After all the cards of the MCP17 character pack had been leaked last weekend AMG made it official with the Panel to Play for the included characters. They added an important and interesting piece of information in giving us the Affiliation lists for the two new Affiliations Thunderbolts and Intelligencia that will be introduced with the pack.
The injured side was not included in the P2P but from the leaks we know that nothing changes mechanically on the backside but a nice touch is that the art shows her in the superhero outfit on the back rather than her lawyers clothes.
Sensational She-Hulk comes in at two threat levels lower than her A-Force leader version in 4 which definitely was a surprise. Defenses of 4/4/3 and 7/7 Stamina are pretty baseline 4 threat stats these days but medium move, medium base and size 3 means she is faster than average.
Her Gainer is 6 dice with a wild Stun which is a very good base attack. Of course with the high strength of the attack it being a Builder would be more beneficial but that is the balancing factor here.
The Spender, Emerald Objection! Is absolutely fantastic and you will try to use it as often as possible (which will probably mean Jen has to take some damage as she doesn't build the power to do it without outside help very well).
At baseline it is a Size 4 any direction character throw, before damage is dealt and from Range 3. The 8 dice physical and Wild Stagger are added goodness here. You'll use it for control first and damage second.
If you have additional power Approach the Bench is a good terrain throw to up her overall damage output.
Cross Examine helps keep her on her feet as it discourages double tapping Sensational She-Hulk.
Case Prep is Plucky Additute which isn't the best reroll mechanic but it does give you a do over when completely flubbing a roll. From Star-Lord experience you'll probably use it more defensively than offensively.
The additional power in the power phase will also help her have more easy access to her very good kit.
SJens biggest weakness is going to be mobility. She has no action compression at all and also lacks aggressive like her 6 threat version to spare movement actions.
It's going to be very interesting to see with which Affiliations Sensational She-Hulk will end up.
Classic She-Hulk is in: A-Force, Avenger, Mighty Avengers and SHIELD
So maybe that's where Sensational She-Hulk will also end up?
Hot Takes Rating: B+. Her kit is really good and she might end up being a star player. But her lack of action compression might make it hard for her in the likely Affiliations she should be in to be picked over other choices.
Honestly? I don't think you'll ever play another game with either Jennifer Walters without the card. This is what Bear Hug (the Ursa Major card) should always should have been. It straight up takes away an action form an enemy character. Because even if they chose to pay and drop the objective they were advancing/ claiming so it has to stay behind or they have to stay close enough to get it back. In practice it might not be as strong as I read it but from a Hot Takes perspective it is an A+.
Red Hulk, as expected, is an offensive power house. A 6 dice Builder with a Wild Incinerate is a good start. The Spender, Scorched Earth, is a fantastic area attack with the ability to increase the dice when he removes Incinerate from the defender and also pushes every defender trigger less.
Burning Drop is a cool superpower where Ross gets to place in range 2, every other character (so his "friends" too) in range 2 gains Incinerate and Red Hulk suffers a damage. Its not as automatic to always use as Gamma Leap on the Green Hulks is but extremely useful in the right situations.
Everything including the Kitchen Sink might challenge Approach the Bench for the best Terrain Throw name. It is a good but not great Throw as it is "only" Medium instead of Long.
Defensively Red Hulk has 4/4/3 defenses 8/8 Stamina and Energy Absorption which is basically reverse Pierce against Energy attacks.
On his own Red Hulk seems like a strong but not overtuned 5 threat.
Hot Takes Rating: B+.
This is such a cool and flavorful card. Red Hulk is challenging someone to a duel and he has a pretty high chance of winning it, but if he doesn't he's going to be punched right back into the face. And you are very unlikely to use it on someone below 4 threat so while the clap back attack has to be a free one it can definitely hurt him. But of course you'll try to use it to Daze/ KO an important piece with it.
Is it worth 3 power and TTC slot? I'm not totally convinced to be honest. Even an 11 dice Builder (when targeting a 5 threat) can fail horribly and then you have wasted a lot of opportunity cost into something that doesn't do anything.
Hot Takes Rating: B-.
