Welcome back.
Today we take a look at which characters were popular and why from September 18th until today, December 12th of 2024.
We have 2235 MCT coded lists uploaded to Longshanks in our time frame which we can evaluate here.
Surprising absolutely no one, original core set Baron Zemo takes the crown. He's always been great and getting the excellent TTC I'm a Baron after all only increased his versatility.
At #2 we have Toad who shouldn't be a suprise here either, especially with the numbers of Apocalypse games where he is absolutely key.
Wong edges out Shang-Chi for the #3 spot. You play Wong for a very specific reason. You play Shang-Chi if you want a fantastic all around 4 threat.
Speaking of fantastic: Black Cat is maybe challenging Zemo for the title of best 3 threat in the game so her making it to the top 5 is only fair.
Just like Shang, Namor has made his impact felt heavily since his release. And he is really just good everywhere you stick him so it makes sense that he is the most taken 5 (well technically 47 times he is a 6).
Bullseye keeps the trend of the 2 leading the way here. He's the best "I just need a 2" character of the bunch for me. He has his auto damage, action compression and even a bit of defensive tech while being able to play the objectives.
Beta Ray Bill is still popular even after the rotation of Eyes on the Prizes. There's been a lot of Asgard games of course which is where you mostly see him nowadays.
Hulk keeps his spot in the top 10 and for good reason. He might not hold the title of best model in the game anymore but he isn't far off either.
Rhino also sticks into the top 10. He's one of the fastest models in the game while bringing a fantastic steal on his TTC and decent survivability. He's just good if you need a chaser.
Thor 2 is pretty safely the highest damage output model in the game right now. So it makes sense to see him this high. He isn't as splash able as Hulk though as he becomes much more handleable if he doesn't have access to Odin Blessing.
Cable is just a super reliable damage dealing 5. He's basically good wherever you stick him and he is in popular affiliations on top of it.
Loki 2 is fantastic in his own leadership that constantly fuels his Oh my what a Pity. His impact goes way down if he can't pay for that so he isn't that great outside his own leadership.
Black Widow is there if you can't have Toad for some reason, have her affiliated or value any or all of Long range, Stealth, Martial Artist over Toads abilities.
Wolverine is here because he's affiliated everywhere it seems. All of Apocalypse, X-Men, Defenders, Avengers and X-Force are quite popular and he's often going to be a tech piece in their lists.
Seeing Miles as low as 16 is quite the shock for me. He builds the holy trinity of over the top 3s with Zemo and Black Cat.
Luke Cage on the other hand is some one I wouldn't have seen this high up the list. He's very good and very splashable so I totally get it.
After a period of people not playing him after his nerf in 2023 Doctor Voodoo has found his strife again and he absolutely is very good still.
Beast profits from the popularity of X-Men and especially Apocalypse where he is a cornerstone of the list.
Psylocke is great and should be splashed more but is probably this high up the list for the same reason that Beast is.
Deadpool is a super reliable 3 threat that once again most likely has Apocalypse to thank for being this high up the rankings.
Agent Venom is the ultimate anti Web Warriors piece and is also great against Shang-Chi. He probably makes the list in almost all Web Warriors, SHIELD and Guardians lists. He is a splahworthy model, too but that isn't as popular I think.
Spectacular Spider-Man is a 3 threat able to displace a lot of models. He's become a core member not only of basically every Web Warriors lists but also SHIELD (where he is also affiliated). He's once again another good splash 3, too.
If there's one model who has to thank Apocalypse for being here it definitely is Colossus. He does see some use in his other teams but Servants is where he's really found his best home.
Ugh Thanos. 132 times he was played in Red Skull 3 Cabal or Black Order and 67 times in Guardians or Wakanda I'd say looking at the Gem configurations. The other configurations are less optimised but may be more interesting on the table because of it.
X-23 in the top 30 is rather surprising to me. She's very good but with the loss of No Matter the Cost and X-Ceptional Healing her splashability went way down. She probably profits from Mutants being always popular.
Crimson Dynamo, the King of the E, makes the top 30 but I wouldn't have bet Money he'd be behind Colossus.
Magik and Domino profit from being good affiliated 3s in multiple mutant teams each (Magik being the leader of the New Mutants), but don't see a tonne of splash play.
Different story for Pyro who is a great splash to deal with enemy big bads with Fire Wall.
Okoye is a cheap reliable bodyguard useful in many places.
Sif is absolutely good enough to splash but basically only sees play in Asgard but that is played a lot of course.
Nebula regained a lot of popularity from the Thanos Cabal list where is she kind of insane. She's still good in Guardians, too.
Jane is like Sif mostly seen in affiliation and an Asgard list without her is just objectively wrong.
Lizard isn't as ubiquitous as he once was but he's still a very good tough objective runner.
I'm absolutely not convinced Chosen of Bast is good but that might be down to small sample size.
