Greetings Esteemed Meat Popsicles and fellow Avian themed creatures (‘quotemyname’ is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe, a contemporary American author Horror Fanfic Writer of some renown from the Philadelphia area, and his poem “The Raven”).
If you’re here, reading this, then you might be looking at buying in to Marvel Crisis Protocol. This article will be mostly geared toward newer players trying to break into the game but aren’t sure where to start, or don’t have a lot of little green pieces of paper and infinite time to throw at their problems. If you’re a veteran player, or reading for fun, then stick around because this could be a great way to rope in some A.I.M. Lackeys friends into playing an excellent Marvel Comics themed miniatures game! Regardless I encourage you to stick around as I dive into the latest Three Box Challenge Crisis Event hosted by the Roster Doctor himself!
Fair Warning: I talk a lot. If you want to skip this cutscene keep scrolling until you see the next bit of red text. If you’re new to the game, or just like hearing my voice in your head keep reading.
So, what are we doing? An invitational tournament. Kind of. We don’t win anything except maybe getting our pride back?
Why should you care? This particular tournament has some interesting rules to it which are geared toward newer players looking to break into the game without dropping a mint. Not good enough? Well, if you’re sick of playing against M.O.D.O.K. or any other specific miniature, or crisis, or tactics card, this might give you a break and help mix up your experience with this game! Whatever your reasons, if you’re still reading, (Thanks!) this is sure to be a fun little experiment.
Who is this quotemyname person anyway and what are they doing in my content feed? Hi! My name is Dan Raven and now you understand the poetry joke. I’m a content creator in the online MCP community. I never planed that, I just kind of fell into the role slowly over the course of the 2020 COVID lockdown. No, I don’t have a podcast. I am just a guy that plays MCP and streams my games to twitch. I upload my videos to YouTube to share with the community. Occasionally when time allows I’ll contribute as a Judge or Commentator on finals games in the TTS Leagues. Overall, I’m just super happy to have the pleasure of being invited to participate in this project! I would describe myself as a “Casual Plus” player. I like to be competitive, but I don’t play enough to really reach the top of my class. I’m just a guy who loves this game and I want to share my experiences with you, True Believers! Now that I’ve doxed myself, let’s move on shall we?
I’m new to MCP. ELI5.
Caaaaaannnn dooo!!!! Okay, so let me paint you a word picture. You’re a new player and you bought the core box. You’ve painstakingly glued it all together and played your first game. Whether that’s at home, or at the game store, or on a digital simulator, it doesn’t mater. What maters is you’ve got the itch! You want more! More miniatures. More dice rolling. More fun. But you don’t know where to go or what to do or perhaps most importantly, you don’t know what to buy next.
This little tournament should help give you a push. Strait into the deep end. So, you’ve bought a box of miniatures. Big deal. Haven’t you been paying attention? BUY ANOTHER ONE!
Please try to shop at your Local Game Store! Mine is Showcase Comics in Swarthmore Pennsylvania. These stores are the life blood of our community. They give us the tables to play on and the community we play with. Let’s all do our part to make sure that this is a tradition that keeps going long after our dice have stopped rolling. A personal thank you to the staff at my store for welcoming me every week to play and hang out with my friends!
Each participant must form a standard MCP roster using only the contents of the core box set as well as three additional MCP boxes of their choosing (A standard roster is 10 characters, 3 extract crisis cards, 3 secure crisis cards, and 8 team tactics cards). A.K.A. the exact non-terrain contents of the core box but with a twist. Each participant is allowed to select three additional boxes to supplement the contents of the core box. The challenge is all about what you can do within these limitations (If you’re an experienced player). The crisis is having to sit and read through my explanation (if you’re a carbon based lifeform). If you’re new, and these are your first purchases, this should give you just enough minis to fill out a decent roster that you’d like to play even give you a decent shot at winning a game!
What am I playing in this event and why? Avengers! Specifically the All New, All Different Avengers led by Sam Wilson! Why? Because of all the cool characters I can play! One of the main things that drew me to this game in the first place was the characters. I was never an avid comic book fan, but I do love seeing all these famous comic book heroes come to life on the big screen, and now all the Disney+ shows as well. Captain America (Steve Rogers) has always been a favorite of mine due to that dry, outdated sense of humor. I think I first really fell in love with him playing the Marvel Heroes game back in 2014 with my wife. His voice lines really tickled me, especially, “No, Tony, I do not want to be your Facebook friend.”
More recently, I really enjoyed watching the Falcon and The Winter Soldier this past summer and with this new release I’m excited to get some new miniatures onto the table, perhaps even in real life!
