Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man, needs little introduction. Since his debut over sixty years ago, he has remained consistently one of the most popular superheroes to grace our comic books, screens, and tabletops. Part of the allure of Peter Parker is that his life progresses. While most superheroes seem to be stuck in a semi-permanent state of being in a perfectly physically fit 25-30 years old for all eternity, Peter faced the reality of growing up. He gets sick with alarming frequency, webswings while injured, and constantly faces his failures and falling short of being the perfect nephew, friend, boyfriend, husband, student, and photographer. Amazing Spider-Man is even the first (to my knowledge) Marvel comic to run without the approval of the Comic Code Authority when Stan Lee opted to explore Harry Osborn’s addiction in Amazing Spider-Man issues 96-98. While the story is simplistic and cringeworthy by modern day standards, it resonated well with audiences at the time, leading the CCA to relax its strict standards.
Depending on the era, book, and author, Peter brings various levels of Spider-Strength, Spider-Sense, Spider-Stickiness, remarkable agility and endurance, a level of healing that surpasses most humans, and an intellect to rival some of Earth 616’s most brilliant minds. He also brings a brazenness and good intention that puts many other heroes to shame -- and then there's all the jokes.
Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, makes her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man in 1979 before she dies by falling into a river. Peter web swings away without ever looking for a body. Less than a year later she (surprise!) isn’t dead and makes her way back to Amazing and Spectacular Spider-Man while also bouncing around to other comic books.
Felicia and Peter engage in a will-they-won’t-they style romance throughout her appearances in Spider-Man comics, usually culminating in ‘they won’t.’
Felicia has a variety of super-powers depending on when she shows up in the comics, including occasional brushes with super strength. Usually her power set is some sort of athletic and combat training along with the ability to impart bad luck on anyone around her.
Black Cat
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Black Cat is a three threat character with a low end stat line of threes for all of her defenses and only five stamina on either side of her card. With a long move on a small base, she is quick and mobile. It is worth highlighting that unlike other Web-Warriors, Black Cat does not have Wall Crawler.
Black Cat can bring her Cat Claws to bear. A mighty…hmmm… well, four dice. They do have Pierce on a Wild result and impart Bleed if the attack deals damage. This attack is also a builder, gaining power equal to the damage dealt.
Just to round out that Black Cat is not here to do damage, her second attack, Troublemaker, can only deal one damage, even if the dice would result in more. But, it does automatically force the stagger
special condition regardless of the results of the attack. There is also the chance that she gets a short advance with a wild
trigger for Elusive
. All for the cost of two power, this isn’t bad.
Much like other Web-Warrios, Black Cat can use Grappling Hook to place herself for two power. For Black Cat, however, her placement is limited to range two.
Master Cat Burglar represents one of Hardy’s specialties. For one action and three power, Black Cat can steal an Asset or Civilian (extract objective) from an enemy at range one.
Like her namesake, Black Cat brings Bad Luck to her enemies. In this case, she prevents anyone attacking her from rolling additional dice for critical hits or from modifying their dice. Lastly, Black Cat has Stealth.
All of this makes a three threat character who, despite a basic statline, is fairly good at surviving. Bad Luck, Stealth
, and regular applications of stagger
all mean that an opponent will just have fewer opportunities to get a good dice roll against her. With that said, five stamina can disappear very quickly.
The most common play patterns I see with her are to either harass until she can steal an objective, then run away, or stagger the most effective model on the opposing team.
While her steal has been reined in from the early days of actionless steals, Master Cat Burglar
can be a game changing moment. Late in a game, it could be the point that clutches victory from defeat. Early game, it can be points swing that gets scoring momentum going.
Amazing Spider-Man
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Peter Parker is the Amazing Spider-man. His defenses are lackluster for a five threat model, at four physical, four energy, and three mystic. Six stamina on both sides of his card is the lowest health pool of a five threat model, although he shares that distinction with Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Scarlet Witch, and the Shadow King. Notable in his base stat line is his long move on a 50mm base. He is one of three models so far in the game who can grab a centerline extract after a single move and then move back to safety.
