X-Men sets have been spectacular in the last few years and kickstarted the new style of Heroclix back in Uncanny X-Men. Today, I’m reviewing potentially the most amazing X-Men set of all-time based off a cartoon I grew up with (as did many of you). Let’s review X-Men The Animated Series: The Dark Phoenix Saga!

As I’ve said with many X-Men related releases, I’m not a huge reader of the mutant world in Marvel. I might have Marvel logos on my blood, but there’s just too much X-Men stuff to keep track of everything along with the rest of the greater Marvel Universe. I still like them, and Nightcrawler is just behind Deadpool (pour one out for Kurt) as my favorite character, but I don’t have a yearning to collect as many of them as I do other Marvel properties.

However, X-Men The Animated Series was a big deal for me as a kid. While I don’t remember too many of the episodes, I do remember loving the hell out of the show. I remember getting action figures of certain characters and collecting the trading cards. My parents didn’t want me watching shows with guns and excessive violence (but took me to movies like Terminator 2, go figure), so shows like X-Men replaced bigger cartoons like G.I. Joe that so many 80’s and 90’s kids grew up with. X-Men and Batman were my jam, so these sets are massive for me. Plus, there’s dragons in this set – like REAL dragons with wings and everything.

As you know, I write these reviews as figures are released, so I feel like my reviews are a bit more down to earth as each figure is judged within a vacuum rather than comparing them to each other. This intro was written back at the end of July with just a few figures spoiled, so that should give you an idea of the process I go through to do these. Because of that, some figures might be better than I give them credit for in sealed based on the numbers and powers present in the set, but I do my best to judge them on their own ground and how valuable specific combinations and powers are in that environment.

I’m warning you; this is going to be a big set review, much like ABPI was as the colossal figures will eat up a bunch of room and they’ll most likely have longer write-ups. Feel free to jump around and find the figures you want to read about most.

One last note as usual – remember that these are my personal reviews and they aren’t the definitive ratings of figures. It’s okay if you disagree with me! Also, I don’t like to say that any figure is inherently bad as we’re looking at comic book characters that some people might really love.

Queue that theme song!

COMMONS

001 WOLVERINE

Constructed – Wolverine feels like he’s always going to be the top common slot when it comes to X-Men sets. This is a wonderful way to kick this one off and it shows how insane power creep has become since the Uncanny X-Men days. 12-attack, 18-defense, Indomitable, and complete shut-down for Stealth and Shape Change for 50 points is a steal. Logan averages an 11-attack and is surprisingly vicious for how cheap he is. Not as good as the Headmaster at 50-points, but this dude is a common. Score: 5/5

Sealed – One thing I want out of a sealed figure that only has melee capabilities is the tools to cause some real damage and Logan does this extremely well. Huge attack values, Indomitable on a low-point package, and Regen sprinkled through the dial works wonders. Score: 5/5

002 ROGUE

Constructed – Rogue has felt like a character they haven’t gotten exactly right as most of the time she costs way too much for the effect she has. This Rogue is similar, but she has a silver lining – she’s incredibly efficient for the points. Indom, 11-attack, 4-damage, big reducers, and 10-Charge with flight means Rogue is going to do some heavy lifting for such a small cost. The Steal Energy limitation seems weak, but the way her dial changes makes it work out okay as she gets in and stays there with some good values to keep herself healing. Score: 5/5

Sealed – A good flying brick for your team that will do a great job of flying head-first into the enemy team and sticking there to make life miserable for those around her for such a small cost. Durable and a long dial thanks to Steal Energy with great attack and damage values throughout makes her a hell of a deal. Score: 5/5

003 BEAST

Constructed – Hank has been getting some terrific support dials as of late and this is no exception. Double Perplex for X-men teams is pretty nice, but I can’t help but be scared that he only has 17-Defend to keep himself alive. Once Headmasters rotate next year, Beast will probably be decent on X-Men teams, but for right now, he’s just not pulling enough weight to offset even the Regenesis common. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Perplex is one of the best powers in Sealed. Give that to a character that has the biggest Keyword in the set and the ability to increase any stat (other than damage) on your team by +2 instead for a sixth of your build and you have a very good figure, even if he’s an easy KO. If you’re running X-Men and you pull Beast, you should probably play him. Score: 5/5

004 ASSASSIN’S GUILD

Constructed – Okay, maybe I don’t remember them from the show, but why not just call them Assassin Guild Member or something? Anyway, if you want a super cheap, super stealth Assassin, this is a great figure. However, they break theme, so unless you’re running an Assassin or Martial Artist theme, I wouldn’t bother. Nothing special here. Score: 2/5

Sealed – If you can’t build a theme team, the Assassin is a pretty good play as they are cheap and easy walls for your allies. Park them next to hindering and put your bigger character behind them and you have a nice mobile wall that doesn’t mind taking a hit. If they close the distance, a potential 6-damage is a good return for 15 points. Score: 3/5

005 GUARD COMMAND

Constructed – If you like cheap Incap figures, this is a pretty amazing option. Most will ignore him because of his mediocre stats but giving a character an action token and -2 attack every other turn for 25 points that moves into Support with 15-Defend is pretty good. Score: 4/5

Sealed – As long as you aren’t breaking a theme team to add this guy onto your team, he’s a pretty safe bet for point filling. I wouldn’t prioritize him by any means, but if you’ve got 25-35 points open and don’t know what to add, he’s a great option. Score: 4/5

006 FRIENDS OF HUMANITY

Constructed – Stats and powers are okay, but chances are you aren’t going to run these guys unless you want a good Underworld taxi. However, Suited Henchman from 2018 are just better since they don’t count against theme team, so these guys are only valuable if you have one of the characters that generates them, or you want them for Sentinel or Brute teams. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Almost guaranteed to break theme, if you have that open to you. If you do, don’t worry about playing one. If you can’t make a theme team though and you happen to have 5 or 10 points open, then of course play one. Score: 2/5

007 BOLIVAR TRASK

Constructed – That Leadership power is horrendous. It might look decent but it’s nowhere near the character summoning leaders we’ve seen in the last year. In order to get Sentinels out of him, you’ll pretty much need to play 3 Friends of Humanity, keep all of them in your starting area (or together) without any getting KO’d, and then you’ll maybe spawn some ‘bots. So Bolivar is actually 50 points minimum to maybe spawn Sentinels. Why not just, you know, run Sentinels instead? And look at how much product you need to make this guy work. Now as a Support figure for a Robot team? Not too shabby. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Now you’re in impossible territory to get that Leadership to do it’s magic as you’ll need to open at least Bolivar and a Sentinel to make that work, when again you could just play the damn Sentinel. Bolivar will either be played as a support figure to some Robots you opened, or he’s worthless. Score: 2/5

008 SCANNER

Constructed – Not a bad figure with two clicks of Prob, but I feel like Scanner has very limited use. No real damage output other than the Exploit Weakness with 1-damage on the bystander, and very poor combat values either way makes this dial feel like you’re overpaying for one power. If the bystander did prevent lines of fire, this would have been a wonderful figure. Score: 2/5

Sealed – I feel like Scanner is the limit on asking yourself how much you value Probability Control. Is it really worth 40 points for a figure that’s slow and generates a fairly worthless bystander? I don’t think she is. Score: 2/5

009 CALLISTO

Constructed – Killer for Morlocks teams, okay for everything else. There’s certainly some great value here with good values and potentially frightful damage potential thanks to big stats and Close Combat Expert, and the ability to auto-succeed on Leadership is sweet, but you really need a Morlocks team (or at least others) to make her shine. Score: 3/5

Sealed – She’ll most likely break theme, but that might be okay because you’re getting a vicious figure for a low cost that also brings Leadership, a monster power in a vacuum. Callisto should be a bit difficult to hit as well thanks to Stealth and Combat Reflexes, so she should be able to land that needed first hit. Score: 4/5

010 KLEINSTOCK BROTHER

Constructed – You’ll need at least 2, maybe 3, of this figure to get their full mileage. However, it’s a super risky play because that means you’ll need to spend 66 or 99 points of your build on 2 or 3 3-click figures that need to stick together to be able to pull weight. When one goes down, you’ll feel a substantial drop in power. The real treasure here is the Sidestep figure that can give any X-Men figure Mastermind for 33 points. These guys are decent cannon fodder, but still a little overpriced. Score: 2/5

Sealed – You’re almost certainly not going to pull multiples of these guys with just 2 boosters, so odds are you’re playing 1 or nothing so the trait will effectively be useless. If they had more keywords and weren’t an odd point value, I would suggest running one to give an X-Men character Mastermind and use them as a human shield, but it’s risky to break theme in a set so easy to make one in. Score: 2/5

011a MAGNETO

Constructed – Some nice potential with this common Magneto. I like seeing a 75-point smaller guy rather than the 50-pointers we’ve been getting recently as those always seem just too weak for Magneto (aside from the Uncommon from UXM). As long as you can keep him healthy, Magneto should put in some solid work and has some serious potential to change the board up (or just use TK every single turn). He’s not amazing by any means, but for a common this is a pretty good dial. Score: 4/5

Sealed – As I mention throughout this article, TK isn’t as necessary in Sealed as it used to be, but Magneto does back that up with some solid stats. 7-range with 11-attack and 3-damage is a nice kit and the Sidestep + Flight + Leadership gives him some wonderful support capabilities for your team before he takes some shots of his own. Magneto is a nice packaged figure. Not an auto-include, but put him in the top pool of your pulls. Score: 4/5

011b MAGNETO

Constructed – I really love these Danger Room figures as a concept and I hope this isn’t the only one. Magneto has broken stats for his 50-point cost but comes with a catch that you’re only going to unlock his true potential if you end up rolling three 1’s in your attack rolls. That might seem bad, but remember that Magneto can easily jump into a vehicle, giving it a whopping 12-attack, 4-damage, and either Pen/Psy or Ranged Combat Expert. This guy is a steal if you play him right. Score: 5/5

