In a surprise jump in schedule, we now have Onslaught coming to Marvel: Crisis Protocol in early September! Atomic Mass Games just previewed his character card, Team Tactics cards, and his affiliation so lets dive in and discuss where Onslaught fits into the meta.
Onslaught in Marvel Comics
Onslaught is a peak 90’s Marvel comics character design, with huge muscles and spiky bits all over the place. Just look at this guy, he’s imposing and completely impractically dressed. It’s a good thing he’s more of a manifestation of an astral being because I don’t know how you could make or put on that armor.
Onslaught was born in Charles Xavier’s mind as a manifestation of the psyches of both Magneto and Professor X. Onslaught is the actualization of the evil impulses and plans of Magneto with the feelings of disillusionment and guilt in Charles Xavier. Once materialized, Onslaught is one of the most powerful psychic beings in existence. Once Onslaught gained enough power he escaped from Xavier’s mind and almost succeeds in merging the astral and material planes by bending reality to his own will. Onslaught is only defeated through the combined efforts of the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four.
AMG seemed very eager to try and bring Onslaught into MCP, so how do they represent this ultimate villain in the game?
Onslaught’s Grip
In Marvel: Crisis Protocol Onslaught is our second native 8-Threat character in the game (after Dormammu). Onslaught also has the same leadership style that Dormammu has; they can both take any model in the game (excluding any other Peerless models) and any squad containing them has to use their leadership, they cannot play under any other leadership.
8-Threat is a huge chunk of Threat to put onto the table so it needs to be very effective and doing the work of multiple models in a single activation. Usually models with this high of Threat have the ability to effect the table in multiple ways that also further their own game plan. They often have the ability to move themselves around the board, make very powerful attacks, and support their allied models. They are also much tougher to take down than the average model.
Onslaught does check all of these boxes but on first impression he does seem lacking in several areas that Dormammu is better at. Onslaught is a model that is better at controlling the board and has a mix of superpowers at his disposal.
Movement abilities
Using every action to its highest effect on an 8-Threat is very valuable, so usually you want to be using other effects to move this model around the table. He does have the ability to Place himself at Range 5 for 5 Power. This is pretty costly and probably will only be used once or twice a game and definitely not in the first Round. The most obvious fix for this is using Lockjaw who can teleport Onslaught up the table at Range 3 in the first Round. A Range 3 Place on a large base means Onslaught is effectively on the mid-line and ready to rumble.
If you do need to use an action to advance, Onslaught is at least a large base with a Medium move so he’s covering ground. If you’re not bringing Lockjaw, Onslaught can still often advance once onto a point and have Range to Mind Spike attack an enemy model on the midline and bring them closer into his team.
Finally, Onslaught is a size 5 character so he’s really resilient to being Thrown or Pushed. You will still need to be wary of effects that can force him to advance or Place which can sometimes be an effective Stagger on this character. You can invest some Threat into an allied model with the Shield Mind superpower like Moondragon. If you’re facing off against an Onslaught it would be worth it to take a character that can advance Onslaught like Ultron Metal Tyrant or Place him like Red Skull Master of the World.
Defensive abilities
Onslaught has an interesting mix of defenses. He has only a 3/4/4 defensive dice with an 8/9 Stamina pool. He is immune to Stagger, Stun, and Bleed which are nice so he’s not completely shut down with repeated Staggers and Stuns. However, Onslaught really hates when you put the Incinerate special condition on him and make his defensive dice even worse. He’s also having a bad day if he’s getting Shock, Hex, Judgment, or Root.
Thankfully, Onslaught has damage reduction to a minimum of zero from enemy effects so he’s extremely resilient to small amounts of damage coming his way. We can break this down into damage he can expect from a regular Builder and damage from a typical Spender.
