Another Thursday, another Three Box Challenge. This time: Avengers! Sooner5 has had an unfortunate run with them in the Three Box Crisis but he came 2nd in Nashcon with Sam Spam unleashed this last weekend (losing to Merzain who also participated in the TBC and coincidentally also brought Sam Spam) so I still felt inspired to break down the new hotness at the entry level.
But before we get into this week’s Three Box Challenge let’s go over the usual spiel for anyone who isn’t familiar:
What is the three box challenge, you may ask? It’s simple – what affiliated rosters can you put together with just the core set plus three boxes of your choice. I know a lot of us obsessively purchase every single box, but I think a huge part of why this game is so great is you can pick up a core box, and a couple boxes of what appeals to you and you could take that to a game night or tournament and do OK.
If you’re coming to this article without having any MCP experience whatsoever and are doubting the value of the Core box, I’m here to tell you that it is worth it. For $100 you get:
All the dice you should need
All the measuring tools you will need
~Half a tournament board’s worth of terrain
10 characters (a standard game requires a roster of 10)
20 tactics (you’ll need 8)
3 secure crises and 3 extract crises (you’ll need 3 of each to play)
Compared to other big wargames like 40k/AOS and WMH, its really impressive what you can get for ~$200. So, this is somewhat akin to a budget/beginner’s MCP guide, focusing on a different faction each time.
Avengers as stated above are the new hotness, with 4 of the top 8 players at Nashcon this last weekend and a Sam Spam mirror in the finals (both alumnus of the inaugural Three Box Crisis). All 4 of these top cut rosters with their own quirks ranging from She-Hulk to Lizard and Proxima Midnight. So what makes Avengers so hot right now? Two words: Sam Wilson
“Sam Spam” as its been coined leverages Sam’s leadership ability – All New All Different
which scales VERY well with a lot of characters, so going wide is very attractive. Avengers is a MASSIVE affiliation with 24 current members and it’s constantly growing. In the Three Box Challenge specifically it loves a lot of characters from the core box – Zemo, Widow, Iron Man chief among them but Steve and Carol can do in a pinch. But with just Sam’s box and the core box to start you already have a solid competitive core team of 3 characters at 8 threat in Sam, War Machine, Black Widow. Three 3 threats gets you to a fearsome 6 wide team on 17, which in a Three Box Challenge is by far the most common threat level you will have to play at. Do note that at least one of those three remaining slots has to be an Avenger, but you’ll have a hard time not having enough Avengers in this build guide.
Circling back to Sam holistically you get a mobile support/harassment piece. Between charge with long movement, his long range, and ricochet he can basically hit anyone on the board no matter how far apart. With only 4 dice it doesn’t always do damage but for backline pieces that rely on cover for survivability he cuts through them surprisingly easily. And when he DOES do damage, a push is welcome. I won’t belabor the point on why Sam is awesome you can read the First Impressions from his reveal here which have remained relatively on point as we’ve learned the full extent of his promise.
And what of War Machine? He’s been an absolute star in competitive MCP recently, and is one of the most important characters of Sam Spam. And it pretty much all comes down to his builder:
Beams are very good right now. Between All New All Different and Avengers Assemble, War Machine can very reliably line up the perfect beam angle to hit 3 of your opponents, then go to town. Once you add in All You’ve Got and Bitter Rivals, you have a lot of KOed foes. And on top of this, he has a wonderful spender and excellent tank stats. If you are playing Sam Spam he should always be your 2nd inclusion after Sam himself.
What’s our second box here is the next question. The answer? Luke Cage and Iron Fist.
Both affiliated, both consummate experts in the brawly style that Sam likes to Spam, and the cherry on top? Heroes for Hire
If you’re not plugged into the podcast blogosphere to the point where you’ve had this card broken down for you here’s why you want it: there is a lot of violence in MCP right now. People are constantly setting up big fighters to do big damage like War Machine explained above. Heroes for Hire not only bodyguards an attack, but very few attacks in the game reliably one shot Luke Cage or Iron Fist. Which means you’re throwing them away. Which probably means they can’t attack again (assuming you used Heroes for Hire on their first attack). You can even use it on yourself which rarely comes up, but when someone is attacking Iron Fist from range 4, you can play Heroes for Hire to place yourself within range 3 to gain Master Martial Artist and/or gain cover. The amount of times I’ve seen Heroes for Hire blow someone out is too high.
