MCP Monthly at The Bearded Card Trader 11/12/21

MCP Monthly at The Bearded Card Trader 11/12/21

Hey folks and welcome back :-)

Finally wrote another blog rather than a YouTube video. Which has been the focus of most of my bag reps recently. Feels nice to do a written one for this :-)

Although this isn't so much a battle report as it is a summary of an event I went to. That event was the MCP Monthly tourney at The Bearded Card Trader just outside Stanley in England. I've never been before, but I've seen their events up online and always wanted to go. So decided to make the road trip down, which turns out easily doable to drive there and back in a day. I wasn't flying solo either, Paul and Gareth from the Scottish meta went as well so we made a good representation of ourselves :-)

I have to say it's a great store, nice and bright, plenty of place to play games and a good amount of stock. They have an online shop here and I'd recommend checking them out if you're ever in the area :-) 

Team Composition. 

So prior to the event I was on the fence on what to take; Guardians or Web Warriors. I like them both, they both do what I want, and new Guardians rules are fantastic. I did, in the end, settle on Web Warriors. The list is pretty straight forward and most of it isn't really that surprising or unexpected in regards to which affiliated Web Warriors made the cut. 

The Hulkbuster is in the list because its a fantastic control piece and great aggression. Coupled with the Helios Bombardment it can really ruin someone's day. Having access to Miles' defensive reroll and Gwens lifesaver ability can really keep it in the fight longer than it usually would get. 

Ms Marvel is in the list because I think she is a legit great piece. Inhuman Reroll, a throw, a place, 4 energy defence and the Better Tomorrow card with Miles I really love. A shame she isn't Web Warriors affiliated but also makes sense that she isn't; we can't have everything we want :-) 

Black Widow and Okoye are there pretty much for the same reason: a model I can leave at the back to secure an objective or in Black Widows case grab an objective and run like hell. Before the big errata they both were solid and reliable choices and in my opinion this hasn't changed. 

Tactics Choices. 

As you all know we are up to 10 tactics choices. Most of them such as Medpack, Brace etc speak for themselves. All reliable cards that if played right can really turn a game on its head. 

A Better Tomorrow, as I mentioned earlier, is a card I love. I genuinely don't know whether people think it's good or bad but every time Ive played I have gotten so much work from it. The sheer distance you can move is incredible, great for an aggressive or defensive move. 

Helios Laser Bombardment is arguably one of the strongest cards to exist. The crazy amount of dice you can sink into this and melt someone off the table is bonkers. Coupled with the fact that 3 cost Iron Man can use it just makes it incredibly good. 

Tactics Lineup. 

I'd like to say my tactics line up was because I thought about it and picked things that would compliment my list, but I can't haha. I picked what I enjoy playing. Some of them were picked because I know how to play them like Sword base, Infinity Formula was there because it helps out a power hungry Web Warriors team. Intrusion seals is a fantastic scenario and it's so much fun if you're willing to take the risk to jump through portals. 

Round 1 vs Sam. Web Warriors v Guardians of the Galaxy. 

"Oh dear" was my first thought at this match, Starlord was going to come back in a karma-like ass kicking for not picking him haha. Was a great game vs Sam and very back and forth. I managed to keep ahead on scenario and stumble across the line for a very close 18-16 finish for me. The Hulkbuster dance off deffo didn't end in my favour, as much as I tried to control his Hulkbuster I just couldn't keep mine in the game long enough to make much of a dent. 

Round 2 vs Martin. Web Warriors v Midnight Sons. 

My next game was vs MCP podcaster Martin who does the Tales of Crisis podcast which you can find on the Apple podcast page or via the Across the Bifrost website. I was a bit worried about this game as I know Martin is a pretty good player. I went with a spicey list which was 7 wide and consisted of mostly 3 cost characters and Martin went with 4 wide and characters that were mostly monsters haha. My plan was to use my numbers to keep ahead on scenario and "win" early. Unfortunately the scenarios, intrusion portals and montesi books, slow the game down a lot and this didn't work. The plan worked rounds one and two but by three my team started to get dazed in earnest, unable to keep up with the sustained damage. Martin unfortunately couldn't rip through my characters quick enough due to some spikey defence rolls and we ended at 14-14 draw. I was happy with the result given how much of my team was left etc.

Round 3 v Gareth. Web Warriors v Avengers. 

(didn't take a pic because I forgot 😑) 

My last game of the day was v Gareth. One of my meta companions and road trip buddies. Gareth opted to go with Stevengers and I was happy to see Mr Rodgers back on the board. It's been far too long. The game was very close, both scoring well but an unlucky Killmonger failed to take down the Amazing Spiderman which allowed me to jump ahead on scenario by quite a bit. The game finished 18-12 to myself. 

Overall. 

Great day to be honest. I went 2-0-1 and finished 2nd which I was very happy about. Paul finished first and took the top slot and well earned. I was happy with how I did but recognise some of my success was down to luck of my opponents bad luck. Having played Sam Spam so much lately it was nice to play something, and someone, that wasn't. I'm still very rusty with Web warriors and still forget some of their key plays. 

In all honesty my next faction will be Xmen when the new stuff arrives, or Brotherhood of Mutants when Juggernaut makes his presance known officially. 3 great games today vs Sam, Martin and Gareth and I'll deffo be back to The Bearded Card Trader for their next event in January (covid pending). The event link is here if anyone is interested in stats:  MCP Monthly