Marvel Crisis Protocol Learning From Legends: Wakanda With Mike Whalen

Welcome to Goonhammer’s Marvel Crisis Protocol: Learning From Legends article series. In these pieces, we interview top-tier MCP players to find out what they’re playing and how to get the most out of their affiliation of choice. You can read our other articles in the series by clicking the links below:

It’s good to be king, and if you agree, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an affiliation with more royalty than the denizens of Wakanda (put your hand down, Inhumans).

This time, I’ve got Mike Whalen - podcast, streaming, and general community staple. Mike has seen competitive success across several affiliations, but he currently boasts the #2 spot on the global Longshanks leaderboard for Wakanda.

Okoye in Marvel Crisis Protocol

Image Credit: Troy Alanis

Hey Mike, I’m super excited to walk Wakanda, because they’re an affiliation with some powerful tools that I just haven’t played against very many times. To start us off, what does your current Wakanda list look like?

Hulk King T‘Challa Abomination M‘Baku Beta Ray Bill Shang-Chi Shuri Luke Cage Baron Zemo Okoye

Brace for Impact (R) Sacrifice (R) Spirit of Wakanda Wakanda Forever Wisdom of the Ancestors Heroes for Hire I Am A Baron, After All Chi Mastery Recalibration Matrix Survival

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So, the first thing that stands out is that you’ve only got four affiliated models, which is about as low as a list can reasonably go. Wakanda has nine total models, but that’s a bit misleading since three of them are T’Challa and two of them are N’Jadaka. So if you want to avoid squad conflicts, you’re really only pulling from a pool of six. And four out of six seems way less strange than four out of nine. Could you explain a bit about what permutations of your four affiliated models - King T’Challa, M’Baku, Shuri, and Okoye - are hitting the table when?

Most Wakanda players are running an 11-point core of M’Baku (leader), King T, and Okoye. The core often expands to include Luke Cage, which is 14 threat. We tend to expand from there. So, a typical 17 is that 14-point grouping + Zemo. At 18, Zemo changes, etc etc.

Shuri is a slot that I have dedicated to tech for things like Scoundrels or Kingpin. Shuri could also just be a different piece for that, like Spec or Ghost Spider. It’s also entirely possible I’m wrong and the slot is not needed, as you can just kill them pretty fast. Killmonger has also come in and out of the list. He might be great going forward with so many lists that I feel good about using Usurp into. He loves wheenie lists.

Let’s expand on King T a bit. He’s a guy with bonkers damage output and, potentially, incredible power economy. Yet, he’s largely referred to as a glass canon with middling HP and defenses but no defensive tech. What’s the nuance to getting the most out of him? What are you looking to do in round 1 to set him up for success, and what’s his role as the game progresses?

Round 1, I hope my opponent falls for my juicy target I put on the midline to let me Bound [King T’s superpower that lets him place Range 2 and add dice to his next attack] and attack. If they don’t give me Bound, then I’m happy to try to reel someone in to set up for the next round. Luke Cage and Okoye are pretty key to playing King T. You really need to leverage Sacrifice, Brace, bodyguard superpowers, and Heroes for Hire well to ensure you get the King T double tap every round. I’m not sold entirely on Wisdom of the Ancestors. It’s great, but sometimes I feel Survival might be the better card to ensure activations.

Do you ever actually play his leadership, or is this a de facto mono-M’Baku roster?

I have played a handful of the King T lead in tournaments. Sometimes for math reasons, but usually because I may want a more mobile squad on a wide map. It’s essentially blank text as a leadership, and you’re really just trying to leverage model quality and Wakanda Forever as your leadership in those situations.

Of the models with alter-ego conflicts, the Black Panther is probably the one most likely to appear in a roster alongside another. Is he tempting for you at all, or are you really looking to get King T’Challa on the table as much as possible, making another Black Panther a dead roster slot?

King T is the reason I stuck with Wakanda. It’s fun to delete models. [4-threat] Panther is a great model that I love playing in Avengers. There’s probably perfectly cromulent builds of Wakanda that play Panther 1, but for me, this is the King T show.

I think the other omission that people will be most interested in here is the lack of Killmonger. I don’t have a ton of experience playing against Wakanda myself, but when I have, Killmonger has almost always been there. Usurp the Throne, paired with Wakanda Forever, can be just backbreaking. Could you speak a little to why he doesn’t make the cut here?

Killmonger is in and out of my list regularly. The Shang slot has been Killmonger in the past, and so has the Shuri slot. Shang having displacement, Stagger, and being generally good into Apocalypse is why I play him. Shang also excels at some of the other Killmonger roles, like killing Web Warriors, making Killmonger less necessary. I’ve been on a Wakanda break lately but may pick them back up soon as Everwinter approaches. Killmonger would 100% be in my testing roster again at that point. I am definitely interested in how Killmonger might impact the new Spider-Verse matchup. I think you want pierce models into them, and you need chase ability. Killmonger has both of those and allows you to Wakanda Forever. I will 100% be testing Killmonger next time I consider taking them to an event.

While we’re talking about affiliated elements, let’s touch on some of your TTCs before circling back to your splashes. Spirit of Wakanda used to be quite a problem with Advanced R&D around. It doesn’t go off turn one like it used to, so when are you generally looking to pop it? Is there a set “play” you’re still looking to do, or is it more of a generic utility piece now that comes out whenever the game state calls for it?

