Crisis Response Marvel: Crisis Protocol

Crisis Response: Criminal Syndicate at Each Threat Level

By Ryan Young / October 18, 2020

My Criminal Syndicate List

As Marvel: Crisis Protocol has grown, my desire to play mainly the ‘good guys’ has come to an end.  My love of the Avengers and Defenders, with the iconic characters in those affiliations, has not waned, but with the advent of Kingpin and his Criminal Syndicate (CS) I have jumped into the villain side of MCP.  Kingpin’s comic battles with Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Punisher are among the most exciting battles from my youth, and I’m excited to get him on the table more frequently.  The affiliation bonus is incredibly strong: moving an asset or citizen token for 2 power to an allied character within range 3 AND each healthy allied character counts as 2 characters when determining who is securing the objective tokens.  The second part of the affiliation bonus can quickly score victory points, and my list will attempt to take advantage of this strong ability.   For the non-CS team members, Punisher is a great backline attacker if the Secure is map B or E.  Each list needs a 2 pointer available and Black Widow’s long move makes her ideal to grab a Secure point on the opponent’s table edge. As a second 2 point character, Okoye makes sure I can out activate my opponent if the scenario dictates.  In the event of a map B, D, or E, going wide with 5-6 characters gives me the last activation and steals the farthest Secure points for a big swing in VPs. 

The flexibility of going with big healthy characters at 17 points; Kingpin, MODOK, Killmonger, and Green Goblin, or wide with Kingpin, Taskmaster, Crossbones, Bullseye, Black Widow, and Okoye is great to make my opponents consider multiple options. If the initial roll doesn’t go my way and the opponent selects Secures, I can adjust to a spread-out map B or D to get more activations and the ability to score Secures across the board.  

  • Kingpin 4 pts
  • MODOK 5 pts
  • Killmonger 4 pts
  • Green Goblin 4 pts
  • Taskmaster 3 pts
  • Bullseye 3 pts
  • Crossbones 3 pts
  • Punisher 3 pts
  • Okoye 2 pts
  • Black Widow 2 pts

Team Tactic Cards

  • All According to Plan
  • Brace for Impact
  • Medpack
  • All You’ve Got
  • A.I.M. Lackeys
  • Usurp the Throne
  • Disarm
  • Extreme Conditioning

A good portion of the TT cards are pretty normal takes with the character list as Brace, Medpack, A.I.M. Lackeys, and Usurp the Throne are strong TT cards.  Extreme Conditioning is another way to move some of the slower moving characters around the battlefield when necessary.  All You’ve Got is a great way to make sure the Killmonger can get the 2 VP from Usurp the Throne.  It is an expensive power cost of 7, but Killmonger can usually afford it after a round or two.  Disarm is a great and inexpensive way to neuter an opponent’s hard hitter, especially if I have priority.  All According to Plan might be the most exciting TT card I’ve seen for a while, especially if I am going wide (5-6 characters) or even if I daze a character before they activate.  Stealing priority to activate 2 characters in a row is a huge swing.

Secure and Extraction

A huge part of list building for MCP is choosing your secure and extraction scenarios for yourself, but also being prepared to build to any possible point level is crucial.

  • Extraction
    • Alien Ship 20
    • Montessi Formula 17
    • Struggle for the Cube 17
  • Secures
    • Gamma Shelters 15
    • Extremis Console 17
    • Infinity Formula 17

Generally, if I win priority, I choose Secure as I want to get into Gamma Shelters.  With Gamma the CS can easily score the middle point for 2 VP on the first turn and challenge the farthest point for 3 VP on the second turn.  Extremis Console and Infinity Formula are both solid options if I toss Gamma. Formula allows an insane amount of power CS can create in this Secure makes the big plays like TT cards All According to Plan and Usurp the Throne and All You’ve Got even easier to play.  Extremis is great for the healing and denying my opponent any points by using a more wide team as discussed earlier.

If I lose priority, choosing Extracts isn’t as advantageous but going in with a specific plan for each helps out. Montessi Formula is a solid choice because my opponent will need 2 characters to contest Secures making the B3, 6 dice, zero cost attack extremely good. Struggle for the Cube enhances the same big TT card plays as Infinity Formula and with the damage reduction ability of Kingpin and Crossbones to help keep them on the healthy side while whittling away opponents health. Remember that if the damage from the Cube is negated, the character doesn’t gain power.  Alien Ship is the last option and shouldn’t be chosen against Cabal or Black Order, but is a solid option for the other affiliations as the more characters we have dominating the Secure points the better.

Narrowing down the field of 10

No matter the two scenarios chosen, I try to have an idea of who I’ll run at each point level possible.

15

  • Gamma
  • Kingpin
  • MODOK
  • Killmonger
  • Okoye 
  • Herb
  • Kingpin
  • Green Goblin
  • KillmongerTaskmaster

The two options at 15, Herb and Gamma are quite different scenarios.  In Gamma, Killmonger should have many tasty targets to get a lot of power and Usurp for a huge swing in points.  He should move to the mid point secure which forces your opponent to have 2 characters to contest it.  MODOK can control the back point and throw out his range 4 attacks.  Kingpin can get to mid point as well so his range 2 attacks are in line.  Okoye staying range 2 behind Killmonger to keep him alive and well after using her Vibranium Spear Blast to gain a power.  The order of activations must take account of the characters on the other side of the board, Shuri, Iron Man, Panther,  Captain American, and Doctor Strange all have pushes that need to be accounted for in moving.

