The Church's Team Comp - By Adam Paul

In the last couple of months, I, like so many others, have been completely swept away with the game taking the online competitive hero shooter world by storm, Marvel Rivals. I mean, how could I not! With solid gameplay, beautiful art direction, and so much care and attention to detail, the obvious love and admiration the developers have for the characters and their source materials makes this humble comic book nerdy giddy with glee. I fought my way through to Diamond rank in season zero, and am hoping I can hit Grandmaster this season, shouting many a loud “AGAIN!” as my main man, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, busts out DPS like the Juggernaut busts through walls.

Now, while ol’ Buchanan (as I affectionately refer to him) may be my main, I’ve been very conscious to ensure I’m not locked into him being the only character I can contribute to a team with. My heals with Luna Snow, or combo heals and DPS (damage per second) with Cloak and Dagger make for an easy slide into the Strategist Role, whilst Peni Parker, Doctor Strange, and Venom are all viable tank picks for me when that’s what the team is lacking. And if, for some reason, the Buckster is not working out, I’ve got an easy pivot into my other DPS main, Star Lord, for some faster-paced, gnat-buzzing-across-your-face style shenanigans.

Okay, so to bring back my non-gamer friends, one thing that people who don’t play the game may not realize is just how vital your team composition is to victory. So when I talk about DPS, that means someone who is easier to kill, but deals a lot of damage along the way. Strategists, also known as Support, are your healers. And Tanks, also known as Vanguards, are your damage sponges. They may not pull as big of damage numbers as the DPS guys, but they are going to live a lot longer and help maintain control over the battlefield. So already, just from this breakdown of the three major roles, you start to understand how strategy comes into play, and why it’s important to have a diverse set of roles represented on your team. It gets even deeper when you start talking about ranged vs. Melee, or what are known as your “dive” characters, so named for diving into the backline of the enemy team to attack the healers, bypassing the defensive lineup of tanks and DPS in the process.

How you build your team, what players refer to as Comp or Team Comp (short for Team Composition) is super important, and is the best way to succeed. The more diversity there is in the roles represented, and the more focused each player is on fulfilling said role, the more likely a team will be to succeed. It’s not unlike what Paul prescribes for the church. In 1 Cor 12 he says “For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say ‘Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.” He goes on elaborating on the metaphor from there, but the point is God has gifted each and every one of us to contribute to his kingdom.

Sure, it’s easy to look at other’s and think “woah, that person really has it all together. They were made to contribute to the kingdom! But I’m not great with <insert whatever thing you think they have that you don’t>, so I’m not of much use.” That’s just simply not the case! You’ve got your preachers, your prayer warriors, your evangelists, your counsellors, etc. etc. etc. A church full of prayer warriors who aren’t much for preaching or evangelizing is gonna shrink, and fast, and not going to make much of an impact for the kingdom. From the person setting up coffee, to the one sweeping the floors, to the preacher pounding the pulpit, we’ve all got our part to play in the kingdom of God.

So what about you? Get rid of the “comparasite” where you constantly measure yourself against other people and instead ask yourself “What has God gifted ME with? And how can I use that for His glory?”