Finding the right 6 threat brawler for my Guardians

 

I'm currently pretty happy with my main competitive Guardians of the Galaxy list, but the last spot is in a bit of a flux. I'm very certain that I want a 6 threat, close combat Brawler in that spot to help me out on the central fighty Secures like Wedding Party, Intrusions and Mayor Fisk, but who should it be?

The list looks like this at the moment: 

Characters (10)

Agent Venom (4)

Beta Ray Bill (4)

Groot (3)

Nova (5)

Rocket Raccoon (2)

* Star-Lord (3)

Yondu (4)

Spectacular Spider-Man (3)

Pyro (3)

???? (6)

Team Tactics (10)

Foreign Assignment

Galaxy‘s Greatest

Lovable Misfits

Call for Backup

Deadly Duo

Plundered Goods

Brace for Impact (R)

Fall Back (R)

Pyrotechnics

Recalibration Matrix

Secure Crisis

Infinity Formula Goes Missing! (B, 17)

Guardians Save Shi‘ar Empress in Style (M, 17)

Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 (D, 17)

(Also not very sure about Riots to be honest, but it's currently in. Not a lot of Web Warriors in my meta so it ain't that bad)

Extract Crisis

Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)

Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? (C, 19)

Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry (O, 18)

Let's see what the options are and what their individual pros and cons are: 

Generally not considered a splashable model at all Apocalypse still does intrigue me here. He sorely lacks action economy without the Famine hop and his offensive output isn't as reliable without the access to Death or War either. But he's still fast, very durable and has fantastic attacks. Celestial Technology will maybe not help as much on the maps where I'd bring him but You Will Be Remade Through Me could combo nicely with Star-Lord handing out a bunch of conditions through the spender. 

Pros: 

- fantastic builder and good range 

- extremely tough 

Cons: 

- no action economy, no terrain throw 

Was he ever in space? 

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he'd be able to get there without trouble

CGR is the affiliated option here. His gainer has a very long reach and he adds reliable displacement. He also either isn't super scary in terms of output (not bad either of course) or he is but then can't contest or hold objective tokens which is exactly what I need the character in this slot to be doing. 

Pros: 

- benefits from the Guardians TTC 

- very far reach with range 4 plus his teleport 

Cons: 

- can't really play the role I'd need him to play

Was he ever in space? 

Yes, he's a purely space based character (and was an unwilling member of the Guardians for all of 5 panels) 

Gladiator is the ultimate slot machine and win more character. If he gets rolling he can dominate a game on his own. If he whiffs early he will have trouble making good on his investment. 

Pros:

- very well equipped to the role

Cons: 

- can be controlled by chip damage and big attacks

- slot machine 

Was he ever in space? 

Yes, he's a purely space based character. He's also been a Guardian for 5 panels but he didn't get the affiliation tag. But he's also been a part of the coolest team to ever show up on a panel: 

(The Annihilators) 

So far I've played three games with Kallark in my Guardians and won all three of them so it's him that  the other options have to beat. 

Hulk is the easy and obvious answer. Threat for threat he is still the best model in the game. He might not have the very highest damage output on this list (it's still very high though) but also brings a tonne of displacement. Immunity to Stun also helps on Mayor Fisk. Hulk is who I would default to but I like to explore other options before I stick him in a list. 

Pros: 

- perfect for the role 

Cons: 

- no daze protection means he can be gone quicker than you'd expect 

Was he ever in space? 

Yes, involuntary when he was shot into space by the Illuminati, ultimately leading to the World War Hulk event. Maybe more often than that, I'm not sure. 

Hulkbuster is much better than people give him credit for but it's always tough seeing him right next to Hulk. He is a mobile displacement machine, which isn't really what I'm losing for in the spot. 

Pros:

- brings automatic displacement and great TTCs 

Cons: 

- absolutely isn't a close combat Brawler 

Was he ever in space? 

Yes plenty of times. In fact Tony Stark has been with the Guardians of the Galaxy for a long time in the Bendis run. 

King Black Bolt is the Inhuman Kaiju that doesn't really see play in his own faction because his 5 threat version is so strong. Is he worth it to be splashed? KBB brings strong attacks with great superpowers while being decently tough (4/4/4 defenses plus the Inhuman reroll plus damage reduction with 15 total health). He's definitely a strong model but he kind of doubles down on what my Guardians already are doing great, which is long range Energy attacks. 

Pros: 

- pretty tough

- good superpowers 

- long range Energy attacks 

Cons: 

- does more of what I can already do great

Was he ever in space? 

