Cyclops vs. Sabretooth (Heroic Roulette)

Hello and welcome to round 2 of my project that I call "Heroic Roulette" wherein I take a campaign expansion, pair heroes from the corresponding wave against each scenario, and try to win on heroic difficulty (Heroic is an extra difficulty level proposed by the game designers in which you deal an extra encounter card during the villain phase). As an extra challenge, I resolve to use each aspect at least once in the 5 games.

I started this series when I realized how different scenarios encourage you to build decks in completely different ways. How many minions there are, how many side schemes there are, and whether or not the villain is stalwart all have a massive impact on how you should build your deck. So rather than focus on a hero and try to build a generically good deck for the hero, which is what most people on this site do, I wanted to build towards a specific scenario.

In round 1 of this challenge, I successfully beat all 5 heroes of the Sinister Motives Box. You can check that out here: https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/22146/nova-vs-venom-goblin-heroic-roulette-1.0

In round 2, I've beaten the first 4 scenarios but failed against Magneto. While this is disappointing, I still thought I'd share my first 4 decks. These heroic games are some of the most fun I've had playing Champions. For the first entry in this cycle, I'll outline the 5 matchups I tried, but I'll only elaborate on the choices on each deck's own page.

Scenario 1: Cyclops Protection vs. Sabretooth (win)
Scenario 2: Colossus Justice vs. Project Wideawake (win)
Scenario 3: Wolverine Aggression vs. Master Mold (win)
Scenario 4: Storm Leadership vs. Mansion Attack (win)
Scenario 5: Phoenix Justice? Leadership? Aggression? vs. Magneto (~20 losses)

The Matchup:

Sabretooth's defining characteristics are little need for thwarting in the early turns and lots of blocking. This is perfect for protection. Cyclops lets us play a lot of allies to get our blocking done.

Gameplan:

Leave Robert Kelly unrescued for as long as possible. The 2 or 3 damage a turn is far preferable to blocking every attack for him. With some luck, a Medical Emergency or two will help you leave him attached to the scheme even longer.

Sabretooth is neither steady nor stalwart, so stunning and confusing is on the menu. Especially considering his healing whenever he activates.

Card choices:

All the best X-Men allies. Iceman is the most dubious but is great with Power Iron Fist is too good to leave out.

3x Tackle. The stun is huge as I mentioned. The is no problem.

1x Weapon X. This card is the cleanest way to answer Mystique's encounter set (while being good value anyway). When you discard past a Infiltration or Surprise, it goes to the encounter discard.

1x Cerebro. There's a few Psionic allies in here that you should let stick around if possible to maximize Cerebro's searching power.

3x Pinned Down. One thing you realize when you play Cyclops for a while is how important it is to start a hero turn with a tactic upgrade in hand. You can search one in alter ego, but if you've flipped form hero to AE already, you can't use Optic Blast. Pinned Down is a good card anyway for this scenario, blanking Blob and Toad and giving you a few turns to deal with Mystique. is a big bonus too for Tackle.

Game Review: (2 wins, 0 losses)

When I win on the first go, I like to run it back to see if I just got lucky. With 2 wins, I think the deck is very well suited for the matchup. Sunfire was an MVP to answer Animal Ferocity. In the second game, I got a Medical Emergency and almost won without even taking Robert Kelly.

Next Time

The next matchup is Colossus Justice vs. Project Wideawake...a very unique hero to answer this very unique scenario with an alternate loss condition! Hope to see you there.

-Stretch22