BLT.

Formerly a sandwich that…well, it’s pretty good. I mean, if you put bacon on a sandwich, it’s not going to be bad, right?

Now, it’s the acronym that’s shaking up the meta. Bill, Loki, and Thor. With a high win rate and some pretty oppressive tech, I want to take a look at the list, and work through some ideas to counter it.

The list centers around two of the new Asgard releases, Loki, Prince of Lies and Thor, Hero of Midgard, along with an old favorite, Beta Ray Bill.

The Team

This team consists of three members sitting at a cool 15 threat. This roster is aiming for Research Station Attacked (15 threat extract, sort of) or Gamma Wave Sweeps Across the US (15 threat secure) as their crises of choice, although these three models are strong on anything that focuses on a central fight.
So, what’s the issue?

I’ve definitely seen much more egregious issues in games. 63% win rate for the first three months of a new model that is strong isn’t completely upending the game, but it does reflect a strong model and leadership. That said, is it the highest win rate for any leader across all affiliations in the same three month span? Yes. Yes it is. Mighty Thor has the second highest win rate.

Essentially the team works best when Thor and Bill are within range 3 of Loki, because any time they get attacked, Loki can use his Oh My, What a Pity to punish the opponent for rolling skulls. He can keep gaining power through the leadership as Thor and Bill spend power to reroll a die on any attack and defense rolls.

Another component of this list is the tactics card, Brothers in Arms. This allows Thor and Bill to add three dice to their energy attacks (Odinson’s Ire becomes 10 dice and Summon the Storm and Godhunter gain a bonus as well) and become immune to enemy advance, throw, and place effects for the round, as long as they stay within range 2 of each other. Pushes still work against them.

Of course, Odin’s Blessing will also likely be present. It’s a phenomenal card and adds insurance against dice variance for a roster with only a few models. It feels even more powerful because of the recent change from X-ceptional Healing to Instant Recovery.

The last piece of this is just that these are three models that have a lot of hit points, high stats, Bill has damage reduction, and they can bully almost any other 15 threat team very effectively.

With the recent update that put Brothers in Arms and Research Station on the restricted list, you will still likely see BLT, but they will lose access to other restricted cards. Still, it is a very powerful list, and worth being prepared for. Their win rate has been brought down to a much more reasonable level since: Loki’s winrate is down to 56%, while the Mighty Thor slipped a little but retains 60%-61% depending on how far back you stretch the timeline.

What to Do About It?

Well, the easiest answer is to wait until AMG hits this team in the face with a nerf hammer. Good news, everyone! They did!

Huh. That was easy. See you next time!
…
Ugh. Okay. There are some things that you still might want to do that could help.

Dealing with Pity

Loki’s Oh My, What a Pity super power adds a significant tax on models going toe-to-toe against any of the BLT team. Sometimes skulls don’t come up, but in the games I’ve run with and against this team, I find that Loki usually adds anywhere from 2-4 extra damage to the enemy each round. This can be huge in an attrition game.
There are a few ways to combat this: models with damage reduction to zero and models that can modify skulls.

Damage Reduction

Thanos is the big standout here. Maybe it’s time for him to start making his way into more rosters? Oh My, What a Pity just doesn’t Hurt Thanos at all. The fact that he can hit pretty hard and take a lot of punishment actually makes him a pretty solid candidate to face down this team.

Bill, Invincible Iron Man, and Kingpin can all reduce damage to zero, although it requires power to do. Still, mitigating the effect of Loki can be pretty significant in an attrition game.

Modifying Skulls

There are quite a few ways to modify skulls. I’m not going to list them all here. I will highlight a few that seem potentially pretty strong.

Adding the Reality Gem to a list can be a solid way to mitigate skulls in attack rolls. Of course, there are those rolls where you end up with a bunch of skulls, but 1 in a roll is more common. Being able to turn it into a crit adds damage in an attrition match up and avoids some of Loki’s incidental damage. Since Thanos already has the damage reduction needed, Corvus Glaive is the only remaining candidate. Do I sense a roster coming together?

Speaking of turning skulls into crits, Malekith and Domino would like to throw their hats into the ring. Domino is one of those models who can end up doing a lot more damage than her three threat cost suggests. That said, will she survive long enough to make use of the ability? Who knows? Malekith is a strong attrition piece, although giving Thor and Bill a size 4 model to throw around in a match focused on a cluster at the middle of the table might be a mistake. Still, his ability to turn skulls into crits can add a power to an attrition list.

Red Skull, Master of the World is an interesting candidate. He spreads the wealth on offense, mitigating some of Loki’s incidental damage. He’s also a solid attrition leader and can move characters around with his Nothing is Beyond my Reach superpower.
Miles Morales as a leader if you’re willing to splash a character that gets rerolls natively (Logan? although the tight quarters of Researcher and Gamma might make this an ill advised venture) can allow you to increase your attrition efficacy and resist Loki.
Finally, Cable seems like a natural choice. X-Force has some potent brawlers, and Cable’s leadership gives them the ability to reroll a skull on their attacks once per turn. This can play into a heavy attrition game and help resist Loki.

