Avengers, Black Panther, and the Illuminati is out and It’s been quite some time since the last team build which are still my favorite articles to write. So let’s do a whole shebang and go all-out with Wakanda!

Now that this set is fully spoiled and released, I’m pretty much considering it WizKids’ unofficial Marvel MCU set. We have an entire set centered around the Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet(s) and there’s some big hints to how the finale of the first Avengers run in film went down, even down to how they chose to use Professor Hulk. This set feels so much like an MCU set that you kind of forget that it was originally just called Black Panther and the Illuminati. Those are still two very strong sub-themes to the set.

Black Panther had a huge effect on both the Marvel movies and comic book movies in general. Whether you agree that it was a fantastic film or not (I happen to be in camp revolutionary), it pushed the boundaries of what the comic book medium could produce in film and that it didn’t have to tell the same story over and over with new characters. T’Challa and his Wakandan people changed things forever, and they’ve been getting some big love in Clix (and other merchandising) since.

Wakanda has been a strong keyword over the last 2 years with a big subtheme in Avengers/Defenders War and a few pieces hitting here and there in between. ABP&I (I’m not typing that set name out every time, good god) has a massive subtheme with a good chunk of figures, a Fast Forces dedicated to it, and a fresh Organized Play kit launching this month, so I would say this is the best time to go over a Wakanda team.

Since this isn’t focused on one specific character, I’ll go through what I think are the highlights of the keyword and who are the must-have figures if you want to go down this road. Also, since a good portion of the set isn’t in the units section (especially the Wakanda figures), I won’t be linking dials.

Yibambe!

Black Panther

Look, you can’t have a Wakanda team without Black Panther. Unfortunately the best man for the job is rotating this year as the Super Rare from Avengers/Defenders War was amazing and did a great job of building a swarm team of warriors. Now T’Challa has almost always been represented as a stealthy fighter in Heroclix as that makes sense. However, I want T’Challa to be the king of this team, not a sneaky assassin-like character. I also don’t want to go overboard and cutthroat by adding the Gauntlet chase from Secret Wars: Battleworld because that’s not how you start a fun team.

If you want a king Black Panther that still feels like a total badass, my choice is this guy:

The uncommon Black Panther from this new set has everything I want for a T’Challa that’s leading his people into battle. He’s got some fierce numbers, a top click of Invincible, the typical support suite with Perplex and Outwit, and can easily eat 5 or 15 more points depending on how you want him to play. He’s also cheap enough to leave you a ton of room to build around yet big enough that he’ll be your biggest threat, giving you the feeling he is truly the king.

If you’re going to play this Panther (which we’re going to for these builds), you absolutely want to give him an Infinity Gem or an Infinity Gauntlet if you have one. Let’s go with Gems because they’re a wee bit easier to get and will round him out to an even 100 points.

Here’s the order I would equip him based on what you have:

Soul Gem – Brings him to a 19-defense and gives him Steal Energy with the potential to heal 2 clicks. With Perplex on his dial already, you can sit at a 20 when defending or going with attack and not worrying about being hit back easily. Time Gem – The increase in range won’t help us, but Probability Control is easily worth 5 points. Space Gem – VERY Close to Time as this gives Panther a 6-square swing for Charge and lets him take fellow Wakandans into the fight with him. In my opinion, the best 10-or-higher roll power. Power Gem – Now you’re sitting with 12-attack and 4-damage on offense with that Perplex and once he’s based, he can use Close Combat Expert to get to 13/5. An all-in Gem but very scary. Mind Gem – Same offensive stats as Power thanks to Perplex, but a little worse as Mind Control and Incap aren’t that useful on him. However, the 10-or-higher roll power is gravy. Reality Gem – 0 range and he already has Perplex on the dial, so you’re only getting TK for 5 points, and you don’t want to use TK on your biggest figure. The Space Gem will give you better options for this team.

Now if you do have the Gauntlets, I would give T’Challa the protective Gauntlet over the pick-a-power version. This gives him Power Cosmic which will make his Invincible much harder to deal with and basically gives him a ton of immunities. The pick-a-power Gauntlet is still very good and can turn him into an armory for your team.

