Marvel Crisis Protocol: 2025 Character Update Top 8 Wishlist

Hi, I’m Rowlf the Dog, a competitive Marvel Crisis Protocol player in the Pittsburgh area and I want to talk about the new, exciting changes coming to MCP very soon.

Recently at Adepticon, Atomic Mass Games announced that we can expect another round of existing character card updates coming in May 2025. Personally, I get very excited for existing character updates because it can breathe new life into lesser played characters or open up a whole new playstyle for an affiliation. You end up seeing a lot more variety after a character update and since every character is someones’ favorite character, it can excite new players, returning players, or old veterans like myself. 

I personally believe MCP is an incredibly well balanced and strategically interesting game, with good stewardship by AMG to balance characters and affiliations. Their 2023 character card update tinkered with 22 total characters and retrospectively was effective without being oppressive in their buffs or nerfs to characters. They demonstrated a deft touch and deep understanding of their game with smart changes that were true to the character and modified their effect in the game to a place more in line with the average power level. If you’re looking for a consistent but evolving game, I think you couldn’t do much better than MCP. 

With that in mind, I have thoughts about my desired changes to the game in 2025. I’m going to outline my top eight proposed changes to characters I think would help bring those characters back into the limelight and celebrate their identity. Disclaimer: these aren’t necessarily what I expect AMG to implement or perhaps not even what AMG is trying to achieve, but I think it is a fun exercise to analyze character cards to try to figure out why they aren’t quite as effective or popular in the game. This list contains buffs to existing characters for two reasons: I’m here to create more fun and variety in the game, not less; and I’m interested in updating some of the oldest characters in the game to modern power-levels. MCP has popular characters from all eras of its lifetime, but the oldest characters are more likely to be conservatively designed. They had more generic superpowers and effects and overall less total effects at their disposal. They have less raw power and they are strategically less interesting than a majority of other characters. 

The buffs I am proposing often will add text to the associated characters cards. Some MCP characters are already dense with text so I tried to choose characters who have blank space on their card. MCP is and should be an easy to pick up game and characters should be understandable whether you are sitting at home reading the card or having your opponent explain it to you in the middle of a busy game store. I also believe in characters having strengths and weaknesses. A character shouldn’t be good at everything to a high degree and I’m not trying to propose buffs that will simply cover up a characters’ weaknesses. Character identity and play style are important to the fabric of MCP and any changes should continue to honor that. 

Now let’s get into my top eight proposed character changes…

1. Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) Threat: 2

Natasha is already a pretty effective 2 threat in the game affiliated with A-Force, Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Winter Guard. Her long move paired with range 3 Stealth innate superpower and range 2 Martial Artist innate superpower make her a quick extract runner that can be difficult for opponents to take down without devoting some resources. However, her Pistol attack is completely textless, a problem I have both with the aesthetics and with the play design. I think this attack should have some upside associated with it, I propose to make it a gainer attack (gain 1 power after this attack is resolved). This fix solves both problems with one line of text and makes it a much more interesting choice for the character. 

You can do her range 2 energy strike and get power equal to damage dealt, or go with the known power gainer attack. Since her spender Mixed Technique attack and her Counter-Strike reactive superpower only cost two power the gainer can be a guaranteed way to have power to do something impactful.  

Finally, Winter Soldier’s Spetsnaz Training innate superpower grants a single reroll in the attack or defense of your character if the enemy character is within range 1. This would be an immediate game design and flavor win for Black Widow to have on her card. It could be re-named Black Widow Training or Red Room Training to better match her lore. It’s an uncommon effect but can give this character some depth and play options that would be fun to have on the table. 

