Marvel: Crisis Protocol ‘Midnight Suns Vs Dracula’ 12 Threat List Challenge
Atomic Mass Games posed an interesting challenge. Who you would take from the Midnight Suns to face Dracula if you only have 12 Threat?
Normally, I don’t really delve too deep into theory crafting lists but for some reason I can’t get this one out of my head. Maybe it’s all the pumpkin spice everything right now or maybe it’s just because it’s spooky season. Or maybe it’s all the vampire movies I’ve been watching lately. Whatever the case is I keep circling back around to this question posted by Atomic Mass Games.
via Atomic Mass Games (Facebook)
“Rally the Midnight Suns to face Dracula! Who will you recruit for this epic showdown when darkness falls and evil rises?”
Midnight Suns vs Dracula
Let’s back up for a second. If you’ve never really done any list building in Marvel: Crisis Protocol you might be wondering “what the heck are these Midnight Suns?” Well, they are an affiliation of heroes that you can take. When you do, they can then tap into a Leadership ability to gain a boost. It’s kind of like a bonus for playing a thematic list.
Now, looking at that list from the Affiliations List, you can see some of the same faces…but also some new ones. And also one that’s missing (sorry Black Cat). The new ones are included in the Monsters Unleashed Box.
I’ve actually done an unboxing for them and taken a closer look at the miniatures — they are all pretty neat! As far as their rules, I’ve also tackled those, too. I won’t rehash all those rules but there is ONE character card we might want to look at before we dive into the list building properly.
Something about “know your enemy.” In this case we can see that Dracula’s defenses are slightly lower to energy attacks. If you can tab him with an incinerate, that’s going to be pretty effective. The down side is that Dracula has ways to remove special conditions and also REALLY likes to cause bleed for some reason…
Midnight Sons – Who To Take?
First and foremost, we probably want to take the Leader of the Midnight Sons. That’s going to be Blade. He’s really our only option right now and his ability “Bump in the Night” is actually ridiculously good for movement. For only 4 Threat and the fact that he’s the leader, I’d think he’d be an auto-include.
Unfortunately, that does mean we probably don’t want to take The Immortal Hulk in our list. As tempting as it would be to bring this absolute unit, he’s 7 Threat (which is the most expensive threat I can think of currently in the game). Him plus Blade would put at 11 threat and that’s just not great. Plus, it would only be 2 characters. So maybe in an alternate list.
Call A Doctor?
Doctor Strange does have some really nice options. First up, is basic builder is an energy attack that’s range 4 and it’s energy based. All good things in this fight. He also brings a nice heal with Oshtur’s Refuge. Now, using his powers for healing instead of damage might be a trade off you don’t want. But still, I don’t think he’s a bad option. But he’s 5 threat…
Doctor Voodoo on the other hand provides some interesting options in his own right. The main thing here is that he can do a lot of power manipulation. If you’re attacking Dracula and you manage to get by his mystic defense, Doctor Voodoo and Sap Power or hit with the Staff of Legba to also cause some energy loss. Having said all that, he’d also be a nice juicy target for Dracula sooooo maybe we put him on back-up for now.
Bring Your Own Ghost
Okay. This might be the right call. Ghost Rider has just the right tools in the box to be REAL BAD for Dracula. His basic attack is a 6 die energy attack that can cause Hex. Flames of Hell can cause Incinerate, and Penance Stare might be Mystic but it can also end Dracula with a good spike of damage. He’s also immune to Bleed, so take that Drac!
The down side is that he’s also 5 Threat. So…that could be a problem. If we want to swarm Dracula with other, lower threat characters.
Is Moon Knight a ghost? Eh…not really. But I think he’s thematically a good option. He’s got beef with Vampires. He’s also got some weird rules that could throw a monkey wrench in Dracula’s plan. However, there’s a different Threat 3 character I think would a slightly better option…
Just Punch It
So Iron Fist isn’t the tankiest character around. However, he would get Master Martial Artist re-rolls vs Dracula’s attacks. Furthermore, his main attack is also energy based. But what REALLY makes me want to take him is The Iron Fist attack. If you can get to 8 energy, Drac is in for a world of hurt.
And just really quick, I probably wouldn’t opt for Black Panther, Chosen of Bast because his attacks are mystic based. And I wouldn’t opt for Wong unless I had 2 Threat left over to spend on him — Wong is actually a really good play for 2 Threat for most lists, however.
So, if I’m assembling a Midnight Sons list with a limit of 12 Threat to take on Dracula specifically, and I’m starting with Blade, he’s who I’d take:
Midnight Sons, Dracula Hunters
- Blade
- Ghost Rider
- Iron Fist
This would be 12 Threat of all out offense. Their goal is to get in there and setup a kill-shot from either Ghost Rider or Iron Fist. Maybe back-to-back depending on the turn order. I think this presents Dracula with a couple of really bad targets, too. Who does he try to go after? If he attacks Iron Fist or Blade, Ghost Rider will also get energy. If he goes after Ghost Rider he might be able to do some damage, but that’s only going to juice up a counter even faster. Plus Ghost Rider is immune to a bunch of Special Conditions.
Alternatively, if you wanted to swap out Ghost Rider for Doctor Strange for a bit more longevity in the fight, I could see that as an option, too.
Although, I do have one other question…If this is a 12 Threat List to hunt Dracula, then what’s Dracula’s 12 Threat list of Thralls? Because that could REALLY change things up…
What squad would you assemble at 12 Threat to hunt Dracula?
