Welcome to the new season of the Appalachian Cup! This is a year-long circuit of Marvel Crisis Protocol tournaments in the Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia region. We’ve created a very fun and competitive environment for MCP players to test their mettle and grind it out to be crowned the Appalachian Cup champion!
We’re planning roughly one tournament per month for the season which starts and ends in the spring every year. This also lines up with the Crisis rotation put out by Atomic Mass Games so we were lucky enough to kick off our second season by playing the new rotation of Crises! If you’re interested in the changes and what is newly legal, check out my previous article here!
This tournament was played at my home store, the excellent Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh, PA area. It was a great day to play some MCP with new Crises and get to host players from across our region. If you’re in the area, check out our store and come play some MCP with us!
My List – Black Bolt Inhumans
Coming into this tournament I felt like it was a wide open field for people to try new affiliations and Crises. I thought my classic Kingpin list was going to be a good choice here, but also felt like there was Kingpin fatigue from both myself and the field of players in our region. (Another Kingpin player also won our Season 1 championship tournament recently!)
Instead, I decided to bring a very solid Inhumans list that I had put down about a year ago and hadn’t played since. The only change I made was to take out Miles Morales 3 Threat and put in Ultimate Spider-Man 4 Threat. I really like USM and think he’s a great splash but it’s hard to find a place for him in his native Web Warriors affiliation.
Another thing that made me want to play Inhumans was that the new Crisis rotation meant people were going to be trying out new sets of Crisis and I thought I would have a good chance to play on Civilian Extract Crises and get to play Terrigenesis. Inhumans are pretty strong already and Terrigenesis makes them a very tough team to beat. I brought all Civilian Extracts but I’m happy to pick my opponent’s Extracts if they’re bringing 3-4 Civilians as well.
The new Source Extracts are pretty demanding for Power on a team and I think Inhumans can manage that pretty well. They’re not the best at rotating around the board but I was just hoping I could overcome that weakness with their reliability due to their innate re-rolls and Terrigenesis.
You can check out the tournament Longshanks results here.
Round 1 vs. Cyclops X-Men
My first round I got paired against Johnny Blasto playing a Cyclops leader X-Men list. I win the first roll and we end up picking my Extracts and getting Spider-Infected and his Strike Team Secures Shield Relay. He picks 17 Threat which I’m happy to play at because I can play my core 17 of Black Bolt, Medusa, Namor, and an Inhuman 3-Threat. In this game I chose to bring Gorgon because the Secure was a Physical Pay to Flip. My opponent brought Cyclops, Emma Frost, Toad, Gambit, and Logan.
My opponent wins the first activation roll and he’s able to walk up and grab the middle Spider-Infected with Toad from Range 2. This pretty much puts Toad out of my Threat range for this round but I’ll have plans on him for future rounds. My Black Bolt is able to grab a Spider-Infected on my side and flip a side Secure point while standing behind Cover. This should make him pretty safe since the Secure will give him a re-roll in addition to his innate re-roll and Cover. Black Bolt withstands attacks from Cyclops and Emma Frost for the rest of the Round.
I line up Medusa on the other flank because she can still move Logan around with her Braid Bash Builder attack and her Throw superpower. In addition, Logan can’t use his re-rolls when attacking into Medusa so it seems like a good match-up. I’m also able to pass power using Black Bolt leadership so Gorgon can pay to pick up a Spider-Infected and successfully pay-to-flip on the flank.
My Namor easily flips my back point and walking into the middle of the table, prepared to Charge next Turn onto my opponent’s back point. His Gambit and Logan pick up his back Spider-Infected but don’t do much else this Turn. The Round ends and I score 5 to his 4 VP.
The Spider-Infected this game moved a lot of characters around. My Black Bolt held onto his Extract throughout the game but was constantly being walked toward my back corner. My opponent’s Gambit similarly was made pretty useless because he was walked out of his Threat ranges.
In Round 2 Namor does Charge onto my opponent’s back point. Logan mixes it up with Medusa and Gorgon but neither side does much damage. Black Bolt holds his own against Emma Frost and Cyclops who move onto the point. This Round ends with me scoring to 9 VP against my opponent’s 9 VP.
Round 3 was a big Round for me. Namor is able to put big damage onto both Toad and Gambit. Namor does Daze Toad and leaves Gambit on low life. Medusa moves toward his back point to pick up an Extract. Gorgon is able to Charge and use Terrigenesis successfully. I end up scoring 2 Secures and 4 Extracts with Terrigenesis VP this Round and end the game 17 VP to 12 VP.