Like a lot of the Mutants here Honey Badger most likely saw an increase in usage due to Apocalypse. Same for Iceman, but for him I think he's a lot more splash worthy than given credit for.
Iron Man is probably the most solid back point sitter that impacts the game from there with his pushes and access to Stark Armory and Helios Laser Bombardment.
Spider-Woman is affiliated in a lot of places and great everywhere.
There he is. As said many times already Apocalypse is very popular and influences the overall list here than anyone else.
iHulk has seen a big resurgence after WTC and the release of the Monsters which spiked a lot of new Midnight Sons lists.
ASM has lost his role to Namor in a lot of places but remains a good option in Webs, Defenders and some other places.
Rocket is mostly used in Guardians but is a very good splash 2 as well and you don't need to being Groot because range 5 is what really keeps him safer than anything else.
Sam is surprisingly low here with Avengers being popular like they always are and Sam being an A+ model and extremely splash worthy too.
Ghost-Spider is a very good model you basically never see splashed which is a bit weird.
Valkyrie is decent under the new leaderships, especially Janes.
Storm is the best leader for X-Men and is a good affiliated 3 in Wakanda, too.
Kingpin saw a little bit of use in Spider-Foes as anti Thor 2 tech but is mostly there as a leader.
Daredevil is basically only used as a leader.
Speaking of only used as a leader. Blade is so high purely because of the rise of Midnight Sons.
He is also decent with Dracula and vice versa. Drac leads the way out of the Monsters pack which overall isn't a suprise.
Ghost Rider has become quite popular again and he is just a well rounded 5, even though he hates things being thrown into his face more than most at his threat level.
Shadowcat is a great 3 threat for the teams she's affiliated in and those are popular.
The other Hero for Hire isn't nearly as popular as Luke Cage but in some instances, like in Midnight Sons, you want him over Luke, or simply have both in the roster.
Nightcrawler is used quite a bit in X-Men but feels absolutely underexplored as a splash. Stun on a stick is very very relevant right now and he also zooms around the board like few others. It's probably Shang-Chis and somewhat Namors fault we don't see the best German character more.
Angela making it this high up is maybe the biggest surprise yet. Asgard is very much overflowing with 5s and a 6 you play in most your games so I don't see her making the table there often. She is a Guardian, too but hasn't been a staple there either and A-Force isn't super popular at the moment where they just struggle immensely. So I honestly have no idea where she's played. More power to the people making her work though.
Original core set Steve Rogers maybe qualifies to being among the, or even the, least splash worthy character in the game. You bring him for his leadership and throw attacks into which works a hell of a lot better when all your reactive superpowers cost 1 less. Pat Dunforts 19 out of hell with Hulk, Cable, Shang-Chi and Steve 1 is extremely fun to play and frustrating to play against for example. But just on his stat card he's simply not worth his threat.
Now the story is very different for Nick Fury Jr. Who, in my opinion, isn't splashed enough. He's obviously best in SHIELD, where Eye in the Sky gets recycled but even having it available once per game can change the entire course of a game to your favour.
Skurge is by far my favourite 3 threat in Asgard and to me the best 3 in Cabal not named Baron Zemo. With the prevalence of both I'd have expected him higher on the list. But we'll 60 out of 198 currently released models probably is still pretty high for a model half the community doesn't know what he's doing.
I recently learned the original Venom pack is the best selling MCP box ever so I think Eddie is just here because people (rightfully) love him in the fluff. He isn't really bad on the table either, just frustratingly slow.
If you don't think Red Skull, Master of the World is good go listen to basically any of the current Danger Room Christmas episodes and hear Mike gush about how awesome he is. You'll see it then.
People have finally started to take the Blob serious and it shows. He's a good 3 in his affiliations.
Bucky used to be absolutely everywhere before his 2023 nerf. Then he was seen nowhere anymore as is often the case with freshly nerfed models but it seems people are starting to come around on him again. He's probably a tech piece rather than core to the list more often times then not but he does his job well. Also a good counter to Shang-Chi. Not as good as Rocket, though.
Three people liked to basically play a threat down. Otherwise Star-Lord is basically only used to lead the Guardians of the Galaxy (well). He would offer mobile long range fire support as a splash but that doesn't seem to entice particularly many people to try him.
Emma is not only the White Queen of the Hellfire Club but also the Queen of MCP. She's rarely seen outside of HFC which is the top affiliation in the game but can be decent in both X-Men, where she brings a great TTC and Brotherhood. She is now a New Mutant, too but I don't think that's quite her best home.
Original Black Panther has fallen from grace a bit in Wakanda especially as a leader but is still a good 4 threat.
N'Kantu was predicted to be everywhere because people got a bit nuts about what he could do. He's certainly very flexible and tonnes of fun to play but quite far off from being a broken 3. He's just a very good one. You'll see him in basically every Midnight Sons list but not a whole lot outside of them.
