Title Characters were introduced earlier this year in Deadpool & X-Force, and The Mighty Thor gave us two different title characters with Thor and Loki. Today I want to talk about the cheaper and more cunning of the two.

First we had Deadpool, Merc-With-A-Mouth who excelled at dishing damage, nerfing combat values, and was a genuinely hard to kill character. Then we got Dr. Strange, Earth’s Guardian who had an amazing ultimate ability. This set, we got Thor Odinson, a disgustingly good one-man army with double attacks and character teleporting, and we also got Loki, Agent of Asgard. Loki is a lot different than other title characters because he doesn’t exactly have any mind-blowing or game-breaking mechanics. Instead, Loki is all about finesse.

So far, we’ve been beat over the head that Title Characters are incredibly powerful, along the lines of Prime status. This is backed up by the fact that you can only have one Title Character on your force. Deadpool and Strange were both incredibly powerful for their points, and both clocked in between 70 and 80 points. They both had very good stats and prominent damage capabilities. With these new Title Characters, we get completely different ends of the spectrum. With Thor, we have a distinct combat piece that’s all about pouring on the damage and generally making life miserable for his opponents. With Loki, there’s no real clear-cut indication of what he wants to do, and that’s why I want to build around him first (yes, that means I’ll be building an Odinson team at some point).

I have to commend the designers on Loki, Agent of Asgard. While he doesn’t have that clear identity of what you want you should do with him, he feels like Loki. He’s tricky, and pretty much the grand poobah of all this and that in terms of mind games, and this dial reflects that extremely well.

Loki is our cheapest Title Character at just 60 points. He has 7 clicks of life (!), 4 range with a single target, and standard combat symbols. His Keywords are pretty decent but shallow with Asgardian, Mystical, and Young Avengers. Like all Title Characters, he has no traits or special powers, just his Title Abilities. He starts with 2 plot points.

His dial is a bit all over the place. For movement, he kicks things off with 9 Stealth that drops to an 8 on click two, a 7 on click three, swaps over to Sidestep on four, jumps back to an 8 on five and six, and ends on 9 Sidestep on his final click. Attack values are pretty sub-par with a 10 Precision Strike on clicks one and two, dropping to a 9 on click three. Click four swaps out to Blades, and he jumps to a 10 on click five, and an 11 on his last two clicks. His defense is okay with 18 Combat Reflexes on top, dropping to a 17 for three clicks, and then picking up to 18 Willpower on his last three clicks. Damage is probably his most stable with 3 Exploit Weakness on his first three clicks, 2 perplex on clicks four and five, and a vanilla 2 on his last two clicks.

Let’s face it, the dial isn’t great aside from it’s length-to-cost ratio. Loki struggles in what he wants to do in virtually every aspect. He wants to get in close for melee, but his Stealth, lack of improved movement and willpower prevent him from doing that. His mid-dial really isn’t that great with two 9 attack values. He does get pretty disgusting at the end of his click, but with no reducers or evasion, there’s a decent chance he never gets to see those clicks.

Before we just write Loki off as a failed Title Character, let’s look at his Title Character Abilities to see how that changes who he is so we can give him a game identity.

+1: Manipulated By King Loki: Until your next turn, opposing characters can’t use Perplex or Probability Control to target Loki, Agent of Asgard or friendly characters within 3 squares of him.

Loki’s first ability that grants him a Plot Point denies the use of Perplex or Prob on himself or any allies within 3 squares of him. The Perplex isn’t a big deal, but the Prob is. This ensures that if you can make your attack role, it’s going to hit. This single ability does a great job of showcasing how Loki is the master of the mind and can easily out-think his opponents. It’s not game-breaking, but it’s very strong.

-0 :Honest, I’m Undercover For The All-Mother: At the beginning of your next turn, if no opposing character hit Loki, Agent of Asgard since you activated this, heal Loki, Agent of Asgard 2 clicks.

As I mentioned above, the big win in Loki’s book is that he has a very impressive amount of health for his points, and this ability increases that ten-fold. What’s even better is that the only real cost to using this ability is hitting an opposing character so Loki doesn’t take unavoidable damage for activating a Title Ability. Even then, it’s still potentially worth it because Loki will profit 1 click. Two free clicks of healing anytime you want is huge, and more importantly, it takes the focus off the rest of your team as your opponent will probably want to stop you from healing 1/4th of his dial.

(-6): Gram, Sword Of Truth: Adjacent opposing characters of 200 points or less can’t use defense powers this turn.

Loki’s Ultimate Ability can be a game changer as it shuts down any defense powers showing in the defense slot of opposing characters that are adjacent to him for a turn. While this is much better with a team of high-powered characters to take advantage of this, Loki can use it himself on his end-dial Blades to potentially one-shot any character. Look at this more as a single-use ability rather than a ‘team-nuke’ ability. You’ll profit a lot more if you use it to KO one character rather than trying to hurt multiple.

