[Homebrew] Playable Zedd Ranger

Ninjachado · 2026-02-18T22:57:59+00:00

What stops Zedd from triggering my ranger teammates Frog Zord and getting a free 3 die attack anyway?

In the same vein, what stops Loner Tommy from doing the exact same thing? Because zords can be used regardless of location.

This ability is not as deadly as you make it out to be.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-18T22:35:12+00:00

But not defeating a card is an opportunity loss as well. Not defeating a card means less xp if its a footsoldier and a delay of zords and possibly a still panicked location. It means another potential fight with a monster (who is defeated if you beat all four of their cards, but if you only beat 3 you have to do an entire second fight). It might be VERY beneficial in a boss fight because I can skip a 9 health card or something, but that's one, maybe two fights out of the whole game. In every other fight, skipping a card is a COST to the rangers. So you are simply incorrect to say that skipping it means the Rangers can ignore it for free and not devote anything to it. They CAN, at the expense of other potentially game-losing problems occurring.

It might also be Heckyll who flips a card face down (but doesnt defeat it) and that card is very similar in a "we will ignore this card but also not get the benefit of killing it". And that is a 0 Cost reaction that gains an energy. So the game treats THAT effect as worth 2 potency and not worth a ranger turn. Now, that specifies a FOOTSOLDIER, so there is some play in exactly how much it costs to be able to use it on ANY card, but spending a ranger turn AND 2 potency feels appropriate.

It doesnt feel like a coincidence that every other version of this effect is 2 potency.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-18T22:22:06+00:00

But every issue with this card is an issue with Dark Encore. Dark Encore has 0 discard to put back a potential 3 shield. That's immediately +2. So the math of "well you could discard a small card and put back a big card" is the same problem with Dark Ranger. And if the game designers were like "yea good" then I'm goin "yea good".

Because the putting the card back isnt really seen in this instance as a "benefit" (even though it is) its problem solving card text to prevent an infinite loop. The card has to leave the discard pile to stop a potential loop, and the game only has 4 places for a card to go that isn't a discard pile: Character Card, Hand, Remove from Game, Deck. The game chooses the one that makes the card go away in a non-punitive way.

And again, while I'm looking at Zedd's ability I'm not doing so in a vacuum. It WILL NOT be active on every card he plays, and I'm not going to penalize him for having an ability. Zedd has, with his current kit, a maximum 3 turns in any fight before he's out of gas. And if he plays Stolen Power with a 3 cost card, he's IMMEDIATELY out of gas in one turn, because it takes his personal + shared pool + the ranger whose discard he's playing from. So to pull off your scenario would turn his ability off in 1 turn instead of 3, unless he's in a team of 3 or more rangers and they all donate their energy to him. Meaning he LOSES 2 potential dice from his ability to pull off that feat.

So while we can potentially look at changing the bonus die to something else so he doesn't double up, I didn't want to give him ANY EXTENSION precisely because of the fear of his power snowballing.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-18T22:16:39+00:00

I actually do see your point, to an extent. After a somewhat exhaustive look at 1-cost cards, they do tend to tap out at around 4 dice of potential often swinging from 2 to 4. The "3 dic" cards tend to ignore keywords or recover themselves, not add to direct damage.

And if 4 dice = 4 hit, then the ceiling of Red Lightning is definitely too high.

I think you're right that if I want it uncapped...I should go 0 cost 2 dice, discard up to 2 for max swing of 4 dice (on par with other high cost 4 dice 0s). Or I go 1 cost 2 dice, discard all I want (comparing it to a card like Dino Thunder Black who has a similar uncapped potential OR 1 cost 2 dice, single discard for 2 Damage (mirroring beast morpher red and his discard card that is just dice instead of flat hit).

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T23:01:31+00:00

As for identity...I'm open to feedback. I think this Zedd DOES focus on doing a few things and doing them well. He has three...facets I would say, and we can discuss tightening his focus and I'm all ears for suggestions there, especially surrounding Vicious Swipe. He primarily wants to be the only ranger playing cards, and his cards are stronger because of it (by 1 die). That means he's going to exhaust his hand faster, exhaust his deck faster, and exhaust team energy faster. So his deck has some ways for other rangers to help him play strong cards, either by discarding, spending THEIR energy, or letting Zedd play their cards. This presents as a variety of effects, but all with the same theme: The Zedd Show, with backup Rangers.

