

#033 Cyclops

The last of the Cyclops’s in this set offers a lot more bang than his contemporaries, and also provides a very useful Leadership power that allows him to take tokens off characters within his range if they share a keyword for him. It’s unfortunate that he only has a single keyword though, making team building for him incredibly restrictive. Otherwise, this Cyclops plays very much like a 35 point upgrade of the 50 point Uncommon figure, with some lackluster defensive powers, decent attack and damage values, and a fantastic 8 range. His mobility stutters when he picks up Sidestep, but he makes up for it with a switch to Perplex and a great attack power on his last two clicks that lets him blast through blocking terrain. He’s just a really good ranged attacker, and is totally worth the 85 points.

Final Score: 4/5

#034 Professor X

At 70 points for 4 clicks Professor X is extremely expensive, but has a unique tool to insure he’s successful at what he does. His only trick is his Mental Lock Outwit, which allows it to potentially stay outwitted forever, and arguably more importantly, can be done without the need for Line of Fire. With a 10 range, this gives him a ton of control over the battlefield. Offensively he’s relying on Mind Control to keep people away, and doesn’t have to worry about pushing due to willpower. His second half of his dial is slightly weirder, as he becomes a defensive supporting character with Defend and granting Shape Change to adjacent X-Men. These are all great benefits to playing him, it’s just too bad he’s so expensive and his Outwit is so restrictive. Using his Outwit as a power action stops you from using it normally while the Mental Lock marker is attached, and Professor X can’t remove the marker of his own free will. There’s a chance you’ll want to Outwit a new threat, and won’t be able to because you’re rolling higher than the opponent. While locking down a power indefinitely is useful, it’s not worth 70 points when the body it’s attached to is 4 clicks long, and the power itself can be so restrictive as to make Professor X unable to change the target of his Outwit when it’s necessary. He’s too expensive to be effective.

Final Score: 2/5

#035 Angel

I have a lot of issues with this version of Angel. For 75 points he’s not bringing much to the table, but strangely has two special powers. His movement power is similar to Hawkman’s from Trinity War, allowing him to Charge and then use Sidestep after the attack. His other special power, his defensive power, gives him the great combination of Energy Shield/Deflection and Super Senses. Both these seem decent, but he just doesn’t fit into the valuation of the pieces in this set. For 75 points you’re getting 5 clicks and very average values. His damage never gets higher than a 2, making it hard for him to deal with any big piece without assistance. His big strategy is hit and run, and as long as he stays away from other characters who can close attack him, it’s pretty effective, he’s just a little too middle of the road to be able to rely on his agility to survive.

Final Score: 2/5

#036 Iceman

Iceman is 25 points more than Angel, and suffers from a similar issue in having really mediocre values. 10 Attack and 3 Damage is quite low for a 100 point figure; but Iceman has some of the most useful powers in this set, and because of that, will constantly be a threat to your opponents team. His trait is his most useful power, as it grants free action Barrier, which anyone who has used the Wall construct knows, is extremely useful. On-top of the Barrier, it also ties up opposing characters, similar to the Net construct. This makes his Barrier an extremely versatile tool in keeping enemies at a distance, or potentially tying up big attackers. Even better, the Barrier does not say “counts as a character for breaking away” making characters with Improved Movement: Ignores Characters have to break away from them normally. Offensively, Iceman is very average. Having Running Shot and Ranged Combat Expert definitely make him as much of a threat as the All-New X-Men Cyclops, and his special defensive power that grants Toughness isn’t huge, but can definitely be useful in the right circumstances, and helps mitigate Energy Explosion. His last 3 clicks make him more of a tie-up piece, but he doesn’t have the survivability to stand around holding people down, so it limits his use. Overall, he’s a really fun balanced piece, with enough versatility to be competitive.

