I mentioned a couple of my favorite beginner groups before: Asgardians if you’re able to pick up Hela; otherwise, Sinister Six, with a healer replacing Mysterio for raids. I should have also mentioned one of my all-time faves, one that I used on my alt account: the hero brawlers! This is by far the most customizable group in the game, with the only real requirement being Ms. Marvel and her passive at least level 3, hopefully higher. Once you pick her up from a lucky premium orb, and you have at least 3 other hero brawlers, you’re all set — and since everyone gets Spidey on day 1, Deadpool week 1, Capt. Marvel and Wolverine in month 1, and with Miles and Thing in the blitz store, this is a very noob-friendly group, one that can swap in more HBs/Young Avengers as they unlock. In fact, I’d say the biggest hurdle for a new account is MM herself; although as a 1* unlock, all it takes is one premium orb going your way.
With no fewer than 17 hero brawlers in the game, plus Squirrel Girl, all the possible permutations would take a NASA supercomputer to crunch out. Some of my faves:
- Let’s get the most obvious out of the way first, Young Avengers (MM, SQ, Miles, America Chavez, wildcard). I don’t use this because I like to keep my Symbiote-verse team together, but if you’re willing to peel Miles away from them, then bringing regular Spidey along as the wildcard makes sense. There’s also Capt. Marvel or even Ultron (everything is better with the big happy robot around).
- The Nooblet Special: MM, Spidey, Wolverine, Deadpool, Thing. This is probably what beginners running HBs will be using, until they get CM or a crazy lucky orb drop. While not exactly Asgardian-level stronk, they’re still a decent first group and certainly a better option than the Lolfenders.
- What I use for war, Young X-Force (MM, SQ, AC, Deadpool, X-23). I suppose someday I’ll work on the rest of X-force, but until then, this team enjoys a ridiculous number of ways either clear or prevent enemy buffs, or failing that, to ignore taunt and stealth.
- City Hero Brawlers: MM, Iron Fist, SQ, Miles, SSM. A fantastic raid build. Swap in Daredevil, Spidey, or Ghost Rider if desired. (edit to change: SQ as a must for this build)
- Young Wakandans: MM, SQ, AC, Black Panther, Shuri. Another raid build, also good for blitz/war if you aren’t running full Wakandans. What makes this setup great is how BP gains speed bar even if MM makes the kill on assist, unlike his sad, green, glass-noodle of an imitator Gamora. (They’ve said they’re going to remove this functionality, but still seemed to work for me last time I tried.)
Best of all, MM’s underestimated group and its rotating membership is one of the most future-proof around. Due to power-creep, established meta groups decay in power over time (hard to believe that the Defenders were once the game’s alpha team). So Symbioteverse and X-force, say, will eventually become obsolete or split up; but there’s nothing preventing HB from harvesting their strongest HB/YA members and keeping them off the bench.
Also, there’s still a wide variety of Marvel hero brawlers and Young Avengers to come in the future. Candidates just off the top of my head: Hulkling, She-hulk, Quicksilver, Wiccan, Silver Surfer, Gambit, and too many other X-Men to count. Most or all will be assigned to other teams such as Hulkverse; but as the game’s resident collector of castoffs, oddballs, and freaks, Kamala Khan could also have a job opening for them like she does for my own DP and X-23.
Not many teams are equally viable for both tryhard vets like me and people who downloaded the game a week ago. If MM pops out of a purple orb, or if a noob is willing to buy one of her offers, they may not have a Hela or a Black Bolt on their hands… but they do have someone almost guaranteed to be relevant a year, even two years from now, something early adopters of the Defenders will surely envy.
