Now for the exciting part! What am I using? Well I am using one of the best affiliations and one of the worst. I am using the Black Order which has been my main affiliation since I began playing MCP. Back in the days when every podcast and blog spoke on how bad of a squad they were. How expensive Thanos was while equipped with gems and was a trap for newer players. It took about two years for the meta at large to realize how good Black Order is. And today it is hard to see a tournament where there isn't a BO player in the top ranks. I literally only played that one faction since they were released and I feel the most comfortable with them. They fill a specific role for me now and I use them for match ups were I know they can dominate. If I am playing 16 threat, an opponent with lots of 3 threat characters, or other squads that want to brawl, Thanos and the Black Order will hit the Tabletop.
But most my games have been with arguably the worst affiliation, the Defenders. According to the stats in the TTS leagues, Defenders are one of the least taken. Now don't take that as gospel but with almost no one playing them and their lack of Team Tactics Cards(only one so far) they aren't the poster boys when you think of competitive play. But for me I have found them to give me a tool box of tactical choices.
I like to fight. The reason I played BO in the first place is I want to daze my opponents and be oppressive. What's your strategy? I don't care because I just dazed all your characters! The Defenders give me a mix of fighters and control. Dr. Strange is one of the most flexible Characters in the game. His leadership ability means I can make one of my attacks per turn target your weakest defense and if I do damage you will be hexes, leading to your output of damage being weaker and your defenses being even more vulnerable. Strange allows me to heal other characters, buff everyone's defenses, manipulate my opponent's position, and most importantly I have full rerolls that take away from the randomness of dice. Strange is really the MVP.
Game one had me taking on X-Men at 17 threat, Riot sparks and Alien ships. They matched ended up being Strange and Vodoo tanking all the damage in the lower right of the map while Wong desperately trying to keep them alive. I ended up losing both my doctors. But this meant Hulk was able to walk across the map and do as he pleased. Hulk being able to beam 3 characters is game changing. In one turn he was able to Ko two characters and daze a third. Hulk being unmolested for most the game was how I got the W. I won it 13 to 9 and was headed to another batch of Xavier's best.
Game two had me facing X-men again and a buddy I always have the pleasure playing against whenever we go to tournaments together. The missions were Portals overrun and Research Station. At 16 threat this was the perfect setup for my Black Order. I ignored both side objectives and ran directly for the middle. 
The damage output of the Black Order was in full effect. Covus sliced through the mutants with little resistance and pushed forward with the researcher. By the time my opponent could consolidate his forces to the middle it was too late. He had lost most of his squad and in the end I knocked out his entire squad and ended the game scoring 19 to 8. And leaving me ahead in our on going grudge match.
The finals had me playing against one of the previous tournaments winners in our city's circuit. He was a tough opponent who told me he wanted to brawl. With him playing Midnight Sons I knew it was time to bring out the best fighters in the game. It was time for the Black Order to decend. Our mission was Alien Ships and Demons Downtown. This is the slowest scoring combination which is the best for my affiliation. I can fight and rack up victory points by taking out models. The game really came down to us slugging it out. I took out his Ironfist on turn 2. My opponent tried to
daze out Corvus early with a seige of darkness but with cover and my damage reduction I ended up surviving with 1 stamina left. The next turn Corvus was able to death blow, reposition away to medpack and avoid retaliation. The battle was really grueling with me losing Proxima Midnight and getting Corvus dazed. However one of my favorite Team Tactics Cards gave me the play of the game. Blood to spare let me do a Death Blow powered up with Thanos that lead to me taking out two characters with the flurry. Being able to KO a character during my opponent's turn is devastating. The game ended with Thanos having Bitter Rivals on him, throwing a 10 dice attack at Moon Knight to table my opponent. I won the game 13 to 6 while holding all objectives.
I had 3 fantastic games and claimed my first tournament win in MCP. I have made slight changes with the roaster but the core is still there. I am really enjoying the tools I have and the flexibility to make a squad that can take on almost anything. I will be making more articles going in depth into my strategies but this is just a taste. Hopefully I can continue this undefeated train for a bit longer. Though it does feel.....Strange, pun intended.