The end of April was the season-end Appalachian Cup Invitational Championship tournament. This event consisted of the top 16 players from our 2025-2026 circuit. The winner of this event (the player who goes 4-0) would be crowned the Season 1 App Cup champion. Our season roughly lined up with the War of Kings Standard Crisis rotation so it was a great final send-off to competitive War of Kings MCP.
Our next season starts at the end of May and we’ve just had the Crisis rotation document release so I’m excited to see what models and games we’re going to see in the year to come. In addition, we’re expecting a huge character change document to come out in June so we should see some huge variance between Season 1 and Season 2. It’s great that the meta will be changing and we’ll see different models on the table for the 2026-2027 season.
Now on to the championships for Season 1… Longshanks link
My List
I decided to take a very similar list that I’ve been playing for most of this season. Kingpin seems to be in a good place and it’s my most familiar leader.
Since this year end tournament was a fixed bracket, I knew who my opponent would be Round 1. Fred has been playing Inhumans for most of the season so I could plan ahead to try and beat Inhumans. The most important aspect of playing against Inhumans is denying them Civilian Extracts so they don’t have access to Terrigenesis. Some people will avoid taking Civilians in their tournament lists just in case they run into the Inhumans affiliation, and I knew that I would have to beat them in order to win this tournament.
So, I decided to take only Asset Extracts. That way if I won the first roll off I could make sure I was going to play on an Asset Extract and if my opponent won the roll off he would have a tough choice of giving me really favored Kingpin Secures or having to play on an Asset Extract. While I don’t think these five Extracts are the best ones in the game for my team, I skewing pretty hard to win this Round.
Since I was taking all Assets in my list for this tournament, I also decided to go all-in on the Asset game plan with two characters that interacted specifically with Assets. I took Quicksilver who can use his card Can I Borrow That? to steal an Asset from an enemy character. This presents the rare opportunity to steal a VP from your opponent on the first Round of the game and it really works into Kingpin’s game plan of scoring lots of points in the first three Rounds of the game.
I also took Namor who is a very mobile piece with lots of utility. He can give out Stagger on his charge and use his Spender to make an opponent drop all Assets they are holding. His re-roll bubble is great for offense or defense. Namor can safe grab an Extract from the mid-line or dive the opponent’s side D Secure on Round 1. He’s also great into damage reduction models and I knew that there would be other Kingpin lists as well as Beta Ray Bill and other assorted damage reduction models in the field.
I also put in Toad as my 2 Threat. Toad is great at safely grabbing and holding Extracts and moving around the board. He plays with Kingpin really well.
When building my squads I’m basically always taking Kingpin as my leader unless there are just too few VPs per round to score or I think I’m going to have to play a long (~5 round) game. In that case, Miles Morales is a great leader for a longer game and he works well with all the models I want to bring under Kingpin. Black Cat is a must-take in both of those affiliations and she is on the table basically every game for me.
The rest of the models are tough, mobile, and can Steal Extracts from the opponent. Silk was a stand-out splash and Quicksilver and Namor were great whenever they were on the table.
The field of 16
We chose the top 16 players total who both had the highest season points and could attend this tournament. We had 13 affiliations represented on the table which was an awesome diversity to see. Criminal Syndicate and Mighty Avengers were the most popular, followed by Spider-Foes, Avengers, and Web Warriors.
We saw the very popular models of Namor, Shang-Chi, Baron Zemo, Toad, and Beta Ray Bill brought in many lists (but the most popular models were only brought in 5 out of 16 lists!) We also saw a surprising amount of Emma Frost, Lizard, Spider-Woman, and Carnage.
Round 1 vs. Inhumans
This was a known matchup on the bracket and I knew Fred was bringing Inhumans. I skewed my list for it and I wanted to win this round. Unfortunately, I lost the first roll-off and Fred made the decision to play his Civilian Crises and let me have a Kingpin Secure. I think he was hoping that the attrition and VP gain of Terrigenesis would match the scoring of Kingpin. We pulled his Senators and my Lockdown at 19 Threat. There would be 10 VP on the board for the first round and 9 VP for each round after that so I felt like my Kingpin plan was going to be very good.
He brought Maximus the Mad, Lockjaw, Karnak, Gorgon, Baron Zemo, and Crystal. He was relying on the abilities of his characters to Push me off of Secures using Maximus, Karnak, Gorgon and Crystal. He also ended up using the Elemental Infusion TTC on Crystal this game to Incinerate a lot of my characters and Daze them.