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This roster is designed to let you play as many of your favorite good guys you as you can cram onto the table all at the same time. Have a favorite Avenger? Great! Into the roster they go! It really doesn’t matter too much who you want to use. You can get good mileage out of anyone on the Avengers roster if you’re using Sam Wilson as your leader. Hopefully this helps you understand what my strategy is here…
“Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people who are gonna hate me for it. Even now, here… I feel it. The stares, the judgment. And there’s nothin’ I can do to change it. Yet, I’m still here. No super serum, no blond hair, or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.” – Sam Wilson
Start with Sam Wilson and Warmachine from the newly released CP38. Add a Dash of Netflix branded programming with the Heroes For Hire Luke Cage and Iron Fist (cp49). Fill out the squad with some bad-ass warrior women from Wakanda (Shuri & Okoye; CP08). Top it off with a heaping helping of good guys and girls from the core box (cp01). Serve immediately while the hot takes are still hot! My roster has a good assortment of characters of all kinds. Fast and mobile characters, durable characters, guys that put out status effects. You name it, we got it. A hidden benefit here is that this will give you a taste of a lot of the fun mechanics in this game that aren’t all found in just the core box.
Cutscene over! If you’re here to see my roster and read why I made these choices then look no further!
Three Box Crisis!
[Characters]
Baron Zemo: 3
Black Widow: 2
Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
Captain Marvel: 4
Iron Fist: 3
Iron Man: 3
Luke Cage: 3
Okoye: 2
Shuri: 3
War Machine: 3
[Team Tactics]
Advanced R&D
Avengers Assemble
Bird of Prey
Brace for Impact
Disarm
Follow Me
Heroes For Hire
Sacrifice
[Extract Crises]
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership [C]: 17
Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan [F]: 17
Struggle for the Cube Continues [F]: 17
[Secure Crises]
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians [C]: 17
Infinity Formula Goes Missing [B]: 17
Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 [D]: 17
If you use Roster Doctor’s Assemble App for your rosters, click here for the code
00380101,00380102,00490102,00490101,00010102,00010101,00010104,00010107,00080101,00080102,00010201,00010208,00010205,00010202,00490201,00080201,00010215,00380201,00010306,00010305,00010304,00010301,00010302,00010303,Nice and simple. Just play with the characters you like. If you want more Disney+ in your roster you can even sub out the Shuri and Okoye box for the Vision and Winter Soldier box for maximum meme potential.
Word of warning, however: If you are the kind of wargamer that doesn’t enjoy it when the other guy kills your stuff, then this isn’t the roster for you. Double check Sam’s Leadership abilities. Half the point of this roster is that you can do stuff when your opponent knocks the block off one of your guys.
Golden Rule – Play as many characters as possible while staying Avengers Affiliated. The more characters you bring to the fight, the more often you can use Sam’s leadership!
Deep Dive – Characters. Focus on the my 3 boxes. Italics means play it as often as possible.
• Captain America (Sam Wilson) – Your leader. Play him in every game. His leadership is why you are playing this roster and it’s going to be the key to victory. Keep him alive as long as possible if you can. Don’t send him directly in to the fight. Skirt around the edges and throw your shield whenever you can and pretty much anyone on the other team. Pro Tip: ‘Regular’ human sized characters (Size 2) can get pushed off the scenario elements by his shield throw if you deal damage.
• Warmachine – a.k.a. James Rhodes. Play as often as possible. DPS. Rhodey brings the DAKKA. line up as many guys on the enemy team as possible and fill’em full of lead with his basic beam 3 attack. As an added benefit he’s deceptively hard to kill.
• Luke Cage – a.k.a. powerman. Play as often as possible. If you need someone to take a punch he’s your man. Get him up in your opponent’s face. He’s a great character to activate first if you don’t know what else to do because he can probably survive an opening salvo from the enemy until you have a chance to respond. And Sweet Christmas if he can’t dish it out once he gets enough of those green tokens to put the Power into Powerman.
• Iron Fist – If you like Kung Fu Movies Danny Rand has your back. He’s got a better version of Black Widow’s Martial Arts training to help keep him safe, and if he takes a beating you can whip out that sweet Iron Fist attack to go all super nova and ruin your opponent’s day. He’ll punch the ground so hard even Deadpool will be calling it a Super Hero Landing! (Deadpool, stop ‘squeeing’ I’m trying to type here).
• Okoye – She’s a bad ass that costs 2 points. Play her as often as you can while staying affiliated and you won’t regret it. Use her to peel attacks off anyone else that’s in a vulnerable position. She’s just good. All the time. The whole package!
• Shuri – Okay, confession time. Shuri’s great, but she’s really here because she brings the Advanced R&D tactics card. This particular list might not make exceptional use out of her, but if you need some long range pew pew she’ll fill that roll. Don’t look to her for damage. Look to her for disrupting whatever your opponent’s planning by putting them out of position.
• Core Box Characters – Baron Zemo is the only non-good guy to make the roster. He’s mobile and hits hard. He buffs nearby friendlies. If you can add a 3 pointer, that’s not affiliated with Avengers, choose this one. Black Widow is a 2 point Avenger. Play her as often as possible. User her for scenario stuff. Avoid direct fights if possible. Iron Man is another durable 3 point avenger. Use when you need more bodies to sit on scenario points. Sub him in for a different 3 point avenger if your opponent has a lot of physical attacks or look like they’ll be throwing all the terrain and the kitchen sink at you. Captain Marvel – Solid 4 point avenger. Has a great Energy attack (something we’ve been lacking outside Iron Fist so far). Use her whenever you need to upgrade your squad to hit a higher threat level and you need to stay within Affiliation.|
Core characters: Sam, Warmachine, Either of Luke Cage or Iron Fist, Black Widow, Okoye. 13 points worth of characters. Buy up one or two more depending on the point value of the crisis you’re playing.