Other Options

There are a few other things worth mentioning, notably kill Loki quickly. He has good defensive stats and a reasonable health pool. The fact that he counts any skulls you roll as successes can make him surprisingly survivable. Still, if you can take him out quickly you deny Bill and Thor’s ability to access rerolls and you eliminate the extra damage that Loki adds to the equation.

Moving Loki farther away from Thor and Bill can work. He can only use Oh My, What a Pity if Thor or Bill are being attacked within range three. So, push someone past range three.
Get Stun on everyone as fast as possible. While it doesn’t stop them from getting power, Stun does stop these models from gaining 2 power per round and building up power on Thor’s notable seven dice builder. If you can get Stun on them early and mess with their power economy, then the Asgard team will have a harder time bringing all of their cool stuff to bear. There are a ton of models who give out Stun fairly regularly. Shang Chi and Iron Fist could be an interesting collection of Avengers or Defenders to throw into the mix, for example.

Crisis Selection

Then, of course, there’s your crisis selection. If Asgard gets their way with Researcher hopefully your Secure lineup has anything and everything that scores at least 4 per round. In this case, you are trying to lean the game toward objectives and away from attrition, because BLT will likely win on attrition.

If Asgard gets Gamma Wave Sweeps Across the US (15 threat secure), the objective game gets a little harder, because avoiding the fight in the center means your models are taking damage, playing into Asgard’s attrition game.

Super Powered Scoundrels form Sinister Syndicate (20 threat secure) is a strong option. 5 points per round that gives you cover. This can help you play for points against a team that is looking to play attrition.

Any pay-to-flips could be strong. If Thor and Bill are spending actions moving to and power flipping objectives, they’re not using those resources to KO your models.

I think SWORD Establishes Base on Moon’s Blue Area (15 threat secure) is worth a look in particular. It is relatively central, which could play into BLT’s favor. Still, the objectives are far enough apart that a wide team could play a pretty evasive game against BLT. Five Web Warriors, for instance, can be very evasive, and use their last activation each round to try to flip a secure or two before moving to the researcher in the middle to contest or take it. The fact that SWORD Base has a 50% chance to flip every time, also means that it rewards having more models on the table instead of having models with higher stats.

For extracts, anything that allows you to score more points than your opponent is good. Struggle for the Cube Continues (17 threat extract) could be good, but it comes with a caveat, because you are likely playing on Gamma. Since both do damage each round, you’ll need to be careful. Two wounds per round can quickly reduce your stamina pools to the point that BLT can take advantage and win the attrition game before you can get to sixteen objective points.

Mutant Extremists Target US Senators (19 threat extract) and Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan (17 threat extract) are two that can be very strong, but they come with two serious caveats: each model can only hold one and they make it harder to stay away from your opponent. While it’s not the end of the world, if you are not very careful with your placement, your opponent may be able to leverage their list to take out your models before you can get far enough away to stay safe. Splitting up can be pretty powerful for either mission because BLT gets less effective if they split their attention.

Pushing

Pushing is potentially another route to go. If your list has any version of Iron Man and Shuri, chances are that Bill and Thor are going to be a little less effective. Now, Bill is honorbound, but someone like Shuri puts him in a weird spot: does he spend the power to reduce the damage or does he take the single point of damage and stay on the objective. Thor obviously has his Have at Thee pounce, but if you can push him against or around terrain, he’ll have to spend an action to move back into position. Being able to push him from range four or five can help mitigate his ability to annihilate your team. Obviously Loki can place him forward with his Go Forth, but that can also mean that Loki is activating instead of Thor.

Pushes are particularly effective because Brothers in Arms does not protect against them. Which means you can push Thor away from Bill to possibly deny access to the extra dice.
Characters I really like for this include:

Iron Man and Invincible Iron Man, especially under Captain America, the First Avenger. They can push very reliably from range four. This can make it more challenging for Thor and Bill to get and stay in position.

I know it’s crazy, but I think Hulkbuster is a pretty good candidate here as well. Even his leadership means that Thor and Bill’s throws aren’t going to do as much damage (which is helpful if and when Thor throws the Hulkbuster into one of your models). Hulkbuster has consistent pushes and his spender is solid against high threat models like Thor, Hero of Midgard.

I really like Shuri generally. Her control game is phenomenal. Automatic pushes out to range five plus her reroll bubble means that she is pushing your opponent out of range on a central fight.

Black Panther pushes everyone all of the time. He’s a solid character, has good defensive tech, and pushes enemies while also damaging them.

Depending on the game plan you’re going for, most of the three or four threat Web Warriors can be great with this game plan. Spectacular Spider-Man, Ghost Spider, Scarlet Spider, and even the original Peter Parker have range four wild pushes. While the wild itself doesn’t always show up, the fact that hitting Thor with it twice generates enough power to do other cool stuff afterward, is pretty cool and can give you a positioning advantage if you are able to grab more objectives than the Asgard player.

Throwing

Now, Brothers in Arms stops throws as long as Thor and Bill stay within range two of each other for that round. Still, Thor is size three, so being able to throw him into Loki can be a great way to help get some damage onto Loki. Additionally, throws can’t trigger Oh My, What a Pity.

