Week 2 finished with a mighty 4 games of MCP, against 4 different opponents with 4 different lists. Amazing! I’ve got 2 games booked already for Week 3, a rematch with Scott and an intro game with James. I’m not one for power playing into gamers, especially newbies, and I will choose to enjoy narrative over meta any day of the week so forgive me if the game with James doesn’t get a full break down.
The list remains unchanged from my last game with Huw:
Green Goblin, Lizard, Venom, Kingpin, Bullseye, Taskmaster, Kraven, Mysterio, Dormammu and Doc Ock.
Tactics Cards: Advanced R&D, One-Two Punch, Patch Up, Well-Laid Plans, Brace For Impact, Dark Restoration, The Grand Illusion, Sinister Traps, Neogenetic Recombinator, Monkey Brain is Lizard Home.
Crisis Cards: Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (14), Mystic Wakandan Herbs (15), Research Station Attacked! (16). / S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon (14), Gamma Wave (15), Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses (16).
Game 7 – 14th Feb 2022
Vs Scott (Hulk Busters)
Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (14) / Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses (16)
Dormammu, Lizard, Mysterio, Bullseye
Hulkbuster, Valkyrie, Toad, Warmachine, Black Widow
I’ve been strangely looking forward to this one as, if I’m honest, I felt completely unprepared for Hulkbuster and the loss smarted all the more because of it. Going into the match up I was adamant that I wanted to achieve 2 things. 1) Learn how to beat Hulkbusters. 2) Give Dormammu a proper run for his money, really give him a good work out.
I won priority (which is already a bad start...) and went Blue. Scott chose 16 threat and we were off!
Turn 1 Lizard secured the senator after a failed attempt by Bullseye and Black Widow. Central objective and poor old Connors was left in the open with Warmachine and Hulkbuster left to activate. Amazingly he survived with only 2 damage on him, Dormammu coming to the aid of the plucky little croc. Bullseye got a close encounter with Valkyrie and Toad but managed to contest the witness on the left flank. Black Widow enjoyed the witness on the right all to herself as Mysterio just couldn’t float over there quick enough. Key point to remember, Mysterio can reach the centre line on Turn 1, so he might be a better objective holder than Lizard?
Dormammu had his sights clearly marked on the two suits, Warmachine and Hulkbuster, and by Turn 3 Rhodes was taken out of the game completely by the Dark Dimension leader. Black Widow and Hulkbuster continued to harry the right flank and centre, as Bullseye took out Valkyrie and Toad with rapid-firing Pin Cushion attacks (I was as amazed as you are... 2 threat character wiping out 2 characters in one turn)! Sadly, Bullseye’s viciousness came too late to save Mysterio who was mercilessly hacked down by Valkyrie. The streets ran red in Turn 4.
Throughout the game both Scott and I were conscious of Hulkbuster’s power, I was scared stiff of him being dazed into Iron Man with 10 power on the card when he flipped, and Scott was desperate to keep as much power on the suit as possible for the exact same reason. It wasn’t until after the power phase of Turn 6 where it came to light that when Hulkbuster flips, Iron Man joins the field with 0 tokens. No conditions, damage, effects, OR POWER... I’d spent the past 2 hours skirting around what I thought to be a 13 health power suit that would pop into another 13 health power suit in the same turn, the cake was a lie. It’s games like this where the strength of your opponent comes to light, and this is why I enjoy playing games with Scott. We both learned this together, at the same time, and there was no feeling of being cheated out of anything. Scott’s valuation of Hulkbuster dropped massively, and I faced my fear of the character for good. With this knowledge know at the forefront of my mind, I was unable to win the game but I knew that I would be able to plow so much more onto Hulkbuster in the future.
Another example of how great a game this was came when an interesting interaction took place between Mysterio and Toad in Turn 3. Mysterio activates, moves to within Range 3 of Toad and uses his Hypnosis Gas doing 3 damage. As part of the attack I get to resolve the Wild dice and advance Toad short towards Mysterio. So the interaction that we challenged was do I get to resolve Tricks and Traps as Toad has finished his movement within 3 of Mysterio, or does Toad get to resolve Hop Away first. If Hop Away resolves first, does Mysterio get to resolve Tricks and Traps as Toad has moved within 3 then hopped off again? ...Discuss.
Scott and I decided that as Priority Player effects resolve first then Mysterio would get Tricks and Traps off first, followed by Toad’s Hop Away (Mysterio fluffed up the roll so did not get the last health point off the pesky mutant anyway, but if he had it would have been a great turning point in the game).
