Marvel Crisis Protocol Affiliation Spotlight: The Cabal

In this series for newer or casual players we introduce the various Affiliations in Marvel Crisis Protocol, dip into their comic book history, and talk about building a roster around them. This week we’re looking at MCP’s own legion of Super-Villains – The Cabal!

Note: Updated 02/20/2022 to include revisions to Bullseye, Enchantress, M.O.D.O.K., and Ultron, and to add Baron Mordo, Cassandra Nova, The Hood, and Omega Red.

The Background

So this one is kind of weird, because while there is a group in the Marvel Comics called “The Cabal” it’s nothing at all like the affiliation in MCP. The comics’ version of The Cabal was formed as a reaction to “The Illuminati” – a group of “super smart” heroes like Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, and Charles Xavier who had great ideas like “let’s just shoot the Hulk off into space” that could never possibly come back to bite them in the ass. The Cabal was the villain equivalent of this – Doctor Doom, Norman Osborn, Prince Namor, Emma Frost, Loki, and The Hood. As villainous groups with huge egos are wont to do, they almost immediately set to infighting and the group fell apart.

What we have in MCP’s Cabal is really just a mish-mash of villains. A lot of it may be based on who AMG were allowed to use in the Core Set. It’s kind of Hydra (Red Skull, Crossbones, Syn, Viper) but then you get Ultron, Sabretooth, Killmonger, M.O.D.O.K., and Magneto (who would never be caught dead teaming up with Red Skull, on account of the whole Nazi thing). I guess it’s a villainous Avengers? Who can say?

The Cabal in Marvel Crisis Protocol

Boy, do we have a lot of options here. In MCP terms, the Cabal blasted out of the traps with a great group of characters in the Core Set, and they have kept on receiving regular updates ever since.

If you main Cabal, you can expect to have a string of pleasant surprises in your life as new releases get the Cabal affiliation as well as their “own”. Quality of life is very high here.

Leadership

MCP didn’t mess about, throwing a lot of Marvel’s hottest properties straight into the game with the Core Set. They also got serious with the Leadership abilities from Day One, with Cabal and Avengers both enjoying affiliation abilities that have well and truly stood the test of time.

Smack someone upsides the head. Get extra Power. Sounds good? Sounds good.

Red Skull himself isn’t often seen outside of Cabal, so you could consider him a Cabal tax to a certain extent, but he’s not awful either. A net influx of Power is always welcome, and this affiliation tells you exactly what it wants you to do. Grade: B+

The Cabal recently got a second leader, Red Skull’s daughter Sin. Her Leadership ability plays more to playing the scenario game. During the Cleanup phase after VPs are scored you roll a die for each objective contested by an enemy and for each Extract held by an enemy within Range 2 of one of your allies. For each one you have a 50% chance to push the enemy away from the objective or make them drop it respectively. It’s not going to help you score points in the current round but it’s going to mess up any longer-term plans your opponent may be trying to pull off. Grade: B

Team Tactics

Let’s start off with a good ‘un. Cosmic Invigoration allows Red Skull and an allied character within Range 2 to spend 2 Power each, and remove the Activated token from the latter.

Oh yes.

In a game of activation economy this, my friends, is quite a big deal. Even in the Core Set days when you were doing it with Zemo or Ultron it almost felt like cheating; the first time you get to double-tap with M.O.D.O.K. or Killmonger you’ll be muttering insincere apologies and trying to hide your grin before you know it. There’s a minor payoff with the damage your ally takes, but that’s a sacrifice Red Skull is willing to make. Grade: A

The second card explicitly locked to Cabal is Dark Reign, and it’s another modern classic. Any Cabal character spends 3 Power, and then all Cabal characters can reroll attack dice against a given enemy character for the whole round. When you absolutely, positively got to kill one specific superhero in the room, accept no substitutes. Grade: B+