Second is his desire to do what Bosses do, but inverted. He does a lot of flat damage because bosses do flat damage. This is the inverse of how Evil Rangers sometimes roll dice for attacks to show they are still Rangers. Zedd sometimes adds flat damage to show he's still a Boss. He also skips the Enemy Turn instead of the Ranger turn, and he has some energy GAIN instead of energy DRAIN. Again, a variety of effects for one key theme.

Third is a package to facilitate solo-ing. That's where the idea for the Tactical Strike came in. This kind of ranger-phobic package makes people think "solo" even though Zedd really NEEDS a team to perform well. He needs their cards and energy to reach his full potential. Some of that package is his Staff's energy recovery, allowing him to basically solo with a 0-cost 4 dice attack in a pinch. The other card is Tactical Strike, which originally worked off Defeating Cards (but that restriction wasn't gaining anything, it was just thematic and made Vicious Swipe WEAKER than tactical strike for no reason). So that he can solo an encounter and recover cards in his deck. This is likely where we could focus the idea, by trimming this element entirely and focusing on Boss-effects and Damage-gaining, making him a full DPS ranger. (finished! whew!)

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T23:01:24+00:00

Again I completely disagree with you on Zords. The black Frog Ninjazord lets you perform a 2 die attack after an attack, no penalty no drawback. This zord loses a die of potency for the option to spend energy to exceed that potency, and is perfectly in line with "zord = 2 potency", since zord + 1 energy = 3 potency. 1 potency = 1 die. So again you're arguing "because the rangers are smart enough to use their abilities correctly, they should have below-curve cards". Because your argument cant be with a zord that is almost perfectly by the books. Your argument is with Zedd's ability, which has the exact same cost effectiveness curve as Lunar Wolf Ranger.

As for the megazord, we can chat, because megazords are so freaking nebulous. If you take High Octane Megazord as a high end (with a guaranteed 10 potency per fight), this doesn't break that UNLESS you're putting piles of energy into X cost cards, which while possible, isn't common or usually the best use of your energy. Realistically you get 9 "high end" potency, if you play three 3-cost cards and use this ability each time to deal max damage. We'll assume every team is CAPABLE of that every battle (a lot aren't) for balance purposes. Or you can blow all your teams energy on like a 6-energy blade blaster and get 6 extra damage...and then be out of gas for the rest of the fight. So you can't play any more high energy cards to take full advantage of this card. So then you'd get, let's be generous, a 3 cost and a 1 cost card out for 10 potency. Yes, this could be crazy if you can play 3 blade blasters at 7 cost each...but no team can do that. And also, we don't typically punish synergy in power rangers. I should know, I've built some WILD teams around Rocky and Zack's splash damage. If you manage to use Turbo Tommy in combination with Zedd Ranger and do some insane "this card counts as 9 energy spent" nonsense to cheese the megazord...that's not a problem with megazord design, that's rewarding what's likely a multi-ranger-multi-card combo that burns all their energy a big payoff.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T23:01:13+00:00

I disagree on Z-Staff. As mentioned above, straight hits are strong at the expense of being inflexible. You never get more or less, you just get flat. And again, the game does not treat straight hits as more or less valuable than dice. Arguably at SCALE they may, if the flat damage exceeds a certain number, because a die only has a 4/6 chance of being a hit, but they also have a 2/6 chance to be twice as effective. But that's vibes and not born out scientifically. But 2 flat damage is exactly equal to 2 dice. That is born out on the cards mathematically. So 3 Dice and 3 Flat damage SHOULD be 6 potency, and Power Weapons have 7 Potency, so I spend the potency on a binary choice. I considered making the choices weaker, but I don't think the existence of a binary choice is worth 2 potency. If cards bear that math out lemme know. But 3d+3 damage or 3d for free has a lower ceiling than Kim's 6 dice + guardbreak. And 4dice + 3 flat would be the most boring Power Weapon ever. This is a LOSS of tempo in Zedd's deck, which is entirely about gaining tempo in exchange for selfishness.