Yes, the entire Inhuman population is more space than Earth based. 

Magneto is a character that appears to be restricted to his own leadership mostly because he really needs the power it creates and Astroid M helps him to get anywhere on the board. The second part isn't as important here as I would only play him on the center line secures anyway but power would definitely be an issue. He wouldn't make the most out of a Winging It token either as in the best case he'd be in range 2 for most of his attacks anyway. Maybe one of the least competitive options on the list but I'm kind of interested in doing it anyway (yeah I'm a snowflake ❄️ 😁). 

Pros: 

- Really impressive Builder

- great terrain throw 

Cons: 

- leadership isn't as helpful for him as it is for other Kaijus

- is extremely slow 

- lacks a reliable way to gain power in the list

Was he ever in space? 

Yeah at least in Earth Orbit where he built Astroid M as an off world Mutant haven. And during the Krakoa era a lot too, I think. 

Phoenix is a tough sell sadly (because she looks awesome) because the opponent will be able to make her flip through dazing my other models quickly. 

Pros:

- Incinerate helps the teams overall damage output 

Cons: 

- can be taken off the board without ever being attacked herself 

Was she ever in space? 

Yes, the Phoenix Force is a Cosmic Entity. She also kind of destroyed an entire Star System that one time... 

She-Hulk has the higher damage potential but lower defenses and worse mobility than regular Hulk. It's hard to justify her over her cousin when not playing her (fantastic) leadership or having her affiliated where Hulk is not (in SHIELD). If both are a splash it's sadly hard to go with Jen. Being a bodyguard can be helpful though. 

Pros: 

- very strong attacks

- size 4 character throw

- bodyguard 

Cons: 

- no daze protection 

- no defensive tech 

Was she ever in space? 

Not that I know of, but the Avengers are there pretty often so probably. 

Two Gem Thanos was a staple when he has broken and Guardians were boring. Here we specifically talk about a 6 threat gemless version you'd probably never run. But with his changes it isn't as brain dead anymore to think about it. Both his attacks triggers have size less displacement, Cosmic Portal helps positioning and Death's Decree in combination with Galaxy's Greatest sounds like fun for a casual 5 additional dice on an attack. Without Gems he might just lack the power to do anything though. Maybe still worth a try. 

Pros: 

- Very hard to actually put down with costless damage reduction to 0. 

- displacement triggers on both attacks

- Death's Decree fits with the game plan 

Cons: 

Was he ever in space? 

Yes he's a space based character. He's worked with the original Guardians to stop the Cancerverse in fact. Read through Annihilation, Annihilation Conquest and the original Guardians of the Galaxy run and then the Al Ewing Run and Annihilation Scourge. It's the best Marvel has to offer in my opinion (and not just because Nova is so awesome during that whole time). 

The meta breaker of last year is mostly gone from the game after his nerf, which is in part because after it more people realized that Thor, Prince of Asgard ist actually amazing. Thor 2 here has lost reach which was the most dramatic of his changes in my opinion but he still has an enormous damage ceiling, good mobility and a tonne of HP to help with his little defensive tech. 

Pros: 

- probably still the highest damage ceiling of any model in the game (just much harder to reach that ceiling now with a minimum of 7 power spent on superpowers and thus needing to rely on the builder to build some power for a Spender)

Cons: 

- basically no defensive tech 

Was he ever in space? 

yes, plenty of times

So where does that leave us? 

I've sorted the list of candidates from most to least likely: 

Characters (11)

Gladiator (6)

Thor, Hero of Midgard (6)

Hulk (6)

Magneto (6)

Thanos, The Mad Titan (6)

Apocalypse (6)

King Black Bolt (6)

Cosmic Ghost Rider (6)

Hulkbuster (6)

She-Hulk (6)

Phoenix (6)

Gladiator is the tried and tested safe bet for me here. I'm interested in trying out Thor 2 in the spot and Hulk I know is good in the spot. 

Magneto, Gemless Thanos and Apocalypse are all intriguing to me even though top tier competitive players probably just got a heart attack reading this. 

King BB, (affiliated) CGR and Hulkbuster are good models but they can't play the role I need them to. 

Sadly neither of the Kaiju ladies appears worth the investment in this particular roster. 

Who'd be your choice here? And yes I have considered a second 5 threat rather than a 6. Durability is a major factor for me on the shapes where I need the model and that's what made that decision. 

Tell me for example on my new Discord Server and if you want to get access to some special channels you could consider supporting me at patreon.com/sgprotocol 

Cheers from Germany 🍻