It’s been about one month since Atomic Mass Games dropped an absolutely massive re-balance of the game. They updated a large majority of character cards, 5 Team Tactics Cards, and drastically changed some leaderships in the game. (Check out my article here to see my first impressions.) AMG has also gifted us with a new affiliation document that makes some big changes to the game.
So, what actually changed in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol meta in the last month? What characters/affiliations are the new hotness and which have completely disappeared? Let’s dive in!
Affiliations
Black Order
First, we have Nebula added to the Black Order affiliation. This affiliation got a boost with substantive changes in the update to some of the core models: Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. Adding an affiliated 2-Threat that fits in with your game plan is a great way to boost this affiliation. I think Corvus is the better leader here since his character card and leadership card both got buffed and he seems like a really fun model to play with now.
Convocation
Convocation added Scarlet Witch into their ranks as well. This makes sense thematically and I’m interested to see what the Convocation players brew up in order to take advantage of her. I think I’m more positive on Scarlet Witch than most players in the game so hopefully this means we’ll see her on the table more often.
New Mutants
The New Mutants got Honey Badger affiliated with them. Honey Badger got a character re-work as well to make her even more useful on objectives so this is a great boost to New Mutants. In addition, we can expect another New Mutants leader with Mirage arriving at the end of October. TBD on what Mirage plays like but my interest is definitely piqued to try them out more.
Onslaught’s Grip
Onslaught’s Grip affiliation has just Onslaught in it, but of course he make any other character in the squad affiliated under him. Check out my Onslaught article for a deep dive on his abilities and affiliation. He cannot take Peerless models or Professor X or Magneto under him but everything else seems fair game. Have fun brewing!
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. got Mirage which will depend heavily on what that character card looks like so return here when that box gets previewed.
Spider-Foes
Black Cat was added to Spider-Foes. This is also thematic and Black Cat is still a wonderful 3-Threat: tough, fast, and powerful. Her relative supremacy in the meta has gone down with lots of other characters getting buffs and her staying the same along with her being not quite as good playing with Source Extracts. I think she will have a place under Doc Ock Sinister Scientist.
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Men will have Havok, Jubilee, and Multiple Man affiliated when they release. Jubilee really looks poor as an affiliated 2-Threat next to Honey Badger now though. Havok and Multiple man are still question marks but I’m hopeful for their characters. I do think this affiliation got a boost during the overall character changes so perhaps they will see more table time in mutant affiliations.
X-Factor
X-Factor affiliation list was added and is as follows: Havok and Multiple Man are leaders. Angel, Mystique, Quicksilver, and Sabretooth Apex Predator are affiliated. It’s quite a small list and the Sabretooth Apex Predator is only found in a difficult to find and expensive terrain box. But thankfully Apex Predator was just shown to be included in an upcoming Weapon X re-pack box so he will be available to pick up and should be a reasonable include here!
This affiliation is still relatively small so hopefully the models play together well and there is a reasonable core to play game after game. I think this affiliation will really need to resonate with you in order to play these specific characters so much but there are tons of mutant fans!
X-Force
Mirage was added to X-Force. If Mirage is good and affiliated across many places we might see that model often.
The Current Meta
| Affiliation | Win Rate % |
| Hellfire Club | 69% |
| Wakanda | 63% |
| Web Warriors | 56% |
| X-Men | 55% |
| Black Order | 53% |
Hellfire Club is the clear winner in the month after the changes. The leader, Emma Frost, now has multiple rounds of buffs and is one of the best models in the game playing with a great leadership for longer games and healthier models which is what we’re seeing in MCP right now. My experience with Hellfire so far has been they play a very strong but fair game. They can play an objective game and use the leadership to heal and gain Power throughout the game. They have great displacement against other objective based teams and they are so tough to take down now.
Secondly, Wakanda also have a win rate% of 60+. King T’Challa seems to be the only leader not excelling for the affiliation, so you have options of Black Panther, M’Baku, and Killmonger Usurper to choose from for your flavor of Wakanda. Unfortunately, the King T’Challa and Killmonger Usurper are only found in the terrain box right now, but with the addition of Logan and Apex Predator to a re-pack box we may see them more available sometime in the future. Similar to Hellfire, I think Wakanda has models that are tough and can displace the enemy team easily. It seems like those two effects are maybe the most important in the game right now, so make sure you have them in your rosters.
Web Warriors are still doing well, but surprisingly the 3-Threat Miles leadership has the worst success rate. All of the 3-Threat Web Warriors felt like they got left behind in the character update and all of the 4-Threat models got the love. If you’re looking to play Spider-people, you might want to look at using Amazing Spider-Man or the Spider-Verse leadership.
Very surprising to me, X-Men are now a top affiliation. Loads of mutants got buffs in the update and X-Men have some really powerful tools they leverage in the game. Professor X can keep creating Power for his team throughout all of your activations. Storm has a defensive leadership that can also re-position your models. The X-Men TTCs are also some of the best in the game. People who have stuck it out with the X-Men are now being rewarded for their patience and practice.
These top 4 affiliations are all basically playing an objective-based game. The 5th best affiliation is doing quite the opposite. Black Order plays very attrition-focused. Both leaderships reward taking down enemy models. Thanos may be a bit too expensive in the current meta but Corvus is a great option now.
The best and the rest
Other affiliations with a 50%+ win rate:
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (Namor and Nick Jr.)
- Criminal Syndicate (almost entirely Kingpin)
- Convocation
- Mighty Avengers
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Star Lord doing slightly better than Adam Warlock)
- Winter Guard
- New Mutants
Unfortunately, some leader updates are not translating into win rates:
- Magneto has a 41% win rate leading Brotherhood of Mutants. This may be a learning curve issue and I do expect this number to go up over time.
- She-Hulk has a 44% win rate leading A-Force. If the She-Hulk update cannot help out A-Force, I don’t think they’ll be competitive until they get another leader.
- Sentinels were much hyped over the release of the Bastion wave but they also have a win rate less than 45%. Omega Sentinel is being splashed everywhere though so still expect to see her often.
- Servants of the Apocalypse has ~42% win rate after their leadership got a big re-work (read: nerf).
It should be noted that a lot of these struggling affiliations have struggling 6-Threat leaders. There are successful high-Threat leaders but it can be a liability as well.
Popular Splashes
Here’s a list of the most popular models being played in the game right now:
- Ultimate Spider-Man: He’s the new mobile, utility 4-Threat that can cause big problems for your opponent.
- Angela: A 5-Threat on a medium base with a long move and high ceiling for taking out multiple models in an activation. If you’re facing against her you’ll have to hope her attack dice are sub-par or you can displace her far, far away from your team.
- Echo: Mobile 3-Threat with a good suite of attacks and a superpower that can reliably give you more successes on attack and defense.
- Black Cat: Extremely tough 3-Threat who is mobile and can give out Staggers for cheap. She’s still great at her role.
We also see utility 2-Threats in Wong, Toad, and Nebula who play a specific role very well. They are popular in their affiliation and sometimes are splashed as well.
By far the 4-Threat characters got the most love in the character re-balance. They seem to have the best stats per Threat across the whole game. Here are some of the best 4-Threats to be playing: Emma Frost, Beta Ray Bill, Omega Sentinel, Moondragon (Mind), and Omega Red.
Those we lost along the way…
Both Baron Zemo and Shang-Chi were extremely popular splashes but both were nerfed in the character update. They lost some of their strongest play patterns and people don’t really want to play with them much right now. They want to be testing out the buffed models and they feel these models are now just good and not great.
Characters that also received no changes in the update feel relatively weaker and also less played across the board. Again, there is some bias towards playing the newest changes and maybe we’ll see these come back in time. Models I’ve noticed less often after the update: Namor, Luke Cage, Rhino, and Lizard.
Top Events and Top Finishes
It’s an exciting and new meta for sure in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Hellfire and Wakanda have the highest win rate, but it looks like a healthy mix in the top tables at tournaments. What are you enjoying with the new character updates? Could Sentinels be a counter-pick against Hellfire Club? Let me know your thoughts!
As always, you can find me playing MCP at my local shop, the Fabricator’s Forge outside Pittsburgh, PA. I also am part of the Appalachian Cup tournament series in West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Come check out the discord if you’re interested! If you’re looking for discounted models, check out the Frontline Gaming webstore! Looking forward to more developments and releases this year for MCP! Good luck and happy wargaming!
