DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Nathaniel Essex was born in Victorian England during the 19th Century. He was obsessed with Charles Darwin's theory on evolution. Although he was truly passionate about his work, he also cared a great deal for his wife Rebecca Essex and their son. Disaster struck when their son died, aged four, of various birth defects. To cope with the pain of this loss, Essex started to intensify his work and theories about evolution, ignoring his (again pregnant) wife for most of the time as a result. The pain of the loss of his son had a profound impact on Essex. Where he was once a passionate and gentle man, he became more and more secluded and ignorant to the people around him. Unbeknownst to his wife, Essex even exhumed the body of his son as a test subject, in hopes of figuring out what had caused his death. His research eventually evolved into a theory that humanity was steadily evolving, with various mutations as a possible outcome. He classified these possibilities as "Essex factors".

When Essex brought forth these theories to his scientific peers, among them Charles Darwin, he was ridiculed and called a monster for coming up with these ungodly theories. Cut off from funding, he visited a bar to drink away his sorrows. Essex was then contacted by a man who wanted to show him something that would pique his interest. Curious, Essex was brought to the sewers of London where the man told him that he was part of a group of average workmen who kidnapped disfigured humans from London and locked them up in the sewers. At first, Essex was horrified by the sight of these people and wanted to get away, but he was stopped by the group of men, who suddenly attacked him for his money. The group told Essex they called themselves the Marauders. It was then that Essex made them an offer. With funding stopped for his research, Essex offered the Marauders money in exchange for suitable subjects that he could use in his experiments. The team agreed and started kidnapped more people from the streets to act as test subjects on mutation.

The Marauders, in their search for mutants, accidentally stumbled upon a disguised Apocalypse, who had been awoken from his slumber some days before. After seeing his might, the Marauders told Apocalypse about Nathaniel Essex's work and led him to his estate. Apocalypse introduced himself to Essex as En Sabah Nur and told him he saw the potential in Essex and his work. He asked Essex to help him in his rise to power. In return, Essex was promised power beyond belief. Essex's wife Rebecca was witness to all of this, and in disgust, left the room. Essex was in great turmoil, wanting to be a good man, but also not wanting the restrictions for his research that he had with his human morality. At first, Essex thought Apocalypse to be mad. This all changed when he discovered Apocalypse's true form and power. In this, he saw the living proof of his theory of a mutated master race. Essex brought Apocalypse to meet the most powerful men of London. It was however then that the time-displaced X-Men, Cyclops and Jean Grey, arrived from the future to stop Apocalypse and his plans. The two X-Men immediately recognized Essex as the man who would go on to become Mister Sinister. The two X-Men persuaded Essex that it was not too late to stay a good man. Essex took their words for granted and returned to his estate, where Rebecca was in premature labor with their second child. The child was delivered stillborn. Doctors also told Essex that his wife would not survive the premature labor. Essex begged his wife to hold on so that he could make her better. He promised her he would be there for her again. His pleas however, were met with resentment and hate from his wife. With her dying breath, she told him that she had loved him once but now utterly hated him for what he had become, "sinister."

After her death, Essex wrecked his house and the graves of his ancestors, thinking to commit suicide afterwards. He could not live with the guilt he felt. Essex went by Charles Darwin's house first, however, to tell him how wrong Darwin was and how truly right he had been. After leaving Darwin's house, he once again wanted to kill himself, until he saw Darwin's young children on the stairs of the house. Essex then changed his mind and went to Apocalypse and accepted his offer to grant him mutations that gave him longer life, advanced strength, and a healing factor. A result of the mutation would be that Essex would no longer feel morality or remorse, something Essex welcomed. When asked by Apocalypse to take on another name, Essex took on the name Sinister, as an adjective to the last words his dying wife had named him.



