Season 7 of the TTS league is half way through the preliminary rounds. At this point people can make changes to their rosters, so this is a sensible point to look at what rosters are doing well, as after this point the data can get muddied by changes. After three games, 35 rosters remain undefeated (3-0). Here is a breakdown of their rosters compared to the league average, showing the variance – how much it varies from the league stats:
Affiliations
| Affiliations | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| 1 | 77% | 70% | 7% |
| 2 | 23% | 28% | -5% |
| 3 | 0% | 2% | -2% |
A slight skew towards single affiliations compared to the bulk of the league. Of the 8 duals, 5 of the dual affiliated with Black Order. One list unaffiliated as a second affiliation, so you might also count that as dual affiliated. The remain two duals were X-men/X-force and Avengers/Criminal Syndicate.
| Affiliation | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| Criminal Syndicate | 23% | 11% | 12% |
| Brotherhood of Mutants | 20% | 14% | 6% |
| Web Warriors | 17% | 10% | 8% |
| Avengers | 14% | 15% | 0% |
| Black Order | 14% | 8% | 7% |
| Cabal | 9% | 4% | 5% |
| Convocation | 6% | 8% | -3% |
| Uncanny X-men | 6% | 6% | -1% |
| Wakanda | 6% | 4% | 2% |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 3% | 11% | -8% |
| X-Force | 3% | 7% | -4% |
| Unaffiliated | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Midnight Sons | 0% | 9% | -9% |
| Spider Foes | 0% | 7% | -7% |
| A-Force | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| Dark Dimension | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Asgard | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Defenders | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Inhumans | 0% | 2% | -2% |
Criminals are the most over-represented compared to the league, with Brotherhood just behind. I think the top 5 here represent the current state of the meta pretty well, though you can argue about their relative positions. A surprise for me was no Midnight Sons players going 3-0. They had good representation, fantastic in affiliation models and cards.
It’s probably worth pointing out at this point that there are load of good players with good, competitive rosters that aren’t included here. I’m certain that if a dice roll went a different way in a game or two, we could have had plenty of 3-0 Midnight Sons rosters. These stats aren’t definitive, they are just the numbers we have. This point applies the whole of this article.
Characters
| Characters | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| Doctor Voodoo | 69% | 45% | 23% |
| Toad | 57% | 31% | 26% |
| Black Cat | 54% | 41% | 13% |
| Bullseye | 46% | 31% | 15% |
| Juggernaut | 37% | 25% | 12% |
| Lizard | 31% | 29% | 2% |
| Rogue | 29% | 23% | 5% |
| Hood | 26% | 19% | 6% |
| Okoye | 26% | 14% | 12% |
| Thanos | 26% | 14% | 12% |
| Ghost Spider | 26% | 13% | 13% |
| Black Panther | 26% | 11% | 15% |
| Scarlet Witch | 23% | 21% | 2% |
| Mystique | 23% | 17% | 6% |
| Hulk | 23% | 14% | 9% |
| Kingpin | 23% | 11% | 12% |
| Magneto | 20% | 12% | 8% |
| Proxima Midnight | 20% | 8% | 12% |
| Corvus Glaive | 20% | 8% | 12% |
| Moon Knight | 17% | 15% | 2% |
| Iron Man | 17% | 13% | 4% |
| Gambit | 17% | 12% | 5% |
| Spider-Man (Miles Morales) | 17% | 11% | 6% |
| Luke Cage | 17% | 10% | 8% |
| Captain America (Sam Wilson) | 14% | 13% | 1% |
| Black Widow | 14% | 11% | 3% |
| Crossbones | 14% | 5% | 10% |
| Iron Fist | 11% | 15% | -4% |
| Venom | 11% | 14% | -2% |
| Captain America (Steve Rogers) | 11% | 14% | -2% |
| Quicksilver | 11% | 11% | 1% |
| Amazing Spider-man | 11% | 6% | 5% |
| Baron Zemo | 9% | 17% | -8% |
| Honey Badger | 9% | 16% | -8% |
| Baron Mordo | 9% | 13% | -4% |
| Loki God of Mischief | 9% | 13% | -4% |
| Magik | 9% | 11% | -3% |
| Mysterio | 9% | 11% | -3% |
| Vision | 9% | 10% | -2% |
| Shuri | 9% | 8% | 1% |
| M.O.D.O.K. | 9% | 4% | 4% |
| X23 | 6% | 14% | -8% |
| Angela | 6% | 13% | -7% |
| Nebula | 6% | 13% | -7% |
| Domino | 6% | 12% | -6% |
| Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme | 6% | 10% | -5% |
| Ancient One | 6% | 10% | -4% |
| Lockjaw | 6% | 6% | -1% |
| Hulkbuster | 6% | 6% | 0% |
| Storm | 6% | 6% | 0% |
| Wolverine | 6% | 5% | 1% |
| Cyclops | 6% | 4% | 1% |
| Omega Red | 6% | 3% | 3% |
| Red Skull | 6% | 3% | 3% |
| Sin | 6% | 3% | 3% |
| Rocket Raccoon | 3% | 17% | -14% |
| Ghost Rider | 3% | 16% | -13% |
| Groot | 3% | 12% | -10% |
| Star-Lord | 3% | 11% | -8% |
| Wong | 3% | 10% | -7% |
| Cable | 3% | 9% | -6% |
| Medusa | 3% | 8% | -6% |
| Doctor Strange | 3% | 8% | -5% |
| Enchantress | 3% | 7% | -4% |