There are a mess of good throws available. Half of the Asgard roster can throw size three or less. Avengers have quite a few character throws that can help get damage through. Just remember that Bill can shrug the damage of being thrown. Getting him out of position and making him spend power can still be worthwhile in many cases.

Denying Power

There are a few ways to deny power to BLT. Stun is a great condition to limit your opponent’s ability to use Loki’s leadership and stop Thor and Bill from being able to do all of the cool things that they can do to mess your models up. I mean, Thor still hits like a truck with his hammer, but if he can’t gain power, he can’t do all of the other things too. Root can similarly limit their ability to do all of the things they want to spend power on.

Ghost Rider and Hulbuster stand out as characters that can deny power with their spender attacks. Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare even drains power with the attack.

Rogue can drain power from Thor or Bill, which can decrease their efficacy quite a bit.
I count ten models that can sap power, which isn’t always great, but can help turn the tide a little. Bumping any of the BLT team down one or two power can make it harder for them to use their superpowers.

Team Ideas

Let’s say we end up at fifteen threat against BLT on either Researcher or Gamma. Here are a couple of ideas:

I know Hulkbuster isn’t a popular pick, but hear me out! Two big models with big stamina pools that can push and throw Thor and Bill around. Hawkeye is there to back them up with shock and slow in particular, but poison and bleed are nice to have as well. Plus, Hawkeye will get a lot of power (if he doesn’t get smeared across the pavement) to power Helios Laser and/or Patch Up. You should probably take Patch Up because the big risk of this team is that Hulk and Hulkbuster don’t really have an injured side. So a Thor who spikes could deplete their health pools pretty quickly.

Probably a better use of high threat models. The Immortal Hulk is a beast. And since none of BLT are particularly good at denying power for damage dealt, Hulk flips over with a pool of health before he starts healing back up. Namor gives rerolls, plus the defensive rerolls from his leadership. Namor also has the added bonus of being able to prevent Odin’s blessing from saving your opponent. Hawkeye can easily be replaced by any SHIELD affiliated three threat. I like Hawkeye though.

Maybe… MAYBE this one is silly. Daredevil isn’t at his absolute best because he cannot get more than three enemies in range for his spender. Buuuut he is very likely to get three enemies in range for his spender. Hawkeye and Iron Fist can stack six different conditions between them. Ghost Rider brings a couple more. Plus, Iron Fist has the coveted activate-an-enemy-model trick with his Iron Fist. It will be tough to get off because you may not get priority. Although, to be fair, Thor and Bill are likely to get quite a few dazes, so you may end up with priority on an Iron Fist that has the needed eight power to use his namesake.

A lot of pushes, rerolls to match Loki’s leadership, M’Baku adds some resistance to throws. Okoye has a bodyguard, which means that your opponent has to deal with her or she can pull an attack off of a key target during a key activation, which is more than most two threat models can do. Plus, a high model count can power up Helios Laser pretty well.

Malekith got nerfed a while back. It was probably a good thing, because he was dominant. Did it go too far? Maybe. Especially with the current power level of six threat models. Still, he’s really good and has some solid counters to Loki and his sandwich crew. Skurge could be substituted for any three threat of choice. I left him in because he’s affiliated and he has a taunt, which could save one of your other models at a key moment.

I didn’t bring up MODOK above, but I think he’s worth mentioning. Bill can’t throw MODOK if he’s on his healthy side. MODOK’s ability to deny triggers messes with BLT’s efficiency. His ability to get multiple attacks against clumped enemies will also come up in this match up. Plus, his bow is useful. I’m not sure if Loki’s debuff zone is very good, especially as his newer counterpart tries to stack up his uses of Oh My, What a Pity. I’m not sure that this team has enough to actually go toe-to-toe with BLT, but I think it will be endlessly aggravating. Of course, a four model count is less than ideal against BLT. You don’t really have enough activations to keep an advantage if BLT starts getting dazes in.

I didn’t mention Ronan earlier. Ronan might be the best model for punching up into a Kaiju. He can give shock, stun, stagger, and judgment to a kaiju (like Thor, Hero of Midguard). His Accuser ability means that if Thor dazes or KOs him, or if Loki gets the last wound through with Oh My, What a Pitty, Ronan can respond with a short move and an attack. That attack (if Ronan just took damage) will likely be Kree Justice, which could stagger and stun a nearby big hitter. Then of course, Drax punches up better than most three threat models. Especially against a tall list. All of this paired with Star-Lord’s leadership adding a little dice efficiency to the list means you have a chance to fight back directly against BLT, while also having enough models to try to outscore them if you can survive.

If you want to play a different game than BLT, this could be an option. Push like crazy, and run away with objectives. That’s pretty much it. The standard Web Warriors game plan. Plus a Helios Laser.

Conclusion

Hopefully this gives you a few ideas to lean into when facing the dreaded BLT team.
With all that said and done, wait for AMG to bring them back in line a little more. That’s still going to be the most effective way to counter the BLT. Realistically, try to have fun while you’re getting stomped.

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