Marvel Crisis Protocol

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Marvel Crisis Protocol is a miniatures game set in the Marvel universe. A normal game always has two Crises: Secure (Stand on an objective) and Extraction (Carry an objective). In addition to featuring iconic heroes and villains, there is a large emphasis on terrain: Scenery affects traversal and can be used for cover or thrown. Characters like Spider-Man are almost completely unimpeded by scenery, but Hulk can throw damn near anything, including dump trucks, which is always great for a laugh. Despite the aforementioned emphasis on terrain, vertical distance is not measured for attacks, meaning a character on the ground can punch a character on the roof of an adjacent building.

Another interesting facet is unrestricted roster building. There is nothing stopping you from having sworn enemies on the same team, like Captain America and Red Skull. The reasoning is thematic: Comics are subject to strange team-ups all the time (for example, alternate universe versions, mind control, etc.). There are no factional restrictions, but there are affiliations which can provide bonuses if at least half your team shares an affiliation like Avengers or Cabal. Some characters have multiple factions they can belong to, like Black Panther, who has Avengers and Wakanda. Some characters have Leadership abilities that are activated when you fulfill an affiliation, and some Tactic Cards can only be used on characters that belong to specific affiliations, like Odin's Blessing with Asgardian characters.

Is This Game For Me?

Pros

• Very high quality miniatures that do justice to the characters.
• Each character feels unique and true to the source material.
• Team building is simple. You'll usually have about 4 or 5 characters on the field with the only additional prep-work being Tactics Cards.
• Terrain is fun as hell to throw around.
• The game has a raid mode which a group of players go with teams against one player controlling a maxed out character (Hulk, Ultron and Thanos for now).

Cons

• The pricing is on par with Games Workshop. Because every single expansion has unique characters, they can't exactly count on repeat purchases.
• Assembly is a pain in the ass.
• Static poses. No room to get creative there without a knife and the willingness to take a risk on your expensive model.

Rosters

The game has a point system for each character. It goes from character being super cheap, at 2 points, being weaker but useful, and characters then being up to 8 points, like Dormammu, which can become half of the team by themselves in point in most crisis, but bringing a LOT of power with him.

Because there are a LOT of teams and a LOT of different ways to build theses characters, dividing them by their Threat Value (their point cost) facilitates explaining them, as you can even use all of them in any combination, and the main way they are competing is through their point value.

2 Threat

Right now, the 2 threat characters are the cheapest characters in the game (excluding the Infinity Gems, who are not characters themselves). They are often made with a specific idea in mind, and are not usually particularly resistent in most scenarios. Their use is first, to fill out odd crisis, but with a proper plan, they can be used as a cheap activation in game.

• Black Widow/Natasha Romanova: The 2 pointer from the Core Box, Nat is pretty cheap, and mildly useful. Large movement is excellent for her, as it allows her to grab extracts and get the hell away with their moves. More over, with some proper preparation, she can stay in stealth (enemies can only target her at Distance 3). She is nothing exceptional, but she can be used for some objective hunting. More over, she can be used in good teams, specially Captain America (Sam Wilson) who loves cheaper and smaller characters.

• Bob, Agent of Hydra: Coming from the Deadpool box, Bob holds objectives in the back. His main point is using his big cannon to shoot people. He starts with a Loaded Token to then hit whatever you want at distance 4 and cause a LOT of damage. But you also blow yourself when you do it, so you have at best two chances to use this attack. Due to his BUT HOW?! he does have a bit more of resilience, as he doesn't flip automatically flip when attacked in his injured side if he hasn't activated.

• Bullseye/Benjamin Pointdexter: "BULLSEYE!" Having received a decent update for his character, Bullseye he is good for holding objectives, can often use his two actions per turn as he has Hit and Run to shoot and move and has a 4 range for his attacks. What he serves is generally is a good finisher (causing minimal 1 damage), getting a bit of bleed on opponents, and being a nuisance. In a team like Criminal Syndicate he shines, as he is a cheap healthy body to hold objectives, adding another body to hold an objective.

