First Half of 2026 Review for Marvel Crisis Protocol

We at the moment are six months into 2026 so allow us to look again at what has occurred in Marvel: Crisis Protocol to this point this yr and what we are able to sit up for popping out quickly.

January

Spectrum & Blue Marvel

This was a field initially scheduled for December 2025 however ended up on cabinets in January 2026. Inside now we have Spectrum, the chief of the brand new Mighty Avengers affiliation and Blue Marvel who ended up being a 5-Threat powerhouse who confirmed up in a number of aggressive lists. 

I’m completely satisfied to get new leaders and new affiliations. Mighty Avengers looks as if an affiliation with plenty of potential however partly held again by an affiliated fashions checklist that tends in direction of the decrease 50% of fashions within the recreation. The excellent news is that the mannequin replace doc (extra on that later) could give this affiliation some buffs. I’m instantly pondering of Ant-Man, She-Hulk, and Steve Rodgers. 

Mighty Avengers is sitting at a ~52% win price, which I count on to solely go up for the remainder of the yr. Spectrum herself hasn’t been a really thrilling mannequin to play however she appears okay to convey as a pacesetter of an excellent affiliation. 

On the opposite hand, Blue Marvel is a 5-Threat who’s affiliated with the Defenders and the Mighty Avengers. He has carried out competitively, particularly below Doctor Strange Defenders. But irrespective of the place he’s performed he has an excellent suite of powers on his card and his TTC is playable. 

However, as I mentioned earlier this field was delayed from 2025 till 2026 and Spectrum was printed together with her Spender being 0 Power value as an alternative of 4. We additionally didn’t get the Mighty Avengers affiliated checklist and up to date Standard format paperwork on the principle AMG web site, they confirmed up on the AMG discussion board as an alternative on January twelfth. Later on January twentieth we acquired affiliations for Spectrum and Blue Marvel themselves. 

Unfortunately this has been a working drawback for AMG in 2026. Product that’s printed mistaken, and bulletins that aren’t put up on the principle AMG web site. It makes enjoying and maintaining with the sport difficult even for essentially the most seasoned veterans. 

Great Refuge banning & updates

On January twenty eighth AMG lastly up to date their official paperwork for the Spectrum and Blue Marvel launch and in addition determined to ban the TTC The Great Refuge in a shocking transfer. Usually AMG reserves their updates for round Adepticon in March and Ministravaganza in November. 

The Great Refuge was an Inhumans particular TTC that enabled their extra deadly characters (Black Bolt) to take down enemy fashions deep within the area. Possibly it might end in a Daze Round 1 and a KO Round 2. AMG has been fairly antagonistic to Round 1 shenanigans so this TTC discovered itself banned. (They are nonetheless permitting Terrigenesis which is one other very highly effective Inhuman TTC.)

February

Valkyrie on Elendil & Warriors Three

Next now we have Asgardians on massive (65 mm) bases. Valkyrie on Elendil and the Warriors Three are actually beautiful fashions. The character playing cards are fascinating and highly effective. These fashions are aggressive in their very own affiliation however aren’t fairly adequate to be splashed anyplace else at the moment. 

This summer time we’ve seen some resurgence of Asgard successful occasions and each of those fashions have been included in lists. Post character rebalance these fashions could have much more competitors of their slots. However, Valkyrie on Elendil might see some extra play alongside a buffed 3-Threat OG Valkyrie so look out for that. 

I can undoubtedly suggest this field when you’re searching for nice sculpts, aggressive Asgard, or distinctive characters to place in your lists. 

Adam Warlock, Moondragon, and Quasar

Guardians acquired new reinforcements with a pacesetter in Adam Warlock and affiliated fashions Moondragon and Quasar. Adam Warlock is a base 7-Threat character however is commonly performed at 8-Threat utilizing his Bonded Soul Gem and the Reality Gem. AMG did an excellent job balancing this excessive Threat mannequin and he has an fascinating management with the flexibility to change out die faces and retailer one for later. 

Moondragon has the flexibility to take the Mind Gem so she may be performed as both a 3 or 4-Threat character. It appears she’s most well-liked in aggressive lists with the Gem connected and he or she has seen play in her affiliated groups, the Avengers, Defenders, and Guardians. 

Quasar is by some means the least aggressive of all of the fashions on this field, though she appears like she has a pushed character card. She has 4 highly effective superpowers that are fairly costed. She appears like an excellent brawler however hasn’t discovered a aggressive residence but. Unfortunately, she is competing in opposition to some premiere 4-Threats within the type of Beta Ray Bill and Yondu in Guardians affiliation.

I’d price this field as successful for MCP each in informal and aggressive scenes. 

March

Kang, Iron Monger, Rescue, and Iron Lad

March introduced the uncommon 4 character field with Kang, Iron Lad, Rescue, and Iron Monger. There’s a obscure theme of armored fashions however they span all kinds of affiliations. 