| Captain Marvel | 3% | 6% | -3% |
| Beast | 3% | 5% | -3% |
| Valkyrie | 3% | 4% | -2% |
| Mister Sinister | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Ms Marvel | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Jean Grey | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Cassandra Nova | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Bob Agent of Hydra | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Spider-Man (Peter Parker) | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Ant-Man | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Winter Soldier | 0% | 11% | -11% |
| Blade | 0% | 9% | -9% |
| Gamora | 0% | 8% | -8% |
| Green Goblin | 0% | 7% | -7% |
| Deadpool | 0% | 6% | -6% |
| Doctor Octopus | 0% | 6% | -6% |
| Clea | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| She-Hulk | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| Drax the Destroyer | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| Colossus | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| Dormammu | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Ronan the Accuser | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Thor Prince of Asgard | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Killmonger | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Hawkeye | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Kraven the Hunter | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Sabretooth | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Black Dwarf | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Carnage | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Hela | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Crystal | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Black Bolt | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Taskmaster | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| War Machine | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Ebony Maw | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Ultron | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Wasp | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Punisher | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Viper | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Black Widow Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Daredevil | 0% | 0% | 0% |
So it seems Voodoo isn’t required for a competitive roster, per se, but sort of in the same way that Okoye wasn’t required pre-nerfs, but she was in a lot of rosters that were winning. He is clearly at the top of the curve due to his good power generation, solid defences and massive impact on scenario. Those players not taking him often have good reasons for not including him in their roster, but clearly he is on everyone’s mind during roster construction.
With this kind of analysis, you are always significant variance from the field as you are cutting down to, but Toad is the other character that stands out as ending up in winning rosters more than the field. To an extent this is due to Brotherhood representing 20% of the rosters, but that still leaves 37% taking him as an unaffiliated 2. I think you can certainly make a cogent argument for him being the king of the 2 threats right now.
Of the characters under-represented compared to the field, Rocket Racoon, Ghost Rider, Winter Soldier and Groot lead the pack, probably reflecting only one Guardians player from a popular base level of play making it to 3-0.
Crises
| Secure | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| Super-Powered Scoundrels Form Sinister Syndicate! | 40% | 23% | 17% |
| Riots Spark Over Extremis 3.0 | 37% | 23% | 14% |
| Gamma Wave Sweeps Across Midwest | 34% | 26% | 8% |
| Infinity Formula Goes Missing! | 31% | 34% | -3% |
| Demons Downtown! Has Our Comeuppance Come Due? | 29% | 41% | -12% |
| Intrusions open across city as seals collapse | 29% | 33% | -5% |
| Mutant Madman Turns City Center Into Lethal Amusment Park | 26% | 30% | -5% |
| S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon’s Blue Area | 20% | 14% | 6% |
| Cosmic Invasion! Black Order Sweeps Across Earth | 20% | 13% | 7% |
| Terrigen Cloud Sweeps Over City | 14% | 22% | -8% |
| Portals Overrun City with Spider-People! | 14% | 16% | -2% |
| Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians | 3% | 13% | -10% |
| Mayor Fisk Vows to Find Missing Witnessess | 3% | 6% | -3% |
Lots of Criminals, Web Warriors and Avengers leads to a lot of Scoundrels ending up in rosters. If you haven’t played against this crisis, I strongly recommend getting some reps against those affiliations on it.