• Nebula: Gamora's sister. She is an assassin character, with a Large movement that gives her chances to catch far away enemies.Decently resistant for a 2 Threat, as she has a re-roll and in-built immunities (she is mostly robot after all). Her biggest weakness is not being able to interact or secure objectives, which however is compensated by her rerolling any number of dies when attacking those that are playing the objective game. E and C crisis are great for her, as she can stay positioned to strike enemies in two points if you position her properly.

• Okoye: The Dora Milaje General. Wakanda's own Praetorian Guard, even after her nerf she is still well liked as a two pointer. The basic reason is simple, she is a cheap character that can throw herself and save her friends with Bodyguard. She has decent defensive abilities (one defensive reroll and adding blanks to her successes). She is well used and well known in the community.

• Rocket Racoon: Listen, its a trash panda with a giant gun so you can tell its going to be a glass cannon. He is super fragile with 3 health, and 2 phyisical and energy defense but staying close to Groot can keep him alive, as the rabbit will use the big tree to protect himself. He is immune to collisions and ALWAYS get Cover (he is tiniest character of the game, discounting Ant-Man and Wasp when transformed). What makes him offensively powerful then? First, his main attack is a 5 range 5 damage shot. That alone is pretty good at keeping damage pumping (specially in certain crisis deployments), the rat spender is also pretty decent for an area attack with 7 dice and 1 damage with a pull. Its his Tactic - Deadly Duo, which he uses with Groot, where the fox SHOOT THREE MORE TIMES with his basic attack in different targets. Thats a LOT of firepower in one turn.

• Toad/Mortimer Toynbee: You know what happens to frogs when they are hit by lightning? Well, they probably become surprisingly decent characters. Toad is ABSURDLY good for crisis play, first because of his innate power where he can interact with objectives at range 2. That alone gives him more space for good positioning. He can also pick up allied characters objective tokens, which allows him then to get the hell out, which he can do with his Medium movement and a Hop that positions him 2 range. Not only that, when attacked he can slip away from enemies, so he is really good at mobility and getting the hell out with objectives. With proper positioning and energy control, Toad can move, capture an objective at 2, move again, and use his hop to stay very far away from his enemies while holding an objective. Purple Herb is an awesome Crisis for him. Get a character to reach the Herb position, pick it up, move and then prepare Toad to take it from an ally, hop and move. You might be able to finish the crisis in two turns.

• Wong: Cheapest mage of the game. He is a support piece, but thats it. Don't expect much from him beside that, he will not defend well, survive much or anything. What he will do is heal his allies or pass power to them, but don't count on him holding objectives for long.

3 Threat

3 threat is where the characters can shine a bit. Because they are at this level, it means that they don't have to be at their full power, and but can bring enough to the table for being cheaper.

• Ant-Man/Scott Lang: Decent movement, for some reason, bad energy defense (2). He has two forms, Normal and Tiny, which doesn't allow him to hold objectives. His skill is essentially managing his transformation. Move, move, spend energy, transform and then use his Hitch a Ride to move more. Maybe move and punch, transform into tiny, and use Hitch a Ride to move once more. Remember that while in tiny form he only moves small, the base still the same, and he gets the free Hitch. At its core, you can just enjoy a character that can every turn position himself better. His spender ability is also pretty good, stun and poison beam, which means your opponent can only get one power when he should, and in the power phase he LOSES 1 power.

• Baron Mordo/Karl Amadeus Mordo: DO YOU LIKE CONDITIONS? 11 health total, making him a bit better health wise than most 3 pointers. 2 physical defense is poor for a game that has so many physical fighters, but he compensates with his 4 energy and 4 mystic defense which are huge in his threat curve. All of his attacks are at minimum of 3, making him a good range character (as a proper wizard should be). What makes him shine are that all of his attacks have a special effect, a push, applying a hex, and his spender applying Incinerate and Poison, which hurt well enough, but then with his power Soul Barb he can inflict one of those same conditions on enemies that are 2 range of the chosen character. A lot of characters suffering Incinerate for that less defense, or diminishing Power with Poison,or can't open their Criticals because of Hex, or forces them to move with the Small. With a few other characters like Omega Red, Mordo can be one of your big tactical debuffer to make sure your enemy is crippled during their turns. Oh, he can also boost allies attacks, but while decent, it cost 2 power and hurts the ally, its better to hold power for his Soul Barb (unless you already inflicted all 4 conditions you could, you devil you).

