Atomic Mass Games just dropped an absolutely massive character refresh to Marvel: Crisis Protocol. This represents a complete rebalance of the game through character, leadership, and Team Tactic card tweaks.
Introduction
The overall philosophy of this refresh is to give a majority of characters in the game a larger health pool, especially 3 Threats but also a lot of 4 Threats as well. ~115 characters got their health pools buffed which means that the average game of MCP will be bringing a lot more Stamina to the table overall.
The simple act of increasing the health of characters will be impactful for the game. It means those models will stay on the board for longer, they will generate more Power by taking more damage over the course of the game, and they will be able to use their Power more often because they’re alive for longer. It will make 3 Threats much more valuable and attractive to take in your team.
In fact, some of these buffed 3 Threats are looking really above the curve and will be very appealing to put into lists over characters with higher Threat level. My early impression of the balance is that go-wide lists will be especially good with these changes and may be a better strategy than many high-Threat lists. (This will be especially true because of Peerless which we will discuss later.)
This change also feels like an overall nerf to pure attrition strategies. Attrition having to chew through even more points of Stamina on the board feels like they won’t be able to turn the corner before their opponent can score out. Attrition has already had to lean into Control to slow down the scoring of their opponent but it feels like a purely offensive model is going to suffer because of these changes.
These changes probably will benefit the objective-based teams the most, or team who want to brawl and can play a more mid-range strategy. Games will probably go longer, your models will survive a bit longer, and they’ll be able to use their Power over the course of the game. More die rolls are one way to mitigate a really big spike in dice by your opponent. Teams that also have inherent dice re-rolling effects will like this since they will on average have better dice quality than their opponent.
Health Changes
Virtually all of the Stamina changes were an increase in overall HP. This falls in line with AMG’s stated goal to have 2 Threats around 8 total Stamina, 3 Threats at 12 HP, 4 Threats at 14 HP, and 5 Threats at 15 HP. This brings up the bottom of the Threat curve in terms of HP quite significantly.
Since most high Threat models stayed the same HP for this update, we’re now seeing a some lower Threat characters with more HP than some 5+ Threat characters. In this new MCP landscape it looks like you could be taking multiple lower Threat characters to get more activations, more HP, and the ability to spread over the board and cover more points. This is particularly helpful with the new Source token where you have to get a new Extract from the Source every single Round.
Some characters were helped significantly with HP buffs:
- Phoenix got a total of 4 more HP, although it may not matter because her Phoenix token economy can automatically KO her and take her off the board anyways.
- Spider-Woman, Archangel, Winter Soldier Operative, Silver Sable, Nightcrawler, and Elektra all got 3 additional HP and they should go from marginal models to be much more competitive.
- Shadow King, Steve Rodgers, and Mister Sinister all got 3 additional HP and various buffs to their character cards. We will see where they shake out in gameplay but they will definitely be more viable than where they were before.
The Grunts
- Hand Ninjas finally got the ability to interact with Source tokens to pick up Extracts. This is a quality of life upgrade that the SHIELD Agents got a long time ago. You can now bring Shadowlands Daredevil or Elektra knowing that your Hand Ninjas will be able to pick up any type of Extract that you’ll be playing on.
- HYDRA troopers were a big part of Red Skull Master of Hydra’s power level and they took a big hit in his re-work. These HYDRA troopers have the ability to sit on Secure objectives and they can pop out late in the game to win VPs on Secures pretty easily. Because of their inherent value they now have less HP and lost some range on their attack. They’re still going to be able to score objectives though so they’re still very strong.
Peerless
Peerless is a relatively new keyword that means you cannot field two models with the Peerless keyword in your squad that you put on the board. Fundamentally this is blocking the player’s ability to combine some really powerful high Threat models in ways that we’ve seen in the past and honestly have been pretty unfun to play against. Therefore, I’m understanding and supportive of their attempt to limit these combos.
Peerless also means that AMG can continue to design and create high Threat models without having to worry that they will break the game. Previously we’ve only had Peerless on Thanos, Kang, Dormammu, and Adam Warlock. After the update Peerless has been added to: Apocalypse, Magneto, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Black Bolt, King Black Bolt, Malekith, Red Skull Master of HYDRA, Phoenix, and Immortal Hulk.
Awkwardly, giving Cosmic Ghost Rider Peerless means he can’t be played under either Adam Warlock or Thanos where he’s affiliated. It is also a rule that both you and your opponent will have to remember in case someone accidently makes an illegal Squad with two Peerless models on the board at the same time.
