Thor is coming out soon and he looks like a beast. I’ve got some ideas on teams I’m keen to try him on. I haven’t really grappled with building 18 threat teams yet, so I’ve limited myself to 17, 15 and 20 threat.

Avengers

With his Avengers affiliation, this seems an obvious fit. The issue is Cap and Thor come to 9 threat, which doesn’t leave much wriggle room. For a 17 threat team, 8 points could easily be filled by two four threat characters, but a team of four presents its own problems on some scenarios. Instead, two 3 threat and a 2 allow a 5-character team.

At least one needs to be an Avenger to satisfy affiliation requirements, but with three good choices in Iron Man, Black Widow and Winter soldier, it’s easy enough to do.

I like Iron Man, as a Turn 1 drop off of Thor in the centre ground seems like a really strong strategy. Even if you end up not being able to capitalise on the free attack from Drop Off, Thor will be in great position to get stuck in. The threat of three 6 dice strikes will force you opponent to cede the centre of board or else have a 49% chance of a dazed character (assuming 6 health and 4 physical) and a Thor with loads of power on him.

You need a two point character. Both Black Widow and Okoye are great choices. Okoye can provide another Bodyguard, but I think I prefer the mobility of Black Widow for Extract grabbing and can take advantage of the excellent Avengers Assemble or Second Wind.

Your final 3 points is to taste, with a load of great options. Baron Zemo is a trusty fast moving melee monster that hands out rerolls. Valkyrie has some serious melee damage potential and Winter Soldier provides ranged support. Personally though, Shuri would fill that spot, with ranged control while scoring an objective and handing out rerolls hopefully to Thor.

17: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Shuri

At 15 points you can have Iron Man or Bucky with another 3 of choice or Black Widow with a 4.

15: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Shuri

At 20 points, you have way more options, but Cap, Thor, Iron Man leaves 8 points of flex, one of which has to be in affiliation if you get to 6 characters. Black widow fills in nicely leaving space for two 3s.

20: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Shuri, Baron Zemo

Asgardian

The other affiliation for Thor, where he is the leader. Loki is such a versatile character, I’ll find it very hard to leave him out. Valkyrie adds more up close hitting power, and is the only 3 cost Asgardian we’ve seen so far. For a 17 threat team, we’ve got 6 threat left, and a team lacking much ranged threat. Whilst Thor can throw a hammer 5, he wants to be in the thick of things. Shuri again fills the role well, leaving three threat of flex.

Winter Soldier feels like he synergises better with Hela, as she wants bleeding opponents. You could swap Valkyrie out for Hela, Bucky and a 2 threater

The team is lacking an L mover to grab scenario elements quickly, so Zemo might appeal, or Black Widow if you built with Hela. If the scenario isn’t too spread out, drop off with Iron Man is again an option, giving more ranged presence. Iron Man also loves the healing from Thor’s leadership, as his armour makes him harder to get damage on to.

You could consider adding a Mind Gem to Loki then protecting him with Okoye. I’d like to try that before I recommend it though.

17: Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Shuri, and either Baron Zemo or Iron Man

For 15, to get an Asgardian affiliation, you need to spend at least 11 threat, leaving space for a 4 threat choice or 3 if you opt for all three 4 threat characters. In both cases we are still missing an L mover. The healing on Black Panther goes nicely with his defensive boosts, and his mobility can help out:

15: Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Black Panther

At 20, a 6 character roster is currently only possible with Black Widow and Okoye, plus the four Asgardians. I prefer to beef up Loki with a Mind Gem to get to 13 or 14 points with three characters and then fill the rest with other powerful characters.

20: Thor, Loki (mind gem), Valkyrie, Black Panther, Shuri

Cabal

In Cabal you get extra power from your attacks and extra movement in the form of Master of the Cube. Sounds great for Thor. Add in Cosmic Invigoration, and it looks pretty attractive. But there are restrictions: you have to include Red Skull and two other cabal characters.

The cheapest you can do it is 10 threat (4+3+3). Thor then only leaves two spare in 17. So one option is Okoye (who I’d prefer over Widow here as she makes better use of the leadership ability).

You could instead opt for a four character team. Modok or Loki with a Mind Gem. These powerful characters can work on less spread out scenarios. They both synergise nicely to help move characters close to Thor so he catches more characters with his A2 attack.

17: Red Skull, Thor, Baron Zemo, MODOK.

For 15 points, it can just fit. I think I’d use Winter Soldier over Crossbones to add a bit more ranged presence, and therefore probably forego using Dark Reign.

15: Red Skull, Thor, Baron Zemo, Winter Soldier

20 looks like it gives you a little more scope, but if you wanted to try and build a 6-character team, you’d need 4 Cabal members. That would use at least 13 threat (Red skull, Zemo, Crossbones, Winter Soldier) leaving only a 2 threat filler. Rather than that, a 5 character team gives you way more options.

Red Skull is a given, but with three good three cost options, you’d have 7 threat to find one Cabal and one flex character. I really like the drop off options, so finding a flier seems strong.

20: Red Skull, Thor, Baron Zemo, Crossbones, Winter Soldier, Vision

Wakanda

Probably the affiliation I like Thor least in, but who doesn’t like rerolls? Also Black Panther, Shuri and Okoye have features above – they are all great options that mean you’ve only spent 9 threat to meet your affiliation requirement for a 5-character team. I’m not a downer – unlike some in our community – on Killmonger, but the maths doesn’t work out as well trying to put a 5 threat Thor in. With 14 spent on the three loyal Wakandans plus Thor, three threat invites the usual suspects at three. Iron Man drops off on tight scenarios. Zemo runs around in wide ones.

17: Black Panther, Thor, Shuri, Okoye, and either Iron Man or Baron Zemo

At 15 there are only two options. 9 threat via eaten by Panther and Thor, so the remaining 6 threat of characters have to be Wakandan. That’s either Killmonger and Okoye or Shuri and Winter Soldier. I can see it both ways, but I find it very hard to leave Shuri out if she fits.

15: Black Panther, Thor, Shuri, Winter Soldier

At 20, if you want a 6 character team, the same 9 threat comes up for Panther, Okoye and probably Shuri (but could be Winter Soldier). With Thor that leaves 6 threat for two more characters, one of which needs to be Wakandan. Again, it’s Killmonger + Black Widow or Winter Soldier + that ubiquitous three cost (so probably Iron Man or Zemo as outlined above). Man, I do love drop off Thor…

20: Black Panther, Thor, Shuri, Okoye, Winter Soldier and either Iron Man or Baron Zemo