Sealed – While Danger Room Mags might be amazing in constructed where you can work around his trait, he’s not so great in sealed play where you have to roll 1’s to unlock him, and at that rate you’re eating your action tokens to MAYBE get access to his dial. However, all is not lost; he can still easily hit characters and cause Knockback in any direction he wants, and he’s an incredible sponge for damage while still providing a taxi service. You’ll need to play him well, but he should still be worth those 50 points. Score: 4/5

012 DEADPOOL

Constructed – Deadpool has great abilities to hand out action tokens and make your opponent think twice before going after him, or letting him sit there and cause chaos. I will give this dial props on feeling like a very early Deadpool who wasn’t all that great at what he did and served as a pest more than anything. My only real complaint on this dial is his keywords are so lacking making it nearly impossible to run him on any teams. For 30 points, this is pretty good though. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Keyword issues aside, Deadpool will be a massive nuisance to your opponent and should have no problems carrying his weight. He’s a throw-away figure in that you want to get him into the fight as fast as you can and start threatening with Incapacitate and negative Perplex, forcing your opponent to go after him and possibly commit to more action tokens. You get a lot of value for his cost. Score: 4/5

UNCOMMONS

013 CYCLOPS

Constructed – Damn, that’s one hell of a Leadership for Cyke to have. While he’s easy to hit himself, Cyclops is one hell of a character to hit with the first shot. 3 penetrating damage with Knockback and a massive 13-square swing for only 70 points is pretty fantastic, even if he’s only rocking Willpower to keep himself safe. Like a lot of Cyclops dials, he’s fine taking a hit because those last clicks are just as scary as his first. This is a great budget Scott Summers. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Big range is huge in sealed, as are penetrating damage and Knockback. Cyclops gets all three of those as well as a team-positioning Leadership. This is a great figure that should do a lot of work from the back of your team. Try your best not to let him take damage, but it’s not the end of the world if he does. Score: 5/5

014 JEAN GREY

Constructed – Let’s face it, that trait is not worth having Jean sit next to Cyclops all game and hopefully not KO’ing as soon as slim takes a shot. The rest of her dial is good though handing out Toughness to all X-Men on the board. Poison Immunity along with TK and Flight are a pretty good suite to add to your team for just 50 points. Maybe a tad overcosted for what she can do. Score: 3/5

Sealed – TK isn’t the must-have power it used to be these days, but it’s still very strong, especially in sealed to get around the lack of tools to work with. Jean’s value will be highly dependent on whether you can build an X-Men team for the Toughness across the board. Score: 3/5

015 CABLE

Constructed – Nathan has some massive shoes to fill thanks to his last incarnation in Deadpool & X-Force. This is a pretty good dial for him and he has a much larger reach than it would seem. Adding FREE TK once per turn on a secondary attacker skyrockets their value, not to mention he can use it on himself to move 6 squares before making an attack, or retreating afterwards. Basically he has a much better version of Charge or Running Shot since he can reverse the order and doesn’t need to breakaway. Absolutely worth running him at 100 points to get 3 very good ranged attackers and throw your opponent off, along with +3 to your theme team. Not quite as good as last time, but that dial was pretty much perfect. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Chances are you aren’t opening more than one Cable, so you won’t be using that trait. That’s fine because Cable provides a mountain of offensive and positioning that easily offsets his cost. STOP clicks are so annoying in Sealed, especially on a highly mobile ranged attacker. Just make sure you protect that 17-defense. Cable is bulky, but so easy to hit. Score: 5/5

016 BELLADONNA

Constructed – Nifty effect of passing a ring to someone and making them her slave, but a lot has to go right for that to happen. With only 5-range and no improved targeting and Stealth to slow her down, along with a lack of Willpower, you have to devote a lot of time and resources to pull this off. Her Keywords hurt as well as she breaks named theme teams. Not useless by any means as she has a lot of tools, but she’s just too clunky and has so many shortcomings. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Poison is very good in Sealed, and the Stealth/Super Senses combo will make her a pain to deal with… until she’s based to use said Poison. If she can live through a hit and pull off the Mind Control, you’ll have a powerful piece for a small cost. The question is, is she worth breaking theme and jumping through all those hoops to accomplish this? I say no. Score: 3/5

017 GRAYDON CREED

Constructed – I’m not going to pay 45 points for a figure with Poison and bad stats and hope that he survives the inevitable attacks that come his way for a chance at hitting people with Poison again. Graydon is an overcosted figure that will most likely get into position to hand out Diseased tokens and then bite the bullet, putting you down 45 points for no payoff. Score: 1/5

Sealed – I sincerely hope you don’t pull Graydon. Sure, he has Poison and potentially lasting Poison at that, but his cost is so massive for this dial that it’s just not worth playing. Score: 1/5

018 SENATOR ROBERT KELLY

Constructed – Like Bolivar, I really don’t like his Leadership. Kelly is an odd duck as he has a terrible traitor mechanic that gives your opponent a massive reward without any threat of returning points or giving him back like others. Kelly betrays you and then he’s basically a figure that you can’t score which is a bummer. So is 30 points worth a negative Perplex with Leadership that gives your opponent Leadership when he’s KO’d? No way. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Same thing applies here, expect there’s a good chance your opponent might have pulled one of the pieces he can spawn which means he’s actually worse for you now. The only saving grace to Kelly is that Perplex is a powerful tool in sealed and paying 30 points for even a limited version might be worth it to fill out your team. I would try to avoid it though. Score: 2/5

019 AMELIA VOUGHT

Constructed – At first glance, this figure seems very good, even if she’s only a taxi for two smaller theme teams. Perplex and the ability to basically let an adjacent character take a smaller hit than a massive one seems pretty decent for 45 points. However, her defense power requires the character to take two action tokens and 1 unavoidable damage. That means if they can’t use Willpower, they’re taking 2 damage. Sure, that’s better than 3 or more, but is it really worth paying 45 points for this feature, and having to keep her adjacent all game? Score: 3/5

Sealed – Now this ability becomes a bit more powerful. It’s harder to drop figures quickly in sealed, and Perplex is my favorite power in the format, so Amelia gets some love here. Keeping her adjacent isn’t so tough or punishing, and the late dial Regen/Support is a nice addition to her kit to give her more value. If she can spare your primary attacker a big hit, that could be the turn you take over. Score: 4/5

020 FABIAN CORTEZ

Constructed – Man, if this dial has a few less clicks and was about 10-15 points cheaper, this would be a dynamo support dial. As-is, he’s still not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Teamed up with a character than can carry him around and take shots gives you some huge number boosting with +1 to all stats and +2 to damage. If that character has one of the three keywords Fabian cares about, you get Mastermind, too. Even with his cost, I like this dial and I’m very tempted to give him a go. Score: 5/5

Sealed – I don’t think there’s any reason that you should leave Fabian off your team. Chances are you have a taxi thanks to all the fliers and large characters in the set so it should be easy to move him around the map. Fabian excels at making your hits hurt so much more. 1 unavoidable damage is a fantastic trade when you’re hitting for 5 or 6. Add in the Leadership to offset his cost and you have an all-star support. Score: 5/5

021 BLOB

Constructed – Pretty damn good dial for Fred. Blob doesn’t care that his defenses are low because this dude is gonna take 5 hits whether you like it or not. At 60 points, the key is getting him into the fight before he takes too much damage so he can use those Close Combat Expert clicks and actually dish some damage, otherwise he’s just a bloated tie-up figure and Toad actually works better. Still, I like this outing for Blob and it’s a pretty good dial for the character. Score: 4/5

Sealed – I love characters that have to be hit a certain number of times to be KO’d rather than from one big hit because they tend to be worth way more in-game than their cost. Blob will be a fantastic tie-up figure or mobile wall that can march into the enemy team and just sit there all game. Most people will read his defense power and just ignore him because it’s too much work to put him down, and it’s tough to gauge how many clicks he has with a cost of 60 in today’s game. Score: 4/5

022 TOAD

Constructed – For Mortimer, this is a good outing for him. His attack values are a little low for my liking, but he does well for what he is; a nuisance. Toad will get in and hold people down and that’s what the character does. As far as accuracy? Spot-on. Playability? A little overcosted in today’s game thanks to so many 9-attack values. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Tie-up figures are usually very good in sealed, but when you’re playing within a set where everyone has at least two large figures that will most likely be giant or colossal, the value on said tie-up figure plummets. Toad would be a great pick in another set, but he’ll have a hard time finding footing here. Score: 2/5

023a SABRETOOTH

Constructed – Graydon (no, this isn’t Victor) is one tough customer and I have to admit, he’s the first Sabretooth that I actually like. Like the common Wolverine, this guy has some nasty stats and a massive Charge/Flurry/Blades to back that up along with Stealth to protect his approach. Damaging him is a gamble, too as he has a 50% chance of healing, or possibly clearing a token and healing. This might be the first Sabretooth I actually pick up. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Melee attackers are tough in sealed because of their inherent weakness to range on their approach. Graydon doesn’t care about that, nor does he care about elevated terrain to stop his momentum. The Indomitable combined with the massive damage output and healing he has built in after taking a hit makes him a terrifying foe when he ends up adjacent to his prey. Score: 5/5

023b SABRETOOTH

Constructed – Just like Magneto, Sabretooth has fantastic values and capabilities for how low in points he is. His Blades don’t help very much to start, but those massive attack values throughout the entire dial are very scary for when he eventually (hopefully?) does become a real character and can make regular attacks. Perhaps the best part about this dial is the end-click of Regeneration which, if he’s still not done wracking up Errors, he’s going to hit it and he’s going to heal up. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Sabretooth doesn’t have the same supportive capabilities that Magneto does since he doesn’t fly and is pretty much just a melee bruiser, he’s a great tank for such a low cost. You can easily use him as a shield for your other guys, or the most annoying tie-up figure ever since he’s not going to be KO’d. Flurry also gives him two chances each turn to try and get Error tokens, so you have more of a chance at him unlocking. Score: 4/5