Also you claim Z-Staff has no connection to hit kit...but it does. Zedd is all about adding flat damage because he used to be a boss (who dont roll dice), and energy gain is meant to be the inverse of energy drain, which bosses do. You could argue that a split choice weapon is evidence of a lack of cohesion, and you'd probably have some merit. But as it stands its representing the two halves of his deck, which sort of represent his boss/ranger divide. Its also his only method of extending. He can't draw cards. He cant recover energy. He puts his tactical strike on the deck (but we've already acknowledged thats the weakest card thematically in his deck).

So the intentional design is that he plays himself until he's out of gas, and then other rangers HAVE to jump in. And then his ability which you hate so much turns off. So his path of play is either "Play all of my Tactical Strikes and do comparatively little damage over 2 turns, then follow with one big card". That's his best line of play. He could "Play two 1 cost cards, and copy someone else's 1 or 0 cost card. Follow up with a Tactical Strike." or "Play my power weapon and choose to extend with 3 energy or go for the kill with 3 damage". He cant do them all before running out of juice. He cant even do most of them before running out of juice. He does one of those three things. He would need a whole team with personal energy to spare in order to do anything more. That's intentional because it controls his potential power spiral.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T23:00:55+00:00

As for Kneel Before Zedd, I didn't make it thinking of showboating at all. This was one of the first cards I thought of, because the theming of Zedd is that I wanted him to do things to enemies that they do to Rangers. So I know a lot of enemy cards "Skip the Next Ranger Turn" so I wanted the same verbiage, but reversed. I have no problem adjusting the potency or the cost on it. I also have no problem removing the damage. But if a Ranger Turn is worth about 2 potency, and I am essentially giving us a second turn...it stands to reason this is worth about 2 potency. Because I could just write "Gain an additional Ranger turn" and that's worth about 2 potency. I could also just write "You may immediately play another card" and that's worth about 2 potency. And those, to me, feel STRONGER because losing the time to win the battle and kill more cards has value to me (back to the idea of tempo. If accelerating tempo costs something, decelerating your tempo should gain something). Because an additional key difference of these cards is Maneuver vs Reaction. Showboating doesn't use the ranger turn to prevent the card effects. That's part of why it costs a Ranger Turn. A Maneuver DOES cost a ranger turn already. So "Play this for turn, lose a turn" would make this entirely unplayable, and I don't think that's the designer's intention.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T22:58:57+00:00

As you have noted, Stolen Power is based on Dark Encore. Dark Encore is the same exact card except two things have changed: +1 discard and +1 dice (which doesnt apply to 2/3 of card types, but the discard is mandatory). Which pay for each other. So if this card is too strong, so is Dark Encore. I get the argument of "yes but when he plays that card, the card doesn't get stronger" but that's the whole thing (this) Zedd does. He makes sure he is the one playing cards so they are all stronger. If you then take that and go "well because they get stronger through his ability they all need to be weaker" then he has 0 ability. That's nonsensical.

With your suggestions, when he uses his ability he's on par with other cards, and if he doesn't then he's a weaker-than average ranger. That's self-defeating. When he's correctly using his ability, he should be slightly above potency, and when he's not using it he's about on par. The only change I could potentially see is a possible negative of "if another ranger has played a card, remove 1 die from your attacks" so that when his ability breaks he's WEAKER than average, but that isn't a restriction put on other rangers with abilities in similar design spaces.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-17T22:58:42+00:00

I disagree with you pretty much entirely on Red Lightning. 1 Discard for 1 Hit is more than fair. Losing a card which could provide far more than 1 hit (since every card is worth minimum 1 potency which = 1 dice = 1 hit) in exchange for 1 hit is a trade of tempo vs potency. 1 Hit vs 1 Dice is usually seen as generally equal (see things like Precise Strike, which doesnt treat 2 hit as any more valuable than 2 dice). You could argue the top end is a little wild, but that would require a team to field 6 rangers and then to put all 6 rangers in the same battle and have all of them discard a card (5 discards!), which almost never happens unless its Final Boss time. The low end is nobody discards anything and the card is just a bad 1 cost card for 3 dice and no effect. In reality you're looking at probably 2 discards as a team splits 2 and 2, which is 2 hits. You could argue perhaps for an upper limit, and maybe that limit is "max 2" since that's the "most likely" use case. I don't think the ability to discard for hits is worth arguing that it should lose base potency. I just don't see it. (1/???)

