Today kicks off the Deadpool & X-Force Chase series! For the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing on building teams around the various chases from the set. First up is that giant floating head with itty-bitty limbs – It’s D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L.!

That’s right, I’m finally cracking into more Deadpool himself… okay, some of the chases aren’t really Deadpool… and some of them are Deadpool but from alternate timelines, one-shots, non-canon issues- OKAY I GET YOUR POINT. Anyway, I usually wouldn’t focus on chases so heavily for article subjects as they’re expensive and a little tough to come by, but dammit, this is Deadpool so buckle up!

For the first article in this series, I’m building around probably the worst of the chases in D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. (further described as just DEADPOOL since it’s quicker). While it’s true that this chase in particular doesn’t really live up to his point cost, he’s still not a terrible piece and can do lots of damage in the right hands. Since DEADPOOL only appeared very briefly in Deadpool Kills Deadpool, there won’t be any fancy images this time around. I’ve been trying to use more pictures to break up all the text, but there’s just not much of him out there.

Let’s look at that dial, Pat Sajak!

Coming in at 150 points (sheesh), DEADPOOL has Flight, 7 range with two targets, the HYDRA team ability, and 7 clicks of health. He’s got two traits, one of which is shared with all the regular chases, and a single Special movement power. His keywords are quite strong with A.I.M., Assassin, Deadpool Corps, Robot, and Scientist. Powers and numbers are all over the place for this dial, so it’s going to be a little bumpy as we move through his dial.

His movement starts off high with an 11 and his Special, drops to a 9 and then a 7 before hitting his fourth click which gives way to 6 Sidestep. This plummets at this point, dropping on each click with an abysmal 3 at the end. For attack, he’s got 11 Blades for two clicks, swaps to 10 Pen/Psy for two clicks, swaps over to 10 Steal Energy for two clicks, and ends his dial with a 9 Steal Energy. Defense is a little more even starting with 18 Invulnerable, dropping to 17 on click three. He changes to Toughness on click four and drops down to a 16 for his last three clicks. His damage is wonky with 3 Perplex on top, 3 Outwit on two, 3 Close Combat Expert on three, dropping to a 2 on four and back up again to a 3 on five, jumping to a 4 Outwit on six and finalizing back to his original with 3 Perplex. That’s a really randomized dial. Let’s take a look at his traits and Special.

DO YOU SEE THE COMIC PANELS TELLING ME WHAT TO DO?: At the beginning of your turn, if D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. has no action tokens, you may attach a comic panel to him, removing an already attached one. He can use the listed effect.

This would be the shared trait that the normal chases share and should be considered when you’re looking at their dials. While DEADPOOL might seem a tad weak and jumpy on his dial, the comic panels can really make a big difference with him.

How about the stuff that’s unique to him? I’m glad you asked. Trait #2, go!

DESTRICTIVE ENGINE OF ASSASSINATION DESPITE… AWW, JUST LOOK AT MY REAL NAME: D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. can’t use the Carry ability. When D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. makes a close attack and actions resolve, he may make a ranged attack with Improved Targeting: May make a ranged combat attack against any opposing character within range and line of fire, even if that character is in an adjacent square.

Now that’s a little bit better. Whenever DEADPOOL makes any kind of close attack, he gets to shoot anyone he wants within 7 squares. That improved targeting should say that he can shoot out of adjacency, so nothing is going to stop him from taking a shot after he attacks. The downsides to this power is that A) he can’t use the carry ability, meaning he can’t even carry tiny characters, and B) he only has 3 damage. With damage depletion, that’s going to hurt how much hurt he puts out. Then again, he does have Perplex on top dial, so we can kind of get around that.

How about his Special Movement power?

FREEDOM AUGMENTING ROCKET TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. can use Charge and Sidestep. When he uses Sidestep and actions resolve he may use Smoke Cloud as a free action, but only to place hindering terrain markers in squares he moved through.

oh look, FARTS. Charge is already good on an 11 movement with Flight, and adding Sidestep is even better. This gives DEADPOOL an 8 square swing if he wants, or allows him to get in and attempt breakaway afterwards to hide in his own… juices? Ew. Anyway, I would most likely use the Sidestep to move into his same square so he can generate his own hindering terrain, and since the power states that they can only be placed in squares he moved through, he can place a marker in a square he stops in. That’s okay, you just move up 1 and back again.

