With Adepticon anticipation growing, lets discuss what announcements we might see out of Atomic Mass Games for Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Adepticon has been a venue where AMG announces new models and their plans for a yearly rotation for what is Standard in MCP for the year.
Crisis change discussion and predictions
Already we know to expect the Tolerance is Extinction Crisis Pack this Spring which will change up the available Crises. We can expect old Crises to rotate out of Standard play while they introduce new Crises. They’ve already introduced two new Crises, the Lockdown Secure Crisis which shuts off a Secure point at random every Round.
There is also the Jailbreak Extract Crisis which introduces the mechanic of interacting with a ‘Source’ token every Round to get an Extract but at the end of each Round the Extracts disappear after they’re scored and you have to go collect them all over again. Both of these Crises introduce new mechanics that also slow down the game and that has led to some increase in attrition lists in the competitive meta. If this is any indication of the direction of 2026 Standard we may all be wanting to be dusting off our aggressive lists and starting to roll attack dice.
They’ve also talked about introducing the mechanic of a 90 degree arc of contesting some Secure Crises. If you’re within Range 3 of this arc then you may be affected by the “Zone token’s special rules”. Could this be a return of a Crisis that gives out the Incinerate special condition? Will the Zone token’s special rules empower models to roll more attack dice or gain more power? Or does it weaken the characters in the arc? It will definitely change how you want to position on the Secure and will influence where you want to stand to be able to Push or Throw an opposing model.
Character card changes introduction
In 2025 we also received two separate rounds of character updates, one in May and another in November. Adepticon is not only a great place for AMG to start showing off new models but also change the rules for existing models.
I think AMG has done a great job balancing the game as it pertains to model rules so I’m excited to see what changes they’re going to unveil this time around. They have stated their goal is to bring 3 Threats up to par by increasing their health pool/toughness so they can impact the game more before being taken off the table. The game has gotten more lethal so the older 3 Threats in the game are pretty fragile comparatively.
To that end, here are the changes I would make for the game to buff some less than competitive models and bring them back into the limelight. The list is quite extensive so for this article let’s just talk about the villains that could get changes and next article we can talk about the heroes.
The Villains
Sin
Sin’s entire power level is pretty much tied up in her excellent leadership. She is definitely one of those 3 Threats that can feel like a liability because she’s so weak defensively and that can feel bad when she’s also your leader. She has a 4/6 Health pool which probably can be increased to 5 / 6 which will also be a slight buff to her power economy with Heir to the Wicked. She could also get the Martial Artist superpower allowing her to count Blanks on some defenses while within Range 2. She is wielding a very big knife so she must have some skills.
One other buff I could see to this model is making her Spender just slightly better. Changing the second attack trigger from a Crit+Wild to a Hit+Wild or (thematically) a Hit+Skull would feel a bit better for this model. It won’t make a huge difference but we’re looking at subtle buffs that will feel good to play on the table.
Finally, I think she needs a lore buff in her Partners in Crime superpower. Changing the name from “allied Crossbones” to “allied Brock Rumlow” will allow this model to be paired with either Crossbones model in the game or any future Crossbones model (that is Brock Rumlow). Definitely a quality of life buff and would be a cool way to see the pair on the table more.
Crossbones
This is another old 3 Threat that could see some buffs to bring him back onto the table. His defensive tech is the reason to take him right now with a robust health pool of 6/5 and the Inured to Pain superpower which will give him lots of survivability.
He’s a big brawly bruiser and his defenses match that but his offensive is pretty weak. I could definitely see his Builder getting Wild Push enemy size 2 or less away Short and/or Wild+Wild give enemy Stagger special condition. Luke Cage has a similar Stagger text on his Builder so it isn’t unprecedented. It would make Crossbones feel like he’s mixing it up on the table and make him impactful.
Arnim Zola
A really cool model with lots of interesting superpowers which can give your team helpful effects but often at the cost of their own life. When I play this model in Hydra he always seems to get taken off the field because my opponents can just make Physical attacks into him.