Leaderships
We didn’t see any completely new leaderships in this update but we did see some leaderships change and one leadership removed.
- Hulkbuster got a whole re-work on his character card and he lost his leadership for the Avengers. I think this model will actually see more play on the tabletop now since his design became much more about his individual model and he was overall buffed.
- Captain America 1 got his leadership changed so that it refunds a character 1 Power the first time they spend Power on a superpower. I think this is a great change that will reduce the ability to abuse the leadership on the first Round of the game but still be very powerful. In fact, now it applies to superpowers that only cost 1 and for superpowers with the cost of X so it actually might expand the characters that want to play under Captain America 1. I would expect to continue to see this Avengers roster hit the table consistently and be very effective.
- Black Bolt’s leadership was changed so that Power can only flow to the currently activated character. Again, this should reduce the amount of shenanigans in the first Round that can occur. It definitely is more restrictive in the sense that you can’t continuously load up a single character with Power over multiple Turns of the Round. However, the Black Bolt leadership is just extremely strong with the Power moving and I think Inhumans have a very competitive group of models to use.
- The Weapon X leadership Tactics Card also got positive changes. This has been a pretty maligned affiliation and I am very unfamiliar with how it plays on the table. This will be a wait and see if this affiliation can gain any traction and be competitive.
Strategic Genius
AMG decided it was time to fix the free re-rolls on two 3-Threat characters: Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker. Their free re-roll on attack and defense for themselves and allies within Range 2 was just too much value for these low Threat models. Baron Zemo has been a top tier model for the life of the game and also was put into lists that abused his re-roll ability (double bubble SHIELD).
In exchange both the Barons lost Strategic Genius and instead received Strategic Insight. Strategic Insight allows for the Baron to spend 1 Power to grant a re-roll in the attack or defense roll to themselves or an ally within Range 2. It can also only be used once per Turn. Making it cost a Power that has to be spent by the Baron and making it once per Turn is a huge reduction in power level for this ability.
I think this will be similar to when the Deception TTC and the X-Ceptional Healing TTC were replaced with much worse TTCs in the form of Stolen Identity and Instant Recovery TTC respectively. The new ability is middling and people really aren’t enthused to play with it.
Baron Helmut Zemo (4 Threat) will continue to have Strategic Genius and his stock may rise just because he’s now the cheapest model in the game with this ability. Namor (5 Threat) has the same ability with a different name so if you’re looking for re-rolls they will still be available to you.
Changes to keep an eye on:
- Shang-Chi has a pretty sweeping re-work that touches on a lot of his attacks and superpowers. His Builder’s Stagger trigger became even more difficult (Crit+Block+Skull) but it is also on die faces that aren’t attack successes so perhaps even if you don’t damage the enemy, you may be giving them a Stagger instead. His superpower that goes along with his Ten Thousand Shapes Strike was also nerfed in effect, cost on his Injured side, and when you have to pay the Power (before damage). In exchange he did received one more stamina on his healthy side and his Wild Goose superpower on his Injured side was buffed to be used after the attack has resolved. His base kit is still extremely strong so I think he remains competitive but time will tell.
- Magneto also received a pretty massive re-work. His excellent Builder and leadership remains the same so his core reason to play him will be the same. He gets a new Spender that will be devastating in the right circumstances. He’s still slow to move around the table, but now he has a superpower that can stop him from being Pushed, Thrown, or Advanced away from the action. His mobility was hurt by changes to the Asteroid M TTC since now it needs to be used in the Power phase. This will stop him from teleporting up the table in the middle of Round 1. We’ll need to wait for the die-hard Magneto fans to let us know if he’s a mainstay in the competitive scene and if he’s going to be splashed in anything other than Brotherhood.
- The Servants of Apocalypse affiliation got a boatload of changes and only time will tell if they remain a competitive affiliation with one of the top win-rates or not. First, the Apocalypse Master of the Horseman card gains an Evolution token during the Cleanup Step instead of Power and restricts using the tokens for rerolls to only defense dice. The Death horseman card got more expensive superpower, the Pestilence horseman card got cheaper superpower, and the War card is limited to once per Turn now. Overall this is aimed at lowering the power level of the Servants of Apocalypse. However, nearly every single model affiliated got buffs including some of the best models already being played in affiliation. I can see Apocalypse players being able to roll with these changes and keep on winning. It’s an affiliation that really rewards game knowledge and experience so we should continue to see it on the table in the year to come.
