Marvel Crisis Protocol Tactics: Monsters Unleashed

Greetings, True Believers! It’s officially Spooky Season, and in today’s tactics article, we are going to look at the Monsters Unleased character pack! This pack includes 4 spook-tacular characters: Werewolf By Night, Frankenstein’s Monster, N’Kantu the Living Mummy, and Dracula. Because this is a multi-character pack, let’s tackle each one individually and look at their respective Tactics Cards.

Frankenstein’s Monster

Copyright Atomic Mass Games

Frankenstein’s Monster (alias: Adam), is probably the least competitive model in this entire box. This is in part due to the fact that he is going to be power-starved for most of the game. His only free attack, Frank’s Fists, only gains him 1 power per attack, which means the best way for him to fund the rest of his attacks and superpowers is through taking damage. At a cost of 4 threat, that can be tough to accept and even harder for Frank to find a place given how many outstanding 4-threat models there are currently in the game. The attack itself isn’t bad, per se, with 6 dice and a Hit-Wild trigger for an omnidirectional Size 4 push, it’s just that it’s a Gainer, and all but one piece of Frank’s kit costs 2+ power. His next attack, Thick Skull, is pretty great because it can auto-Stagger whoever you are attacking if you deal damage. It’ll feel real bad when you don’t, though, because it costs Frank one of his precious power. His spender The Monster’s Fury is decent, but at a cost of 4 power is prohibitively costed. With his 4/3/3 defenses and 7/7 health, he may be tanky enough to generate power through taking damage.

He does gain some action compression with his Charge superpower, but it costs 2 power, which means you probably won’t be able to use it until Turn 2 because of his S movement and his free attack being Range 2. He does have a nice Size 4 terrain throw in Frank’s Rampage, but it costs 3 power. He can also remove 2 Damage from himself with Replacement Parts, but it costs 2 power. If it removed 3 Damage for 2 Power, I think it would be way more beneficial because it would help his overall Power Economy. As it is, however, you either have to use two attacks to get that power back, or take the two damage you just healed again. Frank’s only affiliation is Midnight Sons, which already has one of the best 4-threats in the game (Doctor Voodoo) and two of the best 3-threats in the game (Black Cat and N’kantu–more on him later), which leaves Frank out of a lot of rosters. I am not even sure a power-sharing leadership (Black Bolt, Xavier, Magneto) can help Frank overcome his power deficiencies. For 4-threat, he really needs to do more.

His one associated Tactics Card is pretty good, though. At first glance, Hideous Monster may look like another version of Heroes for Hire, which it is not. Thankfully, the allied character that is being targeted pays for the cards (so as not to tax Frank even further), and then Frank get’s to be the target of the attack, generating him some power. Additionally, he gets to clap back at his attacker (if he survives) without having to get through defense dice, and can then push that attacker towards him if he deals damage. This can bring an opponent into Range 2 of his attack, and you may get a surprise Daze/KO out of it with the clap back.

If you really want to play a themey, all-Monsters list, then by all means play Frankenstein’s Monster. If you are looking for something slightly more competitive, let’s look deeper into this character pack.

Werewolf by Night

Copyright Atomic Mass Games

I really wish Jack Russel saw more play on the tabletop, because the model is incredible. To begin with, WWBN is 5-threat, which means he is in the same threat category as The Mighty Thor, Doctor Strange, Red Skull Master of Hydra, Namor, among others. By comparison, Jack does not really do enough to justify his threat investment, but he’s not alone in that among 5-threat models (looking at you Shadow King). I also think that with just a couple of small adjustments, Jack could see a dramatic increase in play. To begin with, he has 4/4/2 defenses and a beefy 7 health to chew through. He is also a M mover on a medium base, so can cover a good bit of ground, too. His free attack, Savage Slash, is respectable at Range 3 with 6 dice. It can also give out Bleed and has a Wild trigger for a mandatory place within Range 1 of the target. This can be a great way to get some additional movement across the board, but the mandatory place can give you pause. Lethal Lycanthrope is a pretty cheap spender, too and has an automatic Size 3 throw and can give out Bleed and Hex on the fairly reliable Hit trigger on 7 dice. The one change I would like to see in WWBN’s attacks is the inclusion of one word on his builder: may. If the place were optional, the character now has the flexibility of either being an offensive heat-seeking missile, or a tank with serious offensive output to hold a point for your team. Right now, he can’t reliably hold Secure objectives and score them for his team. He would also do better with narrower Crises, I believe.

As far as superpowers go, I love the suite that are available to WWBN. He has a Pounce, which lets him both cover ground and also send a significant amount of damage into an opponent because WWBN is Size 3. It’s a little pricey at 3 power, but I don’t think it is unfairly costed for what you get out of it. Additionally, his clapback attack Midnight Massacre can act as a deterrent to opponents attacking you, but I don’t know that I would use it that often because of the mandatory place on his attack. A clever opponent will bait you into using this attack to get you out of position. His innate healing factor superpower adds some additional tankiness to his impressive 7 health on both sides of his card.