His 2/3/4 defensive stat line with 6/6 health pool just seems a little under the curve. Giving him one more Physical defense die or changing his defense dice to 3/2/4 would be a nice quality of life buff. I think his Spender also gets a lot better if when it does damage it may advance the target character Medium and on a Wild give them a Slow.
Baron Mordo
Look, I get that the wizard characters are supposed to be weak to getting punched in the face. This is especially true for Baron Mordo who has a 2/4/4 defensive stat line with 6/5 health pool. Seemingly every other magic user in the game still has better Physical defense or defensive tech than Baron Mordo. Mordo could get something like 3 Physical defense dice or the Stealth superpower to help him survive in the game longer. I know Iron-Bound Books of Shuma-Gorath already is available to help him use his 4 Mystic defense in Convocation but he’s pretty weak outside of when you can use that TTC.
His superpowers are pretty unique including his Soul Barb which can spread conditions from one enemy characters to other within Range 2. He can already give out the Hex, Incinerate, and Poison conditions himself so I think it would be thematic to put a Slow trigger on one of his attacks. Alternatively, Soul Barb itself could start by giving Slow to the enemy character; then you get to choose one of the four conditions to spread. It would make the superpower a lot more relevant when we don’t get as much bunched up brawls anymore.
His Vaulting Boots of Valtorr is also very unique effect in the game. I think it is useful on the model but a niche effect. I wouldn’t mind it being changed to Pushed or Thrown or being reduced to a cost of 1 Power.
Hood
Hood is another semi-support character that just feels like he’s way too weak defensively to even put on the board and hope he’ll make a difference. He has a 2/2/3 defensive dice and 5/5 health which just seems miserable at first glance. He does has defensive tech but it’s pretty paltry. He can use his 3 Mystic defense and count Blanks at the cost of 2 Power against an attack or Dodge. Against 5 attack dice he’s changing the math from on average 2 damage down to 1 damage. Still, he’s not going to be able to stand up to many attacks if he has to spend 2 Power against even the most basic attack.
First, I think changing his Mystic defense to 4 dice and also changing his health pool to 6/5. It would be a bigger payoff for using his Invisibility Cloak. This would also be synergistic with the defensive tech on his Possessed form which reduces damage from an enemy effect by 2 to a minimum of 1. Secondly, I think we can change his defense dice on the Possessed side to 4/2/2 which will reflect his Mystic Vulnerability but make him much tougher to other attacks. Lastly, he has an Invisibility Cloak, this guy should have Stealth on his Normal form! He looks like any street level thug in a blood red cape!
Hood could fill the role of a support piece who also can give your opponent a hard choice of who to match up against him. He’s strong to Mystic on his Normal side but weak to Physical until he goes Possessed form and gets strong against Physical and weak to Mystic. I’ve really wanted to put Hood back into my Shadowlands Daredevil list and I hope he gets buffs so I can put him on the table again.
Mystique
Mystique is another example of a 3 Threat leader with an excellent leadership that sometimes can just get nuked off the table. A good player will almost always be able to target Mystique from outside of Range 2 but within Range 3 so she loses the Martial Artist effect and ends up being pretty weak defensively. She only has a 5/5 health pool which often doesn’t cut it against the newer models.
I think she definitely needs Stealth, but she’s also a character I could see getting an even better form of Stealth since she’s a shapeshifter known for her ability to slip in and out of even the most secure sites undetected. Giving her Super-Stealth (only able to be targeted from within Range 2) would definitely make her more survivable, especially paired with Martial Artist. It would represent your opponent not realizing Mystique is there until they’re right next to her and by that time she’s close enough to do Martial Arts on you.
There are a couple other powerful synergies with Stealth that could help her out. A Hit and Run superpower could let her make an attack then use her Long move to get out of Range 3 of the target forcing them to move into range before they can start attacking back. I could also see her Spender getting a range increase and an Elusive trigger similar to Black Cat where you can attack and possibly move out of Range for them to target you. It makes for a pretty nasty combination and can hamper your opponent’s action economy.
