Character Review: Storm

Some information in this article may be out of date as characters, tactics cards or leaderships have changed. All articles with out-of-date information are identified with the Legacy tag. You can find an updated review of this character here.

Storm is one the centerpieces of the X-Men in Marvel Crisis Protocol. With her Leadership: X-Men Gold, she brings a very unique and dynamic playstyle to the game which deserves it's own article, so for now, we're going to take a look at the character by herself and see how she fares.

Starting with something close to the standard array for 3 Threats: 5 Health, Medium move, 3 Physical and Mystical defense with 4 Energy to spice it up, makes her relatively fragile.

Lightning Bolt is Storm's main attack. Range 4 Energy is a good start but having only 4 dice means that Storm has some difficulty building up power and her impact in a game can change dramatically depending on how her early attacks go. Shock on Wild is a nice plus but you won't hit it reliably with 4 dice.

Ice Blizzard is a middling attack to say the least. Beam 3 with 4 dice against the strongest average defense type leaves a lot to be desired. Stun being reliant on dealing damage makes it even worse. Combined with the fact that the attack doesn't generate power or displaces, it makes it a very unappealing choice.

Hurricane is a one of a kind spender. The guaranteed damage on flying models is nice if you're doing it into 2+ characters but the rest not great. 4 power for a 5 dice attack is expensive especially since she's not often overflowing with power. I think the biggest hurdle for this spender is the range 2, having to be in close range leaves her overexposed and prone to be dazed or KO'ed easily.

Her attack suite leaves a lot to be desired but luckily her superpowers complement her character card better.

Eye of the Storm, even if it compares unfavorably to Iron Man's Friday A.I. (since it costs 1 more power) is a very welcome addition to a character with relatively weak attacks. Bumping her Lightning Bolts to 6 dice gives her a little more punch and helps her generate a little more power.

Tempest gives her access to displacement, which is an invaluable tool in a scenario game. Being range 3 helps keep opposing models from scoring VP's and more often then not, from being able to attack her.

Goddess of Storms is Stealth by another name (which can't be taken away by Tactics Cards like Marked for Death) and helps her stay out of trouble from opposing ranged attacks. It also makes her one of the very few models with Stealth tgat can to attack from range 4.

Finally, she has Flight and Immunity to Shock which are both nice upsides.

Overall, Storm may look like an underwhelming model but still manages to be an integral part of the X-Men in MCP, due to her leadership and relatively versatile toolkit. She is heavily dependent on how good her first attacks are and they will dramatically change how proactive she can be. 

Having kept the best for last, her Leadership, X-Men Gold, is probably the biggest reason she sees time on the table. Free movement, even if only once per round, is a solid tool and gives the Uncanny X-Men a surprising amount of mobility and flexibility. The second part of the Leadership gives a lot of defensive capabilities by providing Cover against attacks from outside Range 2, which gives everyone in your squad some very welcome resiliency.

Thank you and feel free to leave a comment, good luck and don't forget to have fun!