Kang brings a Cabal management on a 6 Threat with some actually unusual time-travel TTCs. He has some potential and hopefully will see some extra play sooner or later with Cabal. Iron Lad was launched with none affiliation however will likely be put into Young Avengers when that releases. While with out affiliation he doesn’t appear to have many causes to be placed on the desk, though he also can use the Kang TTCs (utilizing the Nathaniel Richards alter ego). Time will inform whether or not the Young Avengers affiliation is purpose to place him on the desk.

Rescue has been billed as the primary ‘support’ character with some fascinating design that may heal allied characters, transfer them across the board (and heal them), or increase defenses. She’s in all probability the 2nd best character on this field and also will be a greater enabler when the character replace will increase well being swimming pools throughout the board. 

Iron Monger is the final and best mannequin on this field. His character card isn’t all that flashy or thrilling however his innate traits make him a beneficial mannequin to have on the board. He’s a 3-Threat on an enormous (65 mm) base that can be measurement 4. He has injury discount and a restricted cube re-roll superpower. He’s a strong embrace for his affiliated groups, Cabal and Criminal Syndicate. He’s a problem on your opponent to cope with and might maintain his personal on a flank. He’s one other nice sculpt that’s enjoyable to point out off on the desk. 

Unfortunately, this launch additionally had a significant printing error on Iron Lad which wanted errata. The meeting instruction PDF was delayed from the bodily launch as effectively.

Adepticon

You can learn my Adepticon recap article right here. Unfortunately, the AMG presentation was fairly mild on new info for MCP. The largest reveal was the Sentinel character playing cards releasing in Q2 2026 and the Jubilee character card coming Q3 2026. The Sentinels have been very thrilling, however there was confusion after the 3-Threat Prime Sentinel fashions had completely different well being printed on their common card and their promo card.

Additionally, Jubilee was underwhelming for the neighborhood. She’s a reasonably weak 2-Threat character with skills that don’t actually synergize. A 2-Threat mutant in affiliation may nonetheless be performed however it appears like she’s simply one other mutant that’s below the curve.

After the presentation it felt like a particular let-down so far as the roadmap went. Basically no new product was introduced to the neighborhood. AMG mentioned they didn’t need to over-promise or tease product that was actually far down the road. They additionally mentioned that there was presumably product that might come out within the roadmap that wasn’t included within the presentation. After the primary half of 2026, we nonetheless don’t have any extra info or extra product introduced.

The neighborhood was additionally excited a few wave of character re-balances that always are launched throughout Adepticon. AMG said that the character re-work was in progress and it could be bigger than any earlier than, principally as a result of they have been engaged on a game-wide re-balance of well being swimming pools, particularly for 3-Threat fashions. But as a result of the re-work was so massive, it could be delayed till June. (Since then the replace has been pushed to July per a Facebook put up.)

April

There have been no new releases in April. In the final week of April the Crisis playing cards for Operation Zero Tolerance have been revealed on-line with an efficient rotation date of June twelfth.

May

Bastion, Nimrod, and Omega Sentinel

These fashions have been absolutely spoiled at Adepticon and got here out in May. Bastion brings a brand new Sentinels management to the sport which advantages the robots who need to be attacking early and infrequently throughout the recreation. While this appeared like a really oppressive management, it hasn’t brought about too many issues within the meta because it launched. 

Nimrod has not seen the success that fellow 5-Threat Blue Marvel noticed upon launch. However, Omega Sentinel has big advantages to enjoying on Pay-to-Flip Secures and usually brings an excellent character card to the desk so she’s seen play each in Sentinels and in different affiliations. 

These mannequin sculpts are fairly complicated and sadly the meeting doc was once more delayed from bodily launch. As of the time I’m writing this text the affiliation doc and base measurement doc aren’t up to date with these characters on the AMG web site. Finally, the Nimrod card additionally has a misprint on it much like Iron Lad that wants errata (however can be not up to date within the errata doc on the AMG web site).  

June

Crisis Card Pack Operation Zero Tolerance

The Crisis playing cards within the Operation Zero Tolerance pack have been launched on-line in late April and we additionally acquired a brand new Challenger doc with Crisis rotation info. This allowed gamers to replace for the brand new season and tournaments to adapt earlier than the bodily product was launched. However, even for the reason that bodily launch, the AMG web site doesn’t have a print and play for the Crises like they normally do. The War of Kings Crisis doc from 2025 remains to be discovered on the AMG web site.

With this launch, we lastly acquired readability on the well being pool of the Prime Sentinels (6/6) by way of the Rules Forum however AMG has not formally added them to the affiliation or base measurement doc on their official web site.

This set of Crisis playing cards is meant to set the baseline for a yr lengthy aggressive MCP scene however it’s felt like they haven’t supported the discharge. The neighborhood has executed lots of work to implement these Crises however discovering this info from AMG is usually a actual problem.

The close to future

Per a Facebook put up, the character card replace is predicted in July. The purpose given at the moment is that it represents a big overhaul of the road to convey outdated fashions again into the aggressive scene by giving them a well being enhance. Health will increase imply a mannequin is on the desk for an extended time frame and might impact change on the sport. They also needs to achieve extra Power over the course of the sport by taking extra injury. 

