Rosters are in for the Xavier Protocols Invitational. Eight of the best players in the world, and here is what they think is best in the Battle Realm format.

Characters

There is, ahem, some crossover between the eight rosters. I’ve presented them below arranged with the 16 most taken characters in a row each to allow an easy comparison across the rosters.

Morgan Reid	Pat Dunford	Travis Foss	Sooner	Sploosh	Esmond	Merzain	Utility Cookie
Angela	Angela	Angela	Angela	Angela	Angela	Angela	Angela
Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress	Enchantress
Okoye	Okoye	Okoye	Okoye	Okoye	Okoye	Okoye	Okoye
Shuri	Shuri	Shuri	Shuri	Shuri	Shuri	Shuri	Shuri
Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie	Valkyrie
	Black Panther	Black Panther	Black Panther	Black Panther	Black Panther	Black Panther	Black Panther
	Killmonger	Killmonger	Killmonger	Killmonger	Killmonger	Killmonger	Killmonger
Toad	Toad	Toad		Toad	Toad	Toad	Toad
	Medusa	Medusa	Medusa	Medusa	Medusa	Medusa	Medusa
Black Widow	Black Widow		Black Widow	Black Widow		Black Widow	Black Widow
Modok		Modok	Modok	Modok	Modok		Modok
	Taskmaster		Taskmaster	Taskmaster	Taskmaster	Taskmaster	Taskmaster
	She-Hulk		She-Hulk	She-Hulk		She-Hulk	She-Hulk
	Storm	Storm	Storm	Storm			Storm
Thor	Thor		Thor		Thor	Thor
Baron Zemo				Baron Zemo		Baron Zemo	Baron Zemo
Loki	Beast	Lockjaw	Captain Marvel		Mystique	Crystal
Magneto		Mystique			Red Skull
Mystique		Nebula			Spider-Man (Miles)
Red Skull		Spider-Man (Miles)
Rocket Racoon

So rather than talking more about how similar the rosters are, I think it’ll be interesting to see if this means the format lends itself to competitive play due to how similar the lists are: does it allow more space individual skill to win out? Another element will be if the games are less interesting to watch: if Utility Cookie ends up playing Sploosh in round 2, will the exact mirror match of characters make it more or less enjoyable to watch? Maybe different crises being chosen might make similar rosters different, but with the way crises are selected, and choosing 5 from a small pool, I suspect this isn’t as big a factor as the characters selected. Speaking of which:

Morgan	Pat	Travis	Sooner	Sploosh	Esmond	Merzain	Utility Cookie
Gamma Wave	Gamma Wave	Gamma Wave	Gamma Wave	Gamma Waves	Gamma Waves	Gamma Wave	Gamma Waves
Infinity Formula	Infinity Forumla	Infinity Formula	Infinity Forumla	Infinity Formula	Infinity Formula		Infinity Formula
Demon Downtown	Demons Downtown		Demons Downtown	Demons Downtown	Demons Downtown	Demons Downtown	Demons Downtown
Deadly Meteors	Deadly Meteors	Deadly Meteors	Deadly Meteors		Deadly Meteors	Deadly Meteors
	Extremis		Extremis	Extremis		Extremis	Extremis
		Terrigen Cloud		Terrigen Clouds			Terrigen Clouds
Mutant Madmen		Mayor Fisk			Mutant Madmen	Cosmic Vaults

Morgan	Pat	Travis	Sooner	Sploosh	Esmond	Merzain	Utility Cookie
Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips	Fear Grips
Panic Grips	Panic Grips	Panic Grips		Panic Grips	Panic Grips	Panic Grips
	Montesi	Montesi	Montesi		Montesi	Montesi	Montesi
	Cubes	Cubes	Cubes		Cubes	Cubes
Wakandan Herb		Wakandan Herb	Wakandan Herb	Wakandan Herb
	Spider infected		Spider infected		Spider infected		Spider Infected
				Alien Ship		Alien Ship	Alien Ship
Skrulls							Skrulls
Senators				Senators

Less variety in the extracts: looks like competitive players really don’t like randomness in their extracts.

Part of the point of this mini-tournament was to look at list diversity in high level play. I think the results speak for themselves, but it’s up to the community if that’s a good thing or bad thing.