• Baron Zemo/Helmut Zemo: A staple of many villainous lists. He does plenty as a 3 pointer. First, he has Large movement, which is fantastic for any character. Not only that he has a 2 range aura that allows allies to reroll one attack and defense die. For free. Think about this way, Web Warriors and X-Force are both teams that can one of these while being LEADERSHIPS. Zemo provides it free of charge. Speaking of Charge, he has Charge. Action economy is important in MCP just like any other game. Any character that can move and attack in the same action benefits a LOT from it. Zemo does it with a LARGE movement, meaning he has a really long reach for his basic attack, and even more with his 3 range spender, which can make him move even more. The guy is essentially moving, hitting, moving again while also being able to apply bleed with any of his attacks. If thats not enough, he has Counter Strike to make his opponent suffer a bit more.

• Beast/Henry McCoy: Beast, like many X-Men, is in a meh place. He has decent movement due to his attacks, and his big base+medium movement. He has a small throw (size 2) and can spend power to reroll his dice. Biggest problem is that his spender by itself is expensive, he has 2 energy defense, and for some reason, a brilliant man like beast has Mystic 3 instead of 4 like many other smart guys. He only gets extra power if he gets skulls, but while that sounds like a good benefit, it still a bit too rare for him to rely on it. So for him to do anything he has to fail, otherwise he doesn't have the power generation to use his abilities.

• Black Cat/Felicia Hardy: Felicia is in a LOT of teams(A-Force, Criminal Syndicate, Midnight "Sons" and Web-Warriors), and its a good thing too as she is a pretty decent 3 threat that can be quite impactful in the game. First of all, she has Large movement and a Power that allows her to move that 2 range more (she is not a wall crawler, so you need this to get atop of buildings). Her basic attack, is well, basic. Her SPENDER though, thats where the magic starts. Sure, it only ever causes 1 damage, but it also causes Stagger. Stagger is the most impactful condition in the whole game. All the other conditions like Bleed, Stun, Slow, they all debuff some part of the character, but Stagger breaks action economy. Stagger forces opponents to spend an action on their character so they can "shake" the condition away. It forces them, which means you can absolutely debilitate an enemy strategy with it. Even better, Felicia gets a move if she hits a Wild with the attack. Her game changer though is her Master CAT Burglar, which steals an enemy objective and puts in her control. Usually to get objectives you MUST Daze or KO an enemy, but Black Cat can just take it away with 3 power. Combine it with say, her stagger, and a movement, Felicia can outright run away with the objective and MORE: with her stealth, she can keep it in her hands. Using her takes a bit of practice as not to let her getting killed, but with proper positioning, and power control, she can absolutely be game changer in some crisis.

• Black Widow Agent of Shield/Natasha Romanova: The more agressive version of Black Widow. Not used much unless for old dance of death, which was nerfed in the 2021 update. You can still fire a lot of shots with her Rapid Fire attack, but all of her abilities are not super impactful or cause enough damage to compensate using her. Even her 3 power ability to win a VP demands an enemy to be dazed to it occur.

• Captain America/Sam Wilson: CAPTAIN FALCON (even Disney couldn't resist making this copyright infringing joke). Sam is one of the three Leaders of the Avengers, and as such his discussion will be in the faction page (which is good too, cause he has A LOT to write about).

• Clea: The New Sorcerer (Sorceress?) Supreme in the comics, she is in her more normal form in here. Both of her Mystic attacks are focused a bit more on hitting specific dies. Demon Claw is bleed, while Icy Tendrils is a combination of things that can cause stats like Slow, Stun and Stagger. Not really the most reliable way of using it. She can get power similary to red skull, by rolling dice that can inflict her damage, and she can reposition them just as the same as him. Essentially she is a more support piece like Red Skull, but more cheaper.

• Crossbones/Brock Rumlow: Just terrible. He has a small base and move small, meaning he is one of the slowest character in the whole game. He needs to be constantly attacking or be under constant attack to be able to attack people better, but it still takes too long. He has a 1 damage reduction, but must pay power for it. And to top it off, he has Energy defense 2 and Mystical defense 2. His only saving grace is being a free activation using him combined with his girlfriend Sin, otherwise he is not really worth using.