Groot is a good Guardian regardless of bodyguarding Rocket and is probably a character that it'd be worth to explore him more as a splash. His spender is probably the single best in the game for example.
Mysterio is weird but in a good way. He's mindbogglingly slow but once he's in position he is an absolute pain to deal with. He's good in all three of his affiliated teams. Might be worth a look as a splash sometimes, too.
Quicksilver is a good objective runner in all of his affiliated places but probably shines most in Inhumans.
Logan is a great 4 threat blender that is also very good on P2Fs.
Rouge got her new favourite leader in Xavier earlier this year which had her make a big comeback in X-Men lists.
Red Skull 2 is still unique with his Secure scoring Grunts and is a damage machine even without them. He's always worth considering when you look for a splash 5.
111 people play Asgard correctly 😉 Thor 1 is by no means an every game piece for Asgard anymore but he's good to have for certain matchups I think. The current Allfather Zach Cohen wouldn't agree and he's a way better player than me but I love him and his leadership on Fisk to the point where I think about bringing it myself. Thor is also a good Avenger especially under Steve 3.
Killmonger is the highest damage output 4 in all of his affiliations and brings Usurp which is a another strong argument for him. A personal favourite of mine.
Seeing Juggs make it so high is a bit of a suprise with the low number of Brotherhood games. He is good in Ock Foes and a couple of other places but his spot was often stolen by Namor. They do different things though and Juggs is definitely the more survivable of the two.
I love Taskmaster in the comics and on the board. He's seldomly flashy (except when he one shots a Crimson Dynamo 😈) but super reliable.
Cyclops is taken as a leader even though he struggles in the role. He is a decent splash for MODOK Criminals and Steve 3 Avengers if you want to play the character and see him shine.
Gwenom is OK. Her best home is Midnight Sons but I'm not convinced she is the best 4 threat splash for them. She's on the chopping block for me personally.
Archangel flies his steel wings into the top 90 here probably mostly on the back of Apocalypse he is great in combination with Psylocke and their team up card both in Servants and X-Force where both are affiliated. Probably not that splash worthy though.
100 CGRs is a suprise. He got a very necessary nerf and people seemed to mostly have given up on him afterwards (the typical reaction after a nerf in this game) but it appears some people are still seeing worth in him.
Proxima has gained some popularity outside of Black Order in for example Web Warriors as a Zemo alternative. The three model Black Order splash is also becoming more popular again and she's a key character for that.
Shocker is boring but good. I don't think he does enough to be splashed but he's absolutely fine in Foes and CS, especially Kingpin.
Medusa is a model that probably should be splashed more. She has been nerfed once which is an explanation, but once you've put her on the table you will know that she's still a very good 4 threat with a unique ability in Royal Decree.
The internet thought Electro would run this game after his release. Everyone calmed down after they saw what he actually does on the table which is: not all that much. He's super reliant on his 5 dice builders to go off otherwise he is very ignorable.
Shuri will still be in most Wakanda lists and probably in A-Force, too. She can also be a decent splash if you're looking for a cheap reroll aura.
Ultron 2 wasn't nerfed but Age of Ultron which was absolutely not OK with him got banned and people kind of forgot about the Metal Tyrant afterwards. He's just really good on his stat card alone though.
Kraven has gotten a big push from the new Spider-Foes TTCs and is also an interesting character in Midnight Sons.
Bishop is the most offensive version of a 4 threat with a size 4 character or terrain throw but also the least survivable which probably prevents people from really splashing him.
Mystique isn't seeing a lot of success as a leader at the moment but she's also a decent affiliated 3 in Cabal.
Sabretooth is a good 4 threat in both X-force and Servants of the Apocalypse. He's also interesting in Cabal and now Thralls of Dracula (which will usually dual affiliate with Cabal, for matchups where the leadership wouldn't do anything).
Abomination is absolutely fantastic and will shoot up these stats in the next installment. He's just too new to be higher right now. He just works extremely well everywhere you'll put him.
Bucky 2 is a fine 4 in his (many) affiliated spots though I don't think you'd spent the threat to splash him. He's good at dealing with Shang-Chi of course.
Bob is the least used 2 threat but, like all of them, he's just super good at his job, which is dying but not really dying.
Doc Ock 2 is a pure leader in a popular faction. I wouldn't consider him to be splashed anywhere. His kit is fine outside of him dying to a stiff breeze.
Gamora will see increase in playing time with the new Guardians release and her cool team up card with Nova. I'm certainly going to play herore once I got my Richard Rider ready for the table.
iTony has fallen from grace a lot since Namor took over as the de facto SHIELD leader. He struggles to even make SHIELD lists nowadays which is basically the only place he was played in the first place.
Black Bolt is the leader of a top faction in the game and he's also great as a splash and very underused in that role.
Moon Knight is just a super reliable 3 threat for guarding a secure and sometimes chase an extract carrier.
And that rounds out our top 100 characters.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
Cheers from Germany 🍻
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