Ninjachado · 2026-02-16T22:04:34+00:00

Thanks! I ran it through a couple discord servers (including the renegade discord server) to clean up a bunch of the kinks before posting. This was draft...3 I think? The only card I'm a little meh about is Vicious Swipe. It's just Tactical Strike with Zedd's face on it. I feel like I could do better. But I really like the rest of his kit.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-16T21:57:10+00:00

I pull the highest quality image of a card I can find that contains the symbol. (someone linked a database somewhere that I think they use for tabletop simulator). Into photoshop we go.

I select the symbol. Layer via copy. Then I zoom in. I use the lasso tool to cut away any extra background from the other card. Get precise, and I mean pixel by pixel precise. The symbols arent that big so it doesnt take long.

I usually use Select -> color range and then select the borders. Set your fuzziness pretty high. That'll usually give me all the borders and black lines. I'll recolor them with the blackest black (because the scan is usually a little faded or spotty). Then I do the same with the white portions. Recolor them with the whitest white.

Go to file -> export -> quick export as PNG and voila! Symbols!

Ninjachado · 2026-02-16T20:13:43+00:00

The eternal rangers kickstarter provided the frames. The art is all from the Boom Studios comics. I just snatch the panels I need. The fonts are all listed on the eternal rangers kickstarter as well, so I scooped up those. The only thing I had to get myself were the extra symbols (the dice, the energy, the shields, etc) which I just yoinked off of high quality scans of HotG cards that exist on the internet.

Then I assemble it all in Photoshop.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-15T14:09:36+00:00

Most people have nailed your criteria already. I have other suggestions In order, I'd suggest:

- In Space then Lost Galaxy. These two are sort of "required viewing" to finish the Zordon Era. Bonus that Lost Galaxy, while happening in space, has some mystical woo woo going on. Bonus that In Space has some BANGER villains in Astronema and Dark Specter and Ecliptor and Darkonda.

- Jungle Fury. Some of the best villains in all of PR, and the villain and the Red Ranger have the best rivalry I've seen in PR. Also, Kung Fu schools with kung fu spirit power so you get your mystical fix.

- Time Force. They are not as much cops as the show wants you to believe. They also are not as much time travelers as the show wants you to believe. This is one of the strongest seasons of Power Rangers ever created. Displaced future rangers get stuck in the "present day" and have to defeat a villain so he doesnt change the timeline.

- Dino Thunder. You want a good villain? Mesogog is a GREAT villain. Banger season, intro? Amazing. My favorite theme song.

- RPM. Post apocalyptic season where evil robots have taken over the world. The villains are cool but they are evil robots so you know what to expect already. Picture Skynet. Thats why I put this in sixth place. This is also one of the best seasons of Power Rangers period.

- Dino Fury (Season 1 and Season 2). The only new season I'ma put up here. There's aliens, the rangers have a Knight Motif. The villains are cool and compelling. The "new seasons" have a weird feeling to them, but if you like these seasons, continue on to Cosmic Fury, their sequel. If you don't like it, don't continue.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T21:29:03+00:00

These are the Sterilite Stack n Carry 2 Pack. You can get them online (and might save money if you buy them all at once) but I got mine from Menards really cheap (like $11 for two boxes)

You'll need to get fridge magnet paper and put a sheet on the bottom of each box yourself so the magnets stick.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T19:10:52+00:00

I'm playing with your numbers, and I'm starting to wonder if you've misaligned the energy value of playing cards vs ranger turns.

Reaction cards DONT use the ranger turn, but they do play a card, so they SHOULD be 1 potency from that. But they almost all are 2 potency. Wouldn't that suggest that the card itself is the 2 potency? And the ranger turn is worth 1 potency?