Moving on to the character cards, Age of Ultron is an immensely powerful ability tethered to a character who is not immensely powerful. The beauty of this one is that you resurrect all the way back up to Healthy; the downside is that your capacity to get there while holding 8 Power can be severely hampered by effects like Stun, and what’s even worse, you have to take Ultron. Grade: A in theory, C in practice

Illicit Tech is a special attack for Crossbones or Sin. It only costs 1 Power and gives a range 5 Strength 6 Energy attack that also splashes Incinerate onto enemies within range 2 of the target. If you’re bringing either one of them this is definitely worth considering, as they don’t have any really long range attacks and this can be very useful at just the right moment. Grade: A-

Those wacky lovebirds Crossbones and Sin also have To Ash and Cinder, which puts down a Demolition token that goes off in the Cleanup phase. A great way to keep your opponent away from a good chunk of the board, but keep in mind the card just says “all characters” gain Stun and take damage, not “enemy characters.” Not so useful for clearing enemies away from an objective so you can score it, unless you don’t mind getting blowed up. Grade: B

You remember how we said that Cabal likes whacking people? Well Killmonger’s Usurp the Throne helps you do just that…and then gives you a little pat on the head for doing so. Not only do you get some help in taking down your opponent’s centrepiece, you get 2 VPs as a kicker, and in a race to 16 that can really move the needle. You don’t even need to wait until the Cleanup Phase, so you might just jump over the line and insta-win. Grade: A

As you’ll see below, ya boy M.O.D.O.K. is Mr Everything, and that extends to his solid tactics cards. A.I.M. Lackeys gives you an extra Move action on an allied character, which is great for changing gears, while Psychic Fortress turns him into Sue Storm by kicking out a Range 4 bubble of Cover. Grade: Both B

On similar lines to Psychic Fortress, Magneto’s Magnetic Refraction does the same thing but in a smaller bubble and for a lower cost. It might feel bad that you’re getting the strictly-worse version because you’re not running Brotherhood, but if you can get over that, it’s still fine. Grade: B-

Magneto’s Magnetic Crush meanwhile is a straight-up damage dealer. You could have some fun teeing this up with his Metal Constructs, but it will take a lot of set-up and costs a whole lot of Power, for a pay-off that Cabal lists should be able to achieve more easily by just smashing face. This card has its place in casual games, but it’s not something I see making the cut on a regular basis. Grade: C

Staying with Brotherhood, the ever-popular Mystique can bring Deception with her. A free, guaranteed Advance with an enemy character? Don’t mind if I do! Grade: A-

And wrapping us up is Sabretooth’s Weapon X Programme, which allows you to pounce on an enemy and therefore slam down some collision damage. This card has the explosive potential to spring a surprise on your opponent by closing the gap and allowing Sabretooth to whale on his opponent with two Attack actions. Also worth noting is that Sabretooth is Size 3, meaning you’ll deliver 4 impact hits, but it is limited by only being Short distance. Grade: B-

Cloning Banks is Mister Sinister’s money card. He can move Genetic Sampling tokens (see his entry below, it’s a whole thing) onto this card and then later on remove them to BRING AN UNUSED CHARACTER FROM YOUR ROSTER INTO PLAY!! Holy cow, that’s huge. Okay, yes it’s not really easy for Sinister to get the tokens in the first place, and yes he wants to use them for a lot of other things, but bringing in an extra squad member mid to late game can really turn the tide and is probably worth saving for. Grade: A

And where is Sinister going to get those lovely Genetic Sampling tokens? Why, from his allies of course, using his Forced Extraction card. It only costs Sinister 1 Power but he can pull up to three tokens from allies within Range 3. Oh, sure, it does a wound to each of the targets, but this is Science! You can’t make an omelette, etc. etc. Use this at the start of the game when everybody is gathered up in your deployment, and if you target Sabertooth or anyone else with a Healing Factor they’ll hardly even notice! Grade: B+