Final Score: 4/5

#037 X-23

X-23 is a fantastic close combat piece with all the skills necessary to massacre anyone close to her. Pound for pound she’s the best close combat piece in this set, with both the ability to heal herself, and her immense damage potential. Off the bat, Charge, Flurry, Blades, gives her the possibility for 12 damage, and with her special ability to re-roll the first Blades roll of 1 or 2, she’s insuring a large amount of damage. On-top of that she has some interesting damage powers with Empower, Exploit Weakness and Perplex, making her partially a supporting piece. X-23’s biggest issue is her mobility. On clicks 1 and 4, it’s not a big deal, but on 2,3,5,6 the lack of Move and Attack outside of Sidestep insures she’ll be a sitting duck. Thankfully, her Healing and the smattering of Stealth down her dial will keep her alive to see more combat. You gotta get her base to base, and she’s unparalleled in this set.

Final Score: 4/5

#038 Sabretooth

Sabretooth almost overthrows X-23 as the best close attacker in the set, coming in at the same point cost, and benefiting from the Avengers Unity Division trait. With 2 extra clicks of life you might wonder how he’s outperformed, and it basically comes down to his lack of Willpower. Otherwise he’s really strong, and the definition of a workhorse piece. Outside of his lack of Willpower, Sabretooth has a few other oddities. His special damage power seems useful, but being required to be within 3 spaces definitely affects how useful it can be, but it gives him enough mobility when he’s already up close so that he can keep adjacent when using Flurry. His last three clicks are his regeneration clicks, and also make him the most vulnerable. With Leap/Climb and Regeneration, he can get out of the thick of things before healing, and having three clicks of these powers means he’s most likely landing on them, giving him a ton of healing potential. Finally, his trait that allows him to heal once per game is a nice touch, but will rarely be worth letting go of the killing blow to do so. Sabretooth will always find something to do on the battlefield and requires so much focused fire to bring down that even when he’s not tearing apart your enemies, it’ll take all of their time killing him to keep him away.

Final Score: 3/5

#039 Juggernaut

After the Uncommon Juggernaut, what a letdown. He’s less points, but as a trade off, loses a lot of what made the first a cool Juggernaut figure. Moving on, he has a very similar Helmet trait to the Uncommon, the only difference is how the helmet comes off. Instead of ignoring close combat attacks until the helmet is removed, you only need to deal 2 or more damage to place the helmet 6 spaces away. This is a double edged sword, it’s really easy to get that helmet off of him, but he can put it back on. Having the helmet on definitely helps him, but it doesn’t compare to the benefit the uncommon Juggernaut’s helmet grants. For movement, Juggernaut has a special charge that gets him through Blocking Terrain, Hindering Terrain and lets him use the Carry ability. With a 9 speed, he’s pretty average though, forcing him to get closer to his target than he wants. His values are nothing fantastic, and he has some really good defensive powers, further pointing towards his mixed bag nature. He’s just missing something to make him exceptional, instead he’s a decent close combat piece that can Carry people through walls. He’ll be a decent taxi, but a pretty standard attacker.

Final Score: 2/5

#040 Magneto

This Magneto would have to be really great to surpass the Uncommon one, yet, like Juggernaut before him, he just misses the mark a bit. He does bring some interesting tools to the table including a 4 Damage, 8 Range and the ability to grant other characters Energy Shield/ Deflection. For 90 points, that 4 Damage, 8 Range, 11 Attack, Running Shot can take a chunk out of anyone, and when paired with Telekinesis and Enhancement, Magneto becomes a surprisingly great supporting piece as well. His versatility has its limits though, he doesn’t have Willpower, and his Running Shot is lost in favour of Force Blast when he’s pushed limiting his offensive potential. Top dial he’s a monster with unparalleled offensive potential, mixed with awesome supporting strength. As he takes damage he loses that versatility, and becomes a more lukewarm ranged attacker. There are so many things you’ll want Magneto to do for you, from giving his Magentic Shield, to throwing character’s around the map and managing positioning, it’s too bad he’s limited by his lack of Willpower, or he’d be an even better figure.

