Master Blaster

Unusual X-Men Decks #5 - Master Blaster

Cyclops is known for allies and tactics, and yet his superpower is to release devastating optical blasts. Can we build a good deck around blasting? Heck yeah we can!

12 damage Ricochet Beams are today's special! Get 'em while they're cheap.

Watch as Cards 'n Dice takes this deck up against Mutagen Formula! YouTube link here! (Commentary in German, YouTube auto-translation subtitles available!)

Overview:

• Archetype: Multi-Attacks
• Difficulty: Medium
• Recommended Player Count: 1-4
• Ideal Aspect Partners: Any
• Ideal Hero Partners: Rogue, Peter Parker (Touched and Spider-Tracers enable Optic Blast)
• Scenarios to Avoid: Collector #1

Strategy:
So you want to start blasting? Our main cards will be Ricochet Beam and One by One - both get double value from Aggressive Energy and Warrior Skill. Ricochet Beam also loves Exploit Weakness if you're blasting the same target twice. (They ruled against that originally, but it's been revoked!)

Ricochet Beam + Aggressive Energy + Warrior Skill + Exploit Weakness = 12 damage.

One by One + Aggressive Energy + Warrior Skill = 8 damage.

Drawing Aggressive Energy is luck-based and so you're unlikely to hit maximum damage often (which, with two Aggressive Energies in hand, is actually 14!), but you can hit high damage almost every time. Where Aggressive Energy is luck-based, Warrior Skill sits on the board making it very reliable.

And we have secret weapons. Cyclops is so tied to allies and tactics that we can't abandon them, but what we can do is use them purely to support our blasting. Exploit Weakness can be tutored (searched for) by your alter-ego ability to always have it whenever you start the turn alter-ego. And we can use Beast to effectively grab another copy of Aggressive Energy too!

Only two copies of Ricochet Beam? Not a problem. With Mutant Education, you can shuffle them back into your deck. This also increases the likelihood of you drawing Ricochet Beam with Aggressive Energy and makes X-Gene a great resource generator for us.

You can also throw Full Blast, Priority Target, Exploit Weakness or Phoenix back in your deck for even more blasting. Putting tactic upgrades back keeps your alter-ego ability firing too. And I can't overstate how good it is to get Priority Target whenever there's a minion, or Exploit Weakness whenever you want to hit the villain.

How can you afford to constantly go alter-ego to use Mutant Education? Because of all the confuses brought by Dazzler, Professor X and Psylocke.

Needless to say, throwing some Optic Blasts (your hero ability) into the mix is great. Use as needed. Especially with Full Blast.

Aggression brings the damage, Cyclops and his allies bring thwarting and survivability, and your events cover both. This versatility makes it a great all-rounder deck for solo play as well as working smoothly with any other aspects in multiplayer. (Just avoid partnering with heroes like Nova, Rocket and Ironheart who also want to take out minions if you want to get the most out of One by One.)

In solo, it has a slight preference for minion-heavy scenarios but has still taken out a variety of villains on expert difficulty such as Magneto.

Mulligan Priorities:

• X-Mansion
• Forge (Only IF X-Mansion is not in hand)
• X-Gene

Other Tips:

• Ruby Quartz Visor is a great card for the theme of this deck, but I recommend playing it only after your obligation is discard or you receive your obligation. Thankfully, all the confuses in this deck help us to immediately go alter-ego to deal with said obligation.
• The optimal cards to shuffle back with Mutant Education vary based on the scenario, player count and the situation you find yourself in and could take some practice to master. If in doubt, shuffling back 1x Priority Target and 1x Ricochet Beam is never a bad idea. Being able to see that a minion is out and just grab Priority Target with your alter-ego ability is huge value. And Ricochet Beam is our bread and butter.
• You can use Warrior Skill on Optic Blast. Mathematically, in a vacuum, it's not great value. But if that one extra damage helps you efficiently finish off a minion or villain stage? Do it. If you might otherwise end the game with unspent charges? Do it!
• Don't underestimate Phoenix. Want another Full Blast? She'll find it, and she'll probably ready you up for it with Utopia. Got a minion against you? She'll nab you Priority Target.
• You might be tempted to swap in The X-Jet - this is a great card but we can't use it in alter-ego. So, while better than Helicarrier for Sunfire, it lead to multiple frustrating situations in testing. Additionally, as a deck designed to work at all player counts, Helicarrier works with anyone in multiplayer! If playing purely in solo or with other X-Men who don't take it, The X-Jet is then much more appealing.
  • This deck already has more energies than any other resource, and you can use either Tactical Brilliance or your alter-ego ability to tutor Practiced Defense as an energy resource for Sunfire!

Good luck!