Who are the Inhumans?
The Inhumans are a group of super-powered individuals that exist in the Marvel Universe. You can think of them like mutants but they have gained their power from Terrigen Crystals activating their latent Inhuman power. They also are connected to the cosmic alien race the Kree who originally created the Inhumans. The Inhumans are a secretive Kingdom ruled over by a royal family. Leading them is their King, Black Bolt, who can unleash destruction with a mere whisper. His wife and the Queen of the Inhumans, Medusa, has prehensile red hair. Black Bolt’s insane brother Maximus is always scheming to overthrow the King. Their lovable teleporting dog Lockjaw. Their close advisor Karnak and royal bodyguard Gorgon. Medusa’s kid sister with element controlling powers Crystal. Ms. Marvel: is she a mutant or is she an Inhuman, we’ll never know. The men that Crystal has been married to in the past: the mutant Quicksilver and the cosmic threat Ronan the Accuser. Beast from the X-Men is also affiliated due to his association with the group as an emissary and advisor. It’s a colorful bunch but they have strong familial bonds and generally are very aligned in their cause to keep the Inhumans and their home, Attilan, safe from harm.
In the game the Inhumans are portrayed as a savvy and powerful group with the Innate Superpower “Inhuman” which allows them to re-roll one die in each attack or defense roll. The total weight of these re-rolls make their characters more consistent over the course of the game. They also often have an Immunity to Poison which is supposed to represent their origin from the Terrigenesis procedure which gives them their powers through traumatic exposure to Terrigen crystals/gas.
Why am I the expert on this faction? I have recently played the Inhumans affiliation at 3 regional MCP tournaments with the best players from our area and I have piloted them to a 9-2 record against a wide field of lists. I have played many games with them outside of the tournament setting and can confidently say they are a strong list in the current meta with access to very good characters and Tactics cards.
The Leaders
Black Bolt (Threat: 5)
This is your premiere leader for the faction and the one that has been around the longest. He received a glow-up in an AMG balance update and his current iteration is fantastic. His leadership allows you to pass a power between your characters at Range 3. This leadership may seem unwheming but it really helps you pay for your superpowers and Spender attacks early and often. It can jump start the power your team generates and will sustain big plays for your team throughout the game.
As a 5 Threat Black Bolt has to be effective on the table to justify his inclusion. His superpowers are Reactive so he really needs enemies to attack into him to use his power efficiently. Thankfully, one of his superpowers is a bodyguard ability so he can force enemies to attack into him and his defensive stats are above average with a 4/4/3 and a re-roll and can be boosted by using his other superpower. Your opponent won’t really be happy attacking into him because feeding him power will allow him to use his Spender attack which can place Black Bolt and possibly Throw the enemy model which are both great effects for a 3 cost spender.
On his Injured side he loses his superpower to bodyguard but gains a huge Beam 4, 10 dice Energy Spender that costs 6 power and gives out Stun and on a Wild Trigger Stagger. He also has a whopping 9 Health on his Injured side so it will be no easy feat for your opponent to take your leader out of the game.
He generates 2 power a Turn which he can either use for himself or using his leadership you can pass that power around to other characters, enabling them to perform at their highest potential. Be aware, Black Bolt also synergizes with Quicksilver on a Round 1 play that allows Quicksilver to safely take your opponents’ side F Extract and move back using the Great Refuge TTC.
Medusa (Threat: 4)
Medusa also previously had a character balance update but she still remains great. She has attrition, control, and an efficient use of power all baked into her card. Her ceiling for an activation is very high with the possibility for 4x 5 dice attacks, a size 3 or less enemy model throw, and placements of herself and/or her teammates. She has only moderate defenses but she is consistently effective for me on the table. She struggles with trying to keep up with faster characters who can escape her range of influence especially if she can’t place herself with Royal Decree.
Her leadership gives a power, heals a damage, and allows for a short move whenever a character Dazes or KOs an enemy model. This is a powerful effect and gives more action economy and resilience to more attrition-based models. Medusa herself utilizes this leadership an okay amount and there aren’t many Inhuman affiliated models that are completely attrition based. A lot more Inhumans affiliated models thrive under Black Bolt than Medusa. In a fighty game you will still be benefitting from this leadership since it rewards you for doing what you’d normally do anyways so it can be a great pivot when you’re going into a slugfest.