Now that we know the whole package, let’s breakdown his positives and negatives in one easy-to-read section, kind of like we did for Mistress Death.

Positives: Lots of aggression with free attacks. Good keywords. Incredibly mobile early game. Comic Panels add more than what’s here.

Negatives: Lack of Willpower. Movement speed plummets hard. Damage values are low to take advantage of free attacks. No Running Shot to match his long range and Pen/Psy mid-dial.

That first negative is a big one for me. A lack of Willpower combined with his 150 point cost, shallow dial, and wacky numbers will more than likely keep DEADPOOL out of the spotlight. Still, he can be viable at LGS’s and home games, so that’s my intention today!

So what are the tools we need to make DEADPOOL worth the point investment? Mobility really isn’t an issue here, and with the right comic panels, you can bye your time until it’s time to strike, so TK or a taxi aren’t really necessary (although they are always good). Most of what we need to do with DEADPOOL is toy with his numbers to make him worthwhile. Perplex is going to be a big deal for him. Although he has Blades, that isn’t going to help his damage value for the free range attack he makes. Possession would be great to offset his numbers, but we’re already on 150 points with him alone, so the toys will sit this one out. A theme team might be strong with great keywords like Robot and Scientist, but it depends on what kind of supporting cast he can get. Lastly, I would encourage some kind of healing for him. While he’s got Steal Energy at the end of his dial, his lower reducers aren’t going to save him for long.

Before I dive into the builds, I want to mention that each of these teams is taking on the assumption that you have access to each of the comic panels. A lot of folks thought this was a really big gimmick to force more spending so that you could get all the chases just for the panels (and I will keep my opinion to myself), but the fact of the matter is that most of these panels are needed to make these chases either playable like DEADPOOL here, or very strong like we’ll get to later in the series.

For the builds on the chases, I’m going to keep them all at 300 points Limited as a starting point. Some might be more points while others might use a possessor. Either way, I’ll address in the build titles if I’ve made any change like I normally do.

Onward!

300 Point Modern D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. Team – LIMITED

For another couple months, we have a single piece that makes robots incredibly strong and does a great job of getting around DEADPOOL’s lack of Willpower. Juston Seyfert, typically seen running around with that jerk Krang, can make DEADPOOL his sentinel and gives him all the tools he needs to become a serious threat. Think about this; Juston gives himself a power action to let DEADPOOL make a move (of 11 squares) and then make an attack. You choose to base someone with DEADPOOL and make a free close attack. After actions resolve, DEADPOOL’s trait will kick in and he’ll get to make a free ranged attack against anyone he wants. That’s all normal, right? Yeah, except DEADPOOL didn’t get a token for that, which means he can repeat the process all over again. Juston gives us a robotic Doctor Octopus that can hit multiple targets across the field and position himself as he sees fit. While Krang might have a much easier time dishing damage (and lots of it), DEADPOOL can annihilate swarms or split his damage to cause the most harm to a comp.

Pixie was chosen for three reasons; first, she has Perplex, which when combined with DEADPOOL’s own Perplex, we can raise his damage value to a 5. Second, she has that really neat free Smoke Cloud ability that lets her only place one marker, but decreases defense by -1 for anyone in that space (which effectively Perplexes DEADPOOL’s attack up). Third, she can carry two characters regardless of speed symbols. That means Pixie here can carry both DEADPOOL and Juston to make sure they get wherever they need to be. With her 12 movement and Phasing, she literally can get to anywhere the team needs. She also ages quite well, picking up Blades and Precision strike in a Special attack power along with Charge, and ends her last two clicks with Support.

For our last piece, I went with Night Nurse for incredibly efficient healing. Since the team has pretty high mobility, and Pixie can serve as a way to get DEADPOOL out of trouble, Night Nurse can hang back in hindering terrain and hide out, waiting for when her team needs her most. No special tech here; just a good ‘ol healer.

Regarding the items, you have two choices here, and I like what both do. If you go with the Left Arm, this gives DEADPOOL Exploit Weakness. He won’t be able to use it from Juston’s free attack, but he can certainly use it on his own attacks. This is useful if you think you’ll be playing against one man armies and big reducers, but not necessary and a little bit of a gamble. The Left Leg on the other hand gives DEADPOOL knock back on his attacks, which is actually really strong and synergizes with his kit completely. This gives him mobility and eliminates the need for breakaway rolls, allowing him to Charge to different pieces after his free Juston attack, and Sidestep afterwards into his own FARTS (yep, I just said that). In my opinion, the Leg is a better and safer pick.

