How to start the affiliation
The X-Men affiliation pack is the perfect starting point giving you two of your three available leaders in Storm and Cyclops along with good affiliated models Beast and Wolverine. Just note that Beast is the only one who hasn’t had this stat card updated. From there you have a lot of options for packs with two X-Men in them:
Nightcrawler and Bishop
Shadowcat and Iceman
Magik and Colossus
Rogue and Gambit
Emma Frost and Psylocke
Cable and Domino
All of these are good value packs to get sooner or later so you can decide based on personal preference how you want to order them.
The biggest decision you’ll have to make is whether or not you want to invest in Professer X, who comes in a box with Shadow King (unaffiliated), one of the coolest looking characters that you’ll basically never play here.
A new pack that is a bit weird is Angel and Archangel (unaffiliated) as both are the same person so they can’t be played together on the board (outside the TTC that turns Angel into Archangel). Probably not the first pack you should grab after the affiliation pack.
What leaderships are available and what is the typical game plan
X-Men Gold is a very good defensive leadership with the once per round “Storm Hop” really being the selling point here. Action economy is the name of the game and this creates a wide range of additional movement for one of your models per round.
The leadership and Storm being a 3 threat herself (for whatever reason it was decided to create her as one) favours a wide scenario build and that’s what Storm teams really excell at. They do lack some in affiliation extract control so it’s more of a type 2 plan than a pure scenario list but they’ll want to outscore you most of the times.
X-Men Blue is interesting it has the potential to give you a lot of additional power over the course of the game but it is very unreliable and triggering it will usually have given your opponent additional power, too. It’s X-Men fightiest leadership but they lack the affiliated models to go on a full on type 4 murder plan.
Xavier’s School for the Gifted Youngsters is one of the most synergistic leaderships in the game. If you want to run it you have to make the decision before adding even a single other character to your roster. It creates tonnes of power out of thin air and you should have a plan to trigger it in everyone of your activations and as much as possible in your opponents turns, too.
Xavier is playing a mostly type 2 build like Storm but with a different course of actions during the game and some different characters too.
Who could be added to the affiliation, especially as leaders
We know Phoenix isn’t far off and there’s at least a possibility that she’ll have a leadership too. It’s confirmed that she’ll be 6+ threat so there’s your spring/summer Kaiju already taken care off. Aside from her there’s basically an infinite number of Mutants that could be added but I think we can first assume they’ll stay with the 90s cartoon/ Comics for some more characters before we’ll get something like Krakoa versions of existing characters. By far the most obvious missing person of the era is Jubilee who is bound to come out rather sooner than later.
A personal favourite of mine, Legion, from the excellent TV show would be a cool new character though he might be hard to design for the game while Multiple Man is a favourite from the comics side of things that’d be really interesting on the board with Dupes Grunts probably.
Rating every affiliated TTC and Character
Team Tactics (7+1)
Cerebro
B+. The effect here is really strong especially when you face teams like Web Warriors that love their Stealth and hat Mystic attacks. It can only be played by Emma Frost, Jean Grey and Professor X though. If you plan to run one or even multiple of them in most of your game you should absolutely take it. The biggest struggle will be to find room in your 10.
Children of the Atom
A. Removing special conditions and even getting power for it is more relevant than ever with Apocalypse, Dracula and Abomination running around. Remember what Shick that about the removal of Crew of the Milano because the card was written before Guardians had an affiliated Kaiju? Well I have a feeling Children of the Atom might not be long for the world once Phoenix releases.
First Class
A+. A faction defining card. You’ll play this in at least 95% of your X-Men game. And if you really wanted you could run the original First Class members on the board together now.
Headmistress
A. When you bring Emma here you also bring the card. Action less movement is king and this offers a lot (but beware that the characters moving can’t carry an extract).
Mind Wipe
B-. In magical fairy land you use it to end a Kaijus activation after s/he hurt your little mutants but the amount of dice you can roll with it to fish for the damage you need to trigger the activated token is rather limited. It’s also pretty hard to fit in your 5.
To Me My X-Men
A+. Another card you’ll play in basically every of your X-Men games. It is more tricky to use than Avengers Assemble but still on the same power level.
Xavier‘s Dream
A+. And here’s another affiliated card you’ll basically play every game. See where the issues of finding room in your 5 for more niche cards comes from?
Instant Recovery (unaffiliated)
B-. With a whole range of characters with Healing Factor affiliated I thought it would be fitting to talk about this card here too. I think the card is better than many people give it credit but also not good enough to bring it if you only have one target for it on the board. If you plan on using multiple HF models in your squads definitely give it a try before you discard it.