Round 2 vs. Adam Warlock Guardians of the Galaxy
I am paired against the reigning champion of the Appalachian Cup, Tom, but he’s also trying out a new affiliation and attrition isn’t his usual playstyle. He projected that he was going to play Adam Warlock Guardians of the Galaxy instead of his Kingpin leadership. We played his Extracts and I picked Jailbreak and he picked my Deadly Meteors Secure at 20 Threat. I brought Black Bolt, Ms. Marvel, Ultimate Spider-Man, Karnak, and Namor. He brought Adam Warlock, Echo, Nebula, Beta Ray Bill, and Black Cat.
My Namor decides to pick up a Civilian from my back point and then flip the Secure on my opponent’s side of the board. Since he’s carrying the Extract from Jailbreak, he has to be outside of Range 5 of the board edge and this puts him in a vulnerable position but there isn’t too many threats lined up against him on that flank.
Tom chooses to prioritize attrition and attacks into my models instead of scoring VP both in this Round and in later Rounds. This Round I’m able to move my characters up into the middle of the board onto the Secures and not take too much damage. But Tom is positioning Nebula and Echo to be major problems in the later Rounds, not to mention that Adam Warlock and Beta Ray Bill are firmly targeting my Namor and Black Bolt for major pain.
Tom also made it very difficult for me to play Terrigenesis this game. He only picked up the Civilians from the Source tokens in his final activations or chose to not pick them up at all. He had the option to use Adam Warlock’s leadership to keep Black Cat on 1 HP but I definitely would’ve played Terrigenesis and scored the additional VP so he made the correct choice to let her Daze. In the end I didn’t play Terrigenesis this game.
Adam Warlock was pretty impactful this game but I’m not sure he was pulling the weight of 8 Threat for a single model. Tom really had some poor luck because Adam Warlock had the Reality gem but simply wasn’t rolling any Skulls. Adam Warlock got a Spender attack off targeting my Black Bolt but Karnak was able to jump in front of it with Royal Guardians and save Black Bolt for just a bit longer.
I was able to control most of the Pay-to-Flip points for most of the game, although in the later Rounds my Black Bolt did Daze. At that point in the game I was spread out picking up multiple Extracts and my models were still fairly healthy and Tom couldn’t take them all down. I won this game 16 to 9 VP.
Round 3 vs. Sam Wilson Avengers
I was paired up against Pittsburgh local Mac who was playing some old-school Avengers. We played on Skrulls Infiltrate and Infinity Formula at 20 Threat. I played Black Bolt, Baron Zemo, Ms. Marvel, Medusa, and Namor. He played Captain America (Sam), Black Panther, Iron Fist, Spectacular Spider-Man, Miles Morales Spider-Man, and Spider-Woman.
His Iron Fist started the game by grabbing the Skrull on the flank across from Namor and Medusa and not getting moved by it. In hindsight, I should’ve passed the Power using leadership from Medusa to Namor and then Namor should’ve charged into Iron Fist. What ended up happening is Namor just moved and attacked Iron Fist and left him on 1 HP remaining. In a later activation Medusa is able to walk once and finish the job, gaining 1 Power from the Builder in the process. Iron Fist plays Fall Back before Dazing but Medusa is able to Royal Decree herself close enough to pick up the Extract with a Power passed from Namor.
This may seem like a great start on the flank but I took a beating in Round 2 and 3 from the Avengers. Medusa was on my opponent’s side of the board and has taken quite a bit of damage. She moves once and does her Spender Area attack which has displacement, a good dice pool, and a Bleed trigger. She mostly fails to do any damage with this attack. She does put an injured Iron Fist on 1 HP with a Bleed special condition. However, Iron Fist does his Spender into my Namor which gives him an Activated token before Iron Fist bleeds out.
In the first Round my Baron Zemo grabbed the middle Skrull on my side and bounced to the other flank which also had Ms. Marvel and Black Bolt against Spectacular Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. Mac is very worried about grabbing this Skrull and taking lots of attacks from my team so eventually Black Bolt runs out to grab it while Ms. Marvel sits on the Secure.
Baron Zemo, Ms. Marvel, and Black Bolt are successful here but also Mac’s models use their Power really well. Spider-Woman is able to use her Spender to make me drop the Extracts I’m holding and at one point she runs across the board with an Extract as well.
