Who Are Dr. Strange and Wong?
Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful human sorcerer in the Marvel Universe (adjusting for whatever storyline he happens to be in at the moment); when arrogant surgeon Stephen Strange ruined his hands in a car crash, he sought out the Ancient One in the peaks of the Tibetan mountains to help heal his hands, and long story short, learned to be a good person and got magnificent cosmic powers. Wong, usually depicted as a monk, is variously his manservant, confidant, friend, co-worker and every now and again teacher, mentor, and boss. They come paired as a unit, both in the comics and also for use on the tabletop.
Dr. Strange and Wong both made their debut appearances in 1963, in all their campy glory. Originally a vampire-looking “master of black magic, Dr. Strange’s look, thankfully, got some much needed updates over the next few years. He was eventually transformed into the familiar (dare I say iconic?) look showcased in this lovely model.
Unfortunately, Wong remained the subject of some casual racism tossed toward vaguely East Asian cliches for…a long time.
Both profiles here are quite old in the lifespan of Crisis Protocol. Wong got a boost in defense dice semi recently, but Dr. Strange hasn’t been edited yet. In many ways, these characters are showing their age, but I’m here to remind you why you should throw a couple of masters of the mystic arts onto the table at an upcoming game night.
Wong
Stat Card
How to Use Him?
I’ll do Wong first, just to get him out of the way. He is a known entity and has been around a few blocks.
If you’re new to the game and unfamiliar with Wong, he is the game’s support two threat. There are tons of stories of Wong getting a clutch daze and turning the tide, but your plan with Wong should be to hold a back secure, maybe pick up an extract, and then power up and heal your other models.
Some players love him. Some players would rather have a more active model in his place (a more proactive two threat model or upgrading a three threat to a five threat, for example). If you want to use Wong, leverage his strengths.
Vishanti’s Blessing is solid. Healing or condition removal throughout the game can be excellent. He can keep your other models in the game longer. Is your main hitter shocked? Not anymore. Do you have an important model alive on one? Try alive on three.
Servant to the Sorcerer Supreme is…fine. Adding to his defense dice makes him stick around a little longer. With four stamina, he’s not sticking around for long if he gets targeted. Don’t put him in harm’s way. If your opponent wants to attack him, make them spend the resources to move closer first.
Meditate is solid. Wong can spend an action to give himself more power. If he’s sitting on a point and scoring without anyone to heal, consider meditating twice to power him up for later turns.
Faithful Assistant is arguably Wong’s best ability. Two power to pass one to an allied unit is small, but it can have a big impact. While it doesn’t unlock the round one turn one plays, because Wong has to activate to use it, it does unlock some strong round one powers. Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Shang Chi are three examples of characters with movement superpowers that aren’t normally active on turn one. If you want to threaten the middle of the table on round one this is a solid way to do it. Wong can similarly give the Sorcerer Supreme his Scalpel on round one.
Outside of round one, passing power to allies just adds to their efficacy as the game goes on. How often have you been one power shy of doing that cool combination of superpowers? If you’re passing power from Wong to allies once a turn, you can strategically keep models powered up.
Again, this may or may not be the best use of two threat.
Doctor Strange
Stat Card
How to Use Him?
Doctor Strange was heavily sidelined with the release of Sorcerer Supreme. It makes sense. The Sorcerer Supreme is very flexible. Doctor Strange is an older model and often feels like he doesn’t live up to his five threat.
His stats are good, but in an era where five threat models tend to have fours across the board for their defensive stats, a physical defense of three seems pretty soft. Six stamina on both sides of his card feels like the absolute minimum as far as five threat models are concerned.
Doctor Strange only has two attacks. His first attack, Bolts of Bedevilment, feels pretty weak for a five threat. Range four with five dice is…fine. Where most other five threat models have access to some kind of dice manipulation (usually pierce or rerolls) Doctor Strange feels like he is not going to be doing huge amounts of damage. Now, there is a little bit of a false sense here, because Doctor Strange does have a very strong reroll mechanic. You can choose to reroll all of his dice (including skulls) once per attack or defense roll. This means that he is actually pretty resistant to bad rolls, and pretty likely to spike.
Bolts also brings a push if damage is dealt. This push is omni directional and has no size restriction. Now, his attack is only five dice, so if your opponent rolls hot, even with the rerolls, Strange may not get his damage through.
