Hello and welcome back!
As we are getting near the end of 2024, 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 2024. 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 Leadership
In 2024, the Uncanny X-Men recieved, with the release of Charles Xavier, a brand new leader to supplement Storm and Cyclops. What are my thoughts on this new leadership and how it fits in the overall affiliation?
I was really glad to see another leadership added to the Uncanny X-Men. I think it opens up very different playstyles from the two other available options. New leadership also makes you rethink about affiliated models differently. I think it's a solid leadership with a lot of flexibility to build around.
Section 2: Character reviews & team tactic cards
X-Men received a lot of new characters and team tactic cards in 2024. What are my impression of them, what they bring to X-Men and their place overall in the affiliation?
Professor X
While I think he brings a very interesting leadership, Professor X himself leaves me reasonably whelmed. He brings interesting control tools with his attack suite and is conditionally resilient. I think his biggest asset is bringing out a different play style and priorisation of models when he's leading the X-Men.
Bishop
Bishop brings interesting tools to X-Men. I think there is a lot to like on his character card; the guaranteed incinerate on the builder, the size 4 terrain throw, a great spender and solid set of immunities. In my experience putting him on the table, he really wants extra power to be able to maximize his kit, which makes X-Men Blue his best home. While Overload can look scary on paper, it comes up surprisingly less often than one might expect, and a good handle on his power economy makes it trivial to play around. His defensive tech being unreliable, he usually either wants another model to take hits away from him or a way to increase his defense dice. Definitely one of the sleeper picks for this wave of mutants.
Nightcrawler
The incredible Nightcrawler is well deserving of his name. He's definitely the star mutant of 2024. His innate mobility gives him the ability to be anywhere he wants on the board while being able to dish out pretty relevant damage thanks to his very inexpensive spender. Being able to weave in and out of the action as needed makes him a terrifying threat to face on the board. Combined with the guaranteed Stun on his builder, his level of consistency makes him one of the premier model of the affiliation and one I'd be hard pressed not to play.
Iceman
Iceman is a surprinsgly solid and reliable model. His mobility and disruption thanks to both his attacks and Cold Snap, makes him a solid piece on any wide maps. He plays very well into wide scenarios and wide team composition, where slowing a lot of models makes it harder for your opponent to pivot where they need to be, while you can reposition your own model with him. Knowing where to place him to make him as disruptive as he can be takes practice, but it's well worth it
Shadowcat
Shadowcat was one of the models on which I was the highest when she came out. The long move, the strong attacks and array of defensive techs made her a given pick for Storm-led X-Men. An affiliated long mover also opens up relevant scenario plays on F shaped extracts at a relatively inexpensive cost. In practice, I've found that, under Storm, while good, she struggles to leverage her kit and is not as proactive as she could be. Under Cyclops and Professor X, the quality of her attacks and her superpower both have great synergies and make her a solid model there.
Angel
Angel was a model I had a hard time seeing how to use on the table. After giving him some table time, I've found that his kit comes together surprisingly well. Having access to good mobility on his gainer and solid displacement on both his spender and Hostile Takeover gives X-Men inexpensive options to displace size 4 models, something they didn't have easy access to before. Bringing a second Air Lift on another 50mm based 3 threat gives X-Men a lot of flexibility for which mobile 3 threat to bring depending on the situation. Having access to a pseudo-restricted card in the form of Ultimate Sacrifice is another big upside, either letting you have a second copy of it or diversifying your options.
Cerebro
Mind Wipe
Mind Wipe is the kind of high ceiling, low floor card that I tend to stay away from. While it can give you very memorable moments, I've found the opportunity cost of the card too high for me. Costing 3 power and a Team Tactics Card, on a character that can struggle to build power well is a high price to pay, especially when the attack can be blocked or it's damaged reduced to stop it's effect.
Xavier's Dream
Xavier's Dream is nothing short of stellar. It's flexibility and strength makes it an affiliation defining card. While timing it properly to leverage it is not as easy as reading the card would make you think, it's impact is not to be underestimated. It's a lot stronger than I thought it was going to be at first glance and is definitely a card that should be in every X-Men lists.
Section 3: Current place in the meta
How impactful have I found the new leadership to be for the affiliation?
Xavier's leadership has been pretty impactful if only for diversifying the kind of X-Men lists seen in events. While the leadership is strong, I think it's held back by Xavier being a relatively unimpressive model. Overall, I think Storm is still the de facto strongest competitive choice, but Xavier offers an interesting alternative.
How have I found the new models impact your list building and how you approach the affiliation?
This year's models have all had a pretty significant impact for roster construction. With Nightcrawler being one of, if not the most coveted 4 threat in the affiliation, Shadowcat, Iceman, Angel offering more options and synergies with all 3 leaders whilst competing in an already crowded list of strong 3 threats shows just how spoiled for choice the Children of the Atom are with their affiliated pieces.
What would I say is the biggest gain X-Men made this year and why?
I think the biggest thing X-Men gained this year is Xavier's Dream. That card is just incredibly strong and can easily compete with most of the restricted cards on the banlist. It's flexibility and low opportunity cost makes it stapled to any X-Men list. I would still give an honorable mention to Nightcrawler, who's incredible mobility and disruption makes him an undeniable asset to any lists he's in.
What would I say is X-Men's biggest loss this year and why?
Personally, I think the absence of both Sunspot and Warlock are a big miss. I think both of them would've benefited a lot from being affiliated here and would've made for more diverse and interesting in affiliation choices.
I want to give a big thank you to all the players who took the time to answer my questions and give their impressions of the Uncanny X-Men.
I'd 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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