Character Review: Shadowcat

Kitty Pryde has been known by many names during her various incarnations in Marvel, from the iconic Shadowcat, the Red Queen of the Hellfire Club and even leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy as Star-Lord. Now let's see just how the Girl Who Could Walk Through Walls fares in MCP.

With 5 health and 3 defense across the board, Shadowcat has a very average, almost fragile stat line for her threat cost. She does however sport a Long move which, even on a 35mm base, makes her fairly mobile.

Phasing Strike is a very unique builder. With 4 dice physical at R2, it looks pretty underwhelming from the get-go but, if we allow ourselves to do some quick math, it shows what the attack can do.

Series 0 is Shadowcat's builder vs 3 defensive dice.

Series 1 is a 5 dice attack vs 3 defensive dice.

Here, the same attacks are compared against 4 defensive dice, series 0 being Phasing Strike, and Series 1, a 5 dice attack.

The attack also has a place R1 on a wild trigger, which, like Beast's, is mandatory. Keep that in mind if you're attacking in the range of superpowers like Trick or Treat or Tricks and Traps. 

Get'em Lockheed is Shadowcat's gainer. With 4 dice energy at R3, it gives her a ranged option for building power. With a wild incinerate trigger to help weaken other models, it's a nice additional option to have and build power.

Intangible Assault is functionally a better version of Phasing Strike. At R3 with 7 dice, it packs a solid punch for only 3 power. The wild trigger also lets Shadowcat place at R2 of her current position, giving her additional mobility on her attacks.

Phase Rush is a place R2 for 2 power, providing an already very mobile character an other option to move around the map. This, combined with her gainer, can allow Shadowcat to move, attack once, and then teleport out of R3 to safety.

Can't Touch This is Shadowcat's reactive superpower. It lets her add 2 dice against physical and energy attacks in addition to dodge, to either herself or an ally within R2 of her. It also has the unique benefit of giving a R1 place if the attack pushes or throws the model. This may seem marginal but can help move a model into cover, get back on a point, or even move out of range and not be attacked again. It also gives Shadowcat a defensive superpower to help her relatively fragile stat line.

Last but not least, Shadowcat, as her name would imply, has Stealth, which, thanks to her mobility, you can leverage very effectively to weave in and out of the action with Phase Rush or the movement triggers on her attacks.

Overall, Shadowcat provides a very mobile model thanks to her innate long move, her place and additional movement triggers on her attacks, which gives her a unique role in X-Men. With Storm, her long move opens up some interesting scenario options and ways to leverage X-Men Gold's leadership, under X-Men Blue with Cyclops, her builder and spender are better at dealing 1+ damage than 5 dice builders which in turn helps you build power with the leadership and with Xavier, having both an active and reactive superpower costing each 2 power makes her both a very efficient enabler and user of his leadership. In my opinion, she has everything to be a cornerstone model of the affiliation and I would be hard-pressed not to recommend her to any player picking up X-Men.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this piece and as always, don't forget to have fun!