The good doctor’s second attack, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, is a spender that I don’t see used often, but can be potent. It’s only six dice and it costs four power, but it has an automatic stagger with approximately a 25% chance (more if you count the reroll) to activate a model. I usually don’t find that it’s worth the four power, unless I really need the stagger. Considering moving a model back is sometimes as effective as a stagger, I will almost always save his power for other things.
Doctor Strange’s superpowers definitely reflect a support model. Oshtur’s Refuge allows Strange to spend three power to heal three wounds on himself or a nearby ally.
Hoggoth’s Hoary Wisdom is one of my top tier superpowers to say out loud (Baleful Bolts of Balthakk is still the winner), and adds two dice to Strange’s or a nearby ally’s defense roll. This power has shown up in a couple of other places, notably Cable has the same ability without restrictions.
The Eye of Agamotto lets Strange reroll all of his dice (not some) including skull results on any attack or defense roll. This ability actually adds quite a bit to Doctor Strange’s efficacy. As I mentioned above, he is a little more resistant than most models to dice luck.
Shield of the Seraphim lets Doctor Strange gain an extra power if he rolls any shield results, which can actually help Strange build up enough power to do cool things after the first or second round. He’s got flight and can carry around either the time stone or soul stone. All of this put together is a very strong support model. The issue with a support model is: is he worth five threat in your team?
The other issue comes with comparing him to other five threat models. In affiliation (assuming Defenders), that includes Amazing Spider-Man, Namor, Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch, and the Sorcerer Supreme. With both of these in mind, the answer is often: no. Don’t run him. I’m here to say you should. Here are a few reasons and use cases.
You should use him if you like Dr. Strange as a character, especially the classic costume from the comics as early as 1963. The look has changed in the six decades following, but that blue and white with the red cape and golden belt seems to keep coming back. If you love it, don’t apologize. Run Strange and figure out the best ways to use him.
Alternatively, if you fill your roster with hard hitters, and Defenders can definitely make it happen, spending five threat on a support model that can keep them around can be a good way to keep them around. Adding some defense dice to Wolverine, Valkyrie, or the Ancient One can keep them alive long enough to leverage their higher than average offensive output. Similarly, healing those models can keep them around longer.
For example, have you ever tried to daze the Amazing Spider-Man when he’s rolling six defense dice that he gets to reroll? It’s hard to do. Now, that example is ten threat and concentrates your points into one small area of the board. But if you want models to stick around, those two can absorb a lot of attack actions. Even without Witty Banter to force an enemy’s reroll, a seven die attack only has a 40% chance to do one damage, and around a 25% chance to do more than one damage to Peter. That means you’re looking at an average of 5 or more attack actions to daze Spider-Man.
Keep in mind that it you’re playing at a top tier competitive level where Crimson Dynamo is featured in every e-map, Dr, Strange may not be for you.
Leadership
Dr. Strange can function as a leader in Convocation, although I recommend Sorcerer Supreme, if that’s your jam. As a leader of the Defenders, Dr. Strange is typically overshadowed by Daredevil. This makes sense, as rerolls are phenomenal.
Dr. Strange’s leadership is Mystic Empowerment.
Essentially this means that once per turn, when attacking, an allied character (including Dr. Strange) can spend one power to change their attack to the most favorable type of damage and also impart the hex condition if damage was dealt.
Why Use This Leadership?
At face value, this is less effective than Daredevil’s Marvel Knights leadership. Rerolling one attack die is generally more effective than denying one defense die. Plus, Daredevil’s leadership is likely allowing for 2-3 dice to be rerolled. Add to that the power cost for Dr. Strange’s leadership and you’re looking at a losing proposition.
However, there is a however. If the target of the attack has the ability to boost their defense on a specific type of attack (Captain America, Archangel), has martial arts, or is able to get rerolls (Hulk), then being able to shift your attack to a mystic attack can result in a significantly reduced defense.
If you’ve ever had your attacks locked down because an enemy model had a high defense and dice modification against your physical or energy attacks, or you’re stuck on mystic but would like to hit them with physical, Dr. Strange’s leadership does give you flexibility.
I’m not going to claim that it’s better than Daredevil’s leadership, but it is different and worth taking a look at again.
Defenders Cards
Last time most of us gave the good Dr. Strange a thought, Defenders only had one team tactics card. Before we dive into the new ones, I’ll review the old.
Pentagrams of Farallah
The original Defenders card, Pentagrams allows Dr. Strange (not the Sorcerer Supreme) or Wong may place two tokens that allows for three power that allows any model (enemies included) to teleport between the two for a cost of one power.
