New Recruit

The X-Men have a new recruit and Scott being the team leader he is has to ensure she fits in. Scott is the commander and tactician for the X-Men so he's the natural fit to get the most out of their new gamma powered friend. How hard can it be he's dealt with Logan all these years?

Why an X-Men?:

Why not is the better question! Cyke can get access to all the X allies which allows him to build a team around Jen that will keep her safe (not that she needs help) and let her She-Hulk X Smash.

Jen gets stronger the more damage she takes which is awesome but also limited in most decks. Scott has figured out how to keep her sustaining damage but never quite going away.

The most important step is making Jen an Honorary X-Men which gives her +1 health and the X men trait. This allows her to get much needed Attack Training which boosts her health by 2 and attack by 1. Attack Training also gives her access to Game Time which gives a ready and heals a damage from the ally.

We all know that Scott is also going to put her through X Boot Camp which also bumps her attack by 1.

With all this in place, Jen will have 7 base health as well as 3 base attack. Each damage she takes boosts her attack by 1 as well. She can conceivably get up to 9 attack if you max out her damage counters!

The Supporting Cast:

The supporting cast is not just the allies along for the ride but 3 actual supports that really allow you to get the most out of Jen.

The first is Utopia which allows you to ready an X-Men character when you an X ally enters play. Once she has honorary, she fits the bill and can take that ready.

The second is X-Mansion which allows you to heal an X-Men character for 1 in AE. For longer games this can allow you flip down and heal her keeping her on board even longer.

The last is Team-Building Exercise which allows you to reduce the cost of the next card you play that shares a trait with Cyke by 1. We have 10 x-men traited allies in the deck and this helps us ensure that we can play an ally as well as one of Cyke's events if need be.

The allies in the deck are here to help Scott deal with villainous schemes and block for him. Though we aren't going to be doing much chump-blocking.

Colossus, Polaris and Armor all provide toughs which allow Cyke to not have to take a direct hit or defend.

Forge can help find X-Mansion or Utopia.

Beak can provide some nice threat removal for a cheap if you have multiple X allies in play, which you normally will.

Northstar provides the ability cancel a boost card which can help keep Cyke alive. A good target for Attack Training to keep him around longer.

Tempus is fantastic when you need to flip down to heal either Cyke or Jen. They can cancel a scheme activation in exchange for an extra encounter card.

Triage can heal any X-Men character by 2 which is great to keep Jen on board.

Shark-Girl is a prime target for Attack Training. She has great synergy with Cyke as the upgrades he puts out boost her attack. She can easily swing for 5 with boot camp, attack training and one of his upgrades attached.

The Battle Plans:

The battle plan is pretty straightforward but some of the best plans are relatively simple:

Buff She-Hulk, let her She Hulk X Smash and everyone else run interference.

I had a sample turn look like this against Expert ESN:

She-Hulk on board with Attack Training and boot camp out. She also had 4 damage counters on her putting her attack at 7 and did my first attack with her which finished off stage 2.

Used game time to ready her and attack for another 7.

Used TBE to play Polaris at a reduced cost giving Cyke a tough and used Utopia to ready She-Hulk.

Polaris attacks for 3 and She-Hulk for 8 now with the 5th damage counter.

Played Colossus and attacked for 4 from boot camp.

Beak was already on board from the previous turn and attacked for 2 finishing ESN off.

In 1 turn we were able to accomplish the mission and finish off the last of stage 2 and all of ESN's stage 3.

Between Cyke, Tactical Brilliance and the allies threat hasn't been much of a problem. You can even use She-Hulk for thwart in a pinch if need be. You can also use the Utopia ready on Cyke for extra thwart if you have an annoying side scheme or threat has piled up.

Honorary X-Men can also be put on Cyke (that's why there's a 2nd copy) which gives +1 health but also allows him to ready in AE from Utopia or play those trait locked allies in AE.

Plan's 2-infinite:

I was trying to keep the allies on the cheaper side to allow for more consistent playing of them but some swaps could be:

Dazzler for confuses and safer flip downs

Psylocke for the same as dazzler

Professor X for the statuses or ready and the free block.

Enraged for She-Hulk. I had this in and it definitely is fun but managing her health was a lot more tiresome.

Pixie can bring another X ally back to your hand and she's a cheap ready for Utopia.

Wolverine provides another great target for attack training but i felt like having both split the focus and kept She-Hulk from being the star.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this deck and it has performed extremely well. It feels thematic in that Cyke would find how to best utilize a new recruit. I would love to hear any feedback or experiences with the deck!