Okoye

Another burst-out star from the Black Panther movie, Okoye has a definitive dial in the new set that I believe is necessary to run on any Wakanda team. Check her out:

The Black Panther we’re using lacks Leadership, but that’s fine because Okoye brings that and has the very aptly named power Defend Your King! which is just dumb with a Wakanda team, especially with our Black Panther and the Soul Gem (now sitting at a 21-defense). But the best reason for Okoye to come to the party is her totally awesome War Rhinos that she summons.

These guys have 10-Charge, 10-Quake, 17-Invulnerability, 3-damage, and have Passenger: 1 for Wakandans only. Popping out two of these guys on the first turn gives you a huge field advantage as you can carry both T’Challa and Okoye into the frey (or keep her in the backline and send in other Wakandans over and over again). Her dial is fantastic as well with some killer numbers and powers once she takes a hit.

All this said, I don’t think Okoye is necessary on your team – just my recommendation that she’s too good to sit out.

Shuri

Like Okoye, Shuri saw a huge rise in character popularity from the Black Panther movie, and now it’s almost impossible to think of a Wakanda team without incorporating her into the fray. Not as necessary as Okoye thanks to the War Rhinos, but still very good, is the Organized Play Queen Shuri dial we’re getting this month.

A little expensive for a support character, but this Shuri dial gives us some insane Outwit capabilities by targeting two different characters and giving out a passive boost to speed and movement to other Wakandans anywhere on the map. If you move Shuri first to give her an action token, now Black Panther is sitting at a 21-defense assuming you brought the Soul Gem (or if you have Okoye next to him as well). That’s a lot of different ways to raise your defenses.

Wakanda

If you’re going to build a Wakanda team, you should absolutely play on a Wakanda map, and I’m referring to the map from Earth X that has a location bonus which I covered in depth in the last article.

If we’re using the above figures, we’re not getting a huge bonus as there isn’t a lot of Super Senses or Blades/Claws/Fangs to protect from Outwit, but it’s still a very good passive ability and it’s a harsh map for characters that don’t see through terrain. Other options would include the Wakanda Map from Avengers/Defends War, though that rotates soon and we’re focusing on 2019/2020 Modern Age, as do the new release maps for ABP&I as both sides are from Wakanda.

There’s plenty of other Wakandas to pick from, but that part is up to you on who you want to play. Maybe you want something a little more cinematic and you’re looking to put Eric Killmonger on the team, or maybe you want the king rolling in style with his Dora Milajae, or maybe you want to have a team more like the recent comics with the Midnight Angels – the choice is yours and you have a very modular Keyword to do this with.

Let’s take a look at some of the teams I would build with this Keyword, all of which will be 300 Modern Age legal.

300 Point Modern Wakanda Team – Version 1

ABPI029a Black Panther | 95 Points Bearer of the Gauntlet | 5 Points (Soul Gem)

ABPI038 Okoye | 65 Points

WKM19-016 Queen Shuri | 65 Points

ABPI027 Everett K. Ross | 30 Points

ABPI021 Ayo | 20 Points

ABPI007 Wakandan Scientist | 15 Points

EAX Wakanda Map Bonus | 5 Points

Wakanda Theme Team: +6

Build Total: 300 Points

Using all the three characters above, this team is dedicated to the idea of Black Panther being our primary workhorse and taking the heat off of his other Wakandans.

As I mentioned above, the Soul Gem is the best bet for him giving him more longevity and a nice 19-defense on his own. Okoye will pump that to a 20 when she’s adjacent (which she always wants to be to protect her king), and Shuri will bring that to a 21 by moving in herself. Essentially between Shuri and Okoye, our Wakandans will always have at the very least a +1 to their defense if not more, and possibly +3 depending on the turns making our characters extremely hard to hit for how cheap they are to field.

If you’re going to build a Wakanda team and you want to make one character brutally efficient, you bring Everett K. Ross. This guy is the newest super-Perplex figure giving a +2 modifier for just 30 points (and most likely taking damage when he uses the enhanced version), and has Stealth up front to protect him in the thick jungles of our map, which we should win easily with a +6 to map roll. T’Challa is already getting some crazy stats on this team, so Everett can serve as just a +1 to play things safe, or give his +2 to one of our other characters for a surprisingly strong follow-up hit.