| Extracts | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| Fear Grips World as “Worthy” Terrorize Cities | 54% | 60% | -6% |
| Research Station Attacked! | 46% | 30% | 16% |
| Alien Ship Crashes in Downtown! | 34% | 45% | -10% |
| Deadly Legacy Virus Cured? | 31% | 30% | 2% |
| Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan | 31% | 27% | 4% |
| Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! | 29% | 21% | 8% |
| Mystic Wakanda Herbs: Fact or Fiction? | 26% | 21% | 4% |
| Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership | 23% | 24% | -1% |
| Struggle for the Cube Continues | 14% | 22% | -7% |
| The Montesi Formula Found | 11% | 18% | -6% |
The mix of who is taking Researcher is more varied, but again heavily skewed by Criminal Syndicate.
Team Tactics Cards
| Tactics Card | 3-0 | All | Variance |
| Indomitable | 89% | 66% | 23% |
| Medpack (R) | 71% | 64% | 8% |
| Sacrifice | 66% | 31% | 35% |
| Brace for Impact (R) | 60% | 49% | 11% |
| Field Dressing (R) | 51% | 44% | 8% |
| Advanced R&D | 51% | 31% | 21% |
| Climbing Gear | 37% | 25% | 12% |
| Mission Objective | 37% | 23% | 14% |
| Do You Know Who I Am? | 34% | 22% | 12% |
| Heroes for Hire | 26% | 21% | 5% |
| Disarm | 23% | 22% | 1% |
| Deception | 23% | 16% | 7% |
| Marked for Death | 20% | 22% | -2% |
| Asteroid M | 20% | 13% | 7% |
| Blind Obsession | 17% | 30% | -13% |
| All Webbed Up | 17% | 8% | 9% |
| Spider-Tracker | 17% | 8% | 9% |
| No More Mutants | 14% | 14% | 0% |
| Avengers Assemble | 14% | 14% | 1% |
| Mothership | 14% | 7% | 7% |
| All According to Plan | 14% | 7% | 7% |
| Lethal Protector | 11% | 13% | -1% |
| Monkey Brain is Lizard Home | 11% | 9% | 3% |
| Ricochet Blast | 11% | 8% | 3% |
| Magnetic Refraction | 11% | 8% | 4% |
| Gamma Launch | 11% | 3% | 8% |
| Bitter Rivals (R) | 9% | 23% | -15% |
| Patch Up (R) | 9% | 12% | -4% |
| The Grand Illusion | 9% | 8% | 0% |
| No Matter the Cost | 9% | 8% | 1% |
| Dark Reign | 9% | 4% | 5% |
| Escort to Safety | 9% | 4% | 5% |
| X-Ceptional Healing | 6% | 14% | -9% |
| Helios Laser Bombardment | 6% | 9% | -3% |
| Bar with no Doors | 6% | 9% | -3% |
| Iron Bound Books of Shuma-Gorath | 6% | 8% | -3% |
| Can I Borrow That? | 6% | 8% | -2% |
| Journey through Limbo | 6% | 7% | -1% |
| Battle Lust | 6% | 6% | -1% |
| The Whims of Chaos | 6% | 6% | 0% |
| Eyes on the Prize | 6% | 5% | 1% |
| Face Me | 6% | 4% | 2% |
| Wakanda Forever | 6% | 4% | 2% |
| Birds of Prey | 6% | 3% | 3% |
| A.I.M Lackeys | 6% | 2% | 4% |
| Cosmic Invigoration | 6% | 2% | 4% |
| Follow Me | 3% | 14% | -11% |
| Deadly Duo | 3% | 11% | -8% |
| Tactical Analysis | 3% | 7% | -4% |
| Astral Ring | 3% | 7% | -4% |
| Jonathan the Unstoppable | 3% | 6% | -3% |
| Plane of Polhldahk | 3% | 6% | -3% |
| First Class | 3% | 5% | -3% |
| Hood’s Gang | 3% | 5% | -2% |
| Execute | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Book of Cagliostro | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Fall Back | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Orb of Agamotto | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| To Me My X-Men | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Smash | 3% | 4% | -1% |
| Extreme Conditioning | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Mental Domination | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Warpath | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Blood to Spare | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Dark Past | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Illicit Tech | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Pretty Sneaky Sis | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Weapon X Program | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Cruelty | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Aunt May’s Wheat Cakes | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Children of the Atom | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Difficult to Please | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Last-Minute Save | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Mind If I Cut In? | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| Wolverines | 3% | 2% | 1% |
| A Better Tomorrow | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Making a Ruckus | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Price of Failure | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Pardon Me Sugah | 3% | 1% | 2% |
| Deal with the Devil | 0% | 14% | -14% |
| Siege of Darkness | 0% | 9% | -9% |
| Crew of the Milano | 0% | 8% | -8% |
| Sinister Traps | 0% | 7% | -7% |
| We are Groot | 0% | 7% | -7% |
| Lovable Misfits | 0% | 7% | -7% |
| Bats the Ghost Hound | 0% | 6% | -6% |
| Well-Laid Plans | 0% | 6% | -6% |
| Cat and Mouse | 0% | 5% | -5% |
| Special Delivery | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Dark Restoration | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Odin’s Blessing | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Rainbow Bridge | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Stalwart Determination | 0% | 4% | -4% |
| Seance | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Usurp the Throne | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Carnage Rules | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Shadow Organization | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Sibling Rivalry | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Highway to Hell | 0% | 3% | -3% |
| Chimichangas | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Cloning Banks | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Fastball Special | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Forced Extraction | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Seeing Red | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Wand of Watoomb | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| Doomed Prophecy | 0% | 2% | -2% |
