Now that the Preview Version 
of the game has had a chance to breathe, I think we’re starting to get a handle on the use/value of different colors among the game’s 26 characters.
Red is unquestionably a direct-damage color. 13 of the game’s entire cast at present have red abilities that deal direct damage (Modern Hawkeye & Magneto Marvel NOW are kinda arguable because they setup countdown tiles, but those countdown tiles also do direct damage).
Yellow mainly seems to be mostly for passives, utility, and some minor direct damage. Most notable examples are C. Storm and 2-star Wolvie.
Green seems to be secondary direct damage (perhaps not as AP efficient as red) and support/buffs in the form of the various Wolvie incarnations’ strike tiles.
Blue seems to be primarily stuns, some damage, and support, such as in the form of C. Storm’s blue, Modern Hawkeye’s countdown damage + stun, Modern Widow’s stun, etc.
Purple seems to mainly be support and/or board manipulation with some passives. Most notable examples are Modern Widow’s AP stealing, Loki’s/Moonstone’s/C. Magneto’s questionable random tile rearranging, etc.
Black mainly seems focused on special tiles. Most notable example is Modern Storm’s attack tile ability, but there’s also Doom’s red strike tile ability, Moonstone’s “steal special tile ability,” etc. The Dr. Doom map’s environment tiles also specifically make black strike tiles.
Of all the colors in the current game, I would say that black AP is clearly the weakest/most lacking. I’m not even sure special tiles are the problem (Classic Storm’s spammy attack tiles are the most obviously powerful, though I’ve heard good things about Wolvie strike tiles). I think it’s more than black abilities are ridiculously expensive almost across the board. Doom is 12, Loki is 15 (on down to 11 with level-ups), Dark Widow is 13, Moonstone is 17, Bullseye is 18. (Venom is 7 and The Hood/Modern Storm are 9, but they’re the exceptions).
If you consider this to be a “problem” (like I do 
), what do you suggest as the best way to address this?
Some obvious alternatives:
-
Rework every high-cost black AP character to reduce their black AP costs
(Yeah…no) -
Buff special tiles - Not sure this is the best way to go…I actually think most special tiles are fine and balanced OK, the issue more seems to be the cost of black abilities that create/manipulate them.
-
Add characters/abilities that generate black AP actively
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Add characters/abilities that generate black AP passively
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Add characters/abilities that change existing tiles on the board to black (again, we already kind of have this on the Doctor Doom map)
-
Something else? Thoughts?
I’m thinking the obvious solution is one or more characters that generate black AP. I also think there are at least a few Marvel characters for whom it would be “in-character” to change existing tiles on the board to black…Venom is the obvious example here.
(Edited to add blue because I’m dumb and forgot to mention it before)
