Jean Grey

Oh, Jean. Destined to die in the comics; destined to die in MCP.

Paying 5 threat for a model is an expense in MCP that comes with some expectations. Cable can fund his kit pretty well thanks to Techno-Organic Virus Suppression…and Body Slide By One let’s him ensure he’s getting two good attacks off every turn. Red Skull Master of Hydra lacks the ability to move himself into range, but he makes up for that with powerful Grunts and the ability to count Blanks on his attacks, making up for the struggle he faces with getting into range when needed.

While Dracula also struggles to get himself into position without spending an action, a 7 dice builder, with a trigger on a Hit and the ability to clapback with Eternal Hunger sure does make up for that. Jean on the other hand has none of that. But let’s focus on what she does have…

First off, Latent Psychic Potential is great. Jean gaining 3 power a turn makes her really feel like the powerful telepath she is in the comics. So what can she spend it on?

Battlefield Manipulation gives her a Size 4, medium range throw – while also grabbing terrain from Range 3. That is fantastic. Terrain throws don’t get much better than that. This costing 3 power means she can move twice and throw a Size 4 at someone straight from deployment. Is that a good first round activation from a 5 threat? Maybe not. But it certainly is potent.

Shield Mind is useful in certain situations. Against a team with lots of Superpower displacement like Web Warriors or Black Order, it increases in value greatly. Is it why you bring Jean? Maybe. Again – 5 threat is a big cost for this ability.

Matter Transmutation is a weird one. On paper, it’s a fantastic ability. It’s limited to per character rather than per turn, meaning she can use it on multiple characters in the same activation. It can be used on friendly as well as enemy models, which is fantastic. The trouble with this ability is that the targets need to have activated already – which is fine, as moving activated models around is when this ability is most useful. However it requires Jean to stay alive until the end of the round, where she can then activate and rearrange the battlefield as she sees fit. But with 3 Physical defence and 6/7 health with no defensive tech, keeping her in range and alive to pull this ability off (let alone with enough power to do it more than once) is going to be very hard to pull off.

Psionic Bolt is…fine. Five dice without any re-rolls isn’t great for a 5 threat. A Skull Pierce trigger is cute, but doesn’t feel as good as a Wild Pierce trigger, as the Skull doesn’t count as a success for your damage. So it tends to feel half as good as a regular Pierce.

Telekinetic Force on the other hand is pretty great! It costs 5 power, which is a lot, but that isn’t so bad thanks to Latent Psychic Potential and the Wild Sap trigger on Psionic Bolt. She should have the power to afford this (providing you’re okay with sacrificing almost everything else on her card in order to pull off this attack). A guaranteed Size 4 throw before damage is as good as it gets in MCP to be honest. It’s fantastic – and coupled with the Wild Explosive trigger, also before damage (meaning you can decide if this happens before or after the throw) makes this attack very flexible.

Unfortunately, all of this essentially amounts to asking: “Do you want Jean to play around her Telekinetic Force attack? Or all of her superpowers?” The power costs are too high for her to be able to achieve it all – and you are likely at the whim of Psionic Bolt dealing damage and getting a few Wild Saps.

She struggles by being a 5 threat in a game where there are many 5 threats who excel at their game plan far better than Jean does. I feel that this highlights the issue nicely: Jean doesn’t specialise in anything. She doesn’t have the attrition focus of Red Skull, Master of Hydra, she doesn’t have the mobility focus of Juggernaut, she doesn’t have cute Skull tricks like Loki, Prince Of Lies. She doesn’t really have any focus. Just lots of tools, that are niche at best, all wrapped in a kit that doesn’t really support any game plan beyond throw a few attacks…hope your opponent plays poorly enough that Jean is always in position but not in danger.

Affiliations

Obviously, Jean is affiliated to Uncanny X-Men. She does bring a much needed Size 4 throw to the team, which is something that is extremely rare in X-Men.

She doesn’t really play with the Storm game plan very well, as she is on a small base so doesn’t synergise extremely well with the leadership (especially when you can take Cable as your 5 threat, who can place himself exactly where he needs to be without anyone else’s help).

Her attacks aren’t potent enough to work well with loverboy Cyclops.

There is some potential for her under Professor X however. Jean needs lots of power – and has great superpowers she can use on both her turns and enemy turns, which will trigger the leadership a healthy amount of times. But again – so does Cable.

It pains me to say this but…Jean may be another example of an X-Men character that shines best when functioning under Steve in Avengers.

Jean’s superpowers are on the pricey side, so Steve Rogers from Core Box 1 can grant her discount superpowers which certainly helps. Shield Mind for 1 power is no joke. It also allows her to move twice Round 1, pick up an Extract and throw a Size 4 piece of terrain, which is pretty cool. Even if it does make us mutant lovers sick to see Steve barking orders at them.

Unfortunately, we’ve fallen into the same old recurring problem here in that Cable is affiliated to Avengers. So for the most competitive output, I think you just go with him…every time.

Cassandra Nova

Every good story has an evil twin in it right? Right?! 

Cassandra Nova being introduced to the game a good few years before Charles Xavier was an interesting choice from Atomic Mass Games, but here they are!