This card is very strong. It gives a limited level of action compression to models who don’t have it. It also allows you to strike and fade. If you place one portal forward toward an objective on the midline, you will be able to throw a model forward with it and double attack. Then, the next round, that model can attack twice and jump to safety in your backline.
The specific uses of this card can vary. You might use it to get to an objective to score points. You might use it to strike and fade. You can also use it to give models without action compression a selective charge. I particularly like Pentagrams with Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch. They are both models that are reasonably effective offensively, but they lack any kind of charge. Allowing them to move forward without spending an action can make them significantly more relevant.
Vapors of Valtorr
Not strictly a Defenders card, but it is a Dr. Strange card. Vapors gives you the chance to rerolls an enemy’s attack dice against a specific model for a round. But, you need two other models to be close to Dr. Strange. Wong is likely already there. You’ll probably want the target of this card to be close as well, so it’s not the worst condition, but it’s not great either.
The effect is very powerful. We’ve all seen the Amazing Spider-Man knock off a trigger or shrug off that attack that was finally going to do damage to him with Witty Banter. This is the same effect but for any number of attack dice. If you want a model to survive the round, Vapors is one of the more effective ways to do it. Now that so many non-character specific cards have been rotated out, maybe it’s time to dust off Vapors again?
Seven Suns of Cinnibus
Another Dr. Strange card. Yet again, two allied characters must be within range two. An annoying requirement. Still, on a central fight, having access to a range five beam that throws eight dice for the cost of only three power is good. The fact that you can incinerate a bunch of the enemy team is also great. I’ve had games where I never get to use the card because allies keep getting dazed, pushed, or thrown. I’ve also had games where this attack devastated an enemy team.
Cover Me
The first of our new Defenders specific cards. Cover Me allows one Defenders character to spend four power. After an attack is resolved against the character, another allied character may respond with an attack.
Extra attacks are really good. Anything that can give you extra actions is worth a look. Now, in order to maximize this, you’ll need models that can respond effectively when your opponent chooses the situation. Any model with long range is good. The more dice you can leverage in the responding attack, the better.
My first choice to provide cover is always going to be Hawkeye. Between Trick Shot and range five, Hawkeye will nearly always be able to respond if he’s anywhere near the character that played Cover Me. Obviously, if someone with more dice or damage potential is available, use that attacker instead. Scarlet Witch is pretty good here. Dr. Strange can lend reasonable attacks as well, especially with his push. Silver Sable is a strong choice as well.
The other thing to consider with this card is disincentivizing your opponent. Is Hawkeye going to stop Hulk from smashing something? Probably not. But, if you time it carefully, you might be able to limit your opponent’s choices. They’re not likely to take the risk of drawing a counter attack if they have a model on only three health. The possibility that Hawkeye dazes the model and denies them an action is significant.
Mystic Ward
Mystic Ward offers Defenders the capacity to take one secure objective away from the opponent. You can also use it to stop an opponent from picking up an extract objective, but only if they haven’t picked it up yet. To use the card, your Defenders model must be within range three of the objective and have two power to spend.
I see a few uses for this card: taking a secure from an opponent who has invested resources in holding that secure, stopping an opponent from picking up an extract and running away with it, or directing your opponent away from one area of the table.
The first use is to take a secure from an opponent. Having your last activation (round one or otherwise) deny your opponent a secure objective that they have spent actions moving onto can be a significant move, especially if this pulls you ahead of your opponent in objective points. Obviously this can be very valuable on an objective that counts for two or more points. A potent use on round one, if you win priority, is to send Amazing Spider-Man or Namor to steal the central objective, then deny your opponent one secure, which can allow you start the game up by two or more objective points.
A second use for Mystic Ward is to use it early in a round, on an objective that is in its original placement or one that has been dropped. If you can’t get to it, and your opponent is lined up to pick it up with a slippery model (Black Cat, for instance) you can deny their ability to pick up the objective and run away with it.
A third use is to play it early in a round to incentivize your opponent to push their models to another part of the table. If they know that they won’t be able to secure an objective, that may give you a little breathing room. This use seems less effective than the others because it’s relying on your opponent to respond instead of putting their movement under your control.
Street Smarts
Street Smarts is the final card. Any number of Defenders characters can spend one power. For the rest of the round, if a character who spent one power would be pushed, advanced, or thrown, they can take one wound to stay where they are. While the prospect of taking wounds is certainly less than ideal, being able to stay on a secure objective or stop a big model (Hulk) from being thrown into a friendly model is phenomenal.