His one TTC, Phases of the Moon, is a thematic win. However, I think you will really have a difficult time finding a place in your 10 spots for it. If it wasn’t dependent on the target having conditions to get the benefits of the card, it might have some play, but as it stands, I have never played it nor have I ever seen it played.

Dracula

Copyright Atomic Mass Games

Now we’re getting to the really good stuff in this box. Dracula’s base stats are 4/3/4 defenses with 7 health and he is Size 3. But for 5 threat, what can he do? For starters, his 0 power cost attack, Ancestral Blade, is 7 dice and on Hit trigger, Dracula can apply either Hex, Root, Slow, or Bleed, which are some of the strongest conditions in the game and can really throw off an opponent’s game plan. It also gives Dracula power for the damage dealt by the attack, which, with 7 dice, can mean his kit can get going pretty quickly. Additionally, a fairly typical opening play pattern is to use his Shapeshifting superpower to change form into the Wolf and move L on his medium base to attack somebody with his sword. And once Dracula gets stuck in, he has several tools to do some serious damage. His next attack, Blood Feast, costs one power and heals Dracula for each damage he does with that attack. It also hands out the Bleed special condition, which synergizes directly with his spender attack, Fury of the Vampyr. For 4 power, Dracula throws 8 dice at Range 3 and can re-roll any of those dice if the target has Bleed. Additionally, if the target is Size 4 or less, Dracula can throw them away M. Hypnotic Stare is his final superpower, and it allows him to push characters within Range 3 to be advanced S. This really helps him maximize his attacks by bringing a potential target within range to be attacked. Dracula has one innate superpower, Unholy Vampiric Immortality, allows him to gain one power and heal one damage for every enemy within Range 3 of him with the Bleed special condition. With his healing abilities and offensive output, he wants to find a brawl and stay in it. He’s a great piece to bring along and take pressure off the other models you have brought in your squad.

Dracula has one associated Tactics Card, and it grants him the leadership ability Bloodlust. This gives him (and any other models in his squad) the affiliation of Thralls of Dracula. This leadership is not bad at all, but does require some finesse. For one power, allied characters can apply Bleed to one target within Range 2, and if that character already has the Bleed special condition, they can heal one damage. If you are going to play this leadership, you are going to want to take characters that natively cause Bleed, as their power can be spent on healing and allow their card to hand out the Bleeds. Drax and Blade are two characters in particular that shine under this leadership.

N’Kantu the Living Mummy

Copyright Atomic Mass Games

On the surface, this character doesn’t look nearly as strong as he performs on the table. He is a 3-threat model with a 4/3/4 stat line, which feels slightly above the curve for a low-threat model to begin with, and only has 5 health on both sides of his card. None of that jumps off the card and says “premier model in the game”. His first attack, Swarili Strike, is a 5-dice physical attack that give N’Kantu power for damage dealt and is Range 2. He has two effect triggers on this attack, and both are around 50/50 on whether or not you get it. On a Wild result, the target character gets pushed away S. On a Hit-Wild result, the target gains the Hex special condition, which is a very strong condition to hand out. When I have played N’Kantu, I have rarely used this attack, except for when my opponent brought themselves into Range 2. This is because the combination of his second attack, Sever Soul, and his 0 power cost superpower suite is so incredibly efficient and strong. When any character is Dazed or KO’d, N’Kantu gains a Captured Soul token, up to a maximum of 3. With these tokens, he can spend any number of them to remove 1 Damage or gain 1 Power per token. Additionally, he can use these tokens at the end of the Modify Dice step to count Failure results as Wild results. The real sauce here, though, is this mechanic combined with his second attack, Sever Soul. This is a Range 4, 6-dice Mystic attack that only cost 2 Power. Or one Power and one Sould token. Or two Soul tokens. However you want to pay for it. Additionally, if this attack deals damage, he gains a Soul Token, so it can really fund itself through that system. Lastly, N’Kantu also has damage reduction to a minimum of 1 as an innate superpower and is immune to Bleed, Hex, and Poison. All of this in a 3-threat. He is affiliated in Midnight Sons, where I think he needs to be included in every roster, and possibly as a model you take in every game. However, because of his low-threat investment, he can provide a great ranged threat to affiliations that either don’t have that kind of Range, or need Mystic attacks in their roster. Some places where I think an N’Kantu splash can be especially good:

SHIELD (access to re-rolls and multiple uses of Eye in the Sky)
Guardians (re-rolls and gives them access to Mystic attacks)
Web Warriors (low-threat, good for the mirror match)
Red Skull 1 Cabal (additional power to keep his kit efficient)

N’Kantu has one associated Tactics Card, Service to Anubis. It allows him to make an area attack with a Range equal to how many Captured Souls N’Kantu has, and a strength equal to how much power is spent on the attack, with a minimum cost of 2 Power. The attack itself isn’t bad, per se, but I think you will struggle to find a place and reason for this card. The main reason for this is that it completely drains N’Kantu of his resources, which fuels his highly-efficient kit.

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Tags: Tactics | Marvel Crisis Protocol