Psionic Bolt is a good attack, especially when coupled with Telepathic Cloak as it allows Cassandra to attack targets from outside of Range 3, keeping her in safety and essentially forcing their enemies to move to within Range 3 of them…which leads us nicely onto…

Psychic Distraction. You may have seen this before under the guide of Tricks and Traps from Mysterio. It. Is. Annoying. Finally getting to within Range 3 of a Cassandra who has been blasting you with Psionic Bolts, only to then have a chance for them to slip away thanks to the short move granted by Psychic Distraction is infuriating. This superpower isn’t so much about the damage it causes, it’s all about the move and getting back into Stealth range (or in Cassandra’s case, Telepathic Cloak range) and back to safety.

Mind Possession is great. Cassandra laughs in the face of Professor X needing to cause damage with his version of this attack, Cassandra’s is automatic and only costs 1 Power. It’s fantastic. Especially when you learn that Psychic Distraction can be triggered off of the move you force your enemy to make from Mind Possession. That’s right! It’s triggered by any movement, even one you made the enemy make themselves.

It’s worth noting that ‘ends a movement’ in MCP means any form of a model being moved in range of you. Move action, Web-swing, Teleport…even getting pushed or thrown into this range will count as “ending a movement” and can trigger Psychic Distraction.

Telekinetic Deflection is fantastic. We all know by now that Brace For Impact is the best and most taken card in the game. Well, Cassandra has it slapped right there on their card…albeit for 1 power more. This superpower is fantastic.

Healing Factor is great. That’s it. 

Biokinesis is also great. Putting Root & Slow on the right model can really cripple them. Web Warriors for example, hate it. As do most Asgardians, X-Men; essentially anyone that relies on their superpowers or their ability to move around the board. It’s great, but it does come at a cost…which leads us onto the main problem with Cassandra…

Power Issues. Cassandra Nova has so many good ways to spend power (it’ll feel like too many great options when you first start learning how to play them), but not many great ways to generate it. Praying for multiple Wild Sap triggers on Psionic Bolt is your best bet for building up the level of power the Cassandra requires to really go off.

Affiliations

Servants of Apocalypse

Cassandra can be 1 of 2 horsemen under Apocalypse: Famine or Death.

In short, Death grants bonus dice when attacking already damaged models. That’s fine. The Horseman Of Death also generates tokens for Apocalypse teams whenever they Daze or KO an enemy OR are Dazed or KO’d themselves. Cassandra leans more towards plinking damage onto people from range (preferably outside of Range 3 – as we mentioned before) rather than being a key part of your attrition plan.

So I think they actually work best as the Horseman of Famine. This horseman generates tokens for being outside of Range 3 at the end of their activation, and that’s great – that’s where we want Cassandra to be anyway. It also gives them a Range 2 place, which for a 5 threat that we want to be consistently contributing to the game – helps a lot.

Sentinels

Cassandra being affiliated to Sentinels is an interesting one. They already have an expensive 5 threat leader in the form of Sentinel Prime Mk IV, so adding another 5 threat into the mix is a big ask. Cassandra does struggle for power, so the leadership helps there a little bit. 

Cassandra does bring this Team Tactics Card to Sentinels, but it’s a little weird? Basically useless on defence rolls unless they’re against mystic thanks to Sentinel Programming ability on all of the Sentinels – and only really benefits their attacks a little by allowing them to count 1 extra dice face.

All in all, it feels like Cassandra Nova doesn’t quite gel with the Sentinels we currently have in game. But with AMG having now announced a bunch more Sentinels coming in the future, making it’ll all make a bit more sense once they’re here.

Hellfire Club

Since Emma and her Hellfire Club have now been given an affiliation list, Cassandra Nova has found themselves on the guestlist! We’ve established that Cassandra’s biggest problem is power generation – well the Hellfire Club leadership is all about showering their characters in power! They also do a good job at holding onto Extracts and slipping away from danger thanks to Psychic Distraction, which is exactly what Hellfire Club are looking for.

Spider Foes

If there’s one thing that Spider Foes players love more than anything else – it’s what is known as a Trap House. Catching your opponent off guard with abilities like Green Goblin’s Trick Or Treat, Mysterio’s Tricks And Traps or Electro’s Live Wire is the order of the day – and throwing Cassandra Nova and Psychic Distraction into the mix makes for the ultimate “GOTCHA!” filled games. Just make sure you practice your best maniacal bad guy laugh for when it all goes according to your sinister plan.

Tactics Cards

This card is GREAT. It works for both Cassandra Nova or Jean Grey – and it doesn’t cost an action to play! That’s right, this card amounts to essentially a 3rd attack…with guaranteed displacement…while also re-rolling your opponents defence dice! It’s fantastic.

You’ll need to take a breath and slowly walk your opponent through this card when you play it – as it’s an ESSAY of a card. But thematically, it’s great. It’s Jean taking over your opponent’s mind for a moment and forcing them to attack their friends. It’s Cassandra Nova sticking their dirty fingers inside their head and forcing them to do what they want. It’s an awesome card.

Remember that the move granted by using Mental Domination on Cassandra Nova will also trigger Psychic Distraction!

Well…let’s end this article as we started it. By talking about Jean’s inevitable demise…

This card being free is cool. It’s a free attack and Wolverine/Cyclops can be anywhere on the board to make use of it. If Cyclops plays this and hits his Speed of Sight trigger, then it’s actually a decent use of a Team Tactics Card slot. But as with most team-up cards in Marvel Crisis Protocol…it falls a little below the curve unfortunately, as this card could be a ton of fun!

At least we can rely on being able to play this card reliably though, as Jean is going to daze/KO…a lot…

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