It’s that time: new stats from mid-season update of the Season 5 TTS league. Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s back‽
Changes to lists
Players had a choice of whether they wanted to update their lists or just carry over their list from the first half of the season. Of the 162 players continuing in to the second half of season 5, 26 (16%) made no changes, with 136 (84%) making at least some amendments.
Affiliations
| Affiliations | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| 1 | 97 | 91 | -6 |
| 2 | 65 | 64 | -1 |
| 3 | 7 | 6 | -1 |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
With a slightly lower player count, we saw minor falls, but single affiliation rosters still remain more popular than multi-affiliation.
| Affiliation | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| Brotherhood of Mutants | 58 | 37 | -21 |
| Wakanda | 34 | 31 | -3 |
| Cabal | 22 | 22 | 0 |
| Criminal Syndicate | 17 | 21 | 4 |
| X-Force | – | 21 | 21 |
| A-force | 24 | 17 | -7 |
| Web Warriors | 22 | 16 | -6 |
| Defenders | 11 | 16 | 5 |
| Asgard | 18 | 15 | -3 |
| Black Order | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Avengers | 12 | 9 | -3 |
| Inhumans | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| Uncanny X-men | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Spider Foes | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Winners: X-force are the New Shiny and we’ve seen 21 players trying them out, putting them joint 4th most popular affiliation. Defenders and Criminal Syndicate also saw small gains.
Losers: Brotherhood. The only way was down from nearly a third of all rosters at the beginning of the seasons. Interestingly the Old “New Shiny” fell by exactly the same amount as X-force rose by. A-force saw a fall as did web warriors: maybe knowing they weren’t getting and Amazing new release pushed people away from the web-heads.
Characters
| Charaters | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| Okoye | 112 | 106 | -6 |
| Enchantress | 93 | 83 | -10 |
| Valkyrie | 94 | 80 | -14 |
| Scarlet Witch | 97 | 76 | -21 |
| Toad | 87 | 73 | -14 |
| Angela | 64 | 59 | -5 |
| Shuri | 55 | 53 | -2 |
| Medusa | 71 | 51 | -20 |
| Mystique | 64 | 48 | -16 |
| Black Panther | 50 | 45 | -5 |
| M.O.D.O.K. | 42 | 43 | 1 |
| Domino | 43 | 43 | |
| Quicksilver | 61 | 41 | -20 |
| Baron Zemo | 34 | 39 | 5 |
| Magneto | 54 | 33 | -21 |
| Ghost Spider | 37 | 31 | -6 |
| Spider-Man (Miles Morales) | 40 | 30 | -10 |
| Lockjaw | 37 | 27 | -10 |
| Crossbones | 22 | 27 | 5 |
| Deadpool | – | 27 | 27 |
| Taskmaster | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| Cable | – | 25 | 25 |
| Kingpin | 21 | 22 | 1 |
| Wolverine | 14 | 22 | 8 |
| Venom | 22 | 21 | -1 |
| Thor Prince of Asgard | 23 | 20 | -3 |
| Hawkeye | 23 | 19 | -4 |
| Sin | 18 | 19 | 1 |
| Black Widow | 14 | 19 | 5 |
| Doctor Strange | 11 | 18 | 7 |
| Infinity Gem: Mind | 21 | 17 | -4 |
| Crystal | 23 | 16 | -7 |
| Infinity Gem: Reality | 19 | 16 | -3 |
| Thanos | 19 | 16 | -3 |
| She-Hulk | 23 | 15 | -8 |
| Beast | 11 | 15 | 4 |
| Sabretooth | 10 | 15 | 5 |
| Loki God of Mischief | 16 | 13 | -3 |
| Infinity Gem: Time | 15 | 13 | -2 |
| Killmonger | 12 | 13 | 1 |
| Bob Agent of Hydra | – | 13 | 13 |
| Iron Fist | – | 13 | 13 |
| Proxima Midnight | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Daredevil | 11 | 12 | 1 |
| Infinity Gem: Soul | 10 | 12 | 2 |
| Vision | 18 | 11 | -7 |
| Corvus Glaive | 12 | 11 | -1 |
| Nebula | 8 | 11 | 3 |
| Mister Sinister | 15 | 10 | -5 |
| Storm | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Luke Cage | – | 10 | 10 |
| Red Skull | 13 | 9 | -4 |
| Captain America | 12 | 9 | -3 |
| Hulk | 10 | 9 | -1 |
| Spider-Man (Peter Parker) | 9 | 7 | -2 |
| Wong | 8 | 7 | -1 |
| Infinity Gem: Power | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Black Bolt | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| Ant-man | 7 | 6 | -1 |
| Rocket Raccoon | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Black Dwarf | 8 | 5 | -3 |
| Cyclops | 5 | 4 | -1 |