Maximus the Mad (Threat: 4)
Now this is where the leadership goes a little off the rails. Maximus’ leadership is a forced re-roll on the first attack or defense for each character each Turn. In the event they roll into a Skull, your opponent gets to place your model within range 1 and Maximus gets a power. My analysis of this leadership is that the juice is not worth the squeeze. I like to talk about how the Inhuman superpower provides a weight of re-rolls that can give you an advantage over the course of the game. Maximus’ leadership basically adds almost the same amount of re-rolls which should be beneficial. However, they are a forced re-roll which can turn successes into failures (which has happened to me). They can also re-roll into a Skull which results in your opponent placing your character. This can be an effective Stagger if they are moving you off a point and you need to expend a move action to get back on. Alternatively they could move you into Range for them to effectively attack into you and take down your model with greater ease. They also could be depriving you of a VP (or multiple!) by displacing you using your own leadership. They didn’t have to pay any power and they got one of the best effects in the game by moving your models. A leadership that gives marginal advantage over the course of the game but can absolutely lose you some amount of VPs is not something I think will be consistently winning you games.
Maximus’ superpower allows him to advance any model with an activated token Short, which by itself can be worth a VP every round. Either you are moving your characters onto points to contest/score or you can moving enemy models off of points and depriving them of VP. That is, if Maximus has the power and range to be effective with this superpower and he is able to active and not be Dazed/KO’d. Maximus has a very weak physical defense so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that he gets targeted and taken down by your opponent.
Maximus does bring a dose of much needed mystic attacks to the affiliation but I think he is not the primary or secondary leader for the Inhumans. I don’t even take him in my 10 because I don’t think he is consistently scoring me VP like my other models are.
The Enablers
Lockjaw (Threat: 3)
This good boy can be a great support piece that enables your game plan. Lockjaw can gain extra power when he activates if he is within Range 2 of a friendly model. He can also use his teleport superpower as an action to greatly reposition a friendly model into an advantageous position when they activate. His other superpowers, a size 3 terrain Throw and enabling extra attack dice against a marked enemy model are also good superpowers to have on hand.
However, I think I rate Lockjaw lower than most other people and I don’t prefer him as my enabler in my teams. Lockjaw has to activate within Range 2 of a friendly model to gain his 3 extra power. This power can be great for using on his superpowers but the play pattern would want you to activate Lockjaw first and make sure he’s next to other models. In games I play I don’t really want to have to place a babysitter next to Lockjaw so he always get the extra power for effects that aren’t really scoring me points or warping the game to my advantage. In the scenario where he is only generating 1 power a Turn, he isn’t particularly effective and I would much rather have another 3 Threat in that slot. Finally, in most Rounds I usually want to activate a pivotal model first that can make a big play and deprive my opponent of an activation.
One cool possibility for Lockjaw includes activating him first in Round 1 to interact with multiple objectives. He has two move actions and a Great Refuge place from Black Bolt and extra power to interact with Extracts where you can pick up multiple (Fear Grips, Cubes), Secure Crisis like M’kraan where he can flip multiple Secures in one activation, or a combination of a pay-to-flip Secure and an Extract. Possibly interacting with 3 objectives can be powerful. His attacks are nothing special and he can have poor activations so I don’t bring him in my 10.
Karnak (Threat: 3)
Karnak is my preferred enabler for the roster because he has a better average activation and provides more flexibility in the activation order. Karnak has 3/3/4 defenses with a re-roll and Martial Artist which can be really good defensively against an attacker within Range 2. In addition he has the ability to hand out Weakness tokens which can boost his defenses to a place that is truly daunting to attack into or make his next attack very strong into the enemy model with the Weakness token. For that reason, he is very good at holding a flank against a single enemy model who is also standing on the same Secure that he is. His builder having a Wild trigger push of any size makes him even better in this role.
He also has access to the Meditate superpower which can give 2 extra power at the cost of an action and Black Bolt’s leadership allows him to share that power once per Turn. The way I usually play this is when a single move action can put him onto a Secure or Extract (or preferably both) and he can interact and Meditate, passing one power on that Turn and the next Turn for other models to start big plays in Round 1.
