The culmination of the first big convention is all wrapped up. Here’s what the qualifiers played, and what won.

The invitational was made up from the top 7 player of day one, the top 8 players from day two and one prequalified from a feeder event.

Affiliations

Affiliations	%
1	50%
2	44%
3	6%

An even 50:50 split on mono vs multi affiliated. The lone triple affiliated roster had Dormammu as their third.

Affiliation	%
Avengers	38%
Midnight Sons	25%
Criminal Syndicate	19%
Black Order	19%
Spider Foes	13%
Guardians of the Galaxy	13%
Dark Dimension	13%
X-Force	6%
Defenders	6%
Web Warriors	6%
A-Force	0%
Asgard	0%
Brotherhood of Mutants	0%
Cabal	0%
Convocation	0%
Inhumans	0%
Uncanny X-men	0%
Wakanda	0%
Unaffiliated	0%

A lot of Avengers, but that reflects the stats we saw on days one and two. Midnight sons have held up their representation in the earlier stages, as did the Criminals. Black order round out the top four affiliations. Web Warriors weren’t popular in the qualifiers and only one roster brought them: a surprisingly low representation for a powerful and popular affiliation.

Characters

Character	%
Doctor Voodoo	50%
Black Cat	44%
Bullseye	44%
Iron Fist	44%
Ghost Rider	38%
Luke Cage	38%
Lizard	31%
Black Widow	25%
Blade	25%
Hood	25%
Hulkbuster	25%
Moon Knight	25%
Okoye	25%
Toad	25%
Baron Zemo	19%
Captain America (Sam Wilson)	19%
Captain America (Steve Rogers)	19%
Corvus Glaive	19%
Deadpool	19%
Iron Man	19%
Kingpin	19%
Mystique	19%
Proxima Midnight	19%
Rocket Raccoon	19%
Thanos	19%
Venom	19%
Vision	19%
Angela	13%
Black Dwarf	13%
Black Panther	13%
Doctor Octopus	13%
Dormammu	13%
Drax the Destroyer	13%
Gamora	13%
Green Goblin	13%
Groot	13%
Hawkeye	13%
Mysterio	13%
Nebula	13%
Shuri	13%
Star-Lord	13%
Wong	13%
Amazing Spider-man	6%
Cable	6%
Carnage	6%
Crossbones	6%
Daredevil	6%
Doctor Strange	6%
Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme	6%
Domino	6%
Ghost Spider	6%
Hulk	6%
Killmonger	6%
Kraven the Hunter	6%
Loki God of Mischief	6%
Quicksilver	6%
Scarlet Witch	6%
Spider-Man (Miles Morales)	6%
Taskmaster	6%
Ancient One	0%
Ant-Man	0%
Baron Mordo	0%
Beast	0%
Black Bolt	0%
Black Widow Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.	0%
Bob Agent of Hydra	0%
Captain Marvel	0%
Cassandra Nova	0%
Clea	0%
Crystal	0%
Cyclops	0%
Ebony Maw	0%
Enchantress	0%
Hela	0%
Jean Grey	0%
Lockjaw	0%
M.O.D.O.K.	0%
Magneto	0%
Medusa	0%
Mister Sinister	0%
Ms Marvel	0%
Omega Red	0%
Punisher	0%
Red Skull	0%
Ronan the Accuser	0%
Sabretooth	0%
She-Hulk	0%
Sin	0%
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)	0%
Storm	0%
Thor Prince of Asgard	0%
Ultron	0%
Valkyrie	0%
Viper	0%
War Machine	0%
Wasp	0%
Winter Soldier	0%
Wolverine	0%

Voodoo, Black Cat and Bullseye were all characters I expected to be at the top. I am surprised by Iron Fist being quite that high, but with a combination of Avengers and Midnight Sons seeing high numbers, it makes sense. Ghost Rider is also a surprise to me – he’s clearly a staple in Midnight Sons, but he’s also taken in a Guardians roster which I can see has some great synergy and also in one Avengers roster.

Crises

Extract	%
Research Station Attacked!	56%
Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities	44%
Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown!	38%
Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan	31%
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership	31%
Struggle for the Cube Continues	25%
Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators!	25%
Deadly Legacy Virus Cured?	19%
Mystic Wakanda Herbs: Fact or Fiction?	19%
The Montesi Formula Found	13%

These qualified players seem to like a brawl. The top three extracts all encourage strong attrition play.

Secure	%
Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest	50%
Infinity Formula Goes Missing!	44%
Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0	44%
Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due?	31%
Mutant Madman Turns City Center Into Lethal Amusment Park	31%
Intrusions Open Across City as Seals Collapse	25%
Portals Overrun City with Spider-People!	25%
Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Sweeps Across Earth	19%
S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon’s Blue Area	13%
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians	6%
Terrigen Cloud Sweeps Over City	6%
Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnessess	6%

Gamma – the old staple of the competitive scene – has risen to the top once again. Demons, however, is down significantly to what we have become used to seeing at top tables. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in future.

