How the B&R Update could impact every affiliation

Across the Bifrost is back online so you can also read the article there: https://acrossthebifrost.com/2024/10/01/how-the-recent-br-update-could-impact-every-affiliation/

Welcome back. 

A couple of days ago AMG updated the Banned and Restricted list. Here is my expected impact on every affiliation: 

A-Force: 

Slightly worse. A-Force didn't particularly like Researcher in the first place but Fall Back getting restricted hurts a bit, as you need every tool available to you to keep Jen standing. They can manage loosing Sacrifice because of Okoye basically. 

Asgard: 

(Deservedly) Much worse. The 15 threat Researcher Team of Thor 2, Bill and usually Loki 2 (though Jane works well here too) is what caused this update most likely. Brothers in Arms was a throwaway card with OG Thor. It's kind of insane with the new one. Restricting it and Researcher means you can still play it but have to manage without Brace and Patch Up and putting a lot of eggs in one basket. 

While the overall strength surely went down here I'm very happy about the changes for my personal main faction as it means there's a lot more of a choice especially in the 4s again and Hero Thor isn't an every game piece either. Before you'd always reach for Bill and Hero Thor first leaving the more interesting 4s like Sif and Enchantress on the bench purely because of Brothers in Arms. 

Avengers: 

Pretty unchanged. Sam in particular doesn't like Fall Back being restricted but really no one does. Survival will be a good replacement for his team (and basically all other teams as well, except super tall ones). 

Black Order: 

Slightly worse. Black Order really wants to keep Researcher in the roster I think so they are down a restricted card. 

Brotherhood of Mutants:

Unchanged (power wise, but different than before). Pure Magneto rosters might have brought Researcher themselves but a dual leader Brotherhood roster usually plays Mystique, who like all scenario teams mourns Fall back getting restricted but can replace it with Survival at least somewhat (though bringing it with Hulk (who I just remembered can never use it), Juggernaut or a bit less so Rhino doesn't feel particularly great as it really limits what they can do with their next activation). Magneto himself and also Blob might like Warpath being back to negate displacement against Mags and to get into range for Haha that tickles with Blob. 

Cabal: 

Slightly worse. Another key target for the nerf as their Thanos build with Red Skull 3 leadership is also tearing people to shreds on Researcher at 15. I think they still like it too much to get rid of it and are down a defensive tool in the form of a restricted card (most commonly Sacrifice) for it.

 

Convocation:

Unchanged (?). I haven't really seen any Convocation since the card rotation so it is a bit hard to evaluate if this phases them in any way. I think not but I'm happy to be wrong here. 

Criminal Syndicate: 

Unchanged. Both Kingpin and Klaw like Researcher but probably not to the point where they would spent a restricted slot for it. So you could argue that they are worse overall but they weren't a real boogy man on the crisis either so facing less of those will probably be a good thing. Netting it as unchanged. Kingpin, once again being a scenario leader, mourns Fall Back of course but Shadowland Daredevil is really happy about it as it stops people from moving out of rapid fire range. 

Dark Dimension: 

Worse. Dormammu kind of liked Researcher but also Fall Back. He'll probably has to lean more towards the safe grabs only he can enable rather than trying to kill everyone in the middle. Or make the latter his main plan but having Dorm without Brace and/or Indomitable seems like a scary situation for your own team. 

Defenders:

Unchanged. Both leaders like Researcher well enough but not to the point where they would spend a restricted slot for it I think. 

Guardians of the Galaxy: 

Worse. Guardians are a premier user of Researcher and even if its now somewhat dead before any harm has been done, they would've also been a fantastic place for Brothers in Arms. Bill is affiliated and Hero Thor absolutely doesn't mind getting a Winging It Token. Just like in Asgard you'd now have to run without any other Restricted cards to do it and with the much more squishy leader in Star-Lord it's even more of a risk. 

