I played 50 games with New Mutants so you don’t have to! In my quest to achieve my New Years Resolution of claiming my 50 games ‘Zealot’ badge on Longshanks for every mutant affiliation, I have now finished up with New Mutants.
Image courtesy of Longshanks
I’m going to run you through the Highlights, Lowlights and Guest Appearances that made up my 50 games with the violence loving, wetworks masters that are…New Mutants!
Highlights
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
The Leadership
Cry For Help is a fantastic leadership. The fact that it takes up a Team Tactics Card and whether that is worth it or not is something that is up for debate. It’s certainly on the higher end of power level among Team Tactics Card leaderships, so at least there’s an actual debate with this one (looking at you Are You Sure You Want To Remember?).
It provides a ton of really interesting choices. You feel like a genius when you pull off some of the combos we’ll go over in this article, but you also have lots of potential reactions you can make during your opponents turn.
Upon first glance, people see this leadership as a ‘kaiju delivery system’. Playing a large base monster like Hulk, Malekith The Accursed or Cosmic Ghost Rider and having them move around the board is very effective.
However I think that the real power with this leadership comes from the defensive ‘clever’ plays that you can make. Teleporting Honey Badger or Colossus for a last minute bodyguard (on the second attack…remember that this cannot interrupt the attack that triggered the leadership) or a Venom or Gwenom to surprise attack your opponent immediately after is very cool and effective.
The problem however, is the leader and the roster it’s attached to. Mutants are renowned for their squishiness - and this leadership triggers AFTER the attack is resolved. So the whole ‘Cry For Help’ theme kinda falls apart when by the time help arrives, the poor little mutant that needed a hand is unconscious. BUT…when it does work…and you do protect that mutant from getting double tapped, this leadership feels phenomenal.
If you are familiar with the feeling of, “If Toad survives this first attack, I can Slippery and then things are REALLY going my way…oh nevermind, he got one-shot” and you don’t mind playing that kind of MCP, then this is the leadership for you!
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Survive The Night
I will proudly exclaim this every game and I shall proudly exclaim it here once more.
This card is one of the best cards in the game!
At first glance, you may just see it as a 5 dice Physical attack, forget that! It’s the automatic, sizeless push that really makes this card jump to the top spot in my opinion. If a character has charged or placed themselves into range to attack a character twice - after the first attack goes through, you play this card and push them back out of range so they can’t attack again…likely off a point. Now they have to spend a move action to get back onto the point or you’ve waited until their second attack and they have to end their activation off in no-man’s land.
It synergises perfectly with the leadership too, as you can leadership and then play this card. It synergises with Hulk who can add additional dice to this attack based on how much damage he’s taken thanks to You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry (not that you should be doing this attack for the damage…but it’s a nice bonus). It’s also FREE!
Just look out for the fact that it only works when a New Mutant affiliated character is attacked. Which feels 100% thematic and is a fun limitation if you ask me.
This is an every game card, you’ll feel like a genius when you play it right, it’s an absolute staple and should be considered as an addendum to the actual New Mutants leadership card.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Cable
I’ve actually lost count of how many articles I’ve written about Cable and how I think he’s one of the best 5 threats in the game. You can read some of those here and here.
The recent collision damage changes (all collisions now deal 3 damage no matter the size) are interesting for Cable. I think it makes him stronger…he can now throw lamposts and trash cans as effectively as he used to throw cars…but the top end of throwing a Size 4 building has gone down. Time will tell and we need to see how people’s terrain set-ups get tweaked in relation to these changes.
He seems like an odd fit in New Mutants, but beggars can’t be choosers. Their affiliation list is so limited, having a strong 5 threat of any playstyle will suit me just fine, thanks!
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
X-23
Again, X-23 is my favourite character in MCP. I’ve written about her a ton already, you can check that stuff out here and here.
I don’t think that attrition output is really the New Mutants playstyle. But X-23 is best in slot when it comes to her playstyle, right next to Baron Zemo. She’s one of the best mutant characters, so I take her everywhere with me. Plus, coupled with a 3 threat leader it makes for an actually fantastic core when building a squad.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Warlock
My challenge to you - please send me a picture of a well-painted Warlock. Considering how whacky this character is in the comics, I think AMG went really conservative on the sculpt here. Even the box art doesn’t look like an amazing paint job.
But his kit on the other hand! Is satisfyingly whacky. Turning to your opponent and saying “Warlock is going to eat this car and heal 2” with Techno-Organic Absorptionnever gets old. I also like the value it gives by preventing your New Mutant allies from having terrain thrown at them (New Mutants, like most Mutant affiliations lack terrain throws). If you can’t throw it…just eat it!
Buster Cannon is sneaky good. Range 4 is great, 5 dice is strangely high for an attack like this and giving out Shock helps keep the mutants alive.
