Well I currently was working on Crisis setups for your Brotherhood rosters, but we got some nice toys in our Affiliation Update, so I feel we need to talk about that while the iron's hot. I'll also cover Juggernaut finally since his US release is very soon as well. Brotherhood picks up 4! new characters with the update.
Juggernaut
Rogue
Gambit
Colossus
Juggernaut was known, just waiting to release, Rogue/Gambit could easily have been Brotherhood, but also not due to balancing, but we are very glad they are here. Colossus is an odd duck that I'll hit on when his time comes, but without further ado:
I've been specifically avoiding Juggernaut since he's not out in the US yet, and I haven't played games with him, but that's about to change in a hurry. Nothing Stops the Juggernaut (except characters) but his force is one to be reckoned with to be sure. In Magneto lists he's going to be a workhorse blowing up terrain, damaging characters, and being another tanky piece that players are going to have to choose to remove or target Magneto, giving him more free reign to wreak havoc. It will be hard to have Magneto, Scarlet Witch, and Juggernaut on the same roster so likely players will have to choose who they like better. His big base makes up for S move and if he does move he gets more power and dice on his attack, making move/attack actions not the worst for him. He loses some displacement protection but gains a throw on his injured side for terrain or characters. You can't really go wrong with Juggernaut at all.
In Mystique lists he can play a great enforcer, an 8 dice attack with his builder (assuming he moved) likely means he's getting that push off (a push that has no size restriction). He's tanky, has Damage Reduction, punches hard, and does good guaranteed damage with Nothing Stops the Juggernaut. Do You Know Who I Am has particular importance in Mystique lists since Juggs can throw something when it's not his activation, and if you do it during Mystique's turn, that means that opponents can't play TT cards or reactive superpowers, so that Size 4 coming at your head has to have dodge dice rolled (sorry Brace). The card also fits well with Magneto lists to get some extra damage in, I just wanted to bring it up specifically for Mystique because of that interaction.
Overall Juggernaut is great, and will fit in with however you build your list, but I would likely only either take him, or Wanda in my roster unless you are going heavy Magneto games.
It might be time to pour one out for my old boy Sabertooth, because it's getting harder and harder to have him in a split list (though may still work out in a Mystique list, because Rogue does SO MUCH MORE for the Affiliation and now that she is Affiliated, she can take up that slot if needed, and it's so much lets just look at her entire card:I believe I said before that I would have taken Rogue unaffiliated as my new 4, but now I don't have to. Lets see what she doesn't give you that Sabertooth does.
L move
Healing Factor
Out of Activation potential to Daze characters.
So Rogue has M move, but flies so it makes up a little for the lack of L movement. She trades Healing Factor for DR, and yes she cannot Daze out of activation, but Juggernaut can (see above) and she's a lot more threatening and can actually generate more power!
Rogue also has a charge, which is slightly unusual for a M character (Thor comes to mind as a M movement character with a charge, but most are L movers), with Magneto, she's going to have power to hit hard. She has the same threatening range as Sabertooth but also gives you access to Energy Attacks which for Magneto Brotherhood are sorely lacking. Her spender is a cheap guaranteed throw for any character that isn't Dormammu, that is if they survive the 7 dice attack. It almost reminds me of Hail to the King for how cheap it is but how much potential damage it can do, it doesn't Stagger but lets face it, most of the time when HttK goes off the character just gets Dazed anyway.
She gets a throw, for all types of throwable buildings helping Mags leadership, and the rest of her kit is designed for power denial and damage.
In Magneto lists she's a powerhouse, you will likely never play Sabertooth again if you normally put Magneto on the table with Rogue by your side.
In Mystique lists she's not as objective happy as Sabertooth is, but she can be a good piece of muscle if you are playing a lot of other objective oriented characters. Those that played Medusa for some extra muscle will probably be happy with Rogue in affiliation. I think she's an auto-include in all lists, and depending on your feelings, Sabertooth might be riding the pine for a while (this is extremely hard for me to write as I love that big furball).
Rogue does have a card, Pardon me Sugah, but it only synergizes with Magneto on your team and likely you wont see the other characters on the table for the other effects, I'd leave it at home.
This was a surprise indeed! I expected Rogue likely to be affiliated but didn't think we'd get BOTH of them. Obviously there's comic reasons Gambit is in Brotherhood but this is definitely a nice addition, so lets talk about Gambit!
Gambit brings some interesting options to your team. He gives you another energy attack source, can get some easy free pushes and potential free damage. I think he has one big flaw and that's a severe lack of power. Mags can work with this though feeding some extra power so he can accomplish his goals, but if you can get 7 power, a Beam 4 attack with 7 dice that counts wilds twice is not bad at all (and if you have extra power, you can force some wilds also). He's a nice piece that brings in some punch to Magneto lists for sure.
Mystique lists I believe are going to have a rough time with him, she does give free power in the form of rebates on extracts, but if you were running a Mystique only roster I think he stays home. He doesn't have any staying power, just killing, which is needed sometimes, but Rogue has more killing power at 4 threat, more mobility because flying, and Damage Reduction, so Remy is kind of floating in space. More testing will be required for sure, and since I consider both Mags and Mystique when I make lists, he will likely sit in my roster for now, but I think he supports Split lists or Magneto based lists better than a pure Mystique list.
Gambit does have some cards also, one is a cheeky way for him to power up if he's near enemy characters, and the other only works if Gambit isn't X-Men affiliated, and grants Stealth for a round. Both I don't think are worth taking slots for to be honest.
This is a weird one, so I'll keep this brief. I think Colossus just doesn't fit mostly what Brotherhood wants to do. He's slow, tanky, but susceptible to pushes and advances, so he doesn't work well with Mystique (especially at 4 threat). His attacks are ok but being S and Range 2 he's going to have to get up close as he has no other way to get up there. Might be good as a back point babysitter, but you're using 4 threat to fill that role and he's not as impactful as Kingpin is. He's not hot in Mags side either as another S character with worse attacks than Magneto leaves you in the dust. I used to run Kingpin with Magneto sometimes and the pain of 2 S movers is really felt, at least MODOK can snipe you across the board.
Overall I'm super excited for these new additions, to sum up:
Juggernaut: Take in all lists, but I would choose between Wanda and Juggernaut as my 5 if I'm running Magneto in my list at all.
Rogue: Take in all lists, you can pretty easily cut Sabertooth and just run Rogue and not feel you're missing out.
Gambit: Great with Magneto, might not be good enough with pure Mystique, but can find a home in the Flex lists.
Colossus: Take Indominable and leave him on sprue as it regards to Brotherhood.
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