The Book of Cyclops (Utopian)

[Xael Raymand]

I'm personally in favor of a 5 Life 260 point Cyclops, but maybe I'm the minority?

[MrNobody]

That puts him in the same range as other leaders such as Star-Lord, Commander Rogers, and Solovar. Plus, it helps him be even more distinct from Prof X.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I don't like the idea of him ending up too close in price to Prof. X's 220, then they become interchangeable in the same army builds. Having a 260 point Cyclopes II means their respective armies will be at least 40 points different in scope.

[Ronin]

I'm cool with him at 260.

[IAmBatman]

I was thinking what they’re all saying.

[Arkham]

@Scapemage just test with 5 life at 260 then.

[japes]

I'm good with either direction..

[Scapemage]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Cyclops II

Army Test
Map: Sear by Dignan
Units: Cyclops II (240, 5 life), Gambit, Archangel, Firestar, and Shadowcat II (1000) vs. Professor X, Jean Grey, Iceman, Aurora, Harpoon, and Typhoid Mary (1000).

Spoiler Alert!

Normal Attack Damage:
3 wound(s) on Aurora in R1T3
3 wound(s) on Iceman in R3T1
2 wound(s) on Iceman in R3T2 (kill, 1 excess)
1 wound(s) on Jean Grey in R4T1
2 wound(s) on Jean Grey in R4T3 (kill)
2 wound(s) on Professor X in R5T2 (kill, 1 excess)

Optic Destruction Damage:
Used in R3T3
1 wound(s) on Jean Grey
2 wound(s) on friendly Shadowcat

Tactical Initiative X:
1 rounds swung by this power.

Leader of the X-Men:
10 attacks vs. 8 moves (combined total of 18 turns given)

Round one sees some early action as Cyclops’ team takes the bridge and is met by Aurora who quickly drops to 1 life from Cyclops’ well-placed attack. Aurora blocks Cyclops off for round 2, giving Professor X’s team the advantage. Firestar and Harpoon both die from the round’s combat, but Aurora lives despite heavy damage to Typhoid Mary. Cyclops brings the pain in round three and nearly all of Professor X’s team perishes, but Shadowcat falls, Cyclops takes half his health from Jean, and Gambit is eaten away at by Typhoid Mary. Tactical Initiative swings the fourth round, allowing his team to advance and take out Jean Grey. Soon after, they clean up shop.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Cyclops w/ 2 wounds, Gambit w/ 3 wounds, and Archangel w/ 3 wounds.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Sear by Dignan
Units: Cyclops II (260, 5 life), Colossus, Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Blink, and Shadowcat I (1005) vs. Mystique II, Avalanche, Destiny, Juggernaut, Toad, and Blob (1000).

Spoiler Alert!

Normal Attack Damage:
1 wound(s) on Avalanche in R1T2
1 wound(s) on Mystique in R2T2
1 wound(s) on Mystique in R2T3
3 wound(s) on Toad in R4T1 (kill)

Optic Destruction Damage:
Used in R1T3
0 wound(s) on Mystique

Tactical Initiative X:
2 rounds swung by this power.

Leader of the X-Men:
10 attacks vs. 6 moves (combined total of 16 turns given)

Tactical Initiative swings the very first initiative with the X marker, and the game is off to a wild start. Mystique fudges some rolls, but by the end of the round, Cyclops and Mystique have become engaged and the two duke it out in style. Optic Destruction is used in order to try and get Mystique down, but only 2 skulls and no blanks are rolled. Blob finds and locks down Nightcrawler as well. Cyclops initiative and Avalanche takes some hits. Avalanche hits Blob but not Nightcrawler with his special, then the Outcasts mobilize! A Fastball Special misses and Shadowcat is now engaged with Avalanche, but Mystique rolls a natural 20. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler fall, not much is done from Cyclops, then another 20 thanks to Destiny means the Outcasts have a big edge. This turn doesn’t amount to nearly as much. Mystique finally falls to Blink, and Avalanche falls to Colossus, evening the game up. Not much happens for the rest of the round, but Toad is Cyclops’ next challenger. Tactical Initiative pulls it for Cyclops again and Toad is slain! Cyclops is finally felled to lava damage, but his team pulls it out, slaying Juggernaut and Blob in quick succession.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Colossus unwounded and Blink w/ 2 wounds.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Cyclops’ team smashed it in game 1. Cyclops kept hitting attacks to the point where his Optic Destruction was his weakest shot all game. After some early turns of moving, everyone was ready to attack at range, which made Cyclops’ power turn out to be more turns than Professor X’s. When combined with ranged Mutants or Mutants with movement damage like Archangel, Cyclops really makes them shine.

