While decision-making on the table (and a healthy serving of luck) is the most significant contributing factor to success in Marvel Crisis Protocol, players can go a long way to set themselves up for victory long before getting to a table. Roster building – and then squad building from that roster – is a set of critical choices for getting the most out of a game.
However, every affiliation has unique considerations when choosing the ten characters, ten Team Tactics Cards, and six Crisis Cards they want to include in their roster, and what to know when making all 26 of these decisions is far beyond the scope of any one article. However, picking the correct Crisis Cards can sometimes feel particularly overwhelming, especially for newer players looking to take their play up a notch. As with most things in MCP, there are no objectively correct answers, but the four elements of Crisis Cards discussed below can point anyone in the right direction for their Affiliation and Roster.
Shape
One of the most obvious differences between Crises is their shape, previously indicated by a numerical identifier and more recently simply displayed visually on the Crisis Cards themselves. This element of a Crisis is perhaps more important for Secures than Extracts, but it’s an essential consideration for both.
For Secures, the shape dictates where the action will happen in a way that Extracts don’t – at least not to the same degree. In simple terms, players will want to consider how much their team wants to fight and how mobile their characters are when considering Secure shape. While E-shaped Secures no longer exist after the War of Kings Crisis rotation, there are still maps like Intrusions Open Across City as Seals Collapse, Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses, and the new Wedding Party Targeted In Terrible Attack that line Secures up across the midline horizontally and maximize how close characters need to be. These more centralized Securs are great for teams that want to gain an advantage by fighting and make it harder for opponents to run away if they want to keep scoring. Of course, the opposite end of the spectrum also exists. Teams that want to run around and use their speed as an advantage will want to look to D and B shape Secures like Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Descends on Earth, Infinity Formula Goes Missing, or a few new shapes that fall in similar, more spread-out positions.
In short, look for more bunched-up Secure shapes if you want to maximize fighting, and look for more spread-out ones if you don’t.
Extracts don’t have as long-term an impact on the shape of the fight, but teams will still want to consider where the tokens start and how this may benefit their team. For example, fighter teams may want lots of Extracts on the midline of the table to make it more likely opponents need to put their models in danger to score, while other teams may want Extracts with few or no Extracts in the middle of the table.
Speed
Speed is often closely tied to shape, but that isn’t always true. Simply put, the speed of a Crisis is how many points it offers every round. The most straightforward way to identify speed is to count how many tokens there are to secure, control, or hold, though some Crises (like Scientific Samples Found In Discovered Universe) offer bonus points if certain conditions are met.
To generalize, teams that want to fight will generally want slower Crises so that they have time to gain an attrition advantage before the other team scores out, while scenario-forward teams often want as many points available as possible to win before their team suffers too much damage.
Speed is something that should have a major impact on your Squad selection at the start of a game and on your decisions as a game of MCP plays out. Do the math: given how many points are on the board, what do you need each round to win? If you think you can safely score 5 points each round, you’ll need to make something happen to sneak out one more point to hit 16 at the end of round 3 instead of having to survive a full extra round. Conversely, you may be able to avoid certain risks if you’re already on track to score out soon. There may not be a need to take a significant gamble that will earn you an extra point if you’re already set to hit 16 and your opponent isn’t.
Crisis Effects
However, Crises aren’t simply shapes and points. Each one also has a bespoke effect that alters gameplay, though some will have a more significant impact on games than others. Which effects are best for a given list is impossible to discuss too broadly, as different effects synergize best with various models, leaderships, Team Tactics Cards, etc.
However, a few effects more clearly favor different types of MCP lists. The Secures on Scoundrels, for example, grant cover to models on a point being attacked by anyone not on that point. This benefits teams trying to stay alive or rosters with several models who can ignore cover. Conversely, Hammers adds attack dice to wielders, helping attrition teams hit harder and being particularly effective with models who can make more than two attacks in a Round. Scientific Samples, meanwhile, grants extra power to the characters holding Extracts, which can meaningfully boost the power economy of models designed around limited power generation.
Threat Level
Threat level is important, but it’s perhaps not quite as important as the above considerations now that the Threat spread on Crisis Cards is 16-20 (as opposed to earlier days in which it was 14 or 15-20). That being the case, you’ll want to look at your Roster and decide which models you most want to play and can tailor the threat values on your Crises to match. Or, conversely, you may tailor your Roster to the threat value of the Crises you like. Regardless, given the player without Priority gets to pick the Threat value from the two active Crisis Cards in a game, it’s best to have a plan for all five of the possible threat values in MCP.
It’s also worth noting that 17 is the Threat Value on the most Crises (10 of the 24 legal Crises are at 17 Threat). That being said, even if a player isn’t taking any 17-Threat crises themselves, it’s worth having a solid plan for what to do when playing at that level.
Quick Breakdown for New Players
Even with the above points in mind, it’s impossible to make back-and-white recommendations for lists given each affiliation, and even each different build of each affiliation, may have unique preferences that differentiate what they want. However, if you’re new to the game, below are all of the Crises (that will be legal post-War of Kings Crisis rotation mid-March) broken down into three groups: Attrition-Leaning, Scenario-Leaning, or Balanced. There is, of course, nuance, and some of these could make sense in a different category, but it should act as a fine starting place for new players to consider what makes sense. From there, play around with some different options and see which Crises feel best.
Attrition-Leaning
- Deadline to Destruction (Secure)
- Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (Secure)
- Intrusions Open Across City as Seals Collapse (Secure)
- Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnesses (Secure)
- Wedding Party Targeted in Terrible Attack! (Secure)
- Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown! (Extract)
- Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? (Extract)
- Fear Grips World As “Worthy” Terrorize Cities (Extract)
- The Montesi Formula Found (Extract)
Scenario-Leaning
- Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Descends on Earth (Secure)
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 (Secure)
- Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate! (Secure)
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan (Extract)
- Struggle for the Cube Continues (Extract)
Balanced
- Guardians Save Shi’ar Empress in Style (Secure)
- Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (Secure)
- M’Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home (Secure)
- Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (Secure)
- Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (Extract)
- Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (Extract)
- Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (Extract)
- Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (Extract)
- Terrigen Canisters Fuel Doomsday Device (Extract)
- Unexpected Guests Crash Royal Wedding (Extract)
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