Amazing Peter’s first attack, Spider Strike, brings a measly five dice to bear out to range 3. Once per turn, however, after Peter has used his Web Swing superpower, his strike is elevated to seven dice. He gains power equal to the damage dealt. This attack also brings a trigger, on a combined critical
and wild
result, Amazing Spider-Man must place next to an enemy character within range two of the original target and then the new character suffers a collision as if Spider-Man had landed on them. While this trigger lands approximately 40% of the time, my experience with it on the table is that it only triggers when there are no enemy models within range two of the target.
Peter’s second attack, Whatever a Spider Can, is his spender with a cost of four power. It is only range two, but is a full eight dice. While that was a big deal when the model was originally released, it is on par with most other five threat models. This spender guarantees a medium advance. Also, on a wild
result, Peter can chuck a size two piece of terrain at the target, but the nuanced rule allows that piece of terrain to hit the target even if there are intervening models or terrain.
Amazing Spider-man is the leader of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Team, which allows any allied character to spend a power and choose an enemy model with range two, once per turn. That model gains the slow
special condition, or, if it already has said condition, the model removes slow and is placed within range one at the active player’s discretion. We‘ll dive into this leadership below.
Just like any good Web Warrior, Amazing Spider-Man brings a Web Swing
. For two power, he can place within range three and add two dice to his next Spider Strike
. This should be a priority if putting Amazing Spider-Man on the table is of interest.
Arguably the most comic accurate superpower for Peter Parker, is Witty Banter. Essentially, for one power, Peter is so annoying that he can force an enemy model within range three to reroll an attack die. The ideal target for this reroll is any die that achieves a trigger. Denying pierce, a throw, or a special condition can be a significant setback for an opponent. Plus, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as realizing that Peter has just said something obnoxious enough to make a baddy stop what they’re doing to cringe.
While every Peter Parker so far and many other Web Warriors bring some kind of Spider Sense, Amazing Spider-man has a Mastered Spider Sense. Amazing Spider-Man may reroll any number of his defense or dodge dice. Plus, like all good MCP geniuses, he gets a power any time he rolls dice and there is at least one critical
result. This, along with Witty Banter makes Peter, even with his lackluster statline, into one of the most obnoxious five threat models to remove from the table.
Finally, the Amazing Spider-Man is a Wall Crawler, meaning that he can almost always take advantage of his exceptional movement.
Overall, Peter punches down. He punches down extremely well. But, he can feel pretty pillow-fisted if he does not have enough power. This presents an early dilemma; the ideal play pattern for Peter is: Web Swing
, make a seven dice Spider Strike
(hopefully with a trigger), then with the power gained from the attack and a critical
result, use Whatever a Spider Can
before retreating to an advantageous position. This requires six power to make it happen, which is not impossible, but it is also often hard to make happen. When Amazing Spider-Man has the power to do this, he hits pretty hard. A seven die attack, plus an eight die attack, along with two collisions (albeit only size two) is a respectable amount of damage to sling at an opponent for a five threat model.
Now, the dilemma mentioned above is that for Peter to be able to execute this play pattern, he needs two power at the start of round two. In order for him to have this (excluding support pieces like Wong or the extra power from Infinity Formula) he needs to have not spent a power to pick up an objective with his safe grab, or he needs to be left in the line of fire so that he can roll some defense dice and maybe take some damage. So, unlike Namor, who can make a safe Objective grab and then charge in round two, Peter requires some forward planning.
Wong is an easy solution to this problem. As an affiliated Defender, he is also easy to add to a Defenders roster to keep Peter powered up. It is also possible to bait an opponent into attacking Peter in round one by leaving him vulnerable to a convenient model. There are very few models who will be able to do substantial damage to Peter with a single attack. Even Apocalypse rocking some rerolls is unlikely to manage more than two or three damage, assuming Peter has cover. Of course, most canny opponents will realize that the goal is to net Peter some power, so this is an unreliable plan.