Hood’s Gang lets an allied character reroll an attack die if the target is holding or contesting an objective. Hood has to play it during his activation but anyone can get the benefit during that round, and it doesn’t cost anything. What’s not to love? Grade: A-

Mental Domination is specific to Cassandra Nova, and thus may never see play in Cabal. You get to a) pick an enemy within Range 3 and advance them Short, b) make an attack that is measured from your mind controlled patsy at a Strength of 2 plus the attack target’s Physical defense, and 3) reroll any number of opposing defense dice. That’s a great combo, but Cassandra may have trouble saving up the 3 Power to use it. Grade: A-

Carbonadium Synthesizer allows Omega Red to remove all special conditions and heal a Stamina for each condition he had. Pretty sweet, but if your opponent knows you have this guess who’s never going to get a special condition? Grade: B+

If that seems like a lot of cards to consider – and that you will struggle to get it down to 10 once you include your universals – you are not wrong. Remember too, though, that most of these are character-locked and you won’t see every character in every roster.

Building Your Roster

Cabal’s win condition is clear: they came here today to layeth the smacketh down. Expect to see plenty of hard hitters making the cut.

There are a lot of characters to consider here, and due largely to a chronic lack of imagination on my part, we’ll take a look at Red Skull and then rattle through the rest in alphabetic order. Note that these Grades are specifically in the context of Cabal, and some characters (looking at you, Magneto) may be significantly stronger in other Affiliations.

Ready? Let’s go.

The Cabal

Red Skull is exactly the kind of asshole who would happily grab one of his lackeys and use them as a meatshield. His Hail Hydra ability is therefore super thematic, especially in the context of the Core Set coming with Captain America who instead jumps in front of bullets for his team mates. Quite the juxtaposition.

As mentioned above, Johan is a perfectly reasonable 4 Threat character, but not one you’ll see taken outside of his own affiliation very often. He is compulsory for the excellent Cabal Leadership ability, but as a character on his own merits, perhaps a little bit behind the curve. Grade: C+ (in his own right), A- (taking into account his Leadership)

Sin’s has the potential to both move and make 4 attacks on her activation, which is pretty great. She’s not too tough but Stealth can help mitigate that, and extra Power from being hit is pretty tasty. She even makes Crossbones worth taking so that has to be something right? Activating two characters in a row can really throw a wrench into your opponent’s plans, and it’s free! Grade: B by herself, B+ for her Leadership

Baron Mordo is a good source of Mystic attacks in Cabal, as well as a number of special conditions. His Strength 4 builders aren’t much to write home about but since so many characters don’t have a lot of Mystic defense it can work out. Mordo also boosts allies’ attacks, although the ally will then take some damage so it’s all a trade-off. He can use an action to generate 2 Power, which is good because on top of his spender Mordo has three superpowers that all cost 2 each and he’d really love to use them. Soul Barb lets Mordo pick on an enemy who already has a special condition and add another one on, AND splash that condition to any enemies within Range 2 as well. Which is great, but Mordo needs to be pretty close to do use Soul Barb, and with only a 2 Physical defense he needs to be played very carefully. Grade: B

Baron Zemo was the darling of the starter set, and still stands up today. He zips around the board with his Long move, dishes out Bleed for fun, and does so much for his team. When I’m an old man, sitting on my porch and looking back on my life, I believe that “Zemo reroll” will be the phrase that echoes through my memories. Look out too for the Zemo Driveby: Charge in and attack, then Steel Rush and fade away again. Now you see me, now you don’t. Grade: A

Bullseye was, sadly, a swing and a miss (ironically enough), and not even the November 2021 Updates could redeem him. His niche is precision-delivering a tiny amount of guaranteed damage, which is cool and all. But he needs the 1 Power generated from his builder to use that effect, basically netting him zero Power and leaving him unable to afford his spender or two fairly good superpowers. Bullseye only costs 2 Threat now, but his Mystic defense and Stamina went down along with it. Sick model, though. Grade: D

