Greetings HeroClix Fans!
It’s about time for today’s preview of Marvel HeroClix: Deadpool and X-Force. No, literally. Today’s preview is about time; time travelers to be specific. So before we are out of time, here are Cable and his evil clone Stryfe!
Click to enlarge.
Infected at birth with a techno organic virus that ate his body and replaced it with living cybernetics, Nathan Summers, son of X-Men leader Cyclops, was taken thousands of years into the future by the Clan Askani to treat his condition and raise him as the prophesized Chosen One to destroy Apocalypse. Though he is a very high powered telekinetic and telepathic mutant the majority of his abilities are used to keep the techno organic virus at bay. He is a highly trained and battle seasoned warrior. With his experience and access to future technologies he has been a soldier of fortune, leader of the New Mutants and X-Force, benevolent ruler of the Providence sanctuary he built, and protector of his unofficially adopted daughter, Hope Summers.
Condensing all of that into a HeroClix figure can be challenging, so let’s dig into all the tactical goodness Cable brings to your table for 120 points. Right off we see he has a wide mix of keywords with his team affiliations of the New Mutants, Six Pack, X-Force, and X-men with Armor, Fututre, and Soldier rounding out his options. Looking at his combat symbols, we see that he has Improved Movement: Ignore Hindering Terrain, Indomitable letting him ignore pushing damage, and a trait titled X-Force that gives him the use of Stealth. Cable’s dial starts off as a heavy ranged attacker and takes a dip towards the end into close combat utility after his ammo is spent. He starts off with his signature maneuver, Bodyslide, on speed that lets him use Phasing/Teleport but when he moves 5 squares or less he can make a close or ranged attack for free. With a range value of 7 that gives him a pretty fair reach. Once he is positioned, he has Penetrating/Psychic Blast to make his 4 damage value stick, Probability Control to improve his odds, and a special defense power called Techno Organic Body & Telekinetic Shield letting him use Invulnerability but also granting the use of Energy Shield/Deflection if he has less than 2 action tokens on him.
Going down his dial, Cable changes his ranged attack options like he switches weapons; gaining Running Shot, Energy Explosion, Ranged Combat Expert, and a click of Bodyslide in various combinations. Then he switches to combat knives and knuckles with Flurry, Exploit Weakness, and Toughness. On click 7, his last click, he is looking to get back into the fight with Bodyslide, Probability Control, and Regeneration. If that still doesn’t give you the healing you are looking for, remember he also has the X-Men team ability so you can give this temporally displaced traveler more time. And he is going to need it if he is going to contend with his arch nemesis, his evil clone Stryfe!
Click to enlarge.
Stryfe was cloned from Cable when Nathan Summers was taken to the future as an infant to help cure the techno organic virus that he was infected with. However, just as the cloning was complete, Apocalypse’s forces captured the clone thinking he was the original. Stryfe was raised as a spoiled tyrant and taught to develop and abuse his immense telekinetic and telepathic abilities so that his body would be the eventual unwitting host to the transferred essence of Apocalypse himself. When a young Cable and his adoptive parents thwarted Apocalypse’s plans, Stryfe continued his petty and jealous war with Cable for years; eventually following him back to the late 20th century. Their battle on the moon at the conclusion of X-Cutioner’s Song threw Cable back to their future time period and caused Stryfe to be lost in the timestream where he continually tries to engineer and manipulate his return to the timeline. His last laugh to the world before that was the release of the Legacy Virus which decimated mutant kind.
To play out your revenge on the Summer’s family, Apocalypse, and all mutant kind on your tabletop, Stryfe costs 135 points and has the Mutant Liberation Front, Armor, and Future keywords. Also note, he is a Unique piece with a silver ring around his base so you can only field one of him. He starts off staying hidden in Stealth, which is the perfect place to manipulate the battlefield with is special attack power Mind Over Matter that lets him use Telekinesis with the bonus of using it as a free action if he was given a non-free action that turn. That means you can move him and use Telekinesis, make an attack with him and use Telekinesis, use Telekinesis and then use Telekinesis again for free. That’s a lot of telekinetic shenanigans so brush up on your line of fire and object token rules. He also has a special damage power Dawn Of A New Age that gives him the use of Leadership and Outwit.
Stryfe’s armor isn’t just for show either. He starts off with Invulnerability that later drops down to Toughness before a final click of Regeneration. After he does take a damage, he drops the Stealth and gains Mind Control and Ranged Combat Expert, still with his free use of Telekinesis special. Late dial he gets really mad at his false twin brother and goes into a psionic rage with Running Shot and Pulse Wave and his Dawn Of A New Age special again. As if all that wasn’t enough to settle his jealous family squabble, when Stryfe is KO’d it triggers his trait, The Legacy Virus, that deals penetrating damage that cannot be ignored to each opposing character with a named keyword of your choice equal to half their current click number. Themed team players beware when you see Stryfe across the map from you!
That’s all we have time for today. Stay tuned to HeroClix.com as we preview more mayhem from the Marvel HeroClix: Deadpool and X-Force set and log into the WizKids Info Network to find Pre-Release Events and other tournaments and venues near you.