Peter’s other issue is that despite his strength and his webs, he does not actually have the ability (without his leadership) to displace an enemy model. Considering how many times the Amazing Spider-Man has webbed and tossed his enemies around, this is a little surprising, but he is a relatively old model at this point.
Usually, Peter’s best place is in the thick of things, where he can annoy his opponents as they attack his allies, and where he can punch down at two and three threat models. If he can trim the opponent’s glass cannons and objective grabbers, then he can be a potent force on the table. It usually ends up being a mistake trying to tackle higher threat models with him, because he doesn’t bring any conditions or pushes/throws to manage those models if he doesn’t roll well enough to daze his intended target.
Team Tactics Cards
Because Amazing Spider-Man’s defenses are so consistent, using something like Patch Up or other sources of healing are particularly effective for him. It can be demoralizing for an opponent who finally got four or five stamina off of Peter to watch him be brought back up to full health, especially when he is then sporting the extra power needed to unlock his attacks.
Obviously, a card like Sacrifice which overrides the rerolls in Mastered Spider Sense
can be a mistake. Especially because Peter already offers some extra defense to his allies with Witty Banter
. Still, throwing someone else in the way of an attack that would daze him can be big.
Web Warriors
also have a great suite of cards that Peter or just about any character can do well with.
The Cat and the Spider
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
While the ability to hurl Black Cat up the table for a safe grab is a staple with Spectacular Spider-Man, Amazing brings his own safe grab that isn’t interrupted by a piece of terrain. So this card isn’t really necessary for the five threat version of Peter.
Still, this is a versatile card. If an opposing model is on one health remaining, there is a good chance that throwing Black Cat at it will result in a daze, and then she gets to pick up the objective as well. It also gives you the option to have Black Cat make the first safe grab so that Peter is available to threaten the midline or get powered up by Wong to grab a second objective in something like Inhumans Deploy Advanced Weaponry
.
This card can even allow for some extra movement for Black Cat after she makes a steal. Peter can toss her away from enemy models.
Clean Up
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
When Peter Parker and Agent Venom are on the table together, they can spend one power each and play this card. For the round, Agent Venom gains the basic Spider Sense
, he can reroll two dice when defending against physical
or energy
attacks.
Peter gains Agent Venom’s Symbiotic Instincts
, anyone Peter is attacking will not be able to modify their defense dice. While this will not help in many situations, against Web Warriors
or a team that is likely to bring defensive rerolls (Asgard
, Shuri, and Inhumans
also come to mind) Peter is able to be a little more consistent with his attacks. This could help an All Webbed Up
turn go even a little farther.
Go Get ‘em Tiger
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
While it is not always the most effective card, I find that I never bring Amazing Spider-Man to the table without this one. It represents a moment in the comics when Peter and Mary Jane are together, Mary Jane knows that Peter is Spider-Man, and the two are in a good place in their relationship. While that does represent a fairly significant portion of Spider-Man’s career, with all of the resets, reboots, Brand New Days, and falling outs, it actually doesn’t happen as often as our collective memory often makes it seem.
Mechanically, this card triggers after Peter dazes an enemy model, but not a grunt, and spends two power. If Peter is holding an extract objective (which often is, ideally) he can regain three stamina and remove a special condition. If Peter is not contesting a secure objective, he can make a short advance.
While Peter is not the most effective five threat attacker, he is pretty consistent when hunting down lower threat models. It’s not uncommon for him to daze two or three models across the course of a game. Now, what’s better than Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man? That annoyed sigh an opponent makes when the Amazing Spider-Man is suddenly back to full health and drops his incinerate
special condition.
Spider-Men
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
A relatively new addition to the game, this is a team-up card for any combination of Peter Parker and Miles Morales. It is a slight variation on Drop Off
and Special Delivery
. Peter or Miles, for two power each (a total of four, which is a pretty steep cost) the active character chucks the other character who starts within range three out to a different position within range two. This is potentially a big amount of movement. Then, the placed character gets to make a zero cost attack.
