I played this team in the sealed Chaos War marquee:
Ares 199
Donald Blake 33
Tigra 57
=289 points. Went 1-1, losing to a Genis-Vell + Tony Stark + Speed team (amazing how badly one carelessly placed object token can kill your game) and wearing down a Sentry one-man-army.
The roundup:
Ares (Chaos War 034): Pretty tough, but in my loss he had to do too much alone (thanks to the aforementioned object placement). He can get stranded too easily. He’ll be best leading one or two more secondary attackers to take advantage of his AV-boosting SP in a larger game.
Tigra: Her DV is too low, but she’s a good example of a backup fighter to pair with Ares (too bad the aforementioned object placement prevented her from doing so in the loss by blocking her Charge path). She needs a pal with Defend for best results.
Donald Blake: not only the game’s best medic, but great for drawing fire. The Sentry player wasted both a Perplex and an action killing off Blake, which left the golden-haired Dark Avenger open to a 1-2 punch from Ares and Tigra that was the beginning of the end for him.
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The next day, I brought this team to a Chaos War/Galactic Guardians/Incredible Hulk-only 300-pointer:
Hawkeye & Mockingbird (Chaos War) 158
Spider-Woman (Chaos War 209) 55
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Nick Fury (Chaos War) 45
+ Avengers Response Unit ATA 9
= 300 points. Went 2-1, and the loss was entirely due to my opponent choosing Krakoa and getting many Earthquake rolls.
Hawkeye & Mockingbird (Chaos War): Fantastic, versatile duo. Their sky-high 12 AV means they got some actual use out of the Transporter Move And Attack ability. For a surer attack, the Sharpshooting duo could just lightly blast foes twice from range or torch one for bigger damage with Ranged Combat Expert. Opening Stealth is pretty good for keeping them safe from range (though the double base makes them harder to manuever into hindering). Tying them up is no help, as they’ve got Combat Reflexes and Super Senses to defend themselves. The total lack of armor is their only drawback.
Nick Fury: a Stealthy and Willpowered Leader, Nick is best used as a SHIELD support piece, bumping up ranges and damages. But don’t mind pushing him (or, as in my game, shooting a Mystic) to get to his Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Outwit click(s). For only 45 points, this latest version of Samuel L. Fury isn’t bad.
Spider-Woman 209: Her Leap/Climb trait gets her in foes’ faces, Super Senses or Combat Reflexes and Stealth keep her safe, and her solid AV with powers like Incap and Flurry make her a threat. Very pushable, she’s also a good supporter for shooters thanks to her choice of SHIELD or Hydra TAs (I picked the latter because the entire rest of my team was SHIELD). Such an excellent tie-up piece.
Ant-Man: though blessed with a great “free move” trait, Eric O’Grady’s low damage makes it hard to capitalize on. His DV is too mediocre to use him well as tie-up, especially since his natural movement ability is so low. I got some use out of his anti-Outwit/Perplex SP, at least. And he’s still a lock for Secret Avengers themes.
I did not remember to use the ATA even once.