Tactics Cards

Card	%
Brace for Impact (R)	75%
Sacrifice	75%
Medpack (R)	63%
Heroes for Hire	63%
Disarm	50%
Blind Obsession	38%
Deal with the Devil	38%
Marked for Death	38%
Field Dressing (R)	31%
Avengers Assemble	31%
Climbing Gear	31%
Mission Objective	25%
Siege of Darkness	25%
Advanced R&D	19%
Patch Up (R)	19%
Lethal Protector	19%
Helios Laser Bombardment	19%
Monkey Brain is Lizard Home	19%
Mothership	19%
All According to Plan	19%
Deception	19%
X-Ceptional Healing	19%
Bats the Ghost Hound	13%
Follow Me	13%
Ricochet Blast	13%
Sinister Traps	13%
Well-Laid Plans	13%
The Grand Illusion	13%
Deadly Duo	13%
Crew of the Milano	13%
Grievous Wounds	13%
Lovable Misfits	13%
Smash	13%
Dark Restoration	13%
Bitter Rivals	6%
No More Mutants	6%
We are Groot	6%
Cat and Mouse	6%
Escort to Safety	6%
Neoenetic Recombinator	6%
Seance	6%
All Webbed Up	6%
Usurp the Throne	6%
Spider-Tracker	6%
Execute	6%
Can I Borrow That?	6%
Cruelty	6%
Face Me	6%
Pentagram of Farallah	6%
Seeing Red	6%

There’s a clear preference on restricted cards. It’s interesting to see how popular what have been thought to be situational cards like Sacrifice and Marked for Death have become with the widening out of tactics slots.

What was being played

Extract	%
Struggle for the Cube Continues	20%
Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators!	15%
Research Station Attacked!	15%
Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown!	10%
Mystic Wakandan Herbs: Fact or Fiction?	10%
Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan	10%
Deadly Legacy Virus Cured?	5%
Fear Grips World As Worthy Terrorize Cities	5%
The Montesi Formula Found	5%
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership	5%

Secure	%
Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due?	20%
Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0	20%
Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest	15%
Infinity Formula Goes Missing!	15%
Intrusions Open Across City as Seals Collapse	10%
Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Descends on Earth	5%
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians	5%
Mutant Madman Turns City Center Into Lethal Amusement Park	5%
Terrigen Clouds Sweep Over City	5%

Low samples sizes and random crisis selection makes this small pool hard to analyse.

Threat	%
14	5%
15	15%
16	10%
17	30%
18	0%
19	25%
20	10%

17 shows highly again, but 19 was almost as popular.

What was winning

Out of the 21 games played in top cut, the player with priority won 55% of games. This is way to small to draw any specific conclusion about, but I hope to keep track of top cut games over the course of the year to look for trends in priority in top table games.

Mike de Luca won the event with a dual Web Warrior and Black Order roster:

Characters	Tactics Cards	Extracts
Black Cat	Advanced R&D	Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown!
Black Panther	All Webbed Up	Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators!
Corvus Glaive	Brace for Impact (R)	Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership
Doctor Voodoo	Disarm
Ghost Spider	Marked for Death	Secures
Moon Knight	Medpack (R)	Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Sweeps Across Earth
Proxima Midnight	Mission Objective	Infinity Formula Goes Missing!
Spider-Man (Miles Morales)	Mothership	Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0
Thanos	Sacrifice
Toad	Spider-Tracker
Infinity Gems
Reality (Corvus)
Mind (Thanos)
Space (Thanos)

This roster is really interesting, and it gave some opponents a real headache: it can be unclear whether Mike would drop Web Warriors or Black Order in a specific roster. Lots of people were bringing Marked for Death and Sacrifice for these affiliations respectively. By being fluid about which one he chose, he was able to play a little “list chicken” and make his opponents zig when he was zagging. It only creates a small advantage, but it’s a free advantage that costs him little in roster construction.

His opponent in the final was Hyper Viper:

Characters	Tactics Cards	Extracts
Black Cat	Advanced R&D	Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities
Black Widow	Avengers Assemble	Mystic Wakanda Herbs: Fact or Fiction?
Captain America (Sam Wilson)	Brace for Impact (R)	Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan
Captain America (Steve Rogers)	Disarm
Doctor Voodoo	Escort to Safety	Secures
Hulk	Field Dressing (R)	Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest
Iron Fist	Follow Me	Mutant Madman Turns City Center Into Lethal Amusment Park
Iron Man	Heroes for Hire	Portals Overrun City with Spider-People!
Luke Cage	Ricochet Blast
Vision	Sacrifice

A really solid Avengers roster, that can run either leader well.

Rounding out the top three was Nate Horn (Ghostdeer):

Characters	Tactics Cards	Extracts
Star-Lord	Field Dressing (R)	Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership
Rocket Raccoon	Brace for Impact (R)	Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities
Groot	Deadly Duo	Research Station Attacked!
Drax the Destroyer	Lovable Misfits
Nebula	Crew of the Milano	Secures
Angela	Blind Obsession	Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest
Gamora	Deal with the Devil	Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due?
Venom	Lethal Protector	Infinity Formula Goes Missing!
Bullseye	Marked for Death
Ghost Rider	Sacrifice

I remain excited to see what revamped Guardians can do, and expect to continue to see them pushing for top placings.

Congratulations to these top 3!