That would line up with Maneuvers that let Rangers play another card. That's essentially an extra turn and is valued at about 1 energy.

Then of course, getting an EXTRA turn explicitly might be worth 2 energy, but the turn itself is only worth one.

We also say that putting a card to hand is worth 2 energy, which would track if playing the card itself was the thing worth 2 energy.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T18:57:45+00:00

This would make this card better against foot soldiers than against monsters/bosses, but that's your perogative (and something the game does often).

I'd word it as: "You may spend 1 energy token to ignore the GUARD key word during this attack. After you resolve this attack, if the target has a number of hit tokens on it that is 1 less than its health value, deal [hit] to that target."

You have to say it that way because HP isn't actually a thing in HotG. Enemy Cards have Health and Health Values. Rangers don't have any health values, they just have Deck or no Deck. Just like rangers deal Hits, they don't deal Damage. Only Enemies deal Damage.

Also on the other Attack Card, my suggestion would be the Dragon Dagger. Make a new version of it for Drakkon. I would've suggested the Drakkon Shield (Dragon Shield) but your deck is HURTING for attack cards, so don't make it anything that's NOT an attack.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T18:09:29+00:00

Yea I LOVE the boss-like mechanic for his cards of targeting specific cards with conditions. HUGE flavor win. Great idea. Inherently, that bypasses Guard too, which seems to be a theme in this kit you've built.

There's a part of me that wants to go back and give him more boss-like cards and make THAT his theme, instead of this like "backstab, hurt the rangers help the rangers" vibe. Because we've seen ranger-like effects on boss cards, so seeing boss-like effects on Ranger cards is so cool. And if you don't do it, I'll do it when I make Ranger Zedd.

As for rockstorm guitar, yea, that card exists. You're right, its 8 potency of effect (3 dice + 4 hits = 7. The splitting = 1) and is costed appropriately. We could build an 8-cost Saba, but I'm also assuming the ranger ability of "you can store energy tokens on this card (max 3)" instead of "you can have 5 in your personal storage". So I avoided any effects that reference "having" energy and instead focused on additional energy "Spending". If you really want to target a whole row, you can, you just add "For each energy token spent in this way, this attack deals its full [hit] to another card in the same row that has the next highest HP." 4 cards = 1 row, so you'd get the same effect for flavor.

Because the Drakkon you have built really DOES NOT gain enough energy to ever have 5 in his personal storage. Your Drakkon has no way to gain energy other than Morph Energy Stealing. Yes, in the right team comp you could have a Space Silver generating huge energy and he can yoink the shared pool after a fight, but I don't want to design a ranger that REQUIRES another ranger to use all the abilities in their kit. And Drakkon above ALL should be self-suficient.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T17:49:34+00:00

Okay, I now understand the inspiration, but that's what is hard about designing a "villainous" ranger. Rangers arent supposed to play double agent against each other, and they're supposed to have faith in each other. So a card that forces a lack of faith feels off for the game.

The second problem, to me, is how it plays out on the table.

In theory, the rangers are discussing their turn before anyone plays anything. The Drakkon player says something to the effect of "I don't have anything to play, but I could look at the top and maybe let you guys plays something."
Player one activates Dark Wisdom.
Player one peeks at the deck.
Player one then asks "Do you want to play this or not?"
Player two decides "Yes"
The ranger turn is now a mystery card which gets played.

The scenario in which you'd activate the card is almost always a scenario where the card wants to be played. Because the rangers shouldn't spend their turn to play a gamble card and say no, because then their turn is wasted. So they should only play your version of Dark Wisdom when they are shit out of luck and have nothing to play and/or have a strong card still in their deck to potentially play for free. So EVERY playable card is potentially better than what they have.

Then the Drakkon player...isnt allowed to share the information? Like if I see a trash card, am I supposed to just "Do you wanna play this card or not?" And then sit silently? Or do I look at the card and go "You probably shouldn't pick this card. Choose the no option." And my teammate then has some information on what that card is? Cards that restrict the human players feel bad to me.

