Who Is Exodus?
First appearing in “X-Factor” #92, Exodus is a powerful mutant with the ability to manipulate psionic energy, granting him telepathy, telekinesis, and the capability to heal others. A devout follower of Magneto he served as one of the earliest members of the Brotherhood, often acting as a loyal enforcer for Magneto’s vision of mutant supremacy.
He actually had a very brief appearance in the recent X-Men ’97 series, walking around in the market on Genosha.
Character Card
For base stats, Exodus is a 5 threat character with 4 defence in all areas. He is 7 health on both his healthy and injured side, which gives him slightly above average defences for a 5 threat. A small base medium move is nothing to write home about but flight will help on terrain dense boards.
Psionic Vampirism is a range 2, six dice mystic attack for 0 power. The attack gives power for damage dealt and heals him for 1. Additionally, for each wild he can sap power of an opponent before the damage is dealt. As the sap happens before the damage you can potentially remove an opponent’s power before certain reactive abilities such as ‘Intense Physical Conditioning‘ on Kingpin. Being only range 2 means that some turns the ability to push an opponent closer with Psionic Concussion before following up with Psionic Vampirism.
Psionic Concussion is a range 4, five dice mystic attack that always gives 1 power. On a wild he can push a size 4 or less character towards him. Long range mystic attacks are always welcome as they can bypass some common defences such as spider-senses or martial artist. The fact that you can ignore your own characters when resolving a push means he can potentially push an enemy character through himself if he is too close.
You can do nothing but fall is Exodus’s spender. For 4 power it is an Area 2, seven dice energy attack that gives incinerate after each attack. The auto incinerate is nice but 4 power is quite expensive for the effect. You’d really want to hit multiple characters to make this worthwhile over just hitting them with a six dice mystic.
My Faith Can Move Mountains is Exodus’s first superpower. This lets him spend 1-4 power and throw a piece of terrain within range 3 and of that size medium. We’ve seen variable cost throws like this before on Cable and Magneto. In both cases it’s useful being able to adjust the power spent to what is needed.
Teleportation gives Exodus a range 2 place for 3 power. Unfortunately as he starts on 2 power per turn he won’t have this online right off the bat.
Telekenetic Shield allows Exodus to spend 2 power to give an ally within range 3 two additional defence dice, once per turn.
Finally, for passives, Exodus gains additional power in the power phase and has healing factor 1 and immunity to poison.
Verdict
It is difficult not to compare Exodus to Cable as their kits are so similar. Cable is able to teleport every round without help, while Exodus requires an additional power. Cable can provide shields multiple times per turn, while Exodus’s shields are limited to once per turn. Exodus primarily deals mystic attacks with an energy attack spender while with Cable it is the other way around. Overall Exodus’s kit will be a solid addition to a Brotherhood roster but at 5 threat he is competing with some heavy hitters like Namor so is unlikely to be splashed outside of affiliation. B-
Who Is Lady Mastermind?
Lady Mastermind first appeared in “New X-Men” #118 and is the daughter of the original Mastermind, Jason Wyngarde. She possesses powerful illusion-casting abilities, allowing her to manipulate the perceptions of others, creating vivid, lifelike illusions that can confuse, terrify, or manipulate her targets. She played a significant role in the “Children of the Atom” storyline and the “Messiah Complex,” showcasing her skills in both combat and psychological manipulation.
Character Card
Lady mastermind is a 4 threat character with 3/3/4 defences. Slightly below average for a 4 threat, but as we see later, opponents are forced to use her slightly stronger mystic defences unless they pay 2 power. Her health is average at 6/5, so overall very middling in terms of defences. Similarly, her movement is bang on average with a medium move on a small base.
Deadly Illusions is her first attack. A range 5, five dice mystic attack that always gains her 1 power. Additionally, per wild rolled, after the attack, she can give out either bleed, poison, shock or incinerate. The base attack has a limit of one damage but with mind over matter she can remove two special conditions from the opponent to do 2 damage. Flat damage is extremely powerful happens no matter what the opponent rolls defensively. Within the Brotherhood this attack pairs extremely well with Pyro who can potentially give out incinerate, slow and root in one go or the Scarlet Witch who also gives out a lot of conditions.
Mass Hallucinations is Lady Mastermind’s spender, an area 2, six dice mystic attack for 4 power. On a wild she can advance the character short. As her Deadly Illusions is usually limited to 1 damage at a time, this attack may be her most reliable way to do any damage but at 4 power it doesn’t come cheap.
