A very overlooked phase of the game is deployment. Done badly and you can start yourself at a serious disadvantage. Done well, it can give you an early headstart in a game.

Start at the end

The first thing I think about is which character I want to deploy last. Typically that’s the highest threat character. If you have Hulk or Modok giving away early where you intend to deploy them and allows your opponent to react with their own deployment. Seeing where most of your opponent’s characters are allows you to make sure you are able to have the right sort of targets for your high-threat character.

Another character you may want to keep until last is Killmonger, trying to line him up against a good Usurp the Throne target.

Deploy obvious plans first

Most teams include a character who is going to be a ranged objective sitter. Someone like Shuri, Iron Man, Winter Soldier. Deploying them first gives away the least about your plans. They are going to advance to an objective and score points.

Modok can also fall in to this category, which might appear to contradict the idea above. It depends on the secure scenario. If it is Extremis consoles or Gamma shelters, it’s obvious that Modok is going to sit on the central objective closest to your deployment, so deploying him early doesn’t matter as much. In split scenarios like Origin bombs and Infinity Formula it is much less clear where the best place for Modok is, so holding him back for later is a good idea.

Another obvious deployments can be characters like Red Skull. Putting him centrally so as many options are open for his Master of the Cube placement are available as possible is a good general strategy.

Look for good matchups

When deploying, try to line up characters against your opponents that capitalise on their weaknesses or counter their strengths. A few examples:

• Energy attackers opposite Venom
• Physical attackers opposite Captain Marvel
• Crossbones opposite Shuri
• Bleed immune characters opposite Bleed inducing characters
• Loki opposite characters with a lot of Range 2 attacks like Valkyrie
• Venom opposite rerolling defense characters like Spider-Man or Baron Zemo

Spotting these matchups and attempting to delay your deployment of those characters until after they have deployed can lead to an advantage in the match up.