From Panel to Play: Mephisto

The unfortunate often find themselves at a crossroads between bad choices. For the very unlucky, a shadowy being is waiting at the crossroads with a deal to offer them. That shadowy being is Mephisto, Lord of Temptation.

Mephisto rules a fiery nether realm, loves to impersonate the biblical Satan, and is empowered by the damned souls he’s tricked into accepting his bargains. He is unambiguously evil and completely untrustworthy, and he still manages to manipulate great heroes into accepting his deals. He’s very good at being bad. Among his numerous other powers is apparent immortality, and he’s been bargaining for souls during the entire history of humanity. The souls he’s collected from the Legion of the Lost, Mephisto’s personal army outside of his realm, he uses to fulfill his bargains and acquire yet more power.

The best place to start understanding how Mephisto plays is to look at his Demonic Contract superpower. Mephisto gets 1 additional power each round for each Devil’s Deal token he has. He starts the game with 1 token, but to power up to his strongest, he needs to get 3. The only way to gain Devil’s Deal tokens on his Stat Card is his Infernal Bargain attack. As a 5-threat character, only dealing one damage with an action is a tremendous downside. Luckily, he can use his How Can I be of Service? superpower to Place himself next to a target and make an Infernal Bargain attack without spending an action on it.

When he has a stack of 3 Devil’s Deal tokens, he has many more options available to him. Termination Clause becomes a 9-die beam attack that automatically incinerates each target. Devil’s Due allows Mephisto to spend a Devil’s Deal token to do damage and steal power. Meet my Associate lets him spend a Devil’s Deal token when he is attacked to Place an ally next to him and have that ally be the target of that attack instead.

Hellfire Lash rounds out his kit as a flexible attack that gains one power, and it’s a solid option when Mephisto needs to save up his resources and still do damage.

If Mephisto can’t use Meet my Associate, he is easy to take down for a 5-threat character. That often means he needs to be around his allies to be at his best. Fortunately, Meet my Associate can give those allies a lot of movement to keep up with the blistering speed he can move. How Can I be of Service? could allow Mephisto to Place more than Range 5 away from his current position by Placing on the opposite side of the target. If he can Place in a location to make Meet My Associate inconvenient, that superpower could make it detrimental to attack him since it allows him to place his allies into position.

While Mephisto doesn’t often want to stray away from his allies, sometimes doing so could win the game. That’s especially the case when he can move himself into position to hit multiple characters with a 9-die Termination Clause.

If you read the fine print of this article, you might have picked up that there are more ways to gain Devil’s Deal tokens than Mephisto’s Infernal Bargain attack. Up the Ante is a fine example of the kind of Faustian deals Mephisto forces on your opponent. It asks the opponent if they would like to lose power instead of taking damage when an ally would deal damage with an attack. In exchange, all they need to do is give Mephisto 2 Devil’s Deal tokens and allow him to have up to 5 for the rest of the game. Of course, they could just not take the deal. In that case, Mephisto still benefits by removing his activated token if he has one or just trying the deal later on if he doesn’t.

Brand New Day commemorates one of the most infamous examples of Mephisto’s deal making. With this card, he shows his prodigious power by preventing an enemy character from being Dazed or KO’d…if they make a deal with him and Mephisto’s ally gets to activate again. Of course, the violence the deal was offering to prevent and the willpower required to refuse that deal both reinvigorate him, so it’s another win-win for Mephisto.

When deals fail to do the job, Hellfire is there to clean up the situation. Mephisto’s mastery over that baleful flame is so great that he can wreathe his allies and imbue their attacks with it. The minor consequence of lighting his allies on fire is a small price to pay for such a boon.

If the situation is important enough to him, Mephisto can call on all the souls he’s won and assemble the Legion of the Lost. Damnation forces the opponent to choose which character of theirs will gain Incinerate in exchange for 1 power every round of the game. It also fuels Mephisto’s squad with power. Mephisto’s squad gets these benefits with any characters, offering an extreme amount of flexibility. Corvus wants the mobility offered and is sturdy enough to be a great ally to choose for Meet my Associate. When Mephisto uses Embrace the Inferno to incinerate Corvus and Proxima, they can both activate before the opponent gets to activate by using their Husband and Wife superpowers. On that round, they are likely to daze or KO at least one character with access to a full reroll against what is likely an incinerated enemy character.

Mephisto doesn’t just work for himself, though. If it serves his goals, he’s only too willing to make a deal and work for others. The leaders of Cabal and Criminal Syndicate are perfectly willing to strike a deal to get Mephisto on their side, and he’s affiliated with both. Shadowland Daredevil has quite a lot of synergy with Mephisto. With Mephisto’s beam and free attack, he often makes more than 2 attacks that can benefit from Shadowland Daredevil’s leadership during his activation. Shadowland Daredevil is also very sturdy, so he’s quite a good target for Meet my Associate, and the Hand Ninjas offer a more disposable shield for Mephisto to hide behind. Mephisto also has strong power generation to pay for All According to Plan, and that Team Tactic Card plays right into the unique scheming playstyle Mephisto offers.

That’s all for today’s installment of From Panel to Play. Be sure to check back for more in-depth previews of new and upcoming releases. Mephisto and other Marvel: Crisis Protocol miniatures are available today for pre-order or purchase through the webstore. Thanks for joining!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!