Characters (22)
Angel (3)
B. Angel ist fast, can displace, has Healing Factor and brings a Sacrifice like TTC which is always super useful. Not an All-Star but also someone you usually won’t regret having in your squad either. An affiliated 50mm base is also great for the Storm Hop.
Beast (3)
B. Beast is just as fast as Angel and has the cheap size 2 throw and access to defensive rerolls. Another affiliated 50mm base for Storm.
Bishop (4)
B. Bishop is a very good damage dealer that is super dicey on defense sadly. He can randomly just live through a whole bunch of attacks but also fall over dead quicker than a 4 threat has any right to. He brings an affiliated size 4 character throw which is a huge boon. He’d be at least B+ maybe even A if he wouldn’t wake up from daze with only 4 HP because of bad and unnecessary “ability” Overload.
Cable (5)
A. Cable is one of the most reliable 5 threats and overall damage dealers in the game.
Colossus (4)
B-/C+. Don’t use Colossus if you need your 4 threat to do more than not die. He’s really good at that and then sadly not much more. If you love the character and can be persuaded to it I heard his real good in Servants of the Apocalypse (better than I rated him there especially).
Cyclops (4)
B/ B-. Cyc has one of the coolest superpowers in the game with Field Leader but he is completely reliant on his (decent) builder to connect to fund his kit. He’s very sad when he has no power.
Domino (3)
A. Domino is deceptively tanky and can shoot down targets that are much higher threat than her. Her biggest weakness is that she has no action economy. Storm leadership can help with that a bit at least.
Emma Frost (4)
B+. Emma brings acces to great TTCs (not just My Hellfire Club) and good long range Mystic attacks. Her biggest issue, aside from having to carry an extra model you shouldn’t really use (her Diamond form), is, that the role of backline shooter is pretty well covered by each available leader already.
Gambit (3)
C-. Mon Amí I’m so sorry to say this but Gambit is close to unplayable here. The best thing he can do is play his TTC Dark Past, which he is expressing prohibited from doing on X-Men. Without the card Gambit is a close range fighter that absolutely can’t take a punch back. He looks freaking awesome (of course he does he is Gambit!) on the shelf at least…
Honey Badger (2)
B-. Gabby could help with math but not being able to secure or interact with objectives is pretty unhelpful if your main plan is to score out like it is with at least two of the leaders here. If you want to push it to a Cyclops attrition list then maybe?
Iceman (3)
B+. One of my trademarked controversial takes but I think Bobby deserves much more love than he gets. He’s just a pest to throw in your opponents face and have them take the consequences for attacking not just him but anybody when they’re near him.
Jean Grey (5)
B. Jean can throw size 4 terrain in turn 1, has great attacks and a very weird superpower to manipulate the board state. What you’d want for a 5 threat would be some more defensive tech. What she does bring is Shield Mind to ruin a certain mind numbingly boring villains day and who doesn’t like a sad Thanos in this game? Not even his players like him most of the time.
Logan, the Wolverine (4)
A-. Logan has had his heyday and has cooled off in use recently. The biggest issue he has in official play is his price tag of course. Otherwise he’s very much a killing machine but does have good mobility and the stats to be a great P2F player as well.
Magik (3)
B-/ B+ under Xavier. Usually Magik is a decently fast damage dealer 3 that can struggle to stay on her feet. Under Xavier she becomes a much more important piece as she can always get the power train rolling there by spending one to place herself in 1. She also brings an excellent TTC in Journey through Limbo which you’ll find hard to fit in your 5 again.
Nightcrawler (4)
A+++!!! (realistically A-). If you don’t like Nightcrawler what the Hell is wrong with you?! The only German character currently in the game who is not a straight up bad guy (Red Skull, Sin, Zemo) or at least very in the greyish collum (Maverick) Kurt Wagner is incredibly fast and his ability to hand out Stun like candy is super strong when Asgard is running rampant in the meta. Don’t chase the dream of the never ending spender but instead use Kurt’s speed and defensive abilities to score constantly with him while destroying your opponents power economy through Stun.
Professor X (4)
B-. If you play Xavier you play him as a leader and for his leadership. He brings rerolls for your team which is good but he needs his own leadership to fund them. He isn’t so bad that you should stay away from running him. He can just very quickly die to terrain being thrown into him.
Psylocke (4)
A. Psylocke has very good action economy, great attacks and inbuilt rerolls, while having Stealth and Martial Artists. She should be splashed way more than she is (Shang-Chi kind of steals her thunder at the moment).
Rogue (4)
A. Everybody’s favourite Southern Gal is very good in MCP, too. But she needs help in the power department. Luckily two of the three available leaders here help her with that.