We are additionally purported to see some bigger character modifications like now we have in previous character replace paperwork. We know at the very least that they need to barely nerf Shang-Chi and Apocalypse and buff characters like Magneto. 

My hope with this launch is that we see a launch on the AMG web site with few to none errors. That has been the usual up to now so hopefully we get again to that normal. 

Boxes obtainable for pre-order:

Currently on the AMG webstore there are fairly a couple of pre-orders obtainable. However, they’re all terrain items or re-packs of older characters. First, I’m actually completely satisfied that older characters have gotten obtainable and new gamers can discover older fashions simply. It will assist the well being of the sport.

Second, the terrain items primarily include actually massive center-pieces which regularly don’t play effectively on a board for MCP. I feel they give the impression of being cool they usually may enchantment to hardcore hobbyists however I don’t see anybody in my local people that wishes to purchase them or play with them. 

We even have two new Starter Sets on pre-order, one for Asgard and one for Guardians of the Galaxy. Both comprise 10 fashions however neither comprise the extremely wanted Beta Ray Bill mannequin. The two Starter units we acquired final yr have been priced at 95$ which appeared like a effective introductory worth to get new gamers every part they wanted to play a recreation in a single field. The Guardians field is now priced at 100$ which appears effective however the Asgard field is priced at 125$. I’m undecided what brought about AMG to alter the costs and in addition make them not constant throughout packing containers. These starter units have been additionally put as Q2 2027 within the Adepticon timeline so issues undoubtedly weren’t communicated very effectively.

These packing containers for pre-order stretch all the best way to August twenty first however now we have not seen any communication or pre-orders for brand new fashions which might be supposed to come back Q3 2026. We know from Adepticon that we must always get a 4-model mutant field and a 3 mannequin Hulk themed field.

In reality, the official articles from AMG on their web site (“transmissions”) haven’t executed a Panel to Play for the reason that finish of April. There have been zero transmissions for the month of May and the three transmissions we acquired in June have been all geared toward hobbying/portray.

The official affiliation paperwork on the AMG web site have been final up to date in March so we’re now taking a look at a a number of month stretch the place we aren’t getting updates from the corporate web site. I’m undecided the rationale for this or why they’re utilizing the Rules Forum or social media as most well-liked routes of communication.

Conclusions

Overall we’ve seen a smaller variety of new mannequin be launched however they’ve an outsized affect as a result of they launch new affiliations or new leaderships. I feel that has been useful to the sport since there was no field that has been a complete dud when it comes to informal and aggressive curiosity.

This theme continues with the opposite packing containers on the roadmap for 2026. We ought to see new affiliations or leaderships for each single field except the Criminal Syndicate field in This autumn 2026. (But it’s unclear from the Adepticon presentation whether or not we’ll get the Young Avengers in This autumn 2026 or Q2 2027.)

I’m not assured that we’ll see the rest new from AMG for the rest of 2026. With an absence of communication and assist for his or her releases just lately I can’t see them going above and past the roadmap we have been already given. While MCP is meant to be a spotlight of the AMG studio transferring ahead, it doesn’t really feel like there’s been a constant or sturdy assist for the sport.

We do know that the MCP-adjacent board recreation (MCP Alliances) is meant to be launching in August 2026 however we additionally haven’t seen any pre-orders obtainable for that recreation but. They have two extra Alliances product launches in early 2027. I’m undecided what assets went into Alliances versus the principle MCP recreation however I hope that it received’t trigger an prolonged interval of hardship for supporting MCP.

I feel MCP packing containers that hit the cabinets to this point in 2026 have been good for brand new gamers and current gamers. Re-packs, starter units, and new fashions will assist the sport in the long term. I additionally assume that the character playing cards, leaderships, and new affiliations launched have been fascinating and the sculpts have by no means been higher. Unfortunately, the corporate does have to work on their official paperwork and transmissions on their AMG web site to raised assist and supply info to their participant base. The AMG web site must be a one-stop store for the entire info wanted to play MCP and proper now it’s missing. Printed product additionally had a number of issues this yr with mistaken Power prices or mistaken superpower symbols. Hopefully AMG can get again to product that’s effectively vetted and printed with no errors.

Let me know what you’ve favored and disliked to this point in 2026 for MCP. As at all times, yow will discover me enjoying MCP at my native store the Fabricator’s Forge within the Pittsburgh, PA space. Please be a part of our regional MCP discord the Appalachian Cup! And when you’re searching for low cost fashions, try the Frontline Gaming on-line retailer. Come again right here quickly for my evaluate of the July character card updates! I’m actually wanting ahead to how this may change MCP and convey again some lengthy forgotten fashions! Good luck and completely satisfied gaming!

Hi, I’m Jeff aka Rowlf the Dog. I grew up in Alaska however now reside within the Pittsburgh area. I’m an avid fan of the Discworld e book collection by Terry Pratchett and watching scary films on VHS. Most of my free time is spent enjoying Elden Ring and tabletop video games. I’m a aggressive Marvel Crisis Protocol participant (the very best skirmish tabletop recreation to be enjoying proper now!) and play all through the Ohio, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania area. I dabble in board video games and different miniature video games and love video games with deep technique and ways.