An extra attack that doesn’t cost an action is always a good thing. In the suite of team and character team tactics cards available to Web Warriors, it’s hard to measure if an extra four or five die attack is really worth it.
However, the place alone is maybe good enough. Getting a wounded Miles, after he stole an objective during a previous activation, away from the opposing team could win a game. Tossing one of these characters during an All Webbed Up
turn to throw seven dice can daze a model that otherwise could have survived. The potential impact for this card, if the right pieces and power are in place can be absolutely massive.
Protege
It’s probably not even worth mentioning, but this is one of the new cards. If Black Cat and Silk are on the same team, Silk can use this card and spend three power and one action to use Black Cat’s Master Cat Burgler
. It adds some flexibility to the objective game.
Affiliation
Black Cat is affiliated with A-Force
, Criminal Syndicate
, Midnight Sons
, and Web Warriors
. She is a great selection for any of those. She is also splashed all over. She is a fast, three threat objective runner who can hand out the stagger
special condition. She is a solid addition to any roster that wants to win the game by picking up extracts and contesting secure objectives.
The Amazing Spider-Man is affiliated with Defenders
and Web Warriors
. But, just to get it out of the way: he does well in any affiliation that can give him power: X-Men
led by Professor X, Inhumans
with Black Bolt or Medusa in charge, Steve Rodgers or Sam Wilson Avengers
. Anything that can unlock Peter’s Web Swing
every turn or gives him more opportunities to use Witty Banter
to turn off an opponent’s triggers increases his efficacy tremendously.
Defenders
In the Defenders
Spider-Man can do well with Dr. Strange and his Judgement of the Vishanti
. Adding hex ad nauseum means that allies survive longer and do more damage. If the entire opposing team can’t add dice for crits
, their defense dice don’t do as well either. Peter’s Witty Banter
is even more obnoxious because there are fewer opportunities to roll for successful triggers. The only real synergy is with Dr. Strange himself. As a support model, Strange can give Peter extra defense dice. While paying power for those dice isn’t usually a great exchange, in the case of Spider-Man with his Mastered Spider Sense
, the extra dice can go a long way. Plus, healing Peter keeps him around to continually annoy an opponent.
Amazing Spider-Man also fits well into Marvel Knights
with Daredevil in the lead. When using his spender, Peter has to be within range two of his target, which pairs well with Daredevil’s leadership which allows an attacker to reroll dice equal to the number of enemy models at range two, once per turn. This can make a seven die Spider Strike
more likely to net power, meaning that Peter is more likely to be able to maintain the dream play pattern of Web Swing
, to Spider Strike
, followed by Everything a Spider Can
, ending with the bonus medium move attached to the second attack.
Web Warriors face an unseen foe. Credit: head58
Web Warriors
Obviously, the Amazing Spider-Man is affiliated, and a potential leader, in Web Warriors
. With a couple of new options introduced recently, there is some possibility that ASM will make his way to more tables in the near future.
The original Web Warriors
leader, Miles Morales, comes with the burden of Great Responsibility, which allows
all allies to reroll one die on defense and to unlock all failure
(skull) results for modification on any rolls if the character is holding or contesting an objective token. It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: This leadership is phenomenal and it matches particularly well with Peter’s Mastered Spider Sense
. He is truly annoying to remove from the table when a roll of a couple of failure
results doesn’t even lock his defense dice. The big struggle for Amazing Spider-Man is that current wisdom says that a bunch of three threat models, including Spectacular Spider-Man as the Peter Parker of choice, works better with Miles’ leadership.
Amazing Spider-Man can also take the helm of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Team
. While this leadership has been around for a long while, it is almost always overshadowed by Miles. According to Longshanks (it is a catalogue for events and statistics if you’re unfamiliar with it) players choose Peter Parker as the leader of Web Warriors fewer than one in ten games. His win rate is significantly lower than Miles as well. Although, looking back before the current Crisis setup, Peter Parker has a win rate of around 50% instead of 45%.