Shadowcat (3)
A-. Kate (don’t call her Kitty anymore!) Pryde is Viper with better attacks and superpowers. Which makes her a supreme objective runner that packs a deceptively hard punch as the enemy not counting Crits as successes and not exploding them is a huge increase in expected damage. He brings an affiliated steal TTC. That no one has the guts to try and play because the objective drop needs a wild trigger (I’m also not playing it so who am I to talk? 😅)
Storm (3)
A. Despite her leadership taking a nerf (it is still very good) Storm came out of her 2023 update as a clear cur winner. She is a much scarier model now that can boost her entire Beams or Area attack pretty reliably. Super stealth and a range 3 throw round out her very good kit for a 3 threat. I’m still hoping we’ll get a true goddess power Kaiju Storm one day but this one won’t disappoint you on the field either.
Wolverine (4)
B+. Wolverine mostly fights with Logan for spot. This version has the higher damage ceiling especially against a single target but he can’t carry extracts on his injured side. He’ll go off and murder people then though.
X-23 (3)
A. Wolverine in cheaper and with additional action economy. If you want a fighty 3 threat look no further.
Example Rosters
Storm:
Characters (10)
Angel (3)
Domino (3)
Iceman (3)
Jean Grey (5)
Nightcrawler (4)
Shadowcat (3)
Storm (3)
Wolverine (4)
Doctor Voodoo (4)
Beast (3)
Team Tactics (10)
Cerebro
Children of the Atom
First Class
To Me My X-Men
Xavier‘s Dream
Mental Domination
Ultimate Sacrifice
Weapon X Program
Brace for Impact (R)
Fall Back (R)
Secure Crisis
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
Portals Overrun City With Spider-People! (D, 18)
S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon‘s Blue Area (G, 15)
Extract Crisis
Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan (F, 17)
Struggle For The Cube Continues (F, 17)
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)
While the characters might not be the complete standard set this is a pretty classic “grab and run” style list that wants to win on points as fast as possible.
Cyclops:
Characters (10)
Bishop (4)
Cable (5)
Colossus (4)
Cyclops (4)
Domino (3)
Emma Frost (4)
Logan, the Wolverine (4)
Psylocke (4)
Rogue (4)
X-23 (3)
Team Tactics (10)
Children of the Atom
First Class
Headmistress
To Me My X-Men
Xavier‘s Dream
Gotta Get Some Air
Mind Transfer
Psionic Constructs
Brace for Impact (R)
Sacrifice (R)
Secure Crisis
S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon‘s Blue Area (G, 15)
Deadly Meteors Mutate Civilians (I, 17)
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
Extract Crisis
Alien Ship Crashes In Downtown! (C, 17)
Fear Grips World As “Worthy“ Terrorize Cities (D, 18)
The Montesi Formula Found (E, 18)
This list focuses fighting above anything else. It could easily play as X-Force too but it tries to make the most out of Cycs leadership by powering everyone up.
Professor X:
Characters (10)
Cable (5)
Magik (3)
Nightcrawler (4)
Professor X (4)
Rogue (4)
Shadowcat (3)
Storm (3)
Domino (3)
Beast (3)
Juggernaut (5)
Team Tactics (10)
Brace for Impact (R)
Cerebro
Children of the Atom
Do You Know Who I Am?
First Class
Fall Back (R)
Hold Still
Journey Through Limbo
To Me My X-Men
Xavier‘s Dream
Secure Crisis
S.W.O.R.D. Establishes Base on Moon‘s Blue Area (G, 15)
Mutant Madman Turns City Into Lethal Amusement Park (B, 18)
Portals Overrun City With Spider-People! (D, 18)
Extract Crisis
Mutant Extremists Target U.S. Senators! (L, 19)
Skrulls Infiltrate World Leadership (J, 20)
Spider-Infected Invade Manhattan (F, 17)
The most synergistic list of the field here. I added Hold Still as a steal for Shadowcat here because if the card works it is the longest reaching steal (the farthest range to get it and to run away again after you’ve taken it) in the game. And with Professor X handing out rerolls the chance to hit that wild is pretty high. It is 59% without any rerolls and increases to 64% and 66% with one or two rerolls. Three rerolls don’t mathematically make the trigger more likely but of course you have the information if you need to still hit it before deciding to spent the power on Charles. It is still dicey which feels awful for a play that is supposed to be a big impact. But then again you could also just kill the person holding the extract(s) with the 6 dice attack even if you don’t get the wild. Nothing for competitive tables but fun to try in casual games at the very least.
That’s it for today. Next up: Wakanda
Cheers from Germany 🍻
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