Karnak’s spender is a good attack, especially when he can make it into a model with a Weakness token on it already. Finally, he has the superpower to help friendly models count up to two Skulls as successes which can be pivotal to pushing through the last point of damage needed or surviving from an enemy attack. I don’t use this superpower very often but it’s great to have on hand. Overall, Karnak fulfills his role in the team to hold down a point, survive on the flank, has the ability to make big attacks, and enables his team by passing power when needed. For all of these reasons, he makes my 10 more often than not.
The Golden Boy
Quicksilver (Threat: 3)
No model has risen in my evaluation more than Quicksilver. This model does so many things within and for the team and I am putting him on the table almost every game. Much like Toad, he is a premium Extract runner who can make early plays then hold onto his Extract for the entire game, scoring consistently and helping my team get to 16 VP. While Toad has Slippery to get away after an attack does damage, Quicksilver has Can’t Catch Me which triggers when he is targeted and allows him to move Short. If at the end of the move he is outside of Range or LOS, the attack sequence ends. This can stop an attack before it even starts and makes taking Quicksilver down extra difficult.
Quicksilver has a 3/3/3 defense with 2 re-rolls against Physical or Energy attacks on in his Dodge roll. Quicksilver having Wall Crawler makes it so he always gets to where he wants to go and can often hide behind terrain to gain Cover or lose LOS from an enemy model. I would say this is better than Toad already and Quicksilver can pull off much bigger plays Turn 1.
Quicksilver has a couple options for Turn 1 plays that can start the game in your favor. Using Black Bolt as a leader and the Great Refuge TTC, Quicksilver can start in the middle of the table and reach either back F Extract on your opponent’s side of the board then long-move back to your side of the table.
Alternatively, Namor can activate first for you team, passing a power to Quicksilver then moving to the middle grabbing an Extract and moving onto a Secure. Then in the second activation another character can pass Quicksilver another power, resulting in 3 power which Quicksilver can use to move, then use his superpower Speedster to long move, leaving him 1 power to interact with an Extract on your opponent’s side of the board then long-move back to your side of the table. This play works best when you have priority and you’re playing on Spider-Infected crisis.
Finally, if you’re playing on an Extract Crisis which are Assets, you can wait to activate Quicksilver late in the Round then move up once and do his Builder attack. It’s a 4 dice Physical attack but if you’re attacking into a 4 dice Physical defense model you still have a ~52% chance of dealing 1 or more damage to them. This would give you the power you need to play the Can I Borrow That? TTC and steal their Extract on Turn 1. Preferably Quicksilver is also standing on a Secure point on your side of the board and by stealing the Extract he is safely holding it on your side of the table.
Quicksilver can be great late game running around the table doing multiple pay-to-flip Secures and scoring you more points or running into a distant corner with an Extract when you need just a few VP to win. His Spender is basically a hit and run so every part of his card provides you value. Quicksilver has scored me more points than any model and enabled Round 1 plays where I start several VP ahead of my opponent. For that reason alone he is worth taking every game and I will continue to do that.
The Worst of the Best
Crystal (Threat: 3)
Crystal is an interesting model because she seems similar to Quicksilver in that she is a small base long-mover with Flight indicating she is a good character to pick up an Extract. However, she doesn’t have any of the good superpowers that Quicksilver has. Instead she has a variety of attacks to choose from and the superpower to add an attack she hasn’t performed yet this activation. Her attacks have good Range but often only 4 dice with the Inhuman Re-roll. Her innate superpower that prohibits an enemy model from performing the Shake action on Incinerate, Slow, or Stun is rarely relevant. She then feels very underwhelming on the table. Quicksilver is better than her as an Extract runner and other Inhuman 3 Threats are better than her for attacks. She is outshined in every role and she is lowest on my list of effective Inhumans.
King Black Bolt (Threat: 6)
King Black Bolt suffers from two ailments: the other Black Bolt model is a great 5 Threat and has a great leadership so he is often played and excludes this model; and King Black Bolt is a mediocre 6 Threat and the opportunity cost of playing him over other models is too great; and he would have to be played under a different leadership for Inhumans and he doesn’t really fit into their play styles.