RARES

024 STORM

Constructed – We’ve been getting a lot of Storm lately with different LE’s, and I have to say this is the least exciting Storm since Uncanny X-Men. She has a similar ability to the Avengers: Infinity Thor by dropping markers when she hits with an attack and then potentially dealing damage the following turn or slowly moving them. This might sound cool, but it’s so crazy slow as your opponent can just… move away. On top of that, her stats and powers are incredibly lacking, until she pushes but then you drop down to 17-defense for 75 points. Compared to other Ororo’s we have in Modern, this is a pass. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Storm serves a lot of roles in sealed from Taxi to TK to team lockdown with a small chance at reoccurring free damage. If you’re going to play her, push her on turn 2 with a second TK and unlock a pretty decent lockdown character which makes it a bit harder to escape those markers. Just keep melee figures away from her and she’ll work well. Score: 4/5

025 GAMBIT

Constructed – This looks like a pretty big fan-service dial for Remy that bookends an already stellar dial from Regenesis as a “sorry” that he’s been gone for so long. Good defenses, attack-values, and powers throughout the dial. I like the flavor of his special power, but it’s going to happen very rarely (unless you have a Q hanging out or one of his golden-age buddies). I’m not sure if I like this better than the Regenesis dial, but it’s for sure a good click. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Remy can hit a lot of targets for splashes of damage, move around the map easily, and requires opponents to base him to have any chance at taking him down. Gambit should pull his weight pretty easily. The Indom also helps to offset his slightly high point cost at 65. Score: 4/5

026 JUBILEE

Constructed – I can’t be upset with a dial that resurrects once per game and has the potential to hit a ton of characters for -2 attack at only 35 points. However, I just don’t see myself using Jubilee. I will admit that there’s potential here to be a nuisance, but in a constructed environment, I would rather get someone with a lot more combat potential that doesn’t need to be next to someone all the time. It’s not a bad dial at all; just not something that piques my interest. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Must-play with X-Men teams, and possibly a must-play on any team. 10-attack should be enough to hit most defenses and that -2 to attack you can give to entire enemy teams every other turn is huge. For 35 points you have a massive advantage if she hits. A single Perplex can turn her into a solid issue that your opponent will have to deal with first, taking heat off the other 265 points of your team. Score: 5/5

027 FRENZY

Constructed – Damn, Joanna is bringing some serious aggression to the board! Jumping into fights through terrain and characters, with a +2 to breakaway, and then smashing with Close Combat Exert makes this one hell of a melee monster. Her attack values might be a little lackluster for 80 points, but a starting 19-defense and an average of 18 makes her incredibly durable. Score: 4/5

Sealed – A sealed powerhouse that you’ll want to play and then immediately jump her into the fight. Joanna will do a superb job of locking people down while swinging with big combat values to hit whoever she needs to. A single Perplex on her defense will make her worthy of much higher-point targets having no choice but to take her on while the rest of your team gets to take free shots. Score: 5/5

028 RANDOM

Constructed – I want to love this dial, I really do. But I just can’t with those constantly changing attack and damage values. I get it – Random. It makes sense. But it doesn’t make him playable. If I’m dropping 100 points on a figure that has pick-a-power, I don’t want to have to make up for his lack of powers and his lack of values. The best thing to happen to Random is that he takes a massive hit up front and ends up on click 5. Score: 2/5

Sealed – While Random will be slow to engage in the fight without dipping into his trait, pick-a-power in sealed is huge, especially when that character has good defenses. 100 points is a lot on a character that may or may not pull his weight in offense, but the support he brings to your team is good. I wouldn’t immediately put Random on my team, but he would certainly make the initial cut of who I’m considering. Score: 4/5

029a MORPH

Constructed – Not a bad little support dial that gives you the choice on who your opponent attacks if they choose to go for him. 40-points is a bit much to pay for a Perplex figure, but he’s got that slight advantage of threat if you attack him and he’s lucky. Score: 3/5

Sealed – I would absolutely run Morph in Sealed. Tie-up, Stealth, Perplex, and fear of hitting yourself is a nice package that will be menacing to play against. Not the best rare to pull, but he should do some work. Score: 5/5

029b MORPH

Constructed – Hard to kill if you can’t get rid of that Shape Change, but Morph isn’t bringing anything else to the party. He’s a good tie-up figure that will stick around for a long time assuming he makes his Shape Change roll, but I don’t want to use my Prime slot for this kind of character. Had this been the a side, this would be an okay dial. As-is with the Prime rarity, he’s pretty bad. Score: 1/5

Sealed – A hard to kill tie-up figure is decent in sealed, especially for 25 points. In this environment, you don’t have to worry about eating that Prime slot which is his downfall. He’s cheap enough that you can risk him heavily for some big payoffs. Don’t prioritize him, but absolutely fill him in if you have 25 points open and can’t build a theme team. Score: 3/5

030 BASTION

Constructed – Same thing here as the others with Bastion’s special Leadership, so see others who have it. However, taking on Leadership in general to a very strong tentpole figure at this cost is a lot better. Bastion has very strong values, powers, and reducers to make his 125-point cost somewhat low. Once he takes a hit and lands on those middle clicks, you’ll feel that point cost. The long dial length with Outwit and Regeneration do give him a great chance at bouncing back though. What pushes Bastion over the edge is his 50% chance of stealing enemy bystanders upon KO, and possibly even making them better. I don’t think he’s a must-have, but he’s pretty damn good. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Absolutely the type of dial you want to run in sealed. Big numbers with Pen/Psy and Perplex to increase those values to either hit easily, hit hard, or make it incredibly difficult for opponents to land a hit on him. His long dial length with Regen at the end will make him very hard to score. You probably won’t get to use the Bystander generation, but you don’t need it to make this dial worthwhile. Score: 5/5

031 AVALANCHE

Constructed – This is a great dial for Avalanche with some hefty bite for 50 points. Hitting all characters within 4 squares for 2 damage or using Quake normally but getting a free Barrier afterwards is very good and makes him a must-drop target early on, unless you’re rocking big reducers. His stats do dip a little hard and the Barrier at the end of the dial is a bit worrisome, but I like this dial. Sore: 4/5

Sealed – Sidestep on a cheaper figure in sealed is great as they won’t eat your precious actions getting into the fight. Swarms are also more of an issue as people want to pack their teams as much as they can to not be underpowered so a massive Quake is fantastic. However, this won’t be as amazing since every player will have two massive characters that will most likely have good reducers. Still, Avalanche has good values and can adapt to defensive if he needs to. Score: 4/5

032 PHANTAZIA

Constructed – I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little bummed that Phantazia is better than Miles Morales from Earth X by taking his ability and directly one-upping it. However, Phantazia is just a mess of a figure. 60-points for a taxi early game and a close-range Incap figure that’s hard to hit from range mid-game? She’s hard to hit on top click, but chances are a single hit will take her to the back of her dial. The real deal-breaker on this dial is how bad her stats are for her cost. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Unless you really need to fill out that Brotherhood of Mutants team, I wouldn’t run Phantazia. Her best use is a taxi that blocks lines of fire for whoever she carries thanks to her movement power, but 60 points is a LOT to pay for that in today’s game. Maaaaaybe play her and immediately push her if you need some Outwit. Score: 2/5

033 MESMERO

Constructed – I honestly don’t think this dial is all that great, but he does look insanely fun and hilarious. Sure, 11-attack double-target Mind Control through elevation and hindering terrain is pretty damn good for 45 points, but Mesmero is very, very slow, so there’s a decent chance he’ll never have the opportunity before going down quickly. If Mesmero were an uncommon, I’d be praising him. As a rare, I want to stay away from him, though I would love to make people walk about buildings. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Great Mind Control figure for such a small investment. Mesmero’s value will depend on whether you can easily protect him while he makes his way into the fight, and how well you can protect him once he’s there. While at the time of writing we don’t know what the release map is like, lots of elevation will make his value soar astronomically. Just make sure you play him incredibly carefully. Score: 4/5

SUPER RARES

034 ARCHANGEL

Constructed – At first glance, I wasn’t too thrilled with this dial. Then I saw his point cost. Holy cow, that’s a TON of hurt for 100 points! Archangel is going to chew through so many dials. He might not have the huge damage capabilities of other versions, but he’ll do a great job of hitting multiple characters off their top click. There’s some counterplay to him by just moving your biggest guy towards him, but if you do, there’s potential for Warren to smash for 6-damage through Shape Change (though you better hope you don’t critically miss. Each phase of this dial is pretty sweet, and his stats are killer. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Archangel has everything want for 100 points. He flies, he’s fast, he deals penetrating damage, he has Willpower, and he heals at the end of his dial. Against big threats in this set, Archangel becomes a speeding bullet, Charging in for possibly 6- damage. There’s a lot of value here for someone only taking a third of your build. Score: 5/5

035 PROFESSOR X

Constructed – It’s a tough act to follow up from the amazing Rare from Xavier’s School, and I think this guy falls short. 100 points is an awful lot to pay for a character that needs to continually push to stay useful. I do like that he has the ability to continually shut down a character every turn once they get into his range, but he just feels extremely overcosted for what he can do. Thankfully if you do land on that last click, he’s going to be a monster. Score: 2/5

Sealed – I don’t think I want to drop a third of my team on a support character that has to eat my actions every turn to be of any use. You could play Professor X as a Leadership/Outwit figure with some Mind Control built in, but unless you’re pushing him and killing your own figure, you’re probably not going to land those Mind Controls. Score: 2/5