Remember that Title Characters also have a downside if they’re KO’d to offset their insanely good cost ratio.

When Loki, Agent Of Asgard is KO’d, friendly characters can’t use defense powers until your next turn.

Oof. That’s a big one. Like Deadpool, Loki pretty much signs your death warrant and allows your opponent to go completely ham on your force. The good news is that with his healing ability and already impressive dial-length, this should be a little tough to do, and the amount of work your opponent will have to put in to achieve this goal probably won’t be worth the 60 points or the time it takes to commit.

Loki has a very interesting dial and set of powers. While he does have the conflicting setup of what he wants to do, the abilities make clear that Loki is all about messing with the mechanics and setup of the game. Loki buys his time and strikes when the moment is right. He’s probably best used as a secondary piece to help a primary attacker achieve their goals and then take over when it’s too late, or as a very cunning and tough to deal with primary piece.

I don’t think I have to explain this next part as you should all be familiar with the Positive vs. Negative analysis by now.

Positive: Long dial. Very good self-healing. Anti-Perplex and Prob. Hard to hit. Mean end-dial. Incredible nuisance. Can nuke a single character if left alone for too long. Good keywords. Cheapest Title Character yet.

Negative: Lacks initiative. No Willpower. Susceptible to Outwit. Mediocre values. Mid-dial slump. Almost exclusively melee, which is risky.

There isn’t a huge list of negatives on Loki, but the ones mentioned are big and important. In Loki’s case, it’s about the quality of his negative aspects over quantity. Still, it’s a pretty good trade-off. I don’t know where you’re going to get a tougher 60 points in the game than this guy. The sheer amount of labor that’s involved in taking him down (aside from calling in someone like Nick Fury, and even that won’t one-shot him) is probably not worth the time and effort for your opponent, making Loki very good at what he does. Remember, when playing Loki, it’s all about finesse.

So what does Loki need in order to get the job done? His biggest weaknesses are his speed both in and out of combat while wanting to hide in Stealth, and his values. TK could be a good option for him, but aside from the same old Mercury/Jean Grey, we don’t have too many good cheap options. Also, Loki doesn’t really want to be thrown into the fight. Remember, he wants to sit back and manipulate. A taxi is probably a better option to get him where he can cause the most damage and still be a nightmare. Regarding his values, Perplex is going to go a long way with him, as is Probability Control. Loki also needs some team players to help him. Tie-up is going to be strong with him, as are pieces that like to group up or at least remain close together so he can protect them from Perplex and Probability Control.

I’m going to return to two builds today; one will be focusing on Loki as the primary portion of the build while the other will put Loki in the back of the team, acting on the sidelines to cause chaos. Both will be our typical 300 Modern with no Resources.

First up, the team that focuses on him.

300 Point Modern Loki, Agent of Asgard Team – No Resources

Rather than granting Loki Charge or adding TK to the team, I figured the next best option would be to move people to Loki so that he can use his Exploit Weakness and reduce them to dust. Harley Quinn does this pretty well with Hypersonic Speed and Force Blast. She also serves double time in that she has Perplex, so she can either increase her chances of knocking someone back or make Loki better. What I really like about Harley is that she shifts into a Stealth/Super Senses/Outwit piece. She might not do much damage, but she’s useful on every click.

For transportation, I immediately went to the common Green Lantern from Elseworlds. With the Green Lantern team ability, this guy can carry literally our entire team 8 squares through any kind of terrain, and then he has a chance of giving Loki and/or Harley an opportunity to act afterwards. He’s the best of both taxi and TK worlds, and is very efficient.

Numbers are a very real problem for Loki, so I recruited the best piece in Modern for raising values in Red Leader. Not only can this guy Perplex three times, he’s also got Outwit to help us counter out problematic powers. Sidestep will allow him to stay safe, and Poison on click two is a powerful tool against pogs with no reducers (like the ones we’re running on the team). His dial is shallow, but he provides so much firepower. I can’t complain with one piece giving Loki an 11 attack and 5 damage on his first click.

Tie-up was the next portion of the build that needed to be handled, and there’s no better in the game right now than Carnage. Adding 5 symbiotes to your team that have Plasticity, 11 attack with Blades, Super Senses and Shape Change is disgusting and will most likely make your opponents cry as Hal runs them up and provides a nice little taxi service for them all game. These guys will do a great job of letting Loki do his thing and take shots when the timing is right. Carnage himself is also no slouch. Sidestep for free movement and the ability to spawn more symbiotes (which he can retaliate on those who hit those symbiotes) makes him a very nasty colossal.

I knew I wanted to give Loki a piece of equipment to help him out. Possession is great, but it’s expensive, and I really like the new weapons. The Mirror of Mysolljh seems like it was custom-made for Loki. Giving Loki Invulnerable for his entire dial from the Hulkbuster Torso is great, and so is Impervious from Possessors, but those can be hit with Exploit Weakness or Penetrating/Psychic Blast. Instead, the Mirror combos with Loki’s healing ability as he’s almost impossible to hit. You’re almost guaranteed to get those 2 clicks of health anytime you activate his healing.