PROS: Let's look at some of the things that this Mr. Sinister does that are good. For one, he lives a LONG, LONG time. He has TEN clicks of life. He also has a little more than half of his dial that has damage reducers, so he's going to be around for a while. Most players these days (That weren't around in the old days) are going to be frustrated by this kind of piece because they are going to be confounded by the fact that they've hit him 3-4 times and he's still kicking. The rest of his defense clicks are filled with Regeneration so he'll stick around even LONGER these days...especially since Regeneration will now heal at least one click these days (Barring stop clicks which this old figure definitely DOESN'T have). On clicks #3-8 he has Shape Change which will hopefully keep him relatively free of harm. He opens with a small amount of Perplex and ends his dial with an equally small amount of Outwit. Way back in the day I used to like adding the feat card BRILLIANT TACTICIAN to him to make him able to buff the stats of all of his teammates, but Feat Cards have thankfully gone the way of the dinosaurs, so that isn't something that comes up these days (At least in any of my local venues).

CONS: If mediocrity had a face, it would look like the Ultimate set's Mr. Sinister. His stats are pretty much awful. Yes, he has 10 clicks of life on his dial, but it's ten clicks of practically useless at about a third of a standard 300 point game's cost. I don't even remember liking what he had to offer when he was brand new. Even back then he seemed overcosted and underperforming. I mean, his top attack value is only a nine and it doesn't get any better than that. He drops to eight after only one click. He easily should have had some Mastermind, Stealth, or a number of other standard powers that he would have had access to, but instead he's stuck with this monument of inefficiency. It was sad, because this was the first Mr. Sinister that we ever had...and we wouldn't get another for many years to come.

THEME: I was always saddened when I went to play with a Marauders team and had to include him just to have more points to fill it out, but I still did it for the love of the theme. Like I said previously, I'd slap Brilliant Tactician on him and it would make my Marauders at least SOMEWHAT more competitive. I didn't have the fantastic dials that are available for the more fleshed out Marauders team of today, but I still made it work. This Mr. Sinister definitely wasn't the reason that the team did at least passingly well, but he wasn't exactly the reason it failed when it did either, though...I suppose that's a fairly decent assessment of his dial if anything?



PROS: This Mr. Sinister was the World Championship Winner's choice for character to design in...2011, I think? The World Champ was HCRealmser Morand that year and I still think that he did a good job designing this piece. He is not meant to be played as a Sinister that is ALSO on a team. He is designed to be the center piece for the team. I have only played him a few times, but when I have and played him that way, I feel as if I got my points' worth out of him. He is not a piece that is meant to be on the frontlines, and for some 225 points is too much to pay for a "Support" piece, but he is capable of more. He has a lot of damage reducers and a lot of ways to dish out damage if he has to, so he isn't helpless and costs that many points. You CAN do some fighting with him, but I'm much more apt to use his Perplex to keep his defense higher and then get a shot in when/if I have to while still sitting in the back of the fight and scheming. Two of his best tricks are his trait that allows him to "Create New Marauders" that says: When you build your force, friendly characters possess the Marauders keyword this game if they possess the Brotherhood of Mutants or X-Men keyword or team ability. It is used FANTASTICALLY in conjunction with his damage special called "I can rebuild you, mutant" that says: Mr. Sinister can use Perplex. When another friendly character possessing the Marauders keyword would be KO'd, you may roll a d6. On a result of 6, instead place them within 6 squares of Mr. Sinister and turn them to their last non-KO click, then roll another d6. Heal that character of half the result. The amount of shenanigans that can be done with these two things is almost endless.

CONS: Is he worth it? That's a debate that has pretty much been going on since he came out in the Chaos War set. I personally believe that he is as long as you follow my motto of not trying to get more out of a character than what they are designed to do. That being said, 225 is a HUGE investment, and it's practically your whole team in a standard 300 point game. To that end, no, he isn't worth it, but he just doesn't seem to be designed to BE a competitive 300 point team member, though. He seems to be designed for larger games where he won't have to shoulder most of the team's responsibilities. He is likely destined to be a tentpole figure, but this is a "Thinking Man's" tent pole figure that is used in much more sneaky and underhanded ways. There aren't many players out there that are going to use this piece effectively so it has kind of languished in the section of the HeroClix hall of fame designated for characters that LOOK amazing but ultimately don't deliver.