Deep Dive – Tactics
I won’t sugar coat it. I took all of the “Best” tactics I could within the boxes that I ‘bought’. This is my opinion. This is not to be accepted as fact. Play your own games and form your own opinions – That’s the only way you’ll improve! I’ll italicize the ones you want to bring as often as possible.
Advanced R&D (cp08) – “Enabler” helps you redistribute the power that your characters have in a pinch. Play as often as possible. A great 5th tactics card to choose for any game if you don’t know what else to use.
Avengers Assemble – Cheap and easy to use. Play this whenever you think you opponent might try to throw or push you around a lot. Play this if you just can’t seem to be in the right spot at the right time. This’ll fix that for ya!
Bird of Prey (cp38) – This is a niche card. Only play it when you expect your opponent to bring flying characters to the fight. Use it to squeeze a bit of extra damage out of your shield throws.
Brace for Impact – The only ‘Restricted’ card in the core box. When someone throws a dump truck at you, DODGE! Damage prevention at it’s best.
Disarm – Another way to help your team survive. Best used at the start of the round when you have priority. Play it on one side of the board, and activate a character on the other side of the board. You’re banking on the debuffed enemies being unable to capitalize on the opportunity to Daze or K.O. one of your charcters.
Follow Me – Ever feel like you could win a game if you could just get another turn without your opponent being able to do anything about it? This. This right here. It costs a lot of power though, so timing is key.
Heroes For Hire – Excellent combination of damage prevention and scenario play. Great, “get out of jail free” card. Play as often as possible.
Sacrifice – Great way to trigger your leadership ability when your opponent doesn’t want you to. Play this when you think your opponent is going to try to aggressively gun down your characters to help you decide how the fight goes on your terms.
Core Tactics: Avengers Assemble, Heroes for Hire, Brace for Impact; Choose two more depending on the situation.
Deep Dive – Crisis Cards
Not much to see here. Just take all the red and blue cards you get in the roster and throw’em in the roster! The three boxes I chose do not include crisis cards. That’s just not part of the plan for this roster. It doesn’t really need to be. This squad can handle just about any crisis. Quick note on which core crisis cards you probably want to pick:
Blue Secure – Infinity Formula gives you more power to pay for things like Follow me; Extremis can let you heal damage offering a synergy with your leadership.
Red Extract – Spider Infected will mess with your opponent more than it messes with you because you’re already able to move characters without activating them thanks to your leadership. Cubes puts a lot of stuff on the board to score. If you daze yourself from the cube’s damage, that just means more leadership triggers!
Example Roster for a 17 threat crisis:
Characters: Sam, War Machine, Iron Fist, Black Widow, Okoye, Captain Marvel
Tactics: Avengers Assemble, Heroes for Hire, Brace for Impact, Adv R&D, Disarm (sub in Follow Me if you’re playing Infinity Formula)
Preferred Secure Crisis: Infinity Formula / Riots Spark
Preferred Extract Crisis: Spider Infected / Struggle for the Cube
That’s all for now! If you’re still here, thank you for sticking it out. I’ll leave you with a few parting words: If you’re new to this game and looking to buy miniatures, please help support your local game stores whenever possible. Personally, I like to shop at the Showcase Comics in Swarthmore Pennsylvania which is only a few miles from my house. I just bought my Sam & Warmachine box this week there and I can’t wait to play them! Our local businesses need our support! They give us a place to play our games and a community where we can enjoy the things we love. Show them your support with your sheckles! If you’re not blessed by having a store nearby, you can check out my favorite online retailer in the US: Discount Games Inc.
For now, I’m going to get some sleep and come back tomorrow ready to roll some dice and have fun doing it! Have fun and happy gaming!
Feel free to send me a message on Discord (quotemyname#9258) if you want to chat about my TBC Roster or MCP in general. If you want to see more content related to MCP and the Three Box Challenge check out the links below for the other content creators that are part of the challenge!
QTR_Quotemyname – YouTube; Twitch QTR
GDNerd – https://acrossthebifrost.com/author/gdnerd/
Sploosh + Dyzard + Xavier Protocols’ Jacob: https://anchor.fm/the-danger-room https://xavier-protocols.com/
HPP Will – https://acrossthebifrost.com/category/podcast/housepartyprotocol/
KennyG + Sooner5 – https://anchor.fm/advancedrnd https://anchor.fm/turnzer0gaming
Lexa White – https://morlockmcp.podbean.com/
Merzain – https://www.twitch.tv/merzain
NateGG – https://youtube.com/c/TheGamersGuild
Pat Dunford – https://acrossthebifrost.com/category/podcast/atb/
Quinn Duggan – null
Rich Mid Gaming – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiJrp1_YbL1klxpJ8ZsUxQ
Fingerguns – https://acrossthebifrost.com/author/fingerguns/
UtilityCookie – https://acrossthebifrost.com/author/utilitycookie/