| A-Force Assemble! | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Daughters of Thanos | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Grievous Wounds | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Second Wind | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Terrigenesis | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Trip Up | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Till the End of the Line | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Bane of Damballah | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Charming Thief | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Fan Club | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Psychic Shielding Device (P.S.D.) | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Seven Suns of Cinnibis | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Shhh… | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| The Age of Ultron | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Versatile Strategy | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Acute Senses | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Agents of S.M.A.S.H. | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Dirty Work | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Neoenetic Recombinator | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| One-Two Punch | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Pentagram of Farallah | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Power of the Cosmos | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Pym Particles | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Recalibration Matrix | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Rocket Boots?! | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| The Cat and the Spider | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| To Ash and Cinder | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Vapors of Valtorr | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| Vibranium Shielding | 0% | 1% | -1% |
| The Books of Truth | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Anger Management | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Carbonadium Synthesizer | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Dark Empowerment | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Elemental Infusion | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Heavy Firepower | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Heavy Ordnance | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Inhuman Royal Family | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Inspiring Monologue | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Jean!!! | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Kick ‘Em While They’re Down | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| K’un-Lun Training | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Professionals | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| There Will Be Carnage | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Yoink | 0% | 0.4% | 0% |
| Attilan Rising | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Banishment | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Blood Red and Personal | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Fearful Symmetry | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Heave Ho | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Magnetic Crush | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| No Escape | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Psychic Fortress | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Red Room Training | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reversal | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Sucker | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Tactical Maneuvers | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| The Air Force | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Thunderwave | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Unearthly Rage | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Uneasy Allies | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Web Barrier | 0% | 0% | 0% |
The clock is ticking: surely it’s only a matter of time before indomitable gets restricted. The fact this isn’t closer 100% is a slight surprise to me, but maybe the roster changes will bump that up a little.
Sacrifice and Advanced R&D both are represented higher in the 3-0 rosters than the field. Sacrifice is often overlooked. As well as being great tech vs attrition teams, diverting attacks to spread damage and hopefully stop them denying activations through dazing, you can do neat stuff like stealing priority by putting attacks on to unactivated characters near dazing/KO towards the end of a round. Advanced R&D is more strongly linked to one specific character in my mind – Black Cat. Having her extract steal superpower online reliably round 2 is a big thing in the meta right now. Only one roster (a Convocation roster) brought Advanced R&D that wasn’t playing Black Cat, and there were only two rosters (Brotherhood, who can power her up, and Criminals) bringing Black Cat without R&D.
It’s interesting to see Bitter Rivals and Blind Obsession as two of the three greatest falls compared to the rest of the league – that wide attrition style those cards tend to appear in hasn’t had the results I would have expected. Yet. It’s still very viable and I’m sure someone else will end up doing well with it, beyond Morgan Reid.
Xavier Protocols 