036a LEGION, FRACTURED SAVANT

Constructed – WOW. The potential Legion has for just 85 points is absurd, and he looks like he’s going to be a must-play on X-Men teams. Sure, he’s incredibly dangerous if he’s KO’d, but this guy is like Jakeem Thunder at a massive discount and without the Prime rarity (okay, not exactly, but you get my drift, and he can still pick two powers every other turn). A long dial with great combat values and Indomitable adds to just how amazing this guy is. The trick will be keeping him healthy and getting to his ultimate ability so he can KO anyone he wants. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Sky’s the limit when you field this guy. Able to adapt to any force he fights against and overpower them. He’ll be an amazing sniper to start, brutal scrapper if based, nuking Pulse Wave if cornered, and can be basically immortal with Regen and Steal Energy. I can’t see how an opposing team can win if he pulls off his -4 ability and just deletes their best character. Score: 5/5

036b LEGION

Constructed – A very odd dial that requires some good luck to make him work properly. With hot dice, Legion will possibly never die and can become an insanely undercosted Omega-Level threat. With crap dice, you’ll be bummed you dropped 75 points on him. What’s neat about Legion though is that no click is truly unstoppable. If he rolls high and ends up on a powered click, one good hit with Precision Strike or a penetrating blast will KO him. The best roll he can hope for is a 1 so he can go to click 0 which is his best click and has an entire dial to burn through. I rather like this dial and he feels like he’ll be expensive because of his rarity, but should dip because of how random he is on the board. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Just like the above, everything is true here as well. Legion will break an X-Men theme team which hurts, but you could pull some massive shenanigans and easy wins if you roll really well. The other side of that spectrum is you could continually roll 2-4 and feel like he’s sort of a waste. No matter what, he’s worth the 75 points though. Score: 4/5

037 COLOSSUS

Constructed – A beefy tank dial for Piotr for a low cost. Colossus truly does tank for your allies as he gives anyone next to him 18-Invulnerability and potentially Mastermind. This is a good showing for Colossus and separates him from his usual cookie-cutter mold where every one of his dials is the same. However, he still suffers the same issues; he’s slow, loses attack values after one hit, can’t move through any terrain, and is forced into melee combat. He’s always felt like the lowest ranked bruiser in the game. It’s cool to see a traitor dial at a high rarity like this, but I don’t think it’s worth it since that’s a big advantage you’re giving. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Extremely easy to build a theme team with Piotr thanks to his keywords. Big reducers are great in sealed, so giving them out to every adjacent figure no matter what click they’re on seems pretty good. Keep Colossus safe and he should do some excellent heavy lifting for your team, and then come in for a hard hit once you close the gap. The same info above still holds true though. Score: 4/5

038 MYSTIQUE

Constructed – Not nearly as annoying as the Uncanny X-Men Mystique (or nearly competitive), this figure works as a mellow yet efficient damage source. Once she gets her Shapeshifter trait off, it’s going to be basically impossible to hit her, and she’ll gladly just march around the board pinging enemies for 2 or 1-damage. The question is, is that worth 60 points? I don’t think so. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Sealed is a completely different story. Mystique might not be very efficient at dealing lots of damage, but she’s incredibly efficient at staying alive. Playing her basically means unless your opponent has Battle Fury or an effect like the common Wolverine that turns off Shape Change, they aren’t hitting Mystique. Ever. That’s some safe points and for my money, I would play her. Score: 4/5

039 PYRO

Constructed – His stats might feel like he’s from Uncanny X-Men, but that special attack power is more than enough to push me to build around Pyro. Swarm teams melt like jelly against him, but it’s his at no cost Barrier that has me excited. Most figures that can do this don’t have the ability to run-and-gun like Pyro does, and his stats are easy to work around. In a perfect world, he would have that amazing damage power up front, but beggars can’t be choosers. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Energy Explosion is massive in sealed, so when I see someone with Running Shot, 6 range, and three targets (if wanted), I pay attention. Poison is icing on his red-hot cake and will help massively against a lot of the chumps in the set. If Pyro does manage to sit still and have an enemy come into his range, he’s going to torch them for massive damage. I would absolutely run this guy, especially for that low 50-point cost. Score: 5/5

040 SAURON

Constructed – Not a bad melee attacker. Sauron has some decent staying power if he brings someone with Leadership along for the fight, and his Shape Change + Invulnerability top click will be annoying to deal with (but the 17 is a little lackluster). While Sauron is a little squishy if you fail Shape Change, he has three different ways to heal up after taking a hit; successful Leadership, damaging with Poison, and Steal Energy, with two of those removing a token from him so he can continually hit. His STOP click is very impressive too as he still has access to self-healing without rolls making him incredibly hard to finally put down. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Sauron is the trademark hard-to-KO standard figure for the set. Poison is very good since there’s a decent amount of characters in the set without reducers (though the big figures will almost always have them), and his combination of Steal Energy, Poison, Leadership, and STOP all having access to free healing is very impressive. He’ll be a great taxi with big movement, and you can’t ignore that top click with 11-attack and Blades. Score: 5/5

041 SPIRAL

Constructed – Pretty sure we’ll always be disappointed with Spiral moving forward thanks to how broken she was in Wolverine and the X-Men. This dial might not look like much, but she can do a lot of stupid stuff while being incredibly annoying to hit and even more annoying to actually KO. 7-clicks with Super Senses and Shape Change is mind-bogglingly difficult to deal with. Spiral can dash into a fight, token down a problematic figure, then TK someone else (or herself) out to your team. I think my issue with Spiral is that she doesn’t feel like she accomplishes much for her cost. Not much offense, and a bit high in cost for a nuisance for my liking. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Spiral’s value will highly depend on how effective you feel Shape Change and Super Senses are. For a player like me who never makes these rolls, she’s overcosted and will probably die the turn she moves in to clog gears. For people with great luck, she’ll be an unkillable machine that stops all action against her team for not even a third of your points. Her value ultimately comes down to whether you think you can keep her around as she’s not doing much once she gets into the fight. Score: 3/5

042 CASSANDRA NOVA

Constructed – Those top clicks are going to be mighty hard to deal with thanks to Stealth, Super Senses with a 50% pass rate, Shape Change, and a maximum of 1 damage in close attacks. If you can deal with the fact that Cassandra is incredibly hard to move around the board thanks to no improved movement and slow speed values, you have a deadly Mind Control figure that gets better the more she singles people out. She has an incredibly long dial with some serious pain thanks to Pen/Psy on every click and a minimum of 4-damage at any given time. I don’t know if I want to drop half my team on an immobile figure that does rely on what my opponents bring to the game to truly be useful, but she should destroy teams when they do. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Half your build for a Mind Control figure might seem like a lot, but Cassandra’s ability to practically never take damage while throwing out Pen/Psy blasts for 3 or 4 makes her quite a playable figure that theoretically should stick around through the entire game. Add in all the giants and colossi with huge starting clicks that Cassandra will make better every time she Mind Controls them and you have a hell of a figure that can sit in the middle of the map and make your opponent cry. Score: 5/5

043a MISTER SINISTER, ROGUE GENETICIST

Constructed – An interesting take on a Title Character, and what I really like to see to mix things up. While Sinister does have the typical Prime/Title Character stats-to-points ratio, he’s incredibly hard to KO without getting in too deep. Sinister’s approach of getting a quick hit to get a DNA sample and then spawning Nasty Boys is fairly good, and I love the ability to hit someone with potentially a 14-attack and 6-damage if you can keep him healthy. The problem I have with Sinister is that he starts with 0 Plot Points, so he can’t just eat one damage at the beginning of the game to spawn a Nasty Boy. He needs them to really build up those DNA tokens, but you’ll need to risk him first so that he can get that Plot Point, lest he takes 1 unavoidable two turns in a row and loses those two important top clicks. On the right team, Sinister will be incredibly annoying, but I’m curious to see how much work you have to put in to make him pay off. Score: 4/5

Sealed – It should be much easier in sealed for Sinister to get the first hit. His defenses are very good, and the Stealth/Outwit combo makes him a very scary figure to try and base without taking a lot of damage in return. Since he should be able to get some Plot Points fairly easily here, he should “go off” relatively easily and provide you with a ton of secondary attackers to counter your opponent’s team. Versatility is a massive advantage is sealed, and Sinister brings that to the table 10-fold. Score: 5/5

043b MISTER SINISTER

Constructed – Just like Magneto, Sinister offers a ton of value for just a small point cost. His Energy Shield/Deflection up top isn’t an issue since he’ll only take 1 damage from attacks which means he’ll move around the map countering powers and just being a general pain in the ass tie-up figure. Once Sinister does take some hits, he has a very strong dial that should hopefully unlock for you so you can start sniping targets for big damage. For his cost, this guy is fantastic. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You might be bummed to pull a Super Rare that can’t really do damage, but you shouldn’t be. Sinister is perhaps the safest Outwit piece you can play and he’s only 40 points. Most people aren’t going to deal with a figure that they have to hit 5 times to earn a measly 40 points, so he’s basically immortal. Sure, he’ll break an X-Men Theme Team, but it’s absolutely worth it. Score: 5/5

CHASES

044 DONALD PIERCE

Constructed – Pierce may not look like much on his dial, but he’s kicking the chases off rather well. Pick-a-power isn’t so strong with Charge since you can’t dip into the Running Shot + Pulse Wave combo, but with his 5-range, he can still Pulse Wave, and there’s plenty of other things he can do as well. His value modifying trait isn’t all that great as sub-100 point figures have plenty of penetrating damage to eat through the dial, and most people aren’t playing a lot of 100+ figures these days. What sets Donald apart though is how hard he is to KO, assuming your opponent doesn’t have the action queue to retrieve his head on the same turn they took him down. He’s rather easy to resurrect and start all over again. Not a must-have, but a lot better than some of the chases in the set. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Whenever you have a figure that stops itself from being scored, that’s a good figure to play in sealed. When you add on the fact that you can resurrect that figure over and over again without being scored, that’s a must-play figure in sealed. Add on pick-a-power and big reducers all the way through the dial and you have one hell of a bruiser that can pop some good shots off as well. Score: 5/5