Your Reality Is What I Want It to Be may be one of the most unique superpowers in Marvel Crisis Protocol. Lady Mastermind chooses an enemy character within range 5 and pays power equal to their mystic defence. She can then make an attack with range and line of sight measured from that character. The attack’s range, power and attack type are equal to one of the chosen character’s 0-cost attacks. It is important to note that although you are choosing one of their attacks, additional effects of the attack don’t happen.
Example: If you choose Wolverine as the target, you could perform his Adamantium Slash attack at another enemy character measured from Wolverine. However, it would NOT have bleed and pierce on a wild; it would merely be a range 2, five dice physical attack. Additionally, as it is technically Lady Mastermind doing the attack if you had an allied Baron Zemo she would only get a reroll for his Strategic Genius if he was in range 2 of her, not of Wolverine.
As you measure range 5 from Lady Mastermind and then a range taken from the chosen character you can potentially damage a character a huge distance away. Not only that but as reactive superpowers can’t be used on Lady Mastermind’s turn due to Brain Fog she can ignore any bodyguard effects and get to an opponent’s characters no matter where they are on the board.
There are a number of characters who will be prime targets for this ability. I look forward to targeting Bob and paying 2 power for a range 4, nine dice physical attack!
Let’s not forget that as a superpower this isn’t taking up one of her two actions, and with the range she has, she may often be making three attacks per turn once she is in position.
Lady Mastermind has three passive abilities. Brain Fog prevents opponents from using reactive superpowers and team tactics cards on her activation. This is the same ability we can see on Mystique with her Shapeshifter passive ability. This has a nice combo with the tactics card Do you know who I am? from Juggernaut, as you can play it on Lady Mastermind’s turn to throw a big object into an enemy, and they are unable to play Brace for Impact in response.
Mental Lock forces opponents to use Lady Mastermind’s 4 mystic defence rather than her other defences when attacking her unless the attacker pays 2 power. It’s only a one-die difference, so most opponents are unlikely to bother with paying this tax. Thankfully, Lady Mastermind isn’t burdened with a weaker physical defence to make up for this, as that would affect her ability to dodge incoming collision damage.
Try a Little Harder Next Time lets Lady Mastermind gain power whenever an opponent within range 3 rolls a skull in any roll. It will be tough to keep this on your mind all the time, but it has the potential to give Lady Mastermind a huge amount of power. If you’ve ever played Beast or Doctor Voodoo you will know what this is like on one character. She can gain power from enemies from range 3, and it is literally any time they roll the skull. Dodge, defence, attack, interact, anything.
Verdict
Lady Mastermind looks to be one of the most fun characters that AMG have made in a long while. It will likely take a bit of skill to pilot her properly, as you need a good understanding of what 0-cost attacks your opponent has access to, and you’ll need to pay attention to opponents rolling dice near her to keep her topped up on power. She will have interesting play in her home affiliation of the Brotherhood of mutants and may also see play in affiliations that can give out a lot of special conditions, such as Baron Strucker’s Hyrda. A-
Who Is Avalanche?
Avalanche has often been one of the main enforcers of the Brotherhood of Mutants, displaying unwavering loyalty to Magneto throughout much of his story arc. With the ability to generate seismic waves, he can create localized earthquakes and cause significant destruction by destabilizing the ground beneath his opponents. Although he has appeared in various storylines in the comics, my personal favorite depiction was as the angsty teen Lance Alvers in the early 2000s animated series X-Men: Evolution.
Character Card
As far as base stats go Avalanche has fairly typical stats for a 3 threat character. 4/3/3 defences with 6/5 health place him around average and a medium move on a small base give him an average speed as well.
Seismokinesis is his firsts attack. A beam 3, four dice physical attack that gains him a power per enemy hit and gives out stun on a wild. Stun can be a strong condition to give out, especially early on to help limit an opponent’s power generation, but 4 dice attacks aren’t likely to do much damage or hit the wild trigger very often. If you can hit multiple people in the beam, you get the potential to generate a lot of power which is nice but he will need to be in the thick of the action to do so, which he may not want to be.
Epicenter of Destruction is his spender. A five dice, area 2 physical attack for 3 power that automatically gives out stun after each attack is resolved. 3 power is relatively cheap for a spender, but a five dice physical attack is nothing to write home about. Most of the time Avalanche is probably better off using his beam unless you absolutely need the stun.