THEME: Without a doubt my favorite theme team to play this Mr. Sinister on was a Marauders team, but I would use any Multiple Man/Madrox figure that had the X-Men team ability that I could so that I could create multiples and then also resurrect them and continue to make clones and dupes and clones and dupes and clones and dupes (And you get the idea). I'd usually play him with more than just Multiple Man and would include some of the actual Marauders as well, but the shenanigans were just too much temptation to ignore for me so of COURSE that was the focal point to my "Marauders" theme team.



PROS: This was the first Mr. Sinister piece that was a good attacker and didn't cost an arm and a leg to field (That was a mad scientist joke, btw). He had very competent stats and very useful abilities to back him up and he wasn't even 100 points. Let's look first at his Mutant Massacre trait. It's a trait that all the Marauders in this set have, and it's AWESOME! It says: The first time during your turn that one or more opposing characters are KO'd, after actions resolve choose one: this turn, modify this character's speed, attack, and damage values by +1; -or- heal this character of 1 damage. You get the option to either heal up if you're hurt or if you're in position to go on the hunt, you get a +1 to all of your stats except defense and range. It makes any Marauder SUPER deadly, and the best part of the trait is that you get to make the selection for each character on your team with this trait when it triggers and it doesn't have to be the same selection for every character! His next trait is called "Schemes within schemes you cannot stop" and it can be GAME CHANGING. It says: Mister Sinister can use Mastermind. If opposing Probability Control was used during an attack that hit Mister Sinister or an adjacent friendly character, after actions resolve you may place the hit character anywhere on the map. If ANYTHING, it will make your opponent think twice about using probability control on an attack against Sinister or a figure adjacent to him. If they do you get to put them anywhere on the map after actions resolve. This can mean sending them into the waiting arms of someone that can heal them up or even getting you to that key position to be able to shut down their strategy. It's almost too high of a price to pay for your opponent unless they one-shot that person that they hit. Similar to that trait, he has a damage special power that is somewhat similar. It's called "Get back in the fight, Minion" and it says: Mister Sinister can use Leadership and Support. When he uses Support and heals a character with the Marauders keyword, after actions resolve you may exchange the places of that character and another friendly character with the Marauders keyword within 8 squares of Mister Sinister. It allows him to do a LOT of positioning of his allies on the board. I don't think I would want to play a Marauders team without him. If you are even SOMEWHAT decent at positioning you will be causing quite the problem with him on the board.

CONS: Like I said, he does have very competent numbers, but the defensive powers he has could stand to be a little more sturdy. I would pay a little bit more for such a field commander to be a bit more stout. His stats are decently high, but with only Toughness to protect him, he's going to be really hesitant to get into too big of a scuffle. He only has that for four clicks too, so he REALLY is a bit glass-jawed. He has Regeneration that can help keep him in the battle, but if there's anything that players learn almost universally, it's that if you see Regeneration...STRIKE NOW!!! There is no bigger tell that a character is on it's last legs than when they have that power showing. It's obviously not a rule that is 100% effective, but it's true MOST of the time.

THEME: The Marauders are woefully incomplete without this guy, and I think that he is woefully incomplete without him. They are a packaged deal in my mind, and I cannot believe that I haven't played with this team since they were redone in Uncanny X-Men. Maybe with all those good guys running around the field since Xavier's School came out, it might be time to bring on the bad guys!



PROS: He has two traits. Both of them are very useful. One is very simple and the other one is a bit more complex. One of his traits simply gives him Shape Change which is a very nice power to have access to on every click. That's the simple one. Secondly he has the "Survivor of the Age of Apocalypse...for now" trait. It says: When Mister Sinister is damaged by an opposing character, give that character a Revenge token. When Mister Sinister attacks a character with one or more tokens named "Revenge", modify attack and damage +1. When Mister Sinister is KO'd, you may choose an opposing character with a token named "Revenge" and remove all of those tokens and roll that many d6s. For each roll, 5-6: Deal that character 1 penetrating damage. So, not only does he get an attack and damage boost when he attacks characters that have revenge tokens on them, but he can also potentially cause a lot of damage on his way out of the game (Especially since he has damage reducers and Regeneration). It is VERY possible to take out the person that also took him out depending on how many revenge tokens they had built up and how lucky your rolls are. Overall he's a pretty competent figure and doesn't break the bank. He can be a tricksy hobbit if you learn the finesse and timing of his abilities. He's not solid gold, but he's far from bad.