My team was Kingpin, Miles Morales, Black Cat, Ironmonger, Prowler, and Toad. I won the roll for priority and Miles moved to take a Senator on Fred’s side in a position where he would have cover. Between Miles’ Stealth, re-rolls, and cover I hoped he would survive the round holding on to the Senator. This also forced Fred to have to decide if he was going to dive on to my side of the board to get a Senator. Also, if he overcommitted to moving all of his models to the middle of the board, I could jump onto and score all 4 Secures.
Fred ended up moving Crystal to grab a Senator on my side of the board and then keeping most of his characters back towards his Secures where they made attacks at my Miles. My remaining models played back towards my Secures and they were able to Daze Crystal and take her Senator. After I Dazed Crystal Fred decided he needed to take down Miles at all costs. He got Miles down to 2 Health remaining and since I was already ahead on Extracts decided he needed to play Terrigenesis on Round 1.
He was successful on his Terrigenesis roll and was able to score 7 VP to my 5 VP in Round 1 but had already burned his Terrigenesis. In the cleanup phase, his Lockdown Secure got turned off that had Zemo and Gorgon standing near it.
I had a big Round 2 that started with Miles using his Venom Blast against Maximus and taking back his Senator then Web Swinging to my back Secure to relative safety. Crystal used her Elemental Infusion TTC to put Incinerate on a lot of my characters but Prowler used a late activation to Charge on to his back Secure that was still on and he Dazed Maximus with his Prowler Strike and then use his Covert Armament attack to also Daze Baron Zemo. Prowler was great and his Covert Armament attack kept doing lots of damage to Fred’s characters.
This Round ended and I had a total of 12 VP to Fred’s 9 VP. It was a big lead and Fred was not able to take down enough of my characters during the next Round and the game ended with me scoring 18 VP to Fred’s 12.
Round 2 vs. Kingpin
My next round was against Tom, who probably had the highest overall win rate for the entire App Cup year. He was favored the win the whole tournament so it was tough to have to face him so early in the tournament. We both brought Kingpin lists but Tom had brought some great Criminals like Rhino and Echo and some splashes like Beta Ray Bill.
We were playing towards some of the same Crises and ended up on Infinity Formula and Montesi Formula at 17 Threat. I brought Kingpin, Quicksilver, Silk, Black Cat, and Iron Monger. Tom brought Kingpin, Black Cat, Iron Monger, Echo, and Rhino.
Tom got first activation and he moved up to grab the middle Montesi book with Iron Monger. Quicksilver actually has a decent chance to deal a damage and use his TTC Can I Borrow That? which is exactly what he did and took the book off Tom. This felt great because I was going to almost definitely be ahead on VP starting in the first round and I would have two Extracts safely on my side of the board and just needed to hold on to them. Of course this could be tough into steals from Tom like Black Cat, Iron Monger, and Rhino but I had access to my own steals in the form of Black Cat, Iron Monger, and Silk.
My Black Cat dove one of Tom’s side Infinity Formula points next to Kingpin and Rhino. She wouldn’t stop him from scoring it but she definitely could tie up those models trying to get her Dazed and also give him pause moving off of that point and leaving her there. Black Cat is also happy getting the extra Power from the Infinity formula and threatening to steal any Extract they have on their side of the board.
Tom also parked his Black Cat and Echo on his back point. I thought about diving my Silk on to there for the same reasons I dove my Black Cat, but in the end Silk was able to sit on my Infinity Formula point and attack into Echo. I was able to push some damage through and push Echo towards my team. Silk was trying to get aggressive into Black Cat and Echo to see if she could get some Dazes. My Iron Monger picked up my back Montesi book and sat on the Infinity Formula next to Silk.
I finished with 4 VP to his 3 at the end of Round 1. Basically my game plan after Round 1 was to stack on one side of the board my Black Cat, Quicksilver, Silk, and Iron Monger with the three Extracts and the two Secures on that side and try to keep all the VP over there and try to score as much of it as possible.
This game plan worked very well during the next two Rounds. I was able to Daze Black Cat and Echo and Rhino. Quicksilver got off a great Montesi beam attack against all three models. Silk was getting good attacks which then fueled her to be able to do a lot of her Tricks and Traps superpower to get extra damage against anyone moving within Range 3 of her.
With lot of power on those models though, Tom was able to steal all of the Extracts back and rotate to the other side of the board. Rhino basically moved completely away from my ability to interact with him and Tom was able to pass another Extract through Black Cat and Echo. His Iron Monger passed the third Extract to a healthy Kingpin on the other side of the board.
My Quicksilver almost stopped Tom from winning on one activation by almost Dazing the Echo before she could run away and another when he almost survived an attack on another Secure point. My Silk and Black Cat couldn’t run down and steal the Extracts in time unfortunately and Tom won this game 16 to 15 VP.
