Continuing (apparently) my series on how to build a roster, another important decision to make is which Crises to pick. I often refer to the set of crises as “scenarios”, so don’t be confused if I use that word instead. In this article, I’ll go over some of the thought processes I go through when selecting crisis cards for my rosters.
When building a roster, after choosing characters, I often start by selecting secure crises. I feel like secures have a larger effect on the game because they have a constant effect on how the battle is shaped – there’s a big difference between having to split your team in half for a C or D secure versus just brawling in the center for an E. As I went over in my scenario article, I tend to break the crises down along two axes: Liveliness (I.e. how many points are available per turn) and Flipancy (whether it’s a “flip” secure or not). The main concerns are: attrition Teams prefer low scoring scenarios, slow teams and teams with low power generation prefer non-flip secures. For example, Teams that hit hard at range 2 or 3, but don’t have a ton of movement or pushes really prefer low-scoring, central, non-flip secures. Teams with long range attacks or a lot of movement, with decent power generation, prefer spread out flip secures. Often, the shape and number of points of a secure are more important than the side effects – but low power teams love infinity formula, and attrition Teams love the incinerates from Demons Downtown.
For extract crises, the decision is far less impactful, mostly because there are only three categories of extracts: multiple extracts, single extracts, and Research Station. In general, attrition Teams prefer single extracts – but so do scenario teams that have multiple extract stealing abilities. Teams that can run lots of affiliated characters prefer the multiple extracts, especially spider-infected since each character can only hold one. Research Station is completely different, since it tends to play out more similar to a secure than an extract, so if your team likes E secures, take Research Station too.
There are two other considerations that affect both types of crises. First, try to be careful about scenarios that your team is good at, but other teams dominate. It’s extremely dangerous to take Gamma Wave, because it is so good for Kingpin Criminal Syndicate and Malekith – or Hammers, because it is so good for S.H.I.E.L.D. and Malekith. Make sure you have a very good reason before taking either of those two crises. Another consideration is the threat value of the scenarios you take. Teams with expensive leaders (except Malekith) tend to prefer higher threat levels, and scenario teams tend to prefer lower threat levels. This is much more relevant for your extract crises, since players will more often choose secures when they win priority and therefore the other player will always have access to the threat levels of their extracts.