But of course Red Hulk also introduces the Thunderbolts Affiliation into the game:
The leadership Necessary Measures is a mix between Red Skull 1 and She-Hulk. It rewards you with additional power for dealing damage with attacks like Red Skull, while the additional power goes on an another allies character more similar to She-Hulk. Unlike those too this leadership is capped at once per turn though. It's a good leadership even if it is unreliable.
The affiliation list has a bunch of characters that don't really see play often, with my personal pet character Agent Vemom probably being the most played of the affiliated 4 threat options. He's going to be a staple in my Thunderbolts as well but all of Elektra, The Black Widow and Winter Soldiers, Operative have things going for them.
Ghost Rider is a super fun model to play, so cool to see him in and Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Taskmaster are just good reliable 3 threats to form the core. Deadpools buffs make him a really strong contender for a roster spot as well and Punisher may show his worth here when you can constantly funnel him power for his short move.
Overall I like the Affiliation list a lot and am very much looking forward to playing it. But it will take a while because of the WTC training now and also wanting to play X-Factor after their release.
This is just a pure upside card and there's really no real reason to not have it in your 5 in any Thunderbolts game. You have a lot of great offensive threats in Affiliation who gladly spend the 2 power for an additional out of action attack, hopefully finishing off the defender. It's also nice to get it back when a Non-Character of yours is KO'd. That will hopefully only happen once in a game but getting to use the card twice is still better than 98% of the other cards in the game so bo complains there.
Hot Takes Rating: A.
Last but certainly not least we have Samuel Sterns in his far less stupid looking comic book version (and that is saying something) than whatever it is they tried to do with his design in Captain America Brave New World...
Leader surprisingly is only a 3 threat but a very good one at that. His 3/4/4 defenses are above average for 3s and he also reduces collision damage innately by one. That combined with a 6/6 Stamina pool means he isn't taken of the board too easily.
Mental Bolts (he'd be right at home in Convocation where they also almost throw Bolts) is a very good range 4 Mystic Gainer with Wild Sap Power and you definitely hope to sap some as Sterns has very good Superpowers.
Engines of Destruction is a great Spender that includes an automatic Medium move on top of a reasonable amount of dice for the power and also the ability to hand out multiple conditions.
Where Leader really shines is his board control though. You Are Here To Obey let's him advance Allied Models within a huge Range 4 and it isn't even limited to once per turn (just per turn per character)!
And his board control doesn't even stop there. Psychokensis also let's him throw an enemy character of size 3 or less and within 3 Short.
And adding to his defenses he can't be pushed or Advanced by Mystic attacks and enemy superpowers.
Leader is a very good 3 threat.
Hot Takes Rating: A
This card in the age of Pay to Flips and Sources being as popular as they are is simply fantastic. It completely shuts the door on many of the objective runners teams main game plan and importantly dazing The Leader will not even turn the effect off. (KOing does of course as he's taken off the board and can't be measured from anymore). Being unaffiliated means this card should be in heavy consideration wherever you take The Leader.
Hot Takes Rating: A.
But of course the story is not over for Sterns here either as he introduces another new Affiliation in Intelligencia. This is specifically the "317" MCP version of the Affiliation and not the 616 one. And here is the list:
Can't say I'm not a little disappointed honestly. The way Shick talked about it after Adepticon it sounded like there would basically only be the mad scientists themselves in here, of which many are missing. Instead we do get a lot of Goons we also see in Cabal/ Criminal Syndicate which this specifically was not supposed be another leadership for. It's not that it isn't a good affiliation list. It's more that I'm not excited by it. I'd have loved to see a new home for original Doctor Octopus for example. But maybe they felt double Hubris would break the game... (But you can of course just run him under the leadership anyway).
The leadership itself is giving everyone once per turn Scientific Hubris which is good but not great as it's pretty unreliable.
This is the ultimate for the Affiliation. It's obviously way more dicey to do this than same priced All According To Plan from Criminal Syndicate but it's still what you'll work towards and try to win at the back off. I'm not fully convinced it's worth the high cost. You should definitely be tight together for it as you don't want to give your opponent agency about turning off Underworld Ring when they displace your characters.
Hot Takes Rating: B+ to A-. It's Winging It on Steroids for hopefully the entire squad for a Round. Which can win obviously win you the game but can and will let you down when you need it most.
That's it for today.
Cheers from Germany 🍻
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