Why include Bob, Agent of Hydra in your Cabal list? Well, he’s only 2 Threat and it’s pretty darn hard to remove him from the table. His defensive stats are very not great and he only has 3 Stamina on each side. But if he hasn’t activated this round he doesn’t get KO’d, only Dazed again. So park him on an objective and for the love of God, save him for last, preferably after all your opponent’s characters have activated. If he’s still standing, shoot something! You get one free shot with his Strength 9 rocket launcher thing and odds are you’re not going to have the 8 Power you need to reload it, so make that one shot count. Grade: B+

Okay, look: I’m a huge fan of the Grant Morrison “New X-Men” run, and enjoy Joss Whendon’s “Astonishing X-Men” more than I wish I did. But even I was floored by the inclusion of Cassandra Nova in MCP. Such a strange choice, were The Vanisher (real name: Telford Porter, because of course it was) or Unus the Untouchable not available?

Let’s start with the good stuff: Cassandra has a lot of defensive tech to make up for her 2 Physical defense – Healing Factor, a renamed Stealth, the ability to ignore collision damage, and a power that punishes enemies who get too close to her. So she can stay alive a bit longer. Not the not so good stuff: what is she in aid of? A Mystic builder that Saps Power on a Wild is good, a 1 cost Strength 6 Builder that allows you to advance the target is greatl, and her very short range 8 Strength Physical spender is decent. In Cabal she may be able to generate enough Power to keep all her superpowers and spender attacks afloat without having to rely on Sap Power to hopefully come through in a pinch. Cassandra would be a very good 4 Threat character. But unfortunately she costs 5. Grade: B

Hands up who loves Crossbones? Anybody? The inclusion of his random ass really set the tone for the MCP release schedule: AMG are not holding back on the A-List megastars, but there’s also a regular dose of oddball inclusions to keep things spicy. Somebody somewhere would have been surprised and delighted to see Their Dude rubbing shoulders with Iron Man and Captain America in the starter set, but I’ve got no idea who that person was. Brock’s main contribution to the first year of MCP was giving hipsters somebody to pretend they liked; he’s since found a better home in Criminal Syndicate, but would have been hard pressed to include him in a Cabal roster for anything more than novelty value. Then Sin came along, and being able to use them like an edgy teen Corvus/Proxima suddenly makes him useful maybe if he’s already crawled his way up the table to engagement range. Just be careful you’re not handing your opponent the ability to go twice in a row later in the round. Grade: C

Enchantress got hit with the nerf bat in the November 2021 Updates, but considering how good she was before it’s probably justified. Her ability to steal an enemy’s Asset or Civilian token to her now takes an action, but it’s still very valuable as it is a rare ability. She can still move people around (although only once per turn), drain Power, and deal out some decent attacks. Enchantress may have been knocked out of the “top 4 Threat character” spot but she’s still very high up there and can bring a helpful toolbox to Cabal. Grade: B+

Marvel Crisis Protocol stat card for the Enchantress — Credit:Atomic Mass Games

AMG is really to alienate us Old As Dirt gamers by cramming as much text onto the cards as they do with The Hood. In normal human form Hood is pretty decent – both his attacks are Mystic and have funky effects that make them stronger than they may seem at first glance. He can also heal allies, although since he’s a villain and all it also gives that ally the Bleed condition. But once Hood is damaged by an enemy effect he can transform into his possessed form, which has stronger attacks and greater resilience but is vulnerable to Mystic attacks. So maybe leave this guy on the bench against Convocation. But Hood is a 3 Threat with very good damage output and a heal, you really can’t ask for too much more. Grade: B+

When Killmonger first dropped, he caused quite a stir, because he could be jacked up to one-shot Hulk. A banger through and through, his weakness has always been his lack of defensive tech, but in Cabal you want to smash stuff up and that’s what N’Jadaka does best. Grade: B

