Effective and good card for Groot. Not depending on growth counters (which is rare for his kit), got superpower and attack trait which can be discounted. Bonus defeating enemy is cool.

Overall (A-D) A- (not flashy, but effective card)

Might be a nice addition in Protection Echo decks as her alter Ego ability can tutor it when she flips and then make her tough turn 1. Not the most efficient tuck target but totally fine to just discard if not needed either waiting for the next deck pass or tutor it back in with choreography while in alter ego and then take it back when you flip up to hero form again.

Same thing can be said about the other switch form events Lay Down the Law and Surprise Attack

Protection just became playable in expert true solo, instead of being mostly random.

Hard to Ignore, Unflappable, Not Today, Desperate Defense, Never Back Down and Riposte will be a lot more effective, especially against a stage 3 villain.

This will not only be a huge boost to heroes with a basic defense of 3 (like Groot) it will also open possibilities with protection for many heroes with a basic defense of 2. Wolverine is an obvious choice, but there are others.

New possibilities for Angel too, who won’t have to rely on his Archangel persona to have a basic 3 defense.

Other multi-form heroes, like Ant-Wan, WASP and Phoenix will benefit from this. Protection is already an attractive option (contrary to most heroes, they don’t have to be in alter-ego to benefit from ‘Perseverance’ as they can always switch in an alternate hero form), but the stronger starting defense will make them a lot more effective in the villain phase.

What is interesting about Ops Room is that it is one of the rarified "spend a counter" cards where each counter does more than a single point of whatever effect it allows. Up there with Command Center. The Douglas, Med Team and The Night Nurse.

Honestly, banking three resources to prevent three damage is pretty okay. Not sure I would include in many decks. But we also get to remove a threat each time we use it while possibly triggering the many '...after taking no damage' cards in Protection? No brainer.

This is the backup that makes sure your Protection deck ticks that one extra damage prevention over the top to justify those upgrades. And swiped some threat at the same time. And Protection is very weak on thwart, so this card exceeds it's cost valuation.

This is an unusual card to add to the solo hero repertoire., allowing a defense-heavy character to dish out damage while thwarting.

With the right characters (Spider-Man, Ghost Spider, Nightcrawler, Silk etc.) this is five damage and five thwarting with an Armored Vest and Innate Reflexes. Not sure on the cost curve for cross ability effects, but 5/5 for 3 feels pretty solid.

In multiplayer, this would likely be even more effective, as your partner could field a range of allies handling numerous contingencies while allowing you to be broadly effective for minimal cost.