Welcome back to MSF Mondays! Each week we break down one more aspect of the hottest mobile game, Marvel Strike Force! Today we’re talking about the formation of the new Underworld team and its 5th member: Mister Negative. That’s right; Mister Negative is coming to Marvel Strike Force!
The first time that I learned about Mister Negative was playing through the recent Spider-Man game, where he ends up being the big bad. His whole schtick is using the negative field, like undeveloped photographs or like some of those funky Photoshop filters you can apply. Pretty neat stuff.
As far as Marvel Strike Force is concerned, Mister Negative will be joining the newly formed Underworld team. What’s nice about this is that the Underworld team only has Mister Negative as a new toon; all of the other four toons on the team are actually already in the game. Scopely basically took the scraps and leftovers from other teams to form Underworld.
Here are the other teammates:
- Kingpin
- Nobu
- Green Goblin
- Taskmaster
The Underworld team is touted as being primarily a WAR OFFENSE team, which we can see by the sneak peek into Mister Negative’s abilities. And, as I type this, I realize that I’m probably going to confused Mister Negative with Mister Sinister in articles now thanks to force of habit. How many Misters do we need??
So let’s talk about Mister Negative’s kit for a bit, because he actually has a Passive ability that looks like a really fun exploration of Marvel Strike Force design space. His Passive, Inner Demons, summons an Inner Demon on spawn, and also passively summons an Inner Demon on his turn. Hela is the only other toon with a passive summon like this, but that only triggers on spawn and when the summon dies (unless you’re in War). And then Multiple Man when he gets attacked. This is much more powerful and reliable.
First off, the summons occur in a specific order. You know exactly what Inner Demon is coming up next in the chain so you can prepare for it when you’re attacking or defending against Mister Negative. There are three Inner Demons – Dragon, Demon, and Cyclops, and that’s the order they spawn in. Cyclops is also the one that summons on the spawn.
It’s also not entirely clear, but I think we can infer that these Mister Negative Inner Demons will continue to summon every turn in that cycle, and not just stop after the third turn. So these Inner Demons will plague you until Mister Negative is gone!
This rotating summon is such an interesting idea, and it really gives Mister Negative some good sustain, especially since this isn’t an ability that only procs in War.
Here’s a breakdown of the different Inner Demons and their differences:
- Dragon – Apply 2 Bleed on basic, gains 2 Speed Up on spawn
- Demon – Apply 2 Offense Down on basic (and Stun during War Offense), gain 2 Defense Up on spawn
- Cyclops – Apply 2 Heal Block on basic, gain 2 Offense Up on spawn
All of these Inner Demons also apply Piercing damage and gain Extra Focus per Underworld ally. It’s important to note that these have the Underworld Trait, so the Extra Focus will continue to grow if you assemble more and more of these Inner Demons. They only get more powerful!
Their death also lowers enemy Speed Bars, and they lower the Speed Bars of Mystic enemies on their basic as well. With how powerful Mystic toons are these days, Underworld is shaping up to be a direct counter to Mystic teams in War.
Mister Negative also clears Revive Once and 1 Charged from primary targets when using his Ultimate – Wave of Negativity ability. In another burst of flavor, his Ultimate also flips all positive effects to negative effects, and cannot be blocked or dodged. Time to shake it like a Polaroid picture because that’s one amazing Ultimate!
On top of all that, Mister Negative’s basic ability flips positive effects as well, and then his Special ability – Demonic Assistance, spreads those negative effects while applying Trauma. This is the second toon that we’ve seen recently that can clear Revive Once, so expect to see that mechanic coming through more frequently in coming releases.
Now let’s think about how this Underworld team shapes up with Mister Negative at the helm. We have Kingpin and Nobu, who also summon allies, which means that the battlefield is going to be extremely full. Like, Multiple Man full. And, consider this: if all of those summons also have the Underworld tag, then the Extra Focus will be pouring in!
I think it’s safe to say that Underworld will finally have their time in the sun, breathing new life into forgotten and discarded toons like Kingpin, Nobu, and Green Goblin. Taskmaster has had utility for awhile now, so he’s only going to get better when he can blind the enemy team right away and allow Mister Negative to build up some Inner Demons.
And now I’ll close this out with things to watch out for this week in Marvel Strike Force:
- Blitz: Phyla-Vell, Quick Rumble (Ravager)
- Legendary Event: Unite the Kingdoms (Black Bolt)
- Character Events: Hulk Hunter, Brains as Brawn (Brawn), Totally Awesome (Brawn), Cho Time Web (Brawn)
- Other Events: Chaos Theory (Sep 16th)
Well I hope this helps you take your Squad from a D+ to a B- Commander!
Previous Installments
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