Why should you play the affiliation
Do you like to play the bad guys (you should, it's fun!)? Then Cabal is basically the combination of all evil characters and the "Anti-Avengers" of MCP.
On the table they favour beating the opponent up but there roster is super deep and they have 5 different leaderships to choose from, the most of any Affiliation.
How to start the affiliation
The best starting point for Cabal is the earths mightiest core set as it comes with your most well rounded leader as well as good affiliated models and staple TTCs. After that Cabal has a million ways you can go but sadly not many packs have two Cabal characters in them. It’s probably best to look at the list of affiliated characters (further below) and figure out the route you want to take.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan?
Master of Evil is a good leadership especially for characters that attack with Beams, area attacks and the like and need a lot of power to fund their kit.
My Cabal is only for the Strong is a strong leadership that makes every attack you make more efficient. Something to watch out for, especially as the opponent, is that you have to decide to use the leadership before the defenders initial defense roll.
The Dark Council is Sam Wilson’s leadership turned on his head where it gives you a gigantic boon for killing your opponents models, but it has nothing helping you to do it directly (of course the movement and additional power will usually go towards killing the next model).
Red Mayhem is a super fun but completely unreliable leadership and will basically do nothing on certain crisis combinations. It allows a type 2 style game plan for Cabal but I would definitely bring a second leader option in the roster for the times Sins leadership is not impactful.
The newest leadership of the bunch is The Kang Dynasty, a pure offensive upside leadership which helps you with your usual goal in Cabal: dazing and KOing enemy characters.
Overall Cabal plays mostly a type 3 sometimes type 4 stlye game plan so they mostly try to kill you, sometimes with the option to play scenario if they feel you can't outfight them. After her buff Sin has become a real option to include for a secondary more type 2 style game plan.
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?
Every evil character has chance to end up here. The biggest and most obvious one being Doctor Doom (who will be a leader but maybe of his own affiliation rather than Cabal? 🤔)
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
Team Tactics (4)
Cosmic Invigoration
B+. If you have OG Red Skull in your squad you should think about the card. Removing an activated token from one of your higher threat killing machines is definitely worth a spot in your 5.
Dark Reign
A+. You’ll play exactly 0 Cabal games without this card.
Dig In
B-. It’s a cool card but camping on a point with Crossbones is probably not going to further your own game plan enough to be worth taking it over other options.
The Black Bifrost
A. Very hard to play correctly (too hard for me to try personally) and needs a lot of reps but if you are good at it it will be very good.
Characters (39)
Arnim Zola (3)
C+. Zola is one of the coolest looking models in the game and comes with good attacks and superpowers but he’s very slow and still somewhat easy to take out (7/6 does help of course)
Baron Helmut Zemo (4)
A. Helmut Zemo brings the reroll bubble with Strategic Genius, is pretty fast with Quickstep (now possible while holding an Extract) and has good attacks, even if I'm still not high on the Spender. 6/7 Stamina is also decent.
Baron Mordo (3)
B. Mordo is cool and very different. He doesn’t have the highest damage output himself but he can spread incinerate and Hex around as well as boosting your hard hitters dice making him a really cool support piece.
Baron Strucker (3)
B-. Baron Strucker has paid for the sins of Baron Zemo and lost his innate Strategic Genius for Tactical Insight, a reactive reroll bubble he has to pay for. The most interesting thing about him is his leadership and that is Hydra not Cabal. He is not a terrible affiliated 3 threat here but you have more interesting options.
Baron Zemo (3)
A-. While finally having gotten tuned down a bit, 3 threat Zemo is still a Long move charge character with strong attacks and access to reroll all (as well as Tactical Insight). While he isn't the default best 3 threat for everything anymore he is still very good in his main job.
Bob, Agent of Hydra (2)
B. Bob will annoy your opponent and cost him valuable actions to constantly keep him from activating. The one big attack he makes can also be impactful. And if your opponent doesn't go after him he can be quite fast with Hydra Tactics.
Bullseye (2)
B. Bullseye is great for bringing absolutely reliable ping damage, hit and run, parting shot and a range 4 attack spender.
