The random Crisis selection means that there are lots less janky turn one plays, and we’re seeing some mission combinations that we wouldn’t of seen before. Although I think this is going to make some people go for more linear selections when building their rosters, I think for the most part it is a positive change, as it hopefully means we will see less of the same Crisis match ups and turn one plays upon winning priority! For anyone who isn’t too familiar with the change, previously after determining who had Secures and who had Extracts, you would randomly discard one of your three and then choose from the two remaining which you would like to play. Now, it is a completely random choice from the three, which means people can’t take cards they intend on never playing to just psych out the opponent!

Having the opponent choose the threat value is another tweak that I wasn’t too keen on initially, but seeing it in practice it works just fine and again I think it is another solid change. A big issue that a lot of my local group had come across was losing priority and having to play S.W.O.R.D base at 14, where if you couldn’t go five wide it would really punish you. Now, it’s going to be very rare that your put in that situation, which hopefully will take away some of the negative experiences around S.W.O.R.D base!

In terms of updated characters, it was great to look across the table and see the likes of Winter Soldier, Hulk and Ultron, as well as the entirety of the long awaited Guardians of the Galaxy! With Winter Soldier you now get some bang for your Buck-y, and having to watch out for a rapid fire Got Your Back is a real pain. Ultron was an absolute menace to try and deal with, and The Age of Ultron team tactics card is definitely going to be seeing some play now!

The big green rage machine caused enough carnage, to put Cletus Kassidy to shame! Although the green rage monster didn’t make an appearance in either of my games, Elliot used him against Jenks, and from what I could see he went absolutely berserk. Gaining power on his builder means that Hulk can now do a lot more of the things that he wants to be doing, whether that’s throwing terrain around, Gamma Leaping into position or screaming HULK SMASH! Every team is going to have to be a bit more prepared for dealing with the huge monsters of MCP, as I think both Hulk and Hulkbuster bring some serious power to the table now!

The Guardians were very interesting to play against as well. Both the small changes to Rocket and Groot make them an absolutely awesome five threat combination, and although Star Lord didn’t get chance to do a huge amount in Ben and I’s game last night, the couple of changes he’s received seem really useful too. Now we just need to work on Ben’s maths, as it seems Elliot’s math issues are infectious! After mine and Bens game, I was just looking over what he had been using, and we realised Ben was two threat down! Being able to swap out Nebula for Gamora might of made the world of difference, but as Ben is used to having She Hulk I’m sure he didn’t realise he had so much threat to spend!