With these 4 characters, I only had 40 points left, and I needed to fit the map as well, so I went with the combination of Ayo on her traitor dial and a Wakandan Scientist. Ayo is incredible for her points and this team should give her enough raw stats in defense to keep her health, or at least make it look way too troublesome to hit a 20-point character when they could aim for something much bigger for roughly the same defense value. Ayo will also be our only character to take advantage of the re-roll on Blades thanks to Wakanda. Her 4 clicks with Toughness up front and Regeneration at the end means that she’s likely to survive a hit and then heal back up to keep her from causing us trouble. I’ll pay 20 points for this dial any day.

The Wakandan Scientist rounds out our team with Enhancement within 3 squares of themselves and Sidestep to offset their actions. Now we get another +1 to stats for Black Panther without even having to be next to him (and Okoye/Shuri as well). My recommendation is to have the Scientist ride shotgun on one of the War Rhinos as they don’t have the Wakanda Keyword so they’ll have to be next to the beasts to give them more damage, but it’s absolutely worth it to pump them both to 4-damage.

With this build, Black Panther should be hitting everything he wants as he has his own Perplex, +1 defense from the Soul Gem, +1 defense from Okoye, +1/+2 defense from Shuri, +2 Perplex from Everett, and +1 damage from Empower on the Scientist. That’s +7 on average to combat values on his already stellar dial! I would always prioritize his defense and keep him at 21-defense at all times to help him keep that Invincible, but then again the Steal Energy will help him heal up if he does take a hit.

The best part about this team is how violent you can make anyone else, including the damn Rhinos, and how mobile it is. I would always generate two Rhinos on turn 1 with Okoye, move Shuri out into the jungles so she can re-roll Super Senses, move Ayo up next to Shuri, and then Black Panther up to both of them so that you have two chances of pulling his action token. On turn two, you bring that Scientist and Okoye into the fight with both Rhinos and strike if your opponent waded into the fight. You shouldn’t have any issues with this load-out.

Let’s see about a more swarm-type build for Wakanda.

300 Point Modern Wakanda Team – Version 2

ABPI029a Black Panther | 95 Points Bearer of the Gauntlet | 5 Points (Space Gem)

WKM19-013 Storm | 65 Points

ABPI021 Ayo | 30 Points

ABPI021 Ayo | 30 Points

ABPI021 Ayo | 30 Points

ABPI007 Wakandan Scientist | 15 Points

ABPI007 Wakandan Scientist | 15 Points

EAX Wakanda Map Bonus | 5 Points

Wakanda Theme Team: +7

Build Total: 300 Points

For this team, I kept the same Black Panther but substituted the Space Gem as a way to help him get his Dora (read: Ayo) into battle, and it gives him a better range to engage into the fight. Once the fighting does begin, this gem won’t help him too much, but that’s okay because he has his ex-wife here to make things much better for us.

The new OP kit Storm isn’t out yet, but she’s going to be amazing on a Wakanda team. Not only does Storm have solid stats with 12-attack and 18-defense, she has an awesome special movement power that makes this team incredible:

THE CLOUDS WILL SHIELD OUR APPROACH: PASSENGER: 3, but only to carry characters that share a keyword (with her). Friendly characters within 3 squares that share a keyword (with her) can use Stealth.

With Storm and T’Challa, we have Passenger: 5 which is exactly how much we need to carry the entire team. On top of that, Storm will give Stealth to everyone to make it hell for ranged-based attackers or teams. Storm also has Leadership to remove tokens off of anyone (as do all of our Ayo’s). Her Enhancement at the end of her dial isn’t going to hep anyone, but that’s fine because she should be blowing up people and staying hidden the entire game. Lastly, she has Super Senses up front that knocks attackers back, so she can make use of our map incredibly well. Keep in mind that her special movement will give her Stealth as well.

For theme, I wanted a generic instead of multiples of a named character, but to be perfectly honest, Ayo is the best generic Wakandan that you want to actually get into the fight. Unlike the Dora, she’s only 30 points to make her easier to fit on the team, and unlike the Midnight Angels, she has movement capabilities via Sidestep, and aren’t relying on just a 17-Willpower to stay safe. Plus, the Midnight Angels have Stealth which Storm is already granting. By playing Ayo at 30 points each, you don’t have to worry about them switching sides and you get a very efficient attacker with Blades.

Finally I brought two Wakandan Scientists this time so that you can choose to go lucky with Blades on each Ayo, or just be set with 4-damage. Both Storm and T’Challa will have 5-damage in melee attacks as well, plus you still have his own Perplex to use as needed (I would recommend bringing down the defense on a big target and having all the Ayo’s just shred them in a single turn.