Cassandra Nova (5)
B+. Cassandra has cool abilities and is super tough with 8/7 Stamina, "super Stealth" and Healing Factor. There’s also a lot of competition for the affiliated 5 threat slot and Cassandra has issues with action economy.
Crossbones (3)
B-. With the increase to M movement, Crossbones has become a more interesting option again. He is tough with paid for damage reduction (to 0) but his attacks still don't really excite me.
Crossbones, Merciless Merc (3)
B+. Crossbones 2 is deceptively fast with aggressive and Hit and Run now with M movement, brings a beam, flat damage reduction and a great spender. An important change making him even better is, that he now works for the Partners in Crime of Sin.
Dracula (5)
A. Drac is straight up fantastic on the board. You'll never regret playing him though he does lack action economy. Either Red Skull is great to deliver him into your opponents face though. He also loves Kangs leadership because he can use it in your opponents turn with his counter attack, Malekiths to give him additional moves and power (and he is good at triggering it as well) and finally Hypnotic Stare also makes him fit a more type 2 style Sin plan. If he haven't guessed it by now: by far my favorite 5 threat in Cabal.
Enchantress (4)
A-. I love Amora. Always on "Bow" (any ability that lets you advance an enemy character), a Steal if necessary, terrain throw and a decent Beam while now being 7/6 Stamina is just good.
Hood (3)
B-. Hood brings very unique abilities to the table including a heal. In Demon form he is quite tanky and in regular form his Mystic Rapid Fire can take care of nasty Spider-People.
Killmonger (4)
A. If you can deliver him to where he needs to go he is a heat seeking missile. If your opponent has seen him do any kind of work before he’ll try to kill him from range which he is still somewhat vulnerable to but now with 7/7 Stamina it takes more to bring him down than it used to.
Kingpin (4)
C. Kingpin is a very cool character but doesn’t really fit in any of the leaderships here.
Klaw (5)
C. Klaw is weird as hell but can rule a board in the right situation. Will reward a lot of reps. Without his own leadership he does lack much needed action economy. Both Red Skulls can help with that.
Loki, God of Mischief (4)
B+. Do you like to annoy the hell out of your opponent? Loki is your man. Especially under Red Skull, Master of the World he shines because the combination of leadership and I am a God! can make his attacks very scary with only Shields and any Skulls after the first one being misses.
M.O.D.O.K. (5)
B-. The terror of the early days of the game is still a good damage dealer and control piece. Sadly basically a non factor on his injured side still.
Magneto (6)
B-. Magneto needs his own leadership to work properly I feel (he can have power problems without it) and playing him under a Red Skull also feels very wrong. Sin is the only other leader he could be played under here because of Peerless and he doesn't really fit in that game plan I think.
Malekith The Accursed (7)
B. Mal has had a couple of much needed nerfs and is now a totally fine 7 threat you don’t have to feel bad for playing with a very good leadership and TTC attached to him. He gained Peerless which can hurt his squad creation.
Mephisto, Lord of Temptation (5)
B+. Mephisto is pretty good overall and Red Skull (1) leadership could be very interesting for him to get power and Devil’s Deals tokens out of his free attack. Teleporting someone like a Crossbones in to take the hit is also great.
Mister Sinister (4)
B+. Mister Sinister got a much needed updates which traded potential upside for reliability. And to me that is a big improvement.
Mysterio (3)
A. Mysterio is very much a role player and not an every game piece. But he is absolutely fantastic at his role and the Grand Illusion has to be in consideration for top 10 best character specific TTCs. He finally moves Medium now making him even better.
Mystique (3)
B. Mystique is fast and has stealth and Martial Artist. She used to be a staple here with Deception but Stolen Identity doesn’t bare the same weight. A perfectly fine option at 3 but nothing special.
Omega Red (4)
B+. Finally blessed with a Medium move (while being size 3 so the majority of terrain won't effect it either. Unlimited Ensnare is really the core of his play pattern and he is most likely the first 4 threat you choose in a Sin led Cabal roster. Less of a pure offensive killing machine than some on offer here.