I found that Warlock's best games were picking up an Extract Round 1, then moving to a back home point and firing out Buster Cannons for the rest of the game, with the occasional heal to hold onto his Extract.
In 50 games, the poison mini-game from Transmode Virus Infection only came up once. I never wanted him in close range to do T-O Talons - and then when I did, he still needed to roll a wild. Bit of a waste of ink on the New Mutants side, it’ll probably become a lot more relevant in Hydra or when paired with Omega Red & Abomination.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Fall Back
This card allows for some crazy good plays when paired with the New Mutants leadership. When an ally on the midline gets attacked, they can Fall Back to safety and then use the leadership to ping someone scarier up in their place. The look on your opponent's face when you pull this off will forever be priceless.
Don’t be afraid to pair this with Sacrifice too. Opponent is trying to take down Magik who has 1 health left? Sacrifice it onto Cable, then play Fall Back to move Cable to safety, then use the leadership to place Magik defensively off Cable’s new position. You just effectively got double Fall Back. Great stuff and always feels good when done at the right moment.
How They Play
As mentioned before and like most mutant affiliations, New Mutants lack character displacement. Their primary goal is to have lots of little brawls and use the leadership to do some cool tricks and win those fights.
They have X-23 & Cable who can really punch above their weight. Magik has her days sometimes, but we’ll get onto the problems with her later. I found that they like a spread out fight, especially on Infinity Formula where they get extra power to use the leadership and still have the rest of their kits online.
I tried them with pay-to-flips, but it’s a little rough. Having to pay to use their leadership and flipping points is a high cost. But hey, at least they get beaten up easily - so they’ll have extra power from that.
Lowlights
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Sunspot
The lowest of lowlights here - I’ve hammered this guy enough already. You can read about my thoughts on him here and here.
I’ve called them out on it before but I’m afraid I’m going to do it again…when AMG revealed Sunspot they said;
“If every New Mutants affiliation squad doesn’t take Sunspot, we’ve probably missed the mark on Sunspot” – Atomic Mass Games
I suspect this comes from the synergy between Flare State and the leadership. When Sunspot uses the leadership to move himself, he gains a Flare token. It’s cool - but he has fundamental power economy issues so paying 1 power for the leadership just breaks him honestly.I’ve played Sunspot in My Hellfire Club and was surprised at how good he can feel with that additional power from the leadership. So I think there’s something here, but with this current iteration of the character, I was constantly disappointed in him and took him out of my roster as soon as I could.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Magik
Ohhhh Magik. One of my favourite characters in Marvel…I main her in Marvel Rivals…she’s awesome in Marvel Champions…but she has had a rough ride in MCP. Being a 3/3/4 defence character in the game these days is really rough. AMG clearly knows that, as we’ve just seen some health increases on Magik and some other characters in the game. But 6 health on the healthy side and 5 health on the injured side doesn’t make for an effective leader.
Magik’s whole playstyle is to jump the backline, deal a ton of damage and then KO. She’s meant to burn bright and likely won’t see Round 5. We’re seeing her tear the place up in Servants Of Apocalypse right now…using the Fury superpower from being the Horseman of War really leans into her playstyle of burning bright and it’s working really well for her.
But being a leader means you need to stick around for a bit longer. So I found myself having Magik hanging out on a back point and hoping that nobody looks in her direction. Don’t get me wrong, once she Dazes - she can then return the pain relatively effectively. But you kinda have to choose between, “Do I want a leadership? Or do I want Magik to play the game she wants to play?” It’s awkward and it makes me think about Mirage who is coming out next year. Will this leadership card apply to Mirage? Probably not. But I bet she’ll be a low threat model that actually wants to sit on a back point - hopefully opening up Magik to do what she does best.
Oh also - Journey Through Limbo is an amazing disengage tool, which New Mutants love. But having a Team Tactics Card leadership + 2 Restricted cards + Survive The Night means you rarely ever have space for it unfortunately.
The Missing Links
These are the characters that, to me, should really be in the New Mutants affiliation list from both a thematic standpoint (they’re family!) and a mechanical standpoint.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Colossus
Come on! He’s Illyana’s brother!
Having an affiliated bodyguard must be what they were scared of when creating this affiliation list. Colossus is too obviously ‘affiliated’ for it to be anything else, surely?!
With his recent glow up and the change to Big Brother, Colossus can really do great work in New Mutants - an affiliation that desperately needs protecting.He struggles with power generation for sure, but I think grabbing an Extract Round 1 with him, forcing your opponent to Daze and power him up and then having him be the ultimate bodyguard for all the squishy mutants is pretty good.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Honey Badger
Again - it’s a family affair! Surely Honey Badger should be standing next to X-23? She’s actually shown up in New Mutants comics!
As with Colossus, I suspect that Gabrielle isn’t allowed into the New Mutants club because of the taunt mechanic. Too Dangerous To Ignore, plus Big Sis & Lil’ Sis PLUS Survive The Night would lead to some really potent and interesting combos.
Heaven forbid the mutants are given more team-up options outside of a Storm hop and Fastball Special…
The Guest Appearances
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Hulk
I jumped between a few large bases when experimenting with New Mutants. The leadership really likes them.
I settled on Hulk because he brings some much needed displacement.
He has terrain throws so I’d put him on an opposite flank to Cable to help clean up the terrain before it gets thrown at the teenagers in the squad.
Deploying him directly opposite a midline Extract/Secure and having a medium base (Colossus?) go and stand there means you can use the leadership if that medium base model gets attacked. SURPRISE! Hulk in your face before activating in Round 1.
Hulk also brings an interesting question to your opponent. Are you going to KO Hulk this game? Or everyone except Hulk? I like this question being on the table as it pseudo protects all the squishy mutants running around.
I also got myself an Armor proxy model for Hulk to keep things thematic. It’s awesome.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Shang-Chi
I know, I know: BORING. Just splash the best 4 threat characters and you’ll be fine.
But Shang-Chi does have some synergy with Cable, who can give him additional defence dice to count blanks on. Plus Wild Goose Leaves The Flock gives Shang-Chi an advance after he has been attacked, which gives you some more leadership trigger options.
So it’s not completely boring! Just somewhat boring.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Beta Ray Bill
Beta Ray Bill brings some much needed displacement, tankiness and a terrain throw.
Honorbound also synergises with the leadership for some more interesting triggers there.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Gambit
Gambit has had a beautiful glow-up recently. Now that he has The Cards Always Be In My Favour, his potential is sky high. Throwing a re-roll into that is just plain good.
He also has a pseudo slippery in the form of Enhanced Agility, so if you feel like gambling, he can be a midline grab who can usually get back to safety after getting attacked once - and then trigger the leadership to bring someone else up the field from deployment.
Plus if you play Survive The Night with him - The Cards Always Be In My Favor & A Little Something Extra also applies to that attack. So it can become a surprisingly damaging attack.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Toad
I mentioned the leadership tricks you can do with Fall Back already. Well Toad brings Slippery! I surprised many an opponent with a Hulk in their face after they failed to Daze Toad - and it can also be used as the ‘double Fall Back’ trick I mentioned earlier.
Failing to one-shot Toad feels bad, now try failing to Daze him and he has taken an ally back to safety with him. It’s amazing.
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Venom
Man oh man, Venom is so close to being amazing in MCP. I hope he gets the Carnage treatment soon. Just a slight tweak and I think we’ll see him a lot more which would be great.
His main flaw is a lack of movement. But the leadership helps with that. Lethal Protector is clearly something New Mutants need…if you can fit it in with all the other cards. It also makes him the target of the attack, meaning a squishy mutant can then use the leadership to place off him in a better position.
He also brings tons of displacement and a terrain throw. He’s great and New Mutants give him just what he needs to shine.
My 50th Game
As is tradition, I celebrate my 50th game with something whacky or thematic or fun as a send-off to the affiliation I have come so far with. This one was no different - and I got to play against Matthias Kuhr using the Maximus The Mad leadership!
Amazingly, this game was at an event and we luckily were put on this beautiful Limbo inspired table with a huge Magik effigy. It felt very thematic and fitting. Also - you can see my Armor proxy there in the background, featuring perhaps the most pointless paint job in MCP. There’s a little Hisako inside there somewhere).
The dice knew how important this game was. Game 50 with New Mutant, after a long slog of “please go well please go well please go well”. Every Skrull Matthias picked up failed for him, pushing them towards my deployment. Warlock, X-23 & Magik didn’t get one-shot for a change, meaning they could then eat terrain, healing factor and limbo step respectively, to their hearts content.
These characters surviving thanks to very lucky dice on my part allowed the leadership to sing. Venom had his absolute dream game using Lethal Protector, Survive The Night and Sacrifice all at once and to fantastic effect.
King Black Bolt beamed both Toad and Cable without Dazing either of them, allowing Toad to pull off a mega-slippery by using the leadership after Cable got hit and then using Slippery after being hit himself to be well over Range 5 away from King Black Bolt.
Everything came together, my dice were extremely lucky and the New Mutants felt like a real threat…for the first and last time in 50 games.
Final Thoughts
New Mutants are some of the most fun I’ve had playing MCP. I enjoy making interesting decisions and ‘big brain’ plays…but it comes with a lot of stress.
This affiliation are the absolute epitome of “if I can just survive this attack, I can do something really cool”, but it’s a bit of a coin flip on whether you will survive that attack or not. As the game grows and grows, the damage output from models is increasing and it’s only going to get worse for New Mutants.
The change to collision damage being always 3…plus some potential health changes coming up (looking at you Shadowcat, Magik, Sunspot) - maybe there is a world where New Mutants can survive for long enough to pull off their tricks.
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Image courtesy of Longshanks
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games
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