With all three of our Ayo’s possessing the Wakanda Forever trait, they’re very disposable and will heal each other up upon KO, or bring Black Panther back up and hit quite hard on a counter attack. It takes some work to get into the fight since our swarm is mostly working with Sidestep, but you should be able to carry everyone up a good portion of the map slowly – or of course you can take a different Gem for Black Panther and just use Sidestep and slowly creep into the fight.

Finally, let’s take a look at a more defensive Wakanda team.

300 Point Modern Wakanda Team – Version 3

ABPI029a Black Panther | 95 Points Bearer of the Gauntlet | 5 Points (Power Gem)

ABPIFF003 Shuri | 50 Points

ABPIFF006e Okoye | 50 Points

ABPI023 Aneka | 50 Points

ABPI027 Everett K. Ross | 30 Points

ABPI007 Wakandan Scientist | 15 Points

EAX Wakanda Map Bonus | 5 Points

Wakanda Theme Team: +6

Build Total: 300 Points

This team utilizes two of the Fast Forces dials and equips Black Panther with the Power Gem to basically let you position early in the game on your side of the map and then wait for your opponent to come and try to get points with the key word being try.

Each of the Fast Forces figures has a trait that gives them a certain occupation in Wakanda, granting a unique modifier to everyone on your team that has the Keyword if they’re closer to your starting area. This makes a very brutal turtle team that’s quite fine with sitting back and watching their opponent’s try and break through their barriers.

Shuri is the Scientist of Wakanda and is the lynch-pin to the team giving them all +1 to defense, giving herself a hefty 19-defense from melee thanks to her Combat Reflexes. She also has Incapacitate to lock someone down once they do get passed the border, and a mega Perplex that says when she targets an opponent’s attack or defense, it’s a -2 modifier instead.

Okoye is the General of Wakanda and gives +1 to damage to all our team members making their hits much bigger once they cross that threshold. Okoye also has a special movement that allows her to Charge her full movement value, so she’s at her best sitting next to Shuri and guarding her, rushing in once someone crosses that halfway line.

I’m also using Aneka, a character I’m not particularly fond of as she only has 4 clicks for 50 poitns, but she synergizes with Shuri so well. Her special defense power, Stolen Prototype Midnight Angel Armor, gives her Toughness and Defend with a fat 18-defense. Because of Replace then Modify, you’re now giving anyone adjacent to her a 19-defense to start thanks to Shuri, while the princess now has a 19-defense from range and a 21-defense from melee. Aneka also has Flight and Sidestep so she can easily position our troops.

Everett and the Wakandan Scientist both show up again as our 45 points of support as we can really use the bonuses to T’Challa since he’ll be lying in wait on the borders, away from the group and keeping them safe. Giving him another +1 (or 2) to defense to up him to a 20 or 21 will help immensely. The Scientist meanwhile does her typical gig of upping damage to Aneka, Okoye, and Shuri once an enemy moves into your area.

This team might not be the most fun to play, but it’s the hardest to deal with as you’ll have so many different layers of defenses to everyone on the team. Everyone is sitting at a 19-defense to start if they’re next to Aneka, and you can still go higher thanks to Everett and Black Panther both rocking Perplex.

Even though we’re losing a good chunk of Wakanda this year (especially those 20-point Wakandan Warriors), this still feels like a strong Keyword that will only get better. I will say that as I was going through the building process, there isn’t a lot of mobility in this Keyword for characters under 50 points, making them feel a lot less generic and more named than before. Most of the good characters are 50+ points and do have a name, so you lose that feeling of an entire city of people kicking ass.

What are your thoughts on these teams and this Keyword right now? Do you think it’s good or do you feel that it’s taking a big hit with rotation this year? What Wakanda teams have you had success with? Would you choose a different Black Panther to helm the different builds? Let me know in the comments section.

I’m hoping that the rest of the set is added to the units section as I know it’s frustrating to go through these articles without being able to simply click on the characters in the builds. Plus, I miss doing team builds as I enjoy myself so much. I’m planning on doing another team build next week on Two Clicks From KO as it’s been quite some time since we’ve had one over there.

Until then, take care and I do hope you guys are getting to play a bit with these fantastic new figures!