Round 4 was the pivotal Round in this game. Mac was ahead and going to score out by grabbing multiple Extracts and running away from my threats. I am successful at Dazing some of his characters but it all comes down to a Terrigenesis roll against a Black Panther with 2 HP remaining. I successfully Daze Black Panther on this roll which completely flips the script on who is ahead in this game. I stop him from scoring out and in fact get ahead of him in VPs. I score to 15 and he’s at 14 going into Round 5.
I’m ahead of him in terms of models still on the table and we both score 4 VP this round so I win the match 19 VP to his 18 VP. This match definitely showed me that the old Avengers are still very good and Sam Wilson is an absolutely great 3 Threat leader for the Avengers.
Round 4 vs. Professor Xavier X-Men
This is the championship round and I’m paired against the only other 3-0 player, Jason from the Pittsburgh area. He’s playing a Professor X and Gladiator list that has an extremely strong Round 1 game plan and can run away with the game since Gladiator can snowball his attacks with extra dice and his superpowers.
We end up playing on Senators and Infinity Formula at 19 Threat. Lots of VP on the table and another Civilian Extract. I bring Black Bolt, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Medusa, and Baron Zemo. He brings Professor X, Iceman, Magik, Gambit, and Gladiator.
If you had looked at the game state at the end of Round 1, you would’ve bet that Jason was a lock to win this game. Jason starts by playing First Class and Magik can grab a Senator and teleport backwards, passing a Power to Iceman. My Baron Zemo grabs my middle Senator but tries (and fails!) to stay away from Gladiator as much as possible.
Iceman moves Gladiator up the board and can still grab a Senator on my side of the board using First Class. His Professor X can grab the Senator on his side of the board safely while Gambit moves into the middle to grab another Senator. Finally Jason activates his Gladiator who does one Charge and annihilates my Baron Zemo, giving him two Confidence tokens, a lot of Power, and my Senator.
Jason scores 5 Extracts for 5 VP in the first Round while I only score 3 VP. I’m staring down a Gladiator who is powered up and ready to activate first in the second Round.
Unfortunately, this is where Gladiator starts to let Jason down. Gladiator tries do KO my Baron Zemo but fails to finish him off. Baron Zemo also was able to Counter-Strike to remove Confidence tokens from Gladiator during Gladiator’s activation. With Baron Zemo on 1 HP remaining, he does two Spender attacks which manage to stick a big chunk of damage onto Gladiator and Iceman while moving Baron Zemo on my back Secure and in relative safety. Ms. Marvel and Medusa clean up by Dazing Professor X and Gladiator. Jason moves Iceman backwards but forgets about the Bleed which Dazes Iceman at the end of his activation.
My Ultimate Spider-Man and Black Bolt are able to control the other side of the board against Jason’s Magik. I end up this Round being ahead on VP and with big momentum.
Gladiator wakes up on his Injured side in the third Round and with a lot of Power but no Confidence. His charge attack does no damage but he’s lined up the Beam attack against Baron Zemo, Medusa, and Ms. Marvel. While this Beam does take down Baron Zemo, it leaves Medusa and Ms. Marvel mostly intact. Gladiator’s Throw also was not very effective so he ends his activation without an Extract and not standing on a point.
Medusa and Ms. Marvel continue to roll great into Professor X, Iceman, and Gambit while Ultimate Spider-Man and Black Bolt take down Magik to score two Extracts and two Secures each. I end up scoring exactly 16 VP this Round and winning the game and the tournament.
Conclusions
This was a very fun, very lucky, and very successful run for me in the first tournament of our App Cup season. The new Crises were fun to play and I’m grateful to not have to play on some of the Crises that were rotated out. I think Inhumans play very well into an open field and it was an enormous boon to me that I got to play on 4 Civilian Crises.
Inhumans can suffer from being relatively immobile models but they bring such a strong leader to the table in Black Bolt and reliability with their innate re-rolls. Inhumans are still looking to be very strong in the upcoming season! I’m excited for the character updates coming in July and we’ll see how it affects the balance of the game.
If you’re interested in playing in the Appalachian Cup or just playing MCP casually in the Ohio, West Virginia, or Western Pennsylvania area, join our discord! You can hear me speak more about this tournament on the Hit-Crit-Wild podcast where we also discuss Ms. Marvel in depth. You can always find me at the Fabricator’s Forge in the Pittsburgh area, which is a great store for tabletop gaming including MCP. Looking for discount models? Check out the FLG web store! Good luck and happy wargaming!
