Marvel: Crisis Protocol – Sandman Breaks The Rules
Another classic Spider-Man villain is coming to Marvel: Crisis Protocol. The Sandman is here to break the rules and his opponents!
I just want to start off with this little factoid about Sandman. He can toss out a 12 dice attack. YEP! Sandman is one of the hardest hitting characters out there. Now, how you actually get to do that is because he cheats. Wait, what?! Yep. Sandman cheats at the game because he gets to break the rules. How so? We’re going to get into all that below…
Sandman is known for being able to keep his opponents off balance and out of position by moving the ground beneath them rapidly and violently. He can bury them in sand or blast them out of position with a blast of stinging sand. This 4 Threat Value character also brings some unique rules and a unique playstyle sure to give the Spider Foes some new strategies against their web head opponents!
Sandman In Marvel: Crisis Protocol
There’s something we need to get into before we go super far into his rules. Marvel: Crisis Protocol has had constructs before (thanks Magneto). And we’ve seen characters have access to Grunts before. What we haven’t seen is a situation where we’ve got Grunts that are constructs…which is exactly what Sandman is doing now.
That’s basically how he’s cheating the game. Normally, in MCP, a Character can’t have more than one associate Grunt with them. However, Sandman’s rules overwrite the core rules and break them. He’s allowed to bring two of these Grunts along and that’s bad news for your opponent.
Let’s just skip down to the superpower “Create Sand Construct” on his card. As you can see from the first line of text, you’ll get to have 2 Sand Constructs in your Squad as opposed to the standard restriction of just 1. Furthermore, they (the Sand Constructs) must activate before Sandman. Additionally, Sandman can create a Sand Construct if there’s fewer than 2 in play. It costs him 2 stamina to do it, but has Healing Factor [1] which means he’ll get 1 stamina back after he activates for the round.
And incase you were thinking “oh, he takes damage so he gets 2 energy on top of that!” Nope. I had the same question and it’s plainly stated in the rules that’s not how that works:
This is not an enemy effect and therefore it doesn’t give him energy as well. That said, when the enemy does damage to a Sand Construct, Sandman DOES gain 1 energy from those enemy effects. So there’s that little loophole thanks to Sand Manipulation. And while we’re still talking about his superpowers he can also Reabsorb those Sand Constructs for 3 energy. This KO’s the Sand Construct but allow Sandman to teleport within range 1 of that Sand Construct and also heals him for 1 stamina. Not too shabby!
His attacks are also solid across the board. Silicate Strike is only range 2 but it’s 5 dice and it can cause a Short throw as well. It’s his basic builder attack. From there, he can Sand Blast which is a range 3 beam attack for 5 dice as well. And, if the attack does any damage to the target, they also get pushed Short.
Finally, we have Punchin’ Your Ticket which is the most powerful attack Sandman has. This is a range 2 attack for 8 dice that costs 4 energy. However, you also get to add 2 dice to the attack for each allied Sand Construct within range 2 of the target character. That’s right folks, if you manage to get both constructs in range this attack is goes all the way up to 12 dice. That’s a spicy sandstorm!
Sandman also has solid defensive stats with 4/4/3 on both sides of his card. He also goes from 6 stamina to 7 when he becomes injured. He’s only got a Short move stat but he’s on a larger base. Oh and don’t forget about his Wall Crawling to get around. He’s got that teleport so he’s faster than you might think. Sandman is also size 3 and all of that is in a Threat Level 4 package.
For me the real challenge is just going to be attempting to pull off the 12 die attack at least once per game. I know my opponents will be avoiding that power play — but that’s also the entire point. Anytime a real heavy hitter shows up it make your opponent do a double take. That mind game can lead to them making a mistake. And with Sandman, you’re just a step away from a tidal wave of sand crashing down!
Sandman is currently up for pre-order and comes in a box with three other characters for Marvel: Crisis Protocol. He’s slated to land on May 17, 2024!
Also, I just want to say that it’s a darn shame there’s no cross play between MCP and Star Wars: Shatterpoint. If only for the memes.
Who hates sand, now!?
