Playing the Phoenix!

No, I'm not talking about the 1000 point colossal. I'm talking about the 297 point white Phoenix from Giant Sized Xmen. How do you put such a force into a team? What level do you play at to be functional?

First off, in a 300 point team, Phoenix is a considerable one woman army. I know, I've played her that way. She worked so well, I didn't even have to use her trait. She has awesome stats and powers to go with her team ability. Hypersonic speed, telekinesis, impervious and a nice five damage to open up with. If you do play her in a 300, you really should use a 3 point Alias feat card, just to add insult to injury.

So, what I've done below, is to take Phoenix and go by the numbers and keyword. I also put in what figures I think would work best based on how many you put on your force. Clearly, the best keyword for her is Xmen and this is what I came up with.

400: (Very limited but playable)
-Best duo: Her and Storm (86) for 383. Yes, you could use Nightcrawler as easily as Storm anywhere I list here. While Nightcrawler is awesome and his trait makes him a great interference runner for Phoenix. He really does have a glass jaw and lack of damage dealing. Storm can hit way harder and from just as good a range. Besides, need to hit up close because of stealth? That's what the hypersonic speed is for.
-Best Trio: Give her Vet Jubilee and Lockheed for 395. The second best trio is with two Cuckoo sisters for 377.

500: (now it's getting hot)
-Best duo: It's always more risky to use less pieces in higher point formats, but fun at times. This only technically a duo team because the piece I'm suggesting is duo Colossus/Wolverine for a total of 487. Second best duo goes to Juggernaut for a total of 490.
-Best Trio: Give her Prof X and LE Psylocke from GSX for 489.
-Best Four: Give her Storm, Lockheed, and LE Psylocke for 499.
-Best Five: Give her Storm and two Cuckoo sisters for 493.
-Best Six: Give her four Cuckoo sisters and Lockheed for 504. Keep those sisters and Lockheed in the way to interfere with opponents while Phoenix picks them off from a distance.

600: (Something's burning- and now a duo is just too small)
-Best Trio: Prof. X with Gambit/Rogue duo piece for a cost of 592.
-Best Four: Prof. X, Storm and Nightcrawler equaling, 592 again. Thist team is pure wickedness by the way.
-Best Five: Storm, Nightcrawler, Vet Jubilee and LE Psylocke for 589.
-Best Six: Storm, Vet Jubilee, LE Psylocke, Lockheed and a Cuckoo Sister for 590.

700: (I hear sirens)
-Best Trio: Juggernaut and the Colossus Wolverine piece will join her for 680.
-Best Four: Prof X, Juggernaut, and Storm fill this one for 699. Juggs smashes through things just so Prof X can get his mind on someone! Sounds cute to me.
-Best Five: Prof. X, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Storm help her at 702.
-Best Six: Prof. X, Nightcrawler, Storm, Vet Jubilee, and Lockheed for 690.
-MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!: Nightcrawler, Storm, Jubilee, Lockheed, LE Psylocke, and Warpath for a total of 706!

800: (setting the town on fire and now a trio is too small)
-Best Four: Juggernaut, Prof. X, and the Colossus/Wolverine duo piece. 803
-Best Five: Juggernaut, Prof. X, Cyclops, and Storm for 806.
-Best Six: Juggernaut, Prof. X, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine (103) and Nightcrawler for 805.
-Best Seven: Juggernaut, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine (103), Nightcrawler, LE Psylocke, and Jubilee.

900: (a raging inferno and now four is too small to fill out the points)
-Best Five: Colossus/Wolverine duo, Gambit/Rogue duo, Cyclops, and Prof. X making a team of 892.
-Best Six: Colossus/Wolverine duo, Cyclops, Prof. X, Archangel (not the LE) and Storm for 905.
-Best Seven: Cyclops, Prof. X, Archangel (not the LE), Storm, Wolverine (103), and Nightcrawler.

1000!! (we're all crispy critters now!)
-Best Five: Colossus/Wolverine duo, Gambit/Rogue duo, Juggernaut, and Prof. X at 975.
-Best Six: Colossus/Wolverine duo, Gambit/Rogue duo, Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, and Prof. X for 1003.
-Best Seven: Colossus/Wolverine duo, Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, Prof. X, Storm and Nightcrawler for 1003.
-Best Eight: Emma (GSX), Wolverine (103), Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Archangel (not LE), and Prof. X for 985.
-Best Nine: Emma (GSX), Wolverine (103), Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Prof. X, LE Psylocke, and Lockheed for 1002.

Xmen certainly has the most options for playing Phoenix, but here is how her other two keywords stacked up in comparison.

DEITY:
-Best 400 is with Storm for 383.
-Best 500 is with Valkyrie and Phobos for 501.
-Best 600 is with Storm, Sif, Brunnhilde, and Phobos for 604.
-Best 700 is with Storm, Sif, Brunnhilde and Valkyrie for 690.
-Best 800 is with Thor (HoT), Valkyrie, and Balder for 798.
-Best 900 is with Thor (HoT), Valkyrie, Balder and Storm for 884.
-Best 1000 is with Thor (HoT), Valkyrie, Balder, Storm and Sif for 977.

