It's only fitting with Heroclix: Uncanny X-Men releasing today that we review the long-time, and sometimes hated, leader of the X-Men, Cyclops. More specifically the #16 version from the Wolverine and the X-Men set.
Special Powers & Traits:
Summers Brothers - The easy part of this trait is if an opponent is playing Havok you ignore his damage from range attacks. The not-so known and often forgotten part is that is also counts the Havok on your team. How does that matter? Well, if your Havok uses Pulse Wave and Cyclops is within the area of effect you're going to be glad that his trait says, "can't be ignored" otherwise he'd be taking damage. This is especially useful because every version of Havok has Pulse Wave, and as a bonus #24 Havok from the same set has the same trait! You can pair them on X-Factor or X-Men theme teams and go to town!
Concussive Blast - This special power allows Cyclops to use Force Blast and Sidestep, which can potentially catch an opponent off guard. Force Blast can be useful for re-positioning an opponent's character, and perhaps even knocking someone closer to someone like Colossus or Wolverine who can easily shred the toughest figures. The Sidestep/Force Blast combo also allows Cyclops to get some wiggle room. For instance, if he gets tied up he can easily Force Blast him away and/or Sidestep away.
A Better Leader Than You Are - The Leadership part of his power is a basic power, the other part however, that's a different story. In order to maximize his power there are three types of characters you want to hit with this power, those with Leadership, those who have keyword related abilities/powers, and those with team abilities. Fast Forces: Original Avengers #006 Captain America comes to mind as he has a special power that allows him to grant free movement to someone he shares a keyword with him, but if he gets hit while Cyclops has this power showing it renders it useless because Captain America will lose his keywords, plus he won't be able to use his Avengers team ability either!
Dial:
Cyclops has several things going for him. His 7 range means he doesn't have to get near anyone to hit them. He's pushable because while he starts with 4 damage he pushes into Penetrating/Psychic Blast to make sure his damage sticks. This is followed by Running Shot, Pulse Wave, and Willpower. So don't be afraid to push. The X-Men team ability with opening Sidestep allows him to re-position himself and heal a friendly character in the same turn. Don't be afraid to use him as a healer because as I mentioned he's very good throughout his dial. He's got two clicks of Sidestep and Leadership, so what he can do at the beginning of your turn is he can Sidestep to get adjacent to a friendly character and then roll for Leadership. Since they're both free actions you can pick to Sidestep first, then roll for Leadership or vice-versa. At 94 points it makes him easy to squeeze into teams, and especially now more than ever thanks to all the new Uncanny X-Men set delivering a lot of low-costing X-Men.
Theme Teams: X-Men & X-Factor
Since the set Wolverine and the X-Men didn't really do him justice, we'll start with X-Men theme team. I feel they didn't do him justice because most of his X-Men Blue team members from that set were more points than him, which made his Leadership near useless. So let's redeem him:
X-Men Blue 2.0
94 WXM016 Cyclops
75 FFGSX003 Beast
90 UXM052V Rogue
56 WXM047A Jubilee
100 WXM001Wolverine
90 MU032 Gambit
74 GX023 Psylocke
21 X-Men: Blue ATA (3 points each)
600 Total
Not the best build, but I wanted to keep everyone under 94 points for Cyclops's Leadership to matter. Wolverine is the only one who is over 94 because let's face it, he rarely listens to Cyclops' orders. With the X-Men Blue additional team ability this team could potentially get +2 to their attack values each turn if you hit your Leadership rolls with Cyclops and Rogue, add to that the scattered Perplex among Beast, Gambit and Jubilee means that you should be hitting consistently. Rogue's Steal Energy coupled with Wolverine's Healing Factor trait can get some mileage on using the X-Men team ability, and remember Rogue has the Avengers Unity Division trait that let's her use the X-Men team ability as a free action if she takes a move action that turn! Gambit, Jubilee, and Beast should handle the small fries, while Psylocke uses her Telekinesis to position Cyclops, Wolverine, and Rogue to do some major damage. On to X-Factor:
X-Factor: Summers Brothers
94 WXM016 Cyclops
81 WXM024 Havok
94 WXM025 Polaris
40 UXM028 Caliban
86 GX035 Mystique
395 Total
The tactic here is for Caliban to move around the map as he has Phasing/Teleport as a trait, use him to uncover enemies with his Exceptional Mutant Tracking special power, and have the rest of the team blast away. Have him carry around Mystique in case he gets himself into trouble. Her opening click of Perplex and Blades should help keep Caliban safe. You'll want to push Cyclops, Havok, and Polaris as often as you can to keep the pressure on the opponent, and don't worry about Polaris' and Havok's stats as they give each other a +1 attack and defense boost thanks to their Destined Duo trait so keep them together. For the leftover 5 points feel free to toss in a feat or a relic of your choice.
Thanks for making it this far, leave a comment if you have any suggestions on how to improve my builds, I'm always up for some constructive criticism.
I hope you have fun playing these teams, and May the 4th be with you!
