Welcome back!
In this post we will begin discussing one of the two, yes two, different ways of playing Brotherhood. We will go over some tips to playing the Leadership to its fullest potential, as well as offer some out of affiliation options that will either benefit or contribute to Leadership abilities and playstyle.
Let's lead off with discussing the guide's namesake:
Magneto
Magnus is large and in charge with his leadership. One of the highest damage output characters in the game, Magneto Leadership excels at throwing things to gain power, attacking priority targets with high power and varied attacks, getting Magneto to his second location safely, and focusing on low scoring objectives so you can accomplish your goal without getting buried on VPs.
One important thing to note: Magneto's Leadership doesn't care if you or your opponent destroy terrain, you get 1 power per character per turn which can really ramp up if your opponent starts throwing terrain as well
Pros
- High Damage Output
- Solid Defense
- Guaranteed Damage through throws
- Reasonably High Mobility*
- Potential Anti-Displace
- Great Team Tactics Cards
Cons
- Can suffer on fast scoring
- Affiliated characters don't help with Leadership, but benefit from it.
- Magneto requires good positioning
- Most affiliated characters are only Physical
Magneto is your focus here, getting him in position to do the most damage to things that need to die. Who do you put him with? Other high octane damage targets, which in affiliation means Scarlet Witch, which if you read my previous article only knows the ways of Murder.
She doesn't really benefit from power gains from terrain destroying because she's always flush with power and doesn't have a whole lot to do with it besides throwing up to a size 4 at someone like her father, or spending 6 on Cruel Twist to effectively delete a character (except maybe Convocation, but even then). She is good as a power battery to others either through her throw or dumping power off her through R&D.
Wanda does have a big issue, and that's her survivability. Even though she moves M and flies she has to get a little too close to the action in order to be effective, which makes her vulnerable to physical attacks, especially if you are Incinerated, Bitter Rival'd, or both! There is a fantastic 5 threat you can take if you don't want to deal with Wanda, which I'll discuss later.
Wanda plays best as a back point guard, you want to play her off-point in Demons Downtown, as Incinerate makes her fold like a paper bag. The benefit of playing Wanda is Asteroid M to move her, or Magneto, to a new location for effective punching.
I'll briefly run down the rest of the current-to-the-US affiliated choices and how they synergize with Magneto and his Leadership.
Mystique
Mystique does ok to gain incremental power from Magneto's Leadership and has a method to destroy terrain on her own with Expert Sabotage.
I actually planned on talking a lot more about Expert Sabotage, but this is as good of a place as any! Mystique can usually net 4 damage in a regular fashion with this ability, plus under Magneto gain up to 3 power for the team. Characters love to be on top of and around terrain and this is a fantastic way to snipe out a character with guaranteed damage that they cannot roll Dodge or Defense dice for. This is perfect for knocking out those Menacing Web Warriors with that Vigilante Spider Man!
Since she is a L mover, she has a great ability to get to a location to have Magneto drop there on his turn for some efficient Murdering, especially if there's some shiny new terrain for Magneto to throw also!
Sabertooth
Sabertooth does benefit from Magneto in the power he receives, but doesn't do much to help the rest of the team. Also being a L mover he can help set up Magneto Picks with Asteroid M, but besides that he doesn't do quite the work you want him to do. It usually helps Sabertooth stay around the 2 power range so he can strike back, or 3 power so he can flush his dice into a target to help, but with no throws (besides Weapon X, which really isn't worth taking) Sabertooth just kind of sits around. A fine pick if you need an affiliated body, but there are better choices.
Toad
Magneto's Box-mate does fairly well even on Magneto Leadership. His spender, the only non-Physical attack of the original 4, gives a guaranteed Incinerate, perfect for more efficient Magneto killing. Also great for passing off the single extract, which you likely should try to play, to a more mobile target. As mentioned earlier Toad is great at doing some objective work in your normally attrition game and should be included even though he doesn't quite do as much killing as you'd like.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver is best friends with Toad, giving you some objective control while punching. Quicksilver benefits from Magneto because EVERYTHING he does needs 2 power: extra L move, his spender with a built-in M move (and 6 dice to boot). The only thing he can't do with 2 power is Trickster/Can't Catch Me. So Magneto going wild throwing terrain only helps him to accomplish some quick objective control and also getting in position to drop Asteroid M.
Out of Affiliation Characters
So if you looked, there's kind of a common theme with how Brotherhood characters interact with Magneto, they often are the bearer of the benefit of terrain destruction but not the causer (though Wanda helped with this, and Juggernaut will DEFINITELY help with this when he is released in the US). So if you wanted more throw-y action to happen, you're going to need some out of affiliation characters.
Remember half a page ago when I was talking about Wanda's issues? Well if you want to sacrifice some of Wanda's killing power (about 20%) in exchange for a throw, a displacement, and a total dump truck of HP, look no further than MODOK!
Here's a quick spattering of a few other characters that fill out Magneto's Leadership well and why they do so. I'm focusing on lower threat characters for the most part due to potential taking Wanda and/or MODOK with Magneto so that leaves you with little options.
