Looking for input for a special power area control game

So I've been working for a while on an area control game, and I'm wondering about a certain aspect, and I'm in need of some extra powers.

First, let me give you the gist:
It's area control, but each area is a person. These persons have special powers, to be used by whoever has the majority. These powers come at a cost however: you lose a cube (or more - if powerful) whenever you use a power. These "people" are cards that are laid out in a grid, so they have different neighbours in each game. A grouping of 3 or so people make up a region. Regions are scored at certain points during the game.

A basic turn would be something like: place one cube and/or use one action. A game round would last perhaps 4 turns, after which there would be a scoring for the regions.

What I'm wondering about, is using cubes (those that you use to gain majorities) as victory points. You start with a supply, then, certain powers let you draw from the reserve, and having the majority of regions (X cards will be grouped in a region - have the majority in the most persons = control of the region) at certain scoring times, will net you an income of more cubes.
So in the end, most cubes wins after Y turns.
My only fear here is that I might be causing a runaway leader problem, but I think it goes hand in hand with the using cubes as points thing.

Then I'm in need of more ideas for powers. So far I've got (variations of):
- influence neighbouring cards
- score cubes = number of (certain type of card) you control
- move cubes around
- switch places with another character
- switch two characters' place
- execute an action twice (for a high cost)
- place extra cubes this turn
- copy another character's action (for higher cost)
-... ?

any ideas or input are welcome :)