Before they can even lift the trophy, the champions have one final obstacle...
Guardians of the Galaxy vs Legion of the Lost!
Ah, valiant champions, you've tasted glory, but one last game beckons! The stakes? Higher than honour, sweeter than triumph - your every desire within reach. Yet, should you falter, your very souls pay the price. Heroes, do you dare dice with destiny?
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The Guardians may have won the knockout, but there a couple of characters who are looking for a rematch, and they're prepared to sell their souls to get one.
I, Stylus, have recently acquired Mephisto, a cheeky devil who comes with an affiliation all of his own. This means he can recruit anyone to be in his team, which got me thinking: there are a number of top-tier characters (competitively speaking) who didn't get past the qualifiers of the tournament. Could I recruit a team of all-stars to finally knock the Guardians off their perch?
Legion of the Lost
Mephisto himself is the undisputed star in the team, with some powerful attacks, movement shenanigans and a whole deck of cards to force unpalatable choices on your opponent. He can also use his own team-mates to block attacks, but don't tell them that.
Making up this team of underachievers are Baron Zemo, still the fastest sword in the MCP; Black Cat, the sneakiest thief there is; and Bullseye, stone cold killer. Bringing some iron muscle is the Hydra-Stomper (proxy Crimson Dynamo), who will be tanking the hits for the boss, and messing up the enemy attacks.
These guys have all been rated S-tier or A-tier, so their previous poor performance might be reflection on who was commanding them (I, Stylus).
Narratively, Zemo and Bullseye have season tickets to damnation, so they're easy to explain. The Hydra-Stomper is clearly from an alternate universe where Steve made some bad decisions. And Black Cat isn't bad, just drawn that way.
Tactics are: Devils' Reckoning, Brand New Day, Embrace the Inferno, Up the Ante, Patch Up
Guardians of the Galaxy
We should all know what to expect by now (and if you don't, refer to Pootle's tactical spreadsheet for answers). All six of this team had a chance to shine, at one point in the tournament or another, and shine they did. They can brawl, they can chase objectives, they can pull all kinds of chicanery. They're not the champions for nothing.
Tactics are: Crew of the Milano, Galaxy’s Greatest, Daughters of Thanos, Deadly Duo, We Are Groot
Deployment
Our crisis are Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due?, a lengthwise secure mission with the added wrinkle that the Flaming Portals will Incinerate anyone nearby.We also have Panic Grips City As Evacuation Efforts Continue, which sees four Citizens trying to flee the city (understandably). This awards 1VP for holding a Citizen token, with the option to evacuate them by spending 6 power and scoring 2VP.
(I don't know where Mephisto plans to evacuate them, but it probably doesn't have good Wi-Fi)
The Guardians set up first and, in a move designed to rattle my expectations, all the partnerships break up. Star-Lord and Drax take the western flank.
Nebula and Rocket go down the centre.
Gamora and Groot go out on the eastern flank.
The Legion of the Lost are more lopsided, with Hydra-Stomper being assigned sole responsibility of the eastern flank.
Bullseye is give the centre by himself.
Baron Zemo, Black Cat and Mephisto himself are out on the western flank.
Guardians have priority and we're away!
Round 1
In the very first move of the game, Pootle pulls an unexpected and spontaneous move (no doubt pulled from his /unexpected sub-folder containing /pre-prepared-spontaneity files). Gamora double-moves straight down the flank, picking up a Civilian and giving Hydra-Stomper something to think about.
And so it does, rather than running onto an objective, the Hydra-Stomper plants its feet and hits Gamora with double Electric Blasts. It does just enough damage to daze her, then provides the Hydra-Stomper with enough power to use its Propulsion Thrusters to jump on the Civilian Gamora just dropped and pick it up.
First blood to me! (gee, I sure hope Gamora won't be a bad mood when she wakes up)
The rest of the round is more conventional. Mephisto sweeps up another Civilian and plants himself on the central Flaming Portal (Incinerate conditions don't bother him). Zemo backs up his boss on the central objective and Black Cat skulks around the central line, out of range and sight. Bullseye hangs back on the northern Flaming Portal.
Rocket, Groot and Drax advance halfway to the midline. Groot picks up one Civilian, and Drax gets another. Rocket secures the southern Flaming Portal and chips some paint off the Hydra-Stomper with his long-range Plasma Rifle.
Star-Lord goes straight for the central objective, but can't take it from Mephisto and Zemo. Nebula sprints across the board, ready to back up her sister.
A fairly even start, with the VPs divided pretty evenly. But with everyone getting very close to each other, carnage will surely follow.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 : 4 Legion of the Lost
Round 2
As an admin note, between the objectives giving out the Incinerate condition, and Mephisto's leadership ability burning an enemy character in the Cleanup Phase, pretty much everyone is on fire all the time.
The Legion of the Lost start with Priority, which makes removing Gamora a pressing concern. Hydra-Stomper opens up his Electric Blast once again, hoping to have history repeat itself. However, he falls short by a single point of damage, and Gamora is still on her feet. Not wanting to be anywhere near the retaliation, he Propulsion Thrusters away, to be in range of Mephisto's beckoning, if required.
