proudly.

Speaking of press, how does it relate to the Kree? First, you have to consider that the Kree are not just a team of heroes or villains. The Kree affiliation represents a whole race of people. Since the Kree are some of the first aliens we’ve explored as a race, we thought it would be cool to design a mechanic for them that tied into their militaristic way of life. So, what does press really mean for the Kree? I can’t reveal much right now, but let me just remind you that the Kree do love initiating interstellar incidents. Does anyone recall the Kree-Skrull War?

This penchant for warmongering explains the thematic interpretation of Colonel Yon-Rogg’s power, as well. His text represents his command over the Helion and its ability to bombard strategically with impunity. Perhaps Yon-Rogg has just ordered a wing of Kree starfighters to take out that pesky interloper the Silver Surfer, or maybe he’s just given the order to fire the hyper-cannons and blast that incoming Skrull cruiser back to Skrullos!

And now back to Andrew Yip.

You may be asking, “If press doesn’t let you get more characters into play than you normally could, why is Colonel Yon-Rogg better with press than he would be in a deck full of 1-drops?” The answer to that question is pretty subtle. Colonel Yon-Rogg works better in a press deck because he gives you options, not because he’s always your main plan. In a deck full of 1-drops, there’s a good chance that you’ll use Yon-Rogg’s power immediately to stun the highest cost character on your opponent’s side of the table. However, if your side is full of characters that have reasonable stats, you can attack as you would normally, leaving Yon-Rogg’s power and some low cost characters behind as a contingency plan. Then, if your opponent tries to pull anything shifty like playing an Acrobatic Dodge that would make you miss the attack, you can fire up Yon-Rogg to stun the defender and ready your attacker when the attack concludes.