I can say that King Black Bolt is tough, with a 4/4/4 defense stat line, the Inhuman re-roll, and damage reduction superpower and a big pool of 15 total health. But good luck trying to get your opponents to attack into him. The best way I’ve seen King Black Bolt dealt with is ignoring him. King Black Bolt really isn’t that effective on an average activation. There isn’t nearly as many clumped up game boards anymore so his Beam attack isn’t going to hit 2 or more enemy characters very often. The ceiling for King Black Bolt is high with his ability to add dice to all the Beam attacks but it won’t happen very often. He can advance an allied character which is pretty good but situational. He has action economy with his Hit and Run superpower and his Spender allowing him to advance. Personally, I would much rather be playing the leader Black Bolt at 1 less Threat, so this model is not going to make my 10 very often at all.
Solidly Good Inhumans
Ronan the Accuser (Threat: 4)
Starting with the lowest on the list we have Ronan. Ronan is a model I want paired up against a size 4 enemy model, Throwing them all around the board and giving them Judgement which will heavily impair their ability to impact the game. He is great in this role and I will sometimes take Ronan if I think I will be playing against multiple Hulk models in a tournament. However, Ronan doesn’t have Inhuman re-rolls and his attacks can fail to do damage and get the triggers. He is a medium base short mover without any action economy so his average activation can sometimes be a move then an attack that doesn’t do much. For that reason, his last gasp attack is a good superpower but often doesn’t do as much damage as I wish it would. Ronan often doesn’t make my 10. He’s not a bad model, but the opportunity cost is too great when I could be taking Medusa or an unaffiliated 4.
Gorgon (Threat: 3)
Again, this is another model which I think I have a lower opinion of than the community at large. Gorgon has a lot going for him, he has a variety of attacks that have relevant triggers and different attack types. I particularly like Stun in this meta where models are gaining lots of power. He has a Taunt superpower and a Charge which both are generically good on most activations. Why shouldn’t I like this model? On paper he looks quite good and I can imagine his average activation being successful without too much effort.
In the end, I think of him as a Jack of all trades, good at everything but doesn’t excel in any one area. His Builder is good but I would rather have Karnak’s attack to push enemies off of points I am trying to score. Gorgon exerts very little control over the battlefield and doesn’t score as well as other models in the affiliation. Because of this, I will take Quicksilver, Karnak, and Ms. Marvel as affiliated 3 Threat models before I take Gorgon.
Beast (Threat: 3)
Beast is an interesting option to have in the Inhumans affiliation. To his credit, he is effective at holding a Secure objective with a combination of his Spender and his Throw superpower. He generates extra power through his superpower that gives him power for rolling a skull. His medium base and medium move with Wall Crawler makes him very mobile to move around the table. He has good defense line with 4/2/3 and has the ability to spend up to 3 power to re-roll that many defense or dodge dice. His spender also includes a medium move aftewards which can give him action economy.
His weaknesses are definitely his 2 Energy defense dice. Even with re-rolls 2 defense dice can be punishing, especially if your opponent is able to put an incinerate on him. Beast excels into a Physical match-up and on Dodge rolls, but struggles against an Energy attacker. Sometimes you can set up the game so it’s not a factor and sometimes you can’t. It’s definitely something you need to keep in mind when playing Beast.
Secondly, his Builder attack can be tricky to play with. It is a 5 dice Range 3 Physical attack with a Wild trigger to place him Range 1 of the target. Sometimes it’s a trap because you’re not on a Secure yet but you have the option of either 1) walking on the Secure or 2) attacking the enemy model on the Secure and hoping you get the Wild trigger to effectively get a Hit and Run out of your Builder. Furthermore in scenario 2) you could get the Wild trigger and place and gain power so you can use your Throw superpower. It is huge value for just the Builder! In my experience sometime I strand myself in the middle of the table fishing for the Wild trigger on the Builder when I could have just walked onto the point. There is also the scenario when you are already on a point but have the option of attacking someone in the middle of the table. You have the possibility of hitting your Wild trigger and forcing yourself to place off of them, effectively losing your positioning on the Secure. This is your fair warning that Beast’s Builder attack can be a tricky proposition. It has a high ceiling but you shouldn’t ever count on it to go the way the want. Plan for the eventuality that Beast gets a low-roll and try to go for the 100% chance plays instead of the risky ones.
