Marvel Crisis Protocol event - Devil May Care

 Anyone for supper?

Another Marvel Crisis Protocol tournament in Bristol - this is the regular Collateral Damage series. Having attended parts 12 and 13, I felt part 14 was the next logical step.

Devil's Feud Cake

I was taking the Legion of the Lost affiliation, which is basically Mephisto and whatever characters are unwise enough to sign his contract. The leadership ability is easy to remember, and I knew which core of characters I wanted to play with, so that should take some pressure off my overtaxed noggin.

Characters: Mephisto, Lord of Temptation (5), M.O.D.O.K. (5), Killmonger (4), Venom (4), Kraven the Hunter (3), Man-Thing (3), Punisher (3), Spider-Man Noir (3), The Blob (3), Black Widow (2)

Team Tactics: Devil‘s Reckoning, Brand New Day, Mind Games, Spider-Sleuth, Usurp the Throne, Blood Red and Personal, Brace for Impact, Indomitable, Patch Up, Sacrifice

Secure Crisis: Guardians Save Shi‘ar Empress in Style (17), Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 (17), M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home! (19), Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate (20), Wedding Party Targeted in Terrible Attack! (20)

Extract Crisis: Terrigen Canisters Fuel Doomsday Device (17), Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (17), Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (18), The Montesi Formula Found (18), Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (20)

Mephisto has an ability to draw in bodyguards, so I wanted a squad of slow-moving big lads to take the hits: Venom, The Blob and Man-Thing (who also sets things on fire, which supports my Incinerate ability). Kraven the Hunter and Black Widow are good at dealing with fast movers (if I took on Web Warriors, for example). 

As for M.O.D.O.K., Spider-Sleuth, Killmonger and Punisher - they all have tactics cards that can harvest bonus VP. Spider-Sleuth especially has a mini-quest where he has to witness enemy interactions three times (Evidence), and beat someone senseless (Confession). It's not exactly a game-winning strategy, but it would be great fun if I could pull it off.

No pictures of the games, alas. But I'll do my best with words.

Game 1 - Legion of the Lost vs Asgard

Legion of the Lost: Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K., Man-Thing, The Blob, Spider-Noir

Asgard: The Mighty Thor, Thor Hero of Midgard, Angela, The Warriors Three
Crisis: M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home!, The Montesi Formula Found

Threat: 19

My first opponent was a familiar face from the last tournament: Mutlow (whose Guardians of the Galaxy had handily despatched my Weapon X). I was familiar enough with Asgard to expect a rough time, as I wasn't disappointed.

With four very aggressive characters, the Asgardians were likely to hold priority for a while, so I did my best to build up a scoring lead. Mephisto and Spider-Noir went down to Mighty Thor (Jane Foster) and The Warriors Three (such an awesome model), while big Thor one-shot M.O.D.O.K. (my own fault, as I forgot his defensive tech).

However, Mephisto woke up ready to rumble, and managed to blast Mighty Thor and Warriors Three with his Termination Clause beam. The Blob was doing fine work pushing Asgardians out of range and Man-Thing was also adding some movement shenanigans that even the Rainbow Bridge couldn't match.

Things were getting brutal by Round 3, as Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K. and Man-Thing were KO, as were Mighty Thor and Warriors Three. We were also up against the clock, which doesn't usually happen, but there was a lot of head-scratching and talking in this game.

Whether by time-out or points, I had built up a handy VP lead, despite my losses, so looked as if a win was inevitable. However, the Asgardians still had the option of tabling me to win, and with Thor and Angela still active, they had enough power to do it.

Thor managed to KO The Blob, so it fell to Angela to dispatch Spider-Noir. However, everyone's favourite gumshoe clung on (his damage reduction had been saving him all game) and with a single point of damage left, I took the win. Final score: 19-11

Game 2 - Legion of the Lost vs Avengers

Legion of the Lost: Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K., Man-Thing, The Blob, Spider-Noir

Avengers: Hulkbuster, Hulk, Emma Frost, Wasp
Crisis: M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home!, Deadly Legacy Virus Cured?

Threat: 19

My second game was against the organiser of all these events, Duncan. His roster was themed along the lines of transforming characters (Ant-Man to tiny Ant-Man, Emma Frost to diamond Emma Frost etc), but he was also an experience player, so I was expecting a challenge, especially when facing both a Hulkbuster and a Hulk (unlikely pairing there).

The M‘Kraan Crystal crisis card was drawn again, so I leaned into the consistency and played exactly the same team (not usual for me, but I felt I had a good thing going). Spider-Noir raced ahead early, determined to gather evidence for his case. After having been the stalwart of my last game, he was quickly humbled by Wasp and KO in the second round.

I was finding similar problems with Mephisto, whose ability to power himself up with Devil's Due tokens was neutralised by Hulkbuster's Built to Take It ability, and M.O.D.O.K.'s ability to send enemies walking away was countered by Emma Frost's Shield Mind.

For all that, my numbers were building up a strong lead in the secure objectives, and once I switched up the pairings, I started to see results: Mephisto could use Wasp to power up and eventually KO her; The Blob could push Emma Frost all the way to the table edge, since his belly doesn't rely on mind power. Even better, M.O.D.O.K. sent Hulk on a walk away from the action, effectively neutralising his first three turns.

With that kind of lead, I was feeling in a good place, but then Hulk woke up and dazed M.O.D.O.K., taking the third and final Legacy Cure from him. This Legacy crisis has a quirk that, if a character is holding all three, it can voluntarily KO and score 6VP - just enough to take Duncan past the finish line.

