Lebeau Family Recipe

When I was a l'il tyke I used to wake up early in the morn' to the smell o' grannily Lebeau's gumbo. Down'n N'ollins wit de crawdads crawin', that's de smell o' life to me....

But ya ain't here for my life story. You want de recipe, n'est pas? D'accord. So without further adieu, here de secret Lebeau cuisine.

Prep de Meat

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Charged Card
• 3 tsp One by One
• 2 tsp Precision Strike
• 2 oz. Royal Flush
• 2 tsp Surprise Attack
• Cajun seasoning (Assess the Situation, Mutant Education, Plan of Attack, Aggressive Energy, Assault Training, & Molecular Acceleration)

Le's started wit de jambalaya. De first step is to decide how many o' you's eatin' dis fine feast. If you alone, just make sure you flippin' every round an' usin' all your tricks. Dat mean your good ol' Thief Extraordinaire in Alter-ego to remove some threat and set up for your boost or encounter card. Den you gotta confuse as much as you can wit Professor X and Creole Charmer. But dat's not necessary, especially if you invite de whole neighborhood to de cookout. In multiplayer, you don't need to flip as much, but you should still be flippin' most turns. Gen'rally I still flip every turn but sometime I'll take two turns in a row stayin' up.

After you decide dat, you ready to get started seasonin' de meat wit dat good ol' cajun seasonin', den sauté until nice an' brown. Take one o' dem slotted spoons and set it aside. We gon' need it for later.

What we got here is a lot o' flavors all workin' together. You can't 'ave jus' one, non?

• Charged Card great for Overkill on minions, to pierce tough statuses, or to avoid retaliate. It's a bit more expensive compared to de other cards though, but it's modular, so you can just spend counters for what you need.
• One by One is the most efficient attack, but only if you have a minion you need to defeat. If you just hittin' de villain, it don't do as much.
• Precision Strike is a great way to heal up. Moment of Triumph just don't do well since it only works with Charged Card really, and your charge counters can make sure you get dat healin'. But den it don't do as well if you just want to attack de villain, just like One by One. Unlike One by One, you not getting that extra damage, so it's a trade-off no?
• Royal Flush is one o' de best. It does 3 damage 3 times when you got 3 charge counters (remember dat you can't use the counter it give on itself. Just one o' dem timin' tings). But you can clear 3 minions, or put all de damage into de villain, some o' dis, some o' dat, whatever you need, but you need charge counters, and dis card is expensive, double de cost of most of o' de others, so you don't play it dat often. But when you do, it hit juuuust right, d'accord?
• Surprise Attack may seem like a... surprise to be sure, but it's a welcome one, d'accord? You got plenty o' ways to pay for it wit de The X-Jet and Martial Prowess, and dere ain't notin' better den de feelin' o' shufflin' in one o' dose cards with Assault Training, flippin' up to hero, drawin' it off o' ol' Moira MacTaggert and playin' it right away.

De most important ting is dat you are usin' de best attack for de job. We got lots goin' on in dis stew to make sure dat happen.

After dat, dis cajun seasin'll add a lot o' flavor.

• Assess the Situation: since we ain't got many cards over 1 cost, dem doubles can stay in de cabinet. Dis here let you just pay for cards or go for a bigger hand next round.
• Mutant Education let you shuffle in some great cards. Usually I'm gettin' Rogue, Creole Charmer, or Molecular Acceleration, but sometime you need to close out de game and go for Charged Card or Royal Flush. Don't worry about not drawin' dat extra card with de ol' X-Mansion. You don't really need de healin', but maybe you at a table where someone else bringin' one along, you be very happy, non?
• Plan o' Attack is de best for grabbin' exactly what you need. Look at 7 cards in Alter-ego or just 4 in Hero, but you can dig for exactly de right ting for de job. With 12 attacks in de deck, Mutant Education and Assault Trainin' ta shuffle 'em back in, you can be sure you also findin' de right one.
• Aggressive Energy got a bit o' kick! Add it to anyting and it gives you more damage. Obviously de best is when you can use it to pay for Royal Flush, but dat don't happen often. It's still great with anything though. Use it on a Surprise Attack to hit for 5! Save a counter on One by One or Precision Strike, or get some extra overkill with Charged Card.
• Assault Training gets a lot of good value. Flip down to Alter-ego and shuffle in a Surprise Attack for next turn. Shuffle in a Plan of Attack, den draw wit Hall of Heroes or Moira MacTaggert. Lots of great options.

Makin' de Base

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Hall of Heroes
• 2 cups Moira MacTaggert
• 3 cups The X-Jet
• 2 cups Martial Prowess

A good jambalaya always end wit' a proper base. Be sure to add all dese ingredients early and let simmer for a few turn to get all de flavor. Mix in de Hall of Heroes, Moira MacTaggert, The X-Jet, and de Martial Prowess in a large pot, like dem ones for boilin'. Turn it up real high now and keep stirrin' it. Den right when it 'bout to boil, you turn it right down to a simmer and den add in everyting else. Now you gotta proper jambalaya make anyone jealous.