Ms. Marvel (Threat: 3)
Ms. Marvel is a toolkit for the affiliation that I think is really effective for her Threat level. She has a 3/4/3 defense stat line with the Inhuman re-roll which makes her tougher than average and good at doing Energy pay-to-flip Secures. She has a Range 4, 4 dice Physical Gainer that on a Wild trigger pulls enemy models size 2 or less toward herself. On her “small” form she also has a size 2 Range 3 Throw of either terrain or enemy models. All of this together makes her a good model for controlling the board by pulling enemy models off of points and toward your team where you can gang up on them and try to Daze/KO them.
While doing damage with her attacks is an added benefit, the main reason to be using her is the ability to gain 1 power every attack and also the possibility to pull an enemy model. For that reason I try to pair her up against an enemy model of size 2 or less that she can move around and also Throw with her superpower. Remember the push towards superpower means you cannot collide with their model and if they are close enough you can pull through completely to the other side of your model, which is really helpful to get an enemy model off the Secure you are both contesting.
She also brings flexibility in her kit with the ability to Embiggen. She goes from a small base to a large base placed within Range 1 of herself. The new attack is a Builder at Range 3 which should give you enough reach to target your enemy of choice. The Builder is now 5 dice physical attack with two re-rolls if you’re targeting someone size 3 or less, which is the majority of models in the game. Don’t forget your Inhuman re-roll. You’re very likely to get several successes and since it’s a Builder you’ll gain power based on damage dealt. Ms. Marvel also interacts with objectives at Range 2 while she is Embiggened. This mode is great for dealing damage and with the transformation from small base to large base back to small base you also get some movement effects baked in. Conceivably it could be used to Embiggen and interact with multiple objectives since you are very fast with the Range 2 interact superpower.
The only awkward part of her card is that her Throw superpower is only on her small size form and there is no ability to use it on her activation after she Embiggens. So if you have the power at the start of her activation, you might think about Throwing before Embiggening!
I think Ms. Marvel is good for holding down a back Secure point, with Range to reach some enemy characters and the ability to control the area around her pretty effectively. She can stand up to some attacks and if she’s fed power she can use it effectively to crack back. I take her often in my 10 and sometime in my teams.
Tactics Cards
Terrigenesis
This card has such a high ceiling I’ve decided to try and leverage it into almost every single game I play. It targets and enemy model holding a Civilian Extract token. You pay 3 power and you roll 4 dice and for every hit, crit, or wild you do 1 damage to them. If you manage to Daze or KO them then you immediately score 2 VP. I think this is already a low bar for scoring 2 VP when the game is pretty stingy about awarding VP on TTCs. But also, the obvious next step in the game state would be if you Daze or KO an enemy model holding an Extract, they’re no longer scoring that Extract until they pick it back up, so you’re possibly depriving them of a VP. Furthermore if you’re able to pick up that Extract you’ll be the one scoring it at the end of the Round. The 2 VP from the card + the VP you deprive from them + the VP you score from picking it up is a swing of 4 VP. You want to try and give yourself the best odds so target a character who only has 1 Health remaining and doesn’t have any damage reduction superpowers that can reduce to 0. Remember you can also target grunts holding Extracts!
The Great Refuge
I discussed this card at length above in the Quicksilver report. It can be used as a Round 1 play to safely grab an opponent’s back Extract using Quicksilver and Black Bolt as your leader. Other than this application, it can be used as a generic reposition card for allied characters without an Extract as long as your leader pays 2 power each. This application is much more situational and hard to plan for the perfect use. It is still powerful even if you’re moving one character so they can perform multiple attacks once they flip to their Damaged side. If I don’t have a plan for it Round 1 then this card is more average and I will sometimes take it but not always.
Inhuman Royal Family
I do like this card in pivotal turns during the game. Each Inhumans allied character can pay 2 power and each who do can re-roll any attack or defense dice once in the Round. I find the 2 power worth the re-rolls and it makes my opponent have to make decisions on whether to attack into a character who has the re-rolls available. In the timing chart you get favorable timing for defensive re-rolls so you can see what your opponent has before you decide. They hardly ever go unused during the Round and can confirm damage on an opponent or keep you alive to score during the Round. There will always be a pivotal round during your game so this card will always be useful and I take it more often than not.