Optic Destructin also failed miserably in game 2. Cyclops was still useful, but a lot worse with mainly melee Mutant to control. The Outcasts had a lot of counterplay going on, especially with Blob, so that made the game tough. Despite this, the strong win was pulled out, so 260 really felt pretty good here.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: He’s fun and super different from both Professor X and Cyclops I. He leads an army in a versatile way and I don’t want to keep him in the back all the time like I do X. It feels great to be able to attack and deal damage with a leader.

Comments in the quote.

[Arkham]

Thanks for the tests!

Looks like the 2nd game was at 255. Regardless, 260 is looking good.

I propose a vote to move Cyclops to Final Editing at 260.
@Ronin - yea
@Yodaking - yea
@Tornado - yea
@japes
@Scapemage - yea
@johnny139 - abstain
@Spidey'tilIDie - yea

Can I also get a wording check @Ronin

[Ronin]

I'll hit the wording.

It looks like he only has one loss in public tests, and some pretty big wins. I know he was being run at a lower cost for some of those games, but are we worried about that?

[Ronin]

Edits:

TACTICAL INITIATIVE X
After rolling for initiative, you may add 1 to your roll for each Order Marker on this card, or you may immediately reveal the "X" Order Marker on a Mutant Army Card you control to instead add 2 for each Order Marker on this card.

LEADER OF THE X-MEN
After revealing a numbered Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Cyclops, you may choose up to 2 other Mutant Unique Heroes you control within 8 clear sight spaces of Cyclops to take a turn. A Hero taking a turn with this special power cannot both move and attack during its turn. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

OPTIC DESTRUCTION SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 5.
Choose a figure to attack. Any figures other than Cyclops who are adjacent to the chosen figure are also affected by this special attack. When attacking with Optic Destruction Special Attack, each blank rolled counts as 2 additional skulls. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures, and count each blank rolled as 2 additional skulls. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. This special attack may only be used once per game.

Plaintext:

TACTICAL INITIATIVE X
After rolling for initiative, you may add 1 to your roll for each Order Marker on this card, or you may reveal the "X" Order Marker on a Mutant Army Card you control to instead add 2 for each Order Marker on this card.

LEADER OF THE X-MEN
After revealing a numbered Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Cyclops, you may choose up to 2 other Mutant Unique Heroes you control within 8 clear sight spaces of Cyclops to take a turn. A Hero taking a turn with this special power cannot both move and attack during its turn. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

OPTIC DESTRUCTION SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 5.
Choose a figure to attack. Any figures other than Cyclops who are adjacent to the chosen figure are also affected by this special attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures, and count each blank rolled as 2 additional skulls. Each figure rolls defense dice separately. This special attack may only be used once per game.

[Arkham]

I’m not worried about it as I had 2 losses at 230, not exactly super close ones either, and I felt like I played decent enough armies. So for me, I see he’s lost twice at 230, and once at 270. He had a somewhat close couple of wins at lower point values, and some decent wins as well. Though, Yoda’s win that was his biggest win was admittedly a matchup very much in his favor with Magneto and Destiny going against the Fantastic Four, who live off of being close to Invisible Woman and hate auto wounds.

I also see scapemage and ericth(he played him at 255 and 270 unknowingly but felt he was fine) had him good at 260. So those are my reasonings for feeling ok here.