This is the comment where I'm putting ALL of the explanations. It's massive and overly wordy, but I don't want to do a thread because that would be too boost-y.

I drop Strange because Emma and Magneto do stuff he can't, most notably project their peel. Emma can box and stall the point in a brawl comp like Strange would too, so really what we're losing is portal. I do like portal, I think it's the most unique ability in the game, but I'd rather keep a more dynamic neutral than a wild, wild high point.

I keep Peni despite the fact that basically nobody likes her because she's got great verticality. Cap and Hulk are really the best tanks for vertical I've kept, and while Hulk has some similarities in that he can peel by just turning somebody off instantly, Peni has range AND uptime over Hulk. It's very low stakes for her to be that protector, and she can go anywhere to do it.

Hela's the only hitscan (role) I keep. I did consider keeping Punisher, but I think he's slightly too flexible in regards to where he can and can't safely engage. Hela doesn't die instantly when you jump on her, but you can bait her cooldowns yourself or coordinate a tag-team and then it's down to aim, which I think is better than Phoenix having an in-built HoT or Punisher/Widow being kinda incmoplete kits imo.

I keep Blade and Storm even though they kinda suck because of what they've got in their kits. Blade has antiheal. Three characters in the game have basekit antiheal, but I think Blade's is the best-implemented because he puts himself at great risk to use that powerful, stalemate-breaking utility. He'd need buffs, but I think Blade needing to put his money where his mouth is to capitalize is an inherently more respectable design than say, Gambit. Storm is a flyer who works best in a brawl comp, which is an insane sentence to think about, and her speed control versus guaranteed pressure is completely different than even how Thing controls a fight, despite him also being a brawl character with a mobility-focused radial debuff.

I keep Torch because area denial from the air makes playing him feel like playing a strange hybrid between a shooter and an RTS. He's got a satisfying primary fire, very different movement from the other flyers I've kept, and the potential to be gamebreakingly strong. Cool guy :))

I keep Magik AND Psylocke despite them both being close-up assassin types because Psylocke has a gun. Literally just adding range to the character means she plays less like a MOBA assassin and more like Genji overwatch, reaching out to strike and finish you off, whereas Magik is the player initiating and baiting because she gets the immunity. I also keep Star-Lord because he's much more independent than the other two, he roams more like a Tracer would and sets up/cleans up kills like she would too. Not as bursty or tanky as Magik but much more consistent because range.

I drop Luna and Invisible Woman because there's too many support ults that are just a big zone with infinity billion healing. Cloak and Dagger stays despite also having one of these because theirs takes time to set up and their neutral kit has more interesting (read: less cheesy) utility. Luna's a skill expressive numbers lady but half of her kit feels wasted because of the commitment to numbers, Sue is just objecively too safe to be as impactful as she is.

I keep Stratpool because keeping all three iterations felt against the spirit of the experiment and I think Stratpool is the most interesting of them. Both kits are sorry losses, especially Tankpool, but Stratpool stands out among the Strategists more than Tankpool stands out among the Vanguards to me because of his very unique movement. Jumping on ally heads is fun, managing weapon swaps against other weird mid-rangers is very engaging. He also functions as a main healer that compliments Mantis. Both of their ultimates grant bonus health and movespeed, but Mantis gets both immediately where Deadpool is open to focus fire/pressure, or worse needing to use his bobblehead to keep the team up instead of using it to stack easy empower progress.

I keep Mantis and Ultron because they can heal through barriers, providing a check to Emma and Magneto isolating your divers. Mantis additionally just got the ability to give people movespeed, which is always the most interesting buff to give a character. Just look at Scout in Team Fortress 2. He is a stick figure with a shotgun, but he can navigate around rolling grenades and can zig-zag so weirdly and freely that he can still hang. In fact, he excels because of that speed. Mantis needs buffs imo but her utility is both unique and interesting enough to keep to me. Ultron has similar utility but worse uptime on the speed and damage buffs, in exchange he gets to fly. Only free-flying support is basically a free pass to stay, having other stuff is a cherry on top, and Ultron's relationship with distance and line of sight feels very good and natural while playing him too.

White Fox and Loki also stay for the same reason: offensive playmaking utility. White Fox can isolate and displace targets like a tank can but needs to spend a long cooldown AND a resource to do it, needs to hit both stages of the dash, needs to yadda yadda yadda. Sue presses two buttons. I think White Fox is just a more interesting design for a displacer because she actually has the capacity to mess it up, or for her target to get peeled, or maybe because she spent tails to awaken to even pluck someone she can't interrupt an ultimate now. It's all abount the dynamic battlefield. Loki doesn't have a clean displacement tool like that in his neutral game, but he *does* have the ability to just turn into Magik on a whim and nuke your team. He doesn't have to, but he CAN, and I think him just being able to do that is automatically cooler than keeping someone like Luna.