It’s not easy being green, especially for Rogue. Her time as a Skrull was the most difficult period of her life. It made her, for a short while, the most dangerous mutant in the world.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Rogue is my favorite superhero. She involuntarily absorbs the memories, physical strength, and abilities of anyone she touches. This prevents her from making direct physical contact, but it also allows her to be stronger than both Iron Man and Thing when the chips are down.
Once upon a time in a Marvel Comics storyline called Maximum Security, Rogue came upon a terrible scene. The Blood Brothers were viciously attacking what seemed to be a simple, defenseless girl. Rogue jumped in to play hero. The Blood Brothers get massively powerful when they are standing close to each other, and they fought her together. As I mentioned earlier, neither Tony Stark nor Ben Grimm had been able to handle their combined muscle in the past. Rogue knocked them out. The Blood Brothers still blasted the girl with a heat ray. Slowly slipping away, the girl grabbed Rogue’s bare skin and started the most intense and bizarre chapter in our gorgeous gal’s life.
The girl that Rogue tried to protect was actually a shapeshifting Skrull named Z’Cann. Professor X had been teaching a few aliens in a program he called Cadre K, and Z’Cann was one of his students. He had sent her to contact the X-Men and give them some important information they needed to save the universe. Since Z’Cann was dying right there in the street, she had no choice. She had to force Rogue to absorb her memories so that the message could be passed on. This was even more of a problem than usual.
Z’Cann was a powerful telepath, and she used her mental powers to accelerate Rogue’s absorption. The Skrulls are shapeshifters by nature, so Rogue began changing in a rapid-fire sequence of body types and anatomies. The message was transferred in time, but Rogue’s entire being began to short circuit on the spot.
Our magnificent mutant went completely haywire. She could not control the meaty memory manifestations that the Skrull imprint was causing. The psychic boost combined with the innate ability forced Rogue to become every superhero she had ever touched. No one knew who it would be next. She became Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Cyclops, and Magneto. It seemed that the shifting would never stop.
The message from Professor X sounded urgent and the universe was in grave danger, so Rogue made her way to the other X-Men to relay the news. She was extremely confused and she got it wrong. She sent them on the wrong mission. With the help of Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon, Rogue began to settle down and meditate herself into a calm place. She gained some mastery over her scrambled powers and was finally able to choose which hero to manifest in the moment. She kept the bone claws most of the time, since they made her look real tough.
Rogue, Total Transformation is the most thrilling kind of card. I am swelling with pride from the honor of introducing it to you. It has intense artwork that perfectly conveys the uncontrollable nature of Rogue during that period of her life. It gives the X-Men team affiliation a reason to go green while providing them with a solid concealed—optional 6-drop. Whether on offense or defense, no one will want to get stunned by this gal.
Way back in the Marvel Origins set, Rogue, Power Absorption brought us a mechanic that perfectly portrayed her petting power. She could take on an activated ability. This allowed her to become a partial Puppet Master and was good enough to win well over $36,000 in prize money during the first two Pro Circuit seasons. The 4-drop Rogue, however, still remains herself when she becomes an exhausting beauty. Not so with our new Skrull.
Rogue, Total Transformation actually becomes the character card she stuns. She searches the opponent’s deck and then KO’s herself to bring a copy of the stunned character into play on her side of the fray. That is the kind of ability that sets us risky strategists off on a rampage. This card ups the ante for all time and causes my brain to go haywire . . . just like the shapeshifting Rogue. I can hardly believe it’s real.
Sure, it will be a gamble. Every opponent will try to play around the total transformer. Fetching all the other copies of the character she stuns out of the deck beforehand would make her mimicry moot. She will need to be included in a strategy that allows the game to go into the later turns, as her power will be most precious against larger victims. The character card that Rogue stuns and becomes may remain in play. This will create some insane mirror matches that could never take place without her.
She is driving me nuts. Rogue, Total Transformation opens new doors and builds bridges to places this game has never been. She allows a quick inventory of the opponent’s remaining weapons even if there are no more copies of the character she stuns. Sage, Xavier’s Secret Weapon is itching to help her again, this time by stalling a game of Vs. System into dangerous decision territory. Leaving Rogue, Total Transformation in the visible area on the off initiative with a few copies of SNIKT! equals massive headaches for an unsuspecting opponent. Swinging this southern sweetie while concealed will often mean that you’ll soon be playing with the other player’s cards. Every time I set off to form a cohesive strategy for this outrageous new ability, I find myself changing into something else. I’ll tell you when it stops.
Rian Fike is also known as stubarnes and he is transforming before your very eyes. If you have any manifestation requests, send a telepathic message to rianfike@hattch.com.