First, here’s a damage table for a 5 dice attack coming at Onslaught that is Physical or Energy.
| Damage | % chance |
| 0 | 49% |
| 1 | 23% |
| 2 | 16% |
| 3 or more | 12% |
It is most likely he takes no damage from the attack with chances that he takes a low amount of damage most of the time. It’s probably not great to throw a bunch of low quality 5 dice attacks at Onslaught. However, we know that MCP is a game where dice can spike and flat damage reduction doesn’t do as much against a large number of attack successes. You’ll probably want to be sending Spender attacks at Onslaught with larger dice pools.
Here’s a breakdown for an 8 dice attack that is either Physical or Energy.
| Damage | % chance |
| 0 | 19% |
| 1 | 17% |
| 2 | 20% |
| 3 | 18% |
| 4 or more | 21% |
You can see that the stats swing much more likely to push through damage and do large amounts of it. To that end, you’ll want to protect your 8-Threat Onslaught on the table. You can bring models with Bodyguard or Taunt superpowers that force the enemy model to re-direct their attack into them. Luke Cage and Gorgon both have superpowers on their cards and similar Team Tactics cards which can take an enemy Spender attack on the chin and keep Onslaught in the game. It’s also a combo that if they Daze or KO then Onslaught is gaining Power for a big activation!
If you manage to Throw Onslaught he reduces the single point of damage down to zero so you’re not pushing any damage that way. If you’re Throwing terrain into Onslaught his damage reduction will cap the damage at 2 and it’s very likely he’s only taking 0-1 damage from the Throw. You can do it as another avenue to push damage on Onslaught but it won’t be super effective.
The leadership
Onslaught’s leadership gives power to Onslaught when an allied character is Dazed or KO’d by an enemy effect. This means that unlike most leaderships in the game, the models taken will get no benefit to playing under Onslaught. Only Onslaught can benefit from this leadership which can also be limiting. This leadership does not trigger if the allied model Dazes/KOs to an allied or Crisis effect. Onslaught will also not benefit from the leadership if he’s currently Dazed.
This leadership is all about funneling Power to Onslaught. Onslaught can use the Power fairly well with his attacks, superpowers, and his TTCs. But this leadership never triggers if your allies aren’t taking attacks, which is a big reason why I’m thinking I need models that force opponents to attack into them.
The offensive abilities
Onslaught has three different attacks with three different Ranges and three different attack types. First, his Builder is a Range 2 Physical attack with a Crit+Wild trigger to Throw the enemy before damage. This trigger hits ~40% of the time and you should never rely on it to happen when you need it to. Also, if you’re attacking into the typical 4 dice Physical defense you should expect around 2 damage on average and that much Power back in case you are looking at building more Power in the middle of your Activation. I think you should rely much more on his 3 Power in the Power Phase and the leadership to get you Power instead of this Builder.
Secondly, we have the best attack on his card with the Mind Spike Mystic Range 3 Power cost of 1, 8-dice attack with a guaranteed effect of Advancing the enemy model short. For a single Power, getting an 8 dice attack at Range 3 that displaces enemy models automatically is what Onslaught wants to be doing. This represents Dazing/KOing enemy models at its ceiling and its floor is moving them wherever you want short. It can make sure your opponent isn’t scoring Secures which will elongate the game which benefits the Onslaught game plan. It’s hard to think of a scenario where this attack isn’t going to be good in some way.
Finally, Onslaught has a Range 4 Energy Spender that costs 6 Power and is 8-dice. This attack also guarantees 2 additional damage on the target an all enemy models within Range 2 of the target. The worst part of using a Spender is not getting through any damage and missing all your triggers. This Spender does not have that problem. You have automatic damage above any damage you do on the roll and you have the opportunity to splash some damage on nearby enemy models and possibly get multiple Dazes, etc. This has a steep cost and this combined with the teleport superpower is 11 so you won’t be doing both back-to-back. Additionally, this gets pretty poor when targeting models with damage reduction. I’m glad he has this Spender on the card but its not how he wants to spend his Power all of the time.
Onslaught also has a pretty great terrain Throw superpower. 3 Power is still a premium for the 3 damage Throw effect but it’s a way to push extra damage and clear any terrain that is blocking line of sight for his attacks.