045 HARRY LELAND

Constructed –Highly specialized at squashing melee figures and colossal retaliators, Harry just feels like a decent support figure in a much higher rarity position. If I’m playing a chase that’s strictly support and he has Outwit, I want him to just be able to use Outwit or have a better version of the power, not a much weaker version that doesn’t work half the time. His KO effect is basically useless as you’re never going to accomplish that with 9-attack and 1-damage throughout the dial. I have to say; this is a pretty bad chase. Score: 1/5

Sealed – Yay, you pulled a chase! Unfortunately, that chase isn’t going to do much for you for this event. Sure, he’ll do some heavy lifting against teams that have figures with Charge while also empowering your own guys, but this has got to be a massive letdown when you crack this guy as the chase of the store case. Score: 2/5

046 EMMA FROST

Constructed – Emma’s biggest strength is hiding in Stealth and Mind Controlling anyone who comes near her, potentially an entire squad if they’re lower than 75 points. While she’s doing this, she can keep your allies safe from long-range attacks. Emma isn’t Beta Ray Bill though and that trait isn’t as good as it seems. Most characters today need to be within 6 squares to hit anyways, and since Emma doesn’t say they need to begin their turn within that distance, it’s easy to close the gap and then take a shot. It’s still a good a good trait, especially since it gives allies the protections no matter where they are, but it feels a lot stronger than it actually is. She’s just so slow and clunky, and the lack of Willpower really hurts her playability. Score: 3/5

Sealed – There’s a decent chance that you’ll be playing against lower-point characters in this environment, but not as much as other sets thanks to the big guys running around. That’s okay though because Emma still has a 12-attack Mind Control that she can use while hiding every other turn. While she won’t feel like other sets’ chases when you pull her or play her, she’s still quite powerful and requires your opponent to basically rethink their strategy. Score: 4/5

047 JEAN GREY

Constructed – Jean looks a little scary with no defensive powers, but her huge stats and ability to target her with any friendly use of Mind Control is great. That means you can abuse that 11-attack and 4-damage over and over again. +1 attack on Mind Control is also great as virtually nothing is safe from 12-attack, which makes her 75-point cost even better. The treat of this dial is her STOP click which gives her some good reduction, Pulse Wave, but more importantly the ability to transform into her Dark Phoenix form that can heal itself back up. When carefully played, this is an immortal dial as you can drop that Phoenix and then start KO’ing figures to heal her up. Score: 4/5

Sealed – Chances are you didn’t open both Jean and the Dark Phoenix, so you’re not going to get the chance to transform her, but this is still a killer dial in sealed play. Jean can either shred through reducers for huge damage, or almost guarantee hitting with Mind Control which is great in this set since there’s so many big characters. If you can get Perplex on your team to offset that naked defense, Jean will do some massive work. Score: 5/5

048 JASON WYNGARDE

Constructed – Jason is quite playable as he takes a more active approach than the other members of the Hellfire Club. If this guy pulls off a Mind Control (which he should do with 8-range and Sidestep), he can go through the entire enemy team and make them attack each other one at a time, forcing his opponent to spread his pieces thoroughly. That’s a lot of potential for one figure at 75 points. Perhaps the best part of his kit though is sidelining two characters that generate bystanders and twice per game summoning their bystanders for free. While the rest of the Club might look mediocre, Jason is quite the opposite. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You’re most likely not going to get the bystander generation from Jason, but that’s fine because his ability to chain Mind Control every two of three turns and potentially hit the entire enemy team each time makes him a brutal 75-point figure. Keep him safe and let him command a dominating area of influence that your opponents won’t want to come near. Score: 5/5

049 SEBASTIAN SHAW

Constructed – An interesting take on Shaw with a superb dial length for his cost. 9 clicks with great reducers as he goes through the dial is a great value, and since you want Shaw to take damage to gain access to his true potential, that’s a good thing. Sebastian certainly has some ability to deal a lot of damage once he’s taken a hit, but there’s a big flaw here. Hitting him for 4 damage first to knock him to his Invulnerability click, and then for another 4 penetrating gets him through his Invincible clicks, and then another good penetrating hit KO’s him. Basically, the answer to Shaw is hit him for 4 damage three times, and make sure the last two are penetrating. The lack of Outwit protection is sorely lacking here since he can’t even access most of his powers until he takes some hits. Without those powers and no range, he’s a massive kite that starts off with a click you wish you didn’t pay 125 points for. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Access to penetrating damage isn’t so easy in sealed, so chances are Shaw will get into those Invincible clicks and then torch someone to gain a point advantage. If you get him to his 6th click, he’s going to be a beast of a melee figure, but you’re still dedicating 125 points of your build to a pure melee figure that can still be kited easily and can mostly be ignored. Without ID cards to take advantage of that point cost, I would simply never attack him and take down the rest of his team and wait for time. Score: 3/5

COLOSSAL UNCOMMONS

G001 SENTINEL SQUAD ONE

Constructed – Very interesting take on a Sentinel dial. Stats and powers aren’t all that great and you need a pilot to make sure you’re not burning though the dial yourself, so the 70-point cost is sort of a lie. Even with the advantages of being a vehicle, I can’t see myself wanting to run this for 70 points. It feels boated and so easy to take down. Score: 2/5

Sealed – Not a great start to your sealed pulls as the SSO won’t feel like the powerhouse you’re expecting from a large figure. This guy is much more of a big wall that can maneuver your allies around and might get some shots off but will probably end up going down quite easily. The values, powers, and need for a pilot just don’t add up to 70 points. Score: 1/5

G001b STEALTH SENTINEL

Constructed – I cannot believe they basically remade the Days of Future Past Sentinel! This guy is AWESOME, and while some might look at him and think “man, those defense values are low for an attacker”, you have not seen the terror of playing against this kind of figure. Yeah, he’s easy to hit when he goes on the offense, but chances are he’s creeping up in pretty much untouchable mode until he gets close enough and nukes one figure on the board. If he does get hit, STOP clicks! Then he just heals back up and turns his dial again the following turn. I’m ready to see this guy come back. Score: 5/5

Sealed – A massive, self-healing dial that has all the tools to eat smaller characters every turn, or provide fantastic cover and transport with two STOP clicks. This guy is going to be horrible to play against and anyone who has played the Days of Future Past Sentinel will know how to abuse this guy very easily. If you happen to open some Perplex, run this dude at full and just kill everything. Score: 5/5

G002 SENTINEL

Constructed – Very interesting that the generic Sentinels are so cheap and frankly easy to KO. Just two clicks (with Invulnerability on every click which I really like) is odd for these big guys. These things are one hell of a value though as no matter what they’re providing taxi service for virtually any figure in the game for just 25 points. Pay 33 and you get Sidestep with that as well. Their other clicks are decent, too. I like that each of them are different enough to give you the ability to shift their directive each game you play them in an event, and cheap enough to play multiples without feeling like you burned options. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Gold in Sealed. I wouldn’t immediately jump to either point value as these guys are great fodder, so keep them fluid. Either way, they’re going to be mobile walls with good reducers that can reposition your teammates for next to no points. They’ve got good range, average values, and can adapt each round to the opponent you’re playing against. My top pick would be the Perplex/Plasticity clicks. Score: 5/5

G003 NIMROD

Constructed – Nimrod feels like the Avengers: Infinity Thanos with his dodge trait that smacks them for attempting to hit him. We know that Nimrod has been quite brutal in the past, and this dial is no different, albeit a bit less nasty. At any point level, Nimrod has some massive reducers and values, can pick any attack power every single turn, and has free healing built in. The issue with Nimrod is that he’s colossal so he’s easy to hit, and he lacks move-and-attack powers of any kind until he’s almost dead. I don’t know if I want to spend 175 or more points on a figure that can’t engage in the fight until after he’s positioned and takes some damage. Score: 4/5

Sealed – No move and attack might be an issue when you’re playing against pre-built teams, but in a sealed environment, Nimrod will be a monster at any point level. He’s got nuke potential on any click, takes a metric ton of damage before going down, and can adapt to whatever his targets have. Add in free healing and you have an infuriating piece that will dominate most teams. Score: 5/5

G004 PROTEUS

Constructed – Proteus works pretty well as a tank that can be a total nuisance on the board and give you a lot of terrain advantages. However, his attack values are just horrible for his point costs. 10-attack across the board is okay on lower-point characters, but when you’re pushing triple digits, it’s not fun. There’s some playability in that Proteus can Mind Control someone, then teleport to them and single-target Pulse Wave them, but a lot has to go right, including playing on the right map. I would only play Proteus on his retaliation line, and there’s so many better Monsters than him around the same points. Score: 2/5

Sealed – While I wouldn’t play Proteus in constructed, he’s not terrible in sealed if you have no other options. He’s tough to put down at any point level (aside from his retaliation line), and he offers a lot of protection for the rest of your team. While I wouldn’t go near that 225-point line, his 150 start isn’t too bad. Score: 3/5

G005 EXODUS

Constructed – What a team player this guy is! Exodus brings a substantial force field effect to the game that by itself is worth his cost. With massive changes in numbers, you can change how he plays in each game at an event which is really cool. Looking at his abilities, he’s an insanely good Leadership figure that can boost himself quite heavily if your dice are lucky, and you’ll have no trouble keeping allies close thanks to that force field. I love his two lower point values – both are very good, sans the single click of Running Shot, but that should theoretically be easy to keep thanks to his trait. Score: 5/5