Hellfire Club: 

Worse. Emma has basically lost access to Fall Back now with MYHFC being restricted itself and Brace being the usual pick. You could argue against Brace in HFC where Emma has it somewhat on her card and the average physical defense is decent of course but it's probably not the common pick here. 

Hydra: 

Slightly better. None of the leaders here particularly cares for Researcher, even though Red Skull 2 Hydra can be built quite attrition focused. His Grunts not being able to contest the Researcher is quite a deal breaker there however. 

Hydra has a lot of really good 3 threats that can make great use of Survival. With Baron Strucker Apocalypse might also have his one good splash home. 

Inhumans: 

Unchanged. Black Bolt likes the fight in the middle but Inhumans have such a selection of fast 3 threats that they don't mind playing a wider extract either. Black Bolt could be a very good user of the re-entered Warpath, too. Especially as he can bodyguard attacks on his front side. 

Midnight Sons: 

Unchanged. The Immortal Hulk build where you play him every game might miss Researcher or even spend the restricted slot for it but overall MS has shifted more to a type 2 archetype (trying to win through scenario first but with enough of a punch to be the beatdown against pure scenario teams). 

They will be shaken up a lot by the Monsters Unleashed Pack (I can't wait to hold those minis in my hands!) and then again when Elsa finally brings them their second leadership. 

New Mutants: 

New in the game. Seeing as they barely existed before the B&R Update it's hard to see the effect it has on them. Warpath is certainly an interesting card for them as you could use it before using the leadership on an attack to possibly get in range of the ally you wanted to portal in. 

Sentinels: 

Slightly better. While Sentinels want to fight to be kind of clumbed up they very much hate 15 and will not spend the restricted slot on it. Brace and Indom have to be basically every game cards for them. Warpath can help them a bit in giving the slow big Mutants-Murder Machines an extra bit of movement. 

Servants of the Apocalypse: 

New in the game. Apocalypse and his Horsemen might very well be willing to give up a restricted card to bring Researcher. 15 is awkward for them though as it definitely excludes at least one Horseman. 

SHIELD: 

Worse. SHIELD loves Researcher as they prey on the teams that want to play it and hat playing against teams like Web Warriors on their wide extracts too. But SHIELD has a giant roster and now 3 very different but all very good leaderships. They'll live through it.

Spider-Foes: 

Better. My second main team is pretty happy with these changes I think. We have our own in faction Fall Back which is also a Mission Objective on top of it (Strategic Retreat). Less overall Researcher is also very welcome for an Extract focused team like the Foes. Fewer games where Robbery and/or Well Laid Plans can't be used. 

Thralls of Dracula: 

Not yet in the game. On my (German speaking) Podcast, Reserve Members I said (before seeing the card), that I would play Drac's leadership whatever it would be. I regret that statement. 

Uncanny X-Men: 

Unchanged. Nothing here really matters to the X-Men all that much. 

Wakanda: 

Unchanged. Same goes for Wakanda honestly. 

Weapon X: 

Better. The claws for hands people are happy about their two new toys that allow them to go 5 wide at 15. They are good in 1:1 fights so having a more spread out map is usually favourable for them. 

Web Warriors:

Slightly worse. Webs probably want to keep Fall  Back in the roster and thus probably loose Sacrifice. 

Winter Guard: 

Slightly worse. Dynamo is the king of the E and probably is fine with spending a restricted slot to keep Researcher in but depending on who you brought as splashes Winter Guard can struggle to even get to 10 TTCs and losing access to a second restricted could prove difficult. 

X-Force: 

Slightly better. Warpath is a good card for X-Force and both fewer Fall Backs and Researchers are very welcome to them, too. 

So overall more losers than winners but the changes are very good for the game as a whole in my opinion. 

Let's see how it all plays out. 

Cheers from Germany 🍻

Splashing is fluffy!

Welcome to SG Protocol on its original home while the owner of the Across the Bifrost site is trying his best to get it back online... I hope he'll find a fix as we'd loose a lot of articles ove the past year and a half if we don't... 

Anyway let's get to the topic of today's article: 

Splashing is fluffy!

