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Pojo's HeroClix "Click of the Day"
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WildWill |
Name: Phoenix
Set: Marvel Ultimates
Number: 93
Rarity: 6-Unique
Costs: 86
Health: 8
SSADD:10/11/16/3
Powers: Pulse Wave, Psychic Blast, TK, Super Senses, Energy Shield, RCE
versions)
Ranged Attacks: 2 Range 8
Team: X-Men
Rachel Summers is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, from the
future storyline “Days of Future Past”, which if you haven’t read, shame on
you…it’s only the SECOND best X-Men story ever. Rachel was a mutant “hound”
in the future, a tool used by the oppressive mutant hating government to
hunt down the few remaining muties. She went back in time in order to stop
her future from happening, and in doing so she became an X-Man, and later a
founding member of Excalibur. Through a bunch of twisted storylines, she now
calls herself Marvel Girl (according to Whoclix anyway). I always liked
Rachel when I was buying the first couple years of Excalibur, but I haven’t
seen her since. Apparantly she’s still around.
So we’ve had the original Phoenix in XP, it was only appropriate that we get
this version now. In fact, I think we’re going to get Ultimate Phoenix
sometime soon too…or wait, is there an Ultimate Phoenix yet? Hmmm….
I liked this figure, I’m not sure how much I like her, but hey, she looks
fantastic! And what’s not to like? Pulse Wave for a click, then Psychic
Blast and TK. Super Senses to evade attacks, and Energy Shield after that.
Finally, RCE pumps up your opening attack to 5 damage with an 11 attack and
10 move! Yowza. She could ALMOST be your primary attacker, but she’ll most
likely end up as a solid secondary piece.
Phoenix is a uniquely stunning piece, and a real testament to the sculpting
prowess of Wiz Kids. I hear the flames are even translucent, but since I
haven’t held one in my hand yet, I couldn’t say for sure. She’s holding
quite a strong value too. In the last 90 days, 93 of her singles have sold
from $14.06 to $31.50, with an average of $23.07. There’s also quite a few
auctions with starting bids of over $20 that DIDN’T sell either…so if you
can grab her for under $20, you’re in good shape.
My Ratings:
Playabilty 4 of 5
Collectability 4 of 5.
Next time on Ultimate X-men Theme Week – You know him, you love to hate him,
you definitely don’t want to piss him off…
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Monger |
Unique Phoenix
Marvel Ultimates #093
I haven’t seen this figure pulled from a booster at my venue yet. We’ve
cracked open about six boosters holding Thors’, but none with this Phoenix.
I was a bog fan of the Xplosion unique, which gave us the 12 range, yet the
actual stats were kinda low. We weren’t given the insane range this time
around, but the stats were definitely increased! Not only does this figure
provide decent range, she deals massive amounts of damage, can avoid being
hit, ignores all damage reducing abilities and even has a little TK.
Usually, a figure with a point value of 86 and all of these abilities, we’d
expect to see low base values, such as a 9 attack, 6 movement and 15
defense, but surprisingly enough, it’s not that way – it’s actually nowhere
near that – its better!
Speed / Range: No fancy abilities or 12 range on this version, but the base
values are very high. She begins the game with a base 10 movement and drops
very slowly for her seven clicks. Her last click of movement is still a
seven, which is better then 90% of the other figures in this set. She can
cover the board quickly and is an excellent piece when you need some
mobility and range.
Attack: The first click of pulse wave is interesting, but I have a feeling
its got something to do with her comic book birth (when she went from Jean
Grey to Phoenix). Either way, the base attack value of 11 is huge for an 86
point figure. You might not find yourself using the pulse wave very often,
but you will be using that high attack and good range with her ranged combat
expert ability A LOT!! The second click is by far her best on all parts of
her dial. Her base 10 attack combined with psychic blast is unbelievable!
She can hit anyone she wants, and with relative ease. If Phoenix can get the
first hit in on Thor or Iron man, it will put a huge dent in your opponents’
plans. Phoenix yells across the map – “Take 4 clicks of damage and like it”.
Phoenix holds on to her psychic blast for four straight clicks, then gains a
little bit of TK in her last two clicks before her KO. Her attack values
remain pretty high surprisingly, only dropping to a 7 on her last click.
Defense: A base 16 defense with super senses. There is nothing wrong with
this area at all. Sure, we could of asked for a higher defense, but ignoring
the attack altogether can win games when your rolling 5’s and 6’s,
especially with this figure ability to deal damage in bulk. Phoenix has four
straight clicks of super sense placed on top of 16 and 15 base numbers.
After the beginning four clicks, the base values drop to a 14, but are
actually high against ranged attacks because of her newly acquired energy
deflection ability. The defense of the figure is strong, giving Phoenix
every opportunity to avoid being hit and remain in any fight.
Damage: Phoenix offers Firelord like damage capabilities. Her first click
offers base three damage with ranged combat expert. If you place Phoenix
with a perplexer, she’s capable of dealing 6 clicks of damage with ease. Her
second and third click still offer ranged combat expert, but the base values
have dropped to a two – big deal!! She is still capable of dealing five
clicks of damage, and with her psychic blast, it can’t be avoided or
reduced. When Phoenix reaches her 4th click, she loses her ranged combat
expert ability, yet her base damage rises from a 2 to a 3, still enabling
her to deal up to 6 clicks of damage when combined with 3 perplexers.
Phoenix is an offensive brut who can deal massive amounts of damage to
anyone within her eyesight.
Overall: I love this figure. She flies, has amazing speed, great range, huge
attack value, great defense and shocking damage dealing capabilities – all
for the point total of 86. You will be hard pressed to find a figure who can
deal as much damage without even breaking a mild sweat. Once I find one of
these figures, I am definitely going to place her on my 300 pt marvel
constructed team. She deserves a spot and will be a great addition. If you
happen to come across one of these amazing pieces, do not trade her away!
She has the ability to control games, win games, and make you a very happy
HeroClix player!
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Godwin |
For our review today we take a look at one of the Uniques
with a connection to the X-Men. Now Heroclix has already done a Unique
Phoenix figure in the XPlosion expansion set, but lo and behold we have
another. According to Whoclix though this Phoenix is from the future and is
actually the daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Basically it sounds
like she went through a lot of different powers, fought a lot of different
people, spent time on a lot of different teams, and got rescued a lot. Other
than that her background sounds to confusing for me to ponder here.
So what does this Phoenix bring to Heroclix? To start she is 86 points which
seems very close to what the other Phoenix cost. She has flight and a
starting Speed of 10. This allows for her to move around the board with
relative ease but she doesn’t have any other powers to enhance this
movement. On her last two clicks she does gain Telekinesis. I’m not sure how
useful this would be this deep down her dial, but it may be useful for
pulling back your figures late in the game, moving them forward or throwing
them in the direction of a medic. Either way it’s also a good sign that she
is about to be KO’d so use her wisely.
Her starting Attack of 11 is good for a figure of 86 points and gives her a
couple of clicks of solid attacks to try to land a hit with. Her range
attack helps accentuate her starting Attack with a distance of 8 combined
with 2 ranged attacks. To add extra flexibility she also has Pulse Wave, but
I am hesitant to say that Pulse Wave will get wide use. I like Pulse Wave on
cheaper figures like Avalanche because it allows for them to wound even
figures with Impervious. But on a more expensive figure like this Phoenix
she already has the ability to lay the smack down with a natural starting
Damage of 3 and Ranged Combat Expert. That’s 5 clicks of damage and you
would have to have 5 figures within 4 squares (but not in base-to-base
contact) to get the same damage out of Pulse Wave.
After one click of Pulse Wave Phoenix then gets 4 clicks of Psychic Blast.
This now gives you the option of cutting through Defensive powers with
Psychic Blast or just blasting away with a couple more clicks of RCE. Having
both options is a good thing and means that an Outwitter cannot Outwit both.
Also with Psychic Blast it may also make sense in some games to push Phoenix
off of her first click and let her blast away if your opponent has figures
with a lot of Defensive powers (especially Impervious) before an opposing
figure moves into base contact with her.
Phoenix starts with a Defense of 16, which she keeps for 2 clicks before
dropping to 15 for the following 2 clicks. To help her withstand taking
damage she has 4 clicks of Super Senses. With 4 clicks she has Super Senses
long enough that even if she takes damage she still most likely will get
another roll with Super Senses. I get the feeling that with a decent, but
not high defense that Super Senses will play a big part in how long Phoenix
sticks around.
Overall I like this figure, but since I don’t know much about the original
Phoenix Unique it’s hard for me to compare the two. The ability to do 5
damage on the first click is always nice and most likely will be the weapon
of choice over Pulse Wave. Psychic Blast is always a nice ability to have.
I’m not sure about the rules but if you can use Psychic Blast with her two
ranged attacks then she suddenly becomes a potential giant killer by being
able to knock down two expensive figures at the same time. Beyond her dial
her sculpt seems a little overpowering at first, but it looks well done and
makes her stand out as a Unique. She also has the old X-Men ability, which
could be useful on an X-Men team. She is expensive enough to give her some
weight in a game, but she is affordable enough you can fit her fairly easily
on even a 300 point team. If I pulled her from booster I wouldn’t be upset
and I’m sure I would use her in friendly games. I’m not sure about a
tournament.
Overall Score: (Out of 10. Score of: 4 = horrible, 5 = below average, 6 =
slightly above average, 7 = great, 8 = outstanding)
Unique Phoenix – 7.18
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