Sealed – So I can play this guy either as a tertiary attacker or a brick and completely gimp my opponents from shooting at my team or even approaching me? Where do I sign up? Exodus looks like he’s going to be a massive pain to deal with in sealed, and if you can pull enough characters to work around his Leadership, he’ll be a massively deadly tentpole that can easily shoot up to 10 squares away. Like a lot of multi-base figures in this set, it’s a good bet to run him. Score: 5/5

G006 ONSLAUGHT

Constructed – Behind The Scenes is a brutal trait and makes Onslaught much tougher to deal with than he seems. Factor in the protections from Mind Control, Outwit, and Pen/Psy and this is one hard nut to crack. Free abilities are fantastic and helps offset the dial-wide lack of move-and-attack powers, and thankfully Mind Control is in there as a FREE power, but do you really want to drop this many points on a figure you won’t be hitting for damage with? I do like the ability to make someone drop everything they have and smash them 9-squares away, and his Prob + Shape Change combo is pretty brutal, but I just don’t see myself ever running him. At 125, he seems a little too brittle and one good hit will make him hurt. Anything over that seems incredibly overcosted for what you get. However, a skilled player will make that 125-point dial run laps for them. Score: 4/5

Sealed – All of Onslaughts protections make him a golden figure for sealed play. The amount of hassle and hardship your opponent will have to go through just to even think of hitting him might not be worth it as it places them directly in Onslaughts sites and most likely at the end of a big attack, hitting their friends, or both. If you run Onslaught, don’t think he’s a god though. One good hit, especially from Exploit Weakness, will topple him and make you wonder why you paid so much for him. Score: 5/5

G007 JUGGERNAUT

Constructed – Not quite as hard to deal damage to as the old UXM Juggernaut, but this version of Cain can do a hell of a lot more damage. His token removal trait combined with Mass Destruction and colossal stamina means that Juggernaut can act every. single. turn. and not take any damage from it, as long as he has more blocking to destroy (or you have Barrier). I would play this dial all day long at 100 points, and possibly even at 200, though the 300-point dial doesn’t seem worth it since you’re pouring all your points into a melee figure. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Juggernaut is never going to be KO’d. There’s just no way there’s going to be enough actions or damage going around to offset his free healing while he’s running around and hitting tons of characters. Juggernaut can engage so many ways which most melee bruisers (COUGH Colossus COUGH) can’t seem to figure out. This is a killer dial that I would highly recommend automatically adding to your team. Score: 5/5

G008 SASQUATCH

Constructed – Color me unimpressed with Walter. Not a bad dial by any means but to me he’s just so boring. He can Charge and Blades, or he can Place and Quake along with Outwit for 50 points which is good. But man is he easy to hit. The 50-point line is very aggressive, but very easy to hit once and ignore him. 125 points gets you a bit more, but you suffer from a 10-attack and a Perplex that you’ll need to plug in to attack to hit, living with a similar 17-defense. 175-points finally gives some good stats, but then you’re just getting a big melee figure. Just not a lot here that impresses me. Score: 3/5

Sealed – You’ll break theme, but I can’t help but like his 50-point line for that Outwit and some good potential to hit a lot of small figures first. I wouldn’t go near those higher-point dials, but Walter should serve okay as a large melee figure that can carry his buddies into the battle and then jump in when he absolutely needs to. Keep him safe and you’ll love that Outwit with Giant Size. Score: 4/5

G009 GREEN DRAGON PUFF

Constructed – We get a dragon in this set?! Puff has a fantastic dial on any of her starting lines, able to make a whopping 3 attacks a turn depending on how much blocking terrain she has to work with. Sure, two of those attacks will be for 2-damage each, but that’s a potential 7 or 8 damage based on what click she’s on. I like that Puff’s starting lines are well-equipped and not too costly to actually play on a team. At full points, you still have 75 points left to build with and you get a very mean harassment figure that can do some big damage and then swaps to multi-attacker. Not to mention that her trait is very good. Sure, it’s not Hulk-level busted with Quake, but we’ve already seen how stupid a character can be with powers that trigger off of movement. Give that figure Hypersonic to begin with? Hoooo boy. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Pull is a great figure to pull as she can easily fit on any team thanks to her starting lines and how efficient and cheap they are. If you pulled crap, Puff can easily serve as your tentpole. If you pulled really well, Puff can be a great secondary or tertiary attacker. Middle of the road? Middle of the dial. Puff brings a lot of board control and repositioning which is all good in sealed. Score: 5/5

G010 PHOENIX

Constructed – Big defenses on Rachel and some excellent opening clicks with Running Shot + Pulse Wave, the best combo you could have on a massive figure, even if you can only tap into that in larger games. I love Rachel’s ability to either heal herself a ton of clicks or heal her allies potentially every turn. Very playable at 175-points, though her defenses are a bit low for my liking. Her retaliation click is decent as she’s a massive taxi with TK and can heal your allies, though her actual retaliation itself isn’t all that great. Rachel feels like a good Phoenix for someone who’s always wanted the character but without having to spend the money that a lot of them tend to fetch. She’s certainly not at the level of the other Phoenix in the set. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Your options are a 175-point character that will undoubtedly destroy a few characters before she takes some damage thanks to that 19-defense from range (possibly 20 from Perplex), or a 25-point support figure that will give you TK, a 9-square taxi, and team healing. She’s a solid figure. Nothing spectacular but very solid, as long as you play her carefully and don’t open her up for multiple shots in one turn. Score: 4/5

COLOSSAL RARES

G011 CEREBRA

Constructed – Cerebra feels like an odd duck. At 300 points, her stats aren’t all that amazing and you could get a lot better within the set. At 200, she starts with a taxi power for movement, so that’s clearly out. At 150, her stats are just so blatantly bad for the cost. Finally, at 75, she’s a massive X-Men taxi, but not better than Lila Cheney by any stretch. She’s a hodge-podge and I don’t think anything but her 75-point line is worth playing every. That’s still a decent dial if you don’t have Lila, and could be good once Lila does rotate as Cerebra does at least have good defenses and Outwit. Score: 2/5

Sealed – The same points stick here; overcosted for the numbers on her dial. Her best playability is that 75-point line, but chances are you don’t have 6 other characters on your force after that 75-point cost. Unfortunately, I would almost always leave Cerebra in the package. Score: 1/5

G012 CYCLOPS SENTINEL

Constructed – This guy is awesome. Great stats, playable point values for any-sized game, free movement to help him get into position, and a fantastic melee bystander that’s practically unkillable and dishes out a ton of damage. Thankfully with the errata that you get to pick when the head pops off, he is quite the beastly ranged attacker that can spit out a lethal and quite unkillable bystander. When you do pop the head off, you’re now getting two sources of 4-damage rather, one of which can’t die. I would run this dude at 150 or 50 points all day long. Score: 5/5

Sealed – 450 points is out, and honestly 300 is, too as you probably shouldn’t one-man army a figure like this. That leaves his 150- or 50-point line available and both are splendid. Unless you have something that’s strictly busted-tier, run this guy as your tentpole at 150, knock his head off, and double-spam big hits that will most likely drop opponents to their last clicks. Improved targeting: blocking is massive in sealed as well. Score: 5/5

G013 BASTION

Constructed – Bastion has a lot of power hidden behind a dial that has some serious meat. 8 clicks with massive reducers for only 100 points? Where the hell do I sign up? I would strictly play Bastion at 100 points and fill my team with Robots that he can double-target Mind Control each turn thanks to Colossal Stamina. Pushing him onto those special defense clicks makes him a terrifying sniper that can simply wall up and prevent you from ever targeting him. There’s so much power here that I don’t think people are going to see until they play against him. He’s a serious hidden gem in this set. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Probably not going to pull a Sentinel too, but that’s fine because Bastion’s point values are so easy to play in this format. No matter what value you play him, he’s going to be exceptionally hard to KO while throwing out tons of damage. His Mind Control won’t be as powerful as you’ll need other Robots, but he’s perfectly fine to play as just a really good tentpole figure. Score: 5/5

G014 PROTEUS

Constructed – I like this dial a bit more than the uncommon and I might be in the minority here. He’s very slow and somewhat easy to handle at 250 points, but you still get some great stats and a huge dial for that cost, as well as 50 points open for team building. However, the real treasure of Proteus is his 70-point dial. This gives you a fairly long dial that gives you free terrain of your choice whenever a character within 5-squares (including Proteus himself) is given a costed action. If you’re activating Running Shot or Hypersonic Speed, after you’re finished you can drop a piece of blocking terrain right in front of you to protect you from counter-attacks. You can also slap down hindering terrain on opponent’s 3 squares away. Proteus brings some of the best parts of JSA Green Lantern for double the cost, but you also get a decent tank that can heal up into some nasty clicks. I think Proteus is a surprisingly good character. Score: 4/5

Sealed – You don’t want to play him at higher levels, and it sucks that he’ll eat any theme team you’re trying to build, but Proteus can serve as an amazing support figure that gives you all kinds of terrain to utilize and make it that much harder to hit your team. With free healing built-in whenever someone misses him with a ranged attack, you can potentially tap into some big clicks. I would prioritize his 70-point line as the 10-point dial isn’t worth breaking theme (but good if you can’t build one anyway), and nothing more. His other clicks are just too hefty for what you get, but that 70-point dial is sweet. Don’t sleep on Proteus. Score: 4/5