2. Sin (Sinthea Schmidt) Threat: 3

Sin’s leadership always excites me since it can displace enemy models off of objectives and additionally cause enemies to drop objectives. In a game where scoring objectives is the primary win condition and some of the best tactics cards in the game strip objectives off of enemies, this should be a  BIG DEAL. Unfortunately, in practice Sin often can be easily targeted and Dazed/KO’d and she becomes a liability more than a strength on the field.  Often in MCP if your leader is taken off the table and you lose access to your leadership, you are going to be behind. Sin’s inability to stick on the table and impact the game makes her a poor choice as leader.  To boost her defenses, I propose adding the innate superpower Martial Artist, which would allow her to count blanks in her defense roll at range 2. The combination of Martial Artist and Stealth is a tried and true method of making characters last on the table longer.

Secondly, her reactive superpower Partners in Crime allows for an allied Crossbones to take his activation directly after hers which can be a powerful 1-2 punch to achieve your goals for the round. This card originally came out when there was only one Crossbones character, but now we have the Crossbones, Merciless Merc character as well. The Partners in Crime wording could be changed from Crossbones (locking it to the original Crossbones) to the alter ego Brock Rumlow and instantly include both variants of Crossbones which would offer more flexibility and ultimately a greater effect. 

Finally, her Make It Personal spender has a Crit + Wild trigger to make another attack but this time the attack type is Mystic. I want to change this trigger to a Hit + Wild which would change it triggering from about a third of the time to about half of the time. The basic fail states for this trigger still exist, meaning you have to hit the trigger and even if you do hit the trigger you still may not be able to get the additional attack because your opponent Dazed/KO’d off the first attack or has since moved out of range. 

All three of these changes are slight improvements but together should make her a much better model on the table while still keeping her main play style and her weaknesses intact. A Sin and Crossbones duo taking to the tables to play a mean, tough objective-focused Cabal roster would be a very cool development to see. 

3. Crossbones (Brock Rumlow) Threat: 3

Since we just finished talking about Sin, let’s jump to her Partner in Crime Crossbones. This is the original version of Crossbones that screams safe play design. Sometimes the tenet “less-is-more” rings true. Not this time. You can (and maybe should) show this card to a curious bystander and say this is what MCP is about. You move, you attack, you have some superpowers. Crossbones is the distillation of the core rules on a character card. But if you teach a demo game with this character, I think that a new player will be bored by this character before the game is over. 

Fortunately, we can add a few lines of text and make this card still very understandable, but also much more flavorful and interesting to play with. If we give his builder attack a trigger, say Wild push size 2 away short, and perhaps Wild + Wild give enemy character stun after damage. I think an empowered attack would be much more flavorful for this model which is literally in the process of making a huge punch. 

Secondly, I think giving him the Solid Frame innate superpower which reads: this character does not suffer damage from collisions with other characters, would fit his theme and boost his profile. Right now only Kingpin and M’Baku have this superpower and I think Crossbones would fit right in with this crowd. This superpower is also more effective than it might seem on first read. Throws are a great source of damage in this game (Brace for Impact is basically a must-take tactics card) and being immune to character collision damage can change the dynamic of a fight.

4. Black Dwarf (Black Dwarf) Threat: 4

Black Dwarf is a lesser loved member of the Black Order affiliation. While other members of the Black Order have character traits like subtlety and strategy, Black Dwarf is a big guy on a big base with a big axe. He’s as subtle as a brick. His attacks have very little text to them but make up for it with large dice pools; his builder attack is base 6 dice which is a good rate for a 4 threat character and the suite of superpowers: a character or terrain throw of size 4, a move action that adds 2 dice to the next attack roll, a taunt, and damage reduction to minimum of 1 sounds like a good package. 

Why isn’t he played more? Being a short mover without much action economy can definitely hurt the effectiveness of Black Dwarf and he isn’t very interested (or effective) in trying to run down enemies. I propose he gets the superpower that prohibits enemy characters from placing their movement tool over his base, effectively making him a brick wall that enemies can’t glide straight through. (Medusa and Angela currently have this superpower but it would be much more effective on a large base model than a small or medium base model.) 

