Hello and welcome back!
As we are getting near the end of 2023, I wanted to do something special to wrap up the year. So I reached out to some of the most experienced X-Men players out there to do a retrospective on the X-Men in 2023. In this series, I'll be asking open questions about characters, Team Tactics Cards the state of the game and what's coming on the horizon. In today's article, I'll be going over my own opinion regarding the state of the Uncanny X-Men and what's to come for our favorite mutants.
Section 1: New Releases
X-Men received a few characters in 2023, namely Logan, Emma Frost and Psylocke. What are your impression of them, what they bring to X-Men and their place overall in the affiliation?
Logan
Out the gate, this might be my most controversial opinion, I think Logan is very overrated, but not overplayed. I say this liking Logan as a solid and reliable workhorse in affiliation. I do think his inherent mobility, good pay to flip stats and the ability to displace size 3 characters carve him a solid niche in X-Men and benefiting from the affiliated tactics cards gives him much needed fuel early on.
Emma Frost
I usually like characters like Emma Frost a lot. They have access to a very interesting set of unique tools and powers, even if they sit more on the technical side. I think she brings a good mix of meta-dependant tools and utility on both sides of her card and is underexplored as an affiliated 4 threat.
Psylocke
Psylocke is usually the type of character I tend to shy away from. As a personal preference, I like polyvalence in a model and Psylocke being a mobile damage piece is far from that. I still like what she brings as yet another affiliated 4 threat with solid mobility and flexible damage. The triggers on her attacks (combined with powers like Mutant Absorbtion) give a power denial option that can limit enemy output. The consistency provided by her rerolls makes her a solid bruiser even if she's a lot more fragile than she was before X-Men Gold was changed.
Headmistress
As much as I like this card on paper, I've found that, with Emma's Diamond Form not letting her play the card, and the already excellent mobility available in X-Men, Headmistress was a case of being too much of a good thing. I do think that there's a lot left to explore with Emma's place in X-Men.
Positive Standout
I think Logan stands out to me as a solid workhorse on pay to flips, with his good stats and mobility.
Negative Standout
I don't think there are any big negative standouts, I do think both Psylocke and Emma ended up being more niche characters than I expected but I don't see them as negative options.
Section 2: Errata and current place in the meta
Going over the changes to both X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue with the recent character overhaul, how do you think the errata changed the affiliation?
Storm's leadership changes did not affect X-Men the way my initial read of the changes led me to believe. I initially thought the power cost of the jump would be more impactful but the change to Cover was more impactful than I anticipated. Some models and splashes that I used to rely on cover to keep alive felt a lot more fragile on the table now. As for X-Men Blue, I like the leadership and I think it's more flexible than it looks at first glance. I think there's a lot of merit in including Cyclops under X-Men Gold and as an alternative leader for the shapes X-Men Gold doesn't favor.
I think the affiliation plays drastically differently on account of both leadership changes and the current metagame. In my opinion and experience, I think an X-Men roster now plays a more midrange style (by midrange I mean a flexible style that can pivot to either scenario plays or attrition depending on the match-up and crisis) than the heavy scenario team it was before.
How does the latest errata shape the affiliation and your roster building overall?
I think the errata changed my roster building more than I thought it would. Even if I tend to build a list mainly to take advantage of X-Men Gold, I still take into consideration how a character or TTC would play when Cyclops leads.
How have you found the updated characters overall?
I generally like the updated versions of the characters, I think they make for at the very least more interesting roster-building decisions and give X-Men more choice of what tools to bring depending on what's popular in a given metagame.
Is there any positive standouts?
Cable, Colossus and Cyclops have been the big winners for me. Cyclops having a pretty decent and functioning leadership was a huge change, Colossus and Cable both now being able to play much more proactive roles in a game whilst also being able to fully use their kits have been noticeable upgrades.
Is there any negative standouts?
I think there's one indirect standout for me and it's Gambit, being the only affiliated character that I felt needed some adjustment that didn't receive one. I think he doesn't bring enough to the table compared to the other affiliated 3 threats or is still a little too fragile to be able to perform well.
What would you say is the biggest gain and loss X-Men made this year and why?
I think with both the new characters and the errata, X-Men changed a lot in 2023. I think their biggest gain was the added value of a viable second leadership but at the cost of a nerf to their strong one (which I think was warranted).
Section 3: Things on the horizon
With what we know of what's coming in 2024, what are your initial impressions of the characters and TTC that were spoiled so far?
Nightcrawler
As much as I love Nightcrawler as a character, I'm a little worried about his design and his potential play patterns on paper. Whilst I haven't tested him out just yet, being able to have a guaranteed stun on his builder is not a design space I like, especially on a character as mobile as him. Besides that, I do feel AMG did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the character.
Shadowcat
Shadowcat looks like a pretty interesting character. As X-Men's first affiliated long mover, I have high hopes of being able to do interesting scenario plays with her. Thanks to her attack suite, she also strikes me as a pretty solid roleplayer for X-Men Blue. A priori she looks like a solid piece for either leadership and I expect her to have a fair amount of table time when she comes out.
Cerebro
I think that, without having seen Professor X, I have a hard time evaluating this card. With Emma Frost and Jean Grey being the sole users so far, I don't think it's a card I would bring in most games but I would try it out at the very least to see how it plays.
Xavier's Dream
On paper, I like Xavier's Dream a lot and it's a card I'd expect to make it in my 10 very often. It looks like a very solid and flexible tool but I also think it fights for a very contested spot in the 5 cards I usually bring in a game.
And with that, I'm wrapping up this series of retrospectives about the Uncanny X-Men in Marvel Crisis Protocol. I hope everyone enjoyed the articles and am looking forward to what's coming in 2024!
I'd also like to thank you for taking the time to read this article and as always, don't forget to have fun!
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