Red Skull (4)
B-. While you’d never take him outside his own leadership classic Red Skull is a bit undervalued as a character. He has a size less throw on his ranged spender which is incredible and his teleport is also great. His master of the cube got the trade for more damage in the average game traded for certainty to not blow yourself up with it on a bad role. This ranged attack now being 0 cost also helps with his kit. He could see a return to the table I think.
Red Skull, Master of Hydra (5)
A-. Red Skull 2 is an excellent damage dealer and brings the unique selling point of having secure Grunts. Peerless is really what basically keeps him out of Cabal lists nowadays. He can't play under either Malekith or Kang (who would like him the most) and obviously not under Red Skull 1 and 2 (same alter ego) so it's only Sin where he faces competition from the 5 threats on offer here you have diceless displacement ("bow" like on MODOK, Dracula and Ultron 2 for example).
Red Skull, Master of the World (4)
A. Red Skull 3 is a fantastic character in his own right coupled with a very good leadership.
Sabretooth (4)
B. A fast damage dealer with a counter attack, making him a great fit especially under Kang.
Sin (3)
B. Sin has fantastic TTCs, a weird leadership that saw a buff of being able to choose the order of effects making it less of a feels bad, automatic rapid fire, stealth and now respectable 6/6 Stamina and Partners in Crime. The latter now also working with both Crossbones. I still wouldn't expect her to have a huge impact herself but she allows for a wide type 2 style of game and can help a more attrition based squad to hold priority through Partners in Crime.
Skurge, The Executioner (3)
B. I love Skurge. Taunt, Aggressive, a terrain throw and very good attacks. He sometimes does fall over dead rather quickly and can lack action economy.
The Wrecking Crew (4)
A. They are fantastic and demand to be dealt with otherwise they can rule the board. They will quickly fold to dedicated attacks into them but those didn't go into one of your other big hitters at least. Being increased to 7/7 is very helpful now.
Ulik (5)
A-. One of the fastest 5 threats in the game and with fantastic attacks and control.
Ultron (4)
C-. Original Ultron absolutely needed Age of Ultron to be worth his threat and without it now he is just extremely overshadowed by pretty much any other 4 threat.
Ultron, Metal Tyrant (5)
A-. Tanky, good attacks, Grunts (damage output only) and Bow. He is just good.
Viper (3)
B. L move with a Range 2 place and Stealth. Also good attacks. A decent option for a more objective focused squad. Which isn't really typical for Cabal.
Winter Soldier, Operative (4)
B. 4 threat Bucky is fine. Blowing up terrain is nice and Soldat Activated is a strong card.
Kang the Conquerer (6)
A. Kang is pure offensive upside. He doesn't do much else but you have other options for that. Being a Peerless leader of course does limited the options of what else to bring in your squad.
Iron Monger (3)
A. Probably now always my first choice for an affiliated 3 threat. Iron Monger is durable and has good attacks.
Popular Splash Characters for the affiliation
Cabal has such a deep affiliated roster that you don't really "need" to splash in unless you simply want to play a certain character.
Example Roster
Here is a list I'm excited to try after WTC 26 (but new releases could keep me away from it in the end...)
Characters (10)
* Kang the Conqueror (6)
Killmonger (4)
Sabretooth (4)
Iron Monger (3)
Dracula (5)
* Sin (3)
Crossbones, Merciless Merc (3)
Mister Sinister (4)
Omega Red (4)
Mysterio (3)
Team Tactics (10)
Carbonadium Synthesizer
Dark Reign
Dig In
Indomitable (R)
Sacrifice (R)
The Grand Illusion
To Ash and Cinder
Usurp the Throne
Warpath
Weapon X Program
Secure Crisis
Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)
Wedding Party Targeted in Terrible Attack! (R, 20)
Survivors Search for Safe Shelters (Z, 20)
Assault Ships Make Sweeping Search! (W, 16)
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (I, 17)
Extract Crisis
Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)
Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)
Scientific Samples Found in Discovered Universe (D, 17)
Sentinel Schematics Sabotaged! (AC, 17)
Evidence of Experimental Soldiers Exposed! (AB, 19)
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