Considering there will be secure objectives in every game you play, the use case for Street Smarts is fairly universal. That said, I think you’ll be less interested in Street Smarts when playing with pay-to-flip secure objectives. Contesting a pay-to-flip can still make it less likely for your opponent to flip it (unless you’re playing SWORD Establishes Base on Moon’s Blue Area) can still be useful.
Street Smarts is also worth considering when you find yourself facing down a list that has a lot of pushes or throws. Denying displacement for a turn, even at the risk of taking damage, can be valuable.
What Should Your Roster Look Like?
With all of the good that I’ve said about Dr. Strange, you’d imagine that I’d say building a list with him is easy. Well, it’s not. He’s a five threat model that is essentially a support piece. So, we need to lean into him.
One thought I have is to lean into the things Dr. Strange is supporting (defense and healing, plus a little bit of control). Looking at the Defenders roster, the first two models that stand out to me are Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man.
When Amazing Spider-Man gets extra defense dice and occasional healing from Dr. Strange, he is tough as nails. He can still do some damage, but he becomes an absolute terror to remove from the table. Dr. Strange’s leadership also means that Peter has a way to get around some of those defenses that are supported by martial arts and high physical defense.
Hulk, on the other hand, is a phenomenal control piece (he can push and/or throw just about anything your opponent puts on the table). The extra healing and defense dice can help Hulk stick around a little longer, which is a nice bonus.
If you want to lean into the fighting side of the Defenders, while still using Dr. Strange, Namor and Immortal Hulk are excellent options.
One of Namor’s biggest weaknesses is just occasionally getting spiked and dazed or ko’d. Dr. Strange can help shore up Namor’s defenses. Dr. Strange’s leadership also allows either of Namor’s attacks to target your enemy where they are weakest. Hex is a nice bonus, making your follow up attack(s) just a little more effective.
Immortal Hulk is already very strong. Adding some extra healing to him is probably unnecessary, but can help keep him around longer. Diversifying his attack types is also a bonus.
This leaves us with a significant issue in roster building: if we start with Dr. Strange and a five or more threat model, we’re likely looking at a pretty tall list. But, I have good news! Defenders have a great low end. Wong is two threat, and while he doubles up on Dr. Strange’s healing, he is also great to plop on a rear point to score objectives and remove conditions from allies.
The three threats in the Defenders roster are phenomenal. Luke Cage, Chosen of Bast, and Hawkeye are some of the best three threat models in the game for entirely different roles and fill out a roster very nicely. Iron Fist, Valkyrie, and Magick also deserve honorable mentions as cheap models that can add some ability to punch up, and with the support of Dr. Strange, might actually stick around long enough to do damage.
If you want some discount power in your list without leaning on a second model at five or higher threat model, Shang Chi and Wolverine are both top tier attackers, and they can both benefit from some extra defense dice and healing from Dr. Strange. Arguably, Wolverine utilizes Dr. Strange’s leadership better, because it allows him to vary attack types, where Shang Chi already has that built in.
With that in mind, here is an idea for the roster:
Dr. Strange
Wong
Immortal Hulk
Amazing Spider-Man
Wolverine
Luke Cage
Iron Fist
Hawkeye
Magick
Black Panther, Chosen of Bast
Now, you can of course sub out any number of characters for non-affiliated models. You can also sub out anything that you’re not interested in. Dropping one of the three threat models for another four threat model is probably a good idea.
For your tactics cards, I’d start with the four Defenders cards, your two restricted cards of choice, and then any character specific cards you would like to lean on. Heroes for Hire is an obvious choice. I’m partial to Go Get ‘em Tiger, although I don’t know that the meta finds it to be a great card.
I don’t think this roster needs Patch Up particularly, since Wong and Dr. Strange both bring some level of healing to the table. It’s still a strong card if that’s what you’re into.
Here’s an example selection, depending on which characters you are planning to lean on.
Pentagrams of Farallah
Cover Me
Mystic Ward
Street Smarts
Heroes for Hire
Go Get ’em Tiger
Brace for Impact
Fall Back
Weapon X Program
Journey to Limbo
For your crisis selection, you have a few options. For this list, I’d pick any extracts with a central objective, if you’re planning to use the Amazing Spider-Man. If you want to use Immortal Hulk, I would definitely aim toward E maps to make his impact as big as possible, while keeping Dr. Strange in range to provide him with support.
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