CONS: I WANT to like him...I really do, but he was just such a let down for me in this new set. I saw that we were getting him and my mind started racing with possibilities. He could have been SO COOL. Had they made him more interesting, he could have been the most desired figure in the set. Instead we got this. He's passable, and though I haven't played him yet, I bet he's better than a lot of people (Myself included) give him credit for, but I can't help but get hung up on what might have been. I love his ability to essentially teleport six squares at the beginning of the turn and go next to a friendly character, but it's that "If you do, he can't make an attack this turn" part of him that removes him from contention if you ask me. Sure, he can set up a future attack or then use his Leadership to remove a token from an ally. He could also use his Outwit if he is on click #2, but let the man have an attack...he deserves it.

THEME: He would be out of place for me on anything other than an Age of Apocalypse theme team. That's the storyline he obviously came from and he has the trait and everything. I don't really believe in going against the grain a lot of times in this game and to do so would definitely be doing that. Horsemen of Apocalypse could work too, but It wouldn't feel right to me unless it was that story's specific Horsemen and then we're back to where we started. I could do Scientist, but it would have to be some kind of weird cross-universe type of thing for me to really feel it...so...basically...yeah...like I said. AoA it is.



PROS: I INSIST that this is a good figure and can be built around to make him work. He's not a "Meta-Worthy" piece and there are those players that will write off a piece as a result, but as I said, I am determined to make him work at least enough to make an opponent look at him and say..."Huh...I never thought about that" when they look to see what I have put together. THAT'S the kind of games and teams that I like to make. The off-the-wall yet dangerous stuff. Just look at what he has to offer. He has the Headmaster trait so he can use Leadership, and since he's from an alternate reality where he formed the X-Men, he can also use Perplex if it's on another character that has that keyword. You'll probably want to use him in conjunction with characters that have that keyword too, because he has a trait called Twisted X-Men that says: Friendly characters with the X-Men keyword have POWER: Choose an adjacent opposing character and deal it 1 damage, and roll a d6. [1]-[4] This character is dealt 1 unavoidable damage. There will be a lot of times that your attack will be better than this power that Sinister gives them, but this doesn't require an attack roll. It's not penetrating damage, but it's damage that could come in handy. Perhaps the most game altering power that he has comes in the form of of his defense power. It not only allows Mr. Sinister to use Regeneration, but it allows all friendly characters within six squares to use it too. Now that Regeneration is always going to get you at least one click of healing (barring STOP clicks), it could swing the game VIOLENTLY back in your favor just to have this as an option. He has extremely solid numbers for a 125 point character that is alive for nine clicks. He has a lot of heavy damage reducers, and he is also Indomitable. I think he is potentially worth his cost on standard powers and stats alone, but when you throw in that other stuff...you could potentially be dealing with a REAL threat here.

CONS: What most people have been giving him crap about is that the power action to cause one click of damage to an opposing character has the potential to hurt the user by quite a bit. You are dealing out one damage (That can be reduced) and could potentially have to take one unavoidable damage in return. The risk could potentially be much higher than the reward. There's also a ton of people that will instantly poop on a figure if it doesn't have move and attack capabilities. Though I somewhat see their point, I don't think EVERY figure needs it. It takes more strategy to use the figures that don't for sure, but it doesn't completely kill them for me. I personally look at figures with Willpower/Indomitable as having a two turn move and attack ability. I will move them up to a character that is pushed out on one turn...wait for the opponent to clear, and then do the thing on the next turn. It's not super efficient, but it's not bad either. Not every figure can be super efficient, though. There have to be those figures that make you think about how best to use them. This Mister Sinister falls into that category, and I think that is why he was kind of looked down on since he was previewed.

THEME: Everything about this figure is telling you to use him on an X-Men theme team. I can't just do that normally, though. Like others, I have wanted to play him with other characters that have been villains but still have gotten the X-Men keyword over the years. Characters like Magneto, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Mystique, Malice, Marrow, and White Queen. There are so many more, but those are the ones that I found on a VERY quick look. The only problem that I could foresee with this team is not having a lot of those characters that have the ability to use the X-Men team ability also, but it's not the biggest hurdle to jump. If you have any team ideas that you'd care to share about this Mr. Sinister, please feel free to share them in the comments section!

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different versions of this figure, let's take a quick look at their keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available (Named keywords are bolded):

Horsemen of Apocalypse: xxs066 Mister Sinister
Marauders: uxm060 Mister Sinister
Past: ul090 Mr. Sinister
Psychic: ul090 Mr. Sinister
Scientist: cw047 Mr. Sinister
Weapon X: uxm060 Mister Sinister
Age of Apocalypse: xxs066 Mister Sinister
X-Men: xxs100 Mister Sinister

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play this figure on that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provides links using Comic Vine and/or Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams mean you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

The Elite Mutant Force (Age of Apocalypse)
Intelligencia
Roxxon
The Outcasts (Age of Apocalypse)

This wraps it up for this edition of Deep Dish Themes! Thank you for reading! Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes. Join me on 3/28 when I get back to the Distinguished Competition side of things when I bring you: peeD hsiD semehT: annataZ!

Great writeup on a great figure.

I have played Chase Sinister twice now and he has always been a HUGE pain to deal with for my opponent...plus I forgot about his attack/dam boost for the Revenge tokens.

While some people complain about his teleport power not giving him an attack, he can still Call In via an ID card. It could also let you position to equip an item the same turn (if you have a friendly next to it already); I think this will be especially useful with the KC pieces at their lower point value.

In the games I have played him in, I mostly used his movement power to re position when he had a token and I didn't want to push, to use his leadership (since this happens at the beginning of the turn, he is the only figure that can reposition AND leadership), or outwit. It is annoying that the Cyclops chase has Indom and his 'daddy' doesn't, but there is definitely a diamond in this rough.

I've always liked the over-the-top Mr. Sinoster moniker, especially as it contrasts with his subdued personality. Great article.

xxs100 Mister Sinister this Mister sinister he gives everyone with the X-Men keyword the ability to use the Twisted X-Men team ability you don't need the X-Men team ability

Great Read!!

Had two games similar to what you thought about with the LE XXs Sinister. X-Men bad guys.

Sinister.
Teambase Magneto.
Teambase Manor.
Juggernaut, silver helmet.
Prime Moira.

One game I ran into an animal theme team led by Firstborn. Played against that piece enough to know him up close with Combat Reflexes is a pain. But I don't have to make attack rolls with the finger poke of doom. Saved my bacon.

I have also played with the LE Mister Sinister a few times now, and he has done pretty well. I actually like that he does not have a move and attack, given his powers and stats, so that you don't play to aggressive with him while he can still hold his own. I never really thought I would use his twisted xmen power, but I have found myself using it much more than expected. It really came through when going up against characters with super senses/shape change combos. Also mastermind since it got a boost with the new rules change to precision strike. This will probably be my go to Sinister for a while.

In total sincerity, thank you! I hadn't thought about doing some of that stuff with him. I rarely use ID cards so that is an aspect that I hadn't even considered. You have personally breathed life into this figure for me.

No, but it could counteract the effects of the Twisted X-Men ability.

Did I suggest otherwise? I honestly couldn't find where I had if I did...

I'm very happy with how sinister turned out, but I went power mad when I made him. Every single slot on his dial has a power and in hindsight he doesn't need all of them. It was something I tried not to repeat with Shriek when she got made.

That said, I was never interested in making a meta piece, just something that was fun for me to play. You did nail what he's meant to do though. He lurks, is very tough, and can throw down if needed but isn't meant to.

He is my love letter to the 90's X-Men Cartoon as pretty much all his power names are quotes from it.

You succeeded! Thank you for your contribution to the HeroClix hall of fame!

It's my nature as a player that whenever I hear people say a figure/ability isn't good, I have to find some way to use it. Sometimes it doesn't pan out (looking at you, old Masters of Evil TA), but it's always fun to try. I am touched to have had such a profound impact this time around. (I have an extra if anyone needs him...although, he isn't a unique...)