I figured it would be good to boost Harley as well, so I went with the Dueling Sword. It’s a little tough to use as folks can just group up to avoid it’s effect, but giving her a +2 to her attack value against lone targets means you’re going to end up knocking them into Loki. For 3 points, it’s a welcome addition.

We end up with exactly 5 points, and there’s simply no better use of 5 points than an ID card. I went with Spider-Man as a high-damage call-in as he’s the only piece under 60 points in Modern with an ID card that has Flurry on top click. Oh, and he’s also got Perplex. You can easily boost him up to 5 damage, and if Loki activates his Ultimate ability and you have Harley call Spidey in, you’re getting to nuke at least one if not two characters. This adds a one-time use high-damage play to our team.

This build is all about buffing Loki and making him a lot more valuable than his kit would suggest. We can borderline max his stats, and on defensive turns, he becomes neigh untouchable. The healing mechanic combined with the mirror makes him a very frustrating opponent. The symbiotes will have a field day as they stop attacks, and roll attacks that can’t be rerolled thanks to Loki’s abilities and potentially hit for a ton of damage. There’s a lot of options here and the team does a good job of reacting to how and what your opponent plays.

Next up, let’s look at Loki as more of a sideline player that doesn’t need all the buffs.

300 Point Modern Loki, Agent of Asgard Team – No Resources

This team is much simpler than the last team in that it only has three characters, but gives us a theme team to work with, so we have a shot at winning map roll which will be necessary for this comp.

I figured the best bet for Loki if he isn’t the main guy running the show would be a big bruiser that’s really nasty, and Executioner fits that bill to a T. The guy has some seriously amazing values, has Steal Energy his entire dial thanks to the Bloodaxe, and can act every single turn. When you add the ability to stop Prob on his attacks or Perplex down his defense, he turns into nightmare fuel as he cleaves through anyone in his path. If Loki gets to 6 plot points, Executioner is a pretty amazing piece to go to town with.

If you’re going to play Executioner and you want a lot of control, naturally you pair him with Enchantress. She brings Perplex and Mind Control to the party, as well as a way to completely ruin your opponents tactical decisions. Is one of your opponents with Combat Reflexes 5 squares away from Loki so he can’t shoot them? Nudge ’em forward. Same goes for Executioner and charging in. You get a lot of nice choices with her when she’s next to Executioner, he gets a +1 to defense. With her and Loki teamed up, it’s going to be a very annoying field to navigate through.

I knew I didn’t want Loki to go without equipment, but with no taxi or TK, an equippable item like the Mirror is slow (and we’re using it on Enchantress), so I opted for Possession. Brainic seriously reinvents Loki, but there’s a main reason why I wanted him even over new weapons; Outwit. The boost to Outwit is absurd, and this helps our very one-track minded team do what it needs to. Invincible which stops Executioner? Nope. Hypersonic? Not today. Brainiac also gives Loki Sidestep so he can navigate terrain better, Pen/Psy to make him a better ranged attacker, Impervious, better values, and the World Running Like Clockwork power so he can keep pulling tokens. Even better, you get Regeneration on his last two clicks, on a dial that was already a stupidly long, and he has Willpower on those clicks. It seems like Brainiac is just perfect for Loki.

ID cards are honestly the best option to use up the last of our points as Executioner is now one of the best summoners out there thanks to his Masters of Evil team ability and being able to act every turn. With 120 points, you can call in some of the best pieces in the game like Nick Fury, Elseworlds Green Arrow, the LE Nightwing, Firestorm, etc. etc. If you can think of a modern competitive call-in, he can probably do it. That’s why I left this spot open rather than specify which ID cards. It’s really up to you how you want to reinforce this team. I would recommend Level 7 with Nick Fury and Hawkeye (one isn’t used), Spider-Man with Superior Spider Man, and probably Nightwing so you can get a good healer, because our team has no way of healing itself /sarcasm. No but seriously, Tony Zucco is amazing.

This team is a lot lighter in terms of overall pieces you need, but it’s got a lot more teeth than the previous build. What I like about it is that Loki is probably the last person you want to hit because Executioner will flat out KO your pieces and Enchantress will make them hit each other. This is exactly the type of team that Loki needs to buy his time until it’s too late, essentially doing what Loki does best; plotting.

What did you think of these two team builds? Is there a different piece that really calls to you when you think about playing Title Loki? If so, I would really like to know about it as I’m anxious to play him some more myself. If you want some real hilarity, play him with the common Loki from the same set and just make dozens of Loki’s. That’s some grade-A fun!

I hope you all enjoyed this article. I’ll see you Thursday on Two Clicks From KO!