Affiliation Overview: Black Order (2026 update)

 

Why should you play the affiliation 

Black Order is probably the most straight up "kill them" faction in the game. If you want to play all out murder, look no further. 

How to start the affiliation 

If you can still find it the Black Order Affiliation pack is your entry point into black Order, probably followed by (also hard to find) Thanos. None of these characters are on the reprint schedule at the moment so I would maybe hold out to pay scalper prices or just use proxies until they are available again. 

The next pack (also currently out of print to my knowledge) is Black Swan and Super Giant. 

A good set to own and definitely currently available and supreme value is the Guardians of the Galaxy starter set with two affiliated characters in Nebula and Cosmic Ghost Rider as well as a bunch of useful splash options and all the tools you need to play the game. 

What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan? 

Deaths Agenda is an interesting leadership on the first half as it has the unique ability to score you VP. Importantly after it's update it doesn't work on Grunts anymore but it absolutely still means all out Murder is your #1 game plan here. The real money is in the second half though. When he's leading your Black Order Squad Thanos can use his Infinity Gems without paying the power cost for their abilities. Which makes it absolutely clear that he should always carry two of them. 

Right-Hand Man is a decent pure upside leadership option if you don't want Thanos in your squad. While only affiliated Black Order characters can trigger it, all allied characters gain the power now after the update to the card which is a big improvement. What you want here aren't splash characters that have super high damage output (your affiliated models have that covered) but rather ones who can use the additional power to support your affiliated models in other ways. 

Both leaderships are based around killing your opponents models which should give you a good indication as to what the usual game plan with Black Order will be. It’s pretty much the purest type 4 (pure attrition) faction in the game. Even going down to a type 3 will be difficult in affiliation.

Type 1: Pure Scenario team, as many VPs on the table as possible and try to win by scoring out as early as possible and with as little engagement
Type 2: Midrange Scenario team. Similar to Type 1 but can fight and chase if necessary
Type 3: Midrange Attrition team. Wants to be the beatdown but can shift to scenario play if the other side is clearly the beatdown.
Type 4: Pure Attrition team. Wants to murder you as quick as possible. Tabling is a possible and achievable goal here, but not the only way to win (they mostly score their points and deny yours by virtue of your models being dazed or KO'ed))

Who could be added to the affiliation in the future, especially as leaders? 

I don't think any prominent member of the team are missing. Not that outside of MCP players many people would even know the names of the ones we have here besides Thanos. 

Rating every affiliated TTC and Character 

Team Tactics (6)
Black Onslaught

B. It’s a strong effect on two good models and in a 4 threat Corvus led list it's become more reasonable to expect the two to be able to be played in the same squad. 

Blood to Spare

A. It’s a really strong effect at base level but coupled with the extremely strong attacks your affiliated models can hand out you’ll rarely not take it in your 5.

First of the Black Order

B+. You’ll probably need to bring it to have the flexibility to play games without Thanos. It's also pretty reasonable nowadays to build a pure Corvus Glaive Leadership Black Order list. 

Mothership

A-. Teleportation is fantastic and sparing any of your killing machines a move action is giant upside. It has taken a little bit of a nerf with its timing being changed to the power phase now. 

Price of Failure

B. It’s important to note that this works with any character in your squad, not just affiliated ones. Sure killing your own model feels pretty bad at first glance but giving up an injured Nebula for example for 3 extra power on every other character you have on the field is a decent enough trade.

Servants of the Titan

C+. Having Nebula affiliated now gives the card a push as it is more reasonable to expect a 5 wide Black Order team with CGR in it. Still very much a gamble though. 

Characters (9)

Black Dwarf (4)

B. Black Dwarf is a big ball of health with damage reduction, good attacks, a size 4 character and terrain throw and taunt. He should be played and splashed more overall in my opinion but math often gets in the way here in Black Order.

Black Swan (4)

C+. At base profile Black Swan is a decent damage dealer that lacks the power to pay for all the cool stuff on her card. Luckily there’s a solution for this.

Black Swan with Power Gem (5)

A-. Power Swan is a much more interesting character making everything on her kit much more accessible. She is very dice dependent but has great damage potential and offers some control as well. 

Corvus Glaive (4)

B+. Corvus was a big winner in the August 26 Updates gaining much needed action economy and a bit of added Stamina also helps. Personally I think I'd run him Gem less nowadays. 

