In Fixer Uppers I’m going to be looking at the least useful figures in a set, hypothetically breaking them apart and putting their dials back together in a way that fixes their issues and makes them worth playing. This is all in the name of fun, and I’m in no way suggesting that I could design better dials than wizkids, but there are a few dials in Xavier’s School that just don’t live up to the rest of the set.

My basis for balancing these figures is broken into three categories of diminishing importance. 1. Why should you play this figure? 2. Does this character feel like the comic character? 3. Is this character unique in its niche? The fact is, there’s lots of ways to balance figures, but I think the best way to do it is increasing the power level to the point that he would see play. As they stand right now, outside of a comic accurate team or a specific theme, most of these characters wouldn’t see play, as they just can’t stand up to the rest of their competition.

COMMON- 008 Artie

Before I start, I’m not going to be putting much thought into the X-Student trait, one because I don’t think it’s worth many points and it’s effect is limited and hard to pull off. It also doesn’t directly apply to Artie himself beyond a potential small boost to the character carrying him. I would intend for it to be on any of the dials I add at the end, but I’m unwilling (too lazy) to write out the wording for it.

Artie has his own niche, a tiny sized Mind Contol figure that can be carried around by bigger figures, giving them a little more threat when they get in range. That being said, for 25 points Artie just doesn’t do enough. His 9 attack makes any attack roll a gamble, and threatens to waste your precious actions. Even for a low 25 points Artie just doesn’t make much of a difference, one of the most awful issues to have with a figure. Every character should have a reason to be played from a mechanical standpoint, and Artie just misses out. How are we going to improve him? Let’s go to the list.

Why should we play Artie?

Artie’s purpose is as a cheap secondary attacker that’s greatest strength is being able to be carried by other attackers or carriers to have more bodies and a bigger threat when you get to your opponents.

Why is this unsuccessful?

Artie is just to unreliable to be worth using an action on in most circumstances. 9 Attack is too low, and as a tiny character he isn’t reliable as tie-up or blocking for your other attackers. He just doesn’t do enough to be worth paying 25 points for.

Does he feel like the comic character?

Artie in the comics is a mute mutant who can project holograms with his telepathy, and uses them to communicate. Mind Control seems like a fair power choice to represent this. He also uses his holograms to protect himself (Shape Change) and he’s a pretty small guy, making Tiny Size a good choice for him.

Why is this unsuccessful?

Artie’s also able to project other characters thoughts, and has a limited ability to lock other characters with his mind. These last powers aren’t represented, but don’t need to be for a 25 point character. If we did want to, we could give him Incapacitate, but I don’t think it’s important. Artie is common, which means we should limit the complexity of his dial and powers, and I feel like Artie has a pretty solid power set to represent his mutant power. I don’t think the design team was unsuccessful in representing him in this way.

Is this character unique in its niche?

Artie is by no means the best or only secondary threat at 25 points. Gunman from Elseworlds isn’t tiny and doesn’t have Mind Control but is a surprising threat for so few points. Poison Ivy from World’s Finest Fast Forces has traited Mind Control and has Stealth and Shape Change on her dial, but also comes with Smoke Cloud and Barrier, she of course is also not tiny. Broo from the same set as Artie is another 25 point tiny character, but is an Outwitter instead of a secondary threat. In that way, Artie is in no way completely unique, but does have a slightly different combination of powers and abilities than anyone else.

Where did this go wrong?

Artie just isn’t powerful enough to be a secondary attacker like Gunman, and doesn’t have the same support powers Poison Ivy and Broo have. It’s nice not to need any mobility with the access he has to taxis but he can’t do anything about that. Artie needs to either have better values, or more support powers for him to see any amount of play.

Final Balance- What we need for Artie is a straight up boost in power, he’s surprisingly defensive, but as a tiny figure with low attack and range, he can’t threaten enough for him to be taken as a credible threat. Artie needs to become credible enough to have attacks thrown at him, or he needs to do something else to add to his value because there is no reason to play him right now.

My first thought with Artie is to increase his attack to a 10 on his top-click giving him an average attack value, and increase his range to 5. To balance this out, I’d give Artie a 0 damage, something I feel fits the character from the comics and give him a click of Incapacitate on his top-dial. Making a dial that looks like this.

Not a huge change at all, but with 5 range and 10 attack Artie can be a serious Mind Control threat, especially when carried around the battlefield by a friendly character.

My second idea was more of a support oriented Artie, not focused on increasing his values, but instead giving him more variety as a figure, making him a threat by the amount of value he generates. I felt like Artie’s ability to project other characters thoughts could be represented by sharing Shape Change with other characters, but it would have to be restricted to a 25 point common figure. Giving it to a single adjacent figure wouldn’t be too much, and would help Artie fit into a role similar to that of Foggy Nelson or Eric Masterson. Artie’s holograms in the comics have also been used to distract characters, which I would compare to Smoke Cloud. With these additions, something had to be removed to keep him balanced at a 25 point level. Three clicks of life seemed like a lot for a kid like Artie, making him as tough as Eric Masterson, removing that last click wouldn’t hurt his potential, and would make him similarly long winded as Foggy. I also removed the Sidestep, as I think it’s unsubstantial in the long run for him. That dial came out looking like this.

Artie is now an amazing support character that can protect a friendly character while leaving himself vulnerable. I think you could argue that this dial might be too powerful for a 25 point figure, but ask yourself, would this dial see competitive play? Would it break the game? Would Artie find a place on every team in the format? Or would Artie still be a niche figure, and a pretty great call in? I think the most fun figures come from balancing from the top down. This Artie could definitely be a 30, 35 or even 40 point figure depending on the set he appeared in, but does is he really that much better than Gunman who can Sidestep in and deal up to 3 damage to a character, forcing them to target him with ranged attacks next turn? Or Broo who gives you an easily carried Outwit, one of the most powerful powers in the game? Or even Poison Ivy who has Mind Control, Barrier and Smoke Cloud for a mere 25 points? I think no. If you disagree, I’d love to hear from you!

Tell me which dial you like better, and if either seem too powerful for poor Artie. Next time i’ll be looking at the uncommons, feel free to suggest one for fixing, right now i’ve got my eyes on Jean Grey or Magneto, as there are very few bad uncommons in this set.