Inhomo Supremis
During the power phase an affiliated Inhuman can spend 4 power and during this Round when a character is within 3 of another Inhuman and they are re-roll attack dice using the Inhuman superpower, they can re-roll 2 dice instead of 1. I think this card looks good but is a little too prohibitive in its costs for it to be worth bringing. Also to note, some affiliated Inhumans do not have the Inhuman superpower and therefore do not benefit from this card. Quicksilver, Ronan, Beast all cannot benefit from this card so I usually don’t bring it in my 10.
Attilan Rising
Any Injured Inhumans character can play the card and each allied Inhumans character gain a power for each injured allied Inhuman characer. This card can help you catch up in the game, but overall doesn’t feel like it does enough to justify a TTC spot in your 10. It only benefits your allied Inhumans and only to the tune of the amount of injured Inhumans you have. I don’t bring this in my 10 since there are much better options.
Inhuman Queen
We discussed this card above in the Medusa section since this is her leadership on a card. It does cost you a slot in your 10 but I like the flexibility of having an attrition based leadership available. This leadership is worth the slot because it gives you a lot of benefit for fulfilling your game plan: knocking out your opponent’s models. I also find this game plan works well when your attacks also displace enemy models. I really like to play this leadership with Immortal Hulk who will always benefit from the extra power, the short move, and healing a damage. His Builder has displacement and he has a place superpower. Namor and Baron Zemo with their additional re-roll bubbles also work well under this leadership. Affiliated characters Ms. Marvel and Beast work well with their ability to displace enemy characters back into your team. An Embiggened Ms. Marvel getting the short move into another Builder attack has been very potent in my experience.
Play Style & Crisis Options
My general game plan for the Inhumans has been to take Civilian Extract Crises in shapes that really benefit the Great Refuge gameplan. Getting ahead on Extracts Round 1 will help you get ahead in VP early while Terrigenesis will help you stay ahead in later Rounds. Of the 4 Civilian Extract Crises I usually leave Senators behind since I don’t want to play on a Crisis that limits my movement and doesn’t allow my characters to pick up a token then move away. All of the others: Skrulls, Spider-Infected, and Unexpected Guests I think are A+ crises for my team. Even if I lose priority but get to take my Extracts, I feel like I am favored to win the game.
For Secures I try to pick Crises that are spread out and encourage objective based play. I usually take Riots, Scoundrels, and Infinity Formula. These can really hamper an opponent who is trying to play attrition and your models are good at standing on Secures so they should favor you.
Planning out your Round 1 is very powerful. With priority I am looking at my safe midline Extract grab if available on my first activation then an opponent side Extract on my second activation. Without priority my first activation might be the opponent side back Extract followed by contesting all of the other objectives on the board. Your team is very consistent with all of the Inhuman re-rolls so you can still play the long game and take Round 1 slowly as needed. Try to stay even on VP and using Terrigenesis or Can I Borrow That? Can give you the VP edge later in the game. Try to think through your activations to maximize VP scored and don’t fall in the trap of losing VP to brawl. Follow your gameplan of taking and holding Extracts while fighting over Secures and you should be very successful.
Example Lists
You might like playing this affiliation if you want access to a robust roster of affiliated characters with varied and interesting roles. Their Inhuman superpower will have you re-rolling all game long which boosts an already impressive stat line from most characters. The Black Bolt leadership will really enable you to use your superpowers earlier and more frequently. Although they aren’t the most popular in the culture or the game I can say that they are a very strong affiliation to be playing in the current meta. I would definitely recommend starting with the Black Bolt + Medusa box. Picking up the Inhuman Royal Court affiliation box will give you access to the newest models and cards. Ms. Marvel and Quicksilver are also great to supplement this. Now you have an amazing start to a competitive affiliation.
If you’re looking for places to play your new models we have some tournaments coming up in my neck of the wooks. On June 28th I’m going to be playing in my first team event for MCP at my home shop, the Fabricator’s Forge outside of Pittsburgh. Our next Appalachian Cup event is a standard tournament in South Charleston, WV on July 19th. We’d love to see you out if you’re in the region.
If you’re looking for MCP models, look no farther than the FLG online store. You can find new and resale models to build up your teams, create strong rosters, and play at your local gamestore.