Valkyrie
Ok, it's time for the "hot take" of the article. I don't like Valkyrie that much. She does ok, but with the nerf to being able to chuck a 2 into a 2 for 4 power gone now she has some good punching power and throwing power but zero defensive ability. She works as a great surgical knife but don't expect her to hold D flanks and she does good in the middle of chaos. I personally don't like her, but I know a lot that do so that's why I'm including her.
Baron Zemo
It's kind of old hat at this point, but Zemo really does fit in everywhere when you need to do something aggressive. Rerolls, giving rerolls to others, anti-physical and high movement. He likes having the beneficiary of power from Magneto, and even though he doesn't have a throw, he's still a solid choice.
Enchantress
Amora got some serious nerfs this round, stealing objectives is now an action and you can only move one character on her turn, but she still has a lot going for her. She does give you power denial, non-physical attacks, and she can paint a target on her back that lets other characters operate without challenge.
Domino
Domino never made it into my lists, but it wasn't because she wasn't a good fit. Domino does a great job of dealing damage, gives you another auto-Incinerate in Grenade Bounce, and is often times starved for power, which Magneto provides.
Okoye
She's not quite as good as she used to be, but Bodyguard is still great at avoiding attacks on characters like Enchantress or go-for-broke turns. Taking 2 2s isn't the worst on lean threat ranges and Toad and Okoye work well being a little tankier than the average 2.
Medusa
Medusa suffered bad with no longer having auto-push and flurry a lot harder, but she's still a solid pick. Rerolls, placement, and character throws (maybe into terrain for extra power?), she can be a solid choice in a pinch.
Lizard
The new "best unaffiliated 3 in the game" and it's not really close. He offers a lot of things that Brotherhood gel with, and even though Mystique's Leadership gives him a better home (more on that later), he is a pound for pound tank capable of being incredibly hard to kill, the ability to go anywhere with a M move, Medium Base, and Wall Crawl. He does have some displacement in a Wild Throw plus a character or terrain throw, feeding into more Magneto tricks.
General Play Tips and Tricks
We will wrap this article up with general ideas and tricks while roster building and while playing with Magneto. As we progress through the series I will start going in-depth with scenarios and Team Tactics Cards, but will go over a few here as you get your feet wet with the Master of Magnetism.
- Magneto likes low scoring scenarios, preferably single extract situations (Alien Ship / Skrulls)
In short, I usually strived to win priority and pick Reds as they line up a lot better with what Brotherhood like to do. Unlike Black Order where I would only field 3 characters, here I'm almost always taking 5 so I can still play well into whatever Secure my opponent has thrown at me and should be flexible with almost any style.
- On B's and D's, commit Magneto to one side, don't put him in the middle.
As it is, Magneto has a rough time in the middle of the map (unless we are doing Map E) and always remember Asteroid M exists, and with new characters is way more viable to get Magneto somewhere else to kill or toss terrain (or both)
- Be aggressive with Team Tactics Cards
This is more of a general idea, but don't wait to use Medpack on Magneto or another target that took an early chunk. Erasing that bad attack can mean a lot of early scoring difference and either put the game in your driver's seat, or have an issue playing catchup late game. Use Asteroid M when you think a full Magneto turn will eliminate a key target, but it may not be the most "opportune" time to do it.
- Use Magneto's Constructs!
They aren't just a power battery! Use them in strategic locations to prevent Magneto (or other characters) from being pushed around. Remember enemy characters cannot overlap them, they have to move around them, but they also can throw them, so watch your placement. If you are about to run out of terrain, throwing one of your constructs doesn't cause you to have power loss as you will spawn a new one!
- Aside from Magneto's Constructs, terrain is finite
I tend to have a goal each game, to either: throw the size 4 on the table, or make sure I have Brace for the size 4. Brotherhood out of the gate has two characters that can throw Size 4 in Magneto and Wanda, take advantage of that and make them burn their Brace or eat 5 guaranteed damage!
After that, once terrain is gone, it's gone and Magneto's power goes down dramatically when he can't augment things with extra throw damage.
And last but not least...
- Reverse Polarity can push in ANY direction, and Magneto's spender is not good.
A Two-Parter! Sometimes Magneto is in an awkward position where he can't get rerolls, but since we can push and pull the enemy anywhere, it can be helpful to do a Range 3 attack just to pull someone into Magneto's Murdering Arms. 1 Reroll attack is better than none for sure!
As lucrative as Magneto's spender is, remember you aren't getting rerolls which is the bulk of Magneto's power, but it's a high price to spend that much power to maybe do a handful of damage to several characters. Magneto thrives on single target destruction! Unless it's some sweetheart situation where you have 3-4 characters, you REALLY need to hand out some stuns, or some other weird situation, I'd save the effort and throw some terrain instead for the power.
That's going to wrap up this Chapter! If you feel there was more we can get into you're absolutely right, but the more in-depth analysis is coming with Crisis and Team Tactics Card discussions!
Join us next time as we visit the other side of the Brotherhood Coin, building a roster around Mystique and her Leadership!
-HavoKDarK
Comments
Post a Comment