COSMIC:
-Best 500 is with Beta Ray Bill (whose initials mean Be Right Back) for 456.
-Best 600 is with Phyla-Vell and Moondragon for 569.
-Best 700 is with Quasar and Moondragon for 694.
-Best 800 is with Noh-Varr, BRB, and Adam Warlock for 757.
-Best 900 is with Noh-Varr, BRB, Adam Warlock and Phyla-Vell for 895.
-Best 1000 is with Quasar, BRB, Noh-Varr, and Phyla-Vell for 998.

Yes, I pretty much stuck with marvel on all those, but you can see how hard it is to make a theme team out of the generic keywords (that SHOULDN'T be generic because of their insane costs and rarity). It's really best to use the Xmen. She just fits better with them. Hope you enjoyed these teams and be sure to mention how you play your Phoenix!

By the numbers: Fantastic Four

With lack of a local venue right now, I find myself getting a something of a "heroclix fix" by team building. Yes, I get my little figures out and waste time just seeing what kind of teams I could put together. Admit it, the rest of you hardcore players do it too.

In the Captain America set, we had two new forms of FF characters in Invisible Woman and the Human Torch. Invisible woman got some new keywords allowing her to hang with the Avengers and celebrity teams. That's all well and good, but you'll note they cost a bit more than the ones from the starter set of years ago.

You might think; "Well, so much for playing the four in a 400 format", but don't be so sure. If there's anything the FF has to offer now, it's options. More characters now have the keyword and the ATA (while it costs now) also works by keyword instead of team ability. Yes, options are awesome, allow me to demonstrate.

First let's quote the ATA (alternate team ability): FANTASTIC FORCE: Characters using this team ability may replace their defense value with the unmodified defense value of an adjacent friendly character with this team ability. The requirement to use this is 5 points per character and the Fantastic Four KEYWORD. So the team ability does not have to be printed on the dial of all your force. Very handy with the new options.

ATA CLASSIC: First of all, if you are going to use the ATA in your team, you need a good defense to use it with. That means reaching back into the Fantastic Forces set and grabbing the limited edition Sue Storm; defense of 19. So what if everyone needs to be in base contact? It works. Sue is 49 points. Add Mr Fantastic (100), new Human Torch (120), Thing (100) and pay the 20 points for the ATA and reach 389 points. Give Sue the feat card, Protected for the remaining 11 and voila! 400 points! Legally themed.

But what else can we do?

STORM FOUR: This uses a bit of variation to get either a 400 or 500 point team. If you want to use the new Black Panther with his trait and extras, it will be a 500. So, Storm (86), Black Panther (128), Thing (100), Human Torch (120) to make a 434 point team. You may as well use the higher point Torch, because the 100 point will still take you over 400. Black Panther is the key since his 92 point version will make a team of 398. You could use the 20 point difference in Torches for feats or the ATA if you like. For the 434, you may as well use the ATA for 20 and feats; Unstoppable on Thing (5), In contact with Oracle for 40 points (covering whole team at 10 points each), and add one more thing: The Gem of Cytorrak for 5 to make a team of 504. Theme legal too.

Why use Cytorrak? Because it's 5 points that can make a character a monster. It's just cool. It gives one character super strength, charge, +1 to damage, and toughness. All for a chancy die roll and five lousy points. I like it so I list the heck out of it. It's also all I have, so if there's another object you like, hey, use it!

FEM STYLE: Ah the chic team! Who doesn't like that? Well, now FF offers a decent version of a very playable chic team. Yes, I'm leaving the K off chic on purpose. So, play Storm (86), Exp She Hulk (127), Crystal (62), Invisible Woman (110) for 385. Fill the 15 point gap with Unstoppable on She Hulk, 2 Alias feat cards, and the Gem again for 401. It's still theme legal and Crystal could make very nice use of the Gem and an Alias. Think about it.

ATA FEM STYLE: Same as above but using Sue Storm instead of Invis listed above (49) and adding She Thing (50). Pay 25 points for the ATA and have it at 399. Obviously none of the feats or the gem are invovled, but you would be legal with the gem at 403.

AMPED UP: Combining new and old with Mr. Fantastic and Thing for their 100 point versions and the new Invisible Woman (110) and Human Torch (120) for 430 (so a 500 pt match). This holds room for cards! Brilliant Tactition at 20 points allows Mr. F. to do his +2 perplex on his whole team at once! Unstoppable on the Thing so he ignores hindering for movement. Give Mr. Fantastic Takedown (6) to put tokens on attackers AND Dissent (18) to let him outwit team abilities. That's a nice package with the Gem again (ha ha) for 484!

VARIANT FF: For an all alternative team try, Storm (86), Black Panther (128), Experienced She Hulk (127), Bombastic Bag Man (for laughs at 90- or go with 85 pt Luke Cage), and Crystal (62) for 493 points. Yep, I'm going to add the Gem again, just to make you crazy for 498.

Finally, my personal favorite, not theme legal at all:

SUBSTITUTE FF: This is based on the old story where Hulk, Wolverine, Spiderman, and Ghost Rider became the FF. Hulk is a funny one for this, but I enjoy the idea anyway. Hey, it's my own version. Wolverine from Web of Spiderman (105), Spider-man from the same set (78), Veteran Ghostrider from Fantastic Forces (102), and finally Green Scar Hulk (230) for 515 points. Give them all Oracle for 40 and the gem for 560. If you really want to get silly, add some cheap Skrulls for minion-cannonfodder.

I'm not going to list it here, but you can also form a nice 1000 point FF team now. Try it!