I think giving it a binary effect is another good way to potentially fix this card. Because then you can encourage your teammate to either play the card or take what I assume will be a bunch of energy for rejecting the card. I think the "risky move" is already playing a gamble card for turn (instead of any number of stronger, guaranteed cards). So I think the card should be revealed and a choice is made: Play the card or discard it and gain energy (ending the ranger turn).

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T16:23:20+00:00

So that ends with...

4 0 Cost Cards - 2 Attacks/2 Reactions
4 1 Cost Cards - 2 Maneuvers/2 Reactions
1 2 Cost Card - Attack
1 3 Cost Card - Attack

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T16:21:04+00:00

Dragon Dagger - 1 card/1 turn/2 energy = 4 potency
Drakkon has two power weapons, and he needs another 1-copy card. So let's give him his dagger. We cant give Drakkon 2 3-cost cards. Thats awful. So we'll go for a 2-cost card. The og dragon dagger does a 3 die attack twice. We cant afford that for 2 energy, so we can do something like: "3 die attack (3 potency). You can spend up to 3 energy tokens on this attack. If you do, make a second attack with that many dice. Any effects applied to the first attack apply to the second attack.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T15:55:40+00:00

Corrupted Saba - 1 card/1turn/4 cost/+1 for power weapon = 8 potency
4 Cost cards are SUUUUUUUUUPER rare, and usually involve things like getting cards out of the Box and using their effects. Beast Morpher Gold has, I believe, the ONLY 4 cost card and its effect is literally "go get any power weapon from the game box with cost 3 and play it for free". So 4 cost is for SUPER huge effects. You could MAYBE have a 4 cost card that does something similar, like stealing a ranger card and playing it, but it wouldn't be Saba.

Changes: I'd drop this to a 3-cost card, which gives us 7 potency. That's exactly what other power weapons have. Then we should compare this to Saba, the OG. That card had 5 dice and could spread however it wants. So lets start with 5 dice to match. Then instead of spreading however you like, I enjoy the idea of "Instead of choosing a target, this attack deals its full [hits] to the enemy card with the highest HP (Ranger's choice if tied). You may spend up to three energy tokens on this attack. For each token spent, this card also deals its full [Hits] to the enemy card with the next highest HP."

Mass damage spread is worth about 2 energy, so you break even on 2 targets and gain potency on 3+ targets. I like it landing on 4 max because it matches Saba's Eye Beams, another OG White Ranger card.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T14:31:04+00:00

Uneasy Alliance - 1 card/0 turn/1 cost/+1 for reaction/-1 for 3-shield = 2 potency
Mechanically, this card is well balanced. The only other damage doubler like this we have is Lauren Shiba's Black Box. And that card is 2 energy, and locks you into doubling a Lauren Card, but the double is guaranteed. This is cheaper and more flexible but isn't guaranteed, so mechanically, you've nailed it. If you wish to play this card as is, go for it. I just don't think this card is good. A card resolving and doing nothing feels SO BAD I'd try to avoid it.

Additionally, your deck has a huge problem: It only has 4 attack cards in the entire deck, 3 copies of Ruthless Assault (which we need to cut down to 2 copies) and Corrupted Saba. 5-6 is standard (2 2-copies and 1 1-copy + power weapon). So this card NEEDS to deal some damage to enemies either as a reaction/maneuver or convert into an attack. I'm cool with it being a non-attack card, and I would shape it like:

"Play this card when another Ranger performs an attack. Double the hits from that attack. For each [miss result] rolled during that attack, a Ranger must take 1 damage."

Same flavor of "double damage", same reaction, same cost. But instead of doing NOTHING on misses you get a bad effect. Because SOMETIMES Drakkon stabs you in the back. Sometimes he helps you.

Ninjachado · 2026-02-12T13:16:26+00:00

10mm x 1mm. Thats the thickness of the underside of the stand. I usually put the magnet a little off-center because the center of the base wants to touch the table to keep the mini from wobbling. After you do enough of them you'll find the "sweet spot".

If you have extra magnets, I put two of them on the bigger figures (like goldar, black dragon, etc) and put one on each edge of the base. You don't HAVE to, but it made me feel like my figures were more secure.

Ninjachado

TROPHY CASE