Secondly, adding to his builder a Wild trigger to give the enemy bleed would be flavorful and could cause additional damage over the course of the game. His spender Brutal End can give out a Stagger on a Wild but to really enforce the brutality of the attack, you could add a Wild throw away of the enemy character short if size 4 or less. This combination could make him feared on the battlefield for being a 4 threat that can handle other size 4s and also create a large base on the battlefield that your opponents have to move around instead of through. 

5. The Original Human Torch (Jim Hammond) Threat: 3

Not to be confused with the Human Torch of Fantastic Four fame, this is the WWII-era android that teamed up with Captain America and Namor to fight the Nazis. I have to say, that’s a list of cool characteristics. Android. From the 40’s. Friends with Cap and Namor. Punched Nazis. On the tabletop he also has some unique effects. A scaling spender that uses the Beam 2 template. A superpower that can make enemies drop Asset tokens. A superpower that deals a damage to an enemy after they push or throw him. Action economy in the form of a hit and run (a superpower I find especially beneficial for characters who are trying to line up their beam attacks). So why doesn’t this character see more play?

Defensively he’s pretty weak and you’re disincentivized to use the spender because if you do damage with it to an enemy, you then take a damage yourself! Original Human Torch has a 3/4/2 defensive stat line with 5 health on each side of his card. While perhaps this Jim Hammond, the Original Human Torch has had some personal identity crises in the past, I think giving him 2 mystic defense is quite problematic, especially when other androids (looking at you, Ultron!) have excellent mystic defense. I think increasing his mystic defense to 3 would be reasonable for the character and the game. I also think he should be brought into line with other robots/androids and gain immunity to poison and bleed in addition to his existing immunity to incinerate. 

As for his attacks, it’s always good game design (and fun in practice) to incentivize using a character’s spender. The self damage should be taken off the spender. It will feel like a unique, scaling, beam 2 attack that isn’t currently found on any other character. To round out the card I wouldn’t mind an additional line of text being added to Like Touching a Stovetop where it gives out incinerate in addition to dealing a damage in response to being pushed or thrown. Iceman has an innate superpower that gives out slows and damage in response to enemy characters ending their movement or doing an attack within 2 of Iceman so I don’t think this is out of the realm of possibility. 

The Original Human Torch’s Tactics card A New Age is a super powerful and cool card which gives out incinerates to enemy characters within range 3 and empowers all allied S.H.I.E.L.D. characters by adding two dice to energy attacks targeting an enemy with incinerate. However, this card is doubly restricted to S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Original Human Torch so bringing this character back into the meta should bring about some new play patterns and interesting interactions for the affiliation.

6. Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna) Threat: 3

These next two characters I’m going to discuss are affiliated with the Winter Guard. Crimson Dynamo, the leader of the Winter Guard, is a very powerful character splashed in other affiliations. Dynamo’s Leadership provides a free shake at the start of an allied characters’ activation and also a 50% chance to not be pushed off a Secure objective. Not bad effects but certainly doesn’t stand out as one of the best in the game. This affiliation should function with a solid roster behind it right? 

Well, the original four affiliated characters (the canonical Winter Guard from the comics) leave a lot to be desired. Darkstar wields the power of the Darkforce to create matter and energy (apt that she has both physical and energy attacks!) and she can teleport her allies. Her active superpower Dimensional Portal can choose her or another allied character within range 3 of her and place them within range 3 of their current position. Her power generation is slightly below par since she just has a gainer attack so she won’t be using her superpowers very often. 

With a few tweaks I think she can lean into the identity of the Winter Guard which excels at standing on Secure objectives by changing her teleport superpower to be able to target allies or enemies. Red Skull Master of the World’s teleport can target himself or allies or enemies within range 2 and place them within range 3. With a cost of 4 power this could allow Darkstar to be much more effective on Secure objectives by moving enemies away but only a couple times a game.