| Drax the Destroyer | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Green Goblin | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Ultron | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Black Widow Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. | 6 | 3 | -3 |
| Punisher | 4 | 3 | -1 |
| Doctor Octopus | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Groot | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Ronan the Accuser | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Star-Lord | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Ghost Rider | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| Gamora | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Winter Soldier | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Viper | 5 | 1 | -4 |
| Ebony Maw | 3 | 1 | -2 |
| Iron Man | 2 | 1 | -1 |
| Wasp | 2 | 1 | -1 |
| Bullseye | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Captain Marvel | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Hela | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Infinity Gem: Space | 1 | 0 | -1 |
Winners: Ultron! 4 people are now taking him. Unsurprisingly, the new characters have seen the biggest gains. Domino appears to be the pick of them, as popular as M.O.D.O.K. just outside the top 10. Of the non-new characters, Wolverine (+8) and Sabretooth (+5) are riding the X-force wave, followed by Doctor Strange (+7) and Baron Zemo, Crossbones and Black Widow (all +5)
Losers: Brotherhood’s drop sees big losses for most of their affiliated models Magneto (-21), Scarlet Witch (-21), Quicksilver (-20), Mystique (-16) and Toad (-14). Valkyrie, a staple in most Brotherhood lists, also fell (- 14) as well as Medusa. I went back to the first half of season 5 to see how often they were taken by brotherhood rosters: Valkyrie was in 39 of 58 and Medusa was in 20 of 58, so some of Medusa’s fall can be chalked up to the flight from Brotherhood. Lockjaw, Spider-Man (Miles) and Enchantress also fell by 10. Sadly we now have two characters and an infinity gem that are seeing no love: Hela, Captain Marvel and the Space Gem.
Crises
| Secures | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest | 99 | 85 | -14 |
| Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due? | 81 | 77 | -4 |
| Infinity Formula Goes Missing! | 59 | 63 | 4 |
| Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 | 56 | 55 | -1 |
| S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon’s Blue Area | – | 41 | 41 |
| Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians | 54 | 33 | -21 |
| Mutant Madman Turns City Center Into Lethal Amusment Park | 45 | 33 | -12 |
| Terrigen Cloud Sweeps Over City | 40 | 32 | -8 |
| Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Sweeps Across Earth | 22 | 26 | 4 |
| Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnessess | 31 | 24 | -7 |
| Portals Overrun City With Spider-People! | 20 | 15 | -5 |
With a new secure on the block, it’s not surprising to see widespread falls in the other secures. Gamma is still top dog, but the gap to Demons in second is closing. What is very telling is the move away from RNG pay-to-flips like Deadly Meteors and Mutant Madmen towards the more reliable pay-to-flip of S.W.O.R.D.
| Extracts | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| Fear Grips World As “Worthy” Terrorize Cities | 90 | 87 | -3 |
| Research Station Attacked! | 71 | 87 | 16 |
| Struggle for the Cube Continues | 57 | 59 | 2 |
| Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? | 55 | 54 | -1 |
| Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan | 45 | 53 | 8 |
| Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! | 44 | 41 | -3 |
| The Montesi Formula Found | 45 | 30 | -15 |
| Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown! | 44 | 30 | -14 |
| Mystic Wakanda Herbs: Fact or Fiction? | 28 | 25 | -3 |
| Skrulls Infiltrate world Leadership | 25 | 16 | -9 |
| Panic Grips City as Evacuation Efforts Continue! (R) | 3 | 2 | -1 |
Research Station continue to grow in popularity, tying with Hammers for most popular. Montessi and Alien Ships saw falls, larger than expected given the reduction in rosters. Panic is becoming ever less popular, with just 2 people giving up a restricted slot to it.