He has two superpowers. Landslide lets him push a size 4 character that is within range 3 of him away short for 2 power. As far as displacement goes this power is quite useful. Range 3 lets him do it from a decent range away, and size 4 or less characters lets him affect most characters in the game. Only costing 2 power is also nice, though the stipulation of once per turn hinders it somewhat.
His final superpower is a reactive power, Beware Falling Debris. When an enemy advances within range 3 of him, he can spend 3 power. The enemy suffers a collision with a size 3 or smaller piece of terrain within 2 of them. The terrain is destroyed in the process. It is a shame that this specifies that it happens on an advance as you can’t therefore landslide an opponent into some terrain to falling debris to trigger. On the plus side, this isn’t limited to once per turn, so if an opponent advances twice near him and near terrain both times, they can suffer multiple collisions.
Verdict
Unfortunately, Avalanche’s attacks are fairly lackluster with even his spender only being 5 dice. He also doesn’t have any particular immunities, dice fixing or passive abilities that help him either offensively or defensively. Within the brotherhood he is competing with some strong 3 threats already, such as Pyro, Mystique and Quicksilver, and Avalanche isn’t bringing anything unique enough here to help out. C
Team Tactics Cards
Mirage is an unaffiliated reactive tactics card. When an enemy attacks an ally within range 3 of Lady Mastermind, she can pay 2 power in the modify dice step. For each skull in their roll, you can change a result to a blank. For each dice changed this way, the enemy loses a power and then after the attack defending character can advance short.
This card has some very interesting play patterns. Within the modify dice step, modifying your opponent’s dice is one of the final steps (step 9 b. ii.) so this happens after your opponent has done their own rerolls on their dice, so you get to play it with almost perfect knowledge. Because of this, you can be pretty confident in how many of your opponent’s dice you are changing as well as how much power you are sapping off them. If they don’t have a way to move outside of an action, you may be able to save a character from being double tapped, and even if they did have additional ways to move, most of those require power, and this effect saps power.
The combination of these effects all at once in one card is very strong, but it is dependent on the number of skulls that the opponent has in their roll, which you have no control over. Over the course of a game there will almost certainly be an opportunity to use this and potentially save a fragile character from harm. A-
The Pawns Go First is an active Brotherhood card that is a reference to a line in the worst in the X-Men trilogy – the last stand. Yes Jamie, I said the worst film…
Any number of Brotherhood characters that are 3 threat or less can play the card for one power. Each one that did can choose a Brotherhood character of 5 threat or more and choose one of 3 effects. Advance toward the chosen character, remove a damage and special condition from the character or give the chosen character an extra power.
This card is interesting as it gives you a way to suddenly power up your Magneto or Exodus. Removing a special condition could be stagger, and removing a stagger from one of your high-threat characters can be very valuable. Out of activation movement can also be very useful to get back onto points or to get into range for additional attacks. The only downside is that it only works on Brotherhood characters, and they do like to splash some key characters like Rhino or Hulk.
Unfortunately, the timing of this card at the time of writing makes it unplayable as it stands. There is no defined ‘End Phase’ presumably, this means the cleanup phase but, until it is clarified we can’t evaluate it.
Genetic Superiority is another reactive Brotherhood of Mutants Card. If your squad includes both Magneto and Exodus, you can play this card at the start of the game and set it up next to the battlefield. Once per turn, when an allied character with a threat value 4 or less suffers 1 or more damage from an enemy effect, you can select a character with a threat value of 5 or more to gain power. This effect is quite strong and gives you a pseudo A-Force leadership. The issue is that it requires 11 threat worth of characters to work. On top of that, if you are taking Magneto you probably already have access to his leadership which will already give you more power than you need.
As written, it lasts all game; the extra power is nice, but whether or not that is worth a precious tactics card slot remains to be seen. B
Fault Line is an unaffiliated reactive card that Pyro and Avalanche can play 1 power each to play. This round Avalanche and Pyro increase the range of their beam attacks to 5. On certain map types where the secures are lined up this could be interesting. It’s certainly more interesting on Pyro than Avalanche as Pyro can add dice to the beam with his Stoke the Flame ability. Avalanche’s beam will only ever be four dice. Additionally, Pyro can bounce incinerate to multiple people with Fire manipulation, and this could help that. Overall, because of how lackluster Avalanches beam is, I’m not convinced this is worth it outside of fun games. On top of that, the War of Kings Crisis Pack has removed most of the down-the-middle Crises that would love a beam like this. C-
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