Realising this, I started a desperate scramble to deny just a couple of VP to push the game to another round, but there just wasn't enough on the board, so as Hulk sacrificed himself for the greater good, the Avengers took the win. Final score: 17-13

Game 3 - Legion of the Lost vs Avengers

Legion of the Lost: Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K., Man-Thing, The Blob, Spider-Noir

Thralls of Dracula: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Rescue, Ms Marvel, Namor The Sub-Mariner, Ultimate Spider-Man
Crisis: M‘Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home!, Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding

Threat: 19

Another match-up against Avengers, this time led by Captain America. And, once again, we were chasing M‘Kraan Crystal (is someone cooking this in a nearby lab?), so I rolled with it and went with the same team again.

Spider-Noir was still determined to win the Spider-Sleuth tactics card, so started the game by hiding behind a building to spy out two of the opponent's objectives.

Back in the actual game, I'd learned that Mephisto likes to start out bullying smaller models, so Ms Marvel drew the short straw. M.O.D.O.K. dragged her into range, and then Mephisto went to work stealing her soul, finishing off with a Hellfire Lash that dazed her in the first round. The rest of the Avengers rallied by scoring their objectives, and Ultimate Spider-Man managed to kick Mephisto hard enough that he could grab two of them - right under Spider-Noir's nose (Evidence!)

Mephisto started the second round by KO Ms Marvel before she could use all the power she'd accumulated. In return, Namor charged into Spider-Noir and dazed him, Ultimate Spider-Man zapped Mephisto and The Blob, the Captain America bounced his shield around so much that even Mephisto's ability to summon bodyguards couldn't save him from being dazed. My best answer was to zap Namor with M.O.D.O.K. and maintain my VP lead.

In the third round, Mephisto was all fired up and unleased a Termination Clause that dazed Namor and took Rescue down to a single point of damage. This made Rescue ripe for Spider-Noir to extract a Confession and she realised it. Grabbing a Wedding Guest objective (Evidence!) Rescue made a run for the edge of the board.

Now everything became a chase. Man-Thing teleported Spider-Noir after Rescue in a position where he could make two attacks to finish her off (he's better with two attacks from The Old One-Two). Before that could happen, Ultimate Spider-Man swung in to fling back Spider-Noir and force him to walk into range. Spider-Noir only had a single attack to drop Rescue - and she defended it! With the last of his power, Spider-Noir webbed some nearby barrels and flung them at Rescue. A single point of damage made it through and Rescue was dazed (Confession!)

Among all this, there was a game taking place, with allowed The Blob and M.O.D.O.K. to take all the M'Kraan secures. This gave me a 14 VP lead - and I suddenly realised that with the bonus 2VP from Spider-Sleuth, I had won the game in Round 3. Case closed!

I have to admit, that was exceptionally lucky of me. With Namor waking up in the fourth round and Ultimate Spider-Man still very dangerous, I could have been hard-pressed going forward. But the narrative of an injured Spider-Noir chasing down his key witness while everyone else tried to help or hinder him was absolute cinema. Best game of the day. Final score: 16-7

Game 4 - Legion of the Lost vs Avengers

Legion of the Lost: Mephisto, M.O.D.O.K., Man-Thing, The Blob, Venom

Thralls of Dracula: Hulkbuster, Shang-Chi, Luke Cage, Moondragon (Mind Gem), Rescue
Crisis: Fear Grips World As “Worthy“ Terrorize Cities!, Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate

Threat: 20

My final game was against Rhys, so I would be facing Avengers again and Hulkbuster again (with 18 players at the day and only four Avengers and two Hulkbusters present, I don't know what the odds were that I drew this again). But mercifully, we didn't draw M'Kraan Crystal, so I brought in Venom and let Spider-Noir retire with honours.

I was up against it from the start, not least because Rhys is a very good player. But also Hulkbuster neutralises many of my tricks (can't drain his soul, can't push him around) and now Moondragon, armed with the Mind Gem, kept sending M.O.D.O.K. far away from the action (having a short move, he really struggled to get back into it).

I tried to daze Moondragon early, but Rescue was on hand to patch her up - so she was twice saved from the brink. Switching my attention to Rescue, Mephisto managed to daze her, but by that stage, the points were already running away from me.

I found myself in a scrabble at the end of Round 3 trying to reclaim enough objectives to force another round, but the Avengers had an answer for each of my tricks. Even if I had got to round four, I very doubt I had a hope of winning it. Rhys managed my team very well and I didn't really get into it. I should definitely have brought Indomitable tactics card to stop getting shoved around. or maybe Spider-Noir was my lucky talisman. Final score 9-17

Back in Hell's Waiting Room

Another brilliant day, and one where I felt the most in command of my characters and rules. Sticking with the same list - though it hurts my sense of variety - does seem to be best way of getting a handle on a team. I really enjoyed all my games, and had a great time with Legion of the Lost.

My regrets are that I wasn't able to use enough of my tactics cards, but Mephisto's Brand New Day never really came up (or, when it did, I forgot to use it), and the same for M.O.D.O.K.'s mind games. My plans to harvest bonus VP from Killmonger and Punisher could only have worked in the fourth game, and I was too brain-fried to try anything fancy by then.

I ended up in seventh place and, as a bonus, finished top in my bracket (2-2), so acquired some more bling for the cabinet!