Great game, really enjoyable with some fantastic interactions. Thank you Scott, ever the teacher.
I went into the game adamant I was going to drop Bullseye for Toad, but he put in a hell of a performance! I’ve come back to Black Cat and utilising Toad now too... but more on that to come later.
Final Score 16-12 to Hulkbusters.
Game 8 – 19th Feb ‘22
Vs Scott (Asgard)
S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon (14) / Formula Found (16)
Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Lizard, Kingpin
Thor, Angela, Hela
This game came out of nowhere and I hadn’t much time to tweak my list from the Hulkbuster game earlier. I had managed to drop Neogenetic Recombinator for Medpack, but otherwise everything remained unchanged.
Scott won priority and I immediately chose 14 threat, except this time I went with a wider team than the usual “Dormammu Smash”. I’d done some reading up (thanks to Across The Bifrost for the good reads) and as there were some nice objectives to hold on to, I went with a team that had a decent physical defence stat with some damage reduction. Goblin and Kingpin with 7 health, Lizard and Ock with Wallcrawler, all medium bases with medium moves. It all seemed good on paper.
Turn 1 went the way of Asgard. Scott used a cheeky “Pass” option on his first activation meaning he would remain the priority player next turn. Hela got the first spell book and central console fighting off Lizard for its control. Angela secured the left flank against Kingpin and stopped the Spider-Foes from scoring big. Doc Ock secured the right flank on his own with no damage at all. Goblin flew around throwing energy bombs doing very little damage ( I planned on using Wild results to through Incinerate on Hela and Thor rather than grabbing points. It didn’t work...).
Looking back the turning point of the whole game came down to turn 2. Angela was ready to rampage, with Kingpin on three health she was poised to run through the centre line and possibly daze 3 characters in one activation. It all came down to Fisk, he was the Lynchpin if you will. Utilising his Damage Reduction ability, he survived to one health and then the strategic play of Brace for Impact meant Kingpin would survive to turn 3, halting the Asgardian beat stick in her tracks! Kingpin retaliated, knocking Angela down to three wounds, and a combination of Doc Ock and Lizard dazed Hela. Goblin Night of the Goblin’d Thor for one damage (one damage! blurgh...) and successfully poisoned and incinerated the glory boy. The tables had turned though and I had 2 consoles and 2 spell books.
The rest of the game went pretty much to plan, Lizard shocked the crowd by taking out Hela on her 2nd soul, stopping her regeneration and K/O’ing her. Goblin got one-shotted by Thor before the psychopathic glider rider could really do anything, and then Doc Ock used Ock’s Clutches to continuously throw Thor away from the central console. Angela and Kingpin continued their duel through the remaining turns, ending in turn 6 by an injured Kingpin finally dazing her.
Final Score 16-7 to Spider-Foes.
Lots to take in from this game. Firstly, it’s worth noting that both of us enjoyed it greatly! It felt like a tournament game (which is the point) but it was so narrative at the same time! Plenty of epic sequences and plays that really fit both team styles. Asgard were predictably aggressive from the get go, almost singlehandedly holding each’s section (Thor in the centre, Angela left flank), which was indeed a barrier. I tried to play for points, activating Goblin and Lizard specifically to draw attacks in to areas I couldn’t score. Doc Ock and Kingpin were great flankers with their throwing abilities and they worked really well in removing opponents from the console areas. Medpack worked great, Doc Ock healing Lizard at the right time to keep him healthy and in the fight, he actually got back to full health in turn 5 after fighting off Thor and Hela for the previous 4 turns! Brace for Impact is a must for anyone going against Angela. Having a size 4 building coming at you from turn 1 is just gross, and being able to negate the damage AFTER defence is rolled for 1 power is just as disgusting. Once again, I have not used Advanced R&D. 8 games in and I just don’t seem to need it as everyone seems to build power on their own nicely. Any suggestions on what would work better?
Finally, massive thank you for the continued support on this journey. Scott has been a huge help after just 3 games, I can’t wait to see what the next 7 months will bring! Thank you to James too for his VERY competitive intro game, that Avengers team is looking nasty dude, can’t wait for our rematch and it’s great to see new blood coming into MCP.
Stay tuned for Week 4, lots of tweeking to happen before my next game and some home brewing will be coming into play too! Get in touch if you want a game, I’m really happy to meet new people and to introduce anyone to this awesome game. I’m always at Duke’s Gaming in Pontypool ready to help a hand.
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