Final Score: 3/5

#041 Brood Queen

Will Brood Queen be the new master of the swarm technique? I’m going to have to say, no. While the Brood, even on click 3 are fantastic offensive figures, the need to wait a turn for them to become operational. Brood Queen herself isn’t much to look at, having very average values, and mediocre powers. The Leadership definitely helps, especially in for a swarm team, but her other powers lend her more to keeping close and using Sidestep/Poison, a position she probably doesn’t want to be in. Her only saving grace in combat is her Brood Implantation Trait that lowers the attack and defense of a hit character, and creates a brood when that character dies. This only lasts while she’s alive, so its a balance of trying to keep her safe and keeping her in the thick of things to infect as many people as possible and benefit from their deaths. Overall she’s a pretty weak close attacker with possibly the best summon-able figures. I don’t think she’ll see much play, but don’t count her out completely, as Brood figures are really, really strong, especially when you’re bringing out 2 every 3 turns.

Final Score: 3/5

#042 Omega Red

I don’t like vampire pieces at all, but for some reason I’m really enjoying Omega Red. Giant Reach 3 really helps him, and his higher than average attack paired with Charge and Exploit Weakness make him a very well rounded close attacker, that doesn’t need to be close. He also functions as a kill box creator with his ability to pull hit character’s adjacent to him. Defensively he’s a mixed bag with very average defensive values, and Toughness and Combat Reflexes to fall back onto. On-top of that, his lack of keywords makes him very difficult to team build with. I’ve found his values just high enough to reliably hit, and keep him alive for the most part, and if you manage to get up to his first click he’s deadly. He’s not as reliable as Sabretooth or X-23, but his limited killbox ability mixed with his strangely high values makes him a decent piece to play, and the only vampire I would ever use.

Final Score: 4/5

#043a Sunfire

Is that top dial Running Shot and Pulse Wave on a 50 point figure? Damn, you know this guy’s gonna be played. Just with his first click Sunfire is guaranteed a spot in the meta-game. When you’re dealing with attackers, the cheaper they are, the more support you can give them, and Sunfire at 50 is a very low investment in order to get the holy grail of powers in Running Shot and Pulse Wave. There isn’t much else to say about Sunfire. If you do have his prime, paying the extra 5 points for a stop-click is a must. Otherwise his values are pretty average, and his defensive powers leave a lot to be desired, but for 50 points he’s now the bar for secondary attackers, and is going to make a big dent in the game.

Final Score: 5/5

#043b Sunfire

The most important click on this Sunfire is the stop-click the non-prime version is going to be borrowing. Sidestep with 11 attack, 3 damage and the trio of Energy Explosion, Poison and Pulse Wave is more than worth 5 points. Otherwise he plays very similarly to the non-prime version, just beefed up accordingly for his 70 point increase. He starts with Running Shot/Pulse Wave, and a mix of other powers, and gets more clicks of higher values. Is he worth the steep price of 120 points? The answer is definitely uncertain. His trait keeps him alive at range with a top dial 20 defense, and dissuades close attackers with a pseudo mystics. With a stop-click at the end, he’s actually fairly defensively sound, as well as being a really decent offensive character. While he might not have something that defines him as a must have prime, he’s really, really solid, and can hold his own in any fight.

Final Score: 4/5

#044 Nightcrawler

This Nightcrawler is relegated to being a weird taxi with some close attacking potential. He also has the trait everyone was looking for in a Nightcrawler, allowing him to place BAMF markers. It’s too bad that it’s incredibly underwhelming. This Nightcrawler has two purposes. Get someone adjacent to the enemy, and hit the enemy while he’s adjacent. His BAMF ability doesn’t pair well with either of those things, and acts more as an emergency escape, and is also uncontrollable, and dependent on being attacked, and that attack missing. Offensively he’s pretty strong, with solid attack values, and the ability to break reducers on every click. His defense values are really strong as well, making his BAMF! Trait activate more often. Thankfully, Nightcrawler is only 60 points, which makes giving him a score much tougher. I look at his dial and I find it a mish-mash of ideas, none of which really allow him to shine. But for 60 points you’re getting a really great close attacker with the ability to carry. If he was any more points he would be far too expensive, but as it is, his values are too high for 60 points for him to be a bad figure.