Her other superpower, Darkforce Barrier, is a reactive power that costs 3 power and can target herself or an ally within range 3 that is targeted by a physical or energy attack. The targeted character adds 2 defense dice and cannot be advanced, pushed, or placed by effects of the attack. I find this superpower less effective than probably was intended. The added defense dice is good, but not being advanced, pushed, or placed by effects of the attack is often not relevant. Physical and energy attacks basically never advance or place enemies and the push is already being negated by the leadership 50% of the time. I would instead give Darkstar Ghost-Spider’s Life Saver superpower. It is a reactive superpower when an allied character within 4 and LOS is targeted with an attack, she can push them short towards her and if they end outside of range of the attack or LOS of the attack, then the attack sequence ends and the attacker gets their action back. This is a very powerful superpower since it can fizzle a spender or charge attack against an ally but the downside is that you may be pulling an ally off a Secure objective. I think it also plays into her character type as a support piece. Finally, adding a defensive innate superpower like Stealth or Martial Artist could help her stand on Secures. 

7. Ursa Major (Mikhail Ursus) Threat: 4

This is the second of the Winter Guard characters and again, we want to accentuate this character’s ability to stand on Secure objectives and score consistently throughout the game. This should be the identity of the Winter Guard and with these proposed buffs, they would be more of a force to be reckoned with on the table. Currently, only his spender can displace an enemy, although the spender attack does have a guaranteed throw of enemies size 4 or less and hands them a stagger condition. Adding a Wild push away of size three or less on his builder in addition to the Wild bleed could make him formidable to face on a side Secure.

On top of that, modifying his throw to enemy characters instead of terrain of size three or less adds displacement while still providing the option of damage. The amount of displacement added to this character solidifies his identity as a premier Secure objective piece, which is exactly what Winter Guard is looking for. Not only can I see Ursa Major being an include in Winter Guard with these changes, but I think we could also see him splashed in other affiliations looking to stand on objectives (Kingpin Criminal Syndicate would love a piece like this). 

8. Spider-Man (Peter Parker) Threat: 4

The Spider-Man in the original core box feels very dated and very overshadowed by recent 4 threat Web Warrior characters. In fact, it feels pretty bad to compare this 4-threat Peter to 3-threat Spectacular Spider-Man. Not only does the 3-threat model look better visually, but the card feels more on theme with the Spider-Man lore and abilities. So how can we update the 4-threat Peter to make it a more viable option? I feel like the first step is to change the builder attack from a vanilla Strike attack to a more Spider-Man themed builder with a Wild size 2 throw. ‘Thwip Strike’ would be much more evocative of Spider-Man jumping into battle and dispatching his enemies. 

This Peter’s spender attack is called Taser Webs and is an energy type attack. Although Insomniac’s Spider-Man had Taser Webs, I don’t think of it as a classical Spider-Man attack.I think Peter would want his enemies in full control of their faculties while he makes witty banter at them. Tying them up with webs is one thing, tazing them is quite another. I would propose changing this to range 3, 4 cost physical attack with 6 dice that automatically pulls the enemy character towards Spider-Man then places Spider-Man within range 1 of the enemy. 

Together the changes to his attacks feel much more Spider-Man-y and will give him a much needed buff to a classic character. The Web Warriors affiliation is already packed with interesting 4-threat characters and this Peter could be another tool in their toolbox. 

Conclusions

This is an amazing time to be getting into MCP. I think the balance is being handled really well and that makes it so the community can look forward to changes, instead of dreading them. In addition, MCP is starting to come out with starter affiliation boxes. While both core boxes are excellent at the price point, these starter affiliation boxes are going to be a great way for people to enter to game. If you’re looking for any of these, look for them at the Frontline Gaming shop. We are starting a new regional tour tournament for the Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania region, the Appalachian Cup, and would love to have new faces. Our first tournament will be taking place at my home store in the Pittsburgh area, the Fabricator’s Forge, on May 31st!

Do you think these buffs are too little to make these characters viable? Is one of these characters buffed too much and they will be splashed everywhere? Do you have any characters you hate seeing on the table and want them nerfed? Let us know below! I am very excited to see what AMG has in store for character updates and once they are released, I am hoping to bring you even more MCP analysis and commentary on all of the changes! Until then, I wish you good luck and good strategy!