Everyone is wondering which XP figs will be most useful in tournaments. It's looking like Mandarin is going to be pretty good. Here's a brief tournament report.
It was a 300 pt. mixed universe event. My team was:
R Mandarin
E Taskmaster
E Beast
LE Adrian Toomes
E AIM Medic
V Con Artist
E Con Artist

I chose Mandarin as my centerpiece because he has Outwit as well as a serious ranged combat threat. On top of all that, he has a very deep dial, plus flight, so he seemed like a bargain for 107 points. The AIM Medic never left his side all day, boosting his attacks with the Hydra ability and healing when necessary. Toomes carted Beast around - with both of them having charge, they made for extremely mobile "shock troops," plunging in and tying up my opponent's key figs (and dealing respectable damage) while I got Mandarin and the Con Artists into position. Maenwhile, Taskmaster would hang back at first, gaining me tempo advantage with Leadership, and then gradually sneaking into the battle (with stealth) until the moment was right for him to spring out and make a deadly BCF attack. At least, that was the plan. How did it really go?
1st round - played against V Firelord, E Firelord, R Firelord, 3 R Vultures, and a V Thug. The ultimate cheese. No medics though, so I thought I might have a shot if I could strike quickly. And I did, but I made a critical error early on, forgetting to Outwit RCE. Then I missed a Mind Control roll that would have turned the tide. Finally, when it came time to heal Mandy for more action, the Medic critical missed. The combination of boneheaded play and illogically bad die rolling killed me.
2nd round - Faced an interesting team of Thanos, V Black Panther, V Bullseye, Robin, and I think there was one other figure in there. In any case, I took an adjacent map side (had to go first), pinned him down by the side of the board, and took out Bullseye rather quickly. I parked Mandarin 11 squares away from Thanos (just outside of their mutual ranges of 10) while the Con Artists pushed into position. Meanwhile, Beast and Toomes dispatched Robin. Finally, I Perplexed Manadarin's range up to 11, mind controlled Thanos, and used Thanos to destroy Panther. At that point, Thanos tried to soar around the board and avoid death (a good tactic, considering the points he was worth), but a combination of perplex, Hydra abilities, and good rolls took him out.
3rd round - Barrier team, with Avalanche, Pyro, Quasar, Gorilla Grod, and a Medic. Pretty unusual, and would have been more effective on an indoor map. As it was, it took a careful combination of Outwit and Charge to take out Pyro, and then Mandarin managed to pick off Quasar at range. After healing the troops, I went in to finish of Grod, picking him off just as time ended.
4th round - The all -Shield team. Nick Fury, a bunch of Agents, medics, mandroids, and LEs, all surrounding a R Invisible Girl. She was the only reason this team worked, because otherwise I would have picked them apart pretty easily. An E Black Cat provided a target for my Outwit, until I took her out. It took a lot of effort to wear down the SHIELD troops, who were nearly impossible to hit, even with mutiple Perplexers around, and they would just run to a medic when they got hurt. The turning point was when my medic healed Beast and Taskmaster to full strength. Taskmaster had Fury *this close* to a KO, but then a mandroid showed up to take the Mastermind damage and time ran out. I won by about 70 points. This was one of those matches where I think I would have worn him down if there had been no time limit. Still, it was a surprisingly effective team.

I was very, very happy with Mandarin and Taskmaster. Beast was awesome, and I don't think you can find someone with Charge, perplex, and high damage for fewer points than that. Having 3 Perplexers around gave me a ton of flexibility. I could have made better use of taskmaster, possibly pairing him with a Con Artist (as I ended up doing in the SHIELD match) for Mastermind effect. But overall, this is a team I think I will try again.

Ed