Viper
Viper is a 3 Threat Extract runner for the Cabal and Hydra affiliations. She has a Long move, a Range 2 Place, a 3/3/3 defense line, 5/5 health pool, and the Stealth superpower. Even though she shares all of those effects with Black Cat, she’s basically never played. Black Cat has an excellent defensive tech in the Bad Luck superpower which basically reduces your opponent’s attack pool to what they initially roll with no Crit effects and no re-rolls.
Viper’s Coiled Serpent makes her pay 2 Power and has to be within Range 2. I would rather Viper had a Enhanced Agility effect like Gambit to pay 2 Power and do a Damage to the attacker then advance Short. Alternatively giving her a Tricks and Traps superpower which can go off when an enemy ends a move within Range 3 of her and if she does damage she can advance Short. Perhaps in either one of those effects she can also automatically give out Poison or another special condition?
Her Spender also forces her to teleport to within Range 1 of the target. I would prefer if she could make a Medium or Long move after the attack is resolved. Giving the enemy the Slow special condition then moving away from them would be a much better effect for a model that wants to be running away from threats while holding on to an Extract token. It could also help her in the case where she needs to run down an enemy Extract holder so she can do her big Spender attack and give them Slow and move towards them. If she manages to Daze or KO her target she would probably be in position to pick up their Extract token.
What do we think about her Spender trigger being called “Venom” and not giving out Poison? Venomous and Poisonious are different but are we really splitting those hairs in games of MCP? Just a thought…
Vulture
Vulture is a more recent release but he’s in line with the weaker 3 Threats in the game. He has a 3/3/3 defensive stat line with 5/5 health pool and no defensive tech. Even if the rest of his card was exceptional (it isn’t) he probably would still be killed off the table before being able to do much. He has to either get a buff to his defenses like a 4/3/3 stat line with 6/5 health or get a superpower similar to Archangel’s Wing Shield. Wing Shield at the cost of 2 Power adds to 2 defense dice against a Physical or Energy attack or Dodge roll.
I think he might see more of a niche under Green Goblin if he had a Wild Pierce on his Builder which would synergize with the leadership and make him more of an attrition threat.
Kraven the Hunter
Kraven is another pretty weak Spider-Foe with a 3/3/3 defensive stat line and 5/5 heath pool. Kraven does get a re-roll on attack and defense rolls but that isn’t really cutting it anymore. Kraven stalks through the forest hunting his prey, he should get Stealth! Kraven also traverses on the tree tops while in the jungle and on the tops of buildings when in the urban jungle. He should get Wall Crawler!
Kraven is also definitely in deep with some Mystic influence, as reflected by his Elixir of Calypso. He could also get a buff by making his attacks give you the option of making the type Physical or Mystic. He often goes after Spider-Man by messing with his head so I think it would give him a nice thematic buff.
Finally Corner the Beast could be broadened to causing a damage any time the chosen enemy character made a move. It would hamper the Spider people from using their Web Swings more and it could also synergize with your own team being able to move the enemy character and getting the incidental buff of dealing a damage.
Darkstar
This Winter Guard support piece has a defensive stat line of 3/3/4 and a health pool of 5/5. Her defensive tech in the form of Darkforce Barrier could be expanded to add 2 defense dice against any attack type or Dodge roll with the bonus of the allied character cannot be advanced, pushed, or placed by the effects of the attack. She would also benefit from getting the Stealth superpower since she wields the Darkforce power which presumably can hide her from long range attackers.
It’s nice to have a character who has a Range 4 attack but also has Stealth because they can attack enemies while enemies cannot attack her from Range 4. It also feels like she should get a beefier attack on her Spender called Rending Force. You get to choose Physical or Energy typing and on a Wild give them the Bleed special condition and I just don’t feel like that lives up to the name Rending Force. With that absolutely metal of an attack name she should be giving out Dazed tokens on a (very low probability) trigger or giving out 3+ special conditions at a time. Proxima Midnight gives out Bleed, Poison, and Stun with her Spender if she does damage.
