By Phillip Melvin
Returning with another MCP Crisis deep dive, today I’ll be looking at the 14 Threat Extract called Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (a.k.a. Senators). If you are newer to Marvel Crisis, I suggest checking out Bret’s Scenario Overview first before giving this article a read.
Crisis Story Background
While the X-men have fought many powerful foes over the years, none have been a larger adversary than the Sentinels. These AI controlled Mutant Hunters are the byproduct of humanity’s attempt to combat the “mutant menace” and often lead to dystopian futures where Sentinels reign supreme. In the well known Days of Future Past Storyline, the creation of these Sentinels is attributed to the assassination of one Robert Kelly.
A fictional US Senator, Robert Kelly rose to prominence for his anti-mutant agenda. However it wasn’t until he pushed for passage of the Mutant Registration Act, which would have made it legal to persecute mutants, that he became a target. The shape-shifting Mutant Mystique, prior to a vote on the Act, assassinated Senator Kelly which sparked anti-mutant hysteria and a government authorization of the Sentinel Project. However this backfired as this new Sentinel police force determined that the best way to stop mutants was to control all people.
Eventually the Sentinels took over the world, defeating not just Mutants but other Superheroes who tried to prevent their dominance. The remaining rebels in this bleak future decided to send one of their own back in time to prevent the assassination and rewrite history. Whether that time traveler was Kitty Pryde, Bishop, or Wolverine the goal was always to prevent Senator Kelly from getting killed on that fateful day.
Where to find this Crisis
Comes with the Magneto & Toad Box
Crisis Basics
This Extract Crisis is at the bottom end of the Threat range at only 14. While it does contain 3 objective Tokens along the center-line, it’s still a single extract Crisis thanks to the 2 empty safe house tokens.
Unlike the other two single Extract Crises (Skrulls, Alien Ship), this one doesn’t involve rolling dice to find the true Objective Token. Instead when you interact with a Safe House, you just flip the Token to find out if you guessed the correct location of the Senator. This means that while luck is involved, the Senator is guaranteed to be found by the 3rd Token guess.
Once a player finds the Senator, they will gain 2 VP per turn. However keeping a hold of it will be difficult with the penalty of Short Movement and -1 to Defense and Dodge
Crisis Strategy
Finding the Senator token requires no more than basic guessing and can be accomplished by any character. Rather the real strategy with this Crisis is holding onto the Senator once he is found.
The forced Short Movement is a big detriment to the typical characters that many rely on for Objective grabbing. Black Cat and Quicksilver, both Long movers, lose mobility while holding the Senator that is key to their survival. Most faster characters also have lower natural Defense so a -1 penalty will lead to them getting gunned down pretty fast while trying to score.
Instead you want to reach for characters that are more durable and have movement tricks to make up for the Short Movement. Some of the biggest (pun intended) examples are Hulk with Gamma Leap, Juggernaut with Nothing Stops the Juggernaut, or Malekith with Black Bifrost. Having durability from damage reduction or big Health pools is another good trait for choosing who can hold the Senator and not immediately die from the Defense penalty.
As the opposing player, your goal will be to strip this single Extract so your opponent can’t score it multiple Rounds in a row. Standard plan will be to take advantage of the Defense reduction and just murder them. If you have Incinerate to stack with the Senator penalty, then even 4-5 dice builders can carve out large chunks of health. If you commit to plan murder, watch out for things like Mission Objective or Shield Grunts who can toss the Senator back to their allies upon getting Dazed or KOd.
Objective stealing is another option, albeit a more dangerous one. Two of the classic choices of Black Cat and Enchantress either don’t like the Short Movement, reduced Defense, or both and will make poor Senator holders. Instead, you may want to look at Doctor Voodoo who rather than Steal can use Brother Daniel to force the opponent to drop the Senator. You can then have a much more durable ally pick it up while Voodoo remains safe.
Affiliations that like to play Senators
- Malekith Cabal: Likes playing the attrition game at low Threat. Regardless of the Threat level though, Malekith likes to murder lower Defense Senator holders and Black Bifrost means he can grab it himself and port to safety if needed
- Shadowlands Daredevil Criminal Syndicate: Leadership provides re-rolls against targets holding Objectives. His already preferred roster of Rapid Fire characters can live the dream against these lower Defense targets (especially if you can also apply incinerate
- Star-Lord Guardians of the Galaxy: Affiliation that already enjoys playing on low Threat values due to a cheap yet effective Core. His team of Condition stacking attackers with a Leadership that provides re-rolls loves letting the opponent pick up the Senator only to get murdered
- Crimson Dynamo Winter Guard: Already has a bunch of Slow movers and prefers single Extracts that don’t require spreading out their Team. Darkstar’s Dimensional portal can Place a Character Range 3 even if they are holding an Objective.
- Sam Wilson Avengers: Brings a cheap Core and supports the great single Extract holder Hulk. Leadership ability provides Healing and more importantly free Movement to help keep the Senator holder safe
- Mystique Brotherhood: Affiliated Juggernaut and Toad makes getting the Senator and holding onto it a breeze. With this effective core costing only 10 Threat, can tailor the rest of your Team to handle the other Crisis
- Nick Fury Shield: The Shield Grunts are disposable objective holders who can throw the Senator back towards your allies upon death. Shield also has tons of 3 Threat roster options so don’t mind playing at lower Threat if 14 is chosen.
Conclusion
Senators is a single Extract Crisis, but one that doesn’t require lucky dice rolls to find the scoring element. This Crisis also lets you leverage a 14 Threat game that your opponent’s Roster may struggle with. Try it at your next game night if for no other reason than to be prepared if your opponent drops it against you.
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Thanks for reading, we’ll see you next time!