Onslaught also has the superpower that grants his allies the ability to aggressive move towards their attacker once per Turn. I think these types of effects are generally under-appreciated on first glance and it will be interesting to see it in action more. It will help allies stay on points and stay within bodyguard/taunt range as well. It can help models that don’t have the action compression of a Charge or Hit-and-Run superpower.
Team Tactics Cards
Onslaught comes with 4 Team Tactics cards that are helpful to his game plan but are also redundant effects to things already on his card. It will be up to you if you want these redundancies to bolster your game.
This TTC grants Onslaught a strictly better Juggernaut slide. It’s both movement tech and the ability to push a single point of damage onto an enemy model. Onslaught already has a teleport superpower and probably can use his Power to push more than 1 damage already. I think this is my least favorite card in the pack.
This card giving Onslaught the expensive ability to advance his allies that are within Range 5 of him short. He already has the aggressive move superpower for his allies on his character card. This also compares very unfavorably to a card like Avengers Assemble. Onslaught will have much better uses for his Power most of the time.
After reading this card again it can effect allies or enemy models. It does represent a powerful way to control the board in a manner that benefits Onslaught so I can see it being played. Still expensive and has to be played during his activation, but much better than my original reading.
This card is an attack card but with the additional text that enemy models can pay 2 Power and drop objective tokens to get away from the area attack. This card has some play for me because it can target enemy models that are looking to score VPs by holding Extracts and standing on Secures and stop them from doing that. By using this card you are probably depriving enemy models of VPs and Power which will help Onslaught’s game plan. You can also use his 5 cost teleport and this card if you have 9+ Power so it’s a great play in that scenario.
Finally, we have a TTC that block enemy dice modification for a Round when they’re attacking into or being attacked by Onslaught. Onslaught will always have the Power available to him in the Power Phase that he needs to play this card and it can be a very powerful effect against teams that are using re-rolls consistently like Web Warriors. I think the effect is worth taking the card and will shine in certain games.
Example Onslaught Roster
This is the list I am currently trying out on the table. Basically every model in the list supports Onslaught in some way, either through taking attacks for him, moving him around the table, modifying enemy attack dice, healing up Onslaught, or giving Onslaught his own dice modification. Emma Frost and Spectacular Spider-Man are also great objective-focused models who boast a lot of enemy displacement.
My Crises are on a layout that I think Onslaught can sit on a Secure while being able to target enemy models with his Range 3 Mind Spike attack. I also want low scoring Crises so the game goes on longer. This is a hyper supportive Onslaught list which I think can take advantage of his leadership. However, you could also probably build a list that sends a bunch of glass cannons onto the table and makes your opponent have to deal with them before they push a bunch of damage.
Finally, this Onslaught list is missing a strong second affiliation to pivot to. There are Crisis layouts and games where you really don’t want to bring Onslaught so you should have a back-up plan for those scenarios.
Conclusions
What do you think about Onslaught coming to Marvel: Crisis Protocol? I’m happy he doesn’t look like a totally busted 8-Threat model that will be running rampant in the meta. I think he’s as balanced as an 8-Threat model should be and in fact might be a little less good than 8-Threat Dormammu. I cannot wait to get this model painted up because I think it’ll look great on the table. This scale of model (Hulk, Abomination, Iron Monger) have always been stand-outs for modeling and ease of painting.
Do you want to hear me talk about Onslaught on a podcast episode? Check out the Crit-Hit-Wild podcast where I guest on their latest Onslaught discussion episode. We break it down in detail and give him our letter grades! You can find me testing out Onslaught in person at my local game store, the Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh, PA area. It’s a great space and we’ll be hosting some big MCP tournaments there coming up soon. Interested in MCP tournaments in the West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and Ohio areas? Join the Appalachian Cup discord server to find a game near you! Finally, if you’re looking for discount models, check out the Frontline gaming webstore! I hope you are enjoying the state of MCP as much as I am right now (a very large amount) and good luck and happy wargaming!