Gamora is next and leaps into the fray. She hacks at Hydra-Stomper with God Slayer, chipping away some damage, then hits again with Cosmic Assassin, chipping away some more. My team's tank is leaking oil quite alarmingly now, but Gamora's bloodthirstiness backfires with her Cosmic Assassin attack bounces off onto Bullseye. He manages to avoid damage, but can answer with his Parting Shot - a single point of damage is all that's needed and Gamora is KO!
Star-Lord reacts emotionally, and goes full-auto on Baron Zemo, who is immediately dazed. Nebula also avenges her sister by clobbering Bullseye with a Shock Sword Assault that also dazes him. Rocket completes the set by blasting Hydra-Stomper with his Hadron Collider, dazing him too.
Three Legion of the Lost dazed in the blink of an eye - who knew Gamora was so popular?
Having seen all this, Black Cat is in no mood to rumble. She uses her Grappling Hook to place close to Star-Lord, takes a single swipe of her Cat Claws, then goes right back to where she was hiding.
Drax, Groot and Rocket manoeuvre around the centre, desperately trying not to arrange themselves in a line (it's as if they know someone has a beam attack powering up).
As for Mephisto himself, he's been having a quiet time of it, popping around the board to make his single-damage Infernal Bargain attacks. The advantage of these attacks is they also provide him with Devil's Deal tokens - providing him with a source of power and a massively boosted attack. And by the end of Round 2, he's maxed-out on tokens.
Despite the rocky start, the turn ends advantage Guardians - holding two Civilians and two Flaming Portals against the single Civilian in the clutches of Mephisto. But the Legion of the Lost once again take Priority.
Guardians of the Galaxy 7 : 5 Legion of the Lost
Round 3
Festooned with power and Devil's Deal tokens, Mephisto teleports himself behind Groot, so he can get a clear shot at three of the Guardians with his Termination Clause (now augmented to nine dice!)
It's a mixed result: Star-Lord takes the full force and is immediately dazed. Despite having seven wounds, Groot is also downed (wood not being a great defence against fire), but Drax Can Take It and barely notices what happened.
Mephisto finishes with a Hellfire Lash against Nebula, who also proves resistant to the damage. So much so, that her next move is to run against a just-recovered Bullseye and curbstomp him again: she can reroll all dice against an enemy near an objective and Bullseye is a tempting target given he only has four wounds. The first Legion of the Lost is KO!
Hydra-Stomper hits Nebula with an Electric Blast, but only so he can generate enough power to pick up the Civilian he dropped last round. Then, by generating two more power from Overcharge Capacitors, he has enough to evacuate the Civilian and secure 2 VPs.
With his arboreal protector having a nap, Rocket is looking vulnerable. Ever the pragmatist, Baron Zemo picks himself up and charges straight at the raccoon, impaling him with his sword. He then backs as far away as possible from the southern Flaming Portal, hoping Drax won't notice what he just did.
Drax notices, and sprints back to the Flaming Portal, securing it and delivering an almighty slap to Zemo that has him reeling back with the Bleed condition.
Amidst all this carnage, Black Cat creeps back to the centre, picks up the Civilian dropped by Groot, and then runs back to hide. Wise choice.
That fightback from the Legion of the Lost, plus the evacuated Civilian, puts both teams dead level. Everyone's picking themselves back up again, with plenty of power, but the Legion keeps Priority.
Guardians of the Galaxy 9 : 9 Legion of the Lost
Round 4
Mephisto takes centre-stage once again, hitting Groot and Star-Lord with his Termination Clause. Groot is KO right away, but Star-Lord manages to hang in there with two points of damage left.
This leads to Mephisto to advance on Star-Lord, and spending one of his precious Devil's Deal tokens to use a Devil's Due superpower on Star-Lord than rips away his last two damage and that's another KO!
With power to spare, Mephisto uses his How Can I Be of Service? ability to teleport next to Rocket and Drax, using Infernal Bargain on Rocket to replenish his store of Devil's Deal tokens. It's a slightly reckless move, but Mephisto is clearly all swagger.
Rocket attempts to shoot Zemo with his Plasma Rifle, but leaves him on one point of damage and gets clapped back by Zemo's Counter-Strike, which also leaves him on one point of damage.
From the other side of the board, Hydra-Stomper aims his homing rockets at Rocket (the irony!) and KOs the racoon in an explosive blaze.
Hydra-Stomper doesn't get to celebrate long, as Nebula storms in with her Shock Sword Assault and KOs him without mercy!
In case you're wondering why Nebula isn't securing any Flaming Portals or grabbing Civilians, it's because she's such a single-minded assassin, she's unable to interact with any objectives.
The final word goes to Drax, who's in close range to Mephisto, which is his happy place. He starts by picking up Zemo and throwing him at Mephisto, which KOs Zemo and damages Mephisto. Drax follows up with a Blades attack, and then a Titan Killer that flings Mephisto back into a car (our first property destruction of the day!)