And just with these two boxes we already have a reasonable 17 threat team – Sam, War Machine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Baron Zemo, Black Widow. That’s a pretty high bar to beat already, so that gives you more flexibility in your third box to chase specific tactics and/or crises. Also with the nature of this list structure you’re mostly just looking for 2s, 3s, and 5s because its hard to fit 4s unless you have exactly two you want to use. And so, we come to our first and most obvious box.
Miles and Gwen, what a surprise. Both are excellent situational 3 threats who splash in a ton of different places. It unlocks Web Warriors as a playable affiliation if you want to mix things up based on the matchup. And lastly it has All You’ve Got
This card is NUTSO in Sam Spam. Not only does it scale well with War Machine’s beams but it has an added bonus – the daze/ko from All You’ve Got actually triggers Sam’s leadership as Sam’s leadership doesn’t specify you have to be taken out by an enemy effect. So you might as well staple onto this card “another character heals 1, shakes, and moves short”. Which makes an already top tier card absolutely insane.
You also get another crisis in Spider-Portals, which can lead to an interesting way to force energy based flip secures. All of your characters would have average energy defense so it could be dicey based on the matchup but its a fun and unique way to go for sure.
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Ghost-Spider: 3
- Iron Fist: 3
- Iron Man: 3
- Luke Cage: 3
- Spider-Man (Miles Morales): 3
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker): 4
- War Machine: 3
[Team Tactics]
- All Webbed Up
- All You’ve Got
- Avengers Assemble
- Bird of Prey
- Brace for Impact
- Disarm
- 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
- Portals Overrun City with Spider-People [D]: 18
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 [D]: 17
Next up, I’ve decided to go for a more traditional Avengers inclusion – Thor and Valkyrie
Thor is a great Avenger. Valkyrie is a great 3 threat. It’s a match made in heaven! This box alone doesn’t quite get you into playing Asgard but it gets you close. Admittedly you won’t use Thor a ton but you’ll love using Valkyrie in most games. And hey, if you want to play less wide a team of Sam Thor War Machine Valkyrie Zemo is always an option. The Tactics are more for Asgard than for Avengers, but the crisis is a wonderful upgrade to Skrulls Infiltrate World Leaders which is relatively unpopular.
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Iron Fist: 3
- Iron Man: 3
- Luke Cage: 3
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker): 4
- Thor, Prince of Asgard: 5
- Valkyrie: 3
- War Machine: 3
[Team Tactics]
- Avengers Assemble
- Bird of Prey
- Brace for Impact
- Disarm
- Escort to Safety
- Heroes For Hire
- Patch Up
- Sacrifice
[Extract Crises]
- Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities [D]: 18
- 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
Last but not least in honor of Sooner5’s special flair at Nashcon – Vision & the Winter Soldier
Vision is basically bigger War Machine – tankier, bigger beam, and a throw to boot. He was one of the premier 4 threats in the game for a decent time until Medusa and Enchantress rolled up onto the block. He even outranges them so in some cases can actually find advantages into them. And Winter Soldier is a bit of an odd one. I don’t know if he makes it to the table here, but if you need a dedicated backline character you can do far worse than someone with a range 5 builder. As for tactics, there are three in the box I want to focus on – Field Dressing, Psychic Shielding Device (PSD) and Tactical Analysis. Field Dressing is wonderful to have when you’re building around a swarm with a lot of planned dazes. Wait out your opponent’s activations, then heal someone at the end of the round to score some points and go on a suicide mission next round if they don’t go after them first. And PSD is a valuable tech piece into certain matchups like Web Warriors or Black Order (if your Three Box Challenge community is allowing Thanos). Tactical Analysis is a wonderful card to get people into position and out of danger, especially on a big War Machine turn when he has power to spare for tactics like these.
TBC MilesGwen
[Characters]
- Baron Zemo: 3
- Black Widow: 2
- Captain America (Sam Wilson): 3
- Iron Fist: 3
- Iron Man: 3
- Luke Cage: 3
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker): 4
- Vision: 4
- War Machine: 3
- Winter Soldier: 3
[Team Tactics]
- Avengers Assemble
- Bird of Prey
- Brace for Impact
- Disarm
- Field Dressing
- Heroes For Hire
- Psychic Shielding Device (P.S.D.)
- Tactical Analysis
[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
And FINALLY, if you’re not supporting your FLGS for MCP, I would like to bring your attention to our sponsors for your wargaming needs in both NA and the UK:
NA:
https://www.discountgamesinc.com/
UK:
That will wrap us up for this Three Box Challenge article here on acrossthebifrost.com! Also make sure to check out the Roster Doctor on Facebook, Youtube and Twitch!
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