• Crystal/Crystalia Amalequin: An Avatar, master of all four elements. She is nifty to cause specific conditions on enemies, also she can make 3 attacks per turn with her Elemental Onslaught power. She also combos well with characters that cause Stun, Incinerate or Slow, as she can essentialy force enemies to stay with those conditions. Not the greatest character, not the worst character.

• Deadpool/Wade Wilson: The Merc With a Mouth. Good for securing objectives, though moving them around is not as great. Being a card that always stays in the healthy side, he is quite useful in game. He is 4 health side, a 6 on the side. If you take him, its out of love, as he is a bit too fragile (or you play Criminal Syndicate for a dude that is ALWAYS healthy).

• Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius: Good but really expensive throw, and his basic attack is decent, but its very unlikely he will see lists without some support.

• Domino/Neena Thurman: Very useful, and a good 3 threat character for X-Men and X-Force. Her innate ability to NOT let enemies to add rolls to crits is great. It stops a lot of offensive power from characters, and their defense as well. Rapid Fire is a quite useful power, as you can position yourself and shoot 4 times against an enemy, which with enemies that have suffered Incinerate that she can apply on the through her Grenade is damn good. She can also improve her own critical strikes many times, by turning her skulls into criticals by spending power.

• Drax the Destroyer: Decently agressive, tanking and throw people. With Guardians Wing-It, he becomes better. Not a terrible choice, but even for the Guardians sometimes the points go better in other ways.

• Gambit/Remy LeBeau: He is good. For 3 threat he is one of the best X-Men, with enough firepower to annoy people. His abilities allow him to charge his attacks to make them even better, so he is decent offensive middle range piece, and in crisis like C or E, where you have to drawn straight lines, he can be outright devastating with his beam.

• Ghost-Spider/Gwen Stacy: Also known by fans as Spider-Gwen, she is the best of the Spider characters. As a 3 threat she is easy to add to any team, and she works well with any of them. First of all, she has the very rare Large move, which already gives her quite the advantage. Her basic attack (which she will use a lot), is absurd. First of all, if you have already attacked an enemy you get a 0 cost 7 attack. Only the Hulk has a 0 cost 7 attack. Thats the offensive version of her attack, you can also after moving, hit, and move AGAIN LARGE. So essentially you are making three actions at the cost of two, without expending power like charge. And this combos well enough with her, because she can then Web Line her enemies taking enemies off objectives and guaranteeing them for herself, or even just to keep them away from certain allies. Gwen is one of the best 3 threat characters of the game and very much useful in any list even without being part ot their Affiliation.

• Groot: I. AM. GROOT. A sturdy character on his own. You can use him as a shield for Rocket to keep firing at people, but he also works well enough alone, his spender has Stagger, which is phemonenal as a condition, and also a throw. Not only that, but he can heal himself, and with his specific tactic, he can heal even more people around him. Groot is one of the center pieces of the Guardians that turn them into a more attrition base team.

• Hawkeye/Clint Barton: He seems basic, and to be honest, he is. A good move, a counter attack, he is long range character with a 5 range attack. Why this is good? Well, his basic attack may not cause a lot of damage, but he can inflict a variety of conditions of your choice on enemies including the rare Shock, which removes one die from an opponent attacks. Keep him close to an objective and he should be fine.

• Hood/Parker Robbins:

• Iron Fist/Daniel Rand: Excelent 3 threat. A bit fragile, even with him being a Master of Martial Arts which should protect him. He can hit enemies far away enough with his kick, and strike them even further with his attacks. What truly makes him shine? His iconic Iron Fist. Not only does he applies Stagger if the character has been activated, but he ALSO can turn non-activated characters into activated characters, taking away their action. This can save your life and stop opponents from using pieces that are too strong and you wasn't able to kill, or you can keep them from ever reaching and stealing objectives. Its by itself one of the STRONGEST abilities of 3 threat characters.

• Iron Man/Tony Stark: He got an update that made him more viable. He still is quite basic character, but also one of the few that can push enemies of whatever size he wants.

• Kraven The Hunter/Sergei Kravinoff: