Welcome friends to the house of memories! Today I’m building around a familiar keyword here at Clix Fix and my favorite part of Earth X. Let’s revisit the past and get our Spider Villain jam on!

It’s been two-and-a-half years since I started Clix Fix, and three-and-a-half years that I’ve been back in the game. I remember Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. had just released and relearning the game with how drastically it had changed since Mutant Mayhem and getting lost in the competitive world and how this game really worked. Superman/Wonder Woman was my first real set where I had a true grasp of the game and was looking forward to new pieces, dissecting spoilers as they came out and figuring out which figures I wanted most. Time progressed and the card reworks were announced for the following year with Superior Foes of Spider-Man which is when I decided to start writing about my team builds. I kicked things off with a very short Thunderbolts team, and the response was so big that I kept going.

While I can’t yet celebrate a new Thunderbolts team, I can celebrate a new Sinister Syndicate team as that was the second article I wrote. We finally got some new Spider-Man villains and I’ve been chomping at the bit to finally revisit a subtheme within a set since I’ve started writing. It’s been almost three full years which means themes are starting to cycle back and surface again, so it’ll be fun to revisit old ideas and redo them. Plus, I’ve come to the conclusion that Spider-Man and his rogues gallery are one of my absolute favorite things in comics.

This team build is going to work a bit differently – most of my builds these days are centered around one specific character and how to get the most bang for your buck. I’m certainly not going to look at each figure with this keyword in the 18/19 Modern Age and break them down. That would take f o r e v e r and I’m not about that life (and I’m sure neither are you). In fact, if you want detailed information, most of these guys are in Earth X, so you can simply look them up in my set review. Instead, I’m going to highlight a trait and then dig right into the teams. That’s right, teams. There’s so many figures with this Keyword that one team doesn’t really cut it. Also a good chunk of these guys will rotate this year, so I’m going to try and limit their involvement.

One of the big bummers of losing ATA’s was for teams like the Sinister Syndicate that used several lower-cost figures and thematically made a lot of sense. These guys had two and both were highly thematic for the number of figures you had on the team. Thankfully WizKids has breathed new life into these spider-villains with a fantastic trait that we first saw last year in Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls with the Secret Six.

SINISTER SIX UNITED: Stealth. But only if your force has three or more characters. Improved Movement: Ignores Hindering Terrain, but only if your force has five or more characters. Modify all combat values +1, but only if your force has exactly six members.

I don’t read DC (as I’ve mentioned, oh I dunno, like a billion times), so this trait may seem like it fits the Secret Six more, but it honestly feels to me like it was designed for the Syndicate and worked enough to go into a DC set beforehand.

This trait is just fantastic and gives this team a huge benefit that elevates them from nuisances that can sometimes play in the big leagues to legitimate threats that can be a total pain to deal with. Not all of the Syndicate from Earth X have this trait but enough of the good ones do that we want to utilize this as much as possible. Of course the members from Superior Foes of Spider-Man or LE’s won’t have this trait either, but again it’s not that big of a deal.

Oh yeah, there were also new pieces of equipment in this set that, whadya know, are all related to the Sinister Syndicate. That means we can revivify older members with their new equipment to make them even better. Equipment will play a big role on these teams as not only do a lot of the new figures come with their signature equipment to start, but it gives them even more firepower on top of this already ridiculous trait (and edges them over the Secret Six by a long shot. Sorry King Shark. Maybe you can beg for this new Keyword?).

Let’s dive into the teams and I’ll discuss each figure as usual. First up, we’re going to utilize just figures that will stay Modern passed rotation this year.

300 Modern Sinister Syndicate Team (Surviving Rotation This Year) – 18/19 Modern

Of the new Sinister Syndicate, I firmly believe that Doctor Octopus is the best of the bunch. This guy is absolutely nuts if you have any part of his trait active, and even more so if you have 6 team members. This gives him 12 attack, 19 defense, and 4 damage with Outwit and the ability to gain Flurry, meaning he can potentially smash anyone for 8 damage for just 75 points. Otto is also one of the few people in Modern that can equip an object on turn 1 by himself by choosing his “FREE: Move up to 4 squares” ability from his trait. This gets Otto to the Symbiote on turn 1 (or whatever equipment you think fits him best, Mjolnir would also work wonders on him).

Along with Otto, I believe President Osborn is among the top choices for a Sinister Syndicate Team. He can pick any member and basically give them +1 to two separate abilities for the entire game, as long as they’re both alive (which is true of basic Perplex units) and they’re within 4 squares of each other. Osborn also has Mastermind which will allow him to keep himself safe instead of dropping quickly like a cheap Perplex figure would. But the best part about Norman is that he has the New York Crime Boss trait:

NEW YORK CRIME BOSS: Leadership, Mastermind. When President Osborn uses Leadership and succeeds, instead of removing an action token you may generate two Hired Flunky bystanders [MAX 4].

Leadership is fantastic to give us 4 actions and token removal when he already needs to stay close to his bodyguard and I already mentioned the Mastermind, but the huge benefit here is the Hired Flunkies. While you can’t choose to generate just one bystander if you loose one member of the squad, you can easily push them to sacrifice themselves and control the population. Even better, since these thugs gain the keywords of anyone with the Underworld team ability (Osborn), they gain the Sinister Syndicate keyword, which means they can use Theme Team Probability Control. Osborn isn’t just a double Perplex figure; he’s the backbone of the team and honestly a better leader than the Super Rare.

As I said before, we want to get as many Sinister Six United figures on the team, so it’s off to the commons we go. Rhino and Venom were tied for who I wanted to draft as Venom is a lot better at his 50-point line than people give him credit. However, I wanted to use the Symbiote for Otto, so I opted for Rhino. This isn’t a bad thing; Rhino is quite beefy if he’s on a six-member team. 18-Invincible with Knockback and the ability to smash through walls gives us versatility and allows us to manipulate any map we’re stuck on. Just point Rhino and have the rest of them pour through the whole he opened up. Rhino also serves as magnificent Mastermind fodder for either Doc Oc or President Gobbyface. You’d also be impressed with how good a melee tank is once he has Stealth and can actually hide without being tripped up, especially at 50 points.

Sandman is my favorite of the three commons as his dial gives so much utility for such a low investment. With Shape Change and Super Senses up front and Stealth to protect him, you can easily pick Invulnerability each turn a slowly Sidestep up basically making him immune to damage, especially for the effort he’ll take to hit for such a low point reward. Once Sandman does engage, he can pick Flurry and swing for almost-as-good Otto with 11 attack and 4 damage (or 12 attack if he uses his Sinister Syndicate team ability to siphon Otto’s attack value). You’re essentially getting a second Doc Oc for 25 less points, of course without some of the bells and whistles. Don’t forget to Wild Card into the Syndicate though!

Beetle rounds out our attackers with another showing of the Sinister Six United and another use of Leadership. With his Beetle Pod, he actually has a fantastic threat range since he picks up +2 movement and Flight, and his trait will pump another +1 into it, giving him a 7-square Running Shot with 7 range (again, thanks to six members). 14 squares of threat is pretty damn good for just 50 points. Beetle also brings Perplex to the party to give us oh so many options as even one use of this power with these combat values will make your own offense that much stronger or break your opponent’s. Beetle also pushes extremely well into a Ranged Combat Expert figure on the last two clicks to put out some serious firepower. Who doesn’t want to swing for 11 attack and 5 damage when they’re almost KO’d? But the best part of Beetle’s kit is that he pseudo-revives the old Fast Forces Kingpin with his aura effect:

ORGANIZER OF THE SINISTER SYNDICATE: Leadership. When a friendly character within 6 squares replaces its attack value using the Sinister Syndicate team ability, modify its attack +1.

WOW. Now we can use Otto’s printed 11 attack as the basis for all of our attacks, then apply our modifiers. Remember, replace then modify! That means that assuming we have six members at any given time, every figure on our force is hitting with a 13 attack, assuming they’re within 6 squares of Beetle (sans Osborn since he doesn’t have the team ability). Not a bad investment for 50 points and while it isn’t the same type of effect as Kingpin, it provides a much better bonus.

Vulturion fills our slot as the token sixth member with the keyword but does serve as our taxi for Osborn. This gives him a ton of protection since you can get him anywhere on the map and fills in as Mastermind fodder that’s actually fodder unlike Rhino. He’s basically Kite Man for these guys. No team ability does mean that he won’t be able to join in on the stupid number pumping though, but that’s okay.

Last up, the Venom Symbiote gives Otto (or anyone else on the team) Shape Change to stack on his Mastermind as that’s the only defense he’s rocking aside from steep numbers. It’ll also make sure he can’t be tied down.

This team is incredibly aggressive and the numbers alone should make sure they win pretty much any non-meta fight. Picking Otto as Osborn’s bodyguard gives you so much aggression that’s incredibly difficult to take down. The biggest factor with this team is figuring out how you keep Beetle safe if you can’t roll well for Osborn’s Leadership to replenish your numbers. Or course you could always drop theme and throw on some Tribbles!

Next up, let’s see what we can do with all of the members of the Syndicate, regardless of rotation.

300 Modern Sinister Syndicate Team (Disregarding Rotation) – 18/19 Modern

You might notice a few things different on this team mainly A) not a single member of the team has the Sinister Six United trait and B) no one is returning from the previous build.

If you’re going to open the floodgates and run any Modern Syndicate members, the LE Doctor Octopus has to be on the team. It’s in the Geneva Convention:

Article 6 of the Geneva Conventions state any Sinister Syndicate theme team in the game known as Heroclix that allows any game pieces from any printing, must include at least one (1) WKM16-001 Doctor Octopus.

Anyway, there’s simply no reason to leave this stupidly overpowered figure off of the team. The new rare might be very good, but he’ll never live up to the ability to use Flurry two times in a turn and be carried anywhere he wants before rolling dice.

Along with LE Otto is Overdrive. These two are a match made in heaven, and you’re not going to find a better power couple for this Keyword. Overdrive gives us the fantastic ability to transport anyone on our team with Passenger: 4 and ignoring speed symbols. There’s some secret tech here that isn’t all that secret as anyone familiar with the rule book will know this: Overdrive counts as two characters on your force for the Sinister Six United trait – one for Overdrive and one for his bystander. “But Overdrive is off the map as a pilot. Doesn’t that mean you don’t count him?” Nay. Check it out:

Page 3 of the Rule Book under “Current Force” CURRENT FORCE Your current force is the force you are currently using during the game, including game elements that were added to the game after it began that were not part of your starting force. It includes game elements both on andoff the map except game elements that have been KO’d or are on your Sideline. When an effect says “your force,” it always means your current force.

And here’s more from the Comprehensive Rules for Judges on Page 8:

OFF THE MAP CHARACTER Some effects remove a character from the map, but don’t KO them, remove them from the game, or put them on your Sideline. Some may be placed on another character’s card, and others just “off the map”. Characters off the map are still part of your force.

Pretty neat, huh? With Overdrive, you’ll get 2 characters counted for the Sinister Six United trait.

Rounding out the last of the old school rogues is Chameleon, Pat’s champion figure that didn’t get to see too much play. Chameleon is the love letter to the overall keyword on the team as there’s frankly tons of different Syndicate members he can pick under 60 points. He’s our revolving door member that will fill whatever roll we need. Versatile attacker; shift to the new Sandman. Melee Charger; shift to Rhino. Team booster and pretty much guaranteed pick; shift to Beetle at 50 points. Ranged attacker; shift to Electro. Hell, if you need to divide and conquer, shift to the Fast Forces Kingpin. Chameleon is just a body that you’re paying an extra amount of points for the option to basically have SHIFTING FOCUS: SINISTER SYNDICATE with more point values allowed. I freaking love this pick and I’m sad that he’ll rotate this year.

We have two new picks coming in from Earth X to fill out our roster, and the first is the Super Rare Lady Octopus. Carolyn comes equipped with the Octopus Arms, something we all know and fear now giving a figure improved movement, Giant Reach: 2, and the incredibly powerful Flurry. She also has an 11 attack value which will serve as our replacement for anyone else on the team. Thanks to her Giant Reach: 2, she can sit behind the Charged Up bystander next to Otto while he takes her attack value (and then is boosted from the Beetle costume on Chameleon (so that our LE has a 12 attack), and then next turn she can Charge in and use Flurry with Overdrives’ Empower. Just make sure you keep her safe since you’ll need that 11 attack value.

Next up is Norman as Green Goblin rather than the President we used in the last build. This guy is nuts for his points at either level. At 50 points, he brings the much needed Hypersonic Speed to the team, or Running Shot, along with Sidestep, protection from Perplex for the entire team, and a STOP click with Regeneration. He’s the harasser that the enemy will forget about thanks to the double Octopus combo that can dish out a lot more damage than Norman, but Osborn will be happy to clean up. He can easily Hypersonic in next to Otto to pick up that 11 attack (or 12 if the Beetle costume is on), then Sidestep into safety afterwards. The Indom will help a lot since most of these guys don’t have Willpower.

With just 15 points leftover, there’s not a lot you can do to keep the team themed, so I went with the Boxing Ring as we have an incredibly mobile team that likes to hit in close combat, so the ring will serve as a great base of operations to sit in and basically stop ranged attacks. With just 10 points left and no real targets for equipment (you really don’t want to slow down Otto by equipping an object on turn 2), two ID cards (or 3 Student ID’s) works well, dealer’s choice. Wolverine would probably be the best option since you’ll be blitzing to their side of the map anyway. Or of course you can go with the triple student option of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Iceman, or anyone else you really like.

This team is a bit more risky and doesn’t have the overwhelming numbers as the previous build, but it has more overall aggression and options thanks to Chameleon. I would still probably play the first team before this one, but this is a good option as well.

For our final team with this Keyword, I’m upping things to 400 points and including anyone that’s still Modern, just like the last team. These guys will thrive when they can adjust their points up while still keeping their numbers a bit low to keep the trait running.

400 Modern Sinister Syndicate Team (Disregarding Rotation) – 18/19 Modern

We’ve covered almost everyone this list, but let me break down the different aspects anyway. It was interesting that once you free up more points that you can’t really go hog wild or you’ll miss out on having six members. Of course, one could just not include any of those figures on the team, but where’s the fun in that?

Again, Doctor Octopus and President Osborn is perhaps the best combination to fit on a Sinister Syndicate team, so they both make a return. No reason to leave these two off when we have a lot more points to work with.

I went with the Super Rare Green Goblin at full points since this is the place he really wants to be. 11-attack rather than 10 will help out a lot since he won’t be getting the Sinister Six United bonus as he lacks the trait, and the Invulnerability on such a highly mobile figure is going to be difficult to deal with. Norman will give our team a much easier 11 attack value to share to buff everyone else if they take some damage or have a lower attack to begin with.

Lady Octopus returns as well giving us two different figures that can use Flurry. Again, no Sinister Six United trait so she won’t be dishing the damage that Otto can, but laying down so much damage herself is impressive and easily worth the points. If you don’t like this route, this is the space where you can easily sub in whichever other 50-point Syndicate member you wish, but I believe she is the best option. Especially with that Outwit on click 2 when pushing isn’t an issue on this team.

Chameleon also makes his return as once again our man of many spider-villain faces, subbing in whichever villain will do the most work. You have a bit more flexibility here as we aren’t heavily relying on him to be a lynch pin like in the last team. You could go for the massive support route and shift to Kingpin to share attack values within an 8-square radius, or shift to Beetle comfortably to help mitigate the missing Sinister Six United trait on both Osborn and Lady Octopus since they can easily share with each other or Otto.

The last member on the build is going to be controversial – Venom at full points. When Venom was shown as one of the last figures in the set, a lot of people were confused by how… unexciting his dial is, especially since there’s no difference in his 75-point and 50-point line. But take your foot off of the gas for a second and really look at this dude. With the trait active, you have one hell of a tie-up piece. Plasticity, 10-movement with Charge, 11-attack with Blades or 4-damage with Exploit Weakness, 18 Super Senses and Shape Change to keep him safe. And he keeps that for three clicks making him extremely push friendly. The three clicks of Steal Energy at the end of the dial with Perplex will also give him a lot more longevity than it seems. Venom gets a horrible rap when he’s actually quite good for his points, as long as you can keep six members on your team. Compare him to Rhino who, yes is 25 points less, but has one power to keep him safe as opposed to two, and ages pretty horribly. Both are good figures, but one of them has a horribly bad reputation.

To finish out the team, I added the Boxing Ring again as the 5-point filler, especially since almost everyone on our team is a melee attacker (except for Goblin, which he can use Hypersonic Speed rather than Running Shot).

The only person on this team who isn’t capable of dishing out a ton of damage is President Osborn, and that’s pretty scary with 6 members at 400 points. There’s a lot of potential for big hits that deal a ton of damage. It’s a fun team that might not be able to handle what the opposing team is bringing at this point value, but I have a feeling it will be deceiving as to how powerful it really is.

I could honestly keep building around these guys as WizKids has done a fantastic job of making them easy to plug and play, even more so than back in Superior Foes of Spider-Man. The best part is that on all of these builds, you can very easily substitute figures for others you like better as almost all of them clock in at either 50 or 75 points. More than any other team build on Clix Fix, this serves as a guideline that you can use as inspiration and sub in whichever members speak more to you. Want more range? Take out a Rhino or Sandman and put in Electro. Think Sandman is the tits (just like the Traveler – I love any of you that get this joke)? Hell, just run a bunch of them.

This is why the Syndicate is my favorite overall team in Heroclix. They’re extremely good together and they’re potentially the most user-friendly force around. No extremely large swings like your Hulks or Supermans; just all similar point-cost dudes with smaller powers that amount to greatness.

What are your thoughts on these teams? Do you like what I’ve put together? What is your ideal combination for this Keyword? Let me know in the comments section!

I’m not entirely sure what will be up next week over at Two Clicks From KO, but I’m thinking it might be a Captain Marvel set review as I kind of skipped that set and my god is it actually amazing. Though it might be a bit too late as it’s sold out pretty much everywhere. Still, could be good for singles collecting.

I’m also looking at revisiting some articles from the past, mainly Clix 101 articles. Those of course would be here on Clix Fix. I do know that I’ll be running a new Spider-Man Family team article much like this one soon as well to bookend this one, much like I did back in 2016. Lots of information here, so let me know what you guys would like to see soon!

See you next week over on Two Clicks From KO!