Kingpin is one of my personal favourite minis in the game, oozing menace while looking very dapper. It does feel a little sad to be running him without using his own (excellent) Leadership ability, but it’s still a legitimate option, because he doesn’t seem to pay a premium for that: standalone Wilson Fisk is a solid 4-Threat character by any standards. He’s a Slow mover, but Red Skull can help there with Master of the Cube, and Kingpin loves to plant his feet in the middle of the table and start swinging those arms. Grade: B (no change with the November 2021 Updates)

Loki would be an interesting wildcard option: he won’t enjoy trading blows, but his troll value is unsurpassed. For maximum impact he needs the Mind Gem, which will be hard to fit; and it’s a lot of Threat locked up in someone who isn’t directly contributing to your win condition of outlasting your opponent by killing their key pieces. Nonetheless, everything he contributes is useful, and amongst high skill-ceiling characters Loki remains the connoisseur’s choice. Grade: C+

Magneto is another one who might find himself squeezed out by your list composition moreso than any weaknesses of his own. With a 4-Threat Leader and (as we are about to see) a 5-Threat juggernaut that demands your attention, all to often this 6-Threat behemoth simply won’t fit in your line-up. There might be a niche build with a very small number of characters at low Threat values, clutching Priority close to its chest and clinically removing key pieces every Round, but there are more obvious routes to success with Cabal. Grade: C+

Mister Sinister is weird. It’s clear AMG has gone back to the design space they explored with Hela, and they’ve done it a lot better this time. But there’s so much going on here. The big thing is that Sinister gains Genetic Sampling tokens from his Genetic Splicing builder (or with his Forced Extraction Tactics card), gaining one for each use regardless of whether it did damage or not. He can hold up to 3 Genetic Sampling tokens, and he can use them to reduce damage, to force an enemy character to move Short, to remove special conditions on him, to put the Root condition on an enemy, and to determine the range of his Area attack. Only the Root and the Short move superpowers actually cost Power as well, but that’s a lot of options to be juggling with only three tokens available. It gives Sinister great flexibility but don’t expect to be using these all the time. The Genetic Sampling powers make him fairly durable but he’s not a primary combatant. Best to keep him back at Range 3 or so from the fray and let him do some board control. Grade: B+

M.O.D.O.K. was one of the very first expansions to this game, bursting into the world at the same time as Hulk and emphasizing the twin-tailed release strategy of big names and random weirdos. I love using this guy. Everyone loves using this guy.

Bow to the will of P.E.T.E.R.!

Imbecile! All the world is a weapon to P.E.T.E.R.!

Pea-brain! P.E.T.E.R.’s genius is infinite!

It’s easy to miss the importance of his Psionic Force-field: switching off Wilds often means switching off attack bonuses, since so many have a Wild trigger. Once he’s flipped he loses that (and only has 4 health), but if you want to instantly feel like you’re good at this game, put M.O.D.O.K. on the table and start taking names. M.O.D.O.K. may only be able to use Bow to the Will of M.O.D.O.K. and Pea-Brain! once per turn now, but that just leaves more Power for the Doomsday Chair! Grade: B+

Marvel Crisis Protocol stat card for MODOK — Credit: Atomic Mass Games

Mysterio really benefits from other characters in Cabal who can move enemies directly into his Tricks and Traps field, provoking the chance for unblockable wounds. He can even move enemies himself if his Hypnosis Gas causes damage – it’s only Strength 4 but it’s Mystical so maybe? Mysterio also has a nice interaction with Red Skull’s Hail Hydra where attacks that are shunted onto him MUST target his Mystic defense (because of the precise timing sequence in declaring a target) and with Stealth and 5 Mystic Defense it could be pretty hard to put this guy down. Unless things go horribly wrong which they probably will. Grade:B

Mystique is pretty tricksy. Notably, her Shapeshifter ability means that Bodyguard-style moves can’t be used against her; if she decides somebody is wearing 16 pistol rounds to the face, it’s happening. Along with Raven’s Long move and the guaranteed pull from her Deception card, this combos with All You’ve Got for a one-two punch that’s pretty hard to avoid.

