Why should you play the affiliation
Because, as we all know, Magneto was right.
On the table Brotherhood offer fun leaderships and a bunch of good affiliated models.
How to start the affiliation
The affiliation pack comes with overall All Star Toad, faction leaders Magneto and Mystique as well as tech piece Sabertooth and is definitely the first purchase if you want to get into Brotherhood. Next up should probably be Juggernaut as he is excellent under both leaders and will see the table a lot. After him the Blob and Pyro box is a very good pick up. Pyro is great even as a splash and people have come around on Blob appreciating him for what he brings to the table. You’d probably not grab him as a splash very often but here in affiliation is just good at his job.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan?
From the ruins is an incredible fun leadership that can really turn on your squads abilities much faster than you’d expect. It’s also important to note that you also get to distribute power when your opponent destroys terrain not just you yourself.
Freedom Force is a very different kind of leadership. While it’s refund on extract is nice and can be used for some shenanigans the biggest power in the leadership comes from the “Mystique Token”. It’s basically like having a free extra model that can only secure a point. Other affiliations often have to bring an actual character for the job giving you a big advantage.
In terms of archetype it very much depends on who your primary leader is. Mystique plays a type 1 (pure scenario) to maybe type 2 (midrange scenario side) plan while Magneto is probably better suited at a type 3 (midrange attrition side).
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?
Original text: "We know we’ll get Lady Mastermind, Avalanche and Exodus next year with Exodus having a pretty high chance of being a leader."
Sadly we now know Exodus will not be a leader so maybe Polaris could be the next best guess? Was she ever in the Brotherhood at all? I'm not really an expert on Mutants I have to admit.
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
We’ll add Magnetos and Mystique’s character specific cards here even though they are technically unaffiliated.
Team Tactics (6)
Asteroid M
A. You’ll probably never play a Brotherhood game without this card. Teleporting characters an infinite range is… Pretty good.
Difficult To Please
C-. It’s also difficult to set up, difficult to fit the three characters in a squad, difficult to trigger and than also difficult to get a lot out of the additional Mags activation as you’re probably already winning when you met the conditions to play the card.
Magnetic Crush
C. It's just an OK attack
Magnetic Refraction
A+. It’s a very strong effect that would probably be worth it if you’d ever splash Magneto but getting it back every round in Brotherhood means it is absolutely stapled to Magnetos face.
Stolen Identity
B-. The fairer update to Deception is still at least a decent card but absolutely not as game breaking as the original. You can basically “only” use it to kidnap someone on one of your beaters turns and not use it as a guaranteed way to get someone off a point because they can just walk back in their activation. It’s at least a pseudo stagger then.
The Books of Truth
B. Fine if you want to double down on Recalibration Matrix like effects but since this card only applies to your character it isn’t nearly as good as taking away an opponents spike.
Characters (15)
Colossus (4)
C+. He’s a relatively fast and very durable affiliated 4 threat. He can also taunt. There will be games he’s winning for you by tanking everything the opponent tries to throw at you but there will also be games where he does absolutely nothing. If being affiliated isn’t an issue you can probably get more for the threat or similar effectiveness for less threat outside of affiliation. Which is sad because Colossus is an awesome character.
Emma Frost (4)
B-. Emma can be an interesting tech piece against Web Warriors for example with her long range Mystic attacks and Shield Mind to stop them pushing your models around. Also good if you’re pestered by Thanos.
Gambit (3)
C+. Gambit is in need of a little update. At least he can play Dark Past here making him at least interesting in a wide Mystique list. Again a shame as Remy is just cool as heck.
Juggernaut (5)
A. You’d have to have a very good argument not to play Juggernaut in every Brotherhood game you play regardless of the leadership. Don’t expect him to be a great damage dealer though. One 8 die attack will let you down constantly if you rely on it. Juggs strength comes in the combination of Health Pool + Pay to reduce to 0 and his Incredible movement. Be aware that Nothing Stops the Juggernaut isn’t limited to once per turn so as long as he can pay for it Juggs and do it again and again. He also has his card Do you know who I am stapled to his head which is very strong. Especially if you manage to use it in Mystiques (or Emma’s) turn so the opponent can’t use reactive superpowers or TTCs against the throw.
Magneto (6)
B. Magneto is a fair 6 threat which means he could use a little something extra. He really needs his own leadership to work and having some kind of help to move him around without him having to spend actions on it is absolutely key to having any success with him.
Mystique (3)
B. Raven is fast has stealth and rapid fire. Her exploding terrain is also nice. But in my experience she often tends to swim in power that she can’t really spend on anything. She also dies rather easily for a Stealth, Martial Artist.
Pyro (3)
A. Pyro is an absolute nuisance for your opponent and brings conditions for days, good attacks and a TTC that drops objective and pushes at the same time. He’s pretty much a lock in the roster.
Quicksilver (3)
B. He’s a fast and somewhat durable objective runner with an (assets only) steal TTC making him quite good in the wide Mystique plan.
Rogue (4)
A. Rogue is fantastic and really comes to live in Magnetos leadership that helps her fund her great kit instead of relying on her builder.
Sabretooth (4)
B-. Interesting as the fastest healing factor character and good at hunting Kaijus. More of a tech piece than a generally good 4 threat though.
Sabretooth, Apex Predator (4)
A-. Apex is a mini Thor 2 with his combination of great attacks, a pounce and a character throw. In Mags you can give him all the power he needs to really become the monster you know from the comics.
Scarlet Witch (5)
C+. Poor Wanda always gets left behind in these articles. She is by no means a bad character but picking her over Juggernaut is hard and running both and Magneto becomes incredibly expensive quick.
Shadow King (5)
C. I want to like Shadow King as his model is in the discussion for coolest in the game for me but I feel AMG might have overcorrected him to too weak when they tuned him down in play testing (they said he had to be nerfed as he was an absolute misery to play against at first).
The Blob (3)
B. Blob is pretty durable and has a unique attack deterrent where he can displace you for attacking him. His spender is also fantastic.
Toad (2)
A+. Arguably the best overall 2 threat.
Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation
Lockjaw (3)
B. Lockjaw is a cheap tool to transport your Magneto around the board. He is also a very good boy.
Red Skull, Master of the World (4)
A. As icky as it feels Red Skull 3 is a perfect support model for a Magneto led Brotherhood list. He can teleport Mags, take power from where he finds it, has a great terrain throw himself and also very good attacks.
Example Roster
Characters (10)
Juggernaut (5)
* Magneto (6)
* Mystique (3)
Pyro (3)
Rogue (4)
Sabretooth, Apex Predator (4)
The Blob (3)
Toad (2)
Hulk (6)
Rhino (4)
Team Tactics (10)
Asteroid M
Magnetic Crush
Magnetic Refraction
Stolen Identity
The Books of Truth
Do You Know Who I Am?
Happy Birthday, Runt!
This is a Robbery
Brace for Impact (R)
Indomitable (R)
Secure Crisis
Intrusions Open Across City As Seals Collapse (C, 19)
Guardians Save Shi‘ar Empress in Style (M, 17)
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Extract Crisis
Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (L, 19)
Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)
If you want the roster a bit less thematic and a bit more powerful it would probably be a good idea to replace Rogue or Apex with Red Skull, Master of the World especially for the Magento side of the roster.
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Thank you for reading and Cheers from Germany 🍻
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