Who Is Apocalypse?En Sabah Nur, “The Seven Lights”, is an ancient mutant and an easy number 2 on the “X-Men Big Bad rating chart”. Blessed with incredible regenerative abilities, nigh immortal, and gifted alien “Celestial” technology. Apocalypse is a classical Darwinist, and often empowers other mutants to do his bidding, turning them into “Horseman of Apocalypse”.
Character Card:
Apocalypse has 4 in all defenses, which is perfectly respectable and the standard for most of the modern 6 threats we’re seeing. 7 health on his healthy side, 8 on his injured side. This does put him below both Midgard Thor and Cosmic Ghost Rider, but he has some means of mitigating that (as we will discuss below). Medium Move on a Medium base at size 4 makes him pretty mobile, but of course size 4 is a double-edged sword. All in all, respectable stats for the Threat.
Biomorphic Arsenal is a Range 3, 7 dice attack that is any type you want. A heck of a gainer. Already Apocalypse is starting on a great foot.
On top of that, we have our wild trigger Cower before me. This allows you to tag an enemy with the Shock or Root. Root is an absolute horror of a condition. There is basically no one who isn’t harmed by taxing their superpowers. Shock, while less generally applicable, never hurts, and some characters can struggle under shock.
Even better, if a foe is under both shock and root, then you just get to chuck them away short, awesome for a kill confirm, or for some light battlefield control.
Our spender En Sabah Nur’s Judgment, which is, admittedly, a little more variable of an ability. 3 power for 1 extra attack isn’t awesome, but we get to add two dice for each condition the target has. On his own, Apocalypse can slap 5 conditions (I’ll explain how below) on a target. So our ceiling is 18, which is a much better prospect. That being said, it has no additional effects, no push or throw.
I think most of the time you’ll just settle for a Biomorphic Arsenal, but for those pesky high health targets, your Thors and Hulks, this is a fine option to put them away.
Celestial Technology is our first superpower. Four power to bump two allies within 5. Four is a lot, but I don’t think our boy is going to be hurting for power too much. It’s also locked to the power phase, meaning it can’t be used in response to enemy displacement. Not a trick you’re going to use every round, but one that I think you’ll be happy to fire off when it’s helpful.
You Will Be Remade Through, however; this is the sauce. Whenever an enemy would gain a condition they already have, you spend 1 power to change it to something else. Meaning, for a single power, you can slap an opponent with a condition that better inconveniences. And since you can pick from a menu of 5 options, you can usually pick something your opponent isn’t happy about. Shock not really ruining Spider-man’s day? Let’s see how he feels about slow or incinerate.
Only the Strong Remain is our passive and it’s pretty good. Every time our boy takes damage, he heals 1. Now, this won’t save you from being dazed, but it’s great to keep you from being nickel and dime’d to death.
On top of that, if you would gain a condition you’re immune to, you heal 1 and gain 1 power. This is a great time to remind you that wild triggers are not optional unless they explicitly say so. If cable only hits you nothing, and hits that wild, it triggers. Also, remember that while on your healthy side that is just 3 conditions, once you’re injured you are immune to EVERYTHING!
Leadership
Bear with me for a bit because Apocalypse’s Horsemen is easily the most complicated leadership in the game. Apocalypse comes with 5 cards. These are not Tactics Cards, but each designate a “position” on the team, for lack of a better term. Apocalypse gains Master of the Horseman, and assigns his Servants to War, Famine, Pestilence, or Death. I won’t get into the particulars of all of it this here. That’s what the Faction Focus is for.
Apocalypse gets Evolutions tokens, which the team can use for rerolls or to spend on superpowers. Each Horseman gains an activated superpower, as well as a condition to gain evolution tokens. Apocalypse can also use one of the assigned Horseman abilities on his turn, allowing you some extra utility.
Affiliations
Unsurprisingly, Apocalypse’s only affiliation is his own. I don’t think he’ll be a universal splash by any means, but I do think he could find himself splashed in some of the affiliations who rely on bogging their opponents down in conditions, such as Hydra or Spider-Foes.
Tactics Cards
Immortal Servants is the only card locked to Servants of Apocalypse, and it’s a doozy. Servants posses an active and reactive ability, effectively making it two cards in one. Apocalypse spends 3 power to heal himself and everyone within 2 for 2 health. A low-grade We Are Groot is nothing to sneeze at, especially since you are pretty likely to have your servants close to hand most of the time.
On the reactive side, it is a cheaper Recalibration Matrix. I don’t know that Matrix is card Servant would bring on the reg, but this is MCP. Sometimes your dice just bottom out, or your opponent gets lucky. Getting a second shot, isn’t bad. I think if you’re playing Servants, this is an auto in your 5.
The First One, on the other hand, is kinda shaky. Trading 4 power and model for an extra turn (half turn in the wrong circumstances) is a big ask. I’m not saying you’ll never take that bet, but I think more often than not this stays on the bench.
The Verdict
Apocalypse is a very interesting, high-threat model. He’s certainly not a “plug and play” threat where raw power will win the day. If you’re looking to play Apocalypse, I’d say be prepared to get some reps in before you start seeing results. That being said, he certainly has a powerful toolkit to put out high damage and debilitate your foes.
That being said, I think Apocalypse is going to live and die by the effectiveness of Servants of Apocalypse. I’m prepared to believe an optimal roster exists, and that it might even be competitive, but I also won’t be surprised if it takes the collective community some time to find it.
Quentin Acord is a veteran of Marvel Crisis Protocol, competing in many high-profile tournaments on the Easter Seaboard, USA.
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