The leadership allows any friendly model to, once per turn, spend one power and target an enemy model within range two. That model gains the slow
special condition. If it already has the slow
condition, then the model is placed by the active player range one and then slow
is removed.
Previously, this was a tough pill to swallow. There were no ways for affiliated Web Warriors
to apply slow
outside of this leadership and the team tactics card, All Webbed Up
. With the most recent wave of releases, however, there are four new affiliated characters who can apply the slow
condition on wild
trigger or with damage dealt on an attack: Ultimate Spider-Man, Silk, Spider-Man Noir, and Spider-Ham. The synergy between applying slow
in large quantities and All Webbed Up
are exciting. Will they dethrone Miles Morales? Almost certainly not. But, the idea of having another way to play Web Warriors
is exciting, nonetheless.
Any of the slow
capable characters will be able to utilize the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Team
leadership to displace a model, moving something off of an objective or out of range for a super power. The leadership also pairs very well with All Webbed Up
, giving players a guaranteed application of slow
, even to models outside of range of the initial playing of the card. This makes the All Webbed Up
turn potentially even more devastating. It also means that in the specific situation that Doctor Octopus’ leadership allows his allies to shed the slow
condition, the active model can apply it again to get the bonus dice on the second attack as well.
Web of the Spider-Verse
The brand new team tactics card leadership is straight out of the Spider-Verse universe from the animated movies, and also the comics. If you are unfamiliar, it is worth dropping what you’re doing right now to go and watch them.
Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed one of my favorite entries in comic book movies.
Unlike some other leadership cards, this superpower is not attached to one particular model, it is just a power that Web Warriors characters gain. Any time a Web Warriors character attacks, defends, or dodges, if there is a failure
result, the character may place within range one. This seems to represent the moment that characters ‘glitch’ while they are in the wrong universe. It’s a good but inconsistent leadership ability. Popping outside of range of a second attack is a phenomenal ability, but because it only triggers on a failure
it is not something to count on when it is needed most.
While Amazing Spider-Man can do well with a little extra movement, he doesn’t synergize with the leadership in any particular way.
Crisis Cards
Black Cat is a phenomenal objective runner. She is not particularly adapted to pay to flip objectives, however. Any extract objective that she can steal is a great objective for her. The fact that she is a long mover, means that she can double move from one secure objective to most others. This means she is a great model to activate late in the round to contest an objective that an opponent was hoping to be safe.
I think that Amazing Spider-Man’s best extract crises are those where he can move around and harass models holding objectives and collect them off of their dazed…but otherwise healthy and alive persons. There are only three crises that allow a model to hold more than one objective: Struggle for the Cube Continues
, Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities
, and Deadly Legacy Virus Cured?
All of these have one or more center line objectives that Peter can take advantage of his safe grab on. Felicia can do well on these also, because she can steal an objective even if she is already holding one.
Peter is also a strong contender for pay to flip objectives, because he can gain power when he rolls a critical
result on a pay to flip roll. He is also a long mover on a medium base, which means he can hit two, or sometimes three pay to flips in one activation at the end of a round. Deadly Meteors
, Guardians Save Shi’ar Empress in Style
, and M’Kraan Crystal Gets Heroes Home
are all strong contenders for Amazing Spider-Man. They are relatively close together, and Peter tends to shine when he can keep his enemies within range three to disrupt their attacks. All of these crises tend to be good options for a close in fight with Daredevil’s Marvel Knights
, which is convenient, because Peter is affiliated.
Final Thoughts
Black Cat is consistently one of the top five most used characters according to Longshanks. She brings a mean objective game and enough survivability to justify her three threat cost.
Even though the Amazing Spider-Man is not a top tier tournament pick for most players, he is my favorite model to play in MCP. His super powers, like most characters in this game, represent a triumph of translating the things we all recognize from the pages of our favorite comic books into a table top experience.
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