Something I see very often on Reddit is that newer players and smaller communities play "only fluffy lists mostly or fully affiliated". Coming from other Wargames I get that splashing is a weird mechanic but here's a few counter arguments to common misconceptions: 

1. "Splashing makes the game unfair on a casual level" 

Maybe the most valid criticism of splashing on the face of it. Jamming Black Cat, Baron Zemo and Crimson Dynamo in every list can feel pretty annoying for your opponents on a purely casual level. That isn't really a problem of the splash mechanic per se but rather these particular models being extremely (maybe a bit too) good at what they do. 

Banning or restricting splashes in reality makes the game much more unfair. While most of them got bigger over the years some affiliations remain rather small and simply don't have a the necessary tools in affiliation to handle every situation it might get confronted with. 

The entire game is balanced around being able to splash in every character in the game (except for Dormammu. He ain't taking commands from anyone). There's a reason the Earth Mightiest Core Set isn't marketed as a two player box. It wants to teach you from the very get go, that splashing is an essential part of the game. 

There's the (unofficial) format or affiliation battle of course. A strictly competitive format where you know what you get into and try to overcome these restrictions. It has a wildly different meta than the standard format has. 

2. "These characters would never ever work together" 

Before I started this game in August 22 I've seen 3 MCU movies and hadn't read a comic in about 20 years (and only a couple issues of Spidey and the X-Men back then). I have a Marvel Unlimited subscription since June 23 and have read about 1000 comics now. You know what my short answer to the above statement now is: yes they would and probably have so already. 

Where most of us go wrong in the "justifying why character A is here with affiliation B" is, that we think of them as permanent members of that team. 

Let's take something like Baron Zemo with the Avengers. He absolutely wouldn't become a member of them but he certainly has worked with them in the past. Even in the MCU (Falcon and the Winter Soldier). 

The way you have to think about a splash character is that a situation, if not to say a crisis (😉), arose where these set of characters, usually a team of affiliated characters like the aforementioned Avengers, and some rather random characters are forced to join forces to achieve whatever it is they need achieving. 

Here are some super random team-ups all from just very recent comics (spoiler alert for Blood Hunt, Uncanny Spider-Man and Doctor Strange 2023 and Moon Knight 2023): 

Nightcrawler, Mystique, Silver Sable, Warlock with Spider-Man (Peter) and Rhino, who was mind controlled before also fighting the same villains in another location. 

Doctor Strange, Black Cat, Hunter Moon (essentially a stand in Moon Knight as Marc is currently dead in canon) and Taskmaster 

The Avengers: Carol Danvers, Iron Man, Sam Wilson and Vision with Miles Morales, Tigra, Hunters Moon, Bloodline (Blades Daughter) and Dracula against Blade who is possessed. 

Notice a trent here too? 

Mind control, clones, possession, Skrulls pretending to be a character and the like are everywhere in the Marvel universe. Oh wait its also a multiverse where evil versions of all of your favourite heroes exist in some reality or another. (And vice versa for the villains of course)

There are also often situations where the involved characters first fight eachother to later team up to beat the new threat that came up. 

Of course everything has its boundaries. Justifying the fluff behind the Convocation list that ran Ultron 2, MODOK 2 and Taskmaster with the minimal investment in actual wizards as needed by the games threat level would certainly be pretty hard. 

3. "Play what you like" 

This isn't a misconception. It's key to the game. As Will Shick always says: "Every character is someone's favourite.". Maybe your favourite character is Shadow King but you don't like the Brotherhood of Mutants (his only affiliated place and even that was more a convenience add than really representing his fluff). The thing this game allows, that no other game (to my knowledge) does is, that you can play your favourite model always. No matter what. 

Always remember that we do this to play with our little plastic dollies. Let people enjoy their toys 😉

I hope this didn't come of as mean or ranty because it isn't meant to be that, but rather an encouragement for those in newer/smaller communities to stand up for splashing. 

Cheers from Germany 🍻