For comic panels, there’s no real decisive one that DEADPOOL should keep. If he’s going against range, pick the Stealth or ES/D panel. If the opposing team is all melee, run Combat Reflexes. Super Senses on the tentpole? Go with Precision Strike. The comic panels don’t really need explaining – just pick whichever one works best against the opposition. Stealth would honestly probably be the best pick with DEADPOOL’s high mobility and Sidestepping into his own hindering markers.

This team is a lot stronger than it seems on paper. With DEADPOOL and Pixie perplexing up his damage value, he can deal 5 damage on the first attack, 4 on the second, 3 on the third, and 2 on the fourth for a total of 14 damage in a single round. That’s technically better than Krang, although DEADPOOL doesn’t have the Prob to back him up and he gets a lot worse the lower he gets. Still, I like this setup quite a bit. There’s also three different healers on this team, so damage shouldn’t stick to us.

How about a second opinion, maybe a theme team with some more points?

400 Point Modern D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. Theme Team – LIMITED

Scientist is and always has been one of the strongest keywords in Heroclix, and although this team has no Probability Control, it’s still very strong and deals incredible amounts of damage.

Doctor Octopus seems like the best secondary attacker we can get without blowing too many points and having under 100 for support. I’ve talked about him before and he’s been making waves for a over a year now. Why wouldn’t you want 4 attacks in one single turn? The Outwit on his first two clicks is killer and will be a big help.

Fugitoid is our taxi, and we desperately need one with this team. Since Doc Oc is only effective if he’s carried or TK’d, our options were either vehicle with lots of passengers that fit theme, or Fugitiod, so I went with the robot. He’s nothing to write home about, although he does have Sidestep and can carry with a speed value of 12 for up to 4 characters that share a keyword with him. He is pretty tough to hit and pushes into Outwit, so he’s a decent option. It sucks that he can’t carry DEADPOOL though.

Ant-Man took a spot for his utility, from tertiary attacker to complete support piece. This version is probably my favorite of all the morph Hank’s because he has so much going on; he can Perplex, change someone’s size (if Fugitoid goes giant, he can now carry DEADPOOL, or if DEADPOOL goes giant, that giant reach will be nice), hide in Stealth, and has Sidestep and Charge. He can also build up a nice force of ants to clog doorways allowing us to control the field a little bit. If you have 50 points to spare on a Scientist theme, he’s your guy.

You might be surprised with Killebrew being on the team, but boy howdy is he incredible. he has a unique attack power that says if an adjacent friendly character hits and has an attack value higher than its printed value, increase the damage dealt to one hit target by 1. This means that he can raise Otto’s damage even though it’s locked because it’s increasing damage dealt not damage value, or he can raise DEADPOOL’s damage by 1. Unfortunately this is a one-time effect due to being a Unique modifier, but it’s still worth 35 points. He also turns into a very solid healer on clicks 3 and 4, and has Outwit to boot.

I finished the build up with the missing player from the Juston team, and that’s Baxter Stockman. Now we don’t need to rely on a Perplex to raise DEADPOOL’s attack as Baxter will do that for us. He also raises movement so DEADPOOL can go farther. Let’s not forget that Baxter has Outwit and once DEADPOOL takes a hit, he can heal him absolutely free, albeit very slowly.

2 attackers in 400 points is a little risky, but those two attackers are taking up 230 points of our build, and Ant-Man can add a variety of other attackers. I don’t think this one is as strong as the last build, but it’s surprising how many powers this build can counter and how quickly numbers can raise. Alternatively, if you want more attackers, try going with DEADPOOL, 2 Doc Ocs, Fugitoid, Baxter, and a Hulkbuster part of your choice like in the last build. There isn’t as much support here, but it’s a lot more ferocious.

That’s gonna wrap up the first build of the Deadpool & X-Force Chase series! I’m glad I took the time to build around D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L. as I really thought he was kind of a lame duck. If you really try with him, he’s not all that bad. Have you tried something different with him? I’d love to hear from you! Also, are you looking forward to 9 chase builds? If so, which are you looking forward to the most?

See you guys on Thursday as I talk about the complete idiot who got ditched by the Deadpool Corp twice – that’s right, it’s Championpool!