I played in the Total Escape tournament last weekend. This was my local hobby scene and it was also a Las Vegas Open (LVO) Qualifier event. So the winner gets entered into a top tier LVO tournament. We had 18 players turn up which is the largest tournament I’ve participated in for MCP.
This was a 4-round tournament with 90-minute rounds. There was also a painting competition. One of these went well for me and one of them didn’t.
Games
I played 4 games at the event. I technically brought a dual affiliated Shield & A-Force roster but I have no plans to play A-Force right now. So each game was with Shield.
Game 1 – X-Men
I played against Chubby Chalupa (his Discord handle). Crises:
Struggle for the Cube 
Gamma Wave- 17 threat
My squad:
- Nick Fury (4)
- Iron Man (3)
- Winter Soldier (3)
- Rogue (4)
- Mysterio (3)
Chalupa’s squad:
- Storm (3)
- Domino (3)
- X-23 (3)
- Honey Badger (2)
- Hulk (6)
Chalupa wisely took Hulk in his roster. And since he didn’t have priority he always went last and moved characters off my points. X-23 and Honey Badger work great together as a threat I have to take out even though they might have been holding extracts. His Domino also did excellent. Held an extract all game and I wasn’t able to daze her.
The MVP on my side is probaby Mysterio. He was able to stagger X-23, push her away, and generally be a thorn in my opponents side.
In the end Hulk throwing characters off my back point meant I had to try to steal his back point. With Shield Mobile I gave it a good shot. But Chalupa was too far ahead to catch all the way up.
Chubby Chalupa won 16 to 13.
Game 2 – Hydra
I played against Carnage (his Discord handle). Crises:
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan
- Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0
- 17 threat
My squad:
- Nick Fury (4)
- Iron Man (3)
- Winter Soldier (3)
- Rogue (4)
- Mysterio (3)
His squad:
- Red Skull, Master of Hydra (5)
- Baron Zemo (3)
- Baron Strucker (3)
- Arnim Zola (3)
- Mysterio (3)
I got pretty lucky in this game. Iron Man kept rolling wilds to push Red Skull off of the point. Baron Zemo came for my home point and Rogue rolled well and dazed him in one go. And every time my opponent did damage I’d activate that character and heal on the Extremis console. That prevented a lot of dazes over the course of the game.
Arnim Zola put Scientific Method on Mysterio which layers with his existing defenses. So if you don’t pay any power Mysterio has 7 defense dice! Or you can pay 2 power to remove one of his defensive buffs.
Mysterio and Strucker went for my left secure but with Winter Soldier, Fury, and Agents I was able to hold it down.
I won 20 to 10.
Game 3 – Web Warriors
I played against Ben A.
- Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan
- Infinity Formula
- 17 threat
My squad:
- Fury (4)
- Winter Soldier (3)
- Iron Man (3)
- Mysterio (3)
- Venom (4)
Ben’s squad:
- Miles Moralis (3)
- Ghost Spider (3)
- Venom (4)
- Black Cat (3)
- Doctor Voodoo (4)
This was the wildest game of the tournament for me. For rounds 1 & 2 Ben rolled hot and I couldn’t do anything. Rounds 3 & 4 the dice switched and everything worked out in my favor.
Ultimately I did well with attrition but Ben had objective stealing characters. He wisely positioned Black Cat on my Infinity Formula denying me a point and getting Black Cat enough power to steal an extract and run away. And of course Voodoo denied a couple of key points through the game. The game was close and had one or two things gone in my way I maybe could have pulled out the win.
Ben won 19 to 16.
Game 4 – Avengers
I played against Kris D.
- Struggle for the Cube Continues
- Terrigen Cloud Sweeps Over City
- 17 threat
My squad:
- Fury (4)
- Winter Soldier (3)
- She-Hulk (6)
- Rogue (4)
Ben’s squad:
- Sam Wilson (3)
- Doctor Voodoo (4)
- Black Widow (2)
- Toad (2)
- Hulk (6)
Sam Wilson might be one of the harder matchups for my team. I have lots of characters who are good at attrition and Sam Wilson makes attrition extra challenging. I brought She-Hulk hoping she’d get a chance to fight Hulk but Kris wisely kept his Hulk away from her.
Hulk actually did very well. He double moved and threw my agents backwards towards Voodoo so even with their objective dropping shenanigans I couldn’t recover the extract.
Doctor Voodoo using his power to possess a key character once or twice a game is super strong. In this game I was even able to daze Voodoo but he had already possessed someone and the way the rules are written the Brother Daniel token doesn’t come off.
Still it was a close game. And Kris played very well.
Kris won 16 to 13.
Takeaways for The Future
Overall I went 1 and 3. Not great. Haha.
My biggest takeaway is I need a better 17-threat roster. Every single game happened to be 17-threat. And while I can run something at 17-threat. I can’t run a really good utility piece that’s good at everything like Hulk. He either needs 16 or 18 to get into the roster.
I could add Juggernaut who is a 5-threat so he’d fit well into 17 threat. It would be:
- Nick Fury (4)
- Winter Soldier (3)
- Black Widow (2)
- Juggernaut (5)
- Any 3-threat
I should also swap Gamma Wave for Demons Downtown. They’re both E shaped secure crises. I brought Hulk who is excellent on Gamma when you’re playing 2nd. But it’s risky for me if I have priority. Especially when I don’t bring Shuri or Black Panther. The easiest switch is to use Demons Downtown. As soon as I get The Original Human Torch I’ll be making this switch since he’s immune to Incinerate.
Get an unaffiliated 5-threat character. I didn’t take any 5-threats. Juggernaut would work, or Scarlet Witch, MODOK, or maybe even Sentinel Prime. 
Shield really needs an affiliated 4-threat besides the leader. That will make roster building much easier at certain threat levels. I’m hoping they get one soon so I can include that character. (Yes I know they have Steve Rogers First Avenger there’s something about that character that makes me question how to even use him)
I might also consider swapping Brace for Impact with Indomitable. That could prevent collision damage AND it can prevent a model from being thrown off a point. That might have saved me in game 1 against the Hulk capturing my back Gamma point.
Painting Competition
In better news there was a painting competition which I was very excited about. I started seeing excellent paint jobs in the weeks leading up to the event in our local Colorado MCP discord. And while I have some pretty good looking models I was blown away by the talent of our local area.
Mad Mojo especially has some incredible looking models. In the end I did win the painting competition with the help from Mysterio’s helmet and Deadpool’s airbrushed “Fwoosh”. 
I absolutely love this part of the hobby and want to continue practicing my skills.
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