G015 MAGNETO

Constructed – Fantastic outing for Magneto. You want your massive powerhouse dial? You got it. Looking for more of a team player? Yep, you got that, too. Maybe you just want to stick Magneto on your team as a super support figure? Yeah, he can do that. His trait is fantastic as it can target anyone, not just allies or enemies, and his special attack reminds me of the AoA Chase from Uncanny X-Men to a degree. His defenses and damage capabilities are very nasty, but perhaps his best click is his 25-point line. For such a small cost, you get Leadership, TK, Sidestep with a 2×2 base and Flight, free character moving every turn, and colossal retaliation (even though he’s standard size). So much value for so little points. My only complaint is that he doesn’t have the X-Men Keyword, but he shouldn’t. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Do yourself a favor and run Magneto at 200 points. Running Shot + Pulse Wave with huge values is the best dial you can hope for in sealed, and Magneto brings so many benefits (and a massive dial) to the party for that cost. If you happen to open some amazing packs, he’s equally good if not better at either lower cost as well for the reasons mentioned above. Probably wouldn’t run him at 300 though as you can easily get out-actioned with a one-man army. Score: 5/5

G016 RED ONSLAUGHT

Constructed – This big boy looks very appealing, and the sentinel generation makes him actually playable at higher point levels, as does that amazing trait that stops opponent’s from shooting him unless they close the gap. At 600 or 300 points in big games, R.O. is going to be a disgusting sniper that you will have one hell of a time getting to without KO’ing or sustaining a massive injury on the way, all the while he’s throwing sentinels, countering powers, and removing tokens from his buddies. At 150 points, he still has the 9 range with the trait, but no Sidestep or Running Shot to utilize it. That may seem like an issue, but with Charge, that means if an opponent wants to shoot him, they have no choice but to get within his melee range, and they still have to go through his Mastermind to do so. His Mind Control power seems okay, but you have to single target with it, and I’d much rather triple target, unless you want to strip some Power Cosmic/Quintessence. I like him. Score: 5/5

Sealed – R.O. checks a lot of boxes for a tentpole figure in sealed. He has the protection that most huge figures don’t possess with his close-or-nothing trait and Mastermind, can generate his own buddies to help in the fight, has multiple ways to counter powers, and can even the odds with a massive 9-range with Mind Control. If you’re playing in a 400-point game, I would seriously consider playing him at 300 as he’ll be so hard to deal with. At 300, I think his 150-point line is a shoe-in and should absolutely make up the core of your team. I’d have a hard time passing on him. Score: 5/5

G017a EUGENE TORBIT WITTERSPAN

Constructed – An uninspiring brick that doesn’t count against theme team and is easily outclassed by the same sculpt (Juggernaut or even the Prime). Hey, this guy feels like Red Hulk from Avengers: Infinity! Euguene suffers from horrible attack values and his dial is riddled with Toughness on a giant figure who also lacks willpower. Chances are Eugene is KO’d before he gets a chance to pull off that rather flavorful and interesting Quake power. Even if he does, you’re going to need a lot of Perplex to makeup for those attack values. Score: 2/5

Sealed – I might consider Eugene strictly as a tanky taxi at 25 points, or give him some combat ability at 50 points, but that’s pushing it. This is a crap rare colossal to pull, and you’ll probably save yourself points by leaving him in the box. Score: 2/5

G017b COLOSSUS

Constructed – At higher points, Colossus feels like just another unexciting bruiser with high defenses that will inevitably drop quicker than you think, and his slow speed will be his downfall. At lower points, this is a formidable dial, especially at 25 points. Colossus will be an auto-include on X-Men teams just for his ability to give +1 to theme team and be a taxi/tank for under 50 points. What’s interesting is the change in language to Colossal Retaliation which now doesn’t care about other retaliators – it cares if a figure has been placed. That makes him much harder to use than our current retaliators, but still very good. Score: 4/5

Sealed – I wouldn’t play Colossus at 200 points as he’ll drop to moderate values too quickly to take up that much of your team. His sweet spot will be at 100 points as a fantastic tank that might have a little trouble hitting, but most likely for 25 points for the same reasons I mentioned above. Score: 4/5

G018 WENDIGO

Constructed – I’m not usually a fan of giants that are purely melee-driven as they’re so easy to KO before they get to engage in the fight, but good god is Wendigo amazing! This guy is very, very scary as he basically can hit three times for 100 points for a whopping 12-damage, and he’s got 6 clicks with a STOP click with some nice reducers. Best of all, Wendigo can heal passed any starting line, so you could play him at 100 and if you hit for 3 attacks, you’re jumping up very close to his 200-point line. I like the inclusion of the 15-point click, but it’s a little risky as you’ll need to be sure he hits first. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Big melee targets are just as risky in sealed, but unlike in constructed, there’s less of a chance that your opponent will be packing Pen/Psy or Outwit to stop them. Once Wendigo closes the gap, he’s going to become monstrous and most likely won’t go down through the entire game. A shoe-in at 100 points and a very good option even at 200 points. Score: 5/5

G019 VANGE WHEDON

Constructed – We get two dragons in this set?! I love this dial. It’s not the most powerful in the world and does cost a bit much, but I love it. X-Men teams will love adding on a character that can Outwit and prevent an ally from taking any and all damage from one attack. 75 points seems like a lot for that insurance, but think about the possibilities. You can negate ANY attack. The key is this triggers no matter when they take damage, so you’ll still need to make sure you don’t activate this from something like Poison. While overcosted on each starting line, Vange does provide some great opening clicks on her two higher starting lines. Score: 3/5 (though my personal score is higher)

Sealed – The X-Men keyword makes Vange very easy to play on any team, and the negation of an attack is great as well in this setting, although it should be harder to get some value out of as people tend to make riskier plays with smaller figures. I would play Vange, but I would only look at her 175-point line as a possibility. 75 points is a bit too much for how easy she is to hit and how little clicks she has, along with the melee-focused dial. Possibly look over other choices before committing to her. Score: 3/5

G020 DARK PHOENIX

Constructed – Evil Phoenix has the traditional hallmarks of the powerful cosmic force. Huge combat values, great powers, THREE STOP CLICKS, and healing for KO’ing people (or even just hitting them potentially). However, I have a big problem with this dial. Most games I play (and are played in bigger settings) are 300 points which means Phoenix is either your one-man-army COMPLETELY, or she’s a retaliator. That sucks. I would have loved to see a 200-point line on this dial instead of just massive points only for big games. Now in your big games, Phoenix should be amazing and feel like a god so I applaud that. As for her retaliation click, she doesn’t have Colossal Indifference so she’s quite the amazing figure to add to an X-Men team (or Cosmic). You get a taxi with 11-attack, 10-range, Impervious on a STOP click, and the ability to potentially heal into a much stronger dial if she can KO someone (or have her damage Perplexed up and not bother with reducers). There’s a ton of potential on that 30-point click, which frustrates me. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Most stores will probably run 300 points, so there’s the same weaknesses as above. HOWEVER, with 12-Hypersonic and 5-damage, Phoenix should easily be able to get to the back and KO a support figure early on and start that healing process to cheat her into bigger clicks. She might actually be worth playing at 300 if you pulled poorly. I would still recommend her at 30 though for the same reasons I mentioned above. Score: 5/5

COLOSSAL SUPER RARES

G021 KRAKOA

Constructed – Can I just comment on how beautiful this sculpt is? Krakoa is all about activating those retaliation clicks, leaving the battlefield a scared landscape and making it almost impossible to escape from those squares. In order to play Krakoa, he really needs to start with his retaliation power on his top click to get things started, so his 150- or 70-point lines are going to be the best to play at. My big issue with Krakoa is that he never gets his special attack until well into his dial, unless you’re playing him at 400 points, so you’re going to have to risk him out in the open where he might just take damage to later clicks. There’s some potential here, but I wish that he was designed with a bit more synergy in his special powers to truly make him feel like he’s controlling the map. Score: 3/5

Sealed – Forced into 150- or 70-points means Krokoa plays a much different role. At 150, he’s a great damage sponge, but doesn’t quite put out enough damage and lacks mobility for how much you’re dropping on him. At 70, he’s more passive and will be brutal once he’s pushed or takes just a click of damage, but then it’s all about guarding him which is hard to do because he’s so massive and slow. This just feels like a big figure that doesn’t know what it wants to do, so I would possibly consider passing on playing him if you pulled some good stuff. Score: 3/5

G022 MOJO

Constructed – What a return for Mojo! This dude is fantastic! Built-in protections, free movement from Sidesteps (which happens like 28 times a turn now), free attacks or board placement – this dude has it all. That’s not even taking his stats and powers into consideration. At 250, Mojo will be an awesome tentpole that will be difficult to take down thanks to a long dial chock full of great powers. At 175, he brings Probability Control to the table and like his higher cost, can just walk around shooting people for 4-penetrating damage with no fear of retaliation. At 75, he’s a brutal secondary attacker with great attack values, Perplex and TK, and big reducers to go with his mobility and security. Great dial. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Mojo is a must-play, I’ll leave it at that. Priority on which starting line to go with depends on what else you pull, but chances are Mojo is your main guy. I would honestly run him at 250 if you can because that’s a deliciously nasty dial, but the 175-point start is equally good and lets you add a few more people on your force. Even if you pull really well and have to play him at 75, do it. This guy should 100% be on your team. Score: 5/5

G023a SHADOW KING

Constructed – This is a scary dial. Assuming you play him at his lower dial, you’re getting immunity to anything outside of 4-squares, Probability Control, Pulse Wave, Power Cosmic: these are all staples of a good dial. However, it’s his movement power that’s killer. 11-squares of Phasing that lets you use Mind Control with 3 targets, 8-range, and sees through everything but blocking terrain is terrifying. You either close the gap on him incredibly fast, or he’s going to use your own characters against you to completely destroy his biggest threat. Reducing penetrating damage is yet another layer of nastiness that makes his higher point lines worth playing as well. I don’t know if I’ll get him but I do not want to play against him. Score: 5/5

Sealed – This is basically the same thing as constructed. Everything holds true here except that I would only play him at his lowest starting line as I don’t think he’s worth playing as a one-man army. 12-attack is nice, but it can still miss and I would much rather have a backup force to deal with other threats. Score: 5/5