- Thor, Hero of Midgard has been on a roller-coaster of changes since his release. He was so powerful in his release state that he was subsequently nerfed. This update brings a buff to this Thor and hopefully makes him competitive but not too much of a terror on the table.
- She-Hulk got a re-work that splits her card into a Healthy and Injured side and brings her offense and defense up overall. I’m excited to see She-Hulk back on the table and looking forward to possibly seeing more A-force being played. I think these changes are an overall buff for her and she will actually last longer on the table than she did in her previous state.
- Hulk got changes that make him a less powerful model overall. His Place superpower became 4 cost which will limit his mobility on the first Round and throughout the game. His Throw also became limited to terrain but is still 2 cost and Throws Long. I think this may turn some players off from playing the Hulk competitively. For such a high Threat model he might not be doing enough anymore with these changes.
Small base, small move
Gone are the small base, small move characters. Mysterio, Supergiant, and both Crossbones are now graced with the ability to move medium. This is a great quality of life upgrade. If you were a character with this low of mobility you simply couldn’t compete on the board against most other models.
Mysterio is very happy to be flying Medium across the board and will function much better in his affiliation. Crossbones 2 also really likes the change since he has the Hit-and-Run superpower and he wants to line up his Beam attacks as much as he can.
Characters that I really like post-changes
- Ultimate Spider-Man got 2 additional HP, one on each side of his card. I think he was already a very competitive model with one of the best defensive re-roll superpowers and Stealth and now he has two more Stamina. His strike-back superpower gets buffed since he’ll be alive more often after getting attacked. He also benefits from another rule change that now allows him to Pull an enemy model with his Builder even if they already have the Slow condition on them.
- The Blob is one of the most annoying, tough, and tanky 3-Threats to deal with in the game. He just received another point of Stamina which will make him even better at locking down a Secure against all enemy models. His damage reduction also can push the enemy model away which is just a crazy strong superpower for a 3-Threat. Enemy models don’t really want to attack into him because of it and also because they can’t Push or Throw him with attack triggers. The Blob himself has a bunch of enemy displacement abilities on his attacks so he’s just a great model to have on the table.
- Psylocke is a brawling character that has three different defensive tech superpowers and now she received more health to go along with it. I think she’s going to use the HP very effectively to bully enemy models. She also has a bunch of TTCs that can be taken along with her model. I think she’s a bit under-rated and I want to see her on the table more.
- Beta Ray Bill is a very highly rated model with good defenses and damage reduction and he also just received a Stamina buff. He’s a great toolbox model and he’s taken in many competitive lists so I just expect to see him more and for him to survive even longer somehow.
- Emma Frost just got a major rework to her character card which made her a high tier model in the game. This update also adds more Stamina to the model which can only push her higher and higher in the competitive scene. She should be played in all her affiliations and probably splashed outside of them as well.
Overall Affiliation Winners and Losers
I think go-wide teams are the biggest winner in this update. Sam Wilson Avengers or a go-wide Cabal team might really have competitive legs. Brotherhood, Hellfire Club, and Servants of Apocalypse got really good buffs to their affiliated models so they just have lots of quality to choose from to make their roster.
As far as losers go, it looks like attrition teams will be struggling. I think Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker also were hit pretty hard when their Strategic Genius was taken from them. Zemo at least still has the more powerful character card of the two but I expect them to be played less.
Big movement cards (Mothership and Asteroid M) got timing changes that will reduce their ability to surprise your opponent with a model moving across the board during the middle of the Round. Apocalypse has a similar ability on his character card and although I think this is a nerf, it is much less punishing to use these cards later in the game now that Source Extracts go back in the Cleanup phase. I would expect these to still be useable in games.
Conclusions
Let me know your impressions of the changes. This is a massive re-work of the game as a whole so it will take time for the community to fully gauge the impact. Stay tuned for further discussion of these changes including some affiliation changes impact, competitive meta impact, and what shakes out to be the new best models in the game. We also have Onslaught coming next month which will be a very interesting addition to the game and I’m excited to see what he brings.
I’m so happy that we finally have these updates and I think the game will be fun and healthy for the upcoming season. AMG is being responsive and communicative around this release which is such a great thing to see.
You can always find me playing MCP at my local store the Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh PA area. I will be play-testing lots of new changes in the near future, so come check out our community. If you’re in the Ohio, West Virginia, or Western Pennsylvania area, check out the Appalachian Cup which is a competitive tournament circuit. Want to buy some discount models, check out the FLG online store for deals! Good luck and happy wargaming!