Mephisto is dazed by this flurry of determined attacks, but it doesn't end there. Drax uses all the power he's gained to evacuate the Civilian he was already holding, then uses his last point of power to pick up the Civilian that Mephisto just dropped. With him holding the southern Flaming Portal, that's 4VP for the Guardians, all scored by Drax!
Black Cat decides she needs to show a bit more enthusiasm about getting incinerated, and creeps onto the central Flaming Portal. With the Civilian she's holding, she scores the only 2 VP gained by the Legion.
Guardians of the Galaxy 13 : 11 Legion of the Lost
Round 5
With priority switching to the Guardians, Drax throws more attacks against Mephisto, but can only take away half his damage this time.
Back on his feet, Mephisto doesn't have much of a sense of humour about getting beaten up and unleashes a Termination Clause blast that finally knocks Drax off his feet, picking up the Civilian in the process.
Taking no chances with the insanely-resilient Nebula, Black Cat unleashes both her Troublemaker attacks, which cost more power and both need to succeed. But her luck is in, and Nebula is finally dazed.
With two of the Flaming Portals and all the remaining Civilians in Legion hands, the points swing back the other way. The Guardians will have priority once more, and Drax has shown himself to be dangerous, but he's now the only scoring member of the team.
Guardians of the Galaxy 13 : 15 Legion of the Lost
Round 6
This fight is going to the finish! Drax starts the round and bodyslams Mephisto right through the sidewalk and all the way to Hell. He collects the Civilian token and stands guard over the Flaming Portal.
That's enough for Black Cat. She abandons the central Flaming Portal, holds her Civilian tight, and moves in the opposite direction. Then she moves again. Then she uses Grappling Hook to move a little further for good measure. She's out of there.
Guardians of the Galaxy 15 : 16 Legion of the Lost
Back at the Bullpen
Now, that was a game! In fact, it may have been the best game of Crisis Protocol I've played (and since I've been averaging one a week since September, that's saying something). Usually these games are characterised either by taking out characters via attrition, or scoring points via the scenario rules. This had a mix of both, went the full distance, had swings back and forth within the same round, and was decided by the narrowest of margins - great fun!
I very much enjoyed my first run-out of Mephisto - he takes a while to fuel up with souls, but he's a terror once he's rolling, combined with some cheeky movement shenanigans and chip damage (I particularly like his pop-up 'Avon Calling!' next to characters). The one drawback was I didn't get to use any of his tactics cards. Embrace the Inferno was a bit redundant on a board that was always on fire, and the other two never seemed relevant because it required Mephisto to be activated when damage was inflicted (and he was usually the one doing the damage). It would probably work better in a list with heavy hitters, rather than minions.
Speaking of which, the four also-rans in my team didn't do so badly. Hydra-Stomper held strong in the backline, though he never got close enough to act as a bodyguard. Zemo and Bullseye got off a few licks before getting slammed. Black Cat was probably the wrong choice for a fighting list, but her elusiveness supplied me with the winning move.
If I'd been playing cautiously, I might have pulled Mephisto back after he incinerated half the Guardians, rather than moving forward to antagonise Drax. That was cockiness on my part (plus I was hoping to use Zemo as a shield, rather than having him thrown into me), but who would have denied the spectacle of Mephisto and Drax going toe-to-toe?
Props again to Pootle. This was his fifth run-out with the Guardians, and probably the best he's handled them. His early gambit with Gamora may have been costly, but it put me on the back foot. Nebula seems an absolute steal for 2 Threat, and Drax has my vote for MVP of the whole tournament.
This was absolutely the best game of MCP I've played - massive thank you once again to Stylus for the game and campaign. I've not played anything like as much MCP as him of course, but this one...had it all (a phrase I remember well from my Marvel comics days).
Drax managed to score 10 of my 15 VPs and take Mephisto down twice so there's no question about the MVP for this game. One of the things I love about playing the Guardians is that it's such a balanced team: as Stylus noted above, everyone has turned up at some point. But for repeatedly showing sheer bloodyminded defiance in shrugging off damage, then dishing it back out in spades and scoring VPs whilst doings so, I agree that Drax definitely wins the overall award too...though Rocket is still my favourite character :-)
I can't help but think what might have been in games like this - if Gamora had managed to survive in turn one she'd have given me one more VP and Crimson Dynamo wouldn't have picked up the Civilian so one fewer for the Legion of the Lost. But that way lies madness - what if Mephisto had been slightly more sensible and stayed the hell away from Drax? Reading the report above enables me to remember the (extended) decision-making angst I had at points and confirm that even in defeat I wouldn't have changed a single decision.
And all it took to defeat them was me cherry-picking the best characters from the entire range - easy!
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You wretched, faithless feline! While I endure The Destroyer's brutish savagery, you slink away like a scalded cat! Mark my words: when I rise from this, your nine lives won't be enough to save you from the reckoning!
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