As the beginning of the Season 4 TTS is upon us, I will be sharing the events of each match during the Swiss Rounds, and hopefully more after that! I decided to play Criminal Syndicate. My roster is as follows:
- Characters
- Kingpin
- Green Goblin
- Killmonger
- Bullseye
- Taskmaster
- M.O.D.O.K.
- Crossbones
- Mystique
- Okoye
- Black Widow
- Team Tactic Cards
- All According to Plan
- Medpack
- Brace for Impact
- Usurp the Throne
- Hired Muscle
- Deception
- Disarm
- Climbing Gear
- Crises
- Gamma Shelters
- Infinity Formula
- Extremis Consoles
- Wakandan Herbs
- Cosmic Cubes
- Senators
If you want to see why I selected in the roster, check out the previous posts about my CS lists here.
There have been a couple of adjustments. Bullseye made it into the ten characters as the need for affiliated characters (to pay for All According to Plan) is huge in my gameplan.
The Team Tactic changes are more of a response to what I think I will see across from me. (e.g. Hired Muscle with Asgard or adding Disarm to help minimize damage) I originally had A.I.M. Lackeys and Extreme Conditioning with its two movement cards in the 8. That seemed excessive, especially since A.I.M. Lackeys is a M.O.D.O.K. only card. I condensed those two into Climbing Gear as action economy is crucial for any roster. All You’ve Got didn’t make the cut. It is almost counterintuitive to CS plan of staying on the healthy side. It was also used primarily with Killmonger and having 2 TTC aimed at one character was too much.
The biggest change came in the Extracts. Montessi and Skrulls were dropped for faster scenarios of Mutant Traps and Herb. What voodoo is that, saying Herb is a faster scenario? The second part of the Kingpin’s leadership allows for an objective token to be passed to another allied character within range 3 for a cost of 2 power. With some careful placement and average defense rolls, the Herb can be scored in round 2 with reasonable assurance. Senators makes the cut but probably doesn’t get played much outside of a match against Brotherhood.
With my changes out of the way, let’s dive right into the Round 1 match up. My opponent, David Farr, is running Guardians of the Galaxy with the newest addition, Angela. She is one of the scariest models to go against because of both the sheer damage output and movement shenanigans.
I win priority and select Gamma Shelters while he chooses Skrulls. I begrudgingly chose 17 points instead of 15. My thinking was I needed Killmonger to deal with Angela and M.O.D.O.K. loves him some Gamma Shelters. That puts me at 13 threat already and I wanted at least 5 characters to try to keep up with his model count. So I add in Okoye and Black Widow to make 17. He selects Star-Lord, Ronan, Angela, Drax, and Nebula.
We both deploy mostly centered with the exception of my Widow and his Angela being on the same flank, to my right. My first activation is Kingpin moving twice to the center Gamma Shelter and searching for the Skrull. Fortunately, he hits the Critical and finds the Skrull. He is a great character to hold it because his Intense Physical Conditioning superpower allows him to reduce damage by 1 for 1 power. With no power left and no Okoye near to Bodyguard, he needs to survive the rest of the round.
Star-Lord flies up to take a pop shot at my Kingpin and does an incredible 5 damage. With no power to reduce and zero blocks, the big guy looks like he’s going down. I move up Okoye and, with no target with range 4 for her Spear Blast, I move again to the far side of the middle Gamma Shelter hoping for the best. His Ronan decides to try and finish off Kingpin, but with the power to reduce damage and some better defense rolls, Kingpin survives with 1 health remaining. Kingpin is shocked and pushed by the attack, but that’s not a huge worry as long as he is alive and the terrain keeps him within range 2 of a Gamma Shelter. Killmonger and M.O.D.O.K pile into the middle Gamma shelter, and Widow moves to the back Gamma Shelter. Angela and Nebula move up and shoot with little effect.
At the end of round 1, we are all clumped in the middle pathway, and I am scoring 3 points from the Shelters and 2 for the Skrull. My opponent scored zero as he opted to position Drax to do more in round 2 and Ronan and Star-Lord could control it and shoot Kingpin.
My first activation in round 2 is M.O.D.O.K. I need him to do a lot of work so he can Medpack Kingpin. M.O.D.O.K. didn’t disappoint. He dazes Nebula, deals a point of damage to Angela, and throws a shipping container at her to boot. M.O.D.O.K. gets Judgment from Ronan. He is also able to move Drax away with Bow to the Will of M.O.D.O.K. My opponent then tries to take out Killmonger before he can dispatch Angela. Killmonger takes the first hit, gaining 3 power and damage, Okoye Bodyguards the second to keep him up. Killmonger plays Usurp the Throne, Charges Angela, and rolls hot garbage on the first attack, but is able to daze her with the second and get me 2 VP.
Drax dazes Killmonger. Ronan moves towards the near Gamma Shelter and tries to deal with Kingpin with little success. Black Widow double moves to the far Gamma Shelter and Kingpin slides back to the near Gamma Shelter. This is a monster turn for me and highlights the strength of Criminal Syndicate in scoring secures. I am able to score all 3 Gamma Shelters for 6 points, the Skrull for 2 points, and I earned 2 more points from Usurp the Throne. I am sitting at 15 points at the end of round 2.
Round three begins with my opponent having priority because I dazed a couple of his characters before they activated. Looking at a world of hurt this turn, I play All According to Plan to steal priority. M.O.D.O.K. activates first and KO’s Nebula with his two attacks, sapping 4 power. He is sitting at 9 power so he throws a size 2 terrain piece at Star-Lord and moves Drax, Angela, and Star-Lord away as Ronan is just outside of range 2 of Kingpin. A fully powered up and quite angry Angela unloads on my team around the middle Gamma Shelter. She uses Blades of Ichor to daze Okoye, get the Pursuit, and moves closer to M.O.D.O.K. Then, she pays for Angelic Assassin to move even closer and KO’s Killmonger with the included attack in Angelic Assassin. Her final action, because yes, she still has another action after all of that mayhem, is a Heaven’s Wrath attack on M.O.D.O.K. which does 8 damage with 8 dice. OUCH! She is a beat stick for sure. Drax gets 3 damage on Black Widow and Kingpin moves further away from Ronan. Ronan has 2 attacks to try and daze Kingpin and only manages one damage. My opponent plays Loveable Misfits and with some good dice rolls has a chance to daze my entire squad. Angela attacks and dazes M.O.D.O.K. while Ronan gets another attack on Kingpin but does no damage. Drax needs to roll a crit or a wild with the TTC to finish off Widow so Star-Lord can save the day and daze Kingpin. Alas, the dice are not with the stealthy Drax and he rolls a blank, moving him closer to Widow. Star-Lord’s last-ditch efforts prove futile, but he does manage to daze Widow.
At the end of round 3, I score 2 VP from the Skrull and 1 from the near Gamma Shelter taking me to 18 points. My opponent score the mid and friendly Gamma Shelter for 3 points. A victory for the Syndicate is in hand!
Kudos to my opponent for a fun and well-played match. As we chatted afterward, I found that he is newer to MCP and has only played a dozen or so matches, so we discussed the thought process of some of my plays and some suggestions for how to better maximize some of his. Overall, it was a great time for all involved, probably more so for me, as I won, but it is always nice to talk about the game and throw some dice!
Stay posted as the Season 4 TTS league moves forward and I will be posting the synopsis of each match.