G023b STORM

Constructed – Hate to say it everyone, but the first Super Rare Prime multi-base character is pretty damn good. For 150 points, you get 7-clicks with STOP at the end, Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Invincible, ES/D, and Outwit. That’s one nasty setup, but it gets so much better. Storm can knock-back up to 3 opposing characters for free each turn (possibly setting up free damage), and she can shoot through characters or out of adjacency. But perhaps the best part of the dial is her retaliation – typical rules, but after she’s done, she gets to hit with Mind Control with +3 attack against her target, and two others. If she’s on top-click at 150, that’s 14-attack Mind Control against 3 figures after she hits for 4-damage. Things get even more stupid at 25-points as a retaliator. She’s one of the best taxi’s thanks to her large base (standard size though), has a fantastic 11-Precision Strike, 18-defense, and can attack freely. If she activates, she more than pays her measly 25-point cost as one of the most brutal balance changers in the game. The Monster keyword ensures that Storm will see play. I guarantee it. Hopefully her Prime rank should keep her cost a little fair. Score: 5/5

Sealed – No need to repeat the same information – Storm is a god. I would only play her at either 150 points or 25 points as I don’t think the 225 or 300 lines are worth it aside from more clicks. That 150 opening click is just too hard to beat. If you open Storm, celebrate and then decimate. Score: 5/5

G024 MADROX

Constructed – I have to give WizKids credit on a very interesting and unique Madrox from a game mechanic perspective. Jamie has always been more or less mediocre in power levels but is highly annoying and can overwhelm a force, which this dial represents perfectly. With no max on his bystanders and power sharing from adjacent figures, you can quickly take over the entire map with dupes, locking everyone down in the process. His replacement KO effect is incredible when you take into account how hard it is to get rid of all of his bystanders. You’ll basically need to try and KO every one of them adjacent to him and then hopefully hit him last to have a shot before he just self-replicates again. This makes him a fantastic ID battery as he’s so incredibly hard to KO, assuming you don’t have Pulse Wave. I wouldn’t play him on anything higher than 100 points, but he’s very good for that cost. Score: 5/5

Sealed – Thankfully the bystanders aren’t generic clix in the set so you can generate as many as you want as the game progresses. Jamie is a maniac at point denial, so he’s a very safe pick to include on your force and use as the ultimate tie-up figure. Everything above in the constructed review (sans ID cards) is true here as well, although depending on your pulls (i.e. bad pulls), I could see playing him at a higher level, though he’s not worth running as a one-man army as you’ll be lacking crucial damage. Score: 5/5

G025 ICEMAN

Constructed – What a brutal Iceman to go with all the other versions we have. I’ve said it before; Iceman is a character that’s just always good. I don’t think I would lay him at his bigger values as 100 points (and 15 points) seem like the best bet with good stats and a long dial. Bobby is the king at KO’ing other colossi and giants as he can continually go off and potentially KO every single one in one go. However, Iceman changes the competitive setting thanks to his insane versatility as an ID summon. Easy to call-in at 15 points, Iceman can swing on someone for 3-damage, use Incap on anyone he wants within 4-squares, and then Charge onto an enemy retaliator. If he KO’s them (which he should), he can do it again. And again. And again. Iceman will be a must-have for competitive play, like Groot before him. Score: 5/5

Sealed – You probably won’t get to use Iceman’s ability to continually Charge as most people will probably only have enough points to play one of their large figures, but there’s still a chance Iceman could pull his shenanigans and score a lot of points in one round (or at least a ton of damage). Either way, Iceman is a good figure to play, but he does suffer from the Outwit problem while being a massive target. Taking out his Charge or reducer will open him up for a lot of counterplay. I would include Iceman in your team though at 100 points as you get a scary melee attacker that has Outwit of his own packed in, and a huge reach for melee with 9-squares with Blades. Score: 4/5

FAST FORCES + RELEASE FIGURE

No sealed scores for this group, so just old school reviews.

FF001 WOLVERINE – Fantastic option when you’re worried about Sentinels or retaliators hunting you down, and it’s really cool that they added this on all the fast forces figures to give a strong theme. Combat Reflexes is very strong, but situational so you really can’t take that into consideration for his value. Wolverine loses out to the common from the set and thanks to all the ridiculously good Logan’s we have right now, he just falls short. Score: 2/5

FF002 ROGUE – You lose out on damage from the main set version, but you also don’t have to deal with the Steal Energy that’s situational; you just get it on everything but her top clicks. Rogue has some good defenses so she should be a bit problematic to handle. I don’t like her at 50 points, but the 70-point line is solid. Toughness against giants and colossi is worse than Toughness as these guys are probably hitting for a lot of damage. Score: 4/5

FF003 BEAST – Another Beast that just pales in comparison to the Regenesis common. If he had Perplex on his starting lines, he would be decent, but as-is, he’s nothing more than a Quake figure with okay stats. His traited power against big characters is so far the best as Super Senses can completely negate hits. Score: 2/5

FF004 STORM – Ororo doesn’t have enough to set her over more recent releases like the Xavier’s School headmaster for 50 points or the new LE that combines excellent taxi and strong ranged attacker. This version of Storm isn’t bad by any means, but she has her typical issues of low defenses and not enough value for her points. Like Wolverine, there’s too many good versions of Storm right now that this dial looks incredibly weak by comparison. However, I do love giving out Mystics to my buddies. Score: 2/5

FF005 GAMBIT – Absolutely the winning dial of the Fast Forces. Gambit has the best defenses, the best offenses, and can help his team out a lot thanks to Enhancement. Two targets with Running Shot and Force Blast makes Gambit a massive team player, and his attack values are pretty strong throughout the dial. Probability Control is absolutely one of the top powers to give your allies against big dudes, and Gambit’s dial is strong enough to run on a normal team, so you won’t feel ripped off if it doesn’t come into play. Score: 5/5

FF006 JUBILEE – Like Beast, Jubilee gives one of the top powers against big enemies with Shape Change. I have to give credit where credit is due; this dial feels just like Jubilee did in the show when I was a kid. She’s annoying and doesn’t accomplish much. At 35-points, she brings a decent Pulse Wave click with Flight and Sidestep to add value, but she’s just so easy to swat. At 20 points, the best you’re going to pull from her is 10-attack and 2-damage. She’s never going to hit with 9-attack, and in a world where Moira is still modern, there’s no reason to add her to your X-Men teams. Score: 2/5

100 MAGNETO – GOOD GOD IS THIS FIGURE AMAZING. Sure, you lose 65 points from your team at the beginning of the game, but Magneto get’s to completely remove a threat from the board for the first 3 turns. That’s huuuuuuge. It’s not as busted as Copycat used to be, but having the option to remove an opposing character from the equation right off the bat for 3 turns can completely turn the tide of the game. Keep in mind that Magneto can take out any retaliator he wants, or a Blackbird on lower points to burn a resource for 3 turns. With the X-Men keyword on there, there’s a very good chance that Magneto will see some big play. And once this dude pushes into click 3 while roaming the board Outwitting stuff he becomes a monster. Score: 5/5

Surprisingly, this set has a strange dichotomy to it in that a lot of the single-base figures feel very average while the large-based figures are quite good (with a few being strong competitive contenders). Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up for you to decide. Because there are two distinct groups of figures, I’m going to clarify in the breakdown how many of each type go into each score. Remember that these are only for constructed.

Score of 1: 5 Figures | 2U, 2R, 1 Chase – 6% of the Set

Score of 2: 14 Figures | 5C, 3U (2 Large), 4R (2 Large), 1SR, 1 Chase – 17% of the Set

Score of 3: 19 Figures | 2C, 6U (3 Large), 4R (1 Large), 5SR (1 Large), 2 Chase – 23% of the Set

Score of 4: 16 Figures | 3C, 3U (2 Large), 5R (2 Large), 4SR, 1 Chase – 20% of the Set

Score of 5: 28 Figures | 3C, 9U (4 Large), 7R (6 Large), 8SR (5 Large), 1 Chase – 34% of the Set

44 of the 82 figures in this set are ranked a 4 or 5, or 54% of the set is above average (compared to the 65% of Black Panther and the Illuminati). What’s really interesting about this set is how heavily the large figures displace these numbers. If we exclude them, only 46% of the set is above average which means that the larger guys really do carry this set. Then again, ABPI was one of the best sets we’ve had since The Mighty Thor, so it’s tough for any set to follow up.

The other odd thing about this set is that it heavily feels like more of an X-Men villains set than an X-Men set proper. We only have a handful of X-Men while the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Hellfire Club, Acolytes, and Sentinels got a huge increase in numbers. For those of you who have been wanting more villains in the game, this is the set for you.

Should I go for sealed or singles? This is a really tough call. A lot of the must-have figures are the more rare multi-base figures, and if we look back to Avengers: Infinity from last year, the market shifts dramatically on their value. The lower-end figures that people don’t want a lot of hit very low prices, but the figures that are competitive or require multiples (or both) still hold high values today. For example, Groot is priced over $60 and sold out at the time of writing. I think that this set requires more planning than any other in terms of what you’re looking for. If you want a lot of the large figures, especially the more rare, I would go for sealed. You’ll get 10 multi-base figures in a brick and while that’s expensive, you should get at least one super rare. However, if you’re looking for mostly single-based characters and maybe a few large ones, go with singles.

How do you think this set stacked up against some of the others as of late? Do you think this comes close to Black Panther & The Illuminati? How does it compare to Avengers: Infinity? What do you think the overall reception will be and how will it impact competitive play? Let me know in the comments section!

Thanks for joining me on another mega set review! I’ll see you guys next Tuesday over on Clix Fix, and here again in two weeks for Chase or Pass: X-Men Animated! Until then, remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!