Hall of Heroes gets a lot o' use here because we flippin' a lot to alter-ego and drawin' cards's never been easier. Normally in other recipes you gotta wait till you get 6 tokens, flip, draw, then draw before you flip again on the next turn, but here you just flippin' anyway, so you can always draw at 3. Moira here to help dat card draw almost every other turn and really brings out de flavor of our spices like Surprise Attack--always a good surprise to draw one o' dose. Just remember de X-Jet ain't great for Alter-Ego. If you worried about somethin' like dat, you can always add a Honorary X-Men, but I don't tink it necessary. A li'l Martial Prowess go a long way. Helps pay for any attack event, but also get de kicker for Surprise Attack. Don't skip on it and get one o' dem off-brands Dis here primo and worth it to buy de real deal.

Side Dishes

You can't jus have jambalaya by itself! Be sure to add some side dishes. You c'n choose de best for you, but dis ol' cajun got some recommendation dujour.

• Professor X is good for confusin' de villain and givin' you a reprieve in Alter-ego and Hero by blockin' a' attack as well. Good ol' Prof'll save you when you need it.
• Rogue will do de same. I was de thief but she stole my heart, so how 'bout dat? She'll often be free to play with all your charge counters, and she a Tough lady--literally. That tough will save yer bacon.
• Sunfire is a cheap ally that can do a lot o' tings, but most importantly, he can clear dose really tough attachments. If you don't need him for dat, there are some other options. We'll go over dem later.
• Creole Charmer can help the Professor with confusin' de villain. Use your Thief Extraordinaire ability to get sometin' low and den clear it wit your charms.
• Natural Agility is good sometimes. De best ting is you get charge counters when you use it, but if you have your trusty Gambit's Guild Armor, it helps you to ready.
• The Thieves Guild is fine. It's extra thwarting and can sometimes draw you a card, but don't count on it. Dey's not the most reliable. Remember dat it remove 1 threat, not one additional, so you need sometin' exactly 1 threat remaining to get de card.
• Battle Fury is great. You don't always need it, but generally try to use it if you're exhausted and ready to go down t'Alter-ego so you can thwart a la Thief Extraordinaire. In dose desperate times, you c'n heal up (for a net of 2 cos it deal you 1 damage, n'est pas? But sometime you really need it).
• Gambit's Guild Armor is a 1 cost upgrade dat say: 'you always defend and sometimes you ready after'. It works great with Natural Agility, and helps you to keep up your Thief Extraordinaire.
• Gambit's Staff is just free damage. Every time an enemy attack, you gone do 1 damage to it. If it got 1 health when it attack, he don't attack. It's an interrupt, so it's great for free damage but also sometime save yo' life.

Substitutions

Not everyting will work in dis recipe. Warrior Skill, Honed Technique, Energy, Genius, n' Stren'th all don't fittin' here. Dere's too many resources if you includin' all o' dis here. Heck, as it is we got too many, an' we only got deux! Honed is way too much setup when all our Aggression events only 1 cost. If you goin' for No Quarter, best go all de way and commit to it. It's good, but ain't doin' any good here.

An' dat big elephant in de room, Warrior Skill. It's great synergy here. You get 9 extra damage when you usin' all dem counters for Royal Flush, but how many time you draw de best hand? How many time you got 3 counters already, want to attack de villain, got enough counters, etc. etc. Sure, it happen a lot, but not 3 times per game. Aggressive Energy already do what you want it to do.

But dese are de cards dat almost made de cut:

• Cosmo: a late edition thanks to teamcanadahockey2002; goes great with Thief Extraordinaire. It's untested cos well, I ain't thought of it, but it sounds kinda perfect.
• Hulk / Throg: great for soakin' up some more damage, but Precision Strike did lots o' great work to keepin' tings healthy.
• Psylocke: she great but she cost a pretty penny. If you need more confuse, like dose scenarios with lots o' villains. Definitely useful.
• Angela / Looking for Trouble: dis not necessary. You can try to do it, but you lose a lot cos you're always diggin' for stuff wit Plan o' Attack. You don't need to dig for minions cos you drawin' enough with Hall of Heroes seein' as y'don' need t' wait 'til you get 6.
• X-Men Instruction: dis a great card. Problem is you can get Rogue wit Mutant Education and dat's de best ally most o' de time. If'n you need more one-o-one time wit de Prof, maybe throw in one o' dese.
• X-Mansion's not bad but not necessary. You don't really need de healin' for me, and most allies dey's jus temporary. If'n you playin' multiplayer and someone need an X-Mansion, might as well be you.
• X-Gene is good if you want to play your own events more than your Aggression ones, especially for Creole Charmer, since de ol' The X-Jet can't do it. I find de Aggression events usually doin' de trick most o' de time, but Creole Charmer definitely gets a lot of use.

Special thanks to journeyman2, Schmendrix, & Man-is-Obsolete for all de testing and recommendations. De most important ting to remember now is good cajun cookin' take time. You rush it? And next ting you know, some angry brit yellin' at you in your kitchen. So do it right, an bon appetit!