It was an incredibly close and interesting Kingpin mirror game and could have gone either way.
Round 3 vs. Spider-Foes
I was officially out of the running to become champion in this tournament but I was still running for a top spot. This round I played Bryce who is a great tournament organizer in the Pittsburgh area. We ended up on Scientific Samples and Infinity Formula for this game at 17 Threat. I brought Kingpin, Black Cat, Prowler, Quicksilver, and Miles Morales. Bryce brought Doc Ock Sinister Scientist, Lizard, Rhino, Beta Ray Bill, and Toad.
This ended up being an objective based game and it was a really close round again. My Quicksilver picked up a Sample on the mid-line and held on to it for the remainder of the game. Quicksilver and Kingpin also were dealing with a Beta Ray Bill on those two Secures for most of the game who was a menace by Throwing Kingpin off the point. Unfortunately, Beta Ray Bill wasn’t able to push damage through onto Kingpin that he needed and eventually Kingpin was able to get the final activation to Throw Bill off of Secures instead.
My Black Cat took a huge hit in the first Round and Dazed but she was able to wake up and rotate back to my Infinity point eventually. Prowler and Miles Morales eventually were able to attrition that side of the board against specifically Doc Ock and Toad and got Extracts and won Secures on that side of the board.
The game ended with me scoring 23 VP and Bryce with 22 VP.
Round 4 vs. Winter Guard
Again I was just playing for bragging rights and fun in this final round of the tournament. I was paired into JP who was playing a Winter Guard list. We ended up playing on Legacy Virus and Infinity Formula at 19 Threat.
I brought Kingpin, Namor, Black Cat, Silk, and Iron Monger. JP brought Crimson Dynamo, Red Guardian, Namor, Omega Red, and Iron Monger. JP had models like Omega Red and Red Guardian who could displace me. He also brought models like Namor and Iron Monger who could steal Extracts off of my characters.
Thankfully, I ended up being able to out attrition one side of the board with Namor, Silk, and Iron Monger against an Omega Red and a Red Guardian. JP’s Namor had to rotate to try and shore up that flank but he also ended up getting Dazed by my squad. Kingpin and Black Cat were happy to deal with Crimson Dynamo and Iron Monger on the other flank.
All three Legacy Virus Extracts ended up on the side where my Silk, Namor, and Iron Monger were standing and I ended up scoring 17 VP to JP’s 9 VP.
Silk’s beam with Namor re-rolls and then Tricks and Traps were again an MVP for my team. I really think Silk is a great model and could be used in many affiliations outside of Web Warriors.
Conclusion
I ended up going 3-1 and finishing 3rd at the tournament. Tom ended up winning the championship, completing his dominant year in the App Cup. The player he defeated in the championship game (who was playing SHIELD) finished second.
I think it was a great tournament and I was very happy with my choices for my roster. Getting to play with so many Asset Extracts helped me since I was able to interact with them using Quicksilver and Namor to steal them off my opponents. With the new rotation we will have to test whether the Asset Extract Crises are good enough to take them and want to play on them.
Toad is exactly the 2 Threat that this list wants and I like my small Web Warrior core of Miles Morales, Black Cat, and Silk. My TTC choices are a little restrictive and I ended up playing with only 4 TTCs in my first round against Fred. I could definitely see tweaking my TTC choices.
The big question for me is how the new Crises for Operation: Zero Tolerance are going to feel. At first glance they seem to favor teams that want to be fighting. I don’t think they are especially good for Kingpin, but Kingpin can always do well in an unsettled meta. The advent of Source tokens with disappearing Extracts, the loss of Extracts that you can hold multiple of them, and Crises like Supplies and Jailbreak that are really restrictive on where you can end your activation when you’re holding an Extract seem like tough changes for the Kingpin list.
Tune in next week when I do a deep dive into the next Crises and let you know my thoughts about each of them! What affiliations/play style are good on each Crisis and what you should expect going into the next season. I will also address what Crises to substitute in for your Crises that are leaving the rotation.
What do you think about our regional circuit? You can also listen to 3 players recap their experience at the tournament on the Crit-Hit-Wild podcast, including the champion Tom in their Omega Sentinel episode. It was such a well run year and I’m looking forward to even more streamlined events next year. I think MCP is in such a great place and I’m so happy to have a healthy, competitive group in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to play against. Are you in the area? Join our discord to find out about events and App Cup tournaments. You can always find me playing at the Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh, PA area. Looking for discount models? Check out the FLG web store! Good luck and happy wargaming!
