Heralds of Galactus is the first thorough exploration of the cosmic keyword since its inception in the Man of Steel set. It’s like what we did with Morlocks and evasion in the X-Men set, except on a much bigger scale.

Here's a recap of the cosmic rules:

Cosmic: [cosmic text]

• While a character has a cosmic counter, its cosmic text is active.

• Cosmic characters come into play with a cosmic counter.

• Only cosmic characters can have a cosmic counter, and no more than one cosmic counter.

• As a character becomes stunned, remove its cosmic counter.

• While stunned, characters lose cosmic and cannot have a cosmic counter.

In comparison to what was seen in earlier sets, the cosmic powers in Heralds of Galactus are more exciting for several reasons. Briefly, the cosmic powers are more likely to be of greater power level, help the character retain the counter, allow removal of the counter for an effect, and be replenished by other effects. Also, besides having the original mechanic in the set, there is a new twist on the keyword (cosmic—surge) that shines an interesting light on the original keyword; it will be previewed tomorrow. In the meantime, let me cover each of the avenues we’ve taken to spruce up cosmic.

The first re-examination of the keyword was based on the belief that we had undershot the power level on many of the cards in the past. On character cards that were likely to have an effect for only one turn of the game, we needed to make sure that the payoff was sufficient. We also tried to increase the number of characters that would have strong cosmic powers off initiative, which means you’ll have fewer annoying scenarios where your opponent slams into your cosmic character before you’ve even had a chance to use its power. This also fits nicely within the design of the Heralds of Galactus team—the team wants to buy time for the arrival of Galactus, and what better way to do that than to hinder your opponent when he or she has the initiative?

An extension of these strong off-initiative cosmic powers is that some of them also increase your likelihood of retaining cosmic counters during your opponent’s initiative. In addition to off-initiative cosmic powers, there are also a number of plot twist, location, and other character effects that help you survive turns without losing all of your cosmic counters.

Despite all of the above considerations, let’s face it . . . sometimes your opponent will get the better of you and stun your character with a cosmic counter. To make the best of these scenarios, there are a number of cosmic characters that can remove their cosmic counter for a beneficial effect. These characters can make sure they get off their effect even if they are stunned almost immediately after entering the fray.

Finally, this set offers the first opportunity to put cosmic counters back onto your characters at a reasonable cost. Once your favorite hero or villain loses its cosmic power, don’t fret! It need not be just a warm body for the rest of the game. There are several easy ways to get that cosmic counter back. For those of you most excited by cards in the new sets that work with your old cards and teams, these cards may intrigue you. There are many powerful cards for old cosmic characters like those in Man of Steel. This brings us to today’s preview:

The Fallen One is hardly the easiest way to put a cosmic counter on a character in this set, but he does so at a fairly reasonable cost. If you can draw the game out into the very late turns, he may even be able to use this power a number of times in a game. You might think that discarding a card with cost 4 or greater is a big restriction, but you will find this is a recurring theme for the Heralds of Galactus team. Many of their non-character cards have a threshold of 4 or greater, and you will quite likely have more than the typical number of large characters in your deck. Think big! You will be rewarded for it.

Besides excelling at cosmic powers, the Heralds of Galactus team also does a couple of other things well that this card embodies. The Heralds are good at drawing cards and they like to bounce characters off the board. The Fallen One is just one of many cards on the team that will return characters on the board back to their owners’ hands. Let’s just say that Squadron Supreme will have their hands full when facing the Heralds.

The card drawing aspect of the team is more subtly represented on the card by its hand size comparison. There are plenty of ways to draw cards on this team, so even if you are bouncing a lot more of your opponent’s characters than your own, you will still likely be able to fulfill this requirement.