The Blob
I love The Blob. I think he’s criminally underplayed with nearly every line of text on his card being relevant and useful for the role he’s in. He can lock down a Secure better than almost any other 3 Threat in the game. The Ha, Ha, Ha, That Tickles! superpower is an effect that feels great to play on the table every time. It’s an effect so good that Iron Monger needs the Corporate Espionage TTC to get and it’s still a worse effect than Blob’s.
The Blob is only really seen in his affiliations of Brotherhood and Apocalypse. Perhaps increasing his affiliations will bring this superb model to the table more often. If he was Criminal affiliated I would be bringing him in my Kingpin list most game and probably over Iron Monger.
The Blob’s 4/2/2 defensive stat line also feels a bit paltry and if anything, he could get an additional Energy defense die. I could also see him getting Solid Frame which is a very niche defensive tech or a superpower which would nullify any Throw damage being done to him since he does have such resilient skin.
The problem with Healing Factor
I’m going to lump a bunch of characters under this banner because I think there is a problem in this game with Healing Factor. Healing Factor is not defensive tech. It won’t stop you from Dazing or KOing when you’re being attacked. We used to have the X-ceptional Healing TTC card which could save a character with Healing Factor from taking a bunch of damage and allowing them to utilize Healing Factor to make them pretty resilient once per game. Now we have Instant Recovery TTC which feels like a pretty bad replacement.
The examples of these characters that are falling behind defensively even though they have Healing Factor:
Angel: 3/3/3 defensive dice with 5/5 health pool and Healing Factor 1
Maverick: 3/3/3 defensive dice with 5/5 health pool and Healing Factor 1
Sabretooth: 3/3/3 defensive dice with 6/6 health pool and Healing Factor 1
Weapon X: 3/2/3 defensive dice with 5/5 health pool and Healing Factor 3 (but also loses defense dice while within Range 1 of a Secure token)
Other characters with Healing Factor also have some combination of defensive tech e.g. Damage reduction, Stealth, defensive re-rolls, adding defensive dice, some other form of healing, higher than average health pools, and stopping attacker’s Crit explosions. Healing Factor has both become not very relevant and not very impactful without other effects.
I think the Healing Factor superpower either has to change to make it more relevant or the models I discussed above need additional changes to help them have defensive tech. My only solution for Healing Factor is to change it so once per Turn if this character suffered damage, it may remove 1 (scaling with the Healing Factor number) damage from itself. This is similar to Apocalypse’s wording but weaker. It would definitely make them more tough but wouldn’t stop an attack that was going to Daze/KO the model already. Technically it wouldn’t force a change on every model’s card that has Healing Factor, it would just change the text of Healing Factor in the rule book so it wouldn’t force you to re-print all those characters.
The other option is to give us back a TTC that is more similar to X-ceptional Healing.
Nerf Baron Zemo
Baron Zemo one of the top models in the game and he does need to be brought back in line with the curve. At the least I think he could go from a Long mover to a Medium mover pretty easily. His Steel Rush Spender could cost more Power as well. Currently for only 4 Power you could target an enemy within Range 2 and get a 6 dice attack with re-roll any number, re-roll one from strategic genius, on a Wild give the defender Bleed, and also get a free Medium move after the attack is resolved. For another 2 Power you could also be able to Charge into the same sequence.
Alternatively, you could replace Baron Zemo’s Charge superpower with the Quick Step superpower from his second iteration which would constrain him to a Medium move for 2 Power but only if you aren’t holding an objective token.
Conclusion
Well there’s a whole boatload of Villian 3 Threat characters that could use a buff in MCP. I’m hoping we get those buffs and we see those characters on the table again. MCP models are great and it’s a shame that some of them just collect dust on the shelf instead of getting in the fray. What would you change about a villain model of your choice?
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article where we discuss hero models that could see changes.
Then come back after Adepticon where we’ll break down all the announcements!
You can find me playing Marvel Crisis Protocol at my local shop the Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh PA area. If you’re looking for discount models shop at the Frontline Gaming online store! If you’re in the West Virginia, Ohio, or Western Pennsylvania area check out our regional discord for MCP! Good luck and happy gaming!
