War of Kings Crisis and new rotation

 

So we've got all the crisis cards from War of Kings spoiled and AMG being the heroes that they are just went on an posted the rotation of legal crisis cards for standard play from March 28th as a transmission within 24 hours. And of course it took drakhaine basically no time to have the new cards in Jarvis Protocol, too. 

I'll go through all the new crisis, with a mark when they aren't challenger legal and at the end will look at the full rotation and what it means. 

Let's start (you can always click on the photo to enlarge them): 

Samples as it will most likely be commonly called is an extract I like a lot. It makes every character into a mini Beast/ Shuri gaining a power once per turn for a rolled skull in any dice roll. But the big thing here is that it rewards players for not having their extract carriers running from a fight. 

A. I like this crisis a lot for all my three main teams these days: Guardians of the Galaxy and Inhumnas because it helps them chase the extract carriers of the opponent and also Midnight Sons who can use their mobility to score the extra point. 

A new F shape extract and a very punishing one at that. Which is a great combination in my mind as it give scenario teams a lot of VP on the table but helps attrition teams to catch up with them. 

B. I think this is a crisis which isn't great for anyone. Inhumans probably like it the most still as most of them are Poison immune and they have some ways of mitigating the Slow. 

Wedding Guests is another great one. Here extract carriers that try to hide will be pushed towards any secure. It doesn't have to be the closest one either. 

The classic B map is also universally well liked and this is the first time we've seen an extract with this layout, which is similar to B but closer in the middle from each side (range 5 from the edge instead of range 4). 

A. 

Inhuman Weapons brings a very new and unique map that I like a lot. While every extract here is on the midline having two on each side very close together means there bound to be a brawl sooner rather than later. And the extract itself can help with that brawl. Importantly just like with Montessi Formula you can't explode crits when using the Beam here (as that is adding additional dice). 

B+. I can absolutely see why some teams might not like this crisis and the Beam will rarely matter until it really does just like with Montessi. But the shape is so unique that it gets extra points for that. Definitely one of the extract that fighty teams want to look at. But unlike the others here it doesn't help with catching extract carriers. 

Keycards is the least interesting crisis of the bunch and AMG actually deemed it too boring to qualify for standard timeline. It's basically Skulls without the push and doing absolutely nothing on a majority of the secures. 

I honestly wouldn't have minded it getting in but with Skrulls staying (spoiler) it's understandable it's not. 

B-. 

D2D has a cool new shape and a very interesting interact option. I feel like this might be a new staple for type 3 and 4 teams. I certainly like it a lot for my Guardians for example. 

I can see how it can be quite punishing for type 1 teams though. 

B+. 

I believe this crisis will be called Guardians by most but for the sake of having clear names (looking at you Weapon X and Timeline) for things I lobby for Shi'ar Empress. It's the replacement for SWORD Base and much better overall. Sad that it reintroduces the feels bad of missing an uncontested flip though. 

B-. 

Strike Team is another Pay to Flip and one on a D shape too. It gives a nice incentive to stay close to a flipped Generator though which is nice. 

This is the secure that didn't make it into Standard timeline. Which I think is fine. I have no strong feelings one way or the other on this. 

B. 

(M'Kraan) Crystals takes over SWORD bases interact where you check for enemy characters (no matter if they are injured or healthy) and have a 50/50 chance of getting it then or automatically getting it when it's uncontested. 

It also rewards extract carriers for staying in the fight. 

B+. 

Wedding Party is probably my favourite of the new secures. Which shouldn't be a suprise considering I also love Major Fisk which this is very similar as but far less punishing. 

It is good for fighty teams as it's two separate brawls most likely but it's also decent for type 1 and 2 teams because being displaced off of the secures is very costly here and the fight isn't as concentrated in the middle like it is with Fisk. 

A-. 

Now I've eluded to it a bit above but here is the full list of legal crisis cards in Standard rotation after the release of the pack: 

Alien Ship is maybe a bit of suprise here though not really. It's a C shape extract which might now give you the incentive to pick extracts with priority especially as rather surprisingly Legacy Virus also stays in. 

The biggest suprise on this part of the list is definitely Mayor Fisk as Wedding Party appeared to be a clear successor of it. 

Intrusions staying in will probably annoy some people but it's really not the worst I think. 

Riots survives purely for being a core set crisis card. It fits right in with the explanation for why the other crisis cards where taken out: they supported on style of play over the other over proportional. 

Not making the cut are Gamma Wave, Demons, Researcher because they favour fighting too much, while SWORD, Spider Portals, Paranoia and the new Strike Team don't make the list because they favour running around and not fighting too much. 

Overall a lot more crisis cards are staying in for now than initially expected. Which is probably a good thing as it creates more diversity in roster selections. And they can always take out problematic crisis with this system now very quickly. 

Cheers from Germany 🍻

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