For anyone unfamiliar with the combo, Doomed Prophecy will give you 7 dice on each attack, meaning 14 per attack action (assuming you trigger Rapid Fire), meaning 28 per activation. This in turn gives you the Power to pop All You’ve Got (and / or Cosmic Invigoration) and do it all again for a 56-dice turn. Widow throws more dice at it, but she’s also far easier to avoid, and it’s safe to say that 56 attack dice will generally be ample. Add in the fact that Cabal Affiliation is potentially giving Mystique extra Power on every round of Pistol fire (with or without card combo support), and this makes a great home for her. Grade: A

Omega Red is a 4 Threat bruiser with some neat tricks and an over-reliance on the Poison special condition. His builder drains a Stamina from the target and heals him, while his spender can drain Power. A neat combo. Red dishes out Poison to any enemy ending within Range 2 of him, or anyone he ends his activation within Range 2 of. And then if anyone near him has Poison, Omega Red can trigger 2 points of autodamage. Oh, and are they not close enough? Ensnare can drag them in. He’s a decent package overall, until he runs into someone with Immunity: Poison and then he’s sad. But have him squat on an objective and your opponent will think twice about coming close. Grade: B

Sabretooth rounds off our Mutant ring-ins in some style. This classy and underrated 4-Threat character can operate independently to chase down lonely Objective holders, or get stuck into the scrum in the middle. A Long move, healing and naked aggression: what’s not to love? Grade: B+

Ultron used to be incredibly meh. He didn’t deliver for his 4 Threat, but he wasn’t completely horrible? But with the November 2021 Updates Ultron is now a proper threat for his, um, Threat.

Ultron 2.0 comes with a 6 Strength short-range builder and a long-range builder that gives Incinerate on a Wild factory installed. His spender can be used against either Physical or Energy defense. Ultron can also use Analyze and Annihilate to reroll one of his attack dice for every Crit the defender rolls. In the original review of Ultron we asked “have you tried switching him off and back on again?” Well, AMG has and what do you know, for once it worked! Grade: B

Finally, Viper is kind of an evil original Black Widow. Sure she’s one more Threat but she has a couple of great extra movement tricks up her lack of sleeves to make up for it. And she’s handing out special conditions like they’re going out of style. Viper is going to be fairly tricksy and easy to underestimate, especially under Sin’s leadership. Grade: B+

…And Friends

Cabal has huge overlaps with both Criminal Syndicate and the Mutant Brotherhood, and to a lesser extent Asgard and Wakanda. Given how quickly your tactics cards will get squeezed, it could be advisable to avoid the temptation to go triple affiliation, and pick one of those first two.

In Criminal Syndicate’s favour is ~~my wild bias towards Kingpin~~ the duality of playstyles on offer: Criminals for capping objectives, and Cabal for fightin’. An opponent looking at your Roster will largely be guessing which way you’ll go, so they’re on the back foot before a dice is rolled. Mutants meanwhile have a very high-class roster of characters which is hard to overlook, and can dominate on favourable Crises.

Whether you go down that path, or just go mono-affiliation with Cabal (perfectly viable given their breadth of options), our old friend Valkyrie stands out as a great option to bring in. You’re here for the killings, and there aren’t many who do it better than Brunhilde.

So Are They Any Good?

Oh yes.

Strong Leadership ability? Tick.

Broad range of great characters? Tick.

Excellent Tactics cards? Tick.

It’s no accident that Cabal have endured as a popular competitive option. Red Skull and chums are a force to be reckoned with, make no mistake.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.

Marvel Crisis Protocol Affiliation Spotlight: The Cabal

The Background

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