Corvus Glaive with Reality Gem (5)

B. You really mostly take the Gem for the extra power in the power phase as having to pay for it is very taxing. Maybe the Time Gem is actually interesting for him now. 

Cosmic Ghost Rider (6)

B-. Being Peerless "sadly" means he can't ever be in a squad with Thanos which is a bit of a flavour fail but overall good for the game. CGR is a pure damage machine which fits the play style here but like almost everyone on the list he is high threat and you need to fit him in somehow. 

Ebony Maw (5)

B. 5 threat base Maw is a good character. He, once again, struggles to fit into squads but he can absolutely hold his own.

Ebony Maw with Space Gem (6)

B+.  Space Maw is the best version of the character and a very decent 6 threat. The problem in BO is that you have a certain other guy that wants the Gem.

Nebula (2)

A. Nebula was added to the Affiliation during the August 26 Updates and gives the Affiliation a big boost. Having an affiliated 2 threat (that fits the game plan extremely well) makes squad building a lot easier especially when you want to bring some splashes in as well. 

Proxima Midnight (3)

A. Proxima is a very good affiliated 3, even pretty splash worthy in her own right, and her Husband and Wife mechanic with Corvus makes keeping priority so much more easy that it is kind of hard taking one without the other.

Supergiant (3)

C. I really want to like her because her model is very cool and having another affiliated 3 would go such a long way. She also has a Well Laid Plans clone card with Maw in Psychic Shockwave that I would love to play someday but sadly she’s one of very few characters left in the game that I would say would have needed a complete rewrite in the updates. She got the medium move and went up to 6/6 now which might make it worth to give her another look. The Spender is still way overcosted to account for the 7% chance of hitting the Devour Mind trigger and her dropping Extracts when taking physical damage is annoying. She's probably the single best sacrifice target in the game when a big physical attack is getting thrown at one of your other characters that she will only take 1 damage from regardless of the dice. 

Thanos, The Mad Titan (6)

C-. Without Gems Thanos is by far the worst 6 threat in the game. But you’ll never play him like this anyway.

Thanos, The Mad Titan with Mind and Space Gem (8)

A. There is an argument to go Space, Reality here now when you choose to play Corvus without Reality but personally I still think Mind, Space is the way to go. Space is important to have your 8 threat get the most out of every activation and Mind is great to kidnap enemy models. Reality increases Thanos own offense and defense but he gives up the guaranteed control then. 

Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation 

Killmonger (4)

A. Having been buffed up to 7/7 Stamina means Killmonger has more time to build up his kill count. He's particularly good under Thanos, who can support him with Cosmic Portal and Death's Decree. If you can pull off Killmongers TTC Usurp the Throne under the Thanos leadership and the model was on its injured side that's 3 VPs in the middle of a round. 

Silver Sable (4)

B+. Sable, who is 7/7 now as well, could be a great fit in a pure Corvus Glaive Leadership Black Order. Her range 5 Gainer has the potential to pull enemy characters into your death balls, her Spender can soften them up very much and the power she should get from the leadership (which she can't trigger herself but can now benefit from the power) can help pay for Shot Caller more often. Want My Help, Pay Up is also great for all the affiliated characters. And finally you could think about bringing her TTC Sable International to get up to 2 VPs with it though I think especially in Corvus BO the spots in the 5 are very limited. 

Example Roster 

Characters (10)

Black Dwarf (4)

Black Swan (Power) (5)

* Corvus Glaive (4)

Cosmic Ghost Rider (6)

Ebony Maw (5)

Nebula (2)

Proxima Midnight (3)

* Thanos, The Mad Titan (Space, Mind) (8)

Killmonger (4)

Silver Sable (4)

Team Tactics (10)

Black Onslaught

Blood to Spare

Execute

First of the Black Order

Indomitable (R)

Mothership

Patch Up (R)

Price of Failure

Shhh...

Usurp the Throne

Secure Crisis

Assault Ships Make Sweeping Search! (W, 16)

Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (I, 17)

Lockdown! Security Systems Stymie Breakout (S, 18)

Survivors Search for Safe Shelters (Z, 20)

Wedding Party Targeted in Terrible Attack! (R, 20)

Extract Crisis

Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)

Sentinel Schematics Sabotaged! (AC, 17)

Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)

Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)

Evidence of Experimental Soldiers Exposed! (AB, 19)

 

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Thank you for reading and Cheers from Germany 🍻