Spirit of Wakanda is a dead card, honestly. I can’t imagine a situation in which I would take it now. It’s so hard to actually play, and my other cards are so key. Brace, Sacrifice, and Wakanda Forever are locks. Then you have character-specific cards, so Spirit just never gets played.

Wakanda Forever is the “iconic” Wakanda card, and for good reason. That said, I think some players can struggle with when to use it - either burning it too soon or holding off too long waiting for the perfect moment in which every affiliated model can make the perfect attack. What are some tips on how to get the most out of this affiliation-defining TTC?

I’d rather blow Wakanda Forever early than hold on to my resources and lose with cards in hand. I personally like getting early advantages. Especially if I can hold prio. If I can daze a key model and then leverage the card for the KO, that’s the main sequence I am looking for. Whether that is Round 2 or Round 5, it doesn’t matter to me. Now that doesn’t mean my mentality is correct, it’s just how I approach the game.

So, splashes. We’ve got six of them here, and none of them seems super shocking. Hulk, Shang-Chi, Beta Ray Bill, and Zemo are just kind of a tier list of the best models at their threat in the game. Is there anything more to it than that? Are there some specific synergies or matchups these guys are here for over their peers, or is it just a matter of “good models do good things”?

It’s really simple. My “core” is 14 threat. We go 3,4,5,6 as we scale up to 20 threat. This list is the anti-Mike Deluca list. By that, I mean there are no surprises or clever round 0 plays. Zemo becomes Bill or Shang at 18. They become Abom at 19 and Hulk at 20. Bill vs Shang depends on whether I want a throw, a grab, or the mystic attack. Zemo could be Sam or any L mover. I always want a cheap L move in my list for Skrulls. I’d also suggest people try Nebula here instead of one of these models. It changes the math, and you probably need Killmonger back in then, but man, she rocks.

Abomination is a super fun model to play, and he’s proven relatively popular in general, but not to the degree of the aforementioned. Can you speak a bit to his inclusion in the list?

The entirety of the Wakanda world plays either Jane or Red Skull 2. I personally want another model that is a tanky boy who can stand on the midline and hold objectives so that King T gets more triggers. He also destroys size 4 terrain, which Red Skull does not. I’m not sure he is optimal here, but I’ve tried the other two and greatly prefer Abom. I think there’s an argument to run both Skull and Abom. Skull has some situations where the grunts really help, like 16 threat.

So, Crises can absolutely make or break a list. Despite having some solid mobility in your roster, you’ve chosen two Secures that really promote bunched-up brawls. Is your plan to just leverage a good bodyguard or two to let your high-output models go to town?

I don’t think many lists want to actually fight you these days. Steve, SLDD, and ??? I think with Wakanda Forever + the bodyguard combo, you can out-dice people in many situations. SLDD having All According To Plan is scary because they can blow up King T, but overall I think you can outfight almost anyone.

Your Extracts seem similarly slow, but they also pull people to the midline and are on the higher end of the threat band (19, 20, and 18). Which of those three elements is the most important for their inclusion?

I really want a higher threat. Zemo becoming Bill/Abom/Hulk is way better for the list. Maybe as new models come out, I may want to explore another 3 in the list somewhere, but for now, I think our 18+ is just better than 17.

Speaking Crises in general, the current set of legal Secures and Extracts has really changed how the game feels. How does Wakanda feel with the set overall? Are there any Crises in particular that you really don’t want to see pulled?

Wakanda plays everything well, honestly. They are the epitome of “Jack of all trades, master of none.” There’s almost no Crisis draw that really upsets me. I really care more about threat in most situations. In fact, for the longest tim,e we really debated as a community what Crisis we wanted in Wakanda because nothing felt particularly stellar outside of Intrusions.

How about opposing Affiliations? It’s a pretty diverse meta right now, but are there any “top-tier” affiliations, however you want to define that, against which Wakanda feels particularly good or bad?

I think Wakanda is perfectly fine into Inhumans. You can absolutely go over the top of them with dice. Sometimes King T and M’baku just win you games through the absurdity of their offense. The slot machine is real.

I don’t enjoy the Apoc matchup because the Roots and Slows really mess with the bodyguard combos, and the slow can mess with King T getting where he needs to be. Apoc having access to double Recal is also a major oversight and hurts what we’re trying to do.

Finally, Steve 1 is a huge pain because sometimes he bodyguards, blocks 6, and heavily slows down your attrition plan.

We don’t currently have any announced upcoming models that seem likely to be in Wakanda, but there are several out there in the Marvel Universe that could diversify the roster a bit. Who’s at the top of your Wakanda wishlist for MCP?

I read the Christopher Priest run a while back, and I think Zuri was cool there? I’d really love a Shuri Black Panther leader, though. If we got another good 3 threat, I would be super happy about that.

Thanks for the breakdown, Mike. Wakanda has been a pretty impressive Affiliation for quite some time now, yet they continue to be fairly underrepresented compared to their effectiveness on the table. Maybe this can inspire people to pick up the King (especially if AMG wants to make King T available outside of the Rivals Panel!).

If you’d like more content from Mike, please check out the following links:

AsteroidMCP for competitive MCP game streams/commentary

Gamestore Guardians MCP Podcast

Click here for Gamestore Guardian’s recent episode on Wakanda with NOVA winner Will Reck

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Tags: Marvel Crisis Protocol | MCP | learning from legends