Core
Storm: Leader of the affiliation and key piece.
Domino, Beast, X-23, Rogue: The core of affiliated characters. Domino for damage into tall lists, X-23 into wide lists or when the scenario requires more movement. Beast is resilient, mobile and has cheap displacement. Rogue is the versatile 4 threat, she’s relatively mobile, resilient and has a size 4 throw. Voodoo: Key scenario character with possession. Medium base for the leadership.
Specific techs
Badger: She’s an affiliated 2 threat with taunt, anklebiter makes bigger models she’s close to weaker and has Healing Factor which unlocks X-Ceptional Healing. She is here single handedly to help deal with Malekith.
Magik: She’s very mobile, has a strong builder, and her tactics card brings displacement and helps go after midline extract steals.
Sabertooth: He’s mobile, attacks fairly hard, especially into tall lists. His mobility makes him another excellent choice for a character to go after extract runners. Healing Factor/X-Ceptional Healing have a nice synergy with Sacrifice and his counter-strike which makes him pretty scary to attack into.
Ebony Maw: Maw brings many very important tools for certain matchups that I really liked when I tried him out. First, having Shh… and a size 4 throw online every turn right after the power phase enables you so much. It makes him reliably threatening very early on. Being able to displace models on his builder, even if it’s on a wild trigger is pretty good considering he can often do it twice thanks to the X-Men jump.
Games
Game #1: X-Men vs Hydra, Infinity Formula/Senator (17)
Teams: Storm, Beast, Magik, Rogue, Voodoo vs Red Skull Master of Hydra, Strucker, Zemo, Hulk
Since I didn’t have priority, I knew I would probably have to go after whoever got the scenator first, hence why I picked Magik and Voodoo. The opposing Hulk grabs the senator right in the middle of the map, in front of my Dr. Voodoo. So with the X-Men jump, he goes in, double taps Hulk, possesses him then grabs the senator for himself. After that, it was pretty much a game of cat and mouse in which I managed to keep the senator, giving me the win.
Game #2: X-Men vs Wakanda, Mutant Madmen/Spider-Infected (18)
Teams: Storm, Beast, Rogue, Sabertooth, Voodoo vs Black Panther, Shuri, Okoye, Hulk, Luke Cage
Game #3: X-Men vs Hydra redux, Mutant Madmen/Hammers (18)
Teams: Storm, Beast, Rogue, Sabertooth, Voodoo vs Red Skull Master of Hydra, Strucker, Zemo, Zola, Voodoo
Playing on an even number of scenario points, I knew I had to do something in order to break parity and take the lead. I figured I could try to kill Red Skull as soon as possible since I had a good diversity of attacks with Rogue and Voodoo. Which I managed to do and then collapsed on the other side of the board to consolidate to take the win 21-12.
Game #4: X-Men vs Shield, Mutant Madmen/Hammers (18)
Teams: Storm, Beast, Rogue, Sabertooth, Voodoo vs Fury Jr, Fury Sr, Iron Man, Bucky, Black Cat, Bullseyes.
Not having priority and facing Shield, I knew I’d be on the backfoot early game and had to go on the offensive to gain the upper hand. Finishing round one down 5-3. With Rogue and Beast I managed to daze Fury Jr on round 2, and KO him on round 3, removing Eye in the Sky from the equation giving me more leverage. We trade points and characters back and forth to an even 16-16 on round 6. Luckily for me, Voodoo manages to survive a 12 dice Helios Laser, then my Sabertooth goes and KO Fury Sr. Securing the win, 22-18 on round 7.
Game #5: X-Men vs Avengers, Cosmic Portals/Cubes (17)
Teams: Storm, Domino, X-23, Rogue, Voodoo vs Sam, Luke Cage, Black Widow, Hulk, Black Cat
Not having prio meant that I would have to go after either Hulk or Black Cat in order to break parity on the extracts. Unfortunately for me, I don’t think I chose the right squad for the job, with Rogue and Domino not being the most mobile characters I could’ve brought, which should’ve been Beast, for both his mobility and displacement and Sabertooth for his long move and ability to heal damage from the cubes. My opponent played very well, forcing me into disadvantageous positions and consolidating their early lead. I ended up losing the game 18-16 on turn 5 after a fairly tight game.
Game #6: X-Men vs Avengers redux, Spider-Portals/Spider-Infected (18)
Teams: Storm, X-23, Rogue, Sabertooth, Voodoo vs Sam, Black Panther, Voodoo, Venom, Zemo
Luckily for me, I had priority on what is probably X-Men’s best scenario combination. I end up taking the lead after stealing the central extract and consolidating my lead thanks to Voodoo. With the more mobile of the two teams to offset the Spider-Infected and Spider-Portals, I take the win 19-16 on round 4.
Overall I was pretty satisfied with my performance, I played some really interesting games and met a bunch of nice folks and had a great time. I would also like to thank everyone that organized the event, all the people who attended and to the cool venue we had for Second Wind. Thanks to everyone for reading this piece, hopefully I’ll get to meet more folks in future events.
Feel free to leave a comment and as always, don’t forget to have fun!