Tactics Cards
| Restricted Cards | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| 2 | 166 | 154 | -12 |
A slight increase in people not taking up their full allocation of cards? Maybe they are practicing for when we get an announcement about the restriction of a certain card. Wonder which that could be…
| Tactics Card | Beginning S5 | Mid S5 | Change |
| Medpack (R) | 105 | 96 | -9 |
| Bitter Rivals | 83 | 94 | 11 |
| Brace for Impact (R) | 98 | 91 | -7 |
| Advanced R&D | 82 | 77 | -5 |
| Climbing Gear | 56 | 59 | 3 |
| No More Mutants | 57 | 58 | 1 |
| Field Dressing (R) | 60 | 54 | -6 |
| All You’ve Got (R) | 51 | 52 | 1 |
| Deception | 56 | 42 | -14 |
| Disarm | 40 | 39 | -1 |
| Asteroid M | 52 | 35 | -17 |
| Wakanda Forever | 35 | 30 | -5 |
| No Matter the Cost | 24 | 20 | -4 |
| Blind Obsession | 17 | 20 | 3 |
| X-Ceptional Healing | 8 | 20 | 12 |
| Cat and Mouse | 19 | 19 | |
| The Whims of Chaos | 45 | 18 | -27 |
| Can I Borrow That? | 26 | 18 | -8 |
| All Webbed Up | 21 | 16 | -5 |
| Mission Objective | 19 | 15 | -4 |
| Odin’s Blessing | 18 | 15 | -3 |
| Rainbow Bridge | 17 | 15 | -2 |
| Illicit Tech | 6 | 15 | 9 |
| Heroes for hire | 15 | 15 | |
| Lethal Protector | 15 | 14 | -1 |
| Dark Reign | 11 | 14 | 3 |
| Stalwart Determination | 17 | 14 | -3 |
| Special Delivery | 22 | 13 | -9 |
| Pentagram of Farallah | 9 | 13 | 4 |
| All According To Plan | 11 | 12 | 1 |
| Mothership | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Warpath | 11 | 11 | |
| Usurp the Throne | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Doomed Prophecy (R) | 5 | 10 | 5 |
| Patch Up (R) | 10 | 9 | -1 |
| Pretty Sneaky Sis | 9 | 9 | |
| Difficult To Please | 16 | 8 | -8 |
| Cosmic Invigoration | 10 | 8 | -2 |
| Avengers Assemble | 9 | 8 | -1 |
| Grievous Wounds | 7 | 8 | 1 |
| Chimichangas | 8 | 8 | |
| A.I.M Lackeys | 8 | 7 | -1 |
| Battle Lust | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Cruelty | 8 | 6 | -2 |
| Cloning Banks | 8 | 6 | -2 |
| Execute | 8 | 6 | -2 |
| Shadow Organization | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| First Class | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| Magnetic Refraction | 26 | 5 | -21 |
| Gamma Launch | 7 | 5 | -2 |
| Tactical Analysis | 7 | 5 | -2 |
| To Ash and Cinder | 7 | 5 | -2 |
| Marked for Death | 6 | 5 | -1 |
| Last-Minute Save | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| To Me My X-Men | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Escort to Safety | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| A-Force Assemble! | 6 | 4 | -2 |
| Psychic Shielding Device (P.S.D.) | 6 | 4 | -2 |
| Extreme Conditioning | 5 | 4 | -1 |
| Follow Me | 5 | 4 | -1 |
| Face Me | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Blood to Spare | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Terrigenesis | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Recalibration Matrix | 4 | 3 | -1 |
| Web Barrier | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Trip Up | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Vibranium Shielding | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Deadly Duo | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Elemental Infusion | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Well-Laid Plans | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| The Age of Ultron | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Forced Extraction | 5 | 2 | -3 |
| Blood Red and Personal | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| Sacrifice | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| The Books of Truth | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| One-Two Punch | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Rocket Boots?! | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Inhuman Royal Family | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Lovable Misfits | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Crew of the Milano | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Price of Failure | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Inspiring Monologue | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Heavy Firepower | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Kick ’em while they’re down | 2 | 2 | |
| Deal With the Devil | 3 | 1 | -2 |
| Power of the Cosmos | 3 | 1 | -2 |
| Shhh… | 3 | 1 | -2 |
| Second Wind | 2 | 1 | -1 |
| Agents of S.M.A.S.H. | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Attilan Rising | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ricochet Blast | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sibling Rivalry | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Till the End of the Line | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Uneasy Allies | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| We Are Groot | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dirty Work | 1 | 1 | |
| Yoink | 1 | 1 | |
| Children of the Atom | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Highway to Hell | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Professionals | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Psychic Fortress | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Seven Suns of Cinnibus | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Smash | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Sucker | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Anger Management | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Acute Senses | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daughters of Thanos | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heave Ho | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heavy Ordinance | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Magnetic Crush | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No Escape | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pym Particles | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reversal | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seeing Red | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thunderwave | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vapors of Valtorr | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Weapon X-Program | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K’un-Lun training | 0 | 0 |
Oh yeah. That one. Bitter Rivals is close to overtaking Medpack, increasing by 11. Surely it’s going to be restricted in the next round of updates to the B&R list.
Winners: Tactics cards that go with X-force or the new characters are, of course, up. With more Wolverine and the addition of Deadpool, X-ceptional Healing is up by the most of any tactics card that was already out. As people continue to unlock and experiment with Sin and Crossbones, Illicty Tech is up too.
What is more of a surprise is the community appears to have delivered its opinion on No More Mutants vs The Whims of Chaos. Despite Scarlet Witch being taken 21 fewer times, No More Mutants is up by 1. By contrast, The Whims of Chaos is down by 27.
Losers: After The Whims of Chaos, the Brotherhood Cards are down. Magnetic Refraction (-21), Asteroid M (-17) and Deception (-14). What has become clear is a strong preference for Asteroid M in Brotherhood over Magnetic Refraction: despite being the most popular faction still, only 5 people took Magnetic Refraction. I can see this being reversed if/when Bitter Rival is restricted.
Xavier Protocols 