The team for the Herb changes a bit to get some more mobility.  The TT cards A.I.M. Lackeys and Extreme Conditioning make it into the 5 to aid in delivering the Herb.  Killmonger’s Black Ops Strike is another way to cheat some extra movement.  The Herb can easily be passed to another character within range 3 for two power with the CS affiliation bonus for some quick scoring.

16

  • Big Healthy
    • Kingpin
    • MODOK
    • Killmonger/Green Goblin
    • Crossbones
  • Wide
    • Kingpin
    • Killmonger
    • Taskmaster
    • Bullseye
    • Okoye/Black Widow

Now we have two options for a 16 point threat, but neither are very appealing to CS.   Mayor Fisk only contains two Extract tokens which is somewhat slow scoring and Cosmic Invasion is quite spread out.  For Cosmic Invasion, MODOK can easily secure the back point, Crossbones should be set up on the side, hopefully across from a ranged attacker, and should hold down an outside point well.  Kingpin should go to the opposite side while either Killmonger or GG try to murderize or get to the back point.  If my opponent has the option for some high point characters, Thor, MODOK, Thanos, or Strange, Killmonger makes the squad.  Otherwise Green Goblin will make it to the back Secure faster and more efficiently.

17

  • Big Healthy
    • Kingpin 
    • MODOK
    • Killmonger
    • Green Goblin
  • Wide
    • Kingpin
    • Taskmaster
    • Bullseye 
    • Crossbones
    • Okoye
    • Black Widow

This point value is where the majority of the games will end up being played.  Also, the configuration of characters depends greatly on the scenarios.  Scenarios with a single back point, map D beg for either MODOK or Bullseye/Punisher to hang back the game and pick people off.  I try to use MODOK more aggressively and move him towards the middle more while one of the others controls the back point.  Map B scenarios lend themselves to side scrums throughout the board and either Killmonger or Goblin are solid at such fights. Going wide is dictated by the scenario or opponents options of characters.  If they are running Black Order or Asgardians, I may play a more cat and mouse game moving the 6 characters I have away from them and focusing entirely on the scenario.

18

  • Big Healthy
    • Kingpin
    • MODOK
    • Killmonger
    • Taskmaster/Punisher
    • Okoye
  • Wide
    • Kingpin
    • Crossbones
    • Bullseye
    • Taskmaster
    • Punisher
    • Okoye/Black Widow

With only two options at 18, it is moderately easier to plan for them.  Hammers tends to be a difficult Extract as the increased cost of TT cards slows down some of the nifty plays CS can utilize.  Using the affiliation ability to pass the Hammers to a character that isn’t as likely to play a TT card may be necessary, but it is costly, at 2 power.  Spider Portals can be advantageous, but the unpredictability of skull rolls is especially costly in a slower moving faction.  If there are not any high threat targets across the table, I can see leaving Killmonger off for Crossbones and adding Bullseye instead of Okoye to secure the near Portal.  The movement TT cards can be used in this and other Map D scenarios to get a normally slow mover like Crossbones to the farthest Portal.  Be cautious with Crossbones as he cannot last long against energy or mystic attackers.

19

  • Big Healthy
    • Kingpin
    • MODOK
    • Killmonger
    • Taskmaster/Crossbones
    • Bullseye/Punisher
  • Wide
    • Kingpin
    • Killmonger
    • Crossbones
    • Bullseye
    • Taskmaster
    • Punisher
    • Okoye/Black Widow

Demons and Panic Grips are the only two options at 19 threat.  Panic Grips the city isn’t the worst scenario for CS, but they tend to be a bit power hungry, especially the turn the use All According to Plan so it will be harder to ship the citizens to safety for the extra VP.  Demons is playable for CS as two of the opponents characters will get incinerate for every 1 of yours, if they’re trying to score/contest.  The danger is the affiliation bonus only works on healthy characters, so the incinerate special condition can be brutal and lead to some quicker than expected dazes.

20

  • Big Healthy
    • Kingpin
    • MODOK
    • Killmonger
    • Green Goblin
    • Taskmaster
  • Wide
    • Kingpin
    • Crossbones
    • Bullseye
    • Taskmaster
    • Punisher
    • Okoye
    • Black Widow

Presently, only the Alien ship secure is at this threat level so it won’t come around too often. If my opponent picks up the token before me, that is the next target to be eliminated.  Once I have it, using the affiliation bonus to move it to safety is vitally important.

A few last notes

 Criminal Syndicate wants to score fast and often.  Focus on the objective play with the majority of the characters while Killmonger does what Killmonger does, kill.  There are many interchangeable pieces with the list I’ve made.  Punisher will come into a lot of games with an objective near my table edge or where terrain is in the way of Kingpin or Crossbones or it is providing cover/LOS blocking.    MODOK is simply one of the best models in the game and I generally try to get him into most lists.

Thanks for spending a few minutes reading my thoughts on the different ways to build a Criminal Syndicate squad for Marvel: Crisis Protocol.