Final Score: 3/5

#045 Storm

We’ve already got one fantastic Storm in this set, and this one isn’t it. Her Trait is the reason to play her, as it helps slow down your opposing pieces, and, if you’re lucky enough, slowly whittle away figures without reducers. Offensively, Storm is only okay for her 90 points, and really needs to be on an Outdoor map to be a threat. Her values are all decent, and when mixed with the Running Shot on her dial, she can pose a bit of a ranged threat. Her Leadership definitely helps, especially if she’s you’re main taxi, as she’ll be kept close to the rest of your team. As a ranged attacker she’s outclassed by the Rare Cyclops, so if you’re playing here, you’re doing so to make use of her trait. She’s going to be torn apart if anyone manages to get close to her, and on clicks that don’t feature Running Shot she’s going to have trouble getting her Cyclone marker on anyone when she’s a sitting duck. She’s just doesn’t bring enough to benefit your team at the 90 point value, and even though she has good values, it’s not enough to save her from mediocrity.

Final Score: 2/5

#046 Vertigo

Vertigo comes in at 55 points, 5 points higher than the excellent common and uncommon X-Men, and for that increase she’s not bringing a lot to the table. She has the Mutant Massacre trait, but with her 1 damage and lack of move and attack, the increase to Speed and Damage aren’t entirely useful, but it does give her a step-up in healing. Vertigo is an Incapacitate piece through and through, with the benefit of Probability Control on her last 3 clicks. Her special Incapacitate is pretty great, and with 2 targets she definitely has the potential to be useful, and set up opponents for big hits from your team. The biggest issue with her is the power of Incapacitate itself. With a measly 4 range, Vertigo has to get really close to use it, and when she does she needs to insure that the token she is giving is having a serious effect on her targets, both in terms of stopping them from taking actions in the upcoming turns, and lowering their defense. The ability to lower an opponents defense by 2 is actually really great, but it still requires her to hit, and get into a position in which she can hit. Vertigo isn’t bad, but her very single-minded approach will leave you wanting more from her.

Final Score: 1/5

#047 Mystique

Mystique is a fantastic investment at 60 points, even if she was a single click with her two traits, she would almost be worth it. The ability to only be targeted if you start the turn adjacent to her is fantastic, and with her Improved Movement: Ignores Characters when she has her Shapeshift token on her, there’s very, very few chances for that to actually happen. She also has the Freedom Force trait so that she can use Force Blast for free. What this means is Mystique is possibly the single best disruption piece in the game. Not only can she walk freely among your opponents figures, but she can toss them around, possibly removing weaker support pieces, and dealing damage to figures with Mystics without taking the damage from the team ability. On-top of that she has Leadership and the Brotherhood of Mutants team ability, insuring you’re not running out of actions when you’re using her. Her biggest weakness is Pulse Wave, because it draws a line of fire and ignores all powers and abilities before it targets, allowing it to hit her through her Trait, but keeping yourself close (but not adjacent) to the other figures on their team can make it difficult to land a Pulse Wave without hurting the rest of their team. She’s just so hard to deal with without particularly preparing for her, and because of that, she’s going to see a lot of play time. Prepare for her, or use her, either way she’s going to be deadly.

Final Score: 5/5

#048 Crimson Commando

Crimson Commando is just another new tool in the belt of Soldier teams. His Leadership really helps with the keywords limited mobility and he’s a cheap enough brawler to be of use. He’s definitely a weird figure. A close combat piece with no move and attack, but useful support powers in his damage slot, paired with a trait that lets him move adjacent to an opponent and Force Blast them. If you’re Force Blasting with him it’s most likely into an adjacent wall, because pushing an opponent away just makes it harder for Crimson Commando to go to work. He has a lot of useful powers, but he just seems to be working against himself. He’s surprisingly good at getting into the fight, and has Willpower so he can more freely take actions, but he’s just a letdown overall, only bringing some new tricks for Soldier teams, and his tricks really aren’t good enough for him to be a threat.

Final Score: 2/5