I’ve done a few set reviews, as well as OP Kit Reviews, but I haven’t done any Fast Forces. Deadpool & X-Force is the first set to ever have two Fast Forces, so I figured it was worth doing a review of those 12 figures, along with the release day figure.

Fast Forces are a great way for newer players to get into the game because they contain a strong theme and all-new dials than those they would normally get in blind boxes, and they’re usually fairly strong. In order to entice people that are already playing, there’s usually something in these packs that encourages high-level players to purchase them as well. In the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fast Forces, it was Fitz and his holographic monkey H.E.N.R.Y. World’s Finest gave us the Weapons Drop and the outstanding 25 point Nightwing. Joker’s Wild came with Harley’s Hammer, a kick-ass Mr. Freeze that I’ve built around before, and a wonderful Penguin.

So for today’s article, I want to do my first Fast Forces review, and because we have two sets for Deadpool & X-Force, I’ll be covering a total of 13 figures (why not review the release day figure as well?) (Editors Note: It has been stated by WizKids that the Mercs For Money Fast Forces will premier at a later date, so that review will be separate. Sorry everyone!). This won’t be as long as the full set review as there’s just not as many pieces to go over, but I’ll try and be a little more detailed on the pieces that are worth noting, and I’ll also give you a Yes or No on do you purchase the set or get singles.

Typical review rules apply; reviews will be based on three categories of No Thanks, Seems Good, and Yes Please!, and since the figures aren’t available on the Realms yet, I can’t link their dials. Remember, these are my opinions and by no means something that you should use as a guideline to what will and won’t be meta or worth picking up.

Deadpool & X-Force: Uncanny X-Force Fast Forces

001 Deadpool – Look, you may be sick of Deadpool, but I sure as heck am not, and will take any versions they can throw at me. At first glance, my big question is why this Deadpool isn’t in his X-Force costume and why his mold is unique from the rest of the set. That’s really strange. Anyway, Deadpool clocks in at either 100 or 50 points, and has 7 clicks or 4 clicks respectively. His dial is mostly vanilla with regular powers like Stealth, Flurry, Sidestep, Blades, Toughness, and Perplex, and a single special defense power that gives him Super Senses and Regeneration, but the result is increased for each adjacent opposing character. At 100 points, his values aren’t bad with 18 defense and 11 attack, and with Perplex, he can make sure he hits or up that already high defense. At 50, he’s a bit weaker with only 10 attack and a very low 16 defense, missing his Perplex. His regen power is a little gimmicky and probably won’t be that helpful unless your fighting a swarm team. At least he has Sidestep on two of those clicks to get him there for maximum regen. Overall, it’s a rough Seems Good, borderline No Thanks.

002 Wolverine – 100 points, 5 clicks (OUCH), Indom, and 0 range. His dial is chalk-full of powers on every single value on every click and the selection is pretty good. With an 11 Blades and Exploit Weakness along with Charge, Wolverine is most likely going to hit you and hit you hard. His attack bumps to a 12 on his second click, and only hits a 10 on his final click. On his last two clicks, he’s got Flurry, Precision Strike, and Battle Fury, meaning Wolvie is most likely going to hit you for 3 damage. His trait is wonderful; his powers and abilities can’t be countered and at the beginning of your turn, he heals equal to the number of action tokens he has. I love this Wolverine – it feels like you’re actually playing the character, so big success there. However, that incredibly short dial for 100 points keeps him from greatness and most play. Seems Good.

003 Fantomex – Coming in at 75 points, Fantomex has 6 clicks of health, 6 range with two targets and improved movement: ignores elevated terrain. His values are strong with high mobility never going under a 7, decent attack values with a single 11 on click 2, average defense numbers with Combat Reflexes and Toughness, and damage, with a little Ranged Combat Expert in the middle. This version of Fantomex has a trait called E.V.A. that puts her on his card when he starts the game, and as long as she’s there, he can use Super Senses. A Power Action puts E.V.A. adjacent and when she’s KO’d, she returns to his card. He’s also got a special movement power that gives him Running Shot and if he’s on the rim of elevated terrain, lines of fire are straight up blocked to him. That power alone makes Fantomex a steal for only 75 points. If you can win map roll, he’s going to be a huge pain in the ass to deal with, and with Combat Reflexes, there’s no way to force him away from the rim. E.V.A. is also great; she flies so she can carry him, has Super Senses and Outwit, and if she has line of fire to his target, they suffer a -1 to defense value. That means that Fantomex essentially gets +1 attack on his entire dial, and any defense power they have can just be neutralized. He’s a superb piece. Yes Please!

004 Psylocke – 5 clicks for 50 points is already a good deal, and Psyl0cke’s dial is actually quite good. 7 movement across the board with a special that gives her Stealth and Mind Control with a 7 range, that drops to just Stealth from click 3 to the end. She’s got Precision Strike and Blades for attack with fairly sub-par values, Combat Reflexes and Willpower with average values, and Exploit Weakness which falls to Outwit for most her dial and a big 3 damage up front. She’s also got a natural 4 range when she’s not using Mind Control. I dig this Psylocke. If you can find a way to raise her attack value when she drops to a 9, she’s going to be good 90% of the time. I think she’ll play really well creeping up through Stealth (although she doesn’t ignore hindering for movement…) and then Mind Controlling an unsuspecting target. With Precision Strike and Exploit on top dial, if they chose to close in on her for the kill, they’re most likely going to suffer a big hit first. Seems Good.

005 Cable – Cable is 20 points less than the common from the main set (he’s 100 points), and plays quite a bit differently. He’s got 7 range with a single target and 6 clicks, and has some decent values with a nice 18 defense on top and a big 10 movement. His powers range from Running Shot, Sidestep and Stealth on movement, TK on his attack for four clicks, Toughness, Energy Shields, and a single Regen on defense, and a special damage power for all but two clicks. His trait gives him Phasing/Teleport and Ranged Combat Expert which makes his dial pop quite a bit more as he can get to wherever he needs to line up shots or TK friendly figures, hit for BIG damage, or retreat to heal up (the Stealth on that regen click is a nice touch). His special damage power gives him Leadership, but if he fails, he gets to use Outwit until your next turn. I really like that power. How many times have you looked at a decent figure, seen Leadership on damage which really doesn’t help your team too much, and though “meh, I’ll pass”. Having an alternative for when it fails means that this power will always be good. If his values were a tad bit higher, he would be a great piece, but the common still beats him out. Still, he’s very good. Yes Please!

006 Domino – And now we finally come to the treat that WizKids included in this pack in the form of Domino. Coming in a 75 or a brutal 25 points, she’s got 6 clicks or 3 clicks of health. Again, solid investment for the points/amount of clicks ratio. She has a single trait that can only be used at 75 points which allows her to once per game reroll any roll made by a character within range and line of fire. Because this isn’t Probability Control, that means she can use this with her 5 clicks of Prob. Playing Faust? Yep, you get a one-time do-over. While this isn’t as good as Rocket Raccoon was from Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s still worth noting since she has Prob anyway. She’s also got a special movement power that gives her Sidestep, Stealth, and improved movement: ignores hindering (FINALLY!), which she has on her first two clicks. Her dial is impressive as well with Stealth following the special for the rest of her dial, an 11 starting attack with Precision Strike for 4 clicks, average defense jumping between Super Senses and Combat Reflexes, and Prob for 5 clicks with a 2 all the way through. Even at 25 points, you’re getting a piece with Stealth and Prob. Domino will most likely see some competitive play, and she’s absolutely the must-have piece of the set. Yes Please!

Overall Thoughts: This set is pretty good in that all of the dials are playable and can do decently. Sure, Deadpool isn’t fantastic, but he’s not horrible either. He won’t be a dead spot on your team (see what I did there?), and Wolverine can do some neat things in a non-competitive environment. Domino, Fantomex, and Cable are all very good, and the cost of those three singles alone means you’re probably better off buying the whole thing. Plus, if you play Domino at lower points, all 6 of them come out to a very playable 400 point X-Force theme team, which is really neat.

My initial plan was to have the Mercs For Money Fast Forces review here as well, but since that’s being released after the set drops and we don’t really know exactly when it launches, we’ll have to wait. I’ll do a proper review once it releases, and I’ll also cover the Terror LE since he’s part of the team.

Take care everyone. Have fun at any release events you may be attending and if all goes as planned, we’ll get into team builds next week!