As each of us began to play Marvel: Crisis Protocol, we had to pick between Red Skull and the Cabal or Captain America and the Avengers. The choice was easy for me, Avengers all the way. Even as the game released more affiliations and characters, I always maintained a soft spot for the heroes of the Marvel Universe, Earth’s mightiest heroes, The Avengers.
Avengers are in a difficult place currently in the game as they do nothing exceptionally well, but can do everything okay. Different lineups can play a decent control game, hit decently hard, spread out well, and even handle a tight scenario. Let’s take a look at the characters needed to build an Avengers roster to successfully deal with each Threat level in MCP.
Characters
- Captain America 4 pts
- Black Panther 4 pts
- Thor 5 pts
- Vision 4 pts
- Hawkeye 3 pts
- Black Widow pts
- Winter Soldier 3 pts
- Ronan 4 pts
- Ghost Rider 5 pts
- Spider-Man (Miles Morales) 3 pts
The selection of the ‘flex’ characters is very specific to the scenarios and affiliations you will be playing. Ronan is an amazing Avenger and can hinder power generation with a 1 power Judgement. Both of Ghost Rider’s superpowers are amazing the more they are used, and Avengers discount on a character that wants power all the time is amazing. Winter Soldier makes the cut for scenarios that are bunched up in Map E or C and the TT card Till the End of the Line. Spider-Man is a great 3 pointer anywhere, but especially with a 1 power web swing and the much-needed Venom Blast to knock out an objective token on single Extract scenarios.
Team Tactic Cards
- Avengers Assemble
- Second Wind
- Field Dressing
- Brace for Impact
- Psychic Shielding Device
- Till the End of the Line
- Mission Objective
- Hired Muscle
The Team Tactic cards needed for the roster are specific to certain matchups with some Avenger staples. Avengers Assemble is a great out of activation movement and nearly every game makes the cut to 5. Field Dressing is great with Ronan and his The Accuser superpower. With the popularity of Defenders rosters and M.O.D.O.K. virtually anywhere he wants to be, P.S.D provides some much-needed buff to mystic attacks. Second Wind is a TT card from the starter box that hasn’t seen much play, but with the growing number of characters, Daredevil, Mystique, and more, that can easily pass it out, it seems like a solid pick, even if only to heal 1 when played. Mission Objective and Hired Muscle are great extract and secure plays if timed well. Positioning is key for these two TT cards to be impactful. Usually, overly specific TT cards, like Till the End of the Line, tend not to make my cut to 8 cards, but with the multitude of pushes from Wakandans, Defenders, and Kingpin, and the popularity of Gamma Shelters for those affiliations, it is great at keeping Captain America and Bucky where I want them.
Secure and Extract
- Secure
- Deadly Meteors 17
- Mayor Fisk 16
- Infinity Formula 17
- Extract
- Hammers 18
- Panic Grips the City 19
- Spider Infected 17
Each of the Secure and Extracts requires a little different strategy with Avengers and is designed to match up against specific affiliations. Deadly Meteors is great against Web Warriors and Criminal Syndicate. Mayor Fisk is strengthened by Second Wind for Avengers and Infinity Formula is spread out enough to be more difficult for Black Order, Defenders and Cabal. Hammers requires Avengers to take a more aggressive approach, which is so fun to do. Panic Grips the City is good against Criminal Syndicate, as they want power for other things. Spider Infected, while random and unpredictable, is good against Criminal Syndicate, Asgardians and Defenders. Moving Asgardians away from me is always good and many of the best things about Defenders requires specific ranges, moving them around is helpful.
- 15
- Captain America 4
- Winter Soldier 3
- Hawkeye 3
- Ghost Rider 5
This set up if specific to Gamma Shelters. While low on activations, Ghost Rider will be getting a lot of power, either from being attacked or from Spirit of Vengeance that he can turn into quick dazes and KOs. Hawkeye shoots from the near Shelter until it is time to Hook Arrow for 3 pts. Till the End of the Line keeps Captain and Winter Soldier in place on the mid point for a turn.
If Herb is the scenario:
- 15
- Captain America
- Spider Man
- Black Panther
- Vision
Black Panther or Spider Man are ideal Herb runners with their extra movement shenanigans. Vision is present to disrupt the many turn 1 Herb plays by throwing folks around the board.
- 16
- Captain America
- Black Panther
- Winter Soldier
- Hawkeye
- Black Widow
For Mayor Fisk, Second Wind and Hired Muscle are played in the 5 active cards.
- 17 Infinity Formula
- Captain America
- Thor
- Hawkeye
- Spider-Man
- Black Widow
- 17 Deadly Meteors
- Captain America
- Thor
- Ronan
- Black Panther
- 17 Spider Infected
- Captain America
- Hawkeye
- Spider Man
- Black Panther
- Winter Soldier
The three 17 threat scenarios above are in the list, so should see a good amount of play. For Deadly Meteors, a team of high energy defense to more easily score and flip the secures is important to victory. Spider Infected has the characters with the movement tools to handle a poorly timed skull roll.
- 18 Hammers
- Captain America
- Vision
- Black Panther
- Hawkeye
- Spider Man
While everyone enjoys getting Hammers, Vision beam attack and Hawkeye seem to turn themselves up to 11 when they have one. Spider-Man is around to knock out a Hammer and pick it up late in the round for a two point swing in VPs.
- 19 Panic Grips
- Captain America
- Thor
- Ghost Rider
- Hawkeye
- Black Widow
Thor, Ghost Rider and Hawkeye all generate a ton of power and are great for holding and evacuating citizens in this scenario. Thor and Ghost Rider have a lot more staying power so they can usually hold onto them a bit longer, but Hawkeye should evacuate as soon as possible.
- 20
- Captain America
- Black Panther
- Vision
- Spider Man
- Ghost Rider
The heartiest characters are needed in a long, drawn out game with only 1 extract token. Spider Man will need to stay by Captain to utilize bodyguard in case the opponent get the Kree Power Core and he needs to chase them down for a Venom Blast.
Character Swaps
Ronan only makes a few of the set up lists, but will be subbed in quite frequently. He is great against Ghost Rider, Black Order, Asgardians specifically and pretty much everyone else. Anytime I feel that the match is going to be a slugfest, I sub him in to try to swing the power curve in my favor with his Judgement.
Ghost Rider is an amazing centerpiece model to any Avengers list. He is costly though and can be easily swapped for 2 other characters if I’m concerned about number of activations, hello there Wakanda and Criminal Syndicate.
The Avengers are solid all around in the game and require very different tools for different match ups. This roster is dependent on knowing those match up and having a lot of games under your belt.
Thanks again for spending some of your valuable time reading my thoughts and ideas. Drop me a line here or on Discord (rdyteach) if you have any comments or questions for me.