I played 50 games with X-Force 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 X-Force.

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…X-FORCE!

Cable & Deadpool X-Force

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Highlights

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Cable

Let’s start with the big guy himself, Cable. Now I know this is a 50 games article, but I’ve probably actually played something more like 150 games with him, as he usually makes my roster for New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men too. So I feel like I can make this next set of statements with some form of legitimacy.

People say the problem with Cable is that he KO’s easily. Now yes, while 3/3/4 (usually 5/5/6 thanks to Telekinetic Shield) isn’t the best defensive line for a 5 threat; I find that when he’s on the table, his best form of defence is actually just to remove activations of any enemy around him.

Body Slide By One being online at the start of each of his turns thanks to Techno-Organic Virus Suppression (so long as you don’t fall into the trap of using Telekinetic Shield too many times…always leave Cable on 2 power before his activation!) means he is always within Range 3 of his target. This not only gives him access to the re-rolls on Plasma Rifle, but also synergises well with the Wetworks leadership, allowing him to also turn off the target's Cover. Being within Range 3 also usually means he is in range to throw terrain also. Because of all of this, Cable becomes one of the most reliable 5 threats at dealing damage in the game. Move over King T’Challa!

The synergy between Plasma Rifle and the leadership needs to be highlighted again. Remember that in MCP, YOU choose the order of the re-rolls you take. If cable has rolled 3 hits, a blank and a skull, you can use the leadership to ‘unlock’ the skull, allowing it to then be re-rolled again if you’re within Range 3 with Plasma Rifle (which by the way, you always should be. In all my games with Cable, I think I’ve shot outside of Range 3 maybe twice? & I usually regret it).

Speaking of regret. While shooting for 50 with X-Force, I took a sharpie to my Cable card and crossed out Askani’Son. This attack feels like a trap unless it’s being used for a big heal (I’m talking 3+ healing) which is very rare. Plasma Rifle, plus the leadership, plus a terrain throw results in something like 8 dice + 7 dice + 5 damage from a Size 4 throw, which is much more reliable than a piddly 7 dice area attack. I strongly advise never using this attack, Cable is much better off defending himself by KOing everyone around him that would pose a threat, instead of going for the heal.

Cat and Mouse Team Tactic Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Cat and Mouse

This is an every game card for sure. 99% of the time, you want to use it on Cable. With Cat and Mouse plus his Bodyslide By One, you can hit anyone standing on the midline with 2 attacks and a terrain throw. It’s huge, especially when you know where the enemy is going to be in Round 1 (see below for more details on using Cat and Mouse on Extracts like Fear Grips.

There is 1 very specific set-up where I’d recommend using this on Archangel instead however. On Infinity Formula, you can play Cat and Mouse on Archangel to have him start the game on a Secure. This will give him 2 power in the first Power Phase of the game. This then allows you to play Battle Bound, a team-up Team Tactics Card between him and Psylocke. This will allow you to make a bunch of attacks on your opponents home Secure out of seemingly nowhere. It’s a lot of fun and actually pretty legit of a tactic, as there isn’t much your opponent can do about it if they don’t see it coming. Highly recommend!

Colossus Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Colossus

Colossus recently got a mega-buff. Finally he’s in a good place in MCP and brings some much needed tankiness to X-Force. He isn’t a safe grab, but he is a safeish grab for a midline Extract in Round 1. I found that Colossus really struggles with power generation; so I like to give him something to hold from the start of the game to incentivise your opponent to attack him, otherwise he feels like a bit of a lump.

He isn’t the tankiest character around; as Bohze Moi is a bit of a poor excuse for defensive tech on his healthy side. But that changes to counting blanks on his injured side, where Cable can come in to boost his defence dice for him which is some real nice synergy.

X-23 & Honey Badger Models

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

X-23 & Honey Badger

Anyone that knows me knows that these two characters (particularly X-23) are my favourite two models in the game. They’re so much fun together - and X-23 is probably the best mutant character in MCP (sitting snugly alongside Cable). You can read a more in-depth guide for how to play them here.

X-23 already brings her own re-roll in the form of Assassin Training, which synergises nicely with the leadership in the same way Cable’s Plasma Rifle does. She has a Pierce on both attacks and can move about really easily with Claw Rush & Frenzy. I’ve played more games with X-23 than any other character and I never ever get bored.

Top tip - deploy X-23 opposite enemy grunts or 2 threats and watch her use them to add to her already high kill potential.

Domino Character Card

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Domino

With some of the best dice manipulation in MCP, Domino easily deserves a shout-out here. She does have one clear weakness, which is getting into and staying in position. Being Size 2 and Range 3 means it’s relatively trivial to cut her turns in half by displacing her or simply walking out of her range. BUT, when she’s in range - Domino punches up unlike many other characters thanks to Probability Manipulation. She’s also deceptively durable due to Things Tend To Go My Way. All of this plus a bit of tech for handing out Incinerate with Grenade Bounce & denying power gain with Lucky Shot make Domino an incredibly high value 3 threat.

Deadpool Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Deadpool

Wade Wilson barely makes it onto the Highlights part of this write-up. The 4 health on his healthy side is really letting him down - as he becomes quite trivial to deal with when your opponent needs to. Counting as healthy on his injured side is nice, but the real sauce here comes from Healing Factor [2]. Your opponent really needs to deal with him fully, or he can stay undamaged for an annoyingly long time.

Giving Deadpool an Extract early in the game is fine (so long as he can then sit on a back point in relative safety) and throw out a few Bangs. Should your opponent spend resources chasing him down, he can then spend all of that power on his pretty impressive spender Maximum Effort!

Also don’t forget (because it comes in super handy when fishing for his triggers); he does know Karate.

How They Play

One highlight I’ve found with X-Force is that the 2025 crisis card rotation was really good for them. They’re made up of mutants, who are notoriously easy to take down in a fight. So tight maps tend to be where they fall over. The current crisis set-up seems to be favouring mobile attrition teams (like King T’Challa and Wakanda). X-Force have a good amount of mobile attrition in the form of Cable, X-23 & Psylocke.

It’s worth noting that they bring some pretty decent tech against Web Warriors. Lots of incineration, lots of chasing and Psylocke’s mystic attacks. Are they a ‘counter’ for AMG’s favourite spidey-boys in the game? Not quite, but they certainly don’t go down without a fight.

I also want to shout out Fear Grips or ‘Hammers’. If X-Force have priority, they can pick which side Hammer they want to pick up first (usually with Colossus or Domino). This means they know that their opponent is going to pick up the other side Hammer, meaning Cable can be deployed opposite it and play Cat and Mouse. This very reliably results in X-Force going up 3-1 on Hammers in Round 1; and they then have extra attack dice on models that are terrifying with it.

This also works on other midline Extracts like Alien Ship Crashes In Downtime! & Deadly Legacy Virus Cured?

Lowlights

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Bishop

It feels bad putting Bishop in the Lowlights section. But he’s at the top of it for a reason. He’s just not quite good enough in the fractured land that is 4 threats in Marvel Crisis Protocol. His recent tweak stopped him taking damage from Overload in the Power Phase, so he no longer has the risk of missing a turn.

His defensive tech Mutant Energy Absorption is fantastic…if he rolls Wilds. In my 50 games with X-Force, this only came up a handful of times. When it stops your opponent getting a trigger, it feels amazing. But rolling a Wild is hard, especially with 3 Physical and Mystic defence. It’s too unpredictable to call Bishop ‘durable’. I recommend pairing him up with Cable to increase his defense dice. But then in X-Force…you have 9 threat of characters paired up while often having a couple of 3 threats on a separate flank fending for themselves.

Absorbed Energy Conversion is awesome, don’t get me wrong. I would take Bishop against Hulk or Immortal Hulk. His anti-trigger tech really helps there, auto Incinerate is great and throwing them into their team mates is brutal. So long as you’re okay with gambling when rolling defence dice, because if you don’t get the Wilds, Bishop falls over like any other mutant.

Like Domino, he hates to use move actions. If you have a way to move him around, then great. But there’s nothing in-affiliation for that currently. A normal activation for Bishop is shoot, auto Incinerate, move and then throw someone off a point. It’s cool, it’s like a budget Beta Ray Bill which is nice, but it’s not exactly a Highlight.

Archangel Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Archangel

Well well well…if it isn’t everyone’s favourite X-Force boy from the comics. I was so excited for this box as I also love Angel. You can read more about my initial thoughts here. But let me tell you - after 50 games with X-Force, I had one single good game with Archangel. He wouldn’t stop rolling Wilds, so with Chosen Of The Apocalypse he was tearing things up. I paired him with Psylocke using Battle Bound and it felt great. But every other game (and I mean every other game) that Archangel hit the table I was left disappointed.

He’s far too fragile. 4/3/4, with some of the worst defence tech available (+2 dice from Wing Shield, which often ruins his power economy for everything else) and only 5 health on his healthy side. He’s easy to remove by basically anyone.

Razor Wing Strike only being 5 dice means he often doesn’t have space in the dice pool to benefit from Chosen Of Apocalypse (though the leadership does help with that somewhat). A mandatory place when rolling a Crit for the Overwing trigger is awful. Nobody likes a mandatory place. It often happens when you don’t want it to, meaning your fragile model is now next to the person he was trying to get away from OR it doesn’t happen when you really need it to.

Oh and forget about the Toxic Flechettes trigger on Razor Wing Strike. If you’re rolling 2 Wilds, your opponent is likely dead thanks to Chosen Of Apocalypse. Maybe unless they’re a Hulk and are likely to stay around with those conditions for long enough for the Activated token trigger from Avatar Of Death to matter - for which you then also need a Wild. If you load up the Yahtzee of your target having both Bleed & Poison, you then might not hit the wild on Avatar Of Death and it won’t matter anyway.

All of this adds up to make Archangel a strong contender for the most unpredictable and feels-bad model in MCP.

Sunspot Character Card

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Sunspot

Speaking of feels bad, Sunspot brings a new flavour of it to X-Force. His ceiling isn’t as high as Archangel and he certainly doesn’t have as much of the unpredictability. But his kit feels like it just fundamentally doesn’t work.

You want 3 Flare tokens (which to be fair, you can gain a bonus one in X-Force if you use Preserve The Dream, albeit by sacrificing some much needed power on Sunspot) at basically all times. A long charge and auto Incinerate is nice with Sunburn if you’re okay with then not being able to throw Size 3’s. The trigger for a Flare token from UV Strike is needlessly hard to hit. I honestly think if this trigger was removed and Sunspot could rely on his Flare token economy a bit more, he’d become an acceptable 4 threat.

I can’t justify this guy in New Mutants, the affiliation he was supposedly designed to be ‘an every game’ model for. So I definitely can’t see a place for him in X-Force.

Other Attrition Teams

X-Force are quite clearly an attrition team. They lack displacement, so they rely on violence to score points. Which isn’t a bad thing! Cable, X-23 and Domino are among the best in class for that playstyle. However, this only really works when they’re punching down. X-Force need to be chasing teams that can’t really hit back to really feel powerful.

It’s become a tradition for my 50 games badge hunting adventures for me to have a silly & fun 50th game with each affiliation. For X-Force, Ollie Lowe gifted me with a 9 wide “all the 2 threats” list and my god, did X-Force shine. X-23 bouncing around the map and killing 3 models a turn is obviously nuts.

But once they come up against another team that can fight, the Mutant problem really starts to show itself. X-Force models fall over easily so can’t withstand a prolonged fight very well. It makes them a good dual-affiliation team in my opinion. I like to pair them with Uncanny X-Men so that if I come against a ‘proper’ attrition team, I can pivot to scoring points and surviving rather than taking them head on.

For years people have been saying that X-Force’s best crisis is Deadly Meteors and I’m still not sure why. They don’t have the best power economy for pay-to-flips - and this Secure is too close for my liking. As soon as you go up against a Cabal or Midnight Sons; teams that actually want a mid-line fight, it doesn’t go well.

Special shoutout for Intrusions for X-Force though. It fixes the lack of movement Domino & Bishop have. But again, there are many other teams that are better on Intrusions than X-Force are. So it’s still probably a bad call to take it in your 10.

The Guest Appearances

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

The Mighty Thor

Having a character with 2 power leads to an interesting option for X-Force. Their Team Tactics Card Preserve The Dream allows them some potential extra movement on Round 1. On Fear Grips, if you deploy The Mighty Thor right in the middle by your home Hammer and then send a 3 threat (Domino) to pick-up a side Hammer opposite a 4+ threat that is ready to attack the midline - you can then play Preserve The Dream to move The Mighty Thor up onto the home Hammer. This allows her to start her activation by picking up the Hammer, moving once to the midline and making a 7 dice Hammer Strike with a re-roll. Which is fun and pretty efficient!

She’s also just a great 5 threat model who loves a re-roll from the leadership.

Gorgon & Shang-Chi models

Image courtesy of Atomic Mass Games

Shang-Chi & Gorgon

This is a BORING take, but it turns out the most over-statted 3 and 4 threats in the game love a re-roll from the X-Force leadership.

They also bring some much needed displacement and staggers that X-Force could use some more access to. But yeah…just splash Shang-Chi or Gorgon. Zzz.

Gambit Character Card

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.

Often I would leave Gambit until last to simply move to a point and push someone off with a Bo Staff. The X-Force leadership re-roll plus A Little Something Extra makes it feel basically guaranteed to get the push trigger.

Final Thoughts

X-Force are…pretty good. They’re not the best attrition team around, but recent changes have definitely increased their chances. They bring some good tech, they are happy to play very affiliated and their playstyle is very on brand with X-Force from the comics.

A lot of their toys are good now with Colossus & Bishop getting some nice buffs. They are somewhat lacking in the Team Tactics Card department; but